New life verse for 2012, at least for “now” how ever long that lasts

Philippians 4:6…

Do not be anxious about anything,^(H) but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.^{(I) 7} And the peace of God,^(J) which transcends all understanding,^(K) will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It has been cooking, simmering, sizzling, permeating, marinating in my heart for days and weeks now, and everyday I need it, everyday sometimes several times a day i’m faced with the fact that I sin in the very way it says not to.  I find myself trying to convey its profound effect on me.  It is as powerful as an unstoppable force, like a hurricane, it has driven me to a deeper, or just more profound experience with God the Father.

I asked myself tonight again for the millioneth time, as God reveals new things to my heart and my mind I tend to ask….”so what’s the meaning of life, then?” at first I said that same old answer, ” Go to heaven and take as many people as I can with me”….but that’s not it, those are certain important elements, but what i’ve been deeply seared with is this, “the Father, to please the Father, to know and to do His will.”  It might sound simple but to me it is a perfect spring of water quenching my thirsty soul

It’s like my relationship with my own son, whenever he gets the desire to go outside, we’ve been teaching him that before he even APPROACHES the door, he is to come to us, stop and look at mommy or daddy and ask, “may I go outside?” It is almost ridiculous how small a thing, but it is absolutely important for him to not walk out when he wants to….the other important note is that he is just 3 years old.  (sidenote:  that actually happened to one of my neighbors not too long ago, thankfully the child was returned to her family and we got to play a big role in that, but I walked away in deep sadness for only a moment’s toying with the “what if….” but then back to the Thank you God that there were no what if’s scenarios to be played out that night.  That family could breath that sigh of absolute relief that their child was back in their care. That night I all the more mad sure to train my son, and it pleases me and his daddy to no end when he does that, I think of all the wonderful things he is learning through simple obedience.  I think the Father delights in little things like that, when we look to Him before we get up and start the million things on our lists.  Oh how wonderful to see His smile on me for simple obedience! 

Knowing the Father, asking Him to reveal His will for me each day, moment by moment is no simple task.  It wasn’t until this verse challenged my very soul with the simple truth that I am so profusely anxious and worried about EVERYTHING!  On the surface not many acquaintances would know it, and only close friends would suspect it, best friends know me and know this is true before I know it is true.  Perhaps others see it too, but best friends tell me, pray for me, walk with me to trusting my Father again.

I am amazed at how practicing this simple command, “…but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving…” can transform.

It is so hard to stay in an anxious state of mind and find something to thank God about, or for, it’s transforming…you have to move from worry to trust if your heart is going to be thankful….

another thought that is diving deep is the idea of gratitude….man, i’m pretty ungrateful….the challenge to die to self and let Christ live in me means that in everything the “me” has to be able to give thanks….IN EVERY SITUATION….overcoming the fear, the worry, the missed “God moments” opportunity  in my anxious heart is in the end a dying to self, and appropriating “we have the mind of Christ”, or “walking by the Spirit”.

It is a profound test of the trust quotient…It’s far to easy to say, “I trust in God for ….(fill in the blank)”  I have found that it is in the smaller daily sometimes moment by moment decisions that cause me to be the most anxious.  Big things are almost easier to just trust because they feel more impossible, but its the things that i THINK I CAN DO like open a door to go outside for a 3 year old, that He would want me to ask Him about.

I constantly think about Joshua and Ai.  He got a little cocky, and took for granted that God would always have his back in the same way he did for every battle that Joshua talked to God about BEFORE he went charging full steam ahead.  It’s that relationship with the Father that is key, not winning battles, not checking off a list….(i’m even thinking how this is more important than what i do IN life….but that’s another blog for another day…I’m telling ya this verse is just tearing me up for the better I believe)

But here is my other conclusion….this is where I am today, I like many of you are on a journey with the Father through the Son by the power of His Spirit and He is guiding you into truths that you are ready for and perhaps i’m not ready for them yet…I can definately say that Phil 4:6 was not a new verse for me but rather it was the “umpteenth” time i’ve read it, but through my new quiet time format, if you will…(another blog), it has changed me.  God is changing my understanding of my relationship with Him.

profoundly appreciating my Father-daughter relationship today…

 

devo q – on the computer this week

sometimes the Lord uses us in mysterious, even strange ways huh?  He can use us even when we do and say dumb things….Thank God.

I am fascinated by 1 sam. 11

bad guy, Nahash captures a city in Isreal, Jabesh and the “elders” of Jabesh ask Nahash to make a treaty with him and they will be subject to him, but Nahash retorts, yeah only if I can gouge out the right eye of every one of you!  Then they ask him to please let them send messengers to the rest of Israel to see if they will rescue them.

Now that right there is weird, is there an unspoken war rule here?  Why would you let your enemy go rally the troups?  pride? I don’t quite understand what happens here with this part but the next part is what i find most intriguing

they send word to where the new FIRST king Saul is and the people hear the message and begin weeping, Saul happens upon them hears the news and then God’s Spirit comes powerfully upon him, he burns with anger, and then cuts up an oxen into little pieces and sends it throughout Isreal saying, “whoever doesn’t follow saul and samuel will have his oxen cut up like this too!”

