Month: November 2023

Take Comfort, O Soul

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This is a comfort to the soul who cannot find comfort anywhere else. Is this not a blessed place to be? For if one found comfort among the false and depraved, would they not also think as other men? Take comfort, O soul, in your God who is always present. The head of all principality and power still bears the crown obtained for the salvation and deliverance of mankind. He that holds that holy scepter and Himself is the Scepter that rises out of Israel (Num. 24:17), remains in control and is worthy of your trust and honor.

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10

Under the Shadow of Thy Wings

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Wherever you go today, and whatever you do, stay under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty. Father God loves you and is reminding you to trust in Him who is covering His people with His power, strength, and love.

Father God, thank You for being our strength, our refuge, and our covering as we go about our day. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Text Free Image by homecare119 from Pixabay

More Than the Feast of Food

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Today, many in the United States will gather with family, friends, and others to celebrate our national Thanksgiving holiday. A day we recognize when provision had been made for survival and the abundance of the harvest was reaped and enjoyed. We will gather in living rooms, community centers, church basements, around dining room tables, and elsewhere to remember with gratitude and to feast.

While many dishes will be laid out before us today, the greatest dish, if you will pardon the expression, that we can partake of is the faithfulness of our God. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed,” is what the Bible reminds us in Psalm 37:3. It is only by what God has done in our lives and for us that we are here today. It is only because of His grace and mercy we are not consumed (Lamentations 3:22, 23). Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5), and so, let the center of my affection today and all days, not rest on the feast and the gatherings (although we can enjoy them), but on Him whose faithfulness not only brought us to the joy of the gathering around this table, but will usher us to a more glorious table to come: “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love,” (Song of Solomon 2:4). One day we will fully come into His eternal celebration with uninhibited thanksgiving, gather around and enjoy the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9), and celebrate with Him forever.

But our forever there states with our relationship with Him here. Today, remember to do more than fill your body with food from this natural feast, but take in more of Him, Jesus, that your soul may be eternally satisfied: “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him,” (Psalm 34:8).

“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:11-13)

Father God, thank You for Your faithfulness in our lives and the feasting pleasure of knowing and taking in of You more and more.

“He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” (John 6:56, 57)

His holy provision has been made. Come, and join the feast.

The Way of Peace

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It is not unusual for me to readjust my route when driving.  Sometimes, I will purposely take myself off the main thoroughfare to drive down nearby side streets and back roads, even if it means adding a few extra minutes to my commute.

Why?  To maintain my peace.  Sometimes I don’t want to deal with the congestion and contentions of the popular route.  I just want to drive home in an environment of less stress.

Stress is definitely at the top of many conversations.  The world we live in is so hurried and demanding, that living like it wants us to live is almost unrealistic.  Then, we throw in the relationships we are attached to, with their congestion and contentions, and we can get almost overwhelmed from maintaining them, let alone, finding peace in them.

Let’s talk about peace.

Before I go further into how to maintain the way of peace in your life, there’s something we need to know.  The Bible gives us a very clear command to persevere in peace but is also realistic in the fact that every relationship may not spawn peace.  It says, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men,” (Romans 12:18). 

The words “if” and “possible” let us know that no matter how much you try, there may be others in the equation who opt not for peace.  That’s why Paul further explains, “as much as lieth in you.”  You can only do you and answer for you.  We cannot control the actions of others, but we can control our own actions.

If we are serious about learning how to deal with contentious people and situations and maintain a gentle, peaceful spirit, there are things we can try to incorporate into our lives today to foster the way of peace.

You don’t have to attend every argument that comes your way.

In 2 Timothy 2 it says, “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men… in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves…” (vv. 24, 25).  In truth, disagreements and opposition will come.  Sometimes contentions will arise but that doesn’t mean we have to feed into it.

I’m new to the sourdough-making process and one thing I have learned is if you don’t properly feed your starter it won’t grow.  Strife cannot continue to grow if you do not feed it.  And yes, this will require a certain amount of self-control at times.  The wisdom we find in Proverbs tells us, “A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife,” (Proverbs 15:18).  How we respond can either add fuel to the fire or snuff out the flames, it can help or hurt.  So, we must be prayerful about how we allocate our response or even if we are to respond at all.  While we cannot avoid every disagreement, and some things will need an answer, we must be sure that what is before us and what we are being drawn into is actually something that needs for us to attend.

Let love operate.

