It's Always About Jesus

 

It's about JESUS ... IN THE TIME OF BLESSINGS

 

     Blessings come in many shapes and sizes but they all have one thing in common - they are about Jesus.  Spiritual blessings are indeed delightful to the child of God, but when you experience a blessing from Jesus it's important to remember that the blessing is not about the experience, but rather, about Jesus and how He is glorified in that blessings. 

It's about JESUS ... IN TIME OF TROUBLES

     It may be difficult to see or feel it at the time, but Jesus is near when we go through times of troubles.  What is even more difficult to comprehend is that Jesus can be glorified even though those troubles are the result of our own making.  We err from His ways and He is right there ready to forgive us the moment we ask to be forgiven!  In asking forgiveness we let go of the hold we think we have on the situation and in faith, we give complete control to Jesus.  It is when, in humility, we ask forgiveness that Jesus is glorified.

 

 

 

It's about JESUS ... IN ANSWERED PRAYER

 

     Every prayer a child of God prays is answered, but it's up to God whether the answer is yes, no, or wait.  Sometimes God will answer immediately and other times, far into the future.  The timing of answered prayer is up to God.  Can you think of a time when you prayed specifically for something and God specifically answered your prayer?  No doubt you felt elated that God saw fit to bring to pass what you prayed about.  In the elation, it's very easy to forget that our prayers are answered in order to bring honor and glory to the Lord.   Answered prayer has a two-fold purpose; first, it shows our dependence on God to meet our needs.  Secondly, and most importantly, answered prayer brings glory to Jesus as our Advocate, pleading our case before the Heavenly Father.  Notice that neither purpose has anything to do with our own honor or glory...

IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT JESUS!

Do you know a child of God that is always upbeat, with a smile on their face and encouraging words for others in spite of the fact their personal life is one heartache after another?  I believe the secret to their "peace in the midst of chaos" is that they have made a commitment to make everything in their life...

ALWAYS ABOUT JESUS! 

 

These Scriptures serve as a reminder to me that my life as a child of God should always be about how to please, honor and glorify Jesus.  I pray that they encourage you to be mindful to glorify Jesus' name in your daily walk with Him.

Blessings to you,

Pamelyn



Every Day Should Be a Thanksgiving Day to the Lord

 

FINDING YOUR SPOT

Fall river, Brannockstown, Kildare, Ireland
A beautiful spot!

 

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Psalm 139:1-5

 

 

There is an old joke in our family about "finding your spot".    It involves an exasperated dad preparing for a four hour road trip on a hot summer day with his three young sons.  The boys needed some strong encouragement to "find their spot" in the backseat of the car.  As in most stressful situations, it was not funny at the time but we often chuckle about it now that those sons are grown and their dad has mellowed with age.  The dad in the story is one of my brothers and he was attempting to bring some order to the chaos.  God has an order to everything and I'm sure it grieves Him when we rebel in wanting to be in a place of our making without regard to Him and His will.  God has a place, or spot, for all of His children.  We must realize that our "spot" is not necessarily a physical location, however, it is a spiritual one.  God divinely sets a place for each one of His children and He expects us to stay in that place until He tells us to move.  No two spiritual spots are the same but they all point in the same direction - toward our Lord and Savior.   

Reading Psalm 139:1-5 assures me that God has perfect knowledge of me.  He knows where I've been, where I am now, and where I'll be in the future.  I can trust  that in whatever spot the Lord places me it will be for my good and His will.  The Psalmist David declared in verse 6 that those thoughts simply "too wonderful for me." 

We can only be pleasing to the Lord if we do

His will in His way;

which begs the question:

HOW DO WE FIND OUR "SPOT" IN THE LORD'S WILL?

 

I can think of three steps that will help point us in the right direction:

 

The first step must be to PRAY.  
 It seems so simple, but to ignore praying to God about
finding His will in our lives is like driving a car
without a steering wheel - there's no telling where you might end up. 
Navigating our lives on our own only gets us nowhere fast!

