I WILL BE STRONG!

Psalm 95:6 Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,

7 for he is our God. We are the people he watches over,  the sheep under his care.

  Oh, that you would listen to his voice today! 8 The LORD says, "Don't harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. 9 For there your ancestors tried my patience; they courted my wrath though they had seen my many miracles. 10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, `They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.' (NLT)

Read Psalm 95

When we read the Old Testament and the history of the Israelite's we see a people who made plenty of mistakes.  What we should also see is ourselves, and the many times we have refused to do what God is telling us.  In this Psalm, there is a call to be different from the early people of God.  We have a new opportunity, by the power of the Holy Spirit to be obedient.  We have to make a choice, a choice to make God proud and not angry.  Everyday we are challenged to choose.  We must choose to please the Lord Jesus, and not our flesh.  We must choose to please God, and not satan by our nasty attitude and behavior.  We have a choice of whether we are or are not going to sin against God, and if we are going to rely on the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to make the right choice for Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the Lord looking down and shaking His head at me saying, “How many times must I give her this test?”.  I want to pass the test, and I WILL NOT be weak and subject to my flesh.  The Word says that greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.  Do you believe it?  I know sometimes we don’t act like we do; BUT today make the right choice that shows that you do!  Declare that you will NOT be in the “they” that refuse to do what the Lord tells you (v10).  Declare that you WILL BE strong in your discipleship, and walk in all that the Lord has for you!  

Jesus thank you for helping us, strengthening us, encouraging us, and teaching us.  In Your MIGHTY name we pray, AMEN.  

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.