SelahV Today by hariette petersen

It Never Ceases To Amaze Me...

...HOW FOOLISH WE CAN BE.

We have everything we need.  We have the world at our fingertips--information, encouragement, inspiration, knowledge, advice, do-it-yourself videos and social media connections.  We have gurus, geek-squads and professors of everything there is to profess.  We have self-taught, self-led and self-helps.  We have folks who have been there and done that. Brilliant counselors, therapists and doctors.

Yet we ignore all the things at our fingertips and more.  Not only do we walk in the way of foolishness, we sit down and dine at its dinner table.  We not only swallow appetizers whole, we devour the main course and then smack our lips in anticipation of dessert.  In all that, we never once consider how foolish we are to be sitting and fellowshipping among those who have failed in everything they've ever done--who repeatedly listen to the lies of Satan.  And we lap up their advice and counsel like it is a direct revelation from God Himself.  Foolishness.

Woe unto we who follow not into the paths of righteousness and common sense.

At times we listen to ourselves...even though we know that the way of man is right in his own eyes but the way of the righteous is in the will of the Father.  The will of the Father is that we rest in HIM.  He knows exactly how much pressure He has allowed to be placed upon our frames.  He has made our frames.  (Are you listening my friend?)  God knows when we are at a point of breaking--when we are not to let another thing be placed upon our schedule, our calendar, our plate.  He knows.  We don't.  He created our bodies in such a way that when we get to a place in life where we think we cannot go on, and our body screams that it needs rest, then it is time to sit down and shut up and let God fill our minds and hearts and spirits with His power.

How many times did He have His saints of old sit down and stop what they were doing?  Trust me; the world will not end if we stop for our day--or days-- of rest.  It will stop if we continue on as if there are no stop signs, red lights, yield signs and railroad crossings.  If we do not heed the warnings at the crossings of our lives, we will find ourselves stuck in the middle of the tracks with freight train roaring toward us.  Even though the world seems like an impossible situation, the Lord waits.  He waits because He knows God has allowed the calamity of life to prove to the world that He is God and to be God-glorified against insurmountable odds.

The one who casts aside the counsel of the wise will soon rest in a bed of foolish thinking, covered in the consequences of impulsive actions, clutching a pillow of regret beneath his head.

Listen all you who would seek answers for questions that guide your life.  Listen to the children of the LORD to whom His Holy Spirit has bestowed the gift of discernment.  Listen.  Listen to the discernment of the LORD.  Sometimes He is a bright light in the middle of a Damascus road.  You are headed in the wrong direction and He blinds you in your tracks. Sometimes He comes in the form of a burning bush and you see a sign of HIS perpetual presence--you know you must stop and figure out what He's trying to say.  Sometimes the word of God comes from a young servant-girl who tells a king to go dip himself seven times in water where peasants swim.

Yet, if we are so enamored with our own desires, our own hopes, our own views, that we only see our way-- then God will let us.  But it will not be His perfect will and we will miss out on what He could have and would have done had we just listened to His counsel and had faith that He knows best what path we need to take. ~~selahV

FAITH AND WORKS--WHERE CONFLICT RESTS

Ever feel a bit useless?  Ever wonder if your activity is worthless in the Kingdom of God?  Ever wonder if your inactivity is just as worthless?

I've sometimes wondered.  I am so limited due to physical ailments, so I question.  Am I resting in Him and believing I am fully in Him when I do nothing?  I think about not participating in all the "duties" of Christian activities, and all church events. Sometimes I feel guilty about that.  I sit here and I pray for others and I feel really happy about that.  I write (not always about spiritual things, but about challenges we face, and about a more positive way of looking at things).  I feel called to do so; it's part of using the gifts the Spirit has given me.  I have a few folks in my life whom I encourage through emails, through my writing and they say they find courage to face things they might not have otherwise faced in quite the same way.  It humbles me and amazes me when they tell me that.  I never feel like I've done anything or said anything profound.  I never quite understand what they gain.  I'm simply compelled to write what I write.  Sometimes when I look back, I think I could have said it better, worded it differently, communicated clearer.  But ultimately, I leave my words in the hands of the Father and let Him do with them as He would.

