Our Own Way

 

Isaiah 53: 6

We all, like sheep, went astray: we turned, each one, to his own way; yet Adonai laid on him the guilt of all of us.

Selah….

This scripture pierced my heart as I was reading it.  How many times do we, even within the body of Christ go our own way?  Those times Abba may have said to go right and we go left or tells you to forgive but we rather hold grudges.  How about how he pleads so hard for our hearts?  Just look at the Word.  From Genesis to Revelations you see God’s love letter to men, desiring our hearts for Him.  Yet I wonder how many of us He can say have our hearts?

Do we read His word or go in prayer as our Christian checklist?  When attending church or being part of service, is it away to say to ourselves I did my Christian duty?  Are we really doing things our own way or in His way?

Selah…

Yet Adonai.  Two words that pierced my heart.  Yet Adonai love us in spite of us.  Yet Adonai laid on him the guilt of all of us.  Our shame, our sin, our own way. He is yet pleading for our hearts even today.  Just like in the natural, we want a spouse to love us from their hearts, not out of obligation.  We want family love to be sincere, not as a duty.  How much more does God wants us to love Him with our hearts.  He shed His blood to restore intimacy with him.  So will we be intimate or rather go towards our own way where we know of Him, but not actually Him.

Let us do a heart check with Abba.

 

 

 

How’s Your Chapter Doing?

 

Revelations 20:11, 12

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Let that marinate…

Sometimes we can be so caught up in the affairs of this world.  The bigger house, the prestige job, that large bank account can so overwhelm our daily affairs.  It can even make us feel like failures if we don’t achieve them, or make us too prideful when we do.  Yet have you ever stopped and thought of how all these things are what Ecclesiastes calls vapors?  God is not against us having these things, but he’s not please when these things have us.  They are added things as we are to be seeking His Kingdom first!

Let’s go even deeper…do you ever stop to think about the book of life and how your chapter will read on that day of being face to face with him?  Selah

I wonder what it would say.  Would it say I forgave or I just couldn’t give that over to the Lord because He knows how bad that person hurt me.  Would it say I saw them through your love or well we are under grace and God understands why I just can’t stand that person.  Would it say whatever gifts you given, no matter how great or small you feel they maybe I used them for your kingdom, or would it say I wasted it too much time on material gain.

Bold Existence Ministries really made me think this morning.  Heaven and earth is going to pass away.  That home, that car, that job, even that relationship is going to pass away.  So why get so caught up in vapors?  Treat it for what it is a blessing while passing through, not your identity.  Not even your real life.  I don’t know about you, but I want my chapter to be a good one.  Thank God, for his mercy that blesses us fresh very morning to change our chapter in the book of life.

Be encouraged.

 

Check out Bold Existence Ministries:

https://youtu.be/OAGWVR0Lhqo?si=4nnJWmQJxgb3reD3

 

A Jonah Moment

 

When we look at the book of Jonah from the outside looking in, we all can find ourselves saying just say what the Lord told you to say and keep it moving J  Yet as my pastor’s wife highlighted, we all at one point are Jonah’s.  Let’s face it, there are times when you want to kick and scream at the Lord when He tells us something to do that doesn’t feel good at all to your flesh!

 

I find myself being Jonah.  A leak happened in my apartment that caused my mattress to be damaged.  On one hand, I was praising God it was the mattress and not something more complex to handle.  Yet on the other, I was devastated.   I begin to think about all the wonderful memories I shared with my husband on that mattress.  A new start in Philadelphia.  MSNBC News causing some good debates.  Times of just playing jazz music while we cuddle. It wasn’t marital relations.  Now I had to watch all those memories placed in a plastic mattress bag.  Oh how I cried like a baby while I watched it go out the door. 

My Jonah attitude kicked it.  Why did this have to happen God?  Things has already been taken away from me related to my husband; did the mattress have to go too?  This isn’t fair.  I can’t even keep our mattress.  All I have left are memories and pictures.   Selah

This Ruth Journey is like a roller-coaster ride.  There are days I am up and there are days I am down.  This mattress avenue got me way down.  I cried so hard that my eyes felt tired.  All I could think about is how things really are a vapor in this life.  Yet the question remains: can we yet trust Him?  Selah

It began to darn on me that what if Abba was just helping me along on this widow way.  He doesn’t want me to settle like Abraham father Terah did in the city of Haran.  He has so much more in store for me.  However if I keep looking back, if I keep wanting to stay in the past, how can He lead me into the future?

See fear takes-it takes away our joy, our peace, our trust. 

Faith gives-it gives us joy, our peace, and growth in trust.

I’m at a street corner now on Ruth Journey where I have to decide do I make a right on faith or make a left on fear.

God is so beautiful!  He wants to leads us on the path He has for us.  Yet He is such a gentleman that allows us to make the choice.  He never forces anything on us.  He always there!  This hurts and it’s ok for me to say Abba this hurts.  Nevertheless, I will yet trust Him even in my Jonah moment.

Be encouraged widows

Sunshine Vibes

Oh, the beauty of the sweet sunshine.  How it uplifts your spirits.  How it inspires you to go out and enjoy the day.  The pleasure of taken in the morning’s fresh air.  Everyone can admit they love a nice sunshine day.  Yet who created the sun?

Habakkuk 3:4

His radiance is like the sunlight.

He has rays flashing from His hand,

And there is the hiding of His power.

Revelation 1:16

In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

When I look at a beautiful sunrise, I remember to look at Adonai. He uplifts us.  He inspires us.  He strengthens us and give us the grace to enjoy our day.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,

Yes, God wants us to enjoy our lives from time to time.  He was the creator of enjoyment as well.  So, I challenge you the next time your eyes dwell upon a beautiful sunrise or get to enjoy a sunshine day, stop and meditate on Adonai.  He’s the maker of heaven and earth.  He’s the maker of our enjoyment.

 

Have a God sunshine day!

 

 

 

A Path We Cannot See

Those sad news calls that pierces your heart. That diagnosis you weren’t expecting.  A moment that was just out of your control.  No one likes to experience the hiccups of life, but sometimes they are just unavoidable. 

Just look at the people of God coming out of Egypt.  Here they were excited being free from bondage just to find themselves having to run from Pharaoh’s army.  On top of that they run to the Red Sea.  It could have been taken that it was all a trap, as now all they have left of their freedom is to drown and die. Talk about a hiccup moment of life!

Psalms 77:19

Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters-a pathway no one knew was there!

What could have been considered a trap for the people of God, ended up really be a trap for Pharaoh’s army.  Who knew at that moment through an act of obedience on Moses' part, God would part the Red Sea to get his kids on the other side and then watch their enemies perish.  “A pathway no one knew was there.”

 

You may be experiencing your own Red Sea hiccup in life. Yet His thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are not our ways.  Just like the people of God being blessed to have experience the Red Sea part for them, the same God can make the Red Sea of our situations part for you as well.  He’s the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.  He just might make that pathway that no one even knew about just for you!

Be Encouraged.

Is It OK to Question God?

Habakkuk was a prophet who found himself being sadden by the corruption he saw around him.  With this weighing on his heart, he decided to question God.

Some may say but I thought we shouldn’t question God, as he is God.  Yet is that a religious mindset or relationship mindset?   Selah

In a relationship whether it be a parent with a child, a teacher with their student, or a husband and wife; we all have had a question or two come up in our relationships that needed to be answered.  Since Christ blood restored our relationship with him, Habakkuk shows that it is perfectly okay to ask God a question.  Yet we are to be aware that his response may not always be what we would like to hear.

In this short book, Habakkuk ask the question and God responds with an answer.  The book ends with Habakkuk prayer.  The book shows that God wants us to come to him with our struggles and with our cares.  It’s a beautiful reminder that even when things aren’t making any sense, God bring his strength and reassures us that he is yet in control. We are to live in the strength of his Spirit.  Is this easier said than done? Yes, but that’s where the just shall live by faith sets in!

God answered Habakkuk and He will answer you as well.  So, what question do you have for Him?  Be aware as the answer may surprise you.

His Time

 

As I was speaking with a dear friend, the subject time arose referring to the following part of the scripture:

Psalms 30:5

…. weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

It was stated that the morning came, and the person still felt like weeping.  Then the Holy Spirit gave me this as a response:

Maybe the person morning is not God’s morning.  God’s time doesn’t always line up with our time.

As I’m reading the Lost Books of the Bible, in the book of Jubilees this was confirmed with Adam. God said by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, he will die.  Technically did Adam die right then and there after eating of the fruit. No. Yet he died within a day on God’s time. How?  A thousand years is as unto one day with the Lord. Adam died at the age of 930.  He didn’t make it to 1,000.  Therefore, he died within a day to God (Lumpkin, 2009, p231).

While we are in the valley of life circumstances, it’s hard to see things God’s way at times.  So, this is a moment of encouragement to remind you that if it doesn’t seem like God is answering on our timeline, it maybe because HIS timeline is different from ours!  Remember his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).

Nevertheless, if His Word says joy comes in the morning, you can rest assure that it will come just at the right time!

Be encouraged.

Reference:

Joseph M. Lumpkin. (2009). The Lost Books of the Bible: The Rejected Texts. Fifth Estate.

 

When Jesus Is in The Room

 

As I was reading Matthews chapter 8, I became overjoyed with this thought:

What happens when Jesus is in the room…

Within the text, when Jesus came to Peter’s house, his mother-in-law went from sick to healed.  She then got up and served him.

His presence on a ship with his disciples calmed the storm.

When he would come into town, deliverance would take place on the people.

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me.

When we open that door and let Him in, peace enters the room, joy enters the room, and strength enters the room.

Psalms 16:11

You will make known to me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy, in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

So here is a question to ponder on, how do you respond when HE enters your room?

Be encouraged.