What do we do when no one is looking? Do we live for the approval of God or man? God humbles us through circumstances to show us what's really in our hearts. He already knows. We don't have to writhe in repentance---He is looking for us to recognize and accept His Word, His Ways, Himself...and turn. God is not pointing the 10 Commandments finger at us calling us the bad guy in the wilderness. He lovingly is saying that what we believe is simply not true. We've been believing something deeply that is really not true when we give ourselves to sinful ways. And a waiting God beckons.
"Turn around. Believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all. Amen, and come Lord Jesus."
COME BOLDLY: Timeless Prayers
Father, make me present in Your Presence, conscious of your Calling, aware of my Author.
Moments slip by, roll into hours, where I am lost in this world. Would you make the words of G.K. Chesterton come alive for me: "You say grace before meals. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip the pen in the ink." As in the words of John Wesley: "Prayer is truly the most useful of all pastimes."
PHOTO: Standing near a lake, near the massive stratovolcano called Mount Rainier. Pondering my size, my calling. Giving grace that I can live and love in the face of those who do not reciprocate. The return on my investment no longer matters and for that I give thanks, give grace.
Father, make me present in Your Presence, conscious of your Calling, aware of my Author.
Moments slip by, roll into hours, where I am lost in this world. Would you make the words of G.K. Chesterton come alive for me: "You say grace before meals. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip the pen in the ink." As in the words of John Wesley: "Prayer is truly the most useful of all pastimes."
PHOTO: Standing near a lake, near the massive stratovolcano called Mount Rainier. Pondering my size, my calling. Giving grace that I can live and love in the face of those who do not reciprocate. The return on my investment no longer matters and for that I give thanks, give grace.
Moses stood in the gap for these stiff necked Israelites some forty years. He wants them to remember to be humble--God isn't giving them this new land, this victory because of their righteousness. The land where they are going is filled with wickedness that must be cleansed. The Promised Land isn't a reward but a fulfilled promise. God gives us good things because of His Grace, not because of anything we've done. Thankfully, not because of anything we've done, but because of the Cross, He extends His merciful Hand to His People and provides manna each day, a cloud by day, a pillar by night--to this very day.
ReplyDeleteLord, we bend our knee, we bow our head. Let there be no stiff-necked ones here. Circumcise our hearts to be pliable in Your Hands. Turn our ears to hear Your Voice, Your direction. And may we stand in the gap for those we love who are stiff-necked, not walking with You. Thank you for the example of Moses. Help us to pray those loved ones right into Your Arms. You are our praise!
We can learn so much from the Israelites, yet do we? have we? We read the scripture over and over and God shows us how to NOT act and/or what to not do. I am so afraid that we are stiff necked too and don't even realize that we are or that we have allowed other gods to come into our lives, that we have become one with our culture. We are not always a chosen people who are to be different from the rest of the world. So much of the time we look just like "them" in dress, talk and activities. Aside from His marvelous grace, I believe He would destroy the church that lives within the borders of the United States. Not sure about the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteI am so in agreement with Annette's prayer...for Him to circumcise our hearts our hearts so that they are pliable in His hands. May He turn us to stand in the gap for the those who need Him and are not even aware that they need Him, every hour, every day, Our hearts truly are prone to wander, It is not His will that any should perish but that all should have everlasting life.