Tuesday, October 22, 2024

A SOUL SATISFIED BY GOD'S WORD



THIS ARTICLE I RAN ACROSS TODAY BLESSED ME SO MUCH.  I WANTED TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.  IT SPOKE TO ME OF TRUTH.  TRUTH IS HARD TO COME BY THESE DAYS EXCEPT THE TRUTH FOUND IN GOD.

A journal entry by George Mueller--

May 7. It has recently pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost, though now, while preparing the fifth edition for the press, more than fourteen years have since passed away. 

The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. 

The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. 

For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit. 

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing to give myself to prayer, after having dressed myself in the morning. 

Now, I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the word of God, and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, by means of the word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.

I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning. The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon his precious word, was, to begin to meditate on the word of God, searching as it were into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the word, not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon, but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. 

The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that, though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer. 

When thus I have been for a while making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the word may lead to it, but still continually keeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. 

The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened, and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. 

Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me that which, either very soon after or at a later time, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the word that I gave myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.

With this mode I have likewise combined the being out in the open air for an hour, an hour and a half, or two hours, before breakfast, walking about in the fields, and in the summer sitting for a little on the stiles, if I find it too much to walk all the time. 

find it very beneficial to my health to walk thus for meditation before breakfast, and am now so in the habit of using the time for that purpose, that when I get into the open air I generally take out a New Testament of good-sized type, which I carry with me for that purpose, besides my Bible; and I find that I can profitably spend my time in the open air, which formerly was not the case, for want of habit. 

I used to consider the time spent in walking a loss, but now I find it very profitable, not only to my body, but also to my soul. The walking out before breakfast is of course not necessarily connected with this matter, and every one has to judge according to his strength and other circumstances.

The difference, then, between my former practice and my present one is this: Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. 

At all events I almost invariably began with prayer, except when I felt my soul to be more than usually barren, in which case I read the word of God for food, or for refreshment, or for a revival and renewal of my inner man, before I gave myself to prayer. 

But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour, on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray

I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it) about the things that he has brought before me in his precious word. 

It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this point. In no book did I ever read about it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private intercourse with a brother stirred me up to this matter. 

And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is, to obtain food for his inner man

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow. 

Now what is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the word of God; and here again, not the simple reading of the word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. 

When we pray, we speak to God. Now, prayer, in order to be continued for any length of time in any other than a formal manner, requires, generally speaking, a measure of strength or godly desire, and the season, therefore, when this exercise of the soul can be most effectually performed is after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the word of God, where we find our Father speaking to us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to instruct us, to humble us, to reprove us. 

We may therefore profitably meditate, with God’s blessing, though we are ever so weak spiritually; nay, the weaker we are, the more we need meditation for the strengthening of our inner man. 

There is thus far less to be feared from wandering of mind than if we give ourselves to prayer without having had previously time for meditation. I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow-believers to ponder this matter. 

By the blessing of God I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials, in various ways, than I had ever had before; and after having now above fourteen years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it. 

In addition to this I generally read, after family prayer, larger portions of the word of God, when I still pursue my practice of reading regularly onward in the Holy Scriptures, sometimes in the New Testament and sometimes in the Old, and for more than twenty-six years I have proved the blessedness of it. I take, also, either then or at other parts of the day, time more especially for prayer.

How different, when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one!

George Mueller was a preacher, evangelist, and director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England. 




© ALL ART, PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT PROPERTY OF ELIZABETH DIANNE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, 2008-2024




Monday, October 21, 2024

MAKING JESUS LOOK MAGNIFICENT!



So, I am on a quest.  A quest to learn more about the Holy Spirit.

I ask God the Father each morning what the most important thing is that He wants me to know about the Holy Spirit today.

Because his writings have spoken to my heart so much lately, I keep going back to John Piper's website and typing in that question in the search bar--

It is not John Piper himself but the scriptures that he gives that speaks to my heart.  He has done the hard work of looking up all the scriptures so my task is made easier.

It seems that every day brings new revelation into the person of the Holy Spirit.

I love, love, love the quote below found on the website I just mentioned.

"The Spirit is meant, in all that he does, to make Jesus look magnificent.

That’s what he’s in the world to do.

So, if you love the beauty of Christ, if you treasure the glory of Christ, you’re going to love the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

You’re going to be eager to know it, talk about it, think about it, and most of all, you’re going to be eager to experience his work in your life doing that."

