Covenant Between God and Man

My daughter has been busy with the camera once again, and has captured a photo of a rainbow over an old deserted house, and this started me thinking about the covenant between God and man, that He would never flood the whole earth again. God’s promises are not like ours, for we make and break promises in the blink of an eye, but our God is faithful and never breaks His promises.

And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish  my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all  that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This  is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set  my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. Genesis 9: 8-17

What is Your Calling?

Bible Verses Used:

Isaiah 55:11

Trust in God for He will never leave you nor forsake you, and He promises that His Word will never return to Him void. When God is moving us to a different level, we’re supposed to move on. I know that God is with me 100%. When Jesus speaks to us, He expects us to learn from our mistakes and move on. God doesn’t consult our past when He prepares our future.

Once we’ve given our heart and life to Jesus, there’s so many things we can do in serving Him – we can serve, we can pray and we can share what God is doing in our lives. In our weakness, God can be our strength, but I hear you asking – What can I do? There’s plenty that I can do. If you’ve felt it’s not my calling, get up there anyway. We’re called to serve Him.

Perhaps your calling is to clean the toilets. Whatever you do, do it to the glory of God. When you step out, just say, “Here am I, God – use me.” As situations change in your life, offer to help someone. Perhaps you’ve been asked to read aloud in church, and you’re terrified of being humiliated – just remember that God blesses your efforts. God will give you what you need, and He sees your ♥. When you feel peace in your ♥, go with it.

When you’re in any situation you can call on the name of Jesus, knowing that if He be for me, who can be against me? God is there for me; He will never leave me nor forsake me. Jesus didn’t die on the cross and endure all the pain and suffering so that we could backslide. We need to work together in unity – a strong body!

The Holy Spirit gives us an inner peace if what we are doing is right for us. We need to have faith and trust in God. If you trust the Holy Spirit 100% to guide you, you will find inner peace. Sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zone, for we are answerable to Jesus. There are people who have been Christians all their lives, and yet, they don’t have a personal relationship with the Lord Jeus Christ, nor have they stepped out in faith.

If you want Christian input, you need to approach a good strong Christian, who is rooted and grounded in God’s Word. God is building us strong and firm. If our roots are not strong in the Word of God, we don’t have the Living Water. Pine trees have shallow roots;  they wave in the wind and if they don’t receive water, they die. That’s like us – we need to have our roots grounded deep in God’s Word, so that when the storms of life come, we will be strong, and we also need to receive the Water of Life (Jesus).

We all have pressures from family and friends, but it’s up to us how we deal with those pressures. It’s important what God wants! We are all a part of the same body, and we need to fulfil our part – God will bless you for it. If we are faithful in the small things, God will bless us in the bigger things, too.

There are many areas where God can use you. Don’t wait for ten burning bushes. God can and will use you if only you let Him. Make yourself available. God is calling us to be a Holy people, and He’s opening our Spiritual eyes and our Spiritual ears. God will call the people that He wants to use. There’s no better time to make a commitment to the Lord Jesus.

If you don’t know the Lord, Jesus Christ, I ask you to invite Him into your heart, and pray the following prayer:~

Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner and constantly fall short of your glory. I believe that You are the Son of God, and I give my life over to you and acknowledge you as my Saviour.

Then shout it from the rooftops that you are saved!

Praise You God…

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4: 8

• ...for you are mighty to save, you keep us sheltered beneath your everlasting arms, and you carry us when the going becomes too tough for us to go it alone. I praise you that your love for us is boundless.
  

• …that you have strengthened us during the past week – knowing that you are there for us makes life so much easier.

• …for my husband who has been a tower of strength, even with his worn-out knee. He has cut firewood and been teaching our son how to milk the goats.

• …for patient goats, who will stand still (with enough oats!) while my son perfects his technique in milking them.

• …for my daughter, who has done more than her fair share of cooking and helping out around our home.

• …for friends – blogging friends, internet friends and IRL friends who make life much more valuable simply by their presence in it. The comments that you leave on my blog make me feel loved. ♥

• …for support organisations, such as the HSLDA and ROHUS - May their work be blessed by our Almighty God, as they seek to return Dominic Johannson to the loving arms of his parents, and as they seek to stop the implementation of draconian homeschooling laws in Sweden.

