(Written previously)
Can I be honest? We all have our moments, those days when we wonder why we even got out of bed. When all the news seem bad, at worst, and less than what we hoped for, at best. What do we do with those moments? Usually I have a good cry (I said I was being honest). My day was like that today. Not the whole day, but enough to get the tears flowing. Then when I got home and walked into my kitchen, there was a big piece of paper on my fridge that said:
” But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises Hebrew 6:9-12.”
A message right from the Comforter! Sure, I am the one who printed it off and stuck it on my fridge, but I had originally printed it off for a friend who is facing a challenge this year, but decided “what the heck” and printed an extra copy for myself. God knew I would need it today.
Then my Spurgeon Devotional said, “”Trust in Him at all times.”Psalm 62:8 Faith is as much the rule of temporal as of spiritual life; we ought to have faith in God for our earthly affairs as well as for our heavenly business. It is only as we learn to trust in God for the supply of all our daily need that we shall live above the world. We are not to be idle, that would show we did not trust in God, who worketh hitherto, but in the devil, who is the father of idleness. We are not to be imprudent or rash; that were to trust chance, and not the living God, who is a God of economy and order. Acting in all prudence and uprightness, we are to rely simply and entirely upon the Lord at all times. Let me commend to you a life of trust in God in temporal things. Trusting in God, you will not be compelled to mourn because you have used sinful means to grow rich. Serve God with integrity, and if you achieve no success, at least no sin will lie upon your conscience. Trusting God, you will not be guilty of self-contradiction. He who trusts in craft, sails this way to-day, and that way the next, like a vessel tossed about by the fickle wind; but he that trusteth in the Lord is like a vessel propelled by steam, she cuts through the waves, defies the wind, and makes one bright silvery straightforward track to her destined haven. Be you a man with living principles within; never bow to the varying customs of worldly wisdom. Walk in your path of integrity with steadfast steps, and show that you are invincibly strong in the strength which confidence in God alone can confer. Thus you will be delivered from carking care, you will not be troubled with evil tidings, your heart will be fixed, trusting in the Lord. How pleasant to float along the stream of providence! There is no more blessed way of living than a life of dependence upon a covenant-keeping God. We have no care, for He careth for us; we have no troubles, because we cast our burdens upon the Lord.”
We can’t change some things. Period. But we can change how we react, and how we see things. I’ve had my cry, a short one this time, now I am choosing to see things through the eyes of my loving Father. I choose to accept the comfort of the Holy Spirit, who does His job well. I choose to “rely simply and entirely upon the Lord at all times”, especially those moments that are hard. Amen
Tag Archives: Jesus
The Creator of the Universe
God made it all, including you! Every speck, every square inch of matter. He spoke it all into existence. Why did He create it? For you! For me. He made everything that was made for a purpose and that purpose was love. I don’t pretend to know why He made some things (there are some nasty, creepy critters out there). And I do know that since the fall things have gone considerable downhill. I was pondering on all of this the other day and the enemy quoted scripture to me, “He said He made it all for His pleasure.” Same old lie from the Garden. Just as quickly the Holy Spirit replied, “True! It always pleases the Father to bless those He loves!” He finds pleasure in giving us everything. He gave us His Son. He gave us His Kingdom. What more could we ever want or need? What more could the world, or Satan ever do for us? They would both shed OUR blood, but never pour out their own! So look past the twisted, fallen state of things the way they are now under Satan’s rule, see the original beauty of creation. You can still see glimpses in the Rocky Mountains, the pictures sent back from Hubble, a baby’s smile, a flower, it’s there. Next time you see a sunset, a rainbow, pure white snow-covered landscape, thank Him for making it all for you.
