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Morning Devotional...

Part 1 of 2 parts:



Time and time again the enemies of God's chosen people threaten to destroy them. In this case, Jerusalem is under threat from the Assyrian army. The
prophets had warned the people over and over again that this was going to happen, but they took no heed.

Now with the Assyrian army on their doorstep the people look for help. When under attack from the Assyrians they looked to Egypt for help. When under
attack from the Egyptians the looked to the Assyrians for help. They would look left and right but never up!

They would load horses with precious gifts and head South hoping to sway the Egyptians to succour them. The Egyptians had more allegiance to Syria than they had to Judah so they would gladly take of their riches, but would fight against rather than fight for the people of God.

The holy men of God had warned the people that their strength was to sit still. They took counsel together and turned their backs on God thinking that they could overcome the enemy in their own strength.

What a graphic picture this is of the rebellious Christian. The enemies of his soul are laying siege to his heart. Enemies like unbelief, pride, envy, greed and lust. Instead of turning to God for help, he tries in his own strength to defeat them. Great clouds of darkness come in upon his soul as he is robbed of the riches given to him by God like peace, hope, faith and love. He takes counsel with his fellows. They can sympathise, as many are in the same condition. The voices of the teachers can be heard in the distance.  Your strength is to sit still! To look to Jesus for help to defeat your
enemies.

We are to sit still in a humble dependence upon God for deliverance. If we trust Him then all will be well. We will have our enemies, we will have our battles but we will always have the victory if our trust is in God. Remember
what was written about Daniel after a night in the lion's den. "So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God."

Because the people of Judah had sought refuge with others and not with Himself; God withdrew His Presence from them and ordered the prophets to
proclaim His anger. Not only were they to cry out to the people but also they were to write it down and make it a public notice so that all could see it. The message from God was that they were a rebellious people, lying
children that would not listen to the Word of God.

These three declarations from God are warnings for the church in all ages.

First He calls them a rebellious people. How often it is the case that God would have us do something for him and we refuse. We rebel against Him. At times we are doing wrong; our conscience warns us to stop; yet we rebel against the warnings. Are you rebelling against God as you read this? Are you hanging on to some precious sin that only you and God know about? He
wants you to surrender that sin to Himself now, in order that His peace and blessing may return to your soul.

He says that they are a lying people. It is strong  language but how many promises have we made to God and fulfilled none of them. We repent of our sin and promise reformation, yet it is not long before we are wallowing in the same mire again! Procrastination is just a deferred lie!

It is so easy for us to put off till tomorrow what we can do today. We live our lives banking on tomorrow, but one day tomorrow will not come. It is time to set our house in order. Today, now! The time has come for us to rededicate our lives to God and to present our bodies living sacrifices unto Him. Time is short let us live for Him today!

Finally, He says that they are a people who refuse to listen to the Word of God. We hear the Gospel preached Sabbath after Sabbath; every service has a
message from god to us. Whenever we open our Bibles, God is speaking to us, yet how often do we listen to what He is saying?

The Jews in this chapter forbid the prophets to speak to them. They did not want to hear the Word of God. They had light but they loved darkness. They were the most privileged people in the world at that time, yet they abused their privileges and turned their backs on God.

When the prophets had preached they had told them of their sins and their wickedness. They pleaded with them to turn back to the Lord but they did not want to hear. They wanted to hear smooth words. Words that would not trouble their consciences.

The prophet Isaiah, having made known to the people that if they put their trust in Egypt, then it would turn to their shame. In the passage that we are considering he tells them of the blessings awaiting all those who put their trust in the Lord.

The Lord is very patient with us. He says that he will wait in order that He may be gracious. What does he mean? Well, when we return and seek His face then we will find Him and He will meet us with mercy. All to often we find ourselves waiting for God to do this or that for us, when all the time God is patiently waiting for us to do His will! When God hears the cry of necessity, when it is most fervent then He will answer it.

How often has that been true in your life and in mine? He never fails us. Daily we murmur and complain about this and that and we petition God for help. We want God to lift up our spirits, to make us feel good and when our prayers are not answered then we feel as though God is against us and we become even more
disconsolate and depressed.

The problem in such cases is not with God, it is with us. We wallow in self-pity and pride. God would have us to walk in holiness but we tamper with sin! When sin has got hold of us then we wonder why we have no
fellowship with God. What sin is lying at your door just now? God wants us to return to Him and do the first works.

Do you remember the joy that you had when first you saw the Lord? What was that joy? It was the nowledge
that all your sins were forgiven. He wants you to know that each day!

That is your strength.

Repent and believe, the message hasn't changed, you have!


Iain Mackenzie

MIEKA~You are so funny.     I love you, y'know?

