Month: June 2024

“He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Psalms 23:3 KJV

David moves from comparing himself to a sheep and the Lord to a shepherd and begins to talk about how there are times when his soul is in need of being restored and that the One who is able to do that is God. God is able to renew us, renew our souls, bring us back to a healthy spiritual state, where we were before we moved away from God and towards the world, as we so often do. We are not perfect and even though we want to remain as close to God as we can be, we drift away from God at times, much like sheep drift away from the herd. We leave the path that God has been leading us on, the path of righteousness, and wander away from God’s teaching and His guidance.

When we realize that we are no longer close to our Lord, we are able to ask for direction, but we have to be willing to do what the Lord instructs us to do so that we can come closer to Him. When we are willing and ask, God shows us the path we need to be on, brings us close to Him, restores our souls, and we are renewed.

God knows what is best for us, the best path for us to be on, it is us who tend to wander from that path. We do this for many reasons, which are not as important as the fact that God is willing to bring us back to Him. He is willing to restore our souls after we have strayed off as we humans do sometimes. He is willing to put us back on the right path that we are to be walking on. He is willing to forgive us and He continues to love us.

Does your soul need restoring? Do you find yourself on a different path than the one God has been leading you on? Have you stopped and thought about how you are going to get back on the path intended you to be on? God is the only way to have your soul restored or to return to the path that God started you on before you wandered off. If you answered yes to any of those questions, I encourage you to stop what you are doing and pray to our Lord and Savior. Ask Him for the help you need to get back on the correct path, the path that God has planned out for you. Let God restore your soul.

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters.” Psalms 23:2 KJV

David continues to use the metaphor of a shepherd and sheep as he writes this Psalm. Unlike driving a herd of cattle from the rear, a shepherd would lead his sheep by being in the front of the herd and having them follow him to places where they can eat, drink and find rest. Depending on the terrain that the shepherd found himself and the herd in, green pastures and still waters may be hard to find. So when the shepherd found a green pasture, he remained there with the sheep as long as he could so that they could feed off of the grass and rest in the soft blanket of the grass. God wants us also to lie down and rest because in resting we regain our energy to continue our journey to do His will.

Shepherds also knew that they needed to lead their herds to water that was barely moving, not stagnate water but water that was not moving quickly. The sheep would not be able to drink from a body of water that had a fast current in it as it could possibly sweep them into the current. So shepherds would find bodies of water that had slow moving currents so that the sheep could stand in and take their time drinking and rehydrating their bodies.

Green pastures and still waters are representative of God’s word. Just as lush green grass has nourishment for animals, God’s word has nourishment for us. Animals eat grass to sustain their bodies and we read God’s word to sustain our souls. Just as still waters enable the sheep to consume the water that they desperately need, by ‘drinking’ from God’s word we are receiving what we desperately need. The sheep drink from the still waters to rehydrate their bodies and we drink from the Living water that enables us to not be thirsty.

Have you let God lead you where you need to go to find nourishment for your soul, to quench your thirsty by drinking from the Living water, to find rest so you can regain your energy? Are you listening to God and going where you need to go or are you resisting what God is trying to do for you?

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Psalms 23:1

David writes this psalm using imagery from his past. He was a shepherd when he was younger and understands what a shepherd means to the flock or herd – provider, protector, leader. This verse reminds us that God, our Lord and Savior, is the ultimate shepherd.

He provides for His children. David is remembering that God has provided for him many times when David has followed God’s will for his life. David uses ‘want’ in the same regard as ‘need’ in this Psalms, as he wants for nothing. Being the ultimate Shepherd, the Lord protects His children. He protected David when King Saul was hunting him trying to kill him. The Lord is also a leader for His children. God guides His children in the direction of His will for each and every one of their lives. God led David daily as King of Israel.

This imagery was a very familiar image for a lot of people in David’s time. Shepherd were the individuals who kept the sheep or other herds of animals alive. They would provide for the animals by taking them from pasture to pasture to feed. The shepherd would protect the sheep from the animals that were natural predators of the sheep. The shepherd would have the animals grouped together in one area, guarding them and fighting off any animals that tried to kill them. The shepherd also was the leader of the sheep and the sheep knew their shepherd’s voice. They usually would not follow the voice of a different shepherd because they did not know that voice therefore they did not know if they could trust that voice.

This psalm begins with reminding us that God is our Shepherd, and He will provide for us, protect us and lead us, if we let Him. God wants to be our Shepherd, He wants to provide for us, protect us and lead us because He loves us and we are His children.

Do you look to God as your provider, your protector and your leader? Do you trust God to fulfill any of those roles for you? Do you want to have the ultimate Shepherd provide for you, protect you and lead you? Only you know the answer to any of these questions and only you can make the decision about how you want your relationship with God to look. As you go through your day today, think about how you would answer these questions.

