daily IMPACT by selahV today

When Threatened By the World

It's time to be bold. Courageous. We need not fear. We're not alone.

Be it enemies, government, and those who ridicule Christians, we have Someone to turn to for help.  We have Someone who understands our angst, confusion, fear and frustration. We have Someone who knows the depth of our inadequacies to deal with what we see on the horizons for our children and grandchildren--One who sees our feelings of helplessness.

We have Someone who empathizes with our inability to change what we see happening-- the destruction, the manipulation, the injustice.  He knows we are weak and he knows we need Him.  He knows the threats are real and not imagined.  He knows we are not exaggerating the threats against our freedom, our faith, our liberty.  He knows.

All we need do is turn to Him and say:

"Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness." Acts 4:29

Just "consider" them, Lord-- the threats of the world or our adversaries. Then give us, "your servants", words to write, words to say and then the courage to say them with boldness.  Some are already following You and relying upon You.  Help us all to do likewise.

Need encouragement for a bolder spirit? So did I... it helped to read Acts 4 now...here at BibleHub.com.

Related articles

Beyond Comprehension: Persecution of Christians

I Know What I Believe, Do You? by hariette petersen

Revive Our Hearts Women's Ministry - Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

 

Faithfulness

"Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23) Holman

Well done my good and faithful servant....

"well done"... won't those two words mean absolutely everything to us when we see the Savior?  Oh, that my love could be as faithful for God as God's love is for me.

Today I sit here thinking about... praying for... and loving those whom God has placed in my life. Family, friends, acquaintances, strangers.  How do I glorify God in their presence?  I shudder.

I think about times in my life when I've been ever faithful to what He asked me to do--serving as a youth leader for over 20 years, a pastor's wife, a mother, a grandmother and great-grandmother. This past year has been a wild ride of chaos.  With failures.  Robbery. Surgeries.  Health issues. Twists and turns from decisions that seemed to mock every sense of discernment within my being.

I began to wonder where God wanted me to "bloom". Writing became a drudgery and I wondered if the Lord had placed me on some sort of shelf.  He is the Potter after all, and can do with me as He so chooses.  Then I thought about the lilies of the field and how they do not toil, yet bloom in all their glory at the whim of God's blessing. 

Recently, I've come to a place wherein I expect to see God work like I've not seen Him in a long while.  I expect to see a manifestation of His Spirit. Today I think of how God's filling my mind with new thoughts, my heart with new fervor, my spirit with a new fire.  He is so faithful.  I do get excited thinking about what He has in store for me.

I'm so very grateful God's faithfulness is not like mine.  His is ever present.  His is unconditional.  His doesn't depend on His mood, circumstance, or situation. Isn't that a wonderful thing to consider?

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

Related articles

Turn Back to God

When People Disappoint You

When the Future Is in Doubt

When the Day of Battle is Every Day

The Lord says, "I AM with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Genesis 28:15 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." Ps. 28:7.

It makes me wonder how in the world my days turn out like they do sometimes when I read passages like these in God's Word:  When I have the trials I do, encounter the people I encounter.  But the more I consider the words above, I see the "operative phrase" in it all. 

"I AM" is our "strength and shield". 

Foremost in the life of a Christian, we must remember that the days in which we are gifted by God... He has a "plan"... He has it all "ready"... long before the alarm goes off.  While we are lying in bed, wrestling with our nightmares, our doubts, our confusion, our anxieties... God IS.  He knows what's coming the next day.  He knows who is going to be the thorn in our side-- the weakness that will eat at our flesh. He knows the circumstance that is going to throw us for a loop.  He knows the adversity we are going to face.  He knows.

HE KNOWS. 

And He wants us to turn to Him... for HE is our "strength and shield". 

God the Father.  The Almighty One.  The Holy and Righteous One.  The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.  The Great Physician.

Though our days are filled with things we'd rather not face, we can rely on the SHIELD to keep us from temptation and harm. The arrows of Satan's demons cannot penetrate the heart of a Christian guarded by the Shield of God.

God's strength is made perfect in our weakness.  When we look to Him, we can trust His grace to be sufficient to meet every need we have. He will keep us in perfect peace when our mind is focused upon Him.  He promises.  As our days become darker and the evil of man abounds, our need for the Father is greater with each morning.  May we all look to Him and rest in His grace and promises. selahV

When Doubt Arises

We must look to the Lord. We must seek His face. Above all others.

