God Is In Control

Jeremiah 10:2 and 23 -   This is what the LORD says: "Do not act like other nations who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations are terrified by them.

I know, LORD, that a person's life is not his own. No one is able to plan his own course.

 

Jeremiah warns us in this chapter of leaning on other sources…even our own resources….to plan our future. He knew that God was the one in charge of our lives…not one minute can be planned on our own. The stars do not hold the secrets of our future….only a history of the past.

 

We are a people who likes to know what is going to happen and when it will be so.  We carefully plan out retirement accounts … plan college funds for our children…and keep wills in order so that family will know our wishes when we pass. We want to have a nice emergency fund in the bank…just in case. Don’t misunderstand here…I am not saying that these things in themselves are bad.  But many times…we complete these tasks thinking that we have some power over life because we were smart enough to plan ahead.

 

Jeremiah was reminding us that God is in control of all that we have and do. That well planned retirement account can be drained in a week with an illness we did not expect. That college fund is useless if the child we planned it for suddenly is removed from our lives. That will only says who we feel should have our assets….not what they will use it for after we pass.  That emergency fund can be gone in a flash….if a natural disaster comes our way and destroys our belongings. God will allow things in our life to get us back on his path if we stray too far from his plan.

 

Sure…I need to keep making wise decisions with the resources God gave me.  Sure…with prayer and Bible study I can make wise decisions with the resources he blesses me with. I will continue to pay into a retirement account…and keep a small amount in the bank for emergencies. I thank God every day that I am able to help my last son finish college…even though my contribution is small. I still need to sit down and do a will…just so I have peace of mind that my children will be able to use what God has so richly blessed me with in some way.  God willing…he may grant me a thousand more years on this earth…but I have no guarantee. All I know is the promise he made me in Jeremiah 29:11….that HE has great plans for my future…and they will be good…they will be just what he wanted for me.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that my life…my future is totally in your control. Forgive me for the times that I try to manipulate it into something you did not have planned for me….and I made another mess for you to clean up.  Help me to use the resources you gave me wisely…and invest them the way you tell me to through prayer and Bible study. Give me wisdom to use all of what you gave me…time…money….talent….to glorify and help those you send me to help. Help me live more in today…and stop worrying so much about the future. Amen.

Thank God For Your Messes...Then Make Them A Testimony

Jeremiah 4:1-2 -   "O Israel, come back to me," says the LORD. "If you will throw away your detestable idols and go astray no more,  and if you will swear by my name alone, and begin to live good, honest lives and uphold justice, then you will be a blessing to the nations of the world, and all people will come and praise my name."

 

Jeremiah’s messages are a bit repetitive….always telling the people to come back to God.  But this one gives us a really good reason to try and stay there once we have decided to come back to our senses and love God more than anything. When he reignites the love we had lost in our heart…he can use us to spread more of it to others.

 

The real message here is that God takes our mess and turns it into a message. All that he has allowed to happen in our lives that he has also helped us to overcome is a powerful tool to help others. The mess we went through gives us credibility to the world…and sharing the way God helped us through it gives purpose to the mess we went through.

 

For me….the mess was dealing with the death of my sweet second husband Mitchell.  Today would have been my 4 year anniversary.  God let me crawl up in his lap that day…and I haven’t ventured far from it since. I know that I know that God took my hand that day and is still providing the strength I need to keep walking. My mess has become a testimony of daily devotions…a blog…for losing Mitchell helped me realize I did not have God first place in my life.

 

God has since given me the ability and passion to read his word and give me insights every morning that help me grow even closer to being the Christian he had planned for me all along. The sweetest thought I have today…on one of the hardest days of emotions…is that Mitchell always said I would be a writer someday…that it would even be our ticket to early retirement. That thought will help carry me through today…and help me remember all the good things that God allowed me to share with him.  It makes me want to thank God for the short time we had together…instead of mope around and be sad. The tears I shed on this day will be a testimony…of thanks to God for allowing me any time with him at all.

 

Father…thank you for the wonderful gift you gave me in Mitchell.  Thank you for the mess I had to go through…still go through when he left this earth to live with you.  Thank you for reminding me that even this loss has a purpose in helping others come to know who you are. Forgive me for the times that I forget that my mess has a purpose…and I let satan trick me into feeling sorry for myself.  Help me to hold my head up high and use the mess to help others. Amen.

Boast Only In GOd

Jeremiah 9:23-25 – This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches.  Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken!"  "A time is coming," says the LORD, "when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit –

 

Jeremiah had the frustrating job of giving God’s words to a people who were not listening.  He took his job so seriously that he cried for them…night and day because they did not take him …or the  God that they vowed to love forever….very seriously.

