Of Grace And Beauty
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (11/25/2013)
“...Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (St. Matthew 6:9-13, King James Version [The Lord's Prayer]).
Greetings in the Holy Name of Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he has done for me, my soul cries out, Hallelujah, Praise God for saving me. According to Apostle Paul to the Ephesians (2:5, KJV), “...(By grace you are saved;)”. On this day of blessings and thanksgivings, I know the furthest thing from your mind is how much food you eat or where you sit at the table with your family. Many of us get used to sitting at the big table and the table for the children in some families becomes the little table since all the children grew up.
I remember one year, I accepted an invitation to eat with my next door neighbor's family so I scheduled my family's thanksgiving feast earlier than my neighbor scheduled her family's feast. I arrived and of course they invited me to sit at the big table. How gracious of them? I noticed the daughter, now a young adult sat at the table for children alone without her brother who recently passed in a fatal car accident so I opted to sit with her and soon some others who sat at the big table joined us. It was a lovely gathering and I enjoyed meeting each of my neighbor's family members and hearing of their escapades in life, the things that only family openly speak of. I did feel welcomed and I think that was what they wanted for me to feel welcomed on that thanksgiving--- to join them.
The feeling of welcome is a vested feeling, a feeling that in some way you contributed to their feelings in a way that could not go overlooked. A feeling of recognition for something you contributed to someone in their family. I did not dwell on the thought too long but nowadays I do think of the feeling that being vested in a company or in the United States of America and the benefits received as a result of being vested. In the United States of America, at age 65 you are vested to receive a good pay-out of social security and medicare. Those citizens of the United States who reached age 65, who are vested in the United States of America are not concerned in the least bit of the Affordable Healthcare Act and how in the world could they afford a healthcare plan that at the onset is not affordable to those who lost jobs under the age of 65.
My soul cried out, Hallelujah, Praise God for saving me. It feels good to feel vested, a sense of belonging to a nation that now cares for you by providing benefits for healthcare and whatever else you might want to use your benefits pay for. Will the young citizens that many companies hired pay into the system to lessen the payout amount for everyone? Will they carry the load? Presently, it is hope without substance and the grace of God sustains us; Jesus saves us.
Everyone waits to see what young America will do? You can hope until they pay into the system to give everyone an actual amount of how much they will help, even though it is a mandate, how rapidly they pay-in will either save the credibility of the system or cripple it as a money pit for everyone. Now, I put my trust in God and I remember the Lord's prayer (St. Matthew 6:9-13):
“Our Father which art in heaven, My God of heaven, Heavenly Father,
Hallowed be thy name. Holy is your name. Your name is Holy. Thy
kingdom come. Let the kingdom of God come forth with Christ Jesus.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Father it is your kingdom, the
kingdom of heaven is your kingdom, let Jesus come with your kingdom
for you gave Christ Jesus all power, in heaven and in earth. Thy will be
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done in earth, as it is in heaven. We watch for Jesus to come, for the
will of God to be done, in earth, as in heaven. Father, let your will
magnify grace in earth, as it magnifies the faith of grace in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. Give us this thanksgiving our
daily bread. In Christ Jesus, Jehovah Jireh, our provider gives us
thanksgiving bread. We know it is God who provides through Jesus,
Jehovah Jireh. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Father, let not the debts we owe, stand in the way of us receiving
our thanksgiving bread, forgive us those debts and give us the heart
and the mind to forgive the debts of those who owe us. Father, give
us a cash flow through the faith of Jesus to enable us to believe in
faith of forgiveness and to believe in forgiveness by our faith in
grace. Let us owe no man on this thanksgiving day. Let this
thanksgiving day truly be a day of grace, sustaining faith of
Jesus. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
And let us not go into temptation, but deliver us from all evil:
For we know it is the kingdom of God given to Jesus, we know
Jesus has all power here, in earth and we know that we must give
God the glory, always. Father we know we owe you the glory.
For it was God who so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son, Jesus to save us. Let no man tempt us to think
otherwise than truth, Jesus saves us from the temptation of
evil. Jesus saves us from the presence of evil. Father, it is your
kingdom. The kingdom of God is for ever.
The power of Jesus is forever. For the glory of God is forever.
It is your unchanging hand that saves us, in the faith of Jesus, a
saving grace. Amen. Amen.”
David said, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple” and “Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth” (Psalm 27:4, 26:8, KJV [David resorteth unto God]). It is good to feel vested in God, through the saving grace of His son, Jesus. Trust in the LORD. It is Christ Jesus who saves you. It is a beautiful thing to know that Jesus saves.
It is good to behold the beauty of the LORD. “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it” (Psalm 90:17, KJV [The happy state of the godly]). It is beauty that stays in the temple fasting and praying night and day. According to St. Luke 2:37, KJV [of beauty], “And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” Further to that Paul said, “Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day” (I Timothy 5:5, KJV [Of widows]).
According to Apostle Paul, “...instantly serving God, day and night, hope to come...” (The Acts 26:7, KJV [Paul's defense]). Are you a widow? Are you not married? Are you a bride of Christ? Are you married to Christ Jesus?
Are you beauty? Let the grace and beauty of Jesus save us Lord. Let us keep ourselves in the temple of Jesus, in the house of Jesus, in the faith of Jesus, with fastings and prayers night and day, day and night. I ponder this truth and thought, “Sometimes I do not know if I need food of the flesh for then I know
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not which day food is delivered for the flesh and the same is true of my animals (pets) but we know someone has to stay in the spirit fasting and praying night and day.”
Today, my third cousin delivered a 20 pounds chicken to me. He said it tastes good for the making of dressing. Well, I prayed about a free reined from pasture to plate turkey but I did say fowl so I got a free reined chicken not a chicken that is raised in a chicken house and it weighs 20 pounds. It reminds me of the same cousin telling me his grandson bought him a $10.00 chicken drumstick sold at the fair, here in southwest Georgia. Can you imagine just a chicken drumstick costs such a high price but it was just that big of a piece of chicken?
I heard a mother (a first cousin) of a grown son who she constantly provided food for say, “He is losing weight. He gets rid of the food I provide for him but I know he does eat.” I could see in the madness of his faith he was just fasting and praying. Who understands this beauty, this forever love, in service to God through Jesus, especially in times like these. May the grace and beauty of God be with you, forever.
