The Dilemma

'God never speaks to us in startling ways, but in
ways that are easy to misunderstand, and we say,
"I wonder if that is God's voice?" Isaiah said that
the Lord spoke to him "with a strong hand," that
is, by the pressure of circumstances. Nothing
touches our lives but it is God Himself
speaking. Do we discern His hand or only mere
circumstances?

Get into the habit of saying, "Speak Lord," and
life will become a romance. Every time
circumstances press, say, "Speak Lord;" make
time to listen. Chastening is more than a means
of discipline, it is meant to get me to the place
of saying, "speak Lord." Recall the time God
did speak to you. Have you forgotten what He
said? Was it Luke 11:13, or was it 1Thess. 5:23?
As we listen, our ear gets acute, and, like Jesus,
we shall hear God all the time.

Shall I tell my "Eli" what God has shown me?
That is where the dilemma of obedience comes
in. We disobey God by becoming amateur
providences--I must shield "Eli," the best people
we know. God did not tell Samuel to tell Eli; he
had to decide for himself. God's call may hurt
your "Eli," but if you try to prevent suffering in
another life, it will prove an obstruction between
your soul and God. It is at your own peril that
you prevent the cutting off of the right hand or
the plucking out of the eye.

Never ask the advice of another about anything
God makes you decide before Him. If you ask
advice, you nearly always side with Satan.'
(Oswald Chambers, January 30th)

"Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you
completely, and may your whole spirit and soul
and body be kept blameless at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful:
He will surely do it." (1Thess 5:23,24)

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble."

"Be still and know that I am God."
(Ps 46)

Take heart, dear reader, God is present.

Things

Yesterday I waxed eloquent on treasures, today the
passage of scripture gets into things. Jesus says, 'Don't 
be anxious about your life, what you will eat, drink, 
wear, for life is more than food, and the body is more 
than clothing.'(Matt 6:25-34)

It is such a temptation to fret about these things as the
world system closes in on our comfortable life-style. I
notice that birds are content with seeds; that flowers are
beautifully dressed in colors worn all season. God says
we are of more value than the birds and flowers, but do
our expectations exceed what is necessary?

Here is the bottom line: 'Seek first the kingdom of 
God and His righteousness, and all these things will 
be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about 
tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.'

In George McDonald's book, Behind the North Wind,
there was a little boy whose Mom was so upset about
what they would eat tomorrow. The boy looked into the
basket containing lunch and said, 'but, God has given us 
what we need today.' The point seemed to be that the
mom was not able to enjoy what God had given to
them that day because she could not see how God would
provide for them tomorrow.

Reader, I enjoy McDonald's books because the characters
discover the heart of God and are able to trust in ways
that seem hard for me. I have to go back again and again
to the birds and flowers in order to have a deep trust in my
heavenly Dad to take care of all the details of my life.
And, yes, He really wants us to let Him take care of the
little things!

Treasures

'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy; where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where
your treasure is there is your heart also.' (Matt 6:19)

As I read these verses, my first thought is, 'But here in
the west we must have money, houses, cars, education,
health care plans, retirement plans.' Then I read it again
and I realize that the emphasis is on the last sentence--
'where your heart is.' It is so easy to get caught up in the
world's system in terms of what is important. The world
has only one opportunity for life, lasting but 70-80 years.
My time on this earth is rapidly diminishing!

Christians, on the other hand, step into eternity when they
step into Christ. My life here on earth is a short moment
in light of the eternal riches to be mine. So, with hands
open, I turn from the ads on TV, those things I must have,
to that which will never break, never fade, never age,
which are reserved in heaven for me.

So, reader, as I look at glorious sunrise--beyond my power
to create--I sit in awe of what the Lord has planned. For

'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard what God 
has planned for those who love Him."

