Devotional Studies Through the Bible

>My Life for His

>

I myself will be surety for him;
you may hold me responsible for him.
If I do not bring him back to you
and set him before you,
then let me bear the blame before you forever.
Genesis 43:9
 
The brothers returned home. They shared with their father that the only way they could get more grain and retrieve their brother Simeon was to return toEgyptwith Benjamin.
 
Jacob would not hear of his only living son of Rachel being taken toEgypt. Reuben offered his sons as a pledge, but Reuben’s words brought no comfort to his father.
 
The day came when they had no choice but to travel back to Egyptto get more grain, and the brothers knew that they would receive nothing without Benjamin. Judahlooked at Jacob, and he did not offer his son’s life, but he offered his own. We read in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” I believe Jacob looked intoJudah’s eyes, and he saw that he could trustJudah with his precious Benjamin.
 
Judahknew of Jacob’s pain, and he understood Jacob’s love, having already lost two sons himself. Here we seeJudahact as the redeemer for his brothers. Here, for the first time, we can begin to see the picture of Christ rising up inJudah, the son of Jacob.
 
Jacob knew the promise of God. He knew that he was in covenant with God. He knew that this covenant would carry through one of his sons. What he did not know was which son it would be. I wonder, as Jacob watched his eleven remaining sons ride off toward Egypt, if he was reminded of his grandfather Abraham and his father, Isaac, and the time when God said, “Take your son whom you love and offer him as a sacrifice to Me.”
 
As I read this, my imagination takes me to the heavens.
Can you see the conversation in heaven, between the Holy Trinity, as God the Son looks at God the Father, and says, “I will go and lay down my life for them, as You love them I love them, as You created them, I created them”…
Jesus said in John 10:15, “Even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father and I lay down My life for the sheep.” If we could ever fully grasp the love our Creator has for us, we would never doubt Him.
 
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God”
(1 John 3:1).
 
Oh Father,
 
That I might trust in You and in the promises of Your Word. That I would live each day letting go and giving You my all. Oh Father, that I would come to You with open hands, an open heart, and an open mind, ready and willing to do your will. That I would walk in obedience to Your voice, trusting in Your sovereignty. Oh Father, why You love me, I’ll never understand. I am not worthy of Your love, have done nothing to deserve or earn it, yet You love me. My Jesus, thank You for the life that You laid down that I might be raised in new life. I am a willful and thankful debtor to You, my Redeemer.
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,
Amen.
Confessions of a Christian Wife

>Take Courage

>I think anybody who has ever undertaken a work for the cause of Christ has felt that kind of discouragement: the sense that you work and work and the product seems so paltry. You pour yourself into a thing week after week and month after month and the fruit is so minimal. Then you look back in history or across town and see the grand achievement of others, and your temple seems so trivial. And you get discouraged and are tempted to quit and put away your aspirations and drop your dreams and put your feet up in front of the television and coast. Who wants to devote his life to a second-rate temple?
~ John Piper

There is a principle here that applies to you and me: God takes small, imperfect things and builds them into a habitation for his glory. O, how we should take courage in our little spheres of influence! And is this not the message of Advent and Christmas? What more appropriate word could God have said to Mary as Jesus was growing up: Take courage, young mother, you build more than you see. And so it is with every one of us. Nothing you do is a trifle if you do it in the name of God. He will shake heaven and earth to fill your labor with splendor. Take courage, you build more than you see. ~ John Piper

These are a couple of quotes that grabbed my heart as I read Take Courage by John Piper.

I don’t know about you, but as a wife and mother and servant of Christ and His church, I often find myself doubting my significance in this big ole world. I wonder if the sacrifices I make, the efforts I put forth, will ever show fruit or be of any use to God or anyone else.

As a mother when I have to repeat and reteach the same things over and over and over and over I wonder if anyone is really even paying attention to anything I say or do. When I read how the mom over there has managed to get their kids to music lessons, science fairs, dance lessons, sport activities, and they field trip once a week and the child is stylin’ and profilin’ in the latest Justice apparel with a feather in her perfectly styled hair after eating her four star breakfast, lunch, and dinner and mom has still managed to get them in bed by 8pm with a bed time story to boot…
I wonder am I getting anything right?

As a wife when I read how this wife over there is up at 4am showered and dressed and made-up and donning her newest outfit with heels to fix her honey his breakfast and give him the June Cleaver kiss on the cheek and wave as he goes off to the office and turns back into the house and her dress spins and poofily swirls about her as she skips into the house to grab her feather duster and float through the house removing all the grime of life…and never, ever, ever does she loose her temper… and well supper is always on the table at the exact right time, and never burned… and its been planned out all week, and the underwear is always clean and in the drawer, and never does anyone yell wet and naked from the bathroom, “Are there any clean towels?!?”
I wonder am I getting anything right?

