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Archive for the ‘Biblical’ Category

In a Psalm verse

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , , , , on October 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Love the LORD, all you his saints!
  The LORD preserves the faithful
  but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
  all you who wait for the LORD!
(Psalm 31:23-24 ESV)

We have only two choices. Act on our own, or wait upon the Lord’s timing.  We can have the faith that God will keep His promise or strike out on our own to usher it along.

Abraham made that mistake with Hagar, his wife’s maidservant. He believed God’s promise that he would be a father of a great nation one day. But when Sarah, his wife, didn’t conceive in her old age, he thought he had to get the ball rolling.The result is he became the father of two nations and they have been at war ever since.

Now, I am not saying we sit on our hands and do nothing. Quite the contrary. We keep doing what God has called us to do, trusting that, in His perfect timing, the fruits of our labor will be revealed. God’s ways are often more like a crock pot than a microwave.

In this instant-result orientated world, that even more than ever it takes three things, as the psalmist says –

  • Swallowing our pride
  • Being strong in our faith
  • Having the courage to keep on keeping on

Wait for it. Keep believing – but keep at the task.

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In NOT Being a Worry Wort

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , on October 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

I found God today in a post of Truth Media’s Christian Women Today. I have been writing for them for years, but so do some very God-given talented women, and men. Today Kristi hit the nail on the head and it pierced my heart.  She stated that when we worry, it is stating our problems are too small for God. Wow. That put’s it into perspective, does it not?

You can read her whole devo by clicking here http://powertochange.com/blogposts/2012/10/22/worry-the-final-frontier/

One verse I always come back to, and have throughout my life, is Matthew 6:25 – Be ye not anxious about your life, what ye shall eat, or drink or about your body what ye put on.  We hear that worry will not add another day to our lives. In fact medical science shows it takes them away.

Worry stagnates us in a pool of inaction. We cannot move forward. It is similar to cud that a cow chews – over and over and over. It keep returning. The more we mouth it the bigger it seems to grow until it begins to gag us.  It can consume our moment, our day and our lives if we let it.

The opposite of worry is faith-filled peace. That is when we grasp a smidgen of an idea of how majestic our God really is. He is bigger than our problems. He is mightier than whatever evil is present. He is more aware of the present and future that we can ever be. It is as if He has the view from Mount Everest and us from an anthill.

Yet we all worry, don’t we? Perhaps that is why there are so many Biblical references to not worrying. What is your favorite “don’t worry ” verse?

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In Driving Advice

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , on October 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Last night at our Toastmasters meeting, a friend confessed how driving in the construction zones makes her jittery.

Those overbearing concrete barriers appear to narrow down the lane. She said she prays all the way through them, with her eyes open of course.

Another member said, “Here’s a tip. Keep your eyes straight ahead and fixed on an object in front of you. Don’t look at the barriers. If you do, you might swerve into them.”

 

The proverbial light bulb clicked on. Literally. His advice sounded like a verse in Proverbs. So I called up my online concordance. Yep, there it was.

Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Proverbs 4:25

Both were right. When we feel life is narrowing in and there is danger, temptation, or old destructive habits on both sides looming up like concrete – cold, unforgiving and forbearing – then we need to do three things:

Pray (with our eyes open).

Look straight ahead and fix our eyes on the goal – Jesus.

Keep moving, even if it is at a snail’s pace. Don’t let fear or anxiety stop us dead in our tracks.

Be aware of what is around us, just don’t concentrate on it.  If we let our glance veer to the left or right, our minds and bodies may go that way as well.  Result – we will crash. We know what is there, we don’t need to dwell on it. Instead, fix our eyes on things that are above. Seek Jesus up ahead, guiding us down the straight and narrow path. He has already prepared our path.

Trust in that and keep moving towards His light, straight into His waiting arms.

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In the Unseen

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on September 27, 2012| 1 Comment »

I was in a scene from an old black and white movie, or so it seemed. The kind where you are walking in a thick mist by the sea docks. All you can hear is the sound of your own footsteps on the planks and the methodical wail of the fog horn somewhere in the distance. The grayish, moist fingers stretch to envelop everything around you. Do you move on through the thick soup carefully placing one foot in front of the other as you tap to make sure the path is solid? Do you stand still and hope this opaque veil will lift, or wait for God to grab your hand and lead you through it? Lord, give me a signal, a flash of a torch up ahead to let me know if I am going in the right direction.

I choose to trust – a purposeful act of believing that He is here watching over me. Yet at the same time somehow, because He is not temporal as I am,  My Lord is also outside the fog handling whatever it is I am not yet privileged to detect with my faith eyes.  Perhaps, I must re-train my eyes to see only Him, and not what I having been choosing to see.

Is that a faint glimmer of the Light of the World through the mist up ahead, beckoning? I ease towards it with renewed hope. I am on the right path after all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen
is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. . . For we walk by faith, not be sight. 2 Corinthians 4:18, 5:7

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In My Smart Phone

Posted in Biblical, Christian, tagged , , , on September 25, 2012| 1 Comment »

I have an app on my smart phone that pops up a Bible verse every morning. It amazes me how often it is “where I find God” because the verse, probably chosen months ago, seems to be His personal whisper that day.

A few days ago, when I was in Kleenex-twisting-between-my-fingers prayer about my finances and if I am really to make my living writing for Him, this popped up –

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will  counsel you with my eyes upon you.” Psalm 32:8

I had to grab more Kleenex.

Now, after an amazing directional time at the ACFW conference,  my head is still spinning with answers. Like so many brass rings on a merry-go-round, I am not sure which to reach out and try to grab, and in doing so, should I drop what I have in my hand already? And am I meant to grab it now, or wait for a few more rotations on this ride?

So, of course He spoke to me again –

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning, and the patient spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Ecclesiastes 7:8

Yes, Sir.

 

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Comfort and Joy

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , on September 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday another lady and I, who are on the women’s ministry board for our denomination, drove about two hours south to support a small church in our jurisdiction. They were having a fall bazaar. It was a good chance to meet some of the ladies and personally invite them to the function we were having for all the women in a month’s time.

One lady, who was somewhat elderly, had a booth of beautifully handmade beaded jewelry. She explained how learning to do beadwork had kept her busy since her mother passed away last year. She’d been her mother’s caregiver for over 6 years. I saw the deep pain in her eyes, but I also saw God’s comfort.  I could tell He had been there with her, through her church, her friends and in this new endeavor. Her faith was a balm for her sorrow. Hovering between us as we talked was the Holy Spirit wrapping her in a love that will never leave her.  It made me realize anew how He’s there for me, and you, and all of us who believe, giving purpose to our times of sorrow and  emptiness.

I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. Jeremiah 31:13b

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Where Did You See God Today?

Posted in Biblical, Life Experiences, Nature, tagged , , on September 5, 2012| 1 Comment »

I believe God reveals Himself in many ways –

through His Word,

a hymn,

nature,

something out of the ordinary,

or in the daily routine when something catches our eye. It may be a squirrel freely dancing across the park, a mother hugging a child, an old woman with an age of wisdom in her eyes, or an ant dragging a leaf three times its size.

Little things that make us suck in our breath and whisper  – OH! Suddenly, warmth like a bath towel fresh from the dryer envelops us. We can almost feel His Smile.

It is as if God placed that event there just for us like a tap on our shoulder to remind us He is there and He cares. . .more than we can ever know. And perhaps, it is the answer our souls were seeking  – even the one we had  yet to verbalize in prayer.

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