Christian worship devotions including prayer, music, poetry by Carol Castagna, formerly of mrsrevvincecastagna. This blogsite offers worship music which is an integral part of worship. These are from utube. I have my own website: http://www.joypsalms.com. But when I proceeded with it, I found that many of you from other countries were not able to access the website. So I began JOY IN JESUS CHRIST on blogspot.
. God bless you as you read.
WE GATHER TOGETHER TO ASK THE LORD'S BLESSINGS - CELTIC WOMEN
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS:
WISHING YOU A BEAUTIFUL THANKSGIVING DAY...
WITH PRAYERS FOR YOU AND ALL THOSE YOU LOVE.
MAY THE LORD BE NEAR. MAY HE BLESS YOU, KEEP YOU SAFE,
WALK WITH YOU AND EMBRACE YOU WITH HIS ABIDING LOVE.
MAY HE UPHOLD YOU IN HIS LOVING ARMS AND SEE YOU THROUGH
ANY AND ALL DIFFICULT MOMENTS.... AND MAY YOU SENSE HIS GLORIOUS
PRESENCE AS YOU SEEK TO WALK IN HIS WILL. MAY HE FILL YOUR LIVES WITH
HIS JOY. GOD BLESS.
Carol Castagna
Joy in Jesus Christ -next entry November 30th 2014
BLESSED ASSURANCE, JESUS IS MINE
BILL and GLORIA GAITHER
Lyrics: Hymns - We Are so Blessed
Artist:
Hymns
Album:
Unknown
Title:
We Are so Blessed
We are so blessed, by the gifts from Your hand We just can't understand why You loved us so much. We are so blessed, we just can't find a way or the words that can say Thank You, Lord, for Your touch.
CHORUS:
When we're empty You fill us 'til we overflow
When we're hungry You feed us, and cause us to know.
We are so blessed, take what we have to bring,
Take it all, everything, Lord, we love you so much.
We are so blessed by the things You have done,
The victories we've won and what You've brought us through.
We are so blessed, take what we have to bring, Take it all everything,
Lord, we bring it to You.
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's
womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Marvelous are Your works. And that my soul knows very well.
verses 15 - 18
My frame was not hidden from You. When I was made in secret and
skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my
substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were
written. The days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of
them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When
I awake, I am still with You.
verses 23- and 24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties: And
see if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.
The Psalmist, in the verses of Psalm 139, is magnifying the Lord! David is
thoroughly overwhelmed by the magnificence fo the Lord! He is counting
the ways in which God is so far above him! He is exclaiming the unsurpassed
works and ways of the Lord! I have enumerated them as follows:
~ God is always with us. We cannot run from Him.
~God knows our thoughts and the path we take.
~God's presence is continually around us.
~God makes the light shine through the darkness.
~God creates the miraculous birthing process beginning from the sperm's union with the egg.
~ God forms every cell and blood vessel and all our body systems in the womb and causes them to function, in utero and after birth.
~ God continually thinks about us.
~ God knows our fears and angst.
~God knows if we are following His leading in our lives.
PRAYER:
Thank You for creating the heavens and earth. Thank You for creating us in Your image. The wisdom of Your ways is perfect, dear Father and we thank You for leading us in Your path of righteousness.
We praise You for thinking of us and caring for us and loving us. Thank you for Your mercy, kindness and grace. You are all we need! You are our Awesome God! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Oh, Lord you have searched me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me; such knowledge is too wonderful for me, to lofty for me to attain.
verses 7- 10
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.
verses 11-12
If I say, surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
PRAYER:
You, Lord, are omnicient, omnipresent, all-knowing and all-powerful. You are majestic in all your ways. You formed the world- the sea and earth and minute forms of life. You formed our bodies, soul and spirit. You, dear Father, know our hearts, our thoughts. You are always near. Who is like You, Lord? No one is like You...and so, we stand in awe of You, our Creator and Redeemer, the Beginning and the End! We love You for loving us enough to send Your only begotten Son to save this lost world from sin and death - on the cross, dying and from the tomb, resurrected! We cannot comprehend such love, Lord but we praise You for Your gift to us! Thank You for Your greatness, Your faithfulness and compassion toward us in these, the last days of this world as we know it. Thank You for Your gracious love to me and all those who open their hearts to You. We wait for Your glorious return. In Jesus' name, Amen.
