Touching God's Heart

Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Haggai 1:8

God derives pleasure and glory when we obey. What a thought! And the opposite has to be true as well, disobedience brings displeasure and robs Him of glory. The Bible is full of commands for us to obey. Practical daily principles are ours to embrace and follow. Each act of obedience no matter how small brings God both pleasure and glory. Others may not notice it but God never misses an act of kindness, mercy, love, sacrifice or compassion.

It reminds me of times I have been in a crowd of people looking for one familiar face. There is instant joy and delight when my eyes finally lock with the person I am searching for. God too is looking for the moments of obedience and easily spots each one. Like a miner panning for gold, they stand out to God as precious treasures.

It use to be so easy to see Him as a God who took more notice of my sin than my sterling moments. I was blind to the fact that I could even bring God pleasure. I now rejoice in the thought that while He casts my sin behind His back and discards it in the depths of the sea, He remembers the times I have actually obeyed Him and joined His heart. In eternity He will reveal the things He took notice of and I will marvel at what things in my life brought Him pleasure and glory.

Within the next 24 hours how many opportunities await me to bring Him delight? So often we forget it is not about waiting for eternal rewards ~ though they certainly await us. But rather it is in knowing that right here and now I can touch the heart of God as surely as He touches mine.

Father, the fact that You are affected by my actions astounds me! May I bring You much pleasure today! Amen.

Futile Living

You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes. Thus says the LORD of hosts, Consider you ways. Haggai 1:6,7

It is easy to pour our energies into something only to have the results come up insufficient for what we hoped for. People are capable of doing the right things without gaining the full benefits.
My younger brother, Timmy, was born with Cystic Fibrosis in 1970. He died at the tender age of 9. His physical condition pictured this verse so well. Before he was diagnosed with CF he was literally starving to death. Although we fed him, his body could not properly digest the food. He ate but received no nutritional value from the food. Upon being properly diagnosed he was put on medication that compensated for his physical weakness.

In the spiritual realm we must come to the place of realizing we too are malnourished and in need of God's compensation. When I spent decades living my Christian life out of fear, duty, and performance the emptiness and frustration were waiting to envelope me. God had to teach me to take an honest look at my way of living the Christian life. There were several reasons for my unsatisfactory results.

I had a wrong view of God for one. I saw Him as a harsh judge with love that was dependent on what I did for him. I cannot tell you the freedom that engulfed me when I realized His love was unconditional. My actions would not diminish or increase His love for me.

I depended on other Christians to define my Christian life for me. I felt better if my standards came from them. My Christian life had been reduced to the external rather than the internal world. God always desires that our hearts would affect our actions....not the other way around. The denominational walls were built, versions of the Bible were suspect, and music was VERY limited. It had become a recipe for disaster.

Father, You wanted me to know there was abundant freedom if I would just open my hands to receive all You had for me. I do so with joy! Amen.

My True Source

Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria;Your nobles are lying down.Your people are scattered on the mountains and there is no one to regather them. Nahum 3:18 (New American Standard Bible)

I read a verse like this and I am filled with such security that it does not describe my heavenly Father. Ever have someone you were counting on who could not or would not come through for you? How tragic when that happens to be a parent, spouse, or best friend.

But the truth of the matter is people are human and they will fail. Yet my heavenly Father is eternal and cannot fail. He is a strong hold in the day of trouble, He gathers us in His arms like a shepherd, He does not slumber or sleep, He never leaves me or forsakes me, I am held secure in His hands.

For years I longed for a human source to be all of that for me. And when they were not able to be that for me I was left with feelings of loneliness, despair, and frustration. There are still times I see myself repeating the pattern.

But now I am leaning how much God wants me to seek Him to meet those needs of my heart. He shelters, sustains, comforts, and strengthens me in so many ways.

Any time I look to people I must realize at best they are a mere shadow of the real thing. God uses people in my life ~ most definitely! But He continues to remind me He is the source of living water and they are the faucets.

Father, may I continually go to You and find You more than enough! Amen.

Being Set Free

Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. Ezekiel 34:27

Bondage and enslavement for God’s chosen people usually came in two distinct areas for them….idolatry and captivity from other nations. It is imperative that I see the places of bondage and enslavement in my own life so that I am able to bring those issues to the Lord for His deliverance.

I use to look at any problems in my life as personality flaws and sinful habits. God wants me to go deeper and see the problems for what they are. What is it He is breaking and delivering me from? Idolatry, strongholds, and spiritual oppression. Over the years, each one has robbed me of the ability to live in the freedom He desired for me.

Idolatry for me is looking to others to be for me what only God can be. It is looking to another person to meet my internal needs, give me my identity, and fix all the broken areas in my life. No matter how deeply I ache for such things I must realize they are not equipped to be that for me and only God is! As I learn to bring the needs to Him and receive His work in my life I marvel at what He accomplishes.

Strongholds are the things in my life that control and consume me. Although they abide in my thoughts they are chains around my life. God is not only willing to show me what my personal strongholds are but to set me free from every one of them. I do not have to be a prisoner to addictions of any kind. There is hope and freedom available.

Spiritual oppression has been the hardest area for me to identify in myself. It manifests itself in me through dark moods and dark thoughts. I look back now and I can see the patterns but for years I lived as a victim to the attacks. I believed if the thoughts were in my head they must be mine. How wrong I have been! What starts out as a negative thought quickly deteriorates into a mental battle that takes me to a pit of despair. The only remedy is to come against the attacks in prayer. Rebuking the work of the enemy, placing myself under the protective blood of Christ, and asking God to infuse me with His peace and safety bring instantaneous results that I have only recently begun to experience in my own life.

Father, first You had to show me where I was imprisoned. Then you had to give me hope that You would set me free. I revel in Your work! Amen.

God's Heart

The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. Nahum 1:7

I do not like confrontation and I certainly do not want to be the recipient of someone else's wrath. Micah 1:1-6 gives a vivid picture of God's anger toward His enemies. It is not a pretty picture but so necessary to get a full view of God's heart. It uses words like angry, jealous, revenge, vengeance, and wrath. In His presence, mountains quake, hills melt, and the earth burns. Jonathan Edwards captured an accurate picture of this aspect of God in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

If this were the only picture of God in Scripture, we would live hopeless and helpless. Meeting with God daily would look more like the scene from the "Wizard of Oz" when Dorothy and her friends first went before the wizard. Our souls would shake and our hearts would melt.
But as God's child, I revel in today's verse that speaks of God's goodness, protection, and knowledge. What assurance is mine as I am reminded that God is good and He is my place of security in the storms of my life! And yet the personal touch to all of this is that "He knows the ones who trust in Him."

I have some incredible people in my life. Some I never thought I would get to know on a personal level. As we have shared the stories of our life with each other the friendship has developed into a precious bond. To think that at one time they did not even know I existed but now we know each other intimately. Our "I love you" statements are not general statements any more. They are proclamations from our hearts.

To think that the God of the universe knows me better than anyone else and desires that I know Him as well is astounding. He is aware of my strengths and weaknesses, my thoughts as well as my actions, my sterling moments as well as my depravity.

I tend to realize a friend's love for me, not during my shining moments so much as by the moments when I have blown it. Security comes when seeing my bad side does not cause them to back away from me and reject me.

Father, You loved me even before You began to change me. That is a comforting thought. I don't think I will ever get use to it. You astound me with Your radical love. I rest in that today! Amen.

A Pro Active God

He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities, and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19

God's pro active response to our sin is so amazing. The story of the prodigal son when he returns home is a picture of us each time we return to God. The father pictures the heart of God so well. He has been waiting for the son, runs to meet him, enfolds him with arms of compassion, and lavishes goodness on him. I see that scene magnified in the first part of Micah &:19. We have a heavenly Father who always turns again and has compassion on us. It is in His heart to respond and demonstrate such love.

Too often, on a human scale, I fail to give or receive such a response to offenses, hurts, and injustices. May His Spirit transform me into a person with a heart for forgiveness like His.
But the second part of the verse displays God's pro action toward our actual sin. The KJV says he "subdues" our iniquities (wickedness). I often think of subdue to mean bring under control or to over take something. But it also means to tread down, to conquer. God's love for me is directly opposite of His hatred for sin. He stomps all over it and then casts it into the sea. The depths of the sea....the deepest part. Like a ball hit out of the field, sin is "out of here"....GONE!!!!

He separates my sin from me. While I receive His loving embrace, my sin gets the boot. For years I thought God could only see me through the grid of my sin, failure, and depravity. This verse is one way He is fixing my picture of Him.

