When in doubt, pray. When you can’t, praise. Wings as eagles will lift your weary soul to faith, hope, and love.

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” Luke 18:1.

Billy Graham. PRAY.

Perhaps, this is one of the greatest teachings of Billy Graham for this dark hour we live. This old picture speaks to me to “be still.” To hear God’s voice immediately changes me from fret and fear to faith.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth
” Psalm 46:10.

The surrender to agree, at such a time as this, yields hope in me. This picture speaks the glory of surrender in me.

tonirypkema.com

Yes, I will be still. I will pray and cry aloud. I will hope in God who is able, I will seek His face. Join me to read aloud the transforming hope and light of God’s Word:

One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.
 For in the day of trouble
    he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
    and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted
    above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make music to the Lord.

 Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
    be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,
    do not turn your servant away in anger;
    you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
    God my Savior.


Though my father and mother forsake me,
    the Lord will receive me.


Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path
    because of my oppressors.
 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
    for false witnesses rise up against me,
    spouting malicious accusations.

 I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
 Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord
Psalm 27:4-14.

Our eyes look up, our ears are eager to HEAR Your voice.

Speak Lord, your servants hear. As Habakkuk in his day with questions, “Where are You, Lord,” we will pray and hear:

I will stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected
” Habakkuk 2:1, NKJV.

Then the Lord answered me and said:

Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
 For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry
.

 Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith
Habakkuk 2:2-4.

Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman?
    Or an image that teaches lies?
For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation;
    he makes idols that cannot speak.
 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’
    Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’
Can it give guidance?
    It is covered with gold and silver;
    there is no breath in it.”

 The Lord is in his holy temple;
    let all the earth be silent before him
” Habakkuk 2:18-20.

picture by Pete Fierro


But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint” Isaiah 40:31.

Dear God, help us walk in a manner that fully pleases You. Keep us praising You in the spirit. This is where we find You close by, in a heart of praise.

This is my Bible song of encouragement today, as I ask the Lord to fill me with His great love and grace in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation:

Being confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it . . . Philippians 1:6. For He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world 1 John 4:4.

Watercolor by G of Legacy Studio & Co.

Just keep praying and singing. God’s in control.

If you are encouraged today, let me know!

Rain Down on us Good Words for some Son-shine!

Art by G of Legacy Studio & Co

Art by G of Legacy Studio & Co

“Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad” Proverbs 12:25.

Oh yeah, good words make a person’s heart glad.

God knows best. His Word is a rock. His Word is a rose. His Word to those who believe and receive Him is as a Coach, coming alongside,

to give a high-five. To say, “Come on, you can do this with Me. Let’s go!”

And God’s Word to a kid’s song is “just” plain fun and can move us forward when we feel stuck!

I wrote this song with a special needs child I had the privilege to teach and work with for many years. A few strums of the ukulele and a few Bible verses to focus on would be our delight for many days together.

For this combination of Philippians 1:6 and 1 John 4:4 we were “changed.”

God’s Word is powerful and can be loads of fun with a ukulele or a guitar. And God gave every human being alive a set of “strings.” So, even if you’re not a kid, find one and start singing some Bible, to increase in faith,

or come to faith for the first time. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” Romans 10:17.

There is only one answer to the dark day we live in, Jesus.

He alone is able to change a heart. His Word is powerful and opens a door of faith in us to hear and receive.

An open, soft heart, is suddenly changed to belief. There is hope as the sun shines through the clouds.

Because faith chases away fear. God loves you. God loves me.

He is there for any who calls on His name. God is able to accomplish all that concerns you today. He is God Almighty.

And, He is love, (1 John 4:7-21*)

He paid your debt in full on the cross. And mine, and the debt of sin of the entire human race.

We can’t save ourselves. (We all need saving.) (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23. )

Jesus came to save us and to finish the work He has for us. He gives us His Holy Spirit when we receive Him. He is our help. We can be confident in this.

I share this today with anyone who needs a song of truth and hope in Jesus to help chase the dark clouds away and bring a ray of Son-shine, (no matter what is going on!)

If you haven’t opened your heart to Jesus, do it today:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 

 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. 

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 
 
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother 1 John 4: 7-21.

(My song words are slightly paraphrased,) “Being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it ’till the day of Jesus Christ” Philippians 1:6.

Being confident in this.

“For He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world.”

“For He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world” 1 John 4:4. (I’m just waiting to record some happy kids with this song.)

Let me know if you are blessed. And “like” the SoundCloud too if you do!

-Toni