God Is For Me

We all do it. We have an entire armload of worries...

finances

health

children

marriage

future plans

employment

you name it...we carry it around like a sack of cement on our backs. 

It is so exhausting.

It is so...well...unnecessary.

But we do it anyway.

It is so easy to forget God in the equation.

We forget that we are IN CHRIST.

We forget that we have his WORD on the matter.

We forget that we have access to

the power of God in each situation.

We forget that He can give us new eyes

to see the situation how HE sees it.

What we don't forget is how human we are!

It seems to hit the replay button

over and over

until we are drowning

in ourselves.

YUCK.

We do not have to listen to that tune.

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will KNOW what is the hope of HIS  calling, what are the riches of the glory of HIS inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of HIS power toward us who believe."

~Ephesians 1:18-19

I don't know about you...but this morning I needed enlightened to say the least. The eyes of my heart had lost its focus last week and some things sent me on a spiral. How easily I had forgotten to listen to what God thinks of me and I gave into the chatter of my defeated foe. nasty stuff... not just for me...but for everyone around me.

******

Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

pg.391 (July 13th-evening)

" When I cry unto Thee, then shall my enemies turn back; this I know; God is for me."

~Psalm 56:9

"It is impossible for any human speech to express the full meaning of this delightful phrase, 'God is for me.' He was 'for us' before the worlds were made; He was 'for us' or He would not have given His well-beloved Son; He was 'for us' when He struck the Only begotten, and laid the full weight of His wrath upon Him--He was 'for us,' though He was against Him; He was 'for us, when we were ruined in the fall--He loved us notwithstanding all; He was 'for us' when we were rebels against Him, and with a high hand were defying Him; He was 'for us,'or He would not have brought us humbly to see His face.

He has been 'for us' in many struggles; we have been summoned to encounter hosts of dangers; we have been assailed by temptations from without and within --how cold we have remained unharmed to this hour if HE had not been 'for us'? 

He is 'for us,' with all the infinity of His being; with all the omnipotence of His love; with all the infallibility of His wisdom; arrayed in all His divine attributes, He is 'for us', '--eternally and immutably 'for us;' 

He is'for us' when the clouds will be rolled up like a worn out piece of clothes; 'for us' throughout eternity. And because He is 'for us' the voice of prayer will always ensure His help. 

'When I cry unto You, then shall my enemies by turned back.' This is a sure hope and a well grounded assurance--'this I know." I will direct my prayer to You, and will look up for the answer, assured that it will come, and that my enemy will be defeated, 'for God is for me.' Oh believer, how happy you are when the King of Kings is on your side! How safe you are with such a Protector! How sure your case is when the Advocate is pleading your cause! If God be for you, who can be against you?"

sweet. sweet. sister.

you. are. in. Christ.

He. is. for. you.

And He wants you to know

that He is

SEATED

in heaven...

on His throne.

V.I.C.T.O.R.I.O.U.S

and you are, too.

So this morning-we can 

cry out to our Strong and Mighty God!

"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."

~Psalm 65:24

What a powerful verse.

What a powerful and mighty God that can do that. 

Wow.

Feeling Overwhelmed

o.v.e.r.w.h.e.l.m.e.d.

tiny.little. word.

oceans. of. feelings.

" Is it possible we have complicated our lives until there is no room for Him and no space to hear the plans He has for us?" ~Jennie Allen

YUP.

Our lives get really busy totally out of control.

We run like the wind! Our schedules are so full that one little minor mishap and the house of cards collapses. American moms are crazy absolutely insane by juggling a mountain of things at once. Sports schedules-school schedules-church responsibilities-social responsibilities-relationship building--laundry-taxi service-cleaning-cooking...and all with a smile. (snarl)

What if---I said 'no' to the mountain of things that put such pressure on me and begin to

P.R.A.Y.

about where God wants me.

What is my purpose here in this big world?

What am I called to do?

What is wasting my precious time?

What if I am missing out on the very thing God wants from me because I said 'yes' to a bunch of dumb stuff?

So-I challenged our group to a week long technology fast...YUP...ouch. That hurts. The goal other than self torture???...taking time to hear from God...and taking time to talk to God. I had a very interesting week.

