In our Psalm 23 study group one gal suggested we watch this documentary. It is fantastic. Besides the opening scenes are shot in St. Andrews, Scotland where Bob went to school for a year!! Please make time to watch it. An interesting challenge to genuine Christianity and the priests and religious who serve the sheep. The documentary has humor, beauty, wisdom and far reaching thoughts for each of us.
I love when the monk says, “I am a sinner. But not only that, I am a beloved sinner.” Rich wisdom in this short documentary. Imagine if we each were to slow down enough to really get to know our fellow sheep? Do you know the people in your small group beyond superficial greetings?
I challenge you for the next month to slow down to God’s speed and discover what He has for you there!
I pray for Brandon Lake often. He is such an anointed servant of God. His message is always pure and based on God’s Word. He needs our prayers. We have seen other talented servants like him snatched from life before their time. So please pray for Brandon and his family that the Lord will protect them from every work of the enemy.
You can see the girls got some of his curls!!
He encourages us to wait for the Lord, especially in hard times. Are you willing to do that? Watch that video again and pay special attention to the lyrics. Who are we to say that God is done?
I see you child
Though you can't see me
And I know your thoughts
Before you even think
I heard every last prayer you prayed
Though I answered all the time
You just didn't hear my reply
And I know it's not easy, oh
Don't you give up on me
Don't you give up on me
'Cause the darker the night gets
The brighter the light hits
Don't you give up on me
Don't you give up on me
You ain't seen what I promised
Child, we're just getting started
I'll be your way
When there's no way out
And I'll be your strength
When your strength runs out
And if you walk into the fire
I'll be right there in the flames
I wouldn't have it any other way
'Cause loving you is easy, yeah
Open your heart
Open your hands
Open your eyelids
I've got more dreams
I've got more plans
I've got more blessings
Don't lose your hope
Don't lose your faith
That's where your fight is
I got more dreams
I got more plans
I got more blessings
Don't you give up on me
Don't you give up on me
When the night's at its darkest
That's when the light hits the hardest
Don't you give up on me
Don't you give up on me
'Cause you ain't seen what I promised
Child, we're just getting started
Open your heart
Open your hands
Open your eyelids
I got more dreams
I got more plans
I got more blessings
“The Eye of Providence. The all-seeing eye of God. It’s a symbol that has been used by many religions and cultures over the years.
But what does it mean?
There are many theories about what the eye on the dollar bill means, but no one knows for sure.
What we do know is that the Eye of Providence has been used as a symbol by many different religions and cultures over the years.
It is a reminder that God is always watching us. And that’s probably why it was chosen as the symbol for the US dollar bill.
hobbyistgeek.com
I learned a prayer from the author Macrina Weiderkehr many years ago. It is pasted in the front of my most frequently used Bible. It reads:
All-Seeing One,
above me, around me, within me.
Be my seeing as I read these sacred words.
Look down upon me
Look out from within me
Look all around me
See through my eyes
Hear through my ears
Feel through my heart
Touch me where I need to be touched;
and when my heart is touched
give me the grace
to lay down this Holy Book
and ask significant questions:
Why has my heart been touched?
How am I to be changed through this touch?
All-Seeing One,
I need to change
I need to look a little more like You
May these sacred words change and
transform me.
Then I can meet You Face to Face
without dying
because I've finally died enough
To die is to be healed
a little more each death
until that final death
when I'll be healed forever.
It will be a healing that will last.
Your words are healing
although they bring about my death.
O Eye of God, look not away.
Father I pray this prayer will be true of my life. Help me keep yielding to Your touch. Show me how to ‘meet You face to face without dying.’ I need to change.
In A Tree Full of Angels Macrina wrote saying “There is a quote from Benedictine Abbot Marmion that has become a guide for me as I spend time in Divine Reading each day. He says,”
Read under the eye of God until your heart is touched, then give yourself up to love.
