Feeling
better this week? I hope so. I know the old strongholds will raise their ugly
heads as long as we live on this fallen earth. Our Father is powerful enough,
strong enough, protective enough, loving enough, to stick with us. When we are
sidetracked from the path He has chosen for us, He will find a way to get us
back on track.
Keep looking up. Focus on Jesus when
things are falling apart. Our help comes rom Him. Our Redeemer, our Savior, our
Shepherd, our friend, the one and only Son, the perfect man, the one who fills
our hearts with all that is good. Focus on Him.
Since
then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not
on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2
Jesus,
Place
our hearts and our minds above all that drags us down. Let our gaze remain
fixed on You We can overcome the perils of this earth as Your children, alive
forever, dearly loved.
Amen
No
blogs next week. I will be praying for you. Enjoy the promise of spring and
remain fixed on Christ. See you on April 1!
Small
irritations add up and take control. A bitter root grows in our hearts. Satan’s
strongholds in our life appear to be winning. The world is suddenly or
gradually not so sunny and warm. A cool breeze takes hold of our hearts. Someone
hurt us. That person doesn’t understand. What is wrong with me? How can I go on
without them? It is easy to blame others or to blame our past.
It is convenient to look at others through
the lens of our own lives. Jesus meets us right where we are. He meets
each person’s needs in a unique and glorious way. He tugs at our heartstrings
and makes us realize we no longer need to be right, we just need to be loved. When
life becomes too difficult, we may realize we are tired of doing it on our own.
We need God. We need a Savior.
That hole in our hearts, the questions
about life and death, the search for answers, for truth, can be found in one
man. The man who was also fully God. Jesus came in sacrifice and humility. He
came to suffer greatly. He came to understand the humanness of life on earth
and to show us the way to the glory of eternal life.
The one and only perfect man took it
all. He took all of our pain and offers
us complete forgiveness and righteousness. His righteousness. God allowed Him
to become one of us and suffer as if He had committed every one of our sins and
in return offers us the holy righteousness of Christ. Wow!
But if
Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of
sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10
It is
because of him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from
God-that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30
You are redeemed. Jesus traded place with you
and took it all. You are now the righteousness of Christ, forever forgiven,
sins washed clean as snow, forever loved, forever alive with Him.
“Come
now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red as crimson, they
shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Father,
Jesus
changed everything for us, giving us new life. We praise You for giving us Your
Son. Through the shedding of His perfect blood our sins are as white as snow,
we are forgiven as far as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12) There are
no words perfect enough to thank You.
In
Jesus name,
Amen
This
week we have talked about minor irritations, escalating bitterness and anger and how easily these
negative thoughts and emotions can rob us of peace and joy. When it comes right
down to it, the battle is fought within our own minds. My mind
can take off on one tangent after another, winding down roads and valleys that
leave me with no way to escape.
Many times, most times, it is in the
middle of the night. I have dealt with insomnia and anxiety for most of my life. Did I say
the wrong thing? What can I do to help her? What will I make for our weekend
away? Will I sleep? Should I get up for awhile and try to relax my mind? Now
it’s 1 o’clock, 2’o’clock etc. etc. etc.
You get the picture. You too? Praying and
reciting calming Scripture often does the trick as I give my roller-coaster
thoughts to the God of peace. In fact, there is a wonderful Scripture about
capturing each thought. I would love to do just that when my mind is running
away from me.
The Bible calls the difficulties we deal
with as individuals as “strongholds.” Satan knows and understands our
weaknesses and knows just where and how to aim his fiery arrows into our
own hearts and minds. Read through these powerful words.
The
weapons we fight are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have
divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every
pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take
captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Jesus has the answers, the knowledge, the
wisdom to demolish our damaging strongholds. He will never give up on finding
the way to complete peace and freedom for us. Trust Him. Give Him your
thoughts, ask Him for rest and peace. Memorize Scripture verses that are made
just for you. And believe He is working.
I am going to try to sleep now, resting in
His protective arms and perfect peace, trusting in Him.
He will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are set on Him, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3
Father,
You
know what we need and how to provide for us. Capture every thought that does
not honor You. Give us the peace that transcends understanding. Guard our minds
when they move us in the wrong direction.
