Put God’s needs first

“So... he began, leaning forward in his chair, eyes fixed on hers, How are you doing?”
She had to stop and think; His unconditional love sometimes made it hard to recognize and remember her faults, but when she did stop and take inventory it gave her reason to blush. His love was wonderful! To think that he loved her no matter what she did... she was ever so thankful for that! But... if she truly loved him, why could she not take herself more in hand? Why was she constantly tripping up? The question plagued her and she felt tears welling in her eyes. She brushed them away angrily. Why was she always crying? And for him to see her falling apart – it was embarrassing. Her father moved closer and took her hands in his own. She felt the warmth and strength of his grasp and looked up to meet his gaze. A warm shock spread through her body at seeing that his own eyes were filled with tears as well. “Oh Papa!” She breathed, the floodgates opened and she knelt in front of him and wept on his knee. He didn’t chide her or attempt to stem the flow of emotion, he only whispered soothing words of comfort, gently stroking her hair and her back. He lifted his own tear-stained face toward heaven, silently asking the Giver of wisdom to endue him with words by which to comfort and instruct his beloved daughter. As he settled back in his chair a quiet peacefulness stole over him and he was reminded of a devotional he had read just days before. It had been based on the text found in Hebrews 10, verse 9, which states, “ Behold, I have come to do Thy will O God.”
The writer had went on to elaborate that Jesus’ obedience was to do the will of His Father, Almighty God. Everyone has a list of things that they feel must be done, or changed, or accomplished. But we cannot do anything in our own strength...it must be God at work in us. (Matthew 19:26 and Philippians 2:13) “Darling, he spoke quietly, after her sobbing had subsided, May I ask you something?” She raised her face to him and nodded her assent.
“Have you been careful lately to see to it that God’s needs are met before all else in your life?” A look of perplexity crossed her face, and he could see that she was considering the question deeply. Her voice was very quiet as she murmered the question, half to herself,
“God.... has needs?!”
He went on, “We all do have things that we want to accomplish in order for His kingdom to come in our lives and in the lives of others, but sometimes we can get so caught up in doing the work of God that we neglect the one thing that He desires most in each of us, the thing that we need most, in fact that which is absolutely essential to His work being carried out through us. Time with Him. He wants a relationship with us. With me. With you. He wants us first of all to fall in love with Him. To desire Him above all others, people, interests, even duties. Seek ye first..the kingdom of God..and it all begins with Him.
When something or someone is foremost in your mind, don’t you find that other cares and interests don’t matter as much? As he spoke, he saw her countenance begin to brighten and he could tell she was beginning to understand what he was talking about. There was a warm flood of joy in his heart at being able to instruct his daughter toward God’s purpose in her life and he sent up a prayer of silent thanksgiving for this now. She rose and seated herself on his knee, leaning on his chest she embraced him and spoke softly, “Thank you dear Papa, for teaching me.. it is just what I needed to hear this morning.” He returned her embrace and as they arose together he added, “Jesus said, “Tarry...until ye are endued with power from on high..” (Luke 24:49) Why don’t you go out into the garden now and spend some time alone with Him. He is longing for you...don’t keep Him waiting. Her face was joyful as she kissed her father. With eyes shining with renewed hope she hurried from the room, collected her wraps and her little Bible and went out. 

Lost and Found!

9:30 a.m. I’ve lost some very important papers – the file with the kid’s birth certificates and social security cards. I was looking for them in the file drawer where I thought they were and I can’t find them in ANY of the drawers! I felt so overwhelmed I just started to cry. I felt like God told me to just come away from that for awhile and spend my quiet time with Him to start with, then go back and I may have to go through EACH file drawer, piece by piece, but they have needed cleaning out for a LONG time.. so I’m headed to the park with my Bible to have my time with God...

10:55 a.m. God is SO GOOD!!! Well, that goes without saying, and He would still be good even if this hadn’t happened, but I went and had my time alone with Him, (putting Him first, after nearly rushing headlong into my day without doing that) so I came back to the house, not feeling that much better at the thought of the daunting task ahead of me –cleaning out the entire filing cabinet one drawer at a time, looking for the lost papers, but I steeled myself to the task and I’m just about to get started looking through the first drawer when the thought comes: “why not just check in the lock box first?” Now, I was almost certain the papers weren’t in there, although Robert had chided me this morning that that is where they should have been in the first place, but who am I to put things where they should go?!? Well, I had to pray (and call hubby) to be able to even find the key to the lock box (I sure hope at least one other person out there can relate!) but I finally found it, (getting one of my “catch-all” drawers cleaned out in the process!) opened the lock box, moved aside house title and car titles, and Nathan’s coin collection, and there it was! The envelope containing all the papers I was looking for!!! Thank You God!!! I don't know how it got there, -pretty sure it wasn't me, but what a load off my mind and I am filled with a new determination to 1. Always put God first in my day, and 2. Get more organized already!!!

Praying God's Word over our children

Sunday, February 27, 2011 “Awake Oh sleeper!”

As I was having my morning devotions, and praying for the kids, but mainly Joyce has been on my heart lately, God suddenly gave me this word from the Bible to pray over Joyce:

First, as I was praying and thumbing through my Bible, I asked God to give me a verse of scripture that I could pray over Joyce. The words “Arise, Oh sleeper!” fell into my spirit. Then I noticed that I was in Mark 5, -the story of Jairus’ daughter. So I scanned the chapter, and the words of Jesus leapt out at me: “The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” (verse 39) I suddenly knew that I am to pray this over her in order for God to work in her to “awaken” her spiritually. Philippians 2:13 says that it is God Himself that works in us, to both give us the desire to obey Him, and give us the power to do so. I feel like I have not done the best job I could have in “training up my children in the way they should go” (Proverbs 22:6) but this morning God also graciously showed me the scripture in 1 Corinthians 2, where Paul says that if his preaching had had any good affect on them, it wasn’t because of himself, because he came to them “without excellency of speech or wisdom,” but with much fear, weakness, and trembling. His speech, he says, was not with “enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of The Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2: 1-5) In addition to the verse in Mark 5, I also looked up Ephesians 5:14, which says, Wherefore, He saith, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” And continuing through verse 20: See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Holy Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Thank You Father God that You are working in Joyce to awaken her spiritually, and thank You for the comfort You have given me this morning, that it all rests in You... and that I may rest in that sweet knowledge... Thank You God!” Thank you that in addition to the the scriptures above, You also gave me more – the scripture in John 11:43, that tells about Jesus commanding Lazurus in a loud voice to “COME FORTH!” It thrills my soul the way You have spoken to me this morning concerning my daughter... Thank You so much for Your wonderful Word, in which You have caused me to hope!

He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. –Isaiah 40:11
And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. –Isaiah 54:13

Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful... Your face is all I see...
For when Your eyes are on this child,
Your grace abounds to me.
Oh Lord, Please light the fire... that once burned bright and clear...
Refill the lamp of my First Love, that burned with holy fear.

I was thinking this morning... about how we should begin in our devotional time. I remembered hearing somewhere that you should begin with Praise – praising God for Who He is, not for anything He’s done for you, but just simply because of Who He is. I felt like I needed something to base my praise on... and I found myself comparing the way I feel when I look at a picture of _________ to when I want to praise God. (Probably a sad comparison I know) But, when I look at ________, something just wells up inside and I find myself saying to no one at all, really..stuff like: “you are so BEAUTIFUL! ...you’re gorgeous! ...you’re smile lights up the room!” etc., etc. And then I thought, there’s more to it than that.. I don’t love this person simply because of their looks – he’s nice looking, but there’s more to it than that, what is it that makes me so crazy about him? It’s his philosophy, his worldview, the way he has brought up his children, teaching them, as the word directs us as parents to do-in "the way they should go", the way he puts God in the picture, his whole-hearted, all-or-nothing attitude about getting what he believes “out there”, and throwing his life into doing just that. And recently, I’ve had glimpses into some of the very hard things he and his family have gone through in life... a daughter with a debilitating disease, he himself being raised in poverty, having fallen victim to some addictive behaviors in his own life, and overcoming those, (as I said, just a glimpse really) but what I have learned about the man has only deepened my respect and admiration for him.

Now, as I was thinking to myself this morning “Just exactly how do we praise God for ‘Who He is’?” Well, it came to me – I admire and respect this human being based on certain things: his attributes; character, philosophy of life, beliefs and world views that agree with mine, and his unrelenting, unapologetic way of getting his message “out there.” There is a light that shines from his countanance when he smiles...ok, maybe I'm getting a little carried away here, ...But to sum up, something in me responds to this person based on his physical appeal, his character, his attributes, his actions, and his reputation.

And I thought, Why can't I be as enraptured by my God?!” He is all that and infinitely more! So, then I wondered, ok...how do I come to the place that when I think of God, something in me wells up with the same emotion I feel when I think of this simple mortal being? The answer is simple really – I have got to get to know Him better. And how do I do that? By finding out what His word, which He has given to us, tells us about Him. Ok, I can’t begin to fathom what He looks like physically, and that is just our human nature trying to pull God down to some level we as finite beings can understand anyway, but let’s go with it for a minute; I haven’t seen Him, but His word describes Him, and for those few who have seen Him, His beauty knocks ‘em dead!

John said, "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last" –Revelation 1:17
So, He’s gorgeous beyond all comprehension, and one day I will bask in His smiles 24/7 and be fully satisfied to just gaze upon His beauty for all eternity.

