God’s love

The best reason to praise

Image by flickr
It happens to me at least once a day, especially this time of year with our Arizona monsoons……I am driving or walking and I see something in nature that makes me stop everything for just a moment and breathe a prayer of praise.

It’s a natural and spontaneous reaction that happens when you know that there is a God who is behind it all, and that even nature itself cannot help praising God. When I lift my hands or say, “Thank you God,” for a beautiful sunrise I am simply echoing what all of creation is already doing; praising our Creator for continuing to extend His mercy for one more day. Another day to hope, to believe in Him, to thank Him for His marvelous works and for our redemption.

One of the best reasons I can think of to praise God is because Satan absolutely hates it when we do. It’s like throwing cold water on the wicked witch of the west. He simply can’t succeed in anything he does when we are praising God.

The Bible has much to say about praise and not once does it say to praise Him only when things are going well. It just says to praise Him because He is worthy!
“But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.” Psalm 59:16

When Satan came before God’s throne in order to stir up trouble for Job, I believe he thought his victory was a shoe-in and that Job would surely cave in to despair and give up on God. But Job knew that whatever he was going through, it didn’t change who God was. He knew that in spite of everything, that God still loved Him; that for God to allow such grief there had to be a very good reason for it.

Absolute trust.

If you are despairing today, God has not left you. He has promised to be with you and see you through…

Another reason to praise is that we will be doing it throughout eternity, so we might as well practise now!

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Revelation 5:13

Can you picture even the animals bowing their heads or lifting their paws in praise to their Creator? It could happen! How cool would that be?

Can you think of a time when it was very difficult to praise God and you did it anyway?

Faith like Noah

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” Genesis 6:11-12

I am celebrating rain today. We finally had the kind of rain that people in the desert dream of. Sideways, torrential rain. All this rain puts me in mind of Noah. I am trying to imagine the kind of faith it would take to keep on building an Ark for anywhere between 55 to 75 years. (This figure was developed by a very smart Biblical research guy, not me.) I also could not find anywhere in the Bible where it says that the people taunted Noah while he was building it, but given the cultural climate I would say it is a strong possibility they did. The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. Genesis 6:5

Ever had someone say to you, “You really believe all that stuff?” Referring to the events in the Bible. They look at you with a bemused mixture of disbelief and bewilderment, and sometimes downright anger depending on who you are talking to. You may as well have just told then that aliens had kidnapped you from your bed and then flown you back to earth in time for work.

All the while Noah just kept hammering away, mixing up more pitch and sawing up more cypress. And watching the sky….It must have been very hard for he and his family. Lets face it, if we are to be honest, even if a 8 foot tall heavenly messenger came complete with thundering voice and glowing countenance, sooner or later they go away and you are left with insulting crowds and a clear sky with no rain in sight.

He just kept building. Just like we keep on believing. We belong to the family of Noah after all. When we really start to count up the ways we exercise our faith on a daily basis, we realize we have quite a bit in common with Noah after all. We pray to a God we can’t see and we believe He answers and we look to the sky just like Noah did.

“Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.” Genesis 7:6-9

I wish I could have seen it. All the animals walking peaceably side by side, leopards, elephants, goats, crocodiles, as Noah stood by the door with his staff….Thank you God for Noah’s great faith, and for the rain.

Tuning in to what’s real


“Here and there among men, there are those who pause in the hurried rush to listen to the call of a life that is more real. How often have we seen them, David, jostled and ridiculed by their fellows, pushed aside and forgotten. He who sees and hears too much is cursed for a dreamer, a fanatic, or a fool by the mad mob who, having eyes, see not, ears and hear not, and refuse to understand.

Only when we can no longer strive in the battle for earthly honors or material wealth do we turn to the unseen and more enduring things of life and hear and see the things we have so long refused to consider.” The Shepherd of the Hills, Harold Bell Wright.

I recently found a little treasure of a book published in 1907 about a worldly traveler who longs to escape his sophisticated city life and retreats to the Ozarks where he meets some people who teach him how to truly live. Leaving behind a successful church in the city, he ends up finding his faith and God in the mountains.

