Category: Scripture

From the Holy Bible

Holding Onto Hope

On By vickleaIn Scripture5 Comments

I don’t get on scary rides at theme parks very often, but I have a couple of times, once when I was assured that it was a “mild rollercoaster.” Well, mild is not the word I would have used as the ride slung me from one side of the seat to another as I tightly grasped the bar in front of me. My hope was that the bar would hold me in my seat so that I didn’t tumble out into an unknown abyss.

Isn’t that what our hope in the Lord is all about? We hold tightly onto the hope that we have in Him, the sure knowledge that He is bigger than all our problems and that He will be with us through everything we face?

God is always faithful and always keeps His promises. We can count on Him not to move away from us and leave us hanging over the challenges that life tosses at us.

But there is another reason to hold onto hope. Others are watching us and how we react when the storms of life assail us. Do we behave like those around us, kicking and screaming about the unfairness of life? Or do we quietly pray and ask for God’s help to get through the situation or to remove it, whatever is best for us in the long run?

I want others to be glad to see me because they know that I put my hope in the Lord. How do they know that unless I have shown them through the faith that I live out daily? We are a walking testimony, either showing others the faith and hope that God has instilled in us or the fear and anger that man daily inputs into our lives. I choose faith and hope and pray that each of you does the same, knowing that others are always watching.

I screamed on the roller coaster and I even have a photo record of my terror. What would it be like if each time I face a new test in life, a photographer were to capture my reactions? That is certainly food for thought, isn’t it? May my reactions be consistently Godly, representing the Christ whom I serve!

Have a blessed day as you hope in the Lord and give those around you reason to rejoice!

A Day to Anticipate

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Almost everyone looks forward to certain days of the year: birthdays, Christmas, anniversary, etc. My favorite holiday has always been Easter. When I was a child, it was because that was the day I finally got to wear the special outfit that mama had gotten me for just that day. And, even better, we all went to church together! It was the only day of the year that my family went to church as a group, so I was happy to introduce them to the friends I had made going to church with my neighbor. Nowadays, there is a day that I am anticipating more than any other. It’s described in Scripture like this:

Only God knows when Jesus will return and the whole earth will be changed so that there is no more darkness or night. Won’t that be marvelous? In the meantime, knowing that the day is coming, it is imperative that we share the Gospel message with as many as we can.

We are studying the Book of Revelation in our Wednesday night Bible study and let me just say that I am excited about the end to come but also frightened for those in my family and my friends who have not yet come to the Lord. Waiting too long is not an option because we don’t know the hour when He will return, so we must always be ready. We also, as His ambassadors on earth, need to take as many people to the cross with us as possible. Unfortunately, we can’t drag them there; they have to go willingly, kneel at the cross and confess their sins to the Only One who can forgive them. Nevertheless, we are called to share, to sow those seeds and pray that some fall on ground that is ready to accept the truth of His Word.

Yes, I am excited about Jesus’s return and I know that the day is coming when there will be no more night, no more sin and darkness. But I am also excited about each new day that God has given me on earth to share His story and all He has done for me. Not being a respecter of persons, He can and will do the same for others. His salvation is for everyone, not just those of us who are anticipating the time of His reign. Since I believe the time is short, it is like a burning in my soul to tell as many as I can as often as I can and as much as I can about Jesus and how He came, He lived as man, He died, He forgives and they can live forever because He was willing to lay down His life for them. It is His great love that compels me to tell others, and I hope that you feel compelled as well.

Have a blessed day and may you reach out to others with the message of eternal life today!

Persistent Prayer

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

We rejoice before the answer from God comes because we have hope that He will answer in His good timing as we persistently pray. But what does “persistent” mean? According to the online thesaurus, it means ceaseless, continuous and enduring. To me that means that we start praying in the morning and keep that line open to God all day long. Even in the night hours when I am restless, I have only to speak His name to know that He is right there with me, already listening for my call.

Well, what should we be praying for? Here’s a Scriptural answer to that question:

We need to be praying for all believers everywhere. If you think you can pray quick prayers and cover everyone everywhere who needs prayer, then I would say that you have barely touched the surface of needed prayers. It is when we are listening to God speak to our hearts, though, that He tells us for whom we need to pray and how to pray for them. There are times when I am praying that God will bring someone to my mind and I won’t know how to pray for them, but I know without a doubt that God knows their need and has brought them to my mind so that I could bring them before His throne in prayer. I don’t know, but God always knows and is ready to hear and answer.

