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.
I feel the need to share two prayer requests with you all and to also ask that you share any prayer requests with me.
God gives us each other for a reason, and at least one of them is so that we can walk this way together.
So, prayer requests. I am in MD visiting my son and his family. Unfortunately, my body’s reaction to the stress of the trip and being here has been to have high blood pressure for three days in a row. I have taken all of the extra medicine I am allowed to take, but it hasn’t gone down. So, I called my cardiologist today and they want me to drink a lot of water (for my headache) and call back in about an hour and a half, after I take my BP again. I would appreciate prayers.
My second prayer request is for a friend who has been in the hospital since Monday. He has pneumonia and fluid around his lungs. They have done two procedures to take the fluid off and he has one more today. He is breathing better, he says, but not doing great. Please pray for Dave for healing and that the doctors will have wisdom.
Now, your turn. Share and we will pray. God does answer prayer!
Between work and home, family and friends, full schedules and unending tasks, it’s tempting to hurry through our days without even stopping to look up.
But, speaking through the psalmist, God said:
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalms 46:10 NIV
When was the last time you were intentionally still (and not just when you were sleeping)? When was your body and mind quiet enough to acknowledge that God is God?
Regardless of the past, what will you choose today? You can close this app, check “time with God” off your to-do list, and continue on with business as usual. Or, you can allow the knowledge and truth of God to bring peace to your restless heart.
There’s something about stillness that compels us beyond ourselves. There’s something about stillness that heightens our awareness of and need for God.
It’s one thing to acknowledge God with our words, but another to put Him above every other good, bad, and distracting thing in our lives—to live in a way that honors and magnifies Him.
There will come a day when, ready or not, God will reveal Himself fully. There will come a day when, willing or not, every secret will come to light. There will come a day when, like it or not, He will be exalted above the nations and honored throughout the world.
But you don’t have to wait to worship Him. You don’t have to wait to call Him your God. You don’t have to wait to make Him the Lord and King of your life.
You can be still —right now—and know that He is God.
My Thoughts
When I listened to the daily refresh this morning, the lady speaking said something that really spoke to me. She said that being still isn’t just a passive action, waiting for God to move. Rather, it is active, trusting that He will act. For me, it is knowing that God’s answer is just exactly what I will need, although it may not be what I wanted. God, our Creator, sees everything about our lives and answers according to what we truly need, not just for the present but for the future that we face. It gives me hope and comfort to know how totally trustworthy God is.
I used to watch the people that I admired closely so that I could be more like them. One particular person comes to mind immediately. My high school Spanish teacher was Sra. Mary Smith. She was my teacher for four years and I learned some important lessons by watching her. I learned to look for the good things students were doing and praising them for that before I offered any criticism or instruction. I learned to smile no matter how challenging a day was, with a smile that I hoped others would see sparkling from my eyes. And I learned that the louder students got, the softer I should speak. Those were important lessons for me to learn, especially since Sra. Smith is the teacher who encouraged me to study languages and I became a Spanish teacher for over thirty years myself.
These days my focus is more about wanting to be more Christ-like, so I am learning to imitate God. How do I do that?
I try to do good for others, as much as I can. I want other people to see proof that God lives inside me. I may be the only representative of God they see that day. Children imitate what they see and hear. Go to a grocery store, for example, and listen to the words children say. If a bunch of expletives come out of a small child’s mouth, it is imitation of what they have heard. The child needs to be corrected (not by a stranger, of course), but the behavior doesn’t change unless the source that they are imitating changes. Whether they are imitating words from the TV or from the parents, they are saying what they have heard repeatedly.
As Christians we are being trained daily to speak and act as the Father does. The only way to do that is to spend time with Him, praying, worshipping and reading and studying His Word. We don’t become more like Christ by watching TV or (alas!) by reading books that are not the Bible. My priority time each day is spent with God. Am I succeeding? Well, some days more than others, to be honest. But I am trying every day and God rewards my efforts with a peace that I can’t explain and by answering prayers that may seem small to others, but they are big to me because they show how faithful to details God is if we are watching for His hand at work in our lives.
My prayer for each of my readers is that you will strive to imitate Christ because even if we are not aware of it, others are watching us and may want to be more like us. Let’s be the good example for them to follow and let’s lead them to be more like Christ, not more like our worldly selves.
Many of us who are Christians have come to the realization that the process of being more like Christ is one that takes time, a daily choice to follow Him and to be more like Him. In a world of instant oatmeal, coffee and fast food places on every block, a relationship with Jesus is not something we can just pick up one day and say it’s done. Like a baby plant, it has to be watered, nurtured and coaxed to flower.
