Rest

^"1THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack. ²He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters. ³He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him--not for my earning it, but] for His name's sake." Psalm 23 (amplified)

I'm just crazy enough to believe that God's rest can be with me no matter what life brings. There is a place of rest, and I'm seeking to abide there! By the way, thanks for all the replies on my last blog:) Hope God brings some miracles your way this week.

Miracles

Somewhere down the blog line I wrote about believing for the promise, faith being the title deed and so forth. Now I will let you know what I was personally believing for--a new car! In my Amplified Bible it actually used the words "title deed" so I began a few weeks ago claiming it. First, the Lord put in me a desire to get out of the house a few hours per day and get a job. Then, by several warnings showed me that my old car was unsafe. Last week, Brian had several impressions and one of them was that I was going to get a new car soon. We went up to Atlanta this weekend for a Benny Hinn Miracle service, and God began to speak to us about several things. Since I'm starting my new job this week, we felt released to look for a car. I drove from Atlanta yesterday in my 2004 fire engine red Volvo! It's like new. He is making all things new. I heard the chorus of this song yesterday...The verse ain't too spiritual, but the chorus really spoke to me, so here is a small part of the chorus...

"If your body matches what your eyes can do--you'll probably move right through...Me on my way to you!"

God showed us this weekend that He is a progressive God. We can not cling to where we are now and expect to be where He is. He is moving! He gives us dreams, desires, and enables us to see them with our spiritual eyes (the eyes of our heart). It is our job to believe and move forward. We will move right through...

It's Your Love

Oh it's a beautiful thing don't think I can keep it all in
I just gotta let you know what it is that won't let me go

It's your love
It just does something to me
It sends a shock right through me
I can't get enough
And if you wonder
About the spell I'm under
Oh it's your love

Better than I was, more than I am
And all of this happened by taking your hand
And who I am now is who I wanted to be
And now that we're together,
I'm stronger than ever
I'm happy and free

Oh it's a beautiful thing,
Don't think I can keep it all in
If you asked me why I've changed,
All I gotta do is say your sweet name

This is an excerpt of "It's Your Love" by Tim McGraw. I kept hearing this song as I awoke this morning. I've only heard it a handful of times--like in the background at a clothing store, etc.

Because of my dislike of most country music songs, I never paid it any attention. The Lord can speak through anything. Recently we've been encountering Him in powerful ways. His love is so fulfilling! I pray His love will overshadow anything you may be going through today. It's fairly simple to play on the piano--Brian could be Tim and I could be Faith Hill. I think I might have seen some old Wranglers in the closet..:)

God's Protection

Today, through all the bad weather, I've been thinking about some verses on God's protection. Psalm 91 is my favorite. Verse 14 says, "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him...". Verses 9-10 say that no evil will befall us, or any calamity come near our dwelling if we make the Lord our refuge. How comforting!

Verse 11 says that He will give His angels charge over us to accompany and preserve us in all our ways of obedience and service. This reminds me of Psalm 145:20. It says, "The Lord preserves all who love Him...". It's great to know that He is on our side today. We are friends of God.

I Will Yet Praise Him

Psalm 43:5 says, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God."(See also Ps. 42:5,11). This Psalm has been coming to my mind lately. Sometimes we don't want to admit that we are a little sad or downcast. We can still praise Him. In fact, once we start to praise, He will inhabit our praises and our problems seem to fade away.
Just a personal testimony: a couple of days ago I strained a little muscle in my neck. It was one kind of embedded in there, not on the outside. Then yesterday, I did something to aggravate it. I just decided to move on with life, hoping it would go away. Today as I sat at the piano, just playing and praising--not really moving my body at all, that little area in my neck popped, and straitened out. Praise God!!! If we will just praise Him, His presence will overshadow us and He will take care of the things that concern us.

Promises

Today I was reading in 2 Peter 1:3-4 and found it very encouraging!

"For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence(virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape from the moral decay that is in the world because of covetousness and become sharers of the divine nature."

You know, if we can focus on His promises to us, we can escape most of the "moral decay" in the world. His promises encourage us and keep us on the right track. What Has he promised you? The Bible is FULL of His promises to us. Have a great weekend!

He is Faithful

He is always faithful to His promises and to us. Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." This reminds me of Abraham. Romans 4:20-21 says that he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in the faith, giving glory to God--being fully convinced that what He had promised He was able to perform. Others may not be faithful, dependable or reliable. They may let us down--they probably will if we let them get close enough. BUT God will never leave us or forsake us. He has a plan and a way. We must trust Him today.

Victory

Jesus said in John 14:20 that He is in the Father and that we are in Him and He is in us (if we are believers). We have victory because we are in Christ. John 16:33 says,"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Whatever the world throws our way, we must stand on the fact that we HAVE the victory in Jesus Christ. Claim the victory today. He works all things together for our good if we love Him.

God Has Big Plans

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, "...Eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him. Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny]."
God likes to surprise us--to do things for us that we were not even expecting.

Isaiah 64:4 says, "For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who waits for Him."

I choose to be expectant today--to know that God has big plans for me!

From Pit to Praise

I like these two passages of scripture. They really speak for themselves!
Psalm 40:1-3 -"I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings. He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many shall see and fear and put their trust and reliance in the Lord."

Psalm 57:6-8-"They set a net for my steps; my life was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way; into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is steadfast and confident! I will sing and make melody."

