The life we lead is always one of variation and theme.  No two days are alike. I'm sure we can all say that they seem the same and our routines appear the same, but for most part, they are most definitely unique and special. I say this because as we live our lives and begin to see more of a whole fabric of our journey, we begin to see a texture and tapestry of how really wonderful everyday that has brought us here, really is. I see that now.  The stories that belong to only us that were prepared for us, that were designed for us allone, are the bedrock of who we are.  I could tell you things that if I were tell them would seem like lies and tall tales. But they are the roadmap of what I've seen and done. All the famous people and all the many lives that have crossed mine, were meant for me. The events which detail my life were planned long before I arrived. No detail has been left out. So each day is a scheduled appointment with destiny. Each morning I awake to wonder to myself what things will occur to enrich my life. I never have to wait long, for every hour always brings me to my appointed time. Ahh yes, such blessings are ours every precious moment. It's good to be alive isn't it? I wonder what awaits you today?


Warmest Light Everyone!

Each year millions of people go to weight-loss centers and consult weight-loss gurus because they want to be slim, trim, and fit. They’re watching their weight.

Just as some individuals are concerned about watching their weight, Christians should be concerned about "watching their wait" as they live out their faith daily. In Psalm 27, David encouraged God’s people to watch their wait by taking a power step of renewal. He renewed his confidence in God.

Sometimes, waiting on God stalls our trust in His plan for our lives. But David gave his faith a face-lift by reaffirming three attributes of God:

1. In verse 1 he declared that God is light. When God shines the brilliant light of His character into our hearts, we shed the weight of fear and doubt. Through this light He gives us strength in our soul to wait with unwavering faith.

2. David affirmed that God is salvation. This means God provides physical and spiritual protection that produces freedom from present dangers. There are times when God will not deliver us from our distresses. We must believe that He will give us resurrection power to walk around and through our circumstances with confidence in Him.

3. David declared that God was the stronghold of his life. He is the place in which His people are kept safe in dangerous situations. While you wait for God to move you, heal you, change you and others, provide for you, and work on your behalf, be prepared to be ridiculed, criticized, and ostracized. But in the midst of the criticism, remember that His name is a strong tower, and believers in Jesus can find security in Him.

While waiting on God, take time today to exercise new truths about Him and firm up your knowledge of already tested truths found in His Word.

 

Waremest Light Everyone!

There are plenty of things you can fear. Take your pick: death, enemies, poison ivy, a week-old tuna sandwich, chipmunks with an attitude, 3 kids with a spatula, and a ride in a plane.

However, there’s only one fear God commands us to have. It’s the only fear we should possess. It’s the fear of God.

Writer and preacher A. W. Tozer describes it this way:

“When we come into this sweet relationship of communion with God, we are beginning to learn astonished reverence, breathless adoration, awesome fascination, lofty admiration of the attributes of God, and something of the breathless silence that we know when God is near. You may never have realized it before, but all of those elements in our perception and consciousness of the divine Presence add up to what the Bible calls ‘the fear of God.’”

I don’t know if you’ve experienced much “astonished reverence” or “lofty admiration” lately. Perhaps you’ve allowed God and His attributes to simply blend in with the busy fabric of your existence.

If so, it’s important to pause and reflect on the God . . .

• whom Abraham obeyed, even to the point of nearly sacrificing his son Isaac. An angel stopped him from his act of obedience and told him, “Now I know that you fear God” (Genesis 22:12).

• whom Joshua knew exhibits great power so “that you might always fear the Lord your God” (Joshua 4:24).

• whom Moses said tested His chosen people “so that the fear of God will keep you from sinning” (Exodus 20:20).

• who urges us to “fear God and give Him glory” (Revelation 14:7) because judgment lies ahead.

Do you fear God in these ways? Are you willing to sacrifice your all for Him? To give Him all the glory?

Tozer says an interesting thing happens when we are filled with a true fear of God: “I believe that the reverential fear of God . . . is the most enjoyable state and the most purifying emotion the human soul can know.”

Do you know that kind of fear?

 

The joy of living day by day is that you never know what each day holds. That certainly is the case with me. Life is more than a box of chocolates. Helping others makes it that way. Perhaps I will tell you about it sometime.

Warmest Light Everyone!

Phillip Keller, in his classic book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, gives a striking picture of the care and gentleness of the shepherd. When David said, “He restores my soul,” he chose language that every shepherd would understand. A sheep is built in such a way, that if it falls over on its side and onto its back, it is very difficult for it to get up again. In this position, it flails its legs in the air, bleats, and cries. After a few hours on its back, gas begins to collect in its stomach, the stomach hardens, which cuts off the air passage, and the sheep suffocates. This position is called a cast-down position. A cast-down sheep needs a loving shepherd to restore it.

To restore a cast-down sheep takes time. The first thing the shepherd does is massage its four legs to restore circulation. Then while calmly reassuring the sheep with his voice, he gently turns it over, puts his hand under the sheep’s belly, lifts it up, and holds it so it can gain its equilibrium. When the shepherd feels that the sheep can stand on its own, he lets the sheep go and watches it take a few faltering steps. He has restored a cast-down sheep.

What a picture of what God does for us! When we are on our back, flailing because of guilt, grief, and grudges, our loving Shepherd reassures us with His words. With His tender hands He lifts us and carries us until we’ve gained spiritual equilibrium.

Jesus wants to restore your soul. Let Him remove your guilt, relieve your grief, and replace your grudges. If you’ve been “cast down” for any reason, He’s the only one who can help you get on your feet again. He is your confidence, joy, peace, and strength.



Happy 4th of July to any American friends who happen to visit here. I hope you enjoy your celebrations.
Warmest Light Everyone!

Jesus often made radical remarks. If you are slapped across the face, offer them your other cheek for another whack. If you want to be truly rich, give everything away. And His one-word invitation: Die.

These ideas as well as others made some people think Jesus was not sane. As if claiming to be God wasn’t enough—He continues to teach bizarre things, they thought.

Some of Jesus’ most unsettling claims are packed into the Beatitudes, the opening to His well-known Sermon on the Mount. He had spent recent days touching the lepers, the orphans, the prostitutes—all penniless and powerless. All rejects.

The religious elite were disgusted with Jesus’ distasteful acts, embracing the filthy outcasts. But even this intense disdain did not prepare them for the subversive words Jesus was about to speak.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The realities of the first century were little different than today’s. Power was king. Social status, wealth, and political alliances were all hoarded away to amass one thing: power.

Jesus’ words unnerved the elite. He said it was the poor in spirit, the destitute, the helpless, who were citizens of heaven’s kingdom. It was the outcasts, like the ones He had just healed and caressed, who were blessed.


Let's embrace radical thinking. The most radical of anything He said, was that He was going to come live with you if you invite Him in. Have you made that invitation? Just give thanks for what He did and say that you believe who He said he was. That will make you a radical thinker.


Warmest Light Everyone!