As a servant of Christ and His church and I hear how so and so has this many who come to class and this ministry has exploded and I watch the church down the road grow and grow and I know what God has to offer through the servants and ministries of my local church and I wonder why people leave or don’t come or don’t serve or don’t shout with praise over and in the Word and why you just can’t seem to make them happy no matter what you do or change…
I wonder am I getting anything right?

Then I have my little one’s come running up and grab me and tell me that I am the bestest Momma ever!!! They think I am marvelous, even though it’s one sport at a time with a break in between, hand me-down clothes most of the time, frozen waffles or cereal for breakfast, and yes I will yell after the second time I have repeated myself…

Then I have my husband lift my chin and look me in the eyes and tell me that he loves me, and when I am complaining about how I feel as though nothing is ever accomplished, he looks at me and says, “I see when the sink is empty, I notice when the laundry is all done.” It’s absolutely crazy how much that means, that to know that he notices, that he saw, made it an accomplishment. But maybe it’s not so crazy after all…

Then I get the random text from someone whose life I have poured into and they ask me to pray or are just needing to vent or are excited because they have just gotten involved with a certain ministry or area of service and just wanted to share it with me, or when a precious one I taught in VBS comes running up to me and wraps thier little arms around me and says “Hello Mrs Nicole!” then all the hours, frustrations, prayers… they’re worth it… always worth it.

I have realized that when I look at others all I see is what they want to show. I don’t always glimpse the behind the scenes. I have learned that we all have our issues, and what’s even crazier is that I have learned that there are others who are looking at me and thinking the very same things that I think when I look at them… no matter how perfect things and people may look from the outside, we all have our issues…

However, we are all here for a purpose, even with our issues, and we are here in this time around this group of people for a reason beyond our own comprehension and understanding.

You are not here by chance but by God’s choosing. His hand formed you and made you the person you are. He compares you to no one else. You are one of a kind. You lack nothing that His grace can’t give you. He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation. It is encouraging to know that we do not have to be perfect to be memorable and to be used by Him. Perfection is over-rated.
~ (from my birthday card from Precept)

So keep building that temple, for it’s His and for Him…
Keep putting forth those efforts, keep pouring out your heart, keep serving, for you build more than you can see.

But as for you, brethren,
do not grow weary of doing good.
2 Thessalonians 3:13

Your weaknesses.
Your failures.
Your struggles.
Your seemingly unnoticed efforts.
Your thought insignificance.

Lay your measuring cups and spoons aside.
Stop comparing your Monet to Michelangelo.
Live purposefully and intentionally and obediently to your calling in your sphere of influence in this day and know that the Grand Weaver is at work… 

I do all things for the sake of the gospel,
so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
1 Corinthians 9:23

Take courage you build more than you see.
You sphere of influence reaches further than you realize.
Your temple is more beautiful than you know.

As a matter of fact, I would bet that as you sigh and look across the way and admire the temple of another and consider yours so small and second rate compared to theirs, if you were to turn around there would be one behind you doing the same as they compare their temple to yours and then if you could walk across the way and speak to the one you are admiring you would most likely find them staring across the way…

That’s why God says 

 
For we are not bold to class
or compare ourselves with some of those
who commend themselves;
but when they measure themselves by themselves
and compare themselves with themselves,
they are without understanding.
2 Corinthians 10:12
Let us stop comparing our work with each other and let us only look to see if our Bridegroom, has noticed… if He has lifted your chin and told you that He loves you and lets you know that yes He has seen… 
Because when it is for Him, for His house, for His children, even if it is simply a momentary empty sink or empty laundry basket… or frozen waffles and hand-me-down clothes… or a Sunday school class or prayer meeting that only two or three attend…
 
If your Bridegroom has noticed (and if it is for Him, in Him, through Him, and to Him… He will) then it is always an accomplishment.  
 
The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home,
Filling it with love and prayer and purity,
Is doing something better than anything else
Her hands could find to do beneath the skies.
~ J.R. Miller
Devotional Studies Through the Bible

>Stop Hiding

>

By this you will be tested …
that your words may be tested,
whether there is truth in you.
Genesis 42:15–16
 
Joseph questions his brothers as they stand before him. He accuses them of being spies, and this leads them into explaining who they are and where they came from. Joseph could not see his brothers’ hearts, but he could see that they were lying about him and to him.
 
Joseph’s deepest concern here was the condition of his little brother Benjamin. I am sure he was afraid that Benjamin was now the hated one. In order for Joseph to discover the truth about the safety of his little brother, he placed a test before them that would bring Benjamin toEgypt.
 
Jesus told us that we would be known by our fruit (Matthew 7:16–20). Joseph would know the truth of his brothers’ words by the produced “fruit” of Benjamin. I am sure he did not know that the test he would lay before them would trigger the guilt of their sin.
 
In this test, the brothers immediately went to the memory of what they had done to Joseph so many years before. Joseph’s brothers argue before him in Hebrew; they do not know that Joseph understands. They do not know it is Joseph. Joseph is so overwhelmed that he has to turn away from them and weep.
 
I wonder, had the brothers turned to Joseph at that moment and confessed their sin before this man that they did not know was Joseph, would he have revealed himself to them then? I believe he just might have.
 
In Matthew 15:8, Jesus quoted the Prophet Isaiah: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.” God is omniscient. He knows our hearts and our innermost thoughts. He doesn’t need to test us to see if we speak truth. We, on the other hand, need him to test us so that we can see for ourselves if we speak truth.
 
As the saying goes, “talk is cheap.” It is easy to speak words; it is harder to actually back those words with action. We may say one thing, but through trials and testing, we and others may discover that we did not mean what we said. James 1:2 tells us to consider it all joy when we go through various trials, knowing that through endurance by the testing of our faith we might be made complete and perfect.
 
Joseph’s brothers stood before this man who was ruler over them, and though they were attempting to honor him with their lips, they were lying through their teeth. They were trying to make themselves better men than what they were by hiding their sin from him.
 
Precious one, are you trying to hide your sin?
 
Do we not do this before God?
Do we not come to Him on Sunday and sing a beautiful song and hope that if our words are sweet enough He will just look over what is hidden in our hearts?
 
When struggles come in your life, do you see them as some type of punishment for a past sin?
 
My friend, it is not punishment. It is simply God’s way of encouraging you to come to Him. He wants you to be free, to be perfect and complete before Him.
 
Do you know that Jesus said that whoever commits sin is the slave of sin (John 8:34)? Do you know that not confronting and confessing your sin keeps you in bondage to that sin? Do you know that Jesus said that it is the truth that sets you free (John 8:32)?
 
My friend, do you know that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1)?
 
Oh, precious one, don’t hold on to your sin; “confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). God built His church that we might edify one another and hold one another accountable. Find someone you can trust and lay aside whatever sin, past or present, that is entangling you (Hebrews 12:1). Draw near with confidence before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) and let the truth (John 14:6) set you free.
 
Oh Father,
 
How many times did You weep for me as You stood before me, right in front of me, and yet I did not see? How many times were You waiting patiently for me to turn to You and confess my sin, to confess my guilt against You? Many years I carried guilt and shame because of my sin against You and others, and all along You were there waiting for me to come to You. You were there, hearing my cries, watching my tears, as I turned to everyone and everything but You. Oh Father, thank You for Your patience. Thank You for never turning a deaf ear to Godly sorrow, to true repentance, to a cry of forgiveness from a broken and contrite heart. Thank You, my Father, for never giving up on me.
 
My Jesus, it’s in Your name I pray,
Amen.
Proven Path Ministries

>Healing

>This morning I will be teaching on the gifts of healings, miracles, and discernment.

and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 
1 Corinthians 12:9-10
 
My heart this morning in this post is to share what I have learned from the Scriptures concerning healings.
First of all, does God heal?
Yes!
He most absolutely and positively does.
 
However, my heart breaks from one particular thought or belief or teaching that permeates through christendom. This teaching that the stripes of my Savior were meant to heal me of every physical ailment and that God is obligated to heal me here on earth simply because I claim it.I can’t claim what is not mine to claim. You see this life is no longer mine in Christ. He bought it at a price, a very high price. My life is His to do with as He pleases. I have no claim on it any longer. I don’t want claim on it. This life that I live now in this flesh I live by faith in Christ, for I died, and I live only in and through Him.

Let us look at the root of this teaching that so concerns me. We find it rooted in the interpretation of a passage found in Isaiah 53.

 
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
Isaiah 53:4-5
 
Precious one, let us let Scripture interpret Scripture:
 
When evening came,
they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed;
and He cast out the spirits with a word,
and healed all who were ill. 
This was to fulfill what was spoken
through Isaiah the prophet:
“HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES
AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES.”
Matthew 8:16-17
 
and He Himself bore our sins
in His body on the cross,
so that we might die to sin
and live to righteousness;
for by His wounds you were healed. 
For you were continually straying like sheep,
but now you have returned to the Shepherd
and Guardian of your souls.
1 Peter 2:24-25
 
The healings that Christ performed were to confirm His Diety. It was to confirm that He was indeed the Promised Seed, the Christ! They were to fulfill the Scriptures. The sickness that His wounds healed was our sin sickness. By His stripes we were healed of the leprous gangrene of sin. This terminal illness of sin is the one that we were promised deliverance from on and by that cross.
 
When we enter glory then we will be delivered from every affliction of this flesh… but until then:
 
strengthening the souls of the disciples,
encouraging them to continue in the faith,
and saying,
“Through many tribulations
we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Acts 14:22
 
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren,
as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged,
and the love of each one of you
toward one another grows ever greater; 
therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you
among the churches of God
for your perseverance and faith
in the midst of all your persecutions
and afflictions which you endure. 
This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment
so that you will be considered worthy
of the kingdom of God,
for which indeed you are suffering.
2 Thessalonians 1:3-5
 
For you have been called for this purpose,
since Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example
for you to follow in His steps
1 Peter 2:21
 
Can you praise God in your suffering?
Do you give more glory to God and praise Him more when he cures cancer or when He cures a sin sick to the point of dead heart?
Should we as the church give more credit over a deliverance from earthly pain than a deliverance from eternal hell?
Should we credit the stripes that our Savior bore to something as limited as earthly comfort? 
 
I am sorry but I have yet to find where God has promised me a life of wealth and comfort free from suffering, pain, illnesses, hurt, struggles, etc because of the cross.
No, what I read is that I am to take up my cross,
whatever that cross might be.
I am to walk by faith through whatever trials and toils that come my way and 
 
  “Though He slay me,
I will hope in Him. 
Job 13:15

Because this is truth.
Every suffering I go through God will use for His glory.
Nothing will be in vain.
I will look for His glory in suffering.
I will pray for mercy and ask for healing, but if that request is denied, I will know it was for God’s greater glory. His grander will. His eternal purpose. And I will praise Him still.

Sometimes the purpose of an illness is in fact to bring us home… and why on earth would you not want to go home if your Father is calling?

When Elisha became sick with the illness
of which he was to die,…
Elisha died, and they buried him
2 Kings 13:14,20
 
Why do we fight death so hard if we have been delivered from its sting through the victorious cross of our Christ? Why had we rather fight to cling to this life then surrender to the will of God for final freedom? Why is not our first response to an illness to ask God if He is finally bringing us home… or if this illness is to serve another purpose?
 
I beg of you, brethren, become as I am,
for I also have become as you are.
You have done me no wrong; 
but you know that it was because of a bodily illness
that I preached the gospel to you the first time; 
and that which was a trial to you
in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe,
but you received me as an angel of God,
as Christ Jesus Himself.
Galatians 4:12-14
 
What?
Paul, who had the power in the name of Jesus to heal others was afflicted with a bodily illness and could not heal himself?
Did Paul lack faith?
Was the stripes of Christ and the wounds of our Saviour insufficient for Paul?
NO!
 
His illness served a greater purpose!
The furtherance of the gospel!
The eternal deliverance from death due to the sickness of sin for all who would believe in God’s only begotten Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ!
Paul’s bodily illness, his eathly discomfort, served a purpose in God’s grander plan.
Greater Glory to God!
 
Was Paul healed from this illness?
 
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,
for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself,
there was given me a thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to torment me—
to keep me from exalting myself!
2 Corinthians 12:7
 
Possibly not…
Did that lessen his faith?
Did this thorn cause him to shake his fist in the face of God and doubt Him?
Did you ever read of Paul saying, In the name of Jesus remove this thorn from me?
 
Greater Glory!
Greater Glory to God!
 
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…
 
And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw,
and He knelt down and began to pray, 
saying,
“Father, if You are willing,
remove this cup from Me;
yet not My will,
but Yours be done.”
Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him,
strengthening Him.
 Luke 22:41-43
 
Are we to pray for healing?
Oh yes, precious one we are!
But when God says no…
Then we trust that He will send us all the help we need to go through whatever we must go through for His will and purpose to be accomplished in and through us.
 
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 
For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD,
OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 
Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM
THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 
For from Him and through Him and to Him
are all things.
To Him be the glory forever.
Amen.
Romans 11:33-36
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
Confessions of a Christian Wife

>Perspective

2 Comments

>WARNING: This post is for the LADIES 🙂

When I was younger… just married… at a mere twenty-two years of age. I was under the strictest conviction that I had to look perfect for my husband to be faithful to me. I thought if I stayed in perfect shape and “pleased” him often enough then he would not cheat on me or desire to cheat on me. So I worked out for hours a day, because I have always leaned on the chunky side being short and short wasted all my weight gathers in the middle…

I would stress over magazine covers and any tv shows and movies that showed half-naked women because I feared that my husband would see that and look at me and be… well… repulsed. I feared every wrinkle, every site of cellulite, every hint of things no longer being where they used to be, if you know what I mean. I feared that my husband would not desire me and would one day move on to bigger, tighter things…

Then like a brick in the head it hit me.

