daily IMPACT by selahV today

When Broken and Needy

...we sometimes burrow into a hole of our own making to protect ourselves from the world which seems so cruel. 

so critical.

so judgmental and condemning.

We almost believe--in fact, we do believe--what others say about us. We absorb their rejection and trust in their picture of us. We try to correct it, to "photoshop" their image.  But we simply cannot change the way others see us sometimes.  Our tears, or smiles, make no difference.  Our noise or silence fails. But in time, God makes all things new. 

He takes

splatters and smears

and creates a masterpiece

from tears.  ~selahVToday

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How in the world do we do that?

One thing is certain--we cannot do it alone.  Oh, people can be successful by following their own regimens to meet a goal, to master a portion of their lives-- to rid themselves of a bad habit, or solidify a good habit. But to actually live victoriously in the face of defeat and woefully frightening circumstances? people need more.

We need more than a close friend, a wise counselor, a tutor, a physician, a financial advisor.  We need God-- the Omnipotent all-powerful, Omniscient all-knowing God.  In Him and through Him we live life victoriously.  He is enough to meet our every need for victorious living. Thus it is important that we:

"Be still and know that I am God". Psalm 46:10

Be still; be still; be still. Stop thinking about your pressures, your anxieties, your problems, your difficulties. Take a few minutes and be still.  Center your mind on God.  Know that He is, has, and always will be God.  We aren't.  Our ideas of what life should be is not necessarily how God knows it to be, nor how He wants us to see life. Even when the things we do are seemingly "good" things. God still may have a different path on which He expects us to walk.  We may not understand it, but our responsibility is to walk as He walks and where He wants us to walk.

"Lean not to your own understanding"...instead-- "in all your ways acknowledge-- [receive, give recognition to, obey and yield to]-- Him and He shall direct your path."  Cease your struggling. Cease questioning. Cease resisting. Cease pulling and pushing and shoving and grappling. Cease. Be still and know. Cease believing in your own wit, wisdom, and winsome ways.  Cease and desist--halt what you're doing and do not take it up again.  INSTEAD...

Seize God and ingest Him--consume, take in and rest in Him-- no matter what waves break upon your shorelines.  Trust Him--bathe your mind in what you know in Him to be true as you are "still" before His throne of mercy, love and grace.  Remember God doesn't want us to do anything apart from Him. Remember what Jesus told his disciples after He was crucified? Wait until the Spirit comes and indwells you and empowers you. Victorious living is not struggling-- it is resting in Him and His ability-- not our own. Be still and know. God is and always will be God with you.   selahV

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WHEN WE ARE THIRSTY

we may not need what we think we need.

When we need a friend, we may need to be a friend.

When we need comfort, we may need to comfort another.

When we need encouragement, we may need to encourage another.

When we need love, we may need to love another.

When we need acceptance, we may need to accept another.

When we need mercy, we may need to be merciful.

When we need forgiveness, we may need to forgive someone.  WHY?

Because God says: "he that watereth shall be watered also himself." Proverbs 11:25  SO......

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WHAT DOES "IT IS FINISHED" MEAN FOR YOU?

I finished doing the dishes and grabbed a cup of coffee.  I finished that cup, and had another as I edited devotions for a book, and studied sayings of Jesus on the cross. In Greek, "it is finished" was an accounting term. It meant paid in full.  Ever wonder what that said to onlookers at the crucifixion of Christ so many years ago?  Surely a few questions rose in their minds: What could this man hanging on a cross mean by "It is finished"? He breathed no more. Was He predicting His last breath, His death? Some theologians tell us it meant that Jesus had paid in full the price for the sin of man. His death and words meant His work, His commission, on earth was over, completed, finished. But was it?

"Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled...Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." John 19:28-30.

Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave. He stood by the open grave and questioned Mary for her weeping; He preached to her and told her not to cling to what was--but what had come through His death and resurrection. He met and talked with the lost on their way to Emmaus. (Lk.24:13-35) He appeared to the bewildered followers hovering in the Upper Room. He preached to Thomas and showed him His nail-scarred hands. He met Peter on the beach. He rose in the clouds and told thousands of onlookers to go into the world and baptize, make disciples and teach them to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded. He sat down beside His Father. He makes intercession as our advocate today. He will someday judge the world. He will separate His sheep from the goats. He will come again to take His people home. No, the cross was not the final act of Christ. There's so much more to come.

