Streams In The Desert-June 26th

June 26

"What if some did not have faith?Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness?" Romans 3:3

I suspect that the source of every bit of sorrow in my life can be traced to simple unbelief. If I truly believe the past is totally forgiven, the present is supplied with power, and the future is bright with hope, how can I be anything but completely happy?

Yes, the future is bright, because of God's faithfulness. His abiding truth does not change with my mood, and He never wavers when I stumble and fall over a promise of His through my unbelief. His faithfulness stands firm and as prominent as mountain peaks of pearl splitting the clouds of eternity. And each base of His hills is rooted at an unfathomable depth on the rock of God.

Mont Blanc does not disappear, becoming a passing vision or a whimsical mist, simply because a climber grows dizzy on it's slopes. James Smetham

Is it any wonder that we do not receive God's blessing after stumbling over His promise through unbelief? I am not saying that faith merits an answer or that we can work to earn it. But God Himself has made believing a condition of receiving, and the Giver has a sovereign right to choose his own terms for His gifts.  

Samuel Hart

Unbelief continually asks, "How can this be possible?" It is always full of "how's" yet faith need only one great answer to even ten thousand "how's". That answer is-GOD! C.H.M.

No one accomplishes so much in so little time as when he or she is praying. And the following thought certainly aligns well with all that the Lord Jesus Christ taught on prayer: If only ONE BELIEVER WITH TOTAL FAITH rises up, the history of the world will be changed.

Will you be that one to rise up, submitting all yourself to the sovereignty and guidance of God our Father? A. E. McAdam

Prayer without faith quickly degenerates into an aimless routine or heartless hypocrisy. However, prayer with faith brings the omnipotence of God to the support of our petitions. It is better to not to pray until your entire being responds to, and understands, the power of prayer. When genuine prayer is even whispered, earth and heaven, and the past and future, say, "Amen!" 

This is the kind of prayer Christ prayed. P.C.M.

Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except those things outside the will of God.         

Streams In The Desert-June 19th

June 19th

"Grain must be ground to make bread." Isaiah 28:28

Many of us cannot be used as food for the world's hunger, because we have not yet been broken in God's hands. "Grain must be ground to make bread", and being a blessing of His often requires sorrow on our part. Yet even sorrow is not to high price to pay for the privilege of touching others lives with Christ's blessings. The things that are most precious to us today have come to us through tears and pain. J. R. Miller

God has made me as bread for His chosen ones, and it is necessary for me to "be ground" in the teeth of lions in order to feed His children, then blessed be the name of the Lord. Ignatius

To burn brightly our lives must first experience the flame. In other words, we cease to bless others when we cease to bleed.

Poverty, hardship, and misfortune have propelled many a life to moral heroism and spiritual greatness. Difficulties challenge our energy and our perseverance but bring the strongest qualities of the soul to life. It is the weights on the old grandfather clock that keep it running. And many a sailor has faced a strong head wind yet used it to make it to port. God has chosen opposition as a catalyst to our faith and holy service.

The most prominent characters of the Bible were broken, threshed, and ground into bread for the hungry. Because he stood at the head of the class, enduring affliction while remaining obedient, Abraham's diploma is now inscribed with these words: 

"The Father of Faith".

Jacob, like wheat, suffered severe threshing and grinding. Joseph was beaten and bruised, and was forced to endure Potiphar's kitchen and Egypt's prison before coming to his throne.

David, hunted like an animal of prey through the mountains, was bruised, weary, and footsore, and thereby ground into bread for a kingdom. Paul could never have been bread for Caesar's household if he had not endured the bruising of being whipped and stoned. He was ground into fine flour for the Roman royal family. 

Combat comes before victory. If God has chosen special trials for you to endure, be assured He has kept a very special place in His heart just for you, A badly bruised soul is one who is chosen.

Streams In The Desert by L. B. Cowman 

and Edited by Jim Reimann     

Today Is Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day, the day we honor the man who gave us life and raised us. 