Have you ever picked up the phone and been about to call someone when it rings in your hand and it is that person calling you? It’s a really strange feeling that the two of you were thinking about each other at the same time. Now, put that into God’s perspective. He is always reaching out to us to speak to us. We just have to be ready to listen. Prayer is more than telling God a “wish list” of things that we want Him to do for us. It is telling Him what is on our hearts and asking that He speak His will into our lives and into the lives of those for whom we are interceding.

God starts sending the answer to us before we even call on Him. He is always ready to listen. Unlike our friends or our spouses, His entire attention is devoted to listening to each of us. God loves us and wants us to call Him, much as a doting Father wants to hear from His distant children. We are denying ourselves a close relationship with God when we neglect prayer since that is how we communicate with Him and how He communicates with us. How long can a relationship last without any communication between the parties involved? I hope that you will take time to talk to God today, about your frustrations, your victories, your fears, your worries. Talk to Him honestly about whatever comes to your mind because whatever it is, He already knows and wants to answer. Some say that it is not necessary to pray because God already knows what we need and will answer when He chooses. I, however, choose to believe that it is not for God that I am praying. It is to build my own faith and to establish a firm relationship with the only One who has all of the answers. Yes, God can answer without my prayer, but I want to be an active participant in this faith journey, so I pray.

Starting your day with prayer means starting it in tune with the One who knows your heart and wants to touch you with His mercy and grace throughout the day. May your day be blessed with persistent prayer!

Crossing the Street

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

I am sure that you remember being a child and having the adult with you grab your hand at each intersection of the road, carefully taking you safely to the other side of the road. I still do this for my younger grandchildren. Even in crowded parking lots, I am quick to grab a hand in the hope that I can keep them safe from the cars that are coming from all directions.

Did you know that sin comes at us from all directions? These days, it is prevalent wherever we look. If we look in the newspaper, there it is! Listen to the radio or television, there it is! So how do we navigate to the other side safely?

God takes our hand, just as we take the hands of those we love in order to safeguard them. But just as we walk carefully and lovingly to the other side, so does God. He doesn’t grab our hand forcefully and pull us to the other side of the road. Rather, He takes our hand gently in His and leads us there. How is that possible? Because His Word is in our hearts, so we are constantly being led to the safe place where we can fellowship with Him instead of with evil. Yes, evil is rampant, but God is bigger and will always help us get to safety if that’s where we want to be. Unfortunately, many of us like the sins more than the Savior, so we choose to stay in the unsafe territory where we can be run down by the sins all around us, much as a speeding car can do at an intersection if we are not vigilant. Choosing to take God’s hand is the right choice and for me it is the only choice. We don’t need to be afraid of all of the sin that surrounds us; God is bigger, better and already victorious!

May you remember that God is always reaching out His hand to you to take you safely to the other side of the street, no matter how much chaos there is between you and safety. God bless you!

No Darkness

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Like many people, I hate total darkness. When the electricity is off in our house, it’s extremely dark because we live in a rural area and there are no lights around us at all. We have purchased all kinds of battery operated lanterns and candles for when those times come because although I know the layout of my home well, I don’t want to stumble accidentally and perhaps fall. But, like everything else, God has a good word for this situation.

The darkness is not darkness to God. That boggles my mind but it shouldn’t since He created the night and the day. God can see in the dark just as if it were light.

Now, think about the analogy between sin and darkness. If we have darkness in our hearts (sin), God can see it. We can put on a smile and do all the right things in all the right places and with all of the right people but God is never fooled. The darkness in which we try to hide our sins is like a fully lit room to the Lord. Since we can’t hide our sin from the One who made us, it seems that we should just confess it and make ourselves right before Him, doesn’t it?

Think about the darkness the next time you are in a totally dark and enclosed room and then think about God looking down on you and seeing you as clearly as if it were broad daylight. Remarkable imagery and good to remember that the darkness tries to hide things but God always brings them to light.

May the Lord shine His light ever brightly on you, in you and through you so that others in darkness may see the light and walk towards His truth, mercy and love.

Nothing Too Hard

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song1 Comment

Have you ever tried to do something and before you even started, you were feeling defeated, like you just couldn’t do it? Maybe it was a chore that you dreaded and had put off so long that the task itself seemed to multiply before you. Maybe it was a difficult conversation you knew that you needed to have with someone. Or maybe it was believing for a miracle from God in your situation. God is a good God, all the time and He always wants what is best for you. Be encouraged by the Scripture today and know that if God can bring Israel back from captivity in Babylon, He can also take care of whatever you are facing today.

The same God who created all of the earth and the heavens is watching over you and waiting for you to call on His name in faith, believing that nothing is too hard for Him.

Ah, Lord God-Don Moen

Have a blessed day filled with the possibilities of what God can do!

