Awakening of a New Day

Job 12:10, Deuteronomy 10:14 - In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 

I sat this morning in the darkened Arizona living room. I was talking to the Lord when I noticed the darkness outside begin to awaken. Pink clouds slowly wafting over the mountains, turning ever more brilliant as the sun rose higher. The southeastern sky started by glowing orange and yellow and melting into the blue sky. The light cast mellow yellow colors on the houses and vegetation. 

I thanked God for yet another day, the new day He was creating right before my eyes. My heart swelled with excitement. Here I was watching God create. Here I was in His presence watching Him at work. And my heart felt like it would burst. I'd never thought of Him creating right there before me. His quiet voice speaking, as it were, in what I was seeing. 

I often reflect on His nature, His character seen in nature. I guess that's because I'm a visual person. I love colors and textures. It's probably why I like taking pictures. But nothing quite captures the true essence than seeing it before your eyes. 

I wondered if this was how a heart in love with God would feel. I sometimes wonder how much I really love Him. Is there any way we can fully know? What's enough? Is my love as strong as someone else's? I know it has to be different for each person. If all I have to go on is that feeling....and yet we're told it's not about our feelings. 

But, Lord, I'm a feeling kind of person. You created me this way. You created everyone with emotions. My emotions are showing right now! My heart is aching in a very good way. Isn't that how loves feels? A feeling of bursting forth in...in what? Song? Laughter? Words? Or even not so quiet internal reflection and awe? 

And I gloried at the thought of being able to see His hand at work right before my eyes. We catch glimpses of Him, those whose eyes are stayed on Him, those whose minds are always looking for Him in all areas of our daily lives. When we are able to praise God for His creation and worship Him for it, aren't we proclaiming our love for Him? When our hearts feel as though they will burst at the beauty of it all, aren't we are loving Him for what His great hands have done? Praise the Lord!

Where is God today in your life? Is He in the crisp bitter cold the Midwest is experiencing today? Is He reminding you that He has created even that, as much as we would prefer sunny summer days? I can't go anywhere without seeing Him at work. Maybe that's why I like to travel, to see ALL He has created, the difference from one part of the world to the next. 

What do you see when you look at a sunrise or sunset? When steam from off cold Lake Michigan looks like snow capped mountains...in Wisconsin? When the Arizona mountain tops turn orange in the early morning sun or bronze in the late afternoon as the sun sets? When the clouds paint pictures of angels or fuzzy fish with mouths wide open to catch the prey in front of them? When the Caribbean ocean is a rich, deep blue? 

It doesn't even need to be in faraway places but right outside your back door. Watch the birds happily hopping around for seed or swooping down on a feeder. Watch and listen to the next thunderstorm. Watch a flower day by day growing from a small seed to a full bloom. Study it's growth. How amazing are even these daily occurrences. Look at the snowflakes or frost on your windows. Take a closer look. See the fingerprints of our Creator on them?

Our Creator is amazing. The world and His nature...yes, it's His...both physically and spiritually...never two days exactly the same. An infinite number of days, an infinite number of scenes. It may seem the same day after day but each day is unique. Take a closer look. Remove yourself for a moment from the daily activities and notice Him. 

Lord, help us to see Your hand at work in our lives each day. Let us not grow bored in seeing this magnificent hand doing what it does best. This IS the day You have MADE. I WILL rejoice and be glad in it. My day and my days are in Your hand. Let this day be a confirmation for all of a God at work. 

Look for Him while He may still be seen. Look for His hand at work outside the physical windows where you sit right now and also the windows of your soul. He calls you to see Him, to recognize Him, to know Him. He will amaze you.

Genesis 1 - God said...God created...and it was good.

Open Wide!

Matthew 7:11 - If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

I am praying over a situation. Scriptures abundantly remind us that all we need do is ask God and He will hear; He will give good things to those who do ask, to those whom He calls His children.

I decided to do a search on scriptures showing what happens when we ask God for something...this does not mean asking for things which would not be God's will. He hears when we seek Him for protection (Monday's blog), for the desires of our hearts, for His provision, for our purification, for anything in line with His Word. 

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday which sort of caused me some anxiety. As I waited for the orthopedic to come in I realized the anxiety mounting. I whispered: Lord, You are my strength and You know what I need. In less than a minute my anxiety was gone. And the news I received from the doctor was good! Yes, Jesus knew everything in advance and because I was basically asking for His strength, He gave me peace, knowing full well what the outcome would be. God gives us what we need. (See Matthew 6:8 and Psalm 34:4 below!)

Look at this list and notice what happens when we ask Him for "whatever":

Matthew 21:22 - And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

Matthew 7:7 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Matthew 6:8 - ... For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Psalm 34:4  - I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 

Psalm 50:15 - Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." 

Isaiah 58:9 - Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, "Here I am."

Isaiah 65:24 - It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. 

Matthew 18:19 - Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

John 14:13 - And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

1John 5:14 - Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

There are so many more. God is there for all who seek Him. Seek Him for His gift of salvation, then seek Him for anything that is in His will. He is there to guide all into truth. He is there for our protection and strength If we, by faith, believe that He will respond to our cries or our petitions, and believe that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do, then...in His timing...He will answer our prayers.

