Ambushes, preparations, weddings….

 Ambushes, preparations, weddings…

There is a church adjacent to the rehab center where I am presently residing. Their landscaping includes wood chip mulch around their plantings…every time I walk by, there are little holes made by some of the local squirrel population….preparing for the winter ahead by storing their nuts in these holes dug for that purpose.

It reminds me of the ants from the Bible….

 Go to the ant, you sluggard;consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander,no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Prov.6:6-8

Ants are creatures of little strength,yet they store up their food in the summer;

Prov.30.25

I have family and friends who are doing the same…canning, butchering, drying, freezing food for the months ahead…

Other preparations, we can sometimes make are emotional ones…and sometimes we are not prepared at all for ambushes to  

 Go to the ant, you sluggard;consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander,no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summerand gathers its food at harvest.

Prov.6:6-8

Ants are creatures of little strength,yet they store up their food in the summer;

Prov.30.25 our emotions….

I was able to attend a wedding yesterday of a friend’s daughter… it was beautiful, weather nice for the outdoor event…

But then the dancing commenced….bride and groom’s first dance, bride and father, groom and mother then finally everyone…

The one that always gets to me is the bride and father,  his 

“Little” girl leaving the nest, leaving his protection, going into the arms of another…the songs played for that dance are always poignant and cause a tear to many an eye…and as much as we try to prepare for it, it is still an ambush for tearful emotions…for both the father and daughter….daughters who have lost their fathers no matter how long ago and others…

Christ is preparing a place for us where there will not more tears…that is hard to even imagine, no tears of sorrow, remorse, joy, remembrance…but, it will be more than great…

Thank YOU…

 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

John.14.1-4

 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Rev.21.4

Butterfly Kisses…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQVud5NUOs&list=PL8CQGojbjxe8Dx32xTPrvRC4-Joynz-Bu&index=9

Cinderella….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQVud5NUOs&list=PL8CQGojbjxe8Dx32xTPrvRC4-Joynz-Bu&index=9

Continue….

 Continue….

I wanted to share this devotional from Ray 

Stedman…

I heard it said once that Christians are sometimes more knowledgeable than they what they do with the Word…we know so much,but use that Biblical knowledge little…in the actual doing…

James says, 

 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Jas.1.22-27

Read: 2 Timothy 3:10-17

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:14-15

O

“In this passage, Paul outlines the process by which the Scriptures lay hold of our minds. He says to Timothy, “Continue in what you have learned.” That is the first thing to do with the Bible — learn what it says. Timothy had only the Old Testament and, perhaps, just a few of the books which we call the New Testament. But he had the written Word of God, and Paul commands him to learn what it had to say.

This requires repeated reading. There is no other way by which you can be exposed to the thinking of God except by regularly reading the Word of God. In the Bible he has condescended to give us his thoughts on everything about ourselves, about the world in which we live, the times that come upon us, and about the morals and ethics of our behavior. The Word of God will drastically alter your own thinking. You will think differently about yourself and others; you will regard your husband, or your wife, and your children in a totally different way. You will regard the frantic pursuit of wealth and pleasure in a different light. You will make decisions on a totally different basis. This Book will drastically alter the way you behave.

Not only did Timothy learn these things, he believed them. Paul says to “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of” (2 Timothy 3:14b). Timothy acted upon what he had learned. You do not really believe something until you practice it. James tells us not just to be hearers of the word but doers (James 1:22). It does not do a bit of good to just say you believe the Bible from cover to cover. Do what it says. Practice the truth, act on it. The process begins with the mind being instructed, then the heart being fully convinced, and then you practice what you believe.

There were two factors here which helped Timothy believe the Scriptures: First, the Scriptures came to him through certain loved and trusted people. It is much easier to believe what the Bible says when it comes to us through people we trust. The second factor is that this came to Timothy at a very early age. Parents should not miss that emphasis. Childhood is a wonderful time to get the truth of the Scriptures into a young person's heart.

The result of learning and believing the Scriptures is “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” The effect of the Scriptures is to save us, to transform us, to keep us from the downhill slide that is evident in every life not in touch with the Word of God. Everybody starts out life with certain hopes, dreams, and ideals, but unless he has the guiding of the Scriptures, inevitably he will find himself not moving toward, but away from the high ideals with which he began. This is the certain fate of those who do not have the guideline of Scripture.

Thank you for the Scriptures, Lord, and thank you for those who have taught me. Help me immerse myself in them, act upon the truth I find there, and pass them on to those you have entrusted to my care.”

Thank YOU…

Your Word….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9NEYy71lcU 

“Life Application

Am I continuing in what I have learned? Am I growing in my knowledge and application of the Scriptures? Who has God placed in my life to pour into?

Related Message

For more on this portion of Scripture, read the message:

Thinking Christianly

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Daily Devotion © 2024 by Ray Stedman Ministries. For permission to use this content, please review RayStedman.org/permissions. Subject to permission policy, all rights reserved.

