Monday, February 27, 2023

My Morning Prayer: Redemption

My Morning Prayer: Redemption
-Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14 AMPC).


Father, thank You for Your redemption. Jesus, thank You for being my Redeemer. Holy Spirit, thank You for Your redeeming work, for Your holiness, and for conforming me to the image of Jesus Christ. I cannot thank You enough, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for turning the ashes in my life into something beautiful. I stand amazed at the wonders You continue to do in me by Your grace, and for the transforming miracles that I experience because of Your daily mercies. I trust in You to use every trial in my life for the good. May the beauty of Jesus continue to be seen in me. Amen.


©2023 Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Photo by Marina Bromley, used with permission. All rights reserved.

#redemption #mymondayprayer #meetinginthemeadow #roylessin #marinabromleyphoto #aplaceathistable

Friday, February 24, 2023

God Words: All

God Words: All
-Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36 NKJV).

 

‘All’ is a very big, little word.

God is all.

God is not partially God. He is all of God that God could ever be. God’s nature, character, and attributes are all complete, full, and without flaw or limits. He is all in all.

Scripture tells us many things about who God is—God is love, He is good, He is holy, He is true and just to name a few! God doesn’t have each of the these attributes, He is each of these attributes.

God is not partially love, partially good, partially holy, or partially true. He is all of each attribute He possesses.

Think of it, God loves you. He doesn’t love you a little bit, and He doesn’t love you a lot. God loves you with all the love that love can love. God couldn’t love you any more than He does right now.

It is only the all of God that can be to you all you need, all the time.


Lord of all—

All grace.
All sufficiency.
All supply.
All joy.
All wisdom.
All knowledge.
All hope.
All goodness.
All mercy.
All comfort.
All strength.
All blessings.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever…one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all (Ephesians 3:20, Ephesians 3:21, Ephesians 4:6 NKJV).

...

#godwords #all #roylessin #meetinginthemeadow

©2023 Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Photo by Marina Bromley. Used with permission. All rights reserved.


Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Hospitality, Part 8

Hospitality, Part 8
-Char Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow

Do we remember that gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit? How about within our home?  We may think of ministry as being ‘out there’ somewhere but in our calling to hospitality it brings it to right where we live.  Many times I have needed to apologize to my family for a wrong attitude. I do not want the Holy Spirit to be grieved. I love living in the peace of God rather than the heaviness of pushing my selfish ways. Yes, it affects everyone within the home.

Gentleness is so healing and so pleasant as it fills us in our attitudes and deeds. I love being a vessel of gentleness rather than a vessel of harshness.


But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control... (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT).

...

Char Lessin was raised on a Minnesota farm and grew to love the Lord at a young age. She and Roy met while they attended Bethany Fellowship in Bloomington, MN and early in their marriage they served together as missionaries in Mexico and Puerto Rico. She continues to serve the Lord through their home in NW Arkansas, ministering to the people that the Lord brings to her.


...
©2023 Roy and Char Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Photos by Grace Nast, Marina Bromley, used with permission. All rights reserved.


Monday, February 20, 2023

My Morning Prayer: Actions That Speak Good Things

-Roy Lessin and Marina Bromley

 

Actions that Speak Good Things
-Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow

You are the salt of the earth…. You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:13–14 AMPC).

In Matthew 5:13–14 Jesus tells His disciples that they are both the salt of the earth and the light of the world. They were not told to choose between the two. The difference between salt and light is significant. Jesus used salt and light as metaphors to help the disciples understand the importance of both their actions and their words.

When Jesus said to His disciples they were “the light of the world,” He was speaking about the power and impact of their actions upon the lives of others. When Jesus called the disciples “the salt of the earth,” He was speaking about the power and impact of their words upon the lives of others. May our actions and our words both be expressions of God’s heart.



My Morning Prayer
-Marina Bromley

Lord God, without us even asking, You have made us to be an extension of Your Salt and Light. You have equipped us to add Your Flavoring to the world around us, and to shine Your Light to illuminate and eliminate darkness. Sometimes we need to shine Your Light around our homes, our families, our neighborhoods, but sometimes You Light us up from the inside, to expose our hearts and minds. At those times we need to confess and be willing to eliminate actions that build a wall between us.

Please keep my God Flavoring salty, that I will continue to be used by You in building Your Kingdom. Make my words and actions worthy of You and Your Kingdom. I pray that Your Kingdom will come and Your will will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Your ways are always best, Lord. Help me to depend on You, trust You, and bring You glory. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

#prayer #mymondayprayer #devotion #saltandlight #godflavoring #roylessin #meetinginthemeadow

©2023 Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Photo and prayer by Marina Bromley. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Friday, February 17, 2023

God Words: Love

God Words: Love
-Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow

God is love (1 John 4:8).

Elizabeth Barrett Browning begins her sonnet How do I love thee? with these endearing words, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” She wrote these words because she was finite. She loved deeply, but not infinitely. Anything that can be counted has limitations.

If you asked God at this moment, “How do you love me?” His answer would be, “My love for you is unmeasurable; my thoughts toward you are innumerable.” God’s love for you is a love without limits.

In the early years of DaySpring we published a small stationery note. We put these words on the cover, “The Lord Brought You to Mind Today.” It quickly became a best seller. If the Lord sent you a stationary note today it would read, “There is never a day when you are not in My thoughts; never a time without my love.”


Everything about God is staggering! If we could encircle God in our thoughts we would be encircling the wrong god. Every name God has, and every attribute in His character will quickly bring us to the end of our vocabulary in attempting to describe Him.

Try and get your thoughts around someone who has no limits. Think upon this for a few moments and your brain will wave the flag of surrender. If God had limitations in anyway, at anytime, in anyplace, and in any situation, God would be finite.

Here are two amazing verses from the Psalms that point us to His infinite thoughts:

Many, O my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count (Psalms 40:5).

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand (Psalms139:17).

Your faith can put its arms around these verses and draw them close to your heart. You are in God’s thoughts!

What kind of thoughts does God have toward you?
Precious thoughts!
Good thoughts!
Right thoughts!
Gracious thoughts!
Caring thoughts!
Loving thoughts!
Father thoughts!

How many of these thoughts does God have toward you? More than can be numbered!

If you knew how many loving thoughts God has toward you today (not to mention your lifetime) you would be astonished.

Think of it this way…There are 200 billion trillion stars in the known universe. God’s thoughts are more than the stars. There are 7.5 sextillion grains of sand on earth. God’s thoughts are more than the grains of sand. How is that possible? Because God is infinite…His precious loving thoughts toward you cannot be numbered because they have no end.

Our Father’s thoughts to us-ward are many. We only know a few of them, but they are flowing us-ward all the time.” -Amy Carmichael

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33).

Prayer: Thank you God that your thoughts toward me today are the thoughts of a loving, caring Father. I know your thoughts toward me tomorrow will not change. I put, and will keep, my trust in you alone.

...

#godthoughts #godwords #love #roylessin #meetinginthemeadow

©2023 Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Photo by Marina Bromley. Used with permission. All rights reserved.