While there he meets Pete, the child who claims to speak with God, who wanders at night under the stars and hears the voices that whisper in the wind. When I look at this picture I can just see little Pete standing there in the sun. We can all learn something from the Petes of this world.

I talk to God all the time and though I have never yet heard an audible voice, I know He answers. The main way He answers me is though His word, but He uses other creative ways as well. I think I am going to listen to the wind more, and tune in to the song of the stars that sing. I am going to try to be more like Pete and tune into the Eternal world where God lives. I might be surprised what I hear!

“When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.” Ephesians 3:14-18

Dealing with Disappointment


We have all felt the weight of disappointment. It’s crushing, sometimes debilitating. When it’s due to circumstance it is frustrating enough, but when it is caused by people we care about, the hurt sinks deeper. It may be that they have no clue of the depth and impact their decision made on you. But there is One who does.

It washes over you in waves. You think you are over it, then you get another reminder, a text, a phone call. You want to tell them, “Hey, I am still smarting from this, while you seem to be going about your business as if everything is normal.” I am not okay yet.

There is only one thing we can do with disappointment, and that is to lay our battered heart at the cross of the One who knows how it feels. Talk it all out with Him. He knows how it feels to be disappointed over and over again by people. But He gave that to the Father. Somehow I think He did this when He went alone to quiet places to pray. I think He did this often, to renew His strength. To keep going, to keep loving, no matter what the cost.

Stand on the shore today, if only in your mind. Feel your disappointments wash away and be taken out to sea with every cleansing wave. Know that you will heal because of your relationship to the Healer.

Jesus was disappointed by people everywhere He went. He more than anyone knew the capacity for failure in the human heart. But He never stopped reaching out, He counted the cost and He figured we were worth it. He knew we would disappoint him, but it didn’t matter, He knew He must keep offering love.

Give your offerings, your every disappointment to Him today. Let the Holy Spirit bind your heart today with His peace.

“When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” Luke 22:45,46

Surprised by joy


Here I am Lord and I’m drowning
In your sea of forgetfulness
The chains of yesterday surround me
I yearn for peace and rest
I don’t want to end up where you found me
And it echoes in my mind
Keeps me awake tonight

Jesus can you show me
Just how far the East is from the West
Cause I can’t bear to see the man I’ve been
Come rising up in me again
In the arms of your mercy I find rest
Cause you know just how far the East is from the West
From one scarred hand to the other. “East to West”, Mercy Me

This morning my prayer room felt empty. I lit my candle anyway as an offering of faith. It was mustard seed small. I prayed, wondering what I did wrong that I didn’t feel Him there, to make Him turn away. I waited in the silence. So intent on myself and my feelings I forgot to leave room for the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I think God hides Himself a bit just to see what we will do.

I think sometimes He plays hide and seek in order to encourage us to flex our faith muscles and pray anyway. I waited…..I praised some more, I read the Psalms. I sang…..He surprised me with His joy leaping up like John in Elizabeth’s womb. What mercy. What did I do to deserve this lavish grace?Absolutely nothing.

Then I think, why me? What about the one who prays for days, weeks, months, and never seems to get any confirmation that God is listening? That is dangerous thinking. It is all too tempting to think I did something to get this reaction. I do this, He does that. Like a formula. But God doesn’t work in formulas, and he certainly doesn’t wait around until I hit the right combination of steps in order to reveal Himself. He reveals Himself in His own time, and His timing is always perfect.

He does it because of His great love and grace. Because He loves giving gifts to His children. It pleases Him to do these things. There is nothing I could do that would make God do anything. Or not do something. But here is a very important reason why God reveals Himself in our lives…..so we can encourage and build each other up!

The Bible assures us that He will answer in due time. I entered my prayer closet empty and came out filled….
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:7-11

Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt God was hiding His presence?

