A Minute In It - He Watches Over You

A minute in Gods' word will change your life. There are some days when it is good to comfort ourselves in God’s promises. He is faithful.

1 I look up to the mountains—
    does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!

3 He will not let you stumble;
    the one who watches over you will not slumber.
4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel
    never slumbers or sleeps.

5 The Lord himself watches over you!
    The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon at night.

7 The Lord keeps you from all harm
    and watches over your life.
8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
    both now and forever.

But Why?

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
    I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you go through deep waters,
    I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
    you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
    you will not be burned up;
    the flames will not consume you.
For I am the Lord, your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Isaiah 43:1b-3a (NLT)

Recently, I was listening to a book and there was a quote in it by Francis Chan. The quote went something like this (this is not exactly what was said because I was driving). “I am confident and live in confidence that God loves me. I belong to him. He is faithful to lead and guide me to be the person he wants me to be.”

What I want to add to that sentence is “And he won’t let my life fall apart.” And then I concede that that part might not be true. God tells us in the Bible that we will go through tough times (i.e. deep waters, rivers of difficulty, fires of oppression.) It doesn’t say if. It says when.

Why? Why do we need to go through waves so deep that we have to tread water? Why do we need to feel like we are being overcome by the currents that threaten to carry us away? Why do we need to step into the fire? (Do I sound like a 3 year old asking why to a parent?)

The best answer I can come up with today is that God might want to get to me to a place (in my core self) that I won’t voluntarily go by myself. I am certainly not going to step into a raging whirlpool. And when he takes me there, I will find a faith I did not know I had. I will build a trust in him that I didn’t even think possible.

Suddenly, my faith is not about how something looks or how smoothly it will go but about God and how I feel about him. It becomes about me trusting his plan and not mine.

In all the vagueness of this and the fact that my why questions do not get answered, there is one thing I know. That the Holy One of Israel, my Lord and God, he will be with me. That is enough to get me through.

Designed By......

For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God. Hebrews 3:4 (NLT)

Everywhere you look, you see designer labels. What is a designer label? A prestigious marquee that notes who the designer of the item was. For example, BMW, Versace, Armani. And what is the definition of a designer? A designer is the person who plans the form, look or workings of an item before it was built.

I started thinking about all the designer labels we see. Registering what they represent is almost subconscious. For example, when you a BMW emblem, you don’t have to stop and think “Oh, let me see, that stands for BMW.” You just know. Same with a MK on shoes or clothing. We pretty much know that stands for Michael Kor.

We’ve seen it so much, it is immediately recognizable.

So, why are we, as children of God, not immediately recognizable? When someone sees one of us or talks to us, why don’t they walk away saying “Oh, I recognized their Designer. It was God.” More often than not, people are left wondering who made us and why.

We know that God made us in his image (to look just like him) and we know that he added all these wonderful traits to the mix (love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.) Then, he poured his unconditional love into us so we could be bold and brave. To make it truly amazing, he created each one of us different. Each one of us brings to the table something unique that no one else can offer. A one of a kind designer creation. Finally, to top it off, he marked us priceless.

Makes you wonder……when people encounter us, why don’t they know who our Designer was? Maybe we are wearing the wrong label.

Made Perfectly Wonderful

““I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭1:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Have you ever stopped and thought about today’s text? I’ve heard it before and when my grandson was born, I thought about it a little.  I liked the fact that before he was born God knew who he was. I liked the fact that God knew what his name would be even before his parents did. And it says that God knew him before he was even formed. That’s way before he was born and even before his parents knew he was coming!

Which means, God knew us before we were formed as well. He knew who we would be. He knew our quirks. He knew that some of us would be creative, and that others would be good with numbers. He knew that some of us would be more logistical. And he knew the number of hairs on our head.

When you stop and think about how God intimately knew you before you were even born, how does it make you feel? Do you feel that he thought “Well, I could have done better.” No way! He loves us and designed us to be just who we are. Each of us has a gift to bring to this world. God has a special place for us and a special role that only we can fill. And it also means that we can do what he has given us to do.

So let me ask you?  What’s keeping you from fulfilling God’s plan for your life? What is it that stops you from giving it your all and living the life God planned for you? God doesn’t make mistakes and he didn’t make one when he created you.  

And oh by the way, even if you have made mistakes along the way, his plan is still perfect. You can always get back on track.

