Tag: The Word

Read your Bible, Pray Everyday, and you grow, Grow, Grow.

When we walk into a dark room, we search for the light switch.

Our world is a dark room. Where can we find the Light to warm our weary and restless hearts? But on that note, the light reveals the dirt and the junk.

Do we really want the Light on?

Common and broad is the media escape. Lights down low, time ticks on. Forgetting the day, and flying off in everyone else’s other world.

But there’s an inner fight and struggle. “I want more than this,” we cry inside. Where’s the Light switch. I need to draw near to God.

The Word is opened, fatigue overwhelms. Eyes can barely stay open, the battle rages on.

Psalm 103: 

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits–
Praise is a remedy to begin to restore breath.
I want strength and hope.
So, deep cries out to deep, and the best I can do is: “Dear God, You are good.”
Baby steps, perhaps, but I want medicine for my weary soul, so I continue to read:
. . . who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
God forgives my impulsive impatience today. God forgives all my sins. And He heals all my diseases?
What about the disease of worry and fret? What about self-righteousness? What about all the wrong things I say and do?
When I turn to see that God does, in fact, forgive and forget, I wonder, am I willing to do this for others. Forgive, and forget?
To give the other side a break? To let go, to forget?
God’s Word is sweet, but bitter all at the same time.
I have a choice, to close the Book and nod off, or
do I dare request from God to search and know my heart?
Well, yes, He already does. But by me asking, I’m giving Him permission to show me the stuff I keep hiding from myself.
God’s aware of everything.
He still loves. He’s showing me things.
He waits. I read on:
. . .who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
How can God do this? He’s not like anyone we see. He is above our greatest of thoughts. He loves beyond our comprehension.
Am I willing yet, to rest in His love?
To let go of the junk He’s revealed to me?
and then to put out my hands to receive?
. . . who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
I want so much to be satisfied with good things. I need energy.
But the big question is, do I want to be renewed?
Could it be, I have to let go of all my misery? Forsake my un-forgiveness?
This invades my identity. Can I let go of that?
Now, the verse about denying myself is coming to my mind:
 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me, Luke 9:23.
Could it be that all I want can be gained through me, . . .
losing?
Can I trust Godlike that? The world says, “NO!” “You have to trust yourself. Propel yourself forward.  Get up and go!”
 God’s solutions seem backward at best? If I lose myself, will I find life and rest?
Trust God? Psalm 103 says, “Yes.”
. . . The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

The Light switch is easy to find, but hard to maneuver:

It’s Surrender.

Jesus says, “You will have trouble in this world. Trust Me.”

Turning on Light, brings a cost to ourselves. There is a battle over and over again. But . . .

God laid His life down, that we might see, He is our present help, Psalm 103 reveals, it’s all His great doing, not me:

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children–
with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts . . . Psalm 103.
I gain all I desire, in surrender. I have choice. Moment by moment.
Over and over again. But now, I want Light:
“I surrender Lord.”
Repeated five times in the Bible, the Light switch is located all through the Gospels. “Where’s the Light switch?”
God answers:
“Those who love their own life will lose it; those who hate their own life in this world will keep it for life eternal” John 12:25.
“Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it” Matthew 10:39.

“For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it,” Matthew 16:25.

 “For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it” Mark 8:35.

“For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it” Luke 9:24.

It’s time to surrender. It’s time to be all God wants me to be. It’s time to turn on the Light. (Constantly!)

Join me?

Foundations. Still, . . . Be My Vision, O Ruler of All

The alpha, the beginning of an old 8th Century Irish Hymn is,

“Be Thou my vision.”

Foundational.

The omega, or ending of the popular, ceremonial hymn is, “Heart of my own heart,

whatever befall,

still be my vision, O Ruler of all.”

Foundational is faith in God, rich and secure.

