daily IMPACT by selahV today

SOMEONE'S BEEN PRAYING FOR ME

Deep inside my heart, I know.  There is a bubbling excitement that is unexplainable.  The shadows of oppression have lifted.  The joy of the Lord is fully pulsating throughout my being.  Life is exactly as it's been the last 4 years--fraught with trials, filled with struggles, and crowded with obstacles.

Health is deteriorating.  Financial pressure is mounting.  Life in general has not changed.  By all accounts, I should be depressed and weary.  The future looks bleak, but I feel so happy I could shout for joy.  God is doing something extra-special within me.  He gave me a song to sing all day today: "Jesus is the Answer".  I sang it as I leisurely shopped in Wal-Mart and carefully purchased food for the month.  When the total rang up, I about choked.  I'd gone over budget.  But that's okay.

Life is so sweet.  I feel incredibly content.  Nothing seems impossible.  I know the simple things I suffer are so small in comparison to others' difficulties, and those of my Lord long ago.  I am so blessed to have people praying for me.  It's a reality some call foolishness.  Yet, I am not ashamed to claim His promises; "...for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him until that day." 2 Timothy 1:12  selahV   

IS YOUR HEART WOUNDED AND STRICKEN?

  ARE YOU POOR AND NEEDY? 

I have less monetarily now than I had in 1978.  At least then I had healthcare, owned a home and had two cars.  I still shopped for clothes at Goodwill then, and I still had to be careful with the food budget, but I wasn't poor and needy.  I had Jesus.  I was abundantly blessed and fully fueled with the joy of the Lord.  Within one year, I no longer owned a home, had only one car, and had no healthcare.  But I was thrilled.  Why?  Because my husband was called to the ministry, and we were off to Louisville, Kentucky to prepare for whatever God had in store.  Those years were some of the most precious years God has ever allowed me to live.  I was so rich in faith and hope.

What keeps you closest to God?  Gratitude and joy, or crisis and desparation?  When do you find yourself walking in the garden with Him?  When do you seek His face?

David called out to God in the depth of his fear and desparation.  His heart was broken.  He was tired of running from his adversaries.  He was tired of living in caves.  He prayed that God would intervene.   

"For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded and stricken within me." Psalm 109:22.

There are times I feel like David.  There are times I think the entire world is my adversary.  There are times my heart is so stricken with heartache and grief that I am overcome with myself.  It's those times I know I, too, am poor and needy.  Poor in spirit, needy in faith.  And when I am, I find my wealth and provision in the contentment of God's grace and certainty of His hope.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, hariette petersen, 2008]

NO WE CAN'T..."FOR VAIN IS THE HELP OF MAN"

Moses is considered one of Israel's greatest leaders.  However, Moses could not part the Red Sea.  Moses could not rain down manna from heaven every day for decades to feed millions of people.  Moses could not make a pair of sandals that survived 40 years of wandering in the desert.  Moses could not produce water come from a rock.  Moses could not meet the desires of the people.  Moses could not change their hearts or make them follow the commandments of God.  And by his disobedience, Moses could not enter the Promised Land.

"Give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man." Psalm 108:12

No one can do what God can do.  No man can be what God can be, but Jesus.  What man cannot do, God did.

God sent His only begotten son, born of a virgin, to a world already condemned to death.  And through His life Christ showed us the holiness the Father in Heaven expects of us.  And none of us can do it; for all fall short of the glory of God.  None of us can obey the commandments.  And our disobedience and sin rewards us with death.  We can do nothing about that.  Some day we will all die.  Every last one of us.  No matter how great our healthcare plan is.  No matter how much money we accumulate.  No matter how educated we become.  No matter how much force we exert upon others.  No matter how much we try to avoid it; we will die.  We will meet our Creator and we cannot change that. We will either be separated from Him forever or join Him in a great celebration of eternal life.   

Jesus in the Way, the Truth and the Life.  And no one can come to the Father but through Him.  It is through the blood of Jesus, not men, that we are saved.  May we all seek to follow His command to go into all the world and share this Gospel message.  This we can do--but only by His grace.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, hariette petersen, 2008]