"Honor thy father and thy mother:

 that thy days maybe long upon the land 

which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

Exodus 20:12 

I am thankful for my Father. He is a good man; a man who seeks to honor God as he leads his family. He is a daily blessing to me and the rest of the family. 

A good father is a blessing and I encourage everyone to honor their father's on this special day! 

Streams In the Desert-May 27th

May 27

"Bring them here to me." (Matthew 14:18)

Do you find yourself at this very moment surrounded with needs, and nearly overwhelmed with difficulties, trails, and emergencies? Each of these is God's way of providing vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill. If you correctly understand their meaning, you will see them as opportunities for receiving new blessings and deliverance you can receive in no other way.

The Lord is saying to you, "Bring them here to me." Firmly hold the vessels before Him, in faith and in prayer. Remain still before Him, and stop your own restless working until He begins to work. Do nothing that He Himself has not commanded you to do. Allow God time to work and He surely will. Then the very trails that threatened to overcome you with discouragement and disaster will become God's opportunity to reveal His grace and glory in your life, in ways you have never known before. 

"Bring, [your needs] here to me." A. B. Simpson

 My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4:19

What a source-"God!" What a supply-"His glorious riches!" What a channel-"Christ"! It is your heavenly privilege to trust "all your needs"  to "His glorious riches," and to forget, "your needs" in the presence of "His...riches". In His great love, He has thrown open to you His exhaustive treasury. Go in and draw upon Him in simple childlike faith, and you will never again have the need to rely in anything else. C.H.M.

My Cup Overflows (Ps. 23:5)

There is always something "over",

When we trust our gracious Lord;

Every cup is overflowing,

  His great rivers all are broad.

Nothing narrow, nothing sparing,

Ever springing from His store;

To His own He gives full measure,

Overflowing, evermore.

There is always something "over",

When we, from the Father's hand,

Take our portion with thanksgiving,

Praising for the path He planned.

Satisfaction, full and deepening,

Fills the soul, and lights the eye,

When the heart has trusted Jesus 

All its needs to satisfy.

There is always something "over",

When we tell of all His love;

Unreached depths still lie beneath us,

Unscaled heights rise far above;

Human lips can never utter

All His wondrous tenderness,

We can only praise and wonder,

And His name forever bless.

Margaret E. Barbe

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all-how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

Streams In The Desert  by L. B. Cowman Edited by Jim Reimann page 209-211

Just Listed On Etsy!

I just listed this USA Banner and Spangled Star Hair Clips on my Etsy shop; Kierstyn's Kreations ! 

It is machine sewn and machine-appliqued triangular banner!

                                                                              $20.00

                                                Spangled Star Hair Clip(s)-sold in sets of two

These hair clips are hand sewn onto a metal hair clips. 

They are made out of felt and are decorated with clear beads on the tip of each star!

$10.00 (set of 2)

Streams In the Desert-May 26th

May 26

"Spring up, O well! Sing about it." Numbers 21:17

This was a strange song and a strange well. The children of  Israel had been traveling over the desert's barren sands, and they were desperate for water, but there was none in sight. Then God spoke to Moses and said, "Gather the people together and I will give them water" (v 16). 

The people then gathered around with their rods. As they began to dig into the burning sand, they sang, "Spring up O well! Sing about it." Soon a gurgling sound was heard, and suddenly a rush of water appeared, filling the well and running along the ground. As they had dug the well in the desert, they had tapped the stream that ran below and that had been unseen for a very long time.

What a beautiful picture this is! And it describes for us the river of blessings that flows through our lives. If only we will respond with faith and praise, we will find our needs supplied even in the most barren desert.

Again, how did the children of Israel reach the water of this well? It was through praise. While standing on the burning sand and digging the well with their staff of promise, they sang a praise song of faith.

Our praise will bring forth "water...in the wilderness and streams in the desert" (Isa. 35:6), while complaining will only bring judgment. Even prayer by itself may fail to reach the fountain of blessings.

