God's plans - are they yours?

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

God knows
He has the plans
It is for us to go and do,
to follow.

But often
it is our plans
that we
lean toward
and pursue

And we fall
Flat
Irritation develops
Complaints spew forth
from lips
that should only
sing praises

The Lord is with us
He has the plans
Who are we
to come against Him?!

Oh I know
We are human ... So was Jesus
When will we strive to be like Him
and less and more less
like the one satan works to convince us we are?

God is with us
He has said He will be with us
Do we not believe Him?
Do we think He is a liar?
Satan is the liar – Satan is the one
who makes us think we are so great
and we can do anything we want
and we don’t need God
or His Son
or His Holy Spirit
abiding in us.

When we face battles
and battles are around us
every single day
in one form or another
God is there
He will lift us up
Satan does not do that
Satan pulls us down
Satan’s mission is to destroy
Why do you want to listen to him
Why do you think destruction is the answer

Jesus is the key
Jesus and His love
Jesus is our first love
Not our never love
It is unfortunate many do not equate Jesus with love

God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit
all are with you
and will enable you to be an overcomer
a conqueror.

With Jesus you can do all things.
For He has the almighty power and strength, the hope, the joy, the Love. 

With satan you are nothing and can do nothing. When you die, satan is satisfied because he knows there is no hope for life everlasting. Death is the end.

(c) Cathy Orrick Luders
October 17, 2017

Trusting in the Lord

No matter what may come,
good or bad
We, you and I,
must go
and obey,
heed His voice
do His will

If we do not
go the way He leads
obey His commands
and do His will,
He is not glorified.

In the midst of our crisis
we may perceive we are a failure
But to God,
we have only failed
when we do not follow through.

He is glorified
filled with praise for us
when, instead of giving in
and giving up,
we continue marching onward,
Trusting in the Lord all the way.

(c) Cathy Orrick Luders

Aug. 13, 2017

It's About Him ... in me

Christ lives in me
through me

All that is Jesus
is mine
when I admit to God I am a sinner
when I believe Jesus Christ is God's Son
when I confess Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior

I am His

and
It is
His patience
His love
His holiness
His faithfulness
His purity
His goodness (His motives)
His peace
His kindness
His gentleness
His self-control

that is in me

I have been made one with the Lord Jesus
I am dead to sin.
Because I am His,
the evil that lurks everywhere
is not for me to pursue.

The Lord set me free to walk in His Spirit.

"and those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." - Galatians 5:24

He lives
He lives
in me! He lives

What do others see ... Does Jesus' life show itself to you through me?

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." - Galatians 5:25

or do others see only themselves in my life:

their hate
their jealousy
their selfishness
their envy
their irritation
their lies
their anger
their deceit
their defiance
their contempt
their discontentment
their worry
their pride
their disobedience

Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life for all of us. There is no other way, no other truth, no other life.

"...you shall love your neighbor as yourself" Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:39.

"But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" - Galatians 5:15

"...not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." - Galatians 5:26

(c) Cathy Orrick Luders
 July 24-25, 2017

God the Help of Those Who Seek Him

Today's reading took me to Psalm 121.

v. 1    "I will lift up my eyes to the hills __" 

and there my focus stay
my plea

v. 7-8    "The Lord shall preserve you ... and your soul ... your going out and your coming in." 

stray not to the left or to the right, but
forward go

v. 2   "My help comes from the Lord." 

The June 23 devotional reading in Streams in the Desert says:

When the Lord calls you to come (across the water), step out with confidence and joy ... and never glance away from Him for even a moment. You will not prevail by measuring the waves or grow strong by gauging the wind.

(c) Cathy Orrick Luders

June 23, 2017

Why don't we listen - why don't we hear - why don't we respond

We are encouraged to stand firm, pray fervently, follow the road less traveled.

That's what I see when reading Hebrews 12:12-13 ... "Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed."  Perhaps you see something else. Perhaps you will share with me what your take is.

The Lord tells us to go
He tells us to obey
He tells us to do

Go His way
Obey His commands, His instructions, His teaching
Do His will

But we find reasons we cannot go
as if the Lord's word is not enough
We doubt His promises
Our faith becomes weak
we give up,
too tired we are
we have no power
we are not effective
We are so discouraged

We walk around the obstacle
we cry out
we ask for answers
but then we refuse to see His reply

We question ...
Why follow the Lord's commands
and go and do
Why plow onward and upward

There are no answers among our own
Why do we rely on ourselves, on others
so much more than we rely on God?

Why is the encouragement given
or not given
by our fellow believers
of more importance
than that which God gives?

He tells us to go His way
not our way
He tells us to obey Him
not our personal thought nor another's
He tells us to do His will
not our will

But we find reasons
why we cannot go
or obey
or do

Why are we so stagnant?!

How can we call ourselves Christians and not be Christ-like?

(c) Cathy Orrick Luders

June 19, 2017

I will follow ... but will we, do we

It is to The Lord we are to
TRUST in
DELIGHT in
COMMIT to
REST in
WAIT on

We are to DEPART from Satan, king of lies and master of evil

and do good.

and we are promised we will dwell with The Lord, in heaven's lands
forever .... for all eternity.
(Based on Psalm 37)

________

If we are committed to the Lord, we should "avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife." (II Timothy 2:23)

We "must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil..." (II Timothy 2:24-26)

We are unyielding. It is our way preferred over God's way. We think because we belong to God we know the right way to go. But we do not. We may have the head knowledge, but what we know mentally does not give a true reflection of what is in our heart. God, of course, knows. But when we do not yield to Him, our paths are crooked and we stumble over every step taken. We listen to our own personal mindless chatter and to others, when it is to God we owe our entire being. We should be trusting in, resting in, waiting on, committing to Jesus and Him Alone.

Where is our faith? Did we check it at the front door and go on about our business? Once an individual is saved they acquire the fruit of the Spirit. Gentleness is one of those fruits. As is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22) When we don't know how to walk the way of Christ, how to live as He, how to love as He, we surely don't know how to enable the fruit to flourish. It is through our spiritual growth in the Lord with the Holy Spirit's leading that we see results of the fruit within is ... or more accurately perhaps, others see the results of this fruit in us.

_________

Before Jesus tells Peter he will deny Him three times, He says, "I have prayed for you - that your faith should not fail."  (Luke 22:32) The same prayer He says to believers today. 

Prayer is our link to God, but without believing God will hear, listen and answer, it is a broken link. When we believe in God's power, in His love, in His goodness, in His provisions, in His very being, our prayers are communicated onward and upward in faith. No matter what the result, what the circumstances, it is because of our faith, we receive God's blessings. We are committed to Him and He is committed to us. 

(Based on Scripture and devotional readings in Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman.)

(c) Cathy Orrick Luders
June 9-14, 2017