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Remaining Steadfast

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/44512/day/5

God doesn’t move or change and he is unshakeable. Good to know in a world that is constantly shifting its values and the people it esteems. God is the One who is always there, always steadying me and helping me to get through life’s surprises. Curve ball after curve ball has been thrown at me this last year, but each time, God is the catcher and has not allowed the unexpected pitches to throw me. I may have been down for a while, but I was never out of the game of life because God has been there for me. In a sea of whitewater everywhere, He has been my anchor and the person in my boat who calms me. The sea may be rolling all around me, threatening to tip my boat, but the Lord calms me so that I see Him and trust in Him instead of fearing the power of the overwhelming waves. I hope that you let God be your steady anchor in the storms of life. If you aren’t in a storm right now, then praise God for the calm, but be ready to face the storms when they come by choosing to trust the Lord no matter what comes your way.

Unity in the Body of Christ

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/44512/day/2

I am so thankful for our church and all of the kind and loving people I have met there. It is a big church, with three services and over 1000 people attending each Sunday. Even so, I have met some awesome Christians there, through Sunday school, through just introducing myself to those around me and through our small group Bible study on Monday nights. In fact, when I was out sick for three weeks, someone from the group contacted me every other day just to see if Harry and I needed anything and how I was doing. I rejoiced when I got to return this past Sunday and I even went to Bible study last night. I was greeted with hugs and genuine joy that I was back and better. It’s good to have a support group, and when you know that each member of your group knows you and misses you when you aren’t there, that means everything.

Unity in the body is important because I think it’s the way we show others that we are different. We don’t just ask “How are you” and then not listen to the answer. We genuinely care because when one is missing, we feel the pain of their absence. God’s desire for each of us is to live in unity so that the world can see that people can get along and love each other without taking advantage of each other or expecting anything in return for kindness. In a world where everyone seems to be using the shoulders of others to boost themselves up, we are united in holding each other up, bearing each other’s burdens and fulfilling God’s law of loving each other first. Real unity can become a reality, even in a big church, if you just make sure you are an active participant and get to know others within a smaller group. God is good and He knows the best thing for us is to get together with other believers and discuss what is happening in our lives as we study His Word.

Response to Hardship

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App1 Comment

www.bible.com/reading-plans/44512/day/1

Many of us respond to hard times by crying out to God, but for me, and probably for a lot of you who are reading this, asking God for help was a “last resort” kind of response. What do I mean by that? Let’s say you have a serious illness. First, you call the doctor, go to the doctor, get tests, see specialists, get more tests, even undergo some kind of treatment. Then, when you have done all that you can via human means, you remember that you should be praying and you cry out to God for help. I confess that I am guilty of playing out that very scenario for years. I am learning (progressive tense because God is still working with me on this) that if I pray first, the other things that I have to do suddenly lose their threat of overwhelming me. It’s all about in whom you place your trust. I have a mantra that I have even told to the doctors…you are treating me for this sickness, but God is healing me. Doctors practice medicine, but the Lord who created me truly knows exactly what I need to be well. I am not saying don’t go to see doctors, but I am saying to depend on and trust God first and foremost. When I go to see physicians, I pray for God to give them the wisdom they need to properly treat me. Our circumstances in life and how we approach hard times depends on our reliance on God.

Really Believe

On By vickleaIn Book Review, Scripture, YouVersion App3 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/540/day/4

If we really believe, then there is only one place to run when life seems to be assaulting us from all sides. We run to the Lord, the One who has always been there over and over again and who will always be there for us. We have to remember to call on Him first. The red phone that connects us to the Lord is always right there, always available and He is ready and waiting for our call. Psalm 27 and Psalm 91 are two of my favorite Psalms, one I have frequently read and quoted during challenging circumstances. What Scripture comforts you in your troubles? I encourage you to write it down, put it where you can see it daily and memorize the lines that speak to your heart and comfort you. There is no greater comfort than to have God’s Word right there in your heart and soul when you need it.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms and the stand-in moms! It may be a tough day for you because your mom is no longer there to call or visit. Or maybe your mom was not a good and nurturing mother. Call on the Lord to comfort and be close to you today…He will.

Belief, Not Feelings

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/540/day/3

We live in an era in which the mantra seems to be, “Do whatever feels good to you.” Feels good? Really? It might feel good for me to slap the person who is annoying me by being rude to the clerk in the store, but that doesn’t mean I have the license to do it. It might feel good for me to rob a bank and have lots of money to spend on a lavish vacation, but I don’t follow through on that thought…consequences, right? Unfortunately, in society today, people have decided to do things based on feelings and there are no consequences, at least none that are readily apparent. The Hamas-supporting protesters keep the Jewish students from attending class. What is their consequence? But they “feel” that they are justified in their wanton destruction and hatred, so it must be okay. After all, no one is stopping them. But I digress…this post is not about the poor choices of students. It’s about choosing faith over feelings.

