Jun. 11, 2009
The Hated Word - Above Rubies Devotional
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THE HATED WORD Psalm 104:24, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches." Filled. It doesn't sound such a bad word, does it? I wonder why so many people hate it. It's strange that so many Christians hate it when God loves it! In fact, this word describes who God is. He fills the heavens and the earth. He fills all in all--and Jesus is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The whole earth is full of His glory. He is filled with majesty, filled with righteousness, filled with compassion. He does not have these attributes in a little measure but is filled with them. God does not take long to introduce this word to us. He uses it in the very first chapter of the Bible. Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it'..." It is interesting that the very first words that God spoke to man included the word fill. It is obviously very much part of God's heart. He loves abundance. After God destroyed mankind through the flood, apart from Noah and his family, He repeated the same command again. This time He repeated it twice. Genesis 9:1 and v. 7, "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth'..." The Hebrew word is male which means "fill to overflowing" . Many take objection to God's command today. They certainly don't want to fill their families to overflowing. They would rather fill their homes with "stuff"--more gadgets, more furniture, bigger TVs and computers. Yet it seems that every time God speaks about children, He uses this despised word. When Jacob and his family went down to Egypt there were only 70 of them. Four hundred years later they emerged a mighty nation. Exodus 7:7 says, "The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." They became "more and mightier" than the Egyptians who began to fear them. Their fear turned to persecuting them and making them slaves. But the more the Egyptians afflicted them the more they multiplied. This is God's purpose for His people. He wants them to fill the earth with His glory--His love, peace, truth and salvation. Numbers 14:21 says, "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." This is not talking about creation, but God's people who bear His image in the earth. God wants this earth to be filled with His image. God wants His land to be "filled with flocks of men." (Ezekiel 36:38, Psalm 80:8-9) God's picture of a blessed family is one filled with children. Once again it is this detested word. Society is brainwashed to think differently than God thinks. And of course, we think that we know better than God. But what does He say? "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." (Psalm 127:4-5) The parents who have their quiver full are happy! Actually, the Hebrew word in this Scripture is a double word which should be translated, "happy, happy". The parents who have their quiver full will not be ashamed. The parents who have their quiver full will have children who know how to speak against the evil things in the land, even in high places. The gate in Bible days was the civic center of the town, the place of administration of justice. Zechariah 8:4-5 is one of my favorite Scriptures. It is a picture of what Jerusalem will be like when God dwells there. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof." What a beautiful picture of children playing while the old people walk the city streets with their canes and watch the children in the city squares. And do you notice that there are not a few children playing? The streets are filled with boys and girls. How God delights to see them playing together. Here's one more Scripture. Luke 14:23 says, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." God loves to have a full house. It's part of His character. If we have God's heart, we'll want to have a full house too. Love from NANCY CAMPBELL PRAYER: "Lord, I pray that you will change my heart. Save me from from thinking miserly, but help me to think like you think. Amen." AFFIRMATION: I'm filling my home with God's blessings. P.S. Next week we will continue to find out more areas of our lives that God wants to fill. |
May. 22, 2009
like a fire shut up in my bones.....
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Oh, I am sooo excited this morning. You know why? Because I am a friend of God. Because the creator of the UNIVERSE came down from His throne and died on the cross FOR ME. All because He loved me so much that HE couldn't stand the thought of eternity without me. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that enough to stir something in your spirit? Isn't that enough to cry out to everyone about what you have? Jer. 20:9 says it perfectly. Thats how I feel today. And I thank God for that excitement. He is so good. He came. He stepped out of the infinite and into the finite. He was forever God, and yet He chose to become as a lowly man. He has never sinned. He knew no sin. And yet He chose to take the consequences of my sins. He bore them. And He did so willingly. All so that I could spend eternity with HIM! His birth was a miracle. and His death an even bigger one. He was borne of a Virgin. Amazing. He came challeging everything we know.  He was miraculously concieved. And He was miraculous.He had NO sin. And yet He was tempted in everything. But He was still God. He saw thru eternal eyes. Oh, Lord how I pray that I will have an eternal perspective! I want to see sin as YOU saw it while here on earth! My Jesus (God in the flesh) the ONLY begotten Son of the Father. Thank You for your sacrifice. Thank You for what you did for me. Guys. The only begotton Son of God, died so that I would be made clean. I haven't given my testimony on here. Not completely... Maybe one day. But suffice it to say that I had a LOT of sin. I was a no good dirty sinner. And my Jesus set me free! He set me FREE from sin forever. And God will remember it no more. I will not be judged guilty of those sins. Because the blood of the ONLY lamb washed me white as snow. And because of that I can stand (we will all stand) in the presence of a HOLY GOD without shame. Not like Adam and Eve did that fateful day in the garden. Not in shame and guilt over my sin. I won't have to run and hide from God. Because I am clean before His eyes. Because of the sacrifice He made on the cross I am made spotless. And my sins??? They were taken as far as the east is from the west. Isn't that amazing!!?!? There is nothing. Absolutely NOTHING that I can ever do to repay Him. Oh, but I can live for Him. I can put Him first in my life. I can make my choices dependant on Him. I can choose to obey. I can choose to sacrifice. (not blood, but resources.) So is that a contradiction? If there is nothing I can do... If the work of salvation was done on Calvary (AND IT WAS!! HALLELUJA!!) then why work? right? If there is nothing that I can add (AND THERE ISN"T!) then I can just sit back and wait for Heaven, right? You know what? I probably could. I serve a Big God. One that would still usher me in. God is no respecter of persons. There is no second class citizen in Heaven. My Jesus would still Love me. and His blood would still be sufficient. But my question is this... Why would I? Am I not grateful? Am I not so blessed? Why would I not want to go and worship Him? Why would I not want to bless Him in praise? Why would I not give of my time and money to the church? Will manna outlast what He did for me? I think not! This life is like a vapor. We are here today and gone tomorrow. I want my life to count for eternity. I want the things I choose to do with my time to last forever. I want my Jesus to look down from the right hand of hte Father and smile at me. I want God to say "Well done, good and faithful servant!" Oh, Lord, how I long to hear those words! Be blessed. Take TODAY by the horns. Learn something. For all wisdom is available to those who ask. Bless someone for we are blessed. Love hard, for God is love. Word hard, for it is profitable. And be excited. Because Jesus does LOVE you!! |
Mar. 5, 2009
devo's!
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Feb. 7, 2009
Psalm 128
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A friend of mine had these verses posted of her blog, and I just couldn't resist letting them touch you as they did me.1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways.2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. 3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. 4 Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. 5 May the LORD bless you from Zion all the days of your life; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem, 6 and may you live to see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. Awesome! Isn't God great? Look at all those promises..... Oh, and I still dont know how to make the link feature work, but here is her blog: http://thotsofamom.blogspot.com/ hope you go check it out. I get tons of encouragement there! |
Jan. 23, 2009
For a good cause!
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Jan. 22, 2009
A great mini devotional.
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