Quote by John Piper


So for today and for me, suffice it to say that the most important thing to know about the Holy Spirit is that His mission is to make Jesus look magnificent.  That touches my heart so deeply.

Does my life reflect that?

Galatians 5:25

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Here is a link to Piper's article that helps make all of this more clear.  It is a very challenging read but well worth the time it took to read and study it.

I plan to read and study the scriptures it lists and truly meditate upon them the rest of this week.

Lord, keep my intentions at the forefront of my thoughts.  Help me keep in step with You.





© ALL ART, PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT PROPERTY OF ELIZABETH DIANNE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, 2008-2024


Sunday, October 20, 2024

A SPECIAL INTIMACY


A SPECIAL INTIMACY


"For those who love Christ and keep his word, there is a special intimacy of love given by the Father. 

And the Father and the Son draw close with unusual fullness and sweetness. And they do so by the Spirit. 

If anyone keeps God’s word — holds fast to it as a treasure, in obedience — he will not quench the Spirit, or grieve the Spirit, but will know the fullness and sweetness of fellowship with the Father and the Son by the Spirit." John Piper

Although I do not agree with absolutely everything John Piper believes, I have recently been led repeatedly to his writings on the Holy Spirit.

His writings seem so sensitive to the Holy Spirit--and that speaks to me.

The above passage written by him held an especially precious meaning to me as I was reading and studying about the Holy Spirit.

I wanted to share it with you.  Here is the link to the full article.

I pray you will glean at least one small morsel of understanding or wisdom from these words and choose to meditate on God's Word.

That is my goal from reading this article--to meditate MORE on God's Word and obey what I feel in my spirit that it is saying to me--really, that He is saying to me.

God, work through me and help me--I can do nothing without YOU.




© ALL ART, PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT PROPERTY OF ELIZABETH DIANNE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, 2008-2024



Saturday, October 19, 2024

How Do I Know If the Holy Spirit Lives In Me?










Icame upon an article today by John Piper that was so enlightening and touching. I wanted you to be touched by it too so I am giving a link here.

I was only a small girl of about 6 years old when my eyes were opened to the light of Jesus Christ but I shall never forget the feeling.

Yes, I was amazed.  Yes, I saw my sin and the fact that I now was aware that God loved me and had provided a way for me to be saved.

At that moment, God was preparing my heart for a short time later when I would actually be asked by a friend to accept Jesus as my Savior.

I accepted the invitation and my life has never been the same since.  I am filled with an awe that I did not even know existed before--an amazing realization that Jesus is my most exquisite treasure and chose through His Holy Spirit to live within me.

What an incredible inheritance I so richly attained--Not by my doing other than believing and receiving.



© ALL ART, PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT PROPERTY OF ELIZABETH DIANNE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, 2008-2024.




Friday, July 26, 2024

They Picked My Flowers


Last night I had a vision--what exactly is a vision--let's see if this qualifies.

I have Covid.  I could not sleep.  I was lying in bed wide awake.  My eyes were wide open.  I was talking to myself to make sure that what I was seeing was real and that I was not dreaming that I was having a vision.

I was in my home--not the home I live in now--not in any home I have ever lived in--but I knew I was at home--I was comfortable--I was looking out the window.

In vivid colors I saw females from every age group, (except children), nationality, and color--They were not really in single file but gave that appearance at times--they were walking slowly by my house picking my beautiful flowers as they passed and putting them either in baskets or in the aprons of their skirts.

There was one lone male, an older man, on a path above them, pushing a cart--I am pretty sure that it was already filled with flowers.  He didn't need to pick mine.   

This was so real--it was like I was experiencing two realities at the same time--something I had never even thought of--let along imagined--the lying there in the bed talking to myself and watching a sampling of the world's women walk past my house pausing ever so slightly at times to pick some of my flowers--

Was this just happenstance or did this happen for a reason?

I tried to analyze--

I kept a blog for years--I am old now--will be 80 in a few short weeks--what do I have left to offer the world?  Anything?  A lot?  Something??

Dreams and visions are all through the Bible?  Why do we have such a hard time accepting that they can be messages from God?

I am praying about this dream vision!  For now, I am interpreting it to mean that I should share my flowers with you--petals of spiritual wisdom that I have learned the hard way too many times--times when I did not obey immediately--and they say to delay obedience is to be disobedient.  Lord, forgive me.  I am still learning at 80.

And what about the man pushing the cart above the path the women were on?  Did He have everything they needed in that one cart?  

© ALL ART, PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT PROPERTY OF ELIZABETH DIANNE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, 2008-2024