 

Once we've prayed, the next step is to FIND OUT WHAT GOD'S WORD SAYS.
  An idea in our mind may not agree with what the Bible instructs. 
 God's Word is inspired and designed for His children to read and study. 
 I like the look of a worn Bible because it tells me that the owner frequently consults its pages.  If we want to know where
our "spot" in the Lord's will is we must pay
 attention to His instructions.

 

Having prayed and studied His Word, the final step is to OBEY. 
 This requires action by faith on our part, and this is where so many Christians get stuck (myself especially).  We know what God has impressed on our hearts to do and we know we cannot please Him without doing His will but we lack the courage to follow through.  Our Sunday School lesson for this week is about David and Goliath.  God led David to the place where he met Goliath but we often miss the fact that David actually RAN toward the giant!  David was in such a hurry to meet the challenge he had to load his slingshot on the way! (I Samuel 17:48-50).  The secret to David's ability is the fact that he acknowledged that the battle was not his but the Lord's.  God blessed David with the courage, confidence and weapons he needed to defeat the giant and He will do the same for me when I simply obey.

 



The Lord's hand is upon us when we agree with Him about where and how we are to serve.  He calls us first to salvation and then to serve Him in a local, scriptural church.  We bring honor and glory to the Lord when our service is through one of His churches.  The Lord has blessed us with abilities and talents that are uniquely designed for us to be used in the "spot" He has called us to.  May the Lord bless you as you seek to do His will in your "spot".

Blessings, Pamelyn

HURRY UP! and WAIT

Have you heard the expression, "Hurry up, and Wait"?  An example would be when we've rushed to be on time for an appointment, only to sit and wait to actually see the person we were scheduled to meet. Usually our level of frustration coincides with the length of time we are expected to wait! I don't usually mind waiting if I have a book to read or a Sudoku puzzle, otherwise, waiting is a challenge! 

It is no secret that we are an impatient people. We are so accustom to the fastest pace possible- fast food, fast transportation, high speed internet connections, immediate care medical facilities, microwave ovens, etc.  Many people feel that ANY wait time is wasted time. It's hard to imagine that wait time is designed by the Lord and is vital if our primary desire is to follow Him.

The Lord is faithful to hear and answer the prayers of His children.  His answers will be either YES, NO or WAIT.  As a believer, the Lord will put us in His divine "waiting room".  Rather than becoming impatient, the Holy Spirit will guide us to His Word for the instruction we need on how to wait on Him.  The Lord is aware that we do not like to wait, so, in His wisdom He gave us His Word to guide us. The Lord also knew we would need help in understanding the purpose in waiting on Him to answer our prayers. 


Isaiah 8:17a, "And I will wait upon the Lord..."

...FOR POWER FROM ON HIGH.

Luke 24:49, And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry (wait) ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."

Any promise from the Lord is worth waiting for.  

Would you like to have the power of the Lord in your life?  Wait for it! 

Lamentations 3:25,26 "The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.  It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."

The Lord's goodness is promised to those that not only place their hope in the Lord, 
but quietly wait for Him to do His will. 

...FOR INSTRUCTION TO PROCEED.

Psalm 25:5, "Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me; for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day."

If we attempt to go ahead of the Lord we are in danger of promoting our own will before the will of the Lord.  
The Lord's timing is very different from ours.  

He knows all there is to know about everything from the beginning to the end.  

Trusting the Lord's timing will always place us in the center of His will.

The Lord speaks to us through prayer and reading His Word, therefore,
wait time is never idle time

...FOR DELIVERANCE FROM DIFFICULTIES

Proverbs 20:22, " Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee."

Psalm 130:5-6, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope.  My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning."

Micah 7:7, "Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me."

Because the Lord knows everything, He knows the difficulties and stresses that come into our lives from time to time.  To me, the hardest time in life is waiting and watching for the Lord to intervene in difficult times.  We want relief as quickly as possible.  It's hard to understand why we must wait for the answers when we have earnestly and sincerely prayed for deliverance.  It's in these times that our faith is tested and we need those prayer warriors in our lives to pray with us.  The one thing we can hold to is that the Lord loves us and cares more for us than anyone else.  We are never alone in our difficulty.  He will always see us through the pain and bring us to a brighter day.

...FOR BLESSINGS TO COME.

