Category: Scripture

From the Holy Bible

Agur’s Prayer

On By vickleaIn Admonition, encouragement, God’s blessings, Scripture2 Comments

I had not heard this section of scripture called this before, but when I looked it up in my Bible, I found that it is indeed attributed to Agur.

This is a prayer for God to help him not to lie, but it is also a prayer asking for contentment. Notice that he doesn’t want to be impoverished or rich. In our era, the propensity is to want more and more, no matter how much you have. Contentment is fleeting. Agur wants a daily provision so that the doesn’t have too much and then think he doesn’t need the Lord anymore. Nor does he want too little because then he may be tempted to steal which would dishonor God.

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone prayed this prayer and meant it? Instead, we are focused on praying for a better car, a larger house, a bounteous feast for Thanksgiving, etc. All we really need is the food to nourish our body every day and a shelter to live in for protection from the weather. That food is really more than bread though. I think it also means the spiritual food that we need daily in order to continue on the right path with God.

Agur had the idea of contentment long before it was a memory verse from the New Testament. I desire to be content like Agur, not too much or too little, but just enough and exactly what I need for every day. God is in the habit of providing what we need when we ask in faith and according to His will. He may even provide some of our wants, too, but we should be content with having our needs met, don’t you think?

God Always Has a Plan

On By vickleaIn Admonition, God’s blessings, promises, Scripture, YouVersion App3 Comments

The Best Plans (Daily Refresh, YouVersion, 11-06-25)

Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse that’s often slapped onto journals, etched into coffee mugs, and printed on t-shirts.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

And God does have a plan for you.
God does want to bless you.
God does want to give you hope and a future. 

But, we should also pay attention to the original context …

In this case, God was speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah—people who’d recently been exiled to Babylon for 70 years. 

The Jewish people were banished to a foreign land because of their insatiable appetite for sin. In fact, for 23 years Jeremiah had been warning them to stop rebelling against God or prepare to face the consequences.

God is patient, but He is also just. 

In other words, the Jews were sent to timeout. And as you can read in the preceding chapters, God made a case against His beloved people …

They’d exploited foreigners, orphans, and widows. They’d denied the rights of the poor. They’d refused to stand up for truth or obey God’s instructions. They’d murdered the innocent and committed adultery. They’d rejoiced in doing evil and their lives were ruled by greed. They’d even built pagan shrines, sacrificing their sons and daughters in the fires. It was a dark time. And yet, somehow, God’s mercy always extends to the darkest places on earth.

That’s why, just a few verses later, God said they could seek Him and find Him, and He would bring them back from captivity (Jeremiah‬ ‭29:13‬-14).

That’s why he encouraged them—while in exile—to build houses, plant gardens, get married, have babies, and work for the peace and prosperity of their temporary home (Jeremiah 29:5-7).

He wanted them to know: He hadn’t forgotten them. He still wanted good for them. He still had plans to restore them.

God is serious about sin, but He’s just as passionate about redemption.

Though Jeremiah 29:11 was meant for a specific people at a specific time, God’s heart for the restoration of broken people is generationally timeless. 

Even when we feel stuck in the process, God still has a plan. 
We can put our trust in the God whose goal is always redemption.

My Thoughts

For many years, I took this verse out of context and applied it to my life personally. Then a good friend online who is also a Bible scholar corrected my assumptions and I stopped referring to this verse as one that points to God’s coming blessings. I appreciate this devotional because it gives the context and the fact that God does have a plan for each of us and that plan is our eternal redemption.

God is not planning to give us big houses, nice cars, and other worldly goods. After all, we cannot take those with us when we depart this life anyway. What He is planning for us is a new heart, one made of flesh and one that yearns to be close to Him. That is our hope and our future. The worldly things that we desire are fleeting. God’s plans for us are forever.

I’m thankful that God did not give up on Judah and He hasn’t given up on us either. As I read through their list of sins, I recognized that there are many that apply to people today. Many don’t stand up for truth because they deny that the Bible is the standard for all truth. They murder the innocent babies and call it “reproductive rights” and they commit adultery and call it “trying out marriage.” When I got to the part about pagan shrines, I almost stopped and said to myself that doesn’t apply. But doesn’t it? People today “worship” at the shrine of Apple, the latest electronic gadgets, a fancy Tesla or any other new and shiny purchase about which they can boast. I think our pagan shrine today is a worship of self and satisfying all of one’s desires, without regard to others who have little or nothing and need help just to eat every day. So, are we wicked? Yes, in every way. But God hasn’t turned His back on us and destroyed us…yet. Repentance is needed. We all need to turn and look to God for His plan of redemption and not for our plan of self-gratification. Nothing we give ourselves on earth is worth giving up eternity with God. Let’s put our hope in Him and count on a future with Him, forever.

God’s Will Be Done

On By vickleaIn Admonition, God’s blessings, Scripture, YouVersion App4 Comments

The Ultimate Guide (Daily Refresh, 11-05-25)

Have you ever faced something unexpected? Maybe it was a good surprise that brought you joy, or a heartbreaking tragedy that deeply affected your life. All of us experience moments in life that we don’t anticipate.

Even though unexpected things will happen, we still make plans and dreams for our lives. We make plans for our future—education, family, community, career, or specific relationships. But we can never fully plan for the unexpected, since we cannot know the future. We don’t even know what might happen in the next few minutes.

We learn in Scripture that God is all-knowing, which means He knows everything that will happen everywhere in the world. He has complete knowledge of every event and action that happens. More than that, He is also sovereign, which means He has ultimate authority and control in this world.

That means that even though we make our own plans, God is ultimately the one who directs our steps. He has the power to change the direction of our lives, to orchestrate details we can’t even fathom, and to guide us into what is best for us.

Take some time to think about the dreams and plans that you have for your life. Have you ever submitted those plans to God in prayer? This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make plans for your life, but rather, whatever you plan should not come before God’s plans for your life.

Take a moment to ask God to direct your steps. Ask Him to reveal any desires or plans that aren’t from Him. Submit your plans to God so that you’ll be open to following Him wherever He leads.

My Thoughts

One of the things that I used to say frequently was to not get too wrapped up in your plans because “we make plans and God laughs.” I have since changed my mind and decided that God doesn’t laugh at our plans. Rather, He gently rebukes us if we are headed in the wrong direction and then He turns us around. Sometimes, it feels as though all is going the wrong way, the way we did not plan for at all, but we have to remember that God is always, always in control.

The results of the election are a case in point. Why would God not allow a Christian woman who served honorably in the Marine Corps to be elected governor of Virginia? Why did we end up with someone who claims to be moderate but is actually so far left she is a proponent of making our state California East, with mandates about electric cars, gun control, transgenders and murder (also called abortion)? Why? The simple answer is “I don’t know.” To expound on that answer, I would add, “But God does.” He knows the future and if this election is a way to get our attention back on Him and to call attention to how ungodly we have become, how self-sufficient we are and how independent we want to be from God, then He has my attention, and I hope He has the attention of all of the God-fearing people in our nation. What other state elected to the office of attorney general a man who said he would murder someone and his children? New York City elected a socialist, someone who openly admits he is socialist and, in my opinion, lies about his respect for the Jewish people. So, all of that just points to God’s sovereignty. I never thought that Winsome Sears would be an easy winner. I voted, I prayed and then I left things up to God. Some say that God isn’t involved in politics. I am of the opinion that God is involved in everything in our lives and that includes who leads us.

The best advice in the devotional today was to go ahead and make plans, but then submit them to God. That requires a pause. We can’t make plans and then rush headlong into them, hoping that as we go God will bless them. First, we pause. That means wait for God to tell us is it’s a “go” or a “full stop” or a “not yet.” If we make plans without consulting the Lord, then we are destined for disappointment and/or failure. Yes, God in His love and mercy, allows us to carry out some of our half-baked ideas, but if they are not what is best for us, in that same love and mercy, He allows them to fail so we can turn around and go in the right direction. Our loving Heavenly Father knows what is best for us, but He also knows what is best for others and how our choices will affect them. We are not the only one in the Universe with whom God is concerned, much to our own consternation sometimes. We need to accept the fact that God sees everything, knows everything and our plans are better with His blessing beforehand rather than His reluctant permission afterwards. We may be able to steamroll past human obstacles to our plans, but God is not movable. We can’t steamroll Him or talk Him into things that aren’t good for us or even just choose to ignore Him. One way or another, He will get our attention when He wants it and we may not like the way that happens, especially if we are rebelling against His will for us.

That being said, just remember that God is not waiting to zap you and your plans so that they never come about. He just wants you to submit them to Him. Let Him add to your blueprints and see how much better the end product will be.

