Saturday, December 29, 2018

Encouragement

Encourage Someone Today

Joshua was taking over a momentous task from Moses, leading the children of Israel, who by the way had not been the easiest crowd to lead.  God gives Joshua that infamous charge in Joshua chapter one.  Something really struck me this morning because the last words are from the people to Joshua and were incredible words of encouragement. 
Hey Joshua we are with you, we will follow you and do what needs to be done.  And if anyone whines and complains and stands up against you, they are done for.  Hey Joshua BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, God is with you but we are with you too. (Steve falible paraphrase of Joshua 1:16-18)

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Swerve

Don't Swerve

If you want to avoid serious accidents in life don't swerve.  "Turn not from it (don't swerve) to the right hand or to the left." Don't swerve from what?
"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."  Joshua 1:8 

Thursday, December 20, 2018

I Love You Daddy

Daddy

Thoughts of daddy for some are harsh, violent and abusive.  For others, there is nothing sweeter than the love their daddy had for them.  We have a heavenly daddy who loves us unconditionally and can't wait for us to come running to Him in complete dependence.  "Our Father (daddy) which art in heaven, hallowed be they name..."
"I remember when the present Queen Elizabeth was growing up. I followed her life since she was a wee little topped. Overtime when she was walking about the palace with her dignified but kindly old grandfather, George V, the Old King left the door open. Little Elisabeth turned to him and said,  "Grandpa, go close the door." And the great king of England went and close the door at the voice of a little girl! He couldn't pull any of that "your majesty" business a little Elizabeth, she was just his granddaughter. And so, no matter what awful terms the Philosopher's want to apply to the power that rules the universe you and I can say, "Our Father (Daddy) which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..." AW TOZER

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Loyalty and Faithfulness


We often pride ourselves in proclaiming our loyalty to certain things yet in our everyday circumstances we often abandoned our loyalty to God by discrediting His hand in all the events of our lives.  Listen to Oswald Chambers.....
"It's only the loyal soul who believes that God engineers circumstances.  We may take liberty with our circumstances, we do not believe God engineers them, although we say we do; we treat the things that happen as if they were engineered by men.  To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, and that is to the Lord."

Do I really believe Romans 8:28 in the good, the bad and the mundane?

Monday, December 17, 2018

God and Santa

How Do I Treat God?

I was struck this today as I read..."God is not a glorified Santa Claus, who gives us everything we want then fades out and let's us run our own way.  He gives, but in giving He gives himself too. And the best gift God ever gavebusnis Himself.  He gives answers to prayers, but after we used up the answer or don't need it anymore, we still have God."   AW TOZER

We can crawl up in "the lap" of God anytime, anyplace and anywhere; not just at the mall around Christmas time; and pour out our hearts to Him in love, adoration, praise and thanksgiving seeking Him. 

Friday, December 14, 2018

Deep

Diving Deep

Growing up close to the ocean most of my life, provided the opportunity to develop a love for snorkeling and shell collecting.  Tucked away in my mother in laws attic are several boxes of incredible displays of God's handiwork.  Sometimes those shells can be found washed up on shore but they are most beautifully seen and found when you dive deep.  Not only do we see beauty but all seems calm and serene.

Joni Erickson Tada said it this way..." when you dive beneath the surface things of God, you also discover an endless calm... a world of Divine Life that is quiet and deep. There, in the depths, God will reveal a quiet and gentle kind of interior Beauty. The Lord is so generous! Even when we choose to live only on the surface of things, where we are often tossed this way and that, God still reveals himself through thrilling displays of his power. But there's much more to God than what we see, what we all see of him, on the surface. When we dive deeper into God's heart, all the turmoil of our daily lives, the problems that crash around us like huge waves, seem somehow... Distant."

He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.  Psalms 107:29‭-‬30

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

The Love Of God

The Love Of God

The song writer tried to pen it, preachers have tried to explain it, but words just cannot describe it. 

"Talking about the love of God is like going around the globe, visiting every country in the world, then spending five minutes telling your friends about it. You can't do it!"  AW TOZER

Frederick M Lehman(1917)
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.