Give Thanks!

The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy  Psalm 126:3

I wish each of you a blessed and happy Thanksgiving.  

One night last week I was having trouble sleeping.  I tossed and turned, got up and read, tossed and turned some more...frustrating!  Usually I will pray as well.  It's a good time to be quiet with God.  Then God spoke something to my heart that I had not considered before. 

Most people have heard the expression of "counting sheep" when you have trouble falling asleep.  But the Lord gave me another idea.  He "told" me to go through my house, room by room (this is in my mind, not physically) and think about things I'm thankful for there. Count my blessings!  In my bedroom, my husband, my comfy bed and soft blankets.....Then I moved onto other rooms.  The kitchen where we had enough to eat.....my office where I meet with the Lord, my Bible, books.....On and on I went until I drifted off.  I gave thanks specifically.  Down to the smallest details of each room.  Things that made me smile, that I could do in each room....

In thinking about this throughout the following days I realized it can be expanded even further.  In your mind you can take a walk outside, giving thanks for various things in nature.  You can "go" to your church, your job, your town....wherever and find the things to be thankful for in those places.  

This isn't just an exercise in sleep therapy, but an honor to our Father that we our grateful to all He provides.  You can even take yourself to Heaven and focus on the reasons to be thankful there.  Walk back in time to when Jesus was here on earth and pick out the things you are thankful for about Him and what He did.  So many, many blessings to remember.  Large, small, people, things, experiences, animals, God's grace and mercy.  Get specific.  And this doesn't have to just be done as a way to fall asleep.  Any time during the day is a good time to give thanks!  

So give thanks!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow. 

Lord, all good things come from You.  All the blessings in our lives are gifts You bestow.  Even the hard times contain Your blessings.  We thank You for all of them.  But most of all we thank You for You.  For Your love, Your kindness, Your mercy and Your salvation.  No one is more blessed than Your people!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  I am thankful for you.  

Worship Him

Imagine the scene in Revelation 4.  And now think about this: Every moment of every day the angels cry holy.  Our God is being worshipped.  No try to imagine the Being that is worthy of this kind of adoration. Human language, human thought, all fail to get to the immensity of our Lord, our God, our King.  Human design on earth can't come close to comparing to His dwelling.  No man or woman can come close to His character.  We can't reach the level of love, holiness, righteousness, kindness, wisdom, knowledge, creativity, on and on and on...that makes up our God.  

While we are told to come boldly before His throne of grace, we need to remember Who we are coming before.  He is our loving Father, our Redeeming Savior and the lover of our souls, but He is also this almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal Being that we must bow in reverence before.   So often I treat Him in a way to casual way.  I repent of this.  I ask forgiveness of the only One who can grant it.  He is not a cosmic genie or Santa Clause.  He is God.  Our Creator.  The One to whom we must give account.  He holds all things in His hands.   We, like the angels, are His servants.  We live to glorify Him.  Yes, we are His adopted sons and daughters, chosen before the beginning of time to be His heirs and children.  But we need to remember that our God is worthy of all our respect, awe, and worship.  He is worthy of all praise.  

I so often take all of this for granted.  I take the Lord for granted.  I act like He owes me!  Well, God is now calling me to account on this.  He has given me a glance into His throne room and a conviction as to how absolute He really is.  Like Isaiah says in his writing, "It's all over!  I am doomed for I am a sinful man.  I have filthy lips and I live among a people with filthy lips.  (Isaiah 6:5a)  

Thankfully we can come into God's presence through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He has redeemed and purchased us, delivering us from sin and guilt.  He has clothed us in His own righteousness, so we now have access to our Father.  He did this!  But we can never forget the majesty of our God.  He is both Father and King.  Loving and sovereign.  He holds us as dearly loved children, but He also holds all the universe in His hands.  What a beautiful and wonderful and awesome God we serve. 

Cry out with me, with the angels and citizens in Heaven, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!   You alone God are worthy to receive all honor, worship, power, glory and praise!!  

Revelation 4  After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”  2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.  6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”  9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 11 “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power;  for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

Isaiah 6 1-7 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”  4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.  5 So I said:  “Woe is me, for I am ]undone!  Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”  6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”  

One of the things I believe God is leading me to do, is to reread these verses, and others like them, often.  To remember and picture these scenes in my head when I go into my prayer and study time.  Maybe you'd like to incorporate that in your "God time" too.  😊

Trust the Timing

Have you read the story of Lazarus' resurrection?  Have you ever wondered about why Jesus didn't go as soon as He was asked to come?  Jesus had healed so many people.  If He has gotten to Jerusalem earlier surely He could have and would have healed His dear friend Lazarus.  

Listen to Mary's painful plea, "Lord, if only You had been here my brother would not have died."  (John 11:32)  Accusation?  Confusion?  Faith seeing fact?  I don't know what motive or motives behind that statement we can attribute to Mary's heart, but we can hear her pain and anguish.  

Why didn't Jesus come right away?  Why doesn't He answer our desperate prayers as soon as they leave our lips?  Why does He leave our hearts in turmoil and need when we cry out to Him with everything that we are?  I think we've all faced and asked these questions.  

Look through the Bible and you will see the "greats" of faith experiencing the same faith-stretching waits.  Moses waited for the deliverance of the Israelites as they continued to languish in Egypt.  Before their exit from the land of their slavery, God chose to take time to display His great power to them and the Egyptians.  They needed to know that this God who would deliver them, had the power to keep them in the wilderness and in the Promised Land before He would set them free.  The Egyptians needed to know that there was only one true God.  This story is in the book of Exodus.

