The Sylvr Pen – Page 81 – ……. toward living more fully the life in Christ.

Posted on 2012-07-062013-01-06 by Sylvia

How a Call to Him Becomes Conversation

How God is teaching me He gives all we need, even for prayer and conversation with Him:

Early morning. Groggy from too little sleep, I stumble around the kitchen, stupid.

I pour myself some blessed coffee, and still bleary-eyed, climb the mountain of steps the stairway’s become, settle into my nook.

I need help just waking up!

Call on God!

I even need help with that!

Scanning Call-on-God Psalm verses… What “resonates”? …

Umm. Psalm 121 speaks to me, because it reminds me God never gets sleepy!

But, that’s not a call…

Aha! Here it is! I start reading aloud… and the words become prayer — for just what I need:

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel…

Let Your hand be upon the (wo)man of your right hand,

Upon the (one) You make strong for Yourself.

Then I will not turn back from You.

Revive (me) and (I) will call upon your name” (Ps 80:1,17-18).

Memory verse cards for Psalm 95 lie right at hand. I scoop them up and read their words, aloud…

and find in them an excellent set of prayer guidelines:

“O come, let us sing unto the LORD:

Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,

and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

“For the LORD [is] a great God,

and a great King above all gods.

In his hand [are] the deep places of the earth:

the strength of the hills [is] his also.

The sea [is] his, and he made it:

and his hands formed the dry [land].

O come, let us worship and bow down:

let us kneel before the LORD our maker…”

So. sing. What shall I sing?

Into my mind comes,

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation.

O my soul praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation…”

And its words make me think Psalm 103. I turn to it

“Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits…”

And the words, His words, awaken my spirit, lift and draw my soul to Him in gratitude and praise, as my coffee is waking my body…

But no, that’s hardly true! For the mug sits here beside me, still near full!

Alert now, I tune my heart to hear His words, hear Him, through His scriptures — or messengers — asking, “What do You have to say to me today?”

I “happen to” pick up an ABS booklet lying on the trunk here by my chair, open it to May 24 (because it’s mid-book), and read,

“Heavenly Father, You are the hope of all who seek You, the joy of all who find You. I bow before You.”

Then I read on… a commentary on Romans 11:1-10, about how God kept a remnant of His people during Elijah’s time, but as for the bulk of the nation who pursued idols instead of Him…

“God honored their idolatrous choices by giving them over to, and making them [like] the very image of the gods they worshiped. They became as sleepy, blind, and deaf, as the lifeless images themselves…”

Yes, prayer begun with a call becomes a conversation, with the very God of gods!

Is it not His Spirit that does this? Himself at work in even a fallible and fumbling, initially sleepy heart, now wide awake.

My coffee sits cold in its mug.

*****

Posted on 2012-07-042012-08-19 by Sylvia

Guarding Our Freedom

Yea, Freedom! Shoot off the fireworks! Shout for joy!

But… be careful! Be aware! Be vigilant…

It’s been echoing like fireworks in my mind lately, tugging at my sleeve, demanding my attention—this verse segment that jumped out of 1 Peter 4:3 in my reflective Bible reading:

“For we have spent enough of our past (life)times doing the will of the Gentiles…” (the will of the Gentiles being the will of the earthly-minded, of the flesh-focused, of the world’s way).

And coming right alongside of it to yank at my other sleeve and chime in, this verse:

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1) .

How easy it is just to live casual in freedom won by someone else’s blood and agony! To relax, thoughtless, leave off guarding ourselves, grow all inattentive to our surroundings — and God’s voice — and end up bound and pulled by the world’s towlines, mistaking them for the tugs of our heartstrings.

Asking myself what freedoms I’m forsaking, what lines of this world I might be falling for, I celebrate today the freedom I have in Christ, counting more…

REASONS TO PRAISE HIM

300- The LORD gives freedom to prisoners. Psa 146:7
301- He sets captives free (Luk 4:18; Is 61:1)
302 – He sets at liberty those who are oppressed (Luk 4:18, Is 61:1)
303 -Those who abide in His word, His disciples indeed, know the truth, and that truth makes them free (John 8:31-32).
304 – If the Son makes someone free, (s)he is and shall be free indeed. (John 8:36)
(a repeat) – His “perfect law” gives liberty (James 1:25).
305- His law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2).
306 – He will deliver the creation itself from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:21).
307 -Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty (2Cr 3:17).
308 – This liberty which we have in Christ Jesus is so great that some (false brethren) come in by stealth, secretly, to spy it out, that they might bring us into bondage (Gal 2:4).
(a repeat) It is by the law of liberty that we will be judged Jam 2:12

So let me not forget…

“We have spent enough of our past (life)times doing the will of the Gentiles…” (1 Peter 1:25).

