My Will Versus His Will

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you.

Plans to give you a future and a hope.

Plans to prosper you and not harm you

Sometimes God puts us in places that are not what we asked for or dreamed of doing with our lives and talents He has given us. So what are we to do with those seasons of our lives. I think I am being taught to be happy in whatsoever state or season I am in. Believe me I am a slow learner. I have my own plans and many times try to tell God He has it all wrong!!  Knowing in my heart of hearts that He really has it all very right. Good meaning friends and family are always asking me how my music ministry is doing and for many months I was unsure how to reply because in my eyes that dream and season had been changed to something very different than what I dreamed of. Recently I have been really meditating on this season of my life and slow learner that I am I have finally come to the realization that the ministry God has called me to is going just as "He" has planned. Notice I said He not me. Am I traveling and singing in churches like I would love to do? No I am not. God has placed us in a small church that had a very big need and has given us the task of leading and encouraging worship in His house. Am I using the talents He has given me? You better believe it. I get to sing and play piano and worship with some of Gods most precious children many times a week ❤. That in itself is more satisfying and fulfilling then anything else I could be doing right now. Do I ever get discouraged or complain that I'm not good enough for this season or that it's not what I wanted or dreamed of? You better believe it!! It's no different then the ministry of traveling and sharing. There are awesome days as well as very hard days when you question if you are where you are suppose to be. Why am I sharing this? Because I feel in my heart there are many more out there struggling with the very same things and I want to encourage you to trust God to put you right where you are needed the most and can make the most difference for His precious children. I have to remind myself daily of his promise in Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to give you a future and a hope. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. That my friend is a special promise. So if you are one of those who is wondering how my music ministry is going well I'd have to say it is going just has He planned and that's good enough for me.

Plowing up the Soil of my Soul

 What a month this has been for us.  It has seemed from every turn that life has been against us and all those we love.  This morning I was reminded by my devotions once again of that great verse in the bible that says… “All things work together for good for those that serve the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”  I have wondered about this verse many times.   Wondered how to break it down and figure out just exactly what the writer is trying to say to me.  It seems that when trials come against us we crumble and begin to doubt our walk and relationship with our heavenly Father, when really we should cling so much closer to Him and hold ever tighter to His loving hand.  That is when I realize that I don’t have to worry about my hold to His hand, because HE IS HOLDING MINE.  His word assures me that “He will never leave me nor forsake me.”  So, why do I worry?  Why do I question His will?  It is because in this human mind and life I am weak and I know my weakness all too well, but thru Christ and His love and mercy I am stronger then I ever knew I could be and if I will keep my eyes on Him andnot on the surrounding circumstances my faith and trust will grow to know no bounds.   So I must come to the conclusion that He is plowing up not only my soil, but the soil of my loved ones as well, preparing for a bountiful harvest to take place in our lives.   Isaiah 28:24 says in abbreviation “Doth the Plowman plow all day to sow?”   Yes of course he does, the good farmer prepares his ground before sowing that precious seed he has bought with which to reap a bountiful harvest. God is working in my life to plow up the soil and prepare in me and in my loved ones a place to plant seed that will yield a bountiful harvest of souls for the kingdom and workers for the fields.  He is a perfect God and King and He does all things well.   I only need to trust and yield my life to Him completely for Him to use me to harvest that field of souls.  An excerpt from my reading this morning says, “Oh that we might always catch the vision of an abundant harvest, when the great  Master Plowman comes, as He often does, and furrows thru our very souls, uprooting and turning under that which we thought most fair, and leaving for our tortured gaze only the bare and the unbeautiful.  Why should I start or be afraid at the plow of my Lord, that maketh the deep furrows on my soul?  I know He is no idle husbandman, He has purposed a bountiful crop”.  So today I will purpose in my heart to trust Him with all things. 

March 13, 2012
I Stand Amazed at His Mercy

Isaiah 49:16

See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands
your walls are continually before me.

