A clothesline

I love hanging out clothes and the way sheets feel and smell after drying outside. Until we moved to Pueblo, we always had a clothesline, or I’d rig one up myself.  If you look closely behind my two oldest girls and our blind dog sitting in the grass in front of the little picket fence of a ramshackle house we lived in 55 summers ago, you will see clothes I hung up on a makeshift clothesline.

Then in 2008 we moved to Pueblo and one day, I glanced out my dining room window into the back yard of my neighbor, and saw something I wanted, a clothesline.  As I looked at it, my thoughts took it even further and I said to myself, “they don’t even use it.”   Then the Holy SPIRIT nudged me, “you are lusting, Sharon.”

“Oh, LORD,” I cried out, “I’m sorry, Thank you for my dryer.” 

Then it hit, the realization, and I had to smile at the humor of GOD in answering my arrow prayer for a lead-in to the devotion on my heart to write.

After the waves of the Red Sea came crashing down over their enemies the Egyptian troops chasing them, (the Jews) believed HIS (GOD’s) words, they sang HIS praise. (but) They soon forgot HIS works, they waited not for HIS counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted GOD in the desert.

What happened?  The Jews got to thinking about the different kinds of food they had back in Egypt. The more they thought about it, the more they focused on those delicious foods and forgot all about what GOD had done for them (Psalm 106:12-14).

Scientists have discovered a way to see thoughts and have learned that each thought is like a small branch growing on a tree.  If I understand correctly, the more you think of something the stronger the branch becomes.

Here in Pueblo, we have some pretty old trees with huge branches.  Well, if you think about wanting something over and over, it becomes a stronghold, like a huge branch (2 Corinthians 10:4) that keeps you captive and revisiting those thoughts.

That is why GOD speaks so much about changing our thoughts.

John 14:1 Let not your heart (thoughts) be troubled, Believe in GOD, believe also in ME.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding…

Romans 12:2 do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to GOD.

2 Corinthians 4:15 For all things are for your sakes ^16. Therefore, we do not lose heart…¹⁷ for our momentary and light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison ¹⁸ while we look not at the things we seen (our situation with its struggles), but at what is not seen (that which GOD is achieving and producing for us through our situation with its struggles).  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

We lust when we focus on what we think we want- it makes us dissatisfied, and we lose our GOD focused perspective. That lust and our dissatisfaction will grow in intensity as we think on it.  

But, we have the power of GOD to run to JESUS for mercy and grace to help in our times of need (Hebrews 4:16). When my thoughts go where they should not, in anger or lust, I run to JESUS and HE enables me to control my thoughts, as HE redirects them by showing me how HE looks at things by bringing Bible verses to my mind (2 Corinthians 10:5, Proverbs 21:1).  I don’t know how HE does it, but it works.  It always works.

Looking unto JESUS,

Hugs

Sharon

Treasure hunt

One year when my son John was little, I planned a treasure hunt for his birthday.  I made pirate hats for the kids. I hid a series of clues that led them to a little wooden box buried in sand. Some of the kids went for the treasure with gusto but others held back. In life the same thing happens.

The Word of GOD compares your heart to a treasure chest and says you determine what is in your heart by what you choose to put there. You alone decide the types of things you think about. Those are the treasures that you store up in your heart. You can fill your treasure chest with things of this world, or the treasures of GOD found in HIS word.

The choice is yours, but consequences will follow your choice and result in actions.

What kind of treasures are you and I stowing away?

Only what we have deposited can be drawn out, whether good or evil for, “… whatever is in the heart overflows (Luke 6:45).

“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

Hide the Word of GOD in your heart that you might not sin against GOD (Psalm 119:11) and be ready to give an answer to any who ask about the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15).

hugs

Sharon

What is unseen

Have you ever heard GOD speak to you concerning a situation with a promise, but it did not play out the way you thought it would? I have.

Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was highly regarded as a military leader and honorable and respected by all, but he had leprosy. Now Naaman’s wife’s little Jewish slave girl said, “Oh I pray to GOD that my master (Naaman) would go to the prophet which is in Samaria for he would cure him of his leprosy.

Long story short Naaman went to Samaria to the prophet Elisha with great expectations. But when the prophet sent his servant down to tell Naaman to go wash himself in the Jordan 7 times, Naaman balked and went away mad.

