CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY

Let the words of my mouth and

the meditation of my heart be

acceptable in Your sight, O

Lord, my strength and my

Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

Through my preteen and teen years, we had a wonderful youth group in our Baptist Church. We met for our BYF meetings an hour prior to the Sunday evening service and most of us were very close friends. The Randolph's were our leaders. They often had us all out to their house for social times if there weren't any ballgames to attend. The Randolph's are in Heaven now and only there will they come to know what they meant in our lives.

At the end of our meetings on Sunday evening, there was a tradition. Our closing prayer was the above verse. We would stand in a circle holding hands with heads bowed and would repeat the verse. I've always loved the verse primarily for spiritual and now some sentimental reasons. It wasn't until as a young adult that I began not just reciting the verse but personally looking at it for content.

The verse starts out with the word LET. That indicates that it must me, on my own accepting the responsibility of putting that verse into practice. It is a fact that what's in the heart of a person will come out often quite loudly for the world to hear.

Words can heal or words can harm. We use words just in every day communication and we don't give it a thought. That's how we talk with each other verbally or in other different ways. The danger comes when we determine certain things we are going to speak to someone no matter what. Such words can be words of anger or frustration often spoken in a much different way than intended. We can determine just as well to speak to someone in kindness and perhaps to encourage.

The above verse indicates the use of words in a very definite way. We may often feel captive to what comes out of our mouths. The problem is that what comes from our mouths have already been formed in our hearts. Our conversations might in the end indicate a heart problem and that's a problem only our Father can help us with.

Thank You Father for speaking love into my life through Your Word and Your sweet Spirit. Help me to continually see the connection between my words and the meditations of my heart. May my words always reflect Your Words as I spend time in my Bible daily. Forgive my rush to speak when I should wait to listen. In Jesus name....Amen

A REFUGE FOR SURE

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

My grandparents had a noticeable small hill in their yard on one side of their house. My grandmother loved gardening so that small hill was just covered with all sorts of brightly colored blooms. It was the kind of little hill a little girl would love to just simi-crawl up. I was strictly told that it was a place where little girls were never to play. I still loved that pretty little hill and it took a little time for me to notice that some vines on that hill had grown over a door.

When I asked my Grandpa about it, he said that it was a storm cellar. He explained it was a place to go in case a storm or tornado came into town. I knew about storms but not tornadoes. I learned again later that in the early 1900's a horrible tornado had swept through a part of our town that did terrible damage. After that many folks had put storm cellars in their yards. My grandparents had never used it so they used it to store foods my Grandma had canned at the end of the summer.

Thinking about what a refuge might be, I found it's basically a place of safety and security. It might make a family feel better to have a storm cellar if they lived in a tornado-prone area. It would serve well in times of needed physical security, but what about those times we are in need of spiritual or emotional security. We might like a storm cellar of such things but afraid there really isn't such a thing.

I remember just the chorus to a hymn we often sung years ago:

O Jesus is a rock in a weary land

A weary land, a weary land.

O Jesus is a rock in a weary land

A shelter in the time of storm.

No matter our need, when the storms of life come, we all need Someone, somewhere to flee to. We may have a special place of peace we love for when we read, pray and meditate. However, places often change. Friends may be wonderful in encouraging us when we are facing difficult times, but sometimes even friends change in place or attitudes. We have One sure place and Person to run to...our own storm shelter that never changes, open 24/7 and that takes the form of very loving arms, the hollow of a hand...even wings to hide under. There is no earthly storm shelter or refuge that can provide all of that. Only our Heavenly Father stands with open arms, real security the world will never be able to provide. He's our shelter and refuge in the time of any storm we face.

Dear Father, I'm so grateful for the salvation I enjoy because of Jesus but You have so many other things in store for us. Thank You for our live-in Holy Spirit who speaks to us through Your Word and through other godly ones. Thank You that I don't have to make an appointment to talk to You and enjoy Your presence any time I want. In Jesus' precious name...Amen 

 

GOOD GRAICOUS

And He said to me. “My grace

is sufficient for you, for My strength

is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore most gladly I will rather

boast in my infirmities, that the

power of Christ may rest upon me.

