Teach me your paths

Teach me your paths

I’ve had a rather rough week and it’s only Wednesday.  Since I started working at a call center again I’ve very much questioned why I’m there.  It’s not the kind of work I want to do.  Sunday we got thrust on the phone we were getting calls we hadn’t been properly trained for they finally changed that but by then two people had quit.  Monday my car battery died and I had to call roadside assistance.  My wife and I have both had colds I almost wanted to call in sick on working on this blog.  When things aren’t making a lot of sense that’s when you need to to turn to God’s word.  I don’t understand where things are going but I started reading in Exodus about God providing food for the people of Israel then I turned to Psalms and found a reminder for all of us.  Maybe you’ve had a rough start to your week or even month.  I think Psalm 25 can help you too.  

Psalm 25:1-11

“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

O my God, in you I trust.  

Do not let me be ashamed;

Do not let my enemies exult over me.  

Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; 

Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed.  

Make me know Your ways, O Lord;

Teach me Your paths.  

Lead me in Your truth and teach me, 

For You are the God of my Salvation; 

For You I wait all the day.

Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses,

For they have been from of old.  

Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; 

According to Your Lovingkindness remember me.

For Your goodness sake, O Lord.  

Good and upright is the Lord; 

Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.  

He leads the humble in justice; 

And He teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth

To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.  

For Your name’s sake, O Lord, 

Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.”

See my week has been rough I don’t know why God has me where I’m at. Maybe I had to learn about working for roadside assistance by calling it myself to give me the right attitude.  I simply don’t know.  But I’m in a class full of trainees and when some of them learned I was a former guard they wanted me walking them to the cars at night.  I’m still seeking God to teach me his ways and keep me on his paths.  I don’t have even 99 of the hundred answers but I am trying to keep my eyes on God and that’s what we all need to do.  

Like incense/ sometimes by step by Hillsong 

Not by sight by Petra 

Big enough by Chris Rice

Here I am by Rebecca St James 

Life is hard but God is good by Pam Thum

What faith can do by Kutless 

Where there is faith by 4 Him 

Contrary

Contrary 

The world will often tell you there’s no point in even trying.  Satan will call you a failure.  He’ll tell you that God’s done with you.  I read some chapters and God has something else to say to these ideas.  Contrary to popular belief following God is worth doing.  

1 John 5:1-5 

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.  By this we know that we love the children of God , when we love God and observe His commandments.   For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome.  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world—- our faith.  Who is the one that overcomes the world, but he who believes Jesus is the Son of God?”

Did you catch that?  We who are believers follow God’s commandments and they aren’t burdensome!  Not only that we get to overcome the world.  The very same world and enemy who claims following God is not worth it and we will fail yeah if we keep following God we get win.  We can’t do it alone and in case you need a reminder of who is helping us well I found one of those for you too.  

Exodus 15:11-13

“Who is like you among the gods, O Lord?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?  You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them.  In your loving kindness You have led the people whom you have redeemed, in your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation.”  

So there’s a plan here.  Like Hannibal Smith would say “I love it when a plan comes together.”  

1.  Believe that Jesus is the Son of God
2. Follow his commandments and love his people.
3. You get to win in the end.
4. God isn’t done with you and I yet.  

It’s not rocket science it’s really not.  

And next time you think God’s commandments are burdensome read Psalm 119 because the author of that one chapter over and over says he delights in them and meditates on them.  God’s commandments are life giving.  He wants what is best for our lives.  

In the end by Natalie Grant 

Overcome by Jeremey Camp

If you want me to by Ginny Owens

Memoir by Audio Adrenaline 

Come to me by Geoff Moore and the Distance 

Heart of hearts by Paige Lewis

The Why

The Why

Andy Rooney used to often ask the question.  “Do you ever wonder?” Often you see me say in the blog that this is a blog about Hope.  But I want you to understand The Why behind it all.  See at Real Life we have a literal plethora of life groups or small groups for Bible study.  I can’t explain why each person has signed up to lead them.  But I can share my heart personally.  I’ve gone through stress, I’ve felt alone, my wife and I have struggled through some stuff and sometimes you need someone to point you back to God.  Whether you are new reader or old I pray for you that God would draw you closer to himself and change you.  There’s something in these verses I’m about to share that I also want you to pay attention to.  See a lot of you signed up for a weekly Bible study blog and I don’t know what you were expecting when you did.  But God brought you to this blog somehow and I don’t understand it all because it’s something only he gets the credit for. I’m hoping and praying that you become more mature in Christ as you read this whenever you do.  I couldn’t make anyone read it and I don’t want to.  But I pray you draw closer to God and see his Word brings hope.  

Colossians 1:25-29

“I have become its minister according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints.  God wanted to make known to those among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ, I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.”

See this blog is not about me.  I want to be the least important part.  The reader drawing closer to God and maturing in Christ should always be the goal.  The glory should always go to God alone.  If you need hope it is found in God’s Word that’s where true hope for your life and any situation can be found.  God has called me to encourage and that’s my why because I know what it’s like to look for hope.  If I don’t point my reader back to the cross with any advice verbal or written I have done them a great disservice.  I don’t know all of you the readers personally but I would like to one day in Heaven present you as being mature in Christ.  

Breathe Benediction by Newsboys

The Cry by Whiteheart 

Not to us by The Imperials 

When all is said and done by Geoff Moore and the Distance 

You are loved by Rebecca St James

When life gets broken by Sandi Patty and Natalie Grant

Fight for you

Fight for you

So many times we pray and ask God for help and we seem to forget who is fighting for us.  If you read about the journey of the nation Israel you see God leading and protecting them with fire and a cloud and using water.  We can’t always see how he’s working these days but sometimes we need a reminder that He still is.  Exodus 14 is an amazing chapter about God delivering Israel from Egypt but two verses were awesome to me.  It the previous part of the chapter God had already warned Moses that they were going to be followed by the Egyptian armies.  That’s the crazy thing too because during all ten plagues God warned Moses every time that Pharaoh was going to harden his heart.  So after ten plagues and fair warning the people of Israel are still whining and not trusting God and often we do the same and we need to be reminded who is fighting for us.  

Exodus 14:13-14 is what we need to remember when we pray.  Because God’s not finished with us.  

“But Moses said to the people, ‘Don’t be afraid.  Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation He will provide for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.  The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.’”

When you pray and turn things over to God and trust him, the fight is out of your hands and sometimes you have to be quiet and trust Him.  The Egyptian army you face now you may never see again.  The same God who defeated the Egyptian armies would also later do this.

“The tomb where soldiers watched in vain

Was borrowed for three days

His Body there would not remain

Our God has robbed the grave

Our God has robbed the grave

Your name

Your name

Is victory 

All praise will rise 

To Christ our King”

“I try so hard to find the words to say

To let you know how great is this God to whom I pray 

Nothing can nor ever will compare 

To the peace that flows in your soul when He is living there

Oh I know you’ve been through so much

It’s hard to contemplate reaching out in trust

But I know the simple truth 

That love is here for you

So take him at his Word and see what He can do.”

This means war by Petra 

I’ll come out fighting by DeGarmo and Key

The Battle belongs to the Lord by Petra 

Jehoshaphat by Don Francisco 

Horse and rider by Shiloh Worship Haven't heard this in years and especially never this fast 

Resurrecting by Elevation Worship 

O Praise the name by Hillsong 

God so loved by Jaci Velasquez