Month: November 2015

DEAR GOD: PSALM 91~

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~I LOVE YOU FATHER~

Jesus my lighthouse

Psalm 91GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Psalm 91

1 Whoever lives under the shelter of the Most High
    will remain in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord,
    “You are my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”

3 He is the one who will rescue you from hunters’ traps
    and from deadly plagues.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge.
        His truth is your shield and armor.

5 You do not need to fear
    terrors of the night,
    arrows that fly during the day,
6     plagues that roam the dark,
    epidemics that strike at noon.
7         They will not come near you,
            even though a thousand may fall dead beside you
                or ten thousand at your right side.

8 You only have to look with your eyes
    to see the punishment of wicked people.

9 You, O Lord, are my refuge!

You have made the Most High your home.
10     No harm will come to you.
    No sickness will come near your house.
11 He will put his angels in charge of you
    to protect you in all your ways.
12         They will carry you in their hands
            so that you never hit your foot against a rock.
13         You will step on lions and cobras.
        You will trample young lions and snakes.

14 Because you love me, I will rescue you.
    I will protect you because you know my name.
15 When you call to me, I will answer you.
    I will be with you when you are in trouble.
    I will save you and honor you.
16     I will satisfy you with a long life.
    I will show you how I will save you

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~THANK YOU FATHER~

Dear God: Our Sun, Shield, Provider, & Our All~

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beautifulsunsetbychristiane

 

 

 

For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11 KJV)

 

 

The situations surrounding us at this time seem dauntless in the face of ugly adversity.  And questions loom large and have become heightened as we watch the “events of evil” unfold before our eyes.  We hear people ask, “What can we do?  Who is going to protect us?”  All pertinent questions in light of the situations that have unfurled in past weeks.  Things seem overwhelmingly dark.  However, as to whom shall protect us; the answer is the same as it’s been throughout the ages…GOD.   Whom shall the light come from taking away the darkness?  GOD. 

When we obey and love Him  things begin to happen in a positive way. His provisions are endless and follow us no matter what. He knows our needs before we have an awareness of what they are, and He will shine His light into the darkest hour…and darkness is no more. His love and grace a veritable gift from above, and His protection an unconditional act of love.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17 KJV)

What comes to mind no matter how dire the current events?  His promises and His Word which is true fulfillment in the realm of this dimension…on earth. And, it’ll be carried on into the next dimension of eternity.  His promises and love don’t end when we’re called home.  In fact it’s the beginning of the “rest of our lives” the eternal rewards of Paradise, our goals realized.   HE IS OUR LIGHT.

Some of the things we see are incomprehensible, and so we may not understand. What we don’t see is the ” overall bigger part of the plan.”  God protects us. There are times we won’t see His protection for what it is. We’ve probably all have upon occasion been protected by His powerful shield of love and compassion. HE IS OUR SHIELD.

There was a little child who broke free from her mom’s hand and ran straight for the street. Before the mother could catch her she was heading into heavy traffic. But, she fell in the knick of time. Was the fall a coincidence?  Or an act of God’s love and protection. With God there are no coincidences. The fall prevented what might have been a tragic outcome.  So, sometimes, we have to “fall” in order to be protected.  Again, He sees the whole picture…we don’t. HE IS OUR PROTECTOR.

Remember that God is with us always.  He’s told us repeatedly throughout the ages in His Word.  He’s protected His children throughout the ages, over and over again. He’s shown endless mercy with past and present generations, and offered His protection continuously since the beginning of time. HE WILL NEVER LEAVE US.

Therefore have courage and be of good cheer, for God is with you.  He’s been with us since the beginning of the world, and will be with us forever.  So, embrace Him, love Him, and know His provisions remain endless. HE WILL SUSTAIN US.

No matter how dark things seem He’s there with us. His light will shine and cast the darkness out, and so it is…and so it is written.  GOD IS OUR LIGHT. 

 

“Father, we thank You. We give thanks to You and You alone. For You are our provision of nourishment, protection and love. We thank You at this time and always….Amen and Amen…”

 

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What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31 KJV)

 

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Dear God: Voice Of Love~

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Jesus our Shepherd
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Voice of Love – CD Swanson

Be still, and know that I am God… (Psalm 46:10)

Sometimes we just have to pause and reflect before we go forward. It’s an exercise of obedience that can be exceedingly difficult in this flurried world of extemporaneous activities and schedules. Or, simply put, it can be challenging to say the least.

The outer turmoil of the world can be troubling bringing a host of issues to land at your front door. But, that doesn’t mean we have to open the door to let it in. This is when it becomes crucial to recognize the need to “wait, listen, and trust” that God will take care of it. His supernatural powers along with His overpowering love will lay claim to what’s swirling around in our paths.

He not only will bring about a satisfying solution according to our needs- He will draw us closer to Him in the process. His inordinate amount of patienceis only secondary to His awesome ability to protect us with His limitless love. His voice can be heard in the loudest place and the quietest…” be still and know that I am God” – a powerful verse with equally powerful and substantial results.

“Father God, help us to listen for Your voice through good times and bad, and to remember that You are in control at all times in our lives as we surrender to Your will, in Jesus name, Amen.”

Dear God: Your Love & Patience are Limitless~

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For God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son...(John 3:16)

For God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son…(John 3:16)

What words come to mind when you think of the LORD?

Alpha & Omega…The First and the Last…the Beginning and the End…Almighty One…Limitless…the great I AM I AM…Refuge…Rock…Father.  These as just a few, but I think of Love and His Limitless power.

