Open Up!

“…Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things” (Psalm 81:10).

Greetings,

I love being my little granddaughter’s caregiver, and it has been such a joy watching her grow up.  She has already learned to identify her bottle, and when she’s hungry, get out of the way.  Ms. Ellie likes to lunge forward and clamp down on it with a death grip.  The funny thing is that as soon as she even hears me start preparing it, her mouth opens – wide!  That’s how I know she’s eager for the slushy goodness inside.

God will also give us good things – things that nourish our mind, body, and soul.  But we must desire it.  We must do our part.  We must open our mouths, big and wide.  We must praise and pray and worship.  We must pour out our hearts to the One Who is willing to fill us.  That’s how God knows we are eager for the good things we need; among them, peace, provision, guidance, hope, and protection.    

PRAYER: Dear Lord, You have asked us in Your Word to open our mouths wide, so we do – right now.  We bless Your holy name.  You are worthy of praise.  Time after time You have helped us and guided us.  You have protected us and given us hope.  We love You, and we love that You are always so willing to fill us, generously and abundantly, with Your goodness.  We receive it. Hallelujah! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

***NEWS FLASH***ALERT***NEWS FLASH***ALERT***

 God does not think the way you think, and the way you work isn’t the way He works!  (Isaiah 55:8 The Message version)

I hope the verse above doesn’t catch any of us by surprise, but I bet we have all, at one time or another, felt confident that we could do a better job than God.  Certainly there are things He has allowed that we would have never let happen, or things He didn’t do that we would have hardily endorsed. 

This kind of thinking is dangerous because it undermines trust in God.  And over the years when I have been tempted to question Him, I always read the verses that follow the one above:

        “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, so will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.” (Verses 9-11)

This passage teaches us that every Word from God is prosperous and filled with life to heal, save, protect, and provide for us, and that they will work hard to complete their God-given assignment.  And when they return it will never be empty-handed.  Along the way they will have inspired, encouraged, handed out generous amounts of peace, covered wounds in love, filled lives with hope, and provided a safe haven for fearful, freaked out souls who have turned their hearts toward the Heavenly Father, which has always been and will always be the goal of the Word.

I am so thankful that God’s Word is there to help me blossom and nourish me, and that He, the Mighty Lord, is the One Who does the work.  I shudder to think what would happen if I had the ability to do what I want to do whenever I want to do it.  As we approach Easter Sunday and we become a little more contemplative than usual about Jesus, let us remember that there is no greater distance than between Heaven and earth.  That’s how much higher and better are God’s ways of doing things than our own.  And that’s how far He was willing to send His Son to bridge that gap between Him and us.

PRAYER: Dear Lord,  As we pray we thank You that there is no distance between us.  You are right here next to us, and we welcome Your Word into our lives knowing that It is doing something excellent to prosper our souls.  You are so good, and we ask for forgiveness for the times we thought we knew better.  Heaven forbid! In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen! 

Feed Your Soul~

TGIF Greetings; May you all be violently overtaken with a spirit of joy!!!!!

We will go through all kinds of stuff to satisfy our desire for food. There’s an ice cream parlor inDavie called Jaxson’s, and my family and I once waited over two hours for a seat.

When I was preggers with Hormone, I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night with an intense desire to eat grape jelly and cream cheese on a bagel. Groggy Jorge stumbled out to get it, but that’s not even a gross craving compared to one I heard of: Banana sandwiches with mayonnaise and onions.

Food is yummy, it nourishes the body, and can even put you in a good mood. Chocolate anyone?

And haven't we have all said, “I’m starving!” Our gullets rumble or we feel faint, and we know it’s time to fuel our bodies. Let’s face it: If we stop eating altogether, we will, you know, expire.

As critical to life as eating is, the Lord reminds us in Matthew 4:4 “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Another version says it like this: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”

In other words, when God says in 1 Peter 2:2 to “desire God’s pure word as babies desire milk,” He is essentially saying that to stay alive we must feed our body AND soul, and we must be as enthusiastic about eating up His truths from the Bible as we are about eating up a hot fudge sundae with two scoops of chocolate chip mint ice cream, sprinkled with butterfingers and whipped cream on top.

The questions are why and how?

Let’s chew on this over the weekend.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We all have a favorite food, and we are grateful for the blessings of being able enjoy several good meals a day. We also desire the beauty, peace, protection, hope, faith, wisdom, and guidance in our lives that comes from living on Your Word. But please give us a hunger for You that we might grow even bigger and stronger in our faith. In Jesus’ name, AMEN~