Glorifying Death

As All Hallow's Eve (the Eve of the Holy Ones) approaches, I am always anxious to get past it to November 1, to All Saints Day. The celebration of Jesus' victory over death and evil has, instead, become, even among Christians, the very celebration of death.  For decades people have intimated to me that not to celebrate Hallloween was to deprive my children of a deserved delight. Yes, it is fun for children to dress up and receive candy. Of course it is. And we tried to schedule some fun events, as many churches have, to allow them to do so without glorifying evil.  We told them the true meaning of All Hallow's Eve..and that we didn't have to be afraid of death or evil because of what Yeshua has done for us.  But at what true expense to them are we spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to decorate our homes with symbols of evil and death and relegating this time of the year to harmless fun?  Innocent animals and children are tortured and ritually killed on this night.  Ask any policeman about the reality behind this 'fun, harmless' time of the year. What many people don't realize is that there are very real practices of Satanism and Black and 'White' witchcraft occurring throughout each year, but especially at this highest of 'holy' times in their 'faith'.  According to their beliefs, the more innocent the victim, the better.

   We need to open our eyes to the realities of which many have been unaware.  In some ways, I wish mine hadn't been, and yet I know one can't change reality by ignoring it.  We had a baptism of fire, so to speak, years ago when thrust into a situation where a young woman staying with us woke us with a request for an ice pick so she could stick it into her head.  Initially we thought it was from drug-induced schizophrenia, but we later discovered that she carried a vial of blood in her purse from a Black Sabbath experience.  One doesn't forget things like this.  She only became completely free from all this when a team of people trained in deliverance prayed for her in two successive,  lengthy sessions.  If you remember the time Yeshua delivered the possessed man of the tombs who was being controlled by a 'Legion' of evil....this turned out to be her experience, also.
   At the time, we were clueless and truly didn't know how to help her. Our prayers calmed her but didn't free her. We were so grateful that God led her into a 'random' church one day, in her
desperation, where this team was visiting from another state.    She was freed, received her college degree, and became a counselor.  This after being told that she was so brain damaged that she would have to be permanently institutionalized.  Only God could set her free, and not without much deep investment.
   I know that, once again, I will raise the ire of many defensive parents and grandparents.  However, to not speak the truth in love about this is to be complicit in it. When the kids were living at home, we used to carve a cross into a pumpkin and place a candle inside to make it a Christ-o-Lantern and place it in a window. Let's shine the Light of Christ and defy the darkness.

Have You Lost Your Wonder?

Have you lost your Wonder?  Ask the Lord to go for a walk with you. Let Him point out those expressions of His Creation of which you're daily unaware. Converse with Him about what you're seeing. You'll begin to delight in those things you've missed, hear birdsong you've ignored, rejoice in the canvas of sky stretching before you, changing by the second...some to take your breath away. Thank Him for the beauty and pure fun He's placed on the earth. Notice the variety of flowers and diversity of animals He designed. Stop and watch a common one, like a squirrel. Suddenly he won't seem so 'common' anymore. Listen to the rising crescendo and decrescendo of the bird choir at the dawn. Suddenly all creation is alive with His Presence, His signature written with bold hand across the sky. "I am here!  I love you! I created all this for you to enjoy. Take time to notice and appreciate My gifts to you.  Enjoy it in My company. Walk with Me...and then be still and know...."

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Did you learn this as a child...when your wonder was still alive?

"All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all

Each little flower that opens
Each little bird that sings
He made their glowing colors
He made their tiny wings...

He gave us eyes to see them, and lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty, Who hath made all things well..."
    --Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848

A Challenge to Agnostics and Atheists

Lumping the religions of the world into an assessment such as  "they're basically different versions of the same thing...choose one or none"....is absolute nonsense.  Either the God you believe in is real, or he/it isn't. And, regardless, none of them even purports to be the same as the God of true Bibilical Christianity.

Show me another 'religion' where God...
...offers to be your Loving Father.
...offers to take the punishment for your sin, guilt, mistakes, and screw ups upon Himself
...offers you eternity in Heaven because of what Je did, no what He requires of you
...cares about, and wants to be involved in, the smallest details of your life
...binds up your physical and emotional wounds
...converses with you like a friend
...listens to you intently, as well as speaking to you personally
...makes you laugh
...wants you to enjoy your life 'abundantly, to the fullest'
...speaks the truth to you in love, correcting you as a true good father would
...helps you become a better person...more like Him
...is a Dad you want to emulate
...grieves when you grieve, even when He knows a happy ending awaits you
...is willing to orchestrate the circumstances of your life to make a good out of even the worst tragedy
...delights in you
...sings over you
...is a mother hen to your chick
...is a Good Shepherd to your lamb
...drives the wolves from your door
...rescues you not only from your enemies, but your own failings
...sometimes lets you fall in order to learn how to stand
...never leaves your side in the process
...promises never to abandon you or forsake you
...is faithful to you even when you aren't
...knows your every thought and heart's desire
...planned you and knit you in your mother's womb
...was always, is now, and ever will be the one True God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who
...loves you personally, intimately, with an Undying, Everlasting Love