Nothing pleases the Lord as much as praise. There is no greater evidence of faith than the virtue of genuine thanksgiving. Are you praising God enough? Are you thanking Him for the countless blessings He has bestowed on you? Are you boldly praising Him even for the trials in your life, which are actually blessings in disguise? And have you learned to praise Him in advance for answers yet to come? selected

You're waiting for deliverance!

O soul, you're waiting long!

Believe that you're deliverance

Does wait for you in song!

Complain not till deliverance

Your fettered feet does free:

Through songs of glad deliverance

God now surroundeth thee." 

Steams In The Desert by L. B. Cowman and edited by Jim Reimann page 208-209

Streams In The Desert-May 20th

May 20th

"Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" John 18:11

God is a thousand times more meticulous with us than even an artist is with  his canvas. Using many brush strokes of sorrow, and circumstances of various colors, He paints us into the highest and best image His visualizes, if we will only receive His bitter gifts of myrrh in the right spirit.  

Yet when our cup of sorrows is tkaen away the lessons in it are suppressed or go unheeded, we do more damage to our soul than could ever be repaired. No human heart can imagine the incomparable love God expresses in His gift of myrrh. However, the great gift that our soul should receive is allowed to pass by us because of our sleepy indifference, and ultimately nothing comes of it.

Then, in our barrenness we come and complain, saying, "O Lord, I feel so dry, and there is so much darkness within me!" My advice to you, dear child, is to open your heart to the pain and suffering, and it will accomplish more good than being full of emotion and sincerity.  Tauler

The cry of man's anguish went up to God,

"Lord, take away pain;

The shadow that darkens the world You have made,

The close, choking chain

That strangles the heart, the burden that weighs

On the wings that would soar,

Lord, Take away pain from the world You have made,

That it love You the more."

Then answered the Lord to the cry of His world:

"Shall I take away pain,

And with it the power of the soul to endure,

Made strong by the stain?

Shall I take away pity, that knits heart to heart

And sacrifice high?

Will you lose all your heroes that lift from the fire

Wisdom toward the sky?

Shall I take away love that redeems with a price

And smiles at the loss?

Can you spare from your lives that would climb unto Me

The Christ on His cross?"

From Streams In The Dessert  by L.B. Cowman Edited by Jim Reiman 

 

Liberty Banner

 I just made, between yesterday and today, this banner that says "Liberty". It was pretty simple! I got some ideas of the internet (I LOVE Pinterest!) but did it mostly myself. There are a few flaws, so this one won't be sold on my Etsy shop; Kierstyn's Kreations. But I hope to make more to sell!

 The "L" in Liberty...

 Stars are at either end for decoration!

The Liberty Banner

Streams In The Desert-May 19th

May 19th

"Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder...Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, "Praise be to the Lord,...who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness." 

Genesis 24:15, 26-27 

Every godly prayer is answered before the prayer itself is finished-"Before he had finished praying..." This is because Christ has pledged in His Word, "My Father will give you whatever you ask in my name" (John 16:23). When you ask in faith and in Christ's name-that is, in oneness with Him and His will-"it will be given you" (John 15:7).

Since God's Word cannot fail, whenever we meet these simple conditions, the answer to our prayer has already been granted and is complete in heaven as we pray, even though it may not be revealed on earth until much later. Therefore it is wise to close every prayer with praise to God for the answer He has already given.

"Praise be to the Lord,...who has not abandoned His kindness and faithfulness," (See Dan. 9:20-27;10:12.) from Messages for the Morning Watch

When we believe God for a blessing, we must have an attitude of faith and begin to act and pray as if the blessing were already ours. We should respond to God as if He has granted our request. This attitude of trust means leaning upon Him for what we have claimed and simply taking it for granted that He has given us our request and will continue to give it.

When people get married, they immediately have a new perspective and begin to act accordingly. This is how it should be when we take Christ as our Savior, our Sanctifier, our Healer, or our Deliverer. He expects us to have a new perspective, in which we recognize Him in the capacity and the role we have trusted Him for, and in which we allow Him to be everything to us we have claimed by faith. selected 

The thing I ask when God leads me to pray,

Begins in that same act to come my way.