Christian Photographers Community

Morning Devotional...


Climb Upward

by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

Source: Streams in the Desert

And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst.
Ezekiel 41:7-7



"Still upward be thine onward course:
For this I pray today;
Still upward as the years go by,
And seasons pass away.

"Still upward in this coming year,
Thy path is all untried;
Still upward may'st thou journey on,
Close by thy Savior's side.

"Still upward e'en though sorrow come,
And trials crush thine heart;
Still upward may they draw thy soul,
With Christ to walk apart.

"Still upward till the day shall break,
And shadows all have flown;
Still upward till in Heaven you wake,
And stand before the throne."

We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem!

Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun. Tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon. Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all thy soul's range of delight. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!
--Spurgeon

"I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I'll pray, till heaven I've found,
Lord, lead me on to higher ground!"

Not many of us are living at our best. We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains. The steepness and ruggedness dismay us, and so we stay in the misty valleys and do not learn the mystery of the hills. We do not know what we lose in our self-indulgence, what glory awaits us if only we had courage for the mountain climb, what blessing we should find if only we would move to the uplands of God. --J. R. M

"Too low they build who build beneath the stars."



This classic devotional is the unabridged edition of Streams in the Desert. This first edition was published in 1925 and the wording is preserved as originally written. Connotations of words may have changed over the years and are not meant to be offensive.

_________________________

This devotional is freely distributed by Back To The Bible.

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Grrrrrrrrr! You always do this to me Pat. At ten o'clock at night. :P Oh well, Happy Birthday Angel Eyez. Well we are going to get rain/snow tonight. :)  Thats a good thing, Arizona needs the moisture. Great devotional this evening Pat, thanks.

Bob
Genesis 26:29 That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD

I'd throw you a party, but what if you don't catch it?   ::)  :P   ;D  Have a good one, Angel.

Well I am still up, the pain is too much tonight. I don't want to but, I think I am going to have to take my morphine. YUCK!! I hate taking that stuff. :'(

Dear Pat -

There are two other books that I read every day alongside my Bible. One is 'Streams in the Desert' - Volume One (this is the one quoted in todays NEM) and also 'Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith' by C.H.Spurgeon.

My habit is to read my Bible cover to cover from Genesis to Revelation but I do not lay down a specific 'amount' to read. There may be days when I will read a chapter and other days I may read a whole book e.g. Jonah.

There may be other times, perhaps when I cannot concentrate as well as I would like and I will only read one verse. I memorise that verse and I meditate on it all that day long. I have learned more about my Saviour and His dealings with me by doing this than I have when I set myself 'targets' of reading a chapter a day.

When I did things that way, I often found that I had finished reading and I couldn't remember a thing that I had read!! What good was it doing me?

Answer - No good whatsover.

I must say that I enjoyed this quote that Chris inserted yesterday from Mr Tozer :-

"Lord, today I renew the vow I made many years ago to serve You
unreservedly. I'm often pulled in other directions, but keep me
focused and faithful, undeterred and undefiled. In Jesus' name,
Amen."

Every blessing to you all

Your brother in Christ

Iain

I so enjoyed the devotional, Pat, and the comments by you, Iain.

Each of us has a special devotional to take us throughout the day and I still have my mother's book, Streams in the Desert.  I read from Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest along with the Bible reading daily.  I want to try and memorize a verse each week this year.  This is my weakest area.  Maybe if I sing the verse it will be easier because I can remember words in songs better than Bible verses.   ;)

A wonderful and blessed day to all :)

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Hello All,
This is my first morning to come to NEM as i just joined this past weekend.  Unfortantly i will not be able to post here to much as today i will be leaving for australia.  I work on an offshore drilling rig in the bass stright off the southern coast of aussy. 

As far as other books besides the bible that i read, well right now i am reading "a case for the Christ" but as for daily reading i read from a devotional mag "Stand Firm". 

Well i need to get off the computer and get heading to the airport.  Once i am at work i can participate some here at the website, but i am limited to what i can upload as in pictures so i might be about a month before i can get really active.

God Bless all
Nate

TBEAR I know what you mean about warning. The whole state of Arizona, except for Yuma county is under a warning. Flash flood, snow, and 2 winter advisories.

