It's From the Heart
It's from the heart all wickedness starts; no matter how much we attempt to pretend Real righteousness is not the end Most seek to acquire for hearts Of all are wicked and deceiving, Especially for those who think their believing Is all it needs to be while fruitless Their leafless trees stand in the sanctuary And lifeless their worship in January And every other calendar month we count; No, only lies of the heart mount Unless we come to God for mercy can we Be set by grace at liberty, Can bear fruit Can bring worship Can have our hearts cleansed and hands As the holiness of God demands; No, it all starts in the heart and with that we must honestly deal, Before the throne humbly kneel, For grace plead, knowing how much of that we need, And how much more than we know we need, He is willing to grant, Willing and gracious and He knows The wicked deceit which in every heart grows

Biting the tongue won't do it

Sunday in Gracelife Don Green preached/taught on Psalm 19:7-11, having tackled vv. 1-6 the previous week. I couldn't keep from reading the rest of this psalm: Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Confess, neither of us can discern our errors or our hidden faults. Presumptuous sins--well, what does the word "presumptuous" indicate is going on? But that isn't all we face in this passage. Like the psalmist, we have to admit that we cannot make ourselves blameless or innocent, and not just of "great" transgression. Our sin is not just [just! as in merely] one of the lips [words of my mouth] but rooted in our hearts [meditation of my heart]. It is our heart disease which we need the Great Physician to deal with first, and last.

As a man thinks in his heart--or a woman in hers--so is he/she.

Remedial Discipleship


My dear husband took me on a special trip this past weekend to celebrate both my birthday and the anniversary of our engagement as that happened on a previous birthday. After that, he had a lot on his mind last night and we were up late [for me]. I don't do well having significant conversations late at night so we don't usually have them then. This, therefore, was a challenge for me. It seems that the tongue sometimes disengages from the mind when I am weary--some excuse, isn't it. So I share with you an archival piece which sums up my difficulties and what I have come to call "remedial discipleship"

Remedial Discipleship
MONDAY
Another day of
"Remedial Discipleship 101"
Of holding tongue with
Both hands (so to speak of
Not speaking)
Not to use it as a sword blade
Or fire blaze
Not to use it as
Anti-praise
Not to use it to slash and daze
But to discipline that fleshly member
To bring it to heel, and heal.
Quite a big deal
In view of its seeming size
How full it is of surprise!
TUESDAY
Another day of
"Remedial Discipleship 101"
Of holding tongue with
Both hands (so to speak of
Not speaking)
Not to use it as a sword blade
Or fire blaze
Not to use it as
Anti-praise
Not to use it to slash and daze
But to discipline that fleshly member
To bring it to heel, and heal
Quite a big deal
In view of its seeming size
How full it is of surprise!
WEDNESDAY
Another day of
"Remedial Discipleship 101"
Of holding tongue with
Both hands (so to speak of
Not speaking)
Not to use it as a sword blade
Or fire blaze
Not to use it as
Anti-praise
Not to use it to slash and daze
But to discipline that fleshly member
To bring it to heel, and heal.
Quite a big deal
In view of its seeming size
How full it is of surprise!
THURSDAY
Another day of
"Remedial Discipleship 101"

My Personal Philosophy of Ministry

Because I was brought up in the home of believers (2 Timothy 3:14-15), I was taught that the question in any given situation was, What does the Bible say? This informs my philosophy of ministry, and always has.

2 Peter 1:3-4
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Titus 2:3-5
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Christ as my model: doing only the Father's will, not to be served but to serve.
John the Baptist re Christ: I must decrease but He must increase.

Personally, I have always been a hands-on type. As I stated above, I was taught to bring Scripture to bear on any given situation (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1).

I pray for those I am responsible for, reaching out to them individually, and seeking to encourage them in their salvation or in their sanctification.

Aging While Christian
Psalm 92:12-15
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full pf sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
2 Corinthians 4:7-10.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that
are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be unclothed, but that we may be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

How Lovely Our Christ Is
How lovely our Christ is Who donned mankind's raiment
Became one of us yet maintained His sinless-ness;
Holy was He while walking among us,
Holy redeemed.
How lovely our Christ is,
Eternally scarred
For hearts which were hard,
Eternally marred
His hands and His side,
Eternally lovely,
In Whom we abide.

Urgently Pray For Believers in and the Governments of
Japan
Thailand
Pakistan
India
Russia

An Unexpected Blessing


I read a lot. I commonly have more than one book open at a time. This doesn't count my Bibles, of course. This week I was reading in BECAUSE HE LOVES ME and in THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS. I came across the following scripture which proved to be an unexpected blessing to me and I trust it will be to you too:

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is in the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

The phrase, 'is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit,' leaped out at me because I have perceived this as a year of drought, and find comfort in the promise that 'it does not cease to bear fruit.' How can that be? Because it is the fruit borne by the Spirit which does not cease.