God and Others

And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. Philippians 1:25,26 (New King James Version)

There are times we set limits on ourselves that God never intended for us to set. Times when we attempt to do without the very things God purposes for us to embrace. Scripture is meant to be a pattern for us. It shows us truths we can digest and upon which we can live. I am in need of balanced truth this morning and Paul’s words to the Philippians are becoming my personal instructions. They are addressing an issue with which I am still wrestling. I stated it to a friend in an email just yesterday morning and it is this….finding the balance between going to people and going to God. My “all or nothing” mentality still rules much of my ideas, responses, and actions.

God knows each reason I hesitate to allow others to be a part of my progress and joy of faith. He knows where the skewed thinking is embedded. He knows where truth has been replaced by lies and how those lies seem like the truth. And He knows when I am keeping at arms length the very ones He has given me as gifts of encouragement. Somewhere along the line, rejoicing in others became idolatry. Asking for help became a dependency issue. Receiving instruction became wrong.

Then I come across Paul’s words to fellow believers and I see him connecting himself with their spiritual growth and journeys. He sees himself as a necessary part of their Christian lives. It is at this point that God once again encourages me to take down the “no trespassing” signs over relationships and learn to allow others to be what God intended them to be for me and me for them. I heard a speaker once say that “people are meant to be the icing and not the cake” and God sees the times I attempt to live with an uniced cake!

I want to reacquaint myself with the joy of fellowship. I want to joy in others and see them as “permissible” in my life. While my journey continues to be about learning the truth about God, He wants me to also learn the truth about others. He knows my fears and apprehensions. He knows how I distrust my own heart. He also knows how He will bring me to the point of healing and wholeness.


Father, help me to get it! Help me to see what others already grasp. Help me to reach out my hands and receive the gifts of friendship YOU are offering me. Amen.

Thank You - Ray Boltz
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UFrdJ2V3r7Y&feature=related

He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. Job 36:16

His Unremovable Love

"For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,“ says the LORD who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10 (New American Standard Bible)

My present journey began in the spring of 2004 with the realization that God’s love was not dependent upon what I was doing. That journey continues with precious, continual reminders that His love will never be removed regardless of my attitudes, actions, and weaknesses. The security of that truth wraps itself around my spirit on an ongoing basis. I thrive under it, I revel in it, I rejoice over it, and I remain awe struck by it! As God pours out His love, peace, and compassion on me, I am changed.

This morning an “even then” list is formulating in my mind and it is having a powerful effect on me. When I fail Him, even then His love remains. When I live out of my flesh instead of my spirit, even then His love remains. When I look to others to give me what only God can give me, even then His love remains. When I give in to the things He desires to free me of, even then His love remains. When I react and respond to others in a non Christlike manner, even then His love remains. When I place my wishes and will above His own, even then His love remains. When I attempt to walk in my own strength and ability, even then His love remains. When I allow something or someone to take precedence over Him, even then His love remains. When negativity marks my mind and my mouth, even then His love remains. When I hold on to that which He asks to be released, even then His love remains. When I fear circumstances more than I trust His ability to carry me, even then His love remains.

It is not a sentimental, stoic, abstract kind of love either. It is a love that will intervene, correct, discipline, and instruct. It is a love that sings over me and under girds me. It is a love that wants the best for me and will not allow anything to come into my life without passing through His own hands and heart first. It is a love that will introduce and remove all the things necessary for my growth and His glory. It is a love that remains and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

God is the only One who patterns this kind of love. Some individuals give me glimpses of it but only He can display it on a never ending basis. Only He can put traces of it into my own heart. Therefore, I look to Him and follow.

Father, I spent decades misunderstanding Your love for me. Thank you for the clarity and consistency of that love. May I live out the rest of my days marveling over You and Your ways . Amen.

Love That Won't Walk Away - Kathy Troccoli
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6uQGr4fa2Z0

If what you are reading is touching your spirit and increasing your thirst for God then you are one of the reasons I write these devotionals. I want to extend a personal invitation to you to join my email devotional family and allow me to send them to you directly! Simply send an email to shattuck7@sbcglobal.net and request to be added to my devotional list. It would be my honor and privilege to do so.

