At the feet of The Teacher

Who is the man that fears the Lord?  Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.  He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth.  The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.  My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.” Ps. 25:12-15

The Lord will teach His way to those who fear Him.  I like that!  The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him.  He will show them His covenant.  Do these words warm your soul like they do mine?

Our God is so generous and good.  He has longed for relationship with His children since creation.  He came down in the cool of the day to talk with Adam and Eve.  He opened the Holy of Holies for us when Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we can speak directly with Him.  He pours out His Holy Spirit on His children and speaks to us through Him.  He wants to share with us.

Not only that, but He offers protection, inheritance, and prosperity to us, as well.  What a good and amazing God we have!

We have done nothing to deserve His generosity.  We have not earned His respect or His esteem.  He has simply chosen us.  He wants us.  He loves us.

Do you want to know His ways?  Do you want to see His covenant or hold His secret?  It starts with a relationship.  When we fear Him: respect, worship, submit to, and be in awe of Him, then these things are available to us.  His word tells us so.

I don’t know about you, but I want to tap into that so deeply!  I want to know as much as I can.  I want to be as close to Him as I can get.  I want more and more and more.

Let’s dig in and draw closer.  Let’s let Him teach us even more.

Breathless,

jamie

Are you listening to me!?

Pr. 10:26: “As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy man to those who send him.”

Have you ever had smoke from a fire get into your eyes?  I recently did, and it is extremely uncomfortable.  Not only that, but it set off a chain of events that caused more discomfort.  My eyes were irritated and watering, my nose began to run and become stuffy, and my throat began to hurt.

Does your mind link that with a lazy person not doing what you sent them to do?

As a parent, I understand that my kids are not necessarily lazy, but their lack of ‘following orders’ mirrors that of someone lazy on occasion.  My son will just keep moving and pretend he didn’t hear me.  My daughter will instantly begin to play with one of our 2 cats.

It does cause me a bit of discomfort when I realize they have no intentions of doing what I just asked.  Then I have to stop what I’m doing to give them a reminder.  “Oh yeah!,” they say, and then they move to do it.

Occasionally I find that, even though they moved at the 2nd command, they still aren’t doing what I’ve asked.  Now there is a bit of irritation.  If what they are supposed to do is something to help us get out the door to go somewhere, it does set off a chain of events that could definitely cause us to be late, or cause tension as we go, instead of peace.

What about when God asks us to do something?  Ouch!  You felt that one, didn’t you?  I know I did.

When God asks us to do something, do we act like we didn’t hear him?  Do we try to move on and hope He’ll forget what He just asked.  Maybe someone else can do it.  Do we just ignore it and begin to do something we’d rather do instead hoping He didn’t really mean it.  Do we say, “Ok, I’ll do it,” but then move on to the next distraction?  🐱

When we don’t obey our Father, we are acting like the lazy man.  We are irritating His plans, possibly causing a chain of reaction that makes what He was trying to accomplish more difficult.

Not only that, but we miss out on the opportunity to please our Father and to have peace.  I don’t know about you, but when I ignore His requests, it eats at me and I know I’m wrong.  It causes tension in our relationship.

What He asks us to do may not be on our personal list of priorities or on that bucket list we’ve created.  It may require a sacrifice of us, but His thoughts and ways are still higher than ours.  What He has planned is for someone’s good… maybe ours, maybe someone else’s.

Whatever it is, like a parent asking a child to do something, He has his reasons.  Let’s just trust Him and do it.

Listening,

jamie

In God we trust?

Pr. 3:5: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding”

What I have found over the years is that obeying the Lord doesn’t always make logical sense.

One time the Lord told me to take a card and drop it off for a girl.  I got to the store to get the card, and the one He pointed out to me was very specific and personal.  I barely knew this girl, much less what was going on with her.  But I bought it anyway.

I obeyed, and it turned out that it was the Exact card she needed.  (She later told me)  I didn’t know her circumstances, but God did, and He was able to put a healing balm on her pain through my obedience.  It didn’t make 100% sense to me; in fact, I almost felt embarrassed, but I trusted God’s leading over my own understanding.

In my experience, when we trust God over our own understanding, He is able to do wonders in the lives of those around us.

Our own understanding is limited and ever-changing.  It’s easier for us to trust in what we can see or have experienced.  And just like we once believed in Santa Claus, but later changed our minds, what we understand isn’t static.

God, on the other hand, does not change.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He does not change.  We can trust in Him as much today as Abraham could trust him when God asked him to sacrifice his own son.

