FORWARD!

Ok, I am just going to start typing because I have been thinking about writing this last entry for 2014 for weeks now.  There has been so much on my mind!  Everything from the holiday blues, family relationships (that’s big), work expectations in the new year, and finally to what is God going to do in the New Year!!!!  I know I am not alone.  Probably anyone who is reading this will have had at least one of these thoughts over the past several weeks.  To what degree you have them depends on many factors. Some of these thoughts deal with the past, others with what is going on today, and finally the rest with the future.  Thankfully we have choices on how to deal with these thoughts. 

I don’t know about you, but because of Love, I always look to see what God says I should be focusing on.  In one of my favorite books of the bible, Isaiah, we receive some guidance with our thoughts:

Isaiah 43¹⁸ “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. ¹⁹ For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

See what we need, what the “world” needs is hope! (1 Corinth 13:13) We find that in the hope provider, the joy bringer, the life giver, the power deliverer….Jesus.  So God says forget about all that other stuff and watch me work in your life.  Watch me work through you.  Watch as your faith pleases me to action. 

As Isaiah asks, have you not sensed that God has already begun to work?  Can you not see God moving all around you?

So as you end 2014 and by grace enter 2015, I hope you move FORWARD with hope forgetting all that is past and becoming excited about the God who makes all things NEW!  Amen. 

Walk & Not Faint

Isaiah 40²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ but those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

I love Isaiah 40, it is action packed with power, promise and truth.  “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Isaiah asks.  If you hadn’t heard before, Isaiah 40 breaks it down for us.  One of the truths in this passage of scripture that perplexed me for many years, is the end of verse 31 “they shall walk and not faint”.  This portion of the scripture came alive to me, after I had walked a few years with the Lord.  See I am a runner, and if I think about fainting, it would be because I was running too long and too hard….but that is in the physical.  One thing we learn spiritually as a child of God, is that in order to live a life of faith pleasing to the Lord, we must walk with Him.  This race of endurance is not a sprint, some say it is a marathon, but for me it has been more like a combination of a sprint, a run & a lot of walking.  We have to walk in the Spirit.  We can’t sprint, unless it is the season to do so.  Sometimes it feels like a marathon because it takes so long to get to the finish line of a promise from God.  But the hardest times for me in my Christian walk have been the steady pace of not going to fast & not going to slow.  It has been walking with my eyes focused on Christ, and not what is going on around me or even inside me.  It has been in these times that I have felt like fainting, but Christ has empowered me to just take one more step, trust Him a little further, and to hold on just a little longer.  It is the day-to-day monotony, waiting for a change that can wear us out. 

We the children of God can become weary of the troubles of this world, the failings of humans, and trying to do things in our own strength.  But I propose to you today as Isaiah did thousands of years ago, have you not known, have you not heard of the God, my God:

…The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

As we walk together, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, let us be comforted by His love so that we will not faint, if we WAIT on the Lord.  Hallelujah and Amen.

Let Love Choose Your Friends

I was reading a devotional today that spoke about friendship and the ability to trust others for it.  That is a poor summary, because it was a very powerful devotional from Girlfriends in God.  Well of course it made me examine my life and friendships.  As I read it, the Spirit kept bringing out for me the word TRUST.  So I went to the word of God for further guidance, because like many of you, I have been hurt in my life by so-called friends.  My question to myself and to you is, “was it really just their fault that I got hurt?”  So let’s examine some scripture:

Proverbs 18:²⁴ A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (NKJV)

²⁴ There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. (NLT)

²⁴ Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. The Message

I used all three versions of the same scripture, because each breaks down how friendship can be.  Can you relate?  What stands out to me in all three is how we have to be a friend first, and then also how the friendship is brought to a familial sense….a brother (or sister). Now look at these verses:

Proverbs 12:²⁶ The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray. (NKJV)

²⁶ The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray. (NLT)

²⁶ A good person survives misfortune, but a wicked life invites disaster. The Message

Now we see how the Word says that we have to choose friends carefully.  Verse 26 also shows us that if we choose wrong, or a wicked person, we will be led astray and have disaster invited into our lives.  That is deep.  The word of God brings such clarity for every aspect of our lives.  God loves us so much that He will give us wisdom to choose the right friends.  These friends should be our brothers and sisters in Christ, in the family of God.  Even within the family of God, the body of Christ, we have to use wisdom and be guided by the Holy Spirit.  Friends give grace, encourage one another, and provide good advice from the word of God.  Are you a friend?  By the love and friendship of God, we can be a good friend and choose our friends wisely. 

Thank you Lord Jesus that you love us, know us and care even about who our friends are.  Lord help us to choose wisely those we invite into our lives.  Thank you for always being the friend we need most. Amen.