6.30.13

Acts 20:32 (Paul said) "And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself."

 

My Thoughts

I love this verse...I don't think I ever noticed it before... but when I read it today it just jumped off the page and into my heart!!  I thought of Moses, Aaron, Elijah and Elisha. I though of King David.  And more of those wonderful men so important that there are stories about them in God's word.  Those people that you know have a special place in God's heart.  When Jesus died on the cross His death for our sins made us as important to God as these great men.  All we have to do in believe believe that Jesus is God's son, confess our sins and ask Jesus into our hearts. When we do that God uses His grace to build us up...and he sets aside an inheritance for us that just like he did for Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Elisah, David! We are that important to God that He made us a way even in our sin. God just loves us so much!!

6.29.13

Proverbs 18:4 Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook.

My Thoughts
This verse made me think of two special people in my life, my grandmother, I called her MawMaw and my Mrs Kay.  All of us that know Mrs Kay think of hers as ours her wisdom grows us.  I jump at the chance to spend little bits of time here and there with her because I always learn something.  She is so wise that you can't help but learn something just by being in her presence.  Both of these special people in my life love or loved God more than most of us can even comprehend.  And both of them know God's word probable inside out.

My MawMaw didn't finish high school.  But she did know God's word, she did know God and the Bible tells us that all wisdom comes from God.  I would sit for hours next to my grandmother as a child, her big coffee table Bible in my lap and as I can to each picture she would tell me the stories that went with those pictures.  I was always amazed at how she knew them all.  And my MawMaw had an answer for everything, a good answer too.  She never turned anybody away that needed her.  She had eight children and several of their friends have lived for a time in my grandmother's house.  When she died those people were there telling about how MawMaw took them in and treated them just the same as if they were her very own.  If you were to ask her why she did that her answer would have been, "Because the Bible tells me to." For her it was as simple as that.  I never saw my grandmother go without a thing she needed and I know it was because God was taking care of her.  She even worked into her 80's.

Then I have know college educated people that paid to have wisdom, that had no since at all.  I have looked at some of them and been amazed, totally amazed at how they could have even finished college.  I have thought how could you finish college and run your life like this??? They really just had no clue.  Looking back on my time in their presence I never remember once hearing them mention God in any conversation.  Despite their higher education they were missing wisdom.  They were missing their God education.  How sad is that!

The more I read God's word, the more I depend on God the easier it get for me to make a wise decision.  I have found that knowing God limits my options in a good way.  Before wisdom started growing inside of me I could see endless answers to situations in my life.  So many it was hard to make a choice.  Now if I were to list out all the "answers" on a piece of paper to any given situation I could cross out so many of what use to would have been possibilities just by knowing what God's word tells me.  Then when I listen the Holy Spirit inside me tells me what is best from the rest of what is on my list.  Talk about making life simpler!!  And then when I do what God would have me do..There is no tossing and turning or second guessing my decisions once they are made.  I can move forward confidant that God has my back!!

My grand-daughter Ripley will be arriving on Tuesday.  One day when she is my age, about to be a grandmother herself, I hope that she sees me in the same way I see my grandmother or Mrs Kay. I hope that she sees me as wise and I hope that she knows with out a doubt where wisdom comes from!  I plan to tell her over and over and over again the wonderful stories in the Bible.  I plan to tell her about how much God loves her...and that her hero is Jesus because He gave his life for her.  I hope to start filling her with wisdom from God's word before she ever steps her foot in school. That way all that knowledge she learns will be put to wise use.  I pray that she grows in God faster than she grows in anything else.

6.28.13

2 Kings 13:15-19 Elisha told him, "Get a bow and some arrows." and the king did as he was told.  Elisha told him, "Put your hand on the bow," and Elisha laid his own hands on the king's hands.

 

The he commanded, "Open that eastern window," and he opened it.  The he said, "Shoot!" So he shot an arrow.  Elisha proclaimed, "This is the Lord's arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek."

 

The he said, "Now pick up the other arrows and strike then aginst the ground." So the king picked them up and sturck the ground three times.  But the man of God was angry with him.  "You should have struck the ground five or six times!" he exclaimed. "Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed.  Now you will be vicorious only three times."

