Lean on Him

One of the many great gifts that God has given us, in my opinion, is the blessing of music – yet another reason I delight in God.

You could say I’m especially partial to church choirs since I’ve been singing in one since the 1990’s.

I’m a big fan of children’s choirs, so you can imagine my excitement when I heard that Kirk Franklin and Compassion International were teaming up to release a new song.

The single dropped Friday and it’s nothing short of wonderful.

It’s the kind of song that brings tears of joy to my eyes.

Here is Kirk Franklin with Lean on Me (Worldwide Mix) featuring the Compassion Youth Choir . . .

Sponsoring needy children thru Compassion International has been a rewarding experience for us.

We have a boy and a girl both under 12 years old.

It’s been such an enriching experience to be able to communicate our love for them across the globe.

We get to learn about their culture and they learn about ours, but even more importantly, we share the love of Jesus with each other.

These two precious ones are understandably scared of the virus – the origins of which are disturbing and that has so quickly spread throughout the world.

Like the song says, we try to reassure them not to worry and not to fear.

It breaks my heart that, along with growing up in poverty, they are now having to deal with this.

We must lean on Him always.

Praise God that Jesus is coming back and He will deliver us in the Rapture from the worst that’s yet to come.

Naysayers will always be naysayers.

B e l i e v e.

T RU S T.

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Our Exceptional God

There Are Countless Reasons To Delight In God

countless reasons to delight in God

All of you smarties out there – can you name one of the largest numbers in the world?

Waiting, waiting.

Yea, I didn’t guess it either.

It’s a word I’ve never heard of (and I probably couldn’t spell it the first time I heard it!).

Here it is: googolplexian.

Who comes up with these long words?

A googolplexian is a “1” with 100 zeros after it.

100 zeros!

That’s a lot of zeros, and some people will argue that there are even larger numbers than the googolplexian.

Even so, what really makes you think is that, as large as that number is, it doesn’t even come close to the number of reasons we can delight in God.

There are countless reasons!

God created you in the womb as the man or woman that you are.

That’s something to celebrate.

He knew you before you were even born!

Humbling, isn’t it?

One of the reasons I named this blog, “Delight in God,” is because I’m constantly learning new reasons to delight in Him.

What’s the point of good news if you don’t share it with anyone?

You can delight in Him, but have you ever thought about what delights God?

What Delights God?

What is it that delights God in us?

We can only get answers to that in Scripture.

Check out this verse in Proverbs.

What delights God?

Blameless?

Are you blameless?

That’s a pretty tall order because the fact is that we are humans, and anything but perfect.

Blameless doesn’t mean we never sin again. It means to walk with integrity with a commitment to follow through on anything God purposes us to do.

Lukewarm believers? They go to the back of the line.

God is not looking for someone who hems and haws through life.

Sadly, we’re living in a world now where integrity is less important than worldly gain.

We must stand up and stand out against this secular delusion.

The man or woman who commits to embracing God’s truth will have victory with Jesus at the end of our days.

We are imperfect, yes, but we serve a perfect God and He will guide us.

He knows our hearts.

Are we ready to serve Him with integrity? Do our lives, ethics, and morality reflect His glory?

The world is watching.

It’s the integrity of the upright that will guide them. When God knows in your heart that you’re upright and walking in integrity, and you have the integrity to follow through and do it, then here’s the green light. He will guide you accordingly. – Pastor J.D. Farag, Calvary Chapel, Kaneohe.

He is with us every step of the way.

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¹ From Farag, Pastor J.D., “Proverbs.” YouTube video, October 11, 2019. [9:24]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIMx6WuzbTk

Our Exceptional God

Skimming Past The Cubits

When I first became a Christian, I struggled reading through the Old Testament.

The intense battles, the complete brutality of mankind, the rampant idolatry (Sounds a lot like today.)

You know what they say about history – it repeats itself.

I’m completely amazed at God’s long-suffering patience and mercy towards us considering that we, the human race as a whole, continually turn against Him.

There’s a lot of information about those battles to take in, and besides that, there are the “cubits.”

The what-its?

Starting in Genesis, we read about the cubit lengths required for Noah to build the ark. These measurements were precise, per God’s specific instructions.

As mind-boggling as they can sometimes be, a “cubit” is a very real description of measurement used by ancient civilizations.

cubit - ancient measurement

More specifically, a cubit is an ancient measurement of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger. – Ark Encounter, Williamstown, Kentucky.¹

Cubits appear in other Bible books as well.

Sometimes, I got lost in all of those figures. In essence, you could say that in my earlier Bible readings, I ended up skimming past the cubits.

But not now.

There’s nothing in the Bible, including the measurements, that aren’t important and purposeful.

There are many reasons to follow our Sovereign God’s instructions to the “T”, including showing our obedience and reverence to Him.

Delight In His Word

Reading the Bible is not only rewarding, it’s a complete joy for me. Thinking about the treasures in His Word has given me a lot of insight into God’s character.

“We” are His.

Consider the following:

skimming past the cubits

Skimming Past The Cubits No More

If you’re a new believer, my advice to you is to not read through the Old Testament without a Biblical commentary.

There’s a great online, completely free, audio and written commentary from pastor David Guzik that you might like. It’s one of my favorites. His commentary starts at the bottom of the landing page. I’ll link to it right here!

These free resources can help you better understand the sometimes difficult-to-read Bible passages.

You’ll see for yourself the very practical applications for today.

Facing Our Giants

My dream has always been to go to Israel, but in the meantime, I found the next best thing.

There are some excellent Christian teachers who did travel thousands of miles to the Biblical locations where our readings took place.

How cool is that?

Do you remember the account of David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah?

David and Goliath

Please read about this account of true events if you haven’t already.

In 1^st Samuel, Chapter 17, we read that Goliath – the taunting, freakishly tall, giant from the Philistine army – used to call out to the Israelites across the Valley of Elah to dare anyone to fight him.

No one stepped forward except for David (the shepherd boy). He wasn’t a fighter in the traditional sense. Even so, he had a powerful weapon.

He was armed with a few smooth rocks, a sling, but even more importantly, the Lord God was on His side. David conquered that giant with a stone’s throw.

A miracle? You bet!

I thought you might enjoy the following lesson about David and Goliath – taught right in the actual location of the Valley of Elah.

I loved watching this!

Facing our giants may seem impossible, but as Christians we know that, nothing is impossible with God.

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¹ Description of cubit measurement, courtesy of Ark Encounter. n.d. Web. Acccessed July 29, 2021. https://arkencounter.com/noahs-ark/cubit/

Our Exceptional God

The Master Artist’s Gallery

June 22, 2021 Gracie

Always Open – The Master Artist’s Gallery

The Master Artist's Gallery is always open

A few days ago, I woke up, opened the shades, and saw this breathtaking sunrise right outside my window.

I couldn’t help it – I immediately went outside to take a picture in my pajamas, no less!

It’s okay, we have nice neighbors. 🙂

The sunrise was too beautiful to pass up and just go on with my day without thanking God for it.

I will never stop delighting in God and the gifts He has given to our world, including this stunning sunrise.

The Master Artist’s gallery is always open and free to the public.

No waiting in line

No restrictions

All ages welcome

Praise God!

The Master Artist’s Gallery

Someday the “Light of the world” will illuminate us and there will be no need for a sun.

Can you imagine what we will see then?

All of this from God’s loving hand.

God gave us the sun, never to worship but, among other things, allow us to “see” His magnificent creation!

God's gallery of creation

Anyone who has visited my blog for any length of time will know that I sometimes share poetry from other writers.

Louis Gander is one of my favorites. He is so talented that I’m going to share another one of his poems.

Enjoy!