Naaman said, “Behold, I THOUGHT, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his GOD, and strike his hand over the place, and cure me. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So, he turned and went away in a rage.

But his servants loved their master, drew near him, and said, “If the prophet had asked you some great thing, would you not have done it? So why not go and wash? Kind Naaman listened to his servants and went and washed and the 7^th time he came out of the water clean…no more leprosy (see 2 Kings 5).

Like Naaman, I had to learn that GOD’s ways and thoughts are not my ways and thought but are as high as the heavens above my ways and thoughts but that they always work (Isaiah 55:8-11).

You see many years ago the LORD promised me to work in a situation and I THOUGHT HE was going to do it right away. HE did not do it right away, in fact it still has not come to be. But I am still as sure of that promise as the day HE spoke it to my heart. The promise has been active in keeping me from giving up and given me peace in difficult moments. Through the extended delay, I have learned that GOD has preset the exact times and places for amazing reasons (Acts 17:26-27) and that HE is achieving for us through our problems (2 Corinthians 4:16-17) and HE has taught me that I am not to focus on the situation but on HIM trusting HIS love and wisdom knowing what HE does is eternal.

I can see things GOD has achieved through the delay of fulfilling the promise. Yet I am sure at the proper time HIS word to me will be fulfilled.

I guess that is what GOD means in Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not LEAN on your own understanding (THOUGHTS). In all your ways acknowledge HIM and HE will direct your path. Be NOT wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and depart from evil.”

So, if the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, who does not lie, has given you a promise, but it does not look like HE has kept it. Ask HIM to show you what HE is doing to set the stage so the promise fulfilled is greater than anything you could have imagined.

Hugs

Sharon

A clothesline

Probably because I look back on the time I lived with my grandmother as being the best years of my childhood and two of my jobs were washing dishes and hanging out the laundry that both jobs bring good memories to me. They both are relaxing to me and to this day I don’t mind doing dishes by hand and I actually love hanging out clothes on a line.  Until we moved to Pueblo, we always had a clothesline, or I’d rig one up a line or two to hang clothes on.  If you look closely behind my two oldest girls and our blind dog sitting in the grass in front of the little picket fence of a ramshackle place we lived 53 summers ago, you will see clothes I hung up on a makeshift clothesline.

I glanced out my dining room window into the unkept back yard of my Pueblo neighbor and I saw something I wanted-a clothesline.

My thoughts took it even further: “they don’t even use it!” I said to myself.  Then the Holy SPIRIT nudged me, “you are lusting, Sharon.”

“Oh, LORD,” I cried out, “I’m sorry, Thank you for my dryer.”

Then the realization hit, and I had to smile at the humor of GOD in answering my arrow prayer for a lead-in to the devotion HE had just nudged me to write.

After the waves of the Red Sea came crashing down over their enemies- the Egyptian troops chasing them, “then the Hebrews believed GOD’s words, they sang HIS praise.  Not long after they forgot HIS works, they waited not for HIS counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted GOD in the desert (Psalm 106:12-14).

What happened?  The Jews got to thinking about the different kinds of food they had back in Egypt. The more they thought about it, the more they focused on it and forgot all about what GOD had and was doing for them. 

Scientists have discovered a way to see thoughts and have learned that each thought is like a small branch growing on a tree.  If I understand correctly, the more you think of something the stronger the branch becomes.  We really need to stop here and think about that for a moment.  Reliving hurts or desires will make them grow stronger and stronger.

Here in Pueblo, we have some old trees with huge branches.  As you think about wanting something over and over, it becomes a stronghold, like a huge branch (2 Corinthians 10:4) that keeps you captive and you revisit those thoughts. 

But just as the snow and heavy winds this past winter have broken huge branches from the trees, so GOD tells us to take captive our thoughts.  For me that means talking every thought over with JESUS.  When I do I begin seeing things differently.  For HE impresses my heart with HIS heart. The Bible speaks much about choosing to change our thoughts and being renewed in our minds.

John 14:1 Let not your heart (thoughts) be troubled, Believe in GOD, believe also in ME.”

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”.

Romans 12:2 “…do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious about nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to GOD. And the peace of GOD will throw you beyond having to understand and will guard and keep you heart and mind.”