Don Marmion, Union with God, trans. Mother Mary St. Thomas, (St. Louis: B Herder, 1949)
Read asking the Lord to help you see and understand the words of His text. then stop when your heart is touched. Stop and give yourself up to His love. Stop and let Him instruct you further on the matter. This is yielding. God is watching me with His all-seeing eye. And I am grateful.
Last Sunday (8-7-22) I posted about a fisherman pastor and mercy. The theme came to me again this morning during my prayer time. When Bill Moyers offered a PBS television series on poetry he featured Coleman Barks. Barks is a renowned poet in his own right and a scholar on Rumi translations. Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic born in 1207. He died 1273.
I can just hear you commenting, “Leave it to Molly to find these ancient guys!” Well at times these ancient guys express what my heart says in better words than I can find. Back to Coleman Barks’ translation of Rumi.
In a poem entitled “Cry Out In Your Weakness” I was touched. My weakness has been brought very clear to me this past few weeks. If you have never experienced helplessness or weakness in your physical frame you might not be able to relate well to this post.
I began reading Rumi a few years ago when I found others quoted him repeatedly. Besides I like poetry. On Page 156 of my paperback copy of “The Essential Rumi” this poem translated by Coleman Barks is found. Here are a few lines.
Like Mercy itself, they run toward the screaming …
And don’t just ask for one mercy. Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet.
Give your weakness to one who helps.
Cry out! Don’t be stolid and silent with your pain. Lament! And let the milk of loving flow into you.
-Rumi, Cry Out In Your Weakness
If you want to hear Rumi’s poem read, look for Rumi – Cry Out in Your Weakness on You Tube.
During my prayer time I sensed again, do not stop at asking for one mercy. Ask for every mercy. Gather them up. Let the One who helps bind them up and help carry them back with you.
Lord, I need all of your mercies … new every morning and each day and night… I need healing mercy and faith mercy and writing mercy and inspiration from You mercy. I need behavior and patience mercy.
Yes, God’s mercies are new every morning. He blesses us with mercy and forgiveness, comfort in our suffering, grace in our humility. As we cry out He does what William Law spoke about. We yield to Him in patient, meek, humble resignation and He is there to bless and assist us in every way. Not perhaps our every wish, but the ways we truly need His help.
One interpretation of the poem: “A dragon was pulling a bear into it’s terrible mouth.” Discouragement was pulling a Christian into it’s terrible mouth. As one author wrote about discouragement, “I have discovered only one solution to this problem, ignoring my emotions. It doesn’t mean that I do not acknowledge my feelings, but rather that I do not allow my emotions to dictate my life. My faith in God, my love for God, is more important than how I feel. This is exactly what it means to die to oneself.” (https://leadersthatfollow.com/how-christians-can-deal-with-discouragement-and-disillusionment/) Hey! William Law and Andrew Murray taught me that same thing!!
“A courageous man went and rescued the bear.” His name is Jesus. He went to the cross and rescued us from all the merciless places in our lives. “Like Mercy itself, (He) ran toward the screaming.” Perhaps you have not been screaming out loud, but the Lord knows even your internal screaming. Call to Him. He is faithful to respond.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’
Lamentations 3:22-24 NRSV
I do not find it difficult or even sacrilegious to relate to Rumi’s poetry. I truly believe what Paul declared in Ephesians 4.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:4-6 NRSV
I pray you, too, will cry out to God, even screaming, and receive His help and deliverance from the mouth of your particular bear.
As Matt Redman wrote “May I never lose the wonder, oh the wonder of Your mercy. Hallelujah!”
Anchor devotional is published by The Haven of Rest, better known know as simply Haven. I receive one devotional booklet per month. The theme for the month of July was fishing, written by “Pastor and outdoorsman, Brian White.”
Vintage engraving of Fishermen baiting the lines, North Sea fishing boat, 19th Century. Long line fishing for cod in the North Sea, Victorian, 19th Century
Friday July 29 was entitled “Mercy to the Deepest Depths.” In this entry Pastor White wrote about deep sea fishing. “Some anglers will ask if they might hit the bottom.” He basically tells them not a chance. His writing reflects the heart of “the Fisher of men.”