The Groom

To whom do I turn when events come to the nation and
enter my life? I turn from that which I do not
understand toward Him who holds everything together.
Psalm 45 is a beautiful psalm that fills my heart with
joy, trust and anticipation as I say to Him:

'My precious Savior, You are the most handsome of men.
There is none like You!
Grace pours out from your lips. God has blessed You
forever. You see the events happening in real time,
therefore, You gird your sword upon Your thigh. In
your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of
truth, meekness and righteousness. Your arrows are
sharp and go deep into the King's enemies; they fall
under You.

Oh, Jesus, your throne is forever and ever. The scepter
of your kingdom is a scepter of righteousness. You
have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God has anointed You with the
oil of gladness beyond your companions. Your robes
are fragrant with the oils of myrrh, aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you
glad. Daughters of kings are among your ladies of
honor. At your right hand stands the queen in the gold
of Ophir.'

I read on:
'You want me to forget the hurts of the past, from
those closest to me. You desire my beauty, the beauty
that comes from gazing upon You. I look and see the
bride, your bride. She is all glorious within, with robes
intertwined with gold. She will be led to her king in
many colored robes, with her virgin companions
following. With joy and gladness they are led as they
enter the palace of the King.'

Dear reader, when I read this psalm I see pictures
through a glass darkly of what it will be like in the
age to come. As I write out the psalm of hope and
joy, I am reminded of the day 45 years ago when I
walked down the aisle to be married to my handsome
prince. I could hardly contain myself! I knew deep
down that I was experiencing a small taste of what
we, as His bride, will experience one glorious day!
That day may come sooner than we think.

May you see your life in light of eternity.

Maranatha!

Expectations vrs Expectancy

'But when it pleased God...'
(Galatians 1:15)

I woke up this morning thinking about my expectations. One
of my biggest problems is that I calculate and then expect a
certain outcome. I don't leave room for God to surprise me
Actually, I would rather not be surprised. I have expectations
for myself, for others, even for God. Invariably, I am
disappointed. Others need to change so I am more
comfortable. They do change--move on, go to work, get old
and sick, stop writing, die. Life is in flux and seems to dish
up more challenges, not fewer as I expected, in the so called
'golden years.' Disappointment can harden into 'bitter root'
expectations. Bitterness dams up hope and leaves God out of
the equation. Oh, that is the rub. Expectations kill expectancy.
I must not look for God to come in a certain way, but to look
for 'Himself' to show up.

Oswald Chambers puts it this way:
'Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His
surprising power may break out on the right hand and on the
left. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you
leave room for God to come as He likes.'

May the grace of Christ our Savior
And the Father's boundless love,
With the Holy Spirit's favor
Rest upon us from above.

Thus may we abide in union
With each other and the Lord;
And possess, in sweet communion
Joys which earth cannot afford.
(John Newton)

The Sign of Jonas

In the past 48 hours I have been digging into scripture

and a few websites which may or may not interest you,
but writing the blog has helped me to sort out some facts.

The name Jonas has at least two meanings:

In Hebrew it means, A Dove--Jonah

In Greek it means, A Sign--Jonas

Jesus says this in Luke 11:30,32

'For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall the

Son of Man be to this generation...The men of Nineveh

shall rise up in the judgement with this generation, and

shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of

Jonas; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.'

Jonas or Jonah was a sign to Nineveh--who must have

looked pretty tacky after his three day sojourn in a fish--

'Repent, or experience sudden destruction.' They chose

repentance and the Capitol City was spared for hundreds

of years. So now, a very destructive storm has come to

our Capitol City. It was named Jonas, perhaps a sign to

this generation? It is interesting to look at patterns within 

scripture.There is a generation that will see all the signs.
Could we be that generation?

But wait, there is more:

The Fast of Jonas, also called the Fast of Nineveh, is a
three day fast observed by the East Orthodox Church
and held this year from 1/18-1/20. The fast ends on
the day that the Sun leaves Sagittarius, the sign of
Nineveh depicted by the Centaur.