2 Corinthians 4:15 “For all things are for your sakes…16 …therefore, we do not lose heart…17 for our momentary and light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison (the pain of today) 18 while we look not at the things we seen (our situation with its struggles), but at what is not seen (that which GOD is achieving and producing for us through our situation with its struggles).  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

We lust when we focus on what we think we want- it makes us dissatisfied with what we have, and we lose proper perspective. That lust and our dissatisfaction will grow in intensity as we think on it.  But, we have the power of GOD to run to JESUS for mercy and grace to help in our times of need (Hebrews 4:16).  When my thoughts go where they should not, I run to JESUS pour out what I am feeling and HE enables me by showing me HIS perspective (2 Corinthians 10:5). I don’t know how HE does it, but it really works for me.

Looking unto JESUS, the Author and perfecter of my faith.

Hugs

Sharon

Talk it over with GOD

Well over 50 years ago I sat in my 1^st women’s Bible study.  It was my turn to read so I began reading Philippians 4:6-7: “Be careful for (worried about) nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto GOD and the peace of GOD, which passes all understanding, shall keep (guard) your hearts and minds through CHRIST JESUS.”

As I read the verses I thought the words meant the peace of GOD would give me understanding.  You know- like “pass me the butter”.  When I expressed my thought, there were smiles and a few chuckles and I was quickly advised that isn’t what it meant at all. 

Although those awesome words, that have become life verses for me, hold amazing truth, today I’m just using that old story as an illustration to set the stage to show that words don’t always imply what we think they suggest.

Normally we think ungodliness and unrighteousness or wickedness are the same thing.  But In Romans 1:18, “The wrath of GOD is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.”  Paul clearly distinguishes ungodliness from unrighteousness. 

But what’s the difference?

Jerry Bridges, in his bible study ‘Respectable Sins’, states “Ungodliness describes an attitude toward GOD, while unrighteousness refers to sinful actions in thought, word or deed.

Ungodliness is at best ignoring GOD and what HE says, but often it is flatly denying GOD’s concern or even HIS existence.  Ungodliness can be defined as living everyday life with little or no thought of what GOD wants or thinks or has done.  It’s leaving GOD out of the equation when considering problems or in making decisions. Yet GOD clearly instructs us to trust HIM and to acknowledge (talk to) HIM about everything.

Trusting GOD is an exercise, not a feeling. You learn to trust by choosing to trust. And the more you do it (trust GOD), the more you can do it (trust GOD), for your eyes become able to see GOD at work in everything.  Then GOD is in all your thoughts, and you become increasingly aware of GOD.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge HIM, and HE shall direct your paths.  Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and depart from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-7).

“The wicked people are too proud. They do not look for GOD; there is no room for GOD in their thoughts.” (Psalm 10:4 NCV).

In Isaiah 30:1 GOD even calls believers rebellious children when we make decisions without 1^st talking it over with HIM.

When we leave GOD out of our decision making, joys and struggles of our day it is a given that we will worry.  “Am I doing the right thing?” or “Should I have?”

To worry, is to disobey GOD’s direct instructions.  Worry is a direct result of not checking over our concerns with GOD. I began learning that truth and how to trust GOD over half a century ago in that woman’s Bible study when I read,

Philippians 4:6-7: “Be careful for (full of care/worried about) nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto GOD and the peace of GOD, which passes all understanding, shall keep (guard) your hearts and minds through CHRIST JESUS.”

Keep GOD in your thoughts, give HIM thanks even for the little things and talk everything over with HIM and you will be increasingly godly.

“But know that GOD has set apart the godly for HIMSELF..” (Psalm 4:3).

Hugs

Sharon

It is staggering

I come to YOU in the name of JESUS.  Oh LORD GOD, there is none like YOU. YOU are Almighty and eternal and yet YOU constantly think about me (Psalm 139:1-4, 17-18) and not just me but all who do  or will reach out for forgiveness and life through JESUS CHRIST (John 3:16).

It staggers my imagination as I see each of YOUR amazing attributes enhancing and enriching every other thing true about YOU.  YOUR love even of the variety is everywhere in YOUR Creation from flowers to fish and frogs and trees and people.  Even YOUR wrath against destructive wickedness is actually part of YOUR great love to protect YOUR children.  I know from YOUR Word that is why struggles come that we might be purified and set free from all that is harming us.

YOUR mercies are new every morning and I am excited for a new beginning this day and want to step into what is ahead with boldness and confidence. 