 

My Thoughts

When I read this I immediately thought of our prayers,  my prayers.  How often do I pray only a couple of times over a situation and wonder why God only answers part of the prayer.  I have not prayed enough I think!!  I have not made it serious enough in my prayer life for it to be so serious to God.   I imagine the king tapping the ground three times... an "I am doing what I am told," motion, instead of a deliberate "this is important to my life and to the lives of my people," motion. What if God thought, "You asked so I answered.  But if you had asked like it mattered, really mattered, I would have answered like it really mattered."  What I take away for this scripture is that we/I have got to pray like it really matters!! 

 

 

6.27.13

Proverbs 18:1 Unfriendly people care only about themselves; they lash out at common sense.

 

My Thoughts

Some people are unfriendly all the time. Most people are not..but some are.  But most of us are somewhere in the middle...we are friendly a huge part of the time...but then there are those days where we don't feel very friendly. 

 

What I am taking away from this verse is this... When I find myself being unfriendly I need to stop and ask myself, in what area of my life am I being self absorbed?  What do I need to take to God?  I am going to get myself back in balance with God so that I will not lash out...so that I will not forget all common sense.  So often when I have had an unfriendly day that is the very day that I might lash out at Robby and wonder where it even came from.  It came from being totally self-absorbed. I am learning that when I am self-absorbed I am not God aware.  For God's love to flow through me I must be God aware. 

 

So if I find myself being unfriendly, I will first send up a prayer to God and ask Him to send down His grace to make me able.  Then I will head back home and get myself God centered so that I can become friendly again!  

Acts 17:24-25 "He is the God who made the world and everything in it.  Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man made temples, and human hands can't serve his needs--for he as no needs.  He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.

 

My Thoughts

"... and he satisfies every need."  I love that part best!!  Look it says every need...not just some of our needs...but our every need. God will take care of our needs!!  I find that when I have a need that is not being met, it is a need that I have not given to God yet, I have kept it for me to try and satisfy and I am telling you I do not get that need satisfied until I give it all over to God.  Oh is he speaking to me now!!! 

 

God will satisfy our every need, God wants to satisfy our every need, God is working all the time to take care of us!! We just sometimes take a different path.  How often God has given me the path to my needs only for me to take the fork in the road instead.  God tells us in His word all the time..If you do this, then I will do this.  Another words, "If you want this need met, this is what you need to do so that I will be able to met this need."  too often we ignore the if and then wonder where God is.  God will satisfy our needs, God wants so much to satisfy our needs we just have to spend time learning what the "if's" are so God can do the "then" part.

6.25.13

Acts 16:25-34 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.  Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations.  All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!  The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open.  He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself.  But Paul shouted to him, "Stop! don't kill yourself! We are all here!"

 

The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.  The he brought them out and  asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

 

They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household." And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household."  And they shard the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household.  Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds.  The he and everyone in  his household were immediately baptized.  He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

 

My Thoughts

Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into jail unjustly. The very guard  that was later saved treated them cruelly. Then they had a chance to escape, which was wrong.  Even thought they had been badly treated and thrown into jail unjustly they still did the right thing.  They new that escaping would cause the jailer to be killed.  They knew that it was wrong for prisoners to escape.  They had the perfect opportunity to run, but they didn't.

 

Looked what happened because Paul and Silas did the right thing... a whole family was saved!!  Because Paul and Silas had walked the walk even in their pain and suffering by singing hymns to God, and because they had followed the rules even when others did not... a family was saved!!

 

What this story teaches me is that doing the right thing is never in vain, even if I don't see the results. Doing the right thing no matter what somebody else has done to me can be my greatest witness.  Doing the right thing can change a person, who changes their family...then each person in that family will go out and choose to do the right thing.  My actions no matter how small they might seem, no matter how somebody else has treated me, must be doing the right thing. 

 

As I learn and grow in God I am learning that being a witness is a lot more than telling people how to be saved... it is living my life in a way that makes me a "go to" person because I will choose to do the right thing.  When I do this the opportunity to share what God had done in my life will just happen. I won't have a script to follow...I will have my own story to tell...and that is so much more powerful!

6.24.13

Proverbs 17:24 Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

 

My Thoughts

Proverbs 2:6-8 tells us that God grants wisdom, from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding...and that He gives common sense to the honest. Above it tells us that we can look to all the world for answers... but that is foolish.  We must look to God for the answers. 

