by Pastor Cecil | Jan 26, 2018 | Psalm
Psalm 36:1-3
“For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.”
Robert Robinson who lived from 1735 to 1790, was saved while attending a service conducted by the famous evangelist George Whitefield. Following his conversion he entered the Christian ministry, but like so many, he would lose his fervor for God.
The words of the hymn “Come Thou Fount” were written to express his own need for a closer walk with the Lord. His prayer is that his heart may be re-tuned to be in perfect harmony with the will of God.
In stanza two he speaks of his conversion. The word “Ebenezer” refers to a time and place when he actually received the Lord into his life as personal Savior and Lord. He goes on to remind himself and others that it is necessary to daily remind ourselves what a debt we owe to the Lord for our salvation at His expense.
Come Thou Fount
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount-I’m fixed upon it-mount of Thy redeeming love.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wand’ring heart to Thee;
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
Enjoy this week’s free inspirational video, “Come Thou Fount” from GloryScapes.com by going to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/comethoufount/
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 25, 2018 | Psalm
Psalm 103:1
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.”
Several years ago I had one of those eerie encounters where a friend expressed extreme joy when we unexpectedly bumped into each other at a super store. It seems that someone had passed along the word that I had died. This friend had sincerely believed me to be dead, but here I was ALIVE – AND KICKING!
From time to time I encounter people who deny the existence of God. They seem to have a superior attitude that looks down from the lofty position of their noble wisdom. They claim there is no God, so that makes it true. BEEP!!
We can easily deceive ourselves into concluding that just because we sincerely believe something that makes it so. That is not true in any way, shape, or form. In the spiritual realm we are talking life and death. I mean eternal life or eternal death.
Today’s Scripture pictures the unbeliever as a fool. I can think of no more foolish thing than to deny the existence of God. Not only is it imperative that we believe in God, but we must believe that Jesus came in the flesh and gave His life to save us from sin. We must believe and receive Him as our personal Savior and Lord!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 24, 2018 | Psalm
Psalm 103:1
“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!”
I am captivated by the meaning of words. It’s one of my delights to solve the daily crossword as often as possible. The nuances of words can determine several different meanings. Just as the word bless in the above passage means to affectionately praise, so the term blessed in the beatitudes has more depth of meaning. In the Amplified Bible it is rendered this way: “Blessed — happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous [that is, with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions].”
Many of us are familiar with the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, Jesus introduces a Godly lifestyle. He does this by presenting the Beatitudes. Each of the Beatitudes begins with the phrase, “Blessed are you.”
The concept of blessing has come to hold more meaning to me than ever before. We either bless or curse with our mouths. At times I have talked about how actions speak louder than words. That does not mean we are to be silent—rather we are to speak blessing into situations and then act in the manner that is consistent with our words.
Where do you fit into the concept of blessing? When someone thinks of you, can they honestly consider you a blessing in their life? We need to be a blessing!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 12, 2018 | Psalm
Psalm 33:1-3
“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
Fanny J. Crosby was a tiny woman. She stood under five feet and weighed less than 100 pounds. Because of being maltreated for an eye infection when she was only a few months old, she spent the remainder of her 95 years totally blind.
This tiny dynamo wrote over 8,000 poems and hymns during her lifetime. She composed her poems and hymns entirely in her mind and then dictated them to a stenographer. She was said to be able to work on as many as twelve hymns at once before dictating them all out.
Fanny felt that it was a special gift from God that she should be blind all of her life, and she thanked Him for that gift. She felt that when she arrived in heaven, the first face she desired to gladden her sight would be her precious Savior. It was in 1896 that she wrote the hymn selected for this week.
Praise Him! Praise Him!
1. Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory;
strength and honor give to His holy name!
Like a shepherd Jesus will guard His children,
in His arms He carries them all day long:
Refrain: Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness; praise him! Praise him ever in joyful song!
2. Praise him! Praise him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
For our sins he suffered, and bled and died;
He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him! Hail Him! Jesus the Crucified.
Sound His praises! Jesus who bore our sorrows,
love unbounded, wonderful deep and strong:
Refrain: Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness; praise Him! Praise Him ever in joyful song!
3. Praise Him! praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Heavenly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever;
crown Him! crown Him! Prophet and Priest and King!
Christ is coming! over the world victorious,
power and glory unto the Lord belong.
Refrain: Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness; praise Him! Praise Him ever in joyful song!
To access the free inspirational video for this weeks, as well as other videos, please go to:http://www.gloryscapes.com/praisehimpraisehim
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 10, 2018 | Psalm
Psalm 91:1-2
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
A certain husband once came to my office for marital counseling. His wife had been in earlier and they were requesting that I assist them to restore peace and harmony in their marriage.
The husband was very vocal in blaming his wife as the cause of the problems they were having. He proceeded to share the things he had said and her adverse reactions. He said that he felt she was being unreasonable.
He had just left my office when there was a knock on my door. It was this same husband. He said that as he was leaving he realized that he had left the wrong impression. The words that he had spoken to his wife were accurate, but the inflection he used as he spoke to her gave an entirely different meaning. He confessed that he was wrong. It was soon after the husband’s recognition of his guilt that their marriage became stronger than before.
When you speak and interact with others are you using an inflection that says more than the words themselves? Could you imagine Jesus speaking with the same inflection in His voice?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 9, 2018 | Psalm
Psalm 91:1-2
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’”
I cannot even count the times I have read Psalm 91, but each time I read it a new insight grabs my attention. Actually, there are two words that capture my interest: “dwell” and “trust.”
In the past few years there have been television programs that follow a lone individual as he is dropped into a remote area of the globe and left to survive on his own resources for one week. He is not provided food or water and must make his way on what he can glean from the land in which he has been thrust.
Water is the first essential to be obtained, closely followed by starting a fire and preparing a shelter to protect him from the elements. It is surprising how ingenious these men are in erecting a shelter from the rain, cold, or in some desert areas, the sun. While these make-shift covers may be a place to pause, they are not a place to dwell and rest.
It is tragic that many people go through this life erecting “shelters” that they hope will satisfy. Some of these may even cost millions of dollars, but like every other thing in this world, they are destined to pass away.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
