Cunneda

Friday, September 30, 2011

On The Raod With Cunneda

On The Road With Cunneda,

Volume 23: MY FOOLISHNESS,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Monday, September 26, 2011

The Reception




The heart laid open;
And the soul,
Poured out before God:
Thus, does the
Spirit of the living God,
Empty the man,
And prepare the way,
For the reception,
Of His boundless grace.

Cunneda's Ramble

Cunneda's Ramble Volume 36:

NEVER A MAN SPOKE LIKE THIS MAN,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional Volume 4:

BORN AGAIN,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Thursday, September 22, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional Volume 3:

A Song In The Soul,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

A Song In The Soul


Psa 40:3  And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Psa 28:7  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise.

Psa 69:30  I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Psa 42:8  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.

Psa 144:9  I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee

"My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness." here we see the holy exultation of  God by one of His lambs: I will sing a new song to thee, O God! a song of praise for new mercies, for those compassions that are new every morning. Fresh favours call for fresh and joyous returns of thanks; even expected, or desired favors plead for songs of the heart unto Almighty God.

My friends, if we cannot sing of our risen Lord, and of His love, in this night of our pilgrimage through this fallen world, of what, and of whom, then, can we sing?  He who has never met our Lord has never learned to sing the Lord's song. He is at the complete mercy of all the varied forces around him; resulting in worries, stresses, and demands that lead to all sorts of problems. But the believer, he who knows the Lord in all His glory, and beauty—as the fulness of the Living God—when he walks with Him daily as a friend—and seeks His mercies as Risen Lord, can sing a song of the joys of eternity, even in the darkest night of his passage through this world of shadows. And as he ponders, and revels in the love of Yeshua, the song blossoms into a chorus of praise; Oh my friends,  what material for a song is to be gathered here!  When the believer contemplates Christ as "the gift of God; manifested unto him in wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and when he views the atoning blood  which presents him as righteous, moment by moment, before God: his whole soul and spirit spontaneously break out into a glorious magnificant unto Jehovah's unmatchable; unspeakable majesty and glory. Yet only Jesus, only Yeshua, can be the Ground, the Key-note, and the Fullfilment of this song of the believer's soul. That's why those of the world can not even hear it; let alone possess it.

Life, for a lamb of God, my friends, is  a season of heart-ploughing, of breaking up of the fallow ground, of deeper discovery of God's love and power; and of our own weakness. Our only power; our only strength; our only hope against the  plague of rebellion all around us, is to keep our faith -- they eyes of our very souls -- fixed on our first love; our risen Lord, Yeshua, Almighty God; and in this vision, all the very fibers of your being will burst into His song of life-- life abundant -- life eternal.

My friends,in giving you life, and a throne of grace, God has given you a song, it is a glorious song of praise, life and eternity; a unique song that only you can sing -- as witnessed in the individuality of the white stone and the new name --  this song of sweetness and strength is given to us -- to each of us -- as a source of endurance for the journey; courage for the trials;  wisdom for the winding roads; and as a testimony to all we come in contact with. All of this; is given to each and every child of God; and all -- all -- comes encompassed within within His overflowing love in the heart,  His joy in the soul; and His peace in the spirit. This, my friends, is the promise of God, the testimony of His Word, and the witness of His saints across the ages.

Psa 33:3  Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

Exo 15:2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God

Isa 30:29  Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.

Psa 69:30  I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

And here, my friends, will He meet with you; and commune with you.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

An Eventide Devotional

An Eventide Devotional Volume 2:

TRUTH,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

Truth

"Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. "They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him."

"That you may know how you ought to behave yourself as the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." 1 Timothy 3:15

God has been graciously pleased to appoint His watchmen; His teachers; and His lambs;  through the infilling of His Mighty Spirit, as the great conservators and expounders of His Truth, here in this present world, and He has set His Truth, as the special medium of unction and sanctification to His body for this calling; as it says in the Word:

he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.-- and

 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. --
and also

 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.


