Persistence!
Father, I am grateful for Your hand upon my shoulder this day. You helped me get through so much as I prepped for Sunday’s services and now I have time to review and double check things. I pray now for Your blessings upon our time together. Amen.
Matthew 7:7-8 (<<click the green)
If there is anything that I have learned on this journey which we began together more than 2 years ago, Lord, is that persistence is an absolute necessity. I have purposely left nominal Christianity behind but I am not perfect. I can go for long periods of time and have no major issues in our relationship but then, BAM, I fall flat on my face.
I have learned that, though disappointing, when I fall it does not mean that I must go back to the beginning. I do not have to start from scratch. I must “keep on asking…[and] seeking…[and] knocking” for I know I “will receive what [I] ask for.” I “will find” what I am seeking. And in knocking “the door will be opened.”
Lord and Savior, I ask for Your guidance and You generously give over and over again. I seek Your wisdom and You do not hold back. I knock and I am not left waiting for You readily open the door for me.
Jesus, You don’t just want me to get by, You want me to be victorious! You don’t want me to settle, You want me to excel! I must be persistent. You will not let me go it alone but I must stay the course if I am to be all that You have called me to be. You have made me to be much more than I am and my persistence will be rewarded!
You deserve every bit of praise, Lord, for bringing me to where I am today. May I continue to press onward and upward. Amen and amen!
Feb 8th, 2018, Thurs, 8:00 pm
White as Snow
Father, this day did not go as planned. Lots of snow, lots of shoveling, not feeling well, calling off work, resting, times of quiet – but all with You by my side. Thank You for Your ever-abiding presence.
With the snow today, Lord, I wanted to find a poem – and I did!
“WHITE AS SNOW” by Michelle Mickey L © 2003
Purity, my Father sees me in purity
Not with the eyes of man
Who judge according to what they see
But according to His love
That’s how my Father sees me
And He doesn’t see me the way I see myself
Strange and useless through all my extremes
He sees me as His precious child
The one He sent His Son to redeem
In purity, as clean and as White as Snow
That’s how my Father in Heaven sees me
For He knows that’s what I need
In order for me to grow
He sees me in sparkling white
As white as snow can be
That’s how my Heavenly Father feels
When He takes a look at me
If this is the kind of love
My Heavenly Father wants to show
Then why do I have to question it
When it’s something I need to know?
Feb 7th, 2018, Wed, 7:22 pm
Pearls to Pigs
Father, this morning is off to a rough start. Help my focus so that I can hear what You have for me this day. I need Your guidance and direction. Amen.
Matthew 7:6 (<<click the green)
“Do not give that which is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, for they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. AMP (In this verse “dogs” and “pigs” represent those who despise sacred things.)
A few years ago, I would have found this verse a little more difficult to process but today’s political climate shines a whole new light on it. Now I’m not making a political statement whatsoever here. But no matter what side you find yourself there is someone on the other side. It used to be that for the most part, we could agree to disagree but boy that is surely not the case in today’s environment! Just say the wrong thing to the wrong person and “they will trample” what you threw out there “under their feet” and then “turn and tear you to pieces”!
At first glance one might get the idea that what Jesus has to say is not for everyone – but that idea is so far from the truth. The Good News of Jesus’ coming to earth to take our punishment upon himself so that we might be saved is for every single person to have ever walked upon this earth – absolutely, positively no exceptions…period!
So what is Jesus saying in this verse? There are some people that you would accomplish more hitting your head against the wall over and over again that constantly badgering them about their spiritual well-being.
Lord, you call us to not judge but you also call us to be wise – to be discerning. In regards to those who want unreservedly nothing to do with You, we shouldn’t beat them over the head with a Bible without mercy but we should keep them – and ourselves – in our prayers as we earnestly seek for opportunities where they might possibly listen to what we have to share about You. Amen.
Feb 6th, 2018, Tues, 6:56 am
Band-Aids Don’t Fix Everything
Looking outside in the predawn hours and seeing the snow that came in last night makes me think of Your love, Father – everything is covered, nothing is untouched. Thank You for the beautiful scenery and the wonderful thought!
Matthew 7:3-5 (<<click the green)
I know I looked at this passage yesterday but even lying in bed last night I continued to mull it over. My mind fixated on the depth of the sneer and the surface nature of the smudge. In our lives, Lord, it surely takes more than a washcloth to wipe off something that goes to the depths of our hearts.
Sitting here writing, another post comes to mind – King of the Mountain – from last week. Probably one reason my kindergarten experience comes to mind is that I still have a scar from that experience. The incline on which we played was actually the top of a ditch on the edge of the church lot where we went to school. In those days pop (soda for all those not from West Virginia 🙂 ) was packaged in glass bottles and not aluminum cans. A few bottles had made their way into the ditch where they had broken. Anyway…I was shoved into the ditch by the new “king” and in the process, my shin landed on a glass shard. My teacher tried her best to stop the blood flow with Band-Aids but they just ran down my leg. It was not crazy serious but it did keep me out of school for a couple of days.
Now my injury from King of the Mountain wasn’t necessarily life-threatening…but, Lord, sin most assuredly is. And me trying to cover the depth of my “sneer” with a mask is much more detrimental to my spiritual well-being than a simple Band-Aid on a deep cut.
Lord, I would pray for Christians everywhere. Not one of us lives a perfect life. We all struggle to live the lives You have set before us. With Your strength and wisdom and, yes, we must tap into Your patience as well, may we be the overcomers You have destined us to be. Amen.
Feb 5th, 2018, Mon, 6:50 am
Wipe that Sneer Off!
Loving Father, You have blessed me so much with a wonderful companion and helpmate. We had such a good day together yesterday getting to experience some new things. Bless her today, Father. She is a cherished gift from Your gracious hand. Enable me to love her as You love her. Amen.
Matthew 7:3-5 (<<click the green)
Lord, why is it so much easier to put our attention into someone else’s issue than to address our own? Eugene Peterson’s translation of this passage in The Message makes us think.
It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. The Message
A big part of the issue is the fact that many of us would do almost anything rather than have to deal with our own issues. We know what they are, that’s not the problem, it most cases we’ve struggled with them for years! We try this and fail. We try something else and fail again. We are well aware of the log in our eye, or as Peterson puts it the sneer on our face. But we’d rather avoid the hard stuff and put our attention into addressing something much smaller – at least in our eyes.
And if we really think about it – and we are still dealing with judging here – we are just trying to escape dealing with our bigger, more complicated problem by judging someone else’s smaller problem, by comparison.
Lord, You want us to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Leviticus 19:18) but the only way we can be truly effective in loving others is if we’ve taken care of our issues. And by that of course, I am totally aware that I can do nothing in and of my own strength and wisdom. You are the changer of my heart, not me.
Lord, I would ask that You continue to help me to “wipe that ugly sneer off my own face,” the much deeper issue at hand, so that “I might be fit to offer a washcloth to my neighbor” loving them as I should. Amen.
Feb 4th, 2018, Sun, 6:58 am