I can finish a cup of coffee, I can finish the dishes, but if I want to eat, they will get dirty again. I will always be washing the dishes. Jesus finished the commitment He made to the Father to go to the cross in obedience. He showed us how to love, how to talk, how to pray, how to sacrifice. Until we breathe our last breath, it will not be finished for us.

We sit with Him in glory and abide in HIm; we walk with Him on earth by faith, in his power; we stand with Him, in His power and protection against the evil one.  We follow Him wherever He leads and rely on Him to keep us in the grace sufficient to meet every need we have to stay the course until this life is finished for us, too. What a friend we have in Jesus. What a joy to walk with Him, to talk with Him, to know His love and fulfillment of His live within us. What do you say? What are you doing with Jesus today? If you are a Christian, are you now "finished" because you know you have salvation? Or are you ready to go for a walk with someone today?

© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2010

WOULD YOU STILL WORSHIP IF?

Imagine if you would.  Your children.  Your bank accounts.  Your immediate income.  Your job.  All gone--murdered, killed, destroyed. Would you fall on your face and worship God?

Imagine further.  Your status.  Your health.  Your ability to ever regain anything in life.  Your reputation.  All gone.  Would you still honor and revere God?

"Then Job arose and rent his robe and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped....In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly." Job 1:20, 22.  Amplified.

"The sufferings of Job were not in order to perfect him.  The explanation of Job's sufferings was that God and Satan had made a battleground of his soul, and the honour of God was at stake." Oswald Chambers, The Servant as His Lord, 1957

"In the Bible it is never the idealizing of the sufferer that is brought out, but the glorifying of God.  God always serves Himself out of the saints personal experience of suffering." Oswald Chambers, Shade of His Hand, 1936

Suffering is not an easy thing.  We do not know how we will react to these horrendous circumstances until we meet them in our lives.  Some never face such.  Yet every day, Satan seeks to destroy the witness of Christians.  We can only hope we will not sin with our lips.  We can only believe our faith and integrity will be seen as that which honors God.  We must hope we would still worship our Sovereign Lord.  selahV

[© SelahV Today, hariette petersen, 2008]

WHAT DO YOU SEE REFLECTED?

Lately when I look in the mirror all I can see is flaws.  The age spots.  The rogue hairs.  The wrinkles.  And that is complicated by the fact that for me to tweeze an errant hair, I must use a magnifying mirror because of failing vision.  So the flaws are even more apparent.  What others don't see, I see enlarged.

This doesn't always happen in our spiritual lives.  Some folks look at their reflection and see what they want to see.  They visualize something much better than reality.  The image they have of themselves is based upon what others see and say about them.  They never take a closer look.  They go through life believing in the image that others have created and never look at themselves in light of God's Word.   

We can fool ourselves sometimes, and we can fool man many times.  But we can't fool God. "As in water face answers to and reflects face, so the heart of man to man." Proverbs 27:19

Ever looked into a pool of water?  Unless the pool is completely and totally still, your image is distorted.  It's never quite like you are.  Such is the case of one who does not look to God's examination.  Yet some are satisfied with their distorted image.  They are content to see only a portion of who they are.

Sooner or later the heart of man is made visible to others.  Sooner or later the integrity we have is known.  Sooner or later we expose who we are by how we walk and talk.  For me, I pray God keeps the magnifying mirror of my soul before me at all times.  I'd hate to have things growing in my life that need to be removed, and for the lack of vision the image of Christ be distorted by my reflection.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]

 

BEYOND WHAT I CAN SEE

  Faith is standing at the base of a mountain and seeing yourself stand in the valley of peace on the other side.

Faith knows the rugged terrain before it, and does not waver in its walk up the face of the mountain; for faith knows it only takes one step at a time to meet the challenge of the mountain's peak.  Faith has no fear; it knows beyond that peak there is nothing that cannot be endured or faced.  For faith is held in the Sovereign Hand of God. 