 

God knows the end from the beginning(Isaiah 46:10).  God knitted us together in our mother's wombs (Psalms 139:13). God created each of us with our own personality...He knows the answers to each of our individual problems.  God knows what we need.... When we search the earth for what we need we come back empty even after we have done what the world says will make us happy.  When we look to God for the answers, when we listen and do our part then we will have all that we need.  We may not have what the world says we need, but we will have what we truly need!!

 

I have found in the last few years that when I search God for my needs, when I search for answers in God's word I feel complete contentment.  When ever I feel like I am missing something I know that I have been looking in the wrong place, I have been looking to the world for answers.  Sometimes it takes me a few days to figure out that I have not looked to God for the wisdom I need...but I use to not look to God at all. I would try to please God without knowing what God wanted me to do.  I am getting better all the time.  The more that I know God's word, the more that I start out with the wisdom I need to face the world.  It is in those places where the wisdom is in my head and not dropped down into my heart that get me stuck every time.  But at least now I know where to turn..at least now I only wander in the darkness for a little bit at a time when I do wander.  At least now I know to keep studying because God will keep improving me until the day of Jesus' return (Philippians 1:6).  So I don't have to be afraid when  I mess up, I just have to confess my sin and ask forgiveness and know that God will send down His grace to help me grow, because I am His child!! 

6.23,13

Genesis 1: 3-5 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.⁴ And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

My Thoughts

I heard this this morning just as I woke up..I turned in the TV which I don't do often.....this was not my thought at all.... but i loved hearing it and wanted to share.....it wasn't until the third day, in verse 14 that God created the sun and the moon. The light created on the first day was Jesus this man said. I never noticed that! I knew Jesus was there from the beginning....but here it was in words that I had overlooked.  God making a way for us before he even created us! 

I need to set my mind to learning more...to paying closer attention. I don't want to miss a thing!

6.22.13

Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength.

 

My Thoughts

I was born again when I was nine  years old.  But growing up I was in Church only on and off.  When I grew up and had kids of my own I wanted to do better... but we went to Church on and off too.  Better than when I grew up...but not like we should either.  Up until three and a half years ago I would have read this verse and felt upset.  I would have said, "Sure a cheerful heart is good medicine...but I can not help that I have a broken spirit!"

 

What changed how I see this verse?? I learned how to have a relationship with God.  In all those years I didn't really understand how to grow in God, how to get to know God.  Then my son put a One Year Bible in my hand for a Christmas present. I started reading, and in that reading I begin to really, really know God.  Then I found some wonderful people that grew me, and taught me more and more and more.   Now I know how to be in control of a cheerful heart.  I let go and let God.  Sometimes I fall in that trap of a broken spirit...then I remember what I have learned these past three and a half years and I take control of my heart by giving all the things in my life over to God again. 

 

Every day that I pick up my Bible and renew my mind, I grow just a little..and a little more.  People around me said I have grown by leaps and bounds.  The key is to stay hungry for God.  When we do that everything else is added unto us!!  Including a happy heart!!

6.21.13

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. 

 

My Thoughts

This should be all or our prayers.  We should be this bold.  I think it is a bold prayer.  I know that we as humans don't want our faults to be pointed out to us. Just the thought of it can make me cringe to know what I have done wrong.  But knowing is lifesaving. Asking is using wisdom. And when we ask what we have dong wrong we grow in wisdom.  When we don't know, we can't change. We need to be bold enough to change and grow, and grow, and grow into the person God wants us to be.  We need to pray this prayer!

 

I think grace happens easiest when we put ourselves completely in somebody else's shoes. Not looking at their situation from our own shoes. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one...so when God sent Jesus down to live on this earth as a man that is just what he did , put himself in our shoes. God's grace is all encompassing, it abounds! When we have trouble passing out grace to someone we need to say..what would I do if I were them? If I were born in their situation, if I worked their job, if I lived with their family, if I had their personality. I think so often we might find that we would not handle their situation as well as they are handling it if we put ourselves completely in their shoes. We need to leave nothing out then grace will abound from us too.

6.19.13

1 Kings 21:25-26 (No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord's sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel.  His worst outrage was worshiping idols just as the Amorites had done -- the people whom the Lord and driven out from the land ahead of the Israelites.)

 

My Thoughts

"His worst outrage was worshiping idols."  Adoring reverence or regard was one of the definitions of worship. The the dictionary defined reverence as a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration. Veneration is a feeling of awe, respect, reverence.  When I think of worship I think of "spending time with," on Sunday mornings we spend time with God. 