The ten day Sundance Film Festival began on 1/20 

outside of Salt Lake City. On the 22nd of the 

Sundance Film Festival a film was shown called Goat
whose main character is played by Nick Jonas from the
Jonas Brothers. On that day the sun entered the
constellation Capricornus, associated with Pan, Satan,
the goat.

Did you know that Genesis 1:14 says that the 'lights in the 

heavens shall be for signs?  In addition to the changes
noted, five planets are lining up just before sunrise from
January 20 to February 20.

I noticed that in the last few days a big volcano 35 miles

from Mexico City has been blowing smoke. Indonesia,

which is also on the Ring of Fire, has 21 active volcanos.

Alaska just experienced a 7.1 earthquake and the west

coast has had several recent earthquakes ranging from

4.3 to 5.4. There have been at least ten earthquakes over
6 since the beginning of the year. Speaking of earthquakes,
the financial markets worldwide are unstable. A committee
has gathered in DC and will decide on 1/26 whether to
move the Doomsday Clock. It now stands at three minutes
to midnight.

Is the sign of Jonas a warning to this generation?

In Luke 21 and Matthew 24 Jesus speaks of the days in
which we seem to be living? (I am not predicting):

'And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and
upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at 
the roaring of the sea and of the waves, men fainting from
fear and the expectation of the things which are coming 
upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be 
shaken....
But when you see these things begin to take place, 
straighten up and lift up your heads for your redemption 
is drawing near...But keep alert at all times, praying in 
order that you may have strength to escape all these things 
that are about to take place, and to stand before the 
Son of Man. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not 
know which day your Lord is coming...for the Son of Man 
will come at an hour when you do not think He will come.'

Reader, do you know the Lord Jesus as your Lord and 

Savior? Believer, knowing all this, how shall we then live?

'Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance 
of faith...Let us hold fast the profession of our faith 
without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love 
and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of 
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but 
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as 
you see the day approaching.' (Hebrews 10: 22-35)

Well, reader, this is a heavy blog, but we are in heavy

times. I will post three sites below for those interested
in further study.

Latest from Anne Graham Lotts, AngelMinistries
Snowzilla's Message
http://www.annegrahamlotz.org/category/messages-from-gods-word/latest-from-anne/

Daniel Valles 1/21/16 The Sign of Jonas
informedchristians.com/index.php/blog/the-sign-of-jonas

Jonah in the days of Noah 1/23/16 MP
dailycrow.com/jonah-in-the-days-of-noah/#more-1898

Jonas

Today the super storm, Jonas, is predicted to take out DC,
Philadelphia and New York. Not a single flake has yet
fallen, but schools are closed, government offices are shut
down, the National Guard has been called out. We grew
up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and weathered some
very heavy snow storms. We also lived in the DC area over
a 20 year period. I remember an ice storm dropping six
inches of ice and I had to crawl out to get the paper for a
week; Glen skiing down 'busy' Connecticut Ave. after a 20"
storm; snow piled high in our town house neighborhood in
VA after two storms of 28" and 10" within a weeks time.
Storms were part of life twenty, forty years ago. People
managed. They helped each other, built snow forts, went
sledding with the kids, put snow tires on in December.
Yes, people were inconvenienced, but snow events were
expected in winter and few people died.

The storm today is called Jonas, but it makes me think of
Jonah, the prophet who was told to go to a city called
Nineveh and preach repentance to its people. Jonah caught
a ship instead and ended up in the belly of a great fish. The
experience caught his attention and he obeyed God, which
resulted in the whole city from the king down repenting of
their rebellion against God. The city thrived for a thousand
years. There is much more to the story and it would be a
good read for those of you listening to the howling wind
tonight.

So, reader, perhaps there is something different about the
storm Jonas. Perhaps God is asking this nation to repent, to
seek His face that He may turn away from judgement and
refresh us with revival.