Can we see His face when we are looking at other things?  other people? with an obstructed view?

Yesterday I was trying to read a passage of Scripture and I just couldn't focus on the words.  It's like they were blurred.  I'd blink and rub my eyes but still, the words were not clear.  I kept reading along but was so annoyed.  I looked up at the television screen and the minister who was speaking was also blurred.  I realized there was a smudge on my glass lens.  I took off my glasses and wiped the smudge away and then I could clearly see the verse of scripture and the minister's face on television.

Life with Jesus is like that.  We are trying to look to Him and we do "seek" His face, His will, His way; but we can't quite clearly see Him.  His way is a bit blurred.  We're pretty sure it's Him we are hearing, seeing in our lives but there is this niggling sense of doubt. Sometimes things get between us and Jesus.  We allow the world to cloud over our spiritual eyes.  Even the smallest thing can smudge our view of the Lord. 

Less meditating on His Word.

Less prayer. 

Less fellowship. 

Instead, we look to others to fill needs we have, emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually.  We look to others-- friends who may not be seeking the best of Christ.  We seek another's face-- or even our own as we follow after our desires... rather than His.  When we do this, the spiritual lens of our eyes gets dirty. And while we can search for all the right answers, our vision and discernment is clouded. We can be fooled.

We need to clean away the things, the people, the activities that get between us and the Lord and refresh our souls by looking to Him and seeking His face with clearer perspective.  Time.  Time with Him and Him alone.  Reading His Word and praying.  ^"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." James 4:8

Sometimes to draw near to God, we must go back to a time when we knew His closeness, when we felt His presence in our lives.  We must recall the best of our relationship with Him. We must make Him the center of our life once more.  And all the doubt that arises will be made clear.

Timely Encounter

Every day we encounter someone who impacts our lives in a positive or negative way.  Some encounters stand out above all others.

Yesterday, my life was filled with happy birthday wishes from friends and family.  Many offered prayers for me; one lady even took time to write out a long prayer which requested the most profound things from God for me. I was so humbled anyone would do this for me.  I will treasure her prayer the rest of my life because her prayer had residual requests attached to nearly every phrase. It's a gift that keeps on giving.

Having lived over 65 years, I'm bound to reflection on yesterday and also of thinking about tomorrow.  I find it ironic that I chose to go see a movie with my granddaughters, Inside Out.  The movie focuses on memories and emotions and how those things interact with the way we live life. Amid the giggles coming from children in the theater, it made me think.  About time, about life, about the time I've wasted thinking about the past, worrying about the future and failing to seize the moments as they come to me.

Then I "happened" across a devotional by Dr. David Allen, about the importance of 5 minutes.  All these timely encounters of the day gave me pause. Just like the "selah" in scripture: "pause and think on these things."

Life is so short-- but a vapor.  Time is only as valuable as we treat it.

“Look carefully then how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16

Perhaps it's best to remember, no matter where you are or where you go, the only time you have is now. ~~selahV

Turn Back to God

Where are you in your walk with God?  Did you once have an intimate, warm and active relationship with Him and then all of a sudden it changed?  What caused the change? 

A loss?  A death?  Defeat?  Disappointment? Anger? Bitterness?  Pride? 

"If you return to the Almighty, you shalt be built up" ~Job 22:23

Jesus tells us to come to him and he will give us rest.  Unfortunately, all too often, when we need God most is when so many of us chase after other things, other people, other activities to fill the void that only He can fill. 

We seek the things of this earth for happiness and we flail about and find ourselves lacking everything-- no matter how much we accumulate, or how far we go to search for solace and contentment.

We are lost in a wilderness of self-indulgence.  Rather than look to the Almighty, we look to the world around us.  The things and people who make us comfortable and happy. 

When these things are gone, we blame God.

Peace is in Him.  Rest is in Him.  Hope is in Him.  IN Him.  HIM. Only Him.

When the Future Is in Doubt

Where can we go?  To the One who holds the future.