I saw the headlines over and over again where these super models and famous actresses where being cheated on by there husbands. I mean really even here recently… Jennifer Lopez, Sandra Bullock, and well honestly you would think these particular guys would have realized they had “married up”, yet these women, who men all over the world gawk over and dream about where not able to keep there husbands from cheating… 

So what I realized was it must be more…

I realized that either my husband would be faithful to me or he wouldn’t…
He would desire me or he wouldn’t…
He would honor God enough to honor me… or he wouldn’t.

And you know what else I realized.

I realized that when I let down this guard and self-conscienceness that I had about my own appearance and looked at myself through the mirror of my husband’s eyes… I saw that he liked what he saw when he saw me… and he was not comparing me to anyone… I was the one comparing.

Now I want to keep myself as beautiful and appealing to my husband as I can… not to “keep” him, but to simply honor him, and to tell him by doing so that I love him.

As thirty-five quickly approaches me in two short days… I do not fear it like I once did. I still feel like I did when I was twenty-two… even if my body does not agree with me… most of the time… and well when my husband looks at me… I have realized he still sees twenty-one just like I still see that strong, determined, and handsome twenty-nine year old man who made me weak in the knees when I actually got him to talk to me…

Just this evening the headlines popped up about the ‘sexiest women ever’ stuff… my husband looked at me and said, “Well that’s not accurate” and I just looked at him questioningly and he said “They ain’t never seen you. How can they say that’s an accurate list when you haven’t even been considered?”

And yes I melted and blushed and got butterflies as I looked in his eyes and saw that he said this with all sincerity… that’s my man and he loves me 🙂

He said this and he thought of me and then I thought of all the beautiful women I know (that were not considered for that list either) whose husband’s no doubt look at them and think the very same thing…

Oh ladies, look at yourself in the mirror of your husband’s eyes and stop comparing yourself to airbrushed magazine covers and ladies with personal trainers and eight hours to do nothing but workout and eat specially prepared meals by professional dietitians… because guess what… not even all that could keep their men faithful to them… so there must be more.

Find the more.
Find a new perspective.

Do not let the fear of how you see yourself in your mirror keep you from “letting go”. See yourself in the mirror of your husband’s eyes and let go…

Devotional Studies Through the Bible

>Now I See

>

But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.
Genesis 42:8
 
In the previous devotion we discussed how Joseph’s brothers’ ignorance in recognizing who he would be allowed him to become who he is now, second in power over all of Egypt. We learned how their sin against him was used by God to save them and the world. Now their sin once again keeps them from recognizing him, even when he stands right in front of them.
 
Joseph had power over his brothers not just because of the authority of the position he held, but also because of the advantage he held in the knowledge that his brothers would only recognize him if he chose to reveal himself to them. The whens, wheres, and hows were all completely in Joseph’s control.
 
For you see, Joseph’s brothers could not recognize him because they were not looking for him. If they had been searching for him with all their heart, they would have recognized him immediately.
 
You see, the brothers were not looking for Joseph because to find Joseph would mean they would be faced with the guilt of their sin, and this guilt they wanted to keep hidden.
 
When I read this verse in Genesis and this part of Joseph’s life, I am reminded of Luke 24:15–14: “While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.” When Peter made his confession in Matthew 16:16, Jesus replied, “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
 
We are so blinded by our own sin and by the god of this world, Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) that we cannot and could not see God if He did not reveal Himself to us. We would not even know to look for Him if He did not call out for us. To find Him means we must come face-to-face with our sin against Him. We, like the brothers, want to keep this sin hidden.
 
God, in His great mercy and grace, reveals Himself to us through His creation (Psalm 19:1–6), through His Word (Psalm 19:7–13), and through Jesus Christ (Psalm 19:14). God has never left us without a witness or without signs declaring that He exists and He is God. Psalm 65:8 says, “They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs.”
 
It doesn’t matter where we are or who we are, God has revealed Himself openly, outwardly, and publicly to all men. Not only this, but God calls us each individually through His gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:22–32).
 
Oh, how He loves us! We think we need to hide our sin. We think as long as it is hidden then no consequences will come. However, He knows that this sin, which we think is well hidden, is killing us. He has provided the cure for this disease that ends in death. He has opened the door, has a free clinic (Revelation 22:17); all we have to do is believe and receive.
 
