The Blessed State of the Righteous

I 'stumbled' upon this chapter yesterday morning, and it's promises were so beautiful and encouraging, that I had to share. 

The Blessed State of the Righteous

112 Praise the Lord!

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who delights greatly in His commandments.

² His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
³ Wealth and riches will be in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness;
He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
⁵ A good man deals graciously and lends;
He will guide his affairs with discretion.
⁶ Surely he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.
⁷ He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
⁸ His heart is established;
He will not be afraid,
Until he sees his desire upon his enemies.

⁹ He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted with honor.
¹⁰ The wicked will see it and be grieved;
He will gnash his teeth and melt away;
The desire of the wicked shall perish.

Just Trust

 ⁵Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 ⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

                              -Proverbs 3:5-6

  ( Sorry about the lack of posts recently! I've been attempting to absorb some important spiritual truths, but haven't been able to articulate them very well yet- they are kind of slippery! )

   I was reading a book (by Lori Wick!) the other day, and in a conversation between two of the characters, this verse came up, and even after the characters were finished discussing it, it remained in my mind. I have known this verse since at least elementary school, and possibly even earlier, but it has gripped my heart in a whole new way these last few days. The first word, alone, has caused alot of heart searching- Trust. When I think of the word trust, I usually think of the 'faith fall' illustration. You know, the one where the speaker has a volunteer fall backwards into his arms, on the promise that the volunteer will be caught. My teachers at school used to use that, and I would always try to make myself as invisible as possible, in case they decided to start calling names. Even just for fun with friends, I can't do it! As I once said to a friend of mine, "If I'm driving, I don't trust anyone else on the road, but myself." And that seems to be my motto with the rest of my life. Now, disclaimer- I'm not a hyper paranoid, control freak- at least not badly, but, I find that I have trouble trusting God to do what is absolutely best. As soon as I decide, to 'faith fall' into His will, a million what-if's start banging around in my mind, and before I know it, I no longer have that sweet, child-like trust in my Heavenly Father that I know I should have. And He has not even given me a reason not to trust Him, in fact, it's just the opposite, He has been more faithful than I could ever dream. Yet, so often I lean on my own understanding, simply because I can see the end, because I think I have it planned out, because it feels the safest. Oh, what have I missed, because I would not trust with all my heart, my dear Father, who loves me? 

Absolute Surrender

I have been reading a wonderful book by Andrew Murray, on the topic of surrender, and I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes (so far) from it.

- God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you.


-And that is what we should seek for-to go on our faces before God, util our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong, to conquer what is evil, and to work what is well-pleasing in His blessed sight. 


-If there is anything holding you back, or any sacrifice you are afraid of making, come to God now, and prove how gracious your God is, and be not afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.


-Be not afraid, but come just as you are, and even in the midst of your trembling the power of the Holy Spirit will work.


- When God has begun the work of absolute surrender in you, and when God has accepted your surrender, then God holds Himself bound to care for it and to keep it.


-God is willing to maintain our life. Only let our absolute surrender be one of simple, childlike, and unbounded trust.


-Denying self must every moment be the power of your life, and then Christ will come in and take possession of you.

Go Low

I wanted to share with everyone, a wonderful post, written by a wonderful God-loving girl. This post has caused me to do alot of soul searching, (which explains the lack of posts recently) and I hope that it will inspire you as well. If you enjoy this one, check out the other recent posts on her blog, they are all equally as inspiring! 

go low

Photo Credit

If the Christian life could be a picture, I'd say it would be a road. It passes through valleys, mountains, rain, sun, night, day, minutes and epochs. The end is sure but unknown; the distance is measurable. People walk that road, some going backwards, some plodding forward, some running hands-to-the-sky, most milling around and some sitting, exhausted. And at the beginning of the road, just after the narrow gate, there is another wall-like structure. No door. Too high to climb. Too far to go around. It's certain that the traveler who makes it past the gate is on the road -- no questions there. But he is stuck at this wall. He is stuck. Some make it through -- they must, somehow, because the road stretches on. But for the most part there is a whole crowd standing beside that wall, clogging the road, jostling the seeker who tries to get close.