Persistence in Faith

Recently, I have been believing God for something specific. I realized that I can not make it happen in my own strength and that unbelief can actually hinder me from obtaining the blessing. I like the amplified Bible, and in it, Hebrews 11:1 says that "Faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things we hope for...."
If faith IS it, then unbelief will surely block the blessing. Also I read in Psalm 33:16 that even a king is not saved by the greatness of his army. The Lord's eye is on them that hope in his mercy. Verse 22 is one of my favorites, "Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You. To believe in a moment is easy. To wait in expectation and trust in God over time is not always easy. Luke 18:7-8 reminds us that God is a just judge who will avenge us who cry out to Him day and night. "However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth?
Hebrews 10:35 says that we should not throw away our confidence because it has great reward.

Loss

If you have experienced loss recently, then I hope this will encourage you. Psalm 34:18 says that the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart.
We need to pray for those in our area who have lost the ones that they love. Isn't it good to know that God is near in our times of personal loss? Mourning is a part of dealing with trauma and tragedy. May God bless everyone we know today who has experienced loss. May He be near to them!

The Narrow Path

"Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus..." Hebrews 12:2

It's easy to get tangled up in our emotions and let things out before we even think about what we are doing. There is the broad path (see Matthew 7:13-14) and it is pretty easy to walk that path.
Then, there is the narrow path. This is the way of the Spirit. Joyce Meyer said that the Lord spoke to her once and said, "On the broad way there is room for all kind of fleshly things like bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, etc. But on the narrow way there is only room for the Spirit." She also says in her commentary that "emotions tempt us to take the easy way...wisdom moves us to take the way that seems hard at first, but later on we find that it leads to life."

Take time to focus on Jesus today. Look away from all that hinders and gaze into His face.

Psalm 30

Here are some encouraging excerpts from Psalm 30.
(2)" O Lord my God, I cried unto You and You have healed me."
(5) "For His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."
(11)" You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
(12) To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything within me may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever."
I believe that there are short seasons for mourning. Here, the psalmist says that God turned his mourning into dancing so that he would be able to sing and give thanks to God.
Joy comes in the morning, not the mourning. :)

You did it for Me

"...Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink? And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You? And the King will reply to them, 'Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least[in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me." Matthew 25:37,39,40
Can you see the face of Jesus in the people you are serving today? If you work with the public this is especially true for you. What if they are ignorant and rude? Jesus says to serve them as if they were Him.
What a challenge! Proverbs 19:17 says that if we give to the poor we lend to the Lord, and whatever we give will be given back to us.
No one may ever see us do these things, but God does. There is a reward.

Feelings

I was thinking earlier today, before I went to church...I didn't really "feel" like going, even though I always get blessed when I go. My thought was this--the Word says we should always make an effort to get together with other believers in order to encourage one another (see Hebrews 10:24-25). I'm not trying to make any rules here or get into specifics. Sometimes our circumstances are such that we simply can not go. I'm talking about feelings--God given emotions that can NOT be our God. I like the following quote and really only wanted to post it today. It has helped me remember not to live by my feelings, but rather what the Word says (especially about who I am and what I have in Christ) and what I sense the Spirit is saying. I don't know who said this, but I thought it was important enough to write it down about three years ago. "To make sense and feeling the judges of our spiritual conditions, what is it but to make ourselves happy and miserable, righteous and unrighteous, saved and damned in one day...Be much in believing, and make only the scripture the judge of your condition...If you resolve to make sense and feeling the judge of your conditions, you must resolve to live in fears, and lie down in tears."

Psalm 34:10

This verse is good for us considering the state of our economy right now. "The young lions lack food and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord [by right of their need and on the authority of His Word], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing." Isn't it good to know we are in God's economy?

What I'm Learning...

 We are in a battle. Ephesians 6 says we are to put on the full armor of God. I don't want to get into all the specifics of that chapter, because each of the pieces of the armor of God are important. I want to focus mainly on verse 18. "Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and entreaty..." Brian challenged me on this several months ago. I was struggling with negative thoughts and it was really affecting me.
Last week, I ended up going somewhere that seemed harmless, even good and profitable. Only, I did not have peace about it. That morning I was kind of un-focused and not really in the "spirit of prayer". However, I felt a little twinge in my heart about going. I pressed on anyway, and got attacked. I sensed the Lord telling me this morning, "You didn't have your armor on". Specifically He was showing me that when we pray in the Spirit, He helps us know which way to go. If only we will listen to God! If we disobey the Holy Spirit (His promptings, etc.) in the little things, it hardens us to His voice and can prevent us from hearing Him on more important matters.

Papa

When I woke up this morning, I sat down to pray and wait. I heard the word "Papa". I began to let my mind wander, thinking about the man I used to call Papa (my grandfather) until he died several years ago. He was quiet, but hilarious. He had the driest sense of humor and a lot of jelly beans by his side.  I would enjoy our visits--he taught me how to play checkers and win. I would ask for one jelly bean, then another, then another--asking politely every time. Each time he would say "yes".
 The verse that kept coming to my mind was Matthew 6:32- "People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met(The Message)." The verses surrounding this one are worth reading. He knows our needs and desires (our jelly beans in life...) Verse 33 says that if we seek HIS kingdom all these things will be given to us. As we seek him he is our reward, but a jelly bean every now and then always adds some fun to this life!