After time, love can grow cold. We abandon the devotion of our youth, and the relationship between us and the Lord wanes. This is the luke warmness the Lord abhors…this is the apathy He’s against. The Lord is calling us back to that first love again.
Author: kezha1
A Christian mother, grandmother, and retired nurse living in Illinois. Called into a ministry of encouraging others to find their ultimate plan and purpose in life through Christ.
Proverbs 10:4 ” Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”
Interestingly enough, the meaning of the word hands is different in both parts of this Proverb. Lazy, careless, “hands” are just that…simply physical appendages. But diligent, hard-working, “hands” are strong, powerful, and authoritative.
Jonah 1:3 “But Jonah ran away from the Lord…”
Jonah foolishly thought he could go some place where the Lord was unable to find him…but it just doesn’t happen that way. In Psalm 139:7, the writer asks…”Where can I flee from Your presence?” The truth is, it’s impossible to hide from the Lord, and running will only prolong what He is asking you to do.
Luke 21:33 ” Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away.”
Everything, and every person, has an expiration date stamped on them. Nothing lasts forever, and eventually the world as we know it will even end. But God’s omnipotent Voice…His divine revelations and declarations will never, ever fade away from view. His Words were before time, and will still be there when time is no more.
Proverbs 13: 3 ” He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.”
Think before you speak…this was a favorite saying of my Mother. But consider it, how many times do we blurt out something, only to be shocked and embarrassed by what came out of our mouths?! Oh, to be able to take back words…but unfortunately, it can’t be done…when they’re out, they’re out. That’s the reason the Writer of this Proverb admonished us to watch our mouth… it safe guards our life.
John 7:38 ” Whoever believes in Me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
I’m back to the lowly piece of PVC pipe I talked about yesterday. The purpose of it is to allow water to flow from one area to another. But what if the pipe is clogged with mud, gravel, and other junk? The flow slowly decreases to a trickle, and then stops all together. The same goes for the living water flowing out of us…if we’re “clogged up” with unresolved hurts, fears, and sins of the flesh, the Holy Spirit will be unable to flow through us, and our influence on others will languish. If the irrigation water isn’t able to flow freely, all the crops will wither and die…if the Holy Spirit can’t flow freely through us, those around us will also despair.
II Corinthians 4:7 ” But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
Pride loves to sneak in when we start thinking that all the wonderful things God is doing through us is somehow of our own making. Many years ago the Lord gave me this visual aide for times when I was thinking much greater of myself than I should. The picture was of an old, banged-up piece of PVC pipe. Inexpensive plastic pipe, PVC is used mainly to channel water from one area to another…it’s purpose is simple, but what it allows is very important. Like that PVC pipe , we are merely to be the conduit by which the Lord’s almighty power can flow. To be used of God, we are to be holy, useful,and prepared to do any good work for Him.(Isaiah 64:8). The function of PVC pipe is simple and humble…just as we should be.
Matthew 7: 21-23 ” Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord,Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, drive out demons, and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’ “
Intimacy with Jesus is the key in knowing Him not just intellectually, but experimentally. The term intimacy literally means “in to me you see”. This close personal relationship with the Lord comes about only by much study and experience… and like any other cherished, intimate relationship we have, it needs to be nurtured and cared for. This means we need to spend time daily in the Bible, reading God’s love letters to us. We need to be praying and in constant conversation with Him to know His heart. Nothing kills a relationship faster than lack of communication, and the same holds for our relationship with the Lord.
I Samuel 10: 5-6 ” After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine out post. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes, and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.”
The prophet Samuel had anointed Saul to be King, but in Saul’s eyes he was anything but King material. Low self-esteem can cause many of us to lose sight of the greatness and potential that God Himself has placed in us. But Samuel perceived the hidden treasure in Saul’s heart, because God had allowed Samuel to see Saul through His eyes. Samuel nurtured and encouraged this secret treasure by giving Saul many details of his encounter with the company of prophets, culminating with the most important detail…then the Spirit of God will anoint,empower, and change you from the inside out Saul.
Jeremiah 33:3 ” Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
God truly desires that His people know His heart, plans,and thoughts for them. When we call upon the name of the Lord, He will reveal and bring to light those things unknown… and in doing so, we will then gain His perspective for us. You can compare this to chickens and eagles. Chickens are flightless birds who spend most of their lives looking down at the ground…while eagles soar high above in the sky. To the chickens, their perspective is very small and limited…while to the eagles, their perspective is limitless and vast. While we may see ourselves as chickens scratching in the dirt, God sees our awesome potential soaring high in the sky.
Safetypinlove 