It's all about

Is it all about me?

Is it all about we?

Is it all about what I see?

Is it all about if I'm free?

I think not.  I believe it's all about - the key.

A key is something that allows access, it helps you open something locked or hidden away.  

My question today is, "What is the key?"  What will  open my heart and mind to the purpose that God has for the rest of my life.  What will open my heart and mind to the changes I must make in my thinking, my vision, and my freedom?

I heard a podcast this morning discussing basically the way we see ourselves and others - the boxes we put ourselves and others into - to display.  Am I the town, the race, the culture, the station in life that I was born to?  Maybe, partly, but there is more.

This is the key.  We are more than that.  We are God's creation, His idea, His design, and His Children.  And as such I am not a "we" "I'm not just what you see" "I'm not completely free." But I am "me."  

God has each one of us on His mind.  And He has provided a key - a way to open our hearts and minds to His purpose, to His family, to His forgiveness.  There are places in our lives that require the same key to open different doors.

I'm not a perfect me, but, knowing this is "key."

I'm a child of The King and The King cares for me.  

That key is found in different places, but today my wonderful husband opened the Bible to Romans 8:1-15 and read it all to me - I've picked out a few verses that may speak to you as well.

"So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death."

"And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin.  The Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you."

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."

"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when He adopted you as his own children.   Now we call him, “Abba, Father." For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children."

And as my husband told me this morning, 

God will NOT un-adopt us.  I love that.

I pray that you will hear God's voice today.

Diane

Do you believe those signs?

Do you see the signs, read the advertisements, or hear the chants of our culture proclaiming 

   I can do "anything" if I work hard enough!  

Although I don’t believe for a minute that those words are always true, let’s pretend they are.  But maybe before doing whatever the “anything” is, we should be asking…

What truly is my purpose?
Why am I here?
Why am I me?
And if that is not clear -

Let’s think thoughts together, beginning with life.
Consider creation.
Consider relations.
Consider our loved ones’ comfort and strife.

Consider our maker, the God of it all,
the one who created the big and the small.
Ask why He designed us
and caused us to be.
Ask why, and reflect then, 
Why am I me?

I am convinced that the Bible tells us the answer to mankind’s purpose on this earth.  And to be more explicit, it tells me what my purpose is on this earth, and in this life.  

God’s word explains it.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV

O nations of the world, recognize the Lord,
recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong.
Give to the Lord the glory he deserves!
Bring your offering and come into his presence.
Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.  
1 Chronicles 16:28–29 NLT

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  
This is the great and first commandment.  
And the second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 21:37-39 (NIV)

So let’s align our lives to God’s will, 
and we may accomplish much 
with His help
and for His glory.

Know that 
the only reason we can think about God
is because he is thinking about us.

What does the Bible call Him?

 

I’ve been looking at the names of God in the Bible lately. There are many web sites and several experts who choose different names or descriptions, as names to identify God.  But there are a few of those names that paint and leave pictures in my mind.

The use of Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai and others, speak about characteristics or traits of our wonderful God.  Another is El Olam from Psalm 90:1-2.  The meaning seems to be "Everlasting God," or "God without a beginning or an end." I love that.  To quote one writer, it means “free from all constraints of time.”  Psalm 90:1-2 speaks

El Olam (Lord)

You have been our refuge in every generation. Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, 

You are God. 

The Psalmist didn’t say, “you were God.” 

He said, “You are God.”  

There was No change here!

God didn’t used to be. 

HE IS. 

In our “time constrained” world, it’s especially comforting to understand that time is NOT an issue for God.  

When questioned about His status in time, Jesus told the people in John 8:58 (HCSB) “I assure you: Before Abraham was. I AM.  He said again, "I AM", not I was, or used to be. 

The Bible refers to Him as the beginning and the end – Alpha and Omega.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  Revelation 1:8 (NIV)

Many times we worry about things in our own lives, our health or risks, or tomorrow.  But in Jesus’ sermon on the mountain, (Matthew 6:27) He asks the question, “Why do you worry?”  He said, “Can anyone of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life?” 

