Be still and KNOW

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exhaled among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." - Psalm 46:10

Hump Day Challenge: Acknowlege Who He Is

Exodus 3:14   (HCSB)

God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you" 

This can be interpreted "I AM BECAUSE I AM" or I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE"

The Lord is all things to all people. That is the beauty of being all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere.  As you dig deeper in your relationship with Him you will see a Swiss Army knife has nothing on Jesus. 

So as you go throughout your day today take some time to acknowledge The Great I AM and He will show you a new side of Him

Marvelous Works

I had today’s blog planned and ready to submit for posting but God had a change of plans.  This morning I attended and participated in the homegoing service of someone dear to me who went home to be with the Lord.  We met over 15 years ago and our relationship will be one that I treasure for a lifetime. 

For the past several years she has been confined to a wheelchair due to a debilitating arthritic condition.  But her love for God, family, and people (in general) was never affected by her handicap.  In fact, it intensified.  Last night for some reason my attention was directed to the lame man in Acts 3.  As I took my final views of my precious friend today and all throughout the service I kept thinking about the comparison between her and the lame man in the scriptures who came year after year to the Gate Beautiful.  This man obviously had given up hope of ever being healed, and resorted to being carried by anyone who would assist him to assume his position at the gate to beg for handouts.   I imagine many people looked at him in disgust and derived their own conclusions as to why he kept coming time after time and was content with begging for handouts.  It was not their place or ours to judge the man but in the end we know he got so much more than he ever expected!

Month after month it didn’t appear that my precious friend was getting any better.  After many falls and other complications, it was determined that for her safety and overall wellbeing it was in her best interest to be moved into a healthcare facility.  Through it all she never complained and whether it was a hospital, nursing home, her home, or any place else she never failed to be a shining witness and servant of the Lord.  She never met a stranger and had a beautiful smile that drew you to her like a magnet. Once she drew you in it was certain that you were going to hear about her Jesus and His faithfulness to her. 

I sat asking myself how many of us have our own figurative wheelchairs that we have been confined to by experiences beyond our control or that we have created for our own purpose or convenience.   If you think about it a wheelchair does not totally incapacitate the individual.  Yet it can hinder their mobility and limit the freedom and liberties that an able bodied person can enjoy.  You would never have known that my friend was hindered by that wheelchair and the crippling arthritis.  It didn’t alter her purpose, her zeal, her service to God’s work; if anything it heightened her spiritual sensitivity to the needs of others.   She lived a life like Paul testified, in Philippians 4: 12 when he said he knew how to be abased and how to abound.  She knew what it was like to be mobile and enjoy the good life, going wherever she wanted, when she wanted.  But when that no longer became possible, she adopted the attitude of the popular cliché  . . . “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”! 

In my conclusion, I pose the question to you –  What is your wheelchair keeping you from?  Just in case you didn’t get it, I’ll rephrase the question another way.   What excuses are you using to keep from doing what you know you have been called to do?   If it is for you to do, if it is yours to accomplish, if it is your blessing to possess, then no “wheelchair” designed by man has the power to keep you from what is yours to achieve.   The way I see it you have 3 options:

1)      Lay the excuses aside and get up out of the wheelchair and do what you’re supposed to do.

2)      If getting out of the wheelchair is not an option, then move forward and don’t let anything stop you!  Use it to your advantage and start rollin’!

3)      If you know that you must endure the wheelchair for a certain amount of time, take this time to regroup, refocus, and recharge.  When you are finally delivered   --    it’s ON!!

A Tribute to My Friend,

Marianne Lockett

Sunrise:  October 3, 1943        Sunset:  January 26, 2015

Marvelous Works

About a month ago we celebrated the most joyous season of the year  -  Christmas. For many it is a time for holiday parties, decorations, gifts, etc. For Christians it is so much more, it is the birthday of our Savior, the Messiah. If you don’t personally read or quote Isaiah 9: 6, you most likely hear it recited in a child’s Christmas pageant or in a movie at once during the holiday season.  “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:  and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. This child is born to the world as a gift, and not only will He bring peace, He is The Prince of Peace. He proclaims peace, He ordains peace, He embodies peace. 

If we truly believe all that the prophet Isaiah declared in Isaiah 9: 6  why is real peace so difficult to maintain? Dictionary.com describes“peace” as “freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession; a state of tranquility, serenity”.  All of those descriptions of peace are the exact disturbances that interrupt the peace that our Savior desires for our everyday existence. By honestly addressing the following it may help discover what hinders us from the actualization of real, lasting, peace.

1) You must determine what peace really means to you. Too often we equate peace with joy and happiness. Peace can incorporate those two emotions, but real peace should never be predicated upon them.

2) You must determine what the peace “robbers” are in your life. One of the biggest robbers of peace is worry, the twin of anxiety.  Whenever we are faced with a situation we cannot control and have no knowledge of the outcome, worry and anxiety easily set in.  However, if we really think about it, we’re not in control of anything -- God is!  So when we put everything in His hands and purpose that His way is better than our way, peace will be our state of mind.  Being anxious about our finances, our health, our future, our relationships will rob us of the peace that we should have when we allow God to control and orchestrate His predestined outcome in all of those situations.

3) You must determine what you need to do to maintain peace. The first order of business to maintain peace is given in Isaiah 26: 3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee:  because he trusteth in thee”.  The instruction is to keep your mind on the Lord and in so doing you will demonstrate to Him that you trust Him. Our minds are so easily distracted even when our intentions are honorable. When flesh is allowed to triumph over God’s spirit our peace is most assuredly challenged. Whatever or whoever we give the most thought and attention to in our lives will take precedence over everything else. It is impossible to enjoy a peaceful relationship when the relationship lacks trust. 

4) You must determine that genuine peace only comes from God. If we look to anything or anyone else as our source of peace, we are looking in wrong direction. That place of tranquility and serenity even in the midst of a storm is free for the asking. He’s waiting . . . will you trust Him?

Hump Day Challenge: Just Follow The Instructions

This week HUMP DAY CHALLENGE is brought to you by Pastor Denise B. Carpenter as seen on her blog

#JUSTFOLLOWTHEINSTRUCTIONS

Last Sunday I preached a message that is entitled the same as this week’s blog. The sermon had been “brewing” in my mind and spirit for over a month and the more I thought about it the more driven I was to preach it! The scripture text was quite familiar and is found in Joshua 6, where the story is told about Joshua, the Israelites and the destruction of the Jericho walls. You may know the old song “Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho”. Ironically, the truth of the matter is, he really didn’t! Read on, I’ll explain later.

It will not be possible for me to recapitulate my entire sermon in this blog, but I do want to share some of the highlights of it with you and also some points that time didn’t allow me to reveal during the delivery of the sermon. In the early stages of my message preparation (having already determined the title), I began to think about how our lives are full of instructions that we must follow. In many cases we have no choice but to do it exactly as the instructions say if we want a favorable outcome. Some of those things that require strict adherence to instructions are job or college applications; manuals and guides for putting together furniture, toys, and other things that come unassembled; online banking / financial account services, etc. All of above are examples of areas we face throughout our lives that mandate us to follow instructions exactly as they are given. Yet, when it comes to our relationship with our heavenly Father; holy living; things that we want and are praying for; and even directions to prepare us for how and where we will spend eternity we find ourselves making excuses and blatantly doing things OUR WAY! Recently I was in a department store and there was clear signage as to where the line was to form while waiting to check out and purchase your merchandise. It was made plain that the next person(s) in line was to wait at least 12 feet away from the individual who was being served. The line that was not to be crossed until your turn came was clearly marked. The gentleman in front of me chose not to observe the signage and decided to proceed to the counter. The cashier immediately pointed to where he was to wait until called. Well he decided to back up a bit, but not to the marked line. This time the cashier was very stern in her instruction that he was to stand behind the marked line! This incident came back to my mind as I was preparing for this message. For whatever the reason, at times we feel that certain guidelines do not apply to us. But when God took me to the story that unfolds in Joshua 6 He made it clear that if you want to see great results in your life and witness His promises to you revealed, you just have to follow instructions . . . His instructions that is!!!!

