Good To Be Afflicted

Psalm 119: 71, 80

It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Thy statutes.
May my heart be blameless in Thy statutes, that I may not be ashamed.

God singles out each one of us with the trials and afflictions each of us is subjected to. God doesn't tempt anyone, but He allows our own flesh, this World around us, and the devil to tempt us with all manners of troubles and sorrows. 

Life in this World is our school, to learn God's ways and get to know Him. 

When I am taking a class and there is a test I need to study for, I find that when I give a wrong answer, that's when I learn the right answer, because it was on the test. 

God uses things in our world to show us His goodness and care for us through negative experiences, like taking a test in school. 

When God let me break my hip, I was greatly hindered in living my daily life; I couldn't do anything automatically any more, I had to think about how I could accomplish every little thing I need to do each day. 

That was a real test, and I found that the discipline of thinking about how to do even simple things could carry over into thinking before I speak, also. 

So, I can say with David, that it was good that I was afflicted, so that I could learn how to interact with others with the Love that God loved me with through this whole healing process. 

O my Father, help me to continue to learn from that mishap, to remember to think before I speak, even in the heat of the moment. Help my attitudes toward others be according to how You see them, and may I think Your thoughts for them. Then my words will be Your words, and relationships will be able to go on that path of healing. 

Thank You, my Father, for all the ways You work in me, and on me, so that You will be able to also work through me. Help me to continue to grow in Your Love, so that my heart will be blameless according to Your rules, and I may not be ashamed. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Your Commandments Enlarge My Heart

Psalm 119: 32

I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart.

God is the One Who designed this whole Universe, and He formed the Earth to be our home, and put into it everything we will ever need while we're here. He designed it to give us all an abundance of the prosperity He put into it, and He gave us all the rules and directions on how to operate it. 

His commandments are some of the rules we are to follow to access this prosperity, and it's all based on Love. We are to recognize how much God loves us, and love Him back; then we are to love our neighbor as we care for our own needs. Our neighbor is anyone in our world that needs the kind of help we can give. 

O my Father God, my Creator and Source of everything I need or desire, thank You for Your great Love for what You have made, including me. Thank You for supplying all that we need in this Earth You made for us. 

Teach me, Father, how to operate in this World to access the bounty You have placed here for our benefit. Let me use this bounty to help those who have need of it, to share and to teach and to love on them with Your Love.

Enlarge my heart, Father; find whatever hard places reside there, and soften them. Remove the stony places and replace them with vulnerable flesh, soft and approachable. 

Enlarge my borders, the world I live in, to give me access to many more who need what I have to share; who all need You, Father. We are all so desperate for You! Bring me to those who You have prepared to receive the benefits You have given me to share; material, emotional, mental, and spiritual. 

I want to run hard on Your heels, my Lord, according to Your commandments and precepts. Show me Your way, lead and guide me straight on, not turning to the left or to the right, not running ahead or lagging behind, not wandering off or pulling away.

Work Your plan through me, Father, to bless many with Your blessings; and You will receive all the glory, all the honor, all the credit for everything You have done; for it is You Who have done everything that is done to complete and finish this Story of Man on this Earth. And Your Kingdom will never cease to grow and increase. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Joy Or Terror

Proverbs 21: 2, 15

Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.
The execution of justice is joy for the righteous, but terror to the workers of iniquity.

Everyone must live with himself, so we tend to justify all our decisions, so we think we're all right. But God sees our hearts, and recognizes the selfishness and greed and deceptiveness that resides there. 

So when justice is done concerning the crimes that have been perpetrated against us all, then those who have done right can rejoice, but those who have done or agreed with the ones doing the unrighteousness and evil will fear for their own safety. 

When we allow our own hearts to lie to us, to deny the truth of our ways to ourselves, we subvert and sabotage our own successes. 

But God searches our innermost hearts and shows us the Truth of what is right and straight, and what is crooked and twisted. Then we can confess the wrongs and forsake those ways, turning to the righteous path to walk in it. 