I'm Right Here

Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:40 (NLT)

Have you ever watched a child encounter something scary? They quickly locate the person nearest to them that they trust and they go to them. That is their safe place.

What do we do when we encounter something scary or overwhelming? We focus on it, imagine all the worst things that can happen and sometimes, we are unable to get ourselves out of that place.

When the disciples were reacting to the storm, they said to Jesus “Don’t you care that we are going to die?” And in Jesus response it was almost like he was saying “I’m right here. I haven’t gone anywhere. I haven’t forgotten about you.”

Why do we forget that Jesus is right here? He hasn’t forgotten us. He’s not too busy to notice what we are going through and he will never, ever abandon us. No matter what storm we are going through.

What if we acted like little children (Matthew 18:3) instead of scared disciples? What if when we encounter something overwhelming, we locate Jesus and go sit next to him and remember that he is in charge of every storm? This is how we define faith. The ability to trust that Jesus has this no matter what tempest is circling our boat.

A Minute In It - You Are My Refuge

A minute in Gods' word will change your life. No matter what is happening in our world and our lives, God is our shelter. Read through the Bible verses below and remember!

1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
    will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
    he is my God, and I trust him.
3 For he will rescue you from every trap
    and protect you from deadly disease.
4 He will cover you with his feathers.
    He will shelter you with his wings.
    His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
    nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
    though ten thousand are dying around you,
    these evils will not touch you.
8 Just open your eyes,
    and see how the wicked are punished.

9 If you make the Lord your refuge,
    if you make the Most High your shelter,
10 no evil will conquer you;
    no plague will come near your home.
11 For he will order his angels
    to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
    you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
    I will protect those who trust in my name.
15 When they call on me, I will answer;
    I will be with them in trouble.
    I will rescue and honor them.
16 I will reward them with a long life
    and give them my salvation.”

Show Us The Father

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father.” John 14:8 (NLT)

Jesus came to “show us the Father.” That was his goal as he walked here on earth. He embodied the Father in human form. And we are supposed to imitate him in all we do living our lives so people can see God in us through our words, actions and responses to what life throws at us.

Do we? When I first thought about this I thought about how hard that would be. I mean, I am not Jesus. He can reflect the Father perfectly because he is after all, God. But before I dismissed this as something I couldn’t do, verse twelve caught my eye.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works.” Uh oh.

Does that mean that since I believe in Jesus and look to him for my example (as the disciples did), that I can reflect the Father? Can people see me, watch my life and say “She reflected God”?

Apparently, Jesus thought so.

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. Matthew 5:16

And elsewhere in the Bible we are given the same mandate.

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God. Philippians 1:9-11

Please note, the Bible never said living all out for Jesus would be easy. It’s not. But it does tell us that when we stay focused on him and live our life the way he lived his, we will glorify God. We will make a difference. The highest compliment you can ever get is if someone says “I can see Jesus in you.” And that should always be our goal.

A Servant's Role Model

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,  and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. John 13:3-5 (NLT)

I’ve been listening to a book recently and one of the chapters was on Serving. This topic also came up recently in a Bible Study. We were talking about coming to church with an attitude of giving instead of receiving. Some people said they came to church to serve and didn’t expect to receive and that was OK because they received from God in other ways. Some thought coming to serve and receive wasn’t a bad thing….and it is not.

Maybe it boils down to our hearts? Are we serving to check the box? You know, because it is the thing we have to do to be Christians? Are we serving because we see others as an object to check that box? Are we serving because we can see in the hierarchy of things we are low man on the totem pole and we need to be the one serving?

So what should serving look like? As I pondered this, I thought about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. In John 13 it says he knew that God had given all authority to him. He was at the top of the “universe chain” and he knew it. And as he realized that, what did he do? He got up from the table, took a towel and basin of water and proceeded to be a servant. He kneeled on the floor, took off the sandals of every single disciple (including Judas) and washed the dirt and grime from their feet. He tenderly dried each foot. I can imagine praying over their feet as he did it.

Jesus didn’t just do the job of a servant because there is no servant who would perform this job with so much love. It was much more than that. That’s who he was. He didn’t serve because it was a job he had to do, he served because at his core he was a servant. We have to imitate that.

When we stop serving because it’s the right thing to do and serve because it’s who we are, then our lives and our world will change. Then, we will be serving like Jesus did.

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Philippians 2:6 (NLT)