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

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

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

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

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

“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

Have you seen the shirt, plaque, or whatever that reads “Not Adulting Today”?

I’ve been there a few times but most recently I got up one morning and gave in to every distraction that came my way, some I created myself. This was just leaving the bedroom headed to the coffee pot and then onto my recliner for a meeting with Jesus. That’s where we meet every morning in the wee hours before the world begins it’s day.

This particular day I did not want to do anything. I had delayed enough that I was now rushed to get any prayer time in much less Bible reading. I felt miserable, unaccomplished, a waste — just not feeling like adulting. BUT. . .

I stopped. Sat in my recliner and called out to the Lord. I told Him how I was feeling and then I asked Jesus for a big dose of His grace. I begged Him for mercy and for His grace to be showered on me. I grabbed my Bible to quickly get a reading in before getting ready for work. I opened to Hebrews 4.

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16.

What do you think of that? God met me right where I was. In my need He drew me to His throne of grace where I received mercy at that very hour of need. His grace was sufficient for the day. It was still a struggle but God’s grace helped me to Adult on that day.

He is my Rock, my salvation and I will. .

Continually seek Him,

Sharon

Psalm 105:4 Seek the Lord and His strength…

Last week was a difficult week. I felt overwhelmed, weak, defeated. The verse above is one of my favorites and so when it came to mind I decided to meditate on it for awhile.

Seek His strength. What is His strength? As I’m contemplating this question one morning I grab a mug from my cupboard to pour a cup of coffee. Written on the cup is “the joy of the Lord is your strength”. This comes from Nehemiah 8:10.

He’s joy! What is His joy that is joy in me?

Well. . .

Galatians 5:22 says that joy is a fruit of the Spirit. God’s Spirit. Acts 13:52: filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17: kingdom of God is joy in the Holy Spirit.

Saved? Then you have received the Holy Spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit than you have joy.

Psalm 51:12: Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Joy in His salvation.

Joy is God’s Word: Jeremiah 15:16; Matthew 13:20: the Word internalized

Joy is found in prayer: Isaiah 56:7; Philippians 1:4

Worship of God brings joy: Luke 24:52

In His presence is fullness of joy: Psalm 16:11

So in conclusion. Strength is found in joy and joy is found in Christ, where He is. 1 Chronicles 16:27

Psalm 105:4 Seek the Lord and His strength. Seek the LORD continually.

Real strength is found when you seek Him and the byproduct is His joy in you. Keep seeking.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon