Powerful

God's electing us for His specific purposes rests on how we respond to His love and work in us by His Spirit. - Priscilla Shirer -

Now "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Eph 4:1

No Other Gods - Conforting our Modern Day Idols

Our bible study will finish the above bible study on Monday evening. I can say that it has been a wonderful study to go through and written by Kelly Minter. I have learned much about myself and my struggles.
Throughout this week the following scripture has stayed with me from a week ago. It is from Acts 13: 17-19.

The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt, with mighty power he led them out of that country, he endured their conduct for about forty years in the desert, he overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as their inheritance.

I guess what keeps hitting me so hard is in verse 18, He endured their conduct for about forty years. How long has the Lord been enduring my worthless idols and disobedience? But there is also hope in the next verse, He overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as their inheritance. Even though I don't always say yes immediately or I pickup that idol that I've laid down time and again the Lord still shows me that I am loved passionately and that I am his favorite and he wants to do good things for me. But I still have to work at saying yes faster and believing what I've been told and with Jesus' help I have to continue laying down that idol and work at not looking back or picking it back up. It truly isn't any comfort because only God truly satisfies and can meet all my needs. The hard part is not looking back and remembering the "good" which is only a lie but remembering what God can do and will do when I'm under complete surrender.

So it's letting go and letting God fill me up. I need to look ahead at the blessings that will come and not looking back and remember those things that really didn't satisfy.

Lord, Help me to seek you first always for my filling up and not at things that do not satisfy. Keep reminding me that you love me and what to fill me up with you. I love you and I desire to seek your face and beauty above all else. In Jesus' Name Amen.

God is so Good

The other day I was working on my bible study and God is just all over me. Our study is No Other Gods, confronting our modern-day idols by Kelly Minter. Wonderful study and I highly recommend it. Anyway, I was reading about how good and great God is, which I know, but sometimes you just have to be hit in the head with the truth. We have come to the part in the study as to why we have idols, what we are looking for from them, naming then, and then lay them down to be able to allow Christ to work on them with us because he is jealous for us. So comes the part where you need to pick out scripture to read in Psalm that relates God to that idol that we have laid down and see God in that role instead. Some of the choices are struggling with identity and self-worth Psalm 139, in time of crisis Psalm 143 and so on. I chose longing for intimacy with God and the scripture address is Psalm 42. The Lord had another scripture that he wanted me to read, still having to do with intimacy but at another location. You see I have also been struggling with what I have been called to do and not being able to do the thing because it is much harder than I thought even though God told me that I would do it and I also think that I don't make an effort these days to set aside time to do it. How is that for confession? Something that I will have to work on after you hear and read what God did. So I am looking for intimacy with God in Psalm 42 and God has other plans and takes me to Isaiah 42 which goes like this verse 1 "Here is my servant , whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. " I am staring at this verse and I read it again. Tears welling up in my eyes to see God's love for me, who has not been doing the thing I have been called to do and yet he loves me still and not just loves me but delights in me. And I still don't know that I am in the wrong passage. Now for more, verse 5-6 "This is what God the LORD says- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who give breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold our your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness." Verse 10 "Sing to the LORD a new song his praise from the ends of the earth." Verse 11b goes "Let the people sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops." I am so overwhelmed by what I have been reading that I am crying. God is still calling me to write this bible study/book/devotional. I must do it and must spend the time that is necessary to make my calling a reality. Because God has called me to do it and I won't be completely happy and satisfied which has been another issue I have been having these days.

When I get finished reading the chapter and can look back at my bible study page at the verse and then back to the bible, I realize that I was in the wrong book. I reacted by WOW and then even more tears because the Lord had taken me there to hear those words of love and reassurance and encouragement. How is that for intimacy with God? It just couldn't be better. I then went on the read Psalm 42 and it just didn't have it for me at that moment but my needs had been met by the Provider of all things, just in time.

Good Friday

Jesus said "It is finished!" No more do I have to do. I can't keep the law. But as long as I walk in the Spirit, I get to walk in freedom. He paid it all so that I could live for eternity. He gave his life so that I could wear his righteousness. He inherited my sin so that I could be blameless, pure and white as snow.