In
Jesus name,
Amen
Yesterday we gave up our worry, our anxiety
as well as our small irritations to our Lord. I remember having a discussion
with my niece some years ago. I respnded to our conversation with the common phrase,
“Don’t sweat the small stuff.” She immediately
replied, “The small stuff adds up.” So true, isn’t it? A day can start off
routinely enough, until the small irritations begin to intrude. As we focus on
the negative, on the constant noises keeping us away from peace, on the
circumstances or the people that bring us down, we will be filled with unrest.
Many
years ago, before studying the Bible in earnest, my brother, sister-in-law and
I had a falling out. The argument began innocently enough and slowly escalated
as our opinions grew more one-sided and self-involved. This minor disagreement
grew until we did not speak for several years. I can remember how it weighed on
my heart, but I just knew I was right. I would dwell on their mistakes and have
conversations in my head on what I wanted to say to them.
Sound familiar? My brother was 22 years my
senior, and luckily, we made up and enjoyed many more years of closeness before
he died from a Parkinson-like disease over 10 years ago. The Bible warns
against what we experienced. It is called a bitter root. Don’t let it take hold
of your heart.
See to it
that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to
cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15
Get rid
of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of
malice. Ephesians 4:31
Easy to see the escalation in this verse.
A bitter root can grow into slander, anger and even malice. Sounds a bit like
our culture today. Jesus is the cure and He has some good advice in this next
verse in the book of Ephesians.
Be kind
and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God
forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
Be kind. Forgive. Be compassionate. Christ
has done so much for us. He has given us eternal life and the abundant life
right now.
Father,
Keep
us from growing bitter and unkind. Give us hearts to see others as You do, to
love, to forgive, to look for the good. You understand how difficult it is for
us. We want to be right. We believe we have the answers. The truth is always
found in You.
In
Jesus name,
Amen
Our
one-year-old grandson is just learning to walk. You will typically find him crawling
speedily around the house. That is, until he spots something that stops him in
his tracks. It might be a pebble, a piece of lint, or a small string on our
wood floors. Luckily, he doesn’t put them in his mouth (obviously a brilliant
child). Instead, he will grasp the tiny item, get on his knees and hold it up
for us until we reach over and take it from his tightly pinched fingers. His
facial expression turns to one of mild disgust and he says,”eeesh.”
So adorable. How often do we get derailed
and disgusted by the smallest irritations in our day? Another driver cuts us
off, or an irritating habit of a loved one drives us crazy, or the personality
of a co-worker is becoming unbearable. The list goes on. These little “eeesh”
moments in life can move us from joy and peace and contentment and set us off
on the wrong track.
The Bible continually warns us against
fret and worry, against bitterness and anger and offers us instruction on how
to prepare and avoid them. It isn’t often I use the Amplified Bible. Its
wordiness can be burdensome, but today there is valuable emphasis added to
these favorite verses from the book of Philippians.
Do not be
anxious or worried about anything, but in everything (every situation and
circumstance) by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your
(specific) requests known to God. And the peace of God (that peace that
reassures the heart) which transcends all understanding stands guard over your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
Like Gavin, let’s reach up and hand over our
“eeesh” situations and the small irritations in life to someone bigger and more
able to handle them. Let's allow Jesus to lift the damaging emotions from our hearts and our minds and allow Him to reassure us, as He guards our hearts and our minds
with His everlasting peace. And once handed over, continue on our merry way.
Lord,
Thank
You for the lessons You give us, for the teaching moments that remind us to
turn to You over and over again when we need to be lifted up and reassured. We
give it all to You and accept Your peace.
Amen
As we look to Christ through our times of joy, our times of
suffering, our times of laughter and our times of tears, we can remember the
words of King Solomon (or the rock group, The Byrds) as we read through these
words.
To
everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to
be born, and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck what is
planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to
build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to
dance. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones. A time to
embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to gain and a time to
lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to
sew. A time to keep silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate. A time of war and a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Remember to count
your blessings through this journey of life, from beginning to end. There is a
time for everything and God has placed eternity in our hearts and every good
and perfect gift is from Him.
He has
made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has placed eternity in their
hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning
to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good
in their lives, and also, that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the
good of all his labor-it is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3:11-13
There will be times when it is
impossible to find the blessings, but turn to Christ. He is there for every
season. And He is enough.