But in all honesty, I can’t just think about me, for as YOU fully know my heart aches for dear ones.  It is not their struggles, for from YOUR word I have learned the problems are for our good, they are cleansing and produce what YOU want done (2 Corinthians 4:15-17, James 1:2-4).  But do all my seed and others I know have JESUS and thus been given the eternal oil of the HOLY SPIRIT so they will be ready when JESUS comes for HIS Church?

LORD, YOU alone can show us where we are at and give repentance (turn us to see truth) to the acknowledging of the truth.  I know the next step must be ours to go with the light YOU give or turn back to the darkness.  YOU know what it will take to open our eyes and hearts.  LORD have YOUR way in us.

Search me and them O GOD expose anything standing in the way and blocking our hearing YOU and anything that will stumble us.  Refresh our hearts with a word and an awareness of YOUR Presence.  Just as YOU promise Heavenly Father, please direct our thoughts to the next step we are to take and then when that is done to the next (Philippians 2:13, and Proverbs 3:5-7).  My eyes are on YOU as I cry out for me and my children and those who will believe, for YOU are good and all things are possible for YOU.

Figure out who is talking

My son John really didn’t like to play football but for me he did play one season when in Jr. High. 

In the park across the street kids of various ages from preschoolers to high school meet to practice football.  These different teams have many exercises and practices that are the same and they go over and over them until it becomes 2^nd nature.  In the same way we are to read the Bible and put in to practice the things GOD shows us.

Professional football teams also study videos of the team they are going to play against to learn about the other team. They begin to recognize certain plays so that they can anticipate and outmaneuver their opponent.

 “Lest Satan get an advantage over us, we are not ignorant of his the devil’s schemes.” 2 Corinthians 2:11.

Just like a football team we Christians need to know things about our opponent.   For if we don’t recognize him/ if we are ignorant of his schemes, he can and will take advantage of us.  That word advantage in this verse means to step beyond the boundary.   So you see that it is even more important for us to know our enemy’s tactics than for a football team to know their opponents  plays.  They are just playing a game, but we are in a war.

I remember a time, when I was 1st learning about spiritual warfare, when I was tempted to do something wrong.  Now I thought the temptation came from myself and so I wasn’t fighting against it much because I figured I couldn’t fight myself.  But, GOD took pity on me and I heard in my spirit the words, “It’s the battle, Sharon!”  Only then did I recognize that the temptation came from the devil not me.  When I saw that I fought against it and won. 

I was losing the battle until I knew I was dealing besides myself.  Laugh if you will but that is what happened.  After that I came to realize how very important it is to recognize the enemy.

Here are some our enemy’s ways: 

1-Satan pretends to be us so his suggestions sound like our thoughts.

2-The devil tempts us as he did JESUS and twists GOD’s word. Luke 4:1-13

3-He calls GOD a liar and says GOD is unfair, not caring or trying to keep good things back from us. Genesis 3:4,5

4-He tempt our old sin nature to love this world for the whole world lies in his arms. I John 5:19 

 a-He entices with the desires of our flesh.. food, sex, pleasures, drugs and so on suggesting that we need to live for the moment.

 b-He dangles the desire for things we see like a new car, a fancy this or that… anything that looks good to us.

 c-He stirs up our pride… or me 1st, my way, power, position and the like   

I John 2:15-16

5-He lies, actually, he is the father of lies. John 8:44

6-He whispers doubts and accusations about others and even ourselves, (and remember his words sound just like us) for he is the accuser. Revelation 12:10

7-He tries to cause division and stir up anger.

8-If we refuse to obey GOD and forgive others he takes advantage and gets a foothold in our lives.  2 Corinthians 2:10,11 Ephesians 4:26,27.

9-But the scheme of the devil I want most want to bring to light today is found in  2 Corinthians 11:3. 

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, so your minds (thoughts) may be corrupted (seduced/led astray) from the simplicity and purity that is in Christ” 2 Corinthians 11:3. 

We know that JESUS is pure and holy and our focus should be on HIM.  Hebrews 12:1-3  The enemy attempts to distract us and get us to focus on other things rather than JESUS.  He tries to corrupt our thinking from the simplicity that is in Christ we find happiness and strength for whatever comes our way.

For instance he gets people to feel that believing in JESUS isn’t able/strong enough to keep them saved.  He points out that there is a whole bunch of other things they must do.

