He IS

I should make a poster of this song’s lyrics. “He Is“… I only first heard it just driving home from a blessed but BUSY weekend. Whew. We keep going with God’s grace and power. He IS always there. He is all that we are needing.

I played the song 4 times in a row. Powerful song. Powerful God. He is all these things, God just IS the GREAT I AM. He IS.

God in Three, all powerful Thee.

He IS!

Amen and please listen and read the scripture lyrics. He does get you thru good and bad and everything.

Amen

He is, by David Crowder.

Based upon many scriptures especially the names of God.

He Is

If you’re troubled

Heavy hearted

Come to Jesus and find your peace

If you’re run down

Empty handed

Come to Jesus and find your strength

He is Hope for the hopeless

Rest for the weary

Help for the hurting

He is, He is

Mending the broken

Bearing the burdens

All that you’re needing

He is

If you’re wandering

In the darkness

Come to Jesus and find your way

If you want freedom

Need forgiveness

Just come to Jesus and find His grace

He is Hope for the hopeless

Rest for the weary

Help for the hurting

He is, He is

Mending the broken

Bearing the burdens

All that you’re needing

He is

Comforter, Counselor, Prince of Peace

Author and Maker of everything

Defender, Deliverer, King of Kings

He is, He is

Helper and Healer forevermore

Savior and Shelter through every storm

My Refuge, Redeemer and Lord of Lords

He is, He is

Child of Heaven and Son of Man

Provider, Protector, the Great I Am

Alpha Omega, Beginning and End

He is, He is

Hope for the hopeless

Rest for the weary

Help for the hurting

He is, He is

Mending the broken

Bearing the burdens

All that you’re needing

He is

All that you’re needing

He is

God Was NOT Stopped

GOD WAS NOT STOPPED!!!!

I am an observer for sure, a scribe of my own witness as some have called me… so especially I know that the Lord has everything that we see (and do not see) all under control! Even if we can not fathom the short term, the long view is a MUCH better perspective anyway… the Lord has a long view and a long reach…

Interesting retrospective of my own battles that the Lord won. I have been re-reading an email to a friend from 3 years ago – when I moved to a new praise band in a new church… with that band, I started preparation for a dramatic reading for a substitute preacher, the reading was about Jehosephat, letting the Lord fight your battles… I had never heard of Jehosaphat and now I love being reminded of him! I knew his story related then (wow it really did) and wow I see how it relates here too because He STILL is fighting our battles ahead of us! And I can 100% say that 3 years ago I was dealing with many situations that the Lord has now resolved now…

So, in my reading thru the old testament – this is the chapter I wish everyone could be reading right now… THE CRUCIAL MESSAGE IS THAT THE LORD HAD JEHOSAPHAT SEND OUT THE PRAISE TEAM FIRST. Yes, Praises first and then God takes care of the rest. The next cool message to learn is that the PRAISES to GOD were used by God to make noise that scared the warring factions. They thought that the praises were the battle starting… Well, that IS true, when we praise, God is already fighting our battles.

I always want to become more aware of how and why God wins. Plowing forward in His service, the take home message always is to keep moving and yet keep still, keep trusting the Lord, look for where He makes your paths straight….

As for three years and more, it floors me the ways the Lord has been working healing ways into my days in new ways. For the new band, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that I was transported like Philip out of one scene into the next, with enough of an overlap and a clear path that became an explanation to me. And because of taking a servant attitude as opposed to “fighting for my agenda”, the Lord made it very clear a path… When covid hit, my time with that band also shut down and I moved forward into the Lord’s service at home with my children until the Lord moved me into another situation… in all these things, He went ahead.

I was redirected, but God was not stopped.

He never will be.

Amen

—-

2 Chronicles 20

After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.

Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said: “Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’

“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.

He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”

Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”

As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing[d]and also articles of value—more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it. On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah to this day.

Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the Lord with harps and lyres and trumpets.

The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.

God Can’t Regret Love

Well, this Facebook screenshot of a quote speaks volumes. It says “love difficult people, you are one of them.” Bob Goff.

Now, we are to know THE TRUTH: GOD is love, God IS love, God is LOVE. And as difficult as people can be, us included, He still loves them.

God can’t regret love.

So, we tend to add human emotion to God, but His essence IS love, He adds His Spirituality to us… God can’t regret love because He is Love. God demonstrates that ALL THE TIME. We know difficult people and we too are difficult and yet He loves us. He just loves.

There is a classic issue when you want someone punished but God still blesses, well tough, we are supposed to forgive… We have all been there, judging and doling our love out in an eyedropper whereas God’s love is a great flood. So, WOW, isn’t it better that our God is a forgiving God to ALL? Forgiveness for us when we look to Him and ask. Thank God! God remembers and thru forgiveness we appear to Him as cleansed. That’s what it means to be washed in Jesus’s blood. God set up the whole system of loving the sinner, not the sin. Was it difficult for Jesus in death? Well it wasn’t easy, but to Jesus it was worth it.

God takes no pleasure in punishment, but must still follow thru with dealing with people who turn away from Him.

There are many stories of people “not getting away with murder” in scripture – so God knows the good the bad and the ugly… And yet for us it’s ALWAYS true that we should forgive and let God get His due. Not us. We don’t revenge for God, He’s quite capable of His Own Way.

A tremendous story example of God punishing is about Jehoram, son of King Jehoshaphat. Jehoram was REALLY bad, not just difficult. He killed his family, led his people astray, and he certainly got his due from God’s punishment, which was foretold told thru Prophet Elijah. YIKES. (Read the story below, ICK!!!).

David’s line, however, was promised to remain IN TACT. INTACT. that’s why we need tact in dealing with difficult people. We need God armor and God Grace. “The Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever”. That’s Jesus !!!

One fabulous verse about evil bad Jehoram in the Bible: “He passed away, to no one’s regret”… yeah that’s real human emotion, and we should be aware that since God deals with each person individually, we can say “I left it up to God... ” – That’s easier when we FORGIVE and walk away… walking forward because that’s what God wants us to do. “I left it up to God with no regrets.. “

God gave us the HOPE of Jesus. God is LOVE. Don’t regret loving Jesus love if you find it tough to give your own. It may take a while, but it IS worth trying it God’s Way.

Always walk forward.

Amen

—

2nd Chronicles 21

Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.

Jehoram King of Judah

When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Nevertheless, because of the covenant the Lord had made with David, the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever.

In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night. To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah.

Libnah revolted at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his ancestors. He had also built high places on the hills of Judah and had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said:

“This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you. So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.’”

The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest.

After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honor, as they had for his predecessors.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Don’t Mess with the Message

here’s “yes men”, and then there’s “yes prophets” – often we want to hear what we want to hear, but not the truth. Sometimes you ALSO don’t want to be a “yes man” to someone, and many times you shouldn’t condone what you feel is wrong.

Silence is better than siding on the wrong side. Silence is even what Jesus held for the time He was already on His Way to die.

Yet before that silence, Jesus spoke His Peace. Jesus is the Message and the Messenger.

Sometimes we stand on principles, sometimes on pride. Pride will trip us up. Pride is sin when we should be humble. Stepping into an unknown situation is just like stepping into a dark unknown cave, duck rather than hit your head. Don’t let “our way” stand in His Way. We are human of course and God knows that, we get carried away. So, what do you think God wants us to stand on, the Truth, the Rock which will not sway… that makes our narrow path navigate-able. Wide is destruction, narrow is necessary. If we take a moment to reflect with just God, for our life situations, especially consulting the scriptures over the “yes men”, we will hear the still small voice. Be quiet enough to hear.

King Ahab, of the northern divided kingdom of Israel, met up with King Jehoshaphat of the South, in Judah of the divided kingdom (Old testament Chronicles), he called upon “yes men” prophets and wanted to ignore the one prophet Micaiah (whose voice he tried to “still” and eventually put in prison) who told him what he DIDN’T want to hear, that the king would die in battle. What’s worse, is that God allowed the “yes men” to lie, or only get out half the REAL story.

Only ONE out of 400 spoke the truth: Micaiah (having clear knowledge of God’s message, and having been kept apart from the others). One might think they too must have realized Micaiah had a truthful vision. But no. The 400 told King Ahab of a delusion that the king was buying into (like us hoping to get riches with a pyramid scheme of something too good to be true)…

The prophet Micaiah even got slapped across the face. He chided the mocker by saying that he would hear it from the Lord in the quiet time, inner room. Micaiah chose to speak the truth, was imprisoned, and yes, the king died in the war with the neighboring lands. Why did God make the message of truth deeply needing to be sought after? Because the Way is narrow, we have to seek the Lord ourselves to hear. We need to listen to the still small voice. We need our inner room.

Don’t let death or punishment deter you from speaking the truth. Micaiah spoke, Jesus spoke, the truth wants to be known.

Listen…

Amen

2nd Chronicles 18

Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied, “I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will join you in the war.” But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the Lord.”

So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I not?”

“Go,” they answered, “for God will give it into the king’s hand.”

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.

So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.” Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns, and he declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’” All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious,” they said, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.” But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.”

When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I not?”

“Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for they will be given into your hand.”

The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”

Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing on his right and on his left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

“One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’

“‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.

“‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

“So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from the Lord go when he went from me to speak to you?” he asked.

Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room.”

The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son, and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’”

Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people!”

Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead

So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, “This is the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him, for when the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.

But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the breastplate and the scale armor. The king told the chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” All day long the battle raged, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. Then at sunset he died.

God Goes Ahead

“Do not be afraid or discouraged….. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

There’s nothing more clear when reading the Bible than to know the TRUTH that God goes ahead. Even the world ends (read ahead to Revelation) and yet God has our future planned. God goes ahead.

This next section of scripture in Chronicles I knew was coming when I saw a distinctive name: King Jehoshaphat – and oh how amazingly God went ahead. It was not only next in my scripture readings, it was laid next in my heart, next in my walking the old testament with Jesus as if they are His home-away-from-Home movies. Jumping Jehoshaphat, it’s all about PRAISING GOD.