My friends, there is a close and beautiful relation between the Truth and the fellowship -- the body -- our Lord. The body may be compared to the golden lamp which contains the sacred oil, which, in its turn, feeds the flame of its light and holiness. The body, the bride, is to guard with a jealous and vigilant eye the purity of the Truth: our slain and risen Lamb; while this Truth; now seated in the heavenlies, is to beautify and sanctify the ark which preserves its call. Thus there is a close and vital relation, as well as a reciprocal, sanctifying influence, between the body of Christ and the truth of God.

Every individual believer in Jesus is himself a subject, and therefore a witness, of the truth; he has been quickened, called, renewed, and  sanctified through the instrumentality of God's revealed truth: "Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth." "For the truth's sake which dwells in us." "You are my witnesses, says the Lord." Here is unfolded one of the most solemn and profound truths touching the character and individual responsibility of a child of God. He is a subject of Truth, he is a repository of that Truth, and he is a witness for this Truth; in fact, my friends, he is the only living witness to the Truth which God has on earth. The world he lives in is a dark, polluted, God-blaspheming, Christ-denying, truth-despising world. The saints who have been called out of it according to His eternal purpose and love, and by His sovereign, distinguishing, and free grace, are the only lights and the only salt in the midst of this moral darkness and corruption. Here and there a light glimmers, irradiating the gloomy sphere in which it moves; here and there a spot of greenery appears, and a blossom unfolds, relieving the arid and barren desolation by which it is surrounded. These are the saints of the Most High, the witnesses of the Divine character, the omnipotent power, and the holy manifestation, of God's blessed truth. Let the lambs of God, then, soberly weigh this  fact, that though His written Word and His Holy Spirit are God's witnesses in the world, yet we; God's lambs, His believers, are the only living exemplification of the power of His Truth, and, as such, are earnestly exhorted to be "blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." Let them be careful to maintain good works, and so walk in all the holiness of the truth they profess; let them see that by no carelessness, by no want of integrity, or by no worldly conformity,  should they bring a slur upon the Holy One that we love so much; but let us proclaim His Truth with His grace in our hearts; and His holiness in our lives.



"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace ; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff ; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. "But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings ; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall."

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Quote Of The Day!







"When Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, his slogan was "Morning in America." For Barack Obama, it's more like midnight in a coal mine."
          
            from Chicago Tribune, 9/20/2011.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Cunneda's Ramble











Cunneda's Ramble Volume 35:

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS:

An Eventide Devotional,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda.

Be patient with me on this one

my friends; I did it without my teeth.

The Mystery Of Godliness [From Cunneda's Ramble # 35]



1Ti 3:16  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
The doctrine of the Incarnation presents us with all creation's greatest mystery; if possible, more astonishing than that of the Trinity. We can more easily understand that there should be three people in a total unity of subsistence, than that God should be manifested in the flesh. The analogy of the one meets us everywhere; turn we the eye within ourselves, or turn we it without upon the broad expanse of God's creation—from every point of observation, a trinity of existence bursts upon our view. But, of the greater mystery,  we search in vain for anything approaching its mystery and magnificense. It was a thing so unheard of and so strange, so marvelous and so unique—that there was nothing in the sublime or the rude, in the bold or the tender, of nature's varied works, to prepare the mind for, or awaken the expectation of, a phenomenon so strange, so stupendous, and so mysterious. The mere possibility of such an event astonishes us, to our very cores. Yet with Jehovah all things are possible. "Is anything too hard for me?" is a question that resounds in mystery throughout the universe, to rebuke all who would question His ways.


Still; do we marvel at the fact itself. Its stupendousness amazes us—its condescension humbles us—its glory dazzles us—its tenderness beguiles us—its love overwhelms us. That the uncreated Son of God should become the incarnated Son of man—that the Eternal Word should be made flesh and dwell with amongst us—that He should assume a new title of Savior, redeemer entwined among the very letters that compose His own divine name,  so revealing Himself as Jehovah-Jesus! Thereby compounding and intensifying His own magnificence, grandeur, and glory..

