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Joy and Peace (Again)

This is one of my favorite passages.  In fact, the Bible has opened here before, including most recently on March 25.  I thought about reopening to another page, since I have blogged on this passage before, but the words have once again drawn me in:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!  Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

“The peace of God that surpasses all understanding” — that’s what I want.  Just saying the word peace brings with it an exhale and I feel some stress drop out of my shoulders.  Peace.  Now think of that peace coming directly from God.  And try to wrap your head around the concept that God’s peace surpasses all understanding — we cannot even fathom the extent of the peace that God will share with us.  Peace — a full exhale and my arms drop as the tension leaves the back of my neck.  That is what I want.

And the great thing about this passage is that Paul wraps it up in a nice recipe or formula as to how to achieve it:

  1. Rejoice in the Lord always!  I have always taken this passage to mean that we should sing God’s praises, which seems easy enough.  God is indeed great and it is easy to sing His praises.  But as I read it more closely (and look up the definition of “rejoice”), I see that what it really says is “feel joy or great delight” in the Lord.  I like the idea of this  — step one is to feel joy or great delight in the Lord — but how do you make yourself feel that?  Hmmm.  Not so easy… or is it?  Stop.  And think. God is great.  God’s love for us is great and unconditional.  God can do anything and forgive anything and no matter what we have done, he calls us back to Him.  Feel joy and great delight in the Lord and Rejoice!  With hands in the air, head tilted back to the sky, Rejoice!
  2. Step two: Your kindness should be known to all.  Be kind to others.  Not always the easiest thing to do.  Reflect God’s love to others, share God’s love with others.  Be kind.  Do unto others…
  3. Make your requests known to God through prayer, petition and thanksgiving — and by doing so, let go of your anxiety, let go of your control or belief that you can control it — give it to God. On paper these steps seem so easy — but in reality they can seem quite hard.  It is easy enough to pray for something, or to ask God for something — but, that is not enough. God asks us to let go of it — and by doing so — have faith in Him that He will take care of it.

So to sum it up: Feel joy and great delight in God, share that joy with others and have faith in God to take care of everything else.   (Starting to feel a little stress about whether this is achievable — so I am going to go back to feeling joy and rejoicing in God  — and I will let God take care of the rest.)

(With hands up in the air and my head tilted back) I rejoice in you, O God.  I feel the joy that only you can provide.  Help me to share this joy with others.  Help me to release my stress and worries and anxieties to you.  Help me to let go.  Help me to trust and have faith.  Thank you God!

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Do not throw this freedom away!

This is a short one — but a good one.  It strikes me right to the core:

At a time when you did not know God, you became slaves to things that by nature are not gods; but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and destitute elemental powers? Do you want to be slaves to them all over again?

Galatians 4:8-9

There are so many weak and destitute elemental powers out there.  Drugs, sex, alcohol, money, power, TV, electronics, smartphones, social media, candy crush, greed…  The list goes on and on.  For me it is food (and maybe a little bit of candy crush).  We become slaves to so many things.  Things that do not help us, do not serve us.  God gives us freedom.  He does not require us to be slaves.  (maybe it would be easier if we were slaves to Him!)  God gives us freedom, freedom to choose, freedom to live,  freedom to truly love.  What a glorious gift!  We just need to use it!

I don’t know about you, but I am really good at saying I am going to do better, but not so good at having the strength to follow through.  As I am typing this, a young girl on The Voice (Ok, so TV is another of the weaker powers that pulls on me) is singing Martina McBride’s song “Do it Anyway” — I have never paid attention to the lyrics before, but they provide me with further inspiration tonight:

“God is great but sometimes life ain’t good
And when I pray
It doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway.”

No matter how many times I try and fail, I am going to keep trying anyway.

God, I do not want to be slave to the weaker elemental powers any more!  They do not serve me.

Thank you, God, for the power to choose!  I choose you.  Help me be strong enough to turn away from all of the weak powers out there.  With your help I can be stronger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Healing prayers

Today, I learned that a friend was in need of prayers and healing.  I felt helpless to offer any words of comfort.  My mind quickly turned to prayer and I asked God to provide her with healing and comfort, but outwardly I was unable to offer the encouragement and comfort that she needed.  I wanted to do so much more.

