Monday, March 6, 2017

Learning who God "is"

S - Deut 4

29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

Psalm 36
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

O-  My observation is influenced heavily by the imagery and story of "The Shack".   I realize that God has given us his word and many examples in the bible of who He is and how much he loves us.    The movie helped me colorize the picture that I have of God, and how my own past hurts influence this picture I have.    God is...  there is no changing who He is, however we all have so many different perceptions of who He is and what He should do,  we can have a unclear or even false picture.  This scripture exorts us to seek the Lord with all our heart, and He will reveal himself to you.   David is the psalm proclaims how priceless God's love is ,  he knows this because he has spent his life seeking him.

A -  The application for me is to recognize that I must continue to seek the Lord and be transformed into the understanding of who He truly is, and not hampered by the hurts, sins, and lies of my past.   God is the same,  only I am changing in my understanding of who He is.  I can trust though in His unfailing love, and goodness,  and must wait on the Lord to continue to do a work in my beautiful mess of a life,  always asking the Holy Spirit to help me weed and sow, and nurture what is of God. 

P -  Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today's lesson, may it be sealed to my heart.  I pray Lord that you would continue to heal and reveal to me who you are, and help me to life and love with an understanding of who you want and need me to be.  I pray  all this in Jesus name, Amen.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Serving confident in Gods provision

S- Mark

17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

O-  My observation is to see myself sitting in that same boat with the disciples having toured with Jesus, in the moment of wearniness and trying to understand why Jesus said beware the yeast of th pharisses.    The yeast of the pharisee is thinking of what is good for you and worrying about your own needs, vice giving thanks to the Lord and trusting in His provision.   Jesus point to the disciples is to remind them of this more than bountiful provision god.

A -  the application to me is to never forget again the abundant provision the Lord has given me, and not allow my thoughts and actions to be driven by a fear of not having something, or comparing my provision with someone elses's.     My attitude should be to be that of a servant wherever God's has me.

P - Dear heavenly father, thank you for you provisio and for your grace.  I recognize how much you have provided in my life and my hearts desire is to steward it well.   Lord give me the mind of Christ, so I might process things through His eyes.  In Jeus name I pray.