Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - day 27

Attended a memorial service for a 2 month old baby girl today.  In my crying out to the LORD about the situation, it was as if He told me, like Jesus told John the Baptist in Matthew 3:15, “Suffer it to be so now...” Earlier, I had thought of, then seen the verse in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (AMP):

¹³ Now also we would not have you ignorant, brethren, about those who fall asleep [in death], that you may not grieve [for them] as the rest do who have no hope [beyond the grave].

So I really wasn’t surprised to hear the verse during the eulogy.  Grieving, suffering – there seems to be a lot of that going around that is affecting me deeply.  Even more so as I consider the coming recognition this month of  “Good Friday” – marking Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross …

Later, the message of the Our Daily Bread devotional – to be thankful in all things – and the following urging of the My Utmost for His Highest  devotional both spoke to the way in which we should face difficulty as children of God:

If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings. …

Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).

It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - day 25

I had the opportunity the other day to hear from some seminary students, and the discussion left me somewhat saddened.  A key question that came out of our brief time of talking was, “what is sin?”  This, after the Issue of forgiveness and the totality in which it is given (or not!) was raised concerning the perception that one of them had slighted the other.  Maybe I was being too serious in a matter that they were treating with obvious levity.  But my concern these days is, ultimately, to see how God is glorified in whatever is going on.  (Admittedly, it sometimes takes me time to get to that point, so I am remembering that – and their youth - even as I think about speaking with these students.)  Just another thing to take to the LORD in prayer – for the students, for me, for us all -  much as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (KJV):

¹² And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

¹³ To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

…that, as the poem referenced (along with the above Scripture verses) in today’s Our Daily Bread devotional says, we “may true and faithful be, and live for Jesus every day.”

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - day 24

The God Calling devotional for today talked about joy, something I’m not sure I’m feeling too much of right about now …

… it is not only believing certain things about Me that helps and heals, but knowing Me, sensing My Presence in a flower, My message in its beauty and perfume.

You can truly live a life not of earth - a heaven-life here and now. Joy - Joy - Joy.

…because I’ve been struggling with the issue of suffering.  I know in my head that this life is temporary.  I know in my head that the Christian life involves suffering – Christ suffered, (for us, for me no less!) and as His followers, we are each to bear our own individual cross, and give up our lives for Him.  

1 John 4:17

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

John 16:33

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

 Luke 17:33

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

The depth of what this “giving up” of our lives entails – specifics of what it means, what is involved - differs for each person.  So the Oswald Chambers devotional My Utmost For His Highest really touched on this for me today:

I have been crucified with Christ . . . —Galatians 2:20

To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. … Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?

We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.

If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.

Letting go, changing my “whole way of looking at things” to be with the mind of Christ, suffering disillusionment, giving up my claim to my rights to myself … LORD, please help me make the “determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering” all that I have and all that I am to You, no matter the cost. Thank You for reminding me that some things are only accomplished in this life through suffering, through death – even the suffering and death of Your Son on behalf of sinful humanity.  You did not insulate Yourself, Your Son from the suffering…Thank You for the hope of Heaven, the promise of Your Presence, the leading of Your Spirit, the comfort of Your Word, the wisdom of Your working, the exaltation of Your Son – that holiness, majesty, power is Yours, that  love is Your nature, faithfulness is Your character, goodness is Your  disposition, that mercy, grace, righteousness are found with You.  Thank You for the transformation of mind and heart  that can be accomplished by focusing on You in reverential awe, and yielding to Your will…

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - day 22

Rest.

Haven’t blogged since last Thursday.  Rereading the devotional lessons from that day, I sense the change wrought by the LORD in my heart about doing this blogging – motivated now not so much out of duty but out of gratitude, and wonder, and love.  So as the message to “rest” came through devotionals and other readings, I listened, and obeyed.  I stopped striving and was still, to know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10)

The last blog said we should seek God’s counsel about everything.  Today’s BibleGateway(.com) Verse of the Day (Isaiah 25:1) speaks of God’s counsel, and I was blessed in reading this verse in several translations:

 (ASV)

 O Jehovah, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth.

 (AMP)

 O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, even purposes planned of old [and fulfilled] in faithfulness and truth.

 (CEB)

 Lord, you are my God.

 I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
  for you have done wonderful things,
   planned long ago, faithful and sure.

 (CJB)

 Adonai, you are my God.

I exalt you, I praise your name.
For you have accomplished marvels,
[fulfilled] ancient plans faithfully and truly.

 (CEV)

 You, Lord, are my God!
I will praise you
for doing the wonderful things
you had planned and promised
since ancient times.

 (ERV)

 Lord, you are my God.
I honor you and praise your name,
because you did amazing things.
The words you said long ago are completely true;
everything happened exactly as you said it would.

 (ESV)

 O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

Cross references:

1. Isaiah 25:1 : Ex. 15:2
2. Isaiah 25:1 : [Ps. 107:32]
3. Isaiah 25:1 : [2 Kgs. 19:25]

 (GNV)

¹ O Lord, thou art my God: I will exalt thee, I will praise thy Name: for thou hast done wonderful things, according to the counsels of old, with a stable truth.

