One Who Is My Savior

I Am Not Skilled To Understand

I am not skilled to understand
What God hath willed, what God hath planned;
I only know that at His right hand
Is One Who is my Savior!

I take Him at His word indeed;
“Christ died for sinners”—this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!

That He should leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die,
You count it strange? So once did I,
Before I knew my Savior!

And oh, that He fulfilled may see
The travail of His soul in me,
And with His work contented be,
As I with my dear Savior!

Yea, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this Spring;
That He Who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior!

Dora Greenwell–1873

All His Precepts Are Sure

Psalm 111 (NKJV)

Praise the LORD!

I will praise the LORD with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

The works of the LORD are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.
He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
The LORD is gracious and full of compassion.
He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will ever be mindful of His covenant.
He has declared to His people the power of His works,
In giving them the heritage of the nations.

The works of His hands are verity and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
They stand fast forever and ever,
And are done in truth and uprightness.
He has sent redemption to His people;
He has commanded His covenant forever:
Holy and awesome is His name.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.
His praise endures forever.

Copyright © 2011 by Susan E. Johnson
All rights reserved

The Ten Cannots

In 1916, a minister and outspoken advocate for liberty, William J. H. Boetcker, published a pamphlet entitled “The Ten Cannots”.

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

2.  You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

3. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.

4. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

5. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.

6. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

7. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

9. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Slower Than Molasses In January

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13 (NKJV)

When I am waiting for God to move on my behalf, it sometimes seems like He moves more slowly than molasses in January. The rest of my life, however, races by at breakneck speed and I often feel as if I am on one long, “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride“.  Sometimes, just getting to the end of the day, in one piece, can be a major victory.

It always amazes me that God brings the answers to my prayers at what appears to be the last conceivable moment, thereby averting yet another “disaster.” You would think that after each near miss, I would begin to learn that He is the ultimate in “just in time delivery.” I suppose you could say that since He sees everything in the light of eternity, what looms so large for me on any given day, is barely a “blip” on His time register.

Obviously, I am waiting for God to come through in some major areas in my life. This business of learning to walk in faith and learning to trust Him can sometimes be a bit challenging.  In fact, it is really hard work.

My husband and I have been listening to a sermon series from a pastor that we particularly enjoy. It is called “Thanksgiving Victory.”  The premise of the series is that, while everyone knows it is correct to thank God after He has answered our prayers for a specific need, not many people think to thank God before He has met that need, answered that prayer, or moved on our behalf.

This pastor believes that the essence of faith is thanking God before hand, as evidence that you are trusting in Him to take care of whatever your need is. He maintains that there are only two states in life: you can either be thankful or unthankful. There is no neutral position.  He states that if you are one, you can not possibly be the other at the same time.

Maintaining that mindset of thankfulness takes a lot of effort and persistence–thus the hard work. It would be easy to let fear overwhelm me, let complaining become my mantra, or take my focus off of the Father and place it squarely on the problem.

It is obviously God’s grace, mercy, and love that sustain us all when the world seems at its darkest. As this same pastor has also said, “Jesus is not the Great Cowboy. He won’t drive the herd. He is the Great Shepherd. He leads His sheep.” It is my responsibility to trust Him and follow Him, even when I can’t see any farther than the end of my nose. This also is the essence of faith. I have to have such confidence in His great love, mercy, and goodness that I know He would not lead me into a brick wall for the greatest smash-up of my life.

I do believe, that as the opening verse states, I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Every day.

No exceptions.

“I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD And the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.” Isaiah 63:7 (NKJV)

Copyright © 2011 by Susan E. Johnson
All rights reserved

Hidden Riches In Secret Places

“I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name,  Am the God of Israel.” Isaiah 45:2-3 (NKJV)

Deep Calling To Deep (Edited Lyrics)

In this ocean of my soul
There’s a voice that calls and calls
Calls to You night and day
Using words I can not say
They are
Words of waiting, words of want
Without You, I’m undone.

Calling to deeper love
Calling to higher truth
Calling to anything that leads me
Deeper and farther on with you.

When You hear me on the wind
Hope You pull me closer in
When you see me in the night
Hope You’ll lead me with
Your light
I want to be near You
Want to be known
Want my deep to find its home.

I’m calling
Calling to deeper love
Calling to higher truth
Calling to anything that leads me
Deeper and farther on with You.

By Margaret Becker

“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me. 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 42:7-8 (NKJV)

Blow The Trumpet

Psalm 81 (NKJV)

Sing aloud to God our strength;
Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
Raise a song and strike the timbrel,
The pleasant harp with the lute.

Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon,
At the full moon, on our solemn feast day.
For this is a statute for Israel,
A law of the God of Jacob.
This He established in Joseph as a testimony,
When He went throughout the land of Egypt,
Where I heard a language I did not understand.

“I removed his shoulder from the burden;
His hands were freed from the baskets.
You called in trouble, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.  Selah

“Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you!
O Israel, if you will listen to Me!
There shall be no foreign god among you;
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
I am the LORD your God,
Who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

“But My people would not heed My voice,
And Israel would have none of Me.
So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart,
To walk in their own counsels.

“Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies,
And turn My hand against their adversaries.
The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him,
But their fate would endure forever.
He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat;
And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.”

Church Squirrels

A light-hearted poke at our denominational underpinnings.

Church Squirrels

There were five houses of worship in a small Texas town: the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church , the Catholic Church and the Jewish Synagogue.

Each one was overrun with pesky squirrels.

The elders of the Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn’t interfere with God’s Divine Will.

In the Baptist Church, the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistry and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week

The congregation of the Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creation. So, they humanely trapped the squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.

The priests at the Catholic Church had a more novel approach. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, and Easter.

The Rabbi at the Jewish Synagogue, however, took one squirrel, had a short service called circumcision and they haven’t seen a squirrel on the property since.

Author Unknown

Copyright © 2011 by Susan E. Johnson
All rights reserved

St. Patrick’s Day: Gotta Love The Irish

I don’t have any Irish in my heritage, but I do have a red-headed daughter. I hope that counts for something today.  For all the Irish, a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

******

Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and asks the first man he meets, “Do you want to go to heaven?”

The man said, “I do, Father.”

The priest said, “Then stand over there against the wall.”

Then the priest asked the second man, “Do you want to go to heaven?”

“Certainly, Father,” the man replied. 

“Then stand over there against the wall,” said the priest.

Then Father Murphy walked up to O’Toole and asked, “Do you want to go to heaven?”

O’Toole said, “No, I don’t Father.” 

The priest said, “I don’t believe this.   You mean to tell me that when you die you don’t want to go to heaven?”

O’Toole said, “Oh, when I die, yes.   I thought you were getting a group together to go right now.”

******

Paddy was in  New York .

He was patiently waiting and watching the traffic cop on a busy street crossing.   The cop stopped the flow of traffic and shouted, “Okay, pedestrians.”   Then he’d allow the traffic to pass.

He’d done this several times, and Paddy still stood on the sidewalk.

After the cop had shouted, “Pedestrians!” for the tenth time, Paddy went over to him and said, “Is it not about time ye let the Catholics across?”

******

A Protestant minister, Pastor O’Sullivan, was completing a temperance sermon. With great emphasis he said, “If I had all the beer in the world, I’d take it and pour it into the river.”
 
With even greater emphasis he said, “And if I had all the wine in the world, I’d take it and pour it into the river.”
 
And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he said, “And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I’d take it and pour it into the river.”
 
Sermon complete, he sat down. . .
 
The song leader stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, “For our closing song, let us sing Hymn #365, “Shall We Gather at the River.”

*******

Murphy showed up at Mass one Sunday and the priest almost fell down when he saw him. He’d never been to church in his life. After Mass, the priest caught up with him and said, “Murphy, I am so glad ya decided to come to Mass. What made ya come?”

Murphy said, “I got to be honest with you, Father. A while back, I misplaced me hat and I really, really love that hat. I know that McGlynn had a hat just like mine and I knew he came to church every Sunday. I also knew that he had to take off his hat during Mass and figured he would leave it in the back of church. So, I was going to leave after Communion and steal McGlynn’s hat.”

The priest said, “Well, Murphy, I notice that ya didn’t steal McGlynn’s hat.
What changed your mind?”

Murphy replied, “Well, after I heard your sermon on the 10 Commandments, I decided that I didn’t need to steal McGlynn’s hat after all.”

With a tear in his eye the priest gave Murphy a big smile and said; “After I talked about ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’ ya decided you would rather do without your hat than burn in Hell?”

Murphy slowly shook his head. “No, Father, after ya talked about ‘Thou Shalt
Not Commit Adultery’ I remembered where I left me hat.”

Copyright © 2011 by Susan E. Johnson
All rights reserved

Oh, Taste And See

Psalm 34 (NKJV)

I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

I sought the LORD, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.
The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
The LORD redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.

Copyright © 2011 by Susan E. Johnson
All rights reserved

The Beauty Of A Woman

The Beauty Of A Woman

The beauty of a woman
Is not in the clothes she wears;
the figure that she carries,
Or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
the passion that she shows
And the beauty of a woman
With passing years — only grows.

Author Unknown

Copyright © 2011 by Susan E. Johnson
All rights reserved