But GOD’s word clearly states, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

What our triune GOD does is change us into the like of JESUS.  HE changes our thoughts and desires.  But it is a process often like a baby learning to walk.  And we know at first they fall more than they walk.  But they learn not only to walk but to run.

So look to JESUS for the direction and strength to do what you should.

In a practical way the simplicity of going to JESUS helps me.  Since our battle begins in the mind, we must battle wrong thoughts given us by the devil.  And then the devil mocks us for having the thoughts he placed there to begin with.  They can seem overpowering  but I have found that to win that battle and shut up the devil I don’t do the fighting.  I simply go to JESUS and say here are my thoughts.  As I take every thought to JESUS and talk to HIM about it as I am instructed (Proverbs 3:5-7; 2 Corinthians 10:5 ; Hebrews 4:16)   JESUS takes them captive and my whole perspective changes.   That battle is won.   Now the devil may give another sneak attack but all I have to do is go to JESUS.     

Don’t let the devil catch you in his snare.  Take every thought to JESUS.     

Hugs

Sharon

Somethings just don’t make sense

These days there are many things happening that just don’t add up/ don’t make sense.  We must never lose sight of the fact that our GOD, the Maker of heaven and earth, the ONE who flung the stars into space and is keeping them in orbit is Sovereign and knows what HE is doing.  HE really is in control and what we think about GOD is the most important thing about us for GOD is the most important.  There is not an error in thought or action that cannot be traced back to wrong thoughts of GOD. 

Today as I continued to read in John, 3 times I read how GOD worked in people to do HIS will (Philippians 2:13).

In John 11:51-52 An unbelieving religious leader spoke prophesy that encourages us today.  We are clearly told that he wasn’t speaking on his own but was moved to do it.

In John 12:3,7 A woman took expensive perfumed oil and poured it on our Savior’s feet totally unaware that GOD nudged her and that she was anointing JESUS for HIS burial. 

In John 12:49-50 JESUS states flatly that every word HE spoke came from GOD.  HE was the only one aware of the source of HIS actions and words.

Such stories are all over the Bible and emphasizes that our drive or desires for good come from GOD and since GOD does nothing without a reason who knows what our obeying the nudges of the HOLY SPIRIT may be achieving.

Let me share a couple favorites of mine. 

Could it be that GOD placed within Moses the desire to plead for the Jews since HE had no intent of destroying the people that HE had placed central in HIS eternal plan? Besides, when we pray for someone our hearts bond with them. So, by placing Moses in a situation and then nudging him to pray for the Jews GOD actually was strengthening Moses’ bond with the Jews as preparation- building Moses up so he could put up with all their shenanigans as they traveled 40 years in the wilderness.

In Revelation 17:12-13, 17 we are told that GOD placed in the hearts of 10 kings to give their power to the Antichrist until GOD’s plan was realized.

These things make me see all the more reason to judge nothing before the time, cause we don’t know what GOD is doing behind the scenes.  But we can know whatever GOD is doing is right (Psalm 19:9) and will result in good for those who love HIM (Romans 8:28).

Therefore, judge nothing before the time, until the LORD come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: (1 Corinthians 4:5).

And go with the nudges of GOD

Hugs

Sharon

Be still

Have you ever heard someone say, or said yourself, “GOD would never do that!”?

Through study of GOD’s word and seeing how the ALMIGHTY has acted in the past, I have learned I cannot say that for the LORD doesn’t think like you and me.  Just one example is GOD uses the weak things to show up the strong (1 Corinthians 1:25-29).

Isaiah 55:8-9 states that GOD’s ways and thoughts are as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth. Although I love to look at the stars, I have no real concept of how high the heavens are above me.

But to give us an inkling of how unfathomably higher GOD’s thoughts are than ours, here are a few basic facts. If you drew 2 circles, one large and one small with their centers exactly 9 inches apart and each inch represented 10 million miles (10,000,000) that picture would show the distance between our earth and our sun.

Now if you want to draw another circle to show how far the nearest star would be, the star would be 40 miles from the sun you drew on your paper.  The nearest star is Alpha Centauri & is 24 thousand million miles away (24,000,000,000,000).

