Cunneda

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Emmanuel


In the process of time,
Did it come to pass:
Unto us a child was born,
Unto us a Son was given;
In Him was Life; and the Life,
Was a Light unto men;
That all men, through Him,
Might believe in the Light;
For His Light is life,
Unto all who believe.
And they called His name:
Emmanuel.


Merry Christmas to all !!!

Cunneda

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Oh Ye Who Sigh



Oh, ye who sigh,
And languish,
Who mourn
Your lack of power,
Hear ye not
His plaintive sigh:
“Could ye not watch
With Me one hour?”
For His fruitfulness
And blessing
There is no simple road;
The power for
This walk of ours
Comes on your knees,
With God.

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly?


Run, run Rudolph: Reindeer spotted on Ohio highway


No one spotted Santa Claus, but several drivers say they encountered a reindeer as they drove along a northeast Ohio highway.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports  drivers on state Route 21 in Norton had to dodge the reindeer Sunday morning after it fell from the back of a livestock truck and walked down the middle of lanes.

Patrolman Kevin Starling grabbed a harness on the reindeer and pulled it out of traffic while an off-duty firefighter stopped oncoming vehicles.

Starling says the reindeer suffered road rash and a broken antler.

Authorities say the livestock truck was headed to a party when it hit a bump and the doors opened, allowing the reindeer to fall out. Officers found the truck and returned the reindeer to its owner.

I Guess anyone can have a bad day -- even a raindeer -- interesting timing though -- haha (my commentary; of course)


Drunken Santas Terrorized Lower Manhattan During SantaCon

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT — Thousands of drunken Santas terrorized Lower Manhattan when they flooded into the neighborhood for SantaCon earlier this month, openly flouting public drinking and urination laws, locals say.

Angry residents attended Community Board 1's Monday night meeting to complain about the latest incarnation of the annual pub crawl, whose participants have been allowed to grow more rowdy every year, they say.

"There was public urination, people vomiting all over the place, open containers and no police," said John Fratta, chairman of the Seaport/Civic Center Committee which plans to send an angry missive to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and the 1st Precinct complaining about the lack of enforcement during SantaCon.

The committee said that the NYPD devoted more resources to Occupy Wall Street than to SantaCon, and asked police for a better response at the neighborhood's next expected pub-crawl on St. Patrick's Day.

"The mayor put so much power on Occupy Wall Street, he had Downtown under lock and key — but he forgot about Santa," said Ann DeFalco, a member of Community Board 1's Seaport/Civic Center Committee, at a meeting Monday night.

Residents said they saw unruly Santas buying six-packs of bottled beer on Fulton Street, then standing in the middle of the street drinking them and shattering the empty glass bottles on the ground.

The mayor's office referred questions Tuesday morning to the NYPD. The NYPD did not return requests for comment.

CB1 staff said they spoke to Santacon organizers, who acknowledged that they had recieved complaints and planned to make changes for next year, a CB1 representative said.

SantaCon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On its website, the group wrote, "Santa does not accept corporate sponsorship or speak to the press."

Paul Hovitz, a CB1 member, suggested that people who want to dress up as Santa should do a good deed rather than just drinking.

"Instead of going to pubs, they should go to senior centers and do something productive," Hovitz said.

"Santa should be associated with milk and cookies, not beer."

'Tis the season to be jolly -- right? (my commentary)

An Eventide Devotional





An Eventide Devotional, Volume 24

Filling-Up For The Journey,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Monday, December 19, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional, Volume 23:

To Live Is Christ ....... To Die Is Gain,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

To Live Is Christ ... To Die Is Gain

I have seen visions, my friends, of a coming nightmare with death on a scale that is unimaginable and it will be directed at us; the redeemed lambs of Almighty God; and it is even now at the door ..... now do the ravens sing, my friends; for they will come upon us; grim and growling as the gray wolf ....... stand and prevail, that thy heart may be found faithful ....... know ye not; that this is the hour for which we were born ....... seek not the life of this world, but stand upon the promise of life given by God to all who love Him and seek His ways; for what they see as an end, we know to be but a glorious beginning.

Psa 42:2  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
Psa 42:3  My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

Php 1:21  for to me to live is Christ, and to die gain.
Php 1:22  And if to live in the flesh is to me a fruit of work, then what shall I choose? I know not;
Php 1:23  for I am pressed by the two, having the desire to depart, and to be with Christ, for it is far better,
Php 1:24  and to remain in the flesh is more necessary

What horrors and fears come upon the worlders, and the carnally-minded, when they think of their death! Yet no prospect affords me such comfort as that of my death and final transformation. I have exceeding great cause to rejoice, when I compare what I now am and suffer — with what I shall then enjoy and be.

Now my joys are fleeting; and often fail to live up to expectations — then, they shall be perfectly present, and fulfilling eternally.

Now I walk by faith, and live on hope.  —  Then I shall know, for I shall see Him face to face, as I shall then dwell in His light, and feed at His table.

Now I am daily struggling with death and sin — but then I shall eternally triumph over both.

Now I toil along a wearisome road — but then I shall walk above these skies along the wondrous highways of heaven.

Now my eyes rove from vanity to vanity — but then they shall see, even fix upon our Risen Lord in His highest glory.

Now I live among stalkers, vampires, and beasts whose daily aim is to create strife, turmoil, fear, and pain — but then I shall dwell among the multitudes of the redeemed, with angels and archangels — in the glorious presence of the Living God.

Now I often bemoan myself as the frail inhabitant of a feeble body — but then I shall be possessed of all the vigor of immortality — of all the briskness of eternal life.

Now I have foes without, and foes within, to grapple with on a  daily basis --- the sin within my nature, and the follies of my heart; in addition to enemies from this dark and forboding world, both seen, and unseen.

Now, imperfection is stamped . . .
upon all that I feel ....... upon all I desire ....... upon all my joys and sorrows ....... and, truth be told, upon all I do.

What says the sigh, which daily escapes from my heavy heart?
Imperfect

What says the groan, which ascends from my troubled soul?
Imperfect

What says the tear, which so often  rolls down my cheek?
Imperfect

But there is perfection in Christ! In Him . . . our full and eternal perfection is decreed, promised, provided for. It will be realized in heaven, when we see Him as He really is—and shall be made like Him!— but then, triumphing over every foe, I shall sing of the glories of our Lord, and never cease from this matchless, this inexhaustible theme.

Now I often stagger my way along the road of life  — but then, renewed into His His divine likeness, I shall dwell with the Ancient of days, and enjoy the dearest and most intimate communion with Jehovah and the Lamb forever ....... then an endless eternity shall be ours, and our joy shall be as durable as it is desirable; and as permanent as it is pleasant .......then in the light of His countenance, in the brightness of His glory, shall we walk on forever.

Now, my friends, this raging midnight through which we pass, has spread its shadow over all we see and touch ....... yet amidst the blackest gloom that dwells within this darkness,  blinding the natural man, the soul of the lamb is at no loss to view the realities surrounding him -- both visible and invisible -- through the light of his faith ....... and this light, His light will guide us safely home through even the most dense darkness that envelopes and hinders us.