Yes I am still up, I think I will be heading off to bed, after the sun ??? is up today. I'm tired but can't sleep cause of pain. I am looking at it though as a test from the Lord. I know the Lord, wouldn't test us more then we can stand.

Bob

Edited to add;
Nate I will say a prayer for you. For a safe trip, down to Aussie land.

Nate - safe passage brother - (Exodus Chapter 23 Verse 20)

Bob - the pain you are suffering just is what your loving heavenly Father is using to draw you ever closer to Himself. His ways and His thoughts are higher than ours and there are many things that we cannot understand. Our duty dear brother is to trust, even when we feel 'at the end of our tether'.

I pray that He will give you rest for body and soul and that you will enjoy songs in the night.

LOL

Your brother in Christ

Iain

Kathy - singing is a great way to learn. As kids we learned to sing and recite all the Psalms. It may seem like a lot but when you are singing them every week as part of your worship it is easy.

My Romanian friends have paraphrased Paul's Epistles and they sing them as hymns in their worship. Wish we in Scotland were are powerful in our singing as those in Romania.

well I made it safely Home. I was a bit late getting Home as the plane was late leaving Chicage, But really Thank God for that, as I made the connection and also had time to get a bite to eat. My luggage didn't get put on the plane with Mre from Dodge however and wasn't in Syracuse with Me either. the airline is supposed to deliver it today hopefully.

January 3   

Personal Life: Face Down, Listening

Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: "As for
Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of
many nations."
--Genesis 17:3-4

The Scriptures declare, "Abram fell on his face" as the Lord talked
with him (Genesis 17:3). Abraham was reverent and submissive.
Probably there is no better picture anywhere in the Bible of the
right place for mankind and the right place for God. God was on His
throne speaking, and Abraham was on his face listening!

Where God and man are in relationship, this must be the ideal. God
must be the communicator, and man must be in the listening, obeying
attitude. If men and women are not willing to assume this listening
attitude, there will be no meeting with God in living, personal
experience....

Yes, Abraham was lying face down in humility and reverence,
overcome with awe in this encounter with God. He knew that he was
surrounded by the world's greatest mystery. The presence of this
One who fills all things was pressing in upon him, rising above
him, defeating him, taking away his natural self-confidence. God
was overwhelming him and yet inviting and calling him, pleading
with him and promising him a great future as a friend of God! 
Men Who Met God, 21-22.

"In this fast-paced, busy life, Lord, we don't spend nearly
enough time face down before You. Tozer talks of lying flat on
his face in his study in prayer; draw me to this position of
humility and reverence more often this year, I pray. Amen."

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Thank you Chris: I have been told by the Lord on more than one occassion when praying at the church to  get on my face and humble myself before the Lord. Twice I ignored that command and immediately felt  like a disobedient child and felt the spirit leave. Since that time I have heeded those words and laid on my face before the altar and had the most wondeful communication with my Lord.

Those times when I wasn't obedient my excuse was "what would the others think,? would they think I was showing off and trying to be something I wasn't? I was so convicted yet I felt embarrased.  I felt a sense of loss when the Lord left my side. I felt like He had turned away from me and wasn't listening anymore. 

The moral of this is that when we hear the voice of God telling us to do something, we need not care what others may think or say but just be obdient and do what He tells us to do.

All that said y-all have a great day.

TTYL

Ediit  Iain so good to see you posting again.

Good morning everyone.  It is hard to realize that here we are beginning a new year, 2005.  It seems like we were just beginning to be in the habit of writing 2004 and now we have to change it to 2005.  It reminds us of how short our lifetime is.

Ps 90:10  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.  (KJV)

Ps 90:10  The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. (NIV)

--- Papa John          <;D)))><<   
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          John,I am so glad you made it home even though I'd rather of kept you here,I guess the best things have to end sometime but we won't soon forget our time we spent together and we can start ploanning for more.I fixed it now so it will reply in my name and not yours also ,so I did something right and I did it w/o you! ha,ha,I Love you and miss you ,hope to talk to you soon,Beth

Yes, it is already the third day of a new year!  And only the Father knows what this year holds, so I will trust in Him and leave it in His hands.

John, good to hear you made it home safely, and I hope your luggage catches up with you today.  Beth, don't go out on the ramp today---it is covered in ice!

About the family who came by the church wanting household stuff---the man attended the morning service (I was told this last night) and he said they had received most of the things they need, except for pots and pans.  This is a small church, but what big hearts!  And we know that if you give as unto the Lord, that is what matters.

It was good to get back in the water for our swim this morning, and I am thinking of adding some gym work, too, because weight-bearing exercises are needed to burn off the pounds.

I need to get busy around here, see you later!  Good to see Iain, Papa John, Marilyn, OK Bob, Beth, John, Chris, Nate, TBear, Kathy and Jane already this morning!  This is looking to be a good day here in CP!   :D

Hi everyone.  It is almost lunch time.  After coffee this morning I went to the "Y" and walked.  While I didn't have any angina today the walking left me pretty tired so will probably rest awhile this afternoon.  Fortunately I don't have anything else that requires me to go out today.  I will watch the bowl game tonight.  It was so foggy there this morning that I could hardly see to drive.  Fortunately it is warm and suppose to stay that way the rest of the week.

John, glad to see you made it home safely, if a bit late.  Hope your baggage arrives today.

Bob, certainly sorry to read of your severe pain and hope you are experiencing relief from it today.  I know that continual pain is so debilitating (as I am sure Beth and a number of others here can affirm).  Hope you will be able to get some restful sleep today. 

Janet and Marilyn, glad to hear that your churchs have selected new pastors.  Our new pastor will be in the office today for the first time and preach in all of the services next Sunday.  There is a reception for he and his family following our last service Sunday.

Papa John, this will be my third year of reading through the Bible.  I started anew this morning and am using the One Year Chronological Bible which has arranged the scripture in the order the events actually occurered.  I used this a few years ago and liked it.  The plan I used last year had you read from different sections of the Bible, such a Psalms, the Gospels, the Epistles, etc., each week and I don't think I want to use that plan again as it seemed rather disjointed.  Iain, I liked what you wrote about your approach to the reading and could relate to some of the concerns you expressed.  This year I am going to use the little book of devotionals by Billy Graham that I received as a gift for Christmas as well as other readings.

Nate, great to see you posting.  Do you return to the States every 28 days or were you just here for the holidays?  That would certainly be a long trip every 28 days.  I look forward to seeing your photos when you are able to post them.

Tbear and Bob, sure hope you all don't experience flooding.  Are you situated where your homes are safe from flooding? 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANGEL EYEZ!!!

Just a suggestion for those of you who post later in the evening.  After you compose your message and before you post it quickly highlight it and do a copy.  This will put it on your clipboard and if you get caught in the old NEM being locked you can quickly go to the new one and then just use the paste function.  I will often do this before posting (even in the middle of the day) when I have spent considerable time preparing the posting just in case something happens.  It is easy and works very well.

Guess I had better get some lunch.  My wife went to the Senior Center early this morning and then will meet several other ladies and attend a movie this afternoon.  I am so happy to see her feeling up to doing this.

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Hello Everyone...

Yes, it's already the 3rd day of 2005 and my how time flies!


I've decided to try to take a photo each day of 2005.

I wonder if anyone else would like to join me.

We could open a topic in our Photos Area and post our daily photo.  We could critique each others photos as well and maybe through this little project we could all improve our photo taking.

Anyone interested?



We also have a few folks who are members on this site who experience debilitating pain almost 24 hours a day.  This might be from an injury or from some other physical state and my heart goes out to them and I've decided that in my private prayer time, I'm going to be praying for these folks especially.  A few that I might mention here are Iain, Bob, Tom, Beth...  And I know that there are others. 


We also I'm sure have some of our members who are experiencing personal heartbreak and heartaches and the Lord knows who they are.  Let's pray for our members who are going through a difficult time in their lives right now that they will feel the Lord's presence in their life.  Let's pray that they will give their burdens to our Heavenly Father who has promised to carry them for us.

