Love Song

Daniel 7:13-14  "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 peoples, nations and men 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.”

I love it when God drops a song in my head and heart first thing in the morning. When it happens, I sing…sometimes aloud, sometimes in my head, but the song is the tune to which my spirit dances! I think it is a form of meditation. If the lyrics resound in your mind over and over, it only makes sense to me to make a point of pondering them. This morning I was blessed to have a favorite song of praise greet me: The Ancient of Days. Just look at those beautiful words! How can you possibly be in a bad mood with those acclamations of glory and power to the Most High?

Blessing and honor
Glory and power
Be unto the Ancient of days
From every nation
All of creation
Will bow before the Ancient of days
Every tongue in heaven and earth will declare Your glory
Every knee shall bow at Your throne and worship
You will be exalted, oh God,
And Your kingdom shall not pass away Oh Ancient of days
Your kingdom shall reign over all the earth
Sing unto the Ancient of days
For none can compare to your matchless worth
Sing unto the Ancient of days

That’s my song for today, pretty awesome, huh? Thank you, Lord, for the blessing. I will sing unto the Ancient of Days!

Addicted to Love

1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

I’ve spent the last hour reading and studying, asking God for the ‘holy tap’ he gives me in knowing what to write on each morning. So far, no tap. This saddened me for a couple of reasons. I love the ‘holy tap’ because it reinforces I write this devotional on His direction. It is His words, not mine and that’s a lot of pressure off of me; knowing I had to come up with something new or encouraging or inspirational five mornings out of the week would be rather intimidating! Waiting for His direction, however, while reading scripture or other Christian writers fills my heart and mind with His Word first thing in the wee hours. He refuels me as I wait and I need all the refueling I can get.

Secondly, not getting the ‘holy tap on the shoulder’…..well, I simply miss it. I’ve come to rely on Him and the familiarity of His tap. You know how it feels when you go into a large crowd and you’re looking around not recognizing anyone, then across the room you see a dear friend and the sight of their face fills you joy? That’s how the holy tap feels to me. It is my comfort each morning.

I know He is still there, whether the tap comes or not. His love is not a faucet to turn on or off, it is free flowing and never-ending. I treasure it and count on it because His Word says I can. The tap is a gift of love I’ve come to crave. I am addicted, addicted to His sweet and tender love. So this morning all I can send out is my heartfelt desire for more of Him, more of His touch, more of His mercies and love.   

May the Lord touch you and fill you with His presence each morning!   

Him Who Strengthens Me

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

In times of spiritual need, God is faithful to remind us of that which we need to hear when we need to hear it. Over this past weekend, God provided me with three different sources of comfort and confirmation on the passages above. I knew then this would be the scripture for the posting today, if only to share the blessings I received from Him. Let’s break down the separate verses:

Vs 11. Not that I speak from want, Paul's joy was not because he was short of money and their contribution had taken care of his needs, although this was apparently the case because he was in prison in Rome, but because of the flourishing of their thoughtfulness toward him. In other words, his joy is not selfish, but derives solely from his thoughts of them and the “proof” of their godly care for him. For I have learned to be content in whatever state I am, Paul is saying that he had learned by the teaching of the Holy Spirit and by divine providence to be content in whatever state he found himself. Autarkes, the Greek word for “content,” appears only here in the New Testament. The word literally means “sufficient for one's self, strong enough to need no aid or support.” Paul did not claim his self-sufficiency originated with himself, or that it had anything to do with his own wisdom or power. He was independent of circumstances, thus self-sufficient, because of his trust in and dependence on the Lord. It is important to note he said he, “I have learned to be content” because none of us are born with that ability. From the moment a baby is born, that is obvious. We are born crying for what we want when we want it. No one has to teach us about ‘instant gratification’; it is ‘…learning to be content in whatever state’ we must learn.

Vs 12. I know how to get along with humble means, In the Hebrew-Greek Bible from which I took passage, get along with humble means is defined in this scripture as ‘in the passive, to be abased, brought low.’ The Greek word for ‘abased’ means ‘to make low, to reduce to meaner (leaner) circumstances.’ The apostle had learned to accept his abased circumstances in a gracious, uncomplaining spirit (II Corinthians 4:8; 6:9,10). How often can we say we are accepting of our times of being abased and doing without in a gracious, uncomplaining spirit? Unless we are taught by the Holt Spirit, as was Paul, we default to grumbling and whining more often than not. And I also know how to live in prosperity. Paul, as a faithful Christian, did not let poverty degrade him nor prosperity exalt him. We, too, need to know our value as a person in Christ is not dependent on what we have or lack. We are not ‘less than’ just because we have less than the next guy. When God looks at us, He does not line us up as priorities based on our financial status. It is sad that some organizations, churches or people give special consideration to those with more bucks in hopes of gaining from them, but this is not a godly mentality, this is the human flesh thinking we are to avoid.  ..in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both having abundance and suffering need. Whether full or hungry, prosperous or poor, Paul had learned to conduct himself as a trusting, loving disciple of the Lord. Remember Paul back when he was called Saul and persecuting Christians? In the transformation from Christian killer to the apostle now writing as he sat in chains in prison, we can see change possible only when the love of Christ and ministering teachings from the Holy Spirit are manifested. He was a willing and eager student who became a great teacher for the cause of spreading the gospel.

Vs 13. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Boy, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve prayed this scripture! It is a statement of faith in Christ that says in all the circumstances of life Paul was convinced that he could bear fruit to the glory of God through the strength the Lord gave him. I count on Christ to strengthen me and I pray my actions and behavior bear fruit of the glory of God. I fall short of that mark and my ‘fruit’ gets squeezed sometimes but He helps me up when I fall, brushes me off and forgives me. What a sweet and precious experience!

May I Have This Dance?

Psalm 94:18-19 (HGSB) If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” thy lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.

Each morning I receive via email a daily scripture. It is the first thing I read while I wait on the coffee. The scripture above was my blessing this morning. It was from a different version of the Bible and I looked it up in my Hebrew-Greek version. Oh how wonderful it is to know the comfort and joy referenced in this verse!

My foot has slipped a bit lately as I deal with chronic physical junk. Adding sleep deprivation to the mix makes one less capable of coping well. This morning I slept till 3:30a and woke ecstatic! That was a whole 5 ½ hours of uninterrupted sleep! I woke up simply because I woke up, not because pain gave me no choice. As sleep left me peacefully instead of jerked violently away, I lay very still, almost afraid to look at the clock. For the better part of the past week, the longest I had slept was 1 ½ hour, days of 15 minutes were more the norm. Yet, this morning I found myself waking slowly, stretching, and giving thanks for the true luxury and without a single pain. I praised God for such a gift! When I looked at the clock and realized I had slept through the night without waking even once, I was jubilant! Yes, it was 3:30 and that may make a lot of you moan but, for me, that was a full night’s rest free of pain and interruptions.

And then, my scripture waiting for me… Psalm 94:18-19 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

  

God’s has supported me through the ordeal, and I was aware of His presence through it all. It is the only way I make it through. When we are our weakest, He is the strongest in our lives…if we let Him. But even when we stubbornly hang on to our fierce determination to think we are holding up ourselves, He is there. Our physical bodies are mere clay vessels subject to a myriad of assaults. They are, however, not our only weaknesses; it can be a host of issues. It doesn’t really even matter, the crux of the issue is this…weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning….Thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; that my soul may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to Thee forever.

I pray, Friends, that whatever burden you are currently facing, you feel His arms around you. They are there; we simply need to rest in them. Cradled in the knowledge of His faithful lovingkindness we can give over our anxieties rather than having them take us over. I encourage you to share my Hallelujah dance with me this morning. There is plenty of joy to go around. Is my ordeal over? No, but we are to give thanks through the times of trials and I am certainly all for celebrating each step along the way. Come on, dance with me!

Guard Duty

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

If you’ve been following Truth in the Morning for a while, you know a while back I was working on carving out a nice office space in which to work at home. I love my little office. I’m surrounded by things I love; little jars and stone boxes with soil from countries of previous mission trips, books and more books, photos of loved ones and more. I have the necessities for writing and working. The ceiling fan keeps these hot Texas summer days more tolerable. A comfy chair in which to relax is waiting for me when I need to step away from the computer. The drapes are aesthetically pleasing to me and the color of the walls even makes me happy. I often come in here at night just to sit and read or soak in the peace I find in my little nook.

Recently, however, I have been putting together the mission training materials, pulling out stored research information, and digging through some of our family records. The business end of running a household, bill paying, etc., all happen in here, too. It didn’t happen overnight but little by little things started to pile up while they waited for ‘X’ (fill in the blank here) to happen and now I find my office more of an ‘office’ than a peaceful retreat in which to be creative and exercise the gifts God gave me. I want my peace back, I need my peace back.

The Scripture above, Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things, tells us in no uncertain terms where we need to focus and fill our minds. If we clutter our thoughts with fear, anger, resentment, poor pitiful me or somebody done me wrong songs, we do not have room for all the whatever’s Paul listed. Just like my office morphed from peaceful and creativity inspiring retreat to, well…an office, our thoughts can gradually be taken over by the negatives in this world and we no longer see the beauty and peace available to us when we focus our minds on godly issues.

How much more we can be of service to the Lord when we channel our thinking on all that is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellence, and worthy of praise!

My mind is made up and I am committed to taking my place of peace and joy back today! We need to take back our minds and thoughts in the same way. We need to take inventory of what we have in them now, edit out all that is either unnecessary or unproductive, and set boundaries on what we allow to enter in. We need a security check at the hypothetical doorway to our minds and to remain diligent in policing all that enters so the peace of God is not shoved in a corner but fills every inch of space! And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.