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.
Those who live at the edge of the earth stand in awe of your wonders. From where the sun sets to where the sun rises, you inspire shouts of joy!
I am blessed here where I live, near the West Shoreline of Florida. I can look out from my lanai and see the splendor of the night sky running to greet me. And when I awaken, the lazy morning sun pours down on me as I listen to the grass grow ~ and I know that all peace reigns in my corner of the world
Thank you, Dear Lord, that you are but a prayer away…that you hear us when we call…and that sometimes, when we are too weak to verbalize a request or statement, you hear us when we are silent, just seeking your presence, just whispering your name. Thank you, Lord, with my heart filled with gratitude.
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him?
or the son of man that You visit him?
You have made him a little lower than the angels
and You have crowned him with glory and honor.”
Yet he was born in a manger to become the man of sorrows
to die for our sins on a cross
on Calvary.
John 10: 14,15
“I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known by my own.
And I lay down My life for My sheep.
John 10: 27,28
My sheep know my voice and they hear Me and they follow Me.
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand…My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”
David wrote in Psalm 8 of his experience as a shepherd and his relationship with the sheep. The sheep were fully dependent on him for their needs and wellbeing. At one point, he said in prayer, ‘Your rod and your staff, they comfort me’. Comfort is that state of wellbeing when one is at peace with oneself. There is a sense of security, a peaceful calm is in the air and one feels completely safe.
The Lord was protecting David as well. David’s sheep sensed calm and security as well. At some level they may have sensed that the shepherd held in his hand the instruments of their safety, the rod and the staff with which to strike the predator and retrieve them if they fell in harm’s way. Since ‘all of us like sheep have gone astray’, we can feel protection beneath the cross of Christ: one short instrument (the horizontal wood-piece, like the rod) and one long instrument (the vertical wood-piece, like the staff) by which Christ struck the predator of our souls, Sin.
Psalm 23: 4 “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”
The long staff – the short rod areinstruments
of protection not of punishment.
Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection
bring us new life and bring a new
song to our hearts.
After 2000 years, the story of God’s love holds strong: it cannot be deleted.
As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.
The more we bow before Him, the more like Him we become. The reason? His Holy Spirit reaches out to our spirit. It is in communion with our God that He surrounds us with His holy presence, His Holy Spirit. What a hope He gives! What a promise is ours! He offers to share His holiness with us. The moment we kneel toward His presence, the moment we close our eyes to worship Him, He comes closer to us. He is always here with us...He wants to come closer. And when we move toward His presence in prayer, with hearts opened and eyes closed, even if we cannot kneel, He sees our efforts. He is there with us. We are not alone. We are like Him. He created us. He welcomes us into His presence, into His holiness, into His rest from our cares.
PRAYER
Thank you Father for Your love, Your promise. Thank You that we may hope in You, that Your sweet presence is ours for the reaching toward You. Thank You that Your presence is our dwelling place, Your provision for those of us who seek to know who You are and who we are in You.
John 13: 35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, that you have love for one another.”
John 15: 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
1st Corinthians 4 :21 “What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod or in love and a Spirit of gentleness?”
Phillipians 4: 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.”
1st John 4: 7 -8 “Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God. and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love.”
1st Peter 4: 7 -8 -9 -10 …”The end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
Ephesians4: 32 “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
DEAR FATHER,
We pray that you will lead us in the way everlasting ~ in Your way, where there is light and love and joy. We pray that the words we speak and the actions we take may model Jesus when He was on the earth, ministering to the multitudes. Please speak through us and minister through us as we are Your vessels on earth until You return to unite us with Yourself and the saints and angels in heaven. Let us care for and show compassion upon those who need a touch from You and bless us as we serve You. Reach Your mighty hand out to the lost and save them so that they may spend eternity with You. May Your Holy Spirit speak love and quiet to them in a world in chaos, in tumultuous times. Grant mercy and peace, Dear Father, in times of turmoil ~ and heal their souls. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
BIBLE VERSE "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands." New Living Translation
And Jesus said...that where I am there you shall be also...
There are old, old, hymns that I remember from my childhood. The choruses go something like this:
THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME (public domain/ author: unknown
This world, this world is not my home.
This world, this world is not my home.
This world is not my resting place.
This world, this world is not my home.
FARTHER ALONG (public domain/author: Brad Parsely
Farther along, we'll know all about it
Farther along, we'll understand why.
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine.
We'll understand it... All... bye and bye.
FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS (public domain/ author: Joseph C. Ludgate
Friendship with Jesus...
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion.
Jesus is a Friend of mine.
I'VE GOT A MANSION OVER THE HILLTOP (public domain/ author: Daniel O'Donnell
I've got a mansion, just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we'll never grow old
And someday yonder We will never more wonder
But walk on streets that are purest gold.
CHANGED IN A TWINKLING OF AN EYE public domain/ author: Fanny Crosby, W.J. Kilpatrick
Changed in a twinkling of an eye
Changed in a twinkling of an eye.
The trumpet shall sound.
The dead shall be raised.
Changed in the twinkling of an eye!
KEEP ME TRUE public domain/ author: unknown
Keep me true, Lord Jesus. Keep me true.
Keep me true, Lord Jesus, Keep me true.
There's a race that I must run...
There are victories to be won.
Give me power, every hour, to be true.
IN THE SWEET BYE AND BYE (public domain)
In the sweet bye and bye
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
In the sweet bye and bye,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
How blessed we are to know that this world is not the end of our soul's existence. The Lord has promised us that our souls wrapped in a new body will live on with Him in Eternity. How sweet, that we can rest on the promise that we are just passing through this life and that this earthly body will one day be transformed 'in a twinkling of an eye.' Our trials on earth will be something similar to an eye-blink, when we reach those heavenly shores. And there will be no sadness, there. Romans 8: 31... We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians 4: 16
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And theus we shall always be with the Lord.
John 14: 2, 3, 6 And Jesus said: In My Father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you shall be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know... I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.
PRAYER: THANK YOU, DEAR FATHER, FOR YOUR WORD THAT LIFTS US HIGH WITH THE HOPE THAT ONE DAY, WE SHALL BE WITH YOU AND SEE YOUR GLORIOUS FACE! ...AND SING AND REJOICE WITH THE ANGELS! WE LOOK FORWARD WITH JOY TO THE DAY WHEN WE WORHSIP YOU FACE TO FACE! WE PRAY THAT YOU WILL KEEP US FAITHFUL AND EVER-WATCHING AND READY FOR YOUR RETURN. PRAISE YOUR GLORIOUS AND MATCHLESS NAME! IN JESUS'S NAME WE PRAY, AMEN.
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