Monday Meditation: Lord, In The Strength Of Grace

 

 

 

"Gold for the uses of gold, silver for the uses of silver, and for every work
 to be done by craftsmen. Now who will offer willingly to fill their hand and
 consecrate it today to the Lord like one consecrating himself to the priesthood?
(1 Chronicles 29:5)

 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, on account of God's mercy, to offer your bodies
 as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."
(Romans 12:1)

 

Rock Of Ages
(1876)
Johannes Adam Simon Oertel
(1823-1909)
German-American Episcopal 
clergyman & artist
Image courtesy/Phillip Walker Jacobs
Historian & Professor

 

 

Lord, in the strength of grace,

With a glad heart and free,

Myself, my residue of days,

I consecrate to Thee.

Thy ransomed servant, I

Restore to thee Thy own;

And, from this moment, live or die

To serve my God alone.

 

"Lord In The Strength Of Grace" 
(1672)
Charles Wesley
(1707-1788)
English hymn writer
In addition to hymn writing, Charles, and his brother, john
founded the movement which became the Methodist Church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hee Haw Gospel Quartet: I'll Fly Away

 

 

 

 

 Tennessee Ernie Ford, Grandpa Jones, Stringbean, and Roy Clark
sing the great classic hymn "I'll Fly Away".

 

 

"I'll Fly Away"
Hee Haw Gospel Quartet
gloria boyd
(Uploaded August 7, 2015)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rabbi Zev Porat Reports That Jerusalem Is On Fire For The Messiah!

 

 

"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,
will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you."
(John 14:26) 

"Dove Descend"
Prophetic Art
Theresa Dedmon Designs

 

 

 The Feast of Shavuot begins this year at sunset on Thursday May 21, 2026 until 
nightfall on Saturday May 23, 2026.  In Israel, this important time coincides
 with the date that God gave the Torah (Law) to Israel on Mount Sinai 
more than 3,000 years ago.

Pentecost is known as the Jewish Feast of Weeks, (Shavuot) and will 
take place on the following Sunday May, 24th, 2026.   Occurring fifty days
after Easter, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples
 waiting in the Upper Room and the beginning of the early Church.

In this special ministry update, Rabbi Zev Porat reports that the Holy Spirit is
descending on Jerusalem and into the hearts of many Jewish people hungry
for the Word of God and who are coming to know the true Messiah-Yeshua!

Please pray for brother Zev as he witnesses the Good News of the Gospel
on the streets of Jerusalem, and for the salvation of Israel! 

 Maranatha! 

 

Jerusalem On Fire For The Messiah
Rabbi Zev Porat Preaches
messiah ofisrael
(May 17, 2026)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thy Tender Mercies, O My Lord

 

 

 

"O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me: Your loving devotion
 and faithfulness will always guard me."
(Psalm 40:11) 

Image courtesy/Pinterest

 Thy tender mercies, O my Lord,

Withhold not, I implore;

But let Thy kindness and Thy truth

Preserve me evermore.

For countless ills have compassed me,

My sinful deeds arise;

Yea, they have overtaken me;

I dare not raise my eyes. 

My sins are more than I can count,

My heart has failed for grief;

Be pleased, O Lord, to rescue me,

O haste to my relief.

Be those who seek to hurt my soul

Dismayed and put to flight,

And they themselves be put to shame

Who in my woe delight. 

Let all who seek Thee now rejoice,

Yea, glad in Thee abide,

And, loving Thy salvation, say,

The Lord be magnified,

My lowly state and bitter need 

The Lord has not forgot;

Thou art my Savior and my help,

Come Lord, and tarry not. 

 

"Thy Tender Mercies, O My Lord"
(1912)
Lyrics from "The Psalter"
United Presbyterian Board of Publication
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Matter Of Life Or Death: It's Your Choice, America

 

 

 

 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."
(Jeremiah 1:5)

 

Image courtesy/Bruce Lesley/Substack

 

 

 

In what has come to be known as an "abortion sanctuary state" where women
 can travel from other states to have an abortion, and where, under the current
 law, she can have an abortion up to the third trimester, or right before the
 baby is born, members of the New Jersey State legislature were seriously
considering the passage of a bill this week which contained the clause:

“a fetus shall have no independent rights under the laws of this state.” 

