Category: Song

Heirs of God

On By vickleaIn Scripture, SongLeave a comment

I have never inherited a great fortune, a big house or anything that was a huge sum. I did inherit about $10,000 from an aunt. It stayed in the bank for a long time until the year 2007 when I decided to use part of it to travel to Spain. As a Spanish teacher for many years, I had dreamed of visiting Spain since I was a junior in college. I was scheduled to go on a “junior year abroad” but my parents had financial problems that year, so it never happened. After graduating from college, I began teaching, got married, had children, moved with the military, etc. You get the idea. Life happened. Then when I got the money from my great-Aunt Eunice, I waited until an appropriate time and my husband and I spent two weeks together in Europe. I was an heir to a relatively small amount of money that allowed me to see dreams fulfilled.

There is another inheritance that I am assured of because I am a child of God. As one commentator pointed out, I don’t get that inheritance until after I die rather than waiting for a relative to die. Jesus already died for me and the inheritance of eternity with Him will occur upon my death. My Heavenly Father has provided for me for eternity, not just for a two week trip or a sum that us quickly used up. The inheritance He provides is for always. It’s hard for my finite mind to fathom such a blessing, but God’s Word is true and over and over He makes the promise that I will be with Him when I die. That’s a promise I can count on and a final dream fulfilled!

Jesus is the reason that I can call God my Father and call myself His heir. Indeed, those of us who know Jesus as Lord and Savior are all His children, all His heirs. It’s such a marvelous thing to contemplate! I didn’t have to try to win His favor, He just gave it. I didn’t have to cajole Him into including me in His Last Will and Testament because it was His plan from the beginning of time. Amazing Grace!

Amazing Grace by Pentatonix

Have a wonderful day and may you rest secure in the promise of our Father’s love for you and in the hope of our eternal home.

Great Is The Lord

On By vickleaIn praise, Scripture, Song1 Comment

Today is a day to worship and praise the Lord. Yes, we can still pray and ask for our needs to be met, but mostly, I want to focus on who God is and how great He is. It is part of His character that often becomes overlooked because I am so busy telling him my problems. Time to just reflect!

We need to tell each other about the great things God has done. In the telling, we are building our own faith as well as that of others.

Yes! Just this verse is enough to focus on for the day!

Great is the Lord by Michael W. Smith

A Child of God

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song1 Comment

Many children, including me, grow up thinking that they were adopted or wishing that they were. When I became a Christian, I had that wish fulfilled. No more wishing to be accepted or loved for who I am. My wish came true just as easily as saying a prayer confessing my sins and asking Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Now, I’m His child!

A CHILD OF GOD

Memorial Day

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song3 Comments

The United States of America was founded on Godly principles. As we celebrate this Memorial Day, I pray that we will remember our roots and thank God that our nation is still free. Problems abound, but God has blessed us with freedom and for that I am grateful. Let’s remember to pray for our nation today.

I lived on many military bases during my husband’s career, and I never ceased to be stirred by the playing of the national anthem every afternoon as the flags were lowered. I will always know that freedom for our nation came at a great cost, with sacrifices of many lives. Let us honor those sacrifices today with our gratitude and our prayers for their loved one left behind.

God Bless America by Kate Smith

Not Perfect Yet

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song2 Comments

I used to sing this song when I was younger, especially with my children and with the children that I taught in various church classes. It has been in my mind a lot lately, so when my devotional this morning led me to the verse below, I decided I needed to share it. It gives me hope because I’m not perfect yet, but He’s still working on me. Like a construction zone in Pennsylvania that seems to be endless, God is still making me into the image that He created me to be.

I have started many projects that I have never finished, but the good news is that God finishes everything He starts and I’m a project that is in the works. You are, too, and that is worth a big “Hallelujah” to the Lord, our Maker, our Creator and the One who finishes what He begins.

Have a wonderful day and may you be blessed with the knowledge that God isn’t finished with you yet, but you’re not what you used to be! Every day is a new day in Him and a day for Him to work on each of us some more! Hallelujah!

My Shelter

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song4 Comments

There are storms all around each of us daily, the storms of life and change and just surviving sometimes. How we react to those storms tells the world a lot about us as a person.

