Shalom Shalom

     For many years these verses, Isaiah 26:3-4, have brought me comfort and encouragement:

     You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You,

because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, 

    for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

So simple. So profound. As we keep our minds focused on our LORD, everything else diminishes in importance. And peace arrives and settles down in our hearts.

Our pastor mentioned Wednesday night that "perfect peace" could be translated  "shalom shalom."

I love it! What a great way to greet people! Now  I am saying "shalom shalom" throughout the day!  GIve it a try!

Even Little Children

"LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. You have set Your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants, You have established a stronghold against Your enemies, to silence foes and the avenger." (Psalm 8:1-2) 

We often don't take spiritual warfare seriously enough. Dare we underestimate the devil's hatred for our Lord and for His followers?

Since Satan was cast out of heaven, his mission has been to ruin everything and everyone the Lord loves.

But we have weapons and we can take heart. Even little children can defeat the devil when they speak or sing words of praise to God. The evil one is dispelled and defeated when our hearts, homes, and sanctuaries are praise-filled.

As all of us participate in worship, study and obey His Word, and dedicate ourselves to prayer and praise, we can 'silence the voice of the foe and the avenger.'

Have praise-filled commands ready to shout at Satan whenever he appears.

And we have powerful custom-made armor to wear to "stand against the schemes of the devil." Described in Ephesians 6.

And remember how Jesus defeated Satan? By quoting scripture. And then we are told, 'the devil left Him.' 

Read about it in Matthew 4: "And Jesus said to him, 'Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.'"

And 'the devil left Him.'

We always succeed when we imitate our Savior!

Keeping the Sabbath

In Exodus 20 the 10 Commandments are listed. It is the fourth commandment where we are told to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."  And we are reminded, "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

So God made the Sabbath holy, and we are to keep it holy! (Like in the New Testament God tells us to "keep the peace." And that He "brought us peace." He gives it; we are to keep it. Like Mother used to tell us to "leave things like you find them!")

We used to sing a hymn about keeping the Sabbath. It is called "O Day of Rest and Gladness." 

I don't hear it anymore, but found the words:

   "O day of rest and gladness, O day of joy and light

O balm of care and sadness, most beautiful and bright;

On thee, the high and lowly, who bend before the Throne

Sing, 'Holy, holy, holy' to the eternal One.

   A day of sweet reflection, thou art a day of love,

A day to raise affection, from earth to things above.

New graces ever gaining from this our day of rest,

We reach the rest remaining in mansions of the blessed.

   To Holy Ghost be praises, to Father, and to Son;

The church her voice upraises to thee, blest Three in One."

This amazing hymn was written over 150 years ago by Christopher

Wordsworth, the nephew of the famous English poet, 

William Wordsworth.

 I think we need to reconsider how we obey God's 4th Commandment!

Revisiting an Old Truth

Lamentations 3:18-26

"So I say, 'My splendor is gone and all that I had hope for from the LORD.'

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall, I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The LORD is my portion, therefore, I will wait for Him.' The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

These  words were written by the prophet Jeremiah, who chose to rise above his emotions and base his hope on the truth of God's unfailing love, reminding us it is a choice we, too, can make.

Thoughts from Gayle Rogers Foster --

"You, too, should have a short memory about the sadness of yesterday, and an long memory about God's faithfulness. His mercies are indeed new every morning. Rebuke your foreboding spirit. It is not from God. Get up every morning and proclaim, 'This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it' (Psalm 118:24).

If you tried something yesterday and it didn't work, try it again. However, this time you will have more wisdom and experience.

 Don't determine how your day is going to go based on how you emotionally feel when you get up. Just do what you know is right. Your emotions will catch up. 

And never let your feelings simmer in your soul. When you allow Christ to meet your needs you can allow His love to cover up a multitude of other people's sins. Give the gift of a fresh start to both you and everyone else who may have offended you. 

Trust God when you don't feel like it. Trust God when you do feel like it. Trust God until you feel like it. Take the next step. Don't look back. God is already there waiting. If you trust your instincts concerning the future, based on the failures of the past, you could be in for a long and painful detour."

  -- From Front Porch Moments, by Gayle Rogers Foster

It's Worth the Wait!

 Waiting for God's help in time of trouble is hard. We usually want to pursue our own solutions first, leaving God as Plan B! Even as we pray for God's will and help we are often already figuring out our own ways to proceed. Now that's really dumb! I should know!

The Israelites responded like that when they were threatened by their enemies. They sought help from the Egyptians instead of turning to God. Read about it in Isaiah 30.

"Woe to the obstinate children who carry out plans that are not Mine...who go down to Egypt without consulting Me..."

God tells them what to do instead in verse 15: "In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it."

"In quietness and trust," God tells them.

Then Isaiah adds: "The LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore, He will rise up to show you compassion...blessed are all who wait for Him."

Do we every consider that? Our Father wants -- longs -- to show us His grace and mercy. He is eager for us to come to Him!

BLESSED ARE ALL THOSE WHO WAIT FOR HIM!

Waiting is hard, but it is worth it, and it pleases God!

Father, help me learn to be patient. I know You are a good and loving God whose ways and timing are always perfect. How could I ever doubt Your love and faithfulness and wisdom? How could I ever forget that? Forgive me, my dear Father. Amen.

Have YOU forgotten to ask?

In John 4 we read the famous story of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. He Himself might have told us the story sort of like this:

"Remember the woman at Sychar? She was a Samaritan and I purposed to meet her at the ancient Jacob's well.

I asked her for a drink of water. She was surprised at the request. But she didn't ask Me for anything. Right there -- in front of her-- the Creator and Sovereign Lord of the Universe, the One able to bestow any gift to any humble creature.

But she didn't ask. I had to call it to her attention.

'Look,' I said. 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Me and I  would have given you living water.'

She still didn't understand. She didn't 'know the gift' and she didn't know who I was.'

I explained it to her. Just as I have patiently explained it to you.

Now you do know. You know the gift I bring and who I am.

It delights Me to give My children gifts.

So why don't you ask for more?"

[So why don't we ask for more? C S Lewis compares us to children who are content to play in the city ghetto, just making mud pies, when God is offering us a holiday at a grand oceanside resort, and we could be building sand castles!

Maybe we should rethink what we are asking our omnipotent 'wealthiest Father ever' for!

Paul reminds us, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20).]