 

 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? 

Surely you know!Who stretched a measuring line across it? 

On what were its footings set,or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang togetherand all the angels shouted for joy? “Who shut up the sea behind doorswhen it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garmentand wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for itand set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;here is where your proud waves halt’? “Have you ever given orders to the morning,or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edgesand shake the wicked out of it? 

The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;its features stand out like those of a garment.

Job.38.4-14 and the rest of the chapter…

 For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful,I know that full well. 

My frame was not hidden from youwhen I was made in the secret place,when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 

Your eyes saw my unformed body;all the days ordained for me were written in your bookbefore one of them came to be. 

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is the sum of them! 

Were I to count them,they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.

Ps.139.13-18

Comfort verses….11…

 Comfort verses….11…

Today i am waiting for a phone call from my vacationing Doctor, hoping he has an okay for another surgery to put me back together.  

Maybe today, maybe tomorrow…a call, I hope….but,

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart,but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Prov.19.2”

 But I have calmed and quieted myself,I am like a weaned child with its mother;Ps.131.2

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! (Romans 11:33 NIV)

 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

Jer.33.3

 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Deut.31.8 

Thank YOU….

God is not against me…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsY6or9_V-w

Old cars, and old old cars…

 Old cars and old old cars…

Yesterday one of my daughters came and got me from rehab to meet her family at the local park for one of the towns annual fundraiser events, a old car show… the weather was just right under the trees and many car owners with their cars came out to proudly show off their restored cars…and there were some beauties…

I remarked that earlier in my life, the cars were from my grandparents and parents generations …now few of those and they were mostly from my generation! Age!!!

A beautiful restored Ford pickup, like the one my father bought when I was 4 or 5, my first memory of our cars…a restored Ford Falcon like the one I learned to drive in…cars my classmates drove proudly to school and to work….gas guzzlers when gasoline was cheap…muscle cars….all tuned to find out who could be the loudest…

It is interesting what details we remember as we age…cars for instance…I am not by any stretch of the imagination a car expert…these are just memories I grew up with…cars were tools in our family to get from one place to another, not trophies to be shown off…and we have had all kinds…old beater trucks/cars we got at auctions for work, used cars that fit our family, hand me downs from others and sometimes a new vehicle when times were a little more prosperous and there was a need…

When my husband graduated from graduate school partnered with another graduate…they boasted their vehicles had more years of experience than they did…which was so true…old trucks, jeeps…

There are several places in the Scriptures where the writers look back over their lives at various things…or they bless their offspring with prophecy for the future…we read the Word written so many years ago, as a historical account of many lives…as well as what God is speaking to us now, to our hearts…tried and true truths…

It doesn’t decay as old cars do…it is a Devine tool for life…not a trophy to show off…

 Your word is a lamp for my feet,a light on my path. 

Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth,and teach me your Ps.119.105,Ps.119.108

 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2Tim.3.14-17

Thank YOU….

Ancient Words…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQofxJJrhiQ

Tomorrow, tomorrow is only a day away…..”Annie”

  

Tomorrow, tomorrow is only a day away…..”Annie”

At the beginning of this week, I was frustrated…another week in rehab…have been waiting for tests to comeback to “spring”me from here. They did come, but the person who needed to make the decision was vacationing…of all things, how could he? Wasn’t my getting out more important? 😊chuckle…chuckle…as if we really have control over time…

Then I thought of a different way of getting “sprung”. I could do it part of the time…but, since there are doctors that I need to see most days, I am on their time schedule, not mine…so a negative in plan as well…

Contentment…with God’s plans is really what is comes down to…

I can’t boast of my own, or I really can’t make my own unless he agrees…

Thank YOU….

Do not boast about tomorrow,for you do not know what a day may bring…Prov.2:1

 “I know that you can do all things;no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 

You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,things too wonderful for me to know.

Job.42.2-3

 May he give you the desire of your heartand make all your plans succeed.

Ps.20.4

 For he spoke, and it came to be;he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations;he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 

But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,the purposes of his heart through all generations…

Ps.33.9-11

 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. 

What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Jas.4.13-17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk6GASkBEUQ 

Rehab 2

 Rehab 2

Part of the building I am living in right now is permanent living for disabled, really elderly…

⁃ one person is always asking when their spouse is coming or they should be here any moment…

⁃ Another can go from catatonic to never stop moving or talking…

⁃ Some have to be hand fed by others…

⁃ One was abused as a child and again as an adult, yelling profanity, wanting to sit in the dark…

⁃ Teachers, professionals, businessmen, famililessness, pastor’s wives, farmers, mothers, fathers,etc, etc, etc….

⁃ Waiting…

I watched my parents, grandparents, in laws, husband, friends die…not easy at any age… brings to mind..

David’s demise…

 When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son. “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel…1Kgs.2.1-4

 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.

Acts.2.29

Thank YOU….