I wonder if this was some sort of war cry like something you say so wildly out of the ordinary to signify that he already knew no one would risk not going to war, like the biggest boast of courage you could make to get others rallied and on board to a cause where the hearer basically says, “well duh! I’m there! say no more!”

Verses 19 to end of chapter are really cool, wanted to point out some things

 

The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

²⁰ “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. ²¹ Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. ²² For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own. ²³ As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. ²⁴ But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. ²⁵ Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”

God, his priest, his people

God chooses sinful people – God is so full of mercy, grace, and is quick to forgive

a mediator prays for the people – the way Samuel says this is convicting to me…why would Samuel be in sin if he didn’t PRAY for the people?  Lord help me to pray for the people you’ve given us to walk with

the people are to fear and serve God  - here is the call to the people once again, if they fear him, and serve him it saves Israel from learning hard lessons THE HARD way….

lots to ponder tonight

May God bless my dear friends and family who know and love Jesus tonight to see Him in profound ways this week, to obey Him with all their heart, and to stand in awe of His power and great grace!  In Jesus’ name i pray amen!  May those that don’t know him yet, be wooed by the King of Kings, to see His awesome love for them particularly, and may our God use His people and His power to reveal the good news to those ready to hear. In Jesus’ name amen.

Devo quest- “extra” along the ordinary path :)

WOW, Our God is an AWESOME STORY GIVER!  1 sam 10.  Saul sets out one day trying to find his father’s missing donkey’s and gets anointed KING of ISRAEL, I’m sure he thought as he walked out of his house that day, “can’t wait to be king!” yeah right?!!?  How amazing a story.  I wish the ending was as EXTRA ordinary as his beginning, but there is something to “beginnings” right?  Turn of the year in an hour (for me at least), a new beginning AGAIN:)  for the 34th year of my life at least…

But Saul was already a cut above it seemed.  It said that there was NOT a more handsome man in all isreal, and that he was apparently real tall, it said he was a head above the rest.  So mister Tall & handsome was about to meet RICH, FAMOUS, and Powerful, ….well for awhile…in just a few short hours on that fatefilled day.

So his servant HAPPENS to tell Saul, at the moment Saul wants to turn back, that they should go find Samuel, God’s prophet, maybe he could help them find Saul’s father’s lost donkeys….along the way, along the way….ALONG THE WAY!  

what if he decided to stay home that day, or disobeyed his father’s request, or was proud, or rude, or rebellious that day?  What if he said he would but never took the journey? 

A person could not have planned a better story, only GOD the amazing STORY GIVER could orchestrate such music and melody, perfect timing and rhythm….

So on the way to see Samuel there is a man coming towards Saul and his servant.  God speaks to Samuel, “this is the one I told you about”, and Saul stops this “stranger” to ask for directions to Samuel’s house!!!  I LOVE IT!!  its a movie in the making, the audience of angels know that Samuel is God’s prophet, and they see Saul about to meet his divine appointment, the bounding of the drums louder and louder till the loud symbol crash – SMASH!.  Just along the way….GOD!   He’s working to make the ordinary something “extra.” 

God through Samuel’s actions begins to pour favor on Saul, for one He meets his needs.  Earlier on the way, Saul was out of cash, and food.  They wanted to take a gift to Samuel but it mentions that the “food sack” was empty and they had nothing, but then the servant pulls out some coins and they decide it is enough.  So the first thing that they do is eat, and apparently the thigh of whatever was cooking was some kind of piece of meat, and an honor if you got to eat that piece.  He was not only fed, he was FED with a capital F:)  God is just good like that….along the way….

it reminds me of so many times that God has worked in me for someone else along the way, and all this time I’ve been so worried about being used when I get “there”.   May this new year be filled with me making margin in my schedule “along the way”….

In 2010, JD and I were doing visits like normal, sometimes we have so much time because we’re on a babysitter’s schedule, other times, we are on our son’s nap or energy schedule, but this time we just wanted to get it all done.  You see we visit one month prior to a residents renewal date.  We had a few more on our list for Novembers “renewals” and I just HAPPENED to look at my notes and noticed that a December “renewal” was …along the way….so I told JD, hey let me just stop here since we’re here and do a December renewal real quick.  She opened the door, drums louder and louder, symbol crash! bam! DIVINE APPOINTMENT….along the way…She lost her job, and had no idea what she and her 4 year old son were going to do without being able to pay december rent…She heard the gospel for the first time, received the truth in her heart without question, and became a new believer in Christ Jesus as the forgiver of her sins, Savior of her Soul, and Redeemer of her life….Along the way….and later by the GRACE AND GENEROUS HEART OF GOD and His church….her rent was paid….her family fed…others aware of their needs, and help like the cavalry displayed the grace, and goodness of our God

Had i waited to do december renewals when i was supposed to she may not have been there anymore….

may this new year find His children seeing all of God’s opportunities along the way…

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:)