Heading Home

Imagine this scene with me for a moment.

You’re floating on a beautiful, crystal blue river in a raft. You’re stretched out. Relaxed. Hands tucked in behind your head. You’re looking up at the cloudless expanse of an azure sky.

Question: Which way are you going? Forward or reverse?

This is not the river of life that rushes you along with the current, taking you to some unknown destination and sweeps you over the rocky edge to destruction.

No, this is The River of Life, “a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Rev. 22:1 NLT) Those eternal waters of refreshing that take you where God wants you to go.

When we go with God’s flow, we find The River of Life flows so freely and we have a Helmsman to navigate for us. Though we encounter an occasional storm or billowing wave, the Helmsman guides us when we cannot see a way. He steers us away from crashing into the rocky shore. He anchors us when we feel as though we drowning.

However, if it seems so easy to go with the flow, why then do we insist on going in reverse and making it so hard for ourselves? The struggle mainly comes when we try to go against God’s flow.

Maybe we should pay attention to what God said to Jeremiah about the Israelites, “But they would not listen to and obey Me or bend their ear [to Me], but followed the counsels and the stubborn promptings of their own evil hearts and minds, and they turned their backs and went in reverse instead of forward.” (Jer. 7:24 Amp)

Reverse rides on the whispers and way of the world; forward flows with God’s commands and blessing of His kingdom.

May your heart and mind be willingly bent to follow the Lord’s every command. And may your River of Life be effortlessly navigated.

Question: Which way are you going? Forward or reverse?

                                                                       

Hooking up with...

Years ago, our preacher at the time gave a sermon about a married couple. I don’t remember the details, only the basics.

A wife had served her husband a great meal, and as she cleared away the dishes, she announced to her husband her usual comment, “Hold onto your fork. The best is yet to be.”

After the sermon, that saying stuck with me. As we were suffering financial difficulties, I took an old fork, tied a red ribbon around it, and hung it on my refrigerator in hopes of God’s promise of the best is yet to be. I never removed it. It’s been there for years. It reminds me that, no matter what the trial, heartache, or pain surrounding my life, God is still faithful to the promises in His Word.

First Kings 8:56b says, “There has not failed one word of all His good promise.” (NKJV) Abraham knew this. He never doubted, for scripture says he was “fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” (Rom. 4:21 NKJV) He held on and God fulfilled His promise to him of the best that was yet to be.

Even with great faith attached to it, a promise of God sometimes stalls in its appearance because of God’s time schedule. What happens when inactivity occurs, when a promise seems to drift farther and farther away, when circumstances linger incessantly and patience wears thin? Are we more concerned about the problem or God’s promise?

If we hold onto that Word, as that scarlet cord of promise, God will always be faithful to keep it, for the One Who breathes His promises into our hearts will not fail to serve up the sweet ending.

Whatever your trials might be this day, hang on to God’s promises. Go now, find a fork, tie it up with a pretty bow, and hang it on your refrigerator, for...

YOUR BEST IS YET TO BE!!!

                                                                       

***Hope you don't mind a rerun!

Today, I’m hooking up with...

 Beholding Glory/Grace Filled Friday

Okay. This idea came from Susan on her lovely site Between Naps on the Porch, one of my favorite sites. She used her wonderful tablesettings for this idea but I kinda stole , er, borrowed it from her...with her permission, of course. {{wink-wink}}

Still waving...

As the British launched the Battle of Baltimore at nearby Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key was detained by enemy troops on a ship eight miles out, watching the brutal battle and waiting. Though it was raining and the firing created a lot of smoke, Key saw the “rocket’s red glare” and “the bombs bursting in air.”

All through the harrowing night, anxiety filled all the people, as they nervously waited the answer to one question: who won?

It was only at dawn’s early light that Key saw the red, white, and blue, the star-spangled banner, flying high over Fort McHenry. And then, the words began to flow...

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Still waving...

Happy Independence Day...from our home to yours...

                                                                         

**I felt led to post this rerun. May the Lord bless the one/s for whom it is intended.**

Today, I share with you a story that I received as an email. I tried to find out the author but he or she remains anonymous. This story may be true or it may just be a legend. I found conflicting accounts. Either way, I hope you enjoy it...

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian young male’s Rite of Passage?

The youth’s father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him, and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

During the night, the boy is naturally terrified. He hears all kinds of noises. The wind blows the grass. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. But he sits stoically, throughout the long night, never removing the blindfold.

Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appears and he removes his blindfold. It is then that he discovers his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

Once the youth survives the night, he is a man. When he returns to his friends, he cannot tell them of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

Moral of the story: Just because you cannot see God doesn’t mean He is not there. It doesn’t mean He is not at work, watching over you.  

We are never alone. When the howling of circumstances surrounds us and the darkness of afflictions blinds us, we can know that the light of the Son is upon us and that the Father watches over us, sitting on the stump beside us.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

                                                                         

Hooking up today with Laura Krokos' Faith Filled Friday...

 

Trying to emerge from a place within,

it bubbles up, desiring to begin.

It fills my soul and leaps into my heart,

bouncing around for a way to depart.

It creeps up my throat and onto my tongue.

It darts out as a song to be sung.

It pokes at my ego, my hands to raise.

Then I recognize my old friend Praise.

He always comes knocking when I’m distressed,

seeking to guide me on a Godly quest.

As his exultations begin to grow,

I give him permission his words to flow.

When I hear his sounds familiar and sweet,

I know they rise up my Savior to greet.

When his handiwork at last comes to rest,

I know once again I’m sure to be blessed.

~ Happy praising!

                                                                         

Today, I am hooking up with...

It’s not in me.

I cannot do this; it’s too hard.

I don’t have the strength.

I don’t have the patience.

I can’t conquer this.

It’s not in me to forgive.

It’s not in me to love.

How many times have you said those or similar things or heard someone else say them?

What do you need today? Strength? Power? Patience? Love? A forgiving attitude? Courage to conquer an addiction or thought pattern? Or maybe something else?

Whatever battles you face each day, I’m here to encourage you: you can withstand them. You can be an overcomer! You can win! You can conquer! You can be the victor! If you have welcomed Christ to live in your heart, then all you need is IN you.

* The Truth is IN you.

* Eternal Life is IN you.

* The love of God is IN you.

* The mind of Christ is IN you.

* When all is dark, His light is IN you.

* Through His Word, His joy is IN you.

* If you believe, the word of God works effectively IN you.

* When you abide in Him, His Living Word abides IN you.

* “God is working IN you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” (Phil. 2:13 NLT)

* You can conquer because “The Spirit who lives IN you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” (1 John 4:4 NLT)

* God began the good work IN you and will continue until it is “finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phil. 1:6 NLT)

When Christ is IN you, you can do all things through Him.

Paul said that the overwhelming victory of Christ is yours (1 Cor. 15:57) and you are more than a conqueror through Him. (Rom. 8:37) To be more than a conqueror is to gain a surpassing victory.

How do you gain this surpassing victory? All you need is already IN you, “for the kingdom of God is inside you,” (Luke 17:21b Phillips), because Christ lives IN you (Col. 1:27). All you need to do is make withdrawals.

 

Christ’s strength has not diminished. He is our Victor! We can have victory, because God “always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:14a NIV)

Be encouraged: Go forward into this day with all the Lord has placed IN you.

It IS IN you! You CAN do it!

“Christ IN you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27 NKJV)

                                                                       

Hooking up with...

Imperfect Prose

Grace Cafe

Thought Provoking Thursday

“And we know that all things work together for good

to those who love God, to those who are the called

according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28 NKJV)

I’m at it again! Dissecting Scripture and digging into the meanings of the words. 

If you read my post on Hebrews 11:1, Now Faith Is..., there is a word used there that is used in the verse above also. In the Hebrews passage, it is translated now, and in the Romans passage, it is translated and.

If you didn’t read that post, I’ll reiterate (you can click here to read it). The Greek word for now and and is a conjunction or connecting word between two thoughts. It also means but, moreover, moreover also, also, and also, or but rather. It would be more appropriate to say, “Moreover we know…” or “Also we know...”

The Greek word used in this verse for know actually means to see, the implied meaning is to know. It also means to perceive, notice, discern, discover, pay attention, observe, inspect, examine, look at or behold, experience, and suggests a full knowing.

The Greek word for working with is sunergeo, which, in part, means to labor together as partners, co-operate, co-worker or fellow-worker, help (work) with, work, or to put forth power together with and thereby to assist.

It comes from the word sunergos, which is the basis for our English word synergy. It means a combined action of two or more agents, when combined, have a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual effects. Or as one definition for synergy says: to be more successful or productive as a result of a merger.

The first definition of synergism listed in The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1966, says “the doctrine that the human will cooperates with the Holy Ghost in the work of regeneration.” Thank you, Random House! There’s the total effect of a merger!

Good means excelling in any respect, distinguished, useful, to advantage, suited to something, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy, benefit, etc.

Called means invited, appointed, a saint, saints by calling, or an appointment to apostleship.

The Greek word for purpose is interesting. It means a proposal as an intention, setting forth of a thing, placing of it in view as show-bread is exposed before God.

Don’t you know love those definitions?

Before we put it all together, what is before this verse? What is it moreover or also? Romans 8:27 starts out with that moreover/also/now/and word again, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (NKJV)

Now, what would Lynn’s Version say? More than knowing that the Spirit intercedes for the saints, pleading on our behalf...also we fully know that all things are synergistic, being more successful as the result of merging with the Holy Spirit, and working together for good, for benefit, for advantage, for those who love God, for those who are invited to be saints according to His intentions set before Him.

If we are in sin or worry and fret about a situation, we impede the Lord’s hand to work for good, because we are not working in accordance with His purpose. But when we take our attitudes and our hands off, leaving it in His hands, it all works together for our good and for our benefit.

God takes all our negative circumstances, our stormy trials, our griefs and heartaches, our failings, our weaknesses, our needs, and mixes them in with His love, guidance, comfort, peace, supply, and power, stirring them all together, molding them, and turns them around to display His creation of good.

Then, we can say with the psalmist, “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous to see!” (Ps. 118:23 TLB)

...and we fully know!

Hooking up today with...

Grace Cafe

 

“Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.”

Martin Luther

*Now...

Faith, to be beneficial, must always be now, in the present tense. We can’t have hindsight faith. However, the meaning of the word used in this verse for now does not mean at this moment of time, though many good sermons have contained that meaning.

It is a conjunction or connecting word between two thoughts. It means but, moreover, moreover also, and, also, and also, or but rather. It would be more appropriate to say, “And also faith is…” or “Moreover faith is…”

*Substance...

The Greek word for substance is hupostasis, which means a setting under, support, essence, assurance, confidence, person, the substantial quality or nature of a person, substructure or that which has foundation, hence, is firm and has actual existence.

(This word is used in Hebrews 1:3 of Jesus as the “express image of His essence,” or the actual existence or personification of God.)

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, “It here may signify a title-deed, as giving a guarantee, or reality.”

*Things hoped for...

The word for things hoped for is elpizo, which means to expect, confide, trust, or confident expectation. Its root word means to anticipate, usually with pleasure.

*Evidence...

Evidence also means that by which invisible things are tested or proved, conviction, proof, or test.

*Things...

Pragma is the word for the second use of the word things, which also means an object, business, matter, work, that which is an accomplished fact or is being accomplished, that which exists, and so on.

(From this, we get our English word pragmatic, which one definition means the testing of concepts to determine their validity by the practicality of their results.)

Therefore, defined, this verse might say, “Moreover, faith gives actual existence as a guarantee to what is expected, as the confident anticipation of matters being accomplished with practical results as proof of the invisible.”

When we co-operate with God by faith, we are fellow-workers with Him and we will see the answers to our prayers, which are already accomplished and held in expectancy in heaven as something yet to arrive or be revealed.

Only when faith is attached to all we do are we pleasing God, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith.” (Heb. 11:6 NLT) If we have no faith to please Him, how do we co-operate with Him?

Those who are willing to trust God and apply faith to His Word, without further evidence, will receive the visible proof of His promises. And “if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” (Rom. 8:25 NKJV)

Smith Wigglesworth said, “I believe there is only one way to all the treasures of God and that is the way of faith.” And St. Augustine said, “Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”

Just remember, faith is not a big, copper cauldron in which we conjure up our slightest wish. Nope, nope, nope! Faith is the producer of the will of the King, not the will of the servant. As Jesus said, “Not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42 NKJV)

A. B. Simpson once said, “True faith drops its letter in the post office box, and lets it go. Distrust holds onto a corner of it, and wonders that the answer never comes.”

Faith: Though the eye beholds no evidence, the spirit is assured of its existence.