Help Is On The Way

Do you ever think you can do it all?  This seems to be a normal way of life, especially for women.  I know I think I am superwoman sometimes and can do a million things in a day.  And now as I get older it's getting a bit harder to do those million things.  I notice where I once could go for hours and hours, I need to break a little more, or stop a little earlier than I used to.  Doing it all seems to be doing some.  LOL

Well a friend had asked me to bake cookies for her son's wedding.  And of course I said yes.  It was an honor.  Well, this was two hundred cookies.  But I said "Sure, no problem."  Because honestly it was I was happy to do it.  

I had a friend who said she would help me.  Then something came up for her and she couldn't.  I had another friend who said she would help and the same thing happened.  Still, no problem.  I didn't think it would be a hard task to do by myself.  I had baked these cookies a hundred times before.  

Well Sunday I was talking about this at our after church lunch to a few people.  Another friend said she would love to help.  I said, "Great, I'll let you know."  Now at first, I was like, will I really need the help, I can do this.  But then I thought about it and the fact that this friend had just lost her husband and I thought it was a good time for us to get together, get her out of the house, and give her a time to talk if she wanted to.  I thought I was helping her.   LOL  Little did I know how arduous a task baking two hundred cookies would be!  

I definitely needed the help.  I didn't even know it, but God did.  He sent this lovely lady to give me the help I needed, when I actually thought I was helping her.  And you know what?  Having someone else to bake with made it more fun and go faster.  Truly, as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.  We got the job done, and had sweet fellowship besides!

The Lord knows when we need help, even when we don't.  Even when we think we can do it all.  He knows and sends brothers and sisters alongside to strengthen us, support us and share the work.

Thank You Lord for the help You send.  You truly know our needs better than we do.  Let us not turn away the blessing of another's aid.  Let not pride or the notion of not being a bother let us deny another the gift of being that blessing that You use for us.  Thank You again for my friend that You sent.  In Jesus' most precious Name.  Amen. 

Let others bless you.  

And Yet Another Question

I've joined a Bible study group called Bible Study Fellowship.  It's a weekly group that meets around the Word of God for the next ten months.  I wasn't sure about a ten month commitment.  It scared the heck out of me to be honest.  But I am so glad I did.  It's only been about a month or so and it's a total blessing.  We are studying "Kingdom Divided."  This teaching digs into the time when the Israelite kingdom divided into two parts.  

So as I listened to this weeks lecture the question came up in my head, "In what ways do I reject God's grace?"  Tough question.  In this weeks lesson we saw God extend grace to both Elijah and King Ahab.  One, Elijah, was God's servant.  He zealously served the Lord to the point of exhaustion.  The other, King Ahab, was an evil king.  Disobedient, rebellious, idolater.  He did nothing to honor the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Yet God extended grace to both.  Elijah accepted God's loving care and was given new purpose.  On the other hand, Ahab accepted God's blessing, but refused to turn his heart to the Lord.

What is grace is a big question.  I've heard it explained as God's Riches At Christ's Expense.  It's also defined as God's unmerited favor.  It can be a big as salvation or as small God's intimate care of Elijah, with rest, food and encouragement.  

So, back to the question.  How do I, on a regular basis, reject this grace.  One of the ways I do it is through guilt.  Instead of accepting God's forgiveness for what it is, a gift from my loving Father, I feel the need to earn it.  It's the same with His love.  I feel I should be unloved because I am sometimes so unlovable.  I am rejecting God's kindness, His unmerited favor.  

In Hebrews 4:16 we are told, "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."  So many times I give into sin instead of running to the throne of God where I could find grace to help me stand strong.  I follow my flesh into what is unhealthy and sinful instead of following the Spirit to where I can find my strength

Lord, help us to accept and revel in the grace You so freely give.  You lavish Your grace and love on Your children.  Not just Your perfect children, but us fallen, failing, sometimes ugly children.  We are undeserving, but that's just what makes Your grace so amazing.  Thank You.  Forgive us when we don't accept this favor and love with gratitude.  And Lord, help us to never take advantage or take for granted Your grace, Your unmerited favor and mercy.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen. 

Examine yourself.   Are you rejecting God's grace?

Measuring God

We do this.  We measure God by ourselves.  Maybe not consciously or purposefully, but we do it all the same.  

Yesterday I was out running, trying to get in a little exercise and fresh air.  As is my habit I was listening to a Joyce Meyer podcast.  The topic was "Authentically You."  Joyce spoke of being who God meant us to be, not living to please people, but Him.  But what stood out to me was when she spoke of God's love for us.  This is a tough subject for me mainly because I know all the junk inside and I see how wretched I can behave.  