“While they promise… liberty, [false brethren] themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage” 2Pe 2:19 .

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Gal 5:1)

~What strings are likely to sneak up and bind you, tug you and pull you, robbing you of your freedom in Christ? What do you need to safeguard against?

…..

(Numbers above need future adjustment. Some, I think, are repeats.)

*****

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Posted on 2012-07-022012-07-02 by Sylvia

Silent but Speaking

I found it yesterday in an old magazine.

It spoke to me then. It speaks for me now.

Today, a “guest post” of sorts, by Gerhard Tersteegen, eighteenth century man of God:

Allured into the desert,

With God alone, apart,

There spirit meeteth spirit,

There speaketh heart to heart.

Far, far on that untrodden shore,

God’s secret place I find;

Alone I pass the golden door,

The dearest left behind.

There God and I—none other;

Oh, far from men to be!

Nay, midst the crowd and tumult,

Still, Lord, alone with Thee.

Still folded close upon Thy breast,

In field, and mart, and street,

Untroubled in that perfect rest,

That isolation sweet.

O God, Thou art far other

Than men have dreamed and taught,

Unspoken in all language,

Unpictured in all thought.

Thou God art God—he only learns

What that great Name must be,

Whose raptured heart within him burns,

Because he walks with Thee.

Stilled by that wondrous Presence,

That tenderest embrace,

The years of longing over,

Do we behold Thy Face;

We seek no more than Thou hast given,

We ask no vision fair,

Thy precious Blood has opened Heaven,

And we have found Thee there.

O weary souls, draw near Him;

To you I can but bring

One drop of that great ocean,

One blossom of that spring;

Sealed with His kiss, my lips are dumb,

My soul with awe is still;

Let him that is athirst but come,

And freely drink his fill.

—Gerhard Tersteegen

*****

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Posted on 2012-06-302012-07-01 by Sylvia

Scriptures and Snapshots

Scavenging with Scavenger Hunt Sunday‘s prompts: Sunset, Sweet, Hanging Around, Funny Face, and Space. May God be praised through them.

Sunset (/Sunrise?) = From archives. And I’m not sure if this is sunset or sunrise. Anyhow…

From the rising of the sun to its going down

The LORD’s name [is] to be praised.

-Psalm 113:3

Sweet:

How sweet are Your words to my taste,

Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

-Psalm 119:103

Hanging Around (This leaf was lurking in one of the pine branches. Hanging around all winter? Hard to believe, with the weather we had, come spring. But there it is, and where else could it have come from? Leaf way out of season.)

To everything there is a season,

a time for every purpose under heaven.

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Funny Face: Another photo from archives — so I’ve included another shot of our funny face around this place, Katie Kat. Here she is with her brother and partner in crime, Emil (at her left — our right — with the sinister look), appearing suddenly at my second floor study window, just when I least expect it. I must say, it helps keep me awake!

Today’s shot of Katie:

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea,

is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

-James 3:7

(Even these two cats in the yard — sort of.)

Space = Face in Space. Honestly, I just happened to shoot the moon, and this is how it came out. All I did was darken the highlights a little and sharpen the image slightly, so you could see it.

[David’s seed/line] will be established forever like the moon,

the faithful witness in the sky.

-Psalm 89:37

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Posted on 2012-06-292012-06-29 by Sylvia

Dancing with my Prince

It’s Five Minute Friday, and the prompt word is “Dance.”

It is a dance. I see that now. With Prince most beautiful and noble.

He picks me up from the ash heap, dirty Cinderella without the ball gown or glass slippers, only rags and muddy, sooty shoes. No magical pumpkin coach to transport me to His palace on my own. He Himself lifts me up right where I am, right how I am, all bruised and charred and smeared with dirty sin-ders from an ugly little world that’s held me slave and captive.

And He begins the dance.

He leads, I follow, stumbling, but He goes on in gentleness, and my feet gain certainty and sometimes even something of His communicated grace. And as we dance, He draws me closer, and my shyness fades to inner glow, and to my stunned surprise I notice the dirt has fallen from my rags, and they themselves are turning silken, lovely, and the glory of His wondrous self is reflecting off this lost little maid, giving her some of His glistening beauty.

My ankle turns, I stumble. He holds me firm from falling, and my eyes look grateful up to His, and He is smiling into mine and I am overwhelmed with wonder, choked with gratitude, as we dance on toward the palace.

*****

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