Bless Ye The Lord

Bless ye the Lord the almighty the King of Creation.
Blessed is His Name, for He is a great and mighty King.
Indeed He is Lord and God.
The God of the Bible- all 66 God-breathed scrolls.
There is no other God, only He alone.
He looked around to see if there is any besides Him.
There is no other.
He alone is Lord and God;
King of kings and Lord of lords;
The Great I AM;
The only wise God and true Savior;
Uniquely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
Three distinct persons in the godhead, yet One Personal being- God;
The Lord our God,
The God of Abraham,
The God of Isaac,
The God of Jacob;
The God of Moses and Aaron;
The God of Samuel;
The God of Elijah;
The God of David;
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Holy One of Israel,
Our Savior;
The One Who was, who is, and is to come;
The lamb that was slain, yea, rather, who is risen again;
Blessed be the Lord our God;
The King of the universe.
Amen.

ONE PASSOVER NIGHT

It was long ago, but we can’t forget.
A night different than any other;
Why was that night different from any other?
And so they came,
To arrest my Jesu,
In the darkness they came,
For their time was finally permitted;
And so with lanterns and torches they lit up the night;
John was there- he saw and heard and hurt.
The cohort was ready, perhaps 200, to quell
Any uprising, for it was Passover.
Yet my Prince, my Beloved, offered no resistance;
'Twas enough for Him to say “I am” and they retreated
And fell to the ground.
“Let these go their way” protected His sheep.
But not for Him, even with Iscariot’s kiss.
Peter, bold and true to the challenge, only found the Master’s rebuke.
Yet 12 legions of Angels were ready at his command to
Meet the Roman cohort,
But He chose instead to drink that cup for me!

THE LORD'S BIG TEST

by Manolete-je

The big test it was!
It had to be,
Without twelve legions of angels
That He could have called.
Led by the Spirit
Into the desert furnace of holy men,
Moses and prophets;
Tried and polished and proved.

The Tempter was allowed to come,
To prepare and test the
Perfect One,
The Holy One of God;
Tempted and tested in every possible way
Son ship to deny;
Yet in human flesh true,
And without sin!

By grace alone
Victorious in battle,
Intense and consuming;
In silent darkness and
The shadow of death,
For 40 days and 40 mortal nights
Faithful was he,
And, "It is written" was His
Near dying breath!

The Dragon bruised Thy holy heel!
But thou didst bruise
The surrendered Serpent’s head!

Amazed angels drew
Near to worship
And tend thy royal feet.

MY LOVE

by Manolete-je

She is so beautiful! So she was! Tender and young my dear love, free of stress and full of life, sitting on that rock by the beach in Rosarito, Mexico.

Jesu of my soul, how can it be so again?

Youth, romance, love and joy again!

DON'T GIVE UP TRYING

Don't Give Up Trying

by Manolete-je

“Where's there is love and inspiration, you can't go wrong. So don't give up trying to do what you really want to do.”

That's what the lady said in the song. Ella got it right, and Lou Gehrig did it!

What do I really want to do?

To serve my Lord Jesus, and see me active in or establishing a Spanish "L'Abri."
To serve my family, and find me doing His good will.
To serve my brethren in the Lord, and love them as He loves me.
To serve my neighbor, and love them as myself.

These things I really want to do.

What else? ¡Torear un toro!
¡Matador!
This too I really want to do.

Even For Ducks He Cares

It was Saturday evening, just yesterday; it must have been around 8:30 p.m. I was driving home from work, in my delightful Kia Rio, returning home from a work related, all day out door event, out in the country, it was fun! The radio was surprisingly off! I had already entered the city. I came to a familiar stop light, it was red. As I stopped, I looked to my right, towards the Kroger parking exit. (It's somewhat wonderful to realize, now, that all this happened within the space of about 4 minutes or less). As I glanced to my right, stopped at the light, I noticed this group of ducks waddling along. Literally, mother duck with her chicks waddling behind her! I wish I could have taken a picture. (The photo you see here, I downloaded from the net, but the ducks are surprisingly just the same as the one's I saw!). Mother duck and her chicks, literally, were crossing the parking lot exit! As they were about to waddle over the grassy dividing exit island, a car strolled by! I looked and thought, helplessly watching, "they are going to get run over!" But the duckies continued right on their course, unaware of the danger. The car just passed them as they entered the exit lane! They slowly waddled on. No other car in sight. How about that! It was a beautiful sunny, warm, evening. The light turned green and I drove off slightly looking back to catch the ducks from the corner of my right eye. I was glad that life was just right. As I reflect, it was a wonderful moment. Although it could have been a very sad event, to end the day. Yet, gladly, the duckies continued on their way, as did I.

