Praise the Lord...who daily bears our burdens - Ps. 68:19

Every day the Lord Himself is near me, with a special mercy for each hour.

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me. He whose name is Counselor and Power.

The protection of His child and treasure, is a charge that on Himself He laid;

"As your days, your strength shall be in measure," This the pledge to me He made.

Hymn "Day by Day" by Karolina W. Sandell-Berg

 

The hymn writer of this song knew well the mercy of God.  She and her pastor-father were boating in Sweden when her father was tossed overboard and drowned.  She held on tight to the Lord and His word and she wrote many poems during that time about the strength the Lord provides. This poem was made into a hymn.

 

The strength she wrote about is the same strength our psalmist, David, wrote about.  He knew his God was merciful and powerful and even in trials He carries our burdens day by day.  Are we "day by day" grateful for those mercies...as Charles Spurgeon says about "common mercies":

 

Let us daily praise God for common mercies - common

as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless that when deprived of

them we are ready to perish.

 

Ephesians 6:20 says we should "...always give thanks to God for everything...".  Can you right now give thanks for a hundred "common" things that have been provided for you today?  Like a roof over your head, like a warm shower, like cereal, like holding a Bible in your lap, like green grass, like the promise of a meal tonight?

 

He has made provision for so many things in our day.  We wake up burdened by a child who has gone astray - He bears that burden for you.  We wake up wondering about our husband's health - He bears that burden for you.  We wake up wondering if we can pay the rent this month - He bears that burden for you.  We wake up depressed and sad - He bears that burden for you.  It is my opinion that when we can praise Him for His presence in our burdens, His blessings will pour down on us.  Were your last words to Him a praise or complaint?  I want to be like our hymnwriter and our psalmist that we praise Him and believe in His promises to us.

 

For further study:  Exodus 15:2, Deu. 33:25, Nehemiah 8:10, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 46:1, Lam. 3:23-24, John 1:16,  Romans 9:14-15, 2 Cor. 12:9, Phil. 4:13.

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly

God's plans are...to give you hope; seek Him with all your heart - Jer. 29:11-13

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord,

'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and

a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me

and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me

when you seek me with all your heart.'"

Jer. 29:11-13

 

Our friend, Jeremiah, had a difficult task...in fact it never really got any easier.  He had to speak truth about judgment to a people who continued to oppose him.  In fact, the book of Lamentations, following the book of Jeremiah, is purported to be his "lament" over the people and their refusal to listen.  Jeremiah, in our verse today, is trying to tell them the good news if they would only listen and respond.  His plans for them and for us today are that we would trust in Him and His word.  He has given us the standard for His blessings in His word.  Jeremiah was determined to live the life God had planned for him to live.

 

I recently read a story in DECISION magazine about a Christian couple who owned a bakery in Oregon.  They had been very successful and were steadily growing.  One day they didn't accept business from a family that would cause them to violate their Christian beliefs.  There are times that I have declined business from someone who wanted me to embroider something other than Scriptures...there are others who can do those...I choose to do only Scriptures.  That was just my covenant with the Lord.  The couple began to get protestors, very bad, dishonest reviews and threats against their small bakery and family.  They have been threatened with fines and business has declined.  He says: "What is happening is hostility toward righteousness.  I'm not saying I have a righteousness of my own, but I am trying to live according to God's word...The Lord can and will deliver us through this.  Even if the state throws the book at us, and we lose everything, we will be OK."

 

I have chosen to make God's word my standard.  Jesus died to set us free and not to be forced to live bound up by a changing society.  God's plans for us are good...He loves us with an everlasting love...He will never leave us or forsake us.  He calls us into a relationship with Himself...the only way we can have the power to do anything right...and says He will walk with us through every day of our lives.  I want to be as courageous as this couple in Oregon.  Listen to a stanza from "I'd Rather Have Jesus" by Reah Miller:

 

I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause; I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;

I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame.  I'd rather be true to His holy name.

Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway.

I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.

 

For further study:  Judges 21:25, Psalm 33:11, Isaiah 46:10-11, Daniel 4:34-37,  Matthew 16:24-27, Romans 1:21-32, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 4:8-9, Colossians 3:17,  James 1:17.

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly

"Clean hands and pure hearts bring blessings from God" - Ps. 24:4-5

This psalm of David is a beautiful celebration of God, who He is, all that He has done, why He is  the only one worthy of worship and the blessings that come from those who keep Him as the center of their worship.  I'm afraid we have become misguided about the true nature of blessings.  Even those of us who honor God with our lives seem to indicate that "blessings" may be more about health, financial security or success.   I believe this psalm says those who exalt Him (those with clean hands and pure hearts; those who do not trust idols or false gods) are the blessed ones.

Look at Matthew 5:1-11- who are the "blessed" ones in this passage? ...those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers...was that what you were thinking?  Is that what the world thinks?  These words are from Jesus as He was teaching His disciples to "repent, for the kingdom of God is near" (Matt. 4:27).  When we exalt Him - because He is the only one worthy - we are blessed.  When our focus is on us and what we want, the blessings are long in coming and fleeting when they do.

Listen to A.W. Tozer in THE PURSUIT OF GOD:

While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves -

good riddance!  The man who has struggled to purify himself

and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief

when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the Perfect One.

While he looks at Christ, the very things he has so long been trying to do

will be getting done within him.  It will be God working in him

to will and to do.

 

In Bible study this morning we sang "God Moves in Mysterious Ways".  "You fearful saints, fresh courage take.  The clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head".  We don't look for our blessings in the clouds (or the trials)...but maybe we should!

 

For further study: 1 Samuel 2:30,  Psalm 1:1, Psalm 33:12, Psalm 51:10,  Psalm 112:1, Ezekiel 34:26,

Romans 12:1-2, 2 Cor. 6:16-17,  2 Cor. 7:1, Phil. 4:8, Hebrews 12:14.

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly

Be still and know that I am God - Ps. 46:10

Listen to The Message translation of this verse:

"Step out of the traffic! Take a long,

loving look at me, your High God,

above politics, above everything."

 

When was the last time we took a "long, loving" look at our Father?  There is not much stillness in our lives...we fill each day up with busyness; when we're not talking or texting, we're planning to.  We prefer to be in the midst of chaos rather than to sit quietly and thoughtfully and gaze upon the One who has given us "blessing after blessing".

 

God did a huge work in His creation of the world and everything in it.  It was, however, exhausting work and He chose to make the 7th day of Creation a day of rest.  The Layman's Commentary said He rested just "from the work of bringing the world into being to mark the successful completion of the creative event".  We see throughout the Bible references to God not "slumbering or sleeping", but He did almost in celebration of the work completed.  The 4th of the Ten Commandments tells us to "observe the Sabbath (rest) Day by keeping it holy."  He wants us to have a day of renewal, celebrating and worshipping His work in our lives.  Why do we fill it - the day He wants us to set aside for Him alone - with work, shopping, entertainment, sports...and no special time set aside for Him?  Is your Sunday just another 24 hours to fill with stuff?

 

It is key to knowing the Jesus of the New Testament to see many times he went off  by himself to be still.  That was how He kept in communion with His Father.  How He knew the work God wanted Him to do.  It was the quietness of the Garden that inspired Him to know and yield to the sacrifice He would make on the Cross.  Do we have any pictures of Him rushing here and there filling every hour with busyness?  I think we see from the verse today that it is in the stillness that we can "know" God.  If we never are still, how can that knowledge occur?  What do we say to our children when we overbook and overschedule?

 

Just for fun, let's do a chart on our week...time spent to eat, sleep, work, shop, quietness....see if Sunday wouldn't be a good day to begin a new chapter of stillness. It might be amazing to see what we can know about the great "I am".

 

For further study:  Genesis 2:2-3, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Psalm 23:2, Isaiah 30;15, Isaiah 32:17, Jer. 6:16, Jer. 24:7, Zec. 2:13, Matt. 6:33, Matt. 11:28-30, Mark 8:36, 1 Timothy 2:11, 1 Peter 3:4

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly

The Lord your God is with you..." - Zeph. 3:17

This may be one of my very favorite promises in the whole Bible!  It is a word of hope and encouragement for those who fear and doubt.  The prophet Zephaniah had no easy task to warn those in Judah of impending destruction and yet offer them ultimate victory and hope.  His name, oddly enough, means "the Lord hides" or "the Lord protects".He wanted those who believed - especially the humble ones - to know they would be protected and rejoiced over by the Lord.  There was still time for all to "call on the name of the Lord" (v. 3:9).

The story of Joseph in Gen. 37-45 is a wonderful picture of how the Lord protects.  Many times in those chapters we see "the Lord was with him" in the various predicaments he finds himself in.  I'm wondering if his confidence that the Lord would help him caused him to be used in such a mighty way in the kingdom of God.  Would we be more humble, more obedient, more faithful if we truly believed that God was with us.  But then that's the mystery of faith, isn't it?  God wanted us to believe that so much He gave us his Son, Jesus - Immanuel which literally means "God with us"!

Max Lucado in YOU'LL GET THROUGH THIS says:

God surrounds us in the same way the Pacific surrounds an ocean

floor pebble.  He is everywhere - above, below, on all sides.  We

choose our response - rock or sponge?  Resist or receive?

Everything within you says harden the heart.  Run from God;

resist God; blame God.  But be careful.  Hard hearts never heal.

Spongy ones do.  Open every pore of your soul to God's presence.

 

John Wooden says:  "Things turn out the best for people who make the best of the way things turn out."  How about you?  Are you resisting what God promises you?  He is with you, He saves you, He delights in you, He quiets you.   Let us live as if we really believe that!  There is still time!

 

For further study:  Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:9, Psalm 34:7, Psalm 46:7, Psalm 125:2, Isaiah 7:14,  Isaiah 58:11, Joel 2:32, Matthew 1:23, Matthew 28:28

 

Be blessesd in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly



The Lord bless you and keep you - Numbers 6:24

We have just finished the study of Ruth in our women's Bible study and it was a rich study.  One of the sweet things I learned was about blessing others...about showing kindness to others.  Ruth was a daughter-in-law of a bitter woman...but she chose to go with her and help provide for her care.  She went into the fields of a man named Boaz and was to "glean" or pick up the leftovers from the workers who were his.  It's a very exciting love story (and you will have to read for yourself), but there is a much deeper meaning to it.  In fact it is a picture of our redeemer, Jesus Christ, who cares for us and takes responsibility for His people, the church. 

Back to the love story, Boaz, on Ruth's first day in the field, greeted all the harvesters with this greeting:"The Lord be with you" and they returned the greeting with: "The Lord bless you".  When was the last time you went to work and you were greeted that way?  The Hebrew word for blessing in the second phrase (barak) is the same word as 'bless" in our pillow scripture today.  It is a blessing from those who are blessed.  Boaz blessed them and they blessed him...what a great combination!  Last night on the Olympics, Shaun White lost a very important - maybe his last - race to another athlete.  When the other athlete found out he had won, Shaun was the closest to him and he just required a huge celebration hug - from the man who had lost the most!  But Shaun just hugged him back...hard, not in a wimply way, but returning the blessing.  I want to be more like that.  I want to bless because I have been so blessed!  Boaz went on to be a very important player in the lineage of Jesus...read Matthew 1 to see why.  His obedience and response to being blessed was a big step toward our blessing today.  Is it possible He has kingdom work for us to do today?

Today, think about how you have been blessed.  This Numbers blessing was from the priest to those who were the Lord's people.  Are you His and have you received His blessings?   Think about how you can go out today and bless someone else.   We might be the ones used by the Lord to further His kingdom...wouldn't that be a blessing as well as a privilege?

For further study:  Gen. 12:3, Psalm 41:1-2, Psalm 121:7-8, Ezekiel 34:26,  Matt. 5:1-12, Luke 6:35, Romans 12:14,  Ephesians 4:32, 2 Tim. 2:24.

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,
Holly

LOVE - 1 Corinthians 13

Love is patient; love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

 

As you probably are already aware, the Bible speaks of three kinds of love: agape (Godly love), phileo (brotherly love) and eros (romantic love).  For our upcoming holiday, what you see advertised tends toward the eros kind of love.  Our pillow today speaks strictly of a Godly love.  John Bisagno in LOVE IS SOMETHING YOU DO describes that kind of love as:

 

"...marked by total absence of any selfish motive.

It is love because God is love.  It loves because the

object of love is there and that is enough...that is the kind

of love which He gives to us and which He desires that we

should give to others."

 

John 13:34 uses this same word for agape love:

 

A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I

have loved you, so you must love one another."

 

He has loved us unselfishly and that's how he wants us to love others!  A tall order, but by His indwelling Spirit we have His fruit:  "The fruit of the spirit is LOVE...". Guess what kind of love?  AGAPE!  What an amazing gift!  Anything else is not patient nor kind; it's jealous and boastful and proud.  It dishonors others and is self-seeking.  It is easily angered and keeps track of wrongs.  It delights in wrong and does not rejoice in the truth.  It does not protect nor trust. 

 

Ann Voskamp tells a story about being in a pretty funky mood - easily angered, frustrated and stressed beyond belief.  She was walking with a friend - someone who probably had a few needs of her own - when she stopped cold.  There in the middle of the sidewalk was this graffiti:

 

HEY, BEAUTIFUL.  YOU ARE LOVED!

 

She realized God had been shouting from the heavens to her about His love...but she was so frustrated with the things that weren't going well, she never even heard Him.  His sweet and precious grace comes to us in every size and shape, but this day, it came in the form of graffiti!  So they started shouting it to the wind and to each other:  "Hey, Beautiful.  You are Loved!!".  And the mood passed.  She was grateful and patient with those around her.

 

Jeremiah 31:3 says: "I have loved you with an everlasting love...".  We can ask for no better kind of love than His kind of love.  And we can give no better kind of love, than His kind of love.  This Valentine's Day, think of shouting to someone in need:  "Hey, Beautiful.  You are loved!" And while you have their attention, tell them about the Greatest Love of all!

 

For further study:  Proverbs 3:3, Proverbs 17:9, John 15:12-17,  Romans 12:9-10, 13:8-10,  1 Cor. 8:1, Phil. 1:9, Col. 3:14, 1 Thes. 4:9, 1 John 4:7-21

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY,

Holly