Monthly Archives: July 2012

O Dark Clouds of Nurturing Water…

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He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
 Ecclesiastes 11:4 (KJV)

I am born of God as He formed me in my mother’s womb. I am sanctified in Jesus Christ and nurtured each moment by the Holy Spirit. I spend days in the warmth of the light He provides and my nights in rest He gives. I am truly blessed by the Lord. To Him be all glory.

I sing songs of worship to honor the Lord. It is His delight that my heart leaps toward Him as He beckons. These are great times of spiritual prosperity. I see my Lord and hear His voice. I gather with His other children and praise Him as one Body. We are the Bride who greatly anticipates but is patient for the return of the Bridegroom. I know with all of my heart His return is imminent.

I am patient and I am loving. I seek out the poor and the hopeless and offer bread and life for I know I can lead the lost to Jesus. The Spirit abides. Father open doors.

O, how I dream of a walk as stated. Lord, I confess I am not perfect and fall short in many ways and at many times. But, I know You love me.

Many times I watch the wind rush through an open door and continue watching as it slams shut. A missed opportunity. But, I know You are patient with me.

I seek the strength and wisdom to walk the straight path. A place where I can have focus on the Lord and still run to a crying heart, a hungry soul. “I can do these things”, I ponder watching the drifting clouds. Time passes and soon opportunities will pass too. Conversations about how I will change and how I will act soon will fade without the following response to God’s beckon. For He gives me ample opportunity to be a great husband, a steady and nurturing father, a lover of many souls.  I should not tarry much longer or I will be a tree that falls north, and stays. (Ecc 11:3)

The day of judgment will come and I will wonder why I didn’t respond always. God speaks and I hear and I watch the rain fall and the wind blow and Spring comes, there is not a harvest. Well, maybe a small one.  My desire to do more is great but my feet are sometimes in a boggy mire. Free my feet, O Lord. I hear Your voice. I am tired of just desire and wish to sow for a fruitful harvest. I am a man of many words and want to compliment these words with action.

Action is my response to God’s speaking. Response is being in God’s will and walking the straight path He has laid out before me.  My one goal is to respond. If I do, my heart is set in its proper place. Intention to respond is not of God’s will. It is hearing and not acting. Good intention is watching the clouds float by without sowing. “Where is the fruit?” the ones of good intention cry at the time of harvest. There is none. But, God loves me and He is patient. He continues to try.

I have received many gifts from the Lord. I pray I will respond now to His voice. I must sow seed into my marriage, into my children, my faith…. I must offer an olive branch to my enemies a loaf of bread to the hungry. A kind word to the hopeless. Yes God asks me to do this. Will I respond? Or will I continue to watch clouds pass, darkened, as they are filled with an abundance of rain. They are ready to nurture with water the seeds I plant. I plant because my good intentions have turned to action therefore there will be a harvest.

I have hope because I listen to God and this is the best first step. I will respond or I will realize the consequence of a sterile harvest. I will try to be a man of godly integrity. I hear You Lord. Let the harvest come and the seed planted bear fruit. Let me rest assured that I need not see the harvest always, but have a smiling heart of joy that You will. Fortify my family. Be our center, God. Our core is the Spirit that emanates to others but especially to each other. Husband and wife, Father and son and daughter.

For good intention is listening, acting on that intention is response. O dark clouds of nurturing water. Let me watch you rain. Spirit nurture the seeds of a responsive intention. I hear You Lord. Amen

Rick Stassi

July 8, 2012

Re-blogged 2013

“Passing Through” by Annie Johnson Flint

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PASSING THROUGH
(See Isaiah 43:1-2)

“When Thou passest through the waters,”
Deep the waves may be & cold,
But JEHOVAH is our Refuge
And His promise is our hold;
For the LORD Himself hath said it,
He the faithful God & true;
“When thou comest to the waters,
Thou shalt not go down, but through.

Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,
Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain,
Rolling surges of temptation,
Sweeping over heart & brain,
They shall never overflow us,
For we know His word is true;
All His waves & all His billows
He will lead us safely through.

Threatening breakers of destruction,
Doubt’s insidious undertow,
Shall not sink us, shall not drag us
Out to ocean depths of woe;
For His promise shall sustain us,
Praise the LORD, Whose word is true!
We shall not go down or under,
He hath said, “Thou passest through.”

…for I am a lamp that emanates joy

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1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Psalm 130

So now I reflect.

The balmy days of summer envelope all and the Sun in the sky, parches thirsty throats. The evenings instill a quiet warm breeze, ever-cooling the warmed, outside layers of all things now in rest, in respite.

These days I reflect and I grow. I watch the trees with new growth still reaching higher to meet the photosynthetic magic of the Sun. Even in these days of rest, there is growth. What life brings to me is authored by God. Whether the leaves of new growth – wisdom breathed,  or a new awareness of my self in the Lord. Yes I always look inside to see what the Spirit exposes. He exposes new business and maintains a light upon the old business too. I look mindfully at this old business and I peruse the new as well. I am reminded of a time…

In a cold place, heartless and dark, I stood at a precipice. A forward step was unknown, a backward step, unwanted. I steeped in pain from the life I ran from. The empty soul – really not empty as it was filled with lies. How vulnerable we are without God. How desperate to be happy. We are so desperate we will step on the hands of all we love and watch them fall from their precarious hold on a steep ledge of  friendship, kinship. I cast away those who could not help me and invited Satan himself in for his company.

Satan was a gracious visitor. He gave me what made me happy. Then, he took my hand and led me to a deep place of darkness and dreary cold. He then said “I will watch over you and you will die, then after you die, you will fall forever”. I cringe now in reflection. From a deep pit I looked up and saw a glimmer of light.  There was urging to not look but I was hurt and the pain was too much. The elixirs helped for a moment then I would awake to find myself deeper in the well. Back toward that light I peered. It was curiously hopeful. It was God.

He heard my cries from these depths and was attentive. In my hope, I waited. All of those years of denying Him were forgiven. People spurned would not forget, but God forgives. In Him is all of my reverence. Years erased as the light grew with piercing intensity. The Lord came and my soul was waiting for His touch. It was so much better than the mornings of coldness I woke up to. Ever-stepping deeper into the pit. The morning sun of a new day cannot renew like the Son of God. O Lord, how I had waited. In ignorance I dismissed You, in love You never forgot me. Thank you for letting me remember the bad so I can see lucidly Your presence.

I reflect on those things of my past. I look at those thing exposed now. It is the new green growth from the Son, Jesus. It is imparted wisdom that hones my godliness. It is acute listening to God who always is attentive to my cries. For he  heard my echoing cry from the deep and in one instance, I became a light on a hill. His instrument for the emanating of His light. Poor souls that still abide in the depths. I pray you see His light. I will bring the Lamp with Oil to the rim of the pit. Please look up! Your eternal life  depends upon it.

So, I am redeemed. I was purchased and do not belong to anyone except God, Himself. He bought me with a drop of blood from Jesus Christ. He is the Lamp on the hill. God made sure that light reached me in my darkest times. How grateful I am.

I fear the Lord with all my soul  

as I sit upon a grassy knoll

A light am I for all to see,

Let them, O Lord, lay eyes on me.

For I am a lamp that emanates joy…

Out of the depths I have cried. My soul has cried. I am now safe, eternally.

Rick Stassi

July 2, 2012

…for Julie B. I can hear you.