Month: May 2020

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of Heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2

Days of great faith and strength are the goal of the believer. The encouraging testimonies from these days are like a river of life to the spiritually thirsty and those living in an arid land of defeat and uncertainty. This Psalm is a testimony of God’s guardian care, a cool drink for a parched and exhausted soul.

For those who feel like her/her closely woven worries are holding the world together and who harbor a tiny fear held in fragile check, this Psalm is a life line. Create an image of yourself and your Heavenly Father sitting together on a mountain top, or front porch swing…..It’s your picture, have fun……looking out onto all you love and care about and read all eight verses of this Psalm inserting God into first person.

The God who placed each molecule of life into perfect function and every star and galaxy into perfect orbit can and will keep your life moving forward to His glory and your peace and prosperity.

In Blessed Assurance,

Gretchen

You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out.  The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Exodus 18:18

At a burning bush in the wilderness Moses had an encounter with God. After much debate, he returned to Egypt and dealt with a shameful incident in his past, a pharaoh that thought himself a god and a people waiting and crying liberation, but didn’t want it to take too much effort.

The story of Moses continues: God led His chosen nation out of bondage and on a journey to the greatest promise of peace and prosperity ever known. Things didn’t go smoothly. There was whining and murmuring, two very destructive forces. Moses was acting as leader, guide, manager, prophet, judge, husband and father. The days were long, crisis seemed to pile up and no one was ever completely satisfied. His father-in-law Jethro steps in with awareness, discernment and the advice found in chapter 18.

If you are overworked and overwhelmed, you may be doing more than God has asked you to do alone.  The world will take everything you have and pout because you couldn’t give more.

God does not exploit or abuse our resources and energy.  He is the source of rest and restoration.

Have a great day,

Gretchen

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3

What beautiful words of calm, comfort and strength.  At the nation of Israel’s darkest hour, a time of peril and impending extinction, God gives these words to His prophet.

In this episode of judgement, consequence, forgiveness and hope, God promises His everlasting love and kindness.  He does not ask them to remember, He states it Himself! 

It is significant that God says this as He begins to make known His plan for a new covenant. A Savior will come and through Him we will receive power from within to obey and follow God and His ordinances with all our heart.

These words were recorded approximately 2,630 years ago, but they were written to each of us because they speak of a Savior that took our sins upon Himself. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, God shows His eternal love and kindness and draws us to Him.

Have a great day,

Gretchen

As for God, His way is perfect: the LORD’s word is flawless. He shields all who take refuge in Him. II Samuel 22:31

David, the youngest son of Jesse, shepherd boy turned warrior king, led Israel to become an empire.  As a young boy on the mountain slopes near Bethlehem David protected his sheep from wild lions and bears, so it is no surprise that a Philistine giant was no threat to someone practiced in bringing down formidable foes. In learning to defend, David found the presence and providence of God.

Reflecting almost exactly Psalm 18, this song of praise expresses Davids love for saving him from Saul and many other enemies and declares submission to a sovereign God.

When we pray, we should always remember the remarkable things God has done for us. It gives us strength and wisdom.  By trusting and following God’s perfect and flawless way we will find exactly what David found: Eternal rescue and peace that passes all understanding.

Happy Weekend Eve,

Gretchen

Then hear from Heaven and act. Judge between Your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence. II Chronicles 6:23

Saul was Israel’s first king, David established Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol and built a palace and then Solomon, David’s son built the temple.  When the temple was completed there was a huge ceremony and celebration.  These words are from Solomon’s  prayer of dedication.

Through prayer we acknowledge some very important basic facts about God.  He is love, He is the moral standard for mankind. He is ready to hear the petitions of His people and forgive those who genuinely turn away from their sins.  AND, He is all knowing, wise and perfect in His judgement and justice.

Sin hurts, not just the participants, but often innocent victims.  A perfect justice that validates the pain and vindicates the wrong committed against them is the hope of the abused, marginalized exploited and neglected.  Solomon petitions God for justice.

We want justice in our world today. By faith we must depend on God’s wisdom and discernment knowing there will be a day of reckoning for those that refuse to repent.  In the mean time, forgive and love, it takes the power away from the perpetrator.