Of course like popup popcorn storms, the same message in real life situations started showing up in lots of ways this week. Start praising God first was a message in one Bible story, Jesus as a Good Shepherd going first in one sermon, waiting upon God in another Bible study, and this next section of Jehoshaphat. Plus life itself, I’ve heard a lot this week: of “Wait, just let Me go first.” And trust me sometimes that is venturing inch by inch into some situations. Let God go first.

I’ve even been named Deborah, who in the Bible had said: God already went first. Praise Him first because He deserves it. Then listen to the plan. Be His. How many times has God gone first in your life? Defender is a great song to remind us He fights our battles so that we don’t.

Jehoshaphat’s story I first heard when asked to read and praise as a praise band member in a new church that I felt led to. The sermonist, a retired preacher, seemingly was lined up by God for me to hear. I was translocated there for a season. God went first. King Jehoshaphat was King Asa’s son, they were both good kings in Judah, the south of the divided kingdom. Both were reforming the church behavior in ways as God asked Moses’s time to behave. Not everything got done, but they themselves dedicated themselves to listening to God. (And when you are in a battle, you need to.) Jehoshaphat was instructed to PRAISE FIRST and vast huge armies waring against him canceled themselves out by fighting each other, leaving Jehoshaphat to simply take all the winning plunder. God went first. “Cancel culture” has nothing on this, God’s ability to win is TOTAL and for His Good. Even God put words in prophets mouths to stack the deck (see previous chapters) in Jehoshaphat’s favor.

How about us? Endless situations we all have can demonstrate God going first. If we hide under His Wing then surely before any fighting begins we can ride out of a situation with Him.

I know that we have faced many battles, but think of the ones we have NOT faced because God went ahead of us. Even death has lost its sting.

If I do anything today, I should start my day WITH PRAISING HIM!

Amen

—–

Here’s a devotion I already wrote! And a song so perfect by Keith Green -it really is about praising first.

https://debbieupper.blog/2019/03/24/fulfillment-as-gods-chosen-children-21-22feb-644/

“When I hear the praises start” Keith Green

And a great modern song “Defender”

2 Chronicles 20 Jehoshaphat

After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.

Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said:

“Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’

All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.

He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”

Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”

When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value—more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it. On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah to this day.

The End of Jehoshaphat’s Reign

So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.

The other events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.

Temptations

Isn’t it hard to go back to work after a vacation? Or any stretch of time? Or maybe I need to get back to structure from this non-structured day… (or maybe need more of these open days to chase my cloudy blue head away). In either case, it’s good that I had a vacation break day.

Unstructured enough to both be relaxing but also too relaxing to make it feel unproductive… but I wasn’t unproductive and yeah, it’s good to simply not labor so much on a break day… of course we could say it’s good to not work too much on a work day too. But my BIGGEST temptation for the start of the new week is to work work and labor labor and not consult God first. Love Love.

Temptation is going in thinking that I have to deal with work all alone. Or any day all alone. I don’t. I shouldn’t. I won’t.

Nothing will work anywhere without God’s love bringing us there and again back home.

Temptations cat treats are tasty but unfilling for a cat. The temptation of going it alone for a known or unknown, often leads to taking credit or blame… personal wins are temporarily tasty for your ego, but unfilling and unfulfilling… personal failures are prideful pitty parties.

DON’T go it alone. GO WITH GOD.

Amen

—

1 John 4: 2-6 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Woman Sitting in a Chair

The woman sitting in a chair,

a constellation of which I am well aware.

She sits forever in late summer night view.

It’s 5 or 6 stars in the shape of a “W”.

Is she just sitting

or is she knitting?

Is she reading

or is she retreating?

What and who and where is her view?

What in the world could that sitting lady do?

Lady sitting in a chair, you are my view.

Maybe because you are me and I am you.

And Lady sitting in a chair,

are you really aware?

Do you know God’s sitting too?

He is sitting and watching you!

Now I see why you, Lady, are sitting.

With God in charge, it is only fitting.

Let us let God have His Way.

And you and I may rest in Him today.

Stars, you do know.

God’s plan does flow.

So now let’s rest.

because God’s Plan IS the best.

Amen hooray!

God’s got this day!

Amen

Grumble Crumble Humble

I have passed into reading about Solomon again (again, because this section of the old testament goes over the same stories at least twice in King and Chronicles with a wisdom reminiscing in Psalms and Proverbs). So, I am now reading (again) about kings and battles in the Divided Kingdom… and with these names (again) it is TOUGH going… But I know WHERE we are going… These are all Jesus telling His-story history.

I’m grateful for these timeline pamphlets, which show the parallel stories between Kings and Chronicles. Most importantly for me I have visualized clues to understand that all the kings in the north essentially were bad and drove those kingdoms into the ground, got defeated and sent the whole population into exile. Grumble, crumble, collapse. I also absorbed a very important nugget of knowledge about the southern situation, that after Solomon, his son Rehoboam was the 1st of some BAD kings that caused the divided territory. Remember the finery of the temple just a few veres ago? Randsacked. Stolen. Solomon’s son Rehoboam HAD to move to the south for his safety. He moved to a region named for Judah, one of the 12 branches from Jacob.

So over half the kings in the south were “bad”. ALL the kings in the north were considered “bad”. It was because they didn’t listen to God… BAD!!!… and eventually everything crumbled in the north… exile by being run out of town, deportation, despair… not good… we should not be surprised that the old days weren’t so golden… our memories may want us to think life was more simple but clearly not.

Crumbled and yet from this collapse came Hope and rebirth for God’s sake, for our sake, God allowed and instilled into the scene some future Hope, spoken in prophecy, for Jesus’s earthly beginnings came from the areas in Judah. Hope of hope, a Light of the world foretold by prophets for the future. Hope held by David and known by Solomon. Hundreds of years, hope was passed on like a treasure much more valuable than Solomon’s riches. Hope was instilled even in Jesus’s disciples who asked if He came to restore the earthly kingdom of Israel then. Well, Jesus was on a mission to restore God’s Kingdom forever – Heaven and earth… Rebirth…

We all have a privilege and duty to listen to God. We have a Savior but we must be willing to be saved. We must understand both God has Power and Sovereignty, and thus fear the Lord’s rule. Fear enough to understand the love in it, the best interests for us is the best interest of Gid. We must see the beauty in the sunrises and in the sunsets, even if the days are evil. We must know we were made for days like these, times like these.

I think about times now when clearly the wishy-washy nature of the world gets us collectively in trouble. The divided kingdoms of the past become less of a surprise. The extent of brokenness of people is sadly nothing new. Like the Hope of Jesus rising from the crumbled ashes in Judah, we must recognize the rising of the Spirit within us. The grumbles of life intended to crumble our dependency upon earthly riches and rules.

We must be broken down to realize that our spirit rises best from shedding our selfish human skin, an exile to our human pride, a grumble then crumble of our groaning, to be reborn in the Spirit, humbly reborn in Jesus.

Each day be reborn into the day.

We live in this world, but are not of this world. And we best walk not with kings of earth but by the side of the King who carries us. We do continue even if we don’t conform. Live in the day, let tomorrow worry about itself.

Restore your Hope. You are rescued. Jesus is King.

Amen

—

Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. 2nd Chronicles 13:18

One Body One God

We are different from each other – we really are – and I was reminded of this recently by the similarities of two actors whom I thought were one person: Bernard Fox who appeared in Hogan’s Heros and Bewitched, and David Tomlinson who appeared in Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Well, they ARE different – both witty British comedic actors – both a delight to watch – but individual people. We are all individuals with real roles to play.

God makes us unique. God knows what makes us into us, and knows every hair on our head, so He must also know each fold in our brain and feature of our face. Of course He knows every feature of our faith too. He knows what role we try to play but He knows us in truth, intimately in every way. We can not hide from Him.

In the time of the apostles, after Jesus came and was ascended to Heaven, there are two sets of people mentioned in the writings by Paul to encourage togetherness: Gentiles and Jews – two roles in God’s Real Play of people. God intended spreading of the Gospel of Good News to both groups, who had real divisions and real uniqueness. Paul reminded that Jesus did not come to abolished any role or make one type of person into another, but to make all these people into His people thru the advocate of His Holy Spirit.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 2:14-22 was describing what Jesus did and does: “For he [Jesus] Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups [Jews and Gentiles] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

We are being built together to become a dwelling place for God’s Spirit!

One of the biggest memories I have for my faith awakening is that the Lord Himself was in charge of it and He let me know that! He made me acutely aware that He knew where my faith was and wasn’t. His Holy Spirit knows and flows, but we must not clog our system with diversions and delusions! We may simply be unaware what the depth of faith in us could be, but we are as deep as He dwell in us. We must keep diving divinely deeper. The Lord knows how He tucked the folds of our faith inside each of us for when He chooses to unfold each crevices to open. He challenges us to walk new faith roads that have unfolded.

Your faith – my faith – our faith – He alone orchestrates the non-coincidences of placement of challenges and joys. He sends His Word to work in our lives… We need to share what we discover as we are given the command to spread the Good News.

He alone is Whom we praise. We are not to elevate even His saints or fellow men over Him. We already have direct access Him… He knew us before He made us.

It is OK to ask for help in our faith journey, I sure did. No two folds or paths are the same – but the Path itself, being narrow and not wide, is laid down by the One who opens it to lead us to walk towards Him.

Jesus desired and desires to shine within each of us – let us realize we are all IN Christ as He indwells in us.

One Body, One God.

One Hope, One Peace.

Amen

Squeezing the Fist, Losing the Sand

There’s the phrase and truth that squeezing a handful of sand won’t hold on to it, but it will be lost. If you hold your palm out and open, you will hold more sand. Don’t be evil, greedy, or you will lose it all.

That’s what happened with the split of the Kingdom of Israel. Rehoboam, son of Solomon, squeezed his fist, tightened the reign of hardships into further evil ways, and lost sands of people, they were scattered and split. North and South Kingdoms.