 

Ahab's worst sin was worshiping idols.  What do we worship in America I asked myself.  Football comes to mind...the stands are always full... people plan their lives around football games.  Then we roll out the red carpet for movie stars, isn't that a form of worship?  I tend to spend lots of time watching TV, so here I am "spending time with" my TV!!  The list can go on and on and on...I am not picking on football fans or people that love the movies or people that have a lot of alone time and fill it with the sound of the TV.  What I am trying to do is get it straight in my mind what God would consider worshiping idols. 

 

I know that God sees worshiping idols as seeing an object as a god.  But treating an object or a person or a past time as the end all be all, would that be considered the same thing to God?  Our first response would be a resounding "NO!" Because we don't want to be guilty.  If we love God and we watch a lot of TV, or plan our lives around football...we after all love God!!  But what about the kings who worshiped God and other idols, didn't they do the same?  And it was still bad in God's sight. 

 

I am not saying to myself that we should never watch a football game or that we should never turn on the TV.  That we should never treat people with a little extra respect. The question I am asking myself is this, do I give TV more time and energy than I give God?  Do some of us give football more time and energy they they do God. Do we put people that simply star in a movie more awe than we give God?  Do we study more on something that we are interested in than we study on God?  And if and when we do, how does God see that? 

 

I would love you input on this!!  I would love it if you pondered it as much as I am this minute. I would love to know what you think.   Because I don't ever want God to feel as if I am worshiping something more than I worship Him!!! 

6.18.13

Acts 12:21 Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people's worship instead of giving glory to God.  So he was consumed with worms and died.

 

My Thoughts

I thought this morning, "This verse is powerful and important!"  It made me wonder how much I had missed out on because I didn't give God the credit.  Herod took the credit from the people and was struck with sickness.  Is there three levels to this...Taking the credit or praise, not giving God credit, then giving God credit?  I don't know...but I do know that I don't want to take God's credit yet sometimes I probably do without even thinking about it. 

 

How often does somebody praise us for "our" accomplishments and we are so proud of ourselves that we forget that that ability came straight from God himself?  We are using those resources wisely when we use the abilities God gives us...but the ability to understand and do comes from God.  When we become aware of that in all aspects of our lives we become more thankful.  The more thankful we are the more we open up the windows for blessings to fall down on us from God. 

 

We have to be so careful... so very careful that we never ever take the adulation, that belongs to God, for ourselves.  Herod did that and look what happened to him.  The more we have, the more power we have the more careful we have to be to understand that what we have, what we have accomplished is a gift given to us from God himself. Then we need to give God the praise, the credit for all that was accomplished through us by Him. 

6.1.13

Psalm 135:10 He struck down great nations and slaughtered mighty kings--

 

My Thoughts

Nations that loved God prospered...even if they turned their backs on God, when the loved God again and followed his commands God rebuilt their nation.  God loves his people!!  God wants to prosper His people!  The only reason that God needs to destroy a nations that does not love Him, is to protect His people from harm.  To protect His people from falling out from under the protection of Him because they get distracted by evil.  Evils sometimes disguised in happy wrapping paper.

 

God loves his people...and He will even strike down great nations if that is what it takes to protect His people.  God is for us when we love Him!!  When we love God, He will send down is amazing grace upon our lives.   

6.16.13

Proverbs 17:9 Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.

 

My Thoughts

When I read this I thought of The Lords Prayer, the part where is says, "forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespasser against us."  Then I thought how God is love, all love comes from God... when we fail to forgive we separate ourselves from God, so we also separate ourselves from love.  Notice The Lord's prayer does not say forgive us and just leave it at that ...it says forgive us as we forgive others... so we block our unforgiveness from God we we do not forgive others.  Forgiveness is the key to loving others and receiving love from God and from others. 

 

You may ask yourself, I have, "How can I forgive this?"  But we can if we ask God to send down His wonderful grace and make us able.  I saw a movie once, a true story about an Amish family who's daughter was killed.  The mother had trouble forgiving, as we all would, at some point in the movie she asked another person, a child, how do you forgive?  The child in all her wisdom said something that went like this, I do it again and again and again each day until one day I won't have to forgive him anymore.  The child was willing to forgive and was having a hard time...but what she knew is that if she was willing, even though her flesh was not yet able God would take over and send down His grace and one day the man would be so forgiven by her that she would not have to think of him again. 

