Devo Quest – PRAY for me please

Its been hard to get onine past few days:) Christmas time has been pretty busy:) I read chapters 8-9 wonder what its gonna take to not be hustling and bustling about so much next year??!?!  I dunno….oh well

1 sam 10-11

Even though God told the people that getting a king meant that they would be kind of “slaves” to the kingdom and the new king, God gave it to them.  God showed Samuel who the first king was going to be, His Spirit enabled him to prophecy, and His Spirit made him brave for his first battle as king.  God poured out his power and favor and blessing on His people.  I just think of the “Father” heart of the Lord constantly desires the best for his children.  Only a Father’s heart can look at his children this way. 

Abba Daddy, please pour your mercy and grace on me, will you be the surgeons hands, please protect my heart, and veins and make the surgery 100% successful.  I pray that You will heal my heart and incision point quickly so that I can pick up my baby and not worry about my incision point.

Devo Quest – the eleventh hour victory

1 Sam. 7

So here’s Samuel left to judge Israel.  Samuel tells them to put away the false gods and godessess and turn to the one true God.  And they did.  They went and repented with fasting at Mizpah.  They chose to follow after the one true God and not play the harlot.  So here are God’s people in repentance, and fasting before the Lord when the philistines decide the gathering of many Israelites looks suspicious and so head out to attack them.

What a great story!  It’s not over there’s so much more here, and the story needs to be finished but I find this to be such a “reality” of repentance kind of story.  I think that when we finally decide that our rebellion is really dumb, and we turn back to him in true repentance, It would seem that something presents itself to either cause doubt or discouragement.  Sometimes the enemy would like us to think our repentance is worthless and he might whisper, “see, and you thought following God would make life better, they’re coming to kill you now.”  UG, I hate the lies of the enemy! 

Here’s what comes to mind…This tactic, this ploy of the enemy is still at work in our lives as Christ followers as well.  When we start getting things right with God, something can and my happen to upset your momentum and question you allegiance.  You doubt, and sometimes despair.  I doubt, and sometimes despair partly because i forget a few things:  who I am in Christ – I am HIS possession, and HE IS a very present help in trouble; or I forget who HE IS – graciously, merciful, loving FATHER….if I ask him for bread will he give me a stone?  NOPE!!  He’d probably spread out a feast WITH bread, because that’s who OUR GOD IS -generous, ever kind, patient, gracious, good etc!  So instead of letting doubt and despair grip my heart, I want to do as the Israelites did in the rest of the story and find myself in that place of….peace…”  

I have no idea exactly what went through each and every Israelites mind but i know one thing is sure; they cried out to God still!  They didn’t turn back so quickly, they reached out one more time to be heard by the one true God through Samuel.  “Samuel, do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the philistines.” v8

Sanuel offered a suckling lamb as a burnt offering and cried to the Lord for Israel and the Lord answered him. v9

God thundered from Heaven (i wonder what that was like in those days to scare and confuse the people so much), and the philistines were confused and the Israelites won the battle, and eventually took back all their cities, and all the days of Samuel’s service…

v 14…there was peace.

Devo Quest -blindness

On saturday I had a neat time in 1 Sam. 5 for the second time, but did not have time to write some of my thoughts till now..

verses 1-5

 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. ³ When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. ⁴ But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. ⁵ That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

I was stunned by the people’s reaction, well blindness really, their darkness.  Here at a face off with Dagon and the True God, the God of Israel there is absolutely no contest.  God will not be upstaged by a creation made by human hands who is both blind and deaf, and ultimately completely useless and powerless.  So there is this scene….the people wake up to go see Dagon perhaps it was customary to visit it daily, and the first time they went he had fallen prostrate before the ark of the covenant.  Here’s where I was stunned….they walk in, take their god into their hands, and pick him up, dust him off, and set him back up again….read that about 5 times now…

WHAT!?!?!?!?   are you all blind??!?!?!  EVERY PERSON KNEW that the GOD of ISRAEL was at work here, there was no doubt given the context that this was their understanding of the STRANGE way their god (little g) had somehow tipped over on his hands and face before the ark of the covenant….

then i thought, people are so quick to come and do things hustling and bustling about oblivious to the big picture, the OBVIOUS big picture.  It just made me ask about what things in my life do i look like Dagonites?  What idols has GOD torn down, and humiliated in my life and i’ve been blind to, or I just choose not to see.  Maybe its not idols but just things. 

I saw an episode of this certain talk show host and they were having a christmas funny contest where 6 women had to wonder around a stage with blindfolds on and were supposed to feel their way to seats that were moved around the stage just before she told them all to sit.  Each time their was one less and one lady would lose, but while they were walking around trying to feel their way blindly the crowd was shouting hysterically, Left, left, right, right, Its in front of you!  To the audience it was completely obvious.  Its frustrating to watch those that are so close but they mistep one way and its “game over” for them. 

I want to see the chair clearly, I want to notice what God is doing in my life, in my family, in my church family.  I want to walk into a situation like the Dagonites and say, “I have been blind, but now I see!  There is ONE GOD and HE is the LORD!!  HE is the one, and there is no other!”