Refresh

Those of us born in the last century understand that we had
to use the refresh button on the computer to get it up and
running again. Honestly, I'm not sure this is still the case!
I do sometimes have to hit restart in order to refresh.
Oswald Chambers had some things to say about this subject
on January 20.

'Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God.' (John 3:3)

Being born again of the Spirit is an unmistakable work of
God, mysterious as the wind and hidden away in the depths
of our personal life. Being born again from above is a
perennial, perpetual and eternal beginning; a freshness all 
the time in thinking in talking and in living, the continual 
surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication of
something out of joint with God. Have you ever said, 'I must
do this thing or it will never be done'?' That is the first sign
of staleness...Freshness does not come from obedience but
from the Holy Spirit; obedience keeps us in the light as God is
in the light...

Reader, Are you drawing your life from any other source than
God Himself? If you are depending upon anything but Him,
you will never know when He is gone.

Being born of the Spirit means much more than we generally
take it to mean. It gives us a new vision and keeps us
absolutely fresh for everything by the perennial supply of
the life of God, even down to the cleaning of toilets....

She Laughed

Peter was always out front, seemed to anger easily, but he
also responded with truth even when he didn't realize it!
Five years after his faithless reaction to a sleeping Jesus,
and 24 hours after my last post, we find Peter sleeping--
in a very strange place. James had just been executed for
his faith in Acts 12. It so pleased the Jews that Herod had
Peter picked up and thrown into prison. What was Peter
doing on the night of his death? He wasn't praying as he
lay there in chains surrounded by soldiers. He was
sleeping.  Yes, you read that right. He was sleeping. The
angel had to strike Peter on his side to wake him up! Peter
had so learned to trust God that anxiety and fear were not
there in the cell with him. This story has always amazed
me.

Some years ago I read the biographical story of a woman
who was leaving Singapore and caught at the airport with
drugs in her suitcase. Someone 'nice' had planted them. She
was thrown into prison and it took a very dedicated attorney
to get her released. What struck me was that this woman not
only slept well on the concrete floor surrounded by female
prisoners, but she laughed in her sleep! The women would
ask her why she laughed, but she didn't know.

Reader, it is easy to say 'I'm trusting God,' but when I toss
and turn all night imagining the worst, it is a dead giveaway!

Why Are You Afraid?

Yesterday I listened to a talk given by Malcolm Smith and
I want to share some tidbits with you. You will find the
story in Mark 4:35-40. What a story!

After a very busy day Jesus says 'Let us go to the other
side.'  So a few boats filled with exhausted disciples, for
it had been a very busy day, set out at dusk. Jesus goes to
the back of the boat and immediately falls into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile a terrible wind storm catches these seasoned
fishermen by surprise, filling their little boats with water.
They are terrified. They know they are about to drown. How
is the storm impacting Jesus? Not at all. He is as relaxed as
a poached egg and probably dreaming about surf, sand, and
sun. They wake him, probably Peter woke him because the
words sound like Peter:

Shake, shake, shake,
'Master, don't you care that we are perishing?' 

Peter treats Jesus as if Jesus is well aware of the storm but
doesn't care about the danger his men are in, that He is holding
out on them, that Jesus doesn't care for them after all. Just
maybe this doubt has been hanging around them and the storm
brings it to the surface.

Jesus awakes, stands up and says:
'Peace be Still.' The wind ceases, the sound ceases. Stillness
        prevails.
'Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?

How do the disciples respond? 'They were filled with great
fear and said to each other, '"Who is this, that even the wind 
and the waves obey him?'"

We will continue this story tomorrow.

In the meantime, if you have a free 55 minutes, check out
the words of Malcolm Smith on this topic of fear, doubt,
and unbelief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTVnxQSH_h8

Called to Dance

Yesterday I presented a verse that I want to share again
today. A friend mailed some additional thoughts.