"Look from the place where you are, northward, and southward and eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see, to you will I give." Genesis 13:14-15

"No instinct can be put in you by the Holy Ghost but He purposes to fulfill.  Let your faith then rise and soar away and claim all the land you can discover."  Streams in the Desert

When you cannot see the will of God, go as far as you can see and wait till He shows you the next step.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008] 

WHEN INTEGRITY PREVAILS

It really didn't matter how well I was liked among fellow employees.  It didn't matter that my efforts had produced more business and revenue for the practice.  It didn't matter that I was dependable and that clients liked me.  I was still fired.  In a sense, that was my choice.

I was fired, not because of any performance failure.  I was fired because I wouldn't resign.  I was given an ultimatum.  And it was all because I would not follow the dictates of my employer's New Age philosphy being exercised in the workplace and forced upon we employees. In short, I was fired because I was a Christian.  Had I simply resigned, my former employer would have supported me in any position I sought.  (He said.)  If I didn't quit, then he would ascertain anytime I used that position on an application, he'd give me a bad reference.  He was true to his word.   Indeed, one propspective employer told me straight out that my former employer said I was not a "team player".  He's right; I couldn't play with on a team with a leader following after strange gods and demanding I follow along.

"The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the willful contrariness and crookedness of the treacherous shall destroy them." Proverbs 11:3

My decision to be fired rather than resigning followed me for years.  In retrospect, I probably could have resigned and things may have been better for me in future employments.  However, there were no guarantees that this employer would give me a good recommendation.  I had no reason to trust him.  What I didn't realize until later is that by allowing him to fire me instead of resigning, I was able to apply for unemployment.

Every time I applied for another job using his reference, he impugned me, so I didn't get the position.  Therefore, the unemployment continued and he had to pay me for not working for him.  Such irony.  When the unemployment ran out, the Lord moved us to an entire new city.  Provision.  I chose that day Whom I would serve and God took care of me.  And when my husband was called to another church, it wasn't necessary for me to work.  So I didn't for nearly 7 years.  Then I started my own business.  Through this experience, God, once again confirmed that I didn't need anyone but Him.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]

I AM INCORRUPTIBLE

In politics.  In business.  In medicine.  In legislation.  In court systems.  In government.  Every single day, in every walk of life, we witness corruption.  Cheating, lying, embezzling, manipulating.  It's a fact of life in our evil-driven world.  No matter how hard we fight it, or how much we pray about it, or how much we eradicate it, corruption will continue till the end of the world.  Only one thing in this life is untouchable and incorruptible.

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Peter 1:23

As time draws nearer to the return of Christ, corruption will not only be condoned, but accepted as commonplace.  No matter how much we battle our flesh, it will always be corruptible and subject to destruction. (1 Peter 1:24)  But within the soul of man who is born again by the Word of God, Jesus Himself abides and lives incorruptible.  Within the heart of a regenerated Believer is the seed that nothing nor anyone, can destroy or taint.  This "incorruptible" is who we are in Christ.  Because of this, I am incorruptible.  And that which is flesh resides in the presence of His grace until I meet Him face to face.   selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]   

WORDS, DEEDS, SACRIFICE~~AND OTHER WASTED THINGS

"Haste makes waste," Mama warned me when I was trying to rush through a job.  "Measure twice, cut once," she instructed when we shortened the hemline of my slacks.  "A stitch in time saves nine," she quipped when trying to get me to mend a hole in my sweater.

Through the years, I've heard those words come barreling into my mind on multiple occasions.  Many times they visited after I'd already let the three-stitch hole grow to need thirty stitches, or cut the legs off my pants without bothering to measure.  Foolish ways, wasted actions and time.  The same is true of words too quickly uttered--and not just in anger.

"Do you see a man who speaks in haste?  There is more hope for a fool than for him."  Proverbs 29:20

Most folks who speak in haste end up regretting their words.  Ever spoken on impulse and made a commitment you wish you hadn't?  Afterwards, when you worked to fulfill your hasty commitment, ever been disgruntled and begrudging?  I have.  And my attitude made my efforts worthless.  Wasted.  I may have sacrificed my time and even money to accomplish the task, but a stingy heart and contrary spirit does nothing to honor the Lord.  And He knows it.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]