More Than We Can Handle

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Psalm 68:19 KJV

Sometimes it is easy to allow the things of this world to weigh us down. We might find ourselves thinking or saying, “I cannot take one more thing!” We live with a feeling of being over whelmed, over worked, and over run. If that is you this morning, may today’s thoughts bring about a new twist to your thinking.

Amidst all the troubles of life God wants each of us to know the truth of Psalm 68:19...that He daily loads us with benefits. He has acts of tenderness, loving kindness, and generosity in store for each of His children today and every day! If we are not aware of that and if we are not on the look out for those benefits, we will miss them. They will be there but we will miss the joy of discovery and the richness of experiencing them.

I have been on a hunt this morning and already I am seeing the first load of benefits being dropped into my spirit! God awakened me with the realization that there are ways to spend my day that will enrich my fellowship with Him or rob me of it. I am allowing His revelation to alter my activities, schedule, and objectives for today. I have already permitted music to minister to me! I love the song MAKE MY LIFE A PRAYER FOR YOU by Kathy Troccoli and have listened to it several times to let it saturate me. I received two emails that were such a blessing to me. One encouraged me greatly and the other gave me some spiritual truths that astounded and nourished me. He is letting me know there is more to come!

The benefits might be spiritual, physical, social, or emotional in their nature. They may have to do with His provision, protection, power, or presence but they will be apparent. I don’t want to miss any of them. Throughout the day I want to be aware of His deliveries and by the end of the day I want to feel like the kid who just went on a free shopping spree at Toys R Us!

I have lived too many years of my Christian life unmoved and unaware of God’s involvement in my life. I did not live with a daily amazement of Him or His gifts. I do now and that delights Him!

Father, I sense the glee in Your eye as You begin to lavish on me today‘s benefits. May I acknowledge each one with gratitude and delight! I open my arms and heart to receive them all. Amen.

He Has and Is What You are Looking For

Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben for she said, “Because the LORD has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” Genesis 29:32 NASB

I am struck by the desperation of Leah as I read of her life, marriage, and search for love. Her affliction was barrenness and a marriage void of love. The children she conceived became her means whereby she hoped to gain the love and companionship of her husband. Her desire was to be valued and counted as dear. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be loved. It is an inward desire we were created with. The problem is how we go about trying to obtain that love….especially when it is withheld.

I find it interesting that after multiple pregnancies and births, love from her husband is still not realized. Her actions have not earned her the favor she had hoped for. While her womb, arms, and home are full of children she still lives empty and deprived. Her “surely now my husband will love me” words have not come to pass.

It has taken me years to realize my heart needs are what drive me to do the things I do. It is so easy to look to people to heal my wounds, ease my worries, and just plain fix me. I somehow want to place on them the responsibility for my spiritual well being and maturity. When all the while God is inviting me to come to Him and live my life out of my daily connection and relationship with Him.

He has recently taken me through three essential steps in my walk with Him. He brought me to the place of realizing everything I am and need is found in Christ. Not only my salvation but my very existence. He then walked me through the process of transferring my dependency on individuals over to Himself. Then He helped me to see that living out of my spirit (my relationship with Him) must replace living out of my soul (my mind, will, and emotions).

It has been His way of saying, “I have much more to offer you than you could ever hope to find in people.” He is helping me to see what has hindered me from taking Him up on His invitation to “come unto Me.” As the hindrances are realized and removed I am finding a satisfaction and completeness in Christ that I never imagined would be possible.

Father, You are teaching me how to come to You. Thank you for never allowing people to do for me what You alone can do. Amen.

They Are Meant for You Too

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Genesis 28:15 NASB

How many times do we read a portion of Scripture and think only of the person to whom God was directly speaking? For years, I failed to make a connection between God speaking to people in the Bible and God speaking to me. I thought David was so fortunate to have a God who delighted in Him. I thought the nation of Israel was so blessed to have a God who would never leave them. I thought Jacob was so privileged to have a God who promised to be with him. But I failed to see the same messages were meant for me. God’s intent had always been for me to hear Him say the words to me as well. He desires for each of us to take the words He spoke centuries ago and own them for ourselves. God’s words are meant to leap off the pages of Scripture and house themselves within us. If we limit them to only being meant for the person God originally spoke them to, we exclude ourselves from their power in our own life. It is imperative that we not separate ourselves from all that God wants to say to us through His Word.

