Bread and Jam For Oct 3rd weekend

Some times all we have to offer Him is our fragile breath. If that's all you have, He will meet that with all the strength and grace you need. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."




He does hear your prayers and your cries. Hold on to His promises. He will be there to pick you up again when you fall apart. Fall into Him. He will catch you. It's His promise-the promise of a lifetime for us. "...Lo, I am with you even unto the end of the age..."

Bread and Jam 9/24-27

No agenda. Just pure worship. Tell Him who He is to you and how much you love Him. Declare His Holiness and Beauty. His love is beautiful.

Bread and Jam-The Word and Worship September 19th

This week's reflection is focused on the Word of God. He has given us the written Word to guide us in our lives and to hear what is His will for us. He does have a plan and a will for us. We just need to be able to discern what is His voice midst the barage of voices that are in this world. One thing we can count on is that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. (My dad's favorite verse from Hebrews 13:8). The world changes and the "voices" we "hear" change but His Word is constant and reliable.

Jesus is the Word, the living Word. "In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God". John 1:1. Through a relationship with the Living Word, we can understand and obey the written Word. We can know and discern His voice. "My sheep hear my voice, they know Me and they follow Me." John 10:27.

I will write my commandments on your hearts, God tells us.

As you listen to the next two songs, consider your own thoughts on the Word. Do you believe that the Living Word can speak the written word into your heart? Do you believe that you can commune with Him while reading, listening to and singing the Word?

Here's Sara Groves, singing about "The Word." Listen to her and then return for the next video. I promise you will have an awesome time with the Lord if you listen to the words and ask God to allow the Word to dwell richly in your heart.

Do you want a relationship with God? If you have accepted Jesus as the One who can save you from sin and hell, then you have the right to a relationship with Him. It's not a religious thing but a deep, intimate walk with a loving Savior. Make this a prayer. Sing it like a conversation with God. Then be still and listen to what He does speak to you. If you listen, you can hear the still, small voice...maybe not audibly but still strongly and clearly. Word of God speak! I'm listening.

Bread and Jam September 4th, 2009

One of the things I've noticed during times of deep worship is that I feel His presence in a closer way than I do when I'm just singing. He is always with us if we belong to Him. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us and so there is never a time when His presence leaves us; however, at times we are too numb to feel Him by our side because we take for granted all that He has given to us or we become too busy to take time to be still and know that He is God .

Days, months and years go by as we grow in our faith and some how we end up thinking that we're fine. We can take it from here. We don't need His presence. We're strong enough to live the Christian life. We listen to the songs, even sing them, we might also raise our hands once in a while, close our eyes and look religious.But the music is not penetrating our hard rock souls because we're used to it. It's just what we do as Christians. It's a formula or routine. It's not fellowship like He intended it to be.

It is when we draw near unto Him that He draws near to us and we can feel His presence in a new, intimate way. I've never felt it more than when I sing about His Holiness and Worthiness to receive our praise. I have an awareness that He loves to hear His people sing about His holiness. How do I know that? Well, Revelation tells us that there are beings of many sorts standing near the Throne and proclaiming, "Holy is the Lord" and "Worthy is the Lamb" over and over--times infinity. He is the infinite One and the Holy One. None can compare to His Holiness. As you listen to this next clip, don't just view it as a nice song, picture yourself in the courts of Heaven among the heavenly host singing to Him of His Holiness and Worth. Ephesians tells us that we are already seated with Him in the heavenlies. I think this is in part by our communion with Him which is possible only because of His shed blood for our sins.

I pray that watching this video will not just be an experience to remember, although I do hope that it touches you in an unforgettable way. More than this, I pray that it facilitates a time of stirring in your heart and love for your Creator, rekindling the divine romance. I pray that you will say in your heart, "I am my Beloved's and He is mine." I pray that as you worship Him with your whole heart, body and soul, that you will be surrounded by His holiness and feel His presence anew.

Blessings on your weekend worship!

This Week's BREAD AND JAM

As usual, it is time for our weekly worship reflection videos. Both of these songs are filled with Scripture or references to it. That is why I call it "Bread and Jam". It is bread or the Word of God plus good worship music which equals jam!

The first clip is one of my favorites by Hillsongs United Australia and is very invigorating. I love that it calls Jesus the King of Majesty. I picture myself standing with His Majesty; I a lowly human and He, the King of Kings. How unworthy we are to stand with Him and yet, through His great gift of Salvation, we not only stand beside Him but are in divine romance with Him. I love this song!




The second song is new to me but I loved it also. It's much mellower but the message is just as powerful. Take a few minutes and bask in it.

Weekend Worship

This is a great video! This is a few days late as I usually post on Friday night/Saturday for the weekend. I apologize for not posting my usual Sabbath Reflection the past two weeks. Life has been completely packed lately. But my focus hasn't changed. I want to see God's perfect love become our cause and I want to encourage others to worship the God I love. He is the reason for all my endeavors worth speaking about. And that is why I'm posting this video---even though it's peppier than my normal fare, please listen to the message and know my heart. Enjoy!

Sabbath Prayers

These last few weeks I've been on what I call a God journey. I've seen glimpses of His glory everywhere I turn. This week's post for the weekend is one song. "Show Me Your Glory" by Third Day. Being in His presence is life and breath to me. I'm not preaching. But if I was, why not? I have reason to speak of His majesty after what He has done in my life. If only you knew...

To God be the glory and He has much more yet to do.

Worship Reflections

It is time once again. Every Saturday night, I post a worship or musical video to help prepare our hearts for Worship and the Word. This week's focus is on allowing God to take and use us as He sees fit, according to His Will and His Plans.

These videos are great prayers for all of us, especially those with lots of dreams and ambitions. Do you want your will or His will in your life? I'll keep my words few so you can take time to reflect on the great message of these songs.

Here's Chris Sligh singing "Empty Me".




Next is Hillsongs singer, Darlene Zschech singing "The Potter's Hand".

Sabbath Meditations-Fun

Hello, Readers,

I pray that your weekend is off to a great start and that you are preparing to wind down into another week of fulfillment and faithfulness.

As I announced a few weeks ago, I will be taking time on the weekends to draw away from more serious posts on parenting, caring for special needs or adoptive children and issues of education and life. My focus will be instead to develop an oasis where we can renew our faith and not have to think about stressful things but steady our minds upon Him. We all know that there are enough distractions in this world. I could proceed to tell you all the hustle, bustle and stress of my week, but I won't right now.

It is my intention to bring a little peace, rest and sanity to a world that no longer understands the concept of a Sabbath rest. Now, I am not saying anything here about whether or not to celebrate the Sabbath nor when it is appropriate. That is a matter between you and your God.
Nevertheless, the principle of rest is one that the whole world could learn how to practice more.


In past weeks, I've posted peaceful praise videos, psalms meditations and worship chorus videos, knowing that we need the refreshment of being still to know that He is God. This time, however, a different approach was laid on my heart. JOY!

We all know, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." Some of us even know this one, "In His presence is fullness of joy".

While we say that, often our lives are too chaotic to sit in His presence for long and experience JOY but we need it oh, so much! We need it like dry peanut butter needs jelly . We need joy in the face of trials and in the presence of pain.

I have had my share of suffering. (Some one else's share as well or so it seems at times.) Even now, there are struggles that seem to grasp at my ankles in attempt to hold me down. But in the tough times, God always brings me joy-sometimes in the strangest, most unexpected ways. He will whisper to me of things that He is calling me to do in the near future, things that I never thought of months ago and yet that He will guide, provide and enable me to do. (When the time is right and confirmation is given, I will share about this more.)

Meanwhile, I bask in His presence, away from the fiery darts that fly over me (and into His redirecting hands). In His presence is fullness of joy! Lord, You are my portion. You are all I need.

Spending time in His presence doesn't mean we have to sit all sober and stiff and look like we are in great agony of the soul just to communicate with Him.

It can be instant, like a breath and

WHOOSH!

into His presence we go with one prayer, one song from our hearts.

It can be recitation of one verse as we lift up the written and spoken words He has given to us as an offering of praise back to Him. Even as we learn a truth, we acknowledge Him in our hearts as Lord and thank Him for what He is teaching us. We don't always have to feel His presence to know He is here. He is here as He promised, regardless of how we feel. But isn't it even more special when we can feel that He is near? Though the joy does not come from our feelings but from the knowledge of being in His presence, the joy does arrive in us based on our choices too. We can choose to walk in His peace and joy or choose to ignore His everpresence in our lives.
Enough. I'm lecturing. Sorry. On to the post. Today's musical posts are lighter than usual as they include some music for children. We all have a part of us that connects with the childhood ability for trust and joy. Jesus tells us to be like little children-"for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Let's spend the next few minutes to a half hour pretending, if you will, that we are children in His presence. Imagine yourself as one of His thousands of little children, in heaven singing, dancing, praising and laughing in the light of His presence. Instead of the people on the stage in these videos, imagine that you are with them on stage with all of the children and you are all singing to an audience of One.

Enjoy! and please come back afterward to tell me if it blessed you as much as it did me.

So? What do you think?

Sabbath Meditations

Every Saturday night, I slow down the hustle and bustle of the weekend (What? Aren't your weekends busier than the week too?) and take time to reminisce about all that the Lord has done for me. Reflection on who He is and what He is doing as well as just a time of praise and worship with soft music, prepare me for a new week like nothing else can.

This week was no lighter than any other. I spent hours moving furniture, reorganizing book cases and unpacking boxes that had been stuck in the garage since our move (a foot injury kept me down for over 8 weeks). That, of course, led to an overhaul in the garage which is mostly completed but will still have finishing touches over the next few days. In the midst of this, has been church, school (though not much), lots of fun with the kids and loads of writing opportunities.

This evening, we added to the list a new weekly Bible study in the neighborhood with our good friends, Mike and Lisa (names changed to protect the innocent, LOL). We had a wonderful time and felt like it was God ordained so we decided to continue. With Hillsongs music and a line by line study of 1 Corinthians, complete with Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and commentaries, we were sure to have a good thing going. It was just the beginning catalyst I needed for tonight's
after hours pondering.

As I usually do on Saturday nights, I surfed Christian music sites for new songs to sing and listen to. In this effort, I came to a conclusion. This blog is a Christian blog. I do not deny it at all. I'm usually not preachy and don't intend to be every day but I feel this next idea represents more who I am than anything else I could write. For this reason, I've decided that Saturday night or Sunday during the day from now on, I will post inspirational music and videos that reflect my heart's cry to honor God in all I do.

Today's finds are here:


Remembrance of His Presence:





Seeking His guidance and approval: