The Master's Hand

Sometimes I feel as if I am drowning. Everytime I find a solid ground it turns to quick sand. Leaving me grasping for only the Master's Hand.

Years ago I prayed that I would follow the Lord where ever He wanted to take me. I prayed that I would grasp hold of His hand and follow, whether I could see the next stepping stone or not, I would trust Him, blindly! Funny, when our hearts line up with our words He honors those.

So for the last couple of years, I have been following, blindly. Sometimes feeling..well, frankly forsaken.

But I know that I am not forsaken. As I said before everytime I reach for something other than His hand, he removes my "crutches", leaving me with only one option, Him. He is always there! He answers my cry, when I cry out to Him. Being dependent is a very vulnerable feeling, but My Lord, makes me vulnerable to HIM! Which is what makes me STRONG! Doing things on my own doesn't make me STRONG, that makes me resourceful, but real strength comes from letting go!!

He told me once that I would be as a tree planted by the waters, and I would spread out my roots by the river, and although the heat comes, I will continue to bear fruit!
I am not drowning, I am planting, ...these waters that I am treading through are for the strengthing of the roots!

Still

Psalms 46:10 Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Wow, be still? Now there is a concept. I am not a still person. I am constantly in motion, from the time my feet hit the floor until my exhausted body finally falls into the bed. Even when I am in a state of relaxation, my mind is thinking of the 5,000 things just waiting for my attention. So, when I felt the Lord whispering this to me, ok, screaming this at me...I had to take a step back and say Ok, Lord what are you showing me. So, in my quest to know what the Lord is telling me in this time of my life this is what I found.

While be still, means to relax, withdraw...I find it interesting that is also means to let drop, abandon, relax, refrain, forsake and LET GO. Ok, so the Lord is telling me LET GO, honey and know, I am God, I am the True God and I will be exalted, He will be lifted up among the heathen, which means the nations, and all the earth. Ok, so it sounds so simple, right...but yet when you are a single mother with many responsibilities, letting go is not something you do. I think if I am not handling it or thinking about the next plan of action, it simply won't get done. And while there are things I need to take a concern to, God is telling me, Melissa, Let go, relax, rest in me, and KNOW I am your God and I am working this out for you!

Oh the peace of knowing that my God has concerns of every aspect of my life. Not just my life but of those that he calls his. So, whether you are a total control freak like me or whether you struggle with tending to one area of your life, hear the Lord when he says, child Let go, let me.

Now Faith

I was reading this scripture as I often do, because it is a great faith builder, and as often as it is read and quoted , I always see a different meaning hidden in there. This time, as reading it, I placed the emphasis on the NOW part. Using now as an adverb, it changes the whole perspective of the scripture. NOW FAITH...what is NOW faith, well it is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen.

What is substance...Strong's 5287 says that substance is: a setting or placing under thing put under, substructure, foundation that which has foundation, is firm that which has actual existence a substance, real being the substantial quality, nature, of a person or thing the steadfastness of mind, firmness, courage, resolution confidence, firm trust, assurance
And one step further to the evidence...Strong's 1650 says that evidence is: a proof, that by which a thing is proved or tested conviction

Wow, so now with a deeper understanding of the words used here, we see that Now Faith is the substructure, Firm foundation, actual existence, real being, steadfastness, firmness, assurance of things hoped for, and the proof of things not seen.

Reading on, the chapter discusses our forefathers in the Faith and how their faith was counted unto them as righteousness. I read how Noah, being moved by faith built the ark to save his family from the flood. I realized that Noah had NOW Faith, he believed, even before there was rain, that it was going to fall. He operated his NOW faith with building the ark. Preparing the ark and having everything ready when the rain came down. He began preparing for the evidence of something not seen years before the onset.

So in our faith walk, in our hopes, Let us put into action NOW Faith, preparing our ark, living our hopes as actual existence, with the steadfastness of mind, confidence, firm trust and assurance.

Live NOW for the evidence of things not seen!

Believe

I had a vision of Abraham walking up the hill with his son Isaac to offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord. Isaac, the PROMISE to Abraham from God. (Genesis 17:19) I envisioned Abraham and Isaac walking up the Hill to the mountain, where Abraham was going to offer up his son. When Isaac asked his father where the sacrificial lamb was, Abraham answered, God will provide himself a lamb. (Genesis 22:6-8). All the way to the top of the mountain, Abraham entrusted his son's life to God. He trusted God, with his son's life. Knowing all the way up the hill that God had a plan for Isaac, whether he had to go through with the sacrifice or not. Unwavering trust. He required no confirmation. The Lord didn't send him witnesses all the way up the mountain to remind him that God had a plan. The Lord didn't have to send Abraham dreams to remind him that He had a plan for Isaac. Abraham believed God. NOT just in Him, but believed His Words. So even up to the very last moment, even after Isaac was bound to the altar, and the sword was raised He believed God. Then in God's perfect timing He showed up. (Genesis 22:10-14) Following Abraham's obedience and trust in the Lord, God told Abraham his descendants would be as the stars in the Heaven and as the sands of the shores...and he and his descendants would be blessed beyond measure!!! Because Abraham believed God, God was able to bless him greater than he could ever imagine.. (Genesis 22: 15-18)

My point here is that if you feel the Lord has made you a promise...BELIEVE God, even if he asks you to place it on the sacrificial altar! You don't need 100 confirmations to make the Word of the Lord true...
The Word of the Lord is true

....BELIEVE IT

Stones

Are we storing up stumbling blocks or stepping stones?