We grow by feeding ourselves from God’s word and by spending time with Him daily, praying and worshiping.
We also grow by establishing relationships with other Christians in church. I am glad today is church day. I have been awake since 3:30 a.m. and I am tired, but I am excited about seeing my brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing words of encouragement with them and helping one another to grow. Fellowship is an important part of growing as we hold each other up and don’t allow one another to wither.
I hope you have a blessed Sunday and take time to grow closer to God today.
Throughout life, we make choices. One of the most important ones, of course, is to accept the free gift of salvation and enter into the promise of eternal salvation. But God doesn’t save us and immediately take us to Heaven. Instead, we are left here on earth to do the work of He who died for us and to follow Him where He leads.
I have been reading the story of the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. A lot of things have caused me to ponder but none more than the fact that God led them. They didn’t tell God, “Yeh, we have the map. We know where we’re going, so follow us.” God led them, on a circuitous route to be certain, but on the way He wanted them to go so that they could learn the lessons He needed them to learn.
God does the same for us. He will lead us as surely as He led the Israelites, away from sin and closer to our Promised Land, closer to Him. We have a tendency to get impatient and want to strike out on our own. Like an untamed horse, we don’t want a bridle or reins to guide us. Or like a toddler, we say to God, “I can do it myself.” But when we try and fail, we end up turning back to the place where we started and starting again. God is the leader, and we are not.
How do you know where God is leading you? You train yourself to listen and to hear His voice. He is as close as our next prayer, waiting for us to be still enough to hear Him. Instead, we have the television on or the music blaring from our device. The ads tell us we need a certain product, so we either rush to buy it or put it on our list of things to look for. Who’s leading us in these times of overwhelming noise? God is the leader, if we will listen for His voice to tell us the direction to go in.
I am short and getting shorter, and my stride has never been long. Often, I accuse my husband of not even realizing I am fallen far behind him because his stride is longer and his pace is brisk. I tell him that if I fall, he won’t even know it unless I shout out because he stays so far ahead of me. I like this verse because it reminds me that the Holy Spirit never walks too fast for me; rather, He walks with me every step of the way. He is there to help me to follow the Father, the leader of my life.
I am sure everyone reading this remembers playing the childhood game of “Follow the Leader.” The position of leader was held in esteem because they were the one who had us crawling on the ground, going down slides and swinging from monkey bars. God is the leader of our lives, always, if we give up the position of wanting to lead for ourselves or letting other people lead us. We can go astray; others may lead us astray. But God leads us in the way He wants us to go so that we will learn the lessons He needs us to learn. I am being led by a loving Father who knows what is best for me, and I hope that you are, too. This is not a once and done choice but a choice I make daily, to be still before God and find out His marching orders for me for that day.
From the very beginning, God knew that mankind needed companionship, relationship.
Thus, God established marriage. One man and one woman for life, the way God meant for it to be.
But marriage is not the only relationship we have. We also have a relationship with our Heavenly Father, with an open invitation to worship and pray and come into His presence. And we have friends, those God has placed in our lives for us to ask for help or for us to give them help. We are generally doing one or the other with our friends. We can be honest with them and admit that we are not sufficient to do all the things alone. So, God gave us friends to stand alongside us and hold us up when we are falling.
We were not meant to go through life lonely and trying to do a solo act all the time. There are many times when we just need to talk to someone and there are other times when we need assistance with something. I have a good friend from church who contacts me several times a week just to make sure that Harry and I are okay. She offers to bring us food when we are sick and when we had to move to the auxiliary room at church because of the noise of the bass, she moved with us. She told us that church is for fellowship and she will be our fellowship. Do you have someone that you can call on at any time and they will respond? That is a true friend and that is what Bonnie is.
One of the ways we show love is to just be available. God is always available to us, ready to hear our cry for help and to comfort, heal and answer. He showed us the example of a loving relationship so that we can show the world what marital love and what friendship look like. In a world where people are climbing over each other to get to the top, let’s be the ones to be noticed for helping, not hindering. Let’s be the ones to comfort, not compete. Let’s be the ones to give, not always take. The world may never see what we are doing or know why, but God sees and knows. He is our real BFF (best friend forever).
Observing Sabbath-rest allows us to step into the same rhythm God established in creating the world. Scripture tells us when God rested from His work, it was because His work was complete (Genesis 2:1). God took joy in His accomplishment.
