Day 21

 As I move into Day 21 several things have happened that I know came from the hand of God.

1.  I had told God that if he wanted me in a classroom he would need to have Piedmont call me on the phone and offer me a job teaching English. They did.

2.  Dan has been given paths to new ministry.

3. Dan read about a how to reach church members and it focused on going to the same restaurant and eating everyday. I did not know, but picked the same restaurant 2 days in a roll and sure enough met several church members.

4. God has given me multiple opportunities to pray and minister to others this month.

Prayer Day 1

 Today, I start a new Bible study, The 28-day Prayer Journey:  A Daily Guide to Conversations With God.

After praying this morning God brings to Dan's mind that if we are totally dependent on Christ. What if we faced each day as if it were our last.

Then I read this from Ann VosKamp:

Before the week gets loud: The art & work of Loving matters more than any work lists. It's the art of loving that will be the one great work of your life.

"Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other." John 13:14

Loving people without expecting anything in return always turns out to have the greatest returns.

Oh dear friend, if we approached today as it says in 1 Peter 4:8, "Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

Make each day count.

God's Love

        In this world it seems very hard to see the love of God.  Rabbi Kushner years ago wrote a book called, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?  Like Kushner many of us focus on our situation and tend to question God's love for us. Unless, we have come to grips with the sovereignty of God. It is imperative that we have affirmed belief in our hearts and minds.

        As I contemplate these things...a sovereign, loving God. I've been struck with why a "Name it and Claim it" theology can not work.  For if we take that approach that only good things are going to happen to me because God loves me, then we fall apart in times of hardship and question God's Love.  The Bible tells us in John 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."  The very depth of God's love for us was shown on the cross.  Romans 5:8 says, "But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  My grandmother used to say, "But where will we go but to the Lord."

        I don't know why bad things happen to good people. I don't know why some suffer through watching a loved one fight cancer, death, financial hardships, wrecked relationships, or lives spiraling out of control, but my prayer list is full of such hurting and pain. And just when it seems unbearable I look toward the cross and I'm reminded that NOTHING can separate me from the LOVE of God.

        It has been said that "Anything this side of hell is pure grace." I don't know about you, but I need that grace and love of Christ everyday!

        Shalom, my friends.        

God's Wisdom

         As a child my grandmother would say above all else pray for wisdom.  Through the years I have tried to make this my heart's desire.  However, the last few days I've wondered about God's wisdom in a high profile person's sin that has been made very public.

        I'm sure by now you've heard the torrid details of Jerry Falwell Jr's sin. This morning as the liberal media was going over such sordid details I felt as if I'd throw up.  Ephesians 5:12 says, "For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret."  Trust me I was wanting them to stop speaking!  Yet, Numbers 32:23 says, "But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out." Well, Mr. Falwell that sin is out there for the world to see.

       So in my finite mind I think, "God how is it wise to bring such reproof to your name?" Nineteenth - century theologian JL Dagg described wisdom "as consisting in the selection of the best end of action, and the adoption of the best means of accomplishment of this end." He then added, "God is infinitely wise, because he selects the best possible end of action...[and] because he adopts the best possible means for the accomplishment of the end which he has in view." (Bridges, 1988, p. 118) Therefore, once again God is showing me that his ways are so far above what my mind can comprehend.

            John Piper has said, "The chief end of God is to bring glorify God and enjoy himself forever." Obviously this is a mystery to me how anything going on now (presidential elections, rioting, pandemics, and fallen ministers) can bring glory to our Creator. I look at Falwell and see disgusting sin that makes me cringe, but let's turn that bright light on ourselves and look at our own sin. Are we bringing glory to God in all we say and do? We are told in 1 Peter5:8 that the Devil "prowls around like a roaring lion looking for who he may devour." We could just as easily be in Falwell's shoes. Another thing my grandmother said, "Was all but the grace of God it could be you."

               I don't know where all this is going I'm not that wise. Yet, in God's infinite wisdom I know he will to bring good out of evil, and guess what He doesn't have to tell us why. I have been taught all my life that God doesn't make mistakes. His ways are not my ways, but his ways are perfect. I don't have to understand them, I just have to trust Him. When I do that my life is so much easier.

Prayer and a Sovereign God

         Did you know that there are 650 prayers listed in the Bible and 450 recorded answers to prayer?  Yet, there are those who question if God is sovereign (all things are in his control) then why should we pray, isn't He going to do what He wants anyway.  

        Jerry Bridges in his book, Trusting God says, "Prayer assumes the sovereignty of God."  "But while God's sovereignty...is the foundation of our trust in Him, prayer is the expression of that trust." (p. 107)  I have no problem reconciling in my mind the belief in a sovereign God and my responsibility to pray.  I believe that I am also responsible to do the next thing.  At this season of life we are planning for the future, even though I know that God ultimately controls the future I still must pray for His guidance.

        Elizabeth Elliott said, "All our problems are theological ones, William Temple said. All of them have to do with our relationship to God and his to us, and this is precisely why it makes sense to come to God with them."  Prayer is my key to a relationship with God.

        So in this new season when I find myself anxious about the future I must pray! In order to align myself with God's will for me.  Mentally, I was not ready to retire. I feel my mind is sharp and I'm still learning new things on how to teach reading.  However, my physical body is showing the strain of nine years of constant pain.  Therefore, I must learn these lessons on sovereignty and prayer.  Elizabeth Elliott said it best,  "This hard place in which you perhaps find yourself is the very place God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him, to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering, gentleness, meekness - in short, to learn the depths of the love that Christ Himself has poured out on all of us."