Encouragement

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

God has been speaking encouragement into my heart and mind this week and I wanted to share some of that with you. There is a lot wrong with our world. We all know it and if you’re like me, you get frustrated over the condition of this fallen world and all of the effects that the rampant sin is having on the younger generation. But God has told me over and over that He is in control and will not allow this debauchery to continue forever. He has also encouraged me to live my life for Him in spite of what others are doing or saying. We are called to just keep on doing good deeds and saying good words until our Savior returns or until we die, whichever happens first. Thus when someone “of the world” annoys me, I want to be able to give them an encouraging and loving word because that is what Jesus would do and that is what He is exhorting me to do. When we think that chaos is reigning, we have to remember that it really isn’t…God is still sovereign and will one day show Himself in all of His righteous glory and power to the world that He created, the world that has fallen away from Him into the sin of following the idol of self-determination. In all of my musings, I am encouraged because in the end God wins. Like a long chess match in which the opponents are trying to determine the next move of their rival, God knows the next move and has an end game in mind…all for our good and for His glory.

May you let these words from this verse sink deeply into your heart and soul, touching you in all of the places that need to be healed from the daily wound of walking in this world. God bless you!

What Is God Saying/Doing in Your Life Now?

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

I am a firm believer that God speaks to me daily and I need to be listening attentively. I also believe that He is always doing something in my life although I may not be aware of it at the time. So, my question for you is “What is God saying or doing in your life now?”

I had a pastor many years ago who wisely told me that if I could not hear God’s voice, go back to the last place I was when I was hearing Him, find out where I had gone wrong, repent and then listen for His voice again. Many years have passed and I am still following that advice. God is not silent; He is just waiting for me to turn around and get back on the right path.

Image from http://www.knowing-Jesus.com

So, what God is saying is for me to continue on the path that I am on as long as I am clearly still in tune with Him and His quiet voice. What He is doing in my life is teaching me to trust Him in the small things that sometimes I don’t even want to bother Him with. A lost clip? Ask God to help me remember the last time I had it. If I can trust God for the small things, then my faith is being built up for the big things that may be down the road for me.

Is God speaking to you? Is He doing something in your life? The answer should always be “yes” because God is One who wants to have fellowship with us and to help us become more like His Son. Sometimes I feel stuck in a desert place, wandering, and God speaks to my heart and tells me to turn around because He is behind me, right where I left Him in my quest for my own way or independence. I was not created to be independent. I was created rather to be totally dependent on Him, and He is teaching me that lesson one day at a time.

Have a blessed day!

Choices

On By vickleaIn Dr. Denison’s Forum, Quotation and Citations, Scripture, Song4 Comments

The inspiration for today’s post came from Dr. Denison’s Forum on October 13, 2022. You can read the entire article here: Dr. Denison’s Forum, 10-13-22

This is kind of a different way of saying “What would Jesus do?” But this quotation made me ponder deeply. None of us knows when we will take our last breath, so it’s worth noting that our choices might be different if we had an inkling that our end is imminent. Food for thought, for sure!

We definitely learn from our choices, both good and bad. I think of life as a test with a steep learning curve. It is up to us to use what we have learned to grow spiritually so that we don’t continue to make the same mistakes over and over. It is not a coincidence that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years; they made bad choices and didn’t learn from them. God was patient in continuing to lead them, in my opinion. It’s a good thing that He is also patient with me because sometimes I get stubbornly stuck in trying to force Him to accept my way instead of accepting that His way is best.

From http://www.dailyverse.net

Yes, we make choices daily and those choices have consequences, but I go back to the first question that I asked. “Would you change what you are about to do if you knew it would be the last thing you would do?” Think about it as you listen to the song below. If you read the “Forum” article, you know that this is the last song that a twenty-three year old sang before he died in an accident. May we ever be mindful that tomorrow is not a promise, but a gift.

“You Are My Hiding Place”-Selah

My Strength

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song1 Comment

I got my flu shot on Monday and it seemed to affect how I feel physically and not in a good way. At first, it was just a mild feeling of dizziness and a headache. As the hours passed, the headache got worse and I was extremely dizzy. I had to depend on God to get into bed safely and prayed that the side effects would wear off quickly. My husband had the same injection and was not feeling bad at all, but we both know that medications tend to affect me differently than most people. Anyway, the dizziness is finally better this morning and the headache has subsided. Praise God that I knew He was with me the entire time because I needed to rest and that required His reassurance that I could trust in Him to take care of me.

Every day there is a new reason to praise the Lord. Sometimes, there are big things happening that I know that He is handling for me. Sometimes, it’s just the battle of living daily in a fallen and broken world. Regardless of what the challenges are, the Lord is always right there with me and for that I rejoice and praise Him.

Rest In His Love by Don Moen