Category: January2023

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Unimaginable Love

There are a number of things on my heart this morning. My reading in Romans took me to Ephesians.

I love it when the Lord just opens up His word and drops it in my heart.

In Romans 7, Paul writes of his frustration of being human. He says he often ends up doing things he doesn’t want to do and finds himself lacking in doing the things he does want to do. His conclusion is that the fleshly desires of his old life are warring against the spiritual desires of his new life in Christ.

I know each and every one of us have experienced the same battles and probably with the same result. Paul deals with self-doubt and self-condemnation. But he doesn’t stop with those thoughts – thank God!

“What a miserable person I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? 25 I thank God for his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord! So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful self I am a slave to the law of sin. 8 So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty. 2 That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death. 3 The law was without power because it was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do: He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that everyone else uses for sin. God sent him to be an offering to pay for sin. So God used a human life to destroy sin. 4 He did this so that we could be right just as the law said we must be. Now we don’t live following our sinful selves. We live following the Spirit.” Romans 7:24-8:4 ERV

Paul goes on to explain that God isn’t condemning us for our failures. No, indeed. It is God who has provided the way of victory and freedom for us from our sinful life through Jesus. “He did this so we could be right”.

As we go to the end of Romans 8 Paul writes that if God is for us, who can be against us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing! How can that be? Well, that’s when I moved to another of Paul’s writings in Ephesians.

“And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. 19 Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you. 20 With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of.” Ephesians 3:18-20 ERV

The power of love.

God wants us to know and experience the depth of His love which really is incomprehensible to the natural way of thinking. We have to accept the depth of His love by faith. It’s greater than we can ever know naturally. The love of God fills our lives with everything our loving heavenly Father has designed for us, it is so much greater than anything we could ask for or imagine.

That’s what God’s unconditional love is…its unimaginable. It’s all God.

I know I started last year focusing on the love of God and here I am doing it again. The reason, after all my years of walking with the Lord I am daily becoming more aware of the depth of God’s love for me.

It calms my fears, dispels the condemnation, removes the guilt and defeats all the attacks that the enemy launches against me.

I am loved not because of my goodness or my works. I am loved because God, who is love, says I am. Therefore, I am confident in Him and who He has called me to be.

I want to encourage you each day as you also grow confident in His unimaginable love.

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A Day of Victory

Last weekend our youngest daughter competed in her third half marathon. We weren’t at the finish line, but we were there in spirit. She competes against herself, not others, and this was a personal best for her. We were so happy for her.

That’s how it should be for all of us – not looking around to see who we can be better than or who we can defeat, other than our enemy the devil, but doing our best to be our personal best each and every day.

“ We do not compare ourselves with those who think they are good. They compare themselves with themselves. They decide what they think is good or bad and compare themselves with those ideas. They are foolish. ” II Corinthians 2:12 NLV

There is only one we should compare ourselves to and that is Jesus! He is our example.

“…Let us keep running in the race that God has planned for us. 2 Let us keep looking to Jesus. Our faith comes from Him and He is the One Who makes it perfect. He did not give up when He had to suffer shame and die on a cross. He knew of the joy that would be His later. Now He is sitting at the right side of God.” Hebrews 12:1b-2 NLV

Each morning when we rise we should have praise in our hearts for what God has done, is doing and will continue to do! He is Lord God Almighty and He is our Father. Jesus is our older brother and advocate. He is the One who proclaims that we are justified and reconciled to the Father. The Holy Spirit is our teacher, our counsellor and instructor.

We are on a winning team.

We have a written instruction for winning. The Father has given us His word, His infallible word. He never lies and His word has never been proven false nor will it ever be. Reading His word, meditating on it and making it the final authority in our lives brings us to victory.

“ I will give You thanks with all my heart. I will sing praises to You in front of the gods. 2 I will bow down toward Your holy house. And I will give thanks to Your name for Your loving-kindness and Your truth. For You have honored Your Word because of what Your name is. 3 You answered me on the day I called. You gave me strength in my soul.” Psalm 138:1-3 NLV

Life is like a race, not a sprint but a marathon. When we run with our eyes on Jesus we will finish victoriously!

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Added Strength

I sometimes wonder what it must have been like to be with Joshua and Caleb as they were crossing the Jordan River into the land God had promised.

They were the oldest members of the community, each one was eighty. Everyone was younger, but none seemed to have any more determination, strength of character or soundness of mind than they. They were respected leaders.

Where did this vitality come from? We find the answer in the Lord’s instructions to Joshua.

“Joshua, I will always be with you and help you as I helped Moses, and no one will ever be able to defeat you.