'Fear not...Let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you with his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
(Zephania 3:16,17)
'
'Rejoice over you,' literally means to 'dance, skip, leap,
and spin around in joy.' God dances with shouts of joy
over you! How much more should we dance with joy
since He is in our midst?

'He says to His Holy Ones--US
"I have called you and you have answered. Thank you for
saying 'yes!' I have amazing plans for your life. If you will
allow me to lead the way, we can journey together. Because
I am a gentleman, I will allow you to do things your way,
but if you choose my way, your life will be deeper and much
more meaningful for you. It may not be easy, but I am IN
you and I'm not going anywhere!

A life hidden in me is rich and fulfilling. A life dependent on
me moment by moment. So, will you dance with me? A
dance with the king, is like no other. I promise that I will be
tender, loving, gentle and kind at all times. Saying 'yes' to
The Dance is always in the moment. So climb on my feet
and let Me take the lead. Don't take your eyes off Me. It is
through my eyes that you will know My way, My truth, the
way you will find Life! Lean on me in The Dance and you
will find your way. Get lost in Me and you won't go wrong.
Dancing with Me is effortless. Ignore the lies of the enemy
and you won't stumble and lose the beat of love."'
(Tarra Green)

Reader, I love so love you. May I have this Dance?
'Rejoice over you,' literally means to 'dance, skip, leap,
and spin around in joy.'

Noisy Love

There is a very small book in the Old Testament which
carries a very large verse, a life changing verse, that
sets my feet to dancing!

'The Lord your God is in the midst,
     a mighty one who will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you by his love;
He will exult over you with loud singing.'

Within this tiny verse are four promises:

1. He is mighty to save
2. He will rejoice over you with gladness
3. He will quiet you with His love
4. He will exult over you with loud singing

'To exult" has in it the idea of leaping for joy, dancing,

to rejoice in triumph in success or victory. It is done

noisily.

God is our 'victorious indwelling' and He is going

to bring us through. He has won the victory over

sin, death and the devil. He is our triumphant God.

He is wild with love over you, exuberant, noisy

love. 

Oh, reader, what a God we serve!

Life Happens

How easy it is to fall away from truth. Life happens
and I lose sight of the King, my King! I turn inward
and the scale hits bottom. Where is the One who is
my counterbalance when I need Him? I can't see Him,
or feel Him. I feel separated, disconnected. This
morning I have been pondering the first line of the
song. 'His steadfast love extends to the heavens.'
Heavens? Just how high is this love of His? Does it
go beyond our Galaxy? (Psalm 36)

Steadfast:  Firmly fixed, constant, resolute, not fickle
    not wavering.

The King's love does not waver, is not fickle, and is
firmly fixed regardless of how I feel about Him. It
has nothing to do with where my emotions are, even
when I feel ticked with Him. You see, He is the
counterbalance to my fickleness. His love is beyond
measure and is fixed, so I can turn to Him and fix my
eyes on truth and wait until my emotions catch up.

Reader, that is exactly what I am going to do right
now!

Psalm 36--WOW!

As I pursue this idea of turning to God as my
counterbalance I have come across some ideas on
how to do this. It is first of all turning from myself
to Him, but then what? On January 6th I was
reading Psalm 36 and it reminded me of a song
that I learned long ago.

'Thy steadfast love extends to the heavens.
Thy faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Thy righteousness is like majestic mountains,
And Thy wisdom like the depth of the sea,
And You come to me,

Filling my life with your loving kindness,
I find my rest in the shadow of your wings,
I eat my fill from the abundance of your 
         household,
And, I drink from the streams of rejoicing,
And, you are my King.

So I turn from myself to this God; a God who
is steadfast love, faithful, righteous, wise, who
shelters me, who has food that does not spoil,
and drink that always refreshes--my King.

Reader, God does not want you to empty your
mind, but to focus it on Him and to meditate on
His character and His gifts to you. You will find
both by digging into His Word.

Rejoice in Him always!