Oh Father,
 
I love You! Thank You for revealing Yourself to me. Thank You for seeking me and choosing me. Thank You for opening my eyes to the depth of my sin against You through Your Word, through Your law. Thank You for providing the way by which I and any who would come can be saved. You are worthy of all my praise. All glory belongs to You! My Jesus, I worship You, the Author and Finisher of my faith. You are my Lord and my God. You are my Rock and Redeemer. You are He who cleansed me of all unrighteousness and clothed me in Your own. You revealed Yourself to me, and You called me by name. I once was blind, but oh, now I see! All praise to You, my King.
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,
Amen.
Confessions of a Christian Wife

>Breaks My Heart

2 Comments

>

This young lady has an absolutely amazing voice. My husband and I had just been discussing how strong of a little girl she appeared to be as we watched her. Yet her strength crumbled when she thinks she has lost her dream. The fact that she was eliminated is not what broke my heart. It’s a competition. Only one can win. Elimination is a possibility with each of them.

What broke my heart were her personal comments to the audience.
Her plea to the people.
This: “thank you for giving me this because without you I am nothing”

Oh my that hits me like a brick in the pit of my stomach when it comes from an adult but those words out of a young girl… yes it breaks my heart. I just want to run up there and cup her face in my hand and look through her eyes into her very soul and tell her that she cannot put her identity and hope and worth in the hands of fickle man. She is something to God and without Christ she is nothing. I want to tell her, oh precious child put your hope in God, put your faith in Christ- not your talent, not the praise of the people, not the hands of four people called judges for a tv show. 

In one of email devos this morning I read this quote:
One definition of “faith” is: Forsaking All, I Trust Him.
When we lose our faith in Jesus, instead of clinging to
God we find ourselves grasping for the things of the
world. Life is reduced to merely the physical world. So
we miss out on opportunities to experience the vitality of
a living relationship with God, which comes only by faith
(Hebrews 11:6).
~ Poh Fang Chia

The last thing I ever want as a parent, is to point my children to defining their worth according to the praise of people. I don’t want them to live for the next trophy, for the next award, for the next headline… just to be the best in the eyes of man and get something to stick on a shelf…

Yes I want my girls to have dreams, but I want there dreams to be in line with the will of God and His purpose for them, not their own personal ambition.

When tucking my Bekah in bed tonight she said, “Momma, I don’t know if Jesus wants me to be a vet or a doctor.”  She didn’t know what JESUS wanted her to be. It wasn’t a concern about who she wanted to be, but who HE wanted her to be.

Oh how I pray that truly that desire for His future, His plan, His way, is deeply ingrained in her heart so that she never stares into a camera and tells a sea of anonymous faces that she is nothing without them and their praise…

That no matter what this life brings in its ups and downs- and twists and turns- and highs and lows- and successes and failures- that she will know in the depth of her being that she is indeed nothing without Christ, but to Him- and in Him- and through Him- and with Him she is something, she is HIS and her life is for HIM and for HIS glory.

That is the desire of this mother’s heart for all my girls!
That is the desire of this woman’s heart for every child of God that I am able to have the opportunity to minister to in any way… let not this world define your identity or your worth.
Die to this world.
And live to Christ!

Oh how I hope against hope that this cry from little Rachel was a young child’s slip of the tongue in an emotional and distraught state and what she truly meant to say was to thank God and give her praise and love to Christ for this opportunity and that without Him she was nothing…

Until then I lift her up before the throne of grace and pray that Christ would capture her heart before it is devoured and twisted and darkened by the savage wolves that desire to rape her of her talent and gift to simply build their own kingdoms and enlarge their own storehouses and fatten their own pockets and then leave her standing alone on a dark stage an empty shell of a woman with a void that she has realized that no amount of money, praise, fame, power, drug, drink, or boy can fill.

May she be caught up in the grace of God.

Names of God Series

Names of God – El Olam

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It’s time for another post in our Names of God series!

So far we have studied four of the names of God revealed to us in His Word.
We have seen how God is Creator God in the name Elohim.
We have seen how God is the Most High in the name El Elyon.
We have seen how God is the God who sees in the name El Roi.
We have also seen how our God is our all-sufficient Almighty God in the name El Shaddai.

Today we will learn about even more about our God as we dig into the name El Olam.

We first see this name of God in Genesis.

 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba,
and there he called on the name of the LORD,
the Everlasting God.

Genesis 21:33

Let us take a close and detailed look at this name of God revealed to us by Abraham in Beersheba. Everlasting God is El Olam in Hebrew— El meaning “strength, mighty,” especially the almighty; Olam meaning “eternity, always, ancient, everlasting, perpetual, beginning of the world, and without end.”

The Lord the God of eternal strength.
The God who is always mighty.
The God who is perpetually powerful.
The one who is the great, mighty one from the beginning of the world and is without end.

“Before the mountains were born
or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting,
You are God”
Psalm 90:2

In Daniel we read how our Everlasting God, El Olam, is called the Ancient of the Days.