Thank God someone had the sense to reconsider and to remove this inhumane provision
which sounds a lot like a decree which might have been implemented in the days of
Nazi Germany.  And yet, what is the difference between the mindset of 21st century
lawmakers declaring that an unborn baby has no rights and therefore can be terminated
in the womb in New Jersey, and members of the Gestapo who would rip little Jewish
babies from their mothers' arms and toss them alive into the ovens at Auschwitz?

In the eyes of the most holy and righteous God there is no difference. 

Murder is the deliberate and willful act of taking human life, and couching the hideous
practice of infanticide in political language as "reproductive healthcare" does not change
the fact that our legislators are as guilty of shedding innocent blood as the abortionists
doing the dirty work for them-at the expense of the already overburdened NJ taxpayers. 

The 6th Commandment attests: "You shall not commit murder." (Exodus 20:13)

God further declares,  "Keep far from a false matter and be very careful not
  to condemn to death the innocent and the righteous, for I will not justify 
nor acquit the wicked."  (Exodus 23:7)

Unlike disingenuous legislators masking their true intentions in political words 
and phrases, God does not lie.  He does not change.  I often contemplate, with an 
increasing sense of trepidation, how much longer the good Lord is going to hold
 back His wrath and judgment on America, which He has blessed and been so very
 gracious to in the past, a nation which claims to believe in personal liberty and 
justice for all, and yet condones the murder of babies in the womb.

 Living souls made in the likeness and image of God Himself.

Will the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, give America more time to seek 
His mercy and forgiveness for this most grievous sin? Or will our fast
 approaching 250th birthday as a nation be the last one that we will see?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Poetry Corner: The Ghost Of Champion Hill

 

 

"While a battle is raging, one can see his enemy mowed down by the thousands, or ten
thousand, with great composure; but after the battle these scenes are distressing, and one
is naturally disposed to alleviate the sufferings of an enemy as a friend."
"Personal Memoirs"
-Ulysses S. Grant

 

Bloody Field At Champion Hill
Artist Unknown
Image courtesy/Warfare History Network

 It was so many years ago

Up on Champion Hill

That I heard the cannon roar

I can hear it still.

I had pledged to go to war

I had vowed to give my all

And that's just what I did

Up on Champion...

Up on Champion...

Up on Champion Hill!

 
Grant and Sherman came to fight

With the Union's might

They spread terror, they spread strife

Through the days and nights

Oh my darling, I loved you

Oh my darling, I was true.

But my heart is buried still

Up on Champion Hill.

 
Blue-clad armies to our fore

To our left and right

We charged at them, they fell back

But they counter-attacked

Gallant men fell everywhere

Bullets filled the springtime air.

One sent me to eternity

Up on Champion Hill.

 
Now I roam this bloodied land

Longing for what I missed

The precious hours, the treasured years

Spent in your midst.

Oh my darling I love you

Yes my darling, I'm still true

And it's here I wait for you

Up on Champion Hill. 

 

"The Ghost of Champion Hill"
By Herb Phillips 

 

The Battle of Champion Hill, fought on May 16, 1863 was a pivotal battle in
the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War.  Union Army commander
Major General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of Tennessee pursued the retreating
Confederate States Army under Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, which led
 to it's defeat twenty miles east of Vicksburg, Mississippi. This victory for the Union
  led to the Siege of Vicksburg, and the eventual surrender of the Confederate forces there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flashback Friday: Independence Day

 

 

"Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing,
Let the whole world know that today
Is a day of reckoning..." 

 

 Considered the "Signature Song" of beautiful country music recording artist
  Martina McBride, "Independence Day" tells the sad story of a little girl
 whose home life is shattered by alcoholism and domestic violence.

  In an act of desperation, her long victimized mother burns down the 
family home, presumably with herself and her drunken husband inside,
 after which the little girl left behind is sent to a county home.

Released on May 2, 1994 as the third single from her album, "The Way That I Am"
 the lyrics of this song are described as having a double meaning, in that the girl's 
mother finally gains her "independence" from her abusive father on
  the 4th of July-America's Independence Day.  

What makes this song especially thought provoking is that it mentions the
 residents of the small town where the girl and her parents lived knew that
her father was a dangerous man and was abusing her mother and most 
likely his daughter too, but these neighbors chose to look the other way.

 "Independence Day" won the Country Music Association Award 
for Song of the Year at the 1995 CMA Awards. 

In 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the song at Number #45 on its list of
 the 200 Greatest Country Songs of all time. 

Independence Day
(1994)
Martina McBride
 (Uploaded February 1, 2016)