For those who find me find life

(I have been isolating verses as I work my way through Proverbs. I settle on a verse each morning and then write thoughts that come to me regarding the chosen verse.)

God’s garden

“For those who find me find life.” – Proverbs 8:35

I have found God.  He dwells within me.  He MUST live through me.  I yield control entirely to Him. 

How does a person in love act?  They act lively!  They are NOT passive.  They do not let the world go by unnoticed.  They see others.  They hear others.  They are more interested in others than they are in themselves. 

I have eternal life.  What is going on now is the beginning.  There is an “ahead,” called heaven. 

I was lost.  I needed to be saved and He saved me.  His Son died for what separated me from Him.  Christ took my place.  He was that Way I needed, to find eternal life.  PTL. 

‘Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.’ 

God is good all the time. 

Without God, everything is terminal.  It will pass away.  With Him, there is eternal. Bask in it! 

Bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me

(I have been isolating verses as I work my way through Proverbs.  I settle on a verse each morning and then write thoughts that come to me regarding the chosen verse.)

“Bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me.” Proverbs 8:21

God’s garden

My goal is to love God. 

I must want Him. 

I must seek Him full-time. 

I must long to hear from Him.  To talk to Him. 

I must be well-aware of His presence.  I look and know that He is there. 

I don’t leave the door open and allow the Adversary to come into my life.  I resist the Devil.  I call him out.  I ask for God’s protection.  I recognize my weaknesses on my own. 

I will mess things up with fear or pride.  I will make obstacles of things and get distracted by them.  I will forget to call for Help from the One Who loves me and is nearby. 

Our front door is not working right.  Have I called for Help?  I am now. 

Before, I was worrying about how I would take care of it.  I was spending too much time on that trail. 

Being close to God brings peace.  That DOES NOT mean that things will smooth out as I fashion “smoothing out.”  It means that I have realized that there is One who knows and I’m deliberately bringing Him onboard. 

Because of God’s love, the consequences of my sins are forgiven, and I will have an after-life with God.  What an inheritance that is! 

To love Him right is to eliminate my “love” competitions.  ‘Do you love me more than these?’ 

Jesus died for me, a sinner.  Loving Him back is the only way I can repay Him.

Those who seek me find me

(I have been isolating verses as I work my way through Proverbs.  I settle on a verse each morning and then write thoughts that come to me regarding the chosen verse.)

God’s garden

“Those who seek me find me.” – Proverbs 8:17

How comforting!

God is not unfindable.

How do I find Him?

There are visuals. I see Him as the only One who could have created the flowers in our yard.  The colors.  The design. The fact that they emerge from a glacier, frozen and out of sight.  And it happens annually.

When I turn my attention to Who could do such a thing, I know that there is God.

I see His Workings in the hummingbirds that visit our feeder.  Nowhere near here for months yet able to fly great distances to join us.

I have times when words come to me. I clear away the haze and cry out to Him.

I don’t place Him in a geographic location.  I don’t think of Him eternally away from me in heaven.  He is in my midst.

My issue is realizing His proximity and persisting in interaction.

How do I know I’ve “found” Him?  The seeking ends. 

I can all-day-long find Him.  He is near me.  His eyes and ears have such quality that my seeking will result in His finding.

What a Savior!

What a God!

To fear the Lord is to hate evil

(I have been isolating verses as I work my way through Proverbs.  I settle on a verse each morning and then write thoughts that come to me regarding the chosen verse.)

God’s garden

“To fear the Lord is to hate evil.” Proverbs 8:13

Why am I spending any time watching Chicago PD?  If I swim in those waters, I’m going to get covered with what I see. There is a barrage of evil. 

I love God.  I MUST immerse myself in Godly things. I want to come away from the time stronger, not weaker.

I should be troubled by the evil I see in me.  Fearing God shines a bright light on everything.

Fearing God will help me choose the roads He want me on.  Loose from God lessens my care about the choices I make.

I rationalize that I can revert and resist the consequences of impulsive choices.  I can’t. I am a product of the choices I make.

