Man! Smacked up one side & down the other in just the 1st few verses of James this morning!
Read it in the Voice version. Here's how it has v2-4: "4Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line— mature, complete, and wanting nothing."
I didn't run from my trial, wanted to, but didn't. I ran around the lake & the neighborhood instead. By the end I was embracing it & I felt peace, don't know about joy. But I was resting in Jesus as my Shepherd. He gives, He allows all that I need.
He knew what was coming & He allowed it to come partially with no resolution for a period of time so I would talk to Him about stuff I wouldn't have otherwise. I was teachable in that moment. According to this section of Scripture, if I persist & endure this journey; walk out the lessons He has for me & apply them. I will complete the journey & I will know I need nothing, because I have Everything. I have Jesus. Like PM said yesterday, quoting Paul, I will know Him and His ability to resurrect, restore me. I will be complete (my paraphrase). I read 3 a couple days ago so I won't blog about it again.
I didn't make it to 2 because 1 has me thinking about so many other things. I think I could write a book sometimes! So I will stop & see what you have to blog about.
Never got to blog yesterday; but the 2 things that especially jumped out at me were 3:15 -- that jealousy and selfishness are demonic - - avoid them like the plague. So hard to avoid mind games, as they are easy to hide from the world - but not from God. Our only hope is in His help and surrender. But doncha love and long for the wisdom from above found in 17??
Also - I thought 3:2 was pretty good: if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way -- so apparently, controlling the tongue is the ultimate; the toughest task we have. Our example -- Jesus, who new exactly when to speak and when to remain silent; always trusting in the promptings of His father.
Loved chapter 1 and loved hearing it in the Voice! Can hardly wait to go through the Bible Voice next year:)
So Deut today -- I love the emphasis that obeying is so you can LIVE! not so you will earn anything, so you can simply LIVE -- and vs 6 also talks about the positive effect it will have on others around -- people that have that observe what LIVING produces (back to James 3:17) will want that for themselves too! The ripple effect!
I thought that it was pretty interesting why people never saw the form of God (4:15-16) makes pretty good sense; He knows us all too well.
4:9 don't forget what you've seen - those memories; and pass them on to your children and grandchildren - - also the challenge of finding any god like our God in 5:23-26; love that!
Shocker! I read Deut today. Well, perused it. Was hoping it was more than a disertation. I got some of the same things you did out of it.
I was thinking how hopeless I would feel with all this warning to obey or else stuff. I could never measure up, never do it. Like today, I can't obey perfectly either. I need a Savior, I need help to hold my tongue, to not wander after other things & put them in the place of God. To not want what others have, etc.
I am glad God would not forsake me. Their trials back then were bigger I think, taken off as a slave to a different country. This is what tended to bring them back around. What is my "foreign land" that brings me back to Him? What is yours?
Amaziah did what was pleasing in the Lord' sight, but not wholeheartedly -- sounds like it was grit your teeth and do it instead of a heart of awe and gratitude - -
hard to believe Am would even think about worshiping the loosing country's gods -- well said in 25:15!!
Poor Obed-edom vs 24; he was a faithful servant through all the kings -- taking care of God's temple - must have broke his heart to watch it being ransacked.
Uzziah - another example of how power corrupts. There are sweet lessons of humility in hardship and hard times.
Love the short, but sweet story of Jotham and how he simply followed God and became powerful; but even following God does not guarentee that his son would choose that course. Ahaz not only choose to worship other gods - even sacrificing his own son (which is SO wicked), but he also did everything in his power to keep others from God, closing down the temple. What a contrast Ahaz to Jotham.
Parenting is a tough job! I have so much respect for parents. Sometimes, you can do all the right things & your kids still make the wrong choice. I guess it's easy to look back on our lives & choices & thing, wow, if I had just done this differently or if they would've just done this a bit better.
I'm learning the fact of the matter is this: it doesn't matter what you have done or what has been done to you; God is able to redeem everything. It's just the turning of our hearts toward Him that He desires.
