Saturday, March 5, 2016

Non linear God

There's a phrase I've been considering a lot this week.  See as humans and especially in English classes we talk a lot about time and past tense, present tense, perfect and future tense.  Deuteronomy 31:8 "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you.  He will be with you; he will neither fail you or abandon you."  Did you catch that phrase "go ahead of you."?  As humans that's a lot to grasp because we worry.  Follow the phrase to it's thought conclusion.  God has already seen tomorrow all of it.  He's seen all of time.  If you're having a bad time consider this God is not linear he's seen it all.  If you are his child He's already gone before you personally.  To the people of Israel God manifested himself as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  The cloud by day led them and went before them.  God is with his people ahead of them behind them and around them.  1 Samuel 17:45-47 Look at David's assurance in God going before him and shaping the battlefield against Goliath.  "You came to me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven's armies-- the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head.  And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!  And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear.  This is the Lord's battle, and he will give you to us."  Later David penned this about God in Psalms 139:7-12.  "I can never escape from your spirit!  I can never get get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me.  I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night-- but even in the darkness I cannot hide from you.  To you the night shines as bright as day.  Darkness and light are the same to you.  In Luke 8:43-48 Jesus heals a woman who simply touched his garment and then asked "Who touched me?"  I've heard it badly taught that he didn't know.  The first chapter of John and many other passages prove that Jesus was fully God and fully man.  He knew and to say otherwise is to deny the sovereignty of God.  God knows all, sees all and is all powerful.  Whatever you're dealing with he's seen it from beginning to end and he wants you to know this.  Isaiah 41:10 "Don't be afraid, for I am with you.  Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."  

normally at the end of these studies I post music and I'll get to that but this week you're getting a first. See Wednesday I wrote most of this i finished it on Thursday and then re read it Friday.   Friday afternoon I was working all alone and I kept staring at the water.  I kept feeling like I wanted to write a poem and the first line was all I had in my head.  I locked gate 2 and went and sat on a rock with my notebook and a pen and what you are about to read is the result.  



Proclaim


Yellow and orange blaze descends
Waves roll in
Boats traverse
Sometimes massive
Gulls from the sea
Squawk at me
As night falls
My feelings of importance
Depart like the jumping fish
The wind swirls
There is beauty here
Grass quivers
It grows cooler
Buoys remain stable
My words grow feeble
On the rock I sit
Nothing is out of place
All is as God has decreed
As they squawk these birds
They don’t fear or worry
For a thing
Why should I
Beauty all around
God is showing me
He who made the beauty today
He holds all
The trees continue to wiggle
Each thing here points
It even declares
The glory and majesty
Of the Creator of all
Cranes, barges, boats
Mere behemoths
They pale
Insignificant
All around me
Calls
Give glory to God 












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Saturday, February 27, 2016

Waves and love

"I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.  But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life."  Psalm 42:7-8  I have a habit I'm trying to get better at.  I'm diabetic and I take this pill called Invokanna but I can't eat for 30 minutes after.  I'm working hard at reading a devotional in that time frame.  It helps me get my thoughts on God.  I have a co-worker who doesn't make the start of my shift pleasant.  Lately I've been looking out on the water and thanking God and letting him know how beautiful it is to me.  Thursday was one of the windiest days ever.  When you combined the waves and the passage of ships the sight was spectacular.  The verses above brought me to this song.  King of Heaven in humility I bow as your love, in wave after wave crashes over me, crashes over me.  For you are for us you are not against us Champion of Heaven you made a way for all to enter in."  Let his waves of unfailing love crash over you today.  Here's some reminders of that love for you.  Lamentations 3:22-23 "The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning."  "He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me."  Let that last verse sink in God delights in you!  






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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

A bottle of your tears

Third posting from 5 Minutes with Jesus by Sheila Walsh


When I opened the gift from my friend, I wasn't quite sure what it was.  The small glass bottle was a beautiful cobalt blue, about two inches tall, covered in silver filigree.  
I thought it might be a perfume bottle, albeit a very small one, but her note explained that it was actually a tear bottle she'd found in an antique store in Israel.  I did a little research and discovered that tear bottles were common in Rome and Egypt around the time of Christ.  Mourners would collect their tears as they walked toward the graveyard to bury their loved one, a tangible indication of how much that person was loved.  Sometimes women were even paid to follow the mourners and cry into such a vessel.  Apparently the more anguish and tears produced, the more important and valued the deceased person was perceived to be.  But legend has it these mourners-for-hire who cried the loudest and produced the most tears received the greatest compensation.  
I treasure this little blue bottle because it reminds me of a profound spiritual truth David wrote about in Psalm 56, when he was at one of the lowest points of his life.  David had been captured by his enemies in Gath( he actually feigned insanity to survive), but he found comfort in the fact that God saw everything he was going through and caught every single tear he shed.  I love David's confidence in the mercy and faithfulness of God even when he himself had not been faithful to the Holy One.  David knew without a doubt that Almighty God never misses a moment, a tear, or a sigh from any of His children.  Do you rest in that truth, or do you question that God loves you that much?
Do you ever feel alone?  Have you ever thought, "No one on this earth understands the depth of my suffering"?  
If you've taken a wrong turn in the road, are you expecting God to hold back His mercy until you get back on the straight and narrow? 
That's not the God David knew; that's not the God of the Bible.  We have a Father who keeps track of all our wanderings and catches every single tear we cry.  When we begin to grasp the depth of that truth, we can say with confidence just as David did, "This I know: God is on my side!" (Psalm 56:9).  

