Where is Your Hope?

Nov17

O love the Lord, all you His godly ones! The Lord preserves the faithful And fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the Lord.
Psalms 31:23‭-‬24 NASB

Love the Lord. Be faithful to the Lord. Be strong. LET YOUR HEART TAKE COURAGE.

Let your heart take courage. This phrase jumped off the page for me today. As I meditated on it I realized that I have no courage of my own. My courage is found and sustained in Christ alone. And I need to “take” this courage. I need to own it. God is my courage. I will take it.

My strength is in Christ alone. “When I am weak, He is strong”.

All of these commands and gifts are possible and available through hope in the Lord.

🌹Where is your hope? Who is your hope?

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Teacher of God’s Word

Nov16

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Galatians 3:25‭-‬27 NASB

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Romans 8:14 NASB

Are you being led by the Spirit of God?

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:26 NASB

We, Christians, are tremendously blessed by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit living in us. He is our teacher and leads us in the way of truth, God’s truth. The Bible. Jesus told His disciples, the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all that I said to you. When we read the Holy Scriptures, God’s word, the Holy Spirit teaches us and brings to remembrance all that it says, under His power to accomplish all that God has planned for His will to be done through His creation. YOU.

🌹Are you surrendered to the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit given to you to accomplish God’s will through you for His glory?

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Beware

Nov15

Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and will mislead many.
Mark 13:6‭
And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him; for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.
Mark 13:21‭-‬23 NASB

Jesus said,

At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance.
Matthew 24:10‭-‬14‭, ‬23‭-‬25 NASB

🌹Will you be one who is misled? Jesus said in the Bible, the very word of God: “But take heed; Behold, I have told you everything in advance”. Are you aware of what He said? Are you ready?

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

2 “P”s and 5 “R”s

Nov12

To whom shall I speak and give warning That they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it. Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, The fruit of their plans, Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also.
Jeremiah 6:10‭, ‬16‭, ‬19 NASB

🌹The Book of Jeremiah is playing out right before our eyes today. Action needed: Prayer. Proclaim the gospel. Return. Repent. Reconcile. Revival. Rejoice. 

Continually Seeking Him, 


Sharon 

Reconnecting Day 8

Nov11

Reflecting over my week along with reading Lamentations chapters 3-5 this morning I see God revealing Himself. I am aware of His mighty hand over me.

As I entered this time away I was struggling  and Lamentation 3:18 summarized it well: “So I say, “My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the Lord.”
Lamentations 3:18 NASB

I needed to disconnect to reconnect to the love of my life. My soul knew but my heart and mind needed reminding:
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.” (And He had been so good to me this week – reminding me of my need and dependence on Him, that I can wholly trust Him in all things, that He loves and cares for me and so much more–) It is good that (s)he waits silently For the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:24‭-‬26 NASB

What I needed to do was, “Let him sit alone and be silent” (hmm — in this busy world that is tough to do but very needed). Lamentations 3:28a
Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the Lord.
Lamentations 3:40 NASB
We can get so busy and caught up in the day to day “doing” that we forget to “be”.
To BE
***the branch.
***who we were created to be, created for — the glory of God.
***abiding in God as He desires to abide in us.
***in His word so we can meditate on it, that our words will be pleasing to God.
***so close in our relationship with God that we know Him personally and intimately
***BElieve that God is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do.
***at the feet of Jesus, which is a necessary choice.
What was the outcome of this week? “We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;
Lamentations 3:41 NASB
God I thank You for making me aware that I was in need of You and that You heard me. . .
I called on Your name, O Lord, Out of the lowest pit. You have heard my voice, “Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help.” You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not fear!” O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause; You have redeemed my life.
Lamentations 3:55-58 NASB

Are you needing to be restored, revived, refreshed? Make time to call out to God. He is waiting.
Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old,
Lamentations 5:21 NASB

🌹I highly recommend a retreat with the Awesome God who created you and me.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

P.S. Update on Day 7 “side note”. Going into my week of disconnecting and reconnecting with my God I was looking for renewal and refreshment. But at the end of this, although I did get renewed and refreshed, God was preparing me for a trial that would grieve me, test my faith, and bring me to full surrendered trust in my God whose timing is always perfect. Without my week of reconnecting I may have faced the coming week with my eyes focused in the wrong place.
Keeping my eyes focused on Jesus. That’s where I always want to be.