 

We are all going to mess up, we are human.  We all want to be forgiven. What makes love abound in the world is forgiving others so that God's love for us can flow down from heaven from buckets!!

 

6.15.13

Psalm 133:1 How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

 

My Thoughts

How do we do this?  It is really simple to seem so hard we encompass the fruit of the Spirit.  We be what love is... The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 4-7: Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way.  It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It dos not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, its always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

 

Simple does not mean easy...but being what love is is possible.  God sends the Holy Spirit to live inside of us..so those fruits are there if we will just tap into them through our relationship with God.   The more we communicate with God, the more we study God's word the more we are able to hear the Holy Spirit talking to us telling us what is right.  It is so important that we understand that the Holy Spirit is God inside of us guiding us!!  The way we know that voice from our own is knowing what God's word says!  If we hear a voice inside of us telling us to be jealous..that is our own voice... because here we learn that the fruit of the Spirit is not jealous.  When we know that we know the difference.

 

What about our feelings? What if we feel jealous??  Then we act in love and our feelings will follow.    

 

 

6.14.13

Acts 9:33-34 There he (Peter) met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight year.  Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and roll up your sleeping mat!" And he was healed instantly.

 

My Thoughts

Today I was really struck by the words, "Jesus Christ heals you!" It made me acutely aware of all things coming from God. I know that...but I do so many things in  my day without thinking of it.  I do so many normal, everyday things without being aware. 

 

We are trying to get better at knowing that Robby's paycheck at the end of the week is a gift from God and being thankful for that.  We are trying to always be aware that when we fill our buggy with a weeks worth of groceries and pet food that that is a gift from God and being thankful.  I need to be aware that when I woke up today that it was from God the gift of another day and be thankful.  It is easy to see the big things as gift...like a complete healing.  What we need to become acutely aware of is the little things.  The everyday things that are all gifts. If we are aware of the everyday things being straight from God himself, we will never forget to be aware of the big things. 

 

When I get my mind on thankfulness I often think of how the first of any operation that saved somebody was to the world a miracle...like taking our our appendix... or the first heart cath.  Not only was the person saved aware of the miracle from God, the world was aware.  Now we see so many things as routine surgery and we are not even stirred by the lifesaving miracle that went on.  So often we don't even give the person credit for having had to have surgery. 

 

Every time a mother has a c-section, a person has their appendix or gallbladder taken out.  Every time a person takes a pill that keeps a disease under control we should be celebrating as excitedly as this man did that picked up their sleeping mat and walked!!  And every time that something, anything nice or good happens in our day, every time we get to go to work or receive our paycheck, every time that we put food on our plates we need to remember to be truly thankful for what God has given us.

 

Everything is a gift from God and we need to be humble enough to be thankful. Humble enough to know that fact. never so haughty that we think it is all our own doing.  But instead thankful, truly thankful to God for all Has given us whether it be our ability, our drive, our winning spirit or a smile from a stranger, a kind hello, a helping hand from somebody a hug that comes straight from God through a friend.  We need to remember that it is all straight from God Himself!

6.13.13

Proverbs 17:4 Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander.

My Thoughs
Wrongdoers listen to gossip.  Have you ever listened and been proud of yourself for not joining in?  We we are not even suppose to listen. We need to protect ourselves from gossip.  If we don't hear it we won't even be tempted to repeat it. 

6.12.13

Psalm 130:5 I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him.  I have put my hope in his word.

 

My Thoughts

Look... David put his hope in God's word.  How can we have hope if we don't know God's word??  There is so much of it to know.  God even tells us to renew our minds (Romans 12:2).  God's word has the answers...we just have to spend time in God's word. But, we can not wait until we are in such need to go searching, then we will just get confused!   If we read and learn God's word in our every day life then when we are in need of hope God's word comes to us and we find hope. 

 

I have said that I have hardly had anxiety since not long after I started reading my Bible daily.  Recently I had a bout with anxiety.  It took me so off guard that I felt panic and the thought of living with anxiety again.  Instead of focusing on what God's word tells me I zeroed in on being anxious and it got worse and worse... silly me let this go on for about 10 days!!!  Then I said, "I will not let the devil do this to me!!  God's word tells me that my hope is in Him.  God's word tells me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God's word tells me to be anxious for nothing but by prayer make my request be known to God."  So I started just sending up thank you's to God.  That is all I could do at first.  Then I kept telling myself what God's word tells me.  And within the hour my anxiety went from about a 10 to about a 4...by the next morning it was gone and has not come back!!  Why because I quit fearing my anxiety and I put my hope in God and what His word tells me. 