Tonight the Bible opened here:

At once [Jesus] spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”  Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.  But when he saw how [strong] the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  After they got into the boat, the wind died down.  Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret. When the men of that place recognized him, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought to him all those who were sick and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak, and as many as touched it were healed.

Matthew 14: 27-36

I have faith that my friend will be healed.  I believe God has great plans for her.  I am certain of it.  Indeed it was her faith, and kindness and love that brought me back to the church and to God in a much more meaningful way.

Tonight I pray that she knows that Jesus is holding his hand out to her.  He is holding her and will get her through the temporary struggles that she is facing.

Dear Lord,

Please help all those who are struggling with health issues.  Give them the faith and courage to know that you are there, that they are safe, and that all of these struggles are temporary.

Thank you for sending my friend to me.  She has been such a reflection of you in my life, help me to be that to her.  Help her to know how loved she is.  Please heal her body and strengthen her spirit.

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Here I am

How do you know when God is speaking to you?  I think about this often.  Is it my thought and desire or is it God’s?

Today the Bible opened to Samuel:

The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”  He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli answered. “Go back to sleep.” So he went back to sleep.  Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You called me.” But he answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”

Samuel did not yet recognize the LORD, since the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.  The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.  So he said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” When Samuel went to sleep in his place, the LORD came and stood there, calling out as before: Samuel, Samuel! Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

1 Samuel 3:4-10

Samuel was sleeping when God first called him.  In other words, he was quiet.  He was still.  In today’s world, I find it hard to hear God — there is so much other noise and distraction.  Finding time to be quiet and to listen is a challenge.  I am sure God is speaking and we are missing it.

Here I am, Lord!

Your servant is listening.  Help me to take time to be quiet, to be still.  Help me to listen.   I want to hear.  I want to follow.  I want to serve.

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Forgiveness first

Tonight the Bible opened to Matthew:

He entered a boat, made the crossing, and came into his own town. And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”  At that, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”  Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”  He rose and went home. When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.

Matthew 9:1-8

Jesus offered forgiveness first.  When I first read this passage I wondered why Jesus didn’t heal first.  I had to read it a couple of times before I realized He did heal first.  He healed the paralytic’s soul first.  As always God knows best.

Lord,

You know all things and know what I need. Heal me, Lord. Forgive me.  Help me to forgive others.

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Perseverance

Perseverence.  I love this word.  The last few days I have spent in multiple different hotel rooms.  None of them quite comfortable.  I have lost power, had plans changed repeatedly and quickly by the weather and have otherwise just been discombobulated. I am sitting in an airport now ready to travel to another city.  No hope of seeing my own bed or home until the end of the week.  I have struggled to get my computer connected to the various hotel wi fi’s, but I think I have finally figured out how to blog on my phone!(clearly I am technologically challenged!)

And this is where God led me today:

Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it.  But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:2-8

Just what I needed.

Lord,

I come to you in complete faith knowing that you will grant me what I need. I recognize that you know what I need better than I do. Provide me with the wisdom and Perseverence to lead the life you have planned for me.

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Even If

One of my favorite songs right now is “Even If” from Mercy Me.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mercy+me&view=detail&mid=A96B04EC03620A378E8EA96B04EC03620A378E8E&FORM=VIRE

Today’s Bible verse reminds me of the point in the song — even if God doesn’t take away the hurt and the pain, even if He doesn’t swoop in and fix whatever it is we think needs fixing, our faith, our hope is in God:

For though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit appears on the vine, though the yield of the olive fails and the terraces produce no nourishment, Though the flocks disappear from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the LORD and exult in my saving God.

GOD, my Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet swift as those of deer and enables me to tread upon the heights.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Even if things don’t go my way, I will rejoice in the Lord!  He is my savior.  He will save me when I need saving and how I need saving.  He is not a genie to grant me my every wish — He is so much more. God saves us from the wishes that don’t help us (and may hurt us).  His plan is much greater than ours — I can only imagine how screwed up things would be if my wishes or plans were always carried out!   A genie may satisfy our want for instant gratification, but God satisfies our need for eternal gratification.  The Lord is my strength, I just need to allow Him to be.

God,

Your mercy and love is great! Your wisdom is beyond my comprehension. I rejoice in you!  I am grateful for the gifts that you provide.  Allow me to be part of your plan.

