Month: February 2016

Psalm 66:20 “Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!

Dear God,

Oh how I need the rest and peace of Your presence this morning.  Please forgive me for the unchristian way I can treat other people at times, for my lack of spiritual wisdom and for my dealing with people that reveals a critical spirit as well as a lack of a generous spirit toward others.

Thank You that You never turn away from my prayers and Your mercy is ever extended toward me.

I am grateful for the Scriptural writings of the prophets and Your other Godly men that reveal their battles, along with their trusting in You throughout, and for the ways they were delivered physically and spiritually.

I know You see and hear our prayers of need, and will answer us in a way that reveal Your wisdom and love for each of us; even though it may not be as I (we) asked or expected.  Always when I ask, You give me mercy, comfort and peace; even when You know that my circumstances are best left as they are and I just am pushing things; in the end it always works best, Your way.

Eventually I rest in the knowledge of Your loving, gracious vigilance over me.  It is immensely important to take in, as I reflect, that I am always on Your mind and view.  I appreciate even more Your care for me, when I remember that You gave me my own guardian angel, when I was born, as is the case for every person born upon earth.

Today I want especially to give praise for Your creative, preservative and spiritual gifts which are only the beginning of the totally positive experience of knowing and loving You.  I am grateful that not only do You love every one deserving or not; for we that love You, there is the promised, inherent blessing just in being Your child.  There is the blessing also, in the hope of salvation and being caught up into the air to meet Jesus, with new and transformed, pure bodies, and to travel with Jesus through the skies to His heavenly home, the place in which His Father God makes His home, along with the 100 and 1000s of angels living there.

My prayer focus just now, is that many others will embrace all You have to offer in Your Holy word and experience loving You with a full heart and mind.

Amen

Matthew 17:1-3 “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up a high mountain by themselves; 2, and He was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3, and behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.”

Dear God, of Glory, Might and Power, the only true source of love and wisdom, and so much more, I reverence and worship You this morning, anew.

I note that Moses was much beloved, and You communed with him directly, in a verbal manner.  He like all of us had been born of sinful earthly parents, and which meant he was himself subject to be sinful, and therefore he could not have seen Your face and lived.  Your absolute righteous glory has been reported to be dazzling.   Like an insect caught in front of certain light bulbs die, so would we with sinful mortal bodies, be slain by being exposed to Your lighted glory.

This is not the case with the angels who live in heaven, even though they were also created by You,  they have never sinned, and so can live and interact with you, as will those, who will be redeemed by Jesus when He comes for His own, from earth.  What a glorious thought, as opposed to how heinous the sin in my life really is!

It is affirming for our hope of redemption, to remember that Moses now lives in heaven after been buried by the Lord, in a valley in the land of Moab.  God the Father, had taken Enoch, and Elijah to heaven, and they had never seen death, and represent those who will be alive when Jesus, comes for His own to translate them, without ever having seen death.  Whereas Moses was given a sinless body, when Jesus translated him out of the grave and serves as example of those who having died and been buried, will also be translated with sinless bodies, out of the grave when Jesus comes again; and from then on, be able to live in heaven freely and talk with God face to face.  Justice was meted out to Moses when because of his sin at Meribah was denied entrance into the Promised Land; at the end of his toilsome years leading the rebellious Children of Israel. Love was shown when Jesus came and transformed him; verifying Your promise to the rest of us.

Satan must have been jubilant, when Moses sinned, and wanted to claim the body of Moses as his own, and contended with Jesus when He raised him from the grave (Jude 9).  From heaven in a blaze of glorious light, Elijah and Moses come down to be with Jesus and uplift Him in answer to his agonizing in prayers on top of the mount of transfiguration.

My hope of being redeemed by Jesus to heaven when He comes again is real, and is revealed in the life of Moses who has gone before, I thank You dear God, for this hope.  I sincerely pray, that I will continue to allow You to change my life, so I am Your true child, at the coming of Jesus.

Amen

 

Matthew 22:37-40 “’Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  38 This is the first and great commandment, 39 and the second is like it: ’You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.”

 

Dear God,

How wonderful it is to be Your child, and to know that You love me, and every living thing that You ever created.  I am glad Your laws are formed in love, and reflect Your character.  Because You are God, and our Creator, You know that it is only when we love You with our whole heart, soul, every part of our (my) mind and being, that I can  be true to You, otherwise sinful tendencies take over and draw me away from You, into my own desires and allegiances, which lead on to sinful rebellion.  You have promised to be my wisdom, strength and power which I claim, for I am very well aware that even with the very best intentions; I cannot be true to You in my own strength.

It is through the love principle in action, that Jesus invites me to lay my (our) burdens upon Him.