I have had two huge storms circling around me for months. The first was our grandson’s enlistment in the USN and leaving for boot camp. As my husband and I visited with him weekly, the fact that he would depart at the end of April was always at the back of my mind. Then, it happened. Our last lunch. Our final outing with Isaac, and the next day, he left. I have a deep ache in my heart because I miss him, but his leaving moved me closer to my Father in Heaven, the One who knows how deep the pain is and also how change is a part of life.

The other storm is raging around me as the sister who has lived near me for the last two plus decades prepares to move away. Her daughter, my niece, says that she will come to Virginia to get me for visits, but I know it won’t, but I know it won’t be the same. I’m just praying that different will be better. She leaves the end of this month, another departure of someone I’m close to. Again, I run to my shelter, the Lord who never leaves me no matter what changes the storms may bring.

I am hurrying to my shelter each day, many times a day, actually as the grief of separation overwhelms me. I am trusting God to take care of each of them, both Isaac and Ann, in their new places in life. I already know that He has me hidden in His hand, holding me close. When tears threaten to fall, He is comforting me with the promise that He will always be there for me and I will indeed see my loved ones again. I’m sad for those who don’t have this hope, the shelter on whom I depend so much when the storm is raging all around me.

He protects me from the worst of the storm, saves me from its power that could upend my life and grants me the safety and security of being in His presence, calming down my storm-tossed emotions.

My prayer for each of my readers is to know the safety and refuge that comes from being with the Lord. He is dependable and always ready to hold out His hand to help and comfort. His Word is a shelter, too, a tower and shield against all of the depressing thoughts that could come if it were not for His presence. Seek His love, His comfort and His presence and you will find it. He is just there, next to you, waiting for you to call upon Him.

God Is Our Refuge and Strength by Steve Kuban

God bless you today as you seek Him and His solace and strength. For we all face storms, and God is always our shelter from them or through them.

Not Good Enough

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song6 Comments

Part of our message in church yesterday was that we cannot be good enough to save ourselves from eternity in hell. Before I became a Bible-believing, Jesus-confessing Christian, I thought that I was a pretty good person. I didn’t do too many bad things and I generally felt bad and apologized quickly when I did offend someone. I didn’t kill or steal or destroy things, so I thought I was okay. Then, one night when I was alone and reading the Book of John, I was convicted that I am a sinner, saved by grace and that God had to send His Son into the world for die because of my sins. Well, really the whole world’s sins, but He died for me! I discovered almost fifty years ago that I would never be good enough to have a relationship with God without Jesus as my Intercessor.

No matter how much we think that we are doing right, even when we are doing things that we think are for God, we are not good enough to have a relationship with Him without Jesus forming the bridge between us. God established His plan of salvation from the beginning of the world. I am not wise enough to understand how God knew from creation that he would need to send His Son to save us all from our sins, but Genesis 3:15 is called the proto-evangelical verse because in it God says, speaking to the serpent in the garden: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” (MEV) On the day of Jesus’s crucifixion, part of this Scripture came to pass, when Jesus was nailed to the cross. Satan thought he had finally won the war, but Jesus rose again and showed to Satan and all of mankind that the ultimate victory is His. God knew we need a Savior, yet so many are still lost in their sins, thinking that they are good enough and they just want to live their own lives without any “interference” from God. God doesn’t want to interfere in your life, my friends. He wants to bless it beyond what you can ever imagine. Furthermore, He wants to spend eternity with you. But, as the old saying goes, the ball is in your court now. You have to choose to believe that you are not good enough and that you need a Savior to be saved from your sin. Your eternal destiny depends on your own choice, so choose wisely!

God So Loved by We The Kingdom

Have a blessed day and remember to make choices that promote God’s kingdom, not your own.

Hymns

On By vickleaIn Song8 Comments

What is a hymn? I’ve always thought of it as a song from the book in church, one with verses and a chorus. At http://www.dictionary.com, the word hymn is defined as a song or ode praising God. So, the purpose of a hymn is to praise our Lord. Isn’t that wonderful to know on the day called Maundy Thursday? This is the day on which Jesus established the Last Supper with His disciples and washed their feet, leading by example even before He suffered on the cross.

So, the definitions are done, let’s get to some favorite hymns and choruses for Easter.