 

These words from God came after a long list of what life was going to be like when God grew tired of waiting on them to change. It included death…destruction of the city of Jerusalem….and captivity in a land that would not understand their religion at all. He even called for the women to begin instructions on how to mourn…so they would be ready when all the destruction began.

 

God finished his speech to the people with a warning to them…to be careful not gloat in riches…strength…or wisdom…but to put all our efforts into boasting about God. It is a warning to keep our priorities right…that if we are boasting on God…then all that we need of the other three will be given to us when God knows we need them. Then I need to learn how to ponder them in my heart like Mary did when Jesus was born.

 

Seems most mornings the words I read from his Bible hit me right in the heart. I am guilty of bragging about all but the strength. This old woman has to ask for help to do the heavy chores…and since I live alone….just has to put that pickle jar down whose lid is too tight for me to budge. Maybe I give a little credit to God….but most times maybe I should just learn to keep the good things he blesses me with to myself.

 

The bottom line is that God puts priority on the way we organize things in our heart.  Our heart should be free of any thought that I did anything good on my own….or I deserved anything good that I have been given. God wants my thoughts to be about him 24/7…. not on the list of things I still need to do because I thought that they would be good for me.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to keep my heart pure of bragging and boasting.  Forgive me for the times that I have gone on and on about something good…instead of pondering it in my heart. Help me to keep my focus on you…so that you can circumcise my spirit to be exactly what you need it to be.  Amen.

Break My Heart For What Breaks Yours

Jeremiah 6:18-20 - My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken.  Listen to the weeping of my people; it can be heard all across the land. "Has the LORD abandoned Jerusalem ?" the people ask. "Is her King no longer there?" "Oh, why have they angered me with their carved idols and worthless gods?" asks the LORD.  "The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone," the people cry, "yet we are not saved!"

 

Prophets like Jeremiah got the hard job of daily reminding the people of God’s will. It was not a popular job….nor did the ones chosen see much satisfaction from the people they spoke too. Most days they felt like Jeremiah…frustrated…hurt…broken.  Most days their prayers to God were full of tears…wondering why people would not listen to the message God had given them.

 

Jeremiah got it…he lived the chorus from HIllsong’s Hosanna…and he hurt for the lack of understanding the people he was sent to try and save had. He felt God’s presence every moment of his life…and saw what was coming for those that he could not convince of God’s message. He hurt because he let God heal his heart to the point that it could feel the pain of the world around him.

 

I admit that most days I am still too focused on my own needs to even ask God to send me to help anyone. My selfishness….and that crazy hypocrisy I try so hard to shake out of my heart get in the way of me feeling the hurt around me….seeing the suffering of others….asking God what resource he gave me that might help them.

 

I sure needed a dose of Jeremiah’s pain this morning….so it would help me remember that living in this world is not about me.  It is about becoming more like Jesus…even to the point of letting him break my heart for what broke his on that cross the day he died for my sins. I might hear God’s voice telling me more of his plan if my heart is broken like Jeremiah’s was.

 

The story did not end there folks.  He rose victorious from a dark grave…and commissioned all of his disciples…even the ones born in the 21^st century to go make disciples of everyone in the whole word. He commissioned us to heal…and to serve others the way he modeled for us when he walked the Earth so many years ago.

 

I am sure that my heart will break on that day that he returns to claim us….if all my friends and loved ones are not claimed with me. I will be the one crying…."The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone, and yet my friends and family are not saved!"…for it will be too late.  Sure…God will erase my sorrow…for I am told that there are no more tears in Heaven….but for now…I need to maintain a broken heart…so I will work all the more diligently for God while there is time.

 

Father….thank you for the reminder that I get a little too complacent in my heart for the things that matter most to you.  Forgive me once again for letting my heart become a bit too hard…and becoming too selfish and self-centered.  Wash me of that evil emotion and start the refining process once again that will break my heart for what breaks yours….so I can become a bold servant that you can use to bring in a better harvest…so you can use me to help the others you have placed around me….so I can be stronger in my faith.  Amen.

 

http://youtu.be/_ajFnnKFivY?list=RD_ajFnnKFivY

Examine Your Heart And Life For Evils...Even Small Ones

Jeremiah 7:8-10 -  "'Do you think that because the Temple is here you will never suffer? Don't fool yourselves! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all those other new gods of yours,  and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, "We are safe!" -- only to go right back to all those evils again?

 

God sent Jeremiah right to the door of the temple.  He was to deliver these words to all who came close enough to hear them. God was tired of the hypocrisy that crossed the threshold of the Temple each day.  God was not going to tolerate it anymore.

 

The only thing that would save them was to repent of all those things ….to ask God to forgive them….and stop doing them. Then and only then would God remain attentive to their needs…and listen to any more of their prayers.