“I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;

Daniel 7:9

In Revelation we read how He is the Alpha and the Omega

 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”
says the Lord God,
“who is and who was and who is to come,
the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8

and  how He is the first and the last

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.
And He placed His right hand on me, saying,
“Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
Revelation 1:17

In the book of John we read how He is before all things

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. 
He was in the beginning with God. 
All things came into being through Him,
and apart from Him nothing came into being
that has come into being.
John 1:1-3

Oh precious one, are you shouting yet?

Is your chest filled with a hope that lifts up your spirit within you and makes you stand a little a taller, a little straighter, with your shoulders a little stronger as you remember who your God is? He is our perpetual power, our eternal strength. He is always mighty. There is no situation or circumstance in all of history, in our current present, or in days future that He is not in total and complete control of and more powerful than. He is the Everlasting God!

We read in Genesis that when Abraham called on this name of God he planted a tamarisk tree. This tamarisk tree is an evergreen.

These trees grow tall, and they are strong. They are able to tolerate conditions that destroy other trees. Their roots are able to reach deep into the soil and bring up the salt and water that is needed to sustain its life. By doing this, it is able to eliminate the competition of other plants in its area. This tree is spread from one place to another by cuttings.

When you receive Christ as your Savior you are cut out. You are made separate from the world, possibly even from family and friends. So why has God not also removed you from all your problems? Why has He not destroyed all these false gods and false teachers around you? Why do you still face all these temptations of life?

God cut Abraham from his home and from his family. He also cut him from the false gods he worshiped. He, however, did not remove Abraham from the world or blind him to the temptations of this world. God did not have to because He knew that the deep-rooted life that He would give Abraham would destroy all competition of all other gods and any temptation he might face.

Oh precious one, He wants you to see that He is greater! He will outlive all this temporary crap! He is what lasts! He is forever and ever and ever and ever and ever!

Blessed be the LORD,
the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
Psalm 41:13
Devotional Studies Through the Bible

>Suffering Saves

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Behold, I have heard
that there is grain in Egypt;
go down there
and buy some for us from that place,
so that we may live and not die.
Genesis 42:2
 
Jacob and his eleven sons and their families need food in this famine. Jacob sends his sons—all but Benjamin— toEgypt. Oh, what a surprise it will be when they learn that the very one they wanted to rid themselves of is the only one who can give them life.
 
My friend, what a surprise it will be when those descendants of Israelwho have so wanted to get rid of Jesus discover that the very Jesus they have been trying to rid themselves of is the only One who can save them. In Acts 2:36 we read, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
 
Paul explains to us in Romans 11 that God has placed a partial hardening over His people so that the nation does not recognize Jesus for who He truly is, but the day is coming when the hardening will be removed. Then all ofIsrael will be saved.
 
They will recognize Him and they will worship Him. They will mourn when this realization hits, but still they will praise Jesus as the Messiah. They will know Him as Lord and King.
 
As Jacob said, “Behold, I have heard there is grain in Egypt,” Israel will say, “Behold, I have heard that there is life in Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). They will say, we have heard that He is the true bread that comes down out of heaven and whoever eats this bread lives forever (John 6).
 
In Zechariah 12:10 we read, “They will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him.” We can read on in Zechariah 13:6 that “one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then He will say, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”
 
Yes, Jesus was wounded by those who once claimed to love Him. He was not turned over to the cross by the Gentiles but by His own people. Yet it was for God’s purpose. Had the nation ofIsraelrecognized Jesus for who He truly was, then they would never have sent Him to the cross, and it is only by the cross of Christ that we may all be saved, Jew and Gentile.
 
If Joseph’s brothers had recognized him for who he was going to be, then they would not have sold him as a slave. Yet by the suffering Joseph received from his brothers, he was not only able to give them life, but he was able to give life to the world.
 
So are we to hate Joseph’s brothers for their ignorance?
 
Joseph, the one they sinned against, did not hate them. Joseph saw the big picture. He knew that God was in control, even when he didn’t completely understand. Joseph never stopped loving his brothers.
 
My friend, Jesus does not hate those who put Him on the cross. He has never stopped loving them. It was His great love for them, for us, that led Him to that cross and held Him to that cross. Sin was what threw Joseph in that pit. Sin was what sold him as a slave, and it was sin that sent him to prison. The same is true of the cross. Sin—mine, yours, and the world’s—sent Jesus to the cross.
 
Oh, precious one, do you hear?
Do you hear that He provides for His own in ways that we cannot even fathom?
 
Have you heard that the nation of Israelwould have perished before the nation could have ever begun had it not been for her God, who sent Joseph ahead of her to Egypt, and not just Israel, but the nations of the world? Here we are, and here is the whole world dying in our sins, yet there is a way. Have you heard there is the way (John 14:6)?
 
