There are so many people we meet in a day. Shopping. At work. In traffic. At school.
Have you ever found that people have the comfort of speaking with you about their problems and you really just don’t know why?
I’m not a terribly social person, but I find that people often want to speak with me about their lives. Randomly. I make a point now of going to self checkouts. It’s not that I don’t care. But my response is rarely what they want to hear. “Would you like me to pray for you?” Then they get uncomfortable and we have a nice long awkward silence. But really. There’s nothing else I can do. I can talk to God and He can fix your problem, but me, myself and I not only can’t help with your problem, but I probably don’t even really understand it.
As Christians people will seek us out something about us draws them to us, and they want to talk to us about what’s going on in their lives as though we can help. The fact is we can’t help but we can talk to the one who can Jesus can help these people? He can solve all their problems and we can lead them to him. But a lot of the times people get upset when you bring God up and then I kind of wonder, well if you don’t want me to talk to God about it, then why are you talking to me about it?
I have learned a lovely thing.Praying in secret. At my job, one of the ladies said to me, I have no problem with you but i’m not into that whole God and Christian thing.I want nothing to do with it.I feel if I walked into a church.It would probably burn down because of my sins. In my mind I went, ” those are fighting words where I come from.” Verbally I just said, “okay.” People don’t always want you to pray for them, but that will never be able to stop you from praying for them. You don’t have to pray for them out loud. Jesus can even hear the thoughts of Your Heart. Pray for them in your mind. Especially if they don’t want you praying for them. They bring you they’re troubles because they don’t know who wants to go to. They realize that somehow, deep within their spirits that you have a connection to Jesus and that he can fix things, but they are afraid they are afraid to find Jesus.
They’re afraid of all he stands for and how he will change their lives. Just because you are not telling someone that you will pray for them, and just because you are not praying out loud with them. Standing there does not mean that God is not hearing you. You can pray at home on your knees. You can pray in your car. You can pray right there in that moment. Inside your own mind and soul. And God will hear. You never know when a person will have a breakthrough. And you never know how your prayers will help them, so don’t stop praying. Especially when someone tells you, they don’t want to be prayed for pray harder than even if they never know that you are doing so.
Category: Jesus
Keep Marching!
Joshua 6:2-5 ESV
[2] And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. [3] You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. [4] Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. [5] And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”
https://bible.com/bible/59/jos.6.2-5.ESV
God gave us music for when the battles come. When the storms reach high and when darkness seems to encroach, God gave us a song. We have been given music that reminds us of gods holy power, his goodness, his grace, and the fact that he will never leave us.
Who would have thought that Jericho would be destroyed by music and a shout? God did. He knew it work, but it didn’t work the first time. It didn’t even work the second or the third time.I’m quite certain that by the time jerichos walls actually felt the people were starting to wonder at God’s plan. We all have a jericho, and we all have a weapon, and sometimes we wonder at God’s plan. But then we pick ourselves up, grab our instruments and march one more time, and that is the time when the walls fall. Turn your music up and keep marching.God will make a way.
I’ve got my own giants
I’ve got my own giants.
We had a pastor who used to say that you need to get out of only praying for yourself. But that’s hard. We pray for other people’s problems, but we become distracted by our own problems. Our giants are big too.
We worry over ourselves because we are on the frontline of our own lives. We don’t feel what others feel, but we definitely feel what we feel. Then, one day, a person goes through what you have been through, and you pray harder for that person than for any of the others because you understand. You have met their giants, and you know how awful they are. Sometimes, God let’s us go through things so we are prepared from the battle to help others with their battle. Perhaps God knows that we have the strength to endure with only Him, and the person we will meet will need a physical hand to hold. It’s what is grown in the battle that makes us who we are. But we get to choose if anything grows. Do we turn to binge watching TV? I know I do more than I should. Do we turn to friends? What is your escape plan for when the fight comes?
It is when we turn to Jesus that we grow. When we say, “I’m fighting through this because God is on my side!”