I have been reading Hosea. Interesting story here. Hosea is a prophet of the Lord. The Lord tells Hosea to take a Harlot for a wife, one that would not be faithful to him. God wants to use Hosea's life as an example to Israel of how they have been like the Harlot to God. (Okay, not the point I am going for) So, as I was thinking about Hosea's life, I began thinking about how I am sure that was not the ideal that Hosea had planned for his life...to take a wife that he would love, but one that would not be faithful to him, one that would go searching for others.

So, then I began thinking about Jacob. Now Jacob had 12 sons. Joseph was the youngest of these twelve and very beloved of Jacob. The 11 older brothers became jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery. Then returned to their father, with animal blood on Joseph's coat telling Jacob that Joseph had been killed. Not until many years later did Jacob find Joseph alive and in Egypt second to Pharaoh.

Now, these are just two men of faith that I am going to mention, there were many that lived a not so "ideal" life. It dawned on me that these men of faith truly knew what it meant to give your full life for God. To be used ultimately for the Will of God. To set aside their own desires and wishes to fulfill the mighty will of God.

As, I begin to look at these situations, I see men who took these "stones" in their lives and turned them to Stepping Stones, bringing them closer to God...
I think how easy would it have been to take these "stones" and make them stumbling blocks in their lives. That is the key. We have the choice to use the circumstances as a stepping stones or to root them into bitterness and become stumbling blocks.
I think Hosea could have gotten a little bitter that he loved a woman that wouldn't be faithful to him. And as for Jacob, it seems that loosing a son, mourning his loss only to find that your other children SOLD him and he was living the entire time in another country (orphaned) would be enough reason to get a little put out!
BUT these men knew that their lives were but a vapor...They knew their true purpose....

Do we know?


Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do

Gold Nuggets

Panning Gold was a huge craze in 1849. The process basically consists of placing the material that you want to process into your pan and shaking it in a left to right motion underwater to cause the gold, which is heavy, to work its way down toward the bottom of your pan. At the same time, the lighter materials, which are worthless, are worked up to the surface of the gold pan where they can be swept away. The process of shaking and sweeping is repeated until only the heaviest of materials are left-namely the gold and heaviest black sand.
Sounds like life, doesn't it?
I believe this is the perfect analogy of what life is...panning for gold. Life happens, we all know that...the Bible says it will rain on the just and the unjust. Just because you decide to become a Christian doesn't make you exempt from life...

There is a song that goes, "I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden" Well God never said our lives would be a bed of roses.

But I have learned that in every situation in life we are to act as the gold panners. Take the situations, shake them down....let the nasty pass away and hold on the the nugget...plant it and learn from it.

There is a gold nugget in every life experience, we just have to look for it!!!


Zechariah 13:9
I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' "

Prison Gates

Acts 5:19,20But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

While I was doing my morning study, I read this passage. The verses before this one tell how the Apostles were taken by the High Priest and those with him and put the Apostles in prison. That got me to thinking about how the "high priests" in our lives what ever they may be for you, imprison us. Sometimes it can be a gripping fear...fear of the unknown, fear to be who you are, fear to speak out for what you believe in, fear of not making your financial ends meet, just fear...
For whatever reason, we have these fears, and they are not limited to what I listed, those are just examples that come to my mind. I find that most of the things that we are bound to, we are bound stemming from some sort of fear.

Fear:Strong's Concordance #1272 says the origin is from a primary phebomai (to be put in fear). The definition being: fear, dread, terror (that which strikes terror)
The enemy of our souls wants to keeps us "imprisoned" to our fears. To have us believe that we don't deserve the goodness of God. That we don't deserve to live as "others" might deserve to. But these are all lies from the enemy, these are just "scare" tactics, pardon the pun, to keep us from reaching our full potential in Christ. If he can keep us imprisoned in FEAR, then the Lord cannot perform the miracles in our lives. The Bible speaks of this fear as being the first thing that can send a soul to hell.
Revelations 21: 8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
BUT
The good news is is that God sent the Angel to open the prison gates, so the Apostles can go on with their calling from the Lord. So, today, know that God sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins, to open the prison gates in our lives and deliver us from fear, sin and condemnation.
Romans 8:15 for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

So...Let's have a Prison Breaking experience, so that we can tell the people all the words of this life