Boulders Of Truth

I put the "Bah" in humbug this morning.  My head is cloudy and I continue stumbling over a truth. John 14:26 The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. 

Here is my problem.  I am a fixer.  I have a question/problem and I want the answer. I want the full answer and I want it immediately.  I want the beginning steps, the detail process, and the end results. I want them all at once.  I know with my heart this is not walking in faith and obedience but tell that to my brain which is so cloudy with confusion this morning.

As I have continued bringing this cloud before the Lord, He has placed boulders of truth in my path, which I  continue to trip over.  Let me share them with you:

How precious is Your loving kindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,
And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
  For with You is the fountain of life;
         In Your light we see light. Psalm 36:7-9

In my Chamber's reading this morning, "It is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know Jesus."  Bobbie translation, "I can have all the steps to fix my problem and miss Jesus all together. That would be a tragedy.  Do I trust God enough to wait upon His timing and take one step at a time as He leads?

In my Murray" reading, "Everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Phil 3:8  Bobbie translation, "It is a relationship not a formula.

In my study of Jonah for Sunday School,
Jonah 1:1 Word of the Lord came Arise, go and cry out about their wickedness.  Jonah did not obey. 
Jonah 3:1 Word of the Lord came a second time, Arise, go and preach the message I will give to you". 
Bobbie response, what, no details?  How am I to know what to say?
John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

A song played on Klove this morning-Chris Tomlin, "I Lift My Hands"

These are big boulders God has placed before me.  As I type this blog, the LIGHT is beginning to burn away the clouds. That is a beautiful picture and another blog.  What great mercy, love, and grace God has for me to cause me to trip over these truths. He has that same desire for you.  Let me leave you with a few more verses.

        Be still, and know that I am God;                                                        

         I will be exalted among the nations,                               
         I will be exalted in the earth! Ps. 46:10

       But the path of the just is like the shining sun,
      That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18

I must go repent of my attitude now. Thanks for listening! Hope my morning encourages you to dig deep, pray hard, and wait for the Lord to move.  One more thing...I don't have my answer to my problem but I don't need it any more! 


  

No Accidents

Moreover whom He predestined,

these He also called;

 whom He called,

these He also justified;

and whom He justified,

 these He also glorified.

Romans 8:30

You are a created being.  God knew you before you were ever born.  He had a plan and purpose laid out for your life even before He created the world.  Think with me a minute about God sovereignty in your very creation.  He had to specifically know and plan your parents meeting and marriage, for you to be conceived.  For me, He had to know and plan the Eisenhower family to  move from Germany to meet the Cherokee Indians in the United States.  A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Prov. 16:9

Know you are NO accident.  God planned for your birth and He went to great extremes to make it happen.  You are blessed and dearly loved!

A New Start

A truth was spoken into my life this past week, that has brought godly fear, humility, and determination. 

Determination to set my face as flint toward the Lord-to listen to His voice and obey.

Determination to study and Know the Bible.

Determination to find the people,unashamedly, I want to sit at their feet and learn His ways. 

Isaiah 50:4-7 is the Messiah's soliloquy about being perfected through obedience and sufferings.  So sure was He of the Lord God's help that He resolutely determined to remain unswayed by whatever hardship might await Him. (Macarthur)

The Lord GOD has given Me
      The tongue of the learned,
      That I should know how to speak
      A word in season to him who is weary.
      He awakens Me morning by morning,
      He awakens My ear
      To hear as the learned.
       ⁵ The Lord GOD has opened My ear;
      And I was not rebellious,
      Nor did I turn away.
       ⁶ I gave My back to those who struck Me,
      And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
      I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
       ⁷ “ For the Lord GOD will help Me;
      Therefore I will not be disgraced;
      Therefore I have set My face like a flint,
      And I know that I will not be ashamed.

I have to remember this is a life long process.  A life long process of surrender and obedience.  Thank God for friends who see things and speak truths into our lives. 

Small Messes

How can a home become totally out of control in two days?  Laundry and dishes are a never ending problem along with dust and unmade beds.  I look around my home with the laundry on the couch, the dishes in the sink, the groceries on the bar, and the papers stacked in my office and I want to walk away to leave for someone else to clean up. 

I wonder about our spiritual lives.  How many days (hours really) of neglect would it take for our lives to become out of control? People do not wake one morning and decide, today will the day, I will commit an immoral act or I will murder someone.  Big sins begin with neglect of the little disciplines of the Christian life.

If you are not feeding your spirit with the meat of the Word and drinking deeply from the Vine of life, your life will show signs of neglect.  Small sins of omission or disobedience will rob you of blessings but will also quench the Spirit living inside of you.  One small sin left unchecked will lead to larger sins.  One day you will awake (come to your senses) and wonder how you ended up in this location. 

The most awesome thing is we (humans) are all alike.  This problem is universal to us all.  But God in His great mercy and love has made a way for us to return to a kept spiritual life.  He-Jesus is the keeper of this life. 

I must take the time to clean up small messes in my home before they become large messes.  Such a word picture for our spiritual lives. When we spend time in the Lord presence being washed by the Word and prayer, we have power to say no to the temptations and thoughts that come our way.

Begin your disciplines today. 

Must tackle my house now.  I hope you tackle your time and surrender before the Lord.

Absolute Dependence Andrew Murray

The Christian life is a life of absolute dependence.  At Hampton Court there was a vine that sometimes bore a couple thousand clusters of grapes.   People were amazed at its productivity.  Later the secret was discovered.  Not too far from Hampton Courts flows the River Thames.  The vine had stretched its roots hundreds of yards under the ground until it came to the riverbed.  There, in all the nutrients of the river bottom, it found rich nourishment and moisture. 
The roots drew the sap all that distance to the branches.

 

The vine had the work to do. The branches simply had to depend upon the vine and receive what it gave.

 

That is exactly what Christ desires you to understand.  Christ desires that in all your work, the very foundation should be the simple acceptance that Christ must care for all.

 

As you depend on Him He supplies your needs by sending down the Holy Spirit.  Jesus wants you to be dependent as you serve Him.  Day by day, hour by hour, in everything you do, simply abide before Him.  Live in the total helplessness of one who can do nothing.

 

Absolute dependence upon God is the secret of power in work.  You and I have nothing unless we receive it from Jesus.