Psalm 89, 2013

September 18 b 2013There just isn’t enough time to sing about your great love, dear God.

We want to proclaim your faithfulness through all generations – our own and all of the generations to come.  We know all about your faithfulness because we experience every day.

We declare to all of those around us that your love is a forever love – established in heaven – and it will never be shaken.

Your plan of redemption started in the Garden of Eden after Eve decided she wanted to be ‘like God’.  We wish we didn’t relate so closely to that as we try to control everything around us – also wanting to be ‘like God’.

You established King David’s line forever in your plan of love, adding your own son who is now seated on his eternal throne.

We join with the angels in heaven as we praise you, Lord. 

Holy, Holy, Holy.

No one on the earth or in the skies above compares with you.

The wise and holy ones all fear and respect you for you are Most Awesome.

You are All Mighty and your faithfulness surrounds you.

You rule over the sea.  You crush your enemies.

Everything is yours – from the north to the south.

Your throne is anchored by your righteousness and justice.  Love and faithfulness flow out from you.

You bless those of us who walk in the light of your presence, dear Lord.  We feel your blessing upon us, dear Father.

We can rejoice all day long because we know you.  We experience your righteousness.

You are our strength and our glory.  You work things out for our good. 

Our lives belong to you, our king, the Holy One of Israel.

our

I’m Boasting…

about God.  He is my King and my God.

He organizes victories for me today just like he did for Jacob so long ago.September 18 2013

It is through his strength that I can push back my enemies and overcome my foes.

I can’t trust my thinking.  My strategies won’t bring real victory.

Only God gives me victory.

His truth and his righteousness are so powerful that it reveals the weaknesses and deceptions of my enemies.

In God, I can boast all day long.

I will praise his name forever.

Insanity!

It happens to me almost daily – I am amazed at the insanity in our world which is under the ever-so-strong influence of the Evil One.  The evidence of his trickery and deception is all around me.  Our world’s values are a testament to the Father of Lies.september 7 2013

Most recently I was surprised by the realization that I know grown, adult people who actually believe that things they do aren’t wrong unless they get caught.  It only becomes a bad decision for them when other people know.  Up to that point, it’s all okay. 

Insanity!

When I’m confronted by such obvious lies like that, I am filled with sadness for all the people who live their lives based on these deceptions.  They are confused and angry………and broken and lost.  They are consumed by their need to blame others.

So I come back to God’s word and I feel like King Nebuchadnezzar when he raised his eyes toward heaven and his sanity was restored.

I praise you, oh Most High.  I honor and glorify you who lives forever. 

You are eternal.  Your kingdom endures from generation to generation, never-changing, never wavering.

Amen.  Allelujah!

Fire!

If we  saw a fire starting and knew people’s lives were at stake, we would scream “Fire!  Fire!  Fire! at the top of our lungs until help arrived and the people were saved.  We would, wouldn’t we?

September 3 2013God tells us in Ezekiel that we are the watchmen.  And when the watchmen see danger and destruction coming, they need to blow their trumpet to warn the people.  That’s their job. 

If the people heed the warning, they will be saved.  If not, they will pay the price.

If the watchmen fail to blow the trumpet and people’s lives are taken, the watchmen will also be held accountable by God for the deaths of the people.

Do we see danger and destruction coming for those who have not chosen Jesus as their Savior?  Do we see a truckload of physical, emotional and spiritual anguish rushing towards those who haven’t already started their eternal life with Christ?  Is eternal separation from all good things and God a big enough devastation for us to stand up and scream “Fire”? 

Now  is the time for us to get out our trumpet to warn the people.

We may not have tomorrow.

 

Lamentations 3, 2013

Thank you, dear Father.august 30 2013

Because of your great love for us, we are not consumed by the culture that swirls around us, trying to draw us into it’s very popular web full of lies and deceptions.

Everyday we experience your compassion as you love us in spite of what we do, not because of anything good that we’ve done.  

As the sun rises every morning, we see your light and feel the warmth of your faithfulness, dear Father.  We take our next breath because you make it happen.

You are all.

You are everything.

You are our portion for today.  For this hour.  For this minute.

You lavish your goodness on us when we place our hope in you.  When we seek you, we find you,,,,,,,,, and we find joy and we find strength and we find peace.