The mystical union of Christ and His lambs is also declared to be a part of this great mystery contained within the gospel of our risen, incarnate Lord. "This is a great mystery;" says the apostle, "but I speak concerning Christ and His church." That Christ and His people should be one—one as the head and the body—the vine and the branch—the foundation and the house—is indeed a wondrous truth. We cannot truly begin to understand how it is so; and yet the reality, and the graces  flowing from this great truth, are far too real to dismiss as anything other than the miracle of the ages for us. Oh my friends, All that a believer is, as a living, eternal soul, he is from this vital union with Christ, the Living God. As the body without the soul is dead, so we would be totally lost without this union to Lord. Not only our life, but our fruitfulness, as well,  is derived from this source. All the "beauties of holiness" that adorn his character, spring from the vital principle which our engrafting into Christ produces. We become skillful to fight, strong to overcome, patient to endure, meek to suffer, and wise to walk,  as our lives become one with His: entwined by the grace of His sanctification.  "Without me you can do nothing." Truly, my friends, without Him, I am nothing, yet; as He is my Lord, and as I am His;  all that He is becomes mine, and all that I am becomes His. His glory mine, my humiliation His; His righteousness mine, my guilt His; His joy mine, my sorrow His.  His riches, mine; and my poverty becomes His; He becomes my life, and in so doing, takes away my death. Our daily walk of faith, my friends, is but a continuous development of the wonders of this glorious truth. That in traveling to Him empty, we should return from Him full. That in going to him weak, we should come away from Him strong. That in giving Him our lives; we should gain an eternity of joy and gladness.

Cunneda's Ramble

Cunneda's Ramble Volume 34:

THE LIVING WORD,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

That Wondrous Bread




That Wondrous Bread,
Drawn from Heaven;
And the Water that flows,
Clear as crystal,
From beneath the Throne
Of God, and the Lamb,
Alone can feed,
Nourish, and refresh
This new life,
He has planted
Within the soul:
It is as a feast,
Of fat things,
Filled with marrow;
And of wines on the lees,
Well refined.

The Living Word

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” Colossians 3:16

The diligent and prayerful reading and studying of God’s holy word is His prime means of increasing and promoting spirituality of soul. Yet, this divine source of all grace and power, it seems, is no longer  an element in the Christianity of many. It has become a duty sadly and, to a great extent, totally neglected.

The tendency of the age is to substitute the writings and thoughts of men for the Book of God. Let them come but with the robe of religion gracefully thrown around them, and whether they assume the form of history, or story, or song, they are eagerly devoured by the professing multitude, who would deem their true spirituality unquestionable! But the Divine life of the soul is not to be fed and nourished by the profound discoveries of science,  the deep, recondite axioms of philosophy,  the brilliant flowers of genius, or the dreams of  poetical imagination. No, my friends, it ascends to a higher and a diviner source; it aspires towards the nourishments of its native climate, in the grand and glorious city of God.

The bread that comes down from heaven, and the water that flows, pure as crystal, from beneath the throne of God and the Lamb, alone can feed, and nourish, and refresh this new life He has planted within the soul. Jesus is its sustenance; and the gospel, as it unfolds Him in His glory and grace, is the spiritual granary from where all daily food is drawn. To this, the soul must  regularly flee, oftentimes pressed with hunger, or panting with thirst, weary and exhausted, drooping and faint, and it finds its doctrines and its precepts, its promises and its admonitions, its exhortations and revelations, a “a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees; of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”

And thus refreshed and satisfied, the grateful soul adoringly exclaims, “Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” Truly did Jesus testify, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you;” evidently and solemnly implying, that if there exists no appetite for spiritual food, there is lacking the great evidence of the life of God in the soul. A mere semblance of life, an informed judgment, a “fair show” of religion “in the flesh,” the kind of faith we see expressed in the churches of this world; will content itself with anything that seems spiritual, or of the spirit of community; no matter how abstruse, or insideous; and claim itself enlightened.