The Lord is continuing to pour out His blessings on me!
A sister in the Lord called me and asked if I needed/could use some ink for my printer (since I have taken over the job of editing/printing the church bulletins).  She said she'd meet me at the Staples store near me and buy some ink cartridges for me.  I met her, and she ended up buying a Brother MFC-5100C  which is a 5 in 1 copier/printer/fax/scanner/pc fax ... I can't believe it!!  While she was at it, she also purchased extra ink cartridges and 1500 sheets of #24 colored paper for getting the church bulletins printed!  Now all I have to do is figure out how to use this!    I have it installed but need to check some things to find out why I can't print stuff...That will be my joyful chore for tomorrow!    God is so good -- all the time!  This lady mentioned to the manager in Staples that I am a writer ... I haven't written much for a while, but it looks like God it working on that as well.  Stuff just keeps happening and I just keep going with the flow ... I don't know what's around the next corner, but God sure does!      I'll be back later... I'm so glad we heard from Papa John...I know the Lord is holding him in the very hollow of His hand and He will never fail to do the very best for all His kids.  I know that...I have learned it through the years...from many lessons.  God is an AWESOME GOD!

8.30 a.m.

Thank-you Iain.  Your devotional fits perfectly for me today.....I was told yesterday to "pace" myself and I know that for  today, because of how I feel,  my "strength is to sit still".This way I shall renew my strength, and realise afresh my complete dependence on God."I am His delight" but lately I know I have fallen short of this., "Lord I am Truly sorry and repent of all my sins"...........Don't we all, again and again.  What a merciful and longsuffering God., yet indeed as Iain states, there will come a time when it is too late.

Dear Ones let us "trim our lamps" today.

The Lord Bless all.
Jenny.

Jane, Jenny, Pat i am sure you are singing this chorus with me!

Jane Enjoy your new machine,  It is great to have an all in one.

Jenny, read Isaiah 40:30 - 31.  It is one of my favourite passages.  I love to do word studies, and I really enjoyed the study on the word "wait".  

Pat did you enjoy your time with Ruthie?  Did you manage to see Aunt Flo?  She is doing well at 87!

Well I am going to go for now, blessings on all
love JudyB

Mi, you are so funny.  I went to bed last night with a smile on my face.  Thankyou dear Meika.

Iaian Thank you for your devotional.  I continue to pray for your health.

This needs no explaination.

Good mornin' y'all.  That was beautiful, Iain - thank you.  Jane - God knew what you'd need, did He not?  Oh thank Him for giving us things to do and means to do them!  But especially thank Him for making His concern and love known to us!  Mieka - you are something else!  But I don't yet know what!  

Good Morning: Thank you Pat for the devotional this morning.

Jane it is so good to hear your praise reports on your blessings. It reminds me that I have so much to be  thankful for and that Jesus is walking me  "through" each of the little trials in my life. There is nothing too big for God.

Janet you said yesterday that it sure seems like I am going through a lot of stuff. For me that's just life, as long as Jesus is with me the trial are small. they become big when I forget that Jesus is beside me and that He carries me when the burden gets too heavy. "All things work together for good" And God can  turn ANY situation into a good thing.

Last night Gilbert said he had discussed my camera situation with Sarah and they think maybe the photos from my camera would be too big. Well my camera has the capabilities to set the resolution way down so the the photos are small enough for emails , Hopefully he will tell Sarah this and theywill decide on downloading my camera for me. Otherwise I don't know what other solution there is except geting another computer.

Judy B. I know that song. I love that song.

I must get as much done here today as I can, with my new job I will be working 6 days a week with Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off.

Good morning from my foggy world.  I suppose soon the fog will lift and we'll have another sunny day.

Iain, the devotional was very good.  Waiting, trusting, looking to God alone for provision.....being still........this must be one of our greatest tests.

Judy, I know and love that song too.   and that blessings poem you posted is so thought provoking.  I wonder who wrote that?

Marilyn, God can turn all things for good.  I was thinking of your friend, who is losing his house, and just wondering what our Father was up to there.  Some of the things that look like loss are just God's causing us to let go so that we can take the next step into our destiny.  That's easy to write..haha...but being in the thick of it really reveals who we are.  You are trusting God in everything.  I always enjoy reading where you are in this.

Jenny..a very good word for me today.  I pray I will take the time to trim my lamp in truth and trust this day.

Al, Jane....a very good morning to you.

My daughter, Rene, called again last night and they were two hours from their new home in Phoenix.  Those angels all around their U-Haul can take a rest soon.

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If you click on the link in the first post above, you'll be taken to the area where we're all praying for Papa John.  

Well, we're so happy to see that he posted in there this morning himself and I'm going to copy it here for you all to see.

