On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 19:59:24 GMT, Christine <Christine@John 3:16.calm>
wrote:

Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God
Come
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Just as you are....

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"There is no better time, there is no better place"

(...)

ah the moon and the stars and too too chocolate espresso cake ---seems
more than enough ---but there is more stuff that has always been there
like the moon, that I think is worth thinking about and giving thanks
for

2 Corinthians 9:

"10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also
supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of
your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you
can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will
result in thanksgiving to God.

12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of
God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to
God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men
will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of
the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and
with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will
go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

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This week in Bible study we went over the trials of Paul in 2
Corinthians, he had been through so much and rather than brag about
it, all the adventures and making himself out to be a hero he ends off
with...
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2 Cor 11:

27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have
known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been
cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure
of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel
weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my
weakness. 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised
forever, knows that I am not lying.
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and you know what ? I am just overcome with thankfulness to God for
Paul and his fellow servants in the Lord Jesus Christ and what they
gave and give to us. Paul is not a man for taking personal praise, my
praise goes to God for him and all of them ----IN 2 Corinthians 9 he
says the giving will be sent as praise to God for their work and I
hope God hears my thankfulness and my joy---and I felt ashamed for
misunderstanding Paul for far too long---It is true it seems Paul
would know suffering for Christ and even when I knew I was disagreeing
with him back then, I wondered if he was /in eternity/ to bear the
chains and take the rod for Christ....

I hope wherever he is, now, that it is not a tent of groaning and
burden but a camp of joyful saints on a mount with Moses and Elijah at
home with the Lord Jesus Christ ( dieters beware of reading
Elijah--he eats a lot of cakes, you may get cravings...just reading
about it!)

I am so thankful for the Word of God, truly treated for too long just
as Jesus Christ was, despised, shamed, dishonored,

The staff given was used to sometimes strike Him and sometimes mock
Him , as at the Cross,

His golden glorious crown, a crown of Thorns

all these things done to Jesus Christ, done to the Word of God, the
world turned its back on and despised and laughed at the mind of God
given to man, as the greatest gift he will ever know here on this side
of heaven...

How thankful am I? How thankful am I for all those who came before
and bore the cost, those lives we read about,

Moses,Elijah,Peter ,Paul, Mark , Matthew, Luke
John, Gideon, Joshua,Abraham, Sarah,Isaac
Jacob, Joseph,, David all of the prophets, and of those I haven't even
read of yet....

wow, I am humbled and positively inspired by them who came before us
and lit the way for us and thankful for Jesus Christ living in and
through His own who continue to shine that light through the
generations...

through people like
Spurgeon
Oswald Chambers
Matthew Henry and his scholars
the translators of the bible
the woman who created this international Bible Study I am in
and her helpers, (BSF)

who quietly perserved the Word intact and helped open our eyes to it
who were stewards of great integrity not seeking personal glory for
themselves

I am grateful for those in whom Jesus Christ lives and shines the
light that reached and touched me, in small ways that may have seemed
like nothing or maybe even painful to them when they did it.....

the doctor who asked if I believed in God, GENTLY , with permission,
laid hands on me and prayed for me, and GENTLY suggested I think about
going to check out a church ( when I was frantic)

those people who lead and teach at churches and sometimes wonder if
they make a difference, because most of their work is putting out
fires ( attending to crisis) ---not seeing enough of the joy of
bringing people to Christ and the impact, of it-----they do and they
did touch this life, this happy grateful life

the woman who I respected and liked but then she told me it wasn't a
good idea to pursue this other path--- I stopped respecting her and
liking her, but something about what she said made it impossible to
continue along that path....I couldn't read the book anymore ( to me
at the time it almost seemed like a supernatural curse)

the crusty "take no prisoners" woman who kept making the point that we
need to read the bible, in a group where we were learning about how to
hear God---and I wouldn't have any of it. But she persisted week
after week and I remember one time she got to me, and I did read the
Bible and I found Jesus right there, right at the right time, right at
the right place....

I am grateful and thankful to all of these people , but most of all I
am thankful to God for all of them and for the ones I hope that come
to mind today as I go about my day

take a moment today, if you have taken a moment to read this, take a
moment and think about who you are grateful for, and what you are
thankful to God for.

Have a wonderful day in the Lord
May He bless you and keep you
today and always

Amen