His Painting

Alone, the sun rises
over people unknown.
Although they ignore it,
its sunlight is thrown,
over the river and
through the faint fog,
like lone little flowers
on top a dead log,
growing so freely,
so gentle, so bright –
as God’s great creation
is seen from His light.

Some hovering noises
seem somewhat bizarre,
trespassing nature
from places afar –
while God, the Great Artist
keeps painting His way –
another day passes
just like yesterday.
A bright colored sunset
surrounds a lone loon.
Reflected on water,
His bright crescent moon.

Now stars hold God’s canvas
while brush strokes so grand,
paint wide vivid colors
with love’s perfect hand.
And God – although we
cannot even imagine –
prepares us a place, in
His painting called ‘Heaven’.
So things we see here
will seem dreary and gray,
compared to the next one
that’ll blow us away!

John 14:2
In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.

——-

On a personal note: I was in touch with Louis recently. He’s had some health issues and would really appreciate your prayers.

His gift of writing is a blessing to the world.

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Our Exceptional God

Looking Up

January 11, 2021 Gracie

The Storm Rages But Keep Looking Up

raging storm

Friends – this is a sad post to write.

It’s time to talk about the elephant in the room.

There’s no doubt that the godless are at work and Christianity will also be under attack.

Bottom line: They hate God.

It’s already happening. If you’ve read the Bible, then you know that this was foretold.

Personally, I have read the book of Revelation several times with commentaries from leading theologians and scholars, and it’s a fact, the Bible’s prophecies continue to be played out right before our very eyes.

In the face of continuing horrific violence in the political arena, plus the recent appalling censorship by the internet giants – even through all of this heartbreak, we must keep looking up and pray for His Will to be done.

Wake Up!

This spiritual battle is making worldwide headlines.

Why is God allowing this turmoil?

Here’s just one of the reasons: to WAKE us up.

the battle is real

I pray for many things, but this is what’s really important: Eternal lives are at stake and the Lost need our prayers for their repentance and salvation.

No so-called fact checkers needed: Anyone denying Jesus is headed for an eternity of despair and suffering. Without repentance, his or her fate is sealed.

Ultimately, this isn’t about political differences – that’s just window dressing.

This World is Not Our Home. Keep Looking Up

Sadly, we can expect the lawlessness to increase.

We can also expect the godless to go after every Christian website, social media page, authentic biblical church, and family here in America.

The evil one knows his time is short, so the storms will rage on.

This isn’t the America I grew up in, and I’m so thankful that this world is not my home.

Please pray fervently and get in the Word . . . every day, if you can. I wake up between 4:30 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. every day to read the Bible and/or listen to a Biblical sermon. I urge you to find your best time to do the same.

What we are seeing now is a glimpse of the tribulation to come.

But, we have a Sovereign God Who will never be cancelled.

The Word of God, no matter how much the godless will try to suppress it, has and will last forever.

We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ!

Delight in God

delight in God

Please know that I plan to keep on writing this blog as long as I can.

If it ever mysteriously disappears, know that it is not what I ever wanted. The dark powers-that-be are at work. They have already attacked this blog once. It took weeks, but we finally recovered everything by the grace of God.

The godless may temporarily be able to shut us up, but the good news is to look at the history of our faith. The Word of God has survived thousands of years, and will continue to survive.

Praise the Lord!

There’s always a remnant to keep sharing the gospel.

I urge you to talk to your lost friends and family about salvation (if they would listen) through Jesus.

The time is now.

Reach the world for Christ and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance.

If a church or denomination tries to tell you that the Bible is not true, that there are many ways to heaven, you are listening to false teaching. Find authentic biblical preaching and learn the TRUTH.

I pray for all eyes to be opened to the truth of God’s Word.

I pray for the safety of all of us in the treacherous days ahead.

Heaven = No more death, sin, hatred, violence, viruses and diseases, lies, politics, mainstream media … the list goes on.

How could anyone not want that?

We will have JESUS and eternal JOY.

keep looking up

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Our Exceptional God

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