Good Saturday morning,

It is good to be home for a few days.  I have read through all the good thoughts and prayers you have expressed and again I say it is wonderful to have so many Christian friends.

I thank you for your prayers.  I am still very weak.  I did not eat anything from Monday night until yesterday and now I must stay on a clear liquid diet until we go back to the hospital.  They did not let me out of the bed so it is hard for me to walk.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Papa John

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Hi everyone.  Pat, glad to see you had a safe trip home and that you were able to visit with Ruthie.  It sounds like you two must have been quite a pair when you were young (and I imagine you still are  ).

Jane, what a wonderful blessing yesterday.  You had comitted your talents and God provided the means.  Be sure you set that new printer as the default in your Control Panel, but I expect you are well aware of that and the software that came with the new machine probably does that for you.

Marilyn, it sounds like you are going to be working a lot.  How many hours a day will you be there?  Hope the work will not be heavy.

Judyb, appreciated your posting that piece about what blessing we have and it makes one realize how seldom we focus on just how well off we may be and offer our praise to God for his abundance to us and our country.  I am becoming increasingly concerned about the path the USA is taking, and I guess it is happening in many other places, to remove God from everything public.  Everyday we are seeing more and more examples of this.  

Iain, another fine devotional this morning.  Hope this will be a good weekend for you.

We went out to a breakfast buffet this morning with the two friends we often go out to eat with in the evenings.  The Golden Corral has a really fine breakfast buffet and we enjoyed our visit with them as well as the food.  Didn't need to eat any lunch today but tried not to overdo, except maybe for that cinnamon roll, which was so good.  

Hi to Jenny, Mieka, Al and all how come by later.  

5.45 p.m.

JUDY thanks. Yes I love that promise too but there are times when we need to be reminded of it.  Today was one of those times for me.


CHRIS..........I PRAISE GOD FOR YOU.....
               EVERY BLESSING DEAR BROTHER.
I have posted up a reply in "Photographs".  Have desktopped the beautiful picture and scripture which you chose for me....I feel quite special.

PAPA JOHN I am praising God you are home.  I pray for you to regain  your strength very soon.  We missed you so.
               GET WELL SOON
                   PAPA JOHN

Have a blessed Lord's Day everyone.
                 MARANATHA

Jenny.

Well, what meat in today's devotional...

I just went back and re-read it again and this really stood out for me...

QuoteHow often it is the case that God would have us do something for him and we refuse. We rebel against Him. At times we are doing wrong; our conscience warns us to stop; yet we rebel against the warnings. Are you rebelling against God as you read this? Are you hanging on to some precious sin that only you and God know about? He wants you to surrender that sin to Himself now, in order that His peace and blessing may return to your soul.

Are we rebellious?

This is one of those days that the hurrier I am the behinder I get.    Here it is 1:40PM and I am just now posting.  But I uninstalled PSP 8 and re-installed it.  That didn't fix my 'too big' windows on there.  So I emailed Jasc trouble shooters with the problem.  Then I tried to scan.  My pc wouldn't recognize my scanner.  I tried everything I could think to do.  Finally I uninstalled the scanner and re-installed it.  It works now.  Whew!!!!

Mieka ~ Like Al said....you are something else....what, we don't know!  I really liked your clickable!!!

JudyB ~ Actually the Hawaiian language is easy to pronounce.  Only 5 vowels and 12 consonants.  Every letter is pronounced and the consonants are the beginning of a syllable.  The accent is on the second syllable from the last.  Sooooo humuhumunukunukuapuaa is pronouced....are you ready?

hoo moo hoo moo noo koo noo koo ah poo ah ah!

Try it!!

I really liked the little fish that Chris did for Mieka.  You sure are going to be missed, little fish.  Are you sure you have to go?

Karma ~ I recognized your pronouciation of 'menners'.  Ma husbund wus frum Alabammer n fished a lot.  

I have read all the posts and enjoyed them all tremendously!!!

God Bless All of You!!!

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"The refiner is never very far from the mouth of the furnace when his gold is in the fire."

For those of you who remember Victor Oliver, I have posted an update in Prayers after Pat was so ssweet to find the Victor Oliver thread for me.
Prayers are still needed for him and the family.

I have been busy today getting the housework done and going to the store.  I took Bebe out for a ride with me. She loves to ride in the car.

I was so looking forward to working on and posting photos in this months challenge. Now it looks like I am going to miss this month. Still can't download the camera.

I am so disappointed But I ain't gonna let it get me down.

I have also been helping Melvin with getting his resume together via email.

TTYL

Marilyn.  I understand your dissapointment.  I have some wonderful pictures of my kitties and was unable to post them in the pet challenge.  Unfortunately I cannot post any for the others  so I have quit snapping.  My problem is I don't know how to resize the pictures to fit and Heather has been too busy to help.  Life goes on and tomorrow is amother day.  Lets be thankful that we have as much as we do ok sis?

Etta sue  Sounds like baby talk noo?  I could never say that 3 times fast?  how bout you meika, can you?  With my scanner I have had to uninstall and reinstall many times.  Sometimes though all that I need to do is shut down the puter.   If it happens again try that.

Pat Kassie read your last post, It was a good teaching time for me.  Thank you.

Jenny Keep your chin up sis, this too shall pass.  Pastor Dennis has a phrase that you can dwell on.  It came to pass, it didn't come to stay.

John is heading home from Kitchener,  Pray for him his back is giving trouble and he is so very tired.  He has 5 hours of driving ahead of him.

Bye for now.
Love to all JudyB

  Mr Chris, You are wonderful !


I love all the pictures you share on the CP. It is a wonderful to me to see you have this wonderful gift to show the beauty of Gods world and you use it to honor God. I thank you VERY much for my very own picture. It is very kind of you to do this.

Ms Etta Sue, I did like the child on the string too. To swing him and see him clap is too cute.

Ms Marylin, So sad for your troubles with your camera. I know it will work soon. I am excite to see the many pictures when it is fix.

Hi Ms Jenny and Mr Hanna Ms Nita and Ms Judy B  

Hi ms Pat  

Judy, you can send the photos to me as everyone else does.

Actually the pet challenge hasn't been locked so we can still put them in there.

Hi Mieka!

Well, I have some windows open and now they are closed.  Cooling off for the evening now.  I cut Jerry's hair.  He looks like a pealed onion now.....  At least, onion head doesn't have long hair on it.  Really, he looks like Charlie Brown with a new haircut!!  

Now, here it is, time to eat again!!!  

I pray all of you have a great Lord's day tomorrow.

I'm not sure how many of you have been intuitive with regard to some of the ups and downs I have been having.  I really haven't said a lot about them. Now that I am on the medication (anti-depressant) I am doing better and handling those bumps in  the road better. I know that Jesus will always walk me through valleys and that he won't let me get stuck there.

Sometimes those little things seemed like great big mountains to me and my spririts would go zooming down real fast. I would spent sleepless nights in prayer going over and over the same things and not waiting on the Lord to bring me the peace that passes all understanding.

Today when I spoke with my old Pastor he ask how I was doing. I just said good days and bad days. He knows.

Anyway today is a good day much has been accomplished here at home, I have made a big bowl of HOT Salsa to take to the BBQ tomorrow, took my shower and washed my hair. Happydog is asleep at my feet and Bebe on the couch. They don't let me get very far away from them.

My have I been talkative or what?

TTYL

Marilyn, you can get a cable that will let you use your camera.  There are converter cables that hook USB to your camera (or other device) and attach to the serial port of your computer.  I'll check some places on the net and see if what I can find for you.  

Jeanne: I have a cable that cost me $42.00 but the USB end is not small enough to fit my camera. It is regular size. They don't make an adapter for that end. believe me I have checked everywhere and called lots of places. I was using the internal memory I didn't buy any SMD cards. I couldn't afford them at the time. There is also a dock that the camera can sit in but I didn't get that either. It think it is also USB>

Marilyn, you just blew two ideas I had right out the window.    Now that you mention it, I remember that my camera also has that tiny USB connection.  The other thought was for a card reader that uses serial or parallel, but the only one I've found so far is only for Compact Flash cards and even if you had one of the SMD cards it wouldn't fit.    What brand is your camera?  I know you've said but my internal memory didn't retain it.  

Jeanne, do you need to buy more memory?

Yeah, Pat.  Do you know a store that sells some?  

H Hahahahahaha Pat.  She is having a Memory Delay. Which of course we all have from time to time.

I did respond to CP email re: SN. I posted on SN.

Ps Jeanne I sent you and IM But look at my photos and the light will come on.

Hello all!  We went to the air thingy in TN today.  Travis had an absolute blast.  I was afraid the volume of the planes would scare him, but it didn't.  It was really neat, because it wasn't an organize show, just a bunch of pilots getting together and flying.  We could stand just feet away from the ones starting up, and when they would take off, we were, at most, 30 feet away.  Too cool.  Most of them were WWII, Korean, and Vietnam planes.  Nothing really new/modern/flashy.  I'll try to post some shots soon (dpc'ers, ignore them.  hahahah).

Marilyn, I'm glad to see you are "coping."  It is amazing how big things seem when you are depressed.

Mieka, the menner, swam in the sea.  (This is the beginning of a poem, me thinks.  Stay tuned)

Glad you made it home okay Pat.

To the others, thank you for posting.  You make my days.

karmat