The prophet Micah declares that while the sinfulness of those that rebel against God is great, His desire to show mercy is even greater. His compassion has a depth that we cannot truly begin to comprehend, and He displays it to us when we turn to Him seeking forgiveness.
Brain White, writing in Anchor Devotional July, 2022
As I draw closer and closer to my Savior I am more aware of my sinfulness. Things I might previously have thought of as errors are brought into sharper focus in light of the righteousness of Jesus. I fall short of His likeness, but His mercy shines more brightly than ever before. I am made aware of my propensity for sin. Brian White is correct. I cannot truly comprehend His compassion. White goes on to say:
The judgement of God was carried out at the cross, where Jesus took it on our behalf. Because of this, we experience a depth of God’s compassion and mercy that truly has no bottom. Conceiving of the oceans’ depths is hard for many of us; grasping the deep, deep love of Jesus is greater and more wondrous still
Brian White
The devotional ends that day with this prayer. “Father, thank you that through Jesus we can know that the depth of our sin is not greater than the depth of Your mercy. Amen.”
Have you recognized the depth of your sin? Have you taken it to the Father asking for forgiveness? Why wait? Paul urges us to keep a short list with the Father. (2 Corinthians 13:5)
While reading this Anchor entry Matt Redman’s song rang through my soul. Enjoy!
I am frequently asked “What do you think will happen…’
-with people who make a death bed conversion?
-to people who have been cruel to others and never repented?
-if someone confesses Jesus as a child and then does nothing to further a walk in life with Him?
Used to be I would want to throw up my hands and ask “How should I know?” Then I discovered a better response! Here it is from The Living Bible.
The heart is the most deceitful thing there is and desperately wicked. No one can really know how bad it is! Only the Lord knows! He searches all hearts and examines deepest motives so he can give to each person his right reward, according to his deeds—how he has lived.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 TLB
In Molly lingo, “God reads hearts and I don’t.” God searches hearts. God examines the deepest motives. We can barely do that with our own hearts, much less the heart of another. And it is not our place to think we know what punishment another deserves. That too belongs to God alone.
So the next time you wonder what will happen to another, how God will judge and reward them remember that He has powers and abilities beyond your own. Another Molly saying, “God only knows, and He’s not telling.” Or at least not telling right now!
Mind your business. Paddle your own canoe. Trust and obey. He only is the the Lord.
If you remember in John 21 verses 20-22 Peter asked the resurrected Jesus what would happen to John. Jesus answered “What is that to you? Follow me!” Surely that advice is for each of us also.
While preparing my notes to teach Philippians 4 these ideas merged from reading novels, etc. Am always amazed how the Holy Spirit does this!
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Philippians 4:4 NRSV
Why is this necessary? When I rejoice in the Lord I take the focus off me, myself and I. I put my attention on God who is greater, higher, more wise than I will ever be. We are told this twice to emphasize the critical importance of doing this.
LET your gentleness be known to everyone.
Philippians 4:5 NRSV
Some translations read ‘let your forbearance be known to all’. Forbearance means patient self-control; restraint and tolerance.”
For years a favorite of mine has been
Your right hand, O Lord, supports me; your gentleness has made me great.
Psalm 18:35b AMP
God’s gentleness towards me. His forbearance.
The funny thing was Franny, like most people, thought life would get easier as she got older. It didn’t. She just got better at handling the crises.
The Big Cat Nap by Rita Mae Brown
Who among us has never had to handle crises? Well, duh! We all have if we have lived with our eyes open and our heads above the sand! So how do you handle a crisis? One method is realizing when others have a crisis, it is not necessarily my business. The Bible tells us to mind your own business, pay attention to your own personal life. As our Pastor’s mother taught him, “paddle your own canoe.” When codependency rears its ugly head, I must remind myself to paddle my own canoe.
In Britain many pubs have a floor below street level. When you enter there is often a sign that reads, “Mind Your Head!” Oh what wisdom! Not just so you do not get a knot on your head, but my head is where the battle ground lies. Wandering, irritating thoughts bring discomfort.