We don’t always understand His ways, but His was are perfect, His Word is flawless, and He shields all who take refuge in Him.  (Ps. 18:30)

Trusting in God will never be the wrong decision.

Go for it!

jamie

In times of doubt

Pr. 16:3:  “Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.”

King David knew betrayal and fear in his lifetime.  What had David done to Saul?  Nothing.  It was Saul’s own sin and distress that caused him to make poor decisions.  David had nothing to do with those things.  Yet, Saul tried to kill David on more than one occasion.

In Psalm 11, we get a glimpse of David wondering about his trust in the Lord.  He says, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”  With God as his foundation, David wondered what he could do if that trust was destroyed?

This is a temptation that comes upon us all.  There are times of pain, sadness, doubt, sickness, sorrow, or confusion when we wonder at God’s plans.  We know that His thoughts are not the same as ours.  We know His ways are not our own.  We understand that He holds the world in His hands and that He is sovereign.  Yet, there are times when we are tempted to lose our trust in Him.

David, continues; however, stating what He knows to be true about the Lord.  (vs. 4-7)  He reminds Himself why His trust has been placed in the Lord, and why that trust is not misplaced.

We can see this Proverb proven in this time of David’s temptation and reassurance.  He had committed his ways to the Lord since childhood.  He had trusted in the Lord’s might enough to face and kill Goliath.  He knew what God could do and was willing to do.  He knew the things that displease God.

Even though David was tempted with doubt and despair, his thoughts were established.  His commitment to the Lord, his knowledge of the Lord, and his trust in the Lord created a firm foundation on which he could placed his trust.

It is our commitment to the Lord and our knowledge of Him that allows us to have that same foundation.  When times of doubt sneak upon us, we need to know the One in whom we are trusting.  If we know Him, our thoughts will be established, and on our solid foundation, He will pull us up straight and strengthen us by our trust in Him.

Continue getting to really know Him.  He is our foundation!

Steadying myself in Him,

jamie

 

 

A plan for strength…completed

Pr. 19:21:  “There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel–that will stand.”

I have had tendonitis in my toe since the beginning of July, but for the last 19 days I’ve been walking around in a “boot” from the podiatrist.  So, now my secret is out.  Everyone who notices it asks what happened.  My answer:  I tried to jog.  LOL!  Funny and sad, but true.

Almost 3 years ago I had a lot of plans.  Exercise was my hobby and I loved trying and learning new things.  The more hard-core, the better.  I had big plans for my body fat.  I had a plan and was training for a race I couldn’t wait to enter, and was looking for others.  I had plans for a few 5K’s with my work out buddy.  And then, one day it all changed.

No doctor has ever figured out what happened, but my body broke down and I could no longer exercise.  It eventually got to the point where I could barely walk.  Almost 3 years later, I am much stronger and very functional, and yet here I sit in a boot because I have stubbornly tried to exercise yet again.

Today I found a note in my Bible that is interesting to me.  I was reading Matthew 6 and in the middle of the “Do not worry” section I see that I have written, “Grow my faith, Lord.  I trust in You.”

Over the last few months I have realized that it’s time to stop.  I have come to understand that with all the plans I’d made for myself, it’s clear that my plans were not the same as the Lord’s.  I am reminded that His thoughts are not my thoughts, and His way are not my ways.  So what if I can’t exercise?  It is very clear that’s not what God needs from me.

What do I really want from the Lord?  Was it really so critical that I met my body fat goal?  Was that race the most important plan in my life?  Sure, if I could do those things now, He’d receive glory, but He should be receiving the glory regardless.  He is God.

How about me asking Him to grow my faith?  It is clear that to God, that plan was the most important of all the ones I had.  It coincided with His own plan for my life.  Even though my faith wavered for a moment during the last couple of years, I continued looking to Him and I have grown closer to the Lord than ever before—because of this trial.

Being humbled physically has helped me to humble myself spiritually and to submit my entire life to Him.  Truly I trust in Him in a way I never did before.

My body is the definition of weak, and in this weak state in which I now live, my God’s strength is evident in my life.  Indeed, He is mighty and His plans are perfect!  It is plain to see that His thoughts are of much better things than my own.  I know clearly that His ways are much more pure, productive, and beneficial than mine.

I am grateful for the opportunity to see God’s plans becoming completed in my life.  In my trust, I asked Him to grow my faith, and truly my faith has grown exponentially.  How amazing to see that prayer answered!

What will stand when Jesus returns is all that matters.  His thoughts and His ways are working perfectly together to get us to that place.  If we can but trust in His sovereignty and His provision, we will grow in ways we never thought possible.

Weak in body, but stronger than ever in Him,

jamie