Love…Love…Love.  There have been many songs written on this subject. Some songs sad, some happy.  Love can be that way, sometimes it is sad as well as happy…and so the cycle goes.  This is where God’s love differs from all else. His love is enduring and never changing. It is the same as it was from the beginning and for all time.

He knows all of His children by name. In Psalm 147:4–He counts the stars and calls them by name. Have you ever tried looking up into the sky on a clear night and counted the stars?  We could begin counting at this very moment in time until we take our last breath and we still wouldn’t be able to count them all.  Yet, our Father…knows each one and calls them by name.

His Love is limitless:  There isn’t anything too hard for our God.  There isn’t anything too small for our God.  In Jeremiah 32:27, God asks, “Is there anything too hard for me?” He asks rhetorically…and we should know the answer, at least those who know Him well.  For there isn’t anything that God cannot do.

Jesus says in Matthew 19:26 –  “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Nothing is impossible with God.  The avenue of life is prone to change and subject to areas of conflict, whether it be within our own heart or those of others, life can be overty troubling.  The road can be paved which would allow for a smooth ride. While at the same time, the road might be unfinished with gravel as its covering…which would make for a bumpy ride.  Ask God for His guidance and ask Him into your life…and that ride will become inherently smoother with each outing.

God never grows tired, He never grows weary.  And, His love is unmovable.  Isaiah 40:28 (KJV) cleary states:  “Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.”  He is our constant source and provision of nourishment.  He is all that we’ll ever need in our life.

To know GOD is to breathe. To know HIM is to be fulfilled. To know the LORD is to experience Life. To commune with HIM daily in His Word and to live and walk by the spirit is to be enlightened and to prosper in all aspects.  Oh…what a feeling!  It is something you’d have to experience to fully grasp…and yet there is not a quantifiable understanding of the scope in which He loves.

Ephesians 3:19 (KJV) sums it up nicely: “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God…”

Now…let’s go back to the beginning of this devotional/post.  What words come to mind when you think of our Amazing Father God?

I don’t know about the rest of you reading this post…but I still think unending..LOVE…LOVE…LOVE.

Amen!

 

Dear God: Sorrow & Joy~

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God's Rainbow

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I’m really missing my mom.  Especially with the Holiday movies on Hallmark. She loved Christmas movies, something she passed on to me. But,  Mom is with the Lord in a much better place, fully restored. No more pain, no more tears, no more hurt– Praise God.  However, to those she left behind, we’re missing her like crazy.  My heart hurts from missing her, so much so that I feel physically ill at times.  I get through it…as others do when they’re in mourning, by His comfort, His word and the belief of knowing we will meet again, and it’ll be forever when we do.

The Bible is filled with many passages and stories about mourning. In Genesis I immediately think of Joseph and his father Jacob. First thought was when Jacob cried bitterly when his sons informed him of Joseph’s “death.”  He mourned, wept, tore his clothes, and travailed of his beloved son Joseph’s “demise.”  Of course Joseph wasn’t dead, rather a pawn in his brother’s wicked plans to be rid of him due to jealousy. God, turned that evil into good for Joseph to save His people and became the second most powerful man at the time.

Many years later they shared a loving reunion when his father came to live in Egypt.  Their time together was precious, but when his father died…Joseph mourned deeply… “Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him, and kissed him.  And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.   Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days” (Genesis 50:1-3)

There are other passages on mourning, “Mary and Martha crying for their brother Lazarus”  where the shortest passage in the Bible is recorded, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35.)  Jesus, of course performed a miracle, and Lazarus was brought back to life, to which they all began to celebrate and rejoice. And the glory of God was manifested and revealed through that act by Jesus.

We, as Christians celebrate knowing that although our loved ones leave us when they pass away… it is only a temporary absence.  It is but a twinkiling of the eye compared to eternity to share with them in paradise.  We ache for them, mourning appropriately and go through all stages of grief…but, we manage to go on thanks be to the grace of God.

When we leave our “temporary residence” which is to say “our fleshly bodies” we will be in our spiritual bodies and face to face with Jesus, Hallelujah!

So, when I have my moments of missing Mom, I feel His comfort as He reaches deep within my heart and soul…I hear Him whispering to me offering words of love, “this is a temporary loss, hold on to your memories and cherish the time you’ve shared, you will be with your loved ones again…sometime in the future.”  This reasurrance and trust in God is what gets me through the “tough days” of wanting to hear her voice and speak with her again. Or to share something with her that I know that she’d enjoy.  I stop and realize she’s enjoying something at that very moment, peace and love of God in heaven.

So, when I feel His comfort and hear His words in the Bible, You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness (Psalm 30:11)  I smile knowing that this is “temporary” and we all have a job to complete here on earth.  My Mom’s time was finished, she completed her purpose and now is with God…through her outstanding parental show of love, and with God’s loving promises, I go on…as so many of us mourning do.

How amazing is our Father?  A Father who loves us and reaches down to comfort us at our darkest hour…and always shines His brilliant light breaking through our darkness, scattering away the suffocating grief, letting the rainbow and sunshine burst forth into our realm…would you agree that He is AMAZING?

And, Mom…I know you’re happy with Jesus and reunited with Daddy… and so…that makes me truly happy. It is well with my soul.

But, I’ll always miss you.  Until I see you once again..but next time, it’s FOREVER!

 

Thanks be to God, all glory and honor belong to Him, now and always… Amen!

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Isaiah 61:1-3New King James Version (NKJV)

The Good News of Salvation

61 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”