Thank you Lord

Devotionals by Barri Cae <barricae@comcast.net>

The below is an excerpt credited to/by B.C. Devotionals above noted. Enjoy the Bible verse, thank you to the Pony for reminding me how easily we forget the One who loves us like no other. He knows! Don't worry about anything, it is so easy to say, but our God is just that. He is the great I am. He is the King of glory. Paul Sheppard said something so interesting along the lines of being full with the things of God, much like Mary during her pregnancy. She needed to be with someone who got it. She didn't even go to Joseph! She went to Elizabeth who was along in her pregnancy with John the Baptist. In these times we need to be with people full of the things of God, and serious about where it's taking us in this journey of the Christian walk. Mary could see the changes and grow up through them. Becoming mature. This is what God's design does. And the One who allows all the things we cannot understand at times is the One who knows us best, who wants to see us full of Him. Sometimes the only way is to fill our situation with needs that only He can supply. Sometimes He gets our attention that way. What He desires however is our heart and love. He is after us. I hope to have my heart fully caught by this King of glory, if He will take this wretch. Fill us, we are hungry and only you satisfy Lord! Blessed be your name, take away the falsity and the wrong appetites. Marry our hearts Lord and keep us staid on Thee in this waiting time. Thank you God, in the name of Jesus..


The Hebrew word for this type of knowing is yada (yah-dah). It is an intimate knowing, the type of knowing that husband and wife sharing in intimate relations. This is sacred, and this is the love that the LORD has for us. God's knowledge of you is special, sacred, unique, exhilarating, beautiful. There is no greater thing in life!
The LORD is good; a stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him. (Nahum 1:7)
Perhaps no other psalm so beautifully illustrates our intimacy with God than Psalm 139:
O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
Is there any other more wonderful thing in life than to know that You are loved by God?

Do you have this knowing about God? Do you know He loves you? Look what the LORD says about us:
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, ( Jere. 1:5)

But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD. (Jere. 9:24) He delights that we know Him!

"Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?" declares the LORD. (Jere. 23:24)

For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. (2 Chron. 16:9)

I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father;
and I lay down My life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15)

He who knows us best loves us most. What a great God we serve! What a great Father of lights we have! What a great Sovereign of the universe, and to think that He loves us! What a great Savior! What a Great Yeshua!

It Could Be Worse. You Could Be Britney's Kids

Hi! Did you recover from 2007? Gear up for the next one. It will be okay, even if Hillary gets in. Our God (not theirs) is on the throne. Check out jihadwatch.com if you're bored. Not that it has anything to do with Hillary. That would be found in "The Late Great Planet Earth". Check out HalLindsey.com
Anyway, on a lighter bricklaying note one thing assisting me in facing off with '08 (alongside the new smoked bacon chocolate bar from www.vosgeschocolate.com, kind patient sweet God-fearing friends, "Naked" superfood green drink, mummy, Ken Branagh remaining unemployed indefinately and salt pork made by my sister-in-law, I have rediscovered a pretty carol by Gus 'Planet Guy' Holst which has been tapping my heart. And why not. Everyone is in a state of flux. People are troubled. I am troubled. Friends have fallen off buildings and gotten pregnant. Daisy died. My brother still insists on eating cake and donuts after contracting diabetes and landing in the hospital. The earth spins on uncontrollably. It's just all very stressful. So hope you enjoy the meessage below. I am in no mood to cheer you up. It's entirely for me, so read and get back out there and live your life. It could be worse. You could be Britney Spears' lawyer.

Selah the following first.

Psalm 42:11 - Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God
Psalm 31:24 - Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.
Psalm 71:5 - For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.
1 Peter 1:21 - Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
1 Peter 3:13 - Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?
1 John 3:3 - Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
Proverbs 14:32 - When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge
Colossians 1:5 - The faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel.



"In the Bleak Midwinter" is a Christmas carol.
Although written by Christina Rossetti before 1872, it was published posthumously in Rossetti's Poetic Works in 1904 and appeared in The English Hymnal in 1906.
According to the website CyberHymnal, Rossetti wrote these words in response to a request from the magazine Scribner's Monthly for a Christmas poem[1].
In verse one, Rossetti describes the physical characteristics of the Incarnation.

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen,
Snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.
In verse two, Rossetti contrasts Christ's first and second coming.
Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When he comes to reign;
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God incarnate,
Jesus Christ.
The third verse dwells on Christ's birth and describes the simple surroundings, in a humble stable and watched by beasts of burden.
Enough for him, whom Cherubim
Worship night and day
A breast full of milk
And a manger full of hay.
Enough for him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
which adore.
Rossetti achieves another contrast in the fourth verse, this time between the incorporeal angels attendant at Christ's birth with Mary's ability to render Jesus physical affection. This verse is omitted in the Harold Darke setting.
Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But his mother only,
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
The final verse may be the most well known and loved.
What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him —
Give my heart.
The text of this Christmas poem has been set to music many times, the two most famous settings being composed by Gustav Holst and Harold Edwin Darke in the early 20th century. There is another setting—less well known—from the same era, by Thomas B. Strong. Eric Thiman wrote a setting for solo voice and piano. More recently Bob Chilcott, at one time a member of The King's Singers, wrote a choral setting entitled "Mid-winter". Another recent setting is that by a Canadian, Robert C L Watson. The Holst version has been recorded by a number of popular recording artists, including Bert Jansch, Julie Andrews in 1982, Allison Crowe in 2004, Moya Brennan in 2005 and Sarah McLachlan in 2006, as well as by many choirs including the Robert Shaw Chorale and the choir of St. John's College, Cambridge. The Darke version, with its beautiful and delicate organ accompaniment, has also gained popularity among choirs in recent years, after the King's College Choir included it on its radio broadcasts of the Nine Lessons and Carols. (Incidentally, Darke served as conductor of the choir during World War II.)