When your days seem threatened by broken dreams, difficult situations, and questions with no answers, life can be challenging.  When a marriage falls apart.  When friends stop speaking.  When health deteriorates and strength gives way to weakness.  It can be overwhelming.  However,

"I keep the Lord in mind always.
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken." Psalm 16: 8

No matter what the future holds, we can trust the LORD to keep us in the situations of life.  He loves us.  He knows our situations.  He knew them before we faced them and He knows what they will be tomorrow.  As we lean on Him, He will direct our paths and give us grace to meet the hours of trial.  We don't feel that way, but how we feel does not change God.  He is faithful.

"LORD, You are my portion and my cup of blessing; You hold my future." Psalm 16:5

We often seek solutions and plan out in our minds what the best solution will be.  We try to help out God and reason that we can't sit idle and wait when we are capable of doing this or that.  So often, the Lord has other ideas about the solution and all we need do is rest in Him.  We don't need to jump out ahead of Him.  The best of our efforts is wasted energy in comparison to waiting on the timing of God and letting Him be our "portion".  The blessing He has in store is unequaled.  He holds our future and when He holds it, it is in good hands.  When your future is in doubt, rest in the presence of God. Am learning this lesson daily.

When You Dwell In Jesus

He dwells in you.  And you are never alone.  The world may buffet you and beat against your mind and heart, but Christ is always present within you to give you strength and courage to endure.  The evils of this world--disease, illness and enemies of life-- will try to destroy your peace and tear your body apart, but the Great Physician is your comfort and balm.

"The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1

I cannot go into the sunlight without glasses to shade my eyes anymore.  If I do, my eyes tear up and hurt.  I can barely see.  My skin is thinner than it was when I was young and the sun scorches me within a few minutes wherein I use to lie for hours in the beams and tan.

These are minor issues for an aging lady, really.  The harder challenges are those that attack my weakened lungs and vulnerable immune system.  These must always be considered when I do anything or visit anyone who may have a contagious condition.  It can be a great concern if not for the trust and faith I have in a Sovereign Lord who knows my needs and protects me from the things I find most threatening.

I suppose it's hardest for me when I try to do what I once did with youthful energy and vitality only to find my ornery old body will not cooperate anymore. It's annoying, to say the least, when women older than I are able to get about and do those things with ease which I can no longer do, even if I struggle.  However, this is the place in which the LORD Almighty has placed me.  And for this space I do not reject as insignificant-- even though at times, I feel insignificant.  My place rests beneath His wings, under the shadow of His constant protection.  How blessed I am that I can still see to read, and have fingers nimble enough to type and a mind clear enough to praise Him from this space He's designed just for me. 

May the LORD give you insight to see the space He's given you this day and may you walk in it as He directs. 

Related articles

Cultivate Faithfulness and Watch It Bloom

When Lions Roar and Life Seems Threatening

Facing the Storm

We all have storms at one time or another.  Storms are as variable as they are individual. Financial challenges. Relational discord. Health deterioration. Losses.  This week, for me, it's an upcoming surgery.  I've had a few surgeries in my life-- some major; I know the routine.  Yet, for some reason, I don't want to face this particular one--probably because it involves my eyes.  No matter how simple the procedure for our surgeons, we all know risks are possible.  From improper healing to possible infections and unexpected complications.

I've normally faced such things with faith and resolve. Until last night I've been rather anxious about it and my prayer has not lessened my anxiety. Then I went to visit my granddaughters and took them out to supper.  For some reason I felt led to ask the sixteen year old to offer grace.  As she prayed for our meal, she also prayed for her younger sister to do well on an upcoming test at school, then she prayed that I be calm and not fearful with my upcoming surgery.  For the first time since I'd scheduled the surgery, I felt at ease.  My troubled mind relieved.

Last night I was wakened in the middle of the night and the first thought that came to mind was my upcoming surgery.  I began to pray for "calm" like my granddaughter had asked of God.  I asked God to give me a verse from His Word and "Fear not, for I am with you" came to mind and I fell back to sleep.  This morning I was all set to search for a scripture when I decided to open my email and there was this picture from a quote I'd posted long ago on the popular Pinterest site; someone else had repinned it to their site.  It's like God was reminding me as it appeared on this particular day.  It fit my situation perfectly.  Now, I rest in this promise from God: "wherever I go, He is with me"-- no matter the storm we will face it together.  And He will go with you, too.  Rest in Him, not in circumstances.  He holds the circumstances of our storms in His hand and He will keep us in perfect peace when our minds are fixed on Him.  He promises.