 

 

 

 

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A good night kiss from God (Sweet Dreams)

I am ready for bed.  The alarm clock went off way too early this morning.  It has been a long Monday.  Time to open the Bible and then quickly go to bed.  But first God gave me this goodnight kiss and hug:

But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine.  When you pass through waters, I will be with you; through rivers, you shall not be swept away.  When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, nor will flames consume you.  For I, the LORD, am your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior. I give Egypt as ransom for you, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.  Because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you and nations in exchange for your life.

Fear not, for I am with you; from the east I will bring back your offspring, from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north: Give them up! and to the south: Do not hold them! Bring back my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth: All who are called by my name I created for my glory; I formed them, made them.

Isaiah 43:1-7

Thank you God!  I love you too!  Good night!

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I want it all!

Can I have it all on earth and in heaven?  This is the question that haunts me.  Today’s verse once again drove this home:

Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”  He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.  If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”  He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”  Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 19:16-24

I almost wish the young man had not asked the question.  I feel like I do “ok” with the commandments…  most of the time.   Of course a lot harder is the one Jesus throws on – love your neighbor as yourself.  But I feel like I can at least feel like I do that…  some of the time.  But give away my possessions?  All of them?  I like my possessions.  They provide me with a sense of security.  I grew up without many, scrounged for one meal a day in college, worked 3 jobs at a time on occasion.  Give up everything?  Do I trust God enough?  Is that what Jesus is asking me to do — trust God not the material world?  Honestly, every time I hear this verse, my blood pressure rises, I begin to panic and I feel depressed.  I am not sure I ever read the very next lines, though — which give me hope:

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:25-26

I cannot do it without God — if I think I can, I will only end up panicked and depressed — because I know I will fail.  I am not strong enough.  I am not good enough to be perfect.  I am not able on my own to achieve eternal life.  But with God it is possible.

So I will continue to strive to do all these things, including giving more.  And I will continue to ask God for forgiveness when I fail, for mercy when my time on earth ends, and that it be His will that I might have eternal life with Him.

God,

I love you.  I want to spend eternity with you.  Please forgive me for the times that I have failed to keep your commandments, failed to love my neighbor, and acted selfishly with my time and possessions, focusing on worldly wealth rather than heavenly wealth.  Help me to do better.  I beg you to grant me your grace and your mercy, so that I may one day be with you.  I know I am not worthy of this, but I trust in your love.

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O Lord, Give Me Rest

Today the Bible opened in two places.

First:

The pronouncement of mortal man: “I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and I am exhausted.

I am more brute than human being, without even human intelligence; Neither have I learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy One.

Proverbs 30:1-3

And then:

Therefore, let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed.  For in fact we have received the good news just as they did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened.  For we who believed enter into [that] rest, just as he has said:

“As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter into my rest,’”

and yet his works were accomplished at the foundation of the world.  For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works”; and again, in the previously mentioned place, “They shall not enter into my rest.” Therefore, since it remains that some will enter into it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, he once more set a day, “today,” when long afterwards he spoke through David, as already quoted:

“Oh, that today you would hear his voice: ‘Harden not your hearts.’”

Now if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterwards of another day.  Therefore, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God.  And whoever enters into God’s rest, rests from his own works as God did from his.  Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience. Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.  No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Hebrews 4:1-13

I often feel like I need rest.  A few more hours of sleep.  A few hours to sit down and just breathe in and out, enjoying the day.  Just a little rest.  Just a few minutes.  I am weary.  I am exhausted.  Weary from the stress of life.  Exhausted from the fast pace of today’s electronic, mobile phone, everything at out fingertips, I-want-it-now life.  When I ask God for rest, I often think in terms of sleep.

Today, the Bible reminds me of the real rest that I am seeking.  God’s rest.  The peace and rest that comes from knowing God.  Proverbs talks about mortal man being weary — because he does not have wisdom, he does not know God.  Hebrews reminds us that we have been promised rest — through God.  It is not something we can achieve without Him.  True rest comes through faith in God, listening to His word and being obedient.  Without that faith the weight of the world can be overwhelming.

Lord,

Let me hear your voice.  Harden not my heart.  Help me to be open to your words and your plans.  I want to find rest in you.