 

Did you skim through the list…or really read it? Did you find the thing or things that God needs you to confess and stop…or simply say to yourself you haven’t done any of those things? Perhaps I have never personally murdered someone…or stolen an object from anyone…but I found myself stretching my concept of the actions in this list…just to be sure that I had repented of any of the ones I had violated….just to be sure I had not been fooled into thinking some of my actions were okay.

 

Stealing is defined by taking anything that does not belong to us…without paying the set price.  Even taking a few extra packets of sugar or creamer from that favorite coffee place without asking first might be seen by God as stealing.  Supporting clinics that abort babies…or giving money to research that uses petri dish conceived embryos to harvest stem cells….might be murderous.  A study done at the University of Chicago in 1992 reported that out of 3,432 adults born from 1933-1974…1/4 of the men and 1/6 of the women admitted having adultery….at least once. And I dare you to find one person around you that hasn’t told at least one lie…or found their happiness in something other than God.

 

Let’s go one more step in our reflection of guilt or innocence…just to make sure that we haven’t begun to grow a shell of hypocrisy around the heart that God worked so hard to expose for us. He told a few religious leaders in Matthew 9:4….  “Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?” Those words were for us too.

 

I admit my guilt. The rage that slips out of me in a moment of great frustration…left unchecked could lead to a really evil thought that might include worse. Justifying one sugar packet might hide our eyes to the wrong in taking it…so we can justify bigger things later on.  Thinking impure thoughts at all could give us the courage to carry them through. That little white lie could become the next major cover up to keep people from seeing the truth. And I will always have to guard my heart from the dangers of using the resources God gave me to shop for myself…just to fill time…just to have nice things….so it doesn’t spiral into a way for satan to take my focus off God.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to constantly evaluate my life for the smallest things that might be violations …even the thoughts of violating this list of evils that Jeremiah gave us. Forgive me for all the ones I have broken...and reveal even the smallest of things that might eventually separate me from you.  Give me discernment and wisdom to know how to send satan packing with the lies he tries to slip into my heart that tell me any thought is good…that you have already told is not. Amen.

Look And Listen For God's Way

Jeremiah 6: 16-17  -  So now the LORD says, "Stop right where you are! Look for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, 'No, that's not the road we want!'  I set watchmen over you who said, 'Listen for the sound of the trumpet!' But you replied, 'No! We won't pay attention!'

 

Jeremiah’s words from God fell on deaf ears. They had lost their way….stopped walking the road that God had given them when he delivered them from Egypt. They had made their own way for so long that they wouldn’t even listen to Jeremiah’s words of warning.

 

They wanted a selfish life…set around what they thought they needed. They invented idols and gods to pray to. They invented ways to worship the things they wanted and stopped seeking the will of God.  They never saw the dangers….justifying all that they did as good in some way.

 

I have done it myself…imagined a road that God was leading me on….justifying retirement….buying a house…and moving.  I even imagined why God was allowing me to do all these things…all good reasons….all reasons that would have opened doors to new opportunities to serve him.  But in reality the doors were not being opened by God…but my need to reconnect with my older parents on a more consistent basis. I needed to reestablish relationships with my sisters that live so close to them.

 

God messed up all that I invented to retire and move.  I still have the passion and need to move…but God is reconnecting me lately with the road he wants me to walk.  My heart believes it will lead me home someday…just not this year. I think of it as taking the scenic route…with many detours off the interstate that would have gotten me there much quicker.  If I travel the road home that God has chosen for me...it may take much longer….but all those scenic routes and detours will teach me…or give me opportunities to show his love to others….make new friends…and get even closer to the ones he has blessed me with here in London KY.

 

Father…I thank you for the reminder that you mapped out a road for me when you allowed me life.  I thank you for plan you have for me that will prosper me and give me hope for the rest of my future.  Open my eyes to see it clearly….and adjust my hearing…and even install the best hearing aide you have so I can hear your voice more clearly tell me what to do. Help me to walk only the roads you have planned for me…and stop trying to plan my own trips.  Amen.

Revisit The Splendor Of God....And Stand In Awe Of His Very Presence

Jeremiah 5:23-25 -  "But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned against me and have chosen to practice idolatry. They do not say from the heart, 'Let us live in awe of the LORD our God, for he gives us rain each spring and fall, assuring us of plentiful harvests.'  Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things."

 

Jeremiah had the privilege of speaking the very heart of God to his people.  The words did not sugar coat God feelings…they were meant to pierce the hard heart of those that had forgotten all that God had done for them. These words were meant to melt the coldness that had given them the idea in the first place that they could ever exist without a relationship with their maker.

