“To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:
Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”
Jude 1:1b-2
Tag: peace
Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Peace
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your mighty name, oh LORD. We ascribe to you all glory and strength. Holy and Righteous is your name.
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
He who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, He who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.”
Psalm 121:1-4
Father, we lift up Israel to you and pray for the salvation of your beloved people. May you deliver them from their enemies, both seen and unseen. May you pour out your Holy Spirit that He might give ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to receive Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah. It’s in His name we pray, amen.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His love endures forever.
Cry out, ‘Save us, God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and glory in your praise.’
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.”
1 Chronicles 16:34-36
If you need prayer, please let me know.
In Him Who Saves,
Dorci
What God’s Doing – Joy, Peace, and Hope are Possible
I thought it would be fun to start a new Sunday thing where we share what God’s speaking into our hearts through the teaching we heard at church or in our own studies.
It’s so good to encourage each other, reinforcing those lessons and convictions, and cheer each other on as He heals us along the way.
This morning, after celebrating what God’s done in the last few years to enlarge our church, first the building, which made room for new people, (yay, God!), our pastor’s teaching centered around these words of Paul:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
I don’t know about you, but sometimes joy, peace, and hope can seem hard to come by. The fires of trial and suffering just want to suck those right out of you.
BUT, “by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
That word power is no wimpy power. In the Greek it is dunamis, where we get our word dynamite. It means force, miraculous power (by implication a miracle itself), ability, abundance, meaning, might, strength, violence (as in the violence or fury quenched by our brothers and sisters in Hebrews 11:34).
God wants to do so much in and through us, and if we continue abiding in Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and keep on praying continually – about EVERYTHING, at ALL TIMES! – and praise Him through the fire, we WILL walk through the valleys with that deep down miraculous joy of our salvation, know His peace, and have hope.
What greater testimony is there to an unbeliever, or even a struggling believer, than to walk through the flames with inexplicable joy and peace.
I needed that. And if you do, too, I hope it encourages you to remember God is ready, willing, and able to give us everything we need to walk in victory. Just hang on.
Now, what is God speaking into your heart?
PS – If you need prayer, please let me know.
Heavenly Father, help us keep our eyes off the flames and onto You. And we ask, in your perfect timing, when the flames have done their job and burned off the dross, we ask that you would quench them and bring times of refreshing. In the meantime, as we hold onto Jesus, we pray for a generous measure of the miraculous joy, peace, and hope that only you can give. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
The Battle for Our Minds
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true,
whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable
-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-
think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
This is not an inspirational thought or a suggestion, this is survival. This is a weapon God gives us for the battles that wage in our minds and in our hearts. What are some of these things you think about?
Sunday Praise and a Prayer for God’s Glory
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
John 21:25
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your holy Name. You are salvation, and all power and glory and majesty are yours. May we never stop singing your praises, our Abba, our Adonai, our Immanuel.
Even in my own life, I feel these words of your servant John are true. You have saved me, protected me, provided for me, blessed me, and done more for me than I could ever fully express, or even know myself.
Thank you for all you’ve done, all you are doing, and all you will do for your children, to care for us and mature us until we meet with you face to face. May your light ever shine through us, and may the words of our testimony always be seasoned with salt.
May we remember your amazing grace and mercy, especially during times of trial. When we can’t understand, may we lean on your understanding, on your eternal plans, which are far greater than we could ever fully grasp.
May you always be our life, our hope, our peace, our constant presence. May we get rid of those things, those bad habits, the ungodly attitudes, anything that could keep us from being filled to overflowing with your Holy Spirit who will mature us and enable us to do all you have for us.
Father, the world so desperately needs you. Use us for your glory. We desire to bear orchards and orchards of fruit and lay up our treasures in heaven. May you make it so.
In the glorious name of Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Friend, amen.
Another Trial?
Seems I’ve talked to quite a few people lately who are going through especially difficult times. From my own personal perspective and after hearing the stories of my friends, the trials seems to be ramping up lately. My gut feeling is that the Lord’s working extra diligently to purify our hearts, to purge them of long-held sinful attitudes, of relying on anyone or anything else but Him, and to strengthen our faith in Him and Him alone. And of course the enemy is not too happy about that, but he’s going to use those trials, too, to try pulling us in the opposite direction.
Resist.