Taking captive every thought unto Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 10:5
Your mind is your job! That is a job in itself.
“Useless thoughts spoil everything and much mischief begins there.”
Brother Lawrence
So how are you doing with your head? Can you rejoice always? Do you know forbearance and gentleness? Have you made those qualities known to all? Are you working to paddle your own canoe by taking EVERY thought captive to Christ Jesus? Can those idle thoughts stand in the light of His presence and wisdom?
Are you truly aware that when others have a crisis it is not necessarily your business?
Whew! I have my work cut out for me. No idle time to criticize others! If we truly follow the things we are told to DO in the New Testament, there is no time to worry about the “do nots.: God is able to keep me as I follow Him. Every thought captive unto Him.
I rejoice in You, Lord. I bring every thought captive to You. Help me to glorify You in my every word and deed. Give me Your patient self-control, restraint and tolerance. May You receive all the glory and honor, power, praise and thanksgiving forever! Amen.
“Faith in Him can bring an immediate and effectual deliverance from self.” Are you sick of self-rule yet? The idea of self-rule is almost like a slap-stick comedy scene performed by Carol Burnett. Like when I tell God, “Thanks, Lord, I can take it from here!” My next step is usually face-down in the mud. The Word says only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we hope to control ourselves. Even then we are weak and fumbling. Self-rule? I think that is an illusion presented by the powers of death and hell. It will not end well.
Are we willing to place our faith in God? Do we desire deliverance from self? Another way to state it,” who really sits on the throne of your life”? When I first saw the main altar in the Washington National Cathedral it took my breath away. The image of Jesus high and lifted up over everything stated what my heart knew.
Washington National Cathedral Main Altar
Is Jesus on the throne of your life? There was a time when many thought He was on the throne of the heart of this nation. I wonder how many people actually believe that now? I, for one, want Him enthroned over my life.
There is shame we feel about our sin. Yes, sin. This current societal mindset seems to resist that word. Yet we all do sin. Every day and every night. Like it or not we are sinners and we need deliverance from that sin.
Shame has also become a nasty word mostly because so many of us have had shame inflicted upon us by parents, peers, and national advertisers. Yet feeling shame over our sin can be a healthy thing that should lead us to repentance. Acknowledge your sin, turn from it, confess and patiently ask ‘Thy will be done’ and God will act.
You need to see that it is not only in your morning devotions when you ask and expect strength for the day, but through the whole day for every moment of it that the clothing of humility is to be worn.
William Law
“The clothing of humility.” Where did he get that idea? The Bible.
You are the people of God; He loved you and chose you for His own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Col 3:12 GNT
All day long, asking God for strength and the wisdom to stay dressed with humility. Every moment and every day? Yes, Paul wrote to the Colossians be clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. If Jesus remains on the throne of my heart this should be what my clothing looks like.
Older praise chorus below, but worshipful!
Check the throne of your heart and mind daily, even hourly. Who sits there? Make sure to yield that seat to Jesus!
Our small group has been studying Philippians 3. Then I read this selection by Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest. Hope it encourages you as it did me! First the Scripture.
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christand be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:8b-11 RSV
“That I may know Him.” The initiative of the saint is not towards self-realization, but towards knowing Jesus Christ. The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything he is dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a reckless abandonment about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we shall realize Jesus Christ in every domain of life, and He will bring us back to the same point again and again until we do. Self-realization leads to the enthronement of work; whereas the saint enthrones Jesus Christ in his work. Whether it be eating or drinking or washing disciples’ feet, whatever it is, we have to take the initiative of realizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our actual life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial work. “Jesus knowing … that He was come from God, and went to God … took a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet.
The aim of the spiritual saint is “that I may know Him.” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am here not to realize myself, but to know Jesus. In Christian work the initiative is too often the realization that something has to be done and I must do it. That is never the attitude of the spiritual saint, his aim is to secure the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances he is in.”
Utmost July 11
Do you know Him in your activities today? I love the phrase ‘everything he is dumped down in.” Have you spoken to Him today? Will you be obedient to whatever He tells you, following Him as closely as possible?