A Winter Psalm

Psalm 62 was first presented to me back in college, as a
winter psalm. It certainly is a bright spot on a cold foggy
day--which is the norm these days in Idaho! The
Psalmist is experiencing extreme persecution and feels
like a 'leaning wall, a battered fence.' He is feeling
'feeble.' Hmm, when did you see that word before?

David shares his heart in verse five:

'My Soul, wait thou only upon God, 
for my expectation is from him.
He only is my rock, my salvation,
He is my defense,
I shall not be greatly moved.'

I chose to use the King James version because it
expresses some things that are not present in other
versions

WAIT: to be astonished, to stop, cease, hold peace,
quiet self, rest, stand still, tarry, be brought to silence.

ONLY: Surely, certainly

EXPECTATION: Bind together by twisting, to be
intertwined, that which I long for

MOVED: Waver, shake, slip, fall, be cast down

ROCK: A refuge, the edge of a precipice, mighty God,
strength, strong

My Soul, wait, (quiet self, rest, stand still, hold your
peace), on God alone. My expectation is from Him,
(intertwined with Him,) that is what I long for. He
only is my rock and my defense (that place of refuge
high above, secure and mine alone) I will not be
moved (slip, shake, be cast down.)

Dearest reader, be intertwined with your God--
        tarry, wait for Him
May May His purposes be your purposes. It is
        called surrender.
In Him is your sure defense and protection. Then
        you shall not be moved, lose heart, or fall away.

Shaken

In the last blog I touched on the phrase, 'she shall not
be moved.' This idea is implied in many of the psalms.
An example comes from a psalm I looked at last week:

'I have set the Lord always before me;
 because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be shaken (moved).'
(Ps 16:8)

We set the Lord before us in our feebleness so that we
may have stability in all circumstances. God
counterbalances our weaknesses with his mighty power
and we feel safe. Think about Peter who asked to walk
on water. He was fine until he looked at his circumstances
and found himself under the circumstance! He took his
eyes off of Jesus, his counterbalance, and was shaken
to the core.

Your God is able to lift you up and give you peace in the
midst of the waves, in the midst of chaos. He wants us to
be feeble in ourselves to overcome, and then to know that
He is God. Honestly, reader, is not this contrary to many
of the teachings you hear today? Listen carefully to what
you hear/read, test everything by scripture itself, but
especially my blogs!

Feebleness

Since January 1, things around us have started to shake,
literally! Earthquakes, new volcanic eruptions, new
alliances in the Middle East, floods, an uneasy stock
market--world-wide. Psalm 46 is a psalm for this time.

God is our refuge and strength,
      a very present help in trouble
Therefore we will not fear though the
      earth gives way
though the mountains be moved into
      the heart of the sea
though its waters roar and foam...
God is in the midst of her; she shall 
      not be moved.

Be still and KNOW
that I am God

What does the word 'still' mean in this context?
It means 'to be feeble, be slack, stay, cease striving.'
It is related to another word which means 'to cause 
to heal, repair thoroughly, to make whole.'

Are you in a wheel chair, or chronically ill, facing
dementia or old age, in pain? The very weakest
among us has such an opportunity to experience the
power of our indwelling Lord! The 'strong' simply
won't get it!

Reader, do not faint and give way at what you see, but
know that your feebleness, your weakness is the very
doorway into a far deeper revelation of God's power
within, for,

"God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved."

Stinkin' Thinkin'

Here I am minding my own business and I begin to think,
"That girl makes me so mad. She ignored me like I wasn't
even there! This is not the first time she has treated me like
this. I remember when she did this to me four years ago..."

Now I made this all up, but you get the drift because it
happens to you! We have three enemies: the world, the
flesh and the devil. The devil messes with the mind. He
uses the first person singular so it looks like you generated
the thought. "I am such a failure. I can't do anything right."

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed 
by the renewal of your mind..." (Romans 12:2)

The battle is in the mind. So, how do we renew our minds?
Let me share what I have been doing over the holidays in
this regard for it a loosing battle to try and defeat thoughts
with the mind.

