Sunday, February 27, 2011

Devotional- My Home is in God

My words again are in blue and I hope they encourage your walk with our Lord.  God bless you and yours.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

"Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation." --Psalm 91:9

The Israelites in the wilderness were continually exposed to change.  Aren't we all God?  Don't we see the vanity in our attempts at permanence?  Whenever the pillar stayed its motion, the tents were pitched; but tomorrow, ere the morning sun had risen, the trumpet sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy pillar was leading the way through the narrow defiles of the mountain, up the hill side, or along the arid waste of the wilderness.  What a site!  I am sure that it was not easy to do this kind of traveling.  God I think sometimes that my wilderness experiences are lonely or frightening, but Lord, thank you for being with me every where I am.   They had scarcely time to rest a little before they heard the sound of "Away! this is not your rest; you must still be onward journeying towards Canaan!" They were never long in one place.  Sometimes I feel like this too.  I feel like I travel and never really find home.  I have lived in so many towns just since High School and have never found a home.  I feel more at home now than I ever have, but if my past is any indicator of the future, it will most likely not last for long.  Even wells and palm trees could not detain them. Yet they had an abiding home in their God, his cloudy pillar was their roof tree, and its flame by night their household fire.  Oh Lord, that I might be as the Israelites!  I pray that I would have my home in you and never want four walls more than I want the four winds!  That I might never desire alluring metals or jewels to adorn my walls, but that I would always want the one pearl of great worth to be none other than you. They must go onward from place to place, continually changing, never having time to settle, and to say, "Now we are secure; in this place we shall dwell." "Yet", says Moses, "though we are always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place throughout all generations." The Christian knows no change with regard to God.  Thank you Jesus for being the first and the last.  The everlasting God. He may be rich today and poor tomorrow; (Oh God this happens all the time in our country) he may be sickly today and well tomorrow; (This is a scary thought for me and others.  It is hard to see our loved ones become ill or die, please help us continually put our trust in you.  Help us to know you are in control.) he may be in happiness today, tomorrow he may be distressed-- ( I know this feeling all to well.  There have been times where in a matter of hours my entire outlook on life has changed.  I hate this truth because it does not reflect who you are.  Help me God to be ever aware of your control and presence in my life )but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God. If he loved me yesterday, he loves me today. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord.  I do not need material wealth or the admiration from others because the one true God loves me and has a paradise awaiting me. Let prospects be blighted; let hopes be blasted; let joy be withered; let mildews destroy everything; I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is "my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort." I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation.  I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I have always had a homesickness in my heart.  I have felt that I just don't fit in at times and that one day it will all make sense.  I know that as I wander this earth, it is useless to worry about food or clothing, because my God loves me more than the mere animals, yet He takes care of them wonderfully.  I must set my mind on heavenly things and press onward in my journey and rest in His love.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Talking to God Through Spurgeon's Daily Devo

I thought it might be helpful to some to see a great way to take a devotional ( or you can do it with scripture ) and talk to the Lord through them.  I learned this technique from Beth Moore.  I hope that our hope, faith and relationship with God might be strengthened by sharing together.  My thoughts are in blue :)  With Love-

"Salvation is of the Lord." --Jonah 2:9

Salvation is the work of God. Thank you God for your gift of salvation and thank you that it is left to You alone, because only you are worthy!   It is he alone who quickens the soul "dead in trespasses and sins", and it is he also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life.   Yes God, you surely quicken our souls to long after you and praise be to you for keeping us and growing us into spiritual maturity.  He is both "Alpha and Omega."  The only first and last, beginning and end.  Help me to have understanding and know that your ways are sure and you will return for us.   "Salvation is of the Lord." If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God's gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because he upholds me with his hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God himself first does in me.   How true, how true.  I struggled with this for so long, thinking that I could do it even though I would read your word and know that you said I could not.  Thank you for showing me how very helpless I am without you and how very powerful your spirit is within me.  Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely.  Help me O God to believe this more and more.   If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord's strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me.  I could have never cleansed myself, only you Jesus could take away our sins and live again within all your children and give us hope.   Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God's chastisements sanctified to my good.  I would surely turn back to my flesh if it were not for your reign in my life.  Humble me Lord and do your will through me.   Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me.   God you give and take away.  My mind cannot conceive all that you do and for that I am thankful.  You alone are God and I pray that I will never again put myself in a position to think I know better than you.  All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery.  I am fulfilled by your presence.  When I push you away, my flesh taunts me and wants to ruin me.  You are good and have all my life in your hands.  "He only is my rock and my salvation." Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it.  Lord, I have read your word before and it was all too much to comprehend.  I tried to be a Christian without Christ and that cannot be.  Lord, show me minute by minute how to abide in you.    Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink?   So many times I have read these words about living on bread alone, and I did have an understanding that of course our souls crave more.  Now Lord Jesus, by your intercession in my life, I know that the bread is you.  I know that you refresh our souls with a spring of water so pure that we can hardly withstand it, yet crave it more intensely than any other thing.  You desire our lives, and we cannot be without yours.  If we live without you, we glorify only ourselves.  Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heaven's hills: without Jesus I can do nothing.  Oh God, there is nothing you aren’t capable of.  You see our weakness as the only entrance into our hearts.  If we live with fullness in ourselves, then what would we need you for?  I have experienced that.  I have said “God I love you and accept you, but I don’t need you.”  I said this not with my mouth, but by my lifestyle.  Lord, forgive me for such arrogance and ignorance.  Thank you for bringing light into my heart and mind.   Be my life and lead me past troubles and straight to your cross.      As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: "Salvation is of the Lord."   Prune me and keep me strong, feed me the life source of your love and produce fruit from me.  Let me not wither in my own strength.  Let me not want to attach to another life source.  You are the true vine!  You are the only vine!!!  Thank you Jesus for saving me from this world, making me victorious over sin and death.  Thank you for giving me new life.  Thank you for your love and mercy.  I pray that you will lead me to the ones I can love and help, just as you have done for me.  Thank you for all you will do.  Salvation of, not only me, but of the world- is yours! Thank you.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Making All Things New

