Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear,

though the earth should change

and though the mountains slip

into the heart of the sea;

Though its water roar and foam,

Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her,

she will not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations made an uproar,

The kingdoms tottered;

He raised His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of Hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Come, behold the works of our Lord,

Who has brought desolations in the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariots with fire.

"Cease striving and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth."

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the 

valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, 

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in

the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and loving-kindness

will follow me all of the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

The Lord guides me, the Lord prepares the way for me, provides for me, restores my 

soul, comforts me, fills me with His Spirit, speaks to me, and welcomes me into His presence to dwell with him forever.  He is Good!  And HE ALONE is Good!  My cup truly does overflow.  Words to not express the love and thankfulness the I have for him.  Really.  Let us bow down before our father and king.  Let us worship His Holy Name.

I do not want to live one minute apart from him.  Father, forgive me for all the times that I have spoken or acted apart from you.  When I have ignored your presence.  When my own agenda has been on the forefront of my mind instead of you.  Let your presence be evident in every breath that I take.

My thoughts of the day...

My father is with me always.  As I write this He is right beside me.  This is not just a theoretical statement.  This is real.  And isn't that just so beautiful?!  My Jesus is closer to me than anyone.  Today, I was in the nursery during church.  And as I held and tried to comfort distressed infants, I prayed that God might reveal to them that truth.  That this infants would sense the presence of their creator and rest in the arms of Jesus.  One boy in particular that I was trying to calm had cystic fibrosis.  At times, he would become really upset and seemingly inconsolable   As I held him and rocked him I spoke to him the truths that Jesus was with him and that he would always be.  Some might tell me that babies are too young to understand.  And they may be right.  But I know in my heart that Jesus created each of these precious little children.  That eternity is written in their hearts.  And that Jesus is the true father of each of them.  Why wouldn't you reassure them of their father's presence and speak into their ears His name?  The boy with cystic fibrosis finally calmed down and fell asleep in my arms.  I prayed that God would protect this boy and preserve him.  That he might grow up walking with his father; that he might be used for great things in the Kingdom.  And if it would bring Glory to father, to heal him.  At the end of the service, I brought the boy out to His mom.  She had this shocked look on her face when she saw him asleep in my arms.  Apparently he doesn't fall asleep easily and never falls asleep when people are around... she has never been able to rock him to sleep.  I'm confident that Jesus was comforting him :)

Following Jesus is really a freeing act.  Everything in your life, no longer has a hold on you.  Why doesn't it.... because it no longer has any impact on the decisions that we make.  We no longer are being torn between a billion different people or things telling us what to do.  We no longer have to worry about pleasing people.  We answer to one and to one alone.  And His name is Jesus.  The one that is always with us.

Often I find myself in a struggle, trying to figure out what to do...  I will go back and forth thinking, "Well this person expects me to be here, and that person would really be disappointed if I didn't go there, and what would would people think if I did this instead of this or if I didn't go to that... and so on."  What bondage is this?!  Thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has set us free from all these things.  Each morning I can speak with Jesus, all throughout the day I can consult him and ask him where he wants me to go.  What He wants me to be doing with the time that he has given me.  If he is calling me to do something... That is what I can wholeheartedly do in peace, joy and satisfaction.  Will people be disappointed, maybe... but I no longer live to serve men.  I serve Christ.

I no longer have to spend time debating what to do like I used to... I can just listen to Jesus and follow him.  If I set my mind and heart on listening only to Jesus... I won't get conflicting advice.  How freeing!

People on my heart today to pray for... Rich, Fadela, Kelsey, Eli, Jill, and Sara.  Father, may each of them come to know Jesus in a sweet way today.  May the truth that you have instilled in me today be instilled in them as well.  May they all know Jesus.  My Lord, Savior, Friend, Creator. My Jesus.

More thoughts...

More thoughts that kind of flow from my thoughts from the last post...

I think it is a popular thing to believe that whatever happens is God’s Will and is what God desires to happen in our lives.  It is an idea almost like fate… we are completely out of control and uninvolved in the happenings in this world.  That whether we speak up when the Holy Spirit prompts us to speak or not… it won’t affect what happens.  Because God is sovereign therefore what’s going to happen is going to happen regardless of what we do.  This ideology flows into prayer as well… Because we feel this way in regards to our role on this earth, we don’t feel an urgency to pray… Because what God wants to happen will happen regardless of what we do, what we pray, whether or not we’re faithful or perseverant in prayer.  

We say that a lot because we don’t want to make people feel bad about messing up, not speaking up, or not following the prompting of the Holy Spirit… we want to say, “don’t worry about it.”  Your actions won’t affect those around you... that person will get warned by someone else… or will be encouraged by someone else.  This way of thinking takes all responsibility off of ourselves…  Nothing we do or don’t do matters.

When we have this mindset… our purpose isn’t really a purpose.  We say we have a purpose to further God’s kingdom; a purpose to make his glory known in our lives.  But if we do anything about it… well… it doesn’t really matter because what will happen will happen.  After all, God’s sovereign.  

I am going to argue that this is false… in fact I think this mindset is a lie from Satan to keep us from being effective vessels in bringing more of God’s kingdom here on earth.  Satan wants us to think that our faithfulness and that our actions won’t affect others, that our prayers aren’t necessary.  He doesn’t want us to labor in prayer; he doesn’t want us do everything that the spirit leads us to do.

Ezekiel 33:8-9   If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.  9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.  

The Watchman was put in charge of seeing the sword coming and warning the people…  If he warned the people and they didn’t do anything about it, they died for their sins, but the watchman didn’t have guilt on his hands.  However, if the watchman did not do his duty and warn the people, the people still died for their sins.  The watchman’s actions had an impact on the lives of the others.  It was his role to warn the people and when he didn’t… the people didn’t get warned and they died.  Sounds like our actions can positively or negatively affect others.

When we act in disobedience, our disobedience can hurt other people.  We like to think that we won’t affect people… but I think that this is so false.  The watchman’s actions sure did affect people.  If he had warned people, some people might have turned from their sin, but he didn’t do his duty and didn’t warn them. 

This idea is uncomfortable.  We want to think that we have nothing to do with anything.  That we don’t have any responsibility.  In James, he talks about how Teachers will be judged more strictly… why???  Again, because what they do and say can lead people closer or farther away from Christ.  Their obedience and disobedience can positively or negatively affect those around them. 

James 3:1  Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

So just as our prayers have weight, so do our actions.  God has given us that freedom.  Not only are we hurting ourselves when we don’t live in step with the spirit, but we also are not showing the glories of Christ in our lives to others around us.  Having this in mind, I think, dramatically changes the way that we live.    

Thoughts on Prayer

Jesus teaches us to pray that “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The fact that Jesus is telling us to pray like this tells me that implies that God’s will is carried out differently in heaven than it is on earth.

We are praying that God’s will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Heaven is everything how God desires and everything how he wills.  And by praying that God’s will might be done on earth as it is in heaven we are praying that things on this earth would be as God desires like they are in heaven.  We are praying that things would happen here as they would in heaven.

God desires all men to come to repentance and live (Ezekiel 18:23, Ezekiel 33:11, 1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9).  However, we know that all men do not come to receive salvation.  So we can see that in regards to salvation, God’s desires do not always equate with what actually happens here on earth. 

WHY????

The element of human choice.  He does indeed want all men to be saved, but not all men are because he gives each man the ability to choose.  Salvation is offered to those who come to him for it.  And not everyone decides to come to him. 

So God’s desire for all men to be saved does not come to pass because not all choose to respond to his call and come to him for the salvation that he offers.  He wants us to seek him, and then he promises that we will find him.  We have to knock, and then he promises that the door will be opened.  He responds to our asking, to our seeking, to our knocking.  He doesn’t just give salvation to all because he wants all to be saved.  He only gives it to those who come to him for it; to those who choose him.

I think that this thinking can be expanded to include more than just salvation.  God has desires for the way he wants things to happen and desires for things to be a certain way, but they don’t always happen that way on earth. 

He gives men into their desires whether it is for him or anything else.  (Romans 1:24)  So he may desire for things, but if we don’t also want those things he won’t force it on us.  He wants us to come to him and ask him.

So in the same way that his desires regarding salvation for all do not come to pass because not all choose to come to him for it, I think that not all of his other desires come to pass here on this earth because we do not choose to come to him for it.  We don’t come to him in prayer and ask.  We do not seek him, desire for his kingdom to come, and ask for his kingdom to come. 

I believe that our prayers do really effect what comes to pass on this earth.  Because God is waiting for us to ask before he gives.  He wants us to choose him.  He wants us to acknowledge himself as the giver of all gifts as the one who can bring things to pass.  So it is not enough for us just to desire things.  It is not enough for us to desire revival or desire that God works in people’s heart or that God would act in certain ways.  By desiring things but not going to God with those desires we are not confessing him as the one who could fulfill those desires.  We are not acknowledging him as the LORD of all creation and the one who can bring those things to pass.

 

I believe that our prayers really do have weight.  God may not bring some of his desires to come to pass if we don’t ask him for them to come to pass.  Just as in salvation, he is waiting for us to come to him.  In coming to him for it we are expressing our faith in him and our dependence on him. 

We NEED to pray.  Don’t think that our prayers don’t matter… that God will do what he wants regardless

Humbling Ourselves Before the LORD

Psalm 149:4 “For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.”

The humble are given grace and crowned with salvation, but God opposes the proud. So what does it mean to be humble?

Generally when I have thought of humility in the past, I have thought just making sure that I don’t think too highly of myself and acknowledging that I wouldn’t be able to do anything I do without God. But I think humility goes so much deeper than that. True humility isn’t just a certain perspective that you may have; it is a lifestyle that reflects your perspective. It is not just having head knowledge of where you stand in relation to God, but it is a life of surrender to God because of your understanding.

