Don’t Play the Fool
Good morning, Father. I am grateful that today is a new day. Yesterday is now behind me. I give this day and myself to You. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:6 KJV
1 Peter 5:7 (<<click here)
Lord, what a wonderful passage You have for me today. It is just what I need after yesterday! My study Bible’s* note on this verse is apropos.
“Carrying our worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, to admit your need, and to let others in God’s family help you. Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God’s concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, he will bear the weight even of those struggles. Letting God have Your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. Don’t submit to circumstances but to the Lord who controls circumstances.”
Lord, there are times – far too many times – when I am a fool…I seek Your forgiveness and ask for Your strength to move forward. So many times when I am down is when the devil pounces. Help me to keep my armor at the ready at all times. Ephesians 6:10-18
Lead me this day and every day, oh my Captain! Amen.
Feb. 17th, Fri, 6:37 am
Cling
Father…this has not been a very good day. Obviously, I am just getting around to writing and it is late. I have been out of it the whole day and have not really gotten much accomplished. It doesn’t help that my cousin is in the ICU in a life or death struggle. Then I received a call this morning that one of the gentlemen from the Liberty Chapel congregation is home after a time in the hospital and hospice has been called in. Then this evening I received a call that You called a wonderful lady from the Beulah congregation home just a few hours ago.
I’m not even sure where to begin. It doesn’t look like this is going to be a very lengthy time of writing but one thing that comes to mind is something I believe You spoke to my heart to share with my cousin’s son. I can’t even begin to imagine what he is dealing with. His mother is fighting for her life and I don’t think she’s even 50 yet and he is just barely in his 30’s. But this is what you led me to share with him last night. I stated that we were praying for him and his family and this is what I typed,
“Your mom weathered so many storms throughout her life and always found her strength in the Lord. This may be her last storm but she has remained faithful (the testimony of her life proclaims that!) and the Lord has been faithful, as well. Cling to the One she found strength in, He will not let you down!”
There is no way that we can see what tomorrow holds – we can’t even see around the corner! All we can do is to cling to You. You are steadfast. I choose to trust in You – no one or no thing is more trustworthy than You.
Here is an excellent post from Our Daily Bread that popped up today – I would think providentially!
https://odb.org/2017/02/17/seeing-to-tomorrow/
Feb 16th, Thurs, 9:00 pm
Swollen with Pride
Lots of things clamoring for my attention this morning, Father, so struggling to sit down and get at it. I am praying for Your touch and direction for my family today – Your will be done. Amen.
1 Peter 5:5-6 (<<click here)
Young and old, Lord – many times we struggle with each other. Lack of respect plagues both sides. Lack of understanding does as well. Frustration can run high. The best thing we can do is to follow Peter’s advice and embrace humility.
In a lot of ways, I think that “pride” impacts us like an allergic reaction. Someone says something with which we don’t agree and it’s like a bee sting! We react almost instantaneously and our pride swells us up so much so that we can’t see things for what they are. I can picture someone with their eyes swollen shut! Pride works the same way many times and when it “attacks” we need a big dose of the anti-inflammatory called humility.
Our society in recent years is a ticking time bomb. Say the “wrong” thing, stand up for the “wrong” cause, express your opinion and if it differs from someone else – watch out! You might just get blown to pieces! We all just need to slow down and think…think…before we act – before we speak – before we blow up!
Love…humility…compassion…mercy…respect…all need to factor in – especially as Christians. God is the judge, not us. Yes, I realize somethings are blatant, in your face, over the top sin. But can any of us honestly throw the first stone? John 8:1-11 We are all guilty. Sin is sin and there is no ranking of them.
Young and old, black and white, men and women, any combination we can come up with…let us love one another! Lord, You said it Yourself, “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” John 15:12
Lord, help me to use the anti-inflammatory of humility to combat my reactions to pride. Help me to see through your eyes – eyes that see clearly – and to respond as You would. Amen.
Feb 15th, Wed, 9:57 am
Humble Service
Goodness, gracious! My day was packed yesterday, Father, and I’m having an extremely difficult time keeping my eyes open and not keeping my mind on track but getting it on track even! Help me, Father!
1 Peter 5:1-4 (<<click here)
Peter here is speaking to elders – leaders of the church. Lord, 17 years ago this summer the responsibilities of serving as an elder were placed on my shoulders. Service truly is at the core of leadership in Your kingdom. And along with it should be humility, as well.
Peter clearly exemplifies these two characteristics in his writing. He had every “right” to thrust forth his superiority, after all, he was one of the original twelve – he was an apostle. He knew Jesus. He was one of the “inner circle” along with James and John. Jesus called him Peter – meaning “rock” – and said, “upon this rock I will build my church.” Matthew 16:18
If anyone was at the top of the proverbial heap it was Peter. But do we see that? Not a bit! His humility is evident. He identifies himself as “a fellow elder” – that’s it.
Leadership in the church – in God’s kingdom – is a precarious thing. Strong leadership is important – men and women who get things done, visionaries, those who push onward and upward. But without a servant’s heart, without the humility of realizing that their responsibility is to carry out Your will, Lord, without those elements at the forefront of their leading, trouble is just around the corner
Power and control unbridled can so easily lead to the corruption of heart, soul, and mind. Pride can grow to the point where no one can tell us what to do! We get this erroneous mindset that we are above sin and we can delve into whatever forbidden arenas we want. We begin to “lord it over the people assigned to [our] care” instead of leading them “by [our] own good example.”
Lord, may we pray for the leaders of Your Church. May service in humility – as Your life exemplified – be the overarching element that impacts our every action. Lord, may I be a leader under Your terms of service, not my own.
Feb 13th, Mon, 6:37 am
You Can’t Compartmentalize God
Father, I have often thought of your rock solid, never-changing consistency You are the same “yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 Your “faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1 These are truly awesome aspects of who You are.
But sitting here reading and praying and thinking, it comes to my mind that I can know many things about who You are but, at least on this side of eternity, I cannot know everything about You. I mean, You are God! How can I, in my finite humanity, know but a small portion of Your infinite divinity?! Just thinking along these lines literally blows me away – my mind is going every which a way! It is simply not possible to keep you in a box – to think I could every possibly begin to understand the multifaceted particulars of who You are.
There is a children’s Sunday School song (of all things!) that speaks of You as a fountain flowing deep and wide. But how true it is! I could never begin to fathom Your depths. In times past I’ve pictured myself floating in a body of water representative of You. There is no fear but all I can see in every direction is water – deep and wide, deep and wide…
In our pride, we like to think we have You all figured out. We have You all compartmentalized along with everything else in life…but it just can’t be done! You are an awesome God! We could all spend every single minute of every day in contemplation of You and after thousands of years, we would just scratch the surface!
It is overwhelming – yes…but Your greatest desire, I truly believe, is for us to have a relationship with You – an intimate relationship. You know literally everything there is to know about us and You want us to know all we can possibly can about You! Thank You for making that possible. You loved us so much that You gave Your one and only Son so that we might be saved from our sin and reconciled to You. Thank You thank You, thank You! You are truly an awesome God!
I’ve said that too many times no to share Rich Mullins’ song, Awesome God!
Feb 11th, Sat, 5:44 am