   May the eyes of the blind be opened to all He is, as He once opened (and continues to open) mine and those of all who now 'dare to call Him Father.'  Let eyes be opened through your testimony. Lovingly, tenderly share Who He Is at every possible occasion. Weave your testimony, your love and thankfulness for Him, into the tiniest crack of casual or serious conversation. Be watching...'be ready in season and out of season,' 'make the most of every opportunity.'  Make Him known and loved and adored in your little universe. The people around you are dying for want of Him, even though He is as near as their very breath.

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*Read I Dared to Call Him Father, the Miraculous Story of a Muslim Woman's Encounter With God by Bilquis Sheikh, plus many others such as Seeking Allah and Finding Jesus, Hiding in the Light, A Wind in the House of Islam, or 10 Amazing Muslims Touched by God

Day by Day

Remember this song?*

"Day by day, day by day,
Oh, Dear Lord, three things I pray:
To see Thee more clearly
Love Thee more dearly
Follow Thee more nearly
Day by day...
Day by day by day by day by day..."

   This morning, I'm loving the simplicity of it, as I listen to it play in my head.  It reminds me of simple Scripture messages, like "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength...and thy neighbor as thyself..."... Simply clear in its summary of what we're called to do, but definitely not simple to carry out. If that's our true heart's cry, however, our Father is smiling tenderly down at us, encouraging us every step along the way. Even when we stumble on the road, He is at our right hand, reaching down to lift us up, brush us off, check for and bind up our wounds, and lead us back onto the narrow, but lighted, path.  He never watches from a distance. He is the God Who Comes Near. Pray you can see Him more clearly by your side, affectionately and gratefully love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly with each day that passes....all your days. I know that's my prayer, too..

**Various versions of this command are found in:
Luke 10:27
Mark 12:30
Matthew 22:37
Deuteronomy 6:5 (+4 other Scriptures)
Joshua 22:5

*Godspell (musical)

"All Praise to Thee My God This Night"

I first created the post below in 2015,* after several younger friends said they would like to learn about worship music from the past. Instead of searching Youtube for the song, as I do now, I recorded my own little video with one of the sweet pictures I own. It’s obviously unprofessionally done, but it’s a little offering to the Lord. 

“All praise to Thee My God this night for all the blessings of the light.
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings, beneath Thine own almighty wings.

Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son, the ill that I this day have done;
That with the world, myself, and Thee, I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

O may my soul on Thee repose, and with sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that shall me more vigorous make to serve my God when I awake.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow; praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.   Amen.”

--Thomas Ken* 1709
[tune: Thomas Tallis, 1567 (the Tallis Canon)

*Thomas Ken , the writer of what we commonly refer to as The Doxology, wrote these lines in 1674, as the last verse for another hymn ("Awake, my soul, and with the sun") and later used them in this hymn, also.  Sung to the Tallis Canon (which can be sung in a round), it's not only lovely, but evokes the sweet peace of God. I have loved it since I was a child.

*To see posts from years past (2015 to the present), open my blog at TennyandI.blogspot.com [ Morning Manna ]on a computer or tablet, with a larger screen than your phone,, and you will see the listings by year on the right. As you choose a year, the names of the various posts will appear underneath.  In His Love, Julie

Under His Pinions

I had been listening to Andrew Wommack's (Gospel Truth/awmi.net) series on dwelling in God's Presence and subsequently asked the Father what he thought about the teaching.  Andrew can be very challenging to common perceptions and the status quo. Here's what I believe He answered on this particular occasion. I thought it might encourage someone else from my small band of readers.

   "Dwelling in My Secret Place--good teaching on Andrew's part. Don't allow arrogance to erect a wall between us. It is in humility you will enter...like the Eye of a Needle or Alice in Wonderland. ...bending down, becoming small as a child...whatever image helps you understand that otherwise you shall not enter.
   Remain under My pinions, Little Chick. Look out on the world from their safety. Only in Me will you dwell in safety....you and the others in your brood.  Rejoice that you are Mine."

Psalm 91