Oh yes, Jesus is the way!
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
 
Oh Father,
 
I hear that Christ died for my sins, according to the Scriptures. I hear that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. I hear that He appeared to many (1 Corinthians 15:1–6). Oh Father, I hear and I believe! This gospel, this good news, that was promised beforehand through Your prophets and in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:2), this truth so displayed through the book of Genesis and in the life of Joseph, oh Father, I believe. My Jesus, I believe that You are God and You are my Savior. I love You and I thank You.
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,
Amen.
Proven Path Ministries

>Got Grace?

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“That’s it, Job! It’s your arrogance!” Eliphaz backs away and stares at him with that glare, saying, again, “You are getting exactly what you deserve!”
The style of communication Eliphaz employs is not that unusual to those who lack grace. It may not always be this brutal, but haven’t you noticed this tone when you’re around people who evidence no grace?
When you’re down, they kick you.
When you’re drowning, they pull you under.
When you’re confused, they complicate your life.
And when you’re almost finished, they write you off.
Other than that, they’re pretty good folks.
~ Swindoll
 
One thing that I have learned in this walk with Christ, is that the two best places to learn how to love your enemy is in your family and in your church. It also is the two best places to learn how to give and receive grace. 
 
You see I have met Eliphaz.
I have even looked at Eliphaz in the mirror staring back at me with stubborn defiance.
 
I have learned that the hardest time to give grace comes when it is to be appropriated to someone I know should know better… to someone I have helped over and over… to someone I have loved hard and long.
 
If we remember the context, this Eliphaz was Job’s friend. He was close enough to him that he felt he needed to be there for him physically. He was the friend who was close enough to show up. Yet, his words brought Job no comfort… because they came without grace.
Yes I know Eliphaz. I have met him. I have been him.
 
I remember when I first became wholly surrendered I began studying the Word like crazy and I still study it like crazy… would love nothing more than to just sit and study the Word and write about the Word and teach the Word from daylight to dark but for some reason the people in this house want to spend time with me and eat food and wear clean clothes and stuff like that.

(I mean really the nerve of some people, lol).

 
So as I grew in my knowledge, I grew in my arrogance. When I would hear of someone in a hurt or struggle I would think “well, if they would just do what God says right here then they would not be in that mess” 
I truly believe the only thing that kept me from saying some of the things I thought was because in all honesty I truly believed that I went through my sins and the struggles of my youth simply because I was ignorant of God’s Word, so I had little grace for those who were supposed to “know better”.
 
Mercy was not my gift… yet God would teach me.
 
You see I had mercy and grace galore for those who did not know better, but those that I thought should know better… well, go on and suffer the consequences of disobedience.
 
You see, I would look at them and think how I thought I would have made such different choices had I been where they were, knowing what I know now, then.
And what I have learned is that really it boiled down that my heart hurt that they would choose not to do what I so wished I could have and would have done… 
 
I am grateful that God has chosen to teach me grace through His word as well as through personal life experiences… I love learning to see life through His eyes and not my own… my eyesight has never been that good to begin with.
 
So Eliphaz is out there…
He might even be staring at you in the mirror…
He may only show up at certain times and with certain situations or people…
But here’s the thing… 
This Eliphaz who shows no grace, speaks no grace, needs grace.
Yep that’s right, he needs the grace that he doesn’t yet know how to give. 
 
So not only is God teaching me to give grace to those who are struggling and hurting whether it be just life or consequences of sin or bad decisions, He is also teaching me to give grace to those who have none of their own. Because as my Pastor said once they just need more knowledge of God. And not just knowledge in knowledge, but knowledge of God and His Christ…
 
Grace and peace be multiplied to you
in the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord;
2 Peter 1:2
 
I’m left with one thought: “Lord, if you are teaching us anything through Job’s endurance, teach us the value of grace. Teach us about demonstrating grace. Show us again that grace is always appropriate. Always needed.
The person sitting near you in church next Sunday, the lady pushing that cart in the grocery store, the one who’s putting gas in his car at the next pump, the man behind you at the movies, waiting to buy his ticket, the student across from you at school. You have no idea what that person is going through. If you did, chances are you’d be prompted to show grace or to say a few encouraging words even quicker. Remember this please: grace is always appropriate, always needed!
“Amazing grace—how sweet the sound!”
~ Swindoll
 
So precious one… Got Grace?
Have you got it to give?
Are you willing to give it to those that ain’t got it and don’t give it?
but grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory,
both now and to the day of eternity.
Amen.
2 Peter 3:18

 
 
 
  

The writing and teachings of Nicole Love Halbrooks Vaughn