Prayerful Pondering

Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men!
Psalm 31:19

We have a Father who is good and only good. There is nothing evil in Him, ever. He is righteousness and light. He is kindness and love. He is full of mercy and forgiveness. He is a just God.

The more we search for Him, the more we find Him. The more we find Him, the more we love Him. And the more we love Him, the more we will walk with Him.

Our Father has laid out a perfect plan for each one of His children; His desire is for our happiness and well-being. But because we are caught in human flesh, we may question whether the trials and tribulations we experience are intended to take us to higher places. We can imagine and dream of what will give us joy and contentment, but we will visualize on what we know in this world. Our minds cannot reach the higher places that God knows.  And here is where our trust in Him becomes everything.

Unless we have practiced walking with the Father, completely convicted of His love for us and His desire to give us His very best – even the very longings of our hearts – we will not understand the tests of endurance and perseverance. We will find no shelter from life’s toughest storms.

Deuteronomy 13:3 says, “. . . for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

2 Chronicles 6:14 says “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.”

There can be only one Master in our lives and we are allowed to decide who that will be. Psalm 30:5  says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Will you trust Him?

(All scriptures are from the New King James Version.)

For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil,
that you may have a future and a hope.   Jeremiah 29:11

When I become shaky with fear or anxiety, I remember God is in control, and He is neither fearful nor anxious.  God always has a clear mind, a steady hand, and a plan for us that never changes.

When I worry that my confusion and hesitancy are problems for God, I remember He understands me entirely and loves me completely.   Creator God made me, and He made me exactly as He wanted me to be.

My ups and down may give Him quiet laughter, but they never cause Him to turn His back on me.  They may cause Him to wish I would trust more and fret less, but His plan for me in the beginning is the same plan He has for me now.

I may stumble and fall, I may cry out in dismay, I may ask for things not for my good.  But the one thing I am most certain of is that God will stay steadily on course.  He will not be discouraged nor fail to carry me on to the place He chooses me to be and the things He chooses me to do.

Abba Father, thank You that You are constant.  Thank You that when I am completely unlovable in man’s eyes, You love me anyway.  Thank You that when I fail You, You never fail me.  Thank you, Abba Father, for Your blessings of past and present and those yet to come.  I give You all the praise!

One of my earliest memories of my grandmother  is of her praying on her knees at her bedside.  She would kneel in her homemade muslin gown, bow her head with clasped hands, and speak aloud to God.  In the early years, she wore her hair in a wreath of braids during the day and by night they fell down her back to her waist.

Prayer was as natural to her as breathing.  Once as a child, when I was sick with probably
no more than a stomach virus, I recall her praying over me beside my bed, kneeling
before the Lord and asking Him to make me well.  There’s something golden about
hearing your grandmother’s prayers for you.  It makes a place in your heart that never goes away.

Dulcie Pauline Cotton Spencer was a woman full of faith.  In fact, the Godliest person I’ve ever known.   She walked in every way with the Lord and trusted Him with a full heart.  She read aloud God’s word, she sang hymns all through the day, and she talked to Jesus
as if He was right there beside her.  And He was, just as He is with us, but she lived it out better than most of us do.  Her faith was deep yet simple.  No questions, no confusion.

I thank You, most wonderful God, for allowing me to be the grandchild of Dulcie Spencer.  She had more influence on my life than any other person.  Mama Dulcie passed her faith on to me, as well as her way of looking at life.  I miss her terribly and look toward that day when I will see her again and feel her warm embrace.  I just know, Father, that she has to be one of Your very favorites — and I understand that completely.

When heartaches come like heavy rains,

we can take comfort that a rainbow is not far behind.

In time, God will lift the gloom and still the pain;

He will say enough is enough.

Peace!  Be still.

Noah built an ark to take him through the heavy rains,

and we can do the same.

Our arks, however, are built

from previous blessings and answered prayers,

and they are sealed with the assurance

that we can confidently wait in His strength

for the sun to shine ’round about us again.

The things we fear,

the doubts we have,

the heartaches that grip us –

all these become the colors in our rainbow,

painted with the brush of wisdom,

from a palette of mercy and grace.

And as we walk to rainbow’s end,

we come to see that

we were never so much “holding on” through rough seas

as we were being held  –

safe, in His Almighty Hand.

It is on this sure ground that we travel to our pot of gold

and find it filled with His abundant love,

full to overflowing.

 Wherever you are in the midst of your storm today,

know that God is near.

Even now, He is making a pathway to your heart,

and He will come like the sun spilling brightly over rippling waters.

He will blow the clouds away and leave you a rainbow.

He will walk with you and give you peace.

He will care for you with His ever-abiding love.

 Watch for Him, dear one,

For He will surely come.

Scriptures of comfort:

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.  Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters.  Psalm 18:16 (NIV)

 And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.”  And the wind died down and became perfectly calm.   Mark 4:39 (NAS)

Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and man.  Genesis 9:16 (NIV)

Father, I pray to know truth.  I pray to know what You have brought into my life, and for what purpose.  I pray to know the difference in what my choices have declared, and what Your divine arm has orchestrated.  I pray for Your light on my pathway, that I may neither stumble nor fall.  I pray for the quieting of human response, and the loudness of Godly wisdom, for the silencing of fear and doubt, and the boldness of faith and trust.  I pray to walk toward You and with You – not away from, or around You.  I pray, Father, for discernment, that you may be revealed in my life.