Proverbs 10:12 tells us, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins,” a truth that Peter echoes in 1 Peter 4:8.  When, not if, we encounter wrongs, what is our immediate reaction?  Is it to vent and billboard the offense all over town or instead of being reactive to defend and justify ourselves, do we choose to be proactive and approach the situation with control and a sound heart of love?

Often, we forget the frailty of humanity.  Not only have we been wronged, but in our lives, there have been times when we have wronged others.  And if the shoe were on the other foot, we would not want our mistakes plastered on a wall for the whole world to see.

This is a great fallacy with the rise of social media.  People expose people, not only between individuals but for the whole world to see.  That kind of hurt is hard to come back from.  What should have been handled as private business (see Matthew 18:15) under the premise of love, now has other voices and opinions in the mix.

Only under certain circumstances do others need to be included (see Matthew 18:16, 17), and even then, as much as possible, is it to be done in a controlled and loving way: “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends,” (Proverbs 17:9). 

Remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” (vv. 4-7)

Choosing to operate in love will foster peace in our own lives.

Be still and know God. 

The psalmist encourages us to, “Be still, and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10).  When a storm threatened the ship, and the disciples were afraid, Jesus woke and spoke, “Peace, be still,” (Mark 4:39).

Remember that phrase we discussed earlier, “As much as lieth with you?”  Even if you have chosen to refuse the invitation to the argument, and even if you have sought diligently to operate in love in the handling of the matter, sometimes that still will not bring the solution of peace you were looking for.  What do you do then?

You still yourself before God and find your peace in Him and not in whether the circumstances are reaching the conclusion you thought they should.

Jesus shut the mouth of the storm with a word of peace.  And we can shut down some stuff too when we get still and get with God who is to be the center of our peace.

In a world of noise, busyness, and chaos, the word stillness can be a beautiful respite from their loud demands.  It beckons us to draw near to the quiet place of our confidence found in God alone.

Above all else, when everything around us fails, God does not.  It is in Him we find our hope and consolation.  We have peace in Him even if things on the outside do not seem to be working out right.

“Know that I am God.”  There is so much in that statement alone, but one thing I want to point out is that the stillness we referred to earlier is not passive.  Here we see, that for us to “know” God, there must be an active pursuit of Him.  We are not sitting with our arms crossed and inactive.  No, we are drawing nearer to Him, to know Him, to pursue Him.

Concerning the way of peace, the closer we get to God the more peace we will find, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,” (1 Corinthians 14:33).  The more we draw nearer to understanding just who He is, the magnanimous impact of Him overshadows everything else.

Yahweh.  The LORD.  “I AM THAT I AM.”  When we still ourselves before the truth of Him, we soon develop an intuitive knowing and trust that we cannot find anywhere else, and it covers us with a cloak of peace – comforting you and strengthening you to maintain your peace in the middle of your storm.  It lets you know that not only do you not fight in this alone, but there are instances where you don’t have to fight at all because I choose to let the winds howl and the waves crash while I sit still in the peace of who God is in my life.  That is my response, and no further response is needed – for God is my peace. 

Counter to our culture, peace does not have to be elusive.  But we will have to do some things to maintain the way of peace in our lives.  “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another,” (Romans 14:19).  And remember:

“Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” Mark 9:50

And,

“The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

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Every Morning | Pursuing God Daily

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Mornings capture us with a sense of new.  The freshness for what’s before us opens like a glorious flower that raises her petals to meet the sun’s rays.  Whether the pace of the new days starts out fast or slow, there is a certain level of invigoration that permeates the atmosphere.  It says life is here, meeting us again as we open our eyes and arise.  What we see before us we have not encountered before.  This moment in time, with the grace and mercy that comes with it, is unused. 

I grew up during a time of hand-me-downs and leftovers.  It was not an unheard-of concept to rely on things that were previously used by another or putting aside portions of a meal that remained for later use.  “Waste not, want not,” is often what people would say.  It was frugal living before frugal living became popular.  We are seeing a resurgence of its popularity due to the current economy that is calling people’s attention to rethink how they approach money, life, and their stuff.

But for the children of Israel, there was one thing that God didn’t want them to rethink, and that was their faith and trust in Him.  Even though they were relatively new on their exodus journey from Egypt, God taught them a lesson He hopes will last a lifetime – they can put their confidence in His commands, in His promises.  They had no reason to doubt God’s goodness.

So, when the need for food arose, He instructed Moses on what the people should do: “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no,” (Exodus 16:4). 