Mastering Fear

On By vickleaIn God’s blessings, prayer, Scripture, trust, YouVersion App4 Comments

I want you to notice a very important word that begins this verse, the conjunction “when.” The verse doesn’t say “if” but “when.” God knows that we will be afraid at some time in our lives and David encouraged us in this Psalm to put our trust in God when it happens. I liked what my devotional on the YouVersion told me this morning. Instead of letting fear become a master in your life, let it be a messenger to remind you to run to God.

Have you ever been really afraid? Since I spent a lot of time alone with my husband deployed, I was afraid a lot. Afraid of new places, afraid of being alone at night in a brand new home, afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle taking care of the kids by myself. God addressed my fears by always, always, always being there for me. I think my greatest fear was when I had a stroke and was on my way to the hospital, strapped to a gurney in an ambulance with the paramedics talking to me and inserting various needles and other medical devices on me and in me. My husband wasn’t with me because the nurse hadn’t been able to contact him yet. So, I was afraid. I couldn’t move or speak, but I could pray. I couldn’t say words, but I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit praying for me and with me. In fact, one of the paramedics noticed my lips moving but no sounds were coming out and he told the other one that he thought I was praying. He was right! I was afraid and God knew it and was right there.

We can panic when we are afraid and try to distract ourselves with other activities or in ways that are not good for us. Or we can run to our Heavenly Father, knowing that He is right there and He is trustworthy. Let Him speak words of comfort and love when you are afraid. I know it sounds other-worldly to say that, but I have experienced God’s presence and His words of assurance more times than I can remember. That’s why I can tell you that He is real, He is concerned about you and your fears. He doesn’t say that He requires that we be fearless. Rather, He says WHEN we are afraid, we can put our trust in Him, the only one who is always there for us, who never leaves us and who knows what is best for us.

From the YouVersion Daily Refresh, 11-02-25

Seek and Find

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Characteristics of God, Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

Seeking and Finding God (Daily Refresh, 11-01-25)

In the Old Testament, God’s presence and His relationship with His people was mediated through priests and the temple system. The people of God worshiped God and prayed to Him, but it was the priests who would enter a sacred space and speak with God on their behalf.

They revered God, but they were still separated from Him.

However, the prophet Jeremiah wrote about a time when God’s people would be able to experience a direct relationship with Him. God’s Spirit would dwell in them, and they could find Him anywhere at any time.

Through Jesus, Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled. Jesus sent the Spirit of God dwell within us, to have access to God’s presence at any time.

This means that God is never far from you—just like it says in Jeremiah 29:13, He can be found when we seek Him. He is present and ready for a relationship with you.

Jeremiah also says that we must seek God with all of our heart. We don’t just seek God, He seeks us as well. When you pursue a relationship with God, He wants access to every part of you. The way you think, the way you act, and even the way you feel.

God wants to transform your entire life.

At first, it may seem hard to give God access to our past, or the things we’re ashamed of. But, God is full of grace and mercy, and He wants us to be free from those things. Seeking God with all of your heart may feel risky at times, but we can trust He knows best and will love us regardless of what we’ve done.

Ask God to reveal within you any part of your life that you haven’t surrendered to God. Pray for the strength and courage to give all of your life to Him. Continue to seek Him and follow Him each and every day.

My Thoughts

When I became a Christian, I wasn’t looking for God, but He was definitely looking for me. He sent a neighbor to tell me about His Word and to encourage me to read it. She also invited me to church and mentored me in my new life as a Christian. I don’t think any of that was a coincidence. I truly believe that God was seeking me and I allowed myself to be found.

We seek God daily by spending time with Him. That’s what I am doing now as I ask Him for inspiration to write this blog. I want each of my readers to know God so well that when a counterfeit comes along, you immediately recognize and reject it.

I cannot imagine not being able to call on God at any time and any place, knowing that He is right there to listen. I think it would have been hard to go through the priests and expect them to tell God what is on my heart. I think that is why I have difficulty with the whole confess to the priest practice that is prevalent in some religions. Why is that needed when God shows Himself to each of us individually, as the Father, Creator and the seeker of what is best for us. I don’t know and don’t pretend to understand this practice, but I am glad that I am not part of a ritual that keeps me at a distance from God when He wants me to seek and find.

There are some things that I try to hold back from God, especially when I know that I have a wrong attitude and need to change it. But I have found that He sees all things in spite of my attempt to keep some things hidden, so I may as well be honest with Him and open my heart to the change that needs to take place. God wants total access to me and everything about me. He has Top Security Clearance into all the parts of me. I seek, He seeks and together, God and I make an awesome team of finding others who also need to seek.