Love,

Gretchen

If you remain in me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7

Spoken in the hours just prior to His death, Jesus reaches out to His beloved friends with an analogy from the vineyard.  A branch must have a vine and a vine must have a gardener.  Together rich, healthy, life sustaining fruit is produced.

We cannot survive the toils and temptations of this world disconnected from our source of life. Wood that is cut away from its energy source begins a process of decay. A tree is a living thing, a 2×4 is not.  Jesus is the Word of God, alive and well in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We must abide in Him, and He must be invited to a permanent residence in us.

The universe is ours when we are one with the Father.  Asking is just the act of acknowledging that which we already have because it isn’t about what we get, it’s about who we are, and we are fruit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Have an amazing day,

Gretchen

I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. Jeremiah 32:41

The children of Israel have once again fallen into calamity.  Their disobedience and worship of Baal has brought them to the point of extinction. Then God, never changing and always faithful, gives the promise of restoration and prosperity. 

As you follow Jeremiah’s narrative, his prophesies have immediate interpretation to the exiled children of Israel, but also God’s greater plan of a Messiah/Sacrifice that will bring a new covenant making man’s heart an intimate place of fellowship with God.

The precious character of a generous loving God is very often lost in our fallible tendency to impose human limitations onto our understanding of God’s character.  God is the absolute definition of perfect love.  He is generous, kind and long suffering.  He does not keep score of our sins, He is doing everything short of repossessing our freewill, to save us from ourselves.  He rejoices in the good He can do for those that follow, trust and obey.

Where man is stingy, God’s supply has no boundary.  Where man holds a grudge to settle a score, God is long suffering, forgiving and purposefully forgetful of our transgressions.  He delights in good, His and yours!

Have a lovely day,

Gretchen

Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other and the LORD listened and heard.  A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored His name. Malachi 3:16

Malachi’s audience is a disillusioned, discouraged people.  They have heard the words of other prophets, the promise of prosperity, a Messianic King, restoration and justice.  As hope waned these people became very casual in their worship and totally neglectful of the life of Holiness to which they were called.

The prophecy of Malachi is a reminder that the believer must live in the light and certainty of God’s Sovereign power and absolute authority.  He is worthy of an unquestioning faithfulness that permeates into person to person relationships.

God never changes……and neither does man. Where there is human failure, there is Devine Redemption and Restoration!  God always hears our prayers and He is at work, even when we don’t feel it, or see it.  Align yourself with your faithful brothers and sisters. Be their strength and let them be yours. God will reveal Himself in a most beautiful way. 

Gretchen

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Revelation 20:10

Sin is serious business, its consequences far reaching. Satan, disguised as beautiful, is the great deceiver, able to make sin look like all our dreams come true. The deadly reality is, sin separates its victim from love and grace and then goes in for the kill like a blood thirsty animal.

The good news is this: God is in firm and total control of satan’s destiny. There will come a day of verdict, life or death. Final justice will be served! Satan and all who align themselves with his evil will remain eternally in the equivalent of an oozing volcano.  Don’t be that person!

We have all been hurt by sin’s curse and hurt others with our transgressions. Recognize your sin, repent and then forgive others.  This is the means to victory. We can thrive in it today, on earth as it is in Heaven.

Living Victoriously!

Gretchen

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14

The new gentile Christians of Galatia were subjected to the constant debate of Jewish converts that felt they needed to learn and heed orthodox Jewish law and tradition to earn God’s pleasure. Paul knows that Grace is free and Mercy abounds because God is Love.  Our only acceptable response is to return God’s love and Love One Another. 

God’s laws are a conduit of love, not a measuring stick to beat each other up.

*Serve no other gods……. The One True God is worthy of our fixated adoration.

*Don’t bow down to idols……stay focused on what matters.

*Never take the Father’s name in vain……let your words reflect Holiness of heart.

*Keep the sabbath Holy…….take time to worship God and commune with His people. 

*Honor your parents……make family relationships a priority.

*Do not murder…….life is a sacred gift, don’t abuse it.

*Do not commit adultery…..protect the integrity of your family.

*Do not steal…..don’t take what other’s earned and need.

*Do not gossip and lie…..don’t murder someone’s character with words.

*Do not covet…..be content and generous.

Just love. Let God worry about the rest.

Happy weekend Eve!

Gretchen