Immediately, I couldn't help but think that even for ducks He cares! The Lord Jesus pointed out one day how valuable the Lord's elect are to Him. (Matthew 10:31). He said that we are of more value than many sparrows- how about ducks too? The birds and the duckies are of value to God. Yet, the people whom he loves in Christ Jesus are of more value! So, if the Lord cared for the duckies I saw Him spare yesterday, how much more will he care for you and me as we waddle on in the Christian life, even when we may not be aware of what lies ahead. Oh, how we should trust in Him! Oh, that my ways were established to love and obey the Lord! (Psalm 119:5). Blessed be the Lord who cares for us. Let us then cast all our care on Him and be wise in all of life, yet anxious for nothing. (I Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6-8). Praise be the Lord. Amen.

Thoughts On Faith

Faith is a simple and common theme in all of Scripture. The biblical concept of “faith” is a simple concept, yet commonly misunderstood. In order to think about “faith,” it is essential, if not critical, to properly understand what we mean by the word and its concept, biblically.


(As I write, I assume a Christian worldview based solely on the Bible. I affirm the Bible is the only truly inspired or God-breathed Word of God. I affirm that only the 66 books of the Bible, contained in the Old and New Testaments are the inspired and infallible Word of God- in all its parts, as well as the whole. In the Bible, alone, God speaks authoritatively to all peoples everywhere for all time. “What the Bible says, God says, and what God says the Bible says.” This latter quote is attributed to my college professor, but it was not original to him).


If our concept is not biblical, then the term, the word, or the concept will always be misused, and misunderstood- as is most common today. Faith today is used to mean many things or represent many ideas, and that, of course, may be well and good for humanity. But the word, Scripturally speaking, has a simple, particular, meaning, not necessarily related to popular concepts or ideas. Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1987, page 446, gives the following definitions:

Faith \ [the etymology indicates the word comes from Middle English, old French, and Latin. The Latin words are fides and fidere, meaning to TRUST – more at BIDE]. 1 a: allegiance to duty or a person: Loyalty. b. 1) fidelity to one’s promises. 2) sincerity of intentions. 2 a: 1) belief and trust in and loyalty to God. 2) belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion. b: 1) firm belief in something for which there is no proof. 2) complete trust. 3 something that is believed, especially with strong conviction: esp., a system of religious beliefs. Syn. See belief – in faith: without doubt or question: verily. Believe, trust.

The above dictionary definitions are, of course, valid and helpful in understanding the word, and its use. Biblically, however, the word is used in regard to two important matters: It is used as related to salvation and how it is acquired, or it is used to characterize how the Christian life is to be lived. The word simply means: Trust, confidence, belief, and obedience. Specifically, in regard to living the Chrisitan life, once regeneration has taken place in the believer, the biblical concept is one of absolute confidence and trust in God, which automatically results in humble loving obedience. It is important to understand that the emphasis, biblically, is not on the individual person, (who may exercise or not, faith, or who may or may not have faith) but on the object of one’s faith. (How faith is born, generated, or obtained, is another issue or discussion which I’ll refer to at some other time, especially in regard to regeneration). The Bible considers the object of the faith as more important than faith itself- both for salvation and santification! It is the object of the faith that proves the faith to be valid or invalid- sufficient and adequate or inadequate. For this reason, and contrary to popular belief, it does not matter how much faith a person has. The issue, biblically, is not how much faith you have, but where do you deposit that faith? That is, in the truth, and in God, or not? The only valid object of faith then, scripturally speaking, is God himself! The Lord Jesus Christ said that if you have faith “as small as mustard seed” it is valid! (Luke 17:6, NIV). (The “mustard seed” is regarded as the smallest of all seeds found in Palestine). I can conclude, and think we all can, that one must have at least that much faith! Otherwise, perhaps, there is no true biblical faith in the person! We should or can ask a question, “Who or what do you believe in?” This is the all important issue! Do you believe in the one true and only living God? (That is, in the God of the Bible). Do you believe in truth and in the universe as God created it? (Although it is now stained by sin?). Someone has said, “A person’s faith is only as good as the object of his faith.” (Anonymous quote. A common quote in some Christian circles). Considering this to be the case then, we should then ask, “Who is God?” Because knowing who God is is the birth of faith! Otherwise, no valid biblical “living” faith exists in a person- regardless of what he or she may claim. All they would have is a sub-faith or human faith in themselves or something else, but of no value before God for regeneration or santification.