Psalm 62:5-8

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us.

Strength

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?  Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.


~Isaiah 40 <3

Sitting at Jesus' Feet

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

~Luke 10:38-42

You are the Light of the World

"You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do people light a lamp

and put it under a basket,

but on a stand,

and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way,

let your light shine before others,

so that they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father who is heaven."

(Matthew 5:14-16)

 

Is your light shining to guide those in darkness to the Great Light, or is it hiding under a basket in fear that the wind and the darkness might vanquish it?

Psalm 146

Praise the Lord! 

Praise the Lord, O my soul! 

I will praise the Lord as long as I live; 

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 

Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man,

in whom there is no salvation. 

When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; 

on that very day his plans perish. 

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, 

whose hope is in the Lord his God, 

who made heaven and earth, the sea, 

and all that is in them, 

who keeps faith forever; 

who executes justice for the oppressed, 

who gives food to the hungry. 

The Lord sets the prisoners free; 

the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. 

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; 

the Lord loves the righteous. 

The Lord watches over the sojourners; 

he upholds the widow and the fatherless, 

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. 

The Lord will reign forever, 

your God, O Zion, to all generations. 

Praise the Lord! 

(I don't know what can be more beautiful than that!!)

The Shepherd and His Sheep

     "For thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.   As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.   And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.   I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.   I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. . . . .
     ". . . . I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep.   And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.   And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken."

~Ezekiel 34:11-16, 22-24

Psalm 31

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust;

let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. 

Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily:

be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

For thou art my rock and my fortress;

therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. 

Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me:

for thou art my strength. 

 Into thine hand I commit my spirit:

thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

I have hated them that regard lying vanities:

but I trust in the LORD. 

 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy:

for thou hast considered my trouble;

thou hast known my soul in adversities; 

And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy:

thou hast set my feet in a large room. 

Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble:

mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.  

For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing:

my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, 

and my bones are consumed.

I was a reproach among all mine enemies,

but especially among my neighbours, 

and a fear to mine acquaintance:

they that did see me without fled from me. 

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind:

I am like a broken vessel.  

For I have heard the slander of many:

fear was on every side: 

while they took counsel together against me,

they devised to take away my life. 

 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: 

I said, Thou art my God.  

My times are in thy hand: 

deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, 

and from them that persecute me.  

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: 

save me for thy mercies' sake. 

 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD;

for I have called upon thee: 

let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

  Let the lying lips be put to silence; 

which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. 

  Oh how great is thy goodness,

which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee;

which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!  

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man:

thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

  Blessed be the LORD:

for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.  

For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes:

nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications 

when I cried unto thee. 

  O love the LORD, all ye his saints:

for the LORD preserveth the faithful, 

and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.  

Be of good courage, 

and he shall strengthen your heart, 

all ye that hope in the LORD.

Masada, ancient fortification in Israel.

 

Perfect Peace ♥

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on Thee:

because he trusteth in Thee.

Trust ye in the LORD for ever:

for in the LORD JEHOVAH is

everlasting strength.

Isaiah 26:3-4

Introduction

I am pleased to introduce to you...

COMPLETE IN THEE....

a public blog!

After talking with my Pappa, and after my Pappa talking with my Mamma, I have decided to open up my blog.  The reason is

1) so you can get posts in your feed
2) so I can share my blog with more people
3) so people with whom I want to share my blog don't have to go through the confusion of starting a google account
4) so I may be able to reach out to more people with the Gospel of Christ

Very little will change, except that you will get notifications in your blogger feed now if you follow "Complete in Thee", and I will probably be posting less about my and my family's personal lives. (Those will  move to the family blog.)  That's all.  And don't worry; I will carefully moderate all comments and keep an eye on my "stats"-- a new feature on blogger, by the way. :-)

So, because I want this blog to be usable in the Lord's hands and always give Him the glory, I will share a verse that has been a great encouragement to me today:

"The LORD will guide you always; 

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land 

and will strengthen your frame. 

You will be like a well-watered garden, 

like a spring whose waters never fail." 

Isaiah 58:11 

 (YIKES!  I just did it-- I clicked "Allow Anybody".  Eek!  Decision made. Enjoy! :-) )

Dwelling

Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure,whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise,
dwell on these things.
I once read a quote by Amy Carmichael where she said that if you go to sleep on a pleasant thought, or thinking on God, you will wake up doing so. I decided to "try" it that night and found it true! When you fill your mind with the Lord and go to bed meditating on Him in your heart, He does wake you up full of thoughts of and praises for Him! It is very exciting and refreshing.