Oswald Chambers, the day I determined to pray over this situation, talked on the very subject! What wonderful confirmation. Chambers said for July 16: He [Jesus regarding Matthew 7:11 above] urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God's control behind everything, which means that the disciple [any believer] must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek. When I read that my heart skipped a beat. Not only that but another devotion I read that morning said pretty much the same thing.

I think about the process of my determining to seek God and His Word over this thing and His very swift answer/confirmation. Some might think this coincidence. I consider it a promise...If you have read the scriptures above you will recall Matthew 6:8 which says that He knows before we even ask. He just waited for me to ask. But the clincher is, we must never stop asking.

Chambers added these phrases: ...my Father knows all about it! God is my Father, He loves me, why should I worry? ...rest in perfect confidence in Him.

His timing...always perfect, never too early or too late. He sets the stage behind the scenes and we cannot understand why we might have to wait. But He will respond. We will see His hand at work some day. Acts 1:7 - And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority."

God is glorified through the works He does. AND, we will glorify Him when our prayers are answered. If this world would recognize the power we have through Him. If we would, as scripture says, humble ourselves, pray and seek God, turn from our wickedness He would bring such change in this world, He would heal the land. Imagine if every Christian would truly ask this each day what could happen.

We are living in trying times. If we would be faithful to seek Him now even for the little things and He answers, imagine how when things in our lives get really difficult and we seek Him for solutions, strength or protection, we will already have been strengthened knowing He has answered in the past and will be our "whatever" for the more trying situations. 

Our God is not a God who only punishes, but He promises good things. It's all in how we look at Him. It's all in how much we believe and have faith in Him. Expect nothing from Him if He is not sought. Expect the world if He is. He longs to do great things for us. But we need to ask.

Psalm 81:10 - I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; 0pen your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 

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?

God's World

Joshua 10:13 - So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies... So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

God is the Creator of the world. Plain and simple. He is the Source of all life. Plain and simple. He is the one who holds the stars in the sky and knows each of them by name. Plain and simple. There are more stars and planets out there, and galaxies, than we can count, than we have even discovered...and God knows the names of them all. So, wouldn't one want to trust that He is the Center of everything? He is the ultimate wisdom and knowledge.

How can we think we are the center of our own little worlds? That does not show God as Center of our lives. When God stops our life dead in it's tracks and we are faced with a dilemma, which way will we turn? Will we seek Him in that time of need or will we be faced with the frustration, maybe angst, that NOW things are going to be different?

What will happen when that illness strikes or that disability comes that causes the things that we hold so dear to us to be unattainable either for a long while or permanently? Where will we turn when disaster strikes our family, our state, our nation, our world? What direction will we take then? Will we turn to God?

 

Sometimes I think our little frustrations or big disasters occur when He really desires to make Himself known to us, to commune with us. He will cause something that we've taken for granted to be pulled out from under. He has got to get our attention somehow...He will humble the proud and arrogant, bring those who consider themselves above all others down to the lesser level to show they are no better, no greater, really, in this world. He WILL humble us. It is, after all, His world.

Everything  we see happening in this world is part of His great plan. Not all is good, but out of disaster comes good. I've been struggling with something. I know others are also struggling...and not able to pinpoint what it is. I feel like the other shoe is going to drop... I'm feeling distant from so much. I can only handle what's before me now and not able to think or comprehend tomorrow. But then, isn't that what God wants? Don't worry about tomorrow...today has enough of it's own troubles.

This struggle is not about me but about what God wants to do in me. It's about His power to bring change, transformation. What will it take? What will it produce? Only He knows. As much as I want to know what this is all about and want to know when it will be over, I must realize that the Lord knows and He's in control of the when and how.

We are told in the scripture above that He was able to stop the sun in it's tracks to bring about His will. Don't think He won't do that in our lives. He is able to bring the sun up and set it again each day. That's power. That's His power. Stop us dead in our tracks then raise us up.

There's something brewing. Perhaps it's just in my own life, perhaps it's in the world. If we are in the last days, there has got to be a great move of God and I want to be part of this. I must be stretched beyond my own little world. We learned last night in our Wednesday night study that we must take the focus off ourselves and focus on everyone else.  I certainly don't believe the world revolves around me but I do believe I need to step out of my comfort zone. 

I mentioned one time about seeing God in everything. That's the way it should be for everyone. Of course, that's a perfect world. Lord, help us. Everything is about Him and our being centered in God. We might even see Him in the midst of the struggle Israel is facing or the gulf oil spill, our government, struggles within our churches.  Something is brewing; I'm certain of it.

Genesis 1:1 tells us "In the beginning, God..." and in the last book of Revelation, Revelation 22:13 God Himself tells us "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." I read somewhere that if God is the beginning and the end of this world, this life, our lives, shouldn't He be everything in between too? Not about us, about Him.

What does it take for us to understand this? What does it take for to get us out of the picture? I don't see the letters "me" in God's name. They don't show in Yahveh, Jehovah, Lord or Jesus either. So when will we understand without a doubt that it's not about "me" and it's not about what is so important to "me?" Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Proverbs 19:21, Psalm 37:4) Doesn't this just fit right in with giving to receive (Greatness, June 15, 2010)? 

This so ties in with my question: "What Do I Do?" Seek God first, trust in Him and the rest will fall into place. Praise Him!

Matthew 6:33 - But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.