Have a look when you have a few minutes in our Prayer and Praise area and you'll see many Prayer Requests from our members.  ( Prayer & Praise (http://christianphotographers.com/community/index.php?board=3.0) )

Larry, I have used the Chronological Bible several years and liked it very much.  Legard Smith who compiled it and wrote the little introductions to the various sections is a personal friend of ours.  We stayed in his cottage in England several times.  We are using the same plan this year, just reading straight through.

Marilyn, you are right.  Too often we think of what people think or what people would say.  We should obey God whatever the circumstances
John 12:42-43  Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.  (NIV)

--- Papa John             
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Just thought that maybe you might all like to click on ALBERTO's name and drop him a PM and let him know that we'd like to hear from him in New Every Morning.

He's located in Africa and it would be so nice to have a person from that area posting every day.

How about it?

I read daily from my 'Best Stories of the Bible' that you read several verses and then they have a question about those verses and tells how you can apply them to your life today.  I used these when I was posting the NEM for Janet while she was in Thailand.  I also read a verse a day from a list of 365 verses.  I also use 'The Daily Bread' and 'The Upper Room'.  And starting yesterday, my church gave us a daily devotion to read and answer 3 questions.  I love it all.

I started late today.  I slept until 9:30 a.m.  I had better stop that because I will have my night's and day's reversed if I don't watch out.  But it is rainy, gloomy weather so a great day to sleep in.  But I do need to get out and get some groceries somewhere today. 

<:)) ))><<~~>  <:)) ))><<~~<  <:)) ))><<~~<  <:)) ))><<~~<  <:)) ))><<~~<
"Loving wisely comes from making up both my heart and mind."

Well I'm exausted enough to try and get some sleep.  You all have a nice one, I'll see y'all later on today.

Bob

Quote from: Bob is okay on January 03, 2005, 01:26:05 PM
Well I'm exausted enough to try and get some sleep. You all have a nice one, I'll see y'all later on today.

Bob

Hi dear Bob...  I'm praying that you'll receive some much needed sleep and I'm looking forward to fellowship with you later on.

Hi everyone...

We've been busy since we've been back in the states.  Visiting family, doing a little travelling between Missouri and Tennessee.  And going to the Doctor's office.  Melanie (my wife) has been having some pretty bad back pain for a couple of months.  The doctor originally gave her some steroids to try to bring down the swelling, but they didn't work.  Yesterday went in for an MRI, and she has a 'small herniated disk.'  We go to the neurosergeon tomorrow to see about surgery date.  We were scheduled to fly back home (to Belarus) on the 8th, but it seems like that will not happen, so pray that we'll be able to talk with the airlines about changing our dates, and that they'll be lenient and not charge us an arm and a leg about it... 

Blessings,
Mike

Well here it is Jan the 3rd and this is the first time I have been online since the 28th!  We had a power outage and When the lights went out I heard a loud POP.  What an ominous sound that was.  Well I have had the modem replaced and have my puter back.  A friend did the work and the cost was negligable.

Happy New Year Everyone.  I missed the time to post this greeting, but better late than never.

We have a new family member.  Her name is Dana and she is of the four foot variety.  She is the sweetest little (8 weeks old) gal that I have seen for a long time.  And she is very quick to learn.  Not quite potty trained, but learning fast.

We had a good Christmas and New Years day.  John was home on New Years Day for the first time in years.  Our feeling is that he epects Christmas off so willingly gives up New Years for those who want it off.

Well Time to close and again Happy New Year

Judy and John

Hi Judy...  I wondered what had happened not hearing from you.

Glad all is well now.

Quote from: Skief on January 03, 2005, 03:01:41 PM
Hi everyone...

We've been busy since we've been back in the states. Visiting family, doing a little travelling between Missouri and Tennessee. And going to the Doctor's office. Melanie (my wife) has been having some pretty bad back pain for a couple of months. The doctor originally gave her some steroids to try to bring down the swelling, but they didn't work. Yesterday went in for an MRI, and she has a 'small herniated disk.' We go to the neurosergeon tomorrow to see about surgery date. We were scheduled to fly back home (to Belarus) on the 8th, but it seems like that will not happen, so pray that we'll be able to talk with the airlines about changing our dates, and that they'll be lenient and not charge us an arm and a leg about it...