I'm sure many of us feel that God can't possibly love us the way we are.  Or maybe we concede that He loves us, but probably doesn't like us very much.  I've lived in this place for a long, long time.  I think I've moved from the first category to the second though.  

I don't like me very much.  I know my thoughts and feelings.  I see the way I act.  I see my impatience, my grouchiness, my critical attitude, on and on and on.  Many of us see ourselves in a negative light.  And then we take that way of seeing ourselves and apply it to how God sees us.  We measure His thoughts by our thoughts.  But the Bible tell us in Isaiah 55:8-9 "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." 

So why are we equating the way God loves us to the way we love ourselves?  Did not God also say, "Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."  Jeremiah 31:3.  

And yes, we can all say, "You don't know what I've done, how much anger, hatred, bitterness....I have in my heart."  Well maybe I don't.  But I know what's in mine.  And God knows all of us inside out, He knew us before we were born, knows the end from the beginning and yet still calls us His own.  Psalm 139:15-16 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  16 You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  

God knows us, and loves us with an eternal, everlasting, complete, perfect love.  We need not fear Him turning from us.  Romans 8:29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  Ephesians 1:4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Before time began, God chose us.  Before we took a breath.  So yes, He knows all about us, knew all about us, and yet still chose to save us, to adopt us and yes to love us.  He does not love us based on our performance.  He loves us because He is love.  He doesn't change who or what He is based on our ideas or actions.  God hates sin, yes indeed.  But that doesn't negate His love for you and me.  

As humans, we tend to love those who love us.  We are happy when we perform well, reject ourselves when we don't.  We have a tendency to follow emotions and judge things (ourselves and others) based on how well we do.  If we have a good day, say all the right things, we are pleased and love ourselves.  But when we fail....then we pile on the recriminations and guilt.  Our Father doesn't do this.  In Him there is no turning or changing who He is.  James 1:17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.   We must trust His love.  He who began a good work in us will complete it! (Philippians 1:6)  Let's not measure how God loves by how we love.  

Lord, thank You for the everlasting love You love us with.  Thank You that You don't walk away when we've gone too far, failed too often.  Thank You that You don't see us the way we see ourselves.  Teach us to have a balanced way of looking at ourselves.  Let us come to You when we fail, for forgiveness, for strength and for correction.  But let us not try to hide, because You love us fully, even when we fail.  Thank You that You will always love me, even at my most unloveable.  But we also ask that You continue to work in us to make us more like Jesus.  And it's in His precious Name I pray.  Amen.  

Read Psalm 139.  Meditate on it's truths.  

Psalm 139

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart

    and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

    and when I rest at home.

    You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say

    even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me.

    You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

    too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!

    I can never get away from your presence!

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;

    if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there.

9 If I ride the wings of the morning,

    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

    and your strength will support me.

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me

    and the light around me to become night—

12     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

    Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born.

    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

    before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.

    They cannot be numbered!

18 I can’t even count them;

    they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

    you are still with me!

19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!

    Get out of my life, you murderers!

20 They blaspheme you;

    your enemies misuse your name.

21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?

    Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?

22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,

    for your enemies are my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 Point out anything in me that offends you,

    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Devotion

Oh for a heart that is every moment totally devoted and committed to God!  This week in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) we read about Abijah and his son Asa.  Two kings of Judah who waffled in their devotion to God at various times in their lives.  It's so easy to maintain committment when our hearts and emotions are up, but when we don't feel anything, or are tired, or become busy or don't get our way....well devotion easily falters.   

But God says in Jeremiah 29:13 "If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me."   And when Asa turned to a human army to save him from his enemies God sent the prophet Hanani to tell him "...Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the Lord your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram. 8 Don’t you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and charioteers? At that time you relied on the Lord, and he handed them over to you. 9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war."  2 Chronicles 16:7b-9

So I know God is speaking sweet instruction to my heart, reminding me to remain committed and devoted to Him.  Don't waiver in this by looking towards the world for fulfillment or letting life's busyness turn me from Him.  I love these words and lessons my Father brings.  

So I pray, I pray for a heart fully devoted, not looking to the left or to the right.  I pray for a committment not to put anything before my Savior.  Think of this...Jesus was so devoted to you and me that His face never turned from the Cross.  Let us be the same as He!  And thank God for the truth that even when we are faithless He remains faithful, as we are told in 2 Timothy 2:13 If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.  And in all this, as we seek God it is He who will give us this faithful devotion if we would only seek and obey.  The more we do this, the more we become!  1 Thessalonians 5:24  5:24 God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.  God will make us holy in every way, including our devotion to Him.  

Hallelujah!  Lord, make us devoted to You!  Give us hearts fully focused, fully committed, while unshakeable devotion to You our Creator, Redeemer and King.  It's in Your faithful Name we pray.  Amen.

Make a decision each morning to seek this full hearted devotion to God.