But the Divine life of a lamb of God, of a quickened soul, while it disdains no aids to its spiritual advance, can yet feed on nothing but Divine food. The “flesh and the blood of Immanuel can alone meet and satiate its hungering and thirsting. The Spirit of our faith is from heaven, my friends, and its nourishment and supply must be heavenly; it is from God, and its sustenance must also be Divine. Jesus, and Jesus alone, received into the heart, rested in, and lived upon,  is the food of a believing lamb. Nothing but the Living Word of God, and the risen Christ—”Christ all” in Himself, and Christ “in all,” means “in all” ordinances, “in all” channels, “in all” seasons, sustains a soul whose “life is hid with Him in God.”

Oh my friends, you must see the importance and know the solemnity of this truth? For it is creation's greatest reality!  Except  we “eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, we have no life in us!” Nothing short of Christ—Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s atonement, Christ’s flesh and blood, Christ in us, Christ without us, Christ risen, Christ alive at the right hand of God, yes, “Christ all and in all”—can meet the deep, immortal necessities of our soul. We need all that our risen Lord is, in the matters of pardon,  justification,  sanctification,  wisdom, redemption, and life.

And all this, and so much more, do we find only in the diligent study; even the devouring of His Living Word.

I exhort you, then, my friends, to a deeper, more intimate acquaintance with God’s Word, for it is the reservoir of His power and His light to the progress of the soul in our search for a deeper love for, and knowledge of our risen Lord, Yeshua; Almighty God.. And if your time for reading is limited, limit it to one book, and let that one book be—the BIBLE. Let it be the companion of your hours of solitude; the solace in your seasons of sorrow; the store-house in all your necessities; and your counsel in all your doubts and perplexities. Then will your blessed experience resemble that of the psalmist himself, when he proclaimed: “Your word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against You. This is my comfort in my affliction: for Your word has quickened me. Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I rejoice at Your word, as one that finds great wealth.”

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Present To The Last




When heart and flesh,
Are fast failing;
And trembling feet,
Descend into the
Dark, lonely valley
Of the shadow of death;
To whom shall we look,
But unto Yeshua?
The world is receeding;
All is fading upon the sight;
One object, alone, remains;
Arrests; and fixes,
The believer's eye:
It is Yeshua -- Emmanuel;
Loving, and faithful,
And present to the last!
 

On Love







Love is that grace,
That brings faith
Into active exercise:
We stand by faith;
We walk by faith;
We overcome by faith;
But we live by His love:
For this love, is the
Laboring grace;
The power source;
Placed within us,
By the Spirit
Of the Living God.
 

Friday, September 9, 2011

Cunneda's Ramble

Cunneda's Ramble Volume 33:

In All Things,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

In All Things





In as much as the Lord
Has permitted this
Terrible thing, in righteousness,
To come upon you;
It must be accepted as His appointment,
And reckoned as the furnace,
By which He is searching.....testing.....probing;
And purging the soul:
Suffering sanctifies the whole,
As fire searches and purifies metal.
We believe we are to the full for God;
Until we are exposed to the cleansing fire of pain;
And the scourging of affliction:
Then shall we discover, as did Job,
The dross that abides and the impurities within,
To restrict, and hamper our walk with Him.
For nothing so detaches us from the clutter of life:
The love of sense; or the adhesion of earthly affections,
As the infliction of anguish.




1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible


Psa 65:5  By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation;


2Co 6:4  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,





My friend; tonight you may be laid-up & shut-in by illness, injury, or simply old age; or you may be locked-in by the scourge of depression, as you struggle in a fallen and desparetely wicked world. You feel left out; excluded, and forgotten from all fellowship --- perhaps, even at times, from God. Perhaps you can no longer engage in active work or ministry and the guilt is simply compounding the burden and preventing communion with our Lord. To those of you who suffer tonight --- and all of us suffer and pass through times of severe trial and molding--- in my own life, I have faced these demons: for 16 years I lived in a depression so profound that I could barely leave the house; and didn't leave - EVER - alone --- so you see, I am not speaking to you as one who does not know the pain and sufferings of this life for the lambs of God. But in the midst of my prayers, and my compassion for you; I want to ask you a question --- and I want you to consider it carefully: Is it really true that God, by setting you aside from active engagement with the world around you; has set you aside in your persuit of His will and His commands for you?