For the longest time, I remember standing outside that wall, staring it up and down and around to figure out how to get past it. I could hear the singing of those on the other side, their feet pounding the ground as they moved closer and closer to the finish line -- and I wanted what they had. Badly. My heart thrilled whenever it thought of the possibilities on the other side of that wall. It was everything I desired. But it was always like an outsider looking in: I wanted it, but I didn't have it, and I didn't know how to have it. I had no part in that business beyond the wall.         read the rest here

I shall yet praise Him

 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

                                                                     - Psalm 42:5

   There isn't a lot I have to say on this verse. It has just been on my heart alot lately, and I wanted to share it.

   It seems like alot of times, when I want something from God, (Not like new clothes or a new phone or anything 'surfacy' like that, but truly legitimate requests, as in seeking His will or His strength), I come to Him with a demanding attitude. Not a persevering attitude, but a demanding, impatient attitude. I believe that we are to come boldly before God and present our requests with an audacious spirit, but I sometimes forget, in my desire to be bold and audacious, that I must have faith. I can't storm God's throne room and lay out my petitions, if I don't believe that He can fulfill them. And I think that's been my mindset for far too long. I've been crying out to God in desperation, without remembering that "I shall yet praise Him". 

   I hope this verse speaks to your heart, as it did to mine, in a different way, of course. In fact, I would really encourage you to read the entire chapter and even the next one, as they go together and lay out the idea in even broader terms. Have a wonderful day, and don't forget to praise God!

   

My Defender

" You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."  -1 John 4:4


   I have heard, for most of my teen-age career, that Satan is a roaring lion, and is bent on destroying me. That he will stop at nothing because he hates me, and I can never be too sure of myself lest I fall. I'm sure that this advice has come out of a genuine desire to warn and prepare me for the trials to come, but I believe that this is only half of what needs to be said. The other half, the better half, is that though Satan hates me and is bent on destroying me, my God loves me and is bent on keeping me. Think about that for a minute. Isn't it common knowledge that love is stronger than hate? Isn't it true that Jesus died? Satan will stop at nothing to destroy us, but my God didn't stop at anything to gain me, and I don't believe that He will give me over to Satan's fiery darts without a fight. A fight, which, I believe that we can all guess the outcome to. (check Revelation if you are unsure) I think that instead of morbidly waiting around for Satan to strike, so we can go ahead and fall already, we should be fortifying ourselves with God's love and power, so that when He does strike, we can hold out our shield of faith and say boldly, "My God is greater, stronger, and higher than anything that you can throw my way, and He is my defender. Whom shall I fear?"

Sunrise

²²It is through the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.

²³They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.

                                                         -Lamentations 3:22-23

These verses were the first things to come to mind as the wake up committee (aka Lacey) opened my curtains this morning. I had been dreading getting out of bed, until I caught a glimpse of the glorious sun shining in my window and the all around "spring look". This wouldn't have made such an impact on me though, had yesterday not been dark and dreary. I think that sometimes that is how life is, dark days and nights come, but with them come's the hope of the next morning, hope of the sun. And when we experience the darkness, the light seem's so much more beautiful! This isn't going to be a long or eloquent post, but I hope that this beautiful truth encourages you as it did me. Oh, how faithful our God is!

The Lord laughs...

³ Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.⁹ For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.¹⁰ For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more.¹² The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth.¹³ The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.
                                        -Psalm 37:3,9-10,12-13


  Today being to tenth anniversary of 9-11, the war on terrorism is on my mind a little more than usual. So, when I read these verses, the 'evildoers' that came to mind were the terrorists. I don't know about you, but I have a really overactive imagination, so when I hear about how the terrorists are infiltrating us from the inside, or anything else along those lines, my mind instantly imagines the worst and I begin making a game plan for how we can stop them. And then I read, verse thirteen of Psalm 37: "The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming". Can you just imagine God sitting in heaven laughing at the arrogance of this -to Him- tiny and insignificant nation, as He pictures the day that He will demolish them? Its almost like one would laugh at a child who is bragging about saving the day with his water gun! My God is greater, stronger, and mightier than anything, or anyone, and He says that the nations are "as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales;"! So who am I to be afraid?