Solomon and his father David were blessed by the Lord, even if their paths were sometimes rocky in walking. On the flipside to the wisdom held by Solomon, the son of Solomon, Rehoboam, consulted others in a wishy washy way – rejecting good advice and taking bad – “My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

And because Rehoboam was gaining in more evil of influences, which actually was allowed by God to fulfill prophecy, Rehoboam was rejected by the people who were supposed to be his subjects. This began the split of the Kingdom for centuries. The Kingdom of the South, in Judah, was made from the remnants of Solomon and David’s lines. The North was ruled by many kings. It was considered a time of Exile.

Yes, there has been strife for the Israelites ever since. Yet God kept the Way clear for the people by rebuilding hope from a remnant of Judah, a Light in the darkness, and Heavenly Kingdom restoration by sending Jesus. Jesus opened His Hand for reaching us. If Abraham’s children became as numerous as grains of sands, then Jesus is our Sand Sculptor, refilling the Kingdom of God. Judah was in the prophecy from where God would rebuild His House. We are blessed to be sitting in the Palm of His Hand.

Jesus as the Word was/is the Way people would learn prophecy. Jesus as the Word made flesh was/is how people would understand that He came to fulfill prophecy. Jesus as Servant, Shepherd, Son, and Savior, serves us all. He takes on the yoke of the heavy weight on us all.

Rehoboam sent the people away for 3 days then punished them, making the yoke tighter. Jesus went away for 3 days to take our punishment away, making our yoke light. Jesus is our Save.

Squeeze the fist, lose the sand…

Open the Kingdom, save the people.

Amen

—-

2 Chronicles 10-12

Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

—-

Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

A Way to Walk Through the Wishy-Washy World

The Queen of England was long lived in human years, and reigned a long time in God’s blessings. I am certain her faith helped her (its what keeps me going!) and that her faith inspired all who knew her. The Queen of England lived many years through wars, peace and personal and public strife. There is praise for the service and devotion of the Queen to her people and her people to her. The lines stretched for miles for hundreds of thousands to get the 60 seconds “private” personal moment with the Queen as she lies in state. A memory of a moment in history.

The history books contain long forgotten queens and kings, of both opulent and modest means, and it is said the average American lives just as well, having food and creature comforts, as kings and queens did back throughout the centuries. No doubt we are blessed. We do need to praise. The scriptures from King David and King Solomon tell us of opulent levels of gems, supplies, skilled workers, soldiers, food. 2nd Chronicles covers the riches upon riches of the Queen of Sheba and of King Solomon. Wow.

The scriptures tell us of something MORE valuable than all this opulence, WISDOM. Possessing WISDOM is most blessed.

Solomon asked for wisdom and God gave him more wisdom than we can imagine. God also gave him riches, even though he did not ask.

The Word is more wise than the world. Thus when we wonder and worry, we should wait upon the Word. Read the Word willingly, and wonder in it’s WISDOM. The Word IS the Way to Walk Through the Wishy-Washy World.

Wisdom of the Lord gifted to some is purposeful to allow others to appreciate God. Queen Sheba saw that Solomon’s God, the God of Israel, LOVED them and kept them well. She said: “Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.” This Queen of Sheba knew what blessings were and wanted to see with her own eyes what God-given wisdom was, and she PRAISED, learning the God of Solomon was so praise worthy.

Modern day seems to fade even modern memories away let alone good ones. Strife of countries is seemingly forgotten in the good times. Good times are broken by greed and strife as would happen in the generations after Solomon. It is written that God keeps kings and queens in power: to maintain justice and righteousness. (Even evil rulers are purposeful for God, He writes prophecy and fulfills it). For us in the 21st century, we must remember this too. For modern monarchies may or may not have political power directly, but there is always “soft diplomacy” – for them and for us – there is WISDOM to be shared.

Our wisdom tells us that we can count our blessings and if God wakes us up in the morning. We best grab good shoes and work for Him. We work as an encourager to His people. We work for rulers and earthly bosses as hard as we work for Him. We give praise up to God too, so that others can see that we know that He is our source of strength.

This is something that I must do more! Praise Him! I can’t imagine any other reason for my joy and energy than that He gives us strength and direction and hope and a Way to walk through the wishy-washy world.

And one day, when we rest with our ancestors, rest with Solomon and David and Queen Elizabeth, we will rest in God’s peace and plan.

Shine the Light, the world of weary travelers is watching. Walk in WISDOM.

Give God the Glory.

Amen

—

2nd Chronicles 9:1-9, 30-31

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. Arriving with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the Lord your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.”

Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

……Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

…

See chapters 10-12 for the kingdom divides after Solomon’s son Rehoboam rebels against God. The people learned hard lessons: “… so that they may learn the difference between serving me [God] and serving the kings of other lands.”

Busy Eyes Busy Ears – Queen Elizabeth’s Service and Services

I nestled in to sleep by 830pm Sunday, yes was so tired, a good tired from a busy weekend and a reflective Sunday, but really because my alarm was set 5 AM Monday. Surprisingly I woke earlier, 4 AM. Yes I was and am up so early for the funeral for Queen Elizabeth.

Busy Eyes and Busy Ears for all at the moment, at the service, by the security staff, by all family. Imagine what the great grandchildren will see and remember.

It’s not morbid or ambulance chasing, on my part. No, it’s not obsessive although some surely think it is. But I am not embarrassed to have busy eyes and busy ears. Now I have 3 live video feeds, different camera angles, and maintain a click routine of NOT MISSING ANYTHING, even knowing I can watch it all on YouTube “tape-recorded” for years later. For me, to watch is respectful, it is healing, it is processing. If sovereign leaders of state can fly over to sit hours for the service, I’m privileged too to watch on “TV”, in my pajamas, with a cup of tea. The cat doesn’t understand, she’s not stepping onto THIS laptop!

Was I ALSO awake SO early 41 years ago in 1981 (41 years ago??? Inconceivable WOW) for the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana as well? OH YEAH!!! I was 11 years old, an old TV in my room. Surely we were in fairy tale land with them. We (me, especially as a young teen) LOVED the spectacular spectacle. Fairy Tale. But shattered of course with the scandals and pain. It was not a Fairy Tale after all – and we all in life have realized: life without pain is not real life.

In comparison however to most people in the world, not sitting in cushy comfort like us, WE are their Fairy Tale. WE ARE BLESSED by privilege and provision.

Today however, I feel to be not JUST witnessing and living in a Fairy Tale of media and provisions but in a Faith Tale, to tell others about.

“Come Holy Spirit”

Billions just now heard “We beseech Thee Lord to raise us.”, “All in Christ shall be made alive”… Billions are being told of the Queen’s faith. Billions are learning there are church services filled with singing.

For this corruptible shall put on incorruptible… oh grave, where is they victory?… Thanks be to God… victory thru Jesus Christ…

A commentator said all these leaders surely feel their equalness with common folks, all in awe of the Queen. And for sure, all will know our equalness at the moment of death, we all will be humbled and judged by the real and only Lord God.

Psalm 42:1-7 was read, scriptures and songs… the Lord’s Prayer… the hymns…

So beautiful and comforting…

And then… … I feel asleep. Powerful peace for sure. Just a power nap but good enough rest, awaking in daylight at 7AM. My tea still warm. The cat resting now awaiting my wake up…

The videos I pause now and will rewind, watch again… Not missing the moments!!! I will replay for a bit and then move on… Even the Queen has already “moved on”… She did not have to wait for a procession to arrive to Heaven, only take a pause of the closure of her eyelids. She awoke with Jesus in her sightline. Death and Rest are are just a pause. She was lowered into the vault under the church – powered down on an elevator – we all paused to watch.

The pause of life, maybe death to life everlasting comes in that power nap fashion. I believe there is a real peace-recovering moment after we ourselves pass away. “Death, where is that sting?” I do believe that IN CHRIST, we will awake from the “powering down” on earth to be “powered up” in His Presence and in His Light and in His Forever.

In Jesus we live. We are not to fear death but we can not help but fear the pain leading up to it. Jesus knew this pain, Jesus knew this phase, Jesus knows our rescue was worth His death. Jesus knows our resurrection in Him will be worth it all. Peace is Jesus’s pursuit.

Imagine Heaven, imagine our BUSY EYES and BUSY EARS then! Imagine God’s Peace – for us – for Him – for all.

God save us all.

God teach us to count our days…

God bless and rest the Queen. Her service and services, a life of dedication.

God bless us all.

Amen and Peace

Precious

What’s SO very special about gemstones, about gold and silver? The crown jewels of the UK, of many nations, are beautifully displayed as Royal crowns, scepter, orbs, swords and crosses, as we are reminded during this transition of the royal family. One of many crowns adorns Queen Elizabeth’s casket laying in state. So many gems whether cut or polished raw are beautiful. The replicas of the Bohemian crown jewels were spectacular enough for me to see, and yet the real ones must be extra stunning and too precious to display all the time. They remain locked away. They are too precious to risk being stolen? Or too precious to invest the materials and staff needed to keep them safe? The preciousness is surely enhanced by their beauty. Their uniqueness created by God, but their commercial value created by man’s commerce. Such is the way of the world. Why did God make such jewel stones? Why are they beautiful? And why is a simple flower that fades away even more beautiful and delicately made just for one day?

King Solomon in all his splendor (and he had a lot of splendor, see 2nd Chronicles chapters 2 thru 5, could build only a place for sacrifices to be offered, he knew God was too big to contain. God had made a covenant with them, and God renewed His covenant with Jesus, which was foretold in the scriptures. Solomon placed the Ark in the temple, a precious container containing the stone tablets of the Law from Moses and God. And then God came in to the place as a cloud. Surely God never left but the cloud here and the cloud and fire appearing in the wandering desert were a visual for God’s precious presence, His leading and His blessings. How now we must realize that the splendor is but a shadow sliver of the beauty of the Lord.