Then it's ONLY a matter of patience for Him to do things in His time & not ours. Pretty easy to say that in a couple of paragraphs but a lot harder to walk out.
I was glad to go to God's house! and why do we go there? to give thanks to God's name (vs 4) it's all about HIM!!
vs 7 -- needing peace in the house; yup, that's a good request, seems like often there is NOT peace in the house - especially when God is trying to work; we keep getting in the way with our own agenda, our own rights
123:1 lifts our eyes to God (as opposed to 121:1 which lifts our eyes to the hills/mountains)
but I love vs 2 that says we keep looking -- it's a continual looking to Him, and so many times I find myself naval gazing or looking at other people --
124:1 "What if the Lor had not been on our side? I was thinking about the "sides" we chose up as kids, and how GLAD we were when certain people were on our side -- the capable, the talented -- how much more relief should flood our little souls knowing GOD is on our team, our side -- I forget that fact, that VERY IMPORTANT fact way way too often.
Seems like David is doing some reflecting in these 3 psalms. Especially 124. He's going through his blessings & where his help has come from. It's always God that has come through for him. Even when God has used people, David realizes it's always God. That's why he keeps his eyes on Him.
v9 of 122 says he will seek what is best for Jerusalem. How many times do I put others or even God's work ahead of my comfort or my agenda, as you pointed out Linda? We pray, "whatever it takes Lord...." but are we really ready for that? We tend to have a small kit of possible scenarios for that & if God doesn't pull one out of there, then "it must not be His will". In reality, it just crossed ours.
I like the reminder at the end of 124 that God made heaven & earth. Put my puny human thoughts & dreams into perspective & surrender everything to God. Where would I really be without Him?
Ecclesiastes is a great book for calming one down in the pursuit of happiness -- it makes you look around you and find joy and gratitude in the very moment. I saw that a couple summers ago with a guy cleaning our porch -- he was pressure washing away, singing at the top of his lungs! It inspired me! Joy in the moment - love it.
Pretty much - Solomon explored every avenue - -
2:18 all my hard work here on earth . . I leave to others everything I have earned; and who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish. I was thinking that Jesus must have felt the same way when He left the earth - - the difference being that He WAS able to see how it all played out!
So - enjoy food and drink and fin satisfaction in work - - and these are pleasures God gave from the very beginning:) Thanks God for knowing it all -- just takes us awhile to learn to simply trust You, like a lifetime! I want you to know today that I love You!
I think Solomon must have been depressed when he wrote these 2 chapters. I know I was just reading it! No point to life, even if you seek to please yourself. He's looking at all the futilness (new word) of life when you don't have God in it.
To me, it's God that gives true peace & happiness. He ends 2 by saying that. It's like listening to someones testimony of how they sowed their wild oats & got nothing. Then they turned to God & found they had everything!
And yes, Linda, if I don't find joy in the moment, then I'm truly missing out. To do that, like you said, I need to trust the One who put me in that moment. Definitely a learning process!
Habakkuk is a reminder of the great need of patience. The OT prophets it seems, rarely saw their prophecies come true. It was always for future generations. Even starting in Eden. Yet they all lived by faith, looking past the present. They continued to trust in the character of the One they walked/talked with daily.
Great lesson for me. In this day of instant gratification, it's a stark contrast. I think it should be instant justice as well but even that is not God's way. Sometimes it happened in the Bible that way but He knows our hearts so well. If He knows a heart will be more receptive later, He waits. Manassah comes to mind here.
I am reminded, by the end of Hab to trust Him, to wait patiently for Him, no matter what it looks like physically & no matter what I feel like. And like Esther said, "if I die, then I die" but I still need to trust Him & walk it out on a daily basis. More shut up & put up (live it).
So Habakkuk appears to be a sea-saw discussion. H is asking why in the world there is so much pain and violence everywhere he looks; God is saying you aint seen nothin' yet -- Babylon is coming. H. exclaims that cannot be -- why would You wipe our your chosen and blessed people. G retorts that the chosen are acting like spoiled brats -- proud, disloyal.
I love that Habakkuk sang his prayer back to God -- H is filled with awe; he sees God at work everywhere -- and finally, the song of surrender "I will wait quietly for the coming day . . ." and tho all is lost or taken away "yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights!!!"
spoiled brats? Good description of us. You must be reading in Message no?
In Saul's conversion story, I've never consciously picked this part up before. Or at least if I did, I don't remember. Jesus asks Saul why are you persecuting Me? He doesn't say anything about the people he's hurt/killed/imprisoned. Saul could have defended himself more easily if Jesus had asked it that way. But it is the bigger picture. It is what Jesus told His disciples. It's all about me, so don't take it personal. Really, rejoice because they are seeing Me through you so don't get discouraged or harbor resentment. Jesus reiterates it again after Saul asks who are You?
Also, when speaking to Ananias, Jesus says He's going to show Saul how much he is going to suffer for Jesus' sake. Maybe this is why Saul was able to take & endure all that he suffered. He was shown before hand AND maybe he felt in some way he deserved it for what he had done. Though, I don't think God plays like that.
The more correct way I think, is because Saul could identify that the people were just misled & he hungered for their souls. He remembered how sincere he had been & how at the right time God broke his heart. It was possible with anyone then. He just wanted to be the willing & empty vessel. I guess in reality, you can't speak to the torturer or the police captain or the judge or the jury unless you are arrested & brought to trial. Saul was always ready to give a testimony, a word about Jesus to those around him. That's why he said the same to Timothy & to us today.
Peter sent everyone out of the room to pray before telling Dorcas to get up. I think personally, that he was asking God if He wanted her raised again. What was God's will vs the people's will. Maybe if he'd have prayed publicly, he would have been swayed by the people. Sometimes, it's better to step out of the moment in order to hear God's voice clearly. Good lesson for me, help me remember that Lord.
Really wise to take elders with him to Cornelius' place. I wonder if God told him to do that as well. I'm sure He gave him the idea. God's always got our back. I like that.
Great comments Chris -- and it must have hit home to Saul that GOD was the one he was persecuting, yet GOD wanted to use him - not punish him; now wonder the idea of grace sunk deep. If it was all about the people he'd persecuted, then maybe he could justify God using him -- but to be used by the very person I've persecuted, to be taken into confidence, to be invited on the team -- that's love and grace.
I also picked up on the suffering part -- I like the idea that God showed him; and maybe it helped the church understand that the person God was calling had a huge responsibility -- not just a huge honor placed on him.
It is in our helplessness (being blind for 3 days) that we are able to slow, to hear, to think.
Always love Barnabus, son of encouragement - and how he shows up when there is confusion and doubt.
It was totally the work of the HS (vs 31) that increased numbers -- hmmmm and hmmmmm
YES! I underlined that very thing too Chris "Peter asked them all to leave the room" I also went back to Mark 5:40 and looked at why Jesus asked people to leave the room. The only cross over I saw was the weeping/mourning. I like your idea very very much Chris - - not being swayed by man.
Peter was given a vision - and no explanation, he was perplexed, he was puzzled -- and finally the HS gave him direction -- this was very comforting to me, that if I'm confused -- wait, listen, do.
2 times in my version I see the words "But God" vs 28 and 40. Both times there are mans ways, and there are God's ways. Man's ways seem right to him in both cases -- But God . . .
oh yeah, great points. Really like the grace part & Paul. Persecuting man vs persecuting Christ. I was reminded again this week of the important of the HS work & not my agenda. Like you said. Wait, listen do. Even when I'm not confused. The important part for me is to wait to do the "do". Wait.....listen...THEN do!
And how many times do we say in our testimonies....But God had other ideas....to be in a "but God..." situation is the best place!
Man! Smacked up one side & down the other in just the 1st few verses of James this morning!
ReplyDeleteRead it in the Voice version. Here's how it has v2-4:
"4Don’t run from tests and hardships,
brothers and sisters. As difficult as they
are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if
you embrace them, your faith will blossom
under pressure and teach you true patience
as you endure. And true patience brought on
by endurance will equip you to complete
the long journey and cross the finish line—
mature, complete, and wanting nothing."
I didn't run from my trial, wanted to, but didn't. I ran around the lake & the neighborhood instead. By the end I was embracing it & I felt peace, don't know about joy. But I was resting in Jesus as my Shepherd. He gives, He allows all that I need.
He knew what was coming & He allowed it to come partially with no resolution for a period of time so I would talk to Him about stuff I wouldn't have otherwise. I was teachable in that moment. According to this section of Scripture, if I persist & endure this journey; walk out the lessons He has for me & apply them. I will complete the journey & I will know I need nothing, because I have Everything. I have Jesus.
Like PM said yesterday, quoting Paul, I will know Him and His ability to resurrect, restore me. I will be complete (my paraphrase).
I read 3 a couple days ago so I won't blog about it again.
I didn't make it to 2 because 1 has me thinking about so many other things. I think I could write a book sometimes! So I will stop & see what you have to blog about.
Never got to blog yesterday; but the 2 things that especially jumped out at me were 3:15 -- that jealousy and selfishness are demonic - - avoid them like the plague. So hard to avoid mind games, as they are easy to hide from the world - but not from God. Our only hope is in His help and surrender. But doncha love and long for the wisdom from above found in 17??
ReplyDeleteAlso - I thought 3:2 was pretty good: if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way -- so apparently, controlling the tongue is the ultimate; the toughest task we have. Our example -- Jesus, who new exactly when to speak and when to remain silent; always trusting in the promptings of His father.
Loved chapter 1 and loved hearing it in the Voice! Can hardly wait to go through the Bible Voice next year:)
So Deut today -- I love the emphasis that obeying is so you can LIVE! not so you will earn anything, so you can simply LIVE -- and vs 6 also talks about the positive effect it will have on others around -- people that have that observe what LIVING produces (back to James 3:17) will want that for themselves too! The ripple effect!
I thought that it was pretty interesting why people never saw the form of God (4:15-16) makes pretty good sense; He knows us all too well.
4:9 don't forget what you've seen - those memories; and pass them on to your children and grandchildren - - also the challenge of finding any god like our God in 5:23-26; love that!
Shocker! I read Deut today. Well, perused it. Was hoping it was more than a disertation. I got some of the same things you did out of it.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking how hopeless I would feel with all this warning to obey or else stuff. I could never measure up, never do it. Like today, I can't obey perfectly either. I need a Savior, I need help to hold my tongue, to not wander after other things & put them in the place of God. To not want what others have, etc.
I am glad God would not forsake me. Their trials back then were bigger I think, taken off as a slave to a different country. This is what tended to bring them back around. What is my "foreign land" that brings me back to Him? What is yours?
Amaziah did what was pleasing in the Lord' sight, but not wholeheartedly -- sounds like it was grit your teeth and do it instead of a heart of awe and gratitude - -
ReplyDeletehard to believe Am would even think about worshiping the loosing country's gods -- well said in 25:15!!
Poor Obed-edom vs 24; he was a faithful servant through all the kings -- taking care of God's temple - must have broke his heart to watch it being ransacked.
Uzziah - another example of how power corrupts. There are sweet lessons of humility in hardship and hard times.
Love the short, but sweet story of Jotham and how he simply followed God and became powerful; but even following God does not guarentee that his son would choose that course. Ahaz not only choose to worship other gods - even sacrificing his own son (which is SO wicked), but he also did everything in his power to keep others from God, closing down the temple. What a contrast Ahaz to Jotham.
Parenting is a tough job! I have so much respect for parents. Sometimes, you can do all the right things & your kids still make the wrong choice. I guess it's easy to look back on our lives & choices & thing, wow, if I had just done this differently or if they would've just done this a bit better.
ReplyDeleteI'm learning the fact of the matter is this: it doesn't matter what you have done or what has been done to you; God is able to redeem everything. It's just the turning of our hearts toward Him that He desires.
Then it's ONLY a matter of patience for Him to do things in His time & not ours. Pretty easy to say that in a couple of paragraphs but a lot harder to walk out.
I was glad to go to God's house! and why do we go there? to give thanks to God's name (vs 4) it's all about HIM!!
ReplyDeletevs 7 -- needing peace in the house; yup, that's a good request, seems like often there is NOT peace in the house - especially when God is trying to work; we keep getting in the way with our own agenda, our own rights
123:1 lifts our eyes to God (as opposed to 121:1 which lifts our eyes to the hills/mountains)
but I love vs 2 that says we keep looking -- it's a continual looking to Him, and so many times I find myself naval gazing or looking at other people --
124:1 "What if the Lor had not been on our side? I was thinking about the "sides" we chose up as kids, and how GLAD we were when certain people were on our side -- the capable, the talented -- how much more relief should flood our little souls knowing GOD is on our team, our side -- I forget that fact, that VERY IMPORTANT fact way way too often.
Seems like David is doing some reflecting in these 3 psalms. Especially 124. He's going through his blessings & where his help has come from. It's always God that has come through for him. Even when God has used people, David realizes it's always God. That's why he keeps his eyes on Him.
ReplyDeletev9 of 122 says he will seek what is best for Jerusalem. How many times do I put others or even God's work ahead of my comfort or my agenda, as you pointed out Linda? We pray, "whatever it takes Lord...." but are we really ready for that? We tend to have a small kit of possible scenarios for that & if God doesn't pull one out of there, then "it must not be His will". In reality, it just crossed ours.
I like the reminder at the end of 124 that God made heaven & earth. Put my puny human thoughts & dreams into perspective & surrender everything to God. Where would I really be without Him?
Ecclesiastes is a great book for calming one down in the pursuit of happiness -- it makes you look around you and find joy and gratitude in the very moment. I saw that a couple summers ago with a guy cleaning our porch -- he was pressure washing away, singing at the top of his lungs! It inspired me! Joy in the moment - love it.
ReplyDeletePretty much - Solomon explored every avenue - -
2:18 all my hard work here on earth . . I leave to others everything I have earned; and who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish. I was thinking that Jesus must have felt the same way when He left the earth - - the difference being that He WAS able to see how it all played out!
So - enjoy food and drink and fin satisfaction in work - - and these are pleasures God gave from the very beginning:) Thanks God for knowing it all -- just takes us awhile to learn to simply trust You, like a lifetime! I want you to know today that I love You!
I think Solomon must have been depressed when he wrote these 2 chapters. I know I was just reading it! No point to life, even if you seek to please yourself. He's looking at all the futilness (new word) of life when you don't have God in it.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it's God that gives true peace & happiness. He ends 2 by saying that. It's like listening to someones testimony of how they sowed their wild oats & got nothing. Then they turned to God & found they had everything!
And yes, Linda, if I don't find joy in the moment, then I'm truly missing out. To do that, like you said, I need to trust the One who put me in that moment. Definitely a learning process!
Habakkuk is a reminder of the great need of patience. The OT prophets it seems, rarely saw their prophecies come true. It was always for future generations. Even starting in Eden. Yet they all lived by faith, looking past the present. They continued to trust in the character of the One they walked/talked with daily.
ReplyDeleteGreat lesson for me. In this day of instant gratification, it's a stark contrast. I think it should be instant justice as well but even that is not God's way. Sometimes it happened in the Bible that way but He knows our hearts so well. If He knows a heart will be more receptive later, He waits. Manassah comes to mind here.
I am reminded, by the end of Hab to trust Him, to wait patiently for Him, no matter what it looks like physically & no matter what I feel like. And like Esther said, "if I die, then I die" but I still need to trust Him & walk it out on a daily basis. More shut up & put up (live it).
So Habakkuk appears to be a sea-saw discussion. H is asking why in the world there is so much pain and violence everywhere he looks; God is saying you aint seen nothin' yet -- Babylon is coming. H. exclaims that cannot be -- why would You wipe our your chosen and blessed people. G retorts that the chosen are acting like spoiled brats -- proud, disloyal.
ReplyDeleteI love that Habakkuk sang his prayer back to God -- H is filled with awe; he sees God at work everywhere -- and finally, the song of surrender "I will wait quietly for the coming day . . ." and tho all is lost or taken away "yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights!!!"
Thank you God for your power when I am powerless
spoiled brats? Good description of us. You must be reading in Message no?
ReplyDeleteIn Saul's conversion story, I've never consciously picked this part up before. Or at least if I did, I don't remember. Jesus asks Saul why are you persecuting Me? He doesn't say anything about the people he's hurt/killed/imprisoned. Saul could have defended himself more easily if Jesus had asked it that way. But it is the bigger picture. It is what Jesus told His disciples. It's all about me, so don't take it personal. Really, rejoice because they are seeing Me through you so don't get discouraged or harbor resentment. Jesus reiterates it again after Saul asks who are You?
Also, when speaking to Ananias, Jesus says He's going to show Saul how much he is going to suffer for Jesus' sake. Maybe this is why Saul was able to take & endure all that he suffered. He was shown before hand AND maybe he felt in some way he deserved it for what he had done. Though, I don't think God plays like that.
The more correct way I think, is because Saul could identify that the people were just misled & he hungered for their souls. He remembered how sincere he had been & how at the right time God broke his heart. It was possible with anyone then. He just wanted to be the willing & empty vessel. I guess in reality, you can't speak to the torturer or the police captain or the judge or the jury unless you are arrested & brought to trial. Saul was always ready to give a testimony, a word about Jesus to those around him. That's why he said the same to Timothy & to us today.
Peter sent everyone out of the room to pray before telling Dorcas to get up. I think personally, that he was asking God if He wanted her raised again. What was God's will vs the people's will. Maybe if he'd have prayed publicly, he would have been swayed by the people. Sometimes, it's better to step out of the moment in order to hear God's voice clearly. Good lesson for me, help me remember that Lord.
Really wise to take elders with him to Cornelius' place. I wonder if God told him to do that as well. I'm sure He gave him the idea. God's always got our back. I like that.
Great comments Chris -- and it must have hit home to Saul that GOD was the one he was persecuting, yet GOD wanted to use him - not punish him; now wonder the idea of grace sunk deep. If it was all about the people he'd persecuted, then maybe he could justify God using him -- but to be used by the very person I've persecuted, to be taken into confidence, to be invited on the team -- that's love and grace.
ReplyDeleteI also picked up on the suffering part -- I like the idea that God showed him; and maybe it helped the church understand that the person God was calling had a huge responsibility -- not just a huge honor placed on him.
It is in our helplessness (being blind for 3 days) that we are able to slow, to hear, to think.
Always love Barnabus, son of encouragement - and how he shows up when there is confusion and doubt.
It was totally the work of the HS (vs 31) that increased numbers -- hmmmm and hmmmmm
YES! I underlined that very thing too Chris "Peter asked them all to leave the room" I also went back to Mark 5:40 and looked at why Jesus asked people to leave the room. The only cross over I saw was the weeping/mourning. I like your idea very very much Chris - - not being swayed by man.
Peter was given a vision - and no explanation, he was perplexed, he was puzzled -- and finally the HS gave him direction -- this was very comforting to me, that if I'm confused -- wait, listen, do.
2 times in my version I see the words "But God" vs 28 and 40. Both times there are mans ways, and there are God's ways. Man's ways seem right to him in both cases -- But God . . .
oh yeah, great points. Really like the grace part & Paul. Persecuting man vs persecuting Christ. I was reminded again this week of the important of the HS work & not my agenda. Like you said. Wait, listen do. Even when I'm not confused. The important part for me is to wait to do the "do". Wait.....listen...THEN do!
ReplyDeleteAnd how many times do we say in our testimonies....But God had other ideas....to be in a "but God..." situation is the best place!