FILL MY CUP, LORD | Frank Becker

Week Twenty-Nine, 2024

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:31-32).

It was a schedule crowded day and this pastor, who I personally knew, had a pre-marital counselling conference he really didn’t want to do. On top of that, the couple was late. While he waited in not a very happy mood for them to show up, he sat down at the piano to pass the time away. While sitting there, he pecked out a hymn that has since become an all-time great.

The song was Fill My Cup Lord. His name was Richard Blanchard. Blanchard’s method of composition was to write the words to his pieces after developing a thought or reading Scripture, and then to write the music “by ear” to fit the words rather than composing the melody on paper. His music combines the chords and harmonies of the Big Band era with the Christian message of southern gospel music.

Blanchard’s own cup was not filled with sweetness. A lung condition required two surgeries and left him with one-third of normal lung capacity. His son, Richard, was left a quadriplegic at seventeen after an accident. And after Blanchard and his wife moved to North Carolina in 2000 to be near their three grown children, they experienced their son’s death and the fatal illness of one of their daughters.

Nevertheless, during his forty-year ministry, Blanchard composed dozens of gospel hymns, wrote a musical about Francis of Assisi, produced a regular newspaper column, wrote a biography of Bishop John Branscomb, and launched a popular television ministry in the Miami area.

It all began with the annoyance of a couple late for an appointment. Sometimes God takes the time we sought to kill and by a kind of quiet miracle turns it into something that will live forever.

What is your “fill my cup prayer”?

Jesus, I come to you knowing that I cannot fill the emptiness inside me or make me whole. I am coming to you because you have already made this possible for me. So, I bring you, my empty cup Lord, since I thirst and hunger for your fullness, and the word says that I will be filled. Fill my cup, Lord.

Whenever you feel annoyed, God can use that time to do great things. Never forget that.

SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

I know that I don’t have the answers about how to fix the ills of society, especially a society where human life seems to mean so little and hate seems to run so deep.

But I think I know where to start. It begins with you and me… with us. It starts with faith, hope and love… It continues by stepping up and shining a light into the darkness, and truly loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength… and then, loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Darkness is defined as the absence of light. Light cannot be extinguished by darkness.

We have to change our hearts and our mindsets. And then that moves to loving action… We have to act to bring about change. Marty Stubblefield

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Jesse Morgan is the pastor of Green Pond Bible Church in Rockaway, New Jersey. He and his family were on the first week of his sabbatical, vacationing in Maine. According to his six-year-old daughter Lucy, it was “the best week of her life.”

Then tragedy struck: the kids were playing badminton when the racket being used by her ten-year-old brother came apart and the shaft flew into her skull. She was rushed to a hospital, but died four days later.

Four weeks earlier, she asked her mother “how to be with God and be saved.” Her mother explained the gospel, then Lucy went into her room, where she trusted in Christ. She wrote in her prayer journal, “God is so amazing, and he is the true God and he created everything and he died on the cross for our sins.”

Now, as her father wrote, she is “with Jesus.”

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

Those who receive the blessing of God, worship God. Edgar Aponte

If a hummingbird can find food in the midst of a rainstorm, God will help me find food for my soul. Dwight Short

People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things. Edmund Hillary

God is faithful, even when we are not. Edgar Aponte

Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eyes. Roy T. Bennett

Regarding your Christian faith, don’t be a reservoir; be a river. Rob Taylor

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Worshiping and thanking our God who, is our salvation through His Son Jesus, is something we do because He is worthy of our worship and praise. Elbert Nasworthy

What we learn from history is that people don’t learn from history. Warren Buffet

Peace comes when we turn those overwhelming issues over to God and cease trying to dictate the outcome. Dan Shock

What is a soul? It’s like electricity – we don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room. Ray Charles

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.

It is love that causes God to be so patient and longsuffering with the wicked, giving opportunity after opportunity for them to turn, to repent, to change. Florida Marketplace Ministries

To care for those who once cared for us is one of life’s highest honors. Tia Walker

Walking is man’s best medicine. Hippocrates

Get happiness out of your work or you may never know what happiness is. Elbert Hubbard

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way. Booker T. Washington

Prayer is for God’s will to be done. The part we play is that we ask and then accept His will in the matter in which we pray. This is not a difficult concept, but it is one in which we often struggle. The struggle is in that prayer is often considered a manner in which God provides for a request made. The idea being, that if asked, God grants the requested answer to a prayer. In a very real sense, that is exactly what occurs. However, the truth is that the prayer must align with His will. Elbert Nasworthy

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