Your heavenly Father knows your every struggle and never leaves your side.

You have kept count of my tossings: put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?  Psalm 56:8

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.  He rescues them from all their troubles.  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.  Psalm 34:17-18

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  Psalm 147:3

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  Psalms 126:5

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."  Matthew 5:4


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Sunday, February 21, 2016

Welcomed by Royalty

This is my second post from 5 minutes with Jesus by Sheila Walsh but before I get to it I wanted to say something to all of you who read this.  I have been told by my Dad and others that the blog is shared via e-mail to people they think it will benefit.  Go for it!  You have my permission.  


On with the post.

I had practiced my curtsy for weeks, and I knew not to speak unless I was spoken to.  
I'd been preparing to host a gala evening at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which Her Royal Highness Princess Anne would be attending.  At the conclusion of the evening, those of us who had performed would be introduced to her, and I'd had the rules made very clear to me.
"Remember, the first time she addresses you, you must call her, Your Royal Highness."  my palace coach began.  "After that, you simply address her as Ma'am.  Are we clear?"  
We were clear!
The event went seamlessly until the receiving line.  I was second in line, and my heart was racing.  Princess Anne looked beautiful in a full-length green taffeta ball gown and dazzling emerald and diamond earrings.  As she got closer, my mind went blank.  Totally blank
Do I call her "Your majesty"?  No, that's for the Queen!  I was in a total panic.
Suddenly Princess Anne was standing right in front of me, extending her lily white hand.  I blurted out the only English word I apparently still knew: "Hello!"  
Over her shoulder I saw my palace instructor take a deep breath.  
That's it!  I'm going to be thrown in the Tower of London. I thought.
But Princess Anne squeezed my hand and replied, "Hello to you too!"  
Such grace.  As thrilled as I was to meet a member of the royal family, it pales in comparison to what you and I are invited to do every moment of our lives.  We have the privilege of entering the very throne room of Almighty God.  Read that sentence again, because this truth may have become too familiar: We have the privilege of entering the very throne room of Almighty God.  May our hearts beat a bit faster as we accept the invitation extended to us in Hebrews:  "Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."  (4:16).  Jesus will graciously and lovingly accept us, tongue-tied or not!

Live everyday knowing that you are a beloved child of the King of Kings, always welcome to enter into his presence!

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.  Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.  1 Chronicles 29:11

All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.  Psalms 138:4-5

Be exalted, Lord, in your strength: we will sing and praise your might.  Psalm 21:13

God has highly exalted [Jesus] and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  Philippians 2:9-11   
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Saturday, February 20, 2016

Christ is with you

This is one of three devotionals I'm sharing this week from Sheila Walsh's book Five Minutes with Jesus.  They impacted me this week and I hope God uses them to speak to your hearts as well.  My wife reminded me that God will use it to be something someone needs to hear.   enough of me talking.

Do you ever doubt that God is with you?  
Do you ever look at the amount in your checking account and the pile of bills and wonder if God remembers where you live?  
Do you find yourself in a dark place and wonder if you are lost?  
When we allow circumstances to be the indicator of whether Christ is with us, we may start panicking when the sea starts getting rough.
Mark described an incident like that in chapter four of his gospel.  The disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee with Jesus and, tired from a day of teaching, He fell asleep.  As the sea became rougher and rougher, the men began to panic.  Waking Jesus, they asked Him,  "Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?"  (Mark 4:38)  If you look back to verse 35, you will see that they actually missed what Jesus said, which was, "Let's cross to the other side of the lake."  He didn't say "Let's get halfway across and drown."  Jesus knew they would survive the stormy sea.
Sometimes we are just like those disciples, forgetting what we've been promised.  The Christian life is a lot like that boat ride.  Christ has told us where we're going, but sometimes in the midst of the journey we don't feel his presence and we can only see the overwhelming storms.  Paul told his fellow believers, "I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns"  (Philippians 1:6).  He didn't say that he hoped this would happen, or as long as nothing changed in the world it would be the case; he wrote, "I am certain."  This man whose road to salvation involved a blinding encounter with the risen Christ reminds us that God was the one who began working in our lives, and He will be the one to complete that work.  
If life feels a little rough right now, remember Christ's promises and that you are not alone, for He is in the boat with you.

 Don't let a storm keep you from counting on what Jesus has told you.  

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's cross to the other side of the lake."  Mark 4:35

God has said, "I will never fail you.  I will never abandon you."  Hebrews 13:5

"Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Matthew 28:20

God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.  2 Samuel 22:33
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Nuff said

I've been doing this life group bible study thing for a while now both in person and online.  Sometimes you just run across a passage that needs absolutely no explanation.  There's a phrase in comics from years ago "Nuff said."  

I give you Psalms 37:1-9

"Don't worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong.  For like grass, they will soon fade away.  Like spring flowers they soon wither.  Trust in the Lord and do Good.  Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.  Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires.  Commit everything you do to the Lord.  Trust Him, and he will help you.  He will make you radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.  Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.  Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.  Stop being angry!  Turn from your rage!  Do not lose your temper it only leads to harm.  For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land."
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