Walking humbly with God

“I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.  For He is the living God, and He will endure forever.  His kingdom will never be destroyed, and His rule will never end.  He rescues and saves His people; He performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth.  He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions!”  Dan. 6:26-27

Daniel served and honored God quietly & faithfully, living an honorable, respectable life, with integrity.  The people around him noticed, and he found favor in their eyes because of it.  God was able to use Him because of it.

God used Daniel to prove His might and His faithfulness, and because of Daniel’s humility, God received all the glory.  People saw what happened in Daniel’s life, and it caused them to look to God and give Him praise and believe.  An unbelieving king even declared God’s reality and might in the kingdom-wide decree above.  That is huge!

Daniel didn’t walk through his life telling people how bad they were or pointing out their every flaw.  He honored God with his life and allowed God to use him; and because of that, others were able to clearly see how amazing and faithful God was.  

This isn’t hiding your light under a bushel.  This is shining your beautiful light brightly as you live a life that honors your Father in heaven, so that it illuminates the way for others to see Him, as well.  

Shine bright!

jamie

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Feeling dismayed?

These all look to You to give them their food in due season.  When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are filled with good things.  When You hide Your face, they are dismayed…”  Ps. 104:27-29

Since Creation began there have been moments where the creation has felt like God has hidden His face from them.  All throughout the Pslams you can see the questions, posed, “Why do you hide Your face from me? Why are You so far from helping me?”

Before that, Job asked, “Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?” We even heard Jesus, from the cross, ask, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Because we look to God for all things, it is in our moments of sorrow, pain, anxiousness, or uncertainty; it’s in the moments of silence that we sometimes feel as though He has hidden His face, and we are dismayed.

As we can see from the reaction of Jesus, and all throughout the Bible, it is a normal, human reaction.  We were created in God’s image, with emotions; and loneliness, uncertainty, grief, and pain are some of those emotions.

What can we do?  Keep looking for Him, seeking Him, and reminding ourselves of all He has done.  Job was looking for him in his darkest moments, when all he wanted to do was die, and he couldn’t find God to the right or the left–he kept seeking.

He spoke of all the works and wonders God had done in the past, and even as he wondered at first where God was, speaking of who God is built him up, and helped him keep close the One he needed all along.  Eventually he found his way back, not just to physical health, but to emotional and spiritual health, too.  This is how it works for us all.

I know there was a lot involved behind the scenes in Job’s story, but seeking God in the tough times the way Job did, praising, and reminding ourselves of God’s works and the things He has done in the past is the best way to find our way out.

We tend to pull away when we go through pain and crisis, and we feel like we can’t find God, but the truth is that the answer lies with Him alone.  He is the One.  He is the Salvation.  He is the Deliverance.  He is the Healing.  He is the Provision.  He is the Wisdom.  He is the Unity.  He is the Peace.  He is All in All, the Great I Am.

Every answer we need to fill the great gaping hole we feel inside is found in Him.  We just have to hold on and seek Him.   God said in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  This is still true today.

Grateful for a God who cares,

jamie

Giving thanks!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever.

Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!  For His mercy endures forever.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!  For His mercy endures forever.   Ps. 136:1-3

 

jamie

Introducing the Messiah

Mt. 27:25: “And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children.'”

This is what the people said to Pilate when he washed his hands before them saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person [Jesus]. You see to it.”

Pilate could find no fault in Jesus because there was none.  The people took the fault upon themselves, but what struck me this morning was that they not only took the fault upon themselves, but they put it upon their children, as well.  Wow!  That’s some kind of serious burden and legacy to place upon your own children.

Back in Ps. 78, Asaph writes, “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.”  (vs. 2-4)

What happened between the time he wrote this and the time that Jesus was standing before the people and Pilate?  Well, just because one father decides to tell his kids about the Lord doesn’t mean they all do.  We know that.  That is why people did not recognize the Messiah when He came.  He was standing right in front of them, and instead of worshiping and honoring them, they took their blood upon themselves and their own children, crucifying Him.

We have the same responsibility today that Asaph had all those years ago, and it doesn’t matter if we are a parent or not.  Jesus is going to come back one day for His bride.  We must not hide the parables and the truth about our loving Savior and Messiah from the generations around us.  We need to tell the praises of the Lord.  He is worthy!  We need to talk about His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.  He is mighty!

We can leave a wonderful legacy to the world around us.  A legacy of eternal life and reward.  There is still time to help those around us recognize the Messiah and give Him honor.  Get involved in sharing the gospel one way or another.  Don’t let someone meet their Messiah unprepared because you weren’t willing to open your mouth.  Let’s follow Asaph’s example and leave the legacy of hope they’ve been granted through grace.

Thank You, Jesus Christ, for our salvation through Your death and resurrection!  Thank You for Your grace, mercy, and forgiveness through the cross!  We praise You, and You alone, our King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  Amen.

jamie

Pr. 20:7: “The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.”    (Now that’s a legacy worth leaving!)

 

Art prayer journals

Another way that I sometimes journal is with art.  I use this type of journal often for prayer and praise.  I recall this particular page well.  I was feeling very overwhelmed with anxieties and fears about my daughter’s present and her future.  I was frustrated with a lack of knowledge about how to help her in the moment.  I was aggravated and agitated.  I wrote out all of the things I was feeling on my art page.

But then, I went back over all of it, taking my eyes off me, and wrote in attributes and strengths of God.  I praised Him and told Him that I loved Him.  His perfect peace came upon me and covered all the other emotions that I felt.

Now, every time I look back on this page all I feel is happiness.  God is mighty and able, and He comforted me that night.  This is the beautiful (to me) proof that I have of His faithfulness!

This is the last blog of my prayer journaling series.  If you missed the previous posts, you can find them here:

Prayer Journaling 101, Traditional prayer journal, Scripture/prayer journal

Loving you,

jamie