If anything it just gave me a picture, a slow motion film of sorts in my mind about missing it, flat out missing the hand of God at work because I’m too busy…set in my ways, or selfish, or lazy, or…..{fill in the blank}….just doing what i do the way i’ve always done it.

God is at work…Lord help me to see the obvious work of your HOLY RIGHT MERCIFUL GRACIOUS hands this week In Jesus’ Name Amen

Devo Quest – Giving

Today I watched Lifechurch.tv

on tithing – it was awesome, super convicting, and amazing.

Can you outgive God?  Could you give anything He asked trusting in Who it is that is asking?  “Tithing is returning – it belongs to Him, giving is above the tithe.” -pastor who taught the message on lifechurch.tv

1 sam. 5-7  wish i had some more time today to record my thoughts on this….

God is worthy! worthy of all our worship and respect!  Where are there other gods in our lives that we need to turn from? ourselves? things? people?….Lord help me turn away from those things that i put before you, and return to you today, fill me with your Spirit, In Jesus’ Name amen.

Devo Quest – attitude

As I come, i’m frustrated and overwhelmed, God help me, fill me with your Spirit, heal me Lord, help me to adjust my attitude and to humble myself before the Lord.

1 Sam. 2-3 Eli’s son’s, The Lord calls Samuel

….beautiful, amazing God, Holy and Just in all His Ways…

1Sam. 3:3 “The lamp of God had not yet gone out…

The Devo Quest

1 Sam. 1-2

Before i opened the Word, my computer shut down by itself, and my son woke up from his nap but fell back to sleep, thank you Lord for iPhone Bibles.  You Version to the rescue.  So I read ch. 1 twice, and fell short 10 verses on chap. 2 because I got an important phone call.  This is typical kind of things that happen when I get ready to read or get quiet….hmmmm..

I wonder how long till a mother weened her baby in those days.  How old must Samuel have been before his mother left him in the care of the priest, Eli?  She only visited him once a year it seems from the text, and made him a little tunic every year.  Was he 3?  I cannot imagine not seeing Zachary for a year, yet I can understand her committment to the Lord to give her son to Him.  The Lord blessed Hannah with 5 more children, 3 more boys, and 2 daughters.  There is so much cultural & geographical stuff goin on in the first chapter that i’m wanting to find some answers like, how far were the two towns that they travelled once a year to make their family sacrifices.  Why was it so important to Hannah to have a child?  If Penninah didn’t harrass her and mock her all the time for not having kids would Hannah still have felt that sadness?  Why did her husband, Elkanah say, Don’t i mean more to you than 10 sons?  Why did Hannah promise not to cut Samuel’s hair? and why did Elkanah say, “….may the Lord make good His Word ” to Hannah when she wanted to wait that next year to go down to worship the Lord until Samuel was weaned?  Had the Lord promised her something?  Had the Lord told Elkanah something so that He could give his son up as well?  Why was taking Samuel to Eli to live there somehow going to help keep the LORD’s promise? 

Chapter two is bitter sweet…

Hannah’s prayer of praise and redemption from ridicule. 

v. 2 …”no Rock like our God”,

v. 4 “…those who stumbled are armed with strength”

v. 6-7 these are contraversial statements to be sure especially to health, wealth, and prosperity movement….don’t really want to get into it though i guess.   I just remember who my God is and that ALL HE DOES DO IS JUST, whether or not I understand it or not.

Deut.32:4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

Last question:  why did they call the Lord the Rock?  Is it a “scripture quoting reference” for Hannah? 

God, thanks for your Word that blesses, reminds, inspires, convicts, propels…Blessed be the NAME of the LORD.

honest about devotion

life before my beautiful son was filled with “black and white” assumptions on some things, I remember thinking that devotionals were “less than” reading the WORD by itself.  I wouldn’t put anyone down if they studied “devo’s” it was just in my pre “mother” state not quite sufficient enough, not meaty enough I guess, but I’m about positive that I know who made up devotionals….had to be a busy mom….or a busy dad….I don’t really know where it all came from (that would be an interesting hunt to find the genesis of the Devotionals verses just scripture tellling, reading, or listening too).  I guess devo’s are like “written” mini sermons. 

Well, my need for God’s Word hasn’t changed, but my time in it has.  I like devo’s.  It’s about all I can do.  Sometimes its reading short parables about things, other times a verse or two to simmer all day, and frankly some days my Bible collects dust.  I pass by it all day, as i chase, feed, clean, change diapers, play with, clean house, sometimes shower, do cares stuff, etc. etc. etc. and deadlines take precidence over what used to be a sweet visit with the Lord in silence, in stillness….there is not much by way of those two words in my life….(I know I know I only have ONE kid!!  LOL anyway, that’s the Honest truth about that area for me for that past year and a half) 

So here I am wondering if I can devo my way back to the Word somehow….

here is an honest attempt at this mom’s desire to love and know her God intimately, vibrantly, and newly today:)