With the words of Jesus in mind, I have a changed view of the commandments of God, than when I was a teenager, for now I know that they are formed and based on love, Matthew 23:38 “This is the first and great commandment” – to love God totally and with all of me.  In His answer to the lawyer who had been sent to trap Him, Jesus continues to expand on the love principle. V39
“And the second is like it: You shall love Your neighbour as yourself.”

This is not my easy and natural way, please forgive me Lord, and again lead me and empower me, so I can be Your vessel of love and wisdom to others.  I read that there is more, in Exodus 35, Moses had returned to the mountain, where You had shown him Your glory, by allowing him to see Your back from the cleft in which he was placed.  Despite not seeing You face to face, the face of Moses shone with the reflection of Your glory, and he had to veil his face, because the people could not look upon him.

With the words God fresh in his ears, Moses reminds the people to observe Your rest, the day You set aside to honour the creation of the world and all in it.  Then the people were asked by Moses to bring gifts for the building of the temple honouring You; which they gladly did.”

It is my intention to love and serve You on a continuing basis.  I also aim to honour You in a place of worship as well as at home, and willingly bring offerings to assist in the costs and maintenance of the building.

Amen

Exodus 33:12 “Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’  But You have not let me know whom You will send with me.  Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have already found grace in My sight.’”

Dear God,

It is wonderful to read of Your dealings with people as recorded in the scriptures, and also to gain a sense of Your glory, power and might, along with Your love and mercy.  Moses felt inadequate to lead the rebellious, difficult children of Israel to the Promised Land, unless You went with them, as their divine guide and God.  How wonderful to know You God as did Moses, and have You say, “I know you by name, and you have already found grace in My sight.”  Moses having worked for years in the quiet of the desert as a shepherd, would now have I imagine a mind  uncluttered with everyday things, and free from cherished known sins, therefore he was ready to hear Your spoken words.

He was of course still subject to sin, which caused him to miss out on entering the Promised Land. For all of us, one unguarded moment, can cause us profound problems, because Satan and his angels never seem to take a nap, and they are right in there with their temptations encouraging we on earth to sin.

To know that I had found grace in Your sight would be such precious knowledge, to have.  With humility Moses responded, Exodus 33: 13 “Now therefore I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.  …”  Your promise is given to Moses, Exodus 33:14, “And He said, ‘My Presence will go with You, and I will give You rest.’”  Not only did You go with Moses, but You gave him Your rest, which he surely would have needed, after dealing with 1000’s of rebellious people.

Today I can be comforted by the assurance and promise of Jesus, when He says, ‘come unto Me and I will give you rest’.  I have found this to be so; along with the many other promises that You have made to give us rest, which I have also claimed; with gratitude I give You my praise.

The response made by Moses ‘Now therefore I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and may find grace in Your sight…..’ I affirm as my prayer today, as I lead a Health program for people in the community.

Amen

Matthew 21:22 “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing you will receive.”

Dear God,

Thank You dear God, that You do answer the prayer of faith.  Right now I am subconsciously worrying about preparing for the running of a program, and it is causing my muscles to be tight and painful, and I feel agitated and touchy.  I remind myself there is no need to worry, I will leave it with God, but my body does not listen to my mind or words.

Then I come to You in Bible study and prayer, and already I am more relaxed.  Please give me Your total peace, putting all else aside, I ask for Your promise, and believe I have received my request, as I claim Your promise for my own.

I know Your peace will come, as it has on a number of other occasions.  Also I have dedicated myself to this program and to be used by You, therefore I believe You will give me the right attitude and supply all my needs; spiritual, mental and emotional , as well as direct my path.

Thank You that despite me getting in the way; You take my agitation and replace it with calmness, peace and right thinking.

It is so wonderful, to love and serve a God, who cares about what I do and how I feel.  You have shown me so often, that You not only care about how I feel about myself, but how I feel within myself.  I give You all my praise, for You alone have the power that will enable us to think the way that is most beneficial for the situation we are in as You bestow upon us all the abilities that we lack to do just that;  often not immediately, but over time, when we keep seeking and hang by You.  For so many, it has been shown, that there is no ‘black hole’ or addiction that You cannot pull a person out of, into the light of freedom and normality.

Thank You for giving me the opportunity to learn, that addiction can certainly be chemicals, but very often is a multitude of socially acceptable things like, over working, over eating, wrong foods, excessive worry, and other negative ways of thinking, and so the comprehensive list goes on.

I am so glad that no matter the cause for any distress in my (our) life, Jesus is and has the answer, if we will only ask Him and stick with Him.  I have found this so very often, even though I recognise in lots of ways in the light of the experience of many others, I have been spared a great deal.

Jesus I choose You, to run my life again today.

Amen