Do we know about the foundation of the temple in Jerusalem?
God made sure that we could know the cost of the foundation.
But first, in 1 Kings 5, we learn the intent of heart of Solomon, David’s son who was anointed king after David died: I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’
The heart of Solomon, the vision to build a temple for the Name of the Lord.
Do we remember God’s Word to each of us?
“ . . . do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”(1 Cor. 6:19).
Oh, how easily we forget. Let us speak aloud today, not forget our intent:
“Be Thou my vision, Lord of my heart. Not be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought by day and by night. Waking or sleeping Thy presence, my light.”
“Be Thou my wisdom. Thou my true word. I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord. Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son, Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.”
Are we one with God? What is it we seek each day? Do we build a house for the glory of the Name of our King?
King Solomon was given great wisdom, as he had asked the Lord.
The building  of the temple was planned and carefully executed. Cedar trees and fir trees were carried down through the sea from Lebanon.

“Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills,  as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. 

At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple (1 Kings 5:15-17).

High grade stone, not rough stone, but costly stone was used to lay the foundation.

The foundation of the temple, out of the view of man, but in God’s full sight. Our hearts intent, the foundation of our temple. Our spiritual temple, living stones?

“For you were bought at a price…” (1 Cor. 6:20).

Where is our vision? On whom do we look for stability?

“Forgive me Lord, when I think stability rests on me. You watch me lose my focus in the whirlwind of life.

“Be Thou my battle-shield. sword for my fight.

Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.

Thou my soul’s shelter. Thou my high-tower.

Raise Thou me heavenward, O power, of my power.”

Foundations are seen by One, and One only. God sees. His vision is clear.
Believing that God cares about all the parts of me that no one else knows, and know one else sees, that’s foundational.
When everything I can see, everything on the outside, starts falling apart, (our temples, our physical bodies, or when the walls seem to appear to be crumbling, then the foundation is all that’s left.
When this world rates us and scores us at zero, God sees our faith and rates us as heroes.
Are we resting on the foundation of Rock?
Do we have faith in the Chief Cornerstone?
Laying costly stones for the foundation of our temples, are the choices we make to believe God.
Costly stones are—faith.
Everything rests on the Cornerstone.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”(Hebrews 11:1).
Faith is costly. But encouragement in the difficulty of laying a firm foundation is this:
“For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” (Hebrews 11;2 KJV).
In time, when everything passes away, the testimony will be that a careful and costly foundation was laid.
“Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise.
Thou mine inheritance, now and always.
Thou, and Thou only, first in my heart.
High King of heaven, My treasure, Thou art.”
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
High King of heaven , my victories won. May I reach heaven’s joy, bright heaven’s SON. Heart of my own heart . . .
whatever befall,
still be my vision,
O Ruler of all.”
(Be Thou My Vision, 8th Century Irish Hymn).
The foundation?
Faith.
Costly.
Sacrificial.
Vision on the High King of heaven. That is where my victories are won.
This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith, (1 John 5:4).
“Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O Ruler of all.”
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13).
For those who need to hear the spoken hymn and a victorious psalm:

We need each other

Truly my soul silently waits for God;

From Him comes my salvation.
 He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be greatly moved. 

Psalm 62
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

In all honesty, my soul waits for God. But silently? No, not always. At times it’s more like an ocean in a storm.

“I shall not be greatly moved,” David proclaims. Perhaps slightly moved he was because he continues his psalm:

 How long will you attack a man?
You shall be slain, all of you,
Like a leaning wall and a tottering fence.
 They only consult to cast him down from his high position;
They delight in lies;
They bless with their mouth,
But they curse inwardly. Selah

This is not a time of peace for David. Selah, or “pause and think quietly about it,” makes us consider for ourselves what these verses mean.

These thoughts of great trouble, confusion, and lies could be in regards to our own personal battles, or our family dynamics, dealing with people, or sickness and bills, or school, finances, or work, car troubles. Each of these can bring us down from a stable position.

The lies that come flooding in from the enemy, for me are:  “This is how’s it’s been, forever.” “This is how it will be forever.” “Nothing will ever change, this is all you have forever.”

The Word, a refuge. God speaks and instructs. What did David do?

He talks to his own soul. Psalm 62 proves to instruct me to do the same:

 My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;

I shall not be moved. Psalm 62:5,6.

David is changed. I’m sure his circumstances haven’t changed. But he has changed.

How?

His eye focus changed to the only rock and salvation. Right now, is there anyone else who needs some corrective glasses, like me. I must focus up, o-n-l-y. Not once and forever, but step by step, moment by moment:

 In God is my salvation and my glory;
The rock of my strength,
And my refuge, is in God.

Change is going on. my heart is being moved to increased faith. Satan has no victory. But the next verse caught me by surprise. It no longer uses the word me, or I, but your and us:

Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah

Pause and think quietly about this. “You people,” “your heart,” “God is a refuge for us.” We need community. We need each other.

We can all come together and agree, men, (women, all people,) will disappoint. We are all sinners. Not one is exempt from the fall. David writes:

 Surely men of low degree are a vapor,
Men of high degree are a lie;
If they are weighed on the scales,
They are altogether lighter than vapor.
 Do not trust in oppression,
Nor vainly hope in robbery;
If riches increase,
Do not set your heart on them.

But together, if we remind each other to “look up,” and focus on God, we will not be shaken.

God has spoken once,
Twice I have heard this:
That power belongs to God.
Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy;
For You render to each one according to his work. Psalm 62.

How we need to talk of His power and mercy. His faithfulness. His grace. We can wait on God, together. We will say to our souls:

wait silently for God alone,
For our expectation is from Him.
He only is our rock and our salvation;
He is our defense;

We shall not be moved.

Selah, We will pause and think quietly about that!

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24.

 

The Best Gift I Can Give to My Kids

The best gift I can give to my kids, is first and foremost, to remind them, they are His.

The Creator of all the beauty they see. The Father, the Son, The Holy Spirit will continually speak. And when their hearts believe, God is pleased.  Hearts soft and open, have eyes to receive.

Jesus is not only the giver of light and life, He is Light.

Jesus is not only the giver of life, He is Life.

Jesus is not only the giver of bread, He is Bread.

He is LORD. He is above the rest.

So, the best gift I can give my kids today, is to faithfully, and honorably, live and believe all this, but also, . . .

show them moment by moment, with all of my heart, faithful and honorable love for their dad. Yes, I believe the best gift today, that I can give our kids, is love and grace for the dad-of-all-dads.

I want to please God.

He says to me, “love.”

I fail miserably time and time again, but each new day, He says, “My mercies are new. S e e k Me.”
And He watches me fall. He watches me miss. And He forgives me new, as each day, His face I seek.
And He says to me, “Now . . .
do that for others, as they miss the mark too. Offer grace. Offer forgiveness. Be patient and kind. Remember Me, and abide.”

And kids, you watch me, day after day, so easily offer this as I go on my way. But it is hard stuff to do as I walk through our front door. It is hard to honor and offer grace to the very one, that I said to God “I Do, for all of my days.” And for this, daily, I seek His grace.

How I miss the mark and fall flat on the floor.
(Forgive me, Mike.)

Forgive me kids.

I want to do a better job at offering love and all of this.

So I seek the Lord and He fills and supplies. He is our Lord. He is the One we will both lift up our eyes.

So, I will start this all off with the word: Remember.

It is good to look at pictures of beginnings, that we might reminisce. And kids, I sure hope you spend time praying for us both, as we need your prayers that we might faithfully keep our oath.

That we continue to bring glory to our Lord and our King. And that we love each other, day after day, faithfully. Etched on the inside of my wedding ring, you find the name Mike. His, has the name, Toni. We do well thinking on and remembering these things.

I love you kids. I give you a gift. A promise that I will give it my best, day in and day out to faithfully and honorably love your dad.

“Gory to God in the Highest. And on earth, peace and good will to all men.” Amen.