“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24 NIV

Earlier in the chapter, it is discussed that Adam had no helper and God said it was not good for man to be alone. God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and He removed one of his ribs and made a woman as Adam’s helper. This was the first marriage, Adam and Eve. As the only 2 people on the earth, they had to rely on each other.

That’s what marriage is about, 2 people relying on each other through good and bad, always knowing that they will be there for each other. For the marriage to be successful, there needs to be only those 2 people involved in the relationship, which is why the man and the woman both leave their parents and cling to each other. The only other ‘being’ that should be present in a marriage is God as He directs the couple’s path.

This verse came to mind because my husband and I had the privilege and honor of attending a friend’s wedding this weekend. It was a beautiful wedding in a wonderful setting by a pond, but what was more precious to me than all of the plans that had been made to have a flawless ceremony was that we were able to be witnesses to the beginning of a life together. The couple stood in front of their family and friends and promise to keep God in the center of their marriage. They made an oath to rely on each other throughout all the days to come, knowing that there will be both plentiful and hard times in their future.

As they said their vows, I remembered my wedding and the solemn oath that both my husband and I took that day.  It has been 32 years since our wedding day and although there have been ups and downs, we are still very much in love and look forward to another 30+ years.  Marriage takes work, and each couple needs to remember that communication with the other person is very important. You need to communicate about every thing in your life, sharing with your spouse all of the worries, the joys, the sad times and the happy moments.

I am thankful and feel blessed to have been a part of our friends’ special day as they start their life together and I wish Kendall and Richard the best as they move through the days ahead clinging to each other and to God. Congratulations to both of you.

“Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths, guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalms 25:4-5 NIV

Father’s day has not always been a great day for me. My earthly father was not the best father, and I didn’t have contact with him on any kind of regular basis from the age of 12 on. So Father’s Day was not celebrated in our home the traditional way. Thankfully, God placed 3 men in my life as a child that were able and willing to fill that role on earth for me and be the father figures that I wanted to have. Happy Father’s Day Uncle Roger and I want to wish my Uncle Ben and Uncle Bill a Happy heavenly Father’s Day.

When my husband and I became parents to our son, I taught our son how celebrate his father as I was unable to do with my own father. My husband has done for our son all the things that my father never did for either me or my brother. He has provided safety for our son, he has provided for him financially, he has taught him how to be a person of integrity, he has helped him with his homework, he has shown him how to communicate and most importantly he has loved him unconditionally. I don’t believe there could be a better man for our son to have as a father than my husband.

Through the eyes of the child in this type of relationship, the idea of Father’s Day increased in importance for me when I became serious about my walk with God. I wanted and still do want to celebrate my Heavenly Father everyday, not just on Father’s Day. He has shown me how to be a better person through the people He has placed in my life, He has shown me who He is through His word, He has shown me patience as He has taught me lessons in life and He has shown me how to love others unconditionally by showing me unconditional love. These are all the things that an earthly father is to show and do for his children and I am blessed to have a Heavenly Father who has shown and continues to show me all that my earthly father did not.

My Heavenly Father is perfect but being perfect does not stop Him from wanting to be involved in my life or yours. He doesn’t believe us to be a bother, He wants us to come to Him. So whether you have or had an earthly father that did not measure up to what you expected and wasn’t the “perfect” father, you do have a Heavenly Father who measures up in every way and IS the “perfect” Father.

As I wish each and every father, perfect or not, a Happy Father’s Day, I encourage you to communicate with the One perfect Father that we can all have in our lives and thank Him for always being the Father we need.

Happy Father’s Day to all the men we have been blessed to have in our lives.

“The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from the all. ” Psalms 34:19 NIV

There is no situation, problem or challenge that is too big for God, and the other end of the spectrum is true as well – there is no situation, problem or challenge that is too small for God. Within our human logic, we come to the conclusion that the situation or problem we are facing is so big that literally no one can fix it. Then we read passages such as we read yesterday about how nothing is too hard for God.

Our human logic also concludes that God is so busy with all of the other things going on that when we have a situation or problem that we have decided is very small, that is indeed too small for God to care about or bother with. Just as God wants to be involved in our lives, walk beside us and help us go through difficult, tough life events, He also wants to be involved in our lives during the little things we face everyday, such as losing our keys. Many have believed that God is too busy to help us look for our keys or to figure out what devotion to read this morning. I am here to say that I don’t believe that, I believe that He wants involved in it all.

David says in this verse that the righteous person may have many troubles, which is true. We are the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ, but we still have troubles. Being the righteousness of God does not preclude us from challenges. However, as we look at the end of the verse we see that David says that the Lord delivers that person from them ALL, not just from some of them, not just from only the big ones but from them all.