What is, for the world, a bitter end; is for the lamb of God, a whole new beginning beyond our wildest dreams ....... as Paul himself said: 1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

So, I tell you, as this darkness begins to collapse and feed upon itself, and death is on every doorstep, take courage in His promise and His truth ....... stand without fear against the coming onslaught ....... for if you are hid in Him, there is nothing they can do to separate you out ....... and when they have done all they are able, our life will be transformed, in the twinkling of an eye, into the freedom of His image, crowned with His glory ....... for all eternity. We shall then be gloriously free ....... our whole person, body, soul, and spirit — will be in perfect liberty: free from the curse ....... free from every foe — and all fears .......free from every fault — and all our failings ....... free from frailty — and, at last, free from all internal, external, and eternal evil.

For it was this very vision that prompted both the psalmist, and Paul to exclaim ....... My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? ....... for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Monday, December 12, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional,

Volume 22:

An Insignificant Hell,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/


Cunneda

Sunday, December 11, 2011

I Will Instruct Thee




I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.  Psalm 32:8

At best, my friends, we know but little of God and His Kingdom -- and we are very slow to learn. But the Lord has promised to instruct us.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go, He says. Here the Lord is the speaker, and gives the psalmist an answer to his prayer. Our Saviour is our instructor. The Lord himself reaches out, as it were, to teach his children to walk in His way, directed by His Holy Spirit, and bounded by His Word. We are not pardoned that we may  live after our own lusts, but that we may be schooled in holiness and trained for perfection. An education in the waters of Heaven  is one of the wondrous covenant blessings of our adoption: "All thy children shall be taught by the Lord." Though we have never set at the foot of a Gamaliel or an Aristotle; or gone to Harvard or Yale; we have  learned to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. I will guide thee with mine eye, He says;  as servants take their cue from the master's eye, and a nod  is all that they require, so shall we learn to obey the slightest hints of our Master, not needing thunderbolts to startle us, but being prompted by whispers and the small touches of love.


The Lord's teaching always produces . . .
humility, and a proper view of self ....
confidence in God, and a zeal for His glory and His Kingdom ....
and builds a heart devoted to Christ!

Our Father's teaching always . . .
bring us to the feet of Yeshua, and
delivers us through His shed blood ....
enlightening us with the power of His Truth.

This threefold repetition, I will instruct thee, I will teach thee, I will guide thee, is to show us, and teach us of the love, power, and faithfulness of all three faces of Yahweh: the Spirit to bring understanding; the Son to go before us; and the Father to watch over us, and our ways.

Under Divine instruction we learn . . .
the true nature of life and creation ..... within the fullness of our risen Savior... and the certain knowledge of His victory ....
juxtaposed against the vile coldness of the evil one ... with all the devastation he brings ....
while careening to his own doom.

It is a marvelous thing; that all heaven is ready to instruct us, my friends.With this in mind,  let us be early and often at His throne of grace, praying, as the Psalmist did, "Show me Your ways, O LORD, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me -- for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long." Psalm 25:4-5. Then shall we exclaim, as Elihu did, "God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him!" Job 36:22

The Lord  sanctifies us unto Him through the truth He imparts. For He is our lesson , my friends, and to know Him is to know His life, His peace and His joy.

Do you sit at His feet? .... do you treasure and feast upon His Words? ... does your life show forth His praise?

Learn of Him ... know of His intimacies ... live within Him ... and He will counsel thee, and His eye will cover thee.

Psa 25:9  The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
Psa 25:10  All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Psa 33:18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy

"Teach me Your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path!" Psalm 27:11

Cunneda's Ramble

Cunneda's Ramble, Volume 44:

A Word,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional,

Volume 20: A Tale of the Heart,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

On The Road With Cunneda

On The Road With Cunneda,

Volume 26: The Thoughts Kept Coming,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Friday, December 9, 2011

Hold My Hand




So many dangers, Lord;
Shadows, well mounted,
On the high rocks
Of doubt and fear;
The beguiling gowns
Of temptation;
And the galling scorpion
Of indulged lust;
At all points,
The cold brush
Of the evil one,
Chills to the bone:
Hold my hand, tightly,
As we cross
This hollow land.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional, Volume 19:

Nothing Is Left To Chance,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Nothing Is Left To Chance

"My times are in Your hand!" Psalm 31:15

Every event is under Divine control. Nothing is left to 'chance'.

Act 1:7  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Deu 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God

Our times are in His hands. Almighty God holds in his own hand all the issues of our life; we are not  strays upon the ocean of fate, but are steered by His infinite wisdom.

Our times, and our fate are not in the hands of our enemies; not the conditions or our life, or the time of our death. The clear teaching of the Word, which we read earlier, is that all lambs live only at the direction and appointment of God, our lives are in His hands, and its parameters are fixed by Him; nor can our enemies take away our lives before His time; or harm us in ant way, without His permission. Read the book of Job; read the gospels -- satan could not attack Job without permission -- he could not sift Peter without the permission of our Heavenly Father. Oh my friends, learn this fact  tonight, if you hear nothing else. These vampires, stalkers, and their mindless gnomes cannot interrupt your life in any way without God's consent, unless you give them power through your unrepented sin, or your fear and unbelief -- as a lamb, you must give before they can take. Not all the highest powers of darkness can take even one hour from your life without His consent. Our Father in Heaven will be the Director of the lives of His children; and NO ONE else! The hand of God is in all that occurs: directing, overruling, and sanctifying everything to our good and His glory. All of our times: times of trouble; times of prosperity and of adversity; of darkness, desertion, and temptation; and of joy, peace, and comfort; these are all in the hands of our Lord, at His disposal, and ordered by Him for the good of His servants, and for the glory of His own name. Understand this truth, my friends, incorporate it into you very soul -- seek Him, and ask if it be true -- search His Word: for with this truth, you take away all the power of the enemy -- you strip him naked, only to see that his only power is fear and bluster. Stand in the Lord, my friends, stand firm in His Word, His Truth, and His blood; and they will flee from you in disarray.

Does this mean that they will stop the attacks? No; you must remember they are mindless and often soulless, many are mere fodder; and they will keep on coming. Does this mean that they will never trouble our lives? No; there are times, even many times that the Lord allows evil days to come upon us in order to purity or discipline us. What is does mean is that He appointed everything that concerns us, and He applies all in His infinite wisdom and love. As He says in His Word, My purpose shall stand — and I will do all My pleasure. This, my  friends, testifies to our strength, and our comfort; that He takes such pleasure in the welfare of His children, and in the lives of His servants.     


My friends, a lamb has many enemies, simply because of his existence. The powers of darkness can see His light that He has placed within you; this light itself will bring them upon you. The wicked, and their mindless ones will persecute you, if at all possible, in one way or another -- by either words or deeds. As strange as it sounds, this is as it was meant to be: for their attacks only result in driving us closer to our Father, which is His intent. For only here, under the shadow of His wing, and with His strength an power, can we even begin to stand, and fight that fight that He has called us to, in these chaotic times. So you see, my friends, that even satan's small successes only result in hastening his doom; the only thing he accomplishes in driving down a lamb, is the creation of a more powerful spiritual warrior.


Everything that touches us passes under our Father's eye, and is directed by His Holy Spirit for our good and His glory. Therefore, my friends, by neither anxious, troubled, or cast down -- Our Lord God Omnipotent Reigns! He is your Father, your God, and your strength; He shall preserve you. Know this for sure; it shall never be as our enemies wish; or even as our hearts sometimes fear; but only as our Heavenly Father pleases, and has ordained; and this is both a comfort and an assurance.

