I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
God, the One True God, knows exactly who He is and what He does on a daily basis. Sometimes we struggle to find out just who we are and what our purpose on earth is. God had no such problem.
In fact, when He passed before Moses, God called out who He is. He is the Lord! He is the God of compassion and mercy! He is slow to anger and filled with love that never fails and faithfulness to those He created. I am awed at God’s not only passing in front of Moses but also that He revealed Himself to Moses so clearly. And I am thankful to have His Word through which He reveals Himself to me. His promises are there always ready for us to seek and find. This is one that I unexpectedly found during my study of the Old Testament earlier this week. It’s a revelation of God’s character, but it is also a promise that He will show who He is to each of us by the promises that He keeps. The verse clearly says, “I am”, not I was or I want to be or I plan to be. He says “I am” and He is…compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, loving and faithful. God knows who He is and is training us to be more like Him. I praise Him for His patient perseverance with me.
May your day be blessed with the knowledge that God knows exactly who He is and He also knows exactly who He made you to be,too!
These days it seems like the world just constantly wants a piece of me, or at least a piece of my mind. With various medical tests and a cardiac monitor that I have to wear 24/7 for thirty days, I don’t seem to have a lot of time to actually pull away from the chaos and just be. That’s what I need most, to just be with the Lord, telling Him my thoughts, fears and praising Him for all He has done. So, this morning, in my devotional time, God has given me extra time alone with Him so that I have spend time in the quiet place that I need.
Even Jesus needed to withdraw from the demands of life sometimes. Once His reputation for healing people spread throughout the land, there were crowds everywhere He went, pressing in on Him and just wanting to be close to Him. I don’t pretend to know what Jesus was going through, but I do know that His intention was to go to a quiet place away from all of the people. But when He got there, the people had found out where He was headed and met them there. I can honestly say that if that were me, I would have been outraged that I could not find a moment’s peace. But you know what Jesus did? He showed compassion and taught right there, even providing for the people’s hunger by multiplying five loaves and two fish. Jesus did not say, “This is my time! Now go away and come back after I am finished having some peace and quiet.” No, that is what I would have done and probably you would have done the same, too. Jesus needed quiet time just as much if not more than we do, but He put the needs of others over His own. In doing so, He set the example for us.
So, when I am feeling pressured by too many people wanting time from me, I will come back to the Bible and remember that Jesus gave the people time that they needed from Him. He sacrificed everything…family, a home and even His precious time with His Father. Why would He do that? Love, just love. I think He spent plenty of quiet time with the Father in the late night or early morning hours when there was no crowd. I also think that the Father spoke with Him constantly, guiding and directing Him and showing Him the love that only a Father can have for His only Son. Quiet time? Yes, we all crave it. And it is important. But so is meeting the needs of others and putting them above ourselves and our own desires. Jesus showed the way.
I have had my quiet time this morning and I am ready to face the challenges of a new day. We are taking a trip to the mountains of Virginia where we will meet our daughter and her daughters. Harry and I get to care for the “littles” while Hope takes the older girls to tour the local Christian college and to the meetings for prospective students. Will there be a lot of quiet time there? Probably not. But God can still speak to me if I take time to listen. That is a skill that Jesus had mastered…He listened to the Father and then followed through with what the Father wanted Him to accomplish. I want to be like Jesus, don’t you.
May your day be blessed with peace in the chaos and quiet listening to the Father speak to your heart.
One of the things that I most enjoy doing is going on short trips, enjoying my time in a new place and then returning home to all that is safe and familiar. I like visiting others, but I really like being at home, with my comforting things all around me. To put that in a spiritual perspective, God cries out to us constantly to return to Him. There are so many who wander from place to place seeking some kind of peace and acceptance from the world. But the only real peace and acceptance comes from our Father who has created us and knows what is best for us.