So, this morning I opened my devotional and was 

O.V.E.R.W.H.E.L.M.E.D.

by God.

November 3rd am  Morning and Evening devotion by Charles Spurgeon...without the old english!

"...behold, he prays." 

~Acts 9:11

"Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. The moment Saul began to pray the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for the distressed but praying soul. So often a poor broken-hearted one bends his knee, but can only utter his wailing in the language of sighs and tears; yet that groan has made all the harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by God and treasured in heaven. "You put my tears into your bottle" implies that they are caught as the flow. The suppliant, whose fears prevent his words, will be completely understood by the Most High. He may only look up with misty eye; but 'prayer is the falling of a tear.'. Tears are the diamonds of heaven; sighs are part of the music of Jehovah's court, and are numbered with "the sublimest strains that reach the majesty on high"; Don't think that your prayer, however weak or trembling, will be unregarded. Jacob's ladder is lofty, but our prayers shall lean upon the Angel of the covenant and climb its starry rounds. Our God not only hears prayer but also loves to hear it. "He does not forget the cry of the humble." True, He doesn't regard high looks and lofty words; He doesn't care for the pomp and pageantry of kings; He doesn't listen to the swell of martial music; He doesn't regard the triumph and the pride of man; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, or a lip quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a remorseful sigh, the heart of Jehovah is open; He marks it down in the registry of His memory; He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, there will be a precious fragrance spring up from it.

'Faith asks no signal from the skies, 

To show that prayers accepted rise,

Our Priest is in His holy place,

And answers from the throne of grace.'

And Charles-I would rather be overwhelmed

by The God that hears my prayers

than a calendar

that rules me.

God, overwhelm me with your presence.

Beginnings

Isaiah 49:16 ~"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands."

abandoned? discouraged? alone? sin-sick?overwhelmed? not measuring up to the demands of life... or God's commands? Does. God. Really. Care. About. Me??..because if He did...fill in the blank. Each of us have a blank to fill in. Each of us--Believers and non-Believers alike all have the same stuff to deal with everyday.

what would it take to lay my heart out there and give it away with complete abandonment? TO TRUST. TO HEAL. TO SEE OURSELVES THE WAY GOD SEES US.

I. have. no. idea. what this blog is going to be about.(truly!)
I. have. no. idea. who you are at a heart level.
I. have. no. idea. where life has wounded you or  about the joys that surround you.
I. have. no. idea. when I will have time to write or you will take time to read.
I. have. no. idea. how this blog will change us all....and I can't wait!!!!!!

My prayer is that each of us come to know more fully who we are as a daughter of the One True King. That at HIS CROSS we can leave ourselves behind and run into the arms of a loving heavenly Father who delights to call us his own.

So,why? write? this? blog?
Because there is a permanent record in heaven that tells me I am His-forever. A mark of assurance. A mark of victory. A mark of death. A mark on the hands of God himself. A MARK OF GRACE-sweet, unending, undeserved GRACE. Free for me... but oh, so costly for the Savior.

I really like Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional. He writes in an older style of English that makes you stop and think about what you just read. It's not fast food. It's a thought that is worth savoring-thinking-mediating on. It is NOT the kind of devotional that makes me "check-that-off-my-to-do-list" of spiritual duties. It creates relationship.

The day's verse is from Isaiah 49:16 and it focused on the fact that sometimes we feel that God has abandon us-forgotten us-or is punishing us for not meeting up to his expectations. (isn't that a problem!!) Here is a small portion of what Nov 7th am had to say and what sparked the vision for this blog. I have taken the liberty of replacing the 'thee' thou' stuff to make it just a tad easier to understand.

"How can I (GOD) have forgotten you, when I have graven you upon the palms of my hands? How can you doubt my constant remembrance, when the memorial is set upon my very flesh... 'I have graven YOU.' It does not say "Your name." The name is there, but that is not all;" I have graven YOU." See the fullness of this! I have graven YOUR PERSON,YOUR IMAGE, YOUR CASE,YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES,YOUR SINS,YOUR TEMPTATIONS,YOUR WEAKNESSES, YOUR WANTS, YOUR WORKS; I have graven YOU, everything about YOU, all that concerns YOU; I have put you altogether there." Now, Charles... that is good stuff...

And a perfect place to begin.