John the Baptist, the forerunner and cousin of Jesus.  Fearless in the face of the Pharisees.  Preacher and baptizer, calling for repentance and turning back to God.  When imprisoned by Herod for challenging his marriage to Herodias, John, in his own words to Jesus asked, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Luke 7:18)  Did John's pain and confusion cause him to doubt his mission?  Doubt Jesus?  I can hear the sadness and desperation in his words.  

We all have had times and circumstances where God left us waiting.  Our hearts troubled and afraid.  In our difficulties we forget that Jesus told us not to be troubled.  We easily forget He left His peace for us to rest in.  Our faith wanes and we struggle to believe.  But there's so much more.  God's answer may not come in our timing, but it comes at the right time.  Look at the above examples!  The Israelites and Egyptians saw God great power, and now knew that He was Lord over all.  The Israelites saw they could rely on Him, and the Egyptians saw there was only One powerful God overall.  Did they stay true to these beliefs, no....we forget often too, so I don't condemn them.  Look at John the Baptist.  Jesus reassured Him and after his death John gained Heaven!  

And lastly, Mary.  She looked for healing and Jesus had so much more to offer.  I think we do that too.  We look for the smaller when God has so much more.  She had come to expect the healing of the Lord, but needed to know that resurrection was the true gift Jesus brought.  

Oh, that we would seek God's heart and not His hand.  He has so much for us, but it's in His timing and ways not our own.  Does it hurt to wait?  YES!!  But is it worth it?  Double yes!!  We had a friend who was sick for most of her life.  These last months have gotten increasingly hard for her.  And her husband.  Everyone prayed for healing, prayed for God's hand to raise her up from her sick bed.  But He had a different plan.  He took her home.  Now, for the first time ever our friend is not suffering from any illness, any pain.... she's free.  She is missed, but we rejoice in her gain.  

Today, let the Lord's peace fill your heart as you wait on Him.  Romans 8:35-39 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.  38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Lord, remind us that You have given us Your peace that we may rest in You.  Help us to stand on Your promises and hold onto our faith.  Our faith is based in Your character and we know all Your ways are good, kind and loving, filled with wisdom and perfection....even when we don't understand and it hurts.  We can't see the future.  Things may look dark and dead, but you are the light and the resurrection.  Let us rest in these truths.  In Jesus most powerful Name.  Amen.  

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Fig Leaves

On Friday mornings I get together with a group of ladies for prayer and study.  We are working on a book "Seeking Him, Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival" by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.  

As we were discussing the readings and questions in the workbook today there was a section that brought up Adam and Eve.  The discussion revolved around the question, Ddo we try to hide our sin from God instead of being honest with Him".  

The story of Adam and Eve is a human tragedy.  We know they had a beautiful garden with only one rule to follow.  They broke the one rule God gave them.  Genesis 2:15-17  The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.  But the Lord warned him, "You may eat the fruit of every tree in the garden--except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die. 

Well we all know the how the story goes from there.  Adam and Eve listened to the serpent, ate the fruit, and perfect fellowship with God was broken.  And here we are thousands of years later living in brokenness and chaos as a result of man's first sin.

God and his human children had beautiful, unadulterated fellowship.  They walked together in the garden.  I can imagine Adam and Eve listening as the Lord talked to them about all the beauty they saw.  I can see the Lord teaching them about their world and themselves and sharing Himself with them.  Nothing was between them to blur their vision of God.  And then the fall.  They were ashamed of what they had done, their failure.  They tried to hide and cover themselves.  The sewed fig leaves together to hide their nakedness and shame.  And them came God's question to Adam in Genesis 3:9: "Where are you?"

I never thought of those words this way, but they were the first indication of the separation between God and His creation.  It was all the evidence we need to see the broken fellowship between God and man.  When you're in the house with your spouse but not in the same room you may say, "Honey, where are you?"  You are separated so you seek to find them.  Now, we know God knew where Adam and Eve were, He knows everything.  But I have to wonder if this question was asked and put in the Bible to show that God and man were now separated.  If it was a metaphor for that separation.  

We do the same thing.  Oh, we may not sew together fig leaves but we do try to hide our sin and shame from God.  We sew together our excuses, wrapping them around us like a coat thinking it hides our flaws and failings.  But we don't realize that those flimsy excuses we hide in are just that, flimsy as those fig leaves.  God sees right through them.  The excuses, the lies we tell ourselves.  His Word says in Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  His Word and His eyes cut through our hidings.  He sees the innermost part of our being.  And because our Father sees us, He can fix what is causing our dysfunction...in other words the parts of us that are unsubmitted to Him and cause our sinful nature to rise up and lead us astray.   Some people may find this very uncomfortable, this being fully known.  But I find it comforting.  I want to God fix me!  So His knowing me completely means He knows exactly what needs to be done!  

Thank You Lord for knowing us.  I am so grateful that nothing about me is hidden from You.  That may seem scary, but it is really a safe place.  Please help us to be honest with You...and in doing so become honest with ourselves.  We know that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  1 John 1:9  What a blessing to be known and not have to hide or cover ourselves.  The only covering we need is the blood of Jesus.  That is the only thing that covers our sin and shame and enables us to come humbly and boldly into Your Presence.  We now have fellowship restored!  Amen!! 

What are you making excuses for?  What are you trying to hide from God?