My Glory and the Lifter of My Head

This is the way I want to live . . .  my face turned up to the Son,

 open and responsive to the light He shines on me.

We Like Sheep

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures. 
Psalm 23:1,2a

Come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker, for He is our God . . .

and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.  Psalm 95:6,7

Make a joyful shout unto the LORD, all you lands!

Serve the LORD with gladness, come before His presence with singing.

Know that the LORD, He is God,

It is He that has made us and not we ourselves;

we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Psalm 100:1-3

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.  

Psalm 119:176

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; 

and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so He opened not His mouth.

Isaiah 53:6,7

For thus says the LORD God, "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.  As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.  I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land.  I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.  I will feed them in good pasture and the their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel.  There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.  I will feed my flock and I will make them lie down," says the LORD God.  I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick . . .

Ezekiel 34:11-16a

"What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one who is straying?  And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.  Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."  

Matthew 18:10-14

Now may the God of peace who brought up our LORD Jesus from the dead,

 that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.  

Hebrews 13:20,21

For you were like sheep going astray, 

but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.  

1 Peter 2:25

So we, Your people and  sheep of Your pasture; will give You thanks forever; 

we will show forth your praise to all generations.

Psalm 79:13

Photos:

Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, Ontario

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, 

Nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law he meditates, day and night.

The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.  

Eyes to the Hills

From the Rising

Linking up with Scripture and a Snapshot for the first time  . . . a perfect fit for this blog.

The Gift of God

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  James 1:17

 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another,
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  1 Peter 4:10

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  

For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink', you would have asked Him,  and He would have given you living water."  John 4:7-10

Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin.  If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do!  There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift.  The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life-sentence.  If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands, this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right that the one man, Jesus Christ provides?  Romans 5:15-17 (The Message)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; 

it is the gift of God.  Ephesians 2:8

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 

 2 Corinthians 9:15

I Have Called You Friends

Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.  Proverbs 17:17  (The Message Bible)

A man who has friends must himself be friendly . . . 

. . .  but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  Proverbs 18:24

Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man's friend does so by hearty counsel.  Proverbs 27:9

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.  Proverbs 27:17

He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, 

the king will be his friend.   Proverbs 22:11

  

Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend, nor go to your brother's house in the day of  your calamity; for better is a neighbour nearby than a brother far away.  Proverbs 27 :10

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, 

but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.   Proverbs 27:6

But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, My friend.  You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from it's farthest regions, and said to you, "You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away.  Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:8-10

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are my friends is you do whatsoever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my Father I have mad known to you.  John 15:13-15 

" . . . Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness".  And he was called the friend of God.  James 2:23

 . . . but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.  Peace to you.  Our friends greet you.  Greet the friends by name.  3 John 1:14