The Israelite army was preparing to overtake the city of Jericho. God gave Joshua specific instructions for them to march around the city once each day silently for six straight days. Each day they were to circle the city and then return back to camp. 

This was to be repeated once a day for 6 days. Then on the 7th day they were to march around the city 7 times and on the 7th time around upon Joshua's command the trumpets were to sound and the people were to SHOUT! Now I know this not only looked crazy to the army in Jericho, but truth be told the Israelites probably felt pretty crazy . . . at first! BUT, this time it was their CRAZINESS that CONFUSED the enemy! 

You see if we trust God, follow His instructions, and anticipate the victory miracles will happen! But as the old folks used to say sometimes, “you’re just too smart for your own good”. One thing is for sure, we can never outsmart God, and His plan always works best. I could go on a lot further because God really showed me some things I had not seen previously in this story but I do realize this is a blog and not a book (smile). 

However, I want to leave you with some thought provoking observations. It is my belief that we often do not follow instructions because of the following:

1. We feel we already know how
2. We feel it’s not necessary 
3. We feel we can beat the odds (wow . . . that one is HUGE if you think about it)
4. Last but certainly not least, that old demon of FEAR. 

• a) Fear that we didn’t really hear God
• b) Fear of looking crazy or foolish to others
• c) Fear that the outcome may not really be what WE want.

Well in closing, I have to direct you to the conclusion of the Israelites obedience to God’s instructions. At the conclusion of marching around the city of Jericho that 7th time (and the shout that rang out), the walls of the city came tumbling down and everyone and everything in the city was destroyed except for one family that earlier had come to the aid of Joshua and his men; and the silver, gold, bronze, and iron was put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. So you see there wasn’t any fight, the battle was already fixed. All that God required of them was . . . “JUST FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS”.

Hump Day Challenge: Praise At All Times

Hump Day Challenge

Praise at all times 

We may be going through some THING. Whatever that "thing" is do not let it rob God of His praise. A great song writer once wrote "I will praise The Lord all times. His praise will always be on my lips" The Lord is good regardless of our current situations. The praise that we have in the good should be sustained through the not so good. We have Hope in Jesus and as long as we hold to the hope our not so good will turn to good. So whether we are in the fog of uncertainty or in the sunshine of a blessing His praise should always come out of our mouth. I challenge you today Praise God. 

#humpdaychallenge 

#praiseatalltimes

Hump Day Challenge: Show Who You Are

 Many times we come in contact with people who talk a good game. They say "I'm this" and "i can do that" or "I'm kind" and "I love people" but when you see their actions they are contradictory to those statements they make and who they SAY they are. 

Titus 1:16 says "They profess to know God but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good."

It is so refreshing when you come into contact with someone who demonstrates the life that they say they live. And it's even better when you don't have to hear them say anything at all but by their actions you know what they stand for.

Today your challenge is to be that person. One who does not need Spoken language for the world to know who you are and what you stand for. 

Show Who You Are!!

#humpdaychallenge

Hump Day Challenge

Today's Hump Day Challenge 

Plan Your Days

An old proverb states "The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor" (Proverbs 21:5)

The word reckless is described as utterly unconcerned about the consequences of some action; without caution; careless

By not planning we can give off the aura that we don't care what happens to us or or families during the day. 

Planning = Focus

Focus = Profit

Profit is defined as to gain and advantage or benefit; to be of service; to make progress

Many of us feel like we are in a rut or are just existing. If we begin to plan our days we are promised profit. When we hear profit most of us think monetary gain but it goes beyond that. It is progress, and advantage in our lives while being of service to our families and our communities.

If you haven't began to plan your days the challenge is to begin. If you already do, think of ways to make your day even more effective and help others as they begin their planning journey. 

Don't be reckless. Show that you care by planning. Look for the profit. It's coming and everyone around you will be better for it. 

Happy Planning

#playyourdays

#HumpDayChallenge

#plan #advice #encouragement #lifechange #progress