Blessings,
Mike

Mike, I'm so sorry about Melanie and I definitely will be praying that the airlines will be lenient with you.  Surely if you have a doctor's letter, that will help?

Hi, friends,

Well, today started out with lots of pain, but as the day went by, the pain receded somewhat. At any rate, I shut down and left work at 4:30 - almost unheard of for me, but was too exhausted from the pain to continue.

Hopefully the doctors can find relief for me before too long.

Y'all have a good  day.

Ruth Ann

Praying for you, Ruth Ann.  I'm so sorry.

:'(

Here are some good words...






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Hello Everyone
I have had a pretty busy day getting back into the normal routine with the kids returning and running back and forth to the school.  It was a nice break though and I do feel well rested.  Besides the bible I read a book called the Power of a Praying Woman and as a church we are beginning to read the Purpose Driven Life.  Like you Kathy I find it a little difficult to memorize verses for the bible but yet I can rember the words to songs very quickly.  So maybe we do need to start singing them.
Last night I was up quite late with a couple of friends who were asking a lot of questions about Christianity.  Which I love having the opportunity to witness to others but sometimes with these 2 girls in particular it seems that it is more about wanting to try and stump me or disproove or debate me rather than a geniune desire to know God.  They love to try and challenge issues with me from homosexuality to Christ's return and even to the foods I eat.  My one friend said to me last night how can I call myself a true Christian when I sometimes eat food that I know is bad for me even though the bible tells us that we should treat our bodies as a temple.  She feels that if I were a true Christian than I would not be comitting this same sin time and time again.  I told her that as Christian's we do still stumble sometimes and that none of us are ever perfect but she feels that is a "cop out"  and that did not satisfy her.  Of course with what has happened in Asia she questions why God would not intervene, why would he allow so many to die.   I have given her some material to read on God and suffering and so hopefully she can get some answers there. I was shocked to hear the other friend say that she believes this is God doing some population control and reducing the numbers.  These two girls names are Jennifer and Colleen.  Colleen is the one who asks me questions a lot more frequently.  She says she believes in God but does think that our free will is what is most important in life and we should have to be thinking and following God at all times.  She has been living with a man for three years and has a child by him.  She sees nothing wrong with the fact that are not married as far as she is concerned they are married.  As far as Jennifer goes she really does not have much of a faith at all.  I would really appreciate any feedback or help with this and certainly they do need our prayers.
Well that's all for now, I think this is the longest post I have ever done. 
Also I meant to mention before because I don't think I ever said, I am from Brampton Ontario.
Blessings, Carrie     

I was just re-reading my post there and I need to correct myself.  My friend Colleen feels that are free will is what is most important in life and that we should NOT have to constantly feel like we need to be living for God.  (I had said should, insted of SHOULD NOT)

Quote from: Pat Scott on January 03, 2005, 02:26:37 PM

Quote from: Bob is okay on January 03, 2005, 01:26:05 PM
Well I'm exausted enough to try and get some sleep. You all have a nice one, I'll see y'all later on today.

Bob

Hi dear Bob...  I'm praying that you'll receive some much needed sleep and I'm looking forward to fellowship with you later on.

Thank you Pat, I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep.

I was just talking to my X BIL on IM and found out that an old friend of my younger years has suddenely passed away from a stroke. He had been feeling good yesterday. My BIL had just come from the hospital and IM'ed  me to tell me. We all grew up together The man's wife and I with backyards touching and playing together as children.
It sure is hard when old friends  go without salvation. I don't know if he was saved or not, he was catholic but I don't think he had been in church in 40 years except to funerals.

TTYL

Hi all!  I started back to work today, begrudgingly.  I am thankful to have a job with supervisors who are basically letting me choose when to start my maternity leave (right now it is planned for 1/31, but I can stop work earlier if I want) and when to go back to work.

I feel really fat, tired, and pregnant <grin> so I think I will head to bed.

Take care ya'll,a nd maybe I'll be in tomorrow.

Time to lock the door.

CLICK HERE (http://christianphotographers.com/community/index.php?topic=3942.0)


Great to see you posting, Carrie.

Glad you got some sleep, Bob!  But 2 hours is definitely not enough.