David wrote this Psalm while in the desert…and sometimes we travel through our own desert. Those periods of dryness, when everything seems empty, parched and withered…those times when God seems so far away. But be encouraged…God’s showers are coming! Showers of blessings flowing down and filling your soul with living water. Your emptiness will be filled, and because of those abundant blessings, new life will spring forth from within.
Month: February 2016
Matthew 16:24 ” Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.’ “
Jesus would ask you today…”Are you willing to give up yourself for Me? Are you willing to put into proper priority all things and people in your life so I’m first? Are you willing to endure the afflictions and trials of following Me and My teachings? Are you willing to give up yourself…in order to find Me? “
Joshua 24:31 ” Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who out lived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.”
Moses had mentored Joshua as his successor…but Joshua had failed to do the same…and as a result, the next generation after Joshua’s death succumbed to idolatry. God’s people are always just one generation away from turning their backs on everything their parents and grandparents believed in. Todays Church needs to be focusing on young people…drawing them in, encouraging, and disciplining them, for they will be the ones carrying the Word of God on in the future.
Luke 12: 15 ” Then He said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ “
Jesus was warning us to be careful of forsaking God in the pursuit of collecting wealth. We don’t exist for the sake of hoarding riches…and we will never save ourselves by the amount of property we’ve amassed. Our trust can never be in gold and riches. (Psalm 62:10)
Revelation 3:11 ” I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
In John’s letter to the church in Philadelphia, he urged the Believers to hold fast to and maintain their saving faith in Jesus Christ. That still holds true today. The world and its strong lure is ever trying to take us down a path of destruction and death. But we are more than victors…having been given the crown of life…the symbol of triumph and eternal life.
Genesis 4:9 ” Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ “
From the first time that question was uttered by Cain, to today, we must all be accountable to God for our fellow-man. If we see someone flailing in the water…we help. If we see someone drowning in sin…we need to go to their aid as well. We can never become an island unto ourselves…for God commands us to love and protect one another, just as He loves and protects us.
Luke 11: 34-35 ” Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad. your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.”
When you look into someone’s eyes…what do you see? If they’re lying to you and have a guilty conscience, you can usually see it. If when you look into someone’s eyes and see evil, you realize what it is…darkness and wickedness. But if you look into some people’s eyes…you’ll see Jesus smiling back at you. Their eyes are shining beacons of light and truth… their only focus, fulfilling what God made them for.
Isaiah 30:15 ” This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.’ “
God really does know best, and always has our best interest in mind. But we sometimes think we know better. Exodus 14:14 is an excellent example of what the Lord is trying to tell us in the verse…”The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Our strength is derived from hope and obedience, not sheer force and brute determination.
Jonah 4:4 ” But the Lord replied, ‘Have you any right to be angry?’ “
Jonah couldn’t understand why the Lord would have compassion on the wicked people of Nineveh…and he was angry about it. We see things happening in the world today and we can be just as shocked and angry as Jonah. .. “What are You thinking Lord to allow this to happen?” But God’s ways are above our ways…His plan is perfect in this imperfect world…for only the Lord can see around the corner.
Psalm 88: 2-3 ” May my prayer come before You; turn Your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave.”
There comes a time in everyone’s life when anguish, grief and heartache takes over our body. We truly feel that we are approaching death…the pain is that intense. But we can’t allow the pain to overwhelm and consume us…rather, we need to allow the Lord and others to help pull us from the abyss…until the darkness subsides.
Safetypinlove 