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. –Psalm 27:4

The New Living Translation puts the second part of that verse in this way: “delighting in the Lord’s perfections, and meditating in His temple.”

Whew! Well, I know I can do that. I gaze at a photo of this guy I admire and I delight in his perfections (ha ha!) The thought of just being in his audience thrills me. I can’t imagine uttering a word though, it would be enough just to sit there quietly and take in his wisdom. And if that is how I feel about a fallible, earthly being, how tremendously much greater will it be to be in My Father’s holy presence? As the song says, I can only imagine....

Well, to be honest, No. I can’t. All I can do is try... and then revel in the knowledge that the reality will be so far above anything I could ever dream or imagine! Praise Jehovah!

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. -1 Corinthians 2:9

I'll close with a prayer that a dear friend of ours, who is now enjoying that blessed reality of being with the Lord, used to pray all the time....

"Heavenly Father, help us to know You better so that we can love You more." Amen.

A bit of "Elsie".... I wrote this one morning after hearing some heartbreaking news about a family in our community. Sometimes, when I go to prayer over a matter, I like to have my journal handy, and often something will come to me in "story-form"... such it was with the following....

Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion; And to You the vow shall be performed. O You who hear prayer, To You all flesh will come.
-Psalm 65:1-2


Elsie pushed open the door to her father’s room and proceeded to him as he held open his arms in welcome. Mr. Dinsmore was glad to see his little girl, but he did notice a marked difference in her from her usual cheerful mood. There was the absence of the usual bounce and lightness in her step as she came to him and was drawn onto his knee.
She quietly lay her head against his chest and her greeting was subdued and quiet.

"What ails my darling this morning, that she should come to me so quietly and subdued?"
He felt her sigh deeply and snuggle in a bit closer to his protective embrace. It was a moment though before she spoke.

“Oh Papa, ...why doesn’t everyone love and follow Jesus? She asked with a troubled heaviness in her young voice. I am so sorry for the trouble that people find themselves in and I wonder if they truly don’t know that if they would only listen to and obey God’s commands they might escape the awful heartache that sin causes...” Her voice trailed off and Mr. Dinsmore silently prayed for wisdom as to how to comfort and answer his little daughter. He drew her close, folding her to his heart, and with his lips pressed against her soft curls, he spoke in a low voice full of feeling,

“For that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard.” (2 Peter 2:8)

Elsie said nothing in reply but he felt her little body tremble slightly and he felt a warm wetness upon his neck as she pressed her face against him. He knew she was weeping for the sin of humanity and all of the suffering it brought upon itself.

"This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it." –Isaiah 30:15.

He sat there quietly, holding his precious girl and thinking... “but you would have none of it..” Even after the Children of Israel had sinned against Him, God had given them a roadmap to remedy their pitiful situation, but they would have none of it. Horace shook his head slightly in silent wonder. How great God’s mercy! But how powerful sometimes was sin’s awful grasp! He shuddered to think of the deceitfulness of sin and they way it had of blinding people to the truth. Elsie felt her Papa tremble and looked up inquisitively into his troubled face. He smiled at her, not wanting to frighten her and took a deep breath. Then spoke quietly, “Darling, let us kneel together right now and give thanks to our wonderful Heavenly Father for His unspeakable mercy and love... How thankful I am to be walking in His way, now at last, and to have been granted the tremendous privilege of sharing this journey with my own darling daughter, –We will ask Him to draw all men unto Him that the scales might be removed from their eyes and they might see what great mercy is available to them in the richness of His unbounded grace and forgiveness.” They slipped to the carpeted floor and knelt side by side, father and daughter, in the presence of the One to whom all flesh will come , and poured out their hearts as one to the Hearer of all prayers, the Giver of All Comfort... †

I was asked recently if I would be interested in helping to answer some letters sent in by people seeking prayer/counsel to a certain website that a pastor friend of ours is in charge of. This has certainly not been an easy task, and I have felt woefully inadequate to give any sort of counsel to the cries for help that come in to this site, but as I've spent time praying for these people, I believe that God has begun to use me to speak back to them and I pray that it has brought some comfort to them to know that He loves them unconditionally and that there are people -the body of Christ- who love them as well and are standing with them in prayer in their times of need.
As I've been in the process of writing back to some of these dear ones, it has occurred to me that what God is saying to them could be just as applicable to all our lives so I thought I might share a couple of my (His) responses here in my blog.

This first one is in response to an adulterous affair/possible divorce...

Dear _________,
I’ve been praying for you and your husband since I first read your letter... my heart goes out to you. I want you to know that I’m here if you want to talk about this. There are no easy answers here, but some things that have come to mind while praying... If you are not wanting to get a divorce at this time, is there a chance that your husband would settle for a time of seperation without filing for divorce? This would give you both time to think things through a bit more, and give a chance for reconciliation if that is what you are hoping for.