I also undergird my daughter's ability to minister in our church and community by caring for her little ones when she needs to do something.  She is a busy lady as a deacon's wife, youth teacher, Couples Sunday School director.  I support her calling as a mother and wife and Christian leader.  I feel so complete in somehow being a part of easing her life. 

Yet, the "enemy" is always close, whispering doubts, accusing, smearing my mind with guilt.  Fortunately, I am always brought back to the fact that God loves me as I am.  His grace covers any and all insufficiencies I have or think I have.  I can "do" nothing apart from Christ.  I must rest in Him; and I find that rest when I simply stop and give Him total control.  Each time I do this, I find myself living--truly living--in His peace.  An unshakeable guilt-free peace.

A friend of mine puts it this way:

When we finally abandon the notion that God is only pleased with us when we work hard for Him, a stronghold is broken - and release comes. It's about time, wouldn't you say? Grace means relying on Him to enable us for our secondary callings, but our primary calling is always to Himself. In the overflow of His life in us, we're enabled for service. "Having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Col.1:20), we're given everything we need to live - no need for all the self-imposed guilt. ~~Victoria Gaines

How about you?  Do you think activity and busyness can take priority in one's life over Christ Himself?  Do you feel one's performance record is what Christ is most interested in?

"But the Lord replied to her by saying, 'Martha, Martha, you are troubled about many things.  There is need of (but a few things, or) only one.  Mary has chosen the good portion--that which is to advantage--which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42, Amplified.

Some Christians wonder how we reconcile that verse with James 2:20: "Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish, unproductive, spiritually-deficient fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?"  Some folks think if they aren't working in an active way, they are faithless.  But Martha wasn't faithless.  She was just choosing to busy herself at that particular moment with something less important than the most important.  Time with Jesus.  When we spend time with Jesus, our service to Jesus is completed through Him.  And all He is floods our being.  We stop fretting about our things-to-do lists.  He becomes our priority and all else flows from His life in us.  He cannot be taken away from us.

How many Christians do you know who struggle with works as a measuring stick for their faithfulness to Christ?  How many Christians do you know who feel guilty for not living up to the faithfulness they see acted out in others?  Can we offer them hope?  Can we give them the encouragement they need to simply rest in their Savior's all-encompassing presence and allow Him to live in them individually? 

I think we must understand that believers are IN Christ and with our position in Him, all the good works we do are a result of Him dwelling within us.  Any good we do exemplifies His life being lived out in us.  Our faith naturally brings forth an obedience to our Savior.  His grace meets us and greets the world with His presence through us.  As we fix our heart, mind, soul and strength on Him, He makes things happen through us, our obedience, our brokenness, our kindnesses, our goodness, our extensions of mercy, and our acts of forgiveness.  It's a natural bearing of fruit.  The gifts we've been given by the Holy Spirit are made evident.  As we abandon ourselves--our right to ourselves--He receives us unto Himself and all conflict between faith and works becomes another act of grace.

When faith and works is cooperating, they celebrate a Sabbath together.  selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, edited 2013, SelahVToday, hariette petersen] 

Just a Prayer

Lord bring a cleansing to the hearts of Your children. Release any bondage of our spirit which gives license to the enemy for even a second. Keep us from the temptation of trusting our own ego, power or intellect.  Give us wisdom, understanding and faith to act upon that which You have shown us true. and let us each rest in the peace that passes all understanding... for we know You are in control and have overcome the world. Amen. ~selahV

THE FIRST GREETING OF THE DAY

CAN SET THE STAGE FOR EVERY MOMENT TO FOLLOW.

The first greeting of your day can often set the atmosphere for the remaining 18 or so hours till you rest your head upon your pillow at night.