While you are thinking; let me pose yet another thought: let's turn over the idea that through your affliction, He is summoning you to a higher and holier sphere of duty, though perhaps more limited and obscure.


Your present situation, contains within it, its own unique and high obligations to God. It bears a special message from Him to you, perhaps only to you. Think of the testimony you are to bear of His divine grace, through your self-denial.


You are called upon now, my friend,  to glorify God in a passive, rather than in an active consecration to His service. Graces which until now perhaps, have lain dormant, or were only faintly brought into play, are now to be developed and exercised to their utmost capacity. Patience is to be cultivated, acceptance is to be exhibited, faith is to be exercised, love is to be tried, and prayer is to be honed to a weapon; and are not these great, and even sublime works unto His glory? I tell you now, in His name, that the power, and the message that He brings from that languid couch, or that sick-bed, will be more solemn, more searching, and more full of the risen Yeshua, and the power of the Holy Spirit; than was ever heard from a pulpit!

All your fellow believers will, in the Spirit, share in and receive strength from the testimony of one passing through a present and personal trial of profound import. We all know that a sick-room is not the place for theorizing upon truth and eternity. This brings power into your witness and can open up whole new doors of service that would never otherwise crossed your mind; doors that perhaps only you can enter. Remember, only in our weakness, can His strength become truly real in our lives.


My friends, do not deem yourself useless simply because you have become incapacitated for active labor. Our Father, in His wisdom, has merely changed your sphere of duty. Receive, with all meekness, our Heavenly Father's dispensation in your life; for the truth is, that, while it has set you in isolation and affliction; it has also set you apart more exclusively and entirely for the Lord Himself. Your great desire has always been to glorify Him; let Him select the means that bring it forth. For His glory is made manifest in sickness, trial, and even death, every bit as much as, if not more, than in health and activity.


Oh my friends, accept and embrace all that He has given you -- both the sweet and the sour -- and seek His glory within your struggles -- and as you call out to Him; hear His voice in that sweet reply, as He bids you "arise, my love, my fair one, and come away" -- Oh believer here is your strength and power for this journey -- come what may -- look to Him; cleave unto Him; labor for Him; suffer in Him; and, if need be, die with Him. That you life may be a witness to loving and trusting, suffering and rejoicing, and living and dying, for our risen Lord Yeshua only; bringing honor and glory to God. This, my friends, is no mean feat -- no wasted, or set aside life -- be it in infirmity, or in health.

He will always keep the discipline of sorrow
In His hands.......as the Lord proclaims,
"My Father is the Husbandman,"
His hand holds the pruning knife,
His eye is fixed upon the cauldron.
His gentle touch is lightly on the pulse,
Caressing; comforting as the darkness clears.


We thank you Lord for all that you have given us; and we desperately seek your strength and guidance to use all things unto your glory. Amen.

Monday, September 5, 2011

His Wondrous Love





When you lay hold,
To His wondrous love;
As the breath of life,
Sweeping through your soul;
You possess all of Him:
He will thereafter be,
Whatever you need,
In that moment of hope:
For he who loves God;
Walks with God,
And dwells with God;
Has never far to travel,
To find God.

Cunneda's Ramble


Cunneda's Ramble, Volume 32:

