The Rights of the Land

…
When God ordained ‘a sabbath of solemn rest for the land’, it was a reiteration of the instructions given to Adam in the Garden of Eden – ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it’ (Genesis 1:28). Man was intended to replenish the earth by looking after it, being its lord not its tyrant; sin has made man its tyrant (Romans 8:19). …

~Oswald Chambers, “Biblical Ethics”

Leviticus 25:1-55, Psalm 28:6-9, Proverbs 10:19-21, Mark 6:30-56

Pray About Everything

Psalm 28:1,2

Panic is bad for the natural heart, and it is destructive to the spiritual life. ‘Let not your heart be troubled’ – it is a command. Are we in the habit of constantly requesting, of continually talking to Jesus about everything? Where we go in the time of trial proves what the great underlying power in our lives is.

~Oswald Chambers, “Our Brilliant Heritage”

Today’s Reading – Leviticus 23-24:23; Psalm 28:1-5; Proverbs 10:17-18; Mark 6:1-29

Know What You Should Do – Mark 5:28

Today’s reading (57) is Leviticus 21:1-22:33, Psalm 27:11-14, Proverbs 10:13-16, Mark 5:21-43.

The focus of the devotional is Mark 5:28 and here is an excerpt from the devotional from Oswald Chambers’ book, “Our Brilliant Heritage”:

It is a dangerous thing to refuse to go on knowing. When the Spirit of God has opened your mind by His incoming and you are determining to know more, you will find that external circumstances and internal knowledge go together, and by obedience you begin to fulfill your spiritual destiny. It is a great deal better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice.

Today’s Devotional – What We Should Hate

Leviticus 19:1-20:27, Psalm 27:4-10, Proverbs 10:10-12, Mark 5:1-20.  The devotion is focused on Leviticus 19:17 and an excerpt from Oswald Chambers’ quote from “Biblical Psychology” is this,

“The carnal mind is enmity against God”; what we should hate is this principle that lusts against the Spirit of God and is determined to have our bodies and minds and rule them away from God.

For those Christians who are planning on voting for Obama

Before you place your vote, please take a moment to read this article by Dutch Sheets.

Thank you.

Today’s Devotion*The Theology of Rest

Today I am reading Leviticus 17:1-18:30, Psalm 27:1-3, Proverbs 10:9 and Mark 4:21-41.

Peace in the midst of a storm

First, I would ilke to start off admitting that I have been negligent in my Bible reading. I know that this is something between God and myself, but I really wanted to put it down here as well.

This morning I woke up and something changed. Instead of simply bringing my computer out to the table, I brought it and several books out to the table. I brought my Bible, Shepherd’s Rod 2008, John Paul Jackson’s “Inheriting the Fullness of God’s Names” and “I AM – 365 Names of God”. I also brought out “My Utmost Devotional Bible”. The problem I have with getting into the Word is that I feel like I need to start over at the beginning every time. My devotional Bible has a reading for every day and goes through the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs with a devotion by Oswald Chambers. I have yet to make it though all the way. I get going and then stop. The problem is that when I get to it again, I feel as if I need to start over at the beginning, which discourages me from moving ahead. Today was different. I struggled but decided I would simply move on from the bookmarked point. I’m glad I did.

I have not been feeling well lately. Oh, physically and emotionally I’m fine. I just feel this storm brewing and I know it’s because of the upcoming elections. The media has stirred up so much anger and hatred in the Obama camp that if McCain wins, there’s going to be much unrest. I have been praying for peace to abound in this country, that civil unrest does not occur. But my heart is heavy with the knowledge of how divisive our country has become. The hatred flung back and forth is sickening.

Anyway, this is what I read from Oswald Chambers, taken from reading 55 and originally taken from “Place Help”.

Mark 4:35-41
The incident recorded in Mark 4:35-41 is not an incident in the life of a man, but in the life of God as man. This man asleep in the boat is God incarnate. Jesus had said to the disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side” but when the storm arose, instead of relying upon Him, they failed Him. The actual circumstances were so crushing that their common sense was up in alarm, their panic carried them off their feet, and in terror they awoke Him. When we are in fear, we can do nothing less than pray to God, but our Lord has the right to expect of those who name His Name and have His nature in them an understanding confidence in Him. Instead of that, when we are at our wits’ end we go back to the elementary prayers of those who do not know Him, and prove that we have not the slightest atom of confidence in Him and in His government of the world: He is asleep – the tiller is not in His hand, and we sit down in nervous dread. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in a crisis they are the ones upon whom He can rely. A great point is reached spiritually when we stop worrying God over personal matters or over any matter. God expects of us the one thing that glorifies Him – and that is to remain absolutely confident in Him, remembering what He has said beforehand, and sure that His purposes will be fulfilled.

Now, this is not saying we are not to come to Him with our concerns. But, we are to think on how He has shown Himself strong in our lives before and remember that He will never leave us or forsake us. We are to stand on faith, knowing that He provided before, He will provide again.

So, I will remember that although these are going to be turbulent times, my refuge in in Christ alone. Proverbs 18:10 reminds me that the name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

I know that God is not up in Heaven, pacing back and forth and wringing His hands in worry over what’s going on here. He IS, however, counting on His Church to be praying and interceding for this country and that God’s will be done here and that His Kingdom come. After we have done that, we need to rest in the knowledge that He is in control. And no matter what happens, no matter what ticket this country decides they want in power, God loves us, His Name is a strong tower and the righteous will run to it and be saved. Our Savior is not a political party nor is He the president of the United States. Our Savior is God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

New Project

I have two friends who are expecting little bundles of joy soon so I have put down my Butterfly Garden afghan so I can whip something up for them.

Since one of them may read this (or a very close friend of hers may), I will have to keep quiet about it until I can give it to her. But I’ll put some info about it at my Ravelry site.

Journalism

It’s a long article, but worth the read. I hope more people read this, especially those who blame the Bush Administration for the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mack problems and other issues where the left is blaming the right for their own irresponsible behavior.

Thanks to Tracie for linking to it on Twitter.

“Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?” By Orson Scott Card

Peanut Butter

We went to the beach tonight. Caytie got tar stuck in her hair, so we put peanut butter in it and it came right out. Woot! She’s grateful that she didn’t have to get her hair cut off.

So, besides getting gum out, peanut butter also gets tar out of hair.