REVIVE Psalms 69:32 ESV “When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.” Have you ever felt tired? I have two daughters, both of whom were terrible sleepers since birth. They were most needy during the night, waking up anywhere from 5-6 times for a bottle, diaper change, or just some snuggles. At first, you are kind of okay with the lack of sleep because you’re surviving on the new baby high, but eventually, it catches up to you, and you crash.. hard. Something similar can happen in our spiritual lives as…
ISAIAH 46:5 MSG “So to whom will you compare me, the Incomparable? Can you picture me without reducing me?” We all have lived life differently and have unique experiences that are individual to us. I have gone through different seasons of life that perhaps you have never experienced, and vice versa. God is constant and unchanging, but I have experienced Him in my unique way, and the same applies to you. I know how God has provided for me over the course of my life, every time He healed me and His unending faithfulness and love. I look back over my life and see how He was time and time again, good and just. I know you can recall times when God has miraculously made a way where there was no way. So in my mind, I have a certain perception of God, as I imagine you do as well. But my mind is only able to comprehend very little of His greatness and majesty, and so when I try and picture Him, I am automatically (not purposefully) going to reduce Him. I so wish that I could fully grasp and appreciate all of His splendor, His might, and His…
Lamentations 3:22-24 MSG “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.” Have you ever felt utterly hopeless and like you had nothing left? Those moments of absolute devastation and confusion, where nothing in the world seems to make sense? Brokenness surrounds you, and it can feel so isolating and intimidating. I have experienced moments in my own life like that. I think back to when I had suffered my third miscarriage. In a fog, I somehow managed to walk out of the Emergency room, numb, and unsure of how to even put one foot in front of the other. When I arrived home, my body was flooded with emotions, ranging from heartbreak, and disappointment to anger. How could this have happened again? I turned from God in those moments, refusing to be held by His loving arms, as the pain just seemed to be too much to bear. After some time, desperate prayers, and repentance, I knew that He was going to be the only one to carry me through the…
Acts 7:8 NLT “He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.’ ” I struggle with having patience. I always open the microwave before it dings, I coax along the red traffic light, and I seriously hate being late. I feel like I am always in a state of busyness, rushing from one task to the next and never setting aside the time needed to listen and rest. The Message translation puts the above scripture like this “He told them, ‘You don’t get to know the time.…
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first”: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” I Thessalonians 4:16-18 Someone in our country is holding a lottery ticket worth sixty-eight million dollars. I have never purchased a lottery ticket and have no desire to do so. I could not imagine the tension and stress of waiting for the announcement of the winner. Millions of tickets have been sold and only one person has won the jackpot. The rest will all be disappointed. I am so glad that I have a ticket to the greatest event that will ever happen. I did not purchase it; it was purchased for me when Jesus shed His precious blood on Calvary’s cross. When the trumpet sounds and the Lord returns for His church, everyone who has accepted His gift will obtain their reward. Jesus will not shuffle the names listed…
“And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.” I Samuel 16:12-13 We have been considering stories of people in the Bible who had to wait for long periods of time before receiving an answer to prayer, or a promise fulfilled. David certainly fits the picture. God told Samuel to appoint a new king over Israel because Saul had not been obedient. He went to the house of Jesse, passed over all his strong handsome sons, and chose the youngest. They had to bring him from the pasture where he led his sheep. God knew that David was a man after his own heart and had already chosen him as we read in Psalm 78:70-71 “He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds… to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.” David had proved…