I end with the witness of His Word; two from the Old Testament, and one from the New Testament:


In Psalms -- A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

And in Jeremiah -- And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible

Lastly, in the Gospel of John -- Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

At Close Quarters



Wisdom enjoins:
As breath is to life,
Prayer is to grace.
Pouring out the soul
To the Father of Lights
in unutterable spasms.
As a freewill offering:
Solemnly; eternally,
Devoted to Him,
Binding one to another.


Uniting as one,
A hidden Fire
Trembles in the breast.
The burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
When none but God is near.
For He delights in the
Sweet smell of Sacrifice
Rising in His altar,                                                           
Of the heart.


Angels in their songs rejoice;
We pray ....... I pray;
Saints unite in prayer.
A source; and an end,
In word, soul, and deed;
We supplicate ....... we receive.
Love to pray ....... pray to love;
We beseech thee Lord,
Teach us to pray.
Amen.



"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." They wave their arms and cry out loud, clapping the sky in search of a God that most will never find, because they seek amiss. He whom they seek is either found within; or He will not be found at all. As it says clearly in the Word:   I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. ...........  commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. .......... Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.  All His lambs know this instinctively; almost from the moment of their awakening; for the witness of the Spirit always agrees with the witness of the Word; and His Word is clear.

In Isaiah, we are told that God dwells in eternity -- in Ecclesiastes, it is said that He has placed eternity within our hearts -- when the question was asked, "Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?" -- the clear answer was, and is, "The preparations of the heart in man is from the Lord." It is here, my friends, that His temple sits, and here, He dwells -- within us --within the very center of our being -- our hearts. It is here He speaks to us; here we pray; and here He responds: "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Oh Lord, will I seek."


All this is fitting, and as it should be, for we are His creation, created in His image, and called out by Him to be His people. Because we are His creation, and His people, He has placed His home (eternity) within us that when He awakens us; He might have a dwelling place within us. He is always with us -- always our shield and our strength -- always our comfort and our joy -- because He is always within us -- within that special place that He has created in our hearts.

 Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Joh 17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

You see, my friends, when we awake unto our Lord, we do not go to Him as much as He takes up residence in us; and from here, in the driver's seat, He guides and directs us; and from here, in His Temple, He hears our pleas.
So when we say that you must look and pray within; it is to this Temple of Almighty God within each of His lambs that we are pointing at, to that glorious house He has prepared and inhabited within you from even before you were awakened -- from even before you were created. You see, my friends, this house, this temple, is also His witness to you that you were created in eternity, for eternity, by the Eternal One; and that you are His eternally: for the Eternal One dwells only in eternity; and He has placed that eternity within us ....... eternally.

We seek,
And partake,
At close quarters
With the Living God;
For  the Holy One,
Inhabits the lives
Of His people;
He is
The Living Breath
Of all His lambs.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Cunneda's Ramble

Cunneda's Ramble,

Volume 43:

Arise! My Lambs

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Friday, November 25, 2011

Arise!






Oh lambs of God;
My beloved lambs:
How long wilt thou sleep?

We have been in pain,
As a woman with child;
Full of tossings to and fro,
Unto the dawn of the day:
Yet we have brought forth
Only wind.
We have not wrought
Deliverance on the earth;
Neither has the long night ended.

"YET MY DEAD SHALL LIVE,"
Cries the Holy One:
"Together, as My dead body,
Shall they arise!"
"Awake! ....... and sing!
Awake thou that sleepest;
And arise from the dead!
For now is the time
Of thy salvation;
ARISE!
And I shall give thee light."

Ye that dwell in the dust;
Gird up thy loins,
And cry out against the night:
Pour out thine heart
Before the face of the Lord;
And He will set thee in safety
From those who kindle against thee.
Speak unto them in His power;
And be not dismayed
At their faces.

Arise, and thresh!
Arise ....... contend thou
Before the mountains;
And let the hills hear thy voice:
For they sit in darkness;
And gross abomination
Covers the people.

Oh sleeper, arise!
Call upon thy God;
And anoint thy shield:
For the Lord, our God,
Has arisen within thee:
His sword goes before thee;
And His glory,
Shall be a witness
Upon thee.

Amen
 

The Day After Thanksgiving


It's the day after
Thanksgiving,
And all through
The house,
Lie six sleeping
Grandsons,
Quiet as a mouse;
As the sun
Rises quickly,
And eyes open fast;
I treasure this silence,
Cause I know
It won't last.
So it's out
To the playground,
And in for some food,
Then off to the movies
With my noisy
Little brood.
If I survive this day,
And it goes
As we plan;
I'll rest until
Christmas,
And do it all
Again.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday;
Cunneda

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Cunneda's Ramble

Cunneda's Ramble, Volume 42:

It Has Happened Before,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional, Volume 17:

His Fruit Was Sweet To My Taste,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

His Fruit Was Sweet To My Taste




I would like to direct your attention, once again, my friends, to the Song of Solomon. I love this small book. Perhaps there is no other discourse within God's Word that pictures our intended relationship with Yeshua, our risen Lord, in such earthy realism; here, this sublime union is described in terms that even the most base among us can clearly understand. He proclaims that the union of Christ with His Bride; His Ecclesia, and her consent to Him, embodies the very celestial forms for the relationship of marriage itself: forever with her Lord, forever like her Lord, forever conscious that His desire is toward her always; she will share alike His heart and His throne. Within this little book, Solomon demonstrates the pattern for every form godly union. It is interesting to notice the contrast between this book and that preceding it. In Ecclesiastes, he shouts that all is vanity; almost as an introductory preface to his Song, which shows the only way in which true blessing and satisfaction can be possessed: receiving Yeshua, Christ, as the Bridegroom of the soul.


As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.  Song of Solomon 2:3 - 4


Our risen Lord is peerless, matchless, in His beauty, in the eyes of a believer's heart ......... His personal excellencies baffle our powers of description.

Here He is compared to a fruit tree in the midst of the thinning trees of the forest, affording comfort, as well as pleasant and refreshing nourishment. The citron (Hebrew scholars say that this is probably the fruit tree translated as an apple tree by the King James translators) is a beautiful evergreen, affording delightful shade as well as refreshing fruit. A humble wild flower herself, she recognizes her Bridegroom as a noble tree, both ornamental and fruitful. Protection, refreshment, and rest, all of these, and more, she finds in Him. What a contrast this is from the early fears and misgivings with which her betrothment began. But our Lord knew full well the cause of all her fears; her distrust sprang from her ignorance of Him, so He took her aside, and in the sweet intimacies of mutual love, her fears and distrust have vanished, like the mists of the morning before the rising sun.

And now the bride replies .......As the apple tree among the trees of the wood ....... So is my Beloved among the sons ....... I sat down under His shadow with great delight  ....... And His fruit was sweet to my taste:  Her eyes have been opened to behold His beauty, and she now longs for a fuller enjoyment of His love.

Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth: ....... For Thy love is better than wine ....... But true love cannot be stationary; it must either decline or grow. Despite all the unworthiness  of our hearts, Divine love is destined to conquer, and win all. The bride exclaims: ....... Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance ....... Thy name is as ointment poured forth .......
Therefore do the virgins love Thee .......  Draw me: we will run after Thee ....... Let Me see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice ....... For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

And His fruit was sweet to my taste:
His fruit ....... what of His fruit, my friends ....... all the promises He has given, and fulfilled ....... the reconciliation He has achieved, and the pardon He bestows ....... the peace He imparts and implants deep in our souls ....... His fellowship with, and His guidance of His lambs (He is after all, the Good Shepherd)  ....... the joys of the Holy Spirit; who brings to us the sure hope of eternity and the assurances of His love, as well as open access through Him to the Throne of Heaven and the majestic foretastes of His glory that He bestows there ....... all of these, and many more that I simply don't have the time to list, are His fruits, freely available to His bride ....... and as His Word proclaims: they are sweet and nourishing; both life - giving, and life - sustaining ....... they are in fact, my friends, Life, itself ....... and in the end, it is His Bride, His eternal living lambs, who are His fruit unto Eternity.

 
There is a sublime joy in seeing that He knows all, and, notwithstanding, loves us still ....... there is an astonishing sweetness of His Spirit offered and bestowed upon all His lambs.
Relaxed, under His shadow ....... sheltered in the storms of life ....... shielded from the assaults of darkness ....... preserved from the encroaching cloud of death ....... and fed with His majestic fruits of salvation ....... the believer is secure ....... and his Savior is precious; lovely, and precious to his soul.


Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. -- Psa 45:2

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? -- Psa 89:6


But now that she has come to know and trust in Him, she receives a higher, more compelling testament of His love. He acknowledges her publicly ...... He proclaims her to be His beloved, before all creation ....... 'He brought me to the banquet house, and adorned me with His robes ....... His banner over me was love'.


To be brought here, my friends, under the drawings and influences of divine grace, is a special privilege given only to His lambs -- His beloved -- it is a distinguishing grace; and shows a great love by Yeshua, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, to take His people by the hand, as it were, and introduce them into His household, so well laid out; and to a table so well spread: it is a vision of His favor and a fresh token of our Lord's exceeding great love for us -- His lambs.  

The banquet hall is now as appropriate as the King’s chambers were. Fearlessly and without shame she can sit at His side, His acknowledged spouse, the bride of His choice. Overwhelmed with His love she sighs: His left hand is under my head ....... And His right hand doth embrace me.

Now she finds the blessedness of being possessed ....... My beloved is mine, and I am his .......  No longer her own, His rest, and peace have become both her right and her enjoyment; and this is just as the Bridegroom would have it to be. For there can be no change in His love; He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. To us He promises, “I will never leave thee, never fail thee, nor forsake thee”; and His earnest exhortation and promise is, Abide in Me, and I will abide in you.

Oh my friends, all the longings and visions of this wonderful book are reflected, and fulfilled in the life of Yeshua, in His words, and in the pages of His New Testament -- hear His words, taste and eat, and see that He is good, and true:

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love ....... These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.











It Has Happened Before!



The war of the angels;
That great collision
Of the heavens,
Is come down to earth.
It has happened before:

 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void;
And the heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled,

 And all the hills moved lightly.

  I beheld, and, lo, there was no man,

 And all the birds of the heavens were fled.

  I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness,

 And all the cities thereof were broken down

 At the presence of the LORD,

 And by his fierce anger.



As the stormcloud

Gathers on the horizon;

So come the deathless ones,

From the murky land,

Of merciless bonds,

Behind the outer gates

On the Mount of Chill Doom.

Now with fixed purpose,

And deliberate council

Unto deadly strife,

They stir up heated battle.


On that day,

A day of blood and fire;

They launched

Their grievous shafts,

Cries, shouts, and mighty hooves

Echoed across the land,

As they met

With a great battle cry.


Filled with fury,

From Heaven He came,

Hurling His lightning:

Thick and fast the bolt flew,

Whirling in awesome flame.

The life - giving earth

Crashed around in agony;

And the vast woodland,

Crackled loud,

With fire all about.

The living land seethed,

And the seas shimmered with heat:

Hot vapors lapped the sky;

Flames unspeakable, rose

To the bright upper air,

 In the flashing glare

Of thunder stones.

Heaven and earth

Came together;

And the earth

Was hurled to ruin,

In a mighty crash.



"And the earth

Was without form, and void;

And darkness,

Was on the face of the deep."



The war of the angels;

That great collision

Of the heavens,

Is now come down to earth,

My friends;

It has happened before,

You know.











Friday, November 18, 2011

Just Another Average Praise Report

About 60 miles south of home, I had a fan belt go on my rig; lost alternator, power steering, heaters, and all power except headlights. I went to the Lord like right now and told Him I needed His help; that I was coming in without anything except temporary battery power. Praise God!!  He lifted me on His wing and brought me all the way home on a battery that should not have lasted more than 30 minutes.

Praise God for His faithfulness; His help; His graces; and His mercies. I'll be up late tonight praising Him, I Think.

Just had to tell somebody.

Praise God--praise His Holy Name!!!!!!!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Song of Songs/Psalms Interface



As the apple tree
Among the trees
Of the woods;
So is my beloved,
Among the sons:
Thou art fairer,
Than the children
Of men;
Grace is poured
Into Thy lips,
Therefore, God hath
Blessed Thee,
Forever.

I sat down
Under His shadow,
With great delight;
And His fruit,
Was sweet
To my taste.
He brought me
To His banquet house;
And His banner
Over me was love:
For Who
In the heavens,
Can be compared
Unto the Lord?

Many,
Oh Lord, my God,
Are Thy wonderful works
Which Thou has done;
And Thy thoughts,
Which are to us-ward;
Cannot be reckoned,
Neither can they
Be numbered:
Whom have I in heaven,
But Thee?
And there is none
Upon the earth,
That I desire,
But Thee.

Monday, November 14, 2011

"It is I"


There is a voice within the storm, through the howling wind and the sting of spray, they could hear Him ....... as we too can hear Him ....... lightly at first, then stronger ....... "It is I"
"It is I!" ....... "Take courage; It is I. Be not afraid."


Listen, my friends, to the voice of our Lord, who calls amid the storm ....... it is I that sent the tempest, that you might call on Me ....... That when you call; I might answer ....... that
when you cry out; I shall say, "Here I Am."

It is I who sent your affliction ....... to be in it with you.

It is I who kindled the furnace ....... that you might shine as jasper                                    

It is I who formed your burden, ....... that you might partake of My strength.

It is I who mixed your cup of grief ....... that you might drink of the Waters of Life.

It is I, my beloved, who have done all.

I make the clouds as My chariot, and clothe Myself with the tempest for raiment, I come to you on the wings of the wind; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.   When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee ....... For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour .......   Take courage, It is I. Do not be afraid.                                                                          
                                                     
My Light,
That flashed so brightly
In the tempests beauty,
Has lost none of its Luster;
The River of Life,
That flows
Through all ages,
Will not dry-up
In the sands of time;
The Fire which blazed so clear,
Will not die down to ash;
I AM still your refuge.



It is I who permitted . . . that enemy to assail you ...... the slander that blasts upon you ....... the arrow to wound you ....... and those needs that drove you to your knees .......
Your affliction did not spring out of the ground, but came down from above ....... to clothe you in My robes of ebony and pearl.

I have sent all in love ....... This sickness is not unto death ....... But for the glory of God

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for I AM the LORD thy God; and I will be with thee wheresoever you may go.

As your bereavement bows you to the earth ....... your tears of grief ....... are but the seeds of life ....... nourishing the spot made sacred in your weeping.
 
It is I, who order, arrange, and control all.

In every stormy wind ....... in every dark and evil night ....... in every lonesome hour ....... it is My voice you hear calling to you ....... saying "It is I"


I am the flower,
Even the Rose of Sharon,
Clothed in fragrant grace.