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 25:1 Thus the Prophet giveth thanks to God because he will bring under subjection these nations by his corrections, and make them of his Church, which before were his enemies.

 (GW)

 O Lord, you are my God.
I will highly honor you; I will praise your name.
You have done miraculous things.
You have been completely reliable
in carrying out your plans from long ago.

 (GNT)

 Lord, you are my God;
I will honor you and praise your name.
You have done amazing things;
you have faithfully carried out
the plans you made long ago.

 (HCSB)

 Yahweh, You are my God;
I will exalt You. I will praise Your name,
for You have accomplished wonders,
plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

Cross references:

1. 25:1 : Ex 15:2; Ps 118:28; Is 7:13; 44:17

 (KJV)

 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

Isaias :1 (KNOX)

 Lord, thou art my God; I extol thee and praise thy name for thy wonderful do-ings; for thy designs, so long prepared, so faithfully executed; see, it is done!

 (LEB)

 Yahweh, you are my God; I will exalt you.
I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans of old, in faithfulness, trustworthiness.

1. Isaiah 25:1 Hebrew “thing”
2. Isaiah 25:1 Hebrew “plan”
3. Isaiah 25:1 Literally “from far away “

 (MSG)

¹ God, you are my God.
I celebrate you. I praise you.
You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,
well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.

 (NASB)

 O Lord, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have worked wonders,
Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

1. Isaiah 25:1 : Ex 15:2; Ps 118:28; Is 7:13; 49:4, 5; 61:10
2. Isaiah 25:1 : Ps 40:5; 98:1
3. Isaiah 25:1 : Eph 1:11

 (NCV)

 Lord, you are my God.
I honor you and praise you,
because you have done amazing things.
You have always done what you said you would do;
you have done what you planned long ago.

 (NET)

 O Lord, you are my God!
I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame.
For you have done extraordinary things,
and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed.

1. Isaiah 25:1 : S Isa 7:13
2. Isaiah 25:1 : S Ps 145:2; S Isa 12:1, 4
3. Isaiah 25:1 : Isa 11:5
4. Isaiah 25:1 : Ps 40:5; 98:1; Joel 2:21, 26
5. Isaiah 25:1 : Nu 23:19; S Isa 14:24; 37:26; 46:11; Eph 1:11

 (NKJV)

 O Lord, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

 (NLV)

 O Lord, You are my God. I will praise You. I will give thanks to Your name. For You have been faithful to do great things, plans that You made long ago.

 (NLT)

 O Lord, I will honor and praise your name,
for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You planned them long ago,
and now you have accomplished them.

 (RSV)

 O Lord, thou art my God;
I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name;
for thou hast done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

 (VOICE)

 Eternal One, You are my God.
I will lift You up and praise Your name.
Because You have made wonders marvelous and beautiful—
the most ancient designs holding strong and sure.

 (WEB)

 Yahweh, you are my God. I will exalt you! I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago, in complete faithfulness and truth.

 (WYC)

 Lord, thou art my God, I shall enhance thee, and I shall acknowledge to thy name; for thou hast done marvels, thine eld faithful thoughts. Amen. (Lord, thou art my God, I shall exalt thee, and I shall praise thy name; for thou hast done marvellous things, thou art faithful to thy thoughts of old. Amen.)

 (YLT)

 O Jehovah, my God [art] Thou, I exalt Thee, I confess Thy name, For Thou hast done a wonderful thing, Counsels of old, stedfastness, O stedfast One.

 

… and my journey with Him continues …

devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - day 16

I was thinking the other day about how tired I was feeling.  The thought came about a dull instrument, and how much better a sharp one did the job. 

So this morning, when it was time to get up and go to my class (Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival), I was still once again thinking how tired I was, but I got up (after repeatedly hitting the snooze, I might add!) and began getting ready to go.  However, I have learned my lesson and was not going to go off and running for the day without first doing my Lenten blog.

Actually, I had looked ahead at some of the devotionals before going to bed last night (it was around midnight).  I didn’t really sense that they were the ones I was to blog about, though.  It wasn’t until this morning - when I thought to just jot down something quickly and head off on my way - that God spoke.  I realized that I had neglected last night to check out the God Calling devotional (www.twolisteners.org) for today, and reading it made all the difference:

Spend more time alone with Me.

A strength and a Joy come from such times that will add much to your friendship, and much to your work.

Times of prayer are times of growth. Cut those times short and many well-filled hours of work may be profitless. Heaven's values are so different from the values of earth.

Remember that from the point of view of the Great Worker, one poor tool, working all the time, but doing bad work, is of small value compared with the sharp, keen, perfect instrument, used only a short time, but which turns out perfect work.

UPHILL

Does the road wind

uphill all the way?

Yes, to the very end,

Will the journey take

the whole long day?

From morn to night, my friend.