I may be afraid to step out and witness to someone that the Spirit clearly tells me to speak to. If I go by my feelings, I will walk away (and honestly, I confess that sometimes I have done that). But if I go by faith that God will give me the words to say and the courage to say them, then I speak.

In this devotional, David is used as an example of faith. I have just read in another devotional about Absalom and his betrayal, David’s journey away from from Jerusalem and his cries to God. He was not blaming God for his troubles; rather, he was calling out to Him in faith to restore him to his throne and to keep him safe from the traitor. Would that we would have that kind of faith that continues to call out to God in the midst of betrayal and a real wilderness experience! Instead, we have a tendency to say “I’m just not feelin’ it today.” What if you were praying to God and His reply was, “Yes, I hear you, but I’m just not feeling it today.” God doesn’t go by feelings because He knows they change constantly, with outside influences and inner thoughts at war inside us. He expects us to choose to live by faith, no matter what the outside circumstances are and no matter how we feel about them. The Bible teaches us that it is impossible to please God without faith. Time to get off the feel good train and hop on the faith train that takes us to the throne of God. One is a bullet train that speeds us on an out-of-control path to wrong choices. The other is slow and steady, taking us in the right way to the right place, in God’s time.

Training in the Storm

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion AppLeave a comment

www.bible.com/reading-plans/12309/day/2

When the storms of life inevitably come, we have to already have established a pattern of focusing on Jesus. He is our calm in the storm and has given us a peace that the world cannot understand. It is up to us to claim that peace and know that Jesus is right there with us in the middle of our circumstances. If you are like me, you may have the tendency to first look at the raging storm and then look at Jesus. I am trying to train myself to look at Jesus first and then the storm doesn’t look so bad after all. There are plenty of reasons in the world to be anxious, but there is one big reason to be calm…Jesus! Not one time in all of the Biblical accounts of Jesus’s life on earth did we see Him wringing His hands and saying, “Oh, no! The people are still sinning! The Pharisees are plotting against me! What shall I do?” He was in touch constantly with His Heavenly Father, knew what was coming and was ready for it, in His heart and mind. He maintained calm in the storm because He knew that in the end it would all work out for God’s glory. That is what our focus should be. Fixing our eyes on the Master of the storm and not the storm itself tells our heart that we can trust that it will all be okay and God will get the glory in the end.

Let Christ Be the Calm

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App1 Comment

www.bible.com/reading-plans/12309/day/1

I have a tendency to magnify the bad things that happen instead of focusing on the blessings. When I started choking and coughing so hard yesterday that I could not attend church for the second week in a row, first I was discouraged. Then, I spent time with God and was thankful that our church streams the 9:30 service, so I was able to join them in worship and listen to the pastor’s message as if I were there. The Lord calmed my spirit so that I could spend time focused on Him instead of on my coughing. I wish I could report that the coughing spasms miraculously went away, but they didn’t. Paul had his thorn in the flesh and I have asthma, which makes it harder for me to breathe when I get sick. I have learned from experience that the condition is exacerbated when I am anxious or upset, so staying calm is a must for me since I like breathing. I have learned and I am still learning not to focus on my gasping breaths but to focus on the One who gave me the breath of life to begin with and to be thankful for each breath I can take.

The key to breathing for me is to focus on the Lord, not on the problem. When I focus on Him, just like Peter walking on water, I can continue to walk and not sink. It’s when I take my eyes off the Lord that I begin to panic and my breath comes in short gasps. I am blessed to report that the panicking is less frequent and the thankfulness for each breath is more common. I am a little dismayed that I have been sick for two weeks so far, a period of time that is longer than usual, particularly after I have started antibiotics and a steroid dose pack. But I am waiting for God to heal me; the doctors help, the medicines help, but God does the healing. Meanwhile, I am working on staying calm in order to keep my focus where it belongs.

T

Give Thanks IN All Circumstances

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/23192/day/21

The interpretation of one little preposition makes all the difference when we are in difficult circumstances. We are not giving thanks FOR the difficulties; rather, we are thanking God IN them, knowing that He is walking that journey with us. That perspective keeps us from getting bitter and blaming God for all of our hardships. The blame lies squarely on the sin that occupies the entire world, the fact that the world has fallen and the diseases that are part of a fallen world have overtaken us. God does not send the pain, but He does allow it. When we acknowledge that His control is absolute and that He will be with us through the suffering, then we can continue to journey through it, not wallow in it and just stagnate there. Being thankful in the midst of suffering is not always easy, but it is always necessary in order to get a handle on how much God loves us, even when we are hurting.