A Powerful Cord

For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Philippians 1:19,20 (New American Standard Bible)

Ecclesiastes 4:12 says that a threefold cord is not quickly broken. I am seeing one of those “cords” in the words of Paul this morning. He is standing in confidence of having such strength. He is staking his very deliverance upon it. And what is Paul’s cord of three strands? The prayers of others, the provision of the Holy Spirit, and his personal expectation and hope of the answered prayers and working of that Spirit. How God desires for each of us to see the necessity and benefit of enlisting the prayers of others along side the work of His Spirit in our given situations. How He must delight to see our anticipation in what will come of it!

I am learning the power of prayers made on my behalf. A few weeks ago, in a study group, we were sharing prayer requests. For once, I felt an urge to share openly with the group a personal need of deliverance I had. I was struggling with the wrong perceptions of others and asked the women to pray that I would have victory in that area. Pray they did and those prayers were affective as the Holy Spirit worked in me.

An email from a friend last night included her requests for prayer in areas of her life. At the close, she asked how she could pray for me. A list spilled out of me! Specific requests. I have every confidence that she will in fact pray for me as I have already prayed for her this morning. I know the Spirit will work in both our situations.

God is developing in me the ability to not only request prayer but to stand in expectancy and hope of the answers to those prayers. As others pray for me and as I pray for others, God is working! My ears are beginning to perk up when someone tells me they have been praying for me. I am touched beyond words because I am now seeing the significance of that. Only Heaven will fully reveal the many who were part of a threefold cord of prayer in our life. I thank God for each of them this morning and I am asking Him to help me to be that more profoundly for others. For truly, “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availed much” (James 5:16).

Father, I have often failed to see the power and privilege of prayer. Thank you for the ones who have modeled it for me. Instill within me a passion for prayer and a delight for seeing those prayers answered! Amen.

Spirit Song MV - Maranatha Singers (sung by Evie)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KqkvIhs7Ijg

He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. Job 36:16

Not Allowed to Stay

But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me. Ruth 1:16-17 (New American Standard Bible)

God knows, if given the chance, I would have spoken these words to every significant person He ever brought into my life. I wanted each relationship to last a life time! Unlike Ruth though, I was never allowed to continue to stay with or follow my ‘Naomi’ persons. Due to moves and changes, I usually saw the separations as necessary and a part of life. Before long a new person came along and I would thrive in the new relationship.

A year and a half ago, the scene had changed dramatically. There came a time when I was urged (forced) to leave the care of a person I highly respected and upon whom I greatly depended. No more following, no more interacting with, no more counsel, no more support. My desire to stay was not granted and the relationship was promptly put to death! It took awhile for me to come to see the necessity and truth in all of it. I had to go through a season of grief and tears but in time God slowly opened my eyes to His purposes, desires, and hand.

I thought the ending of this relationship would lead to other ones, but I have become aware of something my Father is intentionally doing that He has never done before in my life. He is limiting my access to significant people and He is doing it out of a heart of love for me. While I still have people involved in my life, God is blocking my ability to derive from them what I have always sought in relationships……security, significance, attention, availability, and affirmation. The time I spend with them and the questions I bring to them is limited and the reason is clear to me now.

God’s intent is that I learn to walk out the truths He has spent decades teaching me. To learn to live each day in dependence upon Him and in connection with Him. He wants me to see and hear things for myself and thus gain the spiritual muscles needed to have a walk and life of faith in Him. I have strained at it (and still do at times) but I am coming to a place of accepting it as a good gift from His hands. He knows there is strength and wisdom I will never possess until I am willing to walk most of the time alone with Him. What I have seen in others and desired for myself comes only by a solitary journey of two….my Father and me. I finally agree.


Father, this life lesson has not come easily or without tears. What I have fought so hard against, I now embrace and accept. Things will never be the same and I see now that is a good thing. Amen.


Kathy Troccoli sings "My Life Is In Your Hands"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlmYxZAgrGI

He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.

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