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I remember to think about
the many things
you did
in years gone by.
Then I lift my hands in prayer,
because my soul is a desert,
thirsty for water from you.
psalm 143:5-6
- REMEMBER – david often tells himself to REMEMBER God and His ways and His works. its more than just a post it note to remind ourselves but it is a remembering that stirrs up faith, that recalls who God is and the great things He does and has done. Remembering is encouraging ourselves – to rewrite the whiteboard of our mind and heart with the knowledge of who God is and all He can do. when we forget God our faith becomes dull and we doubt and forget and become burdened by fears and worries – forgetting to fix our eyes upon God and trusting Him.
- Remember – THEN – faith leads us to pray and worship and surrender and to have more faith and trust. when we have faith we are more ready to pray because we trust God to move and are expectant of His intervention.
- only God can satisfy a thirsty sou.
- in the barrenness and wilderness and desert of hard times, when life is pressing in on all sides, and we are tired and worn out in our heart – THIS is the time to remind ourselves of who God is and that He is the one who gives us rest and hope and who satisfies us and has all the answers. the answer may be to wait and to be transformed and to have hope even in the desert, but we can be assured that God is with us at all times and in all places and that He will bring the breakthrough.
You are my God. Show me what you want me to do, and let your gentle Spirit lead me in the right path. Psalm 143:10
Gold and silver are mined,
then purified;
2the same is done
with iron and copper.
3Miners carry lanterns
deep into the darkness
to search for these metals.
4They dig tunnels
in distant, unknown places,
where they dangle by ropes.
5Far beneath the grain fields,
fires are built
to break loose those rocks
6that have jewels or gold. 7Miners go to places unseen
by the eyes of hawks;
8they walk on soil unknown
to the proudest lions.
9With their own hands
they remove sharp rocks
and uproot mountains.
10They dig through the rocks
in search of jewels
and precious metals.
11They also uncover
the sources of rivers and discover secret places.
Where Is Wisdom Found?
12But where is wisdom found?
13No human knows the way. 14Nor can it be discovered
in the deepest sea.
15It is worth much more
than silver or pure gold
16or precious stones.
17Nothing is its equal–
not gold or costly glass. 18Wisdom is worth much more than
coral, jasper, or rubies. 19All the topaz of Ethiopia and the finest gold
cannot compare with it.
20Where then is wisdom?
21It is hidden from human eyes
and even from birds.
22Death and destruction
have merely heard rumors
about where it is found.
23God is the only one who knows
the way to wisdom,
24because he sees everything
beneath the heavens.
25When God divided out
the wind and the water,
26and when he decided the path
for rain and lightning,
27he also determined the truth
and defined wisdom.
28God told us, “Wisdom means
that you respect me, the Lord,
and turn from sin.”
Job 28
i only discovered this passage this year, despite having read the bible several times. and it excites me so!
i believe and get really excited by 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 “However, as it is written:
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”
The Holy Spirit lives within us and one of the blessed “things” He does is to reveal to us who God is and the heart of God. God calls us to draw near and seek Him. though seeking Him may take time and pursuing. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2 God hides himself in a way, He hides His truth and we have to find it and seek it.
We are like miners, delving into the Word of God and seeking His ways and His revelation.
Miners carry lanterns
deep into the darkness
to search for these metals.
They dig tunnels
in distant, unknown places,
where they dangle by ropes.
i love the imagry. seeking God sometimes isn’t the easiest task, but oh how rewarding it is! it may take stepping back from circumstances and friendships and “stuff” to take the time to seek God and to walk in His ways that please Him, but it is worth it. We fearlessly seek God. We put Him first. We seek Him by faith.
With their own hands
they remove sharp rocks
and uproot mountains.
do you see the analogy? do you hear my heart here?
Dont you want to be one who ” uncover the sources of rivers and discover secret places.”
Always Remember, when God made you, He did so with a purpose and a plan.
He saw all of your days before you lived one of them and placed over you the covering of His protective love. He has allowed nothing to come into your life that has not first been screened through that love. His hand has remained upon you to this very day. He calls you by name. You are His beloved child…the apple of His eye… the delight of His heart.
Today you are in the exact place He wants you to be, and tomorrow He will be with you as He has always been – in goodness, in kindness, in faithfulness.