Wouldn't it be lovely to wake each morning to a room full of roses and pure delight?  to hear the sweet melody of your favorite song in the background?  rather than a blaring alarm clock?  to have someone deliver a bowl of sweet luscious strawberries and blueberries to begin your breakfast?  to have a back massage following your shower?  ah... sweet bliss.

Some people are not morning people. And what I described would not interest them in the least.  Others, like me, wake with fog-brain.  When I awake with fog-brain, it takes immense effort for me to part the mist of mush within my mind.  Coffee does not do that for me...anymore.  I drink decaf.  Glazed donuts do not do it either--sugar rushes are a thing of my past.  The thing that opens my eyes and starts my day like the first push of a domino in a line of multiple events, is a Word from God. And the quickest way to receive that Word is to wake with childlike wonder and say, "Good morning, LORD, what shall we do today?"

Peter Lord, in his book, Hearing God, writes that:

"The Lord does not force you into goodness or anything else, but He can and does work through every possible means to get your attention.  He calls.  He woos. He makes Himself known to you.  He knocks on the door and comes in with your permission when you open it."

Therefore, if we rise each morning with an attitude that immediately lifts the blinds of our minds, throws open the windows of our soul and praises God from Whom new mercies are found at the rising of each sun, the doorway to God's complete presence is there to greet us with assurance and confidence.

I find myself so much better off if I take a moment and dwell on God's goodness and mercy and thank Him for another day of life, another day to praise Him-- and then watch my day unfold as He would have it unfold for me. Praise is a catalyst.  It is the fuel in a heart which seeks God's presence.  And yes, I mean presence.  Not some faraway mystical out-of-body experience.  When we talk with our family or friends we do not need to be catapulted to the moon to connect with them.  However, when we take a moment to tell another how much they mean to us, it makes their day.  It opens the portal of communication.  If it didn't, we wouldn't be so affected by a smile, or conversely, a scowling frown and grumpy attitude.  It's the same with our relationship with God.

When I choose to begin my day with thoughts of me, me, me--and all my sorrows and pain and struggles of yesterday, or my upcoming challenges, I leave God out. Then the day begins with a succession of trials and obstacles--emptied of optimism.

I don't know about you, my friends.  But I need God.  I need His strength to meet my weakness.  I need His competence to meet my incompetence.  I need His joy to meet my sorrows.  He and He alone can fill the void of my day.  He is my only hope in the hopelessness that life offers at times.  And often God meets me with a specific reminder from His Word, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me..." Psalms 138:8; "Fear not, for I am with thee..." "...lean not to thine own understanding...".  Other times He gives me a friend who writes a word of encouragement--often meant for others in the facebook of social media--yet, there all the same for me, too.  Sometimes it is a song...that comes in a sweet melodious whisper to my soul.

Life is a beautiful opportunity to show the world that God is love and the instrument of renewal.  Nothing that occurs today is routine.  We can have routines.  But God fits new things, new people, new circumstances into our day-- every day.  We merely need to open our eyes and hearts to them and to Him.

"One of the surest ways to recognize God's voice is the effect the words produce in you.  The results of hearing God's voice center around increased faith and gratitude."~~Peter Lord, Hearing God

Are you grateful today?  Are you thrilled to be a part of God's plan and purpose?  Are you?  Or are you listening to the morning news, reading the latest catastrophe, and questioning His watchcare? Are you blocking out His voice and failing to see His goodness? Is your Gethsemane as difficult as His?  Are you waiting in the garden with Jesus?  Are you watching and praying? Won't you walk with Him today?

When Your Friend Is Troubled

WHAT DO YOU DO?

It's so hard to know what to do sometimes.  It's hard to know if you are a help or a hindrance.  We like to think we will drop everything and do what is necessary to help them.  But we sometimes are selfish and think about our day, our plans, our time.

We are asked to pray and we fall asleep while praying.  Or we say yes and then put the request on the back burner of our minds while we prioritize our lives.  If "a friend loveth at all times", would a friend let another simmer on the back burner in a stew of distress, heartache, sorrow or need as we bake a cake for our own pleasure?  I don't think so.