The temple so beautiful, the scale so precise and vast… the Lord so much more than all that. The Lord is precious beyond precious, His forgiveness infinitely more precious than all the earthly riches.

Solomon built a temple for worship, but God built the TEMPLE of His own Hope by placing Himself God thru Jesus onto earth, Jesus in human flesh. Jesus was there at the beginning and humbled Himself to be the sacrifice poured into and over anything offered in human-built temples. Jesus still offers this coverage of His forgiveness today.

Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

Chapter 6 of 2nd Chronicles continues with describing how Solomon is flabbergasted in awe and wonder. In the words spoken by Solomon, he speaks in praise and wonders out loud if God will really dwell on earth. In chapter 7, the Lord God speaks to Solomon, of what will happen representatively to the temple (both the stone one and Jesus’s body) in the crumbling crushing of both due to sin (sin of man crumbles both).

Reading Solomon’s prayer given in the format of worship in front of the temple, we can gain further meaning by instead replacing the spoken word “temple” locations with “Jesus”, in chapter 6 and 7, and see how truly fitting the prayer is for Jesus directly!!!

Jesus was and is the temple torn down and raised up. Read these precious Words and know preciousnessisin the Saving, the Savior, the Forever faithfulness.

Focus on the “temple” and “altar” words underlined and realize that Jesus as the Word, as the Lord, as the Name above all names, IS the forgiveness and forgiving One:

“But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet, Lord my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.“

Yes, God did come to dwell on earth, in the form of Jesus. He already existed and came. He will come again. Solomon knew and asked on behalf of the people: “then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.”

Jesus as Lord IS the forgiving power. Jesus is now the temple Sacrifice inside us to bring us forever home, to be His “very good” beauty adorning Heaven, even more precious than any gemstone. We are shining Him, the Rock.

Precious Jesus.

Amen

And please continue reading sections of Solomon’s temple praise of God and Jesus.

“When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.“

….

“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.

“Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

See chapters 2 thru 7: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Chronicles%202-7&version=NIV;KJV

Catching up with Jesus – Queen Elizabeth Rests

SO much stuff is on the internet – and so much stuff is on live TV – but a serious chunk of people (like me) have been watching the Queen’s coffin’s final travels and stops in so many wonderful cathedrals. I have been able to watch on internet TV – in the evening- condensing full 5 hour or 12 hour or 1 hour increments – many are there without commentary – the best way to not have people talking over your watching of the real emotions.

Some small commentaries are helpful – and fast forwarding is helpful because you really don’t have time to watch 12 hours… So I find the “on demand” news that interests me so much better than the regular news – so much more processing than tears – so much more interesting than not.

This 20 minute video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQNPKyLmvAc is perfect capsule of a beautiful service entering Westminster Hall – and the singing is so perfect in young voices – singing the Psalms. Below I have posted the text of the service – the prayers are wonderful teaching scriptures. Oh what a blessing to have the Word layering into the World of houses and computers of so many people. The website with the scriptures has other pages filled with advertisements etc but on THIS page it is the scriptures that Jesus knows are laying out – not “In State” like the Queen – and not “In Static” like dead words – but “In Anticipation” for live people to pick up hearing the living Word – for Jesus wants to be heard. Living Word

If we wonder at the age of 2000 years after Jesus – how amazed we are at the chapel building being constructed 1000 years ago – in 1097 – halfway to us from when Jesus walked the earth before crucifixion and ascension – then they too must havebeenin awe for a thousand years they knew people kept the Word sacred for sharing. We have to be amazed that the reverence is there – the dedication is there – the Word is there. And yet aren’t we all simply catching up with Jesus? Because Jesus is not “going places” but WAS THERE and is ALREADY THERE. Jesus the Alpha and the Omega came for us and is now waiting for us – for all of us.

Catching up with Jesus – in order to kneel – the Queen’s guards laid their flags down on the ground at her feet. the Beefeater and soldiers rested and leaned into their weapons to bow their whole bodies. They paid tribute. We too one day will pay tribute to King of Kings, alongside with all earthly “kings” of leaders – and bow our heads and knees – some in worship and some in defeat – to the Word.

Jesus is the One who laid down His Life to be raised again. He wants us to be raised with Him – He raises Kings and Queens to follow Him. We can too.

Amen

Here is the service:

As the coffin enters, the choir of Westminster Abbey and the choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace sang the following from Psalms:

LORD, thou hast searched me out, and known me:thou knowest my down-sitting, and mine up-rising;
thou understandest my thoughts long before.
Thou art about my path, and about my bed:
and spiest out all my ways.
For lo, there is not a word in my tongue:
but thou, O Lord, knowest it altogether.
Thou hast fashioned me behind and before:
and laid thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me :
I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go then from thy Spirit :
or whither shall I go then from thy presence?
If I climb up into heaven, thou art there :
if I go down to hell, thou art there also.
If I take the wings of the morning :
and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea;
even there also shall thy hand lead me :
and thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Peradventure the darkness shall cover me :
then shall my night be turned to day.
Yea, the darkness is no darkness with thee,
but the night is as clear as the day :
the darkness and light to thee are both alike.
For my reins are thine :
thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made :
marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.
My bones are not hid from thee :
though I be made secretly, and fashioned beneath in the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect :
and in thy book were all my members written;
which day by day were fashioned :
when as yet there was none of them.
How dear are thy counsels unto me, O God :
O how great is the sum of them!
If I tell them, they are more in number than the sand :
when I wake up I am present with thee.
Try me, O God, and seek the ground of my heart :
prove me, and examine my thoughts.
Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me :
and lead me in the way everlasting.
GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
James O’Donnell (b 1961) Psalm 139: 1-18, 23-end

Following the song, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby opened with this prayer:
O GOD, the maker and redeemer of all mankind: grant us, with thy servant Queen Elizabeth, and all the faithful departed, the sure benefits of thy Son’s saving passion and glorious resurrection; that in the last day, when all things are gathered up in Christ, we may with them enjoy the fullness of thy promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Archbishop of Canterbury then read a Bible passage from John 14: 1–6 in which Jesus comforts his disciples:
LET not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Dean of Westminster David Hoyle then offered the following prayers:
O MERCIFUL God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life; in whom whosoever believeth shall live, though he die; and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally; who also hath taught us (by his holy apostle Saint Paul) not to be sorry, as men without hope, for them that sleep in him: we meekly beseech thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness; that, when we shall depart this life, we may rest in him, as our hope is this our sister doth; and that, at the general Resurrection in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy sight, and receive that blessing, which thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear thee, saying, Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world: grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our mediator and redeemer. Amen.

As our Saviour Christ hath commanded and taught us, we are bold to say:
OUR Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Next, the choir sang the following motet:
JESU, the very thought of thee
With sweetness fills my breast;
But sweeter far thy face to see,
And in thy presence rest.
Edward Bairstow (1874-1946) Bernard of Clairvaux (c 1090-1153) translated by Edward Caswall (1814-78)

David Hoyle then offered this collect, which is a prayer meant to gather the intentions of the people and the focus of worship:
O GOD, the protector of all who trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

Welby then pronounced this blessing from Numbers 6: 24-26:
UNTO God’s gracious mercy and protection we commit you: the Lord bless you and keep you: the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you: the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace: and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

Righteousness Braces and Graces

I found these coloring card packs, of the Psalms and of the Proverbs. I like the compact advice, especially this in Proverbs 4:18 “The path of righteousness is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full of the day. ”

I have started to understand righteousness by thinking of the mechanical process of being righted, and the spiritual process of being made more Jesus-like, that we will “look right” forgiven in God’s eyes. Being righted like a flag or anything that falls down, being made upright. Righteousness in the Lord BY the Lord. He burns brighter in us, we stand taller by His strength, we walk a more and more sure path. Not an easy path is promised but a sure one. Like the morning sun, the path becomes clearer within a cloudy foggy world. If anything, the ever increasing sunshine helps you know you are headed the right way in righteousness of Him who placed that Sun in perfect alignment for life.

There is a cute video of a baby giraffe who needed orthotic braces to walk until His legs healed – and then he was “righted”. The last video shot shows the giraffe ready to rejoin his family.

God gives us life BRACES to help start our walk, Jesus’s GRACES help us keep walking, and God’s Holy Spirit helps us complete our RACES.

Amen

“The path of righteousness is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full of the day. “

the giraffe: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2022/05/13/giraffe-leg-braces-san-diego-zoo-lon-orig-tp.cnn

The Rain Delays of Life and Death

Imagine I saw a whole professional football game in a big stadium with a roaring interactive crowd, park food, OUTSIDE FUN (75 degrees, no bugs!). Yeah food (Old Bay fries and cheese sauce, sausage, ice cream, yeah!) Fun. Except for I was not in a football stadium, I was in a baseball park in a rain delay watching on a jumbotron, not the football stadium, LOL. The crowd mostly was very light because both of the rain and because they wanted to be home to watch the football away game. Even the stadium workers wanted to watch. Haha, they did. Every jumbotron and elevator TV was reset to watch an EXCITING game. So we waited with best attitudes as this was a rain delay of rain delays. And with life and death that’s what we do as well, WAIT with the BEST ATTITUDE.

Essentially the “take home” message here is that we have to WAIT in life on Earth, it is a rain delay for Heaven, let’s make the most of it while God is preparing as many of His people as possible to come Home. Life in Heaven is a wait for the faithful. Life forever is worth the wait.

I think it’s fitting that I got a rain delay for the ballpark, a free game I won in a fundraiser, so I was careful not to over-hype my excitement to myself. Because if it didn’t go as planned, I wouldn’t be crushed. It didn’t, I moved forward anyway. I was excited about a major league baseball game but did not know if it would become a rain delay, we wouldn’t know until we got there… really there’s no good online or radio source on whether they’re really holding the game or not, you simply had to go there to WAIT… THAT’S LIFE! We are in many rain delays of circumstances. It doesn’t go as planned, move forward anyway.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Waiting. But complaining would not help this. Waiting in delays means making the most of the day. We were late, weren’t even settled in to watch the game before it got delayed. But our goal was eating our way thru the park anyway, being together, we achieved that.