“No means of measure can define His limitless love”
God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. 1 John 4:9-10
Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love–not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future,and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! Romans 8
I kneel in prayer to the Father. All beings in heaven and on earth receive their life from him. God is wonderful and glorious. I pray that his Spirit will make you become strong followers and that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. Stand firm and be deeply rooted in his love.I pray that you and all of God’s people will understand what is called wide or long or high or deep. I want you to know all about Christ’s love, although it is too wonderful to be measured. Ephesians 3:14-19
Christianity is not a formula, but the Person of Jesus Himself. Never think that Christianity is a matter of adjusting behavior, but rather, of letting Christ live through us in His strength and power. Malcolm Smith
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10
Once.
Once we were sinners.
But now we are forgiven.
Once we were lost.
But now we are found.
Once were were guilty.
But now we are innocent.
Once were were separated.
Now we are near and close.
Once were were rejected.
Now we are accepted.
Live your life not in the once we were with behaviours that belong in the dark, but live your life in the now we are, in the light, transformed and redeemed.
faith acts.
faith has actions.
if we believed what we believe in we would act upon it and do it.
faith obeys.
faith jumps.
sometimes we need to jump off the cliff only to discover that we will fly as God does the impossible and empowers us.
It is the nature of each of us to be rather base, proud, ambitious, full of a great deal of appetite, judgments, rationalizations and opinions. If something does not come into our lives to humiliate us then surely all these things will undo us.
You must believe in the fineness of the Divine mercy… even when that mercy humbles, afflicts and tries you. Even if these times are caused by the devil, you are nonetheless in the sovereign hand of God, and these things will turn out for your gain and your spiritual profit.”
Molinos from 100 Days in the Secret Place
Its true. We are all ratbags. We all make mistakes and have mistakes written into our personality. Be it pride or insecurity. Selfishness or envy. We all have things in our lives that need the hand of God to work on or else left to our own fleshly desires we could be distracted away into sin, and undo ourselves. God works on us to make us more like His Son, and thus more effective in His service. As we are more and more refined we should thus have less and less to detract from the glory of God. Our desire for service should be more pure. Our hearing more clearer. This may seem naive… There is always till the day we die issues and sinful desires that God is working. We must continue to surrender to Him, deny ourselves, keep our eyes on God and make conscious choices to obey God and be a godly person.
In the misdt of whatever we face we msut have a constant trust in God. We must remember that he is indeed Good and Merciful and Wise and Loving. We must remember that in all things God is at work and is working to outwork them for good for the purposes and glory of GOd. We must remember he walks through the valley of the shadow of death with us, as well as the flame and fire and the hard times. We must know that God is good so we are content in his presence. we must know that God is gracious so that we can find peace in his presence while everything else feels like it is in turmoil. We must know that God is loving so that we will find refuge and shelter in His arms.
it is the graciousness of God that he refines us. it is the graciousness of God that he disciplines us. it is for the sake of his church and his lost and his plan (and our call and our families and our friends!) that we are not left broken and ugly and sinful and selfish. it is the nature of all of us to be rather base, proud, ambitious, full of a great deal of appetite, judgments, rationalizations and opinions. If something does not come into our lives to humiliate us then surely all these things will undo us. that something is the Lord God, who loves us and transforms us. he uses the fire of testing and trial. he uses the flood of life to wash us and transform us. but he is with us in the whole process. transformation and discipline and change isnt usually easy. but worth it.
God is the one who begins a work in our lives, redeeming us and making us righteous and holy and new and clean. He will continue to take that inward work from the inside out. He makes broken ugly hearts, motivated by selfishness and sin and ambition and pride and fear and anger, into beautiful hearts motivated by love and grace and hope and joy.
You must believe in the fineness of the Divine mercy… even when that mercy humbles, afflicts and tries you. Even if these times are caused by the devil, you are nonetheless in the sovereign hand of God, and these things will turn out for your gain and your spiritual profit.