In the wilderness,
I shall blossom in the dew,
Sweet fragrance for all.

East in the desert,
You shall find Me among thorns,
Calling you softly.

Beloved, come to Me
Stroll and play, learn more of Me,
I am Life to you.

To the abscised soul,
I am the balm of Gilead,
To soothe and refresh.

To the downtrodden,
The Lilley of the valley,
Adorned in Glory.

Come ye unto Me,
That I may take root in you,
And Blossom within.

My yoke is easy,
Just a small burden I bring,
In exchange for life.

Bend low with thine ear,
Hear the whisper of My heart,
Come to Me my love.



And because you have set your love upon me, therefore will I deliver you: I will set you on high, because you hath known My name. You shall call upon me, and I will answer you: I will be with you in (times of) trouble; I will deliver you, and honor you. -- Psa 91:14 - 15 (slight translation adjustment according to Cunneda)

Sunday, November 13, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional,

Volume 15:

Infirmities In Prayer,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Infirmities In Prayer


As the fir tree
Lifts itself heavenward,
With a different need,
Than the palm tree;
So does each believer,
Lift a distinct humanity
To the common Father;
And for each, He has
A unique response:
For within every lamb,
He has placed,
The secret of
The new name:
A blossom;
And a perfection;
Foreseen by  God,
From the beginning;
Because He made it so.


Tonight, my friends, I WANT to consider  the weaknesses and frailties that sometimes seem to beset us when we commune with our Heavenly Father in prayer. We all suffer from the infirmities of the flesh; which, in their course, often lead to infirmities of the spirit; and these, always seem to show - up first in our prayer life. Who among us  has not had the weight of this world fall on us, and sometimes, crush our spirits and dampen our prayers? It is then, my friends, especially then, that we must seek His grace and mercy all the more diligently.

The prayers
Of the righteous,
Come before Him,
As holy incense:
Wafting in coils
Of fragrant sacrifice,
Up to the heavenlies;
Rising on the thermals
Of an unutterable love,
Afire in the soul
Of the redeemed;
Tended, and stirred,
To an impassioned blaze,
By the Spirit of God;
And fed commonly,
Morning and evening,
By fresh coals
From the altar
Of Golgatha.

The coals, can be wetted down, however, by our own frailties; any number of which can lead to a weakness of appetite for prayer. We may realize this weakness if we contrast it with the strength of the appeal revealed in our other activities -------- perhaps, when we turn to pray there is no effective driving taste in our fellowship. And the taste for a thing is always a mighty dynamic.  Yet when we are laid low, we can be oppressed by a spirit indifference, and rather than rush to His arms, we loiter in the hallway.

A loss of appetite, will soon lead to a weakness of faith.  Real faith is a fountain of boundless energy  -------  when we pray to the Lord, His possibilities should thrill our souls? Yet when our souls have been crushed, we are not uplifted by the assurances of Almighty God.

Even when we do go to the divine treasury we frequently ask for the smallest things. We do not honor our great God by the greatness or the expansiveness of our quests. “We ask amiss  -------  we ask Him for things that matter least. We neglect the things that are all-important. We emphasize the temporal rather than the eternal. We choose the earthly instead of the heavenly. We emphasize goods more than goodness, and we are more concerned with bodily health than with spiritual robustness. And all the time the big things are waiting, above all that we can ask or think.

Often, when we are stressed or grieving, there is little range of concerns and sympathies in our intercessions  -------  we do not struggle with God for the great needs outside our personal circle;  powerful saints -- prayer warriors -- have a range that touches joys and sorrows to the uttermost parts of the earth -- while our prayers lack a depth and range if we pray only for that which concerns us, or our small circle.

Frequently when I pray I am face to face with problems for which I can see no solution. I cannot see all round the thing, and I “know not what to pray for as I ought  -------  here, The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, and most assuredly He helps us in the midst of all our shortcomings, our weaknesses, and our frailties. Wherever the soul stumbles in its frailties, the Holy Spirit, if we permit Him, will bring the needful help.

He strengthens the very prayers we make. He knows what weak things we are, even at the best. Perhaps my body is itself a hindrance. I have a hard day’s work, and I am tired out, and I have scarcely the physical or mental vigour to fix my thoughts upon the Highest. My evening prayer is very weak, and has little promise of effectiveness. But surely just here the Holy Spirit will help my infirmities by adding strength to my petitions; and as He is no respecter of persons, what He does for one lamb, He will most assuredly do for all.

More than this, my friends, I believe the Holy Spirit corrects our prayers. We may pray in our shortsightedness. But the Holy Spirit, who knows the mind of God, puts aside our own petition and intercedes for what will bring us the gift of God’s wonderful grace.

And thus are we saved from the peril of our own limitations, and better things are given to us than we desired. Our Lord watches our interests rather than our words, and the gracious answer that comes to us is inspired by His understanding of all things, yea, even of the deep things of God.

God's presence,
Is a radiating Fire -
- A Divine Energy -
That all believers
Are meant to absorb;
As the desert sands,
Soak up the rain
Of a spring thunderstorm:
This silent, prayerful,
Soaking of the soul,
Invites the love
Of our Heavenly Father,
To seep ever so deeply,
Into the inner core
Of our being;
To bring His healing;
And our renewal.

Amen.

Cunneda's Ramble

Cunneda's Ramble,

Volume 41:

Let Him Who Is Unjust,

Be Unjust Still.

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Coils

The prayers
Of the righteous,
Come before Him,
As holy incense:
Wafting in coils
Of fragrant sacrifice,
Up to the heavenlies;
Rising on the thermals
Of an unutterable love,
Afire in the soul
Of the redeemed;
Tended, and stirred,
To an impassioned blaze,
By the Spirit of God;
And fed commonly,
Morning and evening,
By fresh coals
From the altar
Of Golgatha.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

DA Who Never Charged Sandusky Has Been Missing Since 2005 Why didn’t Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar prosecute Jerry Sandusky the first time he was accused in 1998? We may never know, as Gricar disappeared in 2005.

It is strange that Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar never prosecuted Jerry Sandusky on child-rape charges 13 years ago, some speculate, because Gricar was known for being fiercely independent and hard on crime.

But it is even stranger that we cannot ask Gricar why Sandusky was not put behind bars because the tough-as-nails district attorney disappeared in 2005. And though he was declared dead July of this year, his body has never been found.

"People ask why Ray did not prosecute, and I have no problem saying, because he clearly felt he didn't have a case for a 'successful' prosecution," Tony Gricar, Ray Gricar’s nephew , told The Patriot-News.

"... One thing I can say is that Ray was beholden to no one, was not a politician."

This district attorney who had “a bitter taste in his mouth for the [Penn State] program, and its coach,” according to his nephew, and yet never prosecuted Sandusky, disappeared on April 15, 2005 after telling his girlfriend that he was going on a drive.

Ray Gricar’s car was found the next day in a Lewisburg parking lot and his laptop, sans hard drive, was found in the Susquehanna River, according to the Patriot-News.

Ray Gricar’s friend, Montour County District Attorney Robert Buehner Jr., told the New York Times that if the ardent district attorney had committed suicide, he would have wanted his body found. But in the case of possible foul play, no suspects have emerged from investigations.

When it comes to the Sandusky case, friends and former co-workers are all of the opinion that Ray Gricar would never back down from a righteous prosecution.