In Hebrews 4:10, the writer draws a parallel between God’s rest and ours: “for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” We’re invited to delight in His presence and share in God’s divine contentment.
This rest isn’t about taking a break from good works. It’s about surrendering the need to control by trusting in the completeness of God’s work. Our “rest” releases us from the burden of proving ourselves good enough to earn His love and approval. These things have been secured through Jesus’ finished work on the cross. When we step into this rhythm of rest we can find contentment that spills over into every part of our lives.
Is God calling you to stop trying to do everything on your own and instead find peace in Jesus’ finished work on the cross?
Lay down your burdens, not out of laziness, but surrender. Believe that the One who made the world also takes care of you.
My Thoughts
I really needed today’s devotional today and hope that it speaks to your heart, too. The part that spoke to me the most is above and I changed the print to make it stand out. All my life, I have struggled to be accepted, to be good enough to win approval. First from my parents, then from my friends and then various administrators for whom I taught. Once I accepted the Lord, I knew in my mind that He had accepted me just as I was, but I still had difficulty getting this truth into my heart. I had gone through years of not being good enough. My mom told me she never wanted me, called me ugly and told me I had to go to college since no one would ever want to marry me. My father abandoned me and sought drugs as his source of comfort. My friends were good while they lasted, but we kept moving to new places so I never really got close to anyone until we moved to Virginia. And my bosses gave infrequent kudos and little appreciation. I found that no one could demand the same perfectionism that I demanded of myself. Then, Jesus stepped into my life and I could breathe for the first time the clean air of complete love and acceptance. I didn’t have to get good grades, be a stellar employee or do a lot of favors to win approval. I already had it. Today’s devotional is a reminder to me of how far I have come from the child who was not loved to the child of the King who is loved eternally. God is good and wants us to rest in Him and be totally content with who He made us to be.
They are words of priestly blessing, for it is part of the work of priests to bless the people: “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites’” (Num. 6:23). One thinks of Melchizedek as he blessed Abraham and of our Lord himself, “a high priest for ever, in the order of Merlchizedek” (Heb. 6:20). “Today,” says Andrew Murray in a memorable comment, “He comes to meet thee, as thou returnest from the battle weary and faint. Bow before Him, and let Him bless thee!”
It is frequently the privilege of Christian ministers to utter these words of blessing – their privilege, but not their sole prerogative, for we believe in the priesthood of all believers. Let them give the words their full meaning, and then the blessers and the blessed will be able to sing.
My Thoughts
I am blessed to be a blessing and thank God daily for His love for me. I saw my nephrologist on Monday and he did the usual lab tests to check my kidney function. I was delighted when the report came back that all of my numbers are in the normal range and my kidney is stable. What a blessing that was to me! And what a blessing each of you who reads my daily thoughts is to me, also! I pray for each of you to know the unfathomable love of the Father and that you, too, may know that you are blessed to be a blessing.
The steps to becoming a Christian can be broken down into these three simple actions. First, you have to believe that God sent His Son to die for you and that He was resurrected, thus making eternity with God the reward.
But if all you do is believe it, that won’t help much. The Bible says that even the demons believe, but they are destined for eternity away from God, not with Him. The next step is very important because it puts you in the driver’s seat of making the right choice. If someone gives you a gift, they have it in their hand and are holding it out to you, and you just walk away, did you receive it? Of course not! That is what God is doing; He gave His Son Jesus and you have to receive the gift of His love, mercy and grace in order to partake of the salvation that He wants to give you. The choice is to turn away from sin, repent and receive the free gift of God. Many people, including some of my family members, think that they are good and don’t do bad things, so that means that when they die, they will go to Heaven. I have multiple friends who believe that if they go to church and confess their sins weekly, they are good to go for eternity. Unfortunately, these people are trying to make up their own rules for getting into God’s presence and He has already firmly established what it takes. He doesn’t expect one thing of one person and another thing of another. Everyone has the same expectations.
Each individual has to believe and receive on order to have the promise of eternal life.
The third part of salvation is to start doing the things you read in God’s Word that you should be doing. And, it goes without saying, you cannot do what is in God’s Word if you aren’t reading it to find out what is there. If you are making a brand new-to-you recipe and never look at the instructions, the chances that the dish you are making will turn out the way it is supposed to are slim to none. God’s Word is our instruction book for our lives, so if we never read it, how will we know how we are supposed to live. How do we do what it says when we don’t know what it says?
