If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
How to close the back door when he comes inš
Pet commands!
Doomsday Clock
The following new item caught my eye on my webbrowsers newsfeed this morning . Scientists are once again predicting how close we are to death.
The Good Shepherd
Psalm 23 NIV
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his nameās sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
One of the best known Psalms is psalm 23 which is sung at both funerals and weddings, I suppose the reason for it being sung at weddings is the words from verses 3 and 4 where we ask for guidance and in dark times as for comfort from you from the evil one.
Ā
Dream job
What’s your dream job?
I would take any job that didn’t involve machines as I have epilepsy.
The Church will let you down
Jesus will never ler you down.
He is comletely trustworthy.
However, let me be very clear about this, the church will let you down
Your local church and individual Christians will let you down!
My consecration
Earlier today onĀ Bellshill Salvation Army Bandās Facebook pageĀ I shared some devotions. Iād like to share those devotions with you tonight. It was Covenant Sunday at Bellshill Salvation Army on Sunday, where we considered our relationship with God, and our commitment to serving God. Since then I have found myself thinking a lot about the word [ā¦]
My consecration
Colossians 1:27
The buried seed has cracked the ground,
The pilgrimage begun!
The spring ties yellow cords around
The birds bomb scatter-songs of scenes
Where other tiny shoots
Have bubbled into forests green
With waves of foaming roots.
God let me like the flower described
Intent on extra height,
Drink first born Son-shine as prescribed
Pulled up by ropes of light.
Already blood red Pimpernel
You’ve stalled the cart of death
Youāve sacked the guillotine of hell,
And kissed with second breath.
The feathered weft of angelās wings,
Each jewelled head that turns,
The sceptred skies of planet kings,
The hottest star that burns
Are crazy love-laid paving stones
That cross the sin-stretched miles
And scarlet set cement atones
The path that reconciles.
Yet though the black revolt is quelled
And sin’s against the wall.
Fresh caravans of grace are held
As mortal home guards fall.
For ego leads guerillas still
Who plague the second start,
They sabotage and strive to kill
The re-conditioned heart.
Yet ultimately heaven’s keys
Are mine if I persist,
So purer thoughts Iāll trade for these
And pillagers resist.
Past exemplary saints have bled
With lung-stung nailed breath
And trod the lonely path that led
To empathetic death.
They helped complete in frail flesh
The meal of stale bread,
That Jesus, frightened, tasted fresh
And brought-up with the dead.
And when I’ve chewed my portioned crust
Iāll have the eyes to see,
The hope of gloryās simply just
That Jesus lives in me.
(AJB)
Epiphany
Reginald Heber (1783ā1826) wrote Brightest and Best. Heber was Anglican bishop of Calcutta and was by all accounts a good man, standing up for Indian rights and opposing the more obvious defections of imperialism. He focuses only on the magi, poetically describing their exotic gifts in verse 3. The carolās theme is a little like Rossettiās Bleak Midwinter, with its final verse pondering what gifts we moderns might bring to the manger, having reflected on the humble-looking childās cosmic pedigree. Heber uses a little less syrup than Rossetti, noting Godās acceptance of heart-felt worship and humble prayer rather than futile and unwanted physical offerings.
Brightest and Best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
Maker and Monarch and Savior of all!
Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion,
Fragrance of Edom and offerings divine?
Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine?
Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
Vainly with gifts would His favor secure;
Richer by far is the heartās adoration,
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.
Hail the blest morn, when the Great Mediator,
Down from the regions of glory descends;
Shepherds, go worship the babe in the manger.
Lo, for His guard, the bright angel attends.
Brightest and Best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
God Revealed
Penitence
Jeremiah 18Ā New International VersionĀ
At the Potterās House
18Ā This is the word that came to Jeremiah from theĀ Lord:Ā 2Ā āGo down to the potterās house, and there I will give you my message.āĀ 3Ā So I went down to the potterās house, and I saw him working at the wheel.Ā 4Ā But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5Ā Then the word of theĀ LordĀ came to me.Ā 6Ā He said, āCan I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?ā declares theĀ Lord. āLike clayĀ in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,Ā Israel.Ā 7Ā If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,Ā torn down and destroyed,Ā 8Ā and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relentĀ and not inflict on it the disasterĀ I had planned.Ā 9Ā And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be builtĀ up and planted,10Ā and if it does evilĀ in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsiderĀ the good I had intended to do for it.
11Ā āNow therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, āThis is what theĀ Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a planĀ against you. So turnĀ from your evil ways,each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.āĀ 12Ā But they will reply, āItās no use.Ā We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.āā
1.
Kneeling in penitence I make my prayer,
Owning my weaknesses and my despair;
Failure I cannot hide,
Broken my selfish pride,
Pardon thou dost provide,
Pardon declare.
2.
Nothing can I achieve, nothing attain;
He that without thee builds, labours in vain;
Shatter my own design,
Shaping a plan divine,
Come to this heart of mine,
Saviour, again.
3.
Though few the gifts I have that thou canst use,
Make thy demands on me; I’ll not refuse;
Take all there is of me,
Take what I hope to be;
Thy way at last I see,
Thy way I choose.
There is an additional chorus to this song which is not in the video and the words are as follows:
Chorus
Into thy hands, Lord, take me and mould me,
E’en as the potter handles the clay;
Make me a vessel fit for thy service;
Cleanse me and fill me, and use me today.
Christian Devotions, Health and General issues of the day 