And is a lot nicer than what I've been doing a couple nights this last week: going to bed with so many worries and stresses on my heart, and waking up with a terrible headache one morning, and just distracted thoughts on other mornings. I need to remember the words on a plack (plaque?) I saw at an antique store yesterday; it said "Stress Less, Pray More." You know, we really do have a choice in how miserable we are, or how happy we are. People in the most miserable circumstances have been some of the most cheerful and most life-impacting people! (Take Eric Liddell at Weihsein, so far from his dear family and living under very difficult conditions!)

How we feel is often how we choose to feel. We can choose anger, fear, worry, depression, even stress. On the other hand, we can choose love, rest, joy... we can choose to obey God's Words to "cast our burden upon the Lord." Depression and stress are sometimes a result of bodily challenges (illness, etc.), but many times we choose them when we choose to disobey God's commands to come to Him and rest, His commands to dwell on what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, admirable, reputable.

What are you dwelling on? Your circumstances? Someone's wrong actions towards you? The uncertainty of the future? The things you don't have? Or are you dwelling on God's love? His great mercy to us, who are so unworthy? His blessings? The love of family and friends? The things we do have that many don't? The promises and commands of Scripture?

Choose to dwell/think on things that fit in to Philippians 4:8 today. You will find that there is blessing for those who incline their hearts unto God's testimonies (Psalm 119:36) and delight themselves in the Lord (Psalm 37:4).

Promise Hunt Results

Did anybody take time to write down promises in Scripture this week?  I didn't remember every single time I came across one, but I was able to get several written down.  Here they are:

God Promises...

•  TO WORK ALL THINGS TOGETHER FOR GOOD
• Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." 
• TO SUSTAIN US
• Psalm 55:22 "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."
• TO PROTECT US
• Psalm 91 (the whole chapter)
• TO GIVE US WISDOM
• James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
• TO NEVER FAIL, LEAVE, OR FORSAKE US
• Hebrews 13:5 "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have; for He hath said, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'"
• Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail, nor forsake thee."
• Deuteronomy 31:8 "And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."
• TO GIVE A CROWN OF LIFE TO THOSE WHO LOVE HIM
• James 1:12 "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him."
• TO DRAW NEAR TO US
• James 4:8a "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you."
• TO RAISE US UP IN CHRIST
• 1 Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all  be made alive."

What did you learn this week about God's promises?  Please feel free to share references and thoughts in the Comments section!  (Pweez!! :-D  I don't hate comments!! :-D )

Spring is Here!

"For behold,
the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."
(Song of Solomon 2:11-12)

Psalm 42

As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:
when shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my meat day and night,
while they continually say unto me, 'Where is thy God?'
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me:
for I had gone with the multitude,
I went with them to the house of God,
with the voice of joy and praise,
with a multitude that kept holyday.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted in me?
hope thou in God:
for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
O my God, my soul is cast down within me:
therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan,
and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts:
all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime,
and in the night his song shall be with me,
and my prayer unto the God of my life.
I will say unto God my rock,
'Why hast thou forgotten me?
why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?'As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me;
while they say daily unto me, 'Where is thy God?'
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope thou in God:
for I shall yet praise him,
who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Scripture Pictures

These are some pictures that I fiddled with on Picnik.com. What do you think? :-D

VERSES FROM SCRIPTURE:

PHRASES FROM SCRIPTURE:

While I'm Waiting

This song is performed by John Waller on the film "Fireproof". If you're thinking about the words below, they don't get monotonous. The key word is "wait"!


While I'm Waiting:

I'm waiting.

I'm waiting on You, Lord,

And I am hopeful.

I'm waiting on You, Lord,

Though it is painful,

But patiently, I will wait.

I will move ahead, bold and confident,

Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting.

I will serve You

While I'm waiting.

I will worship

While I'm waiting.

I will not faint;

I'll be running the race

Even while I wait.

I'm waiting.

I'm waiting on You, Lord

And I am peaceful.

I'm waiting on You, Lord,

Though it's not easy,

But faithfully, I will wait, yes, I will wait.

I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord.

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage,
and He shall strengthen thine heart:
wait, I say, on the Lord."
(Psalm 27:14)

Friends, Sisters, Blessings

More and more, I am blessed and amazed by all the dear friends that the Lord has put in my life. I didn't even have enough room (or pictures ;-) ) on the above collage to feature all those friends. In the last couple years, God has brought so many people into my life that have encouraged me in my walk with Him and inspired me in so many ways! I can truly say that they have been the kind that "build up", and that I love them all SO MUCH and do not take a single one of them for granted.

Wait a minute. Why am I saying "them"? It's you! You'ns. Y'all. Whatever your dialect may be. English is severely defective for it's lack of a plural "you"! :-)

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." (Proverbs 27:17)

"And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." (1 Thessalonians 3:13)

Desires and Dreams

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

-Elisabeth Elliot

"To dream, and want and pray, almost savagely; then to commit and wait and see Him quietly pile all dreams aside and replace them with what we could not dream, the realized Will."

~Jim Elliot

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

~Elisabeth Elliot

You may write good plans out with pencil, the way you want things to happen but I will, yes I will erase some and write in pen a better and best plan for you, but you must give me the pen.

-Anonymous

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." (Psalm 37:4)

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29:11)

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8,9)

A Random Post on Rearranging, on Prayer, and on Bible Reading

Hello, blogger friends!

If you scroll down, you'll see that I rearranged my sidebar a little. I changed the appearance of some things like the blog archives and labels, removed some things like my "favorite links" list (especially since I'm doing my "good blogs to read" series anyway), and added some text.

One of the new features is a list of prayer requests. At church, Mr. Vrotsos has been encouraging us to share with one another and pray with one another. I think many of us are so used to not sharing that we feel vulnerable to mention the needs of our hearts. However, as Christians, we are not supposed to be hiding in our shells and never letting one in; that is more pride than it is humility. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul says that when the people were praying for specific things, they could also rejoice in the Lord and give thanks when they saw God answer those prayers. In the Psalms, David speaks over and over again about how the Lord heard his prayer and answered, and he encourages people to praise the Lord with him for His faithfulness and goodness. Indeed, it is easier to document the specific answers God gives us when we also know the specific request we laid before Him.

On my prayer list, I have shared some specific needs that I am asking prayer for, and it will change from time to time. I will be sure to keep you updated on answers. ;-) You are welcome to use my idea on your blog, if you wish, and I will gladly pray for you as well. :-)

Another feature I added was the Bible Reading Schedule for January. I rearranged the New Testament reading on my schedule from church because I wanted to space out the gospels throughout the year instead of reading them all at once. So each month I am going to post my schedule and you are welcome to follow along if you are needing a schedule to go by. :-) Future posts will probably be based on what I am reading as well. :-)

One more thing: I moved the Followers list to the bottom of the page, where I removed my movie posters. (They are still available upon request, if you'd like me to email them to you.) So if you want to follow this blog, the gadget is at the very end of the page! ;-)

So that's that! You all have a wonderful week.

Love you all,

Melanie/Emmie/Mackey/etc. :-)

Hebrews 2:5-18

For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying,

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels;
thou crownedst him with glory and honour,
and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet."

For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,

"I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee."

And again,

"I will put my trust in him."

And again,

"Behold I and the children which God hath given me."

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My thoughts: This morning while reading through Hebrews, I was struck and awed by the thought of Jesus taking on flesh, identifying with sinful man, "not ashamed to call [us] brethren", tasting death for us so that we might taste life eternal. In the words our Pastor used last Sunday, "Jesus stooped to the lowest possible place to bring us to the highest possible place." This is the mercy and grace of our wonderful God! This is the meaning of Christmas!

Rejoicing in our living Savior,

~Melanie

Luther

This evening's Bible class was regarding Roman Catholic teaching and how it is contrary to God's word. It was very eye-opening to see how the Roman Catholic church teaches dependence on works to reach salvation-- not rest in Christ's finished work on the Cross. This lesson and the notes for this lesson should be downloaded on Orwell Bible Church's website in a couple days so you can listen to it if you wish!

In the course of the lesson, Pastor Greenfield mentioned Martin Luther several times, as Luther was one of the people who broke through the darkness of the Church and helped people to search the Scriptures for themselves. All that talk about Martin Luther made me itching to see this again (that's the trailer for it actually; I want to see the movie ;-) )!! (even though I saw it only a month ago) :-P

I love the film Luther as it brings to life the man who "revolutionized" the world. To see his inner struggle, his realization that the Church and works cannot save a person, the darkness of the people and the Light that the Gospel brings is just amazing. Of course, like any movie put out by Hollywood, there are some aspects of Luther's life and of the Bible that they could have emphasized better, but it is almost like an embellishment to a biography-- helps you envision it-- helps you think. I love this movie!!

Plugged In (a Christian site for movie reviews, I believe from Focus on the Family) has a good review on it to give you an idea of whether it is something you want to watch and will make you aware of a couple spots that may not be suitable for younger viewers. (We usually fast forward the peasant revolts scenes because they are, I guess, pretty graphic (I haven't seen those parts actually) .) In any case, if you want a stirring movie and a greater appreciation for the Word of God that you can read and study for yourself, watch Luther! :-)

Some quotes by Luther (some in real life, some from the movie):

(at the Diet of Worms)-- "Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason and not by Popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me."

(in a sermon)--"So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: 'I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!' "

(to the priest that sent him to Wittenberg to study the Bible)-- "That day when you sent me out so boldly to change the world, did you really think there wouldn't be a cost?"


Bible verses on the Word of God--

"The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." (Psalm 119:130)

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." (Isaiah 40:8)

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:1-5)