“No one got a bye with Ray,” Anthony De Boef, who was an assistant district attorney under Gricar for five years told the NY Times. “He didn’t care who you were; he had a job to do.”

And, despite the fact that Ray Gricar had the mother of one of the alleged victims confront Sandusky while police listened, the 1998 report on Sandusky was labeled “unfounded” by the District Attorney’s Office, reports the Patriot-News.

“I would say this about Ray: He would be extremely cautious in proceeding because he wanted to make sure that there would be a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” Buehner told the Patriot News. “You don’t want to go after someone high profile unless you have a compelling case.”

As for the 2002 incident, in which a graduate assistant told Penn State coach Joe Paterno that he witness Sandusky raping a 10-year-old boy in the PSU locker rooms, there is no indication that Ray Gricar was notified, reports the Patriot-Times.

Jerry Sandusky Rumored to Have Been 'Pimping Out Young Boys to Rich Donors,' Says Mark Madden

In April, Pittsburgh radio host Mark Madden wrote a story revealing Penn State for much of the cover-up of Jerry Sandusky's alleged child rape that has been exposed in the past week. While it didn't raise many eyebrows back then, six months later it looks to be incredibly accurate.

On Thursday morning, just hours after legendary head coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier were fired by the school's board of trustees, Madden was asked on The Dennis and Callahan Show what he believes the next piece of news will be.

What he said was twice as shocking as anything that's been released thus far.

"I can give you a rumor and I can give you something I think might happen," Madden told John Dennis and Gerry Callahan. "I hear there's a rumor that there will be a more shocking development from the Second Mile Foundation -- and hold on to your stomachs, boys, this is gross, I will use the only language I can -- that Jerry Sandusky and Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors. That was being investigated by two prominent columnists even as I speak."

After the news spread, Madden later explained via Twitter why he went public with the rumors.

"I normally abhor giving RUMORS credence," Madden wrote. "But whole Sandusky scandal started out as a RUMOR. It gets deeper and more disgusting all the time. One of state's top columnists investigating. That adds credence. I am NOT rumor's original source. [Why does] Sandusky deserve benefit of doubt?"

Madden also spoke more definitively on Dennis and Callahan to the cover-up efforts at the school and beyond that he expects will be made public soon.

"The other thing I think that may eventually become uncovered, and I talked about this in my original article back in April, is that I think they'll find out that Jerry Sandusky was told that he had to retire in exchange for a cover-up," Madden said. "If you look at the timeline, that makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

"My opinion is when Sandusky quit, everybody knew -- not just at Penn State," Madden added. "I think it was a very poorly kept secret about college football in general, and that is why he never coached in college football again and retired at the relatively young age of 55. [That's] young for a coach, certainly."

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

On The Road With Cunneda

On The Road With Cunneda,

Volume 25:

Zombies: A Short Tirade,

is now up 2

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Monday, November 7, 2011

His Radiance


Do you remember,
My friend;
That bright, realizing,
Burst of glory,
When His love,
First roused you,
From the stupors
Of life?
How you marveled,
At the table
Spread before you?
And through
That open window;
How you were bathed,
With hope and joy,
In His sweet,
Mellifluous sunlight:
To shed His radiance,
Upon your outward way?

Sunday, November 6, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional,

Volume 14:

"I AM YOUR EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD"

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

"I Am Your Exceeding Great Reward"


"I am your exceeding great reward." Genesis 15:1 ---- God, Himself, is His people's great reward.

God is your most absolute and satisfying reward; both filling, and fulfilling:  He, Himself, is our reward and our portion, both here and hereafter, unto all eternity. He is ours; we are His; therefore, all things are ours: all things pertaining to life and godliness, all things even unto the infinite and the eternal. It will be not only the fullness of the vessel, but the fullness of the Fountain: it will move the terms -- blessed and blessedness -- into whole new realms and dimensions. Here is fullness, my  friends; as His Word testifies -- even screams -- to us:  "The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him"; "The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot; The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage"....... "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope";  "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."

God is our desirable, suitable, and fitting reward: As light was designed to be suitable to the eye, and the melodies of music fitting to the ear; so will the Spirit of God be a complete and continual interface with the soul and spirit of His resurrected lambs, through Yeshua, our risen Lord. He will enrich us with His majesty; feed and fill us with His love; and crown us with His glory; as our Lord, Himself said, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.   And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also........Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

God is our beautiful and pleasurable reward: He is the absolute quintessence of joy and delight! He is all beauty and love! To be feeding upon thoughts of God is delicious. Psalm 104:34, "My meditation on Him shall be sweet." As the bee delights to taste  and savor  the flower, so will we delight in Him. In Matthew, the godly departed, entering into their reward, are said to enter into the joy of the Lord. We shall enter into God's own joy; and here, we shall partake not only of the joy that He bestows; but also the joy that He is.

God is our transcendent reward: He is both All in all, and  All of all; well beyond any human understanding. He is both Infinite, and Infinity itself; there is, and can be no lack in Him. It is in His transcendence that all things become ours.

God is our honorable reward: the honor of God is the height of a lamb's earthly ambition; even those of this world recognize its importance, and the elevation it bestows; Aristotle calls it the greatest of blessings. Can there be a greater honor, my friends, than to be taken up into communion with the God of glory, and to possess His Kingdom with Him, clothed in light,  with Christ upon His throne, above all?

God is an everlasting, eternal reward.  Eternity cannot be measured, and it  gives His promise of glory a weight and a substance beyond comparison. As David declares in the Book of Psalms,  "For this God is our God for ever and ever."  Oh, my friends, your trials, your sufferings, your repentings, and your deep sense of need  are but for a while — yet your reward is forever. As long as God is God, He will be your reward. In Hosea, we hear His promise, "I will betroth you unto me forever." God marries Himself to His people, and this admits of no divorce. God's love for His elect is as unchangeable as is His love for Christ.  As it says in Psalms, once again,  "My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." This portion cannot be spent, or used - up;  because it is infinite -- nor can it be lost;  because it is eternal.

In God are treasures which can never be emptied — and pleasures which can never be ended!

David knew these glorious truths, when his soul sang out: Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Leaning Hard


Son 8:5  Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?

Have you ever observed two people walking who were deeply in love -- of course you have.
Walking hand in hand, or with arms around each other, leaning on one another, every thing about them exudes the image of love; but more than this, is a physical
testimony of trust, sharing, dependence, communication, and joy, at the very least. This is the image that comes to my mind when I read this verse; and that is
precisely the image I was intended to see, that all us were meant to see.


For it is the lamb, the believer, that is coming up from the wilderness, and the object of our love, the One upon whom we lean, is Yeshua, our Redeemer, and the
Living God; and all that these two lovers are to each other, He is to be to us; and we to Him.

To the lamb, this world is a wilderness, a dark and foreboding place, where we are in constant danger.
Our home is in heaven -- in our Father's house.  We are strangers here -- we are not like the others.
We are only passing through this wilderness on our way home; in the company of our beloved one.

We lean on Him, and cling to Him, because we are weak and defenseless in ourselves -- therefore, all of our dependence and confidence in in Him, leaning hard on our Beloved.

He is our strength — as well as our guide.

He is our support — as well as the object of our deepest love.

We lean on Him — as we converse with Him.

He supports us, and leads us — as He comforts us.

Oh my friends, keep close to our Savior's side! Never leave Him while you are in this howling wilderness. Lean on Him! And when you feel weak — lean hard!