 

I beg of you, if you suffer any anxiety or panic, to pick up a Bible that you can easily read...and read it every day.  Don't give up..it took me about 3 months of reading daily...then my life started changing by leaps and bounds!!  

6.11.13

1 Kings 8:57-58 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us.  May he give us the desire to do his will in everything and to obey all the commands, decrees and regulations that he gave our ancestors.

 

My Thoughts

King Solomon was standing over his people giving them a blessing when he said this.  When I read it I thought of the story where a father was asking Jesus to heal  his child he also asked Jesus to help his unbelief (Mark 9). This verse teaches me that I can ask God to help me have the desire to do His will.  I just need the desire to desire to do God's will... I just need a mustard seed of want...then when I ask God will take care of the rest!!  There is so much we can do is we just ask God. 

6.10.13

Proverbs 16:33 We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall.  (Hebrew term for this is casting lots.)

 

My Thoughts

In the bible casting lots is mentioned 77 times... 70 times in the Old Testament and 7 in the new testament.  Casting lots was used to divide land fairly and it was used to determine God's will in a situation. They even casted lots or "rolled the dice" to determine who got Jesus' clothes at the cross. 

 

Here it tells us that we may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall. Another words we can go about making our plans...but God decided is they succeed or fail.  That tells me that even though I make decisions in my life, God is still in control.  It also tells me that no matter what somebody else plans for my life, God is still in control... how comforting. 

 

The Bible is full of "if and then" statements...if we do this, then God will do this for us.  In those statements God is telling us that in these situations I am giving you control over how the dice land.  If you do this thing that I ask of you I will bless you.  God is in control of how the dice land.    So we are never just lucky, what we see as luck is always the hand of God giving us a blessing.  Sometimes God just gives us a blessing... but sometimes God tells us... if you will do this your dice are going to land in your favor, I will make sure of it. 

 

We never need to go through our day thinking we are lucky or unlucky...we need to remember even when we take a gamble that God is in control. If our lives are going good we need to make sure and thank God for the blessing that He is giving us...if our lives are going bad we have an answer, it is written in the words of the Bible, we need to pick up that instruction book and find out how to make sure that God lands those dice on a favorable number.  When we do this God turns things around every time!

6.9.13

Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builder is wasted.  Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.

 

My Thoughts

Look at this verse, it says to me that protection from God starts at home.  When we have our houses in order God will protect our cities.  God needs to be a part of all that we do. When He is we will be blessed.  When God is a part of all that we do we are protected by God himself.  

 

I think back to what I learned in history class about people coming to America for freedom to worship God.  We grew fast and we grew strong because we loved God, because we put God first.  We became the most powerful land in all the world, because we loved God. Because we loved God, God protected us. 

 

Our country keep slipping a little bit here...and a little bit there... we are falling from grace a little bit at a time.  We do this by stepping outside the will of God in our homes and in our every day lives...and when we step outside the will of God we step outside the protection of God.  I read about slipping from grace just this weekend I thought it was a wonderful illustration of slipping from God's grace. Jane Hamilton character, Alice said in A Map of the Word, "I use to think if you fell from grace it was more likely than not the result of one stupendous error, or else an unfortunate accident.  I hadn't learned  that it can happen so gradually you don't lose your stomach or herself in the landing. You don't necessarily sense the motion.  I've found it takes at least two and generally three things to alter the course of your life: You slip around the truth once, and then again, and one more time, and there you are, feeling, for a moment, that it was sudden, your arrival at the bottom of the heap."   Although this was a quote from a book of fiction, not necessarily describing a fall from God's grace I could not help but think how much it can apply to our lives and God's grace.  We miss our Bible reading one day, then another, then another...and all of the sudden we are not reading our Bibles at all.  Or we miss Church one Sunday, then another...and after the third we just don't notice and we are not going to church anymore.  We forget to seek God's guidance about this matter, then that one...and another one...then we are out in the world trying to do it all on our own. 

 

I don't want my work to be wasted so I must seek after God when I begin it. I want to live under the protection of God always... so I must keep my house in God's will. As we do this collectively our nation will grow strong and stay protected by God.  I will be aware that I can slip from the Grace of God quietly, I will take notice of my slips...so that I will not find myself at the bottom of the heap wondering just how I got there!!  I will say to myself, I have slipped two days, I will not slip three!!!  The best possible place to live, the safest most loving and protected place to live is in God's grace.  I, we have the choice to live there, that choice is ours to make.  Lets don't slip from the grace of God, lets stay aware that each and every one of our actions are important to where we live.   

