Posts from category "Meditations 2019"
I was with my husband Al, when he died and my thoughts are based on:
Psalms 139:16 – All the days of my life were written in your book before I existed.
Ecclesiastes 3:2 – There is a time to die.
What do we mean when we speak the word GRACE? Do we use it too glibly, too lightly? We all know the theological terminology: JUSTICE gives us what we deserve, MERCY does not give us what we deserve and GRACE gives us what we don’t deserve. That can roll neatly off the tongue but does it have a daily effect on our lives?
I received an invitation and I know you did too. Did I expect God’s table to be set up in a lovely palace surrounded by tight security? No way - - it was set up in (Psalms 23:5) the presence of my enemies – and I recognized them. One looked like an angel of light and he offered me attractive appetizers which he said would truly enhance the meal. The Flesh urged me to accept it while craftily telling me to see that self-indulgence would not harm me. The World offered an assortment of pills and recommended one that would kill my hunger so I would not want to go to God’s Table. (I think the name of that pill was TV or Smart Phone). Then my To-Do-List deceitfully tried to prove that it was the most important thing on my agenda. Suddenly I felt so tired I just wanted to crash. It seemed like a troop of enemies were closing in on me and I was facing a high wall of obstruction. BUT - - are you listening? I ran through the troop (2 Samuel 22:30) by my God I vaulted over that wall. My defeated enemies slunk off into the darkness. Then I heard the Master call, “Come and dine”. I hurried to take my assigned place at the Table. Two of our Hosts were at the head of the Table. God the Father and God the Son. They gave a loving welcome to all of us. Every place had a plate but I noticed that for new believers there was a sippy cup (1 Peter 2:2) for milk – for weak Christians there was a spoon (Hebrews 5:12) for spoon-fed soft, mushy stuff – for mature Christians there was a fork (Hebrews 5:14) for strong meat and a knife (2 Timothy 2:15) to rightly divide it.
A line from an old hymn says –
“Bread of heaven feed me until I want no more”
I am very grateful for the patient explaining and teaching by the Holy Spirit, but every time He shows me something I realize how much I have to learn and I want to make progress as His student. I sing that line differently –
A line from an old hymn says – “Each victory will help you some other to win.” I don’t believe that because (Philippians 3:12-13) forgetting those things which are behind, I press on. If I continually remember and dwell on past failures, it will lead me to despair and I’ll be too discouraged to press on. If I continually remember and dwell on past victories, I can be an easy prey for pride – so filled with self-satisfaction that I’m blinded to my need to press on and lose my desire to strain forward. Of course we must always praise and thank God for HIS victory in full awareness of Whose victory it is.
Of course you know that no such formula exists. Sanctification is a growing process which will continue throughout our earthly lives.
I think I wrote previously of something the Lord said to me directly and personally:
Yield without reservation
Obey without hesitation
Trust without agitation
When a particular thought stays active in my mind I discuss it with the Holy Spirit and let my thoughts expand. Sometimes the Bible says something but there is something else it doesn’t say. We can see that what it doesn’t say must happen before what it does say can happen.