• …for granted travelling mercies during the last week. Even when we had a flat tyre, it was able to be repaired, and we are having light truck tyres put onto the car this week in an attempt to prevent further punctures.

Thank you, Jennifer for hosting Praise each week. Care to participate in this Meme, please visit Jennifer, and don’t forget to leave a comment – she loves visitors.

A Week On

A week on, and my husband has stronger pain medication. I pray that his knee will hold out until August, and on his visit to the doctor today,  he was given  Durogesic 75 micrograms/h, which means that 75 mcg of Fentanyl is released every hour. August seems such a lifetime away. Sigh! Two hours after placing the new patch, my husband has said that the pain is much less, and that he can cope with the level of pain that he has, now.

Yes, it’s strong, and in a perfect world, it’s not ideal, but he needs to be able to walk and do light duties until August so that he doesn’t become too bored. I am so looking forward to August, when my husband will be having a Total Knee Replacement, and total relief from pain.

In the meantime, my husband will be teaching our son to milk – his choice, as my daughter said that she wouldn’t mind milking the goats, and we have three new nannies ready to kid in the next month. I’m praying that they will be easy to milk, as first time milkers are often jittery and can be challenging to milk, even for a seasoned hand.  ‘Twill be rather interesting here over the next five months, so please keep us in your prayers.  Believe me, they will be very much appreciated.

My son is also working toward his year 12 Academic Certificate over the next couple of years, so he has a heavier school workload to cope with, and my daughter is currently undertaking studies for her year 10 Academic Certificate. There are animals to feed, wood to collect, meals to prepare and household chores to be done as usual, but if we band together, all things are possible.

Mind you, there are certain subjects that are taking a back seat at the moment, such as German and music, but I really can’t push the children any harder. With all of the extra work, there are only a certain number of hours in a day, and believe me when I say that we are using every one of them to our advantage.

God promises that those who honour and obey their parents and God’s Word, will be blessed. Our children belong to God and we are commanded to bring them up in His ways, but the Fathers are also exhorted to provoke not their children to wrath, but to nurture and admonish them when necessary. The children will only be obedient to us, and to God’s Word, if we have their respect, and if they can’t be obedient to us, they will never be obedient to God’s Word.

It is here that we see the results of child-training, as our children grow up and take on added responsibilities, and it is wonderful to see them volunteer to help around the farm. We feel extremely blessed by their attitude of quiet obedience to what is needed at this time.

Praise God that we can do all things through Him which strengtheneth us, and that He hath said that He will never leave us nor forsake us!

Praise and Prayer…

Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day. Psalm 71:8

God for…

• His eternal greatness and provison over us – for the food that He so generously puts onto the table, His provision of a comfortable home where we are sheltered from the elements and enough money to pay the bills.

• our church, where we can be filled with the knowledge of the things of God, and grow into the sort of people that He can use in His ministry.

• my husband, who is suffering with an extremely painful knee – prayer for his knee would be very much appreciated.

• our children, who have stepped to the fore, taking up the challenge of extra chores so that our home continues to function as God designed it to be.

• our goats, who continue to provide us with milk, ice-cream and meat.

• the newborn chickens and turkey poults, who continue to grow each day. We have started to turn their lights out at night, so that we can have a good night’s sleep, and while the weather is warm they sleep well, too.

• granted travelling mercies – our road is extremely rough, and there is a very real danger of puncturing a tyre each time that we go out, so praise God for keeping us safe while travelling.

• the fencing iron that we bought at a reasonable price on Friday – it will be put to good use making new chicken coops.

• the homeschooling freedoms that we take so much for granted, here in Australia. Please keep praying for the reuniting of Dominic Johannson and his parents, in Sweden. Please also pray for homeschooling laws in Germany to be relaxed, allowing Christians to homeschool openly. At present, homeschooling in Germany is illegal.

• warm weather – the warm summer days are wonderful for swimming and a laid back lifestyle;  and the balmy nights are conducive to sleeping well.

May we remember to count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of our faith works patience. It is so hard to remember that when we are going through difficult times, but it is one of God’s promises, and He never lets us down. His promises are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness!

Thank you to Jennifer for hosting “Praise” each week.