A Heart For Jesus

  “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” Job‬ ‭13‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Think about the meaning of what Job is saying in this one short sentence. “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him”. ‭‭ To “slay” something is to kill; strike down. Sounds pretty harsh doesn’t it? I think what Job is saying is that even if the Lord kills him, he will still place his hope in the Lord! Which begs the question, can I truthfully say my hope is in God no matter what? Even if He kills me? What about you? This made me think of the story of Esther in the Bible. She was going to go before the king, without being summoned first, in hopes of saving her people, and decided to be courageous and basically said, “If I perish, I perish”. Or the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel. They were threatened with being thrown into the fiery furnace if they did not bow down to the kings image, but they would not, they in essence told the king that even if their God d

  ”I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.” I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse.“ ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭39‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV This Psalm really stood out for me, so I thought I would share some thoughts. What I think David is saying, is he will guard his ways; watch what he says so he may not sin with his tongue. He will “muzzle” his mouth as long as the wicked(enemy) are in his presence. But what strikes me is he also says, in effect, the longer he remains silent and holds his peace, the more distressed he feels! What a quandary! Have you ever felt this way? I know I have! When the negativity around me gets to be too much, when I get tired of the hate filled rhetoric and weary of listening to it, I can feel the stress building within me, my heart starts to pound, indigestion starts to flare up, my head starts to hurt and I can feel my BP rise. I feel like

”Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.“Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬   I love this verse because Paul tells me; us, what we are to do! We don’t need to question or wonder, we are to… Rejoice in hope Be patient in tribulation Be constant in prayer  But is it that easy? What does it mean for us to “rejoice in hope”? What does this look like in our daily lives? What does it mean to rejoice? A dictionary definition for the word Rejoice is, “to show great joy or delight”. So what brings us great joy? What do we delight in? For me, my favorite hobby is sewing, especially quilting! I love seeing how it all comes together, like a puzzle, even if I am just following a pattern, I still get to choose the colors; the layout. And it always makes me feel good when I know the person receiving it enjoys it! I also enjoy fishing, especially when I feel that tug on the line and get a little fight reeling in that fish! Or taking a walk along one of the many trails my husband and I

  “and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.” Psalm‬ ‭78‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬ God gave. And not just gave, he “rained down manna” for the Israelites to eat; He provided for their needs. Not just a little, but abundantly! How much more will He provide for us? Even Paul,    in Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Notice it says NEED not WANT, I “want” a lot of things, but I may not necessarily “need” them, thankfully God really does know best, whether I like it or not:) But, do we really trust that He will provide? Or do we think, “I can manage on my own”; “I can take care of myself”; I’m self sufficient”? That’s how the world would have us think. By the worlds standards we should be able to make it on our own. We shouldn’t need anyone or anything. And yet, does this attitude really work? Do you ever just get ti

“Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬ What controls you? What are you allowing to rule over you? Is it an attitude? Behavior? Habit? What do you need to maintain control over? Anger? Resentment? Bitterness? Jealousy? Need for approval or praise?  In Genesis 4:3 it says, “…Cain brought an offering". What kind of offering? Was it the best of the fruit? Or was it the leftovers? Did Cain keep what he wanted for himself and give to the Lord what he knew he could do without? Was it really much of a sacrifice? The Bible doesn’t say, but God wasn’t pleased with His offering. God knew Cain’s heart. He knew his true motivation. But because his offering was rejected, Cain became angry which leads to verse seven where God says to Cain, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you,

  “But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭81‬:‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬ It is the second part of this verse that stood out for me, “With honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” I had read a book by Warren W. Wiersbe, called, “The Bumps Are What You Climb On”. He gave me another way of looking at this verse so I thought I’d share my thoughts.  When you think of honey, you would of course think of something that is sweet. And a rock? Hardness. What if the rock represented the hard places you may find yourself in from time to time? The difficulties and challenges that come with everyday life? In this verse God promises to satisfy us with “honey from the rock”. Sweetness in the midst of, or out of the difficulties; hardness of our lives. So the challenge is, how do we find the sweetness from the struggles we face? How does God bring about the good that Paul speaks of in Romans 8:28?  The first thing that came to my mind, was a

”Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’“ Deuteronomy‬ ‭17‬:‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬ What stood out for me, was how the Lord said, “you shall never return that way again”. When the Lord has set you free; delivered you from an addiction, or habit, or even a wrong way of living, you don’t go back, you don’t return to the old but you keep moving forward in the new life He has given you. Reminds me of a dream I had once several years ago, a house that seemed familiar and a door I could not open, even though I knew where it led. Now, I don’t think that much of my dreams, but this one made me think. Is the Lord trying to tell me that that “life” is over, you don’t live there anymore, live the life I have given you now. I wonder if that’s what the angel was trying to tell Lot’s wife? In Genesis 19:17,26, an angel of the Lord told Lot’s wife not to look b

  “My Utmost For His Highest”, by Oswald Chambers, is always full of challenging devotions! There is one, dated July 12th, which is especially challenging to me, so I thought I would share my thoughts. In this particular devotion Oswald says, “My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, nor even blessing, but Himself, my God” And then he raises the question, “Am I measuring my life by this standard or by something else?” So I decided to ask myself the same question, what is my goal? Is my goal to know God Himself; for who He is, or what I can get?  In Philippians 3:7-15, Paul considered knowing Jesus as the most important thing in his life. He counted all things as loss; his status, or success in life meant nothing to him in light of knowing Jesus and the power of His resurrection.  What is it worth to me to know Jesus? Is He more important to me than my need to be seen? My need for approval or acceptance? My need to be in control or think everything depends on me? What am I willing to

  ”His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.“ 2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Through His great and precious promises we can become partakers of His divine nature! What does this mean? For me, perhaps , it is in the more I come to know God; know Him for who He is; His character, the more I may become like Him; like Jesus! My life should be a reflection of Jesus! Overcoming daily those “worldly” desires that exist within. Thankfully not in my own strength, but His power at work within me helps me to live a life that brings Him glory. As Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.“ But what are these grea

My journey back to faith and relationship with Jesus Before becoming a member of Woodland Community Church, I hadn’t been in a church in over 25 years, I’d had enough of religion, I lived my life the way I wanted, it was all about me and getting my needs met anyway I could. There was no room for God. God, for me, was an entity that was impersonal; uninterested in me or my life. My view of God as a loving Father was non existent. I had no hope, no purpose; my life was meaningless, just existing from day to day. Then a fellow employee, where I was working at the time, asked me a question one day. “You do believe in God don’t you?” I’m sure, at that time, I gave my usual sarcastic response, but I couldn’t shake that question. I kept asking myself, “What do you believe?”. About that time there was a movie out called, “God’s Not Dead”, but being a reader, I decided to read the book instead of watch the movie. The take home message for me was, Jesus came, not to start a religion but that I m

  “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” John‬ ‭15:16‬ ‭ESV‬‬ I am chosen. For someone who was never picked to be on a team, being chosen feels pretty good 😊, that feeling of being wanted, valued, needed. I’m reminded of Deuteronomy 7:6-8, where Moses is explaining that God chose them, not because they were great in number, but simply because He loved them! His desire was that they would be holy, set apart, His treasured possession. He feels the same about us! We are chosen and dearly loved. (Colossians 3:12; Ephesians 1:4) Not because of anything we’ve done or not done, but simply because He loves us! Isaiah 43:4 says, “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you”! That is just so amazing to me, that that is how God feels about me, about us! But, what have I or we been chosen for? Jesus answers that    ques

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” Isaiah 26:3 NIV Perfect peace? What would that look like? And how can we have this “perfect peace” in Christ during circumstances that are creating in us anxiety and/or despair? And wouldn’t it be nice to possess this kind of peace!  This verse says, “The Lord will keep me/or us in “perfect peace” when our minds our steadfast; fixed; focused on Him, when we trust in Him.  Do I trust in Him in the midst of a challenge; struggle; trial? Is my mind focused on God and what He can do? Or am I trying to figure out how to fix things or determine what the outcome will be?  Paul reminds us in Romans 8:6, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” So when we set our minds on the Spirit; on the character of God, then we have peace.  What does a “steadfast mind” look like? Does it look like Jesus asleep on a cushion in a boat in the middle of a storm?

  ”for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.“ ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬ l have been given a spirit of power, love, and self-control  I love how the ESV version says, “for God gave us”.    Power, love, and self-control are already ours! They have been given. Peter confirms in 2 Peter 1:3, that God has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness “. We just need to learn how to access them.  So to start, I looked at some definitions for the word “power”. It can refer to, “ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something”. Or, “to supply with electricity or other means of power”. Our power source is God, but we need to be “plugged in” per se, in order to receive His power. Like, the iron has to be plugged in in order to heat up, or a toaster needs electricity if you’re going to have toast, you get the idea🙂 So, in order to access this power that has been given to us, we need to stay plugged in to God. How do we do this?