​November 28, 2015
Crazy Thankful!

1 Chronicles 16:8
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.


Facts:
1. Give thanks to the Lord... Give credit where credit is due. Don’t just internally like or appreciate something; thank the Source!

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. (James 1:17)

2. And proclaim his greatness... This is the purpose of my existence. Out of appreciation of what God has done for me, I want everyone else to know, and they can’t know if Believers don’t tell about it.

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? (Romans 10:14)

3. Let the whole world know what he has done...  This is a direct response to one of the last things Jesus ever said to his disciples, and I am a Disciple!

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age... This is exactly what I am so crazy thankful about in the first place !!!!!

Dear God,
You are always with me. That’s a fact that never changes with my circumstances, and that is what I want to be found faithful sharing from now until your Son returns. I am so glad you don’t leave me to my own devices and that you give me such good things. Help my inward  thankfulness be continually outwardly expressed so others can hear and know how great you are. I love you so much and thank you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

November 25, 2015
Representing
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

One of my favorite quotes from Abigail Adams is from one of her letters to her son, John. “My Dear Son... remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions.” What great advice for a parent to impart. You can’t be with your kids all the time, and as they get older a mom could really freak out at what they might do. But those who love Jesus choose to be his representative, and that decision will affect all other decisions. 

Giving thanks through him (Jesus) to God the Father... Remember, Jesus is the Way to God (See John 14:6). Jesus is God’s representative - a perfect representative. He always pleases God (see John 8:29). He always does God’s will (see Luke 22:42). I want to be a representative like that. Hard core.

And through Jesus is how I give my thanks to God, and my thanks to God is given as a direct result from living to be a representative of Jesus. There’s no better way to demonstrate my thankfulness to God than through obedience to his Son and living as his representative. And Psalm 119:7-8 perfectly describes this girl’s attitude towards being a representative of Christ...

As I learn your righteous regulations,
    I will thank you by living as I should!
I will obey your decrees.
    Please don’t give up on me!
​
Dear God,
Thank you that simply remembering Jesus represents you, and my desire to represent him affects how I live and what I do. Thank you for my kids’ own personal desire to follow you that affects what they do. It is very freeing as a parent to know they each love and trust you and don’t want to misrepresent you to whomever they’re with. Thank you that I can show you how thankful I am by obeying you, and thank you that you don’t give up on me when I fail. You are so good to me and I love you so much. Please let others see you in me through the One whom I represent. Thank you for your amazing ways, and I thank you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

November 24, 2015
Faith & Roses
Colossians 2:7
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

This passage uses an analogy of roots of a plant or tree to describe what our hearts are like. What we focus on establishes what we think about and how we behave, sustaining us the way roots support plant life. Have you ever pulled up a plant that has been firmly established in the ground for years? It’s not easy. We had roses in our front yard in a planter for years and one day decided to replace them with something else. Impossible! We got the roses out with some of the roots, but the vast, thick, durable and strong underground root system remained. We were cutting them out for days, and some will just have to stay down there; there’s too many roots.

I like this analogy. I want my faith to reflect this kind of system. I want to effortlessly  overflow with thankfulness as a result of willingly, deeply, and sincerely following Jesus. Jesus said that the seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation (Luke 8:13). 

I’m glad that believing and following for a long time results in strong faith. I’m glad that God grows huge amounts of faith over time from just tiny, accumulating bits (Matthew 17:20), and strong faith and thankfulness is the result! I want to be stubborn about the things of God like deep, established roots. I don’t want anyone or anything to be able to pull me away from following Jesus, trusting him, and being thankful for my salvation. Just like the rosebush roots in my front planter, I want Jesus with me forever!

Dear Lord Jesus,
I am so thankful for all you have done! Thank you for your Word and that daily study and prayer time result in a thankful heart no matter what circumstances I may face today. You are great and greatly to be praised. I love you so much, and I just can’t thank you enough. And I pray in your name, amen.

​November 19, 2015
The Law of the Lord
Psalm 1:1-2
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.

I like being with people who delight in the law of the Lord. That simply means we willingly and joyfully agree with God and all that He says. These people feel like family to me. We are not perfect; we are just as messy as everyone else. But God is not holding the sins of the people in this group against them. We get fresh starts and do-overs and the love and companionship of God’s own Son, Jesus through His Holy Spirit.

