Paths of Peace

June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 ~ Suzanne Davis Harden

Psalm 103:1-2 (ERV)

“My soul, praise the Lord!
Every part of me, praise his holy name!
My soul, praise the Lord
and never forget how kind he is!”

PATHS OF PEACE

All Glory to our wonderful God who has blessed me with a new book! My publishing company, Wings of the Morning Publications, LLC, just recently published my first book, “Paths of Peace, Illustrated Prayersong Book,” in print and eBook editions!

I have very good reason to celebrate because as someone with very little time, and yet who must work within the boundaries of an autoimmune disorder that causes me to have chronic migraines that are often so severe I cannot do anything but lie in a dark room and pray to the Lord, it is miraculous that I can accomplish the things the Lord inspires me to do.

We serve a wonderful God who gives me the grace to bear my cross through the faithful prayers and encouragement of my church, family, and wonderful friends. I could not do a thing apart from Christ and the faithful prayers of His people. I know this.

Despite my often debilitating affliction, God has helped me to compose music, write songs and poems, paint pictures, make albums, and videos, to manage my Etsy shop, and now through His strength to write and illustrate this book to comfort and encourage people.

How but through God’s amazing power and grace could I have done or do what I do? People who know me in person realize this more than anyone else because all they have to do is be with me for a few hours before they notice that my energy fades, my face turns pale, and I begin to wilt like a flower without water.

Activities that most people take for granted, I am unable to do or can only do for a little while before exhaustion takes over and I must go home to take a long nap. If I overdo anything one day, I will pay a price of being bedridden sometimes for three days or more, losing precious time off from my work.

But those days when I must spend time in bed, I will worship the Lord. Time away from work is never wasted when it is spent in the heart of God abiding in Christ.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is not an affliction I would wish on anyone. For as of now there is no cure. Since 2006, when I got CFS, many people, churches, family and friends have prayed for my healing. I’ve been anointed with oil, and even gone to special healing services, but the Lord seems always to say “no,” as He told St. Paul. “My grace is sufficient for Thee.”

There is an interesting verse in Psalm 33:

“No king achieves a victory with a large army.
No warrior rescues himself by his own great strength.
Horses are not a guarantee for victory.
Their great strength cannot help someone escape.
The Lord’s eyes are on those who fear him,
on those who wait with hope for his mercy” ~Psalm 33:16-18

In other words, God is not impressed with strength, power, health and beauty and youth like the world is. What does impress Him though is our willingness to step out in faith no matter how weak we are and trust that He can do the impossible with us no matter how broken we are. Because our weakness shows how strong He is. His light shines best through the broken pots. His glory cannot be seen through an unbroken vessel.

If God is glorified in my brokenness then I will praise Him no matter how many migraines I must suffer on this earth! Because I love my Lord Jesus Christ and I know He loves me. He suffered far more than I will ever suffer when He was nailed to the cross and when He was beaten and lashed for my sins to make me His own. He had to wear a piercing crown of thorns and I think about His excruciating pain He suffered for me when my head is engulfed in pain and so I just lay it all at His feet and worship Him.

Praise our wonderful God with me for the book of prayersongs that He gave me! Praise Him with me for every album of prayersongs and instrumental music He blesses me with, for they are all from Him and gifts for His people to encourage them and to encourage me also! The Lord encourages me as He gives me prayersongs, paintings, musical compositions, and poems. I am just a conduit of His grace.

Watch the video below to take a peek inside Paths of Peace Illustrated Prayersong Book and to listen to one of the songs from the book. The book features the lyrics that I sing on my album “Paths of Peace, Songs of Love and Peace.”

Please pray that God will use both the book and song and album to comfort and encourage many people for the Lord! And thank Him with me that He enabled me to accomplish this wonderful book! For truly this is miraculous!

God bless you all! ~Suzanne

Heavenly Father, thank You that with You ALL things are possible. It doesn’t matter who we are or what our abilities or weaknesses are, You are more than able to work through any broken pot and do amazing things through each of us if we will only step out in faith and trust in You. We praise You for Your great power and strength and love for us! In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.

Follow this link for the eBook edition of Paths of Peace Illustrated Prayer Songbook
Paths of Peace Print Edition is available at Wings Publications

The Book of Life

October 31, 2014October 31, 2014 ~ Suzanne Davis Harden

Angel Writing In The Book Of Life Pen & Ink Illustration © S.D. Harden All Rights Reserved.

Revelation 3:5

“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”

Philippians 4:3

“And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.”

Revelation 20:11-15

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

¹²And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

¹⁵And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” ~St. John writing in his vision

The Book of Life

God cherishes each one of us. The bible says that “God our Savior…wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4) Jesus Christ told Nicodemus, a religious leader who came to Him one night, ^“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” ~(John 3:16-17)

The Lake of Fire mentioned by St. John in the book of Revelation was prepared by God as an eternal punishment for the devil and the angels that rebelled against Him.

