A LAMP TO MY FEET. A LIGHT FOR MY PATH.

TODAY’S WORD…

Everything Has Its Time

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

– Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

GOODBYE…

Yes, it is time for us to say goodbye. Sadly, I am no longer able to carry on as this blog’s administrator and contributor, and today’s will be the last of the regular posts.  The blog and all past posts will, however, remain available…for reference, for reflection, for prayer…

Please let us keep one another in our prayers, please keep the Christ the King Prayer Group in your prayers and, most importantly, let us all make it a point to remember that it is always the time for us to embrace God’s Word and to making it a Lamp to our feet and a Light for our path.

God’s blessings.

PRAYER…

Eternal God,

Your Word is a Lamp to my feet

and a Light for my path.

Teach me the true way of prayer;

nourish me by Your Word;

fill me with Your Spirit;

and give me the grace to please You in all that I do.

My Lord and my God,

help me get to know you better

so that day by day, through Your Word,

I may enter into the fullness of life.

Amen.

TODAY’S WORD…

“My people will again live under My shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.

…I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from Me.”

– Hosea 14:7,8b

QUOTE…

“The love of the Beloved or, to put it better, the Beloved who is love, loves only love and faithfulness. Do not resist his love. Can we stop loving the one who is Love in person? Can the one who is Love by His very nature be unloved?”   – St. Bernard

PRAYER…

Thank You, O Magnificent and Loving God,

thank You for being so near to us,

for protecting us,

comforting us,

feeding us,

and letting us taste from Your inconceivable, everlasting love.

Almighty Father,

something inside of me acknowledges Your nearness;

something inside of me

makes me bow my head in awe of Your presence.

Something inside of me

wants to shout out Your name in praise

and to give You never-ending glory and honour.

Something inside of me

knows where it belongs;

where it wants to be – with its Maker, forever,

in the fragrant shadow of Your great love.

My soul yearns for You, O God,

it glories in Your awesome presence,

and it rejoices as it receives from the great abundance of Your love.

Lord, I pray,

that I will never stray away from Your refreshing shade;

from the shadow of Your divine love.

Strengthen me, O God,

instil in me the fruit of Your spirit,

and plant Your eternal Word in my heart.

Thank You, O Great and Merciful God,

thank You.

TODAY’S WORD…

But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

– Galatians 5:22-23,25

REFLECTION…

A corrupt human nature loves to do the opposite of what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are contrary to what the sinful nature wants.[1] When we follow the desires of our sinful nature, our lives will produce these results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts and immodesty, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, witchcraft, hostility and quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions and factions, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other things like these. If we live that sort of life we will not inherit the kingdom of God. [2]

Let us be fully aware, therefore, that our actions are a clear indicator of which Master we are serving and we should be conscious of the consequences of our actions.

[1] cf. Galatians 5:17;

[2] cf. Galatians 5:19-21

PRAYER…

Holy Spirit,

my Gracious Defender,

my Loving Consoler,

my Divine Counsellor,

come my Lord and purify me.

Remove from me all that is not from You,

and fill me with love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Come, O Holy Spirit,

I want to follow Your leading in every part of my life.

Come Holy Spirit, lead me and fill me with Your fruit!

TODAY’S WORD…

Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plough up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.

– Hosea 10:12

REFLECTION…

The seed of the Lord is the most desirable of all – it is the seed of love. For me to be filled with God’s love, I must plough deeply into my heart, even if it hurts, and open it up to provide fertile furrows for God’s seed to settle in and grow. Then I will carry on seeking God, and his Word will provide all the nutrients that the soil of my heart needs to provide for a strong crop, and the Living Water, which pours out from God’s heart, will make sure that His seeds of love will grow filling my heat with His grace and producing fruit in abundance.

PRAYER…

My Lord and my God, Fountain of Living Water,

fill me with determination and the internal strength

to plough deep furrows into my heart

until I break up its thick and hard surface to let You in.

Help me, Lord, prepare a fertile place

for the seed of Your love to settle in and take root.