-- C. G. Rossetti

"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day,

he went out, and departed into a solitary place,

and there prayed." Mark 1:35

 

So I have altered my plans again so as to not just go to a class about seeking Him, but to actually spend time doing it.  In answer to yesterday’s devotional, to take ”the time to get to know Him today.”

The first thing is gratitude – grateful for His calling, His speaking, for allowing me to hear (in answer to my prayers, no less), for His Spirit ordering my steps, my time (all of which is in His hands, anyway), His timing.  Had I read the devotional last night, I may have tried to handle the time with Him my way – which probably would have involved sleeping longer and getting to time with Him whenever I woke up.    This way, I am awake and up and dressed and doing what I should be doing first (even as a tithe).

Secondly is repentance – for wanting to shortcut the fulfilling of my commitment, for even considering doing it out of duty / obligation rather than love.  Indeed, now I see where today’s My Utmost for His Highest (www.utmost.org) fits in:

’By this we believe . . . .’ Jesus answered them, ’Do you now believe?’ —John 16:30-31

.

Now we believe. . . .” But Jesus asks, “Do you . . . ? Indeed the hour is coming . . . that you . . . will leave Me alone” (John 16:31-32). Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding (see Proverbs 3:5-6). This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it. But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.

We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life, instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to “walk in the light” of our conscience or in the light of a sense of duty, but to “walk in the light asHe is in the light. . .” (1 John 1:7). When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation-just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.
 

OUCH – again!  But I am grateful for the correction, for God’s grace and mercy – that He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse as I respond in contrition before Him, confessing my sin (1 John 1:9).
 

…and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 15

A couple of today’s devotionals focus on spending time with the LORD in prayer.  First, the God Calling (www.twolisteners.org) :

Take time for prayer. Take more time to be alone with Me. So only will you prosper.

Realize that the hearing of Spirit Sounds is more than the hearing of all earth's noises. I am with you. Let that content you, nay, more, let that fill you with rapture.

Seek sometimes not even to hear Me. Seek a silence of spirit-understanding with Me. Be not afraid. All is well. Dwell much on what I did, as well as what I said.

Remember, I "touched her hand, and the fever left her." Not many words, just a moment's contact and all fever left her. She was well, whole, calm, able to arise and "minister unto them."

My touch is still a potent healer. Just feel that touch. Sense My Presence, and the fever of work and care and fear just melts into nothingness -- and health, joy, peace, take its place.

"For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole." Matthew 9:21

This next excerpt is from a devotional I receive via email from Ephesians Four Ministries (www.churchgrowth.org) entitled Prime Time with God featuring devotional messages from Today God Is First (TGIF) by Os Hilman:

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection...." - Philippians 3:10

If I asked you the purpose for which God made you, what might you say? You might give a lot of answers that required some action on your part. However, the simplest answer to that question relates to one primary thing: fellowship. The most important thing God desires from us today is to have a deep and intimate fellowship with each of us. …

Jesus understood how important quiet moments were with the Father. "After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone" (Mt. 14:23). The more mature I become in my relationship with the Lord, the more precious this time becomes to me. It is a time I look forward to almost daily. It offers me a time to reflect, to share my concerns with my Lord, and to hear Him speak. In the last few years I have begun prayer walks, which accomplish three things: fellowship, prayer, and exercise. It has changed my prayer life. I have come to understand that Jesus views us as His friend and He wants to spend time with us. We are depriving Him of His time when we put Him aside for the urgent. An interesting thing happens when we make prayer a priority: Urgent things seem to wane as we focus on Him. He makes all these other things fall into place.

Are you taking the time to get to know Him today?

… and my journey with Him continues …

Devotional thoughts - Lent 2013 - Day 14

Early this morning, I kept thinking of the refrain from the song Your Love Never Fails by Jesus Culture – a restatement of part of Romans 8:28 sung as:  “You make, all things, work together for my good.”  Then there was this quote by Oswald Chambers as I was reading My Utmost for His Highest devotional (www.utmost.org) :

There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. The Place of Help, 1032 L

This quote brings to mind the first verse of Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Trusting God in Jesus Christ (or not!) is also addressed in the My Utmost for His Highest devotional:

We say, “It’s easy to say, ’Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things.” And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.

My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— “Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”

The God Calling devotional (www.twolisteners.org) gives encouragement and instruction to build our confidence in trusting God for our help:

There is nothing lacking in your lives because really all is yours, only you lack the faith to know it. You are like a King's daughters who sit in rags, and yet around them are stores of all they could desire.

Pray for more faith, as a thirsty man in a desert prays for rain, for water. Swift comes My help, swift and strong. Do you know what it is to feel sure that I can never fail you? As sure as you are that you still breathe? How poor his man's faith! So poor. Do you trust Me as much as you would a friend if that friend came and said he would send you help? Pray daily and most diligently that your faith may increase.

"If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamore tree,
Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the
sea; and it should obey you." Luke 17:6

Back to the song – the end from the beginning – and thinking about 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (AMP) - God's love never fails:

⁴ Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

⁵ It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

⁶ It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

⁷ Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

⁸ Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].

… and my journey with Him continues …