When I was a pre-teen, I remember that one day my mom came to my bedroom door and was talking about something. I had no idea what she said because I didn’t really listen since I was reading or doing homework at the time. I do know that she ended with, “Well, get started and do what I told you to do!” I had no idea what she had told me to do, so I had to ask her, a question that made her very angry since I had missed an entire speech about what she wanted me to accomplish. That’s what it’s like, I think, when God is telling us to do something and we just tune Him out because we are preoccupied with other things. We need to tune into God and His Word and tune out the world and all of its distractions. That way, we can truly LISTEN to what He wants us to do, including how to act and react.
One of the most important instructions in the Bible is to GO. This is a command, not a suggestion. No matter where we are going, we should have in mind that our directive is to make disciples. We cannot follow through if we are not open to the leading of the Holy Spirit who will tell us plainly what to say and to whom, if we are listening. I have discovered that most people don’t have the time or desire to listen to me tell them all about the Roman road to salvation, but they usually listen intently to personal testimony backed up with scripture. Maybe I am doing things all wrong, but I consider what I do to be planting seeds. God will send someone else to plant more seeds and to water and He will harvest. Sometimes, I get the privilege of seeing the person again and planting more seeds or even doing the watering. Whether that is true or not, I hope and pray that what I do is beneficial to building God’s kingdom and fulfilling His command to “go and make disciples.”
Finally, there are a lot of commands in the Bible. We can read them and obey them or we can choose to ignore them and be disobedient. Obey is one of the actions that we are to take once we believe and receive. Seek God and His truth and then act on what He tells you to do. The same God who made you wants to spend eternity with you. It’s your choice. Do you want to believe, receive and act? Dust off your Bible or pick up your phone and install a Bible app. I recommend the YouVersion, but there are many different apps you can use. Just start, take one step at a time in this walk of faith that starts with believing. God bless all who have read this blog post today and may the Lord lead you and guide you to follow His instruction book to eternal life.
My husband constantly reminds me that I am a “detail person.” I notice things that others might not notice, like one thing out of place in a room full of things. He says I am a Type A personality and he is probably right. I think of it as modeling God because God pays attention to details. If you don’t believe me, read the description that He gave to Moses about how to prepare and set up the tabernacle.
Notice that word “exactly.” God had a plan and he trusts Moses to carry it out, exactly as He has shown him. God has a plan for each of us, too and we have to ask for directions daily about what we are to do that day to carry out His plan for us.
We are the Lord’s dwelling place here on earth, and just as He has exact plans for the tabernacle, He created each of us in a unique way and just the way He wants us to be. I used to question God’s wisdom in giving me defective lungs, one kidney and an extra rib. But I got over that a long time ago. What a blessing it is to be able to share with people that I didn’t even know I have a single kidney until I was in my 50’s. That single kidney has continued to do its job well, even though the doctors say I am in Stage 3 kidney failure. I go to see my nephrologist every few months (today is the day again!) who does lab work and encourages me to eat the foods my kidney will process and omit the foods that it can no longer handle. So, my diet is low sodium because of my stroke and low potassium and low nitrates because of my kidney. Do I miss not being able to have foods like potatoes and bananas and few carrots and salad mix? Honestly, not so much anymore. But when I first had to give them up, I was not a happy camper. Now, I am used to it. And I don’t think God made a mistake in creating me this way. It’s my “thorn in the flesh” that lets me be a better witness for Jesus. God is a God of details and the fact that I was born with one kidney was not a surprise to Him. When my kidney started not working as well, God didn’t say, “Really? That’s strange. I never expected that!” God knew that detail already and was prepared to bring me down this path of life, holding my hand and leading me the whole way, even during my whining phase.
I may not be 100% the way I would like to be, but I know that I am perfectly made in God’s eyes. Just as He told Moses how to make the tabernacle, God had a plan for how I would be made and it has been a good one for over seventy years. As I told my children, I am not leaving this earth until God tells me it’s time. He created me, established my number of days on the earth and my various health issues don’t change His plans for me.
God is not a mediocre Creator who halfway does His job and then sits back idly waiting for bad things to happen to what He created. Not at all! God pays attention to every detail and is an excellent and loving Creator. Much as I notice small details in rooms I have visited before, God notices every detail of our lives. He created each of us and called that creation. “Very good.” I want to use all of the time that He has given me on earth to glorify Him, giving Him praise for the wonderful work He did when He made me and the continued good work that He is doing daily in my soul as He reaches out to me daily and gives me His loving wisdom from His Word. May each of you remember to praise God today, thanking Him that you are His living tabernacle!
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 