Father,
These beautiful words written by King Solomon remind us of the
mysteries in the heart of God. You give us seasons for everything under the
heavens and we rejoice in the good gifts You have given us. Be with us as we
laugh and as we weep, as we mourn and as we dance. Give us the strength to feel
Your eternal joy and purpose.
In Jesus name,
Amen
There will be times in life where we simply cannot find the
blessings. There will be times when we are deeply troubled and sorrowful,
anxious and alone. What do we do? Where do we go?
Jonah had good
reason to be filled with panic and anxiety. When he turned away from God and
did not follow the path as instructed by God, he found himself in the belly of
a whale. The deep darkness surrounded him for three days, until the fish spit
him out on shore.
His grateful heart
set him on the right course, determined to do God’s bidding and share God’s
truth with the evil-doers in Nineveh. Jonah understood the sacrifice it
required to praise God during the tough times.
But I,
with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will
make good. I will say, “Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah 2:9
Sometimes it will
take a sacrifice on our part to continue to praise our God in the midst of
tough times. Remembering the deep suffering of Jesus reminds us that He
understands sorrow. He understands pain. He took on the sins of the world.
Praise Him through it all and allow Him to share the pain. He will be our blessing in times of deep darkness and pain. Praise Him even then.
Through
Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the
fruit of lips that openly profess His name. Hebrews 13:15
Lord,
Sometimes we will share in Your sufferings. Bring good out of
our darkest days. Show us and remind us of Your glory and Your promises through
it all.
In Jesus name,
Amen
I pray you are going through a time of smooth sailing in your
life right now. The times of comfort and ease, the times of celebration and the
times of sharing life with our loved ones are to be savored and enjoyed. God
gives us such beautiful gifts throughout our lives, times of deep joy and deep
love.
Our oldest
daughter, Angela, is getting married this summer. It is a time of planning,
dress-buying, flower picking, of showering her and her fiancé with gifts and
finally, we will arrive at the moment, the day they exchange their sacred vows.
I am counting the
blessings as I witness her true happiness and joy in finding her soulmate. And
along with her wonderful fiancé, we have the added blessings of his two young
children to add to our family.
Today, savor your
moments of joy. Think back in time to other days and savored memories that make
you smile. Remember the blessings God has brought to you throughout your life
and thank Him for the ones you have right now, this very minute. I thank God for the gift of marriage, for my
husband, for the love of our youngest daughter and her husband, for the love
that has brought Angela to her true love.
“Haven’t
you heard,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator made them male and
female,” and said, “for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh.” So they are no longer
two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined let no man separate. Matthew
19:4-6
Father,
Today as we count our blessings, we give you thanks for our
moments of joy, for the celebration of marriage, for the love of family, and
for the gift of love.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Thanks for letting me whine about our crazy winter yesterday. Situations
in life can seem like major problems, but in the scheme of things, are really only
minor irritations. However, life can bring us to a halt, bring us to our knees,
bring us to tears and grief, bring us to wonder how we will make it through
another day, take another step.
I have witnessed
how God comforts in my own life through loss and tragedy and I have witnessed
His grace through the suffering of others. The Spirit of our God is present in
the most miraculous of ways. He overpowers our moments of darkness with
glimpses of light, a small flicker in the deepest night, and His light brings warmth
and hope.
A friend of mine
watched her husband go through horrendous cancer treatments, watched him as his
body weakened and witnessed his pain and suffering. She walked through this
with him for two years. The two of them met each day diving into the word of
God and ended each day holding hands and “counting the blessings.” It wasn’t
easy and to the outside world would appear to be absolutely impossible.
Somehow, she was
able to give the eulogy at his funeral. Her strength, her grace and her witness
to the truth of the overpowering love of Christ moved many hearts that day.
Unbelievers questioned her and I believe some came to a saving knowledge of
Jesus and His salvation.
Counting blessings
does not come naturally to us during times of deep sorrow, but Jesus is there.
His Spirit is ready to comfort, His peace is available, His love is unending
and present. As Jude reminds us, we can keep ourselves strong in the faith. And
God will bless us until the day we reach heaven.
But you,
dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in
the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our
Lord, Jesus Christ, to bring you to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21
And now, receive this blessing:
May the
grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14
Lord,
Build our faith to be so strong that even in our darkest
moments, we will rely on You and Your undying love. Keep us mindful of the Holy
Spirit and His presence when we are searching for answers.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Let me tell you, it
isn’t so easy this winter living in Minnesota. The snow has dropped in record
amounts, pretty much every other day through the short month of February,
breaking all records. Another several inches fell over this weekend of heavy, wet
snow.