It was never intended for man whom God made in His own image.

Yet, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, fell away from God when they rebelled against His command. The result was spiritual death and a loss of divine fellowship.

dore_ae-paradijs_grt — Gustave Dore Adam & Eve Expelled From Paradise

All of their children would, like them, be sinners or rebels against God. They would never be able to enjoy perfect fellowship with God because God is holy and cannot dwell with sin.

God’s word says that sin must be paid for with a sacrifice. Hebrews 9:22 says: “In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.”

The only One worthy to pay for our sins, to redeem our souls from eternal destruction and to bring us back into fellowship with God, was God Himself, for He alone is perfect among all His creation. He is sinless, spotless, without blemish.

God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth clothed in flesh so that He could become a living sacrifice and shed His holy blood to pay for our sins. He loved us that much.

Christ-on-the-Cross-Oval-Silhoette — Christ on the Cross ~ from the San Xavier del Bac Mission

God could not die unless He became human. That is why He had to be made like us. He suffered a horrible death on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven and so that we could live in Paradise with Him forever.

Not only did He want us to enjoy eternity with Him, He wanted us to be able to enjoy fellowship with Him now.

Once we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts, we become God’s own children. The Father sends His Holy Spirit into our hearts to seal our salvation as a sure sign that we belong to Him. We will never be alone again from that point because He will never leave or forsake us. His love will keep us firmly in His strong grip. He will help us weather every storm. He will meet our every need. He does not promise freedom from trials-for “many are the afflictions of the righteous,“ God’s word says, “but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

My Testimony

The moment I invited the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart I felt a beautiful peace envelop me and a warm glowing presence filled the room. I heard the Lord speak to my heart. “All will be well, You are going to be all right.” I was only 16 years old.

As I lay in my bed that night filled with Christ’s peace I saw an image in my heart of an angel writing my name in a huge book. Though I had gone to Catholic school, I had never heard about the Book of Life. I wondered what the vision meant.

Not until I began to read the bible on my own through the discipleship of our neighbor did I learn about the Book of Life and what that vision meant.

God was showing me that He had recorded my name in His book of life that night when I had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart.

It comforted me to know that my name was written up in Heaven.

When I grew up and my children were in Sunday school I created a picture of an Angel writing in the Book of Life. I made it into a Sunday school book cover for the children in the church we were attending. I wanted it to comfort them to know that after they had accepted the Lord as their Savior, their names were written in Heaven, and when the Last Day comes, and the books are read, they will be judged “Not Guilty,” because they are wearing the righteous robes that Jesus has given them. Their sins have been washed away by the blood of the spotless Lamb of God.

How do our names get into God’s Book of Life? The Book of Romans says: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” ~Romans 10:9-13

That night when I was 16 years old I simply called upon the name of the Lord and He came to me. God is no respecter of persons. The Lord Jesus said He would never reject anyone who called upon His name. (John 6:37) And once a person receives Him into their heart, He will write their names in His Book of Life.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, may You bless all those who call upon the name of Thy Son Jesus Christ and write their names in Thy Book of Life. May they live with You forever. Thank You, Lord, In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Prayer Song “The Book of Life” is from my new Album “Paths of Peace”~available on Itunes, Amazon, CDBaby, and on my music website http://www.peacefulprayersongs.com

Prints of the Angel Writing in the Book of Life are available in my Etsy shop as Notecards and as a Triple Matted Fine Art Print.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WingsPublications

Walking By Faith

December 24, 2013 ~ Suzanne Davis Harden

Angelsong.Shepherds — Peace, said the Angel to the Shepherds. Source/Internet

Sometimes it’s difficult to walk by faith. God’s word says that He “calls
things that are not as though they are” and He asks us to trust Him. He asks us to see beyond what our eyes can perceive, beyond what our ears can hear, or our minds can comprehend as real.
God gives us promises that seem impossible to come true yet it is impossible for a holy God to lie. His word declares, “For no word of God will ever fail.” Luke 1:37

ANGELSONG.GOLDEN.Shepherds — Angel Choir Sings to the Shepherds/Source:Internet

As Christmas approaches I think about the people to whom God chose to reveal His Son more than 2000 years ago on a starry night in the hills of Bethlehem.
Shepherds were among the lowest ranking groups in society yet God opened up the heavens and gave them a concert led by a host of angels from His own royal courts. The world may not have thought much of those shepherds, but God highly favored them.