We say that you can do anything you put your mind to, but the fact is no, you can’t. There are things you can not do on your own. But there is nothing that God can not do. It’s when you give the battle to Him and follow behind His sword and shield that you see victory. We have our own giants. But don’t go saying that your sling and stone won the fight because you were a great shot. Or because you had better technology than the dead champion who had won countless battles and most likely met fighters as good as you and sling shots as fast and powerful. When you walk away from the fight, know it’s because God walked with you into the fight. Your giants are big. But your God is bigger.
What does it mean to trust?
What does it mean to trust?
I was asked recently how to release all one’s fears to God and to rest. In truth. I was in a dark space and the typical pat answers we usually give people did not feel like enough. I said, “I don’t really know. I’m still figuring it out.” For me. If I go out for a hike or a long walk and put on my power praise music I find the Holy Spirit’s presence drives out the dark. But as soon as I go back inside and turn the music off the clouds come again.
Recently I had a terrible case of covid. This new strain is no joke. I truly felt I would die about four times before the sun started peaking through and I began to recover. My case has been so bad that for a week I physically did not have the strength to move around much. I was too dizzy to do anything for myself and I spent two weeks on the couch watching Christmas movies and sleeping. Never have I been sick like this. Next week I have my first math exam for my college courses. It has been a terrifying challenge for me and the reason I fell into such a slump of depression. Over Christmas we were supposed to study for our exam. I couldn’t. I tried to. Really hard. But I was too sick. I couldn’t figure it out. Why would God let me get sick? Yet during this time of forced rest I learned the answer to the question I had been asked earlier. To truly let go and rest in God’s peace, you have to actually let go. Release it all. Stop striving and let it slip into God’s hands. A devotional I read once said, to rest is to trust God. We feel rest is lazy. We feel we should be doing something. But rest is letting God take over, trusting that God will take care of it all even when we do nothing. Does that mean I am not studying hard these days to make up for the time missed? No. But I am not trusting in myself for the success. I am trusting that God will help me succeed with His power. I am doing what I am doing because I trust His will. It is in His hands.
To trust is to rest in God’s peace and strength. He does not need our fear and striving. He wants our trust.
How many times
How many times has God heard me say, “I can’t go on! I am so scared.”? More times than most who know me would imagine. Fear is such a constant thing in this life. Recently, my dog started stress chewing his feet. They are raw, and I have to stop him when I see him doing this. Why does he do this? Because we have had anxiety in our household, and he reacts with a stress release. The thing is, if we don’t turn to God when fear or anxiety hits, we will turn to something else. It might be harmless like chocolate or something dangerous to our health or spiritual health. To turn to Jesus means to face the fear head on, and none of us want to do that. To give it to God means to talk about it with Him, it means letting Him know how we feel and that involves acknowledging those feelings. If we don’t turn to Jesus, we will fall into a dark place. Turning to Jesus is turning toward the light. So many things stress us out and scare us. Exams, a scary boss, a health problem, financial issues. Go ahead, Add to that list, I’m sure there are plenty are more that could be brought up. There was an old song, I believe Andrea Crouche wrote it, it said ‘give them all to Jesus. Shattered dreams, ruined hearts, broken toys. Give them all to Jesus and He will turn your sorrow into joy.’ It hurts and scares us sometimes, just going through this life, but the answer is not to find a paw to chew, we need to turn to Jesus and let Him show us the answers that He has planned.
I feel…. but.. it’s Christmas
Dear friends. Christmas is a time when we feel all the feels, and I mean ALL! We feel happy and sad and stressed and at peace because Christmas reminds us of what we love and who we have lost over the years. Just now, I almost cried because an image of a dog came onto my phone, and it was one of my Nana’s favorite breeds, and suddenly, I missed her. Why am I saying this? Because it’s okay to feel. Feel all of it and then let it go. The thing that makes that tangible and important is making sure that you don’t feel alone. Feel those feelings with Jesus. Rest in His embrace and let Him heal you. Panic comes, but Jesus calms the storms. Pain happens, but our Lord is healer. We have lost… sometimes more than we can bear, but God has prepared a home in Heaven. We feel peace at Christmas because the light of the world came. His angel said, “Fear not.” Jesus said, “peace I leave with you.” Why? Because He knew who we are. It hurts sometimes. We see no light at the end of the tunnel. But God. It will always be Jesus who shows us the way. We may think we cannot do it. But all things are possible through Him. Don’t feel guilty about having all the Feelings at Christmas. Just make sure you leave those feelings in the hands of the Messiah.
