I really enjoy finding prayers within the context of scripture. It’s like God is saying to me, “Pray this one.” So, I do and it always blesses my heart. May your heart be blessed with this prayer and may you indeed be filled with hope.
Author: vicklea
I love to read! I’m a retired teacher with a spouse of 45 years, three amazing children and nine wonderful grandchildren. I am blessed!
Submitting to God
That word “submitting” is not very popular today as it evokes memories of men “lording it over women” and women subserviently doing as they are told, when and how they are told. But submission is actually a protection provided to us by God, especially when it refers to submitting to God.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “submit” means to allow another person or group to have authority over you. You willingly give permission to God to have authority over you. That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to me, especially since God made me and knows exactly what I need and exactly when I need it. When I am submitted to God, then I have peace. Why? Because peace follows naturally once I know that all that I am and ever will be is in the loving hands of the One who knows me best. And why will things go well with me? Does that mean nothing bad will ever happen? I really wish the latter were true, but life happens every day when we are making other plans. We just have to be willing to learn from the things that we consider bad and move on. I have found that in the moment of dealing with a crisis, everything looks really overwhelming. But when the crisis is past, I can look back and see that they really weren’t so bad. Frequently, I can see God’s hand at work in these circumstances, not that He caused them, but that He works with me in them. He is constantly by my side, helping me to be the one He wants me to be instead of the one that I insist I want to be. For example, we just got home last night from a week of visiting our youngest son and his family. Today, I am just finishing four loads of laundry and then I have to go to the laundromat because our dryer is broken. The parts are coming in sometime next week, but in the meantime, I am inconvenienced by having to go about half an hour away and wait for the clothes to dry before coming home again. Crisis? Not really…but a definite “life happens” moment. Going to the laundromat is not my idea of fun times, but I expect that God can use that time with me to reach my willful heart as well as use me to reach out to others at the laundromat. Perspective…it’s all about perspective. And being willing to submit.
Broken from the Inside
This is an eye-opening devotional. We can get value from brokenness if we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work inside of us.
ettingerwriting.wordpress.com/2023/08/29/judaism-the-holocaust-and-the-great-christian-enigma/
Please go to the original post and follow David. And while you’re there, be sure to answer his final question.
Something New
Don’t be surprised when you see new things happening in your world because God promised that it would in His Word. Something new to me means something unexpected, perhaps miraculous, but definitely something you will recognize as from God. I think that sometimes we miss the new things that God is doing because we are so busy looking for Him to change the old things in a way that we have requested, exactly the way we want Him to answer a prayer. Fortunately for us, God is not limited by how we ask Him to do things and He ends up answering our prayers in new and imaginative ways that we could never think of with our finite minds. God is good…all the time! And He surprises me with His new things most of the time! When was the last time that God surprised you?
Seeking
According to The Cambridge Dictionary, seek means “to try to find or get something, particularly something that is not a physical object.” https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/seek
In order to find God’s will for your life, you have to look for it, not just proclaim that you know it and you’re already following it. When you sincerely try to find His will for you, then He will show you the path that you should be taking. Seeking God’s will first before taking a path is the way to do things to avoid a lot of heartache and trouble. You will still have trouble because we live in a fallen world, but at least you will know that you are on the path that God has led you to and He is walking beside you on it. God walks with us regardless of our choices to follow our own will or His, but we should know that His will is what is best for us and in the end will bring us the greatest joy. Seek and follow.
Lost Sheep
Have you ever seen a real sheep wandering around and making the “Baa” sound that we sing about from nursery rhymes? I haven’t seen one often, but I did see a couple when I visited Iceland many years ago. The sheep are all free range and there are laws against harming them. So, they wander freely, get away from their home and “baa” incessantly as they try to find their way back to something familiar. I think that we can learn a lot from sheep and so did the prophet Jeremiah.
God’s people are compared to lost sheep, but the sheep are not all lost because of wandering away. Their shepherds, the ones responsible for leading them, has led them to the wrong place and then set them loose there. Thus, they are completely lost and can’t find their way home again. Unlike the nation of Iceland in which sheep are protected, the only protection we have against false leaders is God. However, we are only protected as long as we stay in His Word, know what it says and that way we can recognize false leaders and the trails they want to lead us on. Some “shepherds” would have us believe that the Bible doesn’t mean what it says. False! They want us to think that there are many ways to get to Heaven, and one way is as good as another. False! These false “shepherds” want us to call evil good and good evil. False! We don’t recognize the falsehoods unless we know what the truth says, and the truth can only be found in the Holy Bible.
My advice to my readers who are followers of Christ is to read, study, memorize, hold fast to God’s Word. Surely the fake leaders are everywhere these days, so you have to be aware of that in order to avoid being fooled. It’s like the bank tellers who are trained to spot counterfeit money. They know the real thing because that’s what they spend time with! Jesus is the real thing, the ONLY way to Heaven, the One who leads us on the pathway to being more like Him and the One who calls out evil and expects us to do likewise. Don’t be fooled by those who want you to take an “easier road” because that way may lead to being lost and ultimately to eternal destruction. Keep following Jesus no matter how many wolves in sheep’s clothing you encounter. In the end, you will not be a lost sheep but the found one!
An Earthly Example Of An Eternal Principle
By Michael Youssef Aug 4, 2023 We can learn to be shrewd with our time, talent, and treasure in preparation for an eternal future. A company owner …
An Earthly Example Of An Eternal Principle
Your Identity
I don’t know about you, but I was beyond excited on the day that I first got my driver’s license. Like Pinocchio, I felt like a real person, with a real identity card for the first time. As the years progressed, my photo aged with me, but the identity stayed the same.
Fortunately, we don’t need to renew our ID card with God…we accept His free gift of salvation, our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and we are headed to Heaven. At least, that is the way I have always thought of it. But God has been talking to me lately through His Word about bearing fruit for Him, being a real disciple instead of just a card-carrying imposter.
I want to do all I can whenever I can to further God’s kingdom, just because I don’t want others to experience His final judgment and wrath. So, my new ID is the photo above. What does your ID look like?
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 