God' creation of the beauty of seasons has always impacted me: one night I wrote this poem that I would like to share with you...
NIGHT IN SPRING I'm here Lord with You on this starlit night Listening to the ocean roar Watching white waves emerge, mammoth Then quiet.... Flowing, as it were, toward the sand, to sleep I'm surrounded by Your greatness, Lord This vast sea before me The moon wanting only to remain in this moment The wind caressing me gently... In awe, I stand before you Creator of heaven and earth!
I am resolved that in this world Contented I will be.
So many blessings I enjoy That other people don't;
To weep and sigh because I'm blind ..
I cannot and I won't!
At six weeks old, when in need of medical attention for an eye condition, an on-call physician, while her own physician was away, treated her with hot poultices that destroyed her eyesight. It was discovered after the fact, that this practitioner was practicing illegally. After the shock of this occurence and as time went by, however, Fanny's mother wisely went about making sure that Fanny learned self-respect, self-reliance, pride in her accomplishments and passages of poetry from John Milton, a blind poet. Fanny, with her sharp mind, memorized the poems.
Fanny's godly grandmother who lived with the family since she was born, was a key figure in Fanny's life. She walked her through woods with the scent of pine, fields, fresh with daisies and vividly described God's creations to her. She taught Fanny from the Book of Ruth, Psalms, Proverbs, the New Testament as well as reading stories from the Old Testament. Again, Fanny memorized verses from the Bible. It was her grandmother who instilled in her, a will to be content in her compromised situation. At 9 years old, Fanny wrote the above words or resolve in poetry!
So many times, when I heard the music to or read the lyrics of a beautiful hymn for the first time, I thought, to myself: ‘I wonder who wrote that hymn!’ Wouldn't you know it! The writer was Fanny Crosby! She has written the lyrics and/or music to such beautiful songs as, Blessed Assurance, Near the Cross, Draw Me Nearer, Safe In the Arms of Jesus and Rescue the Perishing. Multiple composers sought her talent specifically to write lyrics for their melodies. All in all, she wrote about 6000 songs.
Fanny Crosby attended the New York Institute for the Blind: this was her one dream and a dream realized as well. While there, an outbreak of cholera occured and sadly, some of her classmates died. God's healing hand was upon Fanny, though ~ when she began to experience symptoms, she took the treatment recommended and prayed earnestly that she would be spared... the Lord healed her: she did not develop cholera. After graduation, she was appointed as teacher at the Institute and worked there for 11 years.. At the age of 31, she consecrated her life to the Lord...that is when she began writing gospel hymns and working in missions. She met a blind scholar, Alexander Van Alstune, who was also a teacher: they married and spent 44 years together. Fanny passed at age 94...a life of faith, service, prayer and love for God and humanity ~ well lived.
A stanza from one of her songs:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation - Purchase of God
Born of His Spirit - Washed in His blood
Another song:
Jesus, keep me near the cross, there a precious fountain
Free to all, a healing stream flows from Calvary's mountain
In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever
Till my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.
Fanny Crosby, played by Kathy Eberle; A Musical of Fanny's Life
A quote from the blind song writer, (as she referred to herself) after a minister wished for her that she had been born with sight, among her many other gifts: "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?" "Why?" asked the surprised clergyman. "Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!"
Bibliography: Wholesome Words, Christian Biography Resources
The pastor, the psychologist, the psychiatrist often speak of communication. The prayer to God, the words to a spouse, the verbal venting of one’s frustration are all means of expressing our feelings. Communication takes many forms. The expected result is one of mutual understanding and resolution of one’s needs. The question is always; “how”?
Not long ago, at a local restaurant, I witnessed an elderly couple speak to each other without uttering a word. The look, the gesture, the slight movements of their bodies spoke silent volumes of their mutual affection and pleasure at being together and enjoying a meal. I watched with admiration and wondered about my own ability to communicate as effectively as they did.