He is I Am part 2
The most high God. I love this. We get so caught up in our human problems that we become so stressed that many of us have ulcers. It’s as though we are making bread, and we can’t get it to rise. Why would that be? Because we forgot an important ingredient. Bread without yeast will not rise, and problems without God are tragedies. Without God, we have no solution. We have no one to go to. As Christians, we have God. He is there with His arms open, ready to take you into them. But we get so caught up with our problems that we forget to go to Jesus. We leave Him out of the recipe.
In Genesis, we find this name of God. Elyon.
Genesis 14:19-20 ESV
[19] And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; [20] and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth. We forget that God is Most High. He possesses Heaven and Earth. We forget that we are small creatures compared to our big God. God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. God can and will deliver our enemies into our hands if only we will surrender to Him. Revival is not when people eventually find God. It’s when people finally stop fighting Him and let Him love them. God Most High will deliver your enemies into your hand if only you will give the battle to Him! God Most High who owns both heaven and earth wants to love you. He wants to help you. When hard times come, we let stress come over us, and we forget that God is part of our fight, He is the most important part of our recipe. God is El- Elyon.
He is always with you
Jehovah Shammah, He is the God who is always there.
There is nothing, and I mean nothing, more wonderful than knowing that God is always there. Always! I was reading a book on studies of the Bible that my dad gave me. I really enjoyed the part that spoke of God’s character. In summary, it said, “We know from the Bible that God loves us and is holy and all powerful. If we know this, then why do we assume that the God who loves us will leave us in confusion? He will guide us and show us and give us understanding because He loves us.”
When we hit hard times, we become confused. Terribly confused sometimes. We become confused about life, about ourselves, even about God and who He is. But God is always with us even in our confusion. He helps us and guides us. He will show us His path and will help us take it. He is not surprised or annoyed by your confusion, He gets it. He understands that when we are confused we are also frustrated. He gets that we need help. He let’s us know the He always with is because sometimes we forget that He is here. Sometimes we face great enough of pain that we think He has left us. Sometimes we think He is angry and is ignoring us. Sometimes our confusion and frustration blinds us to Him. He knew that would happen, so He let us know that He is always with us.
God’s names all contect. He is our provider, our healer, our banner, our shelter. Every name God calls Himself is a name that shows us His love and security. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is our peace. And He is our righteousness. He is the great I Am!
Even the flowers grow tired.
Even flowers have days when they are tired. Even the strong and resilient daisy has times when her petals droop.
Whenever a hard time comes, I think of the verse in Matthew that says
Matthew 6:28-30 ESV
[28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
But there are days when even the flowers look tired. They have no though or feeling, yet circumstances make them droop. We we think when we come to know jesus that all of the hardship will be gone and will never suffer again.But that’s just not the way it is. We forget that we have an enemy and that our enemy is like a prowling lion and will attack and devour. We feel like if we were just a little bit more diligent, if we just prayed a little harder, maybe we we’d be better off.Emprayer does help but hard times will come.Because God has warned us that they will come. The earlier verse ends with, “O you of little faith.” Whenever we listen to the Bible read aloud, the speaker will more often than not quote the O you little faith versus with an angry tone or a disappointed tone. But I don’t think that that’s what jesus is saying, when he warns us of having a small faith, it’s not because he’s mad that our faith is still small and it’s not necessarily because he’s disappointed, he knew we would have a small faith.Why else would he have said with faith like a mustard seed. When I read Jesus saying you of little faith. I hear it with a tone of that of somebody correcting perhaps a small dog. I’ve had this experience with my own dog where he will do something and I will try and help him or stop him or save him. And he will fight against me, and then he will hurt himself and i’m not mad at him, but I will say, why wouldn’t you have just trusted me and listened to me?Then you would’ve been fine. That’s what I hear when jesus says you of little faith. You of little faith, if only you would have trusted me.If only you would listen to me, I can help you and take your anxiety, your fear and your pain away. Jesus is called.