Lord, I so want to be filled with Your love,

that I may gladly reap the fruit

and also share the abundance, while singing Your praises,

with all who I come in contact with.

Amen, O Lord, Amen!

TODAY’S WORD…

Live in peace with each other. We encourage you, brothers and sisters, to instruct those who are not living right, cheer up those who are discouraged, help the weak, and be patient with everyone. Make sure that no one ever pays back one wrong with another wrong. Instead, always try to do what is good for each other and everyone else.

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, give thanks, because it is God’s will in Christ Jesus that you do this. Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire. Don’t despise what God has revealed. Instead, test everything. Hold on to what is good. Keep away from every kind of evil…

May the God who gives peace make you holy in every way. May He keep your whole being — spirit, soul, and body — blameless when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do this.

– 1 Thessalonians 5:13-24

QUOTES…

“Being children of God, how can we be sad? Sadness is the end product of selfishness. If we truly want to live for God, we will never lack cheerfulness, even when we discover our errors and wretchedness. …..

Cheerfulness finds its way into our life of prayer, so much so that we cannot help singing for joy. For we are in love, and singing is a thing that lovers do”   – St. Josemaria Escriva

“A true Christian is always ready to appear before God. Because, if he is fighting to live as a man of Christ, he is ready at every moment to fulfill his duty”   – St. Josemaria Escriva

PRAYER…

O Faithful God,

I bow my head in awe at Your magnificence,

as my soul sings for joy and glories in the presence of its Maker.

O Lord God of love and joy and peace,

make me holy;

fill me with Your fire;

protect me from all evil;

as I wait with joyful hope for the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ.

My soul rejoices at Your presence,

O Faithful God of love and peace!.

TODAY’S WORD…

The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.

– Proverbs 11:26

REFLECTION…

This verse speaks of people who have control of something which is of importance to, or needed by, others and who hold back on selling it or parting with it mainly out of the misguided pleasure of seeing it accumulate, or the desire to make excessive profits. Such a person can cause misery, anger, and bring on disgust and even animosity.

Conversely, to the open-handed, fair and generous; to the selfless person, who provides for the release of what he or she controls, and which is needed by or is due to others, God, as well as the community, will bless.

God does not want us to hoard up the gifts of His bounty, merely for our own perceived advantage. Rather, He wishes to see us choose Him over all else that we may possess. Possessions can be a test of our love for God and “neighbour”.

PRAYER…

Lord, free me from all covetousness,

from any avarice and from my attachment to possessions.

May I wholly desire just You as my treasure and my all.

Lord, guide me and help me release myself

from the hold that I allow material possessions to have over me.

Help me be open-handed

and guide me to make good use of the blessings that you have permitted that I possess

…rather than to be used by them.

For this I pray with all my heart, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

TODAY’S WORD…

“In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”

– 2 Corinthians 12:7

REFLECTION…

God sometimes permits certain kinds of evil in order to draw out greater good: for example, in order to protect us from pride – the root of all vices – He sometimes allows us to be humiliated by an illness, or a defect, or even ashamed by mortal sin. Our faith sometimes needs to be tested in such ways, for us to be able to recognize…and admit that we are not as perfect and holy as we would like to believe, after all, and that we cannot stand firm in our faith just by our own efforts.

A “thorn”…an imperfection…may jolt us off any pedestal which we may have erected for ourselves. St Paul calls it “a messenger from Satan” because, in the case of illness or physical defect or suffering the evil one would be trying hard to take the opportunity to tempt us into blaming God and to take it against Him.

If the humiliation is the result of a weakness which leads to a grave sin, then the evil one will delight in seeking to persuade us that we are so unworthy that we should completely give up on our efforts to be holy. But the faithful Christian, who believes in God’s unconditional love and in God’s grace, will come out from such situations, humbler…and stronger, and more determined than ever to seek to do God’s will!

PRAYER…

My Lord and my God Lord,

remove any misplaced pride from me.

Do not allow that I should to ever fall

for the deceit of the evil one,

whose only aim is to draw me away from You.