The Grandeur Of  His Love,

is now up @

http://cunneda.podomatic.com/

Cunneda

The Magnitude of God's Love




Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Deut. 6:4, 5.
Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our7 God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,  and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
IN nothing, my friends, in absolutely nothing, has God acted more worthy of His own wondrous nature, than in designing love as the soul and essence of all faith and belief in Him; with Himself the supreme object of that love. In doing so, He has as much considered the happiness of the creature as His own honor; as much our benefit as His glory. For this ability to love God with the abandonment required, can only come from God, as a gift of God. As a matter of fact; IT IS God, comming to dwell within the man. Indeed, it is the source of all spiritual comforts and power; for, as I have said before, within His love is contained all of His gifts, all of His abundance, and all of His promises. The great truth here, my friends, is that when you possess His love, the greatest of His gifts, and it blossoms within your soul; you possess all of Him, and He will always be whatever you need, in that moment of need. He who loves God, walks with God, and dwells with God;  has never far to travel in order to find God. He need only look within upon the  chambers of his own soul, and there, in finding God’s love, he finds God; for as it says in the Word,  “God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.”
It is, then, the great characteristic of all believers, that they love God; and their embraces all of God, from the lowest point of creation to the heights of the Godhead.  They love the Father—for to Him they are indebted for His unspeakable gift. They love the Son—to whom they owe their redemption. They love the Spirit—for having renewed and dwelt within them, as the Temple of the Living God. Such are  the children of God: all who witness to the blessedness they feel in loving God; and the happiness that springs from this divine,  heavenly emotion, expanding, purifying, and ennobling the soul.  It is true, their love to God,  is at best but an imperfect emotion, mingling with a thousand frailties, yet they love Him sincerely; He has drawn their hearts, has overcome them by His grace, and they are empowered to say, along with the Psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee, Oh Lord? and there is none upon earth in  whom I desire  but You.”
This deathlessness of our love for God, and His love for us is, perhaps, the most beautiful idea of all Scripture. Every other grace will cease but that of love.Our Faith; which works by love—that precious grace which has been  the anchor of our soul in the storms of life; and our compass to bring us safetly home, amid all the trials, needs, and perils of the way — when we reach the world of glory we shall need it no more, for faith will then give way to sight. Hope!—that pole-star of the soul, and the eyes of our love,which cheered us with its luster, through many a weary step in our desperate journey –— when we reach the world of glory we shall want it no more, for hope will terminate in full fruition: “for then we shall see Him as He is, for we shall be like Him!” But Love, my friends, love will live forever! As it says in His Word: “Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” But “Love never fails,” Love, lives forever.

Formed according to His pleasure,
In keeping with the Holy plan,
To enjoy the transcendent minglings
Of kindred personalities; as a Father with His sons.
To know Him; to live with Him;
To draw life and truth from Him.
Yet ….. we would not.
Forsaking  Love, prescience,and comformance,
We fled; and we hasted swiftly away
At the Voice of His Thunder.
Yet who can flee from the Living God?
What place is so deep
That He is not deeper still?
What place of darkness
Where His Glory does not shine?
Evicted; banished from His Face,
The blissful center of our creation,
Our right and proper dwelling,
Whose affection we kept not,
Begetting only turmoil and ageless restlessness.
Even so, the Infinite bonds of His love
Are not so easily shattered and cast assunder.
Through Infinite Wisdom and Sublime Charity,
A Way would be opened to us:
A reconciliation ……. a path of return,
To communion and the presence of the Living One.
The Golden Lampstand; yea even the Lord
Was given ……. a Blood sacrifice
Upon the brazen altar of Eternity,
Opening a Way into the High Place toward all who believe.
For God, who is rich in mercy,
And for the great love
With which He loved us,
Delivered acceptance unto us
In one Body; by the cross;
Having slain the emnity thereby;
And having made peace through Blood;
To reconcile all things unto Himself;
Whether they be in Earth or in Heaven.
As He is both the Author and Finisher of our faith.

1Co 13:1  If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like sounding brass, or a loud-tongued bell.
1Co 13:2  And if I have a prophet’s power, and have knowledge of all secret things; and if I have all faith, by which mountains may be moved from their place, but have not love, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3  And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me.
1Co 13:4  Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride;
1Co 13:5  Love’s ways are ever fair, it takes no thought for itself; it is not quickly made angry, it takes no account of evil;
1Co 13:6  It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but has joy in what is true;
1Co 13:7  Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things.
1Co 13:8  Though the prophet’s word may come to an end, tongues come to nothing, and knowledge have no more value, love has no end.
1Co 13:13  But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.