God wants to show us mercy and compassion. His desire is not to punish us. I have been asked by non-Christians how a loving God could send people to hell. My answer is always the same. He did not create hell for people. It was created for Satan and his demons. But if man chooses to go the way of sin and turns away from God, refusing to repent, then God has no choice but to allow them to go to hell. It is man’s choice, not God’s. In the book of Joel, God is crying out for His people, all those whom He has created, to repent and turn to Him, to change their hearts. God’s cry is not one of vengeance or waiting for us to mess up so He can punish us. His cry is a heartfelt one of sincerely desiring us to change so that we don’t have to suffer eternal punishment and separation from Him. God provided a way to be with Him always through His Son Jesus Christ, but it up to us to return to God. Just as we find comfort when we are among our familiar things at home, we can find comfort in the arms of our Heavenly Father who made a way for us to return to Him.
May you have a blessed and peaceful Ash Wednesday as you ponder the sacrifice of the Lord and the eternity with Him that is granted by His sacrifice. If you need to do so, may you return to God!
What does it look like to “stand your ground’? I consulted the online dictionary and this is what I found at http://www.idioms.freedictionary.com
Hmm. This made me thing about when I anticipate attacks. And the answer is daily. We have to always be ready to be attacked by Satan and others who do his bidding because they want more power than God. The second part of the definition is equally important: to refuse to compromise. In a world where we are mocked for standing for the truth of God’s Word, we need to learn to stand out ground and not compromise on what God has written. God said it. I believe it. That settles it.
So, in a world that has gone crazy trying to outdo one another in being “open-minded” and “tolerant” so that sin is not only tolerated but encouraged, how do we as individuals stand our ground? First, we put on the belt of truth, the truth that is found in God’s Word. And our body armor is the best that is available anywhere. It is God’s own righteousness that His Son died to make available to each of us. When we stand our ground, we are not standing alone because God is right there with us, providing the words to speak from His Word and the protection we need from His righteousness.
May you be blessed with the knowledge that God has already equipped you to “stand your ground”!
Many of us Christians want to know when and how Jesus will return. He didn’t tell us the time or the date. In fact, He said that only the Father knows it. But He did tell us that he is getting everything ready for us.
Once everything is ready, whatever that may look like but I am sure that it will be glorious beyond our imagination, Jesus will return and bring us to be with Him.
Meanwhile, what are we to do. Jesus told us to “go and preach” and Paul repeated this admonition to his student Timothy.
We are to always be prepared to preach, to correct those in error and to encourage people with GOOD teaching. That good teaching comes directly from the Word of God. Thus, we have a job to do to get everyone ready here on earth while Jesus gets everything ready for us in Heaven. We are all playing a part in bringing God’s kingdom on earth to pass. No matter how small our role may be, God calls us to fulfill that purpose, to work until we are called home to be with Him for eternity.
May your day be blessed with fruitful encouragement and teaching of others!
I am sure that if you are like me, you spend a lot of time talking to God, telling Him your problems and challenges and then waiting for an answer from Him. Sometimes, in fact a lot of times, I get impatient waiting for the answer and try to help God out. He doesn’t need my help. He just needs me to believe and to wait.
This verse says WHEN they call on Him, not if we call on Him. The expectation from God is that we will call on Him and His reply is that He will answer. He will be with us and will rescue us. I think the honor part comes in when others see that we trusted in God and He answered. All glory goes to the Father!
It is important that before we go before the throne of God with our petitions, we know what His will is. So, how do we do that? We have to immerse ourselves in His Word in order to discover what His will is. We have to have a relationship with Him in which we talk to Him daily and wait for Him to speak to us. Instead of a one-sided wish list that we present rapidly just before we get on with the busyness of our day, we need to take time to just sit in His presence and hear Him clearly. God wants a relationship with each of us, not a bunch of whiners who treat Him as though He is the genie in a bottle who will grant all of our wishes. We need to be aware of how our prayers will affect others and know that God is not just hearing our petitions but also those of millions of others (hopefully) and He has to take into account everyone all at the same time. My finite mind cannot even conceive of such power but God has it whether I can understand it or not, and He answers prayers according to His will. That thought brings me back to the first part of this paragraph. We discover God’s will be spending time with Him and with His Word.
