"Let there be glory and honor and praises
Glory and honor to Jesus
Glory, honour, glory and honor to Him
Glory, glory and honor to Jesus
Glory, honor, glory and honour to Him
Keep your light shining brightly
As the darkness covers the earth
For a people that walk in darkness
They shall see, they shall see a great light:
Praise the Lord for this new day. It is Friday now, but Sunday is coming. The Lord blessed us with a brilliant day yesterday. We drove to the Triple Cities in the morning on Interstate 81, where the hills and meadows, mountains are beginning to look like Autumn season, enfolding and bringing variegated and multiple colors. Only our Lord God, the author of life and colors, can decorate His earth with full and magnificent colors. Indeed, He makes all things glorious, beautiful, and colorful in His time. We are so blessed to be living in New York, the Empire State, studded with cities, towns, villages, hamlets, and, best of all, filled with farms, ranches, gardens, vineyards, and orchards. The harvest season is unfolding. Praise the Lord for His abundance and magnanimity. His generosity never fails and never ends. It is limitless, new every morning. Alice was busy yesterday in the kitchen, canning tomatoes, making pickles and canning beets. Today she will finish the pickles and make seasonal relishes.
One of our daughters has spent the week at the shore with her family. They love to go for ice cream together, and went a couple of times to a nearby ice cream stand. One day when they were there a sea gull swooped down and stole her ice cream. That day the ice cream parlor replaced her ice cream cone. It happened again on another day, but the shop did not replace the cone the second time. (Personally, I think that the ice cream shop must have a secret deal with the gullsto help them drum up more business.)
We are getting ready for Sunday. Sunday School will meet at 9:30 AM and the worship will commence at 10:30 AM. This is "Back to church Sunday". There will be special music with instruments. We are planning for a special banquet following the worship. The menu will include Lasagna. Roasted Pork, potato salad. green salads, authentic Indian curries, and a plethora of homemade desserts which are decadent yet delicious. Plan to be in the house of the Lord wherever you might be in worship, praise witness and service.
In his book, Growing Deep in the Christian Life, author Chuck Swindoll says the Bible is the authority, the final resting place of our cares, worries, grief, tragedies, sorrows, and surprises. It is the final answer to our questions and our searches. When we turn to the Bible, God’s Holy Word, we find the encouragement to face life again. The Biblical narrative, the events and the living stories, rekindle and reaffirm our faith in a living, dynamic, caring God who has promised never to leave or forsake us. We are amazed at the uplift the Lord brings to our lives. Instead of looking inward, we will begin to look upward into the face of a loving, living Savior and Lord.
In another book by Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, he asks his readers to imagine that they worked for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spent extended times abroad. He tells his trusted employees that while he is gone they are to pay close attention to the business of running the company. He adds that he will send instructions via email and written correspondence. All the parties agree, and he sets off for a couple of years while continually sending messages…some long and some short. After being gone for two years, he returns unexpectedly, strolling up to his company’s building. He discovers the place is in shambles. The exterior façade is cracking. There are weeds in the flower beds, broken glass in the windowframes with some of those boarded. The receptionist at the front desk is dozing; loud, obnoxious music is blaring from the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered financial loss. Within moments of his arrival, he calls for a company meeting of all employees…no exceptions, no excuses and no tardiness. The boss asks, “What happened? Didn’t you get my emails and letters?” His employees say, “Oh, yes, sure. We got all your correspondence. We have them printed and bound into a book. Some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have Correspondence Study every Sunday. You know, those were really great notes to us…very helpful. Swindoll says, “I think the president would then ask, ‘But what did you do about my instructions?' And no doubt, the employees would respond, ‘Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!’” In this pilgrimmage which is at times exciting, at times trying and challenging, the Lord has provided us with His eternal companionship. He has given His written and Living Word.
God will not leave us unattached in life. He has sent His Holy Spirit to stand with us and walk with us in those gray slushy days. He will gives us perseverance and encouragement as He escorts us through the down days, never leaving our side. As Swindoll observed, “Discouragement may be awful, but it is not terminal.”
One of the blessings of this pilgrimmage on earth is that we get to worship the Living and merciful God on a regular basis. We get to encounter Him in personal and corporate worship and celebration. Someone has written, “worship is used as an act of homage or reverence” (W.E. Vine). In my discouragement, I can tell God my feelings and my emotional state of being. He does not laugh, ridicule or make fun of me. Rather, He speaks words of comfort and cheer. When I feel Him or hear Him, I have freedom to respond in absolute silence or a loud shout of praise.
We all have experienced moments when you have been touched by God. It is not magic but God who graces our spirit and heart. Worship connects us to God. Worship lifts our horizons from our burdens, changes our gloom and our perspective, and renews or refreshes our spirits. The good news is that even in the midst of the slush, salvation is still ours. It comes by recognizing who Jesus is in life .
"Let there be glory and honour and praises
Glory and honour to Jesus
Glory, honour, glory and honour to Him
Glory, glory and honour to Jesus
Glory, honour, glory and honour to Him.
In Christ,
Brown
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