6-8  Long ago I promised the ancestors of Israel that I would give this land to their descendants. So be strong and brave! Be careful to do everything my servant Moses taught you. Never stop reading The Book of the Law he gave you. Day and night you must think about what it says. If you obey it completely, you and Israel will be able to take this land.

9 I’ve commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged! I am the Lord your God, and I will be there to help you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:5-9 CEV

A while back I found myself voicing concern that I didn’t have the strength I did as my younger self. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the Lord was about to correct me in my assessment. It’s never been about “my” strength anyway, it should always be about His ability working in me and through me.

“With all my heart I praise the Lord! I will never forget how kind he has been. 3 The Lord forgives our sins, heals us when we are sick, 4  and protects us from death.
His kindness and love are a crown on our heads. 5 Each day that we live, he provides for our needs and gives us the strength of a young eagle.” Psalm 103:2-5 CEV

There is still so much I know the Lord has for me, and for you too. It’s about drawing on the strength that He provides for each day, the strength of a young eagle. We all get weary, tired and need rest but our times of rest shouldn’t find us complaining about how tired and weary we are, they should be times of renewing and refueling by finding focusing on God’s word and His strength.

King David who wrote Psalm 103 was talking to himself, encouraging himself in all that God’s provides. One version of those verses says, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me”!

In my words it would be “soul and mind get in line and look at all the marvelous things the Lord has done. He forgives my sins, heals my body, protects me crowns me with love and kindness. Each day He provides for my needs and gives me strength when I am lacking. I will certainly praise the Lord for that.”

“Christ gives me the strength to face anything.” Philippians 4:13 CEV

Start this new day, this new week, knowing the Lord has provided us with all the strength we need.

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Mountains & Valleys

When I was a girl I would hear the people in our church talk about “mountain top” experiences in their walk with the Lord. It was wonderful to hear those testimonies. However, quite often they would also say, “we can’t always live on the mountain top, we have to accept the valleys too”.

Frankly, that was confusing to me. It sounded like they were saying that we couldn’t always have that closeness with God in the valleys of life.

This morning I was reading in I Kings 20 and that was what the enemies of Israel were saying about God. They had gone out to make war against King Ahab. King Ben-Hadad had the armies of 32 other kings with him, the Israelite army had 232 valiant rulers and a marching army of 7000. It appeared the Israelites would be easily defeated.

But God…

“Now the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Israel’s gods are gods of the mountains. So they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and for sure we will be stronger than they. 24 And do this. Take each of the kings from his place, and put captains in their places. 25 Gather together an army like the army you lost, horse for horse, and war-wagon for war-wagon. Then we will fight against Israel in the plain. For sure we will be stronger than they.” And Ben-hadad listened to them and did so.” I Kings 20:23-25 NLV

So, at the beginning of the following year King Ben-Hadad went out against Israel again, this time in a valley. The description given of the Israelite army is they looked like two little flocks of goats while the Arameans covered the land. Once again, they were greatly outnumbered.

“Then a man who spoke for God came to the king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says. ‘The Syrians have said, “The Lord is a god of the mountains, but He is not a god of the valleys.” So I will give all these many people to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”  I Kings 20:28 NLV

Whether we are experiencing mountain-top victories or the battles in the valleys God rules. He promises us that when we walk through the valleys of the shadow of death, He is there with us and we have no reason to fear.

God is not limited by location or by circumstance! There is nothing too hard for the Lord. When we keep our eyes on Him and follow His leading, we will see the same thing that the Israelite king saw and “Then you will know that I am the Lord”.

There’s a song that I used to sing years ago, and it came to mind this morning as I was reading these verses.

“For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley
When things go wrong, He’ll make them right
And the God of the good times, is still God in the bad times
The God of the day is still God in the night”

Mountain-top or valley – we will experience both, but we will never be alone for God is with us!

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Did I Say That?

A new day – a clean slate! What we write on it will impact the people we love and even those that we have a casual association with.

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

As a mother and as a kid, I heard and said “Watch what you say!” An admonishment I didn’t always follow and so my mother made sure that there were consequences for those improprieties. We learn to discern what are the right and wrong things to say and when to say them. But as important as the words we speak are the meditations of the heart.

What do we dwell on? The word meditate paints a picture of a cow chewing her cud; in the same way we meditate by going over and over things in our minds. So if we want to say the right things we need to be thinking on right things. That’s what Jesus told his followers.

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45

Our thoughts and our meditations will direct our lives and can bring us to a successful place or a place of turmoil. Think on what is good today.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:8-9

When we keep our thoughts focused on the Lord we won’t have any trouble with our words.

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Motherless Child

This morning I woke up feeling heavy hearted. To be truthful, it can be a hard calling to walk in.

