Apples and Oranges

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you...” "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says the Lord, "thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 1:5, Jeremiah 29:11)

We can sometimes feel because of words, situations or actions that we are less than what God thinks we are. This is just one ploy of the devil to minimize who we truly are in Christ. And all we need do is cast that negative thought out of our mind, in the name of Jesus!

I am in awe of how great my God is, how much He loves me. I'm reminded that there was a day when I found out His name is Jesus! He is my all in all. He is my Creator. He called my name. He showed me the Way to salvation. He gave me a perfect peace (that sometimes gets disturbed by words, situations or actions...but which He also restores!). He has given me a hope and a future and His Spirit. Most importantly, which is a difficult thing to understand, but I believe by faith alone, He is alive and lives IN me, in my heart and soul. The God of this huge universe desires to be as close as that!

I had such occasion recently where seeds of this dreadful and toxic doubt occurred. But I'm so thankful for this merciful God who longs to remind me who He has said I am in Him.

I received three very unexpected kind and encouraging words in church last Sunday. As I gave thought to them later I heard the still small voice, "This was to show you how much I love you." We should never consider ourselves losers in the Lord! But we are to consider ourselves, instead, loved by the Lord (who also disciplines). He has taken the time to call me to Himself and unless I absolutely disregard instruction or walk away from Him, I am His. And so are you.

Had I been able to do so at that very moment those words were "spoken," I would have fallen to my knees in worship but I was in my car...! All I could do, which seemed so small a thing, was to thank Him and praise Him as I drove.

I'll tell you, I wish I had more powerful words to vocalize instead of just writing. But for now I must stay content with prose, I guess. But it makes for a very difficult time when blogs run through my mind while I'm in my car! Even a recorder causes me to stammer and sputter, stutter! No fooling.

We do serve an awesome God. He does not expect each of us to fill the same shoes. He does not compare apples with oranges. While both might be sweet they have very different flavors...and so do we. HE has created us and although we will be in a process of sanctification our entire lives and might occasionally miss a mark, He does not throw the baby out with the bath water. We are none perfect. I'm thankful He does not get frustrated with our misplacements and determine to turn His back on us. No, He works stuff out in us. He perfects as we go along. Only He will always stand beside us.

He desires to change hearts, lives and desires, to become His workmanship...in order that all might be blessed and be in step with His heart for each person. His heart that sees who we truly are. In Him we can be an apple or an orange...for Him! He has a unique new person in store, one that He will cultivate, prune and grow into what WE are meant to be in His kingdom here on earth and again some day in heaven. Again, His name is Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus.

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 

Clouds are as Dust

Nahum 1:3-4 - The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

I had been noticing over the past few days trails of big, puffy clouds. When there is an unobstructed view they form like an endless funnel shape...

Think about what this means. Each cloud is like a particle of dust to God. Can't imagine it, can you? How awesome and great He is. It is said He is greater than any problem we might have, no matter what the size. Whether you've done some horrible thing in this life, something so unspeakable you don't believe you can be forgiven or as small as a white lie or critical thought, He is able to forgive. He's that great.

He is high and lifted up and He looks over us at all times. It is said He never slumbers nor sleeps. We cannot hide anywhere from Him. Even if we go to the depths of hell He is there. I'm trying not to take that too literally and looking at that scripture to mean that no matter how low we could become in this life He is always there to offer His hand to lift us up, to bring us out of our shame, sorrow or pain. His hand is always extended to us.

The clouds are as dust beneath His feet... If the clouds are as dust, His hands must be pretty big as well! Because of His greatness, there is nothing so big that He can't handle it. I like that idea. When I go into despair He will be there. When things seem out of control, He is not the author of my confusion but the bringer of peace and contentment.

It amazes me sometimes that some Christians rarely show the peace that passes all understanding that God can bring. I know some have difficult lives, maybe more so than others, but they seem to be unable to wrap their heads around the peace that the Lord has. They are focused on their situation and not what God may be doing through their circumstances. They have lost their joy. But our God is greater than their circumstances.

We all go through stages of life where something dreadful happens and we are in pain or discomfort over it for sometimes longer than we would like. Like I wrote Monday, it's at the very moment we are experiencing that that we should seek God for peace. (Well, actually, it was Oswald Chambers who said this!)

The clouds are like dust beneath His feet... His greatness is nothing we can comprehend. We just need to seek Him in the moment of our weakness. Think about being on the beach and picking up a handful of sand. Do you feel powerful? Of course not. It's nothing for you to do. That's how it is with God. He is in control of all things in this world, each day; His creation never ends and there's order in the things He has created. That is important to Him, but more important are His children. And He holds us securely in the palm of His hands when we have come into relationship with Him. 

I would surely want to place myself in the care, the hands of, such an awesome God.

Jeremiah 32:26-27 - Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?