Just for Her

Looking out the kitchen window, the sight took her breath away. Just above the bare limbs of trees, the sky shimmered with rays of a gorgeous reddish sunrise.  It was as if God had painted the sky just for her, giving her yet another promise of His relentless love. Without a doubt, she knew, only God could design something so perfect and wonderful.

Knowing the camera would not do it justice still she must try to capture it. Just before she turned to go, she whispered "thank you so much God."

A sunrise always holds a promise for a new day, a day to start over.  Perhaps today you feel the need for that new start or maybe it is simply the need to continue with purpose that which God has planted in your heart.  Either way, today is that day for you!

The Mighty One, God the Lord, Has spoken and called the earth From the rising of the sun to its going down.  Ps. 50:1 (NKJV)

Lamentations 3:22-24 (NKJV)
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

I love the way The Message bible says the last of those scriptures....

I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).  He’s all I’ve got left.




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He Came Speaking Softly

In the wee hours of the night, God often speaks softly in our souls.  Softly, yet carrying weight that will still be there when we awake the next morning. Please allow me to explain as you read on.

We started 40 days of prayer and fasting last night.  The service was a time to reflect on where we are headed and what we truly want to accomplish.  As we were leaving the service my mind and heart seems so settled but it was temporary.  Around 1:00 a.m., I found myself wide awake with my eyes focused on the clock's projection of time on our bedroom ceiling.  Thoughts were running over and over in my mind of how and why God would shake us.

In my mind's eye, there I stood as a little girl.  I could hear the words "did you shake that rug or you sure you got all the dirt out?"  Mom was somewhat of a clean freak (a trait I must admit I inherited).   God was reminding me that just as I shook that rug to remove the dirt so He was about to shake me (us) to remove the sins of my life.

Think back with me to my post from January 16th.  Remember some of my words when speaking of "Intimacy with God".  God's word brought me to that of fasting right in the middle of my study on intimacy.  I have once again posted the scripture below.

After reading the scripture I understood that no matter what we fast what He truly desires it that we do so with great sorrow of our sin and sinful nature. His desire is that our heart is tender and pliable to His word and His will for our lives.  I left us in that post with this prayer: “Abba Father, please give me a clean heart.  May it be tender and pliable as you shake, shape and sent me forward!”

God hears and answers every single one of our prayers.  Perhaps not as we expected or when we thought they should be answered but He does answer…

And He is answering mine “make my heart clean, tender and pliable as you shake”.  He said last night, “I am shaking the sin from your life (our lives) as one shakes the dirt from the rug.”

God’s shaking is to get rid the dirt that is deep down in our lives. Even as a child I came to understand that sweeping or vacuuming at the top may make the rug appear clean, but that it must be taken outside and shaken (at times with force) to be absolutely clean.  How will He shake each of us?  I have no answer for that question.  For each of us may require our own type of shaking to be made clean.  Why will He shake us?  He will shake to rid us of all sin and uncleanness, so that we may be sent to represent Him well to this lost and dying world.  And He will shake us until we can become the spotless Bride of Christ ready for His returning.

 Psalm 51:16-17
New King James Version (NKJV)
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

She Set on His Lap

Don't you love it when you open God's word and it is as though He hand-picked the word of the day for you? As though He picked you up, sat you on His lap to read to you.  You know what I mean, when you are simply doing your daily reading and God gives you words for what is truly going on in your life.  It is as if He says, "pay attention this is what I need you to know before you move ahead" or "lest you forget allow Me to remind you."

We are about to embark on 40 days of prayer and fasting.  A time when we all search for what we should give up as we fast before The Lord.  For me it is no different, I begin to wonder should I do the Daniel Fast, give up my beloved Coke Cola, or perhaps I should just give up dinners.  Ok you get the picture...

So this morning in my study of "Intimacy with God",  I turn to Psalm 51.  There is was, my reminder of a true fast.  This Psalm was written by David at a time of repentance after his affair with Bathsheda.  In the beginning verses he repents then in verse 16 and 17 he reminds himself (and me, us) that what The Lord truly wants from us is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

In other words, no matter what we fast what He truly desires is that we do so with great sorrow of our sin and sinful nature. His desire is that our heart is tender and pliable to His word and His will for our lives.

Abba Father, please give me a clean heart.  May it be tender and pliable as you shake, shape and sent me forward!

Psalm 51:16-17
New King James Version (NKJV)
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

Tis is the Season

Tis is the season!  Thoughts of sugar plums danced in her head.  For many this is not and will not be the case.  Instead worry, haste and lack of the world's definition of enough will take away the joy of many.

When we look at this season through the world's mindset we totally miss the true meaning, the whole picture.

Instead of sugar plums dancing in my head as I woke there were these simple words "who do you say I am?"   That question makes me look deeper inside not only at seasons but deeper within myself.  He is no longer the Child in the manger or no longer the Man on the cross.  Yes, He did come as that Child and He did hang on a cross for you and me!  But if we stop there we (Christ-followers) will also miss the whole picture.

So how do we, how do I answer the same question that He asked of His disciples? Peter hit the nail on the head when He replied "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  (Matthew 16:15-16). But somehow I believe He wants a more personal answer of me this morning.

To me He is my deliverer, redeemer, healer, and giver of life.  Each of these words defines what He has done in my life.  For once I was held captive in sin and He delivered me.  I could not be good enough so He redeemed me.  I could not make myself whole so He healed me.  I was doomed to death (a very slow death) and He gave me life.

That is who I say He is.  How about you?  Who do you say this Man called Jesus is?

Silence

The sun is just rising like the blinds being lifted to allow in the morning light.  Even in the early dawn of morning, I am reminded the world is never in a state of silence.

Birds in the nearby trees chirp their morning song. In the nursery across the way, the sprinkler system begins to make its "this tttt thtt" sound.  You can hear the sounds of the dogs' paws on the concrete as she takes them for their morning walk. 

I listen to the cars zoom past going somewhere, going nowhere but leaving the vvrooo noise in their quake.  You can even hear the wheels of the bikes as they pedal quickly by.  And somewhere in the distance the grasshoppers welcome the morning in their own unquiet way.

Listening to all these different sounds, the morning is indeed not silent as I try to meditate upon my Lord.  It is then I remember the written words of The Lord!

 "You heavens, praise him; praise him, earth; Also ocean and all things that swim in it."

         Psalm 69:34 The Message (MSG)

 But he said, “If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise.”

        Luke 19:40 The Message (MSG)

 

And so I say quiet loudly, ain't no stone going to cry out in my place.  I shall not be silent but heard above the noise, for I shall praise my Lord!

 

 

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