Remind me, Remind me.

    In this world we are living in ,  Isaiah 46:3-4, 9-11  bears repeating.  Verse 3 starts out “Listen to me.”   I was reminded of all the times that I have said to children,  heard my daughter say to my grandchildren, “listen to me”. We usually have to say it several times and grasp their little faces to make them look at us.  The Hebrew word used in this scripture is translated “to hear intelligently”.  In this verse God is telling Isaiah and US to pay attention, not just hear the babble of the media. Listen to ME! (God).

Secondly,  God reminds Isaiah,  the children of Israel and US that he has held us since our birth,  He created us and has " cared for you since you were born. . .I will be your God throughout your lifetime". It’s a little overwhelming to realize what he has done for us since birth.   I laughed a little at Matthew Henry’s commentary on this verse.  In addressing old age he says, “When compassed about with infirmities, and perhaps those around you grow weary of you, yet I am He that I have promised to be”.   I am very grateful God has not and will not  grow weary of me!

So now that I’m listening and am assured that God is with me,  I skipped to verse 9. “Remember the things I have done in the past."  Those things which undeniably point to who He is and that there is none like Him. There was an old song, "Roll back the curtain of memory now and then, show me where you brought me from and where I could have been". This exercise will make you cry, laugh and open a floodgate of memories. Followed by an immersion of gratitude.

In verse 10,  God tells us that we have a future.  His purpose, plan, advice stands from the beginning and will continue through eternity.  His plan for our lives will not might, maybe, could be, but WILL come to pass.  It’s going to happen just like He said!

And just to punctuate verse 10 with power,  God gives us verse 11. Just a few examples of how He might accomplish his purpose.  Accomplished even with those who don’t know God or follow His lead. The Israelites would have never crossed the Red Sea and continued into the Promised Land had it not been for a band of Egyptians chasing them.   Egyptians who had no interest in doing God’s Will. One of the most pivotal changes in my life came about because of people who had no idea they were being used of God.

I’m immensely grateful this morning that God is in control of this messy life.  Thankful that I can rest in His faithfulness of the past and walk through today knowing with a doubt that He has a purpose.  No matter what I see, hear or think, He will do what He has planned. I'm grateful for where I am today.

Thinkin' about where He brought me from.

Balance

Balance,  Thinkin' today about balance.  Not the world famous “balance”  definition but another one.
The world says we can have it all if we balance our diet, our obligations,  our work and play,
and on and on.

I'm thinkin' today about balance in my devotional life.  On my first generation IPad, I have
downloaded the Jesus Calling app,  the Bible Hub app, and the Bible for Kids app. In my ibooks
library I have  the devotionals : Maximize Your Mornings; Jesus on every Page; and The Shelter, God’s Promises.   By email I subscribe to: Devotionals Daily, Study Gateway, Max Lucado,
Spirit Led Woman and ibelieve daily.  On my nightstand right now are hard copies of Moving
Mountains by John Eldridge, Awaken by Priscilla Shirer, Jack Hayford's Moments with Majesty and
Anne Graham Lotz's The Daniel Key . I've read all of them, I'm just referring back to them everyday
or two.
 I am currently in a Bible Study with my women’s group at church on "12 More Women of the Bible"
and I am personally studying Women of Faith’s "Power in Prayer". From that study, I was inspired to
look more closely at Psalm 119.   In my excitement, I cleverly came up with 22 days in Psalm 119
and promised myself to spend the next 22 days studying each section of that Psalm. However,
(at the tim of this writing), my church was in 24 days of prayer and text me a devotion each morning,
so, I was doing that. Additionally, my church posts “reflection questions” after each Sunday sermon
and I really try to look at those and journal them each week.    I am a marvel at Bible study!
Even as I type this my head is about to explode!
In retrospect,  I don’t access the ipad apps EVERY day.   I haven’t accessed the devotional ibooks
in months.  I’ve been deleting Max Lucado, Devotionals Daily and Study gateway in favor of
Anne Graham Lotz the last 30 days. Awaken is a 90 day devotional that took me 120 days. I do the
Women of Faith study on Sunday afternoons, it’s only a 12 weeks. I started 10 weeks ago and I’m
on week 8.  On paper and in blog, I look like an amazing study machine.
I also keep a prayer journal.  I record specific requests and their answers or updates when I’m still
praying.  I started it because I thought none of my prayers were ever answered. That's a subject for
another blog and I digress.   While I have lots of books on prayer, the devotional books do outnumber
them. And while I set aside devotion time every day,  I’m intrigued by the time spent studying or
reading as opposed to prayer. Intrigued might should be convicted. Confession: Some, several,
many mornings I pour over the scripture and journal my thoughts,  read several translations and
then, in haste, shoot an arrow prayer upward, mention a few pressing needs, maybe even log them
in the prayer journal, sing a praise and worship chorus  and get up for the day. All, GOOD,
GREAT, WONDERFUL things to do. But, in His great love and mercy for me,  He gives me this line
out of today’s study on prayer. (It's the one Women of Faith that I do on Sunday and am four weeks
behind.  “ This week, instead of spending extra time searching out the scriptures, spend
a little extra time in prayer.”

Thinkin' about balancing my prayer time with devotional and study time.

 How much time did you spend in each this past week? Think about it.