Isaiah 30:18, "And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you; for the Lord is a God of judgment:  blessed are all they that wait for Him."

Hosea 12:6, "Therefore turn thou to thy God; keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually."

I Thessalonians 1:10, "And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

Waiting on the Lord is always rewarded.  
The assurance of every believer is that the God we serve is the God alone.  
It is in His power that we live and breathe and have our being (Acts 17:28).  
The Lord is our only source for true blessings, and those blessings are always worth the wait.

...for power from on high,
...for instruction to proceed,
...for deliverance from difficulties,
...and for His blessings to come.

My prayer is that the Lord will grant you His mercy and grace if you are in a "waiting room" for answers to your prayers.

`Blessings, Pamelyn

Refresh

I'm contemplating buying a new computer.  My current computer has been a good one, but the time has come to upgrade.  I've noticed that I've been having to use that little REFRESH key more often.  I like how it works ~ the computer gets stuck, or freezes up, and by pressing the refresh key --eventually,  the system is revived.   I got to thinking about getting stuck or freezing up in my Christian life.  Where's my REFRESH key?  All believers go through times when all is not well in our spiritual life.  I believe the Bible teaches that once you are saved you are always saved, but because we are human and the nature to sin is still within us, we have the need to be renewed and refreshed.  Our walk may not be as close to God as it once was and we simply need to "get back on track" with the Lord.

Lack of Bible study and prayer, unconfessed sin in your heart, and slackness in church attendance are among the most common reasons why a believer needs refreshing.  It is so simple to say, "I'm going to do better", but as we all know, there is great difficulty in actually doing better.  As much as we may want to, we cannot restore ourselves.  Restoring and refreshing is God's work.   We must, however, place ourselves in a position so that the Lord can restore and refresh our walk with Him.  I've listed three REFRESH KEYS that may be helpful in getting ourselves back on track with the Lord. 

REFRESH KEY #1

 King David experienced a time when his spiritual life needed some refreshing.  Psalm 51 records his pleading to God to restore the fellowship he once had with God the Father.   The first refresh key is for the believer to PRAY.  David poured his heart out to the Lord and confessed his sin.  As I read this psalm I can feel the desperation in his heart.   David was not ashamed to say, "Lord, I really messed up this time, please help me."  David's sin was not a secret to God.  He already knew about it and was patiently waiting for David to confess so He could forgive him.  God promises to treat all of His children the same.  Don't ever be too ashamed to tell God you messed up.

REFRESH KEY #2

The next refresh key is READ YOUR BIBLE.  I know I sound like a broken record because I repeat this in a lot of my posts.  It is because I feel strongly that believers are missing out on so much by not taking time to read God's Word.  There is power in God's Word for the believer; that power is made available to the believer when God's Words are hidden in your heart. 

REFRESH KEY #3

The last refresh key is FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER BELIEVERS.  Equally important as prayer and bible reading to refreshing a believer's heart is being with other believers.  Sharing our burdens with others helps to restore and refresh our spiritual life.   Jesus established His church during His earthly ministry so that we could bring honor and glory to Him.  But He also knew that fellowship among believers was vital to the Christian life as a support system.  The worse thing one can do when going through spiritual difficulties is to become slack in church attendance.   In essence you are denying yourself the love and support of fellow believers.  Our pastor and his wife have a 2 year old daughter who calls going to church home.  She walked in church the other day with her mother, saw her best friend and said, "See Mommy, she's home."  Such wisdom in that!  I pray that the church you are a member of is home to you.

These three keys are important to me personally, but perhaps you have others that help you in your daily walk.   I look forward to hearing what keeps you on track with the Lord.

~Blessings,

Pamelyn

Source:  King James Version

I'M PRAYING FOR YOU

    

MASTER OF THE WIND

by Joel Hemphill  

 My boat of life sails on a troubled sea
Whenever there's a wind in my sail.
But I have a friend who watches over me
When the breeze turns into a gale.