He is our peace.
Jehovah Shalom.
When the monsters come around at night, it’s Jesus who protects us. It is because of him, we lie down in safety. That doesn’t mean there won’t be times when something evil crashes through your gate. I recall a great missionary speaking on a time when he was in.I believe it was africa, but it might have been india. He was sleeping in a tent like they all did, and in the middle of the night he woke up with a crazy need to pray and he spent the entire evening lying in his bed, praying the blood of jesus, the blood of Jesus. In the morning, he woke up and there was a deep trench around his bed, and if I recall what he said correctly, he said the lord spoke to me and said the devil came to attack you.But because you spoke, my name, all he could do was pace.Around you all night. It’s only in the blood of Jesus that we are safe and protected. The devil can come, but he can’t get through when we are covered in the blood of Jesus. Gods angel, that’s swept through and took the first born child in Egypt. It was the blood on the door that made it so that the angel passed that house by. There will be times later on where the same people who had been under that blood would then doubt God or deny God and maybe some of them were ones that were killed in the desert by disease or by the sword because of the way they had turned from Jesus and God knew full well when his angel passed. Them by. That they would turn from him later and that they would possibly die in the desert, but it was still the blood of Jesus, the blood of the lamb on the door now, I should specify that that’s symbolic and not every lamb’s blood is the blood of Jesus, however, God still permitted those people to be. Left to live when his spirit went through because of the blood on the door. The blood did not blind him to who was inside. He knew full well and he also knew what the outcome would be later, but the blood of Jesus protects you. It’s once you let go of his hand release the hem of his garment and are no longer washed in his blood, but then the monsters can come through. But while you are with him and you have him by your side. And you trust him and love him and speak to him daily. The monsters might show up, but god will give you a safe place where they cannot get at you and that safe place.He’s in the palm of his hand. I speak of monsters, but what is a monster? The monster might be the new diagnosis from your doctor the monster might be the terrible thoughts or horrifying dreams that come in the middle of the night. The monster might be an addiction. The monster might be a person. The monster might be a fear or even a desire. And they will come because the devil doesn’t want you belonging to his enemy. But Jesus is your friend and he is fighting on your side, and he will never let you go.
Math
The hardest math I have ever done was trigonometry. Calculus I was shockingly okay with, and my dad was a great tutor, so, though I hated most of my math (100% of my chemistry math), I got through it. I would walk away from a test and go, ‘we’ll that was the worst, but now it’s over.’ In truth, the hardest math we will ever do is very simple in calculation. 70×7. There is nothing harder than Jesus’s math. Your brain will work to grasp other math because it’s mental, but Jesus’s math hit every nerve. I have one sole person I would call an enemy. This person has hurt my family and myself many times in the past, and every time their name comes up, a little hatred seeps forward as I recall the past. Every time that happens, Jesus reminds me to forgive. It’s an old thought. Forgive for yourself not for the other person, but it is true. Forgiving them or hating them does not really affect them unless you are together often. But it changes you. Holding a grudge keeps you distant from God. Jesus knows what that person did to you and those you love, but He gets revenge for your pain, not you. It’s hard when that person repents and is forgiven by God, but if that does not happen, then God will pay them back for what they did to you. And if they repent, remind yourself that God Forgives you every time you repent. We must forgive and forgive again, It’s actually not fun ever, but when we forgive, we release ourselves and are free. Because unforgiveness holds you in bondage, not your enemies. 70×7. Hardest math you will ever do. But the most rewarding.
Carried in the cross 