How can we honor God and His gift? Walk in the authority and dominion that He gave us. Sure Adam sold out to the enemy, but Jesus paid a great price to purchase it, legally, back again! Then He left it to us as our inheritance when He died. He didn’t stop there; He rose again, and sent us His Spirit to give us the strength and to lead us on this path of victory. Don’t let Satan steel back what God has purchased! Take what God has given, with a thankful heart! It’s yours
Worldly Love
Worldly love is backwards. Yep, backwards. When we love someone in the natural the more we get to know them, the more intimate we become, the more comfortable we get. The good side is that we can be ourselves. The bad side is that familiarity breeds disrespect. We love our parents, spouses, sibling, children and friends. Most of those we spend at least 18 years living in the same home! We have seen “the good, the bad and the ugly!” Because of that we begin to take them for granted, maybe loose respect and lots of times judge them on their faults, frailties and failures. Hopefully we continue to love (after all love is a CHOICE). God spoke to me this week and said, “Don’t love Me like you love them.” I got the reason why, because worldly love is very shallow and I know He wants more. But I was stumped. Finally I asked Him, how do I love You different than I love my family. (This is where the backwards part comes in), He said, “get more intimate with me”…after that I had the whole “WHAT???” going thru my mind. In His vast patience, He explained. In drawing closer to God, thru prayer, praise, His word, fellowshipping, etc. we get to know Him better. This however can never breed disrespect! There is no “bad and ugly” with Him only the “GOOD!” The more we know Him, the more we respect Him, stand in awe of Him, and the more we want to discover and know about Him. The great part is no matter how long we know Him, we never really know Him. There is more to find out, and we can still be ourselves! In the world, we begin to finish each other’s sentences; can pretty much predict the next word and behavior. Not with God. When you think you have Him figured out, He’ll do something AMAZING! I have decided to do what He has asked, to get to know Him better, but also to try and love “them” the way I love God.
Today’s Joy
I had to ask myself today, “Do I have joy in my life?” Not happiness, which is a fickle friend, but that inner joy in my spirit. You know the joy that has absolutely nothing to do with our circumstances. My honest answer is “not as often as I should”, and some days, (especially lately, as our family is going through a trail), I have to admit, “not very often.” It is so easy to allow the mundane experiences of our lives, or the frustrating circumstances chase away our joy. But, if joy isn’t dependent on our circumstances, then how does that happen? I believe it is when we lose our gratitude. It’s easy to take our eyes off of Jesus and put them on our problems, especially if those around us are hurting. Or to simply lose patience with our dreams because they seem so slow in coming.
Even in the midst of hard situations, we can maintain a thankful heart. Sometimes we get stuck in the ‘thank-you-for” rut where we rattle off our tiny list, you know the same one every time. Mine includes, hubby, kids, grandkids, food I eat, house, cars and Church, or pretty close. That just shows we are either in a hurry, or can’t see past our nose. When we slow down and make the effort to be thankful, we can see so many things, people, places that touch our lives. A few examples: a babies smile, doesn’t even have to by your baby, any baby smiling, the smell of lilacs on a damp spring morning. Then there are those things that we really aren’t too thankful for. This category is hard for me, shoveling snow, giving the dog a bath, dealing with that one person who rubs me the wrong way. Yes, we need to be thankful for those things. God has a purpose and a plan for our lives, and part of that plan is for us to work hard, love people, be a witness at our jobs.
It seems like the last few months, my family has been under it. Most due to some poor choices of one family member and the rest either come along with the territory, or just because we have a real enemy. So though it’s been tough, I have still been able to find joy in the middle of it all. If I was a spiritual superhero, I could say I held onto my joy the whole time, but sadly I am not. I can say that I know right were to find it. Because in all truthfulness, despite what I said earlier, nothing can chase or steal our joy away. We lay it down, sometimes absentmindedly, like a spare pair of reading glasses. Psalms 16:11 “You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand there are pleasured for evermore.” We find our joy in the presence of God. Simple really. Sometimes we willingly lay down our joy to trade it for fleeting happiness or satisfaction. Usually that comes out of willful sin, which includes harboring bitterness, and nursing un-forgiveness. We lay down our joy when we disobey God.
How do we hold on to our joy? By being thankful, a heart full of gratitude. When we keep our minds fixed on Jesus, His promises, His goodness, and remember those who have gone before us, we can keep that unspeakable joy in our lives. Hebrews 12:1-3 “therefor, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrances and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of he throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and love heart.”
