MARTHA VANCISE

Writing for 21st Century Pilgrims

All Parts Included

All Parts Included

by | OctThu2014 | SIGNPOSTS

 

By the seventh day,
God had finished the work
he had been doing (Genesis 2:2).

God never came back to tweak or add to His creation. All that we would ever discover or need was present on that day.

No chromosome was added to produce the billions of people that would inhabit the earth. With the exception of the incarnate Christ, no atom, no DNA, no genome, no microwave, no sound wave, no light, no seed, came from another source. Everything that we know and use came from God’s original creation.

Whatever we may build, create, or discover in the future will come from what has been here from the beginning.

The heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. Genesis 2:1)  …his works have been finished since the creation of the world (Hebrews 4:3)

Martha Hawn VanCise©

 

Windowsill

Windowsill

by | OctWed2014 | BLAZES

  


Every morning lean your arms awhile
Upon the windowsill of heaven
And gaze upon your Lord,
Then, with the vision in your heart,
Turn strong to meet your day.

by Thomas Blake (Revised mv)
Martha Hawn VanCise©

What Can I Give?

What Can I Give?

by | OctWed2014 | BLAZES

How can we bring delight to God?
What do we have to offer?
What could we possibly offer to the Creator of the universe that would bring Him delight?

 

God delights in those who

Fear Him
Place their hope in His unfailing love
Are trustworthy
Pray
Want to know Him
 
(Psalm 147:11; Proverbs 11:20; 12:22; 15:8; NIV, KJV)
Photo: shadowness.com/kimpauig/empty-hands
Martha Hawn VanCise©
Big Event

Big Event

by | SepMon2014 | SIGNPOSTS

I’ve watched Big Events on TV—Super Bowl, World Series, Indianapolis 500, Rose Bowl Parade, Olympics, World Cup, Academy Awards, and weddings of world figures—but I have never attended one of these events.

Yesterday, in the Sunday morning worship service, words from the Revelation suddenly caught my attention. The Apostle John wrote of a gathering from every nation, tribe, people and language that will bow in the presence of the Almighty God and give praise. They will assemble for a Wedding and the sounds of celebration and praise will be like the roar of Niagara Falls and peals of thunder.

 Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.

As I heard those words, I suddenly thought “I get to go to that!”  I may never get tickets to other Big Events but I already have a reservation for that event. I will be there!

 

 
 
 
Martha Hawn VanCise ©
Helping God

Helping God

by | AugMon2014 | SIGNPOSTS

 

I could never understand why God struck a man dead for trying to keep the sacred ark from falling off an ox cart (II Samuel 6: 1-7). In Streams in the Desert, however, I found the following Old Signpost posted by A.B. Simpson.

A life was lost in Israel because a pair of human hands was laid unbidden upon the ark of God. They were placed upon it with the best intent, to steady it when trembling and shaking as the oxen drew it along the rough way; but they touched God’s work presumptuously, and they fell paralyzed and lifeless.

Much of the life of faith consists in letting things alone.

If we wholly trust an interest to God, we must keep our hands off it; and He will guard it for us better than we can help Him. “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes (Psalm 37:7). Things may seem to be going all wrong, but He knows as well as we; and He will arise in the right moment if we are really trusting Him so fully as to let Him work in His own way and time. There is nothing so masterly as inactivity in some things, and there is nothing so hurtful as restless working, for God has undertaken to work His sovereign will.  A.B. Simpson (1843-1919)

It is such a comfort to drop the tangles of life into God’s hands and leave them there.

A.B. Simpson—Streams in the Desert, July 6
KJV Scripture changed to NIV.

Martha Hawn VanCise ©