It is good right now to sit quietly……

and to meditate on your word as you speak to us……….

the glory of your salvation is growing within us,

Great is your faithfulness, oh God my Father.

Dear Shepherd

You have searched for me and you have found me.September 1 2013

I was lost in darkness behind a barrier of trees made from bad decisions.  I was stuck in smelly mud made by doing whatever I wanted to do.  I had boulders of guilt and unforgiveness weighing me down so I couldn’t move.

You found me and you rescued me.

You have guided me to a good pasture where I can feed on your Word and be content.   You have guided me to a land high in the mountains – closer to you.  Every direction you give me guides me farther up the mountain where the pasture grows greener and thicker and deeper and wider.  Peace is here.  Joy is here.  You are here.

And you ask aa of us to join you in your search for other lost sheep.  We have found the good pasture and now we can show others the way.  You ask us to join you in binding the injured and strengthening the weak.

And we obey – in your name and for your glory.

Thank you, dear Shepherd.

A Perfect Father….

disciplines us.

When we do things that aren’t right, God loves us and so he chooses to discipline us.  It’s for our good.August 23 2013

When we react well to his discipline by learning the lesson and not repeating our error, we grow more like Christ and our relationship with God is stronger.

But it doesn’t feel good to be disciplined.  It’s never fun. 

When God has disciplined me, it’s always been a tough lesson.  I have learned one very important thing about God’s discipline – I need to learn the lesson the first time.  Otherwise, the lessons grow bigger and more obvious and harder until we hit bottom and THEN we look up to God.  I think this explains many of the issues we see in our lives and in the world around us – people are not responding positively to God’s discipline and so the issue gets bigger and worse until people finally  turn to God.

I’m trying to avoid that situation by ‘getting it’ and repenting and changing my behavior the first time.  It’s not easy, but its  worth the effort.

I’ve been forgiven and I’ve changed but I still  experience the consequences of some of my old, bad choices.  I’m amazed how sometimes I’m still paying the consequences for bad decisions I made over 30 years ago.  It doesn’t seem fair until I realize that paying those consequences remind me of my need for a Savior.  They remind me of how much I have been forgiven making it easier for me to forgive others.  Dealing with the consequences for my old, bad choices reminds me of my continuing need for God’s redeeming power in my life.  It reminds me of how faithful God has been to me so far on this journey and it helps me trust him with my future.

And I am reminded that he disciplines me because he loves me.  He wants only the best for me.

Thank you, dear Father.

Out of our rebellion…

Into a life filled with God’s blessings.

That is the restoration God promises to each of us just as he promised the Israelites in Jeremiah 32.

When we decide to stop fulfilling our personal will and desires and start listening to and living out the Words of Truth God has for us, we move from the land of God’s great wrath to the land overflowing with God’s goodness.

He will bring health and healing.August 22 2013

We will enjoy abundant peace and security.

Joy will return.

Prosperity will return.

We will dance again.

Our lives will be a well-watered garden – beautiful, fruitful, purposeful.

Let the dancing begin!

 

You are Amazing!

No words can adequately express our praise to you, Almighty Creator!

It is by your power that the earth was created.August 14 2013

Your wisdom is the foundation of the world.

Your understanding is what stretched out the heavens farther than any one can see.  There is no end – only you, our Alpha and Omega.

When you thunder, the waters in the heavens roar.

The clouds rise from the ends of the earth at your command.

You send the lightning with the rain.

The wind whips out from your heavenly storehouses.

It’s all about you.  Always you. 

Thank you, dear Father!

If….

you will call on me and come and pray to me, I will listen, ” God tells  us in Jeremiah 29. “When you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me.”August 11 2013

The big IF.  The big WHEN.  This is the part we control.  This is our part of the deal.  God guarantees that he will listen.  God promises that we will find him.  IF we call on him.  WHEN we seek him.

The verse right before this is very well-known.  It is a promise of God that we desperately hold on to when our lives are crumbling around us.  We often recite it in our prayers for our children and families.

God tells us that his plans for us are to prosper us, to give us a hope and a future.

Amen!  Bring it on God!

THEN he tells us how he is going to do this.  He will do it IF we call on him.  WHEN we seek him, he will be found and he will be able to do what he has promised – to prosper us.  He wants to give us a hope.  He has a beautiful future planned for us.

IF.  WHEN.  Our choice.

If?  How about we start right now?  When?  Now would be a great time to re-committ.