Pride and haste belong to man; humility and rest are of the Lord.  Sporadic sparks of pleasure is the best man can do, but in God burns the steady fire of fulfillment.  I will wait on the Lord and in sweet repose, give thanks.  I will look with faith to my Father who gives of His best to those who wait on Him.  He delights in cherishing His children, and giving of His abundance.  His gifts will come on heavenly wing.  He will spread bounty before those who remain confident in Him.  I will trust in God and Him alone, for the finest reward, for the most excellent of blessings.  And I will give Him all glory and praise, now and forevermore!

The peace that passes all understanding comes to us only when we are in the center of God’s will.  It is a peace unexplainable, a peace undeniable, and a peace that covers the whole of us.  It leaves no room for doubt or fear.  When God is in the plan, He gives us this
embrace of serenity and calm assurance that He is with us and is making the way clear before us.

Sometimes His peace comes before we see the answer to our questions or petitions, and that is a blessing akin to no other.  It is like being told a heavenly secret; we can wait and watch with high anticipation. We can be glad or relieved even as we wait for its fruition.  Other times, His peace flows over a matter immediately at hand, so that we may instantaneously know it is good, and it is from God.

Paul told us the way to attain such peace in Philippians 4:6:

Rejoice in the Lord.

Be gentle with everyone.

Do not be anxious about anything.

Put your need humbly and earnestly before the Lord.

Express gratitude to Him in all things.

(Paraphrased)

When we do this, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard (our) hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:7 (NKJV)

Aging is a bittersweet thing.  It provides us wisdom, but weakens our  bodies.  It affords us good memories – but also the bad.   It is a time of reflection of things accomplished and things left undone.

When we can admit that aging can’t be conquered, it can bring an acceptance of a body not fresh and young anymore.  It’s okay to have the wrinkles, the few extra pounds, the scars from this or that.  It  doesn’t mean that we like the evidence of aging, but reconciling to it can  bring peace if we think of it as markers in time and not that it makes us less than we were.

Thankfully, who we really are is internal.  We are not the outer shell that man too often judges by.  Rather, our true being is who we’ve become with what God gave us in the way of talents, spiritual gifts, and  opportunities.  It is how we’ve handled disappointments, wrong decisions, and pain of every kind.  Who we are, is based on how compassionate we’ve been, and how forgiving.   It is in what we choose to remember and what we choose to let go.  In essence, it is about our relationship with our Maker.

Aging points the way to the end of our journey here on earth.  We are nearing home – our real home.  We are shucking off the unnecessary and preparing for the eternal.  It signals a time to say goodbye to all that brought us tears and sorrow, and know that living in God’s glory will afford none of that.  We can close our eyes and meditate on the sweetness of living in the light of Christ, where we will rejoice with our Savior, and praise the Father in ways never experienced in this fallen world.

My friend, does aging fill you with dread or anticipation?  Are you looking for that day when you will be lifted on angels’ wings to the presence of the Almighty?  If you are His, there is no need for fear.   If you are not His, do not let another minute go by until you make that commitment to God.  Tell the Father that you believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, as your only hope.  Tell Him you repent of your sins and claim Jesus as your Savior.  Love on the Lord now, so that you may love on Him forever in paradise.

For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish,

but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 (NKJV)

Jesus says if we will come to Him, He will make light our burden.

If we will come alongside Him, He will take the lead and the responsibility for our destination.

We won’t have to struggle at all; He asks only that we walk with Him.

And while we walk, He will teach us the way of trusting through abiding.

When trials come, fall into step with Jesus and He will take you lovingly and successfully to journey’s end.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me . . . .  for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.   Matthew 11:30 (NAS)

Deep within your heart, God has planted a seed of purpose for your life.  That purpose has its own unique plan and there will be true joy in finding and living in His perfect way.

Discovering your purpose and its divinely charted course, is like standing in His presence and experiencing God’s love just for you.  One thing will connect to another as He shapes and refines you, equips and leads you.  It is His breathing life into the way He has ordained for you to go.

Stand still in His light.  Look inward; consider God’s ways.  Then delight in your journey.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you.  Ephesians 1:18  (NIV)

In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out  everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.  Ephesians 1:11 (NIV)

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.  Psalm 138:8 (NIV)

For I know the plans I  have for you.  Plans for welfare and not
calamity, that you may have a future and a hope.  Jeremiah 29:11 (NASV)

He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. (Psalm 78:70-71 NIV)  

I suspect there were a few during David’s time that imagined themselves to be king material.  They no doubt whispered of their dreams and prepared themselves mentally for opportunity that might come.  Other things might have been neglected as they envisioned personal glory.

But David did what was before him to do.  David tended sheep for his father.  He spent hours in the fields, keeping watch over what was entrusted to him.  David had time in his shepherding to observe the wonders of God, to think about God’s ways, and develop a close walk with the Lord.   David kept focused, and that focus had much to do with preparing him to be king.  Even more, it prepared him to be a man after God’s own heart.

I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do. (Acts 13:22 NIV)

What a lesson for us.  To do the work at hand, as God has provided for us to do, and to do it with complete focus and to the very best of our ability.  We can look back and see that very often we have been prepared for greater things when we gave ourselves fully to the lesser ones.  When we acted responsibly to what may have seemed not that important, God watched, and then trusted us with a greater service for Him.    We can never tell when we are being shaped by His hands for a mighty work yet to come.

Father, I pray to recognize the work You have entrusted to me today, and to do that work fully and with gratitude.  Amen