Die So You Can Live

On By vickleaIn Admonition, Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

Dying to Live (YouVersion, Daily Refresh, 10-31)

Dying to ourselves can feel like a bad thing. Most people want to exalt, applaud, and promote themselves.

But in God’s kingdom, dying to ourselves is essential.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.”
Galatians 2:20 NIV

A lump of clay cannot become a work of art unless it is shaped into something else. A container of paint cannot be used for a masterpiece unless it is first poured out. A carbon deposit must change in order to become a diamond. A caterpillar must give up its old way of life in order to become a magnificent butterfly.

The invitation to die is actually an invitation to live.

When we give our lives to God, we’re choosing to surrender our plans, our desires, and our gifts. And that can be hard. But we also know there is something better—and Someone better—on the other side.

God can realign our plans, reshape our desires, and repurpose our gifts for His glory. 

The apostle Paul, the author of Galatians, knew firsthand the life-changing power of Christ. Christ’s power radically transformed Paul, from someone who persecuted believers, into a passionate follower of Jesus.

Because of that experience, Paul knew that the only way to live was by surrendering every area of His life to Christ. And that’s why he invites us to do the same. 

Jesus couldn’t have been resurrected without first being crucified—and the same is true for us. 

So what do you need to give to Jesus today? What behavior, habit, or thought do you need to “crucify”? Come as you are to Jesus, and give Him permission to transform and renew your life.

My Thoughts

This topic resonated with me today, mainly because the older I get, the more I realize that death is waiting. But then, I reflect on my life and realize that God has given me a new life to celebrate Him and to live for Him. I have never seen a caterpillar that stayed a caterpillar and died in that state. They change because that’s what God made them to do. That is also what God created us to do, to change and become more like Him and less like the self-centered creation we were before He came into our lives.

Change isn’t easy, but as the devotional says, it’s essential. If you are not getting closer to God, then aren’t you really moving away from Him? If you aren’t changing to be more like Him, as you die to yourself daily, then are you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life? God has a good plan and a good purpose for each of us, but in order to find out what it is and follow that path, we have to give up the old things. Remember the Scripture that says that “old things have passed away, we are a new creation.” Let’s strive to be that new creation every day so that we can be the person God created us to be and not a shadow just drifting through life collecting meaningless trophies and accolades that cannot go with us to eternity. Let’s make life count for God by “being all we can be.” (Yes, that’s a military slogan, but I think it really fits here, don’t you?)

Infused with Faith, Grace and Mercy

On By vickleaIn Admonition, encouragement, God’s blessings, Scripture2 Comments

In the last decade, one of my specialists decided that since my bones are so thin, I needed a special medication to be infused into my system every six months. To obtain this “miracle medicine” as he called it, I had to get the insurance to approve it and then show up at the infusion center in his office, where I spent a half hour or so with an IV in my arm while I sat in a comfortable recliner. I followed that procedure for about five years. But my bone density test showed no improvement, my kidney kept declining and the medication was no longer safe or effective for me to use. So, the doctor told me that I need to be very careful not to break bones because they are so thin and I am so much at risk. Bottom line, the infusion of the “miracle drug” did not work in my body.

I have a niece who is diabetic and has been diagnosed since she was in primary school. She had to do finger pricks and insulin injections regularly until just last year when she got a fancy glucose monitor that checks her glucose levels and automatically administers the correct dose of insulin. I have no idea how it works, but I do know that she is much happier and more stable health wise with the monitor than her own personal checks.

My point with these illustrations is that if we allow ourselves to be, we can be hooked up to God twenty-four hours a day and receive all of the faith, grace and mercy we need all the time. Our responsibility is to stay “infused” with His presence so that we receive from Him what we need when we need it. We don’t receive too little or too much, but just the right amount to function with each day’s challenges.