 

He might as well have been sitting at the anchor desk of ABC…NBC…or Fox news when these words were recorded.  They pack truth and wisdom for anyone who has ever known God and lost their way.  They remind us of Romans 3:10-12, and 23…”As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” ... For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

 

God’s standard is set high…and is only attainable through careful examination of the sin in our lives that has held us back from experiencing his wonderful love. We have to identify the sin…tell Jesus we are sorry we committed it…and ask his forgiveness.  Then he allows us to lay it at the feet of the cross he died on to make a way for all of us to know his heart…a heart of agape love that never runs dry of sources.

 

It might be a bit painful….and you will probably cry tears.  They will be a mixture of regret…guilt….and awe of the God that sent his only son to die for all of us. The most wonderful thing is that those tears will wash that sin right out of your lives and give you a new strength…a new courage…a new passion to love others around us the way God loves us. They sharpen all of your senses….not just your vision…and help you see the splendor of God so much more clearly.

 

I was reminded of my many sins the last 3 three days on an amazing journey to Emmaus with 44 women. There were more than 27 others that helped to guide their trip through a refresher course in just how much God loves us all. We all left what felt like a utopia…where God had placed a protective shell of love around the camp that fed our minds and bodies and soul last night…and will wake this morning inside the piece of the world where he placed each of us on Earth. We will get to practice saying…. “ God…help me to always….always know that you are with me…that you can strengthen me to show your love every minute of every day” ….relying only on God…his son…and the Holy Spirit to shield us from ever falling away from him again.

 

Father….I thank you for the honor of traveling with these wonderful ladies this weekend as you helped them see you fresh and beautiful…full of love and mercy and strength.  I stand in a new sense of complete awe of the splendor of your presence this morning. I ask your covering over any attack of satan as long as you can provide it.  Provide for all of us a daily time to retreat into those memories and find your strength and your eyes…and your heart to work through the mess we returned to today. Show us how to navigate the pathway out with your love…and your mercy…so the light we shine as we exit the mess will draw others out of their mess too. Amen.

Are Your Tears Fake?

        

Jeremiah 3:9-11 -  Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.  In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense," declares the LORD.  The LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.

 

Jeremiah’s job came at a time in the kingdom had split into two. Judah and Israel had both left God for the many other idols and other Gods around them. He likened them to prostitutes…who had defiled themselves with the many other relationships they had entered into with other gods. He was most DE pleased with Judah…who had watched what had happened with her sister Israel…and delayed coming back to God.

 

He called them unfaithful Judah…because the effort they made to return to God’s ways was not with their heart.  They showed no remorse…and if they did it was completely fake…..a mere pretense. He relayed the message from God that he would forgive them….if they would just return to him with their whole heart. All he wanted was for their heart to feel true repentance…and have complete faith in only God.

 

I understand this so well….for it described me at one time.  I was a fake…doing good deeds just for show…just to prove to myself that I was better than other people who did not. I was so wrapped up in the doing side of my Christian walk …I justified gossiping….arguing nonstop with my ex….getting susper angry about a lost job….and spending money on credit that I knew would be difficult to pay back….to name just a few things.  At my worst…I allowed myself to fall into a season of drinking that did nothing but tear down my faith even more.

 

I came back to God eventually…but I still fight the battle of being real all the time.  I don’t ever want to get so comfortable with the choices I have made to help others that it gives me a false sense of confidence. I have not uncovered every sin that keeps me from being all that I could be for God. I want to wake each morning and listen to what God is telling me from his word….so I can cry real tears of remorse for one more thing that he has shown me needs to be removed from my life…so that I can finally do what he put me here to do for him.

 

I know with confidence when I cry real tears.  I no longer want to do what God identified as sin….I know that I know that I know it is wrong.  I can even site the scripture that proves it….just like Jesus did during his temptation.  The tears I cry of remorse and repentance wash away the need to participate in the sin anymore. I become a new person…with God’s goals up front in my head.  I have a new confidence to send satan packing….because I recognize his sneaky attack to tear me back down and convince me to sin again.

 

The people around me see the difference too.   They notice the changes God makes little by little.  They feed on the positive piece of the transformation.  They get power from the huge smile on my face that begins to rest there full time. And if anything goes wrong…they notice I am turning back right away…and call me out on it. It should be a clue to me that selfishness and arrogance are trying to return to my heart.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that every tear I cry should bring about a true repentance and remorse for the sin you have identified in my life.  Help me to use every tear wisely…and let it wash the sin you see in me completely away from my heart…so that I can draw as near to you as possible. Forgive me for sometimes letting satan trick me into feeling arrogant and too self-confident. Guard my heart from returning to the old me….keep selfishness and false pride far away …so I can continue to grow in you and never slip back into old habits.  Amen.

Have You Left Your First Love? It's Not Too Late To Renew Your Vows....

Jeremiah 2:1-3 - The word of the LORD came to me:  "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: " 'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.  Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,' " declares the LORD.

 

Jeremiah’s second message to the people is to remember the devotion of their youth….when they felt the newness of God’s love and care…when they couldn’t get enough of God…and passionately followed him everywhere he told them to go.

 

The writer of Ecclesiastes 12 wrote almost the same words…. “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them" and John is given a similar message to include in Revelation 2:4… “ But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

 

The analogy that comes to mind is that of divorce. It is a horrible thing….because those involved are saying they have given up on loving someone that they once said they loved more than anything else. It justifies a way to completely rid themselves of ever trying to repair….ever coming back to their first love. Maybe that is the picture in my mind because I am guilty of letting it become a part of my first marriage…I just gave up after 30 years….never to even try again to love what I said I would always cherish….always love…no matter what. And I am not alone…..America as a whole has a 50% rate of giving up on their first love. They finish number 12 in the world…the highest being someplace called Belarus at 68%.

 

It hits hard this morning….for it is so similar to the way we are with God. We justify letting the stress of the world…the circumstances we find ourselves in the moment…the ability to not forgive….to rule our choices to put God in a corner somewhere…and expect him to be happy with watching us destroy the plans he had for us when he made us.

 

Jeremiah’s message is so relevant today it is scary. God is calling all of us renew our vows of love to him.  He is calling for us to remember the passion and zeal we had to learn more about his word….to learn how to pray…to soak up all that we could about him so we could make him proud of us. The world of Christians gives this renewal process the name of rededication.

 

I am completely convicted this morning of my need to rededicate my life to God. And I know that I will have to wake every morning for the rest of my life and request him to wash me clean of any sin that helps me justify leaving God in that corner. For God deserves my very best chair…the up-front seating…the most comfy pillow…and a basin of warm soapy water for me to wash his feet daily as we talk about what he has planned for me to do. I need to put him back up front….and stop trying to control just how much of him I allow in my life.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to renew my vows to you. Refresh my heart with memories of the passion I had when you first came to live in my heart.  Light an all-consuming fire in my soul that no man or spirt of evil can ever quench. Forgive me for the sin that I have let justify the choices of divorce….and repair the damage that my choice made to my heart and my children’s hearts.  Show me how to make amends…and take responsibility for my wrong choices. Amen.

No Excuses Anymore....God Formed You For A Purpose

Jeremiah 1:4-7 -  The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."  "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."  But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you

 

It’s a new time and place….a new person…but it is the same message.  Isaiah has completed his work for God …but God’s message still needs to be delivered. So God calls Jeremiah….a servant …a prophet…who would continue the work that Isaiah started. He would speak God’s message of repentance for 40 years during Josiah’s reign.

 

In reality… God began preparing Jeremiah while he was still inside his mother’s womb.  He gave him a spirit of obedience…an ability to endure extreme hardship.  He created in Jeremiah a passion so great for God that he became one of the most successful prophets.

 

God quickly squashed Jeremiah’s excuses with a command to go where God wanted…and say what God wanted….no matter what.  Sometimes it required him to do without money and material possessions.  Sometimes he had to spend the night in prison. He was kidnapped….and even spent time in a huge deep well because he obeyed God.

 

I admit….I understand the excuse phase of Jeremiah’s calling. I have spun my own excuses many times. I am too old….and too forgetful. I lack common sense …and discernment. And that is just the biggies that I remember throwing back to God when told to do something.

 

Here’s the cool thing….God doesn’t stop trying to teach me that he will give me what I need for whatever he has ask me to do. He keeps trying to tell this old…hardheaded…stubborn…head of mine…that he already placed inside of me the skills that I need to do what he calls me to do. They will rise to the surface and just be there….when he calls me to do something for him.

 

It is my lack of confidence in myself…or perhaps a lack of faith in God that keeps me thinking of excuses…instead of just saying  okay to him. Oh that I could be half as confident of my calling as Jeremiah was…..so I can be obedient through the toughest storms and valleys.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that through you I can do all things.  You have equipped me…and you will call me to do exactly what you have already placed the skills in my being to complete that task. Forgive me for the times that I have made excuses….and walked away from you and the task you gave me.  Help me to find a new confidence in you…like Jeremiah….so I can be more obedient to the things you ask me to do.  Help me to stop making excuses….and say yes…and then pray for you to reveal the things I need to do it.  Amen.

God Loves And Gives Power To The Humble heart

Isaiah 66:1-2 -  This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?  Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

 

Isaiah’s last chapter tells us one more time just how important it is to search for God…to provide for him a place to rest.  God could care less about the grandeur of the spot we pick….he is more concerned about the attitude with which we pick it.  God created the world…the grandest mountain…and the lowliest single grain of dirt. Man couldn’t possibly build anything grand enough for God’ glory…so he wants us to purify the heart within us….so he can see our humility.

 

Throughout history God has picked the lowliest of people to be his greatest servants.  He chose Noah….to build a boat so mankind could survive the destruction of the earth by flood.   He chose the youngest son of Jesse…the simple shepherd boy David…to become a king with a heart like God. He chose the murderer Saul….and changed his named to Paul after he cleaned out the confusion in his heart.

 

One thing that really speaks to my heart is that he loved these people completely….never leaving them even when they messed up. He used their humility to convict them of their sin…so he could clean them up again…and use them to do even greater work than before. 

 

God even loved us so much that he sent his only son to die for our sins and provide all of us a way to meet him. He son was so humble that he was able to walk for 33 years on this earth with no mistakes. The key to his power is recorded in Philippians 2:5-8…. “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus….. “ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

 

It’s not a complicated thing…it’s a simple thing. Seek humility…and find God.  Accept humility…and believe in God.   Maintain humility…and God can live inside me and give me the power to do everything he asks me to do. 

 

I am beginning to understand Paul’s writing’s more and more these days….especially the ones that talk about how he was nothing. He boasted only in his weaknesses….so that God would be able to give him the power to accomplish the hard work he was given to do. He maintained humility…and even accepted a ‘thorn in his flesh’…that tormented him… but also helped to keep pride from erasing the concept of humility from his heart.

 

Father…thank you for allowing someone to record Isaiah’s great words in the Bible.  Thank you for using him to help remind me of my need to be humble.  Forgive me for taking so long to agree with Paul…and start to understand the power that humility can give me to love myself…so I can love others like you do.  Help me to keep purging the things out of my life that cause pride to seep in…and ruin the progress I am making being your servant.  Show me how to truly be content in all things…no matter what.  Amen.

Ask Yourself.......Have You Become A Hypocrite?

Isaiah 65:2-3  -  All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations-- a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick;

 

Isaiah was given a word for those who just did not understand how angry they were making God. His people…the very ones that he had chosen to save….had turned their backs to him.  They went their own way…praying to whatever god they created for their own purposes. If they sacrificed to God at all…they did on their terms…the way they wanted to…in places not declared holy.

 

The problem must have gotten worse and spread to even the leaders. So Jesus gave them a name.  he called them hypocrites in Matthew 23:13-36. Miriam Webster must have agreed…for Merriam Webster wrote… “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion …. a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.”

 

At least the people in Isaiah’s day were blatantly violating the law of God. I don’t know many professed Christians today who have fallen into Satanism or tea reading…although I suppose there are a few. Because Jesus changed the rules when he died for our sins on the cross…much of the problem with todays’ professed Christians is a mere interpretation of what the Bible says. And the truth is that some of these interpretations are pulled out of context or based on added “so called” scripture.

 

I look around me and see a world that has gone pretty much crazy.  I stopped watching the news at night…and gave up TV. I stream the early morning news from a local station on weekdays….just to see the weather. There is enough violence on those few minutes to prove that Isaiah’s words are still relevant.  And there are enough empty seats in evry church around the world…of every denomination…to prove that Jesus did not convert all hypocrites because of his extreme sacrifice.

 

I understand this accusation from Isaiah and Jesus…because I used to be one.  I struggle daily with letting it reappear in my heart. It sneaks in slowly…and registers so small a violation at first…that we don’t even realize that we have let it begin to rule our thoughts.  We think falsely that because we do good things….or we sit in a church Sundays…or we utter prayers on a regular basis that we have become better than the others around us that do not. 

 

The bottom line is that if we have asked God to live in our heart…if we have accepted and believe in what he did for us…we have to …want to….follow ALL of the directives we read about in his word. We can’t pick and choose…we don’t get to decide which day of the week we will be Christian and party all the other days. We can’t justify our materialism because we give 10% of it to God or some charity.  If what we are doing puts the focus on us…then we haven’t gotten it yet.

 

The love of God demands that we put ourselves last.  God gets to decide just what we get in life.  Our job is to seek out his will and spread the gospel like he told the disciples in Matthew 19. My job right now is to write…to read and share the thoughts he gives me each morning on facebook….    and a blog( www.wakingupwithgod.blogspot.com  ) …..and twitter….and just recently Instagram…  so many around the world who don’t have access to regular services…or Bibles at all…can hear a portion of his word each day. That is my focus….my visit with God each morning has transformed me into a person who is trying to put herself last…although I admit that is very hard sometimes.

 

Father…I thank you for the reminder that I need to constantly guard against becoming a hypocrite.  I thank you for opening my eyes and helping me to see that what you want is more important than what I want.  Forgive me for all the times I put myself first…and made you angry and sad.  Help me to stay focused on you so that I can do the job you have given me to do the best that I can. Thank you for using my time with you to spread your word to others. Amen.

Stay On God's Potter's Wheel

Isaiah 64:8-9 -  Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people.

 

Isaiah was praying fervently for his usual request to God.  He was asking God to reveal himself to the people that were struggling…to send some portion of himself to give them hope. He knew that if God came down in his fullness…that no one would be able to look upon him…his glory would be so great that the mountains would quake…and the oceans might boil dry.

 

So in Isaiah’s great wisdom…he reminds God’s that he is a great artist….with a messed up lump of clay.  Sin had so blemished the people….and they were just a small piece of clay in the hands of the greatest potter who ever tried to form a useable vessel from something that needed to be thrown away.

 

If you have never watched this process…I put a you clip link at the end…it is quite eye opening….and has the great HIllsong version of The Potters Hand to listen to as well.  Sorry about that silly commercial that sponsored it.  It shows a village man using a manual potter’s wheel to change a lump of raw clay into a useable object of beauty.

 

God does that with us.  He takes our raw lives….blemished with sin and bad choices. He puts us on an uncomfortable wheel that turns us so fast we don’t even realize he is making us into something new.  It may even hurt physically sometimes…but that doesn’t last forever. Slowly….very slowly at times…he forms that mess we made into something that he can use.

 

The thing is…we still look the same in the mirror….the changes were all made on the inside. We might have a brighter smile…a more content countenance….or a more positive attitude. And the changes he made inside us will definitely be noticed by the ones around us.  We will want to leave behind the old lives we had built for ourselves….and stretch our understanding of why God put us here in the first place.

 

One last thought….God can’t work on us if we don’t stay on the potter’s wheel.  I sure am guilty of jumping off when the changes got too uncomfortable…or too…”outside my thoughts” of what faith really required of me. It is kinda like those round rides at the fairs and theme parks…they make me dizzy and unbalanced.  But when they stop…and I can set my feet back on solid ground….the world stops spinning…..and I can focus on walking forward again.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to stay on your great wheel….so you can finish the vessel you are trying to make out of my mess.  Forgive me for all the times that I have tried to manipulate the wheel…even try to be the potter.  Help me to remember that staying on the wheel is my job….and turning it and molding me into what you want is yours.  Give me the faith and the wisdom and the courage to never leave the wheel again…so you can help me become what you eed me to be. Amen.

 

http://youtu.be/xDAITgJXO1I

Pray For God To Soften The Hard Hearts Of The World

Isaiah 63:15-16 -  Look down from heaven and see from your lofty throne, holy and glorious. Where are your zeal and your might? Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us.  But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.

 

Isaiah struggled daily with people who had gone their own way….who knew who God was….but chose to do what they wanted anyway. God had allowed their hearts to harden just enough that they would reject his ways till he was ready to bring them out of the season of punishment he had placed them in. Isaiah longed for the time that God would bring them out of their suffering... melt their hearts so they could repent and come back to God.

 

I truly don’t understand the concept of God hardening a heart. It baffles me that he would want to wait one second to save someone.  It seems in contradiction to the whole purpose of accepting God. My small human brain sees it as a repeating record….just wasting the energy of those around them that are trying to share with them just how great God is.

 

But then again…I am not to understand everything about God…I am just to trust in faith that he knows what he is doing. I am just to model my prayers after this great one from Isaiah. I am simply to pray for those with hardened hearts….for these lost and deceived….for the atheist…for those that have trusted other Gods and religions that are not based on the Holy Lord…and for those rebellious in the world who have gone their own way….even when they know who God is and loved him passionately at one time.  I am to pray for God to look down and see the needs of those around me….to bring back his tenderness and compassion to a world that is slipping further away from his will every day.

 

I am guilty once again…of not even thinking to pray for these groups of hardened hearts every day. Yes …I lift an occasional prayer…but I fall so short of the model I see here in Isaiah’s life. I could justify that God didn’t call me to be that passionate in prayer for them. But my heart knows that if I believe it isn’t my job  ….my heart runs the risk of becoming just as hard as the ones he calls me to pray for.

 

Father….thank you for the reminder that fervent prayer for others should be at the top of my to-do list every day. Forgive me for not embracing the hardened hearts of those around me….and taking time to pray that you come and soften them…..so they can understand and believe in your love.  Help me to find a way to increase my time in prayer for those around me…so you can come and begin to transform the many people around me that you have allowed to have hardened hearts.  Don’t let me stop until you return…and take all of us home with you to heaven.  Amen.

Never Stop Offering...Passionate.....Persistent ....Prayer

Isaiah 62:1-3-  For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.  The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.  You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

 

Isaiah models for us how to pray.  He said he would not keep silent. He said he would not stop praying till God had delivered his request….and then some. He was so on-fire about this need he lifted up in prayer that he had assigned men to sit on the walls of the city and pray about it too.

 

It’s an on time reminder that my prayers are not near where they need to be. I won’t bore you with the details….let’s just say they lack rigor…consistency….and fervor.  They seem to be strongest when I am asked to pray in a public setting for others….and wane to meek…short requests when I am alone in my own prayer closet.

 

Perhaps the answers we think we need are not manifesting themselves in our lives because we pray for a few days….or weeks….or even months.  But when the human limits of our patience have been depleted…we let discouragement replace that prayer with the thought that God may have already answered no.

 

Luke 18 contains the parable that Jesus used to support Isaiah’s words here. It is about a persistent widow…who kept going to a judge and requesting justice in a situation.  She did not stop till the judge gave in to her request.  And listen to Ephesians 6:18…. “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,”

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I know that God sometimes says no to what we pray for.  Sometimes the answer is no because our human mind can’t understand that we didn’t need it in the first place. But when our prayer is for the salvation of another…..like Isaiah’s… he tells us that we need to cry out to God with a great ache for that need.  He tells us to never stop praying….for that prayer can always be answered.

 

One last thought is to stretch that passion into praying for the needs of others. If we take the time to pray to God to lift the burdens that oppress and keep them depressed…then maybe less tragedies would happen like Robin Williams. I just bet that he did not have anyone praying for him…so he continued to plummet into a hole of depression till satan convinced him he had absolutely no reason to stay on this earth. He chose too to end his life on his own….not realizing that God was using him to lift the spirit’s of people around the world.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that one of my jobs for you is to pray for the salvation of others. Forgive me for not having enough passion in my prayers. Help me to add persistence and a deep desire  to see your glory shine down on others so bright that they can’t help but see the truth. I pray for the depressed in the world….you know all their names.  Use the world-wide coverage of this sad event to trigger a massive change in the way we pray for others around us…especially the ones we see struggling with happiness.  Don’t let anyone slip through the cracks ….let what satan meant for harm and evil be used to shine your light of love even brighter.  Amen.

Do You See The Beauty In Your Ashes Yet?

Isaiah 61:1-3  -   The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,  to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,  and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

 

Isaiah had a word from God for all who suffer or are afflicted. He said that God would bind up the brokenhearted….give freedom to anyone held captive….provide justice for all wrongs….comfort all who mourn….and restore the beauty that was taken from our lives during our pain.

 

Suffering is suffering…whether it was caused by our own mistakes…..someone else’s mistakes…or satan’s twisted request to attack our faith in God.  God allows pain in our lives for many reasons.  God allows a time of pain to teach us humility…to prove to satan he has no control over us….or for God to prove to us he alone is in control of our lives.

 

I have felt pain in childbirth….in knee surgery….in occasional allergy headaches….in the mental anguish of divorce from my first husband…and in the heartbreaking loss of my second husband to death.  But my pain pales in comparison to friends who have suffered much more than I.  I think of many who have fought cancer….of mother’s who have lost children too soon….and friends who have come through battles of abuse from parents or spouses. And my pain…or the pain of my friends…. will never reach the level of pain Jesus suffered on that cross to die for my sins.

 

The upside of all that pain is the promise of beauty for the ashes that were produced in the pain we suffered.  Some of us will be honored to see the beauty…or at least a glimpse of it here on Earth. Like Job…God will replace the things that satan took to try to prove we didn’t love God more than anything else.  Some of us will have to wait till we get to heaven to see the beauty in those ashes. And all of us will have to wait for Jesus to return to see the perfect justice God promised in this chapter.

 

Those of us that learn to see the beauty of those ashes here on earth….have a special job to do for God.  We have to let everyone know that those ashes we let pile up around us are clouding the vision of the beauty God has planned for us. We have to take hold of the hands of those that are still sitting smack dab in the middle of the ashes….who don’t see a way out of their pain.  We have to claim Jeremiah 29:11 for them…and help them walk out of their ashes. They won’t begin to see the plans God has for them while they are still sitting in the bitterness and pain of the ashes.  They won’t see the future vision and purpose that God has plans to prosper them….they will still see the ashes as harm ….and will be blinded to the plans God has to give them hope and a future.

 

Father…thank you for the promise of turning my own ashes of pain and hurt into a beauty that will give purpose and meaning to the rest of my life.  Forgive me if I sat in my pain too long…or if I revisit it from time to time.  Help me to claim your promise ….to turn my pain into something so beautiful…that you can use it to help others.  Take all my ashes…every last one….so everyone around me…including satan…. will see that belong to you. Amen.