Further reading gives us a bit more details:

  • Vv. 11, 12 says, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God” (emphasis added).
  • V. 15 explains, “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.”
  • And in v. 19, Moses instructed them to “Let no man leave of it till the morning.”

Every morning, when they opened their eyes, they were expected to walk by faith, depending on their daily provisions from God’s holy hand.

When they chose not to rely on God and to take matters into their own hands, and to keep some behind so that they wouldn’t have to worry about the next day, “it bred worms, and stank” (v. 20).  When they decided they couldn’t trust God and believe that He would provide for their tomorrows, their personal, human efforts deteriorated right before their eyes.  Instead of being beautiful and nourishing, it became something that was disgusting and unpleasant.

There are a lot of things we can be frugal with, but faith isn’t one of them.  Jesus, in the Lord’s Prayer, called us to pray for “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).  Every morning we are reminded of our need for God, to pursue Him more, and again.  As a tummy rumbling for morning nourishment, we are drawn to come to Him and be spiritually satisfied.  We are leaning on the Father every single day for His holy provision: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.  The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him,” (Lamentations 3:22-24). 

Every morning we get to reestablish our love for Him, reestablish our commitment to Him, and walk in His faithfulness another day.  We get to come to Him, seeking our “manna” for the day, reaffirming He is our source.  He is our God!  He is our Portion (compare Jeremiah 51:19; Psalm 16:5; 73:26).  He is the place where we not only find our holy sustenance, but it is where we trade the wrongs for what is right.  It’s where we exchange the ashes of this life for the beauty of who He is.

“Every day” the children of Israel were commanded to go look for what God had for them.  Every morning, their expectation and hope were to be on God alone.  He, then, supplied their needs (Philippians 4:19) and sustained them for the day’s journey.

If your days seem limp and powerless, lacking the inspiration and sustenance for this time we live in, draw nearer to your daily Portion.  Every morning partake of the Bread of Heaven so that your life may be properly fed.

In your pursuit to be properly fed, do as the children of Israel were instructed:

  1. Come daily.  Every morning the promise of bread awaited them, but they were the ones who had to put in diligent effort to rise and go get it.
  2. Gather what was needed.  Every family was allotted a certain amount so they lacked nothing of all God’s provisions.  Don’t cut your time and opportunity short when you come to the Father.  The Bible says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13.  Wholly, go after your portion so that you lack nothing of all God has for you.  Stay before Him and gather what is necessary for the day’s journey.
  3. Come back tomorrow and do it again.  And the next day, and the next day, and so on.  This is a life of longing – a life that refuses to go unsatiated.  “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God,” (Psalm 42:1).  Drawing nearer to God is to be our daily desire. He is our holy pursuit. Daily I am unsatisfied in my soul if I don’t come to Him and fill my appetite upon Him who is “I AM THAT I AM,” (Exodus 3:13). 

The promise still remains: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled,” (Matthew 5:6). 

Every morning, come and be filled.    

The Strong Hand of God

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The prophet Jeremiah faced much opposition.  As the mouthpiece of God during his time, adversity and sorrow of heart were with him.  He faced many troubles because of the message he carried, yet even in that, his heart was burdened with sorrow for his people, for those who refused the message.

In Jeremiah 15:21, God comforts Jeremiah with words that are meant to boost his confidence and encourage his faith during the difficulties he is dealing with.  For in times of suffering and conflict, we all need a reassuring word, one like God told the prophet, saying, “And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.” 

The word “hand” here speaks regarding the trouble that laid hold of Jeremiah’s life due to the stuff he endured from those who were contrary to him and the message he carried.

But Jeremiah’s message was more than the words we see recorded in the pages of history, the words that inform us of his trouble and work.  In the story of his life, we see God speaking past what he was going through, past the enemy’s grip, to reassure him of his deliverance and rescue.  While it may seem like he is overcome by adversities and grasped by the hand of the enemy, God lets him know that His power is mightier, His will is greater, and His hand is stronger than anything or anyone who rises against any of His beloved ones.

We see a similar reassuring promise written to Israel, saying, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” Isaiah 41:10. 

Where the enemy has his hand, God reminds us that His hand is greater.  Where the enemy seeks to knock people down, God says, with My hand, I will uphold.

God will never be without the power and authority to help, heal, and save His people!

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” Isaiah 59:1

“Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.” – Psalm 89:13

“Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.” – Exodus 15:6

“For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” – Isaiah 41:13

“Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” – Jeremiah 32:17

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.” – Psalm 138:7

“My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” – John 10:29

We are always safe in the strong hand of God!