So when we face unchartered territory we must listen as He says, “I am with you.” When difficulties arise we must drink in His whispers of “I will keep you wherever you go.” When we feel abandoned, forgotten, or alone we must take in His words of “I will not leave you.” It is meant to be just as real for us as it was for Jacob. That is one of reasons we say God’s Word is alive. He not only spoke to Jacob, He speaks to us presently. It is the same God, the same words, but different ears. Ours!

I love the note in my Amplified Bible next to the phrase ‘I am with you, and will keep you.’ It says “watch over you with care, take notice of.” It is said with compassion, warmth, tenderness, and affection. It is one thing to have a friend join you at a time of need. It is quite another thing for the Creator and Sustainer of the universe to be your very present help at all times! May His words be THAT personal to you not only today but every day.

Father, I am touched by Your words this morning. They really are meant for me! They are meant to draw me into close communion with You. May they become as much a part of me as my very breath. Amen.

God's Individual and Unique Work

Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing, be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8:1 NASB

A leper came to Jesus for healing. Jesus touched him and spoke and the leprosy was cleansed. A centurion came to Jesus on behalf of his paralyzed servant and Jesus merely spoke the word and his servant was healed. Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever and Jesus touched her hand and the fever was gone. People brought many others to Jesus who were demon-possessed and Jesus cast out the spirits with His word. This all took place in the first 16 verses of Matthew 8. What a powerful example of the variety and uniqueness of Jesus’ healing ministry. Sometimes He spoke, sometimes He touched, sometimes He spoke and touched. Sometimes individuals came for themselves and other times they brought others in need of healing. The needs varied as well as the methods. Jesus was not limited to just one particular way of doing things.

So often we look at how God is working in an individual’s life today and we want the same thing done in us. We want the same methods used and the same picture when God is finished. But God sees us and deals with us as individuals. He is creative and distinguishing in the interactions with His children. No two people are exactly alike. There may be similarities but each possesses qualities, personalities, backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses, gifts, and relationships that are unique to them. The combinations and variety are astounding.

God has a special design on each life and because of that He will individualize His way of working in those lives. He determines the trials, blessings, hardships, events, and interactions of my life. The choice of tools is His. The finished product is His. Now I can either fight Him or cooperate. I can either squeeze myself into other molds or allow God to mold me. I can either wish for duplications of His other works or learn to joy in what He is doing in me and has planned for me. I choose cooperation over comparison. May I seek His choice for me!

Father, I am like no other child of Yours. Therefore I trust the way You are working, the tools You are using, and the results You are planning. I find comfort in the uniqueness, creativity, and distinctiveness of all You do! Amen.

Out of Darkness Into the Light

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 NASB

I like what Paul is doing in this verse. He is adoring God for the favor He has bestowed upon us in giving to us all the benefits of being in Christ. The first chapter of Ephesians is an incredible list of God-given possessions and positions in Christ. It is our answer to any feelings of insignificance, deprivation, loneliness, distress, disappointment, depression, and self-condemnation we hang on to or accept from the enemy.

Last night a cloud of darkness hung over me that was so thick I could feel it. It enveloped me and threatened to strangle every part of me. Joy was gone, hope was elusive, acceptance was unfelt, and my inner world seemed shaky. I found myself drawing conclusions and making plans that were all headed in the wrong direction. No peace. No spirit of thankfulness. No walk of victory. It is not a place I enjoy being in.

God’s intent is that I see it for what it is (an attack) and I grab hold of the life line He extends to me. This morning that life line was the first chapter of Ephesians and the phrase “in Christ.” My hope, my strength, my forgiveness, my salvation, my growth, my fellowship, my wisdom, my joy, my direction, my fullness, my significance, my identity, my purpose, my life are ALL found in Christ. When people cannot be to me what I want them to be, when circumstances are not the way I want them to be, when dreams are not realized, when disappointments come, when tears flow, when darkness descends I must once again climb into the truth that I am in Christ and everything I want and need is found in Him!