At what time during the day do you lose touch with Him? Can you set your watch or a timer to remind you to turn your attention back to include Him at about that hour? There. I set an alarm for everyday at the same afternoon time. As for helping me turn my attention to Christ I will try anything for a bit!
Post-its on the wall with Scripture. Pack of 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 cards with verses and quotes to tune my heart. A bracelet reminding me to turn to God with meek, humble, patient relinquishment to Him. I don’t even like to wear bracelets, but this helps! A silver chain to remind me that, like Paul, I have given myself to Christ. Paul declared he was in chains for Christ. Turn your attention to Him in all things Molly Lin.
What do you do when you have walked away, having finished your morning devotions and your day is underway, to keep your eyes upon Him? So many distractions every hour of the day. How do you keep your heart upon Him?
What effort are you willing to make to ‘know Him’?
If you want to read My Utmost for His Highest for free, you can do that online at
Have you ever been naughty and you knew it while you were being naughty. Not just in childhood, but have you done things as an adult that you knew were not good for you? But you did them anyway.
Recently we were watching the “Untold story of C. S. Lewis” about how he resisted and ran from being a Christian for much of his early life. How he used reasoning and thinking to try to avoid the Living God. I was delighted that authors like George MacDonald introduced him subtly to the power of the Holy Spirit.
This morning I opened another old devotional book that is a collection of quotes, poems and stories. This one was collected by Mary Wilder Tileston entitled Joy & Strength. First copyright was 1901. She quotes a poem by George MacDonald.
Lord, to Thy call of me I bow,
Obey like Abraham;
Thou lov'st me because Thou art Thou,
And I am what I am.
Doubt whispers, "thou art such a blot
He cannot love poor thee,"
If what I am He loveth not,
He loves what I shall be.
Isn’t that wonderful? Paul wrote in Philippians 3: 12 “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.” God has plans for us. He loves us and what we shall be.
Tileston went on to quote a paragraph by Juliana H. Ewing.
We may hate ourselves when we come to realize failings we have not recognized before, and feel that there are probably others which we do not yet see as clearly as other people see them, but this kind of impatience for our perfection is not felt by those who love us, I am sure. It is one’s greatest comfort to believe that it is not even felt by God. Just as a mother would not love her child the better for its being turned into a model of perfection at once, but does love it the more dearly every time it tries to be good, so I do hope and believe our Great Father does not wait for us to be good and wise to love us, but loves us, and loves to help us in the very thick of our struggles with folly and sin.
Juliana H. Ewing
Juliana was on to something here. God wants us to try and keep on trying to be obedient to what He tells us. He does not love us less when we fail. Someone coined the phrase “God will never love you more than He does right now.” Yes, He loves to help us ‘in the very thick of our struggles.’
I have always believed that God disarms me with His love. If I dig in my heals about something He does not fight with me. He loves me and melts my armor and my arguments against Him. I can resist and pout if I want. He is still moving towards me with love.
Can you see some of the chains you have put upon yourself? For years Lewis determined to have nothing to do with ‘religion.’ He resisted the Father and the Son, but he was no match for the Holy Spirit. God loved what Lewis would become. He disarmed Lewis with His love.
God has plans for your life, too! He loves you now. He will love eternally. Have you yielded to His love for you? Are you willing to bend your ways to His? Lewis was not enamored of church. Let’s face it, Anglican hymns leave SO much to be desired. Yet he went where he thought he should go to find God.
There is great value in being with other Christians. You will not like all of them. If there were a perfect church and I walked into it, it would not longer be the perfect church. Yet we need each other. We need to grow and learn and pray and struggle together.
We each have failings we likely have not recognized up to now. Go to church anyway. Start watching a variety of sermons on line until you find a local place to attend. Then go regularly and find ways to grow there. The Trinity will rejoice and eventually you will, too!
Ewing wrote: “our Great Father does not wait for us to be good and wise to love us, but loves us, and loves to help us in the very thick of our struggles with folly and sin.”
