Second Sunday Meditation: The Spirit Of The Living God

"For what person perceives, knows and understands, 

what passes through a man's thoughts except the man's own spirit

within him?  Just so no one discerns, comes to know and comprehend

the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world,

but the Holy Spirit Who is from God, given to us that we might

realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts of divine favor

and blessing so freely and lavishly bestowed on us by God."

1 Corinthians 2:11-12

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The blackout took my neighborhood by surprise.

Suddenly in total darkness, I inched my way to the bedside table

and fumbled for the flashlight. What frustration...it didn't work.

How useless-a flashlight that didn't function.

Just as useless is the person unable to function according to

God's divine plan. Why? Because God originally designed the 

human spirit to contain the Holy Spirit.

In the garden, Adam and Eve had perfect oneness with God.

The Holy Spirit lived in their human spirits and enlightened every

aspect of their lives.  Once they proclaimed their "declaration of independence"

from God, however, sin came in and the Spirit went out.

The pair were like a flashlight without batteries;

with no power on the inside, there was no light on the outside.

They spiraled downward into spiritual darkness.

Yet God did not given up on all those who were to be born into

that same darkness. "The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of man"

(Proverbs 20:27). God desired to reunite the Holy Spirit with the

human spirit so that they could again be one.

When you feel the frustration of wandering in the dark, know

that the Lord has already provided the perfect guide for your life.

"For, when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you

into all truth." (John 16:13).

Your own personal Counselor, Conscience, Convictor, and Comforter

fills your soul-your mind, will, and emotions-with perfect truth.

He teaches your mind, directs your will, and guides your emotions.

As a result, those who are joined to the Spirit better understand spiritual things.

(1 Corinthians 2:14)

Like the flashlight, you were designed to shine; but you can never

shine with your own power. The Holy Spirit provides the power to

produce the light. And once you shine as you were intended to shine,

you will never be useless!

"The Holy Spirit"

A Devotional Reading

By June Hunt

(December 31-1944- )

 American speaker, singer, author, and host of

the award-winning national radio program,

"Hope For The Heart"

She is committed to unraveling the difficult issues

found within the human heart through the Word of God

and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

The Land Of Beyond

Have ever you heard of the Land of Beyond,

That dreams at the gates of the day?

Alluring it lies at the skirts of the skies,

And ever so far away;

Alluring it calls: O ye the yoke galls,

And ye of the trail overfond,

With saddle and pack, by paddle and track,

Let's go to the Land of Beyond!

Have ever you stood where the silences brood,

And the vast horizons begin,

At the dawn of the day to behold far away

The goal you would strive for and win?

Yet ah! in the night when you gain to the height,

With the vast pool of heaven star-spawned,

Afar and agleam, like a valley of dream,

Still mocks you a Land of Beyond.

Thank God! there is always a Land of Beyond

For us who are true to the trail;

A vision to seek, a beckoning peak,

A fairness that never will fail;

A pride in our soul that mocks at a goal,

A manhood that irks at a bond,

And try how we will, unattainable still,

Behold it, our Land of Beyond!

Denali National Park

Alaska

"The Land Of Beyond"

Robert William Service

(1874-1958)

British Canadian poet

"The Bard of the Yukon"

1st Sunday Meditation: Seek Him With All Your Heart

"Seek good and not evil that you may live, and so the Lord,

the God of hosts, will be with you."

Amos 5:14

"He has made everything beautiful it its time."

Ecclesiastes 3:11

THE APOSTLE PAUL'S GUIDE TO HOLY LIVING

WHILE LIVING IN A LOST AND FALLEN WORLD

"If then you have been raised with Christ to a new life,

thus sharing His resurrection from the dead, aim at and seek

the rich, eternal treasures that are above, where Christ is,

seated at the right hand of God.

And set your minds and keep them set on what is above,

the higher things, not on the things that are on the earth.

For as far as this world is concerned you have died, and your

new real life is hidden in Christ in God.

When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will

appear with Him in the splendor of His glory.

So kill, deaden, deprive of power the evil desire lurking in

your members, those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you

that is employed in sin:  sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites,

unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is

idolatry, the deifying of self and other created things instead of God.

It is on account of these very sins that the holy anger of God is ever

coming upon the sons of disobedience, those who are obstinately

opposed to the divine will

Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in

and addicted to such practices.

But now put away and rid yourselves completely of all these things:

anger, rage, bad feeling towards others, curses and slander, and

foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips!

Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old

unregenerate self with its evil practices.

And having clothed yourselves with the new spiritual self,

which is ever in the process of being renewed and remolded 

into fuller and more perfect knowledge, after the image

and likeness of Him Who created it.

In this new creation all distinctions vanish. There is no room for

and there can be neither Greek or Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised,

nor difference between nations, whether alien, barbarians, or Scythians,

who are the most savage of all, nor slave or free man: but Christ is all

and in all, everything and everywhere, to all men, without distinction of person.

Clothe yourself therefore as God's own chosen ones, His own picked

representatives, who are purified and holy and well-beloved by God Himself,

by putting on behavior marked by tenderhearted pity and mercy,

kind feeling, a lowly opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and patience

which is tireless and long-suffering, and has the power to endure

whatever comes, with good temper.