May your prayers be answered according to God’s will and may you rest in faith and contentment knowing that God is working out things that are best for you and for the rest of His Creation.
By the time you get to Numbers 13 in your study of the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness, you should understand that the hearts of many of the people were still set on selfishness instead of on the Lord. God had saved them from slavery in Egypt, given them food to eat, kept them safe and still they whined and complained. So it is no surprise that when the representatives from each tribe were sent to do reconnaissance and bring back a report of what Canaan was like, most of the spies were negative and reported that there was no way that the Israelites could be victorious. Yes, the land was good and the food there was plentiful, but the enemy were giants. Thus, they were reluctant to go forward. Only Caleb from the tribe of Judah and Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim encouraged the people to continue forward, as lead by the Lord.
Caleb’s positive attitude did not come because he was confident in his own ability or in the ability of the warriors with Israel. Rather, he was confident in the might of the Lord. His certainty was strongly rooted in his faith in God. I want to be a Caleb in a land of naysayers who all want to stay right where they are, comfortably ensconced in a wilderness while God provides food, shelter, and clothing that never wears out. There’s nothing wrong with that, right? Of course, there is something wrong with that! The Israelites did not wander for forty years in the wilderness just to be content staying there! They were sent to occupy the Promised Land and it was ready for them to march in and take, but because of the unbelief and reluctance of some of the leaders, they had to stay in the wilderness for more years. Of those leaders, only Caleb and Joshua got to go into Canaan.
Sometimes life seems like a wilderness journey, but we get comfortable with those circumstances and although we don’t like them too well, we don’t want change to happen because we don’t know what the outcome of the change will be. Either we trust God to take us out of the wilderness into the new place that He has promised us or we don’t. Either we are a Caleb who sees God taking care of things for us or we stay where we are, moaning over the circumstances but reluctant to try to change them. Again, I want to be a Caleb. I don’t want to be stuck in the wilderness, moaning and whining and refusing to move forward. I don’t want God to leave me there because of my unbelief. Sometimes I have to take the time to pray for help with my unbelief and a new infusion of faith. Keeping records of past answers to prayer helps restore me and get me ready to move on. Do you want to move on with God or stay comfortably where you are, even though that is not God’s best for you? I know what my choice is and I hope that you are aware of the repercussions to making the wrong choice.
May the Lord bless you with the desire to want to be a Caleb in the middle of the wilderness of life and grant you the courage to move forward with Him. Not ahead of Him, not behind Him, but with Him as your guide into His very best for you!
The promise that God will rescue us is one that I have held on to through many years of trials and struggles. I never know what God’s rescue will look like or when it will happen, but since He promises it, I believe it. His rescue is a fact that is settled in my heart. Sometimes, I get impatient and just want God to move quickly on my behalf, but when I look back on the circumstances, I realize that His timing is always perfect, to give me and others the most benefit from His actions. God is never late but always right on time.
The promise that God’s Word does not fail goes along with the verse about His rescuing us because first we need to believe in the infallibility of His Word before we can believe in His promises to us. God said it…I believe it…thus ends the matter in my heart. Sometimes doubts try to creep in, insidiously sneaking into my mind when I least expect them. The answer is to reply with the promises of God’s Word and the steadfast belief that His Word will never fail. Never. Not once.
May you be blessed today with the constant reassurance of God’s unfailing love and His promise to rescue you and protect you.
Notice that the Scripture does not say that the righteous will not have troubles, but that the Lord will rescue us every time we do have troubles. Every time! That is quite a promise and one of my new favorite verses.
My husband and I express our love for each other in the little things that we do daily for each other. On Valentine’s Day, we share candy that we have bought for each other and spend time watching a movie together. I hope that you know how loved you are today by a Father in Heaven who sent His Son as His valentine to you!
May your day be blessed with His love in your heart and may you share it with those who are special to you!
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 