How truly amazing the thought, that He engraved our names on the palms of His hands.   I have read this verse over and over again but on Dec 18, 2008 it truly came alive for me. When he was being nailed to that tree our faces were before Him and He was doing it for us.  He was literally engraving our names on the palms of His hands that day so long ago. Every pound of the hammer rang out another name, another soul for the kingdom of God.  How can I ever repay Him for that?  I cannot, but it is my desire to serve him with all my heart and soul and be used of Him in whatever way he desires.  It is our responsibility as God’s children to win as many souls as we can for Him. I don’t think I will ever feel like I am doing enough after all He has done for me.  I have failed Him in so many ways so many times but He has never failed me and on Dec 18, 2008  I truly realized He never will.  He paid too much for me to let me go.  I want my life to count for Christ and Christ alone. I want to encourage you to give your life totally and completely to Him. Let your life be completely abandoned to Him and His service.  You will not be disappointed in His blessings and all that He has for you

Studying God’s Word

 June 22, 2010  2 Timothy 2:15
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth.

This was my devotion for today from Charles Spurgeon's, Strengthen My Spirit.
Spurgeon puts it like this:  "The diligent reading of the Word of God with the strong resolve to get at its meaning often produces spiritual life.  We are begotten by the Word of God: It is the instrumental means of regeneration.  Therefore love your Bible.  Keep close to our Bible.  You who are seeking the Lord, your first business is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; but while you are yet in darkness and in gloom, love your Bible and search it.  Take it to bed with you, and when you wake up in the morning, if it is too early to go downstairs and disturb the house, get half an hour of reading upstairs.  Say, "Lord, guide me to that text which shall bless me.  Help me to understand how I, a poor sinner, can be reconciled to You."  Oh, cling to scripture. it is the silken clue that will lead you to Him.  Cling to Christ and He will speak to you thru His word. Follow it's leading faithfully. 
When you have received regeneration and a new life, keep on reading because it will comfort you.  You will see more of what the Lord has done for you.  You will learn that you are redeemed, adopted, saved, sanctified.  Half the errors in the world spring from people not reading their Bibles." 
As I thought on this this morning, I had to reflect back on how in the past and even now the Bible has, and still does, speak to me in so many ways.  Revealing to me just what my heavenly Father is like and how much He truly loves me.   I can honestly say no matter how many times I have read my Bible, it has spoken to me in a new and special way.  It seems to be a new book with every reading.  I have received strength for a difficult time or journey, I have received healing for physical sickness and emotional hurts.   It has been my refuge in times of storm, and it has been my hiding place, it has also been my encouragement to continue this walk with my Lord and Savour Jesus Christ.  My prayer for all my friends is that you will become familiar with your Bible.  Read it daily, get a NIV if need be or a NKJV so that it will be easier for you to understand. Make it a part of your daily life, (as the body needs food so does your spirit need that food from heaven that is in the Word of God,) and I guarantee to you that you will find Jesus and all that you are looking for in this life and the life that is sure to come, in those pages. here.

Are You Missing the Blessing?

 How many blessings have you missed?  How many battles have you lost because you gave up in fear, and frustration and refused to continue on until the end and obtain the blessing that was waiting for you.   Faithfulness to God and our Savour is paramount to all other things and it is in that faithfulness that the blessing is realized.   There is a song titled  “Don’t Give Up On The Brink of a Miracle.”  So many times when the battle seems long and just to hard to bear we give up.  We stop praying, we stop searching, we stop fighting for what God has promised and in the end we miss out on the miracle that was waiting for us at the end of the struggle.  Fellow soldier, DON’T GIVE UP!!  Continue to fight the good fight.  Evil may seem to be winning but God is always victorious and He will never, I say NEVER leave you alone in the battle.   Are you praying for a lost love one, DON’T GIVE UP!!!  Their salvation is sure to come.  Are you praying for healing, DON’T GIVE UP!!!  God’s answer is on the way!!  Are you praying for direction, keep on keeping on, do all you can do for the Master until He shows you which way to turn.   Don’t go on in presumption, but walk in faith, trusting that God will lead you and that He will open the doors He wants and close the doors He doesn’t.  Phil 4:13 “I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me.”  2 Tim 1:12 For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”  These are just a couple of verses from God’s word that encourage us to fight on.  Fight on weary soldier, DON’T GIVE UP, trust and obey, and have faith in God that He will see you thru.   There is a blessing at the end of your struggle that you do not want to miss. You’ve heard the saying, “a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” well better then that is the blessing at the end of your struggle will be more then your heart can contain.
 
“Oh for faith that brings the triumph
When defeat seems strangely near.
Oh for faith that brings the triumph
Into victory’s ringing cheer.
Faith triumphant: knowing not defeat or fear”
Herbert Booth 
Pamela Grundy