A Slight but Dangerous Shift

Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually. Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth. 1 Chronicles 16:10-12 (New American Standard Bible)

Shifts can be so slight that we often are not aware of a problem until it is bigger than life and affecting us profoundly. Such was the case for me during the past couple of weeks. I had been in the habit for several years of rising in the wee hours of the morning to spend time in the Word and send out email devotionals. It had become a special time for me and usually set the pace for the remainder of my day. Due to a change in my work hours, I found myself becoming physically drained and felt a change was needed-- i.e. more sleep! This decision resulted in a change to my morning routine. I went from purposeful meetings with the Lord to ‘chance’ meetings and found myself taking in less and less of His Word and presence.

What started out as a gradual thing, snowballed and I found myself sinking emotionally and spiritually. This evening I have taken some time to look back over the past week or so and see how my reactions and attitudes have been more out of my flesh than spirit, how my perceptions of others have once again become dark, how emptiness was beginning to mark my internal world, and how I no longer resembled one who walked in the joy and strength of the Lord. What happened? I had become lax in my seeking God, seeking His strength, and seeking His face! I had drifted away from remembering His wonders and marvels. While I managed to keep activities relatively the same, my spirit was showing signs of starvation and God was nudging me to start feeding it again.

I want to go back to my early morning meetings with my Father. I want His Word to be at the start of my day once again. I have tasted the consequences and results of not doing so and it has been uncomfortable to say the least. Once again, God has wisely allowed something painful to bring me back to Himself.

People have often commented on the authenticity of these devotionals. I believe that one of the reasons God leads me to be honest and open about my journey is so that others can begin to be honest and open about theirs. We can all learn together that it is a given that we will have good and bad days, victories and failures, tragedies and triumphs as we travel through life. After all, God does not look for perfection….just progress.

Father, I have missed You. Amen.

The Voice of Hope - Lara Martin
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qbk1TGe5k0Q

I welcome your questions and comments to any devotional thoughts. I am honored and delighted to share my journey with you and privileged to hear of yours.

Preserving Life

Except the LORD of hosts had left us a very small remnant. Isaiah 1:9a (King James Version)

Picture a city left in ruins yet a small building remains among the rubble. A few survivors after multitudes are done away with such as in the days of concentration camps. God is still in the business of preserving lives in the midst of devastation. We see the tragedy of hurricanes but rejoice at the countless stories of individuals who miraculously lived. God still rescues and renews lives. Think of a forest fire that has consumed acres of forestry. When the flames have finally been extinguished and the smoke is gone, little sprigs of green reveal the truth that life was preserved.

Some may look at their life as tragedy filled and wasted. But in the midst of it all God has preserved life. He still brings beauty from ashes. That is what I see when I think of people like Corrie Ten Boon and Joni Erickson Tada. It seemed that life’s circumstances assaulted them in horrible ways. But God left them a remnant in their spirit. They brought the broken pieces to Him and He turned their life into a ministry of great proportion.

What is the loss in your life you grieve today? What is the devastation that leaves you drained and bewildered? Know that God has left parts of you intact. There is a small remnant within you that still pulses with life. What you think will do you in will be the very thing that God will use to draw you close to Himself. He has already planned how He will turn your loss into gain. He will beautify the charred places. He will renovate the rooms you have long since closed off. He will speak life into the parts of you that have died.

I am not presently going through a difficulty right now. Recently I had a season of tears and pain that seemed unbearable. God has allowed me to remember the ache in my chest as I experienced a painful loss. It is that ache that comes to mind as I think of and pray for others who are presently going through storms of great proportion in their own life. I know they might feel angry, rejected, and alone. Even words of Scripture seem to mock them. The thought that God will restore their joy seems far fetched to them. I have thought of them at various times and I hurt for them. When the opportunities arise may I be one to walk along side them and whisper reminders to them that they long to hear and need to cling to. God has not forgotten about them or set them aside. They are being preserved daily. I praise Him for that!


Today, Father, I pray that Your work of preservation be continued in my friends. May a very small remnant be left in them. When the time is right You will multiply what is left. Their stories still live because of You. Amen.

Beauty For Ashes - Crystal Lewis & Ron Kenoly
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2CZ6IsGjEug

I welcome your questions and comments to any devotional thoughts. I am honored and delighted to share my journey with you and privileged to hear of yours.

Held and Upheld

I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me. Isaiah 63:3,5 (New King James Version)

As I read these words, spoken by God, there were phrases that jumped out at me with a fresh awareness that I need never speak them. “No one was with Me, no one to help, no one to uphold.” On a human level, some might experience such isolation and loneliness, but not in relationship to God. Isaiah 41:10 brings all three concepts to light as God says to each of us who are in Christ, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Those are promises of companionship, assistance, and strength.

I use to think of upholding as simply carrying. I found it interesting to see it means to make strong, restore to strength, give strength, strengthen, sustain, encourage, make bold, make firm, make rigid, and make hard. No wonder any believer can voice the words of Paul and say, “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me!” He literally infuses us with the strength necessary for any task, circumstance, situation, or experience.

To go one step further, it is dawning on me that even when we are not aware of God helping and upholding us, He is doing it. I can look back at difficult challenges in my life and now see that THAT is exactly what He was doing. In the midst of my fears, frustrations, and tears, He never left me to manage on my own. Even when I didn’t relax in His arms, they still held, helped, and upheld me. His grip never loosened. His eye never wondered, His attention never wavered, and His supply never ceased.

Tonight I am reflecting on His moments of upholding and helping me and I am seeing them with clearer vision and insight. No wonder He repeatedly tells us to review and remember. Our past experiences with Him are meant to encourage us in the present as well as the future. What He has done for us and been to us will continue.

So what is it you are needing to be reminded of this evening? God’s presence? God’s help? God’s enabling and strengthening? It may be a situation that has just come upon you or one that you have faced daily for years. It may be in the physical, emotional, or spiritual realm. Whatever it is, take the promises of Isaiah 41:10 as your banner of truth!

Father, You have always been there for me and will continue to be. I rest in Your arms and am renewed, refreshed, and restored. Amen.

Held - Natalie Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2m1HZekCcc

Inner Healing

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Isaiah 1:6 (King James Version)

Philip Yancey wrote a book called, Where Is God When It Hurts? In it he describes the horrid details of a person with leprosy. Unable to feel pain because the pain sensors are dead, injuries result in infections and the loss of fingers, toes, etc... Imagine putting your hand on a hot burner and never feeling the pain! Nothing would cause you to quickly remove your hand. The injury would be incredible. The point is to realize that pain serves a purpose. It tells us something is wrong and encourages us to attend to the problem.

So often we will recognize physical pain and seek help. But pain of the mind, spirit, or emotions often times is ignored or buried. Words spoken in anger, looks of disapproval, unmet needs all wound and bruise us on the inside. We fail to acknowledge them or bring them to God for His touch of cleansing and healing. He sees the wounds, the bruises, the putrefying sores. Although we may think they are not worth attending to God knows differently. He knows the infection will grow worse.

Until recently I did not realize the extent of my own inner wounds. As God has begun to reveal them to me He has allowed me to see where certain mindsets have been in place. He has let me know there are reasons I have walked in shame, expected rejection, and felt like a burden to friends.

He took me in His arms and said, "You've been wounded. Some wounding was intentional and some was not." Then He gently proceeded to let me know I would not be free from the effects until I allowed Him to identify where I had been wounded, press out the infection, pour His oil into them, and bandage them. Healing begins within. It is a process. Slow and painful at times but necessary and well worth it.

May I allow the candle of His Spirit to illuminate the very places in me that are still hurting. God will never force the process. I must voluntarily come to Him, place myself under His care, and trust Him to do His healing work in me.

Father, You have made the pain productive because it lead me to You. I know You will continue to show me the wounds that await Your touch, oil, and healing. Amen.

The Power Of Your Love MV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xdgJN0quK4&feature=related

Ears To Hear

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Luke 15:1

Jesus was approached by different people for different reasons. Some came for healing and miracles, some came to witness the healings and miracles, some came to criticize, some came to worship, and some (like in today’s verse) came to listen. They knew His words were capable of changing their life. They may have sat under other teachers for years, but Jesus was different. He spoke with authority but also with love. To them, His words were reassuring and comforting, not harsh, judgmental, and condemning. They were drawn toward Him and hungered for what He had to offer. He welcomed them and received them as they came.

Have you ever been in the presence of someone who really cared about you? They were concerned for you or interested in the deeper things of your life. You felt safe to confide in them and took their advice to heart. You wanted to learn all you could from them. That is how people felt around Jesus. That is how God wants you and me to feel around Him! He is still showing me what concepts and ideas I have that hinder me from richer fellowship with Himself.

The verse just before this one says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” It is more than just taking in sound. It is digesting what is heard in such a way that it changes the way I think, act, and speak. If I remain unchanged, I have not really listened. One evening, God surprised me with some self revelation I had struggled with for years. I could not grasp the reasons for a certain mindset that had always been in place from a very young age. Once I listened and received what He was telling me there was an internal shifting that took place. Throughout the night and even the next morning I woke still wanting to drink in the truth of His words. If I allowed them full access they would forever change this area of my life and I would walk in a freedom I had not yet realized. I found it interesting that although I wasn’t necessarily asking to be shown this, God knew my spirit was searching out the matter. He spoke, I listened, and life has not be the same!

Father, You have so much more to tell me on a personal level. Give me listening ears, a receptive heart, and a continued thirst for Your words to me. Amen

Word of God Speak ~ Mercy Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JK_6osCH74&feature=related

I welcome your questions and comments to any devotional thoughts. I am honored and delighted to share my journey with you and privileged to hear of yours.

Desolate for a Reason

So that I might make them desolate, in order that they might know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 20:26 (New American Standard Bible)

Many times in Scripture, God’s actions are followed by the phrase, “That they might know that I am the LORD.” So intent is God on revealing Himself to us that He will go to any length to help us see who He really is and what He is really like. He knows our limitations and weaknesses as well as our bent toward sin and skewed thinking of Him. For the children of Israel, God revealed Himself through discipline, provision, protection, deliverance, and consequences of behavior. Many were the times they “missed” the God ordained revelations but precious were the moments they saw!

As I read today’s verse, the word “desolate” stood out to me so I decided to find its full meaning in the dictionary. What I read was a description of my own life in recent years. It was not only explicit, it was an accurate portrayal. According to Webster, desolate means, to abandon, make alone, deserted, joyless, disconsolate, and sorrowful through separation from a loved one; showing the effects of abandonment and neglect, barren, lifeless, devoid of warmth, comfort, or hope, laid waste, forsaken, a barren wasteland. I can tell you with all seriousness and sincerity, it is not a fun way to live the Christian life. I felt frozen emotionally as if suspended in a capsule of pain and grief. If that were the end of the story, I would have little to say. Praise God the end of the story is rich!

God says to me what He said to Israel, “It was done in order that you might know that I am the LORD.” In other words, that I might know Him. Not just know about Him but KNOW Him. Although I still have moments of sadness, I can finally say the worst is over and there is now more light than darkness in my soul. I now know God in a way that I didn’t know Him before I entered my personal valley of sorrow. The two things He used the most to draw me out of my place of desolation, were His Word and an individual who was willing to walk with me on an emotional and spiritual level.

You see, God never wastes a thing in our life. He never brings or allows pain or disappointment just for the sake of discomfort. His process and purposes are well thought out and carried out. As I have learned to cooperate with Him and trust Him, I have seen Him move in ways I never thought possible. I marvel over Him and delight in Him!

Father, I am seeing the first glimpses of inner peace that can only be found in You. You saw my sadness and distrust and yet that did not stop You from leading me to and through the valley. What a faithful God You are!

What A Faithful God - Robert Critchley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLEgyKpzyUw&feature=related

I welcome your questions and comments to any devotional thoughts. I am honored and delighted to share my journey with you and privileged to hear of yours.

When Someone is Running

The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. Jonah 1:4 (New American Standard Bible)

There are times when God will go to great measures to come against our places of comfort, security, or escape. Jonah was in such a place and God’s intervention was evident. In some ways, he reminds me of the prodigal son from the book of Luke. While the father let him go and waited for life to become uncomfortable enough to bring him back home, God was still at work in the background to bring about that change of direction.

Maybe there is someone reading this devotional right now and you have a loved one who is living the life of a Jonah. They are running as fast and as far as they can from what God wants for them. You may be praying for their salvation or you may be praying for their return. As hard as it may be to watch what they are doing to themselves (and possibly to others in their life) be aware God can still control the situations of their life. God is still in the business of bringing about personal famines or storms to redirect their thinking, their steps, and their lives.

So what does a person do in the case of someone they know who is running? First of all, if they are an adult, let them go. Teens and children are still under our care and responsibility. But for an adult, let them go. It will be in the midst of their wandering that God will be able to begin His work. Secondly, pray for God’s intervention in their life. God may use health, He may use finances, He may use discomfort, He may use loss, or any number of other methods that bring about effective change. If someone keeps stepping in and rescuing them, the process gets interrupted and prolonged. God knows what to use to get their attention. The control they think they possess over their life will be challenged by the One who really is in control. Consequences for personal choices really are beneficial. Thirdly, use this time to reevaluate your own life. What are the areas God wishes to redirect in you? God can multi-task very well. As He shows you areas to change, cooperate with Him. And finally, wait! Things may happen quickly or it may take years. Trust that whatever God is doing it is out of a heart of love for you as well as for your loved one.

Father, many hearts this morning ache over the choices loved ones are making. May they know that Your heart aches as well. Give them wisdom to trust You to intervene for their ‘Jonah.’ Amen.

God Will Make a Way - Don Moen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hOjYR8UZT8&NR=1

I welcome your questions and comments to any devotional thoughts. I am honored and delighted to share my journey with you and privileged to hear of yours.