In the Valley

Lillies grow in the Valley, not on the mountain tops. We as Christians can bloom and shine for Jesus in difficult times. Just remember the Valley represents the difficult times and that is where we bloom and shine. Be a Lillie and bloom and shine in the valley. Don't be afraid of the valley. God says He will never leave us or forsake us.

Knowing Jesus

Here is an interesting thought, the disciples knew Jesus in Life, Death and Resurrection. Paul and we know Jesus through His Resurrection, Death, and then Life.

Count It All Joy

I think this is one of those posts where the picture says it all.

Sacrifices and Offerings

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I ran across this scripture.

Hebrews 11:4 (KJV) 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

God brought into focus this idea of me being an offering and sacrifice to Him. This brought to mind another verse.

Psalms 51:17 (KJV) 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

This also brought to mind a phrase Oswald Chambers used a lot in "My Utmost for His Highest." "Broken Bread and Poured out Wine." Referring to Jesus and His sacrifice for us. And he would also challenge us to and ask the question. "Are you broken bread and poured out wine."

I asked myself the question. Am I broken bread and poured out wine? Another words am I giving all of myselffor the kingdom of God? Have I made myself an offering to God?

I choose this morning to make myself that offering. How about you?

Self Fulfillment

I was reading in "My Utmost for His Highest" this morning. I was on the wrong date because as I indicated before the binding is wore out, so it always falls open to June 10th. But this is one of those that I have most highlighted over the years. Another words "It's a Goodern". I would like to share the first part of the first paragraph.

Seek if you have not found. "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss..." James 4:3. If you ask for thing from life instead of from God, "you ask amiss"; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God.

It is amazing, as I talked about in a previous post, we do not know what we "desire". What do we pray for? I started to post my previous post about the desires of our heart Saturday night and held off. Then my pastor preached on praying for and getting the desire of our heart, but not knowing how God will supply or answer that prayer and then this. It all seems to run together for me.

But I would like us to consider the last sentence. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. Ouch! We need to be carefull in our prayers and our lives about what we pray and seek.

Sad news is my pastor has resigned to take another church. It is one of those bittersweet things in a way. I know that whenever you follow where God is leading, that is exciting, as I mentioned in a previous post. It is sad for many of us also. Lavelle, thank you for loving me and supporting me and my family, I know you have a pastors heart. Dianne, thank you also for loving us.

The Desire of Thine Heart

Psalms 37, what a chapter! I heard a sermon on it this week and have been hooked on it all week. There is a lot in this chapter, but I just wanted to focus on one verse. I hope it speaks to you as much as it speaks to me. I can't help it, I probably will have to post more on the rest of the chapter.


Psalms 37:4 (KJV) 4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Delight thyself also in the LORD? As I gave this some thought I asked myself what does it mean to delight myself in something. What are some things I can delight myself in? Can I delight myself in a swimming pool? Yes. Can I delight myself in fried chicken? Yes. Can I delight myself in my family? Yes. Can I delight myself in a good book? Yes. Can I delight myself in a good relationship? Yes. So there are some things I can delight myself in, but how do I delight myself in them? Can I delight myself in a swimming pool without jumping in? No. Can I delight myself in fried chicken without eating it? No. Can I delight myself in my family without being involved and engaged with them? No. Can I delight myself in a good book without reading it? No. Can I delight myself with a good relationship without being in it? No. We cannot delight ourselves in the LORD without being in the LORD. (SAVED) We cannot delight ourselves in the LORD without tasting Him. We cannot delight ourselves in the LORD without being a part of His family. We cannot delight ourselves in the LORD without a relationship that is void of known sin. In a previous post I talked about being obsessed with God. We should be obsessed with our relationship with God. Delight yourselves with the LORD.

With who? The LORD. Our Creator, Sustainer, Saviour. He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent. He is Immutable, Self Sufficient, Self Sustaining, Infinite. He is outside of creation. He could not be a part of creation if He created it. Shall I go on?