In the preparation for a drive to the unknown delay, I was getting food for child number one (who came back from college special for the day) and in the drive thru there was a tremendous backlog of cars… Like no one wants to go out in the rain so they waited. And like no one wants to make expensive sugar drinks at home, so we all waited. And like even with 10 workers you were waiting 20 minutes. No one complained. I just kept praising the staff, it helped them.

Waiting. Complaining would not help. (The staff were working so hard too.) Waiting in this delay I found pause for the day.

I was not complaining for many reasons this day, especially for the fact it was September 11th, we count blessings on this day – that we pull our kids and loved ones more closely. That day, we cherished life, we waited. WAITED for news, hope, understanding.

Waiting. Many are still waiting. God bless them in their wait on You.

Waiting this day at the ballpark in the warm rain, I decided I would NOT complain (free game, sept 11th, with my daughter) because I ALSO knew this day was sandwiched between 2 funerals: one for a mom with kids and one for a kid of a heartbroken mom and dad and family. Really, I was not waiting on my most important role that day, since I was actively being a mom at the moment (both to the one present and the one at home). That’s where I was. THAT’S WHERE I AM. There is no delay in being a mom. No wait. Worries yes, but my willingness to hand all to God helps. Gratitude goes a long way.

God helped me the day before too, in a mournful waiting at the funeral calling hours for a fellow church mom, just 6 years older than me, a sudden terminal illness… As I had time waiting, fittingly to ponder life, so many were showing an outpouring of love and support, so many were processing the active process of grieving. I happily thought about the last time I saw her at her house. She made me a cup of tea. Mint tea. I remembered that it was mint, years later, wow. And that memory waited inside me to make me smile at her hospitality and warmth. That memory waited long enough to drop in just at the right time to discuss the memory with her adoring husband who waited to greet each person. His processing will be in the waiting to see her again. The memories make the moment – the wait made better.

At the ballpark, we waited to see how they rerolled the tarp and recreated the white lines. They swept water from the grass to hidden drains. They were excited the wait was over, and they worked double hard in excitement and know the game will go on…

Heaven awaits. You may think you are in a rain delay, because the truth is God already made the Heavens ready for us and yet He wants us here on earth for certain reasons known to Him. The Word, Jesus, was also made for the wait – He describes in His Words why we wait on God, what we are waiting for, and how we are to wait and know the game will go on…. The Word was made for the wait. And when we wait upon Him, we are in wonder-ful wait.

If life is a rain delay for Heaven, just wait and make the best. Heaven is a wait for loved ones too, they wait for us WITH the Best.

In life, life WILL go on… in Heaven, life IS on. There is no Reign delay during a rain delay.

Live best. Love best. Be.

Amen

5 years ago… God Provided… He Still Does!

5 years ago on Facebook today I wrote about God’s faithfulness in providing finances and also I wrote remembered the previous year when I was also worrying about money and saw coins all along my walk… Yeah God provided the reminder and the cash flow… He still does.

How quickly we forget that we have YEARS of God’s provisions… He got us thru or at least will get us into a plan to rework the oops-es and uh-ohs… In this 2017 post I worried about shoulders and Subarus… the success stories we forget about… God came thru!

Now sure I have different bills (well still Subaru bills but not brakes), but All in All, I saw that God doesn’t change, and provided while I was relying upon Him! He is Faithful!

Amen

2017 Facebook

“Was walking up the hill stressing about money and this dime was on the road…

Money… as my car is in the shop for brakes and inspection… I also was thinking about my next shoulder surgery and PT $$$ for October and thinking about the money for other stuff too – and then I came across this dime on the ground…

and it reminded me last year [2016] I was walking with my neighbor and worrying about money and all of a sudden on our walk there was a quarter and a dime and a nickel and I knew it was a sure sign from God that He will provide… Just keep looking towards Him and He will provide…

And so yeah was thinking all that when I came across this dime…

and the Subaru passed inspection with only brakes needed… Cool…

And the shoulder will get closer to 100%.. Cool…

And God will provide… Blessedly cool!

I’ll keep walking…. Yup!

SMILES”

Satisfying Lunch and Learn

I just needed to get something to eat and there’s lots of choices but anything really would suffice around here but might not be perfect. I chose a farm market which is new to me and believably busy and full of choices, my choice of a pretzel roll not super satisfying, bland, but was sufficient.

However I grabbed my portable beach book in the car, even though I’m not on the beach, and in less than 2 minutes from One Page started thinking not about lunch but about Jesus and how He completes the Kingdom. Now Jesus IS Super SATISFYING… He is perfect. SUFFICIENT, YES. All we need is Jesus, yes. Jesus completes our connection with God Almighty.

First this chapter in “Name Above all Names” is about about Daniel’s vision and who Jesus is as the SON OF MAN. This page 112 of the book, attached as a photo, describes God’s relationship with Adam and how He wanted “shared experiences”- yet the brokenness broke all that. Jesus brought it back to the Father in the Prescribed Way, nothing of Himself given except what and how the Father wanted to share. Jesus says I can do nothing without the Father. Jesus is as 2nd Adam (the dream of God making a connection with man) completing the situation, satisfying the brokenness with His own sacrifice and completing the opportunity for our sharing of the Kingdom. God now can have satisfaction in our love and Him giving us His Love. He knows perfection, He wants to share. He wants to share what He made Very Good.

Jesus is the “Son of Man”, a description the book explains: “[Aiding God’s image, fulfilling the divine destiny that leads to world order, completing God’s garden extended to the ends of the Earth…]” This is the destiny for man (you and me), which is now completed by Jesus, to have: “[creation as God’s image, fellowship with him in life, experiencing his love, and affection being given a glorious destiny.]”

Jesus satisfies. He is God, man, Son of Man, All in All. Jesus is Name above all Names. Given all authority yet is God’s Way to complete the Way for all. Jesus just IS – I AM – bringing God to us for God’s Will: being with us. Fellowshiping with us. Immanuel God IS with us.

Satisfying… I’ve learned that taking time with God is what God wants… now, and forever.

God IS Satisfying.

Jesus is Lord Healer.

Holy Spirit is our Helper.

Hope is in our Heavenly Home.

Perfect.

Amen

—-

Chapter 7:13-14 Daniel sees God and Jesus and he ASKS what it all means!

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

God Rest the Queen

I have certainly cried over the Queen. People loved her. God blessed her. God Saved her. And now, God rests her. Precious Lord.

God REST the Queen.

What a legend, legacy, longevity, LIFE. Beloved. Now that’s a lady who was LOVED!

A life of service for sure, the Queen kept her country, family and us in awe. Plus it’s just cool that she was the Queen, without the party-crashing lifestyle, without overloads of the personal scandals of herself when the rest of the family was embarrassing. She was witty and kind. Now that’s what a lady is, KIND.

I always wanted to meet the Queen, always. My college friend both met her and was friendly with her, even being made a member of the Royal Empire. Cool… Now that’s what a lady is, PERSONABLE.

I remember the story of the lady who hugged the Queen in 1991, in DC, wow huge news… no one did that… I remember how graceful the Queen was during it. Now that’s what a lady is, GRACEFUL

I teared up a few times, I did have a light bulb moment, when hearing of her passing, made me smile from the heart. I realized that I WILL get to meet the Queen! I WILL in HEAVEN! I know the Queen spoke often, especially in her Christmas messages, about Jesus. Her messages and ability to share always touched my heart. And because of Jesus, holding onto those who call Him Lord, I will get to meet the Queen in Heaven.

I AM going to meet her, thamks to “I AM”, and at that point, I am hoping to give her a hug!

Now that a follower of Jesus, SAVED. A rainbow showed at the palace. A promise kept.

God SAVED the Queen.

God Rest the Queen.

Amen

.—-

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/queen-elizabeth-ii-and-dc-royal-visits-a-hug-and-her-own-street/3152366/

Empty Sky Day, September 11th

I saw the back of the Statue of Liberty lit up beautifully today.

It was worth a 20 minute drive out of my usual way.

Her back was not turned on me, I was not offended in any way.

In contrary, my whole life has been lived in Freedom’s play,

I’ve pursued happiness each and every God-blessed American day.

I saw the Train Station at Lady Liberty’s Park today.

She welcomed my ancestors, huddled masses that then moved over this way.

A train ticket brought their American Dream’s freedom just a few steps away.

That’s why now I can stand here blessedly, gratefully, and knowingly say:

America was their dream fulfillment that then came my way.

It was here I touched the 9-11 steel girder sculpture to pray.

Solid in silent memorial, they did not sway nor melt away.

The 3000 plus souls however were whisked away.

That was a horrible horrible unforgettable day.

Lord, I pray everyone reached for Your Healing Way.

Empty Sky is now glittering, filled in a lively way.

21 years since the towers fell that memorialized September 11th day.

The World Trade trades money and more here each and every day.

Because clearly ingenuity and progress is here to stay!

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness goes on without say.

God Bless the USA.

God Bless us today.

Amen

Grace and Glory on September 11th

A prayer for Sunday service on September 11th:

Lord, we offer a prayer for Your Guidance, Your Hope and Your Stability. We know these days are often challenging for us, but also SO GOOD because we are SO BLESSED. As summer fades, we know for sure that these times and days are CHANGING. There are good times but there are painful changes in our lives also, yet we MUST remember that YOU DO NOT change. You, Lord, are the same yesterday, today and forever.

Just like us watching a beautiful Harvest Moon, ushering in a new season, we must remember You have a plan for us all, and we are to FOCUS ON THINGS ABOVE. You bless us in our short season here on earth because You want us to know Your faithfulness. You have sent Your Holy Spirit to guide us in our living.