“Come To God often just to sit in His presence and renew yourself. Nothing is as important as lowliness of heart and detachment from our own opinion and will.” Fenelon in 100 days in the secret place
I lay in bed last night thinking about this segment of my devotional book. Often when we are going through a hard time sitting down to pray and read the bible and talk to God is soooo the last thing we want to do or do full stop. We can get angry with God – when will this stop? Why wont you intervine? Pleeeese God come? You know… all of those things are valid. David was a big stomp ya feet say how he really felt kind of guy. His psalms are filled with WOE IS ME and emotions that I read as angry and depressed (its all in the tone of voice…) but then he also gets it in perspective and remembers God and His ways and that gives him peace and strength to carry on.
Psalm 73:16-17 When I thought deeply in order to understand this, it was painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.
In this Psalm David is going through a really hard time on all fronts. His understanding came when he went and spent time with God. Likewise for us – we may look at our circumstances and go “da wah?” and throw our hands up in despair. We need to remember to come and sit and pray and read the Bible. Sometimes just even putting on a good worship CD can bring us into the presence of God.
Hebrews 4:16 Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Psalm 23:1-6 A Psalm of David. Jehovah is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah forever.
We may not get any answers from God. We may come away from a prayer time with no firm understanding. But we need to UNDERSTAND that God is God and God is good and loves us and is at work in our lives, to work ALL things for good for His glory and purposes. Your hard times may give you the experience that is able to help others.
2 Corinthians 1:4 He comforting us in all our trouble, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in every trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
The value of spending time with God is that we hear His voice, we can feel His presence –we can remind ourselves of WHO he is and draw closer, knowing that as we draw near to Him he draws near to us. Even if God is silent the time is not a waste. It is relationship building. It can bring comfort when we drop the walls. It changes us…
John Lennon declared he was bigger than him. The Titanic Director James Cameron thinks he’s found his grave. His name may have been said within your earshot today. As a curse word. But who is Jesus really. And how does that affect my life, in 2009?
You may know some of the facts surrounding Jesus’ life and death.
Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth in a stable, to a virgin, in Bethlehem. Easter is the celebration of His death, on a cross in Jerusalem. You may know that he worked miracles, and had disciples and enemies, that he preached love and eternal life. But do you know what he really lived and died for?
We’ve all seen the stained glass pictures, or those paintings painted in the Renaissance of Jesus. They depict him as weak, mild, insipid even. In Western culture, all of us have been exposed to the figure of Jesus Christ countless times since infancy. Holiday carols and cliches, TV specials and Bible stories, bumper stickers and slogans, crucifixes and sunrise services – even coarse jokes and curse words. We, too, consciously or subconsciously, have developed our own set of assumptions about this Jesus
Jesus was a carpenter, used to working with his hands, lifting heavy beams of wood, using his whole body to craft yokes for oxen and furniture for homes. When Jesus walked this earth, He didn’t fit the expectations of the religious community, or even his own disciples. He didn’t demand an ornate tower to preach from, He was born in the dust, His friends were the most controversial fringe elements of society – tax collector’s, prostitutes, lepers… Jesus touched those that were classed as outcasts and untouchables. Equally he called to those that were community leaders, soldiers, the wealthy. Jesus didn’t look at the exterior, he looked at the heart and gave everyone the opportunity to follow Him.
Jesus stood up for real truth, the truth that God was real and loved them and desired to be in relationship with them. He preached real love, real commitment to holy living and real commitment and relationship with God. He talked about eternity and the way to heaven, life and death, choices. This went against the grain of the religious leaders who had made “church” into a series of do this and don?t do that?s.
In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg–or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.(emphasis: web author)”
Jesus Christ made a claim that was breathtaking in it’s audacity. Where did He come from? Was He really God in the flesh? Why was the establishment of His day so frightened by His message that He had to die? Who is Jesus to you? Your life on this earth and for all of eternity is affected by your answer to this question.
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, even making himself the same as God. He said “before Abraham was, I AM”. Abraham is known as the father of faith for both Jews and Christians. I AM is a holy sacred name for God, the name that God himself gave Moses to share with the enslaved Jewish people as a sign of the power and reality of God and his promises. Jesus essentially is saying I AM. He is saying I AM God. To say this he was either telling the truth, deluded and lying, or just plain lying out of a desire for power and fame and self glory, to deceive the people into believing in him.
Jesus said he was the one and only way to God, both for eternity and for this life too. Will you believe what he said?
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