The piles of snow
are so high, it is almost impossible to fling the latest snowfall off the tip
of our shovels to the top of the highest peaks. Our one-year-old grandson loves to watch
the kids walking home from the school bus, waving to them excitedly. Last week
the kids could not be seen in the streets. The snow is just too high. My
husband and I went for a Sunday drive to get out of the house and drove around
our favorite lake in the neighborhood in which we grew up. You guessed it.
Couldn’t see the lake!
Sometimes it takes
discipline to focus our minds on the blessings through the storms of life. I
thank God for enough food and warm shelter to get us through a few more snow
days. It is a blessing to know our loyal snowplow drivers and salt truck drivers
will be out all night and, unlike other cities closing down after an inch or
two, you will often find us out and about the day after a significant snowfall.
I thank God my
husband can maneuver our over-sized snow blower, even though I do enjoy
shoveling small amounts without those jumbo mountain peaks! Our city parkboard paves the paths so we can get out and enjoy the scenery of the land
of 10,000 lakes.
Are there blessings
you can count today? Sit and think about a few. It will give you a grateful
heart. And our blessings come from God.
Enter His
gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to him and
praise His name. Psalm 100:4
Father,
We praise You for the blessings, for Your creation, for our
daily bread, for our families, for our friends. Teach us to see little
blessings through difficult days.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Jesus is alive and
well and He is praying for us, interceding for us, advocating for us. The Holy
Spirit works in much the same way. The Spirit of Jesus lives inside of believers
and helps us through our days. He will teach us through the Bible, He will
guide us with words and actions throughout our days. As these precious verses
tell us, He intercedes for us in prayer. Are you in doubt about how and what to
pray? Let these words comfort you.
In the
same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to
pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And
He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8;26-27
How comforting to
know that when and if we are at a loss for words, the Spirit intercedes for us.
Jesus knows our hearts and He will bring our needs to the Father in the best
way that will work according to His will. Understand? No, I don’t either. All
of this is beyond our human thoughts and understanding. But God knows it all,
every hair on our heads, every word about to leave our lips, every need to be
worked out for His glory. Let your soul rest today. Jesus and His Spirit are
working it all out.
Thank You dear Lord Jesus for praying for us, for allowing
Your very Spirit to live within us, for teaching us, even as we continue to
falter. Pray for our faith to remain fixed on You.
Amen
Do you remember when Peter (Simon) denied knowing Jesus? Peter
was impetuous, out-spoken and bold. Jesus knew what Peter needed and He allowed
Satan to sift Peter like wheat (Luke 22;31). As He explains to Peter what is
about to take place, He also comforts him with these words:
“But I
have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have
turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:32
The most vital
prayer Jesus prays for me and for you is for our faith to remain strong. Our
true faith will get us through ANYTHING! And as our faith is strengthened
through Jesus, we may strengthen others in the faith. You are gifted by the
Father and you have been prayed for by Jesus.
There will be times
we are the ones who need to be strengthened, when we turn doubt. Satan may sift
us like wheat, but Jesus has already saved us completely and He remains
steadfast as our advocate.
Therefore,
He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He
always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews 7;25
As Job reminded us this week, our
redeemer lives and He lives for us. He died for us. He saved us. He builds up
our faith. He will never leave.
Lord,
Satan has no power over us. We can be victorious over all of
his wily schemes. We thank You for praying for us and for mediating for us to
the Father.
Thank You, Jesus.
Amen
When you are going through a season of drought, of doubt, of
dread, go back to Jesus. Jesus remains faithful when we are not. He continually
goes to the Father for us in prayer, in protection, in power. When Satan tempts
you or tries to defeat you with emotional pain or anxious thoughts, remain
above it in Christ.
We are no longer
condemned! We are free from sin, once, for all. Keep the thoughts of your
salvation close at hand as a constant reminder of what we have now and forever.
The armor of God includes the helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6) The peace and
hope salvation brings guards our thoughts and keeps our minds calm and free.
Who then
is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died-more than that, who was raised
to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Romans 8:34
Feeling condemned
or overwhelmed? You are a precious child of God, dearly loved. You are already
seated in the heavenly realms forever. Live out this short life in victory. You
are saved! You are free! Jesus, the all-in-all is praying for you.