Beginnings

New years. New months, new days, new moments. Refreshing beginnings. All things new.
Do we open the Book? Will we glean something new?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1.
What’s it all about? What does this have to do with me? I have so much to do, and don’t we already know what this Book says. But my eyes keep reading the very next verse,
And the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep.
Void and darkness already? Isn’t God in control of all things? Didn’t He create and everything was magical and perfect? How in the world was there void and darkness even before verse 3? Do we read and have questions like these?
Is God aware of my questions and doubt?
All I know is, it seems words like void and darkness could be used to describe me. Well, not when I’m putting my best foot forward, but the real me inside. This is me, as I feel void in my natural sense.  I sense darkness in my nature. What do you think? All I know, is, it seems at times, that there’s no escape.
So, my eyes continue reading the words on the page.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1 verse 2. The Spirit of God moved.
God moved. Even without any other doing. In the midst of emptiness and darkness, He initiated a move. Apparently, He wasn’t in need of anything.
Today, as I read these words and I think, of my brain and my heart being 73% water, with emptiness and darkness caught up in the mix, (But), And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters … 
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light; and there was light.”
Today, this day, I’ve read from the Beginnings. I didn’t get far, but I felt something stir within me. Could this Book be more than black and white on a page? For you and for me, the Spirit of God moved.
I will speak for myself, I hear Him speak to me: “Let there be light; and there was light,” on that day. Thousands upon thousands of years ago then, but also today, hope has lifted her head, and my eyes and my heart have chosen to receive.
If this is the first day of the rest of my life, then I will choose to take some time to read this Book daily. I will ask God to shine light on my emptiness and fill up the void.
So, in curiosity, I looked up Jesus as light, and John 8 verse 12, is recorded When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
God initiates. Do I choose, moment by moment, to follow?
 
 

Can you, will you, brush away the tears?

This morning, you have a choice. Does your heart yearn for God, do you pray, “Speak LORD, Your servant hears.” (1) or do you think you already know the words He has to say?
The thorns and thistles of life have brought temptation – to doubt and believe the LORD has left you alone on your way.
I write for myself, these words are for me. But if by chance they are speaking to you, read on as we wrestle with God together. Are we God’s ‘fair weather friends’ or are we still His – when the floods come or it’s typhoon weather?
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want . . .” Psalm 23:1. Do you hear Him call you to trust Him deeper still? Do you hear Him, are you willing to obey His will?
But, “I’m wanting Lord.” You say in your heart. “I’m needy and helpless. I don’t know how to trust.”
But, there is a willingness inside. There is, though weak, you cry out beside:
“Speak Lord, Your servant is listening,”

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs, the Book of wisdom. Chapter 3 verse 5 and 6. Do we dare submit and really believe this?

Believing God, is an Olympic feat, at best, “Make me to lie down and open my eyes that I might take notice that the pastures are green. Oh, God, I need rest.”

 Is this your prayer to the Lord in the morning? Will you be humble and yielded and give Him praise in the evening? What if nothing is going your way? Does that change God? Does that change your trust in Him?

We must remember, if ‘Jesus wept,'(2) then surely in this life, we will weep as well. “Dear Lord, don’t let my affliction grow greater than You. May I not seek sufficiency from wells, dry and broken, but may I go to You and listen to the words You have spoken.”

“Can you, will you, brush away the tears?” (I hear the Lord whisper this in my ears.)

 So will you reply, (as I ask myself this question), ‘Speak to me LORD, your servant hears.’ 

“But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”(3) “I have spoken. Do not be tempted to doubt. I will fill you with My Spirit that your faith will abound. Will you choose to make me Lord and submit? This is the power of God to you. I offer it . . .”

“For no one is cast off
    by the Lord forever.
 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
    so great is his unfailing love.
 For he does not willingly bring affliction
    or grief to anyone.” “This is My word from Lamentations. (4) Walk in this. Give fear no reservations.”

We can, we will, you and I together will cast all our cares upon our Shepherd today, and feed on His faithfulness and all He has to say:

in Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul . . .  and Joshua 1:9: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” 

We can, we will remember God is able – for now and for all time.

 “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.  Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”(5)

(1) 1 Samuel 3:9.
(2) John 11:35.
(3) Isaiah 43:1-3.
(4) Lamentations 3:31,32.
(5) Hebrews 5:7-9.