God’s Unyielding Light

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

When we come to yield signs on the road, we slow down and are more cautious about approaching the intersection, aware that there are other cars already there and we have to time our merge to get into the flow of the traffic safely. But when I say that God’s light is unyielding, I am talking about the fact that God does not cower from the darkness. He shines light on it instead. If only we could see things the way God does, then His plan for us would be more clear and it would be easier to accept hardships because we would see that good things are coming. God is always present. The darker the night, the closer His presence to us. We have to acknowledge that He is there in order for us to feel His comfort and embrace.

Growing up, I had the habit of getting up every night to go to the bathroom. My bedroom was only a short distance from the main bathroom in the house, so even though I didn’t like the dark, I walked quietly to the bathroom, closed the door and sighed with relief when I could turn on the light. There was nothing there to jump out at me and scare me, just the darkness. What power darkness can have over us if we let it! We have to remember that God always shines through those dark places in our lives, the places where we are not sure what is going to happen next and what steps we should take. God is right there.

I still use a night light, several of them in fact. One in our bathroom, one in the living room and sometimes one in the kitchen. I cannot say that I am comfortable with the dark now, but I am not afraid of it. I have learned that God is a whispered prayer away and whenever I am afraid, I have but to say His Name and He is right there with words of comfort and peace from His Spirit to mine. I am blessed to have God’s light in my life so that the hard times of life, when the path seems to be growing darker and the way is twisted and unexpected, I can know that God is right there, my refuge and strength. I hope that you have found His unyielding light in your life.

Finding Refuge

Psalm 139 is a contemplative psalm, often attributed to King David. In it, the psalmist reminds himself of the all-knowing and all-present nature of God. According to him, we can always find comfort in the unconditional promise of God’s presence:

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
Psalm 139:11-12 NIV

Though life has its challenges and moments of overwhelming darkness, God’s nearness remains. He is intimately acquainted with every detail of your life. He sees you, not with the gaze of human eyes, but with the infinite clarity of His love.

When was the last time you acknowledged God’s presence in your life? Have you recently paused to simply dwell with Him? Pausing prompts us to consider the vastness of God’s knowledge and the inability to hide anything from His sight.

There is no darkness too deep and no night too long that can conceal us from the unyielding light of our Creator. Seek Him today.

Prayer is Vital

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

Do you know what that word “vital” means? It comes from the root word for life, and prayer is vital for our life with God. How do you have a relationship with someone that you never talk to? If the only time I talked to my husband were to give him a list of things I needed him to buy for me or do for me, that would be a very poor basis for a relationship indeed! Yet we don’t hesitate to wake up in the morning, read the Bible and then give God a “laundry list” of our expectations for Him. What if we took time to “be watchful,” to just observe what is going on in our small part of the world and then extend that watchfulness out to what is happening in your state, your nation the world. Instead of a laundry list of wants, I think watchfulness results in a prayer that speaks back to God from His heart’s desire for us and for others. Yes, the times are troubling, but God isn’t asleep. He is listening for His people to pray according to His will. He is working out His plan for the world and we can be a part of that plan by joining in prayer with God. We need to talk WITH God, not to Him. We need to be willing to listen as we watch and hear the heart of God for the hurting people of the world. We need to take time to be thankful for all God has done and is doing, knowing that somehow He is working things out for the good of all mankind. Prayer changes things, but only if we participate in an active prayer life, communicating with God as though He really cares. Because He does.

A Life of Prayer

Take a moment to think about the habit of prayer in your life. Is prayer a regular part of your life, or is it something you don’t really pay attention to?

As Paul is closing out his letter to the church in Colossae, one of the things he reminds them of is the importance of prayer. For Paul, prayer is more than just asking God for what he needs. Prayer is the way Paul’s energy and ministry is sustained. Prayer is a source of God’s power for Paul.

He asks the Colossians not only to engage in prayer, but to be devoted to it. Paul understood that if the mission of God was to be effective through them, they needed to be devoted to talking to God about every aspect of life.

This means they not only needed to spend time in prayer for a few minutes in the morning, but they needed to make prayer a part of their entire day.

Paul tells the church to be devoted to prayer, being watchful and thankful. These are two aspects of prayer that we can engage in as well.

The first is being watchful or discerning of what’s happening in your life. We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us discern what God is doing in and around us, to make us aware of His work. Second, we can use our time in prayer to worship God through thanksgiving and gratitude.

Prayer is a vital aspect of the Christian life. Spend some time not only praying to God, but thinking through how you can make prayer a central part of your spiritual life.