6.6.13

Proverbs 16:24 Kind words are like honey--sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.

 

My Thoughts

I love this!!!  It is so true.  Yesterday I shared my struggles and received so many kind words of encouragement.  Today I am feeling so much better.  The think I loved about the words that I received yesterday was that they didn't encourage me to "waller"...they encouraged me that God loves me and that with God I can do better, feel better!!! 

 

I am so thankful that God has put so many wonderful friends in my path!!  People that spread my life with sweetness.  People that help to heal my soul.  That put me in a place of health.  Thank you all so much!!!

 

I pray that I will be an encourager!! That my words will be kind...that I will be the healer of souls.  But I also pray that I will be strong and bold when I need to be.  That I will, in the face of anything, be able to stand firm and say, "I love God, I believe in God, Jesus is my savior and He died on the cross so I can live!!" 

6.5.13

Acts 3:7-8  Then Peter took the lame  man by the right hand and helped him up.  And as he did the man's feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk!  The, walking, leaping and praising God, he went into the temple with Peter and John.

 

My Thoughts

How often does God heal us today through modern medicine?  How often are we spared much pain because God sends us enough pain to know that we are sick and need surgery? How often does somebody we know have the opportunity to go to physical therapy where our bodies can be retrained to relearn what was lost during a sickness or an injury?  Yet do we leap and dance and praise God?  Do we thank him for the healing?  Do we give Him the credit?  So often we don't.

 

I imagine that the lame man's family were leaping with joy when he arrived home.  I bet he could not wait to tell them...but he went to the temple first to praise God.  Why he didn't even get to the temple before he started praising God. 

 

We are given so much. Yet we go about grumbling and complaining when we should be leaping and dancing!!  Each time we get well from a cold or the flu, each time we go into surgery and get to come home the same day!!  Think of that!!  When I was a little girl I was in the hospital for three days when I got my tonsils out...my daughter came home the very same day. When my step-sister had her gallbladder out she was in the hospital for days...a few short years later I went in that morning and was home by lunch time.  That alone was worth some dancing and praising!! We have knee replacements and hip replacements.  Stints for our arteries to keep us from having heart attacks and strokes. All of these wonderful things are miracles...wonderful miracles. Yet we forget to leap and dance and praise God.  Instead we come home complaining about any little thing that went wrong ... we didn't get a pillow when we wanted it...the nurse was having a bad day and didn't treat us just right.  We get so lost in our discomfort that we forget we have even had a miracle. We are so comfortable all the time that a bit of being uncomfortable makes us complain.  When it should be the other way around... our comfort should keep us leaping and praising!! 

 

We need to learn a lesson from this man...health is a wonderful thing...healing is a wonderful thing! Gifts from our wonderful Lord.  We don't need to ignore those wonderful gifts we need to get excited about them.  Treat them as wonderful as they are and go about leaping and praising God. 

6.4.13

Proverbs 16:20 Those who listen to instruction will prosper, those who trust in the Lord will be joyful.

My Thoughts

I am amazed over and over and over at how true this is!!  God is so good...His instructions are for our benefit.  Not to make us miserable of unhappy...not to give us rules to keep us busy.  But because He loves us so much that he is telling us...if you do this, this is what I am able bless you with.  I want to give you so much but I can't if it will harm you.  I can't because I love you and I can only do things for you that are loving.  I can only do things for you that you can handle safely.  So if you do these thing I will know that you are ready for these gifts.  It's like telling a child if you learn the rules of the road so you will be safe I will give you a car.  Because you love your child so much you can't give them a car unless they will be safe in that car. 

 

I love this part too...those who trust in the Lord will be joyful.  I learn it over and over and over again...I will be so glad when it sticks for me in every day in every situation. I can feel joy in any situation if I trust God completely with all my problems.  Why because I can give those situations to him and just live my life knowing that God will take care of me and any problem I have. 

