daily IMPACT by selahV today

INSIGHT ON SIGHT

The older I get the less I see.  Yet the less I see, the more I see.  How can that be?  Though my physical eyes are wearing out, and glasses are a necessity, my spiritual eyesight comes clearer with each passing day.  Knowing God’s Word and letting Him guide me in His ways gives me better vision in life.

Through the years God has opened my eyes many times through His Word.  He has given me insight into dealing with problems, avoiding pitfalls, and remaining close to Him.  His “testimonies” have been a delight to me and have given counsel to my situations time and time again.  God gave us so many wonderful stories of Abraham, Noah, Joseph, and Joshua, Daniel.  These accounts give me examples on how I should and should not live my life.   Without my glasses, words are blurry and mistakes could easily occur.  Without God’s Word I could not have survived the past 32 years.  Every day His Word is more alive than yesterday.  I find such guidance, consolation and strength from God’s Word.  His promises are certain.  When I’ve hid His word in my heart, He has brought it to mind when I needed help most.  People have tried to water down what God has shown me to be valuable and true through the years. Folks can spin things in all kinds of ways to weaken the depth of His Word, but it is a futile attempt with me.

“But with my whole heart I have sought Thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.  Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” Psalm 119:10,11.

When my whole heart seeks God, He never fails to meet me where I am.  When my soul breaks from that longing to be holy as He is holy, He gives me what I need in His Son to be what He wants me to be.  And nothing can blur the vision before me.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008,2009]

“My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.”  Psalm 119:20

GRACIOUS AFFLICTION

Are you happy with your affliction?  Are you learning from it?  Or do you get so caught up in the difficulty, pain and impairment that you focus on yourself all the day long?  I don’t like to be sick.  I don’t like to hurt.  I don’t like the trials and tribulations of life.  But oh, that I’d learn from them.

“It is good for me that I am afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.” Psalm 119:71.

I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that I have learned God’s statutes from my afflictions.  And it is good that I learned.  I learned patience when God tarried.  I learned faith when I obeyed God’s voice.  I learned compassion through my pain.  I learned joy when I suffered loss.  I learned contentment in diversity.  I learned love when I was hated.  I learned forgiveness when I was wronged.  I learned restraint when I was tempted.  So much to learn.  So gracious is the affliction of life.  So good it was for me.

While affliction doesn’t feel good, it is necessary.  Where would we be if not for the affliction of our Savior?  It was for my good that Jesus was afflicted.  It was for yours that He was obedient to our Father.  May we all rejoice in the knowledge that through His shed blood we have remission of our sins.  We are the redeemed.  How good is that!  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]   

LET US GROW UP

 When I was 10, I wanted to be 13.  When I was 13, I wanted to be 16.  When I was 16, I wanted to be 21.  After that, I no longer wanted to be anything but what I was—until I was 28.  When I was 28, I became a baby.  I was totally innocent and dependent again.

All of me was less than any of me.  What I once loved, I no longer loved.  In fact, some of what I loved, I hated.  Life as I had lived it for twenty-eight years was a lie.  Habits I’d developed needed to be broken.  Friendships were severed.  Love became real to me for the first time in my life.  Christ entered my life and changed my heart. He changed the way I think and process things.  He began to teach me how to grow in Him.  In love.

“Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly].  Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Annointed One).” Ephesians 4:15

In twenty-eight years I had observed a lot of untruth.  I’d lived with the examples of people who dealt with each other untruly.  I’d been a part of living untruly.  I had spoken untruly.  Much of life’s experiences were the opposite of the truth I now found in Jesus.  I began to grow up.  And someday I will meet my Lord face to face and in Him I will be full-grown.  Until then, I will continue to be “enfolded in love”, and “grow up in every way and in all things into Him.”  selahV

[Copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]

TO PROSPER IN EVERYTHING

“And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth it’s fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [come to maturity].” Psalm 1:3

That’s what I want. Everything I do to prosper. I long for all my efforts to bring forth fruit. I pray my words minister to folks and give them strength, comfort and hope. I pray they challenge them and inspire them. I pray my prayers are answered for others in need. I pray my words of advice to others are pure and without conceit or guile so they can grow in their walk with the Lord.

“Blessed is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down where the scornful gather.” Psalm 1:1.

When a man delights in the Lord, he chooses wisely where to walk, stand and sit. He will not compromise his integrity, his witness or his reputation. He will abstain from all things which might give the appearance of evil. And then….

He is blessed in such a way that he is firmly planted. He is not going to be uprooted when met with strong winds, because he is rooted in Christ. And he’s always going to be supplied with the Water needed for life. And the fruit will come in due time because of where he is planted and in Whom he is planted. And on top of all that, he never fades away–never withers; he is always full of life and joy and readiness. And everything he does eventually comes to maturity and produces for the Lord.

“Not so with the wicked [those disobedient and living without God are not so] But they are like the chaff which the wind drives away.” Psalm 1:4. selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]

HE WANTS ME TO DIE

To unbelievers, dying carries such finality. To believers, it’s a temporal thing. Yet, God counts dying believers precious in His sight.

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Psalm 116:15

A believer being sanctified is dying daily to self. Putting to death our desires and presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice pleases our Father. It is our reasonable service, according to the Apostle Paul. Dying has no sting. It is the clinging to the flesh to keep it alive that hurts.

When I had surgery to remove a tumor from my throat, all the nerves that controlled one side of my face and part of my shoulder, were wrapped around that lemon-sized growth. They had to be removed one by one to avoid permanent damage and paralysis. Unfortunately, some of the nerves were severed. Over time, some have grown back. Whenever the life of a nerve is restored, it tingles painfully. It tries to come to life again and in the process, it is suspended between death and life. That is the way it is with our sinful desires. As we put to death our fleshly desires, it can be painful; but only because we don’t want to let it die. We cling to it and want to hold onto it. This does not please God. It does not help others who struggle with sin, either.

“For we who live are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death. Thus, death is actively at work in us, but [it is in order that our] life [may be actively at work] in you.” 2 Cor. 4: 11,12.

Death in the believer is a constant condition which produces fruit of the Spirit as he/she grows spiritually. It’s no wonder the death of God’s saints is precious to Him to behold. It is through our death, that His Son is made manifest to the world around us. No greater blessing is there to our Father than to see His own Son glorified through us. selahV