My thoughts began to drift away from them - to my own ability to communicate with my husband. What gestures, what words could convey my love as I sat across from him. Do I convey my feelings to the people I love most? I hope so...Either through words, a smile, a look, a hug...I want them to know I care. I think they do.
Then I thought: Do I always convey to my God and Savior the gratitude I feel in my heart for his forgiveness, the new life He gave me? my acknowledgement of His Holy Spirit empowering my life to live for Him? My thoughts~ do they drift as I silently voice my prayer? Do my words carry the conviction and love I feel? Are my words of praise and thanksgiving as rich as I want them to be?
The answer was a resounding y-e-s! Not because of me, though. It is only because of His abundant grace and love toward us! He sees us not as we deserve to be seen but He sees us as new creations in Christ, in our forgiven-by -the-blood-of Jesus state ~ and now filled with His Holy Spirit who teaches and guides us. So, yes: He knows my heart: He knows I am grateful for what He has done for me~ not only on Calvary, which is profound! but also for allowing me to live the blessed life I live today ~ in His strength. So, I can speak my heart's joy and sorrow to Him and He will know what I mean before I whisper the words.
God said: “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear”. Isaiah.65:24.
Psalm 34:15 tells us; “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry”.
Isa.59:1 reminds us that: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear dull that it cannot hear:”
Isaiah 49: 16 And God said, 'I have inscribed your name on the palms of my hands......'
Psalm 42: 8 ...the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime. And in the night His song shall be with me – A prayer to the God of my life. Psalm: 34: 4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
What a wonderful privilege we have when we give our Lord the adoration and thanksgiving He so richly deserves We are blessed upon accepting in His invitation to come to Him. He will give rest to those of us who are burdened and heavy-laden. Paul tells us that he understands our distress because the Holy Spirit communicates to God, our groanings, our longings and all the words we cannot form. (Rom. 8;26-27) …We need not speak a word. Bowing before the Lord with our hearts opened to Him, He meets our needs – right then and there.
So, we learn that our communication with the Lord is spiritual. He knows our hearts; He knows our needs before we speak them. He waits, though, for us to come to Him/to ‘show-up’ as the modern expression goes. :)
PRAYER:
THANK YOU, LORD FOR HEARING US WHEN WE CALL ~ when we whisper or when we but long for the nearness of You. Thank you for all that You have done for us and still want to do. We praise You, Lord for Your power and Your glory...Keep us in Your light and Your path till we see You face to face.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
…As the Spring Rains That Water the Earth, He Will Come to Us Hosea 6:3
Did you ever feel as though the Lord was showering you with His presence? filling you with the nearness and glory of Himself, so real, so true? assuring you that He is with you and that you have nothing to fear? He promises to come to us ‘as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.’ When we give Him thanks, for all He has done for us, for His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, for the blood that He shed for our sins, for His death and resurrection, He rejoices in our realization of His great gift to us. When we thank Him for His daily and nightly protection, for His provision for our welfare, for His love, mercy and grace, He rejoices in our thanksgiving.
What may seem as an enormous request to us, requesting God’s presence, is exactly what the Lord wants to hear from us and do for us! He wants to draw near to us. We need Him. We cannot feel complete without Him. ..that is the way He made us. We are spiritual beings. God is a Spirit and God wants to inhabit us.
Hosea 6:2 ‘As surely as the sun rises, He will appear.’ He will come to us.
PRAYER:
Dear Father, We come to you with open hearts, waiting to receive Your abundant blessing. Fill us with Your awesome presence…let us know that You have come to us, where we are, in our brokenness, in our loneliness…in whatever condition we may be. Let us feel You near. Make us whole and joyful in Your presence. Inhabit Your people. Truly, Dear Lord, we are Your people and we love You for loving us, for welcoming us as Your sons and daughters, for knowing us intimately, the very number of hairs on our heads, for forming us in our mothers’ wombs, for preparing a place for us in heaven with You. Thank You for the blessed assurance of Your sweet presence by the whisper of Your name. Thank You for giving us Your Holy Spirit to comfort us in times of despair. Be our voice when we are without words…Be our Everything for we are lost without You. Thank You that You are but a prayer away. We praise You for Your love and grace and faithfulness.