David says, "I always set the Lord before me." I take this
to mean that as he ran from his physical and mental
enemies, he turned from them to the Lord in his inner being.
Repentance means to turn around. So, I turn from my crazy
thoughts to God. I make a deliberate effort to face God and
speak truth to Him. "You are steadfast love. You love me.
I can trust you in this situation." I do not wait for my
emotions to settle down. They lie, plus it takes me awhile
to go from a 10--highly agitated--to a 2 or 3. Seeing God
from the perspective of the scriptures, particularly the
psalms is a great place to go to.

Dear reader, if you do not know where to read in your Bible
this year, try taking five psalms a day. I like to go to the date
in each set. Today is January 6 so I will read
psalm 6, 36, 66,96 and 126. Next month I may start over
only this time spend a week in one psalm and write down
the phrases that jump out at me. I believe that God will
speak directly to me. I write out a prayer as a response.
Last year I wanted to get a chronological view of how God
moved in the lives of His people. This year I want to spend
more time in a passage or a verse. Regardless of how you
choose to read scripture, remember it is not a marathon but
a relationship! It is called intimacy.

Counterbalance

Psalm 16 is one of my very favorites. It is short, but
full of worship and encouragement. I have taken just
one verse, verse eight for the year:

"I have set the Lord always before me;
because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be shaken."

I am a word person and so as I meditate on a verse
I will frequently look at the meaning of a word
out of Strongs Concordance and then check an old
dictionary whose compiler was Noah Webster
himself! If this drives you nuts scroll down to the
last paragraph where I write a personal note to you.

I looked at the word, 'set' and immediately thought
of setting something on a table. However, that is
not what the word means in Hebrew which is:
"To level, equalize, to counterbalance." Well, I
went to Webster to find the meaning of the term
'counterbalance' and found this: "An equal weight,
power, acting in opposition to anything." Seriously?
Is David saying that 'he sets the Lord before him
as a counterbalance?' My quest for answers took
me to 2 Corinthians 3:17, 18:

"Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit 
of the Lord is, there is liberty.
And we all, with open face beholding as in a 
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord." (KJV)

So, what is meant by 'glass?' Well, it means, "to 
mirror oneself, to see self, reflected. A mirror. It
signifies an earnest continued inspection." Sort of
like my taking a hand mirror to make sure my
make-up is on correctly. Are you cringing yet? Is
it the focusing on self and ones sins? NO!

Throughout the letters of Paul there is an emphasis
on the fact that we, as Believers, are in Christ. If this
is in fact true, who do we see when we gaze into the
mirror of His Word? We see Christ in all of His glory
gazing back at us!!!!!

Dearest reader, the promise here is that as you spend
time in His presence, pondering His Word, you will
be changed from one degree of glory to another.
What an incentive to throw out your resolutions
and just dwell in Him!

I found an uplifting piece on You Tube--remember,
we will see Him face to face sooner than you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ovSaoWpOM

Pregnant with Possibilities

Happy New Year!

What an outrageously wonderful time in history to be
alive! The year 2016 is pregnant with possibilities. It
will be unlike any other year, of that I am certain. The
big question is what God purposes for us as we look
out on a blank calendar of the next twelve months.
Well, my calendar is not yet full. He has given me a
few things to do, but how am I to be? This is the time
of year when  people make resolutions, but which are
usually broken within the first 30 days...

What if God's purpose for us is to learn "to be" rather
than trying to change ourselves and those around us?
I have been thinking about what to do with the blog
and was under the impression that I could dive into a
scripture today and come up with something for you
as well as for me. I got the frame but not the picture
so I have nothing to share. Actually, I was hoping to
be able to type up a week's worth of blogs. Not going
to happen.

So, dear reader, ask God for scripture and how He
wants you to fill your time this year. You too may be
surprised!