It is good that you have been relying on your faith – sometimes that is truly all we have to hold on to. I am reminded of the scripture in Psalm 68, which reads:

“Father to the fatherless, defender of widows--this is God, whose dwelling is holy.”

And there is another verse, in Psalm 27:10 – “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will take care of me.”

I know that you must feel as though you have been abandoned.. and by the one whom you should have been able to trust with all confidence to be your closest support and ally. But satan does roam about continually, searching for whom he may devour..and your husband fell into his trap. People will dissappoint. That is a hard fact of life. But if we are trusting God..truly trusting Him as our very ALL, He will never let us down, though we may go through seemingly unbearable trials, He is always there with us. I hope I am not bombarding you with too many scriptures, but as I write, more and more just keep coming to mind. I think God wants to get across to you how very deeply He loves and cares for you, and how hurt He Himself is over this thing that has happened to you. If I may share a couple more scriptures, these two came to mind:

"Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you”. –Isaiah 49:15

In the following one, I feel that God just wants you to know His “Shepherd’s heart” toward you...especially as a young mother, I believe He wants to say to you that He will be with you..and with your dear child..as a loving Shepherd caring for His dear ones during this terribly difficult time in your lives.

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. –Isaiah 40:11

I and my husband will continue to be in prayer for you and yours. I would suggest that you try to be around friends/family who can be a support to you through this time...as I said before, I am here if you would like to talk/have questions/ just wanna vent.

Yours in Christ,
Denise

“So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed.”
-1Peter 1:13

I usually start my day with the “verse of the day” on Biblegateway.com. This one, from 1 Peter, was today’s verse.

After reading the verse, I will usually go on to read that chapter for my morning devotions. So I went to 1 Peter today. When I thought of writing in my blog today, I thought of maybe just writing a list of some of my favorite verses, and the interesting thing today is that one of my favorite verses of late is found right here in 1 Peter – it’s verse 2:

2 Who were chosen and foreknown by God the Father and consecrated (sanctified, made holy) by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and to be sprinkled with [His] blood: May grace (spiritual blessing) and peace be given you in increasing abundance [that spiritual peace to be realized in and through Christ, freedom from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts].

That part about freedom from “agitating passions and moral conflicts” has always caught my eye... what causes us to have agitating passions and moral conflicts? Something Robert said during one of his sermons recently came to my mind when I thought of that; He said, “We think we’re dealing with our sins, but really what we like to do is put them on the shelf instead of on the alter. Then we can always go back and play with them again later.” As I have thought about that, I’ve realized, the things that I would say cause me to have “agitating passions and moral conflicts” are the things I’ve been convicted about in my life, but I haven’t utterly destroyed. I’ve been wishy washy and compromising. I’ve considered the affect that my actions will have on others way too much. I’ve thought, “If I do this, they will feel....” God forgive me, the truth is I have been more concerned about offending people than I have with offending God. I’ve even justified that to myself, thinking, “God is all-knowing so He understands, but they won’t understand and they’ll be hurt.” I have wondered before whether Isaac understood when Abraham was about to sacrifice him as an offering...Abraham didn’t tell him at the beginning of the journey, in fact not until just before he was about to go through with it. I am quite certain Sarah would not have understood. He didn’t tell her at all.
Why is it so hard to just let go of the things that cause us these agitating passions? Especially if we know they are caused by things that are wrong in our life. There is a battle for our soul that I believe won’t be completely over until we draw our last breath here. I’m reminded of John Bunyan’s epic poem, The Holy War. How eloquently this portrays the fierce battle within every human heart. I think the answer to this question, at least in part, is this – we don’t love God like we should. Like we would really like to love Him. We are so distracted today. There are a million other things constantly trying to pull our focus away from God. And then, there are the other things we have allowed to take root in our lives – our “comforts” –whatever that is for you. You alone know what they are. I know what mine are, and I know that to get rid of them will hurt. We form soul ties with our comforts and to root them out once and for all will hurt like tearing our own flesh. But what else should we expect? Should we expect to “play” with sin and then extricate ourselves from it as easily and freely as a child throwing down a toy he has grown tired of? No..sin is more like the story of the tar-baby. Touch it once and you’re in trouble. Touch it again and you’re in a bit deeper. Keep messing with it and pretty soon your trapped. Helpless. We are poor Brer Rabbit. And that wily old devil, Brer Fox, is sittin’ over in the bushes, laughing fit to be tied at the predicament we are in. Is there anything more helpless than a rabbit?? I think it’s a fitting picture. But thanks be to God! He doesn’t leave us helpless - if we will but call out to Him He comes immediately to our aid and lifts us out of our pit of despair.

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! –Isaiah 30:18
For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
-Psalm 40:12,13

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. –Psalm 40:1-3