This week alone we have seen such changes, from the death of a seemingly unmovable icon in the Queen, to losses of friends and family, to the anniversary of an unforgettable and unimaginable day, 21 years ago today, September 11th.

You reached for all those souls, Lord, simultaneously that day. GRACE and GLORY. May they have seen You as we ARE to see You, Good and Perfect. On that 9-11 day and today, You teach us PERSEVERANCE.

We must pray for our recognition of the REACH that You CONTINUE to have for EACH of us, including those who don’t know You, yet. Open their eyes Lord. Your sacrifice on the Cross means we can now TRULY LIVE. You model for us: Perfect LOVE.

Jesus, God with us, we are so grateful our sins are forgiven thru You and we will live eternally in Your Kingdom. You have righted our wrongs. Help us Holy Spirit to model our days as Jesus lives, and help us to keep Your commands. Strengthen us Lord. Bring us the Joy of the Morning.

Jesus You tell us to live WITHOUT FEAR of the world because You have overcome it. You tell us, Lord, that You have ALREADY done it ALL, defeating death and that You will come again. All evil will be defeated and every knee will bow. Help us holdfast until that day.

In the Word You shared thru Isaiah:
“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Thank You Lord for Your Save.
Thank You for Your Faithfulness.

Because of Jesus’s GRACE and GLORY, in His SAVING Name above all names, we pray.

Amen

Not a Competition

Life sometimes seems so full of opportunities and yet people compete for stuff that really is in plenty supply to be shared. Perhaps they haven’t found their niche and get into stuff reserved for others.

Competition. Time is a big one and we know so much competes for our time. No wonder God set aside time to be with us and us with Him. He has created Time for reminding us to be with Him, otherwise He wouldn’t need time. Each day is sufficient, but we need structure. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, meaning for each ourselves to know that: being with God is better than anything. Every moment of knowing Him better, of loving Him more and more is worth our time. We could choose this pausing in prayer and active in praise more often than just on Sabbath days, we could choose seeking Him each moment, day by day, breath by breath if we can.

Compare living in our brokenness, a hectic life full of competition, with His complete care. God IS the One who has complete time for us yet we let other distractions take that time away. Remember we are not talking being idle in prayer, but active in service. Reading of Him, yes. Living in Him, definitely!

Reading and writing about the scriptures is a calling for me, even if I can not comprehend it all. There’s more stuff in the Bible than a thousand TV seasons, and certainly more info than we could ever absorb. But that’s not to make us unsatisfied in ourselves, that’s just so we can realize we are just scratching the surface of all things Godly and clearing the distracting debris.

God wants us loving Him and His people. YES, just like we say at work, it’s the people who make a difference. God says: these are MY people. Remind them.

I wonder of course “Why are there so many names in the Bible?” Thousands mentioned and wow those remembered and traced lineages are all laid out. God says these are My people. Imagine the scribes having to hand write this all for thousands of years! That’s dedication! We barely keep records of paper to trace family trees more than a few generations, and people didn’t have such resources to preserve everything. So how does Jesus, as the Word, remember all this? He has us all written on His Heart.

King David, when he was older, traces the Levite family lines for us to see who does what jobs in serving the Lord and His House, even down to who the musicians are. The Lord “gave rest” to those living in Jerusalem and those Levites carrying the load now were assigned services in the temple. “They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening and whenever burnt offerings were presented…”

The names, wow… Jesus is the Word and wants to explain how we as people got from here to there. Not just wandering thru the desert here to there, but in service to the Lord – here AND there praising Him along the Way.

The names (1Chronicles 23, 24, 25, 26, 27) are an exhibition to us. Exhibition not competition as God found jobs for them all. We don’t have to compete with the past or current servants, we just need to do our jobs, share the Good News along the way. Be ready to praise.

The Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky. And He did.

The families were treated fairly and were re-assigned in restructuring in the restoration of David’s city, God’s city: Jerusalem. The names were so important to Jesus and that the people knew their history and heritage. Then and now, Jesus knows the names, as He is the Name above every name.

David prepped this re-order restoration when he was old and had already appointed God’s chosen, Solomon, to be king. He listened and those many times when He didn’t, and he got distracted, God corrected him and called him back. God preserved the line and lineage for the future predicted earthly entrance of the Name above all names, Jesus, from this line.

David even spelled out an appointment order of ministering from within the family lineage of Aaron, Moses’s brother, in who would be entering the temple of the Lord, according to the regulations previously prescribed for them, as the God of Israel, had commanded him…. In this, the Lord laid out a job, a place, a purpose. We know the Lord is Lord of all and we have a place, purpose.

Us too, even if we are more numerous than we can count, Jesus counts us, and counts on us. We have history that Jesus knows even if we don’t know everything about ourselves, let alone our heritage.

Most importantly we have a future. The restoration of the Kingdom is not by stones but by The Rock of Jesus. His service was not just in name but in LIFE, He wrote of God’s Plan alongside living it. Jesus, One with the Father, knew everything in His created Kingdom, name by name, moment by moment, and in Himself.

Your name, God knows you, Jesus calls you, the Holy Spirit moves you.

Be His, He already knew you before all was begun. He knows how you fit.

You were made for a time as this.

Give Him praise and let Him pull you away from competitions to help you be saved from those “distractions of life” into the ATTRACTION of LIFE IN HIM.

Amen

—

When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon king over Israel. David also gathered together all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites. The Levites thirty years old or more were counted, and the total number of men was thirty-eight thousand. David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand are to be in charge of the work of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be officials and judges. Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.”

David separated the Levites into divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

—

For David had said, “Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever, the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles used in its service.” According to the last instructions of David, the Levites were counted from those twenty years old or more.

The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron’s descendants in the service of the temple of the Lord: to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God. They were in charge of the bread set out on the table, the special flour for the grain offerings, the thin loaves made without yeast, the baking and the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size. They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals.They were to serve before the Lord regularly in the proper number and in the way prescribed for them.

And so the Levites carried out their responsibilities for the tent of meeting, for the Holy Place and, under their relatives the descendants of Aaron, for the service of the temple of the Lord.

From 1 Chronicles 23-27

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Chronicles+23-27&version=NIV;KJV

Spiritual Fruit is Not Too Heavy

I marvel every year how bendable strong our Jujube tree is – it gets so heavy-laden with lots and lots of little fruits. But it stretches feet lower instead of breaking. Normally you can walk under the branches, not in fruiting season.

Amazing.

I also marvel at how in a quick summer, a whole flowering to fruiting mission runs it’s course. With so little rain this year, spring and summer seasons still get the job done. Fall is fruit-fall for harvesting. Winter is perseverance and eating what preservation established. Sharing what you are saving. With this Jujube tree yearly excess in fruit, it may take a while!

Amazing.

These tree branches nearly touch the ground, but not in spring, they are inconspicuous overhead and you would never know the big job ahead. Now the fruits like shriveled apple dates will start falling and groundhogs and squirrels could sell the excess if they had the ability to cart this food around (imagine wheelbarrows instead of cheek pouches to transport). God gives in excess and what doesn’t get eaten melt back into compost naturally. God provides for all his creatures.

Amazing.

I’m too afraid to eat these jujube, but I probably should try.

Fruits of the Spirit are like that too, sometimes we are afraid to use them, but God makes them totally available. God hangs them on us after He makes us strong and flexible. We must bend so that we don’t break. The fruits may be few and huge or many and tiny.

In a good season, the bounty probably is enough to touch many lives. We must share the wealth otherwise the fruit will fall at our feet and rot. Or sometimes we can run around shedding fruit, and creatures unknown to us will pick up the fruits which are still good. Sometimes we can take charge of the wheelbarrow and spread the wealth. Sometimes the people come to us. Sometimes it feels lonely that we have so much to give and who even wants any… Well, people are hungry for what they don’t know. Share anyway and grab a wheelbarrow and go to them, instead of waiting for others to come to you.

We have an opportunity to share what it means to share. We can reach where we can stretch, so stay flexible. REACH.

Galatians 5:22-23 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

These sharings are huge difference makers in themselves, but perhaps fruit hung by God on you in small doses just like the jujube tree, so you don’t worry about delivering massive watermelons of blessings if you are simply asked to give small but meaningful doses of blessings. “No gift is too small.” And let the Holy Spirit be your guide. He knows how and where to share. He knows how you work in God’s Plan. Remember the tree does not make the fruit for its own consumption. God changes your season and will change your vision. Fruits of the Spirit are for blessing all.

Be open to the seasons of Spirit and seasons of life. Get ready to use each of them for God’s Glory. Springing flowers show up, Summering flowers get to work, Harvest Fruits make for a Free-for-all Fall, Persevere and Preserve in Winter to help you start again. Seasons of life. Build up your muscles for each.
Always be willing to SHARE. If God gave it to you, it is God’s gift for you to share. All good things come from God.

This tree is but one tree. It has been provided by God. So have you. Fruit is not heavy to break you, just God being an opportunist thru you.
Amen
—

A Tree and Its Fruit

Jesus taught: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:43-45

—

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. James 1:9-10

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. James 1:22-25

—-

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 16 (of David)

—

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 2:2-6

—

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5:14-15

The Kids are Alright

Doesn’t matter if you are an empty nester (full or partial), a mom and dad of fully grown adults, or newbies with a newborn, (or you have rebound kids), or (you fill in the circumstance)…, you have to remember the lyrics of THE WHO song: “The Kids are Alright!”

Yes. GOD-WILLING (and He IS) the kids will be ALRIGHT. Whew! Put everything in His capable Hands.

How can we instruct our kids to trust in the Lord, to do the best they can, and to pay attention to dangers etc etc? Or blessings? MODEL THAT GOD-TRUSTING BEHAVIOR OURSELVES. Give Him credit too when He pulls you out of something sketchy or puts you into something good.

God-fearing and God-trusting. God-providing.

We can be instructed by successes and failures of King David. He was on and off-track many times like us, but always returned to remembering God was in control. King David realized that his son King Solomon would have to pick up not just the family name but the commitment to SERVE GOD for GOD’S SAKE and the sake of the people. Us too.

