Jeremiah 29:11-14

Recently I read an idea where you are challenged to read the same passage of Scripture each day for a week.  I like to change things up in my Daily Time with the Lord every now and then, so I thought I would do this and see how it goes.

After praying, I felt led to settle this week on a familiar passage...   Jeremiah 29:11-14

Here are some of the things I learned along the way this week....

10/18/10
The first line of this passage starts out "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord."

I like to know "the plan." It is a real hang-up with me and yet I rarely do know God's plan!  But I realized as I read this that it is Okay.  I may not know the plan He has for me, but He does and I am to trust Him fully knowing that His plans are always perfect and always the best thing for us.

10/19/10
This passage was written to Israel and God tells them He sent them into exile -- into captivity with Babylon because they had lost sight of Him.  And He promises in verse 14 that He "will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

God carried them there -- He did not send them alone.  He went with them -- carried them.

I am reminded of when a child is small and is sent to his/her room or the corner of some such place to sit because they are misbehaving and cannot be allowed to play until they settle down.  Often I had to physically pick my child up and take him/her to the place of "exile" and even though it might have seemed like I wasn't with them, I was. I did not leave the hour or leave them all alone.  Often I was in the room waiting for him/her to settle down.  It may have seemed mean to them, but I placed them their for their own good -- to teach them proper behavior-- to protect them from my "wrath" -- to give them a safe place and time to right themselves -- to refocus and get calm.

I think this is what God does. He carries me into exile - a spiritual time out - where I might feel dry and alone, but He is right there with me - teaching me -- giving me an opportunity to avoid His "wrath" -- letting me refocus and quiet myself and when I do I will seek Him with all my heart and He will be found by me. (v. 13)

10/20/10

Back to the beginning words.. "I know the plans I have for you" (v. 11) -- "for YOU"  That's the thing that hit me this day.. He has plans for me.  It isn't about me figuring out what to do or making a plan, it's about me surrendering to His plan for me.

There is a verse in the Psalms which essentially says Man makes plans but God directs His steps.

Throughout the Word we see that we are not here by accident -- God picked this time and place and He has a plan for us and for our lives. (See Eph 2:10. Ps. 139, Acts 17:26)

It's time to turn loose of my plans and seek after His!

10/21/10

Not sure I learned anything new this day... it was a bit more like being a lab and testing what I had learned!  I am living in the midst of a trial... not that unusual for a Believer.  Things escalated on this day. I felt the enemy pressing down... doing His best to pull me into despair, dread and doubt.  As I was dealing with this.. struggling... I thought of the words of this passage -- again reminded that if I am in exile, God carried me there and is with me and He promises He will bring me back from captivity, BUT it is conditional.  He will do this when I seek Hum with all my heart.  I chose that day to stand with shaky legs on the promise that He Knows the plan and it is a plan for me and it will give me a Hope and a Future!

10/22/10

"You will see me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (v. 13)

All means ALL -- total -- complete -- Every bit of my heart!

Ps. 86:11 "Teach me Your way, Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name."

Eze. 11:19 "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them, I will remove from them their heart of stone and give the a heart of flesh."

If I want to find God - to truly know Him - I have to set my heart fully - squarely -- on Him and seek after Him with ALL my heart - an undivided Heart... and I get that heart from Him!

So He equips me to have all I need to seek after Him with all my heart because He wants to be found by me!

I enjoyed focusing on one passage a bit each day.  Plan on continuing this type of meditation for a bit.

The LORD is there

As I was reading and praying this morning, I was struck by the truth of this... 

Ezekiel 48:15 is talking about the City of God.. the new Jerusalem and the last line says that the city will be called Jehovah-Shammah ... The LORD is there.

Now I know God is everywhere... but still.. as I was praying I was able to claim this truth... Lord, be with my friend who is having medical tests.. you are right there with her... help her to feel your presence... guide the medical team.... Lord, be with my son during his test today.. you will be there with him... give him peace and focus... Lord, be with my daughter at work today... you will be there... give her strength.. help her be the Light you want her to be in her workplace.. and on and on...

BUT we are told in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word is sharper then any double-edged sword... while it is so wonderful to know the LORD is there.. wherever our there is He is there! ... it is also convicting.. He is There when I sin.. when I gossip... when I roll my eyes (haughty eyes!) at my husband... when I drive over the speed limit... 

That THERE is every THERE that ever has been... is right now.. and ever will be! 

Where can I go from your Spirit?
       Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
       if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, 
       if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
       your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
       and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
       the night will shine like the day,
       for darkness is as light to you.

Lord, help me... help us... to live today fully aware that You are Jehovah-Shammah... the LORD is there!

Calling....

Call to me and I will answer you 

and tell you great and unsearchable things 

you do not know. 

Jer. 33:3 

(God's Phone Number)

I have a very close relationship with my mother.. always have. I think a lot of it is because I am an only daughter, so no sister to rival for Mom's attention... and while I am not actually an only child, I lived that life. My brother is 9 1/2 years older than me, so by the time I was 9 he was in college and then got married before he finished school... so he was gone and it was just me and the folks.

While I have had disagreements with my mom over the years, I never went through that "I hate my mother" stage some girls do.... the guilt of even thinking that would kill me!  

So it is no surprise that I talk to my mom regularly. Growing up she owned a business and I had the number there and could call her for any reason at any time.. and I did. I called her almost daily in college.  After being married a few years my husband and I left my hometown to move 2 hours away. I called a lot! 16 years ago she and my dad moved here.. 9/10s of a mile from our home.. and still I call!  LOL!  It is just a habit to call and check on Mom each day.. even if I have seen her in person.

That is why it was so weird last night when I came in from mid-week services at church and went to grab the phone and call Mother.  I could call.. she would not answer. Mother has flown with my brother and his family to CA to a Marine base to see my nephew graduate from Basic Training.  I am glad she went.. she will love seeing the Pacific Ocean... she will love seeing my nephew even more and there will be other grandkids and even a couple of great-grands that she rarely sees, so it will be a great trip for her. But it really was strange not to be able to talk with her.

As I thought about the strangeness of this, I thought of verses through out the Bible that talk of Calling on the Lord.  The cool thing is He is always there to answer!  He never goes out of town.. turns off His phone.. falls asleep and doesn't hear it.. nope, He is always there and He always hears us when we call.. and He wants us to call. 

the LORD will hear when I call to him Ps. 4:3

I call on you, O God, for you will answer me Os. 17:6

This poor man called, and the LORD heard him Ps. 34:6

Over the next few days when I feel the urge to call my Mom,  I think I will call my Father instead!

Delight!

 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Ps. 37:4

I have always believed that to Delight ourselves in the Lord means to enjoy spending time with Him.. find pleasure and joy in fellowship with Him.. and that is true.. but today I decided to dig a bit and while it is true the Hebrew word for Delight means have delight in.. the root word it is from means to be soft or pliable.  Wow!

To me that means we are to be pliable and let Him mold us into who He wants us to be..which is the imagine of Christ..  and all the while we are to delight in it. Now surely you know that molding and is not always pleasant.. so it will take a choice to delight in the midst of it.

And as for the desires of our heart.. I have heard folks take this verse to mean if we want it and ask for it, God will give it to us. Not really... He is not a genie in a bottle.. but in a way it is true IF we do the first part of the verse. If we are delighting in Him while He molds us into the person we are supposed to be, which is the imagine of Christ, then our desires will line up with His will and so He will give them to us.

He Makes All Things New

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17  


My daughter is a very artistic young woman who loves to take old things and repurpose them or bring them back to life... essentially, she takes something old and gives it new life.


Recently she did this with a table for our Women's Ministry to use...

Before: 

After:

What a difference!  Isn't that what God does for us? He strips away the bad.... cleans us up... and then adorns us with His love and grace making us into a new beautiful creation in Christ.

Motives

I am reading the book Forgotten God by Francis Chan. If you are unfamiliar with it, the focus is on the Holy Spirit.... very good and solid book.

So he is talking this morning about asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit.. and we are to do that.. but then he asks WHY do you want to be filled? Seems like a dumb question in a way, but it isn't. The pat answer would be "because" God tells us to.. and that is not a bad reason.. but his point was are we wanting an infilling because we love the Lord and the church and we want to serve and minister through His power OR are we looking forward to His doing something through us and then folks saying "Wow.. look at what she did"... that would be the wrong heart motive.. and based on James 4:3 ("When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motive") we won't get the infilling if we have that as our motive. 

So this made me think of other things I have prayed for and am praying for.. especially where I am not seeing answers yet. NOW I have to quickly say that just because God hasn't answered your prayer does NOT mean you motive was/is wrong.  Remember that He does what is best for you... for the person or situation for which you are praying.. and ultimately for His Kingdom.

But still.. it is an interesting exercise to walk through prayer requests and really truly honestly look at WHY you are asking.  I mean I have asked for healing in the past.. earthly healing.. but if that person is a Christian, is that really the best for them? Doesn't the word say To live is Christ, to die is gain? NOT that I am saying we need to pray for folks to die!  When it comes to healing prayers, I tend to pour out my heart and tell God what I want and why, but then I also add (and I pray for it to be a genuine desire) that no matter what HIS will is done and He is glorified even if that means the healing is to be a heavenly one (for believers).  

It is easy to see wrong motives behind some prayers.. especially those for material things.. money.. or things we know we should not have. Again!  I am not saying don't pray for money or material things, but look at your motive. 11 or 12 years ago I prayed for a mini-van... I had 2 kids and they had friends... my mom travelled with us.. it just made sense ... at the time I had a 4 door Honda Accord.. not the best for hauling folks. But thankfully the Spirit gave me the right words and attitude about the prayer.. Lord, I think I need a van and here is why... IF you want me to have this then Lord please provide the van and the means to pay for it so we do not add debt to our lives.  A month or so later we had that van and had the funds to buy it out right.  So no doubt God does care about the material things in life. I still have that van and it would be so easy to pray for something new... something smaller and more economical.. more fun and cute to drive... but there is no way my motive would be right, because I can assure you that the only reason I would be asking is because I want it.. not because there is a need.  Another example... let's say I pray for a raise for my husband or a job that pays more money... or to get out of debt... and my thought is how much easier life will be.... we can finally afford this and that and the other... Wait! Is that a right motive? I am thinking no. I am praying for our family to get out of debt.. we have been working on it for some time (takes lots longer to pay it off than run it up!) so I looked a lot at this one today and the thing that hit me is I need to be out of debt because God tells us not to owe another... because it is a hindrance to me at times, a burden that causes me to sin (mostly worry).. and because we would then be able to do MORE financially for the kingdom of God NOT so we could then buy and do more stuff for us.

It isn't so much that you can or cannot ask for this or that.. it is all about the Motives behind the asking.  And it is VERY easy to convince ourselves that our motives are right when the thing we ask for is a good thing, but that may not always be true.

SO as you are praying.. for yourself and others.. ask God to show you your motives AND to forgive you when they are wrong and to give you right motives and the right things to pray,

Romans 11:33-36

I am reading through Romans right now in my Quiet Time.  This morning I read Romans 10 & 11. The verses at the end of 11 really stirred my heart and I wanted to share them with y'all.  I read in the NIV and then later looked them up in the Message. Both are sooo good, so I am sharing both!

Romans 11:33-36

NIV:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 
      How unsearchable His judgments, 
      and His paths beyond tracing out! 
 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? 
      Or who has been His counselor?"
 "Who has ever given to God, 
      that God should repay him?"
 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. 
      To Him be the glory forever! Amen.


the MSG:

Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It's way over our heads. We'll never figure it out. 

   Is there anyone around who can explain God? 
   Anyone smart enough to tell Him what to do? 
   Anyone who has done Him such a huge favor 
      that God has to ask his advice? 

   Everything comes from Him; 
   Everything happens through Him; 
   Everything ends up in Him. 
   Always glory! Always praise! 
      Yes. Yes. Yes.