Such a Wonderful Day!… (even before I got out of bed!)

Well, my day started at 6:30 when I happened to wake up… not the normal time for me on a Sunday morning.

I looked at the clock and thought I can get to hear a message from Michael Youssef on the Christian radio.

Well, would you believe he was talking about faith and Hebrews 11? I quickly grabbed a pencil and found some paper and wrote down some wonderful insights that he shared.

And then an hour later, Chuck Swindoll came on and spoke about letting go of bitterness, and used the story of Joseph. And then he quoted from Proverbs 3:1-6. WOW!! Just up my alley!!

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So after listening, I got some brekky and a cuppa, and settled myself down out in the sunshine. It really IS a perfect day here, the second day of spring.

I also grabbed a pen and pad and jotted down some notes from the insights I gained off Michael and Chuck this morning. So here goes…

~ Faith is trust in the person who makes the promises. Also, faith is the ability to take hold of those promises.

~ When we lean on our own understanding, we are really questioning the One who promises, and/or we are ignorant of what He has promised.

Firstly, we question the past. We fail to acknowledge God’s hand in our lives. We say, “Why? … Why did God allow that to happen to me? Why have things turned out this way? Why couldn’t life be better for me?”

Next, we question the future. We question God’s ability to care for us. We say, “What if…? What if this or that happens and things don’t work out as I’d like? Where do I stand then?”

And thirdly, we question the “now”. We feel that if the future is to be better for us, we need to strive to make it so. We say, “What can *I* do? How can I improve things? What should I do to make God pleased with me?” So we strive to be good and do the right thing. We strive to succeed so that we don’t fall into the same pit again, and so that we can have a brighter and secure future.

But guess what? It doesn’t work. We end up flat on our face again! And God has arranged it that way, so that we realize we can’t trust in our own resources or the resources of others. Nothing is solid and dependable except God Himself.

This brings me to the next insight I gained this morning…

~ The faith that God honors is the faith that honors God.

Spend more time finding out what God has said and done, rather than trying to figure out what to do.

Then be thankful for what He has done, knowing that He can do it again, and knowing that He is true to His word.

And something Chuck said, follows on…

~ Referring back to Proverbs 3:3-4, Chuck said: “Having bound your life with truth and kindness, you are best fit to trust the Lord with all your heart.”

We don’t need to be perturbed by what others do to us. If we let go of bitterness like Joseph did with his brothers, we are free to see that God still has His hand in it all.

Check out what Joseph said to the brothers who’d tried to kill him, but then sold him as a slave, and lied about him disappearance to their father…

“Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” (Genesis 50:19-21, NLT)

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

And as Jesus said: “Love your enemies… pray for those who persecute you…”

~ In ALL your ways, in whatever you do, acknowledge Him, tell Him about it, and He will make the path ahead of you plain and smooth, free from confusion.

I’ll write more on that in the next post…

Well, that’s it for my thoughts today!!

Bathtub Musings!

I’ve still been pondering Proverbs 3:5-6, and tonight in the bath I thought, I really must get something written about it in my blog. Hey, it’s been about a week since I’ve written anything! I love my blog, and I hate not making entries.

But then I had a “DUH!!” moment!

“Why not pray about it? What have you been thinking about? ‘In all your ways acknowledge Him…’”

Sometimes one can be SO BLONDE!!!

Well, I’ve told the Lord about it, and asked that He would show me what to write… so here I go!!! …..

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Have you ever gone garage sale shopping, and you’ve come home not scoring a thing, or worse still, what you did score ends up being a dud.

Well that happened to a friend of mine yesterday. And I said what he should have done before he went was pray about it!! Is that crazy?

I shouldn’t talk because I do the same thing. Sometimes I set off on my day with my own plans, having it all figured out. I forget to ask the Lord about it. And guess what? BUMMER!! I end up flat on my face, and embarrassed, at the least.

But I remember as I new Christian, I used to talk to the Lord about everything. I’d taking Him shopping with me, ask Him for a parking spot and to find the bargains. And guess what? It worked!! But I was only a baby Christian then… and then I “grew up”. I didn’t have to ask God about all those petty things. I was mature enough to figure it all out, eh?

And NOW….

…. I’m reminded of my Proverb I’ve been pondering.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

You know what? I always found a parking spot when I followed that principle.

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And in the tub I was thinking about Abraham!!

Didn’t he do that? No not ask for a parking spot…. they didn’t have parking problems back then!!

He just believed and trusted God. God came to him and told him to leave the country he was living, and go to a place that God was going to show him. Now that sure needed faith. He didn’t have a clue where the destination was. Not like us!! So often we have to know the end, what’s going to happen and where we’re going to end up.

But Abraham, trusted what God told him, and followed, and God counted that as righteousness … being made right with God.

Then God told him he was going to be the father of many nations. But hey, Abraham and Sarah had no kids, and she was barren. And THEN they goofed!! Sarah had a plan, and we know THAT plan (Ishmael) is still causing trouble today.

But yeah, God let them make that mistake so they would learn. And then He sent their heir that they had so long waited for, Isaac. An amazing miracle!!!

And THEN… the unimaginable!! God wants Abraham to sacrifice his promised son. How could Abraham figure that one out. He’d waited a lifetime for this boy, and now God wants him to kill him! Imagine what we’d think. YET, Abraham believed God. He trusted that God knew what He was doing, so he followed God’s commands. And after climbing up that mountain with Isaac, and tying him to the altar, God stopped his hand when he was about to plunge the knife in!! Whew!! Just in time!! And God then provided the lamb for the altar.

So even in the hardest times when God doesn’t seem to make sense, we can still trust that He DOES know what He’s doing, and that He is testing our faith. Will we still believe when the chips are down?

So hey, it’s okay for God to change His mind half-way through. Not that He really does change His mind! He had the plan all along, but that’s how it appears to us.

Anyhow, that’s some of my bathroom reflections!!

(Oh, and BTW, if you wanted to read more about Abraham here is where to go: For the LONG STORY, read Genesis 12-23; for the shortened versions, read Romans 4; Galatians 3-4; Hebrews 11:8-19. )