I'm Back

Wow, after 9 days, I think I'm slightly dehydrated! I ask all of my many readers :) to pray for me. I have been thirsty and refusing to drink. My heart is stubborn and unreasonable. I have been busy for the last week, but not THAT busy. I confess to you that I have not just been neglecting to post, but neglecting to drink of the living water on a regular basis. But praise God that today I drink! And praise God that, though I have been away from my blog, I have not been away from the Living Water Himself, because He never leaves me or forsakes me!

Ephesians 1
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

I have chosen, with my husband's help, to pray through the book of Ephesians. A great book to come back to! What freedom to know that He has chosen me to be holy and blameless before him. Whenever I see words like this in the Bible, "before him," it stops me dead in my reading tracks! I picture standing face to face with Him, and a strange mix of emotions flood over me. Love, fear, awe, shame, security, relief, and on and on. But when I allow myself to dwell on the truth, that I will stand before him, and do stand before him now, holy and blameless because of HIS substitution, I am elated!

Thank you, Lord, for YOU. Without you, I have nothing, I am nothing. Because of you I have everything. Literally, I have inherited everything! I can't even imagine. Help me to face today like I have everything wonderful to look forward to. Because I do.

No longer I who live

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

How often I forget that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I have the greatest joy and satisfaction when I remember this, but it seems that I am constantly chasing my own agenda! Even so, I do not read these verses and think, "Wow I really need to buckle down and live like Christ is living in me. It's my duty because He gave Himself for me." I actually am thinking, "Yeah, duh, that's why I'm miserable, because I'm fighting myself. I've got Christ living in me, trying to bring me happiness, and I am actually rebelling against my own happiness!"

I died to the law and I keep trying to live by it, and I fail and then give up and get discouraged, and find some other way to make myself happy. Umm... in case anyone was wondering, it never works! I can only find happiness in Christ and who He is and what He has done, and then live the rest of my life through that.

Lord, show your perfect strength in my weakness! Instead of me sitting at home trying to perfect all of my ideas and organize my unorganized life before I go out and minister, let me go out and make a mess of things for your name's sake and then watch you clean it up. Show me how to love others and show me that I don't have to do it perfectly because you already have. Let me live each day by faith, and throw away my own agenda and start living by Yours, one day at a time.

Freedom

Galatians 4: 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

How familiar, these verses, yet how forgotten in daily life. This daily grind of law, failure, guilt, more law, more failure, more guilt, is draining me. It was a little easier to deal with when the cycle went like this, law, success, self-righteousness, change the law to suit me a little better, success, self-righteousness. Self righteousness feels good for a time, but it ultimately kills everything genuinely good! And if you're unmotivated and lazy like me, you can't sustain it for very long anyway.

Confession: I cannot make myself love the Word of God by making a rule that says I have to read it at a certain time every morning. Don't misunderstand, good habits are good and helpful, and meditating on God's Word is a GREAT habit. But what happens when life circumstances make it difficult for a few days? If I was feeling really good about my habit, how will I feel when I break it? Typically, really bad! Herein lies the problem. The days that I slack in my habit-keeping, my God remains the same. My Jesus is still my substitute, I am still an heir through God! And this should be my source of joy, not my ability to keep my habit.

Confession: I cannot keep my marriage happy by making a rule that I will be available to my husband at all times. Again, don't misunderstand, I should be available to my husband, and he to me, at any given time. And my husband and I have a marriage that is as close to perfection as I could dream of in this dreadfully fallen world. But what happens when circumstances and sin make it difficult for me to want to be available? What if I was feeling really good about how good I am to my husband, and then for a few days I'm not so good? Again, I start feeling really bad, and life is terrible, and I am miserable. But on the days that our marriage falls below the "yellow line" into less than perfect status, our God remains the same. Our Jesus is still our substitute, and we are still heirs through God! And this should be our source of joy, not our ability to maintain a perfect marriage.

So, does all of this freedom that Christ has given me make me want to neglect my time in God's Word and keep myself from my husband? "What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" (Rom 6:15) In fact, looking to Christ this morning, instead of my own righteousness (or lack thereof) has made me long for Him and His Word, and interestingly enough, has made me long for my husband (too bad he's not home.) :)

Lord, shine brightly, burn in my heart so that I never want to turn away. The darkness permeates so quickly, I can't afford to turn from your light for a second. But, O God, the peace in knowing that when I do turn away, you don't. And it is YOUR strength that keeps me, your hand that upholds me! "Thank you" sounds so weak. I have nothing to offer you that you have not given to me. Help me pour out my life as a living sacrifice, and cling to you with all that I am!