The past few weeks the Lord has allowed me to be a part of someone's life who just needed me "there".  I've done whatever it took to be "there" while sitting behind this monitor [as that was all I could possibly do].  At times it was enough.  Other times it seemed so little... not enough.  I am grateful for the time the LORD has given me to listen, to speak a word of encouragement.  I have learned alot about faith in these days.  Only God can right some wrongs.  Only God can fix the unfixable.  We humans are limited by geography, circumstance, means and health.  That is just the fact of the matter.

So, dear friends, and readers whom I hope become friends, I'm of the opinion that when a friend is troubled, we must be all we can be in the moment, with as many resources as we have at hand. We do not have another moment.  We only have the one we are in.  And in that particular moment, I think we must not waver in sharing truth, being honest, fulfilling promises, and sustaining loyalty.  I think we must, at all costs, reserve judgment, avoid criticism, and refrain from impulsive bloviating.  I think we need to listen, and listen carefully to what is, and what is not being said.  We need to pray for discernment of God's will in our friend's life and our own.  We must realize that at any given point in our lives we could very well be that troubled friend in need.  How do we want to be treated?  My friend's greatest compliment came in the form of a scripture verse:

"I rejoice that I have complete confidence in you." 2 Cor. 7:16

I so pray I can live up to that confidence and be all God wants me to be for a troubled friend.  However, we have to recognize and accept that we too are human.  We have limitations.  We cannot be what we cannot be.  We can only be what God calls us to be.  And sometimes our presence is merely a vapor in the wind, a flower that blooms and quickly fades away.  We cannot beat up on ourselves if we cannot be the "everything" needed by a troubled friend. Nor can we beat up on a friend for not being our "everything" in our hour or day of need.  It works both ways.

When You Feel Oppressed, Depressed, and Obsessed

It's July 9th; so I go to Psalms 9:9 and this is what I find:

"9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble."

How are we "oppressed"? I wonder to myself. Sometimes we are lonely... sometimes we feel all alone in our loneliness.... sometimes the air we breath is oppressive, the place in which we sit is oppressive, the people we must deal with in life are oppressive, the health we face is oppressive. HOWEVER....The LORD is a refuge. A respite. A resting place. A harbor for our weary, oppressed souls and troubled mind. We need only trust:

10 And they that know Thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
11 Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.>>>> it's time to sing.

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.  Jesus knows our every weakness; take your life to Him in prayer.

When We Pretend We May Do More Harm Than Good

“We are who we pretend to be, so we must be careful of who we pretend to be.”  ~Kurt Vonnegut

The problem with being who we are, and displaying the person we are, can be contradictive at times.  We want to put our best foot forward.  We want to be joyful, happy, strong, courageous, kind, generous, patient--and for some, godly.  We are who we have become after years and years of experiences, problems and hurdles, victories and losses. What we do in life and how we interact with others is a direct result of the experiences we have endured and overcome, or enjoyed and absorbed.  

 Sometimes I think we pretend we are "fine" when we are NOT fine. We are far from fine. Yet when someone asks how we are, do they really want to hear what is not fine about us?  They only want to hear we are fine--even if it is untrue and a false perception we give out.  People can deal with "fine", they can't deal with miserable, heartbroken, and discouraged.

 It's hard to be honest--especially when people ask, and we know full well they don't really want to know the answer. People just don't have the time for answers to questions like that. So we lie; and make no mistake, it is a lie. Doesn't mean we are any worse or better than another--just know that truth is not what folks want to hear.  And so we pretend.  We pretend to be something or someone we are not.

“The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ.”
  ~A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Yes, the heart of the world is breaking under this load, dear brother Tozer.  It's breaking as it pretends and it's breaking as others ignore the power that truth has in lifting the weight of the load.  Perhaps that is why Paul tells us, "Carry one another's burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2.  Why would we want to carry another's burdens when ours are so heavy?  Perhaps it is because there is strength in numbers.  And perhaps as we do, we give comfort to one another.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25