In Jesus’ holy name, we pray, Amen.
Romans 8: 4 …the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Psalm 120: 1 I call on the Lord in my distress and He answers me.
Isaiah 55: 6 Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.
Hebrews 4: 16 Let us then come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find help in time of need.
The Holy Spirit's infilling in us makes all the difference! Christ's gift, the Comforter, God's Holy Spirit, leads and guides, protects and strengthens us for the day's journey. He directs our words of devotion and praise and leads us in our ministry ~ in prayers of healing, salvation and restoration. He leads us in our writing, in our speaking. He ordains our words with His anointing, thus blessing those we touch through our testimony. He is as close as the whisper of His name and He invites us to live in His presence.
The Lord does not pressure us to meet with Him: He gives us a choice.... He merely extends His hand...and waits for our answer. This is what the Bible refers to as 'the mystery', that God loved us while we were yet, sinners, through His birth, death and resurrection. This message is conveyed to us in the following verse:
Revelations 3: 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. He who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him and dine with him and he with me.
Colassians 1: 26, 27 The mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colassians 3: 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Ephesians 2: 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: It is the gift of God.
Isaiah 1: 18 'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord...'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow.'
John 1: 29 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'
Ephesians: 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus.
1st Peter 2: 9 Declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
PRAYER:
Thank you, dear Father that you love us and long for us to call upon Your glorious name ~ to give comfort,
forgivness, peace, joy. Thank You for Your lovingkindness and mercy and grace (favor toward us) given
so freely to us ~ that we may be called the sons and daughters of the living God. Please help us to see Your
love for us and to acknowledge your reality in our lives. Lead us in the way everlasting. Direct us in a life
lived for You, in Your presence and in Your great love.
Thank you for making a way for us through Your loving Son, Jesus. His blood shed on the cross of Calvary
and His resurrection are our confirmation of that love ~ and we thank You that Your matchless love reaches
us and offers us a life close to You on earth as well as the way to reach eternity with You. We pray that You will
forgive us for whatever we have done that displeases You. Please draw us even nearer to You as the days pass,
that we may become more like You in our walk together. We love you, Lord, and praise You for Your abundant
Hebrews 3: 29 Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
There was always a sacrifice. The sins of the people were so heinous that the Lord required a sacrifice to cover their sins. God is holy. He cannot look upon sin. In Old Testament times, the spilled blood of an animal satisfied the requirement...and then, God forgave His people of their sin. God gave us the ultimate Sacrifice, His Son, Jesus Christ, for our sins, over 2000 years ago. As a result, He can look upon our faces and we can be called the Sons and Daughters of God. We can become one with God, which means, there is reconciliation between God and man: this is the atonement.
Our reality is golden: it is grace-filled. It is God-grace-filled.
Ephesians 2:19 “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and members of the household of God.” Thank you, Lord. You, alone are worthy of our praise.
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's
womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Marvelous are Your works. And that my soul knows very well.
verses 15 - 18
My frame was not hidden from You. When I was made in secret and
skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my
substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were
written. The days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of
them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When
I awake, I am still with You.
verses 23- and 24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties: And
see if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.
The Psalmist, in the verses of Psalm 139, is magnifying the Lord! David is
thoroughly overwhelmed by the magnificence fo the Lord! He is counting
the ways in which God is so far above him! He is exclaiming the unsurpassed
works and ways of the Lord! I have enumerated them as follows:
~ God is always with us. We cannot run from Him.
~God knows our thoughts and the path we take.
~God's presence is continually around us.
~God makes the light shine through the darkness.
~God creates the miraculous birthing process beginning from the sperm's union with the egg.
~ God forms every cell and blood vessel and all our body systems in the womb and causes them to function, in utero and after birth.
~ God continually thinks about us.
~ God knows our fears and angst.
~God knows if we are following His leading in our lives.
PRAYER:
Thank You for creating the heavens and earth. Thank You for creating us in Your image. The wisdom of Your ways is perfect, dear Father and we thank You for leading us in Your path of righteousness.
We praise You for thinking of us and caring for us and loving us. Thank you for Your mercy, kindness and grace. You are all we need! You are our Awesome God! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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