Be Still and Know that I am God

 Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul, according to the instructions of Psalm 25  How do we lift up our soul?  The answer is to put other thoughts and feelings aside and focus your mind and heart on Jesus and who He is. Our fallen nature wants to be preeminent, the boss who controls us, but God leads us beside still waters where we let the presence of the Lord dominate.  The first step that Habakkuk takes in chapter 2 in order to hear God is to get alone on his post to seek God. Jesus calls this going into your room and shutting the door 

Psalm 37:7 tells us to “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.”  God promises he will renew the strength of those who wait for Him.  Even Jeremiah reminds us that those who seek Him with all their heart will find Him, how much more does this principle apply to seeking to hear His voice. We show how much we really want to hear from God by our taking time to get still before Him and patiently wait.

Shut the door. What does Jesus mean by this action?  Does He not tell us to clean our plate of all our other thoughts and desires, to deliberately lay them down.  God honors our choices, our decisions.  As Romans 8:13 states “put to death the flesh by the power of the Spirit.”  Therefore, ask and depend on the Holy Spirit to help you lay aside anything and everything that wants your attention so you can receive what the Lord wants to say to you.

We will consider the next step, expecting Him to speak, in future posts, but today prepare your mind and heart to find a place and time where you can be still and know He is.

Getting to this ready state is such an important one if you are serious about wanting to hear God. If you need more encouragement, do a concordance or google search on “waiting on the Lord.”  Psalm 62:5, for example, states, “For God alone, O my soul (your mind, will, and emotions), wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.

You Will Make It!

How is your bracket?

The reason people ask that question is because, by now, we have all failed.  Sometimes life seems like that NCAA bracket, with our mistakes giving us a common denominator.  What did the famous Scottish poet Burns say, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray."    

The situation of the Israelites as described in Jeremiah 29 and 30 was worse than anyone could imagine.  The leaders were killed or taken captive.  Dead bodies were everywhere with no one to even bury them.  The temple was burned and completely destroyed.  And those who were still alive were treated like cattle and transported to be slaves in Babylon.  In the midst of this failure is where God spoke the phrase we like to remind our young people, "God has good plans for you, to give you a future and a hope."

Furthermore, Jeremiah encourages the people to build houses, plant crops, and give sons and daughters in marriage.  In short, don't quit.  Continue doing the things, the responsibilities, that God has given you.  God is never done with bringing us into His inheritance, but sometimes there are other internal changes that have greater priority in order to be capable of handling the good He has planned for us.  Adversity is a great motivator to seek God.  There is a saying from WWI, that every man has a God in a foxhole.  And that is exactly what Jeremiah reminds the people that God is calling, "When you seek Me with all your heart I will be found."  Use the current need and situation to lead you into a greater dependence on God's promises and His faithfulness.  God is in the business of restoring what the enemy has stolen, and turning what was meant for evil into good.  He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.  He clearly has a plan for our future and our hope.  We will make it.

In Jeremiah 30, God promises some powerful encouragement.  "Yet I will not make a complete end of you, but I will correct you in justice."  No one enjoys being corrected, but God's ways are life and peace.  Revival, or the abundance of His life and peace, always starts with people humbling themselves.  God promises to dwell with the those who are humble and contrite in heart.  The trials of today often cause us to "break up the fallow ground" and let the rain of God's mercy and righteousness soften our hearts.  After humbling ourselves before God, He releases His intended purpose, " I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds," says the Lord.  (Jeremiah 30:17)  

Jesus, His resurrection and the promise of ours, is our hope.  We are destined to share His nature and glory forever.  God has given us this awesome vision so that no matter what happens, we know that we will not perish.  Not only will we not perish, but all things continue to work for our good, for us who are called according to His purpose.  The verse "without a vision the people perish" may also be translated, "without a vision the people cast off restraint." (NKJV)  The point is that unless we know the hope, the vision of "we will make it," we are tempted to give up and cast off the disciplines of living for the Lord.  

Our bracket may fail, our situation may not always be as planned, there may be a need to seek God and repent, but our God never changes and His word to your heart today is "You will make it."

What We Need Every Sunrise - (For Son to Rise in Us)

God knows exactly what we need.  In Psalm 143:8 David speaks out what is needed in each of our hearts, "Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul."   

Many times, we wake up with negative feelings and problems running through our minds.  We don't "feel" blessed and walking in abundant life.  In truth we may feel overwhelmed with the challenges. Psalm 142:6 reminds us of the truth that "the enemy is too strong for me."  Sometimes we forget that we are fighting a spiritual war not a flesh battle.  God's mercy is fresh every morning according to Lamentations 3:23, but the Lord waits for us to take it, to receive it.  

So, there is a need to take a moment to stop before God and "hear" Him declare His fresh lovingkindness to set us free from our natural fallen-nature thoughts and feelings.  To "lift up my soul" simply means to turn our focus and attention on Him, letting His Word and the truth of His love transform our thoughts.  Then the truth of Psalm 23 can happen, "He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul."  We let God's Spirit take over and the Word of God dwell richly in us.  

Psalm 142:7 says it even stronger.  "Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to Your name."  We are in prison, captured by our flesh until we let God deliver us to know the truth which sets us free. Then we are available and teachable to accept "the way in which we should walk." 

Paul instructs us to pick up His cross daily, obviously to die to the flesh. The Spirit gives us power to put to death the deeds of the flesh helping us set our minds on the Spirit and His truth.  May the Lord continue to renew our minds every morning with His fresh lovingkindness and teach us how we should walk. 

Let this Christmas season remind you of His glory and greatness of love in becoming a man and doing everything needed to ensure that His peace and joy daily fill our hearts.  Every sunrise it is up to us to let the Son rise in our hearts.