Sometimes it’s difficult to delight in the law of the Lord. Actually, lots of times obedience is the hard choice. It would be easy to let some ungodly behaviors just slide and think we can dip into God’s grace more and more. But the Apostle Paul points out that there isn’t grace for continuous, purposeful, willful sins. Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. (Hebrews 10:26-27) Such a person is fooling themselves and actually being the one who stands around with sinners and is in danger of joining in with mockers.

That’s why Paul also says this: 
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2)

Obey the Law of Christ... In Matthew 22:37-40 this is Jesus’ response to the question of what is the greatest commandment:  ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. And THIS is what Believers delight in meditating on day and night!

Dear God,
Thank you for your Word which is my guide for life. Thank you for giving me a zealous husband who always leads our family into doing what you say based on your Word and your promises. Thank you for loving us and being with us. Help me to love you with all my heart today not only by what I believe but also by what I do. I do love you so much and I just can’t thank you enough for your Word and your presence in my life. And I pray in Jesus’ name according to your good will, amen.

November 10, 2015
An Attention Grabber
Job 37:5-6
God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power. “He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down.”

I don’t know what God’s voice sounds like, but it is associated with thunder several times in Scripture. (See 1 Samuel 7:10, 2 Samuel 22:14, Psalm 46:6 & Joel 3:16) I do, however, know what thunder sounds like, and thunder certainly is an attention grabber! And God will certainly grab the attention of the Believers who seek him as well as everyone one else on the planet whether they want him to or not!

Here's a sample of how the Apostle John's attention was grabbed:
When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lamp stands. And standing in the middle of the lamp stands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves.  He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last.  I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.” (Revelation 1:12-18)

He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down...  This is another great reference to God’s great, awesome and powerful character. He is the one who holds the universe together (Colossians 1:17). Some people don’t believe this. They try use only science to explain how the universe works. And God wants us to use science to discover how the universe works because it helps us continually unravel God’s own mysteries and draw us to him. Scientist love matter and energy, but no scientist can create matter and no scientist knows exactly where the earth’s energy originally came from. But Believers know for certain that the energy stored up in every solid, liquid & gas came from God’s very own voice. Let there be light...

Hebrews 1:3 confirms that God’s Word continues to sustain the world today. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. And the mighty power of his command will be revealed like THUNDER, and it will definitely grab EVERYONE’S attention!

Dear God,
Thank you for sustaining me by the power of your word. Thank you for speaking to us and making yourself known to us through creation like Romans 1:20 describes. Thank you for science giving us insight to just how amazing and wonderful and mysterious you are. I pray for the people I know and love who arrogantly dismiss you to stop defying all logic and common sense to ignore your presence. You are as real as the thunder. I love you so much and just can’t thank you enough for all your power because you powerfully defeated sin and death for me by your Son in whose name I pray, amen.

November 3, 2015
We Think We Want a King
Romans 13:1
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

The authorities that exist have been established by God... Everyone is under someone else’s authority. Everyone. This is what God has established. Some people use this passage to complain about God. They express it this way: How can a loving God put Hitler in power? But Hitler rose to power by the will of people. So did Obama. But, so did Reagan. That’s the thing. People have free will. If God had created robots to do his bidding then it would be God’s fault that Hitler was ever a leader. God gave everyone free will because he wants to be our Leader, and he wants us to want him to be our leader. But, very long ago one nation chose very unanimously for God NOT to be their Leader.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah  They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.  He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.  He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use.  He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.  When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us.  Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”
(From 1 Samuel 8)

The neat thing about God is that he lets governments exist because that’s what people with free will freely choose. Ironically, these governments have only made these citizens less free. Thankfully, God has made a way for me to be free regardless of who’s in charge, and no one is able to take it away (Romans 8:38-39). And that freedom lasts literally forever and long after all the leaders of the world are long gone.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
(2 Corinthians 3:17)

Dear God,
I find myself praying this all the time: Thank you for keeping me safe from other people’s free choices. Thank you for making me free in every way because of your Son. Thank you that no decision of action of a person can take away your love or salvation. Thank you for being my Leader. I love you so much and pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.