I think most people would agree that God’s ways are always right and perfect. However, although most of us would say that we believe that, we don’t demonstrate our belief through our actions. If we really, really believed that God’s plans were so much better than our own plans… we wouldn’t really have problems yielding to his plans. The reason we have problems giving up our agenda is due to our lack of faith and belief that God is who he says he is. We are not believing that he really is in control and that his ways are righteous and perfect. And by holding on to our own plans instead of God’s plans, we are stating through our actions that we have more faith in ourselves than we do in God. We are saying that we trust our own minds and our own solutions more than we do God’s. So in a nutshell, the reason we are not putting our complete trust in God is because of our pride. We are viewing our own capability to control our life higher than we view God’s ability to do so.

True humility then, is defined by a life of total surrender to God: a life of obedience to His Spirit and a life that is dedicated to the furthering of his Kingdom. Whenever we choose to disobey God we are telling him that we think our way is better, but when we follow his Spirit in obedience we are acknowledging that He does know more than we and that his way his better and perfect. Obeying God then, even when we do not understand why he is leading us a certain way, is what humbling ourselves before Him means.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we can kind of see this…

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

I think it is interesting in this verse how the act of humbling oneself is connected with praying, seeking God’s face, and turning from their wicked ways. It is when we worship God in this way, with all of our life, that we are putting our self where we should be and placing God in our life where he should be.

It is when we are in this state that God chooses to use us. There are so many instances in the bible where God first humbles individuals and then uses them in incredible ways in order glorify his own name. But the humbling of the individual always comes first. Joseph was sold into slavery and put in prison all for absolutely no reason. He never did anything to deserve that, yet he was humiliated anyways. But it was after this, after he had been humbled, that God chose to use him in saving all of Egypt from a famine and to ultimately bring more glory to God. Daniel was hated and persecuted for praying to God and ended up being thrown into the lion’s den. He was publically humiliated and humbled before God chose to save him from the lion’s den and bring him to a position of great influence. Mary was humbled in the way that she bore Jesus as a virgin. I am sure that her pregnancy was the cause of much public shame and humiliation, but God used it to bring forth the savior of the world!

We live to bring glory to God, so let us surrender our lives to him because his way of doing it is perfect! Let us humble ourselves before God, and not only acknowledge in our heads that His way is better, but live it out and follow Him when he prompts us to do things. Let us not think of ourselves as more highly than we ought, but instead look to Jesus, the Son of God, and worship him with our life and trust in Him because he deserves to be trusted, served, and worshiped with everything we have!

God truly is right beside of us and guiding us in the paths of his righteousness everyday of our lives. He wants each of us to be living in step with His Spirit, putting to death the misdeeds of the body, and seeking him with ALL of our hearts. And he is with us enabling us to do exactly that. He is directing our every step; we just need to make the decision to listen, acknowledge his voice, and obey.

I've discovered that when God reveals sin our lives, it's not fun, and it kind of hurts. It completely breaks me and puts me once again at the feet of Jesus. Sometimes, though, even when I see my sin, I try to think that I can deal with it, that I can try to get rid of it my own way. And, of course, my own way is a way that would allow me to cling to the things that, although they are not sinful in themselves, are causing me to sin. But that's not going to work. I have to overcome it through the Holy Spirit's power, which means obeying Him and getting rid of it how he wants me to get rid of it. That's the hard part. Often what he tells us to do is not easy and not what we want to do. Actually, I find that it is the last thing I want to do. I often find myself wanting to question God saying, "are you sure this is the best way to go about his? what about if this happens? what about if doing this causes this?" Actually it may be more like, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME GOD??!! IF I DO THAT... THIS WILL HAPPEN AND THAT WOULD BE TERRIBLE!!!! I actually have found myself almost wishing that I had never asked God to make himself clear and tell me what to do. Because he definitely did speak to me, in a way that was incredibly clear, and told me exactly what I should do!! Only, it wasn't what I was hoping he'd tell me.

And this is why we can only obey God and overcome sin in our lives through faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Because what God is telling me to do goes against all of my instincts; the only way I can do it is because I have faith in God. I have faith that he understands more than I; that his will is perfect and that as I step out in obedience I can be sure all things will work together for his Glory and ultimately my good. Whenever I start to worry about doing what God has told me to do, I just think back to how clearly God spoke to me. I think about how he answered my prayer for direction in such a real way, probably in way that is more obvious than I have ever experienced before in my life. And this reassures me that I can step out and obey. I can follow Jesus, even though I am not sure why or where I'm going. If I know that it was HE that spoke to me, then that is all I need to know. Because if I do as He tells me, there is nothing I need to fear. God is with me, guiding me, comforting me, and loving me. THAT is all I need.