Crown Him With Many Crowns by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman

This is one of my favorite hymns ever, although not this version because it wasn’t around when I was growing up. I had to learn twenty-five hymns by heart and sing them a cappella to our choir instructor in order to be in the choir at the Presbyterian church I attended with a friend. Sharon, my friend, finished the task right away because she had been attending church for years already. I was new at the whole church thing but I was all in for singing hymns, so I studied and studied, memorizing all of the verses and singing them with all the talent God gave me. I used to have a clear alto voice and sang joyfully and loudly for anyone who cared to listen. Today, my voice cracks, but I still remember fondly the hymns I memorized years ago and many of the words to those songs have given me strength when I needed it. This is one of those hymns.

Here I Am to Worship by Maranatha Music

This is what I would call a chorus, with many repetitive words that are memorable and meaningful. This is one of those songs that was on the screens at various churches I attended, one that I sing to myself sometimes when I am alone and no one except the Lord can hear my feeble attempts at praise. This is special to me because it reminds me to take time to worship God, not just to make petitions to Him, but to really worship Him. It is showing reverent love to the One who created me and who has kept me safe and on the right path all of these years.

How Great Thou Art by George Beverly Shea

If you ever listened to a Billy Graham Crusade, you heard this distinctive voice singing this song because he appeared frequently. I used to be at my grandparents’ house when they watched Billy Graham and you could hear a pin drop during the minutes that Mr. Shea sang this song. He was a favorite of my grandparents and his voice singing this song resonates in my heart still today, bringing back fond memories of Nanny and Pa sitting and quietly listening and probably reflecting on their lives.

I hope that you will feel free to share with me some of your favorite hymns or choruses. There are many more, but these are my top ones, especially for this season of celebrating the Resurrection of our Savior.

May God bless you richly with a song in your heart and peace in your soul.

God Is Watching

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song2 Comments

Do you remember as a child trying to get your parents’ attention when you thought you were doing some great noteworthy feat? I’m not sure I recall my own childhood, but I do remember my children crying out impatiently, “Look at me, mommy! Look what I can do!” With my attention divided between three children, I could not always look on command and I’m sure sometimes I disappointed one of them during their daring attempts to defy gravity.

The times have not changed, nor have the children’s need for attention. Nowadays, though, it is the grandchildren clamoring for my time. “Look, Nanna! Look at me!” They do cartwheels, ride bikes, jump off sofas and build towers, all with my attention riveted on them for as long as I can manage before another child’s cry diverts me.

As children of the Living God, we also clamor for attention. Speaking personally, I know that I am constantly crying out to our Father to look at me and notice what I am doing. Or, conversely, I petulantly accuse Him of not paying attention and allowing bad things to come along in my life and disrupt its flow. Like a demanding child, I want all of God’s attention all of the time. Today’s Scripture verse addresses this conundrum.

God is omnipresent, everywhere at once, watching everyone. I am struck with awe that the Creator of the Universe watches the wicked and the good. So, I pondered that thought this morning. Why would God want to watch the wicked? Because, my friends, He created them, too. They may be making wrong choices, but He loves them and desires them to straighten up and go on the right path, to choose Jesus as their Savior and to enter into a relationship with Him. We don’t need to cry out to God to watch what we are doing because He is always watching. He sees me when I lose my temper and yell at my husband for something thoughtless I think he has done. He sees me when I grumble and complain about small things that have no real importance and won’t matter later. He even sees me when I quickly send up a prayer for His help and then choose to do my own thing. Because He is always watching, God is always aware of what is going on in my life. There is no “Hide and Seek” game with our Lord. We can’t hide from Him one minute and then demand that He pay attention to us and answer our prayers the next. It boggles my mind that God can watch the entire Universe, with all of its diverse people making all kinds of choices every second, and still have time to listen to prayers, calm fears and heal. God is always watching, always waiting for when we truly need Him and in reverence call on Him to come to our aid.

I’m so thankful that God is always watching and even more so that He watches over the wicked, too. For I was once a sinner and now I am saved by His grace. I pray that many more over whom He is watching will seek Him and His free gift of salvation before it is too late for them.

Be blessed today and remember that God right there, watching and waiting to bless you!

In the Garden by Reba McIntyre and the Isaacs