AngelSONG.Shepherdsat night — Angels sing to the shepherds/Source:Internet

They were so important to God that they have been forever engraved in His holy scriptures, while the lives of almost everyone else who lived back then have been written in the dust.
Every year almost since the church began children and adults have dressed up as those shepherds to re-enact the Christmas story. The drama has been played out in movies, operas, plays, pageants, songs, stories, and sermons.
There is no end to the references to the common shepherds whom God elevated that night on the Judean Hills when He opened up the heavens and sent an angel choir to sing the announcement of the birth of His Son to them.

Those humble shepherds had a choice to believe the angelic vision or
disbelieve. Filled with the glory of Heaven they followed the shining star over the
humble manger and found everything the angels sang about to be true.

ANGELSONG.Shepherds. Manger — Shepherds Find Baby Messiah

Everyone was looking out for a Savior to deliver Israel from her oppressors. But an infant born into poverty was not the type of Savior King they expected. The shepherds, Mary, Joseph, even the Magi who were to enter the Christmas story later all had to accept by faith God’s word that this Baby was God’s Messiah.

What is faith? The author of Hebrews 11:1 writes, “Faith is what makes real the things we hope for. It is proof of what we cannot see.” The bible says of Mary that “she treasured all these things up in her heart.” And Jesus later asked His disciples to hide His word in their hearts. Why? Because “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

Mary, Joseph and the shepherds would have to wait 33 long years for the angel’s promise to bear any fruit. For Jesus had to grow up before He could become the Messiah. Then He would again defy appearances and challenge their faith because He was not going to be the kind of Messiah they expected.

ANGELSONG.Starry Night Sky — Bethlehem Star/Source:Internet

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,”
~was the song the angels had sung to the shepherds that first Christmas night. (Luke 2:14) Jesus was not just going to save Israel but the Gentiles too. He was going to save people spiritually not deliver in a political way. When Their Promised Messiah was sacrificed on the cross don’t you know their faith had to be severely challenged!

The people God chose to bear His Son were normal people like us with fears and doubts who struggled to believe God’s promises just like we so often do. But God gave them the grace to keep going forward because they kept saying “yes” to God. They kept trusting Him despite appearances. They kept choosing to walk by faith even when all hope seemed lost, even when it posed a risk to their very lives and reputations. They never gave up.

Elizabeth said to Mary when she came to her, “Great blessings are yours because you believed what the Lord said to you! You believed this would happen.” (Luke 1:45)

It is not easy to walk by faith. That is why God downloads a portion of Himself in the Person of His Holy Spirit into our hearts when we accept Jesus as our Savior. The minute we say “Yes” to Him, Christ gives Himself to us and then helps us to believe one day at a time. We just have to keep on choosing to say, “Yes, Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief.”

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for understanding us so well, and for giving us Thy own Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness. Help us to walk by faith, knowing that You will never leave or forsake us, nor fail to keep every promise You make to us. We love You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

8.ANGELSONGShepherds — Shepherds on Judean Hills/Source:Internet

Merry Christmas to all my readers! I’ve made a Christmas video just for you from one of the songs from my Christmas album, “*Christmas Joy.” I hope you will enjoy & be encouraged by “The Shepherds’ Song”! God Bless you with a Beautiful Christmas!
I love you all! ~Suzanne ♥

*All profits from the sales of my albums “Christmas Joy” & “God’s
Rainbow Promise” go to ministries that benefit the homeless & survivors
of Abuse. Thank You for your support of my music & for these
ministries. God Bless You Always!

AngelSong: Walking by Faith: © 2013 Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved. “The Shepherds’ Song Music Video created by Suzanne Davis Harden, Music & Lyrics © 2013 Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved. / Picture credits: Internet

Christ Will Never Fail You

September 15, 2013 ~ Suzanne Davis Harden

God will never fail you. If you trust Him, He will help you with whatever you need. If you are experiencing a trial or difficult temptation right now, this is what God’s word promises:
“But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear.
But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it.” ~1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (ERV)
“Christ is the one who gives me the strength I need to do whatever I must do.” ~Philippians 4:13 (ERV)

“Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” ~Philippians 4:10 (MSG)

These are beautiful promises from One who is entirely faithful to His word. He cannot lie.
“…it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.” ~Hebrews 6:18

But what if we lack the faith to believe in His promises? Will He then not help us? God will still help us even if our faith is weak. Even if we have failed Him miserably. For His word promises:

“If we are faithless (do not believe and are untrue to Him) He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself.” ~2 Timothy 2:13 AMP

There is nothing you or I can ever do to make Jesus stop loving us. He suffered and died on the cross to forgive all of our sins and wipe away every shame.
His word promises He will never leave or forsake us.
He will let no evil conquer the one who trusts in Him. (Psalm 91:10).
“He keeps every promise forever.” ~Psalm 146:6