Archives

WISE WORDS

Jun22

The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
Ecclesiastes 12:11‭-‬13 NASB


God uses wise people to prod others to seek Him. He is the master of their works. Hopefully this is true. There are many Christian writers out there.

Christian books everywhere. “The writing of many books is endless”. Have you ever stood in a Christian Bookstore and gazed at book after book after book and feel exhausted in your search?

How do you know what book to choose?

Solomon advises: “fear God and keep His commandments”. Why? Because they apply to all people. A book that I read may be just what I need but it will not be what you need. The Bible is what we all need. It is written for all people.

The Bible should also be first choice so that in the reading of other books you have discernment as to what is truth. Just because a book is labeled “Christian” does not mean that it holds to the truth of the word of God.

Bottom line, “fear God and keep His commandments”. If you’re not reading the Bible you don’t know His commandments nor the God who wrote it.

🌹Make daily reading and meditation upon the Word of God a priority. You will not be disappointed.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Provider

Jun20

PROVIDER

I have really enjoyed meandering in Psalm 145 (again) this week. God speaks through His word. Are you reading and listening? Do you believe what it says? Are you being obedient?

God is our provider. This week (January 11, 2008), due to a miscalculation of mine, the bank account was a little short. I still had two outstanding obligations due in so I was short $15.24 and we had gone out to eat adding an additional $9.81 to that amount. Well, needless to say, my God knew three weeks ago that we would be in this predicament, so He sent $25.00 in the mail that day. Joe was to preach on December 23 but due to snow, services were canceled. The church was gracious and sent a check anyway. God is awesome!! He is alive and working in my life. I hope you see Him working in yours.

The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. Psalms 145:14‭-‬17 NASB

Praise be to God Almighty, provider of and to His creation!

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Obedience

Jun19

Forever
Observing
Christ
Unto
Sanctification

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
And I will tell of Your greatness.
They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness

And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
And talk of Your power;
To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts
And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.
Psalm 145:5‭-‬7‭, ‬11‭-‬12‭, ‬21 NASB

When you focus on Jesus you can’t help but overflow with obedience to Him. You long to tell the story of a King who humbled Himself and came to earth to live amongst His creation and then in obedience to the Father, He died on the cross. And the Father raised Him to His rightful place, back upon His throne.

Let us not forget that Jesus is still on His throne today and He deserves our focus of praise and our obedience to tell the world that He lives.

🌹Who will you make your focus today?

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Focused unto Sanctification

Jun18

The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord , And Your godly ones shall bless You.
Psalms 145:8‭-‬10 NASB

For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
1 Thessalonians 4:7‭-‬8 NASB

By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil. Proverbs 16:6 NASB

Sanctification – Set apart for God. Holy. Pure. Christ atoned for our sin on the cross by His truth and lovingkindness. The fear of the Lord will keep us away from evil. Focus on the intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, that works to keep us from evil, sanctifying us.

🌹 May the word of God speak to you today.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Focused on Observing Christ

Jun17

Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
Psalm 145:3

Jesus. Our perfect example. A model for us to follow. One we long to be like. He is great, so great that His greatness is unsearchable. No matter how much we search we will never be able to search completely before we see Him face to face.

WOW! Let my desire be to search the unsearchable to gain what I can of this greatness.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
The Lord keeps all who love Him, . . .
Psalm 145:18-20a

He will fulfill my desire. What if our desire was to know Him intimately?

🌹 Focus on knowing Christ Intimatey.

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
Philippians 3:10

In His power,

Sharon

Forever Focused

Jun16

I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Psalms 145:1‭-‬2 NASB

David made a commitment to bless and praise our Lord’s name everyday forever and ever. Are you familiar with David’s life? It wasn’t a bed of roses. He spent many years running from a king who wanted him dead, suffered the loss of two sons, made some poor choices in his life and yet he is going to praise God daily!?

Why? Because He is God.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
Psalms 145:13 NASB

Do you have any reason not to praise and bless our Lord today? Tomorrow? Forever?

🌹Focus your praise on Him starting today. It will change your perspective, disposition, and attitude.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

The Storm

Apr2


The storm is all about Him.

The storm draws you to higher ground – His presence.

The storm draws you to seek – His word.

The storm draws you to peace – rest in Him.

The storm draws you to prayer – cry out to Him.

And when the storm is over you have a testimony to share of how God brought you through – this brings glory to His name!

The storm is all about Him.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Look to The Cross

Apr1
Look to the Cross

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:8-9


As the Israelites are traveling through the wilderness “the people became impatient because of the journey” (v.4). Are we becoming impatient during this journey through the unknown (pandemic)? Is our trust in the Lord God who has all control over every situation?


Well “the people spoke against God and Moses” (v.5). The consequence? “The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many of the people of Israel died.” (v.6)
The reaction of God’s people? They confessed and repented and Moses interceded for the people. (v.7) Are you interceding for others during this time? Asking God to bring specific people to repentance and salvation?

In verse 8 God made a way. For “everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” God has made a way for us who are bitten by sin.
LOOK TO THE CROSS.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Thank You God for this Pandemic

Mar29

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 1 Peter 1:6-7

Thank You God for this pandemic:

1. That is slowing down the world. . .

So we have the time to notice that You are God. That You are real. That You care. That You are in control. You are King of kings and Lord of lords.

2. That is drawing families together.

Time spent realizing what a blessing our spouses and children are and that their lives are precious.

Building the family unit stronger by time spent together.

3. For Fear. . .

That leads to seeking You. Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

That is drawing people to streaming church services.

That is drawing Your church back to prayer. And others are seeking you in prayer.

That is unifying and refocusing the body of Christ.

4. That outreach is happening. . .

Through phone calls.

Through texting.

Being intentional about connecting.

5. For reminding us what the church is:

“and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,” 1Peter 1:8

By our attitude of rejoicing during this trial, we bring glory to God.

And the hope we have that through this many will come to salvation.

“Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” Roman’s 13:11

“for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Roman’s 10:10

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Storms

Mar22

“that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”
Joshua 4:24 NASB

As I was reading this morning in the book of Joshua I wondered why God would choose to have the Israelites cross the Jordan River at the time of year when the riverbanks overflowed.

Would that not be a more dangerous time? “What ifs” could have been flowing through the minds of the Israelites but I’d like to think that they simply trusted the Lord and forged ahead. (I tend to lean to a more positive side).

During this storm God showed Himself. Why the storm? So “that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

As the world is experiencing a storm, who or what are you fearing? I hope your focus is the Lord God and trusting in Him who is mighty. He is bigger than the storm and He always has a plan. That plan may be for you to turn your life over to Him. Surrender your will to His. He is going to use this storm for His glory.

Already revivals are happening. In my little world there are people turning to prayer. God wants us to be aware of Him. “Seek God and His strength. Seek His face continually.”  (Psalm 105:4) and He will not only see you through this storm but show you things that will astound you. You will know that the hand of God is mighty and fear (revere) Him forever.

My hope is that your fear is not what this world does or doesn’t hold but what God holds for those who trust in Him.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon