“And He Will Be the Stability of Your Times.” Isaiah 33:6

 

I have come to find that there is only One who can bear the weight of true worship. One who is God alone. When all else has failed us; the things we worship, our money, our efforts, our careers, our dreams, ourhopes, our wisdom.  When all these fail us,the one true God will be our stability. He is an unmovable rock on which we can stand.

I have found this to be true over and over again. I have found that God can hold me up even when it is me who has let me down. Even when it is me who has failed, yes, even I cannot be my own stability.  For when I have tried, I too have failed. I am not strong enough to take on the things of life alone.  They will eventually crush me, overcome me or defeat me. But when I stand in Christ,I can bear all things.

As the bible states in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9,

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

 

When we stand in Christ, no matter how hard things get, how much the world throws at us or how great our failure is, we still have the rock to stand on.  That rock is Christ!

I am not saying that we won’t have consequences. We will! However, because of Christ, God will not allow any of those to be greater then the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross to pay for every failure.

So when you need a place of stability, cometo Him who is truly able to be your stability in all things.

What if we give thanks to the Lord with our Whole Heart?

As I was reading today this verse stood out to me, Psalm 9:1&2

            I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sign praise to your name O Most High.

As I read the words, I ask myself, do I do this? Have I ever given the Lord thanks with my whole heart? Have I ever recounted all his wonderful deeds? Do I exult Him, and do I sing praise to His name. And my answer was not often enough. There are so many times when I don’t do these things. When I take my eyes off of the Lord and I don’t exult Him gladly. 

 If I don’t put my whole heart into thanking the Lord for all he has done for me, it is easy to forget how truly Awesome He is. What would it look like if today God’s people would truly thank him with our whole hearts? If we would come to Him with no requests, but only thankfulness, if we would recount his wonders to a lost and drying world. What if today we would fill the earth with  praises to his name.

Lord today I will thank you, exult you, and recount your wonderful deeds. Lord today I will sing praise to you alone. Because Lord, you along are worthy of all of my efforts and all of my love, for you alone are God!  

Carrying You in My Heart!

Are you carrying the people God has giving you in your heart?

Paul says in Philippians 1:3-4,

         “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy.”

As I think of this statement, I am taken back by the love Paul had for the people that God had placed in his Life.  What an encouragement, that upon opening this letter, they realized that it was written for them.  As I thought about it more, I thought, I want that kind of love for the people God has placed into my life. I want to thank God for them when I think of them.  I want to make all kinds of prayers for them and do so with much JOY.  

So to all of you who have been in my life, especially to all of you who have partnered with me in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, I want to say, I have you in my heart.  I will continue to ask God to bring you to remembrance.  I will ask for a deeper love for you, a greater desire for your good and a more effectiveness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am not yet there, but I will continue to ask for a greater love for you all, and I will pray that I carry you in my heart.

Your Brother and Friend in Christ

Don

The God of All Comfort!

The other day, a good friend got the most horrific news any parent can receive.  His son had died in a motorcycle accident that night.  When I received the text to pray for him and his family, I just broke down and cried.  I did not know what to do.  I wanted to call him and say something, but I did not know what to say. I wanted to make it all right, but I could not. I wanted to give him answers, but I had none. 

Then I realized, that at that moment, he did not need me to be his God!  He needed me to be his friend.

 You see the God of all Comfort was the only one who had the answers, the only one who could take away his pain and the only one who could fix it.   All I could do was be there for him and his family.  

I hate that he has to go though this and that his family has to suffer.  But I learned that there is only One who can truly bring the healing that the heart needs in moments like this.  It is only He who we can lean on.  He alone is the God of all Comfort.  Our role is to be there and to cry with those we love, it is God’s job to lift their souls.

2 Corinthians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all Comfort.”

You see, He is the one that has the mercy.  God is a Father, so He can love my friend like only a father can.  

So today, my prayer is that the God of all comfort will love my friend in the way that he needs to loved.  And that the God of all Comfort will comfort my friend the way he needs to be comforted.

You Cannot Give What You Do Not Have

Often times, I feel that we as followers of Jesus Christ, we forget one of the most important truths… If we are to make an impact in this world for Jesus Christ, we must have more and more of Him in our personal lives!  For to give others the hope they are looking for, we must give them Jesus himself.  You cannot give in abundance what you only have in scarcity.  So many of us spend so little with Jesus that we really have nothing to give others.

I find it odd that at times I forget that it is not me that others need, but it is Jesus.  If I have not spent time with Him, what is it that I have to give to others?  My advice, my words, my thoughts, my ideas… all of these I may think are important, and they may even be good.  However, only Jesus knows what is truly needed.  

So when I spend time with Jesus, only then do I have what is needed by those who I will encounter that day.  When I spend time in the WORD, only then will my thinking line up with God.  Only then will the thoughts I give to people be the very words of God, not Don’s words. 

Luke 10:38-42

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

So today before you go out to encounter what the day may bring, spend time with the Jesus.  Allow Him to speak into your life, so you can then speak in others lives.