My Heart
Some of us are afraid to give our hearts to God, or at least our “whole heart.” We have this silly notion that our heart has compartments or pieces like a jig saw puzzle. Then we think “if I give my whole heart to God, what will I have left for my family?” or worse yet, “If I give my love away, and don’t get any back, then those compartments will be empty, and I’ll run out of love!” We picture our hearts like a puzzle with missing pieces, just giving parts of it here and there and never getting them back. Or perhaps we have had our hearts broken and feel like it has been shattered, and the broken shards are scattered to the wind. God showed me a wonderful picture today of my heart and the truth about my heart!
God said, “Give me your whole heart, and I will tear down all walls and dividers. No longer will your heart have compartments, it will be one big open vessel. Then I will pour in My Love! I will fill the vessel with MY LOVE. Then when you start loving others, not expecting anything in return, it stops being a vessel and becomes a SPRING! A spring that never runs dry! Then your love for others will be from this source and it will be more pure and strong than what you have now!”
If your heart has been broken, HE can put it back together, or even better, create a brand new heart for you. Accept HIS LOVE and HE will make your heart a Spring of Living Water. Why does God want our hearts? God said in Romans 2 “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” and in 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, and his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” When we accept God’s love and give it to others, we show the goodness of God! When we give Him our whole heart, holding nothing back, we accept more readily everything He has for us. He blesses our socks off, and then we can bless others! When we can love, whether they ever love us back, it shows God’s goodness! Give God your heart! HE LOVES YOU! He wants nothing less, is not satisfied with only part of us, He wants all of your heart.
Book Review for “Chapter 29 Revisited”-Non Fiction
“Chapter 29 Revisited: The amazing true story of what happens when a typical American housewife meets Jesus!” by Jean Coleman is a wonderful inspirational testimony of one woman’s birth into the kingdom. I enjoyed this book. Jean Coleman writes in a simple way that is easy to grasp and you can tell she is excited about her subject. She shares several moving stories from her own life, calling it the 29th book of Acts, then challenges to write our own 29th chapter. I give this book 5 stars. This book is appropriate for pre-teens on up.
Lessons from the Life of David
I love reading the Psalms. Many of which were written by David. His is a “Man after God’s own heart” according to God himself-mine too. David is real in his worship to the Lord. He isn’t perfect and tells us all about his faults, fears and sin. After committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband (along with several other soldiers) murdered, he writes Psalms 51, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love: according to your great compassion blot out my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” He remembers his days as a simple shepherd boy in Ps. 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me to lie down in green pastured; He leads me beside quiet waters.” David lets us know when things got tough for him, Ps. 69, “Save me, O God, for the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters and a flood overflows me. I am weary with my crying, my throat is parched; my eyes fail while I wait for my God,” and then David always hopes, expects and declares God’s salvation, “O God, in thy greatness of thy loving-kindness answer with thy saving truth.”
David may have begun his life as a simple seventh son of a shepherd, but his heart of thanksgiving, his desire to see God, his determination to magnify the Lore, were all things that God could use. Was David perfect? Obviously no, ask his multiple wives, his concubines, his children…but God used David mightily. He wrote songs and praises to his God. He conquered the enemies of God as a mighty warrior, and he ruled as King over God’s people for 40 years.
Another lesson to learn from David, he didn’t work his way to the top. He humbly watched his father’s sheep and when asked came and sat at the feet of Saul, who was tormented by evil spirits, to play his harp and bring relief to his king. Before he fought his first real battle, if you disregard the lion, bear and the Giant, Goliath, God anointed the simple shepherd boy with the heart of worship as King. Even after Samuel anointed David, he was content to wait for God to place him on the throne. He steadfastly refused to harm Saul in any way, contrary to the advice of his own men. He repeatedly said, “Touch not God’s anointed” and even killed the messenger who came to proclaim the death of Saul and take credit for his undoing.
We are all human, including the great men and women of faith that we find in Scriptures. They feared, sinned, got weary and sad. They lost heart, friends, family and some even their lives. But like David, they loved God, and were willing to be used by him. So to me, the most important lesson to be learned from David is to keep your passion for the Lord white hot, fan the flames of love that is in your heart by praising Him, even when things aren’t going as planned or as hoped for. Wouldn’t you want to hear the Lord say, “That’s a man after my own heart” about you?