Preparation Day: 22
The words of David, angry and bewildered, and then reminded.
Psalm 22 for your Sabbath Preparation.
He has never let you down,
never looked the other way
when you were being kicked around.
He has never wandered off to do his own thing;
he has been right there, listening.
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Find some quiet contemplation in these weekend communities:
Still Saturday with Sandra King | Sunday with Deidra Riggs
(Thanks for stopping by today. I’m encouraged by your visit.
I’ll beg your understanding for the closed comment box
on Preparation Days. It just helps me not talk so much.)
Preparation Day: 18
The words of David, upon being rescued. Again.
Psalm 18 for your Sabbath Preparation.
Find some quiet contemplation in these weekend communities:
Still Saturday with Sandra King | Sunday with Deidra Riggs
(Thanks for stopping by today. I’m encouraged by your visit.
I’ll beg your pardon for the closed comment box on Preparation Days.
It just helps me not talk so much.)
Preparation Day: 51
Grateful for David, always with the words to know my heart.
Psalm 51 for your Sabbath Preparation.
Find some quiet contemplation in these weekend communities:
Preparation Day: Here is Your King
When Pilate heard those words, he led Jesus outside.
He sat down at the judgment seat
in the area designated Stone Court
(in Hebrew, Gabbatha).It was the preparation day for Passover.
The hour was noon.
Pilate said to the Jews,“Here is your king.”
from John’s Gospel, the nineteenth chapter
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Preparation Day: Selah
. . . and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah.
Taken from Psalm 32 today, but there’s a Selah around every corner.
[In the Amplified Bible, Selah reads "pause and calmly think of that."]
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Preparation Day: 80
God, come back!
Smile your blessing smile:
That will be our salvation.
From Psalm 80 –
a testimony of Asaph
How well that we can look to God
when our face is set wrong,
that he may turn us,
and so his face shine on us,
as to bring blessing and
present deliverance to his people.
– J. N. Darby, quoted in
TheTreasury of David
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Preparation Day: 63
God—you’re my God! I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.
– David, a king
Psalm 63, The Message
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. . . to look seemeth the poor man’s privilege,
since he may, for nothing and without hire,
behold the sun.
– Samuel Rutherford
quoted in Spurgeon’s Treasury of David
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Preparation Day: 65
Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion.
– David, waiting quietly,
in Psalm 65
The believer sometimes seems to want words to exalt God,
and stops, as it were, in the middle; his thoughts want words.
Thus praise waits, or is silent for God; it is silent to other things,
and it waits to be employed about him.
– Alexander Carmichael,
quoted by Spurgeon in
A Treasury of David
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Preparation Day: 4
Why is everyone hungry for more? “More, more,” they say.
“More, more.”
I have God’s more-than-enough,
More joy in one ordinary day
– from Psalm 4, The Message
Where Christ reveals himself there is satisfaction in the slenderest portion,
and without Christ there is emptiness in the greatest fullness.
– Alexander Grosse, on enjoying Christ, 1632.
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Preparation Day: 145
God is good to one and all;
everything he does is suffused with grace.
(Psalm 145:9, The Message)
Sweet dewdrops are on the thistle as well as on the rose.
The diocese where mercy visits is very large.
(Thomas Watson)
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Preparation Day: 103
He knows us inside and out,
keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.
Men and women don’t live very long;
like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,
But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,
leaving nothing to show they were here.
God’s love, though, is ever and always,
eternally present to all who fear him,
Making everything right for them and their children
as they follow his Covenant ways
and remember to do whatever he said.
David, the king, in Psalm 103
An exalted man ponders his own brevity
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Preparation Day: 147
Jerusalem, worship God!
Zion, praise your God!
He made your city secure,
he blessed your children among you.
He keeps the peace at your borders,
he puts the best bread on your tables.
He launches his promises earthward—
how swift and sure they come!
He spreads snow like a white fleece,
he scatters frost like ashes,
He broadcasts hail like birdseed—
who can survive his winter?
Then he gives the command and it all melts;
he breathes on winter—suddenly it’s spring!
– the psalmist on the One melts Narnian white
About Preparation Day
Preparation Day: 104
These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
– the psalmist, just saying what is
(from Psalm 104)
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Preparation Day: 55
I call to God; God will help me.
At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh deep sighs —
he hears, he rescues.
My life is well and whole, secure in the middle of danger
Even while thousands are lined up against me.
David, in Psalm 55
The Message
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Preparation Day: 148
Praise God from earth,
you sea dragons, you fathomless ocean deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and ice,
hurricanes obeying his orders;
Mountains and all hills,
apple orchards and cedar forests;
Wild beasts and herds of cattle,
snakes, and birds in flight;
Earth’s kings and all races,
leaders and important people,
Robust men and women in their prime,
and yes, graybeards and little children.Let them praise the name of God—
it’s the only Name worth praising.
His radiance exceeds anything in earth and sky;
he’s built a monument—his very own people!Praise from all who love God!
Israel’s children, intimate friends of God.
Hallelujah!
Preparation Day: 102
Write this down for the next generation
so people not yet born will praise God:
“God looked out from his high holy place;
from heaven he surveyed the earth.
He listened to the groans of the doomed,
he opened the doors of their death cells.”
Write it so the story can be told in Zion,
so God’s praise will be sung in Jerusalem’s streets
And wherever people gather together
along with their rulers to worship him.
(from Psalm 102, The Message)
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Preparation Day: 5
Listen, God! Please, pay attention!
Can you make sense of these ramblings,
my groans and cries?
King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
you’ll hear me at it again.
Every morning
I lay out the pieces of my life
on your altar
and watch for fire to descend.
Preparation Day: New Year’s Edition
About Preparation Day
But you’ll welcome us with open arms
when we run for cover to you.
Let the party last all night!
Stand guard over our celebration.
You are famous, God, for welcoming God-seekers,
for decking us out in delight.
Preparation Day: Christmas Eve Edition
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
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May you blink in the radiance of his light,
bask in his increase of your joy,
and rejoice with abandon at his coming.
Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.
::
Joining Deidra for Christmas Sunday morning
Preparation Day: 116
About Preparation Day
What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
God welcomes those who love him.
(from Psalm 116, The Message)
Preparation Day: “Who’s Afraid of You Now?” Edition
About Preparation Day
But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:
Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!
With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.
(From 1 Corinthians 15, The Message)
Preparation Day: 72
About Preparation Day
Give the gift of wise rule to the king,
O God, the gift of just rule to the crown prince.
May he judge your people rightly,
be honorable to your meek and lowly.
Let the mountains give exuberant witness;
shape the hills with the contours of right living.
Please stand up for the poor,
help the children of the needy,
come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—
age after age after age.
Be rainfall on cut grass,
earth-refreshing rain showers.
Let righteousness burst into blossom
and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
Rule from sea to sea,
from the River to the Rim.
Preparation Day: 106
About Preparation Day
Still, when God saw the trouble they were in
and heard their cries for help,
He remembered his Covenant with them,
and, immense with love, took them by the hand.
He poured out his mercy on them
while their captors looked on, amazed.
Save us, God, our God!
Gather us back out of exile
So we can give thanks to your holy name
and join in the glory when you are praised!
Blessed be God, Israel’s God!
Bless now, bless always!
Oh! Let everyone say Amen!
Hallelujah!
– Psalm 106: 44-46, The Message
Preparation Day: 112
About Preparation Day
Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commandments!
His offspring will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
who conducts his affairs with justice.
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