        I may not know where life is going, but like David said in Psalms 57:2, "I cry out to the God most high, to God who fulfills His purpose for me."

Hurricanes and God's Power

         We are on the cusp of a phenomenon.  This week meteorologist have predicted a chance for two hurricanes to cross paths.  I can only imagine the fear some residence in the Gulf Coast area are experiencing.  Fires are raging out of control on the West Coast leaving devastation in their wake. All this is disheartening and confusing to many.  Why is God doing this?  Is God doing this?  So many questions, but the Bible shows us answers.

        Jeremiah 10:13 says, "When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses."

        Matthew 5:45b reminds us we serve a God who is in control, "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

        I can choose to trust in the goodness of God or I can believe that we are all just random cells floating through space.  The Bible gives us affirmation that God is sovereign over all his creation. He does not need me to validate his word.  It has stood the test of time long before I came and will continue long after I'm gone.

        Again my job is to Trust Him.

                   

No Fear

        "and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. " 2 Chronicles 20:6

        If I look at this upcoming presidential election fear can take over! To my worldly eyes this is going to be disastrous. Yet, I know that sometimes God brings judgement on nations. I know that he is in control.

          Wow! That is a hard pill to swallow. Do not get me wrong I do not believe Christians should be silent at this time, or take a fatalistic attitude. However, I do believe we should vote for the party that has a platform that is not openly mocking the things of God. How do you stand in front of the Creator of the universe when we have not stood for Him in our earthly walk?

        I read this today, "If these apparently foolish decisions are allowed to run their course, and believers are caught up in the disastrous consequences of these decisions, then we must continue to trust God in these times. We must believe both that God is sovereignly in control of these events and that the care and welfare of His children in those events has not been forgotten." (Bridges, 1988, p. 85)

        I am not God (aren't you glad). I do not see His bigger plan, but I must trust Him.

        My grandmother used to say, "I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread." Which is Psalm 37:25, she hid God's word in her heart and thankfully it would just come out of her mouth often. She lived through tough times and she wanted me to remember a simple thing, God is never going to forsake you. The going may get tough. The road may be unpaved, but God is there, and rest in that. 

        

      

Fear

         "Terror or fear is a state of the mind usually induced by some external circumstances." (Bridges, p. 62)  When you watch the news our media is busy pedaling fear.  Weather it is the virus, the election, or now converging storms, fear is all around us.  We are at this point saturated in an environment of fear.

        Perhaps that is why we need to understand the sovereignty of God so desperately.  Psalm 27:1 says, The LORD is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?

        So when fear comes peddling its misery at our doors we need to remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:31: "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

        Is it easy? I'm going to say a most definite no! But when fear consumes us let us recall scripture promises that we have hidden in our hearts!  Go back and read Psalm 27 (the whole thing).  Because at the end of the Psalm comes the best part, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."

        So if the fear of this age has taken hold dwell on that, "he will strengthen your heart."

God is in Control Part 2

         2020 will go down in history as a year like none other.  What started out normal has turned into nothing less than a Stephen King novel gone wrong.  No matter where you look it appears the world is falling apart.  

        One thing that is consuming many in America, and perhaps the world today, is the upcoming elections.  To think we are going to be subject to three months of fear pedaling is almost to much to bear! I have a choice to let fear and worry consume me or cast all my cares on the one who created me.

        The Bible teaches in 1 Peter 5:7 that we are to cast all our cares on him for he cares for us.  So, I can throw Covid-19, schools opening, financial hardships, sickness, hurting friends  and national politics all at His feet.

        Years ago I read Frank Peretti's books.  I liked the illusion he gave of demons sitting on building dipping their fingers into the lives of men, but every time God would send ministering angels to thwart their plans. Psalms 33:10-11 says, "The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." So in the midst of all the hurt, confusion and distress I can stand firm in He who has saved me. I don't need to be fearful of the future.

Is God in Control

 "God...is the blessed controller of all things, the king over all kings and the Master over all masters." 1 Timothy 6:15 (JBP)

   It is human nature to try and understand the ways of God. Yet, with all the tragedy in the world it is increasingly difficult to understand his ways. I shared yesterday the Corrie Ten Boom poem, "The Weaver"  reminding myself that God sees what I can not see.  

   This morning I was reminder that there is a twofold objective to God's providence:  His own glory and the good of his people.  I can not understand how cancer, jail, and death are good.  Yet, Psalms 31:15 says that, "Our times are in His hands." And I can find comfort knowing that nothing in all of creation happens opposite his will.  

  So while I may not understand God's ways. I can believe that he is sovereign and in control of all things.

Trusting God

 Yesterday, I started rereading the Jerry Bridges book, "Trusting God" This is what I wrote:

As a young girl watching my young mother die of cancer, I remember asking my Grandmother, "Why is God doing this to us?" In her wisdom she answered, "Why not us?" She didn't need to say anymore. If this was our "lot" we would put Him first and trudge on. Ecclesiastes 7:13 says, "Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?" My prayer list grows daily...today my prayer is that you will stand firm and trust in Him who gave His only Son to save us.

I'm Back!

After several attempts over several years I THINK I have managed to open up my blogspot again.  I desperately need a place to put my thoughts as I contemplate the world around me!  I can't wait to get started.  Here is to the next phase!