I cannot live rightly without His guidance.  I want His guidance before I choose a course of action.

My relationship to Him must be ongoing.  Separation does NOT make the heart grow fonder. Separation, instead, makes the heart wander and wandering sets me up for Satan’s guidance.  Enough of that!

By the will of God

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God,…..”  Ephesians 1:1

I saw this verse with new eyes yesterday.

I had been jumping past the middle phrase.

Suddenly, I saw that the middle phrase, “an apostle of Christ Jesus,” was being done by the will of God.

Paul was recognizing from the get-go that his being an apostle required that he function within God’s will as he did it.

I have a ton of family relationships.  I’m a father, grandfather, husband, father-in-law, uncle, brother, etc…

What if I started the verse with my name (Peter) and then inserted the family relationship into the middle space?  “Peter, the husband of Julie, by the will of God..”

That personalizes the verse.  It reminds me that the relationship I have to my wife must go forward in the Lord’s will.

God has put me in the position of being a husband and I must realize the responsibility and my need to seek His guidance.

When it comes to work, I can insert my job into the middle phrase.  “Peter, a driving instructor, by the will of God..”

It centers me on the thought that whatever I do, I am chasing His guidance and mindful that I represent Him at work.

Try personalizing your own situation using Ephesians 1:1.

 

 

Are we the prophets of Baal?

“Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!”  they shouted.  But there was no response; no one answered.  And they danced around the altar they had made.

At noon Elijah began to taunt them.  “Shout louder!” he said.  “Surely he is a god!  Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling.  Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”  So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.  Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice.  But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.”  1 Kings 18:26-29

When the thought ran through my head that President Trump might lose, this section of Scripture came to mind.

Many believers are convinced that God wouldn’t allow Trump to lose.

They’ve prayed.  They’ve donated.  They’ve assured themselves that God is on their side.  He’ll make a Trump win possible……and it may yet happen.

But if it doesn’t.  What then?

Is it inconceivable that the godless will become the “Elijah’s” of the Scripture above?

Would it be surprising if they taunted believers?

“Maybe you didn’t pray enough.”

“Maybe God was out of town and missed your request.”

“Maybe He was tired.”

“Maybe the god you think exists, doesn’t exist.”

It could be tough to listen to.

Will we respond angrily?

God is all-powerful.  We know that He can turn an election one way or another.

It is not our task to tell God what He should or should not do.  Our task is to align ourselves so closely to Him that we will do/say what He wants in all circumstances.

The name of the President shouldn’t change our relationship to God.  God knows his name and will use him, as He did Pharaoh & Nebuchadnezzar, any way He chooses.

We must seek God’s will and follow it.  He is capable of handling the details beyond that.

 

The virus and the Holy Spirit

“I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me…..” Galatians 2:20

How do you know if you have Covid-19?

You take a test.

Many are required to take a test just to “prove” that they don’t have the virus.

The tests have come under fire.

Are the results accurate?

A New York Times study indicated that 90% of the tests were faulty.

The test requires amplifying the swab result.  The higher the amplification the more that can be detected.

Seemed like a good idea until it was discovered positive results were coming over dead virus and very weak virus.

Helps to explain why people who aren’t sick, or who have very minor symptoms, test positive.

The Governor of Ohio tested positive without symptoms one day.  He took a retest the next day and tested negative.

The best judge for whether or not you have the virus is the symptoms you feel.  Minus the symptoms, you have probably taken an over-amplified test.

I have the Holy Spirit within me because I, as a sinner, believed that Jesus took care of the consequences of my sins when He died in my place.  The old me didn’t believe that way.

Now the Holy Spirit can live within me, and does.

But how does anyone in my midst know that!

Without “symptoms,” I can make all sorts of claims but the symptoms of His presence within me are the ultimate revealer.

Does anyone suspect that you or I have the Holy Spirit within us?  Saying we do, is not enough.  Where are the symptoms?

 

 

I live for “likes” and “retweets”

How about sharing the glory!

Does everything have to be about me?

Even Paul, who is often pegged as arrogant, gets his part, and God’s part, right in today’s verses.

God deserves ALL the glory.

How much am I giving Him?

Am I willing to minimize myself to a workable piece of clay in the Potter’s hands?

“You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s masterstroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did – Jesus crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2: 1-2 (The Message)

If something is presented in a complicated way, many of the listeners/readers will tune it out.

My sister & brother-in-law are weavers. And very good at it. Occasionally, they will give an explanation on Facebook of something specific they are doing in their weaving process. The words they use are English, but what they mean in the ways they use them, sail quickly past me.

There, however, may be weavers out there who would hang on their every word. I am just not one of them.

Paul super simplifies things for non-believers. He nutshells his message to them into two topics: Jesus Christ is God’s Son, and Jesus Christ died on a cross.

When those two topics are understood, he can then go into specifics.

Paul sees the simplistic approach as important. Why? Because God can work with it.

Paul notes several verses later that his downgraded style draws folks away from celebrating him and towards God instead: “But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.” Verses 4-5

I think that my task in doing these devotionals is, with God’s help, to make them as simple to understand as possible. If someone, after reading an entry, comes away with “me” instead of “God” then I have wasted my time.

To Him be all the glory!

 

How is your prayer life holding up during the Covid-19 crisis?

“My purpose in writing is simple; that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he is listening. And if we are confident that he is listening, we know that what we have asked for is as good as ours. 1 John 5:13-15 (The Message)

Are you praying that the Covid-19 pandemic will end? Why hasn’t it, then?

I imagine Elijah and Baal’s prophets: “Maybe, you could pray a little louder,” taunts Elijah, “maybe, he’s taking a nap.”

If you have been praying that God would end the pandemic, He has not chosen to grant that to you.

Are you discouraged as a result? Do you wonder about His hearing ability?

Deciding how God should do something is folly. His Ways are different than our ways. I have heard it said: “If we knew what God knows, we would understand why He does what He does.”

But of course, we do not.

You get the sense of the frustration in Psalms where David (usually) is lamenting something and wondering about God.

For us to behave similarly, is not a bad thing. It shows that we care, and it shows that we know where the Ultimate Source is.

I have Christ in me. He wants to live through me. He wants to love me and others. Wouldn’t successful prayer be an extension of those things?

I have a Source within me that knows what I should be doing…..and asking for. That relationship must be optimized.

 

 

 

 

If you are a believer, why are you still trying to work your way into God’s favor?

“As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us; by the Spirit he gave us.” 1 John 3:24 (The Message)

Do you have to pray? Memorize Scripture? Tithe? Etc…?

If you are a believer and you must do such things, my question is, “Why?”

Could you NOT do those things and still be acceptable to God?

If you are not sure, then you need to hear this: You were a sinner. Jesus Christ died taking your sins on Himself. He received the punishment your sins warranted. When God raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus was free of our sins and so were you. When Adam sinned, God’s perfect relationship with him ended. God could no longer live in Adam or any of his descendants (that’s us) because of sin. By Jesus taking away your sins (past/present/future) you become sinless in His eyes and He can now live inside you as He did in Adam before he sinned. God now finds you completely acceptable to Him.

Can you do things to “upgrade” or “enhance” your acceptability in God’s sight? No! Your sins are gone. You are as clean in His sight as you will ever be.

If someone told you that God accepts them because they have done this-or-that, you would be quick to note that they can’t work their way to God. Yet, as a believer, are you trying to work your way into His good graces by doing your own version of Christian this-and-that?

What if you did not pray or read/study the Bible, would you feel guilty? You need to examine that guilt. It is not coming from God. It’s from Satan. He wants you to feel inadequate, discouraged, and frustrated. God has already accepted You. He’s in you and He loves you. He does not come and go based on what you do. Live with that assurance.

Understand that praying and Bible study are not bad things. But they are not the measure of our acceptability to God. That acceptability has already been taken care of.