We teach and correct our children (and sometimes our parents) and how often do we wonder: “Am I doing too much?” OR “Am I not doing enough?” “Will everything be alright?”… In ALL cases, we have to trust more than just our gut, or peer pressure, but TRUST GOD. There is no one more ABLE than God to provide. (And He DOES provide you to help your kids too). “You are not the blessing, He is” is what I heard once – don’t take credit – take advice from Him.

King David was willing to build God a really good temple for placement of the Ark of the Covenant, but God said no. David did the next best thing he felt he could do: 1) tell his son Solomon to listen to and trust in God and 2) supply tons of supplies!

David provided – maybe he couldn’t help himself just after seeing God’s MERCY in stopping an angel with a sword punishing David’s people – and David wanted to provide a temple because he wanted God to have the BEST. God said “have I ever asked anyone for a house or temple for the ark”… NO… But because David thought his son Solomon was inexperienced, he ordered the supplies and set Solomon off on the best foot. He advised him: “now begin the work, and the Lord be with you” – “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” – “May the Lord give you discretion and understanding.” We ask this for our children too. Set them up for success and then appreciate God’s gift of rest.

God blessed Solomon greatly, especially with wisdom. David did his best, God did the rest.

God has told us even better NEWS, thru His prophets, that God would build the KINGDOM HOUSE (not just a temorary temple), and provide the SON, a real and permanent King of Kings, Prince of Peace, Name above all names. Knowing this, how can we not appreciate God’s provisions. He say we will be alright too! We are His children.

God’s got this. God’s kids (us) will be alright.

Amen

1 Chronicles 22

Then David said, “The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Preparations for the Temple

So David gave orders to assemble the foreigners residing in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God.

He provided a large amount of iron to make nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, and more bronze than could be weighed. He also provided more cedar logs than could be counted, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought large numbers of them to David.

David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death.

Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

“Now, my son, the Lord be with you, and may you have success and build the house of the Lord your God, as he said you would. May the Lord give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the Lord gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

“I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as those skilled in every kind of work in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen beyond number. Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you.”

Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon. He said to them, “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not granted you rest on every side? For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands, and the land is subject to the Lord and to his people. Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”

Free Thinkers Free Praise

NOW THAT’S SALADA TEA…

A lot of tea bags are tasty, but this SALADA tea bag advice tag is clearly witty. It says something that should be life philosophy: “Free thinkers don’t charge for advice.”

True.

We have been given the ability to think and when we ponder freely, we can share freely, especially because what if God has a message for someone else thru us. Another reason to think more widely beyond ourselves is that we can make life decisions best for MORE than just us. We can set aside greed for GRACE and BLESS OTHERS FREELY.

We are forgiven when we forgive.

We are more blessed when we BLESS.

Of course we work for a wage, and share advice at work to perhaps clients, charging per the hour, but as a whole person floating thru day to day life, we should not hold back advice or warnings. Of course not everyone wants to hear us (namely teenagers, nor anyone really) but if God put it in your head, don’t withhold vital information for the world. And there might be just the right ears in earshot.

King David realized so many blessings from God. God even told Him about how He would establish His forever Kingdom under a lineage of David to be forever King *speaking of Jesus *…

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:

“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, my God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You, Lord God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men. What more can David say to you for honoring your servant?….. There is no one like you, Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.” 1 Chronicles 17:16, 20

BUT DAVID could not keep away from an evil influence of pride and maybe greed but certainly foolishness. And David did NOT take advice of his counselors. David called for a census he didn’t need (Satan stirred up trouble). That’s like counting your money just to marvel at it). But this census request was repulsive to his advisors and to God. And they told him so. David realized too late and had to repent to God. His sin cost many lives in punishment. David was actually given a choice by God in 3 years slightly severe (dependent upon the Land) or 3 months mildly (dependent upon enemies) or 3 days most severe punishment under God’s heavy hand – and chose to be under God’s hand 3 days, knowing that God deals fairly and ALSO with Grace and Mercy.

God sent an angel to punished and then stopped shorter than 3 days. David saw this severe angel and begged and took upon the blame.(wow, sounds like Jesus huh?)

David took God’s advice then. God’s angel told David’s counselor Gad to tell David to build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David obeyed and PAID. David paid the price (of the place) to build an altar of praise and prayer (sounds like Jesus paying the price for the people – what praise we have).

David said in the purchase: “I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

David saw God accept his offer. David saw God’s mercy to His people. David wanted to set up praise.

We too see God’s mercy. We see Jesus gave His life. We know and have tasted His goodness. We must praise.

Of all the free advice David could give us, and all His counselors could too, is the advice of the angels: PRAISE GOD.

PRAISE HIM

FROM HIM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW…

AMEN!

1 Chronicles 21, 22:1

Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.”

But Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

The king’s word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.

But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king’s command was repulsive to him. This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.

Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”

The Lord said to Gad, David’s seer, “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”

So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the Lord saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.”

David Builds an Altar

Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the Lord.

While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Then David approached, and when Araunah looked and saw him, he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David with his face to the ground.

David said to him, “Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price.”

Araunah said to David, “Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this.”

But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

So David paid Araunah six hundred shekels of gold for the site. David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.

Then the Lord spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

Then David said, “The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Labor No More

A prayer on our Labor Day Holiday for a young child’s family, for their perseverance and hope in life eternal as their young son passed away after a long bout with cancer twice.

Prayers…

Labor No More…

It’s Labor Day and the unofficial end of summer. Unofficially, just the ending of a season…

Rest in peace, you are now in a NEW and FOREVER season of JOY. For as this season ends yet another life begins. Life in the Lord’s Love never ends, like summer, it just CHANGES VENUES: sweet Heaven.

It Labor-Ending Day, unofficially and officially. The ending of an earthly season… and sweetly the OPENING DAY FOR HEAVENLY PLAY.

Labor no More, dear one. You are loved. You were rescued into Jesus’s arms and you can now have Summer-Forever, Fall-Free-for-All, Winter-Wonders and Spring-in-Your-Step.

Spring now in your step. That’s because then and now you are always STRONG.

Amen and prayers for all.

LIFE, in God’s Prescribed Way

As clear as day, God wants things done HIS WAY.

In Heaven and on Earth, it’s God’s Way or NO Way.

Today, won’t you ask Him for direction? Won’t you surely pray?

He knows everything, the future for us too, revealed and detailed in a very prescribed WAY.

Won’t you inquire of Him? Everything little thing, simply ask Him TODAY.

Today, do LIFE in God’s Way.

Amen

It was clearly fictitious in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” when the Ark of the Covenant “box” was carried out and ghouls steamed out of it when opened. It was fictitious to think that the Ark carried all the power of God in it, when it was God watching the people watching it. One truth is that God made the people make it. He had a plan and we still talk about that today. He made the people a memory box for them of His Faithfulness when they (as wandering rabble-rousers) walked through the desert 40 years. He made them make a very detailed plan of how to take care of the Ark too. And when the Ark went off plan, so did the people.

We are that people fallen off of God’s original plan, by Adam’s derailment, but RIGHTED on the rails and CARRIED BY JESUS. We are those people given a FUTUREPRESCRIBED, detailed in the book of Revelation (an IMPORTANT read if you haven’t already). We are the people of His Plan to be loved and to love Him with all our hearts, souls, and minds.

God takes care of us.

For taking care of the Ark, David admitted and stated: “We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” David brought back the people who were given exact jobs based upon their skills from God, like singing and music making. The Levites were to do the heavy lifting too, poles on their shoulders as prescribed by Moses retelling God’s instructions. Doorkeepers and gatekeepers, musicians and singers. GOD HELPED THEM. They asked and He told them. He actually told them before they asked.

Us too. God tells us a plan before we ask. Just be His.

Why would we in our memory box lives not trust Him for the next life steps too? We carry Him directly, Jesus inside of us. We are Holy Spirit guided. Certainly, “He brought us SAFE thus far!!!”… So why wouldn’t we inquire of the next step and steps…

Today, let us do life in God’s Way.

Enemies? Oh yes. Michal, David’s wife, daughter of Saul, watched the whole thing, seeing finely dressed David dancing and leading the parade, and she DESPISED him. Hated. People will always be at odds with God’s plan for your life. Don’t let that deter you from carrying out God’s plan. Don’t let misery and jealousy and anger bleed into your life. Dance. Once you turn the corner, that person will be behind you anyway. Let them catch up with God.

Dance David, Dance. Us too. Dance.

Make a joyful sound!!

Follow God because God is GOOD.

He prescribed our Way with Him on HIS WAY.

Amen and Hooray!

1 Chronicles 15:1-4, 11-29

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before him forever.”

David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it. He called together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:….(many names)…

Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord.

David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their fellow Levites as musicians to make a joyful sound with musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals. So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his relatives, Asaph son of Berekiah; and from their relatives the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah; and with them their relatives next in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.

The musicians Heman, Asaph and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals; Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were to play the lyres according to alamoth, and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel and Azaziah were to play the harps, directing according to sheminith. Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.

Berekiah and Elkanah were to be doorkeepers for the ark. Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer the priests were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also to be doorkeepers for the ark.

So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps.

As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart.

As clear as day, God wants things done HIS WAY.

In Heaven and on Earth, it’s God’s Way or NO Way.

Today, won’t you ask Him for direction? Won’t you surely pray?

He knows everything, the future for us too, revealed and detailed in a very prescribed WAY.

Won’t you inquire of Him? Everything little thing, simply ask Him TODAY.

Today, do life God’s Way.

Amen

The Window

The sticker on the Dunkin drive thru window could not have been more PERFECTLY TIMED. Yes, a sign to tell God’s story of these days, this summer, right now.

The sign on this Dunkin window said: “Tell us about the window.” Hmmmm….

No, I’m not writing a review on this decent but not perfect Dunkin donuts locale, but we all need to understand the windows of time and circumstances that God puts into our lives. There are seasons in life. There are windows of opportunities that close fast.

“Life is short.” “Life is for living.” Life is for praising and pleasing God. Make the most of it. God will help you.

Just like with a break in the weather (cooled down or warmed up), there is usually an opportunity to get something done and an opportunity to appreciate the opportunity you are in. Right now have a break in the busy summer, now that my daughter is back at school, perhaps I get to get to lots of things done at my house, or spend time at my work, but most importantly refocus on my son. The day after she was nestled at school was his 18th birthday. All these things are set up to not dwell in earthly stuff but move thru it – with JOY – at God’s opportunity for you. It’s not an empty nest in any aspect, because there’s always mom feathers for a weekend respite for her, a visiting window God will line up for her (and the cat). College is more like a summer camp respite for mom (one week or month at a time)…

Windows. We wait for opportunity and then step thru them.

Windows. I had an unusual open 2 weeks that I went on vacation. My weekends are now packed. That vacation opening must have been orchestrated by God. I still had to prepare for it. But He’s the cruise director, we are the help.

Windows. Queen Ester got a window of opportunity and with advice from Mordecai, she realized that she was chosen for a big move for her people, saving them at the right and certain time: “and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Ester saved the Jews, her people.

Windows. We could just hope for a small window of relaxation, indulging in rest as a necessity. Gearing up for next adventures as an opportunity. Knowing that God will figure it all out is priceless. Don’t just pay attention to the wind, like Mary Poppins, pay attention to Him.

Windows. King David got one for the Ark. King Solomon got one for a temple. You get windows for Him too. Move if the window is open. He opens up them in His Time. He closes them too. After David set up the tent for the Ark, and organized the servants to watch it, God’s window allowed David to return home to bless his family.

We need to BE A GOD OPPORTUNIST. Watch for the windows and tell others where He is leading you. He’s always got the best plan.

Be His.

Amen

—

From 1 Chronicles 16:29-36 (from David who seized the opportunity and brought back the Ark, but the Lord said not to build a building for it, that would be son Solomon’s opportunity. Not all opportunities are ours… but praising Him is. )

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Let the trees of the forest sing, let them sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.” Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.

Day by Day on Jesus’s Way

It’s amazing to me that I made some decent progress over the summer when I physically measured the thickness of the Bible’s Old Testament that I have methodically read. One could say the “Old ” Testament is the “Foretold” Testament for-telling Jesus’s arrival. The Way thru the Bible is seeing the reinforcement of His Way. The Way is the Way of Wisdom. Jesus is the Way.

I never dreaded the inches but felt overwhelmed in my basic not knowing what was in it! I knew I needed/need to make a journey by myself first in wandering and wondering, no cliffnotes just cliffhangers. I wondered how dry the stories might be and how would I ever grasp so much history? Well I made progress, day by day, and I’ve certainly learned along the Way. And as for the dryness? I realize by adding Living Water to the stories, adding not-so-private-detective looks for prophecies of Jesus, I got HYDRATED in MY HEARING.

So my recent big revelation is this part is that there is a doubled back storyline, a huge section of reinforcement to the same stories! OH!!! Chronicles is retelling the stories again of Saul, David, etc… OH! I HEARD THIS BEFORE!!! These MUST be important. I love reinforcement and a really cool set of stories too! Once again of how people loyally followed David and how he took care of the Ark of the Covenant with memory items of God’s Faithfulness. And why? Jesus shows us that Way back to Him.

The Way thru the Bible is the reinforcement of His Way. And He reinforces and reinforces.

The Way, Jesus is the Way and part of His paving project Way, for His physical entry into our day, was to raise up His House of David. Even though the road wasn’t wide for David, it was SURE, a firm-foundation like for us. And ever-fallible David still loved the Lord seriously and solidly, always looking for solutions.

Jesus had to build the house on earth for Him to be born in. He wrote His Story, just as He writes ours. He has us in HIS House.

The Chronicles by the Chronicler are the details of loyalty. God LOVES loyalty in us too, believing, because He is LOVE and LOYAL.

The Way of the Lord is the Way of Wisdom.

Follow Jesus on your Way to His House.

Amen

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you… Proverbs 9:10-12

1CHRONICLES 12:22-40

For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God. And these are the numbers of the bands that were ready armed to the war, and came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord.

The children of Judah that bare shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred, ready armed to the war.

Of the children of Simeon, mighty men of valour for the war, seven thousand and one hundred.

Of the children of Levi four thousand and six hundred.

And Jehoiada was the leader of the Aaronites, and with him were three thousand and seven hundred;

And Zadok, a young man mighty of valour, and of his father’s house twenty and two captains.

And of the children of Benjamin, the kindred of Saul, three thousand: for hitherto the greatest part of them had kept the ward of the house of Saul.

And of the children of Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred, mighty men of valour, famous throughout the house of their fathers.

And of the half tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, which were expressed by name, to come and make David king.

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

Of Zebulun, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war, fifty thousand, which could keep rank: they were not of double heart.

And of Naphtali a thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty and seven thousand.

And of the Danites expert in war twenty and eight thousand and six hundred.

And of Asher, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, forty thousand.

And on the other side of Jordan, of the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and of the half tribe of Manasseh, with all manner of instruments of war for the battle, an hundred and twenty thousand.

All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.

And there they were with David three days, eating and drinking: for their brethren had prepared for them.

Moreover they that were nigh them, even unto Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, and meat, meal, cakes of figs, and bunches of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep abundantly: FOR THERE WAS JOY IN ISRAEL.

Continue on this link to chapters 12-17 all about David and the Ark:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Chronicles+12-17&version=NIV;KJV

Glitter and God’s Glue

The other night cleaning up my own VBS messes at my friend’s church, I was especially thinking about Miss Bonnie, God rest her soul, our Sunday School nursery teacher and VBS craft lady extraordinaire. Glitter glitz going over the top in good ways FOR the sake of the children, for the sake of the Lord. (And I also remember her for teaching confirmation class and for the elderly she visited).

I remember the day after VBS, our former Pastor PJ took the leaf blower into fellowship hall to move glitter out!!!. Trust me the gas fumes were worse than the glitter!

Glitter may be shed so that people may be led.

How overabundant Miss Bonnie’s love was for the children. The lessons she taught were of Jesus’s Love. Lord knows both that I miss Miss Bonnie and yet I DO KNOW she is in such amazing Heaven, a MUCH better place especially for Jesus loves her immensely and has healed her. Bonnie was “unashamed of the Gospel” like Apostle Paul, because she knew Jesus was her amazing healer, helper, hold-her-together-er, hero and Savior. We all live lives where we all would attest it is “[better to be one day in Your court, Lord, than a thousand elsewhere]”. That’s because are saved in Jesus’s blood. Yes, we are seen as pure and clean from Jesus’s washing.

So, Miss Bonnie’s legend lives clearly on in every child project still decorating grownup kids’ homes. Miss Bonnie loved glitter glitter glitter and kids love glitter. She loved sharing different art and craft materials and was very particular about tacky glue over Elmer’s, so projects would dry faster and stick better. She made sure the parents understood the “work” their children made amazingly.

Children’s ministry is one of the glues of any church and Jesus’s Word says don’t hinder the little children. Trust me that children bring adults, Grandparents, friends to our churches. Miss Bonnie and dedicated teachers and preachers know God’s True Glue is His Word and the Working out of It. When a child asks Jesus to grow in them, the Kingdom grows, the God Glue flows. The Glitter of God shining in that child encourages the faith growth of members of that child’s family. Endless stickers of Jesus and pages of scripture coloring sheets may be cherished and saved.

His Spiritual Glue saves our lives.

I reached to clean up the floor at VBS that night at my friend’s church and picked up a child’s lost crafts, glued feathers and paper towel rolls. One solo Jesus foam piece? That WAS from a Miss Bonnie connection. I moved that bag of those unique foam pieces myself years ago. God found just the right timing of an unusual something that I knew was from Bonnie and our old Sunday School classes. This night, I was at one of these churches where we parsed out many of Miss Bonnie’s excess craft supplies. We gave out her materials when we were required to move VBS/Sunday School storage at the old church, to make space (Whew!). Multiple churches, scout troops, the children’s hospital, and even foreign missionaries were given supplies we sorted, divided and donated. (I can still see my friends cleaning and sorting with me in a 4 hour marathon one Saturday, wow). I remember to honor her by keeping teaching and helping.

Miss Bonnie still touches our lives with her love of sharing Jesus. All Sunday school and VBS teachers do make a difference, even if for the parents to say “Thank God” that their kids stay busy for an hour. There can still be praise in parts and in whole for the endless numbers of children benefitting from time that Miss Bonnie dedicated to them, to show them love, to tell them LOVE comes from God and LOVE IS God. GOD IS LOVE.

Jesus, the foam piece, I stuck that to my car window today in morning dew, and will keep it in my Subaru dash. Remembering it’s Jesus in our hearts who IS our Life Glue.

God’s Glue is True.

Amen

Debbie Upper

A Child of God Awakening to His Love

Month: September 2022

He IS

God Was NOT Stopped

God Can’t Regret Love

Don’t Mess with the Message

God Goes Ahead

Temptations

Woman Sitting in a Chair

Grumble Crumble Humble

One Body One God

Squeezing the Fist, Losing the Sand

A Way to Walk Through the Wishy-Washy World

Busy Eyes Busy Ears – Queen Elizabeth’s Service and Services

Precious

Catching up with Jesus – Queen Elizabeth Rests

Righteousness Braces and Graces

The Rain Delays of Life and Death

5 years ago… God Provided… He Still Does!

Satisfying Lunch and Learn

God Rest the Queen

Empty Sky Day, September 11th

Grace and Glory on September 11th

Not a Competition

Spiritual Fruit is Not Too Heavy

The Kids are Alright

Free Thinkers Free Praise

Labor No More

LIFE, in God’s Prescribed Way

The Window

Day by Day on Jesus’s Way

Glitter and God’s Glue

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