I was recently dealing with a new health issue, and while some days I was handling it fine, there were others when it all was getting just too overwhelming.
One trial – okay; two – alrighty then; three – hmmm, what’s going on?; four – Lord, where are you?! I get it. Believe me, I get it. And of course I pray, of course I turn to God’s Word and wait for Him to speak to my heart through it, but there are also times I turn to a favorite devotional – Streams in the Desert.
Since there are so many facing some very difficult and painful trials, I wanted to share with you today’s Streams in the Desert devotional. The Lord blessed me as I read it, and helped me see my trials from His perspective, to remember that my trials are for my spiritual growth and for His glory. What could be better than that?
Streams in the Desert – August 29
And he went out carrying his own cross (John 19:17).
There is a poem called “The Changed Cross.” It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might choose another instead of her own. She slept, and in her dream she was led to a place where many crosses lay, crosses of different shapes and sizes. There was a little one most beauteous to behold, set in jewels and gold. “Ah, this I can wear with comfort,” she said. So she took it up, but her weak form shook beneath it. The jewels and the gold were beautiful, but they were far too heavy for her.
Next she saw a lovely cross with fair flowers entwined around its sculptured form. Surely that was the one for her. She lifted it, but beneath the flowers were piercing thorns which tore her flesh.
At last, as she went on, she came to a plain cross, without jewels, without carvings, with only a few words of love inscribed upon it. This she took up and it proved the best of all, the easiest to be borne. And as she looked upon it, bathed in the radiance that fell from Heaven, she recognized her own old cross. She had found it again, and it was the best of all and lightest for her.
God knows best what cross we need to bear. We do not know how heavy other people’s crosses are. We envy someone who is rich; his is a golden cross set with jewels, but we do not know how heavy it is. Here is another whose life seems very lovely. She bears a cross twined with flowers. If we could try all the other crosses that we think lighter than our own, we would at last find that not one of them suited us so well as our own.
–Glimpses through Life’s Windows
If thou, impatient, dost let slip thy cross,
Thou wilt not find it in this world again;
Nor in another: here and here alone
Is given thee to suffer for God’s sake.
In other worlds we may more perfectly
Love Him and serve Him, praise Him,
Grow nearer and nearer to Him with delight.
But then we shall not any more
Be called to suffer, which is our appointment here.
Canst thou not suffer, then, one hour or two?
If He should call thee from thy cross today,
Saying: “It is finished-that hard cross of thine
From which thou prayest for deliverance,
“Thinkest thou not some passion of regret
Would overcome thee? Thou would’st say,
“So soon? Let me go back and suffer yet awhile
More patiently. I have not yet praised God.”
Whensoe’er it comes, that summons that we look for,
It will seem soon, too soon. Let us take heed in time
That God may now be glorified in us.
–Ugo Bassi’s Sermon in a Hospital
Sunday Praise and a Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, there is nothing so important in this life than to praise you for all you are, all you’ve done, and all you will do. Our praise begins and ends with you for your love, your forgiveness, and your faithfulness and goodness toward us. There is nothing we could ever do to deserve it, but the sacrifice of your Son paved the way for us to receive it, and the indwelling of your Holy Spirit generously portions it to us.
We are in awe that you would do this for us.
Father, you are the Great Gardener, and we thank you for tilling the soil of our hearts that we could receive the Word of Truth and believe in Christ, for the softening of our hearts when we allow the world and our own sin to harden them, and that you might continually plant new seeds of truth, watering them, growing them, producing in us fruits of righteousness, peace, and joy, and bringing our faith to maturity as only You can.
Help us to be diligent to continually abide in the Vine so you’re free to do in and through us all you have planned that we might bring forth a harvest that glorifies You.
In Jesus’ Name we pray, amen.
Unclean Hands
I love court shows. Well, not all of them, but there are a couple I like to watch. Every once in a while one judge in particular will bring up the concept in the law of unclean hands. That is when a someone sues another person, but they themselves acted illegally, unethically or in bad faith.
This judge will usually explain it by using an example like this: let’s say someone sold another person illegal drugs and the buyer didn’t pay the seller the amount they agreed so the seller is suing for the money. The judge will explain that the courts can’t do that. They can’t make fair or right something that’s illegal.
We love justice. God built into us a sense of fairness, of right and wrong. That’s why people protest, why people speak out, why people love court shows.
The problem, though, is sometimes we’re all too willing to overlook our own sin.
There are times we stand in prayer before the Father, the ultimate Judge, with “unclean hands.” We’ve chosen to repeatedly walk a sinful path, to hold onto some sinful attitude, like not forgiving someone for the sin they’ve committed against us when God’s forgiven us for a lifetime of sin, and then ask Him to bless us.
Yes, we ask for forgiveness, and in Christ we are forgiven and won’t face eternal punishment for our sins, but when we’ve chosen sin we can’t expect God to bless us or protect us from the consequences of that sin.
Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Psalm 5:12
In Christ, God’s called us to a holy life, a life different than the world, a life of death to self’s indulgence to sin, not only to glorify Him but because He desires to protect us from the consequences that sin brings – the pain and suffering, the lack of peace, sometimes even an early death.
Our God is more gracious and merciful than any earthly judge, and for a time He may warn us to stop, but if we don’t heed His warning, He’ll give us over to sin’s consequences to teach us so we’ll stop sinning.
Or, every day, over and over, we can choose to take up our cross, die to ourselves and follow Christ who gave up His life for us. We can choose to be transformed by the renewing of our minds by the work of the Holy Spirit in us, knowing our righteous Father will bless us with His favor – His delight and good pleasure.
Course that doesn’t mean that by living righteously we’ll never suffer and it doesn’t mean every time there’s a trial in our lives we’ve done something wrong. It just means we live in a sin-filled world.
Someday all sin will be judged and the new world will be perfect the way God intended it to be in the beginning.
Until then, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can choose to walk uprightly, glorifying our Heavenly Father, receive His blessings, and rest in His peace.
* * *
Heavenly Father, we ask not only for forgiveness for our sins, but from the heart we repent of them and turn from them. In your strength may we daily walk the narrow road and have eyes only for You. Thank you for the amazing grace and mercy we know we don’t deserve but that you’ve shown us over and over. May we never take it for granted nor abuse it. Out of our love for You and our gratitude, may we always choose to live righteously, giving our bodies to You as living sacrifices. In Jesus’ precious name, amen.
An Encounter with a Warrior
After a week in the hospital and another at an inpatient rehab facility, I was dealing pretty well with all the affects of having had a stroke, especially considering the hospital had over-medicated me, causing my blood pressure to drop too much too fast, which then caused that damaged area in the left side of my brain to grow larger and my weakness to worsen.
I’d seen countless doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists… So many professionals. And they were good, well, most of them. They helped get me, literally, back on my feet.
Through it all I’d had not only His peace that passed all understanding, but His joy, and I knew that was the Lord answering all the prayers from so many precious brothers and sisters in Christ. I can never thank them enough.
I could see the Lord’s hand in so many ways. From my sister, who alerted me that she thought I was having a stroke when that was the furthest thought from my mind, to the hospital where I was told I had a rare room with a view of trees and the sounds of birds singing.
And then at the rehab I was given another room that was apparently so much bigger and nicer than all the others that almost every employee who came in was amazed by it, one even asking who I knew in order to get such a room. I’ll tell ya Who!
And later the Lord would show me even the over-medication was allowed by Him. That if I’d gone home when I was originally supposed to, my blood pressure would have come down even more, making the stroke and its affects that much worse.
Then a couple of days before I was scheduled to be discharged, the OT overseeing my case came to my room to give me her evaluation and what I could expect in the future.
I still could not move my foot or toes at all, not even a little bit, thanks to that over-medication I mentioned. She told me there’s always hope, but she didn’t think I’d be able to move my foot again.
Stroke in the left side of the brain means right-sided weakness. My right foot. My driving foot. And for the first time in a little over two weeks, I became distraught, depressed, hopeless.
The following morning I clashed with the doctor over medication, and that was it. I broke.
I lay there alone, sobbing.
A woman from housekeeping came in to clean the room, and I tried to pull myself together as she mopped the floor.
Very kindly she asked why I was there. I told her I’d had a stroke. Her eyes got wide as she said she’d never seen someone so young (ha!) who’d had a stroke, that she thought I’d had some kind of surgery.
As much as I tried, I couldn’t completely hide the fact that I’d been crying, and that I was still near tears.
And then the Lord began to speak through her the words I needed to hear.
“God is with you! He is right here with you, and He’s going to be with you!”
My spirit engaged once again and the tears flowed down my face. My head bowed and nodded in agreement as she continued.
“Sometimes the Lord allows things to happen in order to show His power through us!”
Right then and there, in that room, I had church. The Lord had brought my own preacher, clad in the power of the armor of God who wielded the sword of the Spirit like a warrior and chased away that stinking rotten enemy.
From the depths of my heart I agreed.
When she left I was no longer distraught or hopeless, but filled with the joy of the Lord once again.
With all those professionals I’d seen, it was Libby, a woman from housekeeping, but more so a woman filled with the Holy Spirit, who became my champion and the one who’d lifted my spirit, who’d raised my countenance, who’d helped me back to my feet.
“So whether you eat or drink
or whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
We need to let go of the thinking that we have to be or do something the world calls “important” in order to be used by God.
The Lord used fishermen, shepherds, children, a cupbearer. In the world they were overlooked, but in the eyes of God they were deeply loved and chosen to do His will.
I will never forget Libby or what she did for me that day. She brought her love for the Lord to work with her, and though she had no idea what my feelings about God were, she didn’t hesitate to speak His name, to remind me of the truth, giving Him glory and bringing me back to life.
I went home two days later, and two days after that my toes began to move. Soon after, my foot. I’m still working on strengthening the muscles, and still waiting for the day when I can drive again, but God’s brought me this far and I know He’ll take me as far as He wants me to go.
With Him, nothing is impossible.
For His glory,
Oh, Those Pop Quizzes
Remember being in school, having gotten to the end of the semester, maybe the year. You walk into the classroom and sit down, thinking it’s going to be just another ho-hum day, when the teacher walks to the front of the class and announces there’s going to be a pop quiz on everything you’ve learned (or haven’t) up to that point. Soon you find out exactly how well you’ve been paying attention.
I recently had one of those days, not in school, but in life.
I woke up on a Friday, looking forward to the weekend, and instead found myself hours later in a hospital bed hearing the doctor tell me news I never expected – I’d had a stroke.
Suddenly I was faced with the constant choice, every minute of every day, with every new twist and turn, to believe what my God had taught me the last 32 years, or not. How well had I truly internalized what I’d read and heard; how well had I learned my lessons in previous “quizzes?” Did I believe He was with me, that His love was true, that in Him my suffering had a purpose, that He would never leave me or forsake me?
Had I truly walked with my God, my Father, my Savior, my Lord, or had I been kidding myself?
In the last three months I’ve had a few bad days, when it’s all been just too much, too overwhelming, too “unfair.”
But for the most part I’ve looked around and seen God’s grace and mercy in a myriad of ways. So much grace and mercy. I’ve felt His presence, His indwelling Holy Spirit, giving me joy and hope, even in the face of reasons to have very little.
There are many of those stories to tell, and God willing, I will.
But the good news is my faith has once again been proven to be real. If it were never real, if it was only a “said” faith – in word only – but no real belief, no indwelling and sealing by the Holy Spirit, I surely would have dropped out by now.
Oh, I’ve had days where I questioned, I’ve been angry, but God’s been there even in the middle of that. His understanding and compassion no one can fathom. I am still His child and He is still my Father, and no one can separate me from His love.
For a while I’ve kept a flip calendar that has a new scripture for each day. I have yet to flip the page from the one it was on the day my life changed.
“I will say of the LORD,
‘He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.'”
Psalm 91:2
Those words have been a reminder to me every day where my hope lies.
So, when the next trial pops into your life, will you be ready? When your faith is tested, will you persevere because you’ve been learning to trust Him all along? Are you preparing now by seeking Jesus with all your heart, by building on that relationship with Him every day so that you know Him, and when the trial comes, you’ll know He’s where He’s always been – right by your side?
I pray your hope lies in the only One who is completely trustworthy, that your faith, your belief is in His Son Jesus as Lord and Savior, for “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
If not, or if you’re not sure, just ask Him. Ask God to forgive you of your sins, and tell Him you’re putting your faith in His Son Jesus and His blood that was shed on the cross to pay for your sins.
Read, listen, and learn all you can. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love others as yourself. And when life hits you hard, as it does for everyone, you’ll be ready, and He’ll be there.