Father, You are so much more loving than I ever hoped You could be! May I never get over Your compassion, mercy, and love! Amen.

What God Delights In

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. Micah 7:18

I love God's heart! This verse displays four things God does that are abounding with His goodness. He pardons our wickedness, passes over our violations of His law, doesn't remain angry, and actually delights in demonstrating mercy.

I know the things that bring me joy and extreme satisfaction. The things and people I take great pleasure in. Mercy is one thing God delights in. So many people look at God as One who derives pleasure in punishing them. To them, He is a harsh task master who wants nothing more than to take enjoyment for life away from them. The almighty kill joy. That was my view of Him for decades.

But THAT is not the God of the Bible. His arms are not folded ~ they are open wide as He invites us to reconcile with Himself. There is joy in heaven when repentance takes place on earth. When Adam and Eve sinned, God came to them. when David sinned, God confronted him. God's great delight in David was the fact that he too longed for reconciliation. If I can fully grasp His desire to extend me mercy and the delight that is His when He does so, I am more inclined to come to Him with my sin.

So I must ask myself if I also delight in mercy. Not only receiving God's mercy but extending it to others. As his child I am to mirror His heart of compassion to others. When someone comes to me for reconciliation do they sense in me a delight to show mercy? Or do I hold on to bitterness, enjoy watching them squirm, and let them walk in shame for what they've done?

May I allow God to change me in such a way that mercy becomes my delight as well. Today I will come face to face with the actions of others that offend me, hurt me, and just plain tick me off! Each will be an opportunity to not only extend mercy but delight in it as well.

Father, You have delighted in showing me mercy innumerable times. May I now reflect Your heart of mercy toward others. Amen.

His Supply

He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. Psalm 105:41

I am encouraged by this verse. In it I see God's hand, God's supply, God's presence, God's awareness, God's care, God's unusual choices, and God's provision. Just like He was aware of the needs of His people in the wilderness, He is aware of my needs.

The children of Israel most likely looked for water and when none could be found, despair and anger set in. The usual sources of water were unavailable to them so they assumed God's unavailability as well.

Psalm 105 encourages me to remember the wonderful things God has done in the past. Remembering brings hope to the present situation. Each of us can look back in our life and see God's work. He provided for us in the past ~ He'll do so again now. We must review His character, His power, His direction, His provision, and His intervention. The supply is limitless.
I may not be able to see how God will meet certain needs in my life but HE knows. When I am spiritually thirsty He has a "rock" to open where water gushes out to run in the dry places of my life. It may be a book I read, a speaker I hear, a song I listen to, a friend I meet. If I come to Him with a need and desire His method for meeting the need I will be astounded at His wondrous work on my behalf.

God, You are always moved by my plights. You have provisions in hand. May I open my heart to receive all You have for me! Amen.

My Lift and My Light

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. Micah 7:8

Some of the most difficult moments in our lives are when we experience despair, depression, and discouragement. The sense of hopelessness can be overwhelming at times. We have all been there ~ some more than others. Loss of a job, death of a loved one, a crisis of some sort. Unless we remember that God holds our very life in the palms of His hands we can begin to believe that people and circumstances direct and define us.

Micah shows me two lights at the end of the tunnels of life. I see proclamations and promises in both. "When I fall, I shall arise." Someone once said every valley is situated between two mountains. While there are things to be learned in the valleys of life, God's purpose and intent is never to leave me there. It is an opportunity to know God's heart better and to develop in me some Christ-like qualities. But I shall arise every time! Resurrections are common occurrences in a believer's life. Those things that seem to be put to death will some day be brought back to life in a richer way. Nature itself shows me this as a seed dies to bring forth a plant. With each discouragement and disappointment I too can voice the words, "I shall rise."

Each of us also knows times of darkness in our life. Times when we feel like our very soul is being placed in the blackness of a cave. How reassuring to know the Lord will be a light to us! Light can do a number of things. It dispels darkness, reflects off certain objects, reveals things that could not be seen in the dark, illuminates paths, and even brings warmth. My mom once told me to keep a candle in my car. If I somehow lost power the candle would give off enough light and heat to sustain me for a period of time. It is amazing to thing of the effect a small light has in a dark cave.

Father, how precious to know that You not only pick me up when I have fallen, but You are my light in the dark moments and places of my life. Amen.