January 15th, 2016, Isaiah 40:28-31

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

God's word is amazing!

Today in the midst of a Master's program, feeling tired, even maybe a bit overwhelmed.

Getting ready to help lead a debate team, nervous, don't want to let anyone down on the team...

I sit an am reminded....

Can you not hear a bit of the scold in that parent's loving voice

"HAVE YOU NOT KNOWN? "

You've see His love before.

You've experienced His care and protection as well!

But you are tired and have forgotten.... AGAIN!

Notice where your strength lies... IN HIM!

Not in your own weak, feeble, frail, mortal being...

But in the Almighty's STRONG, SOLID, UNBREAKABLE, IMMORTAL SELF.

He will give you strength.

But will your life be effortless? Will it be so easy that you never learn like a spoiled child experiencing the real world for the first time?

Think about an eagle. What does the Mother Eagle do?

When the baby is ready to learn to fly what does the mother do?

From the HIGH nests on the tallest tree's the mother PUSHES the baby out.

The mother says it is TIME to learn...

But the entire time the mother is right there and if the baby is to able to fly she doesn't wait until the baby hits the ground but SOARS DOWN AND CATCHES THE BABY ON HER BACK!

WITH THE WINGS OF AN EAGLE HE LIFTS YOU UP!

He will not let you stumble and fall when you are dependent on HIM!

So walk, Run, this journey of Faith knowing that your HOPE and STRENGTH is in the LORD.

Praise God that it isn't in me.

God you are simply amazing!

We give you our lives.

Lord I pray that we will all see that YOU MUST COME FIRST!

Above all else.

Our Job, our family, our friends. YOU MUST COME FIRST.

These earthly things are temporal but your are eternal!

I am so in awe that by giving you my life, my family, and my all that you give it back to me renewed, restored, and thus I am able to enjoy them so much better than I could before!

God I praise you!

With all my breath may I praise you!

Mark 12:28-33 Jan. 10th, 2016

Day 10:

Mark 12:28-33

28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] No other commandment is greater than these.”

32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

Ever wonder who this "Teacher of Religious Law" was?

Did he want to trick Jesus or was he curious?

Vs. 32 and 33 could be read as COCKY such as "See I told you there is only ONE GOD and you aren't it!"

Or it could be read in awe "They say you are a heretic but you speak with truth and grace and wisdom! I'd follow you!"

The point I got out of this was WATCH HOW YOU READ THE WORD!!!

When we read the OT as nothing but this mean God, we see God has having a streak of evil which HE CAN NOT HAVE!

When we read the N.T. and Jesus being all about just love (And not in a good sense but in that of a pansy sense...) we get the wrong picture... the two don't seem to mesh...

Yet the word LOVE in the OT was a word that didn't have any emotional connection to it... it was all about basically commitment!

LOVE, commit, treat others better then yourself.

I know one of the issues I have is that I frequently will expect MORE grace to be given to ME then I am willing to give to others.

I expect them to have patience with me but I am unwilling to give it to them.

Value others more than you value yourself... See them with the broken heart and extreme PASSION that God does! It will CHANGE YOU!

Jan. 4th, 2016 Psalm 98

Jan. 4, 2016 Psalm 98

1 Sing to God a brand-new song.
He’s made a world of wonders!
He rolled up his sleeves,
He set things right.
2 God made history with salvation,
He showed the world what he could do.
3 He remembered to love us, a bonus
To his dear family, Israel—indefatigable love.
The whole earth comes to attention.
Look—God’s work of salvation!
4 Shout your praises to God, everybody!
Let loose and sing! Strike up the band!
5 Round up an orchestra to play for God,
Add on a hundred-voice choir.
6 Feature trumpets and big trombones,
Fill the air with praises to King God.
7 Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause,
With everything living on earth joining in.
8 Let ocean breakers call out, “Encore!”
And mountains harmonize the finale—
9 A tribute to God when he comes,
When he comes to set the earth right.
He’ll straighten out the whole world,
He’ll put the world right, and everyone in it.

Sometimes I just love the way the Message breaks things down.
While it isn't an actual translation it is a tool to help explain things.

God's judgement, his love, his worthiness of our praise... it never ends.

This passage calls us and the earth to rejoice in our God through songs, words, talents, etc!  LET IT LOOSE!
But what are we celebrating?
That God will return!
And that God will be the judge....

WAIT A SECOND!!!
We hate to be judged.  We say "How dare you Judge me..."
We even miss use scriptures often to say that we shouldn't judge others...
(That would be a whole other post, but there are two key scriptures... one in context is talking about Christians to the world and not to judge those who are not saved... but then Christians to each other are called to hold each other to a higher standard out of LOVE! So we are to be accountable to each others as Christians...)

Yet we are to celebrate that GOD is coming again to Judge us.  To hold us accountable.  To reward and to punish.

That is a sobering thought for some but a freeing and joyful thought for others.
No matter what we have done God is righteous.  He is FAIR.  He is JUST. HE is love.  And for all of us who call him Lord, who seek to give him lordship over our lives, who live in such a way to bring him praise...  though we face trials and may give into sin we still have a God who listens to our call for forgiveness and FORGIVES!
This is a judge that I can freely lay my life at His MERCY and trust that He will be JUST.

Are you ready to rejoice in that God?

Jan 2nd, 2016 Lamentations 3:22-26

Lamentations 3:22-26

22 The faithful love of the LORD never ends!

His mercies never cease.

23 Great is his faithfulness;

his mercies begin afresh each morning.

24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;

therefore, I will hope in him!”

25 The LORD is good to those who depend on him,

to those who search for him.

26 So it is good to wait quietly

for salvation from the LORD.

I don't post my handwritten one because, well I have horrible handwriting.

This verse reminded me of a Lectio Divina. "Divine Reading". This was a practice of monks but can be a great exercise of reading a passage of scripture. But it fit this verse especially because of the theme of waiting.

As I was reading there were a couple words that stuck out so I did some study of them....

Faithful Love (or Steadfast love) actually means COVENANT LOYALTY. This verse again reminds us of the Covenant that God made with Abraham, with Israel, with you and me. It is a faithful love. It won't end! AMEN to that! God's love will never end. As we heard on Christmas eve, all other things will end, Faith will end in Heaven, Hope will be fulfilled in Heaven, but LOVE will continue for all ETERNITY!

Next v 25 and 26 both use the word WAIT... but they are actually different words in Hebrew.

Vs 25 wait is a word that has the idea of 'TENSION of enduring'. Waiting in tension.

Vs. 26 wait means DUMB. SILENT. WAIT. Waiting in a way that you are unable to speak.

Vs. 25 the word Seek can also mean to READ REPEATEDLY

Think about these verses as a whole. When we are so overwhelmed with the realization of GOD'S GREAT MERCY, his COVENANT with us, His FAITHFUL love when we are unfaithful....

These feelings should bring us to a 'stillness' before our God.

We should be silent and wait for HIS direction!

This is a great exercise to remember as we start out this 31 days to READ REPEATEDLY the verses you are writing. Don't just gloss over them. Pray them. Say them over and over and put emphasis on different words....

"The STEADFAST love..." "The steadfast LOVE..."

'GREAT is your faithfulness" "Great is YOUR faithfulness" "Great is your FAITHFULNESS"....

What will God show you when you silently, without words, without seeking to direct God to what you want to hear today?

Will you WAIT silently for the 'salvation of the Lord?'