My prayer
is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through
their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I
am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have
sent Me. John 17;20
Jesus prays for the
Father for all believers. Why? “so that
the world may believe that You have sent Me.”
What an honor that He uses us so that others may believe!
Father,
We thank You for giving us the honor of sharing the love You
gave us in Your Son, Jesus. It is impossible to imagine Him praying for us and
protecting us and allowing us to preach the good news. We praise You today.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Jesus, is our
intercessor and He is our friend. Job understood this, even after he suffered
the loss of everything he held dear, his children, his belongings, his health.
Here are a few of his words of victory through his pain.
I know
that my redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand on the earth. Job
19:25
Even now
my witness is in heaven, my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend,
as my eyes pour out tears to God. Job 16:19-20
Job understood what
we now know to be true through Jesus. One day He will return and stand on the
earth. He now resides in heaven. Our advocate, our intercessor is on high. He
is our friend. He feels our pain. He understands sorrow. He has been tempted in
every way. He understands.
For we do
not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we
have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet He did not sin.
Hebrews 4:15
Give everything to Jesus, and
live in victory over pain, over fear, over sorrow. Our redeemer lives and
intercedes for the saints.
Lord,
How beautiful are the words of the saints before us. They echo
our pain and our emotions and they help us to find victory through all of life,
through Jesus Christ, our friend, our advocate, our intercessor and in His name
we pray.
Amen
There is only one
One and Only, Jesus Christ, the perfect man, the perfect God, the only way to
heaven. This week let’s remind ourselves that if (and I hope you are) we are
believers, we are no longer condemned. God sees us only through the
righteousness of Jesus, forgiven, once and for all.
For there
is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. 1
Timothy 2:5
Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
Even though we are forgiven past,
present and future, Jesus does not leave us on our own until we die and go to
heaven. He continually interceds, mediates and is an advocate for us. I love
the thought that He moves between Satan and God as our protector, our friend
and our witness. We belong to Him!
Let His peace soak
into you as you feel His cleansing power. Let go of guilt, regret and past pain
and look ahead to a full life lived for and with Him. What a gift He has given
us, one we can never repay and yet He offers us His grace each and every day. Forgiven…forever…Amen!
Jesus,
There is no way we can repay the gift of grace and forgivenss,
the promise of eternal life, the price you paid to give us freedom from sin.
You took it all on for us. We don’t deserve it, but we accept it and give You
the glory as Lord and Savior.
Amen
Living apart from
Jesus makes us enemies of God. Those words are hard to hear, but if we believe
in the inherent truth of the Word of God, we know it to be true. If there had
been another, easier way to find our way to God, Jesus would not have suffered
as He did. His sacred blood was shed for us and He offers Himself to us as
Savior.
Are we following at
a safe distance? Do we stop at the life of Jesus, believing He was a good man and we
can follow His example? Or do we ask Him to be our Savior, to recognize Him as the
resurrected Lord of all?
When and if we do
just that, His precious Holy Spirit takes up residence with us. As we turn to
Him each day, we have the blessing of His presence throughout our sometimes
hazardous and dangerous journeys of life. I can’t imagine living without Him.
It would be impossible!
Let your anxious
thoughts and worries be given to Him. Let your life shine with this joy and
peace. It is available with great power. God’s strength shines through during
our toughest moments. He will use every joy, every sorrow and everything in
between to show His glory and His strength. His grace is sufficient for the
day.
But He
said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in
weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so
that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Stop and thank Him
for the good works He will perform through you. Place all of your hope and
trust in His purposes. We can give it all to Him to work for His good purposes.
Not easy, is it? Life takes hold of us and we place Jesus down a few notches,
below our worry, our anxiety, our fear. Let the power of His Holy Spirit carry
you. Do not worry. Do not be afraid. He is working!
Do not be
afraid, little flock, for Your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12;32
Peace I
leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
And we
know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have
been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
Do not be afraid.
Feel His peace. Know He is working. Stand on the truth. You are blessed, little
flock.
Jesus,
You give us life, life eternal and life with power as we live
out our lives. We long to trust You through it all, giving You our lives to use
as You see fit. Give us hope today. Give us Your strength today. Fill us with
Your Spirit today.
Amen
