obstacles

This word brought more than I could “fathom”.

Do you feel earthly life should have no obstacles?
Can Christ followers expect an easier life? 
Are some obstacles acceptable?

As I study the Word, I see how my view of life on this earth has been in error. As I minister to and walk with hurting and stuck people, I recognize places I am still there too. I return to repent and seek His wisdom and revelation.

Thankfully He is generous through the Bible and sharing when we listen!

Yes, His Word does say we will do immeasurably more… Eph 3:20
But I also read those verses many glance past…

In this world you will have trouble… John 16:33
You are blessed when you are persecuted… Matthew 5:11
Count it all joy when you face trials… James 1:2

As we come into the Kingdom with our yes to Jesus, we are now not only of this world but also a threat.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16

God gives wisdom generously. His answers are the only ones that will bring the peace needed when the obstacles seem too large.  Ask – seek – knock…

 

no quitting

Sometime reading scriptures, it’s more self-condemnation than heavenly revelation.

You have not because you ask not. (James 4:2) Or maybe I did ask with wrong motives…search me God – You know my heart, see if there is any more ICK in it. (Psalm 139:23)

My prayers are not answered as “I assumed” so something must be wrong with me because nothing is wrong with God.

Have you ever felt any of those things? Or repeating your prayers gets old and it’s not working so you might as well stop and since there are no roses to smell, you might as well pick up a shovel and dig a hole…

It’s time to LOOK UP!!! 

In a severe drought…Elijah starts talking rain… es muy loco mi amigo. Yet he prays and prays and keeps looking for what he knows is coming. He keeps looking and trusting and praying. And KNOWING GOD’S CHARACTER and FAITHFULNESS, Elijah doesn’t give up.

You might say, “I’m not Elijah. Well God is still God and He does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)

So keep yours eyes toward the heavens…He is still there and you really are seated with Christ in heavenly places. (Eph 2:6) Ask Him to show you things from His perspective. He knows what is coming across the horizon.

….I see a cloud, small as a man’s hand…its rising… (1 Kings 18:44)

a new thing

One of my friend’s favorite sayings is,
“God is doing a new thing!” 

After hearing this many times and knowing it was part of a verse, I looked it up and committed more if it to my memory bank.

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

And then you start to notice same and very similar words are used in many more places. God has always been making something out of nothing, bringing life where there was death and flowing water even from rocks. Nothing is too hard for Him. He loves the impossible, the improbable and taking the foolish things to confound the wise. And many days – I’m confounded in ways that bring me even more AWE and WONDER at His great creativity!!

The Message version is fabulous here – verses 16-21
This is what God says,
    the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
    who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
    they lie down and then can’t get up;
    they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
    rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
    —the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
    rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
    the people I made especially for myself,
    a people custom-made to praise me.

I pray even this week, you will see God making a way where there seems no way and will recognize His hand at work in your life and relationships. He is so very generous and loves to give good gifts to His children! 

 

 

hope beams through

It has definitely been a unique season in my life. The gallery has been steadily moving forward. Definitely exciting for this blossoming downtown community and for us as local artists.

I remember times of prayer in the past years asking the Lord what to do with all of these paintings and Him sharing that a time and place would come for them.

We do need to step up to make many things happen in our lives, but there are also seasons we need to be patient with His timing.

I pray for you today…

May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!
Psalm 20:4-5 ESV

lasting glory

The Light Shines

There is much more on glory that could be shared but I think I will end with this for now. God’s word is rich and full. Such an important reason to dig deeper and seek the Holy Spirits guidance.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.  Revelation 21:22-27

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

I pray the Spirit of Truth will guide you each day, showing you the depths of His love. 

Jesus prays for glory

 

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. Isaiah 60:2

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

John 17

 

crowned with glory

Do we have to receive glory before we can give glory?? I often have five more questions arise when searching out answers.

In Ezekiel, those who encountered the glory fell facedown.
How often do we “fall” before the Lord?
I don’t think this was all their choice and effort of reverence to get on their knees.

Is that like the fear of the Lord, to also fear His glory?

Hebrew – kabod: abundance, honor, glory

We are to give glory to God but if He desires to give good and perfect gifts to us, should we be saying no to them?

Psalm 8
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 the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Thank you Lord that we can come to You and Your Word with questions and when we ask for wisdom, You are willing and generous to give it. 

glory to another

leaning in

In yesterday’s post I wrote on God giving to us, His grace and glory. Another of those places in scripture where yes and no are both true.

I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. Isaiah 42:8

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another. Isaiah 48:11

The Glory of Zion
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Isaiah 60:1-3

Guide us Lord in understanding what it really means to fully be Your children, Your beloved, Your church, Your disciples. Your words have been covered and twisted for too long. Give us wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You. Let the scales come off and the eyes of our hearts be enlightened to really see the right reflection of Christ in us, the hope of glory!

grace and glory

Reflection

Do you ever have certain verses come in your prayers and you don’t know where they are in the Bible? I frequently look them up to find context and help me remember the reference.

I felt the Lord saying, “No good thing will I withhold…”

It brought me to beautiful Psalm 84 and I was even more intrigued with the first part of the verse and how the word “glory” is used.

We don’t question the Lord giving grace to us, but glory? 

“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11 KJV
(ESV says favor and honor.)

Most often we are thinking of God’s glory or the eternal glory in heaven.

The Lord often tells me to go sit and listen. Yesterday He had me sit in the sun and as the intense brightness was on my face and closed eyes, He said, “The sun is a direct reflection of MY glory.” It made me think of Moses asking to see His glory and beaming so brightly the people couldn’t handle it so he covered his face.

We also are to be a reflection of His glory AND increasing in it!!!

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding (reflecting) the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

How have we been showing HIS glory in our lives lately?

I’m finding wonderful nuggets in here so will share on this more…

framed and named

Fill ‘er Up

Solo Flight

In the midst of other things in life, I finished these local scenes for an upcoming exhibit. Hope you like the sneak peek. Portraits are not my forte but I do love to capture people and movement. The local Splash Pad is filled with both on a warm summer day! It was a treasure to watch, snap some photos and imagine how I could bring different things to life.

So often painters are asked, “How long does it take you?”

I often say, “Until it’s finished.”

Just like God’s work in our lives, it really depends. Some journeys are smoother than others.

The more detailed boy – went quickly. I had several photos of the water spray and none include the little girl in that position. I pieced three photos which all had her profile. Her face and head shape seemed wrong with each paint edit. A few days later, the head movement idea came and though difficult to get a pink ear to show in blond hair – it worked.

I think they will bring some great smiles to those viewing our “Art Around Town” showing at Zeeland’s Second Reformed Church. A great gallery space our Zeeland Artists group is thrilled to work with on this plein air project.

I pray you find some extra joy and exploration in your week!