 

As humans we tend to think that we can worry something into being better.  I even remember my mom getting mad at me as a pre-teen a few times when she though that I was not worrying enough about something.  I was actually taught to show concern that I must worry.  There is no way to be joyful when you are full of worry.  I am better at giving things over to God than I use to be...but I still have so far to go, so much to learn.  I need to at the least start talking to God when I minute I feel worry start to appear. If I would talk to God when through my worry my prayer life would increase for sure!!  Worry does not make things better of bring us joy. Trusting in God over worry does make things better and brings us great joy. I have got to learn to talk it out with God, not people. 

 

Today God's lesson to me was follow my instruction so that I can bless you and talk to me...give me your worries, trust me with them so that I can send down my joy on your life!!

6.3.13

Psalms 119:162 I rejoice in your word like one who discovers a great treasure.

My Thoughts

This verse really got me to thinking today.  About how God gives us freedom...and Satin loves to make us a prisoner. God's word is full of promises... and when we do what it says there are so many treasures we can add to our lives.  But we have to know what it says to do what it says. 

 

Satin on the other had loves to trap us with distractions.  If he can get us distracted from doing what God would have us do then he has at least succeeded in keeping us from growing roots in God.  As scary as dangerous people are...so many of us will never, ever become dangerous (thank God!).  But we don't have to become dangerous to loose out on God's promises, we just have to become distracted enough that we forget that God's word is a treasure. 

 

In my childhood I saw how destructive alcohol addiction can be. How it can draw a person in with the lure of relaxation...or a good time only to send people down a dark, lonely, destructive path.  I have also witnessed what drug addiction can do to a person...it can take a perfectly normal person from a "normal" (what ever that is) family and turn them into somebody that you would not even recognize if you saw them walking down the street.  Aging them way past their years, making them paranoid and self-destructive. I have stories of what gambling addiction can do to people.  All because people get lured in by something that feels "good" at the onset.

 

But so many of us are not effected by that kind of destruction either.  I avoid those things like the plague...I have seen what they do to destroy lives.  So Satin comes at me from other, simpler forms  of addiction.  Just to get me distracted.  Because if I am distracted I become ineffective.  If I am distracted I am not growing. If I am distracted I am not praying.  If I am distracted I am not praising. If I am distracted I am not thankful.  If I am distracted I am not noticing the thoughts Satin is putting in my head... so before I know it I have not fought those thoughts with God's word and they are running wild and destroying my peace, my sense of being loved. Slowly I start loosing my ability to get focused on God's promises.  When I get distracted I am not feeding my roots, I am destroying my roots. 

 

I have been distracted the past week... it really started about three weeks ago with a Lupus flair... I lost my focus a little bit.... I was too tired to do very much of anything except in little spurts of time.  When that happens I find myself with lots of time on my hands where I am doing nothing because I need rest so bad.  Lupus can be painful at times and it can also zap  you of every drop of energy over the simplest task.  So there I was doing a lot of sitting, tried of resting yet needing rest so bad.  And I did something I knew that I shouldn't, because I do have a bit of an addictive personality.  I played a game of Candy Crush.  A distraction from my physical pain it seemed. Harmless? Apparently not.  It has also distracted me from those moments of sending up short prayers, from being thankful and saying so out loud to God.  It has even got me so occupied in the morning, my Bible reading time, that I used up that time this past weekend and ran out of time to do my Bible reading.  And guess where I found myself this weekend? I find myself deep in anxiety... anxiety that brings me to tears. I wondered where that anxiety was coming from and this morning God gave me the answer... it is coming from my distraction!!  Thank goodness I had spent time growing my roots deep enough that I could still hear the Holy Spirit talking. Saying don't get so distracted you don't feel... because you never stop really stop feeling.  That feeling of not feeling is actually feeling empty.  Don't get empty remember where your treasure comes from.  Proverbs 16:17 reminded me this morning that wisdom is more precious that silver or gold...and David reminded me in Psalms that God's word is a reason to rejoice.  Candy Crush told me that finishing a level would be a reason to rejoice..then just put a newer harder level in my path.  Making me feel empty. 

 

I have been reminded this morning that I never walk away from God's word feeling empty.  If I need rest  I can find it in God's word.  We think we need distractions...but distractions do not ever bring about peace.  I have learned from the last week that distraction can lead to empty anxiety in the span of only one week. 

 

I am not picking on anybody that plays games...I am just sharing what I have discovered about me over the last week.  I hope to forever forward see distraction as Satins way in.  And I will tell him...I am taking the advice of a dear friend... any "distraction" that takes up more time that my Bible Study needs to be avoided.