Good Morning Spirit-Filled, Depending on God, Brothers and Sisters! Amen! No matter what we are facing we know we have God's Spirit in us and guiding us and we can choose to depend on and follow Him. Amen! These thoughts flow from two of our devotionals . Sometimes we get nudges from the Spirit to respond to someone or some situation that requires not only focus on God but dependance on Him and trust that He is with us and wants us to join Him in some way. We need to sometimes die to self and choose to agape love like Jesus. Sometimes, we need to ask for strength and wisdom and even want-to as we seek to honor and follow Him. Sometimes we are more easily able to move through grief, depression or lack of focus on God by raising some praise or working on populating our gratitude lists and then serving and focusing on others is also a way to move forward with God. And usually we need some teammates to walk with as we encourage and pray for and cover each other. invite the Holy Spirit to fill and guide you to what God has for you and then trust Him and do your best to stop leaning on your own understanding. He will come, encourage and help you as He refreshes and leads you to be a blessing to Him and others and in turn to be refreshed and blessed back. Try it and remember this for the promised tough times ahead. God cares, is with you, and is able to do way more than we can fathom! He loves you and is calling you by name and wants to hang out and help you all the time. Rejoice! Receive His love and peace and step into the chaos refreshed, focused and ready! Amen!
we will look at the last few verses of Matt 23 and the beginning of 24. It is Jesus' teaching on the end times and His reaction to the darkness and lostness of Jerusalem and the religious leaders. He longs to gather them like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings. They rejected Him and His comforting love, help, and leadership. May that not be us. Run to Him and dwell in His loving presence and ask Him to lead you to His perfect plans for --everyday. Lean on Him and not your own thinking. And find some helpers as you seek to stay focused on God and go live and love more like Jesus. That's His good plans for you and us! Amen! What a beautiful day to get out and be the Light and be refreshed in Him! PTL!
What a God thing as He led us to ODB and the discussion of their dog. Reminds me of Maggie and how she was and God used that to comfort and remind . She will live on in our hearts always. She was a nervous Nellie and needed meds to calm her and she freaked when she thought we were leaving--especially Karen. She always needed to be near us. Are we like that with God? Do we panic and run to Him when we start to stray? Do we draw close and seek to be near Him always? He's there and waiting with open arms to comfort us like a mother hen. And He will comfort us in the hard things and strengthen us for the journey He has for us. We can know His perfect peace as we worship, trust and follow ! Amen! What a great and loving Father we know! PTL! (Pray our other dog Archie moves through his grief and responds to our leaving him alone a few hours and . May he know we will always come back (Lord willing) and know we love him and will never leave him and have shalom shalom (perfect peace). Thanks!)
Upper Room: Feeding Jesus
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. - Hebrews 13:2 (NRSVUE)
On the way home from a vacation, my husband and I stopped at a rest area off the interstate. As I walked around, stretching my legs, a man approached me. He asked if I had a biscuit I could give him to eat. I told him that I did not and walked away.
Then I remembered that we had a few small packs of peanut-butter crackers in the car, so I went back and got them. I looked around for the man and found him asking someone else for food. As he walked away from them, I approached him to say that I didn’t have a biscuit, but I had some packs of crackers. When I handed him the food, the look on his face changed from worry to relief.
As I walked back to the car, ’s scripture came to mind. With tears in my eyes, I offered up a prayer of thanks. Often we are so busy and distracted that we overlook those in need. By feeding a stranger, I fed Jesus. What a blessing I received that day!
's Prayer
Dear Father, help us to pay attention to those around us and to opportunities to help others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Our Daily Bread
A Portrait of Dependence
I cling to you; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:8
As I write these words, our Lhasa Apso dog, Winston, lies curled up at my feet. He’d watched me move from where I had been—the chair next to him—to the dining room table. That extra ten feet had been too far away from me.
I’ve been traveling for work a lot lately, and I think it’s getting to him. If I even hint that I’m leaving, or use the word “go,” he’s right on top of me. Practically clinging to me.
In human relationships, someone being “clingy” isn’t normally a compliment. But I see in my dog’s clinginess a vivid portrait of trusting dependence—one that’s mirrored in Psalm 63.
Here, David paints a picture of loving dependence upon God: “You, God, are my God,” he begins in verse 1. “Earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you.” In verse 3, he adds, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” Near the end, we read, “I cling to you; your right hand upholds me” (v. 8).
Like David—and maybe even a bit like my dog depends on me—I want to depend on God with my whole being, earnestly seeking Him. Sometimes, I do. Other times, my heart may be cooler, less trusting. But when I repent of my fickle mistrust and return to Him, I remember that He alone fills me. He alone is the one who will leave me “fully satisfied as with the richest of foods” (v. 5).
Reflect & Pray
What helps you experience God’s character as a loving Father most fully? How does trusting Him help us depend on Him?
Dear Father, thank You for Your lavish love. Please help me depend upon You in all that I do.
's Insights
The header for Psalm 63 identifies the author and the situation that inspired the song: “A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.” There’s good reason to believe that it was written when he fled from his son Absalom, who sought to overthrow him as king over Israel (2 Samuel 15-19). In a time of personal and national stress, David poetically and intensely expressed his dependence upon God. Uncomfortable physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual conditions have a way of showing us our dependence on God. , weary, wandering people can go to the psalmist’s “wilderness prayer room” for language that helps to give expression to our prayers of dependence. In times of desperation, we can say, “I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you . . . . I cling to you” (Psalm 63:1, 8). When we confess our sins, we see that God alone brings satisfaction to our own wilderness.
Give thanks that “we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 Jn. 3:16).
Confess those times when you fail to love others.
Commit yourself to laying down your life for your brothers and sisters in Christ (3:16).
Ask God to drive all fear away with perfect love (1 Jn. 4:18).
Ask God to expose the foolishness and treachery of the kingdom of darkness. Pray that the forces of the kingdom of God, in politics, education, science, media, business, entertainment, church, etc., will be united and focused in their efforts.
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayerleader.com. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
