Our Safe Haven~

Psalm 91:4 "He will cover you and completely protect you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a wall."

Greetings,

Jorge and I like the beach  -  especially early in the morning.  We fill our little wagon with towels, food, a radio, swim noodles, a radio, sunscreen etc...  But the most important thing we take  -  the one thing that will enable us to enjoy our day  -  is our pop-up tent.  Positioned just right, it is the perfect barrier between us and the hot smoking sun.

God covers us as well.  He does so completely, and it's a safe haven.  No matter how hot it gets, we are protected and secure under His wings.   This happens when we pray, and we will always find refuge when we seek it.

Let us seek!

PRAYER: Dear Lord,  We look to You today to be our protector.  It is comforting to know that in an increasingly dangerous world, You keep us from evil and temptation.  When we are under Your wings, we are close to Your heart and that gives us peace.  How beautiful it is to pray and activate our faith in You.  In Jesus' name, Amen~

A Safe Haven

Psalm 91:4 "He will cover you and completely protect you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a wall."

Greetings,

Jorge and I like the beach  -  especially early in the morning.  We always take a little wagon filled with towels, food, a radio, swim noodles, a radio, sunscreen etc...But the most important thing we take  -  the one thing that will enable us to enjoy our day  -  is our pop-up tent.  Positioned just right, it is the perfect barrier between us and the hot smoking sun.

God covers us as well.  He does so completely, and it's a safe haven.  No matter how hot it gets, we are protected and secure under His wings.   This happens when we pray, and we will always find refuge when we seek it.

Let us seek!

PRAYER: Dear Lord,  We look to You today to be our protector.  It is comforting to know that in an increasingly dangerous world, You keep us from evil and temptation.  When we are under Your wings, we are close to Your heart and that gives us peace.  How beautiful it is to pray and activate our faith in You.  In Jesus' name, Amen~

Peaceful Streams~

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd; I have all that I need.

Verse Two: He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams.

Peaceful streams…

A couple of years ago I was the beach with my mother-in-law, and she and I were frolicking about like two young girls and not paying attention to the increasingly rough waters.  Suddenly, we were in the fight of our lives.  The waves and the current threatened to overtake us and we were swallowing water, but then we remembered the advice we had always heard: Swim parallel to the shore, which we did, and we made it safely back to the land. Amen!

We gagged and coughed and then laughed AFTER we were okay, but it was not a pleasant time.  Sometimes life is like that, isn’t it?  We are tossed back and forth, everything seems out of control, we feel like we might go under never to breathe again, but then we rise out of the problem and take in the fresh, life-giving air!

And we have God to thank for letting us rise and leading us to peaceful streams.  Not rough but not standing still either - just going along at an easy breezy calm pace.  In other words, God comes alongside and takes us to a place where there is just enough movement to flush the environment of our minds, bodies, and souls of toxins, but not so much that we can barely catch our breath. 

Before God leads, however, we must be willing to follow.  Is He worth following?

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:11

Christ is trustworthy.  He gave His life for us.  To quote another verse found in Romans 8:32, “Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won't He also give us everything else?”

He will, He will, He will!  But are willing to submit to Him? To ask for help? To seek guidance? To admit that we are nothing without Him and that He has sufficient power and love to see us through?

If we answer “yes” to all those questions, then we can confidently tell Him that we belong to Him, that we put ourselves in His care, and that we look forward to being lead to those peaceful streams.

In fact, you would think that my mother-in-law and I would have stayed on the sand, but as soon as the water calmed down, back in we went.  When you are in gently moving water, it’s refreshing and soothing.  The sound alone has put many a baby to sleep, including Jorge, and it’s a great place to be.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Take us all by the hand today and lead us to peaceful streams.  We need a break today.  We long to relax and enjoy our lives.  Thank You that You are the Good Shepherd.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

ANYTHING!

Matthew 18:19-20 “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, My Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of Me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

Last Friday was my bday, so here’s a shout out to me and my 49 fabulous years of life!  I spent the day at the beach, and it was a beautiful day.  We played games and ate a bunch of junk food, and listened to music, and swam around in the clear water.  We marveled at the flock of ducks that swam by, and applied sunscreen frequently.

When it was all over, Jorge and I sat in the car and he asked for his cell phone.  It was gone, and the panic set in.  It was a mild panic, because after all, losing one’s cell is more of a huge inconvenience than a life-threatening matter.  Nonetheless, we offered up a quick prayer, and glory to God, the phone was in the sand right where it fell out as we were packing up earlier.  It was all by itself – surrounded by scores of beachgoers – halfway buried in the sand.  Amen! 

Unknown to me, at the exact same time the cell phone drama was taking place, a friend of mine was having a crisis with a relationship.  Furious prayers were offered up for a speedy reconciliation and mutual understanding.  God moved quickly in that situation.  By the end of the evening positive steps were taken to save a struggling relationship, and those steps are still headed in the right direction all these several days later.

Two completely different situations with something in common: GOD went into action for both of them.  In God’s eyes, both were important.

Let us all stand up right now and thank God that He places no conditions or rules or limitations on what we pray about.  He wants to hear about anything and everything. 

Anything less than that would be an insult to His power.

For us to assume that He does not want to be bothered by the trivial, is to misunderstand His perfect heart as a Father.  If you are frantic trying to find the perfect hair bow for your daughter, He wants to help.

To assume that He’s too busy dealing with wars in the Middle East to deal with your smaller problems, is to dangerously undervalue His power.  It’s not a though God has to prioritize matters, and it’s not like He only has the ability to deal with huge world crises.  He is Omnipotent – all powerful.  Let that sink in.  He can help you find a cell phone, and heal a marriage, and provide protection for those in combat all at the same time.  Let’s not focus on how He does it.  Let’s focus on Who He is, which is an awesome God Who invites us to get together on anything and pray.  Nothing is off-limits.

Be bold in your requests, and then watch Him go into action.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that You care about every single detail of our lives.  You long to be invited into every situation.  It is a blessing to be able to pray about anything knowing You will go into action for us.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~