Again, our definition of deliverance from the challenges, problems or troubles we are facing most likely looks different than the definition of deliverance that God has, but there is deliverance none the less. That deliverance comes sometimes at a different pace than we would like as well, but it will come as long as we are actively seeking help from our Lord and Savior.

We are His children and nothing is too big or too small to bother God with. He wants to be involved in our lives and He wants to help us. As a parent, we would rather that our children come and ask us for help with things instead of struggle trying to solve them alone. I believe God feels the same way. So, today I am encouraging you to change your thinking about what you can go to God about. Change from believing that you can only ask God to help you with problems or situations that you have deemed to be “big” enough to bother God with and start including Him in everything you are facing.

You may be amazed at how much smoother your morning can go when you ask God where your keys are and listen for direction, instead of frantically searching everywhere you think you may have left them. Have a blessed day and remember to talk with God about everything, He already knows about what you are facing anyways, so why not include Him.

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arms. Nothing is too hard for You.” Jeremiah 32:17 NIV

Have you ever gone through something that you believe is too big for God to handle? I believe we all have. My father was a very abusive man. He had to control everything that was going on around him because if things were not as he wanted them to be, he could not figure out how to be happy. What ever the reason, this was how my father was and living in the same house with him was dangerous at times.

As a child I knew nothing different than what I was going through and thought that this is how life was suppose to be. I believed that my life would always be filled with danger and anxiety because of that danger. Whether my father was belittling us or threatening us with his revolver, I learned to be keenly aware of what was going on around me.

However, as I sit here 40+ years later, I can attest to the fact that how my life was back then is NOT how my life is now. This is a miracle in my eyes because statistics show that without treatment, individuals who experience what my mother, my brother and I experienced, are more likely to end up involved in very similar types of relationships throughout their lives.

I give all the credit to God that my mother was able to take my brother and me and leave that situation when I was a child, and not return to it or create that type of relationship with another person. My mother endured abuse from my father for many years and based on how others in society have reacted to that type and length of abuse, the likelihood that she would be able to leave and make it on her own had was very small.

However, some of those people in society who have endured what my mother endured did not have what my mother had and that was faith. She believed that God was always with her and that He would walk with her through anything and everything. God walked beside my mother, my brother and myself during those years and brought us out the other side of those experiences. I know that our situation was not too big for God and that there is no situation that God cannot handle.

As you move through life, moments and situations are going to occur that you would rather not happen, but you are not alone in those times. God is in there with you. Maybe the way your situation is going at this moment is not the way you would like it to be going. My question is, have you given it to God and trusted Him to bring you through this moment. If you trust Him, He will walk beside you, and bring you through this time. Situations, experiences, moments in life may seem to big for us to handle, but NOTHING is too big for God!!!!

“But an hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers.” John 4:23 NAS

Do you ever feel like you have to be in a certain place or be in a certain position to pray to and worship God? We all have done it, “I need to be in a church to truly worship God or I need to be alone to pray to God.” Jesus died on the cross so that we don’t have to have all of the rules, regulations and laws dictating to us how pray and interact with God.

God wants us to talk to Him all the time and He wants to talk to us all the time. He wants us to be involved with Him and let Him be involved in our lives. We can pray anywhere and at anytime. Prayer is simply a conversation with God.

We need to be reverent and respectful, but we don’t need to be afraid of God. We don’t have to be in a certain room or have our eyes closed to talk with God. We need to simply talk to Him, He desires it and we should desire it as well.

Prayer is a kind of worship, just as is singing, giving of your time and resources and being grateful. Just like prayer, we don’t need to be in a certain place or position to sing to God. How we sing to God is not as important as what we are feeling in our heart and mind while we are singing to God. Are we there with God in those moments or are we singing because we know the words and are actually thinking about the next thing we need to do today?

Giving of our time and resources can be worship of God, in that we are taking care of others by either physically doing things for them or by having the resources available to have things done for them. I am not someone who will tell others what they need to give either out of their time or their resources, that is between each one of us and God, but I will encourage everyone to give whatever you are giving with a grateful heart and not out of obligation.

Being grateful is very important, because it drives our motivation for why we are doing things in the first place. Is it out of obligation that we are at church, or listening to a certain radio station, or giving of our time to lead a group at church? Do we think that we have to do these things to be “Christians”. The answer is no, it is not the requirement to be a “Christian”. What is the requirement is to have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and then try your best to grow and mature in a relationship with Him daily.