The desires of thine heart. What are the desires of your heart? There are wants and needs. I believe this word desires points to needs. We think we know what we need, but do we really know the difference? Let me give you an example. A young teen is giving the parents fits. We may pray, Lord please if they would just stop the relationship with this person, that would solve everything. Is that the prayer we want Him to answer? So the teen gets out of that relationship, problem solved right? Then the teen is back into another bad relationship. So now you pray LORD the child is yours, however you see fit to take care of this, do it. Then one day the teen comes to you while you are at the altar and says, "Daddy, I don't think I am saved. I want to be saved, would you help me?" And you lead this teen to Jesus. What was the desire of your heart. What we didn't know was that really the desire of our heart was for them to get saved. We don't always know the desire of our heart. Delight yourself in the LORD and let Him determine what the desire of your heart is, and sit back and see Him work.

Causing others to want Jesus

You can never give another person what you have found in Christ, such as salvation, peace and joy etc... but you can cause them to have a desire for it. Remember to be salt and light.

Life Changes

Life changes are an opportunity to experience a closer walk with God.

Psalms 23:4 (KJV) 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

This verse reminds us that God is with us in the valleys of life. Just as we experience Him on the mountain top, so can we have an exciting encounter with Him in the valleys of life! I can truly say that I have experienced His presence and was able to worship Him and come closer to Him even in the worst of times. We don’t always know how far or where that valley end. What we can know is that while we are there God is with us. We can view life changing events as an exciting time for the Christian. Remember as we are in these valleys God wants to reveal something new about Himself to us. How exciting is that.

Life changes are an opportunity to experience a closer walk with God.

A. W. Tozer wrote: "Without a doubt, the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for God."

Are You Obsessed by Something?

In my quiet time this morning, I felt the urge to write something, in my blog. I also had my heart open to a message to preach this weekend at the lake. Last month was a rain out and I had a sermon on: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. I wanted to show how God should be 100% the main focus of our lives and how we should abide in Him. How when our minds go idle for a brief second in our daily routine which takes our minds off Him and onto our work or schoolwork, our thoughts should automatically go straight to Him. I didn’t get to use it, and was considering using it again. I don’t mind reusing the same sermon or an unused sermon again, but only if I feel it is from God and it is laid on my heart. Otherwise it will be a “duh” boring speech that just comes off the pages of notes instead from my heart through the Holy Spirit. Anyways, I read different devotionals and as I sat down at my desk I reached down and picked up “My Utmost for His Highest”. This has a special place in my heart, because I have learned a lot from this book. It is a challenging read, and hits straight at your heart. It does tend to be deep and requires rereading to get what was said. Maybe I will go into some of the things I have learned from it one day. Anyways, I picked it up and opened it. This book has been used so much it is falling apart, but I would not want a new one. Anyways, it opened to this particular devotion. “Are You Obsessed by Something?” As I read it, I asked myself the question, “Am I obsessed by something?” I know of the things that obsess my life, and I want God to be the one I am obsessed about. I saw how my life is like the one described in the devotion, but I want more. I want my obsession to be like it has been at times in the past. Actually I want it to be more than it was in the past. Anyways, talk about confirmation about what to share here today and about the sermon this weekend at the lake, here it is. I didn’t look at the date listed for this devotion. I wanted to share it with everyone, but didn’t want to type it out, so I Googled, “My Utmost for His Highest” so I could copy and past it. The first return was for “Are You obsessed by Something?” That seemed odd, but sometimes I am slow, so I clicked it and the exact devotion came up, now I wander why that was at the top of the list, then it hit me. I looked at my devotion book again, it said June 2. The book had come open to today’s devotion. Wow, God has something to say. Here is the devotion. I pray that it lights a desire in you to be more obsessed with God

. June 2, 2009
Are You Obsessed by Something?
ODB RADIO: DownloadREAD:
Who is the man that fears the Lord? —Psalm 25:12
Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, "No, by nothing," but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to "live and move and have our being" in God ( Acts 17:28 ), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.
If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.
"He himself shall dwell in prosperity . . ." ( Psalm 25:13 ). God will cause us to "dwell in prosperity," keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our "life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. "God is our refuge . . ." ( Psalm 46:1 ). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.

How has this touched or encouraged you?