II Corinthians 12:9

For many years in my Bible reading, I wondered in Paul's writings that usually after the first two or three verses of each of his books, he used the phrase “Grace and peace be with you...” He was so consistent in that wonderful greeting to those he loved and with whom he shared his heart. I often wondered why he didn't say “peace and grace.” I eventually caught on to the fact that without the grace of God, there can be no real peace.

I don't know about you, but I used to hear the above title two-word phrase said by adults when I was but a very young girl. I don't know how often someone said to me, “Good gracious Glendarae....” It took me some years to get the words grace and gracious connected. Let me quickly say that any human graciousness can never be compared to the grace God showers into our lives consistently.

Gracious people I have known are really nice people. They are kind and very accommodating in being of help and encouragement to people they know and often with folks they don't know well. The problem for we human beings is that we aren't always nice. When we are troubled, irritated with someone or even going through a time of illness, our graciousness can be on the limited side. Our graciousness can be tempered by moods or circumstances.

 hear a lot, though, about God's grace. We know for a fact that Scripture tell us that by grace we are saved. That gives us our first real introduction to grace. Any grace God extends to us is totally undeserved. We don't deserve God's blink of His eye toward any of us but that is who God is. His Son paid the highest of price for us thanks to the grace of His Father.

We also have an everyday, every hour grace that God extends into our lives that we again don't deserve. God will never withdraw it or lessen it. In fact, Paul was told of God's grace and it's sufficiency in his life no matter the circumstances. He was assured of God's ongoing power, a grace sufficient for every circumstance.

That was great for Paul, but guess what....it's sufficient for us as well no matter what our days look like. Because of God's grace in our lives, we are to extend that graciousness into the lives of others. There are folks who don't deserve our favor but we extend it anyway just as our Father pours His undeserved grace into our lives.

Father God, without Your grace, we would be nothing, floundering in life with no purpose. Thank You for not giving up on us even though we don't deserve a moment of Your graciousness. We are grateful because of Jesus love....Amen

 

PRESS ON

I press toward the mark for

the prize of the high calling

of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:14

Been watching the world track championships this week. Brian watched anything that had to do with track and field. That was a a consistency for us from the time we got married. The older I get the harder it is for me to watch anyone lose in their sport.

There was always one thing that just irked us when it came to any of the races, be it men or women, no matter the distance. Many of the races came down to the final turn headed for the finish line. I would imagine there are coaches of the runners who grew gray hair in the process of watching their athletes headed for the finish line.

Perfect example...I recently watched a race where one runner was obviously going to win his heat. The young man in second kept looking back from side to side to see how near his competitor was to him, how much of a threat. Only the first two winners of a particular heat would go to the final race. Fortunately for the gaping young man, he did come in second which did move him into the final race. There have been times when we have seen such going on and such a runner has lost. That was always sad to watch when in reality, he should have gotten into the finals, but he was distracted.

In a sense, we believers are also in a race, a race that demands our putting our focus where it should be. We aren't in a race for any medal or standing proudly on the winners podium. Our race involves much more than any athletic event we could ever participate in on this earth. Our reward is a prize beyond measure or earthly treasure. No matter who we are whether young or old, all as believers are participants.

World athletes train vigorously in so many ways to be the best they can be. They exercise, watch their diets, get needed rest and of course, sponsorship. We have the best Sponsor in our race. We have His word to feed upon along with His promised rest. We should exercise in obeying our Coach and actively serving Him and others. Our job is to press on, aiming and focusing on the finish line. Our goal....finishing well to God's glory.

Father, help us to avoid distractions of this world that would keep us from being all for You we can be. I know I'm not racing to beat any human being. Satan doesn't want me to count for You but You are so much more than he is. Help me to stay focused on You and those things that count for You. In Jesus' name...Amen