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