Thank you for traveling this journey with me.

Reconnecting Day 7

Nov10

Today I finished reading the book of Jeremiah and read the first two chapters of Lamentations. Jerusalem (Israel) and Judah are now exiled to Babylon.
Jeremiah poured out the heart of God,  warning of this disaster if they continued in their evil ways, defying God in rebellion against His holiness. God sent warning after warning through His prophets in the Old Testament but not one of them could save themselves.

“Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,” declares the Lord God. Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”
Ezekiel 14:13‭-‬14‭, ‬19‭-‬20 NASB

Thank God, the Father, for sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us. We are not able to save ourselves just as incident after incident in the Old Testament proved. We need a Savior who is able to cover our unrighteousness with His pure and holy righteousness.

Thank You, God, for Your holy word. It reveals my need for You and Your free gift of salvation. Through Your Holy Spirit in me I am able to live a life of holiness, pleasing to You.

🌹Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life. Will you surrender to God today?

On a side note, my sleep this particular night was very disturbed and restless. I was awakened many times throughout the night. When I was awake I prayed. At one point of being awakened a particular person came to mind and I earnestly prayed for this person. I would not understand the burden that was put upon my heart until later the next day. I’ll explain more on Reconnecting Day 8.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Reconnecting Day 6

Nov9

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:40‭-‬42 NASB

Reading these verses was wonderful affirmation for me as I had made the decision to take time away to be with the Lord. Jesus was very much needed. I do not want to be “worried and bothered about so many things.” I want to be focused on “only one thing” which is necessary! Spending time at the feet of Jesus.

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.
Psalms 27:4 NASB

🌹Take time to sit at the feet of Jesus.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Reconnecting Day 5

Nov8

As I was praying this morning, this verse came to me:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
Psalms 19:14 NASB

My desire is to live, or at least try my best to live up to the standard of my Lord and be pleasing in His sight. Filling my heart with the word of God daily so I can meditate on it all day. The word that will control my thoughts and the words of my mouth all to the glory of God!

Other verses I referenced:

Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord.
Psalms 104:34 NASB

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
Psalms 9:1‭-‬2 NASB

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You; And my soul, which You have redeemed.
Psalms 71:23 NASB

🌹The Word can guide your disposition. It does mine.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Reconnecting Day 4

Nov5

A Father of a demon possessed child approaches Jesus and says, “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!:

And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
Mark 9:23 NASB

And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
Mark 9:29 NASB

. . . “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
Matthew 17:20 NASB

Do I believe God can. . . . . .?
When I pray, do I believe in the power of God to save? To save my loved ones?
Do I pray consistently for their salvation, believing that the Almighty saving God can save them?
Do I tend to look to myself wondering, “Am I doing enough – sharing, living, pouring out Jesus before them?”  This is where I need to refocus.
It is not I who saves, but God who does. God can and will use me but their salvation does not depend on me.
I choose to pray in the power of the living God, walk in His saving power, and believe He has the power to save!! In that is freedom!

🌹It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Reconnecting Day 3

Nov4

Through day 1 and 2 God established, through His word, that He is priority. He is life. He is power. He is King, Lord, Master. He is Creator. He is the reason for life, the purpose for life, life itself. HE IS EVERYTHING!

In day 3 my reading took me to the gospels, specifically Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Mark 8:27, Matthew 16:13, Luke 9:18: “Who do people say I am, that the Son of Man is?”

Mark 8:29, Matthew 16:15a, Luke 9:20: “But who do you say that I am (Peter)”?

Here is where I had to pause.  .  . Who do I say Jesus is? Am I living what I believe? Do others see, in me, the Jesus that the Bible tells me He is?

What you believe and walk is a sign of your relationship with God!
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona (Peter), because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 16:17 NASB

🌹Who do you say Jesus is? God the Father is? The Holy Spirit is?

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon