God, Job, and me ~Part 3~

So, I know it has been a while--sorry about that, but life has been crazy with preparing for Tori to come home and her finally coming back! :)  And incase any of you were wondering... Yes, we are so happy she is home and having a wonderful time with her back in the house after six months without her.  :)

I'm still treking through wonderful Job and as a result we are now on part three.  :)

`Job 19:25
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

Job knows God as his Reedemer.  I love this name for God because without Him we are nothing.  He yanked us out of the darkest, deepest night and brought us into His presence and gave us fullness of joy.  Without Him we would still be worshiping our sinful selves.
Redeemer--someone who redeems or buys back.
I love this definition.  Christ bought us back.  He paid the highest price!  How awesome and we should live every day telling ourselves that our Redeemer LIVES!  And one day He will come back and take His stand on earth.  What an awesome day that will be.  :)  Nothing can twart God's plan... not today or for the rest of eternity.

`Job 22:25-27
Then the Almighty will be your gold and choice silver to you. For then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.  You will pray to Him, and He will hear you; and you will pay your vows.

So in context Jobs friend is telling him that if Job would just turn from his sin and repent then God would be his Most High again.  So, I like this verse, no because it is something the applied to Job, but because if applies to each and every one of us.  We need to turn from our sin... that sin you commit every day and never think twice about.  Ask God to reveal your heart to yourself and turn from all that your evil heart desires.  And once we turn from ourselves, toward God, we will no longer strive for earthly things, but God will be our gold and choice silver, we will delight in Him and not man, and we will turn to Him in time of need.  The Almighty should be our choice... over all gold and silver this world has to offer.  We should continually be delighting in Him above all else.  We should be lifting our faces up to Him minute by minute--telling Him of our fears and joys, and thanking Him for all His many blessings He has poured out on us.  And we should be keeping short accounts of sin, so as not to have our prayers go unheard.

`Job 23:10
But He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Love this verse!  I love how Job, in the middle of everything, stops and reminds himself that God knows all that is going on.  He not only knows Jobs path... He made the path especially for Job.  And through all that is going on God is refining him.  We should take Jobs example to heart and remind ourselves in the midst of hard times, in the midst of confusing times, and in the midst of joyous times that God is good and He has written our path.  Everything that He is doing is making us look more like Him and we should rejoice in that.  This is great encouragement for the weary soul.  :)

~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, Job, and me ~part 2~

So, I am still in Job and loving it.  One thing I have really been convicted of though is Jobs complete trust in God and what He is doing.  He knows his place and He knows that God is Creator and knows best.  He is to continue to give God praise and glory even through this hard time.  This is one quality I pray for... that I may be in complete surrender to our great God.


`Job 8:21
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouting.


This is not Job speaking, it is one of his friends who is giving him advice.  So many people give Jobs friends a hard time because of their counsel.  But really I think the only thing we should give them a hard time for is assuming that Job had sinned and God was punishing him.  All of Job's friends gave good advice, it just didn't apply to Job.  I love this verse.  It is a great reminder that God will again fill our mouth with laughter and we will again shout praises to Him.  Though it may be a long time till that day, we can trust that it will happen in God's perfect timing.  And sometimes that perfect timing in heaven.  But we are called to trust Him and praise Him in the storm, even now.  Believe that He is good and that He is being good to you now.  He knows best.


`Job 9:12
If He snatches away, who can stop Him?  Who can say to Him, "What are you doing?"


I love this verse!  This is Job speaking and I love the power of God displayed in Job's words.  Job knows his place before God.  God will do what He pleases and no one will stand in His way.  Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."  I think Job knew this truth.  God does what He pleases, and He is good and just in everything He does and we have no right to ever question Him.  We are called to trust... the Christian walk is all about faith.  Have faith in your God.  He is being faithful to complete His work in you until the day of righteousness (Phil. 1:6) and sometimes that is going to hurt or seem harsh, but trust Him.  Choose to worship Him no matter what your feelings tell you or the world tells you.


`Job 12:3
With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding.


I love the character of God shown in this verse.  He has wisdom and might--He is the great Counselor--and understanding belongs to Him.  We will not always (in fact most of the time we won't) understand what God is doing or "why", but He knows what is good and best and He sees the big picture.  Once again, trust Him right now, in whatever you are going through trust Him.  Understanding belongs to Him... how awesome is that.  He knows it all and He loves you and He will not withhold anything good from those who walk uprightly (Ps. 84:11).  Trust that sometimes the good stuff hurts, sometimes the good stuff seems bad, and sometimes the good stuff it glorious.  In all three give Him praise and in all three enjoy life.  Enjoy the life God has given you, praise Him throughout it, and live for the prize.


~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, Job, and me

Sorry I haven't updated in forever.  I meant to over the weekend and then things got busy with Mother's Day and everything.  :)
Anyways, here we go...  I have finished Ester and am now in Job.  I LOVE Job!  :)  It is my favorite Old Testament book other than Psalms.  I love how it is a story about an everyday person who is going through hardship and how he deals with it.  His trust in the Lord shines forth throughout and God's goodness and grace are the whole reason this is possible.  I love the everyday simplicity of it and how things we complicate, it gives clear simple answers for, such as God is good and don't ask questions.  ;)  Anyways, I thought I would share some of the verses that have encouraged me and caused me to think.


`Job 1:12
Then the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all hat he has is in your power, only so not put forth your hand on him." So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.


I love, love, love this verse because it shows how small the power of Satan is compared to God.  I think so often we tend to think of Satan as God's competition... like there is this huge battle raging and no one knows what the outcome will be, but it is not so.  God is bigger and greater than Satan could ever even dream about being.  Satan was created by God and has limitations, where our holy, awesome God is unlimited and all-powerful.  Satan can't do anything to us without God's permission--nothing.  He has to ask God every time.  This is such a comforting and encouraging verse when you are going through a trial, to know that everything you are going through has been sifted through God's loving hand and that all of it is going to make you look more like Him.


`Job 1:21b
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.


This is one of my absolute favorite verses in Job.  So good, so encouraging, and such truth.  The Lord gives and the Lord takes away and both are good and done in the exact right timing and His name shall be blessed no matter what!  We are not called to understand why He gives us things and why He takes them away... we are called to trust Him and know that He is working it all out for our good, His glory, and our joy.


`Job 2:9-10
Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity?  Curse God and die!"  But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speak.  Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?"  In all this Job did not sin with his lips.


Verse 9 always makes me stop and pray to God that I will never be that kind of wife.  That instead I would comfort and encourage my husband through hardship, supporting him in all he does and help him to stay focused on Christ and His goodness.
And then I love the part of verse 10 when Job speaks about accepting good and not accepting hardship.  God gives us BOTH for our good and we should thank Him for both, even if at times it is really hard to do so.  They are both shaping us to look more like Him and we should praise Him for that.  That He loves us so much that He isn't going to leave us in the ugly state that we are in.  He instead is going to lovingly refine us.  Sometimes that calls for good, happy, "easy" times and other times that calls for hardship, tears, and crying out to God.  Both are good, both cause us to trust in God in different ways, and both deepen our love and dependency on God.


I pray that each of us would trust in God through our own hardships and praise Him for them and that our love for Him would deepen during those times, but I also pray that those of you who are experiencing joyous times would praise God for them and that your love would deepen through those times knowing the He gave you everything you have.  May we all learn to love the Lord more daily and serve Him, praise Him, and glorify Him more each moment.


~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, His provision, and me

Okay, so I am done with Nehemiah and I have moved on to Ester!  :)  I was very excited to finally be at Ester in my venture through the Old Testament.  I have always loved the story of Ester growing up, but it's been a while since I read it.  Well, today I was reading chapter 2-3 and something really cool got me thinking.  So I am going to share it with y'all.  :)


`Ester 2:17
"The king loved Ester more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti."


So, Ester becomes queen--end of story, right... wrong.  This is where you really start to see God at work in providing for the Jews.  He has molded Ester for this her whole life, she is chosen as queen so that God can work through her for His glory.  Cool, right?  Well, the thing that really stuck out to me is Haman doesn't even decide to strike out against the Jews until chapter 3 verse 6...


"...therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who where throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus."


God was already preparing a way of escape for His people back in chapter 2 (and really way before that).  Such a cool picture of how God knows all, before it happens, and He is protecting His people.  It made me think of those people that say that God is just a really good chess player and just counter acts with what humans do.  Well, this scripture clearly shows that God knows all before it happens.  He had already made His counter move before Haman even started playing the game.  Truly awesome to see our God at work--in the Bible and all around us.  How He is working perfectly to bring Him more glory.  :)  Such comfort, knowing that He knows exactly what is not only going on in our lives today, but already knows about tomorrow and has that all planned out as well.  He has every one of our days planned out perfectly, whether we have 20 or 20,000 left.  He is protecting us from the bad and giving us all that is good for us... whether it seems good or not.  Trust Him.  He's got in all under control.  He made you, He knows what is best for you, and He is protecting you from evil, before you even know there is evil sometimes.


~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, worship, and me

So, I am in Nehemiah during my quiet times and the other day I was reading chapter 8 and it really got me thinking the rest of the day.  Chapter 8 of Nehemiah is about Ezra reading the Law to the people.  Verse 5 and 6 say,
"Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen!' while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground."


Wouldn't you have loved to be apart of this worship service?  What a wonderful picture.  :)  Verse 3 says that Ezra was reading from early morning until midday, yet the people stood.  This is such an amazing picture of the people praising and worshiping the Lord--shouting Amen and bowing low, faces to the ground and hands raised high.  What if for one service we all stopped thinking about what other people will think of us if we raise our hand while singing before the Lord or say "Amen" out loud during the sermon.  Who cares what they think... you are worshiping God Most High.


Later in the day I heard the song, "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe.  The chorus goes like this...


Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine, I can only imagine


I love this song because it gets me thinking about how awesome and holy our God truly is... what will we do when we are in His presence?  Who knows, but I know one thing--it will be a perfect, awesome, God honoring worship service for the rest of eternity.  I cannot wait.  To worship God without your sin getting in the way.  To stand before Him unashamed because Christ died for you.  What will it be like to worship the one true God, surrounded by His glory, all of it?  And then I started to think about this chunk of scripture--Isaiah 6:1-7.  Take a moment and read this slowly.  Let it all sink in and picture what Isaiah is trying to explain to us, and then imagine if you were Isaiah.  Let this passage of scripture help you to stand in awe of God and who He is today.


"In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.  Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.'  And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of his who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.  Then I said, 'Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'  The one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.  He touched my mouth with it and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.'"


Can you imagine?


~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, our comfort, and me

Well, I was reading Psalm 23 this morning in my quiet time and it was one of those moments were you had to stop and ask God to help you learn something new.  To help you not to just read the verses that you have read a million times before. To help you to stand in awe of Him just a little bit more because of what you read that morning.  As I said, this was one of those mornings as I began to read Psalm 23.  Memories of memorizing it as a kid and not really know what it meant ran through my head.  So I decided to lay all of the memories aside and all of my presuppositions about these verses aside and try to read it like I am doing so for the very first time.  So I am reading along and it isn't working too well because they are all just the same words (bad, right? we should always be able to come away with something new. it is God's word.).  Well, then I start to read MacArthur's study notes... we by no means need study notes, we only need the written word of God, but in this case the notes helped me to look into the wording of one of the verse...


Verse 4 (one that has been used so many times) says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."


So, I go down to the study notes and MacArthur starts to talk about how the rod and staff are means of protection and direction, respectively.  It really got me to go back through the verse and think it through again, as I am going to do with you now.  :)  Let's start at the beginning...


"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..."
When things get hard, when everything around you is difficult, tough, demanding, testing, and challenging; that is when you are in your own "valley of the shadow of death".


"I fear no evil..."
So even when things are at what seems like the absolute worse, we are not to fear evil.  Why?  Let's continue...


"for (because) You are with me..."
We need not fear any evil because God is with us always.  He is by our side through it all.


And now for the part that was so encouraging to me... 

"Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."

His rod is an instrument of protection.  God protects us from evil and anything that is not good for us.  So we need not fear walking through the valley of the shadow because God will protect us and it is good for us (Ps. 84:11).

His staff is an instrument of direction.  He is leading us.  He led us into the valley of the shadow of death for a reason, which should bring comfort in it's self.  He is working in us through it all.  But also, He is leading us now through that valley.  We are not left to walk the journey alone, God is giving us the strength and the grace for every step.

This should be a great encouragement and comfort to believers.  He is with us even when things are hard and testing; and He is protecting us and leading us through it all.  What an awesome God, who only does what is absolute best for us, even if it is what is hard on us.  He loves us enough to not leave us where we are.  He is shaping us to look more like Him through every situation in life.  It is all an instrument in His hand to future His work in us until the day it is made perfect.  :)

I encourage you to look deeper into those verses you know by heart, but that maybe you don't know the proper context or maybe there is truth in there that you never knew before--a comforting or a challenging thought.  Dig a little deeper in His word.  It after all has all that we need to know about life and godliness.  Don't just read over the passages you know by heart, or the ones that don't seem necessary (like genealogies).  They are all profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, Sidewalk Prophets, and me

So, this update is nothing major, but I was listening to this song and it so made me re-focus on God and really what it means to give my life to Him wholly.  Hope you enjoy.

You Can Have Me

If I saw You on the street

And You said come and follow me

But I had to give up everything

All I once held dear and all of my dreams

Would I love You enough to let go

Or would my love run dry

When You asked for my life

When did love become unmoving?

When did love become unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world has told me

Father of love, You can have me

You can have me

If You’re all You claim to be

Then I’m not losing anything

So I will crawl upon my knees

Just to know the joy of suffering

I will love You enough to let go

Lord, I give you my life

I give you my life

When did love become unmoving?

When did love become unconsuming?

Forgetting what the world has told me

Father of love, You can have me

You can have me

I want to be where You are

I’m running into Your arms

And I will never look back

So Jesus, here is my heart

Father of love, You can have me

My Father, my love

You can have me

~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.