Psalm 16: Pleasant Places

Click here for Psalm 16

4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.

5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

I am tempted to be downcast today for various reasons. The sorrows of those who chase after another god will multiply. Maybe that's why I'm downcast. Maybe my heart is taking refuge in the wrong places and it's no refuge at all. The Lord holds my lot, how could I despair. The lines have truly fallen for me in pleasant places. In this life and for the future. I have a beautiful inheritance waiting for me, and, in the meantime, a life here that is so good it sometimes draws my heart away from my true home. God has turned my sins completely upside-down and made beauty from ashes! I head down a road of self-destruction and he turns it into a journey to everlasting joy!

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me refuge, even when my stubborn heart resists! I shall not be shaken. You have made known to me the path of life while I was happily, unknowingly traveling the path of death. Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices! I have inherited fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Please teach me to receive that promise in faith. Quiet the lies in my head telling me that pleasure can be found elsewhere, or that it can't be found at all. Lord, when others are hurting, help me remember that I have no happiness to offer them aside from You!!

Psalm 115

Click here for Psalm 115

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

I wonder how many times the world looks at the faith of a Christian and wonders, "Where is their God?" When cancer has taken over even through righteous prayers, when finances hit rock bottom even through faithful stewardship, where is their God? When Christians are praying for leaders and they make terrible decisions, when the economy of a free nation is crumbling, where is their God?

Our God is in the heavens and he does all that he pleases!

Things are not as they seem. God is working all of this out according to his pleasure, and we know that his pleasure is to do ultimate good for His people (Romans 8:28). The world cannot possibly see this without eyes of faith, so they are forced to try to make something good for themselves.

4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.

Don't be fooled, idols (things that we use to make us feel like things are good when they don't look so good) cannot DO anything. But they sure LOOK like they can. I love this description of idols! They have mouths, eyes, ears, noses, hands, feet, throats. To the untrained eye they look pretty handy. But, in reality, they are completely USELESS! They cannot do anything for us. And when we begin to trust in them, we become like them, USELESS!

The world is producing idols at a frantic pace, desperate for something to fill the void. They are spending all of their time and energy on these useless idols, wasting their lives away. We possess the only thing that can save their wasted lives, the gospel of Jesus. And sometimes we are so enchanted by the world's beautiful idols that we are stumbling around useless like everyone else.

11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;

Lord, help us to wait on your blessing, and stop fiddling around with these useless idols. Help us to trust in you and lift you up so that the world can see the One who is more beautiful than anything we can make. Allow us to see your beauty and your worth everyday so that we can see the folly of all of these idols in our hearts! Don't let us be fooled by thinking that if we make a really cool idol, we can attain some kind of glory. It will not fulfill. Only when we give all of the glory to you, will we be lifted up!

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. (Mark 8:35)

Psalm 144 Train My Hands For War

Psalm 144

1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle;
2 he is my steadfast love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield and he in whom I take refuge,

3 O Lord, what is man that you regard him,
or the son of man that you think of him?
4 Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.

5 Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!
Touch the mountains so that they smoke!

Father, train my hands for war and my fingers for the battle that is before me. I don't know how to fight this war against the darkness, but you do, and you have already defeated it!!! Just put me in line where I need to be, and touch the mountains so that they smoke, and I will follow your lead. Let me see your power in this ministry being formed. Give us your vision, Lord, your love, your hope, and your light. For YOU are all we have to offer people! Who am I, Lord, that you think of me? Even so, use me!

Psalm 103

Psalm 103

10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

15 As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all

How comforting it is to realize that our God is so much greater than our plans! Our days are like flowers that are here and then gone in a season. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. He has a glorious redemptive plan worked out. And He has chosen to use us, with all of our sin, to be a part of what He is doing. For he does not deal with us according to our sins, PRAISE GOD!

He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. Lord knows my sins have been many, and some of them great, and he knows them all very well. He paid for each of them. But I have nothing to hang my head over! He has taken them all and removed them from me, never to appear again. What freedom! And not just the sins of the past, but also of the future, the ones that will shock me tomorrow, he has already dealt with. I stand amazed!! How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me!

20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Let my soul join the hosts of heaven today! Bless the Lord, O my soul!