cling-to-what-is-good

MOVING FORWARD! Get up and Go and Cling to What is Good!

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I’m glad the BIG spider just stayed on the rocks, I was ready to NOT move, so I only moved my legs up and we were both OK. Spider and I both chilled out… 

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The campfire was really nice and so was the whole weekend of being in the mountains and just relaxing. Trips are so worth it, especially camping. I rode up with one church friend, we stayed with another church friend, and we cooked and talked and walked and prayed thankfulness at each meal… Cozy cabin with electricity and an indoor composting toilet and an outhouse were just fine for the weekend… No shower but knowing one at home eventually allowed us to be fine in the grime, camping is just that…. Just be fine, just exist… Just BE. The world will move forward but for a moment you can just rest in the experience of outside.

And oh the leaves were just starting to change at that elevation, the chill and thrill of autumn triggers in us this time to be thankful… We enter the opportunity to see the summer transition into fall… So beautiful. We are to cling to what is good in life: Friendships and Fall and Fires, Fun and Faith… 

“Cling to what is good” as a scripture is so true for us clinging to lasting love over fading falseness. Roll the fakeness of worldliness off your back – even the leaves fall from trees and are recycled into the earth. Stay true to faith and God’s Love. Cling to Jesus, He IS True… and remember Jesus is also moving in our lives, so let us keep moving too – Get up and Go if the Lord tells you so!

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV 

And on our last camping day, Sunday, we found the church service nearby that was such a treat spiritually and socially and the sweetest people and oh the strongest strength of the sermon message was so inspirational. MOVING. (and they even had a delicious lunch for everyone out of crockpots)…  And yes, seriously a really MOVING message because it was about us NOT STAYING STUCK. To get out of our ruts of life, to stop our excuses of “I can’t” or “they told me I couldn’t” and instead we are to, like the man on the mat at the pool of Bethesda, be listening to Jesus and His prompting in the Holy Spirit as they say: “YOU CAN” !!!!

The pastor himself had experienced a “Get up and go” message from Jesus – not just because he was an interim pastor all over the country for about a year and a half at each location while each church did a permanent pastor search – but because he had a miraculous healing of an ailment (an aneurysm in his brain which dissolved after serious prayer by a congregation at the time) which then he didn’t believe for 2 years and “stayed stuck” chasing this doctors appointment and that – MRIs and CAT scans – but it was gone. BELIEVE IT.

And that was the take home message – if Jesus has made us SAVED people – believe it and walk in the Light. The stressing on the question by Jesus: “DO YOU WANT TO BE MADE WELL?” If Jesus heals – don’t live sick. Yes, if Jesus has shown us the way – don’t lose HOPE. Live the life now in front of you. 

And also don’t go on sinning – lest a worse thing comes upon us. The scripture recounts Jesus’s teaching – of moving forward from past sins from past aches from past STUCKNESS – as well as an urge to live well. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Yes, may we be moving forward and get out of “STUCK” – and get going. This hit home with me as I personally have had many a situation where I felt stuck but it wasn’t my wiggling out of it – it was Jesus showing me the Way one lighted tile at a time to step onto. 

I found that my friend and I sitting immediately next to each other in church was also whom I was sitting with at that beach church sermon of “FEAR NOT” – and the urging to not let irrational fear stop us in our tracks – and keep moving – FOR GOD GOES WITH US. That was a crucial message for me this summer – and here again (at a different church in a new season), God found the right message for each of us – for all of us that day – CLING TO WHAT IS GOOD. 

Get up and walk – Jesus is leading the Way.

AMEN!

JOHN 5 NKJV:1-15  A Man Healed at the Pool of Bethesda
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ” Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Romans 12 NKJV Living Sacrifices to God – Serve With Spiritual Gifts – Behave Like a Christian

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Better RELIANCE Upon Wisdom from the LORD, Isaiah 28

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“Like the ocean, it’s good to keep moving ahead in waves…”

That is a quote I came up with in response to my friend who is finding herself moving again. A separate person from my other friend moving but the same plan, downsize.  This friend from school moved south then north and is drawn back again south, to the ocean. Thus the quote I made about waves. “Like the ocean, it’s good to keep moving AHEAD in waves…”

Having downsized like twice now, this particular friend will start again in the lifestyle she used to have, but different, because this new past she is leaving behind, in stages, lightens her load. And it is not to pick up her old past again but make new. Her situation has changed – mostly by her choice – and it is time to move on – move to the new situation which will be new even if it is returning to a location she was already in. And her packing and peace will be in waves.

Not all situations are the same, and even if they seem similar, God makes them NEW for us, or at least makes us NEW in the same situation by His Mercies, which are fresh each morning.

“All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.”

I find reading and rereading scripture gives new insights. It is new to today even if I experienced it before. I love to see scripture that maybe I read but never absorbed – like in Isaiah 28 – about the Lord teaching the proper way for the proper situation – and changing tactics when it’s time. 

Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever.

Yeah…  Not all situations are the same – this is for people, for seasons, and for times – for the descriptive text in Isaiah about Soil and Grain, it’s like it means you have to apply life changes in attitude too. Isaiah said Caraway Cumin Spelt and Wheat – listen to the Lord in how you prepare it – how you grind it – how you plant it – how you harvest it. 

LIFE IS DIFFERENT IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS AND THEREFORE WE SHOULD LET THE LORD ADAPT US INTO HOW WE HANDLE THE CIRCUMSTANCES. 

Pay attention to the situation at hand. MOVE FORWARD ALWAYS. 

When we study what Jesus said to His disciples about the scripture of the cornerstone rejected but on which the kingdom being built, which they all recounted later in the gospels, we understand that Jesus was teaching THE WAY to have Jesus be OUR WAY. Jesus wants us to stand with Him when He is standing with us. Jesus wants us to build upon HIS WAY. This is true wisdom because with Jesus as our firm foundation we will be anchored and adaptable applying love.

In other words, when you find yourself in a situation where you COULD lash out – but the Lord HELPS you hold your tongue or roll something off your back. We can let Jesus be our foundation in standing up for His Way and standing up to simply walk away. The power to be patient is a true Godsend. 

We find that Jesus is asking WE APPLY HIS ATTITUDE. Jesus is saying: “Don’t sweat the small stuff” – Just let it roll off the back. MOVE FORWARD. 

To have BETTER RELIANCE UPON THE LORD’S WISDOM is WISE.

Amen

Isaiah 28: excerpts 16, 23-29 

So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; …”

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Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say. When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil? When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a stick. Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain. All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.

Amen Amen