Lord, strengthen my faith;

my love for You and my trust in You

…whatever the circumstance.

Strengthen my faith, O Lord, and keep me humble.

TODAY’S WORD…

Please, God, rescue me!

Come quickly, Lord, and help me.

– Psalm 70:1

REFLECTION…

Undoubtedly the Lord wants to restore us and to heal us, but equally true is that there are many clouds in our sky and the idea of trials and troubles, distresses us.  We must never be afraid to express ourselves and our sorrow to the Lord.

Do not be afraid to express your heart before the Lord, even your sorrow. Do not be ashamed to cry. Trials test our love for God by how we react to them. If we love ourselves more than God we will rebel, become upset and bitter. But if we supremely love God, and trust in Him, and mean it when we say “Your will be done!”, then we will find ourselves thanking Him for what He is accomplishing in us…through our troubles!

[sourced from a talk by Dr. Andrew Consiglio]

QUOTES…

“It is good when a Christian gets into a lot of hot water…it keeps him clean!”   – G. K. Chesterton

“And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”   – 1 Peter 5:10-11

PRAYER…

Please, God, rescue me!

Come quickly, Lord, and help me.

My Lord and my God,

rescue me from my troubles;

rescue me from myself.

Come quickly, O Lord, my God,

I love You

and I need You by my side.

Thank You, Lord.  Amen.

TODAY’S WORD…

Happy are those who follow His commands,

who obey Him with all their heart.

With all my heart I try to serve You;

keep me from disobeying Your commandments.

I want to obey Your commands;

give me new life, for You are righteous.

– Psalm 119:2,10,40

REFLECTION…

I cannot offer sincere praise to God, unless I desire to obey His Commandments, and because I know that what He commands is to ensure that I have a safe journey in this life, then I am filled with joy!

QUOTE…

“At all times, your heart and your lips should meditate on wisdom, and your tongue proclaim justice; you should always carry in your heart the Law of your God. Let us speak, therefore, of the Lord Jesus, who is Wisdom; and He is the word, the Word of God. For it is also written: ‘Open your mouth to the word of God.’ The one who repeats His words and meditates on them in his heart shows his longing for Him.

…..

Let us always speak of Him: if we speak of wisdom, He is Wisdom; if we speak of virtue, He is all virtue; if of justice, He is justice; if of peace, He is peace; if of truth or of life, or of redemption – He is all these things.”   – St. Ambrose

PRAYER…

Lord, I want to obey Your commands;

I want to be filled with Your joy!

TODAY’S WORD…

The commandments of the LORD are right,

bringing joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are clear,

giving insight to life.

Reverence for the LORD is pure,

lasting forever.

The laws of the LORD are true;

each one is fair.

They are more desirable than gold,

even the finest gold.

They are sweeter than honey,

even honey dripping from the comb.

They are a warning to those who hear them;

there is great reward for those who obey them.

– Psalm 19:8-11

REFLECTION…

God’s Commandments lead us into right and straight paths of truth and holiness and, as we stand in awe of the Lord who cleanses our soul from all that blemishes it, their effect is joy to the heart.

The truths in the Word of God and all the doctrines of the Gospel are, to those who have found the Truth, more desirable, prized and valued, than all worldly riches and possessions. Scripture helps us taste and see how good the Lord is, and how pure and delightful is His Truth – sweeter than honey!

God’s laws have been written for our instruction and for our salvation. They are a warning about the consequences of moving along our own selfish paths, and they direct us along the right way which leads to the great reward of eternal glory and happiness.

PRAYER…

My Lord and my God, I have decided

– I have chosen You!

Lord, I have searched and I have found

…that Your Word is Truth;

Your commands, Wisdom;

and Your purpose, Love.

I have tried to argue, and to compare,

yes and even to ridicule Your teachings,

but, with the help of Your grace,

I have found out and now I know – I am convinced –

that Yours is the Only Truth.

My Lord and my God,

I am determined,

I have decided

– I have chosen You!

Amen.