August 11, 2014, I wrote a little note about tents...
August 2016 - this pops up on my facebook page. - please follow the link. :)
Still. So. Very. True.
http://biblelovenotes.blogspot.com/2014/03/tent-life.html
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Be Still
Be Still
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 44:10,
“Be still and know
that I am God.”
I use this verse often, to describe the refreshment and
replenishment of my spirit when I am able to get out on a mountain or in God’s
glorious creation here in Montana. It is
refreshing. It is replenishing. To be in His creation and to stop and just…be…still…to
be near Him…to commune with Him and feel revived and ready to return home to
face my daily battles, my daily grind.
In His devotional book, Prayer, Praise and Promise, a daily walk
through the Psalms, Pastor Warren Wiersbe explains that the Hebrew word
translated here as “be till” actually means “take your hands off.”
So, according to Wiersbe, what God is actually saying in this
verse, is “Take your hands off, and let Me be God in your life.”
We live in a world we want to control – especially as mothers, and
Christian mothers in today’s declining world.
We want to control everything.
But many times, our hands get in the way of God’s work. “Sometimes only God’s hands can do the
job. Our hands get in the way because we
are manipulating, plotting or scheming.” (Wiersbe)
Faith is living
without scheming.
Wiersbe says, “If we try to control everything and play God I your
lives, everything will fall apart. But
if we let Him truly be God in our lives, He will be exalted, He will be with
us, and He will get the job done.”
But – we have to be willing to be still, and to take our hands off.
Whatever you or I are facing.
Whatever worries you or I may have.
Whatever has you or me plotting a way to survive.
STOP.
Give it to the Lord.
Wiersbe further states, “A time will come when He will say, ‘All
right, I will use your hands.’ But until
then, keep your hands off. Know that He
is God. He does not expect us to do what
only He can do.”
Yes.
Be still.
Hands off.
You’ve got this, Lord, because I do not.
I want to keep my hands off and be still and allow God to work in
my life.
Here I am, in a cabin full of snoring middle school boys, watching
the sunrise out the window, with streams of water gurgling outside, and I am
being still. And I am reminded that Christ is the LIVING water. I am revived, replenished, cleansed.
Again and again, I take my hands off our situation and let the Lord
God have control. Praise the Lord for
His goodness, His mercy, His wisdom, His love.
His goodness endures forever.
God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good.
Hush, my child…
Be still.
Why
WHY
“I’m
sure you are wondering why God is doing this to you, and are even mad at Him.”
…um…actually….no….
We might not like the fact that Rob has Huntington’s
Disease, but there is no wondering about WHY Rob has HD, and no blaming of the
Lord.
We believe God has a perfect plan.
We believe that He works all things together for the good
of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)
We believe He created a good and perfect world, a world
that was destroyed and then cursed by sin.
Our world is falling apart around us and has been since that first
sin. Creation moans for the restoration
from the Lord. Sin has ruined and cursed
ALL of creation – and that includes DNA.
If there is any”one” to “blame” for Rob’s Huntington’s
Disease, we blame the deceiver, the devil, Satan.
There isn’t a need to waste time on anger or blame.
Because we have HOPE.
Hope in Christ Jesus
.
Because Satan did not win.
We (children of God) won, and we will win, because GOD
Himself won and we are His.
Not even the gates of hell prevail against Him.
SO…I don’t wonder why.
Why – because we are guaranteed to have trials to
strengthen us and develop us into stronger Christians (James 1:2-4)
Why – because God wants us to grow
Why – because God wants to be glorified
Why – so His peace can surpass all understanding (Philippians
4:6-7)
Why – because He loves us and wants to perfect us – like refining
gold through a fire – hopefully this will burn out the impurities in our
spirits and make us pure in Him. (1
Peter 1:7)
No. I do not wonder
why.
No. I do not blame
God.
I praise God for knowing what is better for us than we
could ever know ourselves.
I blame the devil and sin and the fallen, cursed, sinful
world.
And I look forward to the day Christ returns and we have a
new heaven and new earth and creation is restored and there is no more sorrow and
no more pain. There is my hope.
Some say I am naïve.
Perhaps…but I don’t believe so.
I believe the strength and peace is the answer to the
innumerous, uncountable prayers for strength, peace and wisdom. Because it is His strength, peace and wisdom
that cover our weaknesses, especially in times of trial.
And when you trust Him to hold your future, you don’t need
to ask why.
You simply praise Him for loving you enough to force you to
grow and give you a way to glorify Him.
To God be the glory...forever and ever...Amen!
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for
evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Trust in the Lord with
all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together
for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter
under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time
to pluck up 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 together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ...
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
And the Lord will
guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your
bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were
born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Trust in the Lord with
all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will
counsel you with my eye upon you.
But they who wait for the Lord shall
renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall
run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor
the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of
the Lord that will
stand.
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