That distance is hard to imagine so, suppose you started out the moment you were born and ran a mile every 4 minutes without stopping.  You would be 700 years old when you reached our sun and 182 million years old before you reached the nearest star.  And that is just the beginning… it is the closest star in our universe of millions of stars and beyond are universes, upon universes, upon universes all filled with stars and quasars.

Those numbers blow me away. I have no concept of such distance and therefore no insight into how GOD thinks unless the HOLY SPIRIT within me shows me (1 Corinthians 2:10-12). 

“My thoughts are completely different from yours, says the LORD.  And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than your ways and MY thoughts higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.  They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.  It is the same with MY word.  I send it out, and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish what I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it (Isaiah 55:8-11 NLT).

Among other things that says what GOD does works.  It will do what HE wants done.

We see that clearly in JESUS, who flung the stars into space and made everything that was made (Hebrews 1:2).  HE did not grasp HIS equality in the GODHEAD but took on the form of a servant/ the body of a man and become obedient to the plan (Philippians 2:6-8). JESUS carried the all sins of the world (mankind), past present and future on HIMSELF on the cross disarming the enemy against any and all who would believe in HIM.  Then HE rose from the dead guaranteeing that all who believed in HIM would also be resurrected from the dead and live eternally with HIM. Now is that how you and I would act?

No one could imagine that HE had a path through the sea for the Jews to cross to the other side, or that HE would get a large fish in place to swallow HIS prophet Jonah, or sending out a former demonic to evangelize just a day or so after casting out his demons.

As you read the Bible you get to see GOD do things quite differently that one would imagine.

So when bad situations hit, I claim GOD’s word that what HE allows/ brings is ultimately for our good and will achieve for us benefits that far surpass the pain of today (2 Corinthians 4:15-18).

I smile when thinking of some ways GOD’s selected for us to be taught Delighting much in opposites for us to obtain what is sought sought.         To climb high, we must bend low, to learn we need first to forget,              To obtain joy, we must know tears, filling comes when emptiness hits These things appear to contradict, but this is wisdom for our GOD                Rejects what men esteem as good bringing to naught what the world applauds. (I Cor 1:27-28).

I am guilty of at times trying to tell GOD how to handle situations and even have gotten mad when HE didn’t do something my way (like take away my pain, now), on my time schedule.

I am so glad that GOD is patient with me, for learning GOD’s ways is a process.  But I am learning to: “Trust in the LORD with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding.  In all my ways to acknowledge HIM and let HIM direct my path (and prayers) as HE promises.  I am learning not to think to highly of my own opinion so as not be wise in my own eyes (Proverbs 3:5-7).

These truths keep me from fear for my GOD is in control even during this coronavirus.

Hugs

Sharon

What do you think about?

Does GOD seem distant?  If so I’d like to ask you, “What do you think about?”  Is GOD in all your thoughts?

YOU (O GOD) will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed (fixed) on YOU, because he trusts in YOU (Isaiah 26:3).

Is your mind stayed (focused) on GOD or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by distractions and neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life.

You have the power to turn your mind to GOD. There is no reason to wait for GOD to come to you because HE is always with you (Hebrews 13:5). But until you turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of your fears and distractions (idols) your back is to the LORD and you can’t hear GOD talking.

Don’t be as the Old Testament Jews were- forgetful, but REMEMBER what the ALMIGHTY  has done (Psalm 106:6-7).  Turn your thoughts to HIM who saved you, to HIS Word and what HE has done and immediately you will be stirred up as HE whispers in your heart.

When you turn your thoughts to what GOD has said and done- that which is worthy of credit to GOD- you begin to compare and associate HIM with all that happens in your life as well as in nature. 

You see the rising and the setting of the sun and will sing praises to the beauty GOD has made; when seeing the shining of the moon you are reminded that as the moon reflects the light of the sun so you are to reflect the character of your GOD; the twinkling stars and planets will remind you of GOD’s perfect preset synchronized timing (Acts 17:26-27), in your life; and the changing of the seasons will remind you of GOD’s faithfulness that can be counted on.

You will begin to see that HE is doing what HE promised (placing HIS thoughts in your mind and heart (Philippians 2:13, Hebrews 10:16).  Then your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to GOD.

So. encourage yourself to REMEMBER HIM, and your affection for GOD will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be energized and enthusiastic, and you will overflow with hope by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT (Romans 15:13).

Looking unto JESUS the Author and Finisher of my faith.

Hugs

Sharon