King First and Forever

We all know we are not to worship idols. Leviticus 26:1 repeats the commandment, “You shall not make idols for yourselves…for I am the Lord your God. When Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees in Matthew 22 concerning the greatest commandment He said the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul.

We are to be mindful we can literally turn anything into an idol--anything that possesses our minds--things with which we are obsessed or preoccupied are idols for us. Evaluate your priorities; set them in proper order and give the Lord His due for He is King first and forever.

Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name;
Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood,
And the LORD sits as King forever. Psalm 29: 2, 10

Great is thy faithfulness!

I am a huge fan of the Worship/Praise genre of music; however, I love the old hymns as well. One such hymn is “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, which has been stuck in my head all day. I love the refrain, “all I have needed thy hand hath provided; great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”

How can you not love that! We truly serve a great God who is faithful to provide us with all our needs. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV) that we are not to worry:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Our Lord knows what we need and has said He will provide it. What more do we need? Put your trust in Him today. 1 Peter 5:7, reminds us, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

God Bless!

Faith in Action

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." Mark 5:25-35 (NIV)

I love this story of faith in action. This woman had great faith but she did not want to call attention to herself and she did not want to bother the Teacher. She had confidence in His ability to heal her; she only needed to reach out and touch the hem of His garment. She knew according to the custom of her people she was considered unclean; she felt unworthy; she was desperate; but she had faith in the healing power of Jesus Christ. She did not sit around and ring her hands in despair; she took action based on her faith. And the response of Jesus? “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Praise God! God bless you!

How May I Serve You?

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. Psalm 143:10 (NIV)

Some of us seem destined for the spotlight while others hope to remain in the shadows. I tend to be one of those individuals. My talents, skills, and abilities happen to be in the area of support. I’d rather write than speak; I’d rather organize and implement than maintain and follow-up.

I can’t speak for spotlight people, or other support people for that matter, but I have finally admitted to myself I may favor the area of support because these roles help to satisfy a need in me for a certain level of control over a situation. 

When I worked, I was considered a valuable employee because of my skills. Employers love employees who can organize, come up with a workable plan and implement it. Employers love a person who can look at a plan from different angles, evaluate it for weaknesses and then refine the plan in order to make it stronger and more effective.

God, however, is the Master Planner and calls for total dependence upon Him. He calls upon us to let go of our own plans, relinquish all our control and trust Him completely. He tells us not to worry about the future; He is the Supreme Architect; the Creator and He alone is in control not only of the present, but also the past and the future.

God asks that we completely yield ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. He asks that we deny ourselves daily and take up our crosses and follow Him. He asks for obedience; total obedience; immediate obedience. If we are obedient, God is faithful to He guide us and make us into the person He intends us to be. Amen!

God bless you as you journey daily in faith and obedience to the Father!

God is speaking, are you listening?

God uses the Holy Spirit to speak to us daily, sometimes through others, sometimes through passing thoughts, sometimes through song, through the written word, or through various situations we encounter in everyday life. It is up to us to be still and listen for that quiet voice. Jesus tells us:

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!” Luke 12:27-28 (NIV)

We are invited to cast all our cares upon Him; the One who cares for us. He calls us to be faithful to His word; to trust Him for ALL our needs. Relinquishing control can be difficult, but through the unending grace of God we are able to do this with the knowledge that we are objects of His divine and infinite love. AMEN!

God bless you!

Wait I Say

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2 Peter 3:8

It seems we are always in a hurry…to go somewhere, to do something…or worse yet, waiting on someone else to go somewhere or do something. Some of us are more inept than others when it comes to the task of waiting. I must admit waiting is not one of my great talents.

So, for whom are we waiting; why should we wait; and for what is it that we are waiting? To find the answers to these questions, we have to look no further than David’s writing in the book of Psalm; for he knew well the value of waiting on the Lord.

Psalm 37:34 tells us, “Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you…” and previously in the same chapter, verse 9; “But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.”

David tells us if we wait on the Lord and keep His way we will be rewarded. David also tells us by waiting on the Lord we receive truth, help, instruction, strength, hope, protection; we will be preserved with integrity and uprightness; and that salvation is of the Lord:

Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:5

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You. Psalm 25:21

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! Psalm 27:14

Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. Psalm 33:20

And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Psalm 39:7

I will wait for You, O You his Strength; For God is my defense. Psalm 59:9

Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1

It is important, however, to remember during the times we wait upon the Lord, we are not to be idle, for Jesus reminds us in Luke 10:2, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few”.

God Bless!

Growth, Refinement, and Purification

For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. Psalm 66:10

The process of spiritual growth and transformation is not a one-time event but a continuing process of refinement and purification. Only by surrendering to the leadership of the Holy Spirit can we remain focused on the path ahead. Christian growth should always move forward even though the process can be painful. In his book, Forgotten God, Francis Chan writes,

“The Holy Spirit of God will mold you into the person you were made to be. This often incredibly painful process strips you of selfishness, pride, and fear. The Holy Spirit does not seek to hurt us, but He does seek to make us Christ-like, and this can be painful.” Chan says, “…you have to release your grip of control on your life and decide to be led, come what may.”

While there may well be growing pains to endure, I think you’ll find, the more you know of the Holy Spirit, the more you’ll want to know; the more you yield yourself to be filled and led by the Holy Spirit, the more you’ll want to be filled and led by the Holy Spirit.

God Bless!