A Wrench In My Plans

Has there ever been a wrench thrown into your plans? How did you respond? I’m not talking about anything questionable, but those good, enjoyable, and profitable ones. These are the ones where you are maybe even planning on doing good for others. This happened in our house this week and I must admit Robin responded a lot better than I did. I jumped into a different mode than she did, and I had to go out to the garage to work through it with God. There are still a lot of details to work through and it may still require even more changes, but there is a difference in grasping that God is for you and that He is working things for good to those who are His and called according to His purposes. There is also the blessing of seeing others come alongside to help in the process.

Sometimes it is really easy to let these things rise up in ways that we lose sight of our faithful God. But He is so good at calming us down through the power of His Spirit and the knowing of His truth. He is so good in providing brothers and/or sisters in Christ who encourage and help. And He is totally in control. This is the BIG ONE. With every situation that arises there is a BUT GOD! And maybe, just maybe, your plans are not His.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/8)

I am with you and for you, your constant Companion and Provider. The question is whether you are with Me and for Me. Though I never leave you, you can essentially “leave” Me by ignoring Me: thinking or acting as if I’m not with you. When you feel distance in your relationship, you know where the problem lies. My Love for you is constant; I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is you who change like shifting sand, letting circumstances toss you this way and that.

When you feel far from Me, whisper My Name. This simple act, done in childlike faith, opens your heart to My Presence. Speak to Me in love-tones; prepare to receive My Love, which flows eternally from the cross. I am delighted when you open yourself to My loving Presence.

“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Swimming Up Stream

When I’m swimming upstream going out and working in the garage is a good thing there is no one else there but God and I. Then when I start talking to Him about I, I find that I gets a bit smaller as do the things and He gets so much bigger. Nuff said about this day.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/7)

I am the Potter; you are My clay. I designed you before the foundation of the world. I arrange the events of each day to form you into this preconceived pattern. My everlasting Love is at work in every event of your life. On some days your will and Mine flow smoothly together. You tend to feel in control of your life when our wills are in harmony. On other days you feel as if you are swimming upstream, against the current the My purposes. When that happens, stop and see My Face. The opposition you feel may be from Me, or it may be from the evil one.

Talk with Me about what you are experiencing. Let My Spirit guide you through treacherous waters. As you move through the turbulent stream with Me, let circumstances mold you into the one I desire you to be. Say yes to your Potter as you go through this day.

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord I will, I will seek. Psalm 27:8

Giving Thanks On A Different Path

I love wildflowers and birds, especially when I have a camera and the right lens to capture them. We had planned a short hike for today as the last activity with our Webelos II Scouts before they bridged to Boy Scouts later this month. Yet as we watched the weather forecasts the hike became somewhat questionable. When I woke up this morning the sun was shining with a slight drizzle every now and then. So we met for our hike and had a really nice time. There were banana slugs for the boys and flowers for me. There was the joy of watching the three of them have fun and the enjoyment of conversation with the other dads. It would have been so easy to let the weather serve as a reason for cancelling the day, and then all of this would have been missed.

So it is with life, sometimes we can look at the barriers or challenges and allow them to become insurmountable walls giving us cause to not move forward or to go another direction. It may be that these times are really not as much God diverting us as much as they are saying trust me as you go forward with My plans and be thankful for what I unfold. It may not be what you had desired, but God knows so much more what we need and He is working in and through all that is laid before us.

On the hike today we enjoyed the flowers. I got a taste of what it might look like there in a few more weeks, and having gone today I am ready to go again.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/6)

Bring me the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Take nothing for granted, not even the rising of the sun. Before Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, thankfulness was as natural as breathing. Satan’s temptation involved pointing Eve to the one thing that was forbidden her. The garden will filled with luscious, desirable fruits, but Eve focused on one fruit she couldn’t have rather than being thankful for the many things freely available. This negative focus darkened her mind, and she succumbed to temptation.

When you focus on what you don’t have or on situations that displease you, your mind also becomes darkened. You take for granted life, salvation, sunshine, flowers, and countless other gifts from Me. You look for what is wrong and refuse to enjoy life until that is “fixed.”

When you approach Me with thanksgiving, the Light of My Presence pours into you, transforming you through and through. Walk in the Light with Me by practicing the discipline of thanksgiving.

I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. Psalm 116:17 (NKJV)

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will surely not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some of it and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:2-6

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

Encouraged By Another

I find it amazing how God can use the words of another person to encourage  us. As I read Sarah’s words for today I reflected to how appropriate they were to my walk for the week. There are so many things in our lives that place us in the uncomfortable tension of hoping for the approval of man yet knowing that the approval that really matters is that of God. For those in a job search or something such as that, their hope is that they will be found worthy of being considered. For those who are having their references checked or relying on the input of others, there is the hope that what others say of you will be sufficient to move the hearers to take the next step. It is so easy to look at all of these things and the individuals involved and hope that they will think well of you, and consequently even struggle with the fear that they won’t. This can lead to a day filled with egg shells.

While it is true that so much of our lives has to do with our relationships with others, we should never let those relationships determine our acceptability. If you have trusted Jesus Christ for your salvation then you are adopted into the family of God and you are His beloved child, regardless of how much you might stumble or struggle. It is here that we need to find our hope in Him because Christ is in us, and as it says in Scripture, we are in Him. And as people secure in Christ we know God’s love, we can find our Joy in His constant watchcare and promises, and we are even able to rest in peace knowing that His Spirit is in us enabling us to stand. He has promised to go before us and to make us effective in His service and adequate for all that He intends. So, if in your journey with Him you find that others don’t open the doors you feel should be opened, remember that it is God’s path the we are to follow and as much as we might feel man is in control that it is Him who really is. We are to know that God has our future firmly in His hands and He will move what He needs to move in order to accomplish it.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/5)

Let Me fill you with my Love, Joy, and Peace. These are Glory-gifts, flowing from my living Presence. Though you are an earthen vessel, I designed you be filled with heavenly contents. Your weakness is not a deterrent to being filled with My Spirit; on the contrary, it provides an opportunity for My Power to shine forth more brightly.

As you go through this day, trust Me to provide the strength you will need moment by moment. Don’t waste energy wondering whether you are adequate for today’s journey. My Spirit within you is more than sufficient to handle whatever this day may bring. That is the basis for your confidence! In quietness (spending time alone Me) and confident trust (relying on My sufficiency) is your strength.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NKJV)

This is what the sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Isaiah 30:15

Stamina

Yesterday I wrote about the weeds my garden outside and the weeds in my heart. One takes physical stamina to conquer and the other spiritual. Today I spent several hours tackling some the things on my weed list outside, and while I am tired I feel like I’ve accomplished something. In the same way as I reflect on God’s work in my life over the years and His enabling me to remove some of the debris I am also encouraged. Having seen success outside I am ready for more (just not today), and having seen God work also encourages me to trust Him to continue to do so in the future. While we have limited strength and endurance, God is unlimited and He is for us. He gives us what we need.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/3)

In Me you have everything. In Me you are complete. Your capacity to experience Me is increasing, through My removal of debris and clutter from your heart. As your yearning for Me increases, other desires are gradually lessening. Since I am infinite and abundantly accessible to you, desiring Me above all else is the best way to live.

It is impossible for you to have a need that I cannot meet. After all, I created you and everything that is. The world is still at My beck and call, though it often appears otherwise. Do not be fooled by appearances. Things that are visible are brief and fleeting, while things that are invisible are everlasting.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…. Ephesians 3:20

Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. 2 Corinthians 4:18 (AMP)

Weeds In My Garden

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got weeds in my garden. I’ve got a bunch of them in the one outside where they are growing stronger every day with the mixture of sunshine and rain that we are having. In fact, there are more areas than not that you might think it is a weed garden. And my stamina to deal with them is not that great.

But I also have weeds in the garden of my heart, and for me the biggest weed is worry. When I stop my heart from raging and look to the truth I realize that the cure for the weeds has already been applied to my life. I am a child of God and not of the evil one. The master of weeds is no longer master over my life, and as such I have been given the power to deal with those weeds in the power of Christ as I see them sticking up their ugly heads. No, God has not removed all of the weeds from my garden. He certainly could, but He chose to give me the supernatural spiritual ability to pull them. So when a weed of worry pops up, I can stop and say, “Wait a minute. That weed doesn’t belong there. My God has me securely in His hand and He will take care of my every need. He will give me the ability to endure even the fastest growing Spring.”

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/2)

I have promised to meet all your needs according to My glorious riches. Your deepest, most constant need is for My Peace. I have planted Peace in the garden of your heart, where I live; but there are weeds growing there too: pride, worry, selfishness, unbelief. I am the Gardener, and I am working to rid your heart of those weeds. I do My work in various ways. When you sit quietly with Me, I shine the Light of My Presence directly into your heart. In this heavenly Light, Peace grows abundantly and weeds shrivel up. I also sent trials into your life. When you trust Me in the midst of trouble, Peace flourishes and weeds die away. Thank Me for troublesome situations, the Peace they can produce far outweighs the trials you endure.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17

Keeping My Calendar With God

Years ago when I used to teach sales agents some time management skills, I would tell them that one of the key principles of time management is that it you don’t plan your time someone else will, and you will likely get to the end of your day with not much done that you had hoped to accomplish. It does not mean that it is a less than productive day. But it does mean that there may be some things that were important to do, which may not have been tackled simply because you didn’t stop to think about them. One of the great benefits of stopping to plan your time is that you know what things can be moved or changed, and what things can be put off if something comes along that changes what you had laid out. It is not about the list.

Today Sarah writes about being in constant communion with God, listening for His leading and His instruction in your life both through prayer and in meditating on His Word. It is here that we take time to place ourselves before our God who will direct our steps to consider where He would have us put those steps. It is also in communion with Him throughout the day that we respond to changes or issues that come along, and seek His leading for how to adjust to them. It is about awareness.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/1)

I am calling you to a life of constant communion with Me. Basic training includes learning to live above your circumstances, even while interacting on that cluttered plane of life. You yearn for a simplified lifestyle, so that your communication with Me can be uninterrupted. But I challenge you to relinquish the fantasy of an uncluttered world. Accept each day just as it comes, and find Me in the midst of it all.

Talk with Me about every aspect of your day, including your feelings. Remember that your ultimate goal is not to control or fix everything around you; it is to keep communing with Me. A successful day is one in which you have stayed in touch with Me, even if many things remain undone at the end of the day. Do not let your to-do list (written or mental) become an idol directing your life. Instead ask My Spirit to guide you moment by moment. He will keep you close to Me.

Pray continually. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:6