Category Archives: Taste and See

Waking up to New Mercies

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Annie Pliego Photography

 

“Because of the Lord’s mercies, we are not consumed — for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” Lamentations 3:22-23

Oh, to wake up every morning to new mercies!  To open the windows and let the sun in, to open the Word and let it warm our hearts, speak to us, satisfy us.

“New mercies flow in upon you every morning — yes, every moment! Every friend is a mercy. Every morsel of provision. Every hour’s sleep. Every kind word. Every moment’s freedom from racking pain. Medicine is a mercy. A house is a mercy. You are therefore surrounded by mercies. But look at spiritual things — to know God, to have the revelation of His mind, will, and purpose, to have a throne of grace, an advocate in Heaven, a good hope beyond the grave, the prospect of a glorious resurrection! Here are mercies heaped upon mercies, and favors heaped upon favors. Mercies that would fill us with wonder, admiration, and gratitude, if our hearts were not like adamant, harder than a flint!”  James Smith, 1842

Let us be aware today of His many mercies, all undeserved, all grace.

 

Becky

A Prayer On the Necessities of Friendship

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The Necessities of Friendship from A Barclay Prayer Book

Keep us, O God, from all the things which make friendship impossible.

Keep us from
The sarcastic tongue;
The critical eye;
The ears which love malicious gossip;
The mind which thinks the worst;
The heart whose only love is self-love.

Give us the things which enable friendship to flourish.

Give us
The ability to bear one another’s burdens and to forgive one another’s faults;
The sympathetic, the unselfish and the understanding heart;
The temper and the tongue which are always under control;
The determination to treat others as we would have them treat us;
The tolerance which can always see the pint of view of others.

Help us to live remembering that in you we live and move and have our being,
and that life is always in your sight.

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Today I am making this prayer mine as I thank God for the friends He has given me, and as I ask Him to give me the grace I need to be a good friend to them.

Becky

Love is Easy Until it Demands Something from Us

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It may seem absurd to say that love demands something from us;  but this morning as I was reading 1Corinthians 13: 4-7(ESV)  I could not think otherwise.

Please read these verses with all attention as if you had never read them before:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

 

Love is easy until…
It demands from me patience,
Until it demands from a me kind attitude,
Every day, every time, over and over again.
Love is easy until…
It calls me not to envy,
Or boast.
Love is easy until…
It demands from me humility,
And not arrogance.
It is easy until it doesn’t call me
To ask for forgiveness,
And set aside all rudeness.
Love is easy until…
It demands that I should die,
That I should not insist on my own way of doing things.
It is easy until it calls me to leave aside
my own “rights” for the sake of the ones I love.
Love is easy until…
It demands self control from me,
Until it calls me not to be irritable,
Until it calls me not to be resentful.
Love is easy until…
It demands that I should not rejoice at any wrongdoing,
It is easy until it calls me to love truth,
Even though this would mean admitting
That I am wrong.
Love is easy until…
It demands from me to bear all things,
yes, all things,
every one of them.
Love is easy until…
It demands from me to believe all things,
To Hope all things,
To Endure all things.
This is the only kind of love that never ends.

Becky

Clinging to Christ’s Word

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One of my favorite authors, Octavius Winslow (1860) said,

 

“Oh, cling to Christ’s Word, as the mariner to the plank, as the mother to her infant, yes, as a humble believer in that divine and gracious Savior who has said, “Him that comes unto me I will in no wise” literally, “I will never, no, never, cast out.”

And when I don’t know
what is the best advice to give,
what to say or
how to pray;
I meditate on Christ’s Word,
I cling to it.
I repeat it to myself;
because O, how much I need to hear it,
to drink from it,
to be established on it.
There is no other way
to build my trust in Him,
unless I cling to His Word.
Source
Source
Source

Today cling to the Word of God, hold fast to it, embrace it and don’t let it go…

Becky

Let Your Amen be Heartfelt

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This week I  studyed the little word Amen; and I came across four great articles that you might want to print and study before the Lord’s Day. I promise you, after considering this you will never say this word lightly again.

Here is a taste of each one of these articles:

“The saying of the corporate amen is a great covenant privilege, and has the force of a binding oath. We never want to take it lightly, or invoke it to no purpose, or, worst of all, to mumble it.” Douglas Wilson

Read Douglas Wilson’s article here.