How do we stay so connected to God? I’m glad you are still reading and want to know the answer. It’s actually very simple. Through His Word! God gives us all that we need every day, all day in His Word. Need encouragement? It can be found in His Word. Need wisdom to make a decision? Call on God and read His Word for the answers you need. Need comfort? Peace? Love? Everything we need is right there waiting for us, but we need to pick up our Bibles and use it. It is our infusion center, the place where we are most connected to God and from which we venture into praying to Him and seeking Him more in our lives. Like me going to the infusion center, I had to do my part and show up. The nurses then hooked me up to the IV and the medicine flowed in. Likewise, we have to do our part and show up daily to spend time with God. Then God, through the Holy Spirit, does His part and infuses us with the faith, grace, mercy and whatever other power we need that day to make it to the end of the day. One more analogy and then I will let you get back to the Word yourself. You don’t pull up to the gas tank at the service station, sit in your car and talk on your phone and then pull away from the tank without filling up. Your tank is still empty. You can’t go before God and just sit there. You need to be actively engaged in reading His Word and listening for His voice to speak through it. Infusion from God comes from those who are willing to allow God to work in our lives, not those who pull away because what is happening may be uncomfortable (truth often is). Stay there, fill up and then move into your day ready for whatever happens. After all, that is part of putting on the armor of God that I addressed in a previous post. (See Ephesians 6.) Since all things come from God and we live through Him, let’s start our day with an infusion of His power and presence.

I pray for each of you to be infused with so many good things from God that you can’t hold it in so it has to overflow to others! We are blessed to be a blessing!

Rising Above

On By vickleaIn encouragement, God’s blessings, Scripture, Song, worship1 Comment

Have you ever been on top of a mountain and stopped at an overlook? We don’t do that much anymore, but my husband and I and our children would pause from a long trip and just take in the view. It was refreshing to be out in the nice clean air and look at the clear sky above us and the beautiful farmland and houses scattered in the valley below us. From that perspective we didn’t see the troubles people were having, the traffic snarls or the billboards that interrupted God’s creation. We saw the beauty, the peace and the stillness that comes from rising above all of it and looking down. A totally new perspective! We would linger a few minutes, do some stretches and head back to the car to continue our journey. Our mood is better because we got to take a break from the stress of the long trip.

I think all of us need to take some time at various intervals in our lives just to rise above the circumstances that are plaguing our lives and get a new perspective. God isn’t bothered by the cacophony all around us, but we are. We need to rise above it and rest with Him, seeing things from the protection of His comforting arms and love.

What we oftentimes see as a disaster about to disrupt our entire lives ends up being a small thing instead. As I write this, I am thinking about the looming storm heading towards Jamaica and other Caribbean islands. They indeed have a disaster about to happen. I am praying that the people there will take refuge in God and that God will have mercy on them. I would like to hope that the storm will turn and go out to sea, but the prognosticators say this storm will hit the island directly and cause massive damage. I am saddened by the plight of this nation, but I know that this storm will pass as so many others have before it. It will leave destruction behind, or that is the expectation of a Cat 5 storm and helpers will appear to offer assistance and hope.

Meanwhile, we are safe in our homes, with gray skies perhaps and a storm raging in our hearts because of the circumstances in our lives. We may not have a hurricane barreling towards us, but there is always a storm somewhere waiting for a period of time when we leave the shelter of God’s protection and venture out on our own to find out what is happening in our world. My answer to that is “nothing good” so it is better to keep our eyes focused on God and stay sheltered by Him. Let the storms find us in the shadow of His wings, not running around looking for troubles. May God help us learn a lesson from the storms that others face and endure!

The lesson that I am still learning after weathering various storms in my life is that I cannot change the direction of the storm so that it changes the direction of its course, but I can change my attitude. It is in praise that I find my peace and security in God. If I look at the circumstances when I am in the middle of the storm in my life, I lose hope and begin to focus on the solutions that I can come up with in my finite mind. But when I focus on God, I have a new perspective. I rise above the storm and see things in a different way that I never expected to see. My attitude is changed from one of hopeless surrender to one of victorious expectation.

God is and always has been faithful. We change, wavering with the winds that blow into our lives. What we forget is that the winds will die down, but God will still be there, right there beside us, waiting for us to take shelter in Him. For many, that means quietly waiting before Him for an answer. For others, like me, it means singing through the storm and repeating scripture verses to help remind us of God’s faithfulness. God doesn’t change just because our circumstances do. He is always the same—always loving, always present, always ready to help us if we just try to rise above the circumstances and take time to be with Him instead of wallowing in our problems.

I was guided to a new-to-me song in my devotional this morning. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. It seems to be based on Psalm 57 and spoke to my heart about taking shelter in God and not in man-made, temporary solutions.

Shadow of Your Wings-Thrive Worship

May God bless you and keep you as you seek to rise above!