I’ve been sitting here in the dark for the better part of an hour praying. Praying for those who feel helpless and alone. Praying for friends that I know battle with depression, as I once did. Praying for those who realize that their marriage is over and the family they have fought for so many years is crumbling.

Praying for those who have heard that a loved one is dying and their passing is eminent. Some went to bed hungry last night, others faced the destruction of war and some feel that no one cares, no one even knows who they are.

“Sometime I feel
Like a motherless child
Sometimes I feel
Like a motherless child
And sometimes I feel
Like a motherless child
A long…long way…from home” sung by John Legend

My heart breaks!

Maybe as you have read the last few paragraphs the names and faces of family, friends and acquaintances have come to mind. May I encourage you to stop right now and pray. The Father wants us to be ready to be used.

Years ago, I got up in the middle of the night crying. I was crying for a friend’s daughter, I didn’t know why but I knew I needed to keep praying until the Lord gave me a release that things would be okay. Later I found out she had stolen a car, was involved in an accident and had tried to take her life.

Another time I was driving a piece of farm equipment and just started praying, out loud, for a friend and her family. I didn’t know why. I didn’t have phone service and neither did she but when we saw each other again I told her what had happened. It was at the precise time that they were rushing her three-year-old son to the hospital in ambulance with an unknown life-threatening illness.

And probably the most unique call to prayer was when I woke from a dream. There was a little girl from India in my dream, in the dirt streets with no food, no parents, no one to care. I prayed for her for the next hour. I honestly believe that one day I will see her in heaven.

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” Matthew 25:37-40 NLT

Never take your heart’s cry to pray as trivial. The Father wants to use you to reach out and touch the world with His love and power.

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Falling In Love

Last night in moments of nostalgia, Dave and I discussed old friends and acquaintances, wondering where they were and how their lives had turned out. We talked of childhood friends and wondered if they remembered us with the same kindnesses as we remember them.

Dave asked me if I had any regrets for things I had done or dreams I didn’t pursue. Although there are a few, I really wouldn’t want to go back and do them over. I would be concerned that I might make the wrong choices again or even worse ones.

I am so thankful for God’s grace! His grace is truly one where He forgives, removes our shame and then forgets our past, never holding us in bondage to a guilty conscience.

“And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:21-22 NLT

There is one thing I would do again; it was a favorite time for me. Times of faith building and relying on the Father’s goodness for every need.

It was a time when we brought ranchers and farmers together on a Friday night or Sunday morning or even those weekend long gatherings. We would worship, study and grow together in the love of Jesus.

A song we use to sing in Cowboy Church was “I keep falling in love with Him over and over and over and over again. He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days so by – oh, what a love between my Lord and I; I keep falling in love with Him over and over and over and over again.”

This has been my daily ambition. Falling in love with Him and getting to know the depth of His love for me. That’s what the Apostle Paul prayed for Christians nearly 2000 years ago when He wrote these verses. It is my prayer for you today.

“ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:16-19 NLT

May you experience the depth of the love of Christ and the complete fullness and power of life in God.

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A Perpetual Harvest

I made mention yesterday that I don’t know how many bales of hay Dave and I produced while we were farming those few years in AZ. I kind of wish we had kept count. It was a staggering amount.

It was all about the good river loam soil and the type of alfalfa seed that was used.

Our specific alfalfa fields were planted by air. The seed was broadcast and then watered. When the growing season was just getting started, we would water twice and cut right before the alfalfa bloomed. This took about 28 days but when the weather got hotter, and the crop grew quicker we would cut every 21 days. We didn’t stop until we got the first frost which was normally the end of December or first part of January and would start again in March.

Alfalfa can continue to grow like that for seven years without being replanted. We would have a perpetual harvest. Rain or shine, it just kept growing and producing a crop.

“Jesus also said, ‘The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. 28 The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. 29 And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.’” Mark 4:26-29 NLT

I could physically watch the alfalfa grow. It was fascinating. Day after day the crop increased. It was a living example of the way God’s word will grow and produce in my life.

“The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others.” Mark 4:14 NLT

God’s word has been planted in my heart. His word about peace and not worry has produced an abundant crop. Seeds of grace, kindness, goodness, generosity, faith, hope, forgiveness and joy are producing.

All of these verses that were planted through teaching, preaching and individual study keep growing and making an impact.

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 I praise you, O Lord;
teach me your decrees.” Psalm 119:11-12 NLT

Each day as I share these moments with you, I know I am planting seed and I pray that it is falling on good ground.

“ The rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there without giving water to the earth. This makes plants grow on the earth, and gives seeds to the planter and bread to the eater. 11 So My Word which goes from My mouth will not return to Me empty. It will do what I want it to do, and will carry out My plan well. ” Isaiah 55:10-11 NLV

I pray that you will always have a perpetual harvest of God’s word in your life.

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The Seed and The Soil

I’d like to end the teachings on the seed and the soil this morning with a couple more thoughts.

All of Scripture and the teachings of Jesus can be summed up as seed. Every one’s reaction to God’s word is soil and the seed being planted comes from hearing and what we do with what we hear.

“So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” Romans 10:17 NLT

Not being affected by what we hear is seed falling on hard ground; quick growth with no long-lasting results is seed falling on rocky ground; getting offended by the Word that is heard and distracted by riches and worries is a result of seed falling on thorny ground but seed that brings a harvest comes when we embrace the Word of God and put it into practice.

At one time or another my heart has been like every kind of soil. Ample seed and good soil result in a bumper crop.

I want to go back to two of our examples of good soil from yesterday. They are found in Luke 8, the woman with the bleeding condition and the father with the sick daughter. The woman had been weakened by her condition for 12 years. She had spent all she had and gotten no better, hope was all but gone and then she heard of Jesus, a man who did miracles.

She heard and she planted those seeds of the message of healing deep in her heart. She heard and she ventured out to find and touch Jesus. She knew if she could just get to Him, if she could just touch Him, she would be healed. The seed planted, grew and produced a harvest.

“…The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed.” Luke 8:47b NLT

Jairus, the father, was in the same crowd as the woman. In fact, Jesus was on the way to his house when the woman stopped them. Now, as Jairus waited for Jesus to minister to the woman servants came from his house to say his daughter had died. Jesus was quick to counter their report.

“But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.” Luke 8:50 NLT

Jesus pulled out the thorns of worry that were ready to choke the seed of faith and stop the harvest of healing that Jairus needed for his daughter. Thorns were removed and harvest came.

“…’Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.’ 53 But the crowd laughed at him because they all knew she had died. 54 Then Jesus took her by the hand and said in a loud voice, ‘My child, get up!’ 55 And at that moment her life returned,” Luke 8:52-55 NLT

Daily I plant the seeds of God’s word in my heart and daily I’m confronted with opportunities to let it lay dormant, make a momentary impact, be stolen by worry and life’s busyness or to allow it to grow.

God’s word never fails but my application of it can. I ask you to join me in making a renewed commitment to let the seed of God’s word grow in the soil of our hearts and produce a great harvest.

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Bumper Crop

I hope you will bear with me as we continue with the teaching on good soil. You see that’s something that Dave and I know a lot about.

In the early 1980’s we farmed 900+ acres of alfalfa on the Gila River west of Phoenix. The ranch had perfect conditions for growing a bumper crop. Rich river loam soil, plenty of water and the warm AZ sunshine. That plus hard work, long hours all covered with prayer produced a crop that was hard to believe.

That’s when I learned first-hand the practicality of the principle Jesus was teaching His disciples on planting God’s word in good soil.

God’s word is called an incorruptible seed, our hearts are the soil and Jesus provides the “Son-shine” and rivers of living water to make the seed grow.

“And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.” Luke 8:15 NLT

“You have been given a new birth. It was from a seed that cannot die. This new life is from the Word of God which lives forever.” I Peter 1:23 NLV

“The Holy Writings say that rivers of living water will flow from the heart of the one who puts his trust in Me.” John 7:38 NLV

Jesus worked continually to bring seed to the hearts of the people who followed Him. He would teach for hours and days to see that the seed of the Good News of the Gospel was planted in soil (hearts) that had been prepared to receive.

He encountered hard, stony and even thorny ground among his closest disciples but the longer he tended the soil of their hearts the more productive it became. The harvest in the life of the disciples was so productive that the seed sown is being used to produce a crop of faith in our lives.

Let’s look at what happened after Jesus preached this message. Luke 8:22-25 the thorny hearts of the disciples thought they were going to drown at sea. Luke 8:26-38 the good soil of the demoniac received his deliverance, but the hard heart of the pig farmers told Jesus to leave their area.

Luke 8:40-56 the seed of hope and healing was sown into the hearts of a woman who had a bleeding condition for 12 years and also in a father whose daughter was so sick she died. Both hearts reaped a harvest of healing and restoration.

Luke 9:1-6 the disciples’ hearts received the seed of God’s power and they went to the neighboring towns and cities preaching and healing.

Luke 9:10-17 Jesus was sowing seed in the lives of 5000 men and their families. Their hearts were prepared however, the hearts of the disciples were thorny and they let the size of the crowd steal the word, the seed, that Jesus gave them. But there was one boy whose heart was open and he shared his lunch with Jesus. Jesus prayed, the disciples served and a miraculous harvest took place.

Jesus was, and still is, the sower who sows the seeds of faith into the fields of our hearts. As we prepared our hearts, His seed will produce a bumper crop!

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