“I think he would say that God is calling us out of our cocoons of emotional isolation and invisible, inaudible, unshared responsiveness. I think he would say, it’s God’s will that we echo the excellence of God in preaching and prayer – that we express our affirmation of the truth of God in the Word, and that we resonate verbally with Godward longings and yearnings in prayer.” John Piper

Read Piper’s article here.

“It doesn’t mean primarily, “YES, I have said all this prayer.” It means primarily, “YES, God has made all these promises.” AMEN means, YES, Lord, you can do it. It means, YES, Lord, you are powerful. YES, Lord, you are wise. YES, Lord, you are merciful. AMEN is like an exclamation point of faith in a prayer for help. Or an exclamation point of strong affirmation after a statement of God’s greatness.

As you come to the end of every prayer there are two AMEN’s, two YES’s. When you say, “In Jesus’ name,” that is God’s AMEN. All his promises are YES and AMEN in Jesus: Jesus Christ is God’s YES and AMEN at the end of your prayer. Then when you say, “AMEN,” this is your YES and AMEN back to God for his. AMEN is our YES to God for his YES to us in Jesus Christ.” John Piper

Read this article here.

“Worship in biblical terms is a corporate matter. The corporate body is made up of individuals, and when an individual sounds the “amen,” the individual is connecting to the corporate expression of worship and praise. However, we are told in the Scriptures that the truths of God are “yea” and “amen” (2 Cor. 1:20), which simply means that the Word of God is valid, it is certain, and it is binding. Therefore, the expression “amen” is not simply an acknowledgment of personal agreement with what has been stated; it is an expression of willingness to submit to the implications of that word, to indeed be bound by it, as if the Word of God would put ropes around us not to strangle or retard us but to hold us firmly in place.” R.C. Sproul

Read Sproul’s article here.

By His Grace, under His sun,

Becky

Food: A Gift from Above

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A feast to the eyes,  a joy to share, a good gift from Above: Food.

Isn’t it amazing all that happens around food?  It is wonderful to consider all the goodness that comes when we feast together around the table and share God’s goodness, God’s bounty, His mercy to us as we come together and share a meal.

I want to give thanks today to my God for our family and for all our friends (old and new) who have opened their homes, their kitchen to us; for each family that has welcomed ours around their table. Thank you!

 

Coffee and fruit, and blueberry coffee cake; zucchini bread early in the morning and fresh hand picked cherries, burgers and  ice-cream and homemade pizzas. My mom’s best dishes,  and my sister’s best pic-nic food. All good, all a gift, each one a joy to share!

 

And we bow our heads each time, and hold hands and give thanks to our God who gives, and gives, and gives… because there is simply no other way to fully enjoy a meal but with a grateful heart. We give thanks to Him three times a day around the table not because of an empty custom, but because our hearts overflow with thanksgiving. Every meal is a gift, and every meal reminds us that one day, we will feast around a table in Heaven with Him and with all the saints who have gone before us.

Next time you look for a new recipe and prepare a dish for your family, for your friends; next time you set the table, do it with a joyful heart, remembering that every time we come to the table, we come to feast, to celebrate God’s goodness and His never-ending mercies toward us; let us do it pretty, delicious, and joyfully.

Let us bow down, hold hands, give thanks and feast!

 

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An Address to God before a Meal.

O Lord our God, in thee we live, and move, and have our being, and from thee receive all supports and comforts of our being: Thou spreadest our table and fillest our cup and comfortest us with the gifts of thy bounty from day to day. We own our dependence upon thee and our obligations to thee, pardon our sins we pray thee; sanctify thy good creatures to our use, and give us grace to receive them soberly and thankfully, and to eat and drink not to ourselves, but to thy glory, through Jesus Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

An Address to God after a Meal.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with his benefits and gives us all things richly to enjoy, though we serve him but poorly. O Lord, we thank thee for present refreshments in the use of thy good creatures, and for thy love to our souls in Jesus Christ, which sweetens all. We pray thee pardon our sins, go on to do us good, provide for the poor that are destitute of daily food, fit us for thy whole will, and be our God and guide and portion for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

From Matthew Henry’s A Method for Prayer

May your home be a place for feasting!

Becky

All pictures in this post were taken by my daughter.