Rejoicing today in His eagerness to give good gifts: #393 peace in turbulence, #394 perseverance in difficulty, #395 assurance of Scripture, #396 confirmation that He hears, #397 unexpected joy, #398 laughter when all else fails, #399 dear ones to pray with, #400 His strength in my weakness.

holy experience

Lost Sheep

“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” Isaiah 40:11

I am always looking up facts about sheep because the more I read the Bible, the more I see that there are endless illustrations about sheep, shepherds, lambs, pastures, and sheep gates. It goes on and on. The latest fact I learned was that the Shepherd sometimes breaks the legs of the lambs. At first that sounded cruel, well it still does, but then I found out why they did it. It was to make it easier to carry the lambs on their shoulders in order to keep them safe from predators.

I can’t eat lamb. I tried it once and didn’t like it. Probably because I was envisioning a little face like this in my mind. I can’t eat veal for the same reason. But my main point was, (and I do have one somewhere) is that sometimes God allows certain things to happen in order to put us in a safer place. And sometimes after repeated warnings, He lets us wander in the wilderness for a bit so that He can teach us a valuable lesson, but it hurts Him to do this.

I can remember times in my life when I have felt, so scared, so surrounded, so vulnerable. This life can be a scary place, and sometimes we do feel totally alone. Vulnerable to the shadows of night, aware that unless help comes we are finished. Everything becomes distorted…requests become harsh demands and all fingers are pointing at you. Mercy is nowhere to be found. But never fear. Your Shepherd has counted and found that you are missing, and even now he is bounding up the path, staff at the ready.

Feel his strong arms lift you into safety today as you nestle in the warmth of His love, hammering hearts of panic slow and rest in His own strong heart’s rhythm. Know that whatever happens, you remain in His safe place.

Simplifying


I was thinking today how complicated everything seems, even the church. Every day I see terms associated with the modern church that leave me confused, and I am one of the ones in the church! I can’t imagine how those outside the church feel. No wonder they are confused and disillusioned. I just heard a new term today, the Organic Church. I have no idea what it means, then there are these terms associated with the church today:
Emergent Church
Post-Modern Church
Mega-Church
Conservative and Post-conservative
Liberal and Post Liberal
Reformed
Charismatic and Neocharismatic
Calvinism
Arminianism
Those are just a sprinkling of terms I found and those are general terms that don’t even include the different denominations themselves. No wonder people are confused about Christianity. Sometimes I think it would be a whole lot easier if all churches had one name….”The Way” with a simple fish on the front.
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:31
The important thing to remember is that behind all the differences of denomination and styles of worship, we are all one church.

Lord, I pray that we can be one unified church so that You might be glorified on this earth. May we continue to be a light in a dark world that needs You. I pray that we can use love as a filter through all of our differences. Thank you for Your Holy Spirit who makes this possible. Amen.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Celebrating the church today and all the important ways we are the same…..believing that He is risen, and that we will rise too, that we have forgiveness through His work on the cross, that we must trust Him daily, confess our sins, know that we are unworthy but He is worthy, lifting our hands, bowing our heads, praising His name in the sanctuary, that we remember what He did through communion, enter into new life through baptism, death swallowed up in victory
holy experience

Convicted


Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7,8

I was convicted this morning as I drove to work. I said things about two people last night in conversation that I never should have said. Comments flung out as added commentaries to the story that was being told. Words that didn’t portray them in the best light. It’s not that I said anything untrue, or horribly bad. It just that what I said wasn’t neccessary, or edifying.

I once shed tears with both of these people. I still pray for them regularly. But at the moment I said those words, I let God down.

I let myself down…
I let those present down….
And I let the ones I talked about down…..

Forgive me Lord. For not loving with my words.

Forgive me for letting my tongue fly carelessly. Help me to see that harmless little comments aren’t ever harmless, not if it puts others down. Help me to lift You up in my conversations by using words that build up.

Thank you for this reminder. The two people I talked about have many good and wonderful characteristics and it would have been just as easy to say something kind. Next time help me to remember this and do just that. In Your precious name, Amen.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:29,30