  Every morning the sun shows up.  On time.  Every evening it hides for a certain amount of hours ( and just the right amount, I might add).  The ocean breathes in and out along the shores of our beaches.  Each season of the year provides us with familiar traits such as heat, cold, death and life.  We see trees shed their withering leaves and then clothe themselves with bright, new ones.  We see new birds come to visit and we watch as they leave us.  There is a bit of consistency in our lives as we notice nature.  God gave us so many examples within His creation.  Examples of how to build can be found in the beaver's meticulous dams.  Examples of how to support one another in community like a pack.  While we were created superior and given free will so that we might make the choice to love our God, I sometimes wish I had just a bit more animal in me.  Please do not misunderstand, I am happy and glad to be me and to have the opportunity to love my family, friends and God, but there are just instances when I watch animals and desire to understand that kind of determination.  They do not wonder.  They do not second guess.  They instinctively rely on their nature to show them what to do next.  It's as if they have all the answers already programmed in them.  I can honestly say that I do not understand how an evolutionist can hold their beliefs.  Just knowing the small amount that I do about science and the way things work, it appears impossible that such amazing creatures were not created.  How would they not die out if all of their intricate ways and parts and mechanisms were not fully developed or existent upon arrival into our earth?  I have a theory.  Maybe these creatures are like us, yet they did not get THE choice.  They were MADE to worship.  They love God and can't deny Him.  Maybe they have mastered the art of abiding.  In John 15:4, Jesus says "Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me."  Over and over again in the word of God, our Lord uses nature and horticulture and animals as examples to give us a clear picture of how we should live.  So what is this abiding business?  I asked myself that question a few years back when I was in a bible study.  I unfortunately did not grow up in bible studies and Sunday school, so there are many terms and phrases new to me, thus making them exciting and like a riddle I have to crack.  I started the quest asking, what must I do to abide?  Read His word.  Ok.  Check.  Pray.  Yes, that is a must.  Stay in tune with the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  Absolutely.  All of these tasks are part of the life that abides in Christ, but there just seemed to be a missing link.  I was putting all the ingredients together and my cake didn't bake.  I recently found a course online that this guy put together called " The Abiding Life ".  I did MOST of it and found some really good information.  His whole concept is that we must open the abiding doors of our hearts, invite Jesus to be our Lord, allow Him to rule our lives and stop trying to do it in our own strength.  Now that is hard.  At least for me.  To truly just stop doing these things just doesn't make a lot of sense.  Ok, so last night at bible study, my teacher has been on a kick with the term " In Christ " and I found that quite ironic.  When I say ironic, I mean it was a God thing.  The abiding life course was interesting and helpful, but there is just something about having a God revelation in your life.  It comes without warning and changes everything.  Ok, so to get to the point, Jesus tells us that in order to produce fruit, which is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our lives and it is how people will know us, we must abide in Christ.  The dictionary defines abiding in many ways, but here is my translation :  to dwell in, agree to, endure with, accept without question and submit to.  So, why do the animals seem so confident and on track?  How can a bird keep a temperature steady in its' nest for 6 months without varying a degree?  How does a giraffe bend down to drink water without its' brain exploding when it lifts its' head?  Or how can a spider spin varying types of web for different tasks? I'll tell you!..  They are abiding in Christ, their creator.  Do they spend hours praying, reading their bibles and putting on a happy face?  No!  They are just living and being evidence that our God reigns.  Our lives will produce the fruit when we submit ourselves fully ( 100%) to God's authority.  What is His authority?  His Word.  His Spirit.  So abiding in Christ is not about works ( duh ) but about relationship.  I know we have all heard that one, but if He occupies our thoughts and changes our lives because He lives through us, then inherently, instinctively- we will obey and be living testimonies to His love.  Acknowledge His presence ( when you get up and when you lay down- and everywhere in between), accept His will ( the promptings of the Spirit and the Words of Jesus ), communicate your desires/misunderstanding/sins/ideas/ (everything) in prayer and practice agape love and I believe we will abide in His majesty, Our King of Kings!!  There are many verses to share, but I will end my ( God's ) rantings with a few that really mean the world to me.  I hope that they might encourage and become written on your hearts.  With love- 



Galatians 5:18- But if you are lead by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Psalm 119:9- How can a young man keep his behavior pure?  By guarding it in accordance with your word.

Jeremiah 31:3- The LORD appeared to Israel from far away and said, "I've loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I've drawn you with gracious love.   

1 Corinthians 2:9-13   However, as it is written:
   “What no eye has seen,
   what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him- these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.  The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

One more thing-  I know I just presented this theory as an easy fix- but please do not underestimate the trials we will face because of our choice to worship Jesus.  Nevertheless-  We are definitely not alone and He will sustain us and keep us!  Thank you God for that.

Ok ok.. One more thing-  Just a quick prayer.. :)

Creator God- Lord over the animals and us and all of your beautiful and wonderful creation- Thank you.  Thank you for giving me a word, a message.  Thank you for the ability to hear you and know you.  I love you and would not be able to live without you.  Please sustain me when I am weak and help me to be ever relying on you.  You are the one true God and I know you have plans to prosper me.  Please watch over everyone who reads this blog, may it bless them and bring glory only to You Lord.  Be our guide, our father, our friend and our reason for living.  Forgive us for hurting each other.  Show us how to love as you do.  Help us to put aside selfishness and put on the love and forgiveness we have been shown.  Jesus, in your very powerful name- Amen.