Be gentle and forebearing with one another and, if one has a

difference, a grievance or complaint against another, readily pardoning

each other; even as the Lord has freely forgiven you, so you must forgive.

And above all these put on love and enfold yourselves with the

bond of perfectness which binds everything together completely

in ideal harmony.

And let the peace, soul harmony which comes from Christ,

act as umpire continually in your hearts, deciding and settling

with finality all the questions that arise in your minds, in that

peaceful state, to which as members of Christ's one body

you were called to live. And be thankful appreciative 

giving praise to God always.

Let the word spoken by Christ the Messiah have its home in

your hearts and minds and dwell in you in all richness, as you

teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence

and wisdom in spiritual things, and as you sing psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs, making melody to God with His grace in your hearts.

And whatever you do, no matter what it is in word or deed, do

everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in dependence upon

His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.

Colossians 3:1-17

As Long As I Breathe

Zemer Levav

(2007)

Saturday Night Jukebox Italian Style

Non Dimenticar means don't forget you are my darling

Don't forget to be, 

All you mean to me...

"Non Dimenticar" was written for the 1951 

film, "Anna" and sung by Italian actress Silvana Mangano

Non Dimenticar my love is like a star, my darling

Shining bright and clear

Just because you're here.

Please do not forget that our lips have met

And I've held you tight dear

Was it dreams ago my heart felt this glow?

Or only just tonight dear?

Non dimenticar although you travel far, my darling

It's my heart you own, so I'll wait alone

Non Dimenticar.

Non Dimenticar

Jerry Vale

(1955)

"Non Dimenticar"

Michele Galdieri/Shelley Dobbins

(1951)

The Song Of The Heliotrope Fairy

Heliotrope's my name; and why

People call me "Cherry Pie",

That I really do not know;

But perhaps they call me so,

'Cause I give them such a treat,

Just like something nice to eat.

For my scent-O come and smell it!

How can words describe or tell it?

And my buds and flowers, see,

Soft and rich and velvety-

Deepest purple first, that fades

To the palest lilac shades.

Well-beloved, I know, am I-

Heliotrope, or Cherry Pie!

"The Song Of The Heliotrope Fairy"

Poem and Illustration

Cecily Mary Barker

(1895-1973)

English artist and poetess

Portrait painter of the English Garden Fairies

My Own Beloved Who Hast Lifted Me

My own Beloved, who hast lifted me

From this drear flat of earth where I was thrown,

And, in betwixt the languid ringlets blown

A life-breath, till the forehead hopefully

Shines out again, as all the angels see,

A member of the Lily family,  white Asphodel are

popular garden and landscaping plants.

Before thy saving kiss! My own, my own,

Who camest to me when the world was gone,

And I who looked for only God, found thee!

I find thee; I am safe, and strong, and glad.

As one who stands in dewless asphodel

Yellow Asphodel is a wild perennial plant native to southeastern Europe,

northern Africa, the Caucasus, and the Levant.

Looks backward on the tedious time he had

In the upper life,-so I, with bosom-swell,

Make witness, here, between the good and bad,

That Love, as strong as Death, retrieves as well.

"My Own Beloved Who Hast Lifted Me"

XXVII

"Sonnets From The Portuguese"

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

(1806-1861)

English poetess

On This First Day Of The Merry Month Of May

A PRAYER FOR MAY

"May Christ through your faith dwell in your hearts!

May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and

grasp with all the saints, God's devoted people, the experience

of that love, what is the breadth and length and height and depth of it.

That you may really come to know the love of Christ, which far

surpasses mere knowledge; that you may be filled through all your being

unto all the fullness of God, may have the richest measure of the divine

Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!

Ephesians 3:17-19

Old-Fashioned Peonies In Bloom

SONG ON A MAY MORNING

Now the bright morning star, Day's harbinger,

Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her

The flowery May, who from her green lap throws

The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.

Hail, Bounteous May, that doth inspire

Mirth, and youth, and warm desire;

Woods and groves are of thy dressing,

Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing;

Thus we salute thee with our early song,

And welcome thee, and wish thee long

John Milton

(1608-1674)

English poet

"We Bring A Branch Of May"

An Illustration from "The Little Book Of Old Rhymes"

(1930)

Cecily Mary Barker

(1895-1973)

English artist

THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

(From The Sheepheardes Calendar Maye)

Is not thilke the merry month of May,

When love-lads masken in fresh array?

How falls it, then, we no merrier been,

Ylike as others, girt in gaudy green?

Our blankets liveries been all too sad

For thilke same season when all is yclad

With pleasaunce; the ground with grass, the woods

With green leaves, the bushes with blossoming buds.

Young folk now flocken in everywhere

To gather May buskets and smelling brere;

And home they hasten the postes to dight,

And all the kirk-pillars ere day-light,

With hawthorne buds and sweet eglantine,

And garlands of roses and sops-in-wine.

Edmund Spenser

(1552-1599)

English poet

Pastourelle

(The Little Sheperdess)
(1889)

William-Adolphe Bouguereau

(1825-1905)

French painter