His strong arm is put forth to support your weaknesses.
He will bear you up.
He will lead you on.

It is a true symbiosis, my friends, we are completely, utterly dependent upon Him.
The more you lean on Him — the more you will love Him.
The more you love Him — the closer you will cleave to Him.
And this is as it is meant to be.

Yield to His guidance,
trust in His love,
lean on His power,
walk by His side.

In His company — only in His company -- are we safe.

In communion with Him — you will be happy; His joy will thoroughly  infuse you;  like the two on the road to Emmaus, your heart will be warmed, and you will be at the end of your journey before you are even aware of it.

He is always at your side, my friends — so lean hard; that all will say:
"Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?"

Friday, November 4, 2011

Perilous Slumber

2Pe 1:12  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
2Pe 1:13  Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

2Pe 3:1  This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

Always in rememberance; stirring up your minds; by way of rememberance: in these phrases, Peter is trying to reach out and excite and arouse us to a vibrant relationship with our living Lord, and to a lively and abundant exercise of grace, by reminding us of our Lord and the prophets -- their lives, their sufferings, their words -- for he knew how easily the fires tend to be stoked into a sense of normality, and we lose the vibrance of our relationship with God. Even mature saints, who are certainly not immune, can begin to turn slugish, and even slothful, and the quality of our faith can turn from awesome to merely familiar.

The peril suggested by the Apostle is that of an insidious slumber. Those who he was writing to were not inclined to any deliberate revolt from the Truth. They were not considering any act of open and avowed heresy. They were in no immediate danger of consciously allying themselves with the evil one. The peril was of another kind. They were in danger of almost unconsciously dropping their enthusiasm, of losing the keenness -- the razor's edge -- of their faith, and of sliding gently into a perilous, even fatal sleep. The Apostle therefore seeks to “stir them up,” to keep them awake, to preserve their vivid apprehension of Truth and their sense of the majesty and the grace of Christ. For he knew only too well, that this perilous sleep can subtly and silently  encroach upon the believer. It is the sleep, the slumber, that turns vitality into malaise; and quenches the boiling fires down to luke-warm.

He speaks of a kind of sleep that can begin in an over-familiarity with the truth. That which once startled us may ultimately minister to a deeper slumber. The midnight train that woke me every night when I first moved in; now rocks me to sleep with its low rythmic rumbles -- the alarm clock which is supposed to startle me awake; sometimes becomes a part of the dream and sends me into a deeper sleep -- Love, without stimulation, soon loses its edge, and begins to dull. I  don't know about you, but looking wistfully at the grandeur of the night sky often sends me into a kind of slumber, because it has no force of thought or will behind it, it is simply unattended thought.  The point that I am trying to make, my friends, is that unwilled, thoughtless observation is soon satisfied, and goes to sleep; missing the obvious right before its eyes. Vibrant, active observation, on the other hand, a vision with intensity and thought  behind it, is full of discernment, and is continually making discoveries which keeps the mind alert and interested. Get a dedicated will behind the eye, and the eye becomes a searchlight, and the familiar is made to disclose undreamed of treasures.

The same things, my friends, apply equally to our walk of faith. Here in the Word of God we have pictures of the life and death of Christ, revelations of His heart and disclosures of His love. We may become so familiar with them that our attention goes to sleep. There are no further unveilings, no novelties, nothing unexpected, and the familiar vision ceases to attract our attention. What do we need? We need to “stir up the mind,” to put some force behind it, to direct it in a strong, fresh, eager inquisitiveness. We need to put it into the attitude of “asking,” “seeking,” “knocking,” and the familiar presence will reveal itself in unexpected and marvelous ways. The familiar puts on wonderful robes, my friends, when approached with a fervent inspection. Truth makes winsome, and majestic revelations to her devoted wooers. Every day the ardent lover makes a new discovery. If men would come to the familiar pages of God’s Word with the energy, or mental alertness anywhere near to that which they bring to a football game, they would see glorious surprises, which would make the heart buoyant and glad. The Word of God promises its wealth to the wakeful. There is no book, or writings, anywhere that has more to say about unfolding, revealing, manifesting, showing, or declaring, and the only condition is that the seeker, the reader of the promise  should be an ardent, willful seeker; stirring up his mind in an eager and determined quest.

The Word also talks to us often of a slumber that comes from success and contentment. When difficulties appear to have vanished from our life, we can begin to lose contact with our Heavenly Provider because we think that we can handle things now -- we no longer need His help. Thus our faith can nod-off, so to speak, from a communion to an mere acquaintance. When there is no lion in our path, no dragons left to slay, my friends, we desparately need to stir our spirits to make certain that we are still near to Him, our first love.

And we have all seen the sleep that comes by  failure. When repeated rejection and  disappointment crowns all our efforts, when the “wet blanket” is thrown over all our hopes and relationships, the fire in the soul can be damped, and enthusiasm often starts to wane. The Apostle knew that disappointment would confront us, that cold water would be thrown upon our enthusiasm. That is why he pleads with us -- not once, but twice in this small letter -- to stir up the gift that is in us; stir it into flame! Keep thy first love vibrant and vigorous. Feed you fires, my friends, feed your fires in His Word and on your knees in His presence. That is the only cure, my friends, to be vibrant and alive, we must be vigilant in stiring-up the fires with constant and renewed knocking, asking, seeking, and believing.

“Watch therefore . . .(and stir regularly) ... lest, coming suddenly, He find you sleeping.”

Thursday, November 3, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional

Volume 12:

PERILOUS SLUMBER.

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

If


If -- What if -- if only:
Its sound travels
Through all the years,
Like the haunting sigh,
Of a low moan;
This pathetic cry --
Those remorseful 'ifs',
Consume as gangrene:
Ravaging, and devastating
Our peace, our trust,
And the sweeping light,
Of all our hope.

Monday, October 31, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional Volume 11:

THE LORD IS MY SONG,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

The Lord Is My Song

The Lord is my portion, and an important part of His portion, is the continual song of joy and praise He has placed in the heart and soul of every lamb.

"The Lord is my song."--Psalm 118:14

A joyful spirit is a praiseful spirit; and our Living God, to whom our loftiest and sweetest praises gather, has said in His Word, "Whoever offers praise glorifies me." That there are so few joyful believers, shouts and testifies to the truth that ther are only few  praiseful believers in the in the body of our Lord. Praise is one of the holiest of His graces, and  is one of the most magnificent endeavers, of the believing soul.

With my whole heart have I sought Thee;
With my lips have I declared Thee;
I have rejoiced in Thy witness;
Meditated on Thy precepts, Delighted in Thy voice,
And praised Thy holy name.
I trust in Thy Word and hope in Thy judgements;
They are as a song on my pilgrimage.

Oh My soul, pluck your harp from the willow, where too long it has hung in silence, and, waking its sacred notes, praise your God for all providential mercies--for the blessings of this life--food and clothing, home and friends, His daily care and thought of you.

This very morning, as I awoke
From a generous, refreshing sleep;
A wondrous and rich stream
Of golden.......warm sunlight
From the lofty Throne of Divine Majesty
Sliced clean through to my inner soul;
A signal pledge of the presence of God.
For He inhabits the commonplace of earth,
And His vision can be seen in all things.
In the early stillness,
I know that He is near;
As I reverently, deliberately, and quietly,
Breathe-in His Countenance,
The unseen becomes visible;
And the Eternal, real.
Surely, as I abide, secure in His alcove,
In the heat of His pure, holy Fire,
I shall be kept pure, glowing, and intense.