O my Father, thank You for Your Truth, thank You for showing us what is straight, and what is crooked. Thank You for Your great Love and compassion for us to tell us ahead of time everything You are doing in this World, so we can be prepared to face each day with courage and confidence. 

Thank You, Father, for providing our every need; designing and making this Earth to produce our temporary material needs, and sending Your beloved Son to take care of our real spiritual needs. 

Thank You, Father, for leading us into Your straight paths, so that we will rejoice when true justice is administered; and not be terrorized by the prospect of being caught in our iniquities, having already turned from them and cleansed of all our stains in the Blood of Christ. 

Thank You, Father, for all that You do. Everything You do is right and just and fair. Your purposes guide Your great Plan of the Ages, and You are working out all the details using our choices. 

Father, You use the doings of both the righteous and the wicked to further Your plans. Those who choose to do right will be rewarded, and those who choose to rebel against what is good will face Your wrath. And they will be terrified to face Your justice. 

O Father, please send out workers into the fields that are even now white to harvest; send out Your under-shepherds to seek out and find Your lost sheep who have wandered into thorns and brambles and other dangers, to rescue them from being destroyed by the enemy and having to face Your wrath. 

Draw them into the safety of Your one fold and one Shepherd, to know You and love You as You love them. 

And You will receive all the credit, all the glory, all the honor, for designing and making and shaping and doing all Your will in all Creation. And Your Kingdom will never cease to increase. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Strength And Song And Salvation

Psalm 118: 6, 14

The Lord is for me; I will not fear; what can Man do to me? 

If you know that the Lord God Almighty is on your side (because you're on His side), then you don't need to be afraid of anything anyone else can do to you. 

The Lord is my strength 

Wherever we find ourselves unable to do something we need to do, He is strong enough to do it through you. 

and my song, 

He is the One Who is to be praised with music, His fame spreads throughout the whole of Creation through the songs of Men and Angels. 

and He has become my Salvation.

And He has come as our Redeemer, and acquired the Name of Jesus, to 
be sin for us, Who knew no sin; 
Jesus is the Son that was given to us when the new Child was born (Isaiah 9:6), and God the Son, the Lord, has become our Salvation as the Lamb of God. He bore our very sin-nature, encompassing all the sins that result from it, for each of us individually, as God saves people one-by-one.
that we might be made the rightousness of God in Him (II Corinthians 5:21). 
His Blood washes us as white as snow, pristine, without a spot or wrinkle, perfectly pure. To fit us to live with Him where He lives.

So He has become our Salvation, our rescue from the power of sin right now in this World. 

O my Father, You are my strength, I am powerless and weak. Because I trust You, because You have chosen me, I will not fear whatever happens to me in this World.

You are for me, so You will continue to hold me in Your hand, protecting me from Your wrath that shall come upon the whole World in the Day of Wrath.

You are my song that I will sing until the whole World hears! Or until You deem my purpose here finished. 

And You will receive all the honor, all the glory, all the praise, forever!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Confess And Believe

Romans 10: 9-10

That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,

If you say out loud your belief that Jesus is the Lord God Almighty.

And believe in your heart 

Believe all that Jesus did in fulfilling the Old Testament Law.

That God raised Him from the dead

That the Father accepted His payment on your behalf by raising Him with Resurrection Life, to give us that same Resurrection Life.

You shall be saved;

Rescued from the power of sin and cleansed from every stain of sin.

For with the heart Man believes, resulting in righteousness,

With our will and emotions we choose to trust that Jesus did all the work for us, and let Him do it all, not trying to save ourselves; that results in God putting on our account Jesus' perfect Righteousness, because He put on Jesus' account all our sin.

And with the mouth he confesses, resulting in Salvation.

We must have enough faith to be able to tell others of what God has done for us. Enough trust in Him to give us the confidence to share with someone else. Even faith as small as the Mustard Seed, the smallest seed that is planted, is enough; because it's not our faith at issue here, it's Who our faith is in--our great God of the Universe! He is the One with all the might and power to do everything He has planned, including rescuing you!

O my Father God, You have told us so plainly and clearly what You require of us. You grant us that faith to believe, and You give us the gift of Your Holy Spirit to power the New Life given to us to break the bondage of the power of sin over us. 

It is You, Father, that has molded me into a vessel to bear Your honor, when I was a dishonorable vessel, dishonoring my own body and others. 

It is Your will that I be rescued from that life of slavery and changed it into a life of honor to You, leaving the sin that has no more power over me, to walk in Your path, according to Your ways, in Your power to do those things in Your Name that You have prepared beforehand for me to accomplish. 

Thank You so much, Father, for choosing me. I can claim no credit at all for what You have done and are doing in me, and will continue to do, until Your purposes for me have been finished. 

Don't let me get in Your way, my Lord; do Your will in and through me, keeping me humble before You all my days. 

And may You receive all the credit, all the glory, and all the accolaides for doing everything You designed and planned and carried out to completion. When the final credits roll at the end of this "movie" of Mankind, You will take every slot, every position in the list of "who did what" in making it all.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Overcoming Evil

Romans 12: 21

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

There is so much error and dishonesty and hatred and downright evil all around us in this World. It's in our nation, our neighborhoods, and even in our own families. 

I need to start at home, with my own family and neighbors. I must not retaliate when others injure or insult me, and I must take great care to not injure or insult them in any way. 

I need to learn how to gently and graciously help others to correct the errors they have been caught by, with compassion and gentleness. A soft answer turns away wrath (Proverbs 15:1). To have a "soft answer" I need to pause and consider how my response may be received by the hearer. Not easy to do in the heat of the moment. 

If we are to "overcome evil with good" we will need to be strong to not give in to what is easy, to struggle against our own propensities to wander. 

We all have pain and wounds that need healing, so we must not speak from our pain and fear; our Father is the Great Physician Who heals all our wounds (Isaiah 53:5), and when we remember how much He cares for us (Perfect love casts out fear, I John 4:18), then we'll be able to trust Him to guide our responses. 

So we need to continually draw close to God, and He will draw close to us (James 4:8). To know Him better is to love Him more, every day. 

O my Father, please help me to learn, help me to be open to Your teachings, to not just know them, but to be able to apply them in my living and interacting with my loved ones and with others every day. 

Father, help me to think Your thoughts, to believe Your Truth even in the little things, to have Your attitudes. Then Your words will be in my mouth, and Your kindness will be under my tongue. Wash away my harshness and sharp edges in that cleansing Flood, and continue to mold me into the very image of Your dear Son, my Savior, my Redeemer, my King, and my Lord; and my best Friend, my Brother, and my Husband, Who knows me intimately and loves me passionately and unconditionally. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Redemption Of Creation

Romans 3: 24

Being justified as a gift by His grace through the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

God's grace is truely amazing! His gift of Justification, granted freely and generously, has come about through the whole Redemption which has been accomplished by God's Christ, Who is Jesus! 

O so rich, so full, so all-encompassing is the Redemption that has solved every problem, paid every debt, answered every question, healed every wound and sickness, restored everything that has fallen from the glory He originally gave it. 

Our Lord Jesus, as the Lamb of God, has Redeemed all of Creation from its fallen state by His precious Blood voluntarily shed at Calvary! 

I find it so thrilling to see the beginning of the outworking of this Redemption as it is appearing in our World today; to see the Nations being drawn into position to receive our Sovereign King and His Righteous judgment on the wickedness and rebellion and His just rule over all He has made. 

O my Father, thank You for Your great, grand Plan of the Ages, and the ability to see it beginning to work out, just as You have told us it would. History really is Your Story of this Creation. You have told us our whole timeline, from before it began all the way through to beyond this Epoch of Mankind on this Earth. 

And from Your storyline, we must now be very close to the end of the story: It's the climax of the final scene, and everything looks utterly hopeless--until the Hero enters the stage, at the last possible moment, to rescue us. 

And that final Battle will be amazing! (See Revelation 19, and Isaiah 30:31-32.)

O Father, I long to be with You, to see King Jesus coming, to be following Him in His Battle of Armegeddon, and to help Him set up His Kingdom here on this Earth! Finally the Golden Age! The Redemption of the Earth itself. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!