    I know the Master of the wind.
I know the Maker of the rain.
He can calm a storm, make the sun shine again.
I know the Master of the wind.      Sometimes I soar like an eagle through the sky
Above the peaks my soul can be found.
An unexpected storm may drive me from the heights
Brings me low, but never brings me down.      He can calm a storm, make the sun shine again
I know the Master of the wind.   ===================================================================  

     As far as I know I don't have any family or friends directly affected by Hurricane Sandy.  I'm thankful for that,  but that's not to say I'm immune to the things I've been seeing on TV.  It is difficult to watch as so many are struggling to survive and recover from this storm.  I know that what I see on TV does not compare with what is really going on in the communities and towns that have been hit hardest.  Having grown up in Florida, where the threat of multi hurricanes is a yearly event,  I have a great respect for the damage that a hurricane is capable of doing.   

 

     Please know, dear Christian friends, if this storm has affected you in any way, I'M PRAYING FOR YOU.  If the circumstances were reversed, I know you would do the same for me.  I may not know your name or your individual story, but,

 I'M PRAYING FOR YOU. 

                                                                                                                                               ~Pamelyn

 

WITHOUT LIMITS ~ {Good Things Thursday}

There is No Limit to What God Will Do For His Children When We Ask in His Name

I love reading the prayer of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21.   In this prayer Paul made three requests for his friends in Ephesus:

 

First, in verse 16, that they would "be strengthened with might by His Spirit"

Secondly, he asked in verse 18 that they "may be able to comprehend...the love of Christ"

And then in verse 19 Paul asks, that they "might be filled with all the fullness of God"

And, just in case we might think that this is too much to ask, Paul reminds us that these requests are made to the One who is more than able to answer them. 

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us"  Ephesians 3:20

 

Paul's Knowledge of God is Revealed in the Way He Prayed

Paul knew that God is able to answer our prayers because He is the

Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent GOD.

                       

Paul knew that God's blessings are always abundant,
exceeding our expectations beyond all
that we've read, seen, heard or imagined. 

Paul knew that God is aware of our needs before
we put thought into them and even 
if we forget to ask, He will do it
if it is according to His will. 

Paul knew that there is no limit to the power of God

at work in us to change our lives.

Finally, Paul reminds us in verse 21 that all these abundant and limitless blessings are not intended for our own glory but for the eternal glory of God in and through the local, visible church that has been purchased with the blood of Christ Jesus.  Amen! 

My prayer for you is that God will bless your day exceeding abundantly!                                             ~Pamelyn 



Friend with Friend

O the pure delight of a single hour

That before Thy throne I spend,

When I kneel in prayer, and

With Thee, my God,

I commune as friend with friend!



Fanny J. Crosby

Several years ago I read this poem in an article about prayer.  It was only later that I realized it was actually written by Fanny J. Crosby in 1875 as lyrics to the 3rd stanza of the wonderful hymn, "I Am Thine, O Lord".   These words, written so long ago, speak to the heart of the matter of prayer.  As evidenced by over 8,000 hymns written during her lifetime, Fanny J. Crosby certainly knew a thing or two about communicating with the Lord.  Blind from an illness as an infant, she understood how essential it was to stay in touch with the Lord. 

Along with reading God's Holy Word,  prayer is the method in which the Lord communicates to His servant's heart.  Prayer is how we, as children of the Lord, communicate with Him.  Prayer is never one-sided communication.  The Bible teaches us to speak to the Lord in prayer, as well as listen for the still, small voice as He speaks to our heart. 

I Timothy 2:1 speaks of four different types of prayer.  "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men".  All four types are essential to the Christian in order to communicate with our Lord.  The notes from my KJV Study Bible explain each type:

• Supplications are precise requests for specific needs
• Prayers is a general word embracing various kinds of prayer, namely confession, adoration, etc.
• Intercessions are prayers to God on behalf of others
• Giving of Thanks are prayers of praise

I Thessalonians 5:17 encourages us to "Pray without ceasing".  To pray non-stop every day may seem to us to be a bit extreme.  However, consider this:  Prayer involves both spoken words as well as an attitude of the heart.  In light of that, we can move about our day with "non-stop praying" and communicating with the dearest Friend we could ever have.  How delightful is that!
 



Feel free to use this image

My friends, I am praying for you and

ask that you pray for me 

                            ~Pamelyn