Time is in God’s hands, He made it.  He controls it.  We can stop watching the clock or the calendar – God is in control and He is going before you, and walking with you.

 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)

 

Slippery and Uncertain

 

If I should say, “My foot has slipped,”

Your faithfulness, Lord, will support me.

When my anxious thoughts are many

Your comfort delights my soul.

Psalm 94:18-19 NASB

Have you ever lived in a place where winter storms would cover your world with ice and snow?  Sometimes our lives are like that - slippery and uncertain, like trying to navigate a long icy sidewalk or find your way out of the forest. 

Do you feel like the world you used to understand and accept no longer gives you a firm, sure place to stand or to walk?

This Psalm writer knows what to do when life is a slippery sidewalk.  He reaches out and holds on to the one - the only one - who can and will support him. 

He writes about how God will steady him, not just once, but always.  The writer speaks of God’s faithfulness - God, who is always faithful, trustworthy, and never failing,

God can and will support us always.

God is always at our side.  He is El Roi – “the God who sees me.”  He sees you when things are going well, and He catches you when the ice storm comes. 

But how can I know that He will hold me up?

God's Spirit tells us. (That’s where the second part of this verse comes in.)  “When my anxious thoughts are many, Your comfort delights my soul.” 

I’m not sure that “delights” is a word I would use, but the writer of this Psalm knew what he personally felt.  My words might be that God’s comfort “stills” my soul.  The feelings I have when I’m anxious really need the soothing touch of God’s care to calm and hold me. My anxious heart needs the comforting Spirit's touch.

God’s faithfulness does support us if we call out to Him, if we hold on to Him, and, I know we can trust Him when our world slips out from under us.

Isn’t it amazing how God’s people continue to speak to our hearts with words from the scriptures?  God is so good.

He has promised!

Have you ever thought about all the ways God has said He would walk this life with us?  The Bible speaks of God’s promises and His care for His children.

 Let’s take a walk in our minds. I picture this.

We walk on a mountain path, or our neighborhood, or any place we’re familiar with – a place we love – sometimes we’re alone or maybe strolling with a dear friend. The scent of the flowers and the song of our beautiful world welcomes us. We bask in the sunshine and walk that path feeling healthy and strong.  It’s a wonderful world!

I believe that most of us have taken walks, or hikes that have begun beautifully like that, but didn’t turn out to be at all like my picture. Yes, most of us have found walks through life that, instead of joy, bring disappointment and pain. 

The stroll down the path of our life may end up taking a wrong turn.  We may become lost in an area or a situation that we don’t know how to get out of, or even understand.  It could happen that our friends desert us. Silence greets us when we call for help – there is no one to listen.  We’re left totally alone. 

Or we may start out in the beautiful sunshine and end up in the middle of a thunderstorm with lightning searing the world around us. We find ourselves in the middle of a crisis that we were not ready for.  

Or we’ve always been healthy and feeling just fine, but on that road, something attacks our lives and we become weak and faint.  We can’t go on.  We are helpless. 

What then - when we’re alone, lost, helpless and unprepared? 

Listen to God’s encouraging reply. 

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.  Deuteronomy 31:8 

He said, I’m going before you, checking the path, and then I’m going to be there, right along-side of you – with you.  I’ll always be there with you, I’ll never, never leave you.  Oh my child, don’t be afraid, don’t be discouraged with your life, your walk, your path.  I’m here.  Can’t you hear me?  I’m here! 

Again He replies. 

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:12 

He said, I hear you!  Not just that, I’m listening when you talk to me.  I watch your face.  I see your tears.  I feel the heaving of your sobs.  When you cry out to me, I hear your voice, I hear your heart, your hurt and your troubles.  I hear you!                     

God tells us. 

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10 

He said, I am strong enough for both of us.  I know you don’t have the strength to go on, but I do, and I will impart my strength to you.  I will help you.  You know you need my help.  I won’t just pick you up, I will hold you up. 

He will hold us, strengthen us, walk with us, and love us.  We have no reason to spend our lives in fear.

Love, Diane