Worship is a wonderful way that we are able to express to God how much we love Him, how much we are thankful for all that He has done for us and how much we are in awe that the Creator of the world wants to be involved in each one of our lives. Take today and look at your motivation behind how you pray and worship and see what is driving it. If it needs changed, please change it, but if it doesn’t, then keep on praying to God and worshipping Him with all your heart, soul and mind.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 6:23 NIV

You have accepted the wonderful free gift of salvation, now what? What comes next? Some new Christians are surprised when they wake up the next day after accepting the ultimate gift of eternal life and their life is not dramatically changed. It can be hard to realize that there has been a dramatic change but it is not a change that is tangible, that you can see or touch. The change is in your path and ultimately your destination for eternity.

Your acceptance has changed the place you are spending eternity from hell to heaven. From a place of constant torment to a place of constant joy. From a place of complete separation from God to a place of complete closeness with God. That is the first change that has taken place, but that is not the only change that is happening.

Once you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit came to reside inside you. He is there to help you by prompting you as situations arise to possibly make different choices than you have made before. He is there to encourage you to read God’s word, get to know the being you have just decided to follow with all your heart, mind and soul.

When I am looking for help, I want practical suggestions not just theories. So here are practical suggestions for a new Christian to help when you become frustrated at not being able to see tangible changes in your life. I would suggest making sure that you remain connected to the person who you were with when you accepted Christ or if you were alone, then the person who led you to even know about Christ. I would suggest getting a Bible in a translation that you understand and begin reading it.

I encourage you that as you face situations, you pause for a moment and listen for that small inner voice to see what the Holy Spirit may be prompting you to do that is different from what you have done before. The change that every new Christian wants to be able to see actually happens when we follow the Holy Spirit’s nudges to act or react to situations, emotions and other people in a different manner than we are used to doing.

Change takes time, and it will happen as you grow closer to God, and as you listen to the Holy Spirit as He guides you throughout each day. Please remember thought, that the most important change occurred when you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you changed where you will spend eternity. We all have sinned and deserve the wages of our sin which is eternal separation from God, but Jesus paid the ultimate price so we can change our place of eternal residence from hell to heaven.

So what is next, is growth on our part as new creations. We listen, follow and grow. I pray that you make sure you are listening to the Holy Spirit today and following His lead. Walk with your head held high that you are a child of the most high God.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone and the new is here.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

When we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are saved from eternal separation from God, born-again to start a fresh new life, made into a new creation. Unfortunately for us, that does not happen over night. When we are saved, we do not miraculously become a physically different person, going from someone who is out of shape to a person in star athlete condition. We don’t change from a person who has trouble controlling their anger to a person of absolute peace. Our IQ doesn’t jump up 30 points on the chart.

What does happen, is that God sends the Holy Spirit to live inside of us and breaks the chains that bind us to sin. We are captive to sin without a way to escape before we are saved, but God changes that for us at the moment of salvation. That is wonderful, but it doesn’t end there. God has done His part and broken the chains, so now it is our turn to do our part. Just as a person who wants to change how they physically look by either losing or gaining weight must look at what they eat and how they exercise, we must look at how we approach life.

Sin comes in many forms, and it is not just the “big ones”, like murder, grand larceny or adultery, that God is worried about. Sin is sin and lying, jealousy, taking the Lord’s name in vain, are just as much sin as the “big ones”. So, since God broke the chains that keep us from moving away from sin, what do we do? How do we change the way we approach life and distance ourselves from the sinful way we have lived for so long?

The answer is simple, we rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us in making new decisions in each and every situation we face. That sounds simple, doesn’t it? The reality is that just as someone who is changing their outward appearance has to be vigilant about what they are eating and doing physically, we, as new creations in Christ, have to be vigilant about what we are feeding our souls and what choices we are making in everyday life. We need to begin to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us when we are used to listening to ourselves and doing what we want to do that makes us feel good in that moment.

If you want to become a new creation or have recently become a new creation in Christ by accepting the amazing free gift of salvation, then I don’t want you to become discouraged at reading this and believe that there is no way to grow as the new creation you are. I encourage you instead to continue to make small changes every day in how you choose to react to life situations by choosing to listen for the Holy Spirit’s direction, choosing to follow the Holy Spirit’s direction and choosing to trust the Holy Spirit that He has your best interest in mind and is leading you down the path to growth and maturity as a child of God.

My hope is that this blog can become a resource that you are able to use to make you think about different situations you may be facing in life, help you to pause for a moment and possibly change course as you are responding to life. I am not claiming to have all the answers about how to become a mature Christian or what we should do in each moment of life, but I am claiming to know the One who does have those answers. God wants to be involved in our lives, intimately, and we are the ones who are able to choose if we are going to let Him be involved. So I pray that as this blog continues, that guidance is able to be found here as well as encouragement and understanding of the challenges we all face as we move from a sinner who was separated from God, to a sinner who is saved by grace and has eternal life with God. Have a wonderful day.