Praise Him for sovereign calling, and His saving  grace. Oh, my friends, if only we would fully realize what true sonship is, and that, we are now truly living sons of God; the very thought would kindle within our soul  the deepest of thanksgivings, and wake our slumbering harps to the loudest praise!

The grace of purity,
And self - control;
Of fervent, effectual prayer,
And understanding in the Word;
Of love for our fellows,
And zeal for God;
Of lowliness and meekness,
Of gentleness and goodness:
All this, and more, is in Christ.
Therefore .......
If Christ be in us;
All is ours as well.
Oh that we would dare to believe it!
And learn to draw on it:
Letting down the pitcher of faith,
Into the deep, untroubled well
Of our Lord's indwelling love;
Opened within us
By the Spirit,
Of the Living God.

Wake-up  your harp, oh my soul, to the high praise of Christ's power, faithfulness, and love. Sing, and rejoice, that we are, even now: "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."

As we walk;
With lowly guise
And reverent heart;
There comes,
By sweet consent;
The surrender of the will,
In the presence of
A pure and absorbing Love;
Brought close within,
By a life ablaze,
With the sacred glow
Of His everlasting glory.

The Lord, too, is our song  of  comfort and consolation, in all of our pathways, we have traveled through many dark and stormy vistas; but our consolations, my friends, when we take the time to recollect, have been neither few nor small. The God of all comfort has never deserted us, the Consolation of Israel has never failed us, , the Comforter, has ever stood by to soothe, soften, and heal our wounds with the wine and the oil of divine grace and  sympathy -- both flowing from the blood of Yeshua.

Morning by morning,
Comes the sunrise;
With Thy tender glories,
In its warm rosy light,
And the blushing heavens:
As heavy eyes open,
To behold Thy face
In all righteousness;
My whole heart sings:
For when I awake,
I am still with Thee !


Then, uplift your praises with every morning's light and evening's shadow. Praise Him with a new song for every new blessing. Praise Him for everything; for the cloud that shades, for the beam that brightens, for the mercies given, for the mercies withheld; for all He removes, for all He bestows. Praise Him for every affliction He sends, for every cross He appoints, for every sorrow He mingles, for every temptation He permits. Praise Him for present sickness and suffering, bereavement and loss; for His blessing is in it all, and all demands our grateful, joyful praise. Oh,my friends, cultivate a thankful, praiseful spirit. It will hearten many a lonely path; sweeten many a bitter trial; and lighten your heavy load along life's weary, dusty road, home to God. Soon the praises of earth will be exchanged for the higher, holier, and more lasting praises of heaven. And then will come the "new song" of glory, honor, and thanksgiving unto Him who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever.

The branches;
Wondrous and intricate,
In their multitude;
Are united,
And made one
In the Vine:
That Blood,
Which ascends
From the Root;
Refreshes every leaf,
And freely brings
Bloom, and savor,
Into every cluster


Heavenly Father, let me dwell
In unbroken contact with Thee,
Let Thy tides of divine Energy
Flow freely into and through
My humble yet eager spirit,
Awaken my slumbering soul,
And pierce my willing heart.
Amen.

Top general says Iraq not ready to provide for external defence

BAGHDAD - Iraq will not be fully able to defend its borders and airspace until at least 2020, a watchdog quoted Iraq's top general as saying in a report on Sunday, months before US troops are to leave.
The Iraqi military's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, "estimated that it will take several more years before Iraq can provide for its external defence without assistance from international partners," said the report from the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR).
"General Zebari suggested that the (Ministry of Defence) will be unable to execute the full spectrum of external-defence missions until sometime between 2020 and 2024, citing (Iraqi government) funding shortfalls as the main reason for the delay," the report said.
"Iraq will not be able to defend its own airspace until 2020, at the earliest," Zebari told SIGIR, adding that "an army without an air force is exposed."
Iraq has ordered 18 F-16 warplanes from the United States, but it will be years before that force is fully operational.
Zebari has stated before that his forces will require training for another decade before they are fully capable of securing the country.
Iraq's military has been tied down by years of bloody internal conflict here, with US officers saying it needs to transition to a more traditional role of external defence.
US President Barack Obama announced on October 21 that all US soldiers will depart the country by the end of 2011, after protracted and ultimately failed negotiations with Iraq about a post-2011 US military training mission here.
The roughly 39,000 US soldiers still in Iraq are now in the process of drawing down, after a nearly nine-year campaign that has left thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi dead, with costs running into billions of dollars.

Last attempt before 'foreign intervention': Arabs urge Syria to remove tanks

DOHA - A proposed Arab League plan to end months of bloodshed in Syria includes a demand to remove tanks from the streets, the head of the pan-Arab group Nabil al-Arabi said on Monday.
"The Arab proposal to Syria calls for withdrawing tanks and all military vehicles to bring an immediate end to the violence and give assurances to the Syrian street," Arabi said in the Qatari capital Doha.
The Arab League was on Monday awaiting a response from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to its plan which, Arabi said, also calls for a dialogue to take place in Cairo between Syrian regime officials and opposition figures.
Arabi's statements came after an overnight meeting Sunday between a group of Arab foreign ministers and their Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem in Doha that was convened to address fears that unchecked Syrian bloodshed could further inflame the Arab world.
Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, who headed an Arab ministerial meeting with a Syrian delegation late on Sunday, said Assad must take "concrete steps" to end the unrest that according to the United Nations has claimed more than 3,000 Syrian lives since March.
Repeating previous warnings, the Qatari Foreign Minister told reporters that Assad risks forcing an international intervention if he allows the violence to continue.
"The entire region is at risk of a massive storm," said Sheikh Hamad after Sunday's three hour meeting.
"What is required of Syria... are concrete steps that could avoid what happened to other countries," he said, in an apparent reference to NATO's military intervention in the popular uprising against Libya's slain leader Moamer Gathafi.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting in the Qatari capital Doha, Sheikh Hamad said the group of Arab League foreign ministers "agreed on a serious proposal to stop the killing and all forms of violence in Syria," adding that the committee expected a response from Assad on Monday.
He did not reveal details of the proposed plan.
The comments came in response to a warning from Assad that any Western intervention in Syria would cause an "earthquake" across the Middle East.
"Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region. If the plan is to divide Syria, that is to divide the whole region," Assad told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
"Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake -- do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?" he asked.
At an emergency session in Cairo on October 16, the 22-member League called for "national dialogue" between the government and opposition by the end of October to help stop the violence and avoid "foreign intervention" in Syria.
China, which together with Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria earlier this month, expressed support for the Arab mediation effort.
Its Middle East envoy Wu Sike said in Cairo he had told Assad in Damascus on Thursday that his regime's deadly crackdown on dissent "cannot continue."
The Doha talks came as Syrian activists put mounting pressure on the Arab League to suspend Syria's membership of the 22-member bloc. Activists across Syria organised protests on Sunday calling for the League to "freeze the membership" of Syria.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Syria continues to rise with at least seven people killed in violence on Sunday in several cities including Homs, Hama, Idlib and Deraa, the National Organisation for Human Rights said in a statement.
Almost 100 people were killed in Syria on Friday and Saturday, the two bloodiest days yet of the uprising, among them 30 Syrian security agents and dozens of civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based rights watchdog.