A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

 Sometimes you wake up in the morning and just want to pull the covers over your head and forget about getting up and facing another day.  Yesterday it seems has defeated you, and at the moment today doesn't look much better.  Everything that could has gone wrong, the people you called 'friends' aren't, your month has run out of budget and you don't want to know what else could go wrong.  You are in good company, David the King of Israel and Job of long ago both experienced the worst kind of 'worlds gone wrong'.  Did either of them burrow under the covers?  No, they each faced the next day and the next cast down but undefeated.  Job and David both 'encouraged themselves in the Lord.  Job accepted his current situation knowing that when "He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)   David  knew the source of his current situation was of his own making and his response was to repent and encourage himself in the Lord.

               Ps 43:5   Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted

               within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my

               countenance, and my God. KJV

If great men of old have faced days like mine and risen up to face the next and the next, why should I be any different.  If my days never knew any problems, if I never faced an enemy, how could I ever understand that my God is Greater than any problem and stronger than any enemy.  I must throw off the covers, dress to face the day and encourage myself in the Lord.

               Mic 7:8  Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;

               when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

               2 Cor 4:8-5:2    8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are

               perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down,

               but not destroyed;  10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord

               Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.  11 For

               we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also

               of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.  12 So then death worketh

               in us, but life in you.  13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is

               written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore 

               speak; 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also

               by Jesus, and shall present us with you.  15 For all things are for your sakes, that

               the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory

               of God.  16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish,

               yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  17 For our light affliction, which is

               but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of

               glory;  18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which

               are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are

               not seen are eternal.For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were

               dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in

               the heavens. KJV

 

 

UNSETTLED

 

Lord, my heart feels unsettled today.  When I kneel down to pray, it seems no words come.  My soul longs for a renewed anointing of your Spirit.  I am weary in body and soul Lord – for I feel a struggle within me, a struggle to wade through a vast space filled with worries.  the struggle between faith and unbelief.  I feel that I am forever bringing my cares to You but struggling to leave them there in Your hands.    I need a fresh anointing of the Holy Ghost – a renewing and building up of my faith.

This morning I read Solomon’s thought on life – ‘all is vanity’ – and realized that I have been harboring that thought in my life.  I know that ‘all is vanity and grasping for wind’ in this world, but our focus should be beyond this present life and this is not vanity. 

Help me O’ God to remember that your work is not vanity; that the soul of man is not vanity though it is housed in flesh and all flesh is vanity.   Teach me again Lord to walk in FAITH – to remember that your Word is true – that you “are able to keep that which is committed to you” and bring to pass all that you have promised.

The Master of My Fate

O’ Foolish Man….Choose

 

Ps 14:1  The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

Our stubborn hearts, ruled by  stubborn deceived minds have convinced us that “No one can tell us what to do”; while all along our minds are ruled by this world.

Every breath we breathe is ordained of the Lord.  Every beat of our heart is a result of His authority over life.  Every decision we make is a choice of our desire or compliance.  Every decision ruled either by the world or by the divine order of God.

What a foolish man…the man who believes that he is the master of his own fate.   There are only two masters in this life, God or the World.  Which will you call Lord and Master.

Josh 24:15  But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."

Taking A Second Look - (older post)

                                          He is my Everything
                                          He is my All
                                          He is my Everything
                                          Both great and small
                                          His life He gave for me
                                          Made everything new
                                          He is my Everything
                                          Friend how about you?

I was just looking back over the 'scribbles' I have shared on this blog and was struck by the text of "Everything or Nothing".   Maybe I just needed to read it again for my own spiritual well-being, but I am posting it again just in case it might touch someone else.

~~~Mom always told me to give my best-nothing less, to recognize my strengths and my weaknesses. I know that she was referring to my education, my job, or whatever I set out to accomplish in life. Those are wise parental words - I gave the same instruction to all of my children and will no doubt share that same 'wisdom' with my grandchildren at some point. Give life your best and nothing less! Through the years I have found that those instructions are even more important when it comes to living for God.
He is my Everything, how can I give Him less than my all. You say my all isn't much! You're correct! He knows my beginning and my ending; my faults and my failures; the best of me and the worst of me and He wants all of it. In His hands my faults and my failures can become my greatest victories! In His Hands my broken, scarred soul is molded into a new vessel. What shall I do with this new vessel? You see I gave Him everything! He gave it all back to me and asked me to allow Him to fill my vessel and use it to reach a world that needs Him. The decision was mine. I chose to give my all or give Him nothing, now He is my Everything. What will you do with your everything?  ~~~

I am reminded of a phrase found in scripture where Jesus tells the disciples to go into the city and in a certain place they would find a young 'donkey' tied up.  They were to tell it's owner that the Master had need of it.  Well, today we each have something 'tied up' that the 'Master has need of ' -- He needs our 'everything'...and only we can loose the ties that keep it from Him.

Humpback Whales and a Limited God

 

Ps 78:41  Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.  KJV

Whales are born with an innate sense of direction – genetically programmed to recognize their waters and migration routes;  genetically programmed to know the way.   They are genetically programmed to travel the same routes to and from their feeding and breeding grounds each year of their lives.  They are created by a God who made a safe haven for them and gave them the innate sense of survival.  How then does such a genetically designed creature become so lost and disoriented as to leave the waters where they were born - salty, open ocean waters  - and travel into a small bay, then into a river delta and up the river.   How is it they leave the salt water they need for their health and the food chain they depend on for nourishment and travel into foreign places that offer them no benefits?  And yet it happens, a mystery that has stumped marine biologist.  

As in the life of the whales so it is in that we humans are born with an innate sense of survival.  We know where safety lies, we can read the warning labels and the road signs and yet we become distracted, taking wrong turns along the highway of life.  We venture into dangerous foreign territory in spite of all the warning signs.  We think we can pick our way safely through the pits and cliffs that fill the way.

Our Creator watches from His throne and ponders our predicament but He is limited in His response.  You might say our God has no limits, is all powerful, and omnipotent but you would be incorrect.  God is merciful and compassionate; He is all powerful and omnipotent but he is also a gentleman.  He is wounded by our self-will; but He will not force His will on His creation.  If we have left the paths of His Mercy and Grace,  turning around and coming home to His safe haven must be voluntary, our choice.  He is God but He is limited by our will, by our choices.  He will nudge us in the right direction sometimes gently and sometimes not so gently, but the choice to turn around and follow is ours.

If you have ever seen the lost whale you know that any number of people rush in to rescue the whale and help him find his way back to safe waters.  You will also know that despite the best efforts of man the whale must cooperate by turning around and swimming back to safety.   If man has wandered into unsafe places, left the purposed path God has designed for His child then like the whale he must cooperate with the rescuers.  Family and friends may pray for them and with them but only they can make the turn that takes them back to safety.