God wants me to see that when I look outside of Him to get my needs met I will always come away disappointed. He has kind intentions toward me and lavishes me with grace, forgiveness, mercy, love, and attention. I am His treasured possession whom He chose before the foundations of the world. A nobody? Absolutely not! Insignificant? No way! Forgotten? Never! This morning He is reminding me that the greatness of His power is at work in me. All the change is coming from Him. I am His work of art and He is not finished yet!

Father, last night it was dark. Today I walk in the light which is so bright I am squinting! Thank you for pulling me up once again. Amen.

Pray Without Ceasing

Be unceasing in prayer---praying perseveringly. I Thessalonians 5:17 Amplified Bible

How would you describe your prayer life? For years it was a rote activity in which I found little joy or purpose. I knew how to read through a prayer list with as much passion and excitement as I would have reading a grocery list or the phone book. The thought of spending more than a couple minutes in prayer seemed more daunting than delightful to me. My lack of daily connection to God explained my lack of daily communication with Him. I knew what it was like to talk with someone I loved and thought the world of and I knew that was not my view of God or prayer. Because my view of Him was so distorted it affected my desire to talk to Him, spend time with Him, and learn about Him. How it must have broken His heart to see that I struggled with the thing He found such pleasure in.

As I have come to realize some precious truths about God it has begun to correct my view of Him. With that correction has come a change in the way I approach His Word and His throne! I marvel when God allows a portion of Scripture to come alive to me. And I marvel when He gives me a new concept for prayer. This morning, an avenue of prayer has opened up to me and what a joy it was to venture on to the path. Let me explain.

I love devotional books. I presently have five of them that enrich my mornings. I read them last year but know they will take on new dimensions for me this year. What I did not realize was how God would nudge me to use them as prayer guides. This morning as I read some I found myself praying for the truths I was taking in. The words I read became my prayers to God. For instance, when I read Make Him the Source, the Center, and the One who encompasses every delight of your soul (Streams in the Desert, p.15), I voiced those very words to God! The more I did this as I read the more I was empowered.

What would happen if everything I read through out the day became petitions to God? If every circumstance I faced became a catalyst for talking to God? If every thing I faced in a day became a doorway of communication with God? Praying without ceasing would no longer appear to be just nice words. They would become my daily experience!

Father, may You continue to broaden my view of prayer. Learning to talk and listen to You delights us both! Amen.

Reminders for the New Year

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Revelation 18:6b NASB

Last night I finished my goal of reading through the Bible in 2006. For numerous reasons I found myself behind by a number of days so ended up needing to read the entire book of Revelation in one sitting. What seemed daunting at first lasted only an hour and a half. But the experience was rich! I saw the final book of the Bible in a completely different light. In the past I saw it as a book filled with symbols I did not understand and future events I could not fully grasp. But God’s intent was for me to see the treasure of promises….His promises! Those promises house the end of the story. It is a story that started with God’s creation back in the book of Genesis and fast forwards to the demise of our enemy, the destination of each of us, and the determined reign of God!

God’s Word tells us Satan’s end is the lake of fire where he will be in torment forever. He knows this is his end. He knows his days are numbered. He knows God will ultimately have the victory. He knows he can do nothing to avoid his own outcome. So what is he up to in the mean time? His desire is to be as destructive as possible. He wants to thwart any workings of God, prevent people from knowing Christ, and hinder Christians from living the abundant life God promised them. Let’s take every opportunity this year to remind him of his own defeat! Just read Revelation 20 to him the next time he rears his defiant head.

Each of us have an end as well. I would challenge any person to take just 15 minutes and read the last three chapters of Revelation. The only options point to Heaven or Hell. Heaven awaits those who know Christ as Savior and Hell and the eventual lake of fire await those who do not. If a person is being taught of any other possibilities they are being lied to and deceived.

Finally, I drink in the truth that God is and always will be on the throne. He is the beginning and the ending and has the first and last words. So no matter what this year holds we can proclaim with all our might, “God is still on the throne!”

Father, You wrote my name in the Lamb’s book of Life before the foundation of the world and then You gently wooed me to Yourself. Nothing in this life can change Your revealed end of the story! Amen.