You Are My Witnesses.

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he."

"Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me."

I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no saviour. I declared and saved and proclaimed when there was no strange god among you, and you are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God."
Isaiah 43:10-12

We are his witnesses. What are we witness to? God says we are witnesses that he is God; that there is none other than He. We are witnesses because we know and believe God and understand that he is the only God.

When people ask us if we believe in God, we have an answer. We have a witness, for we have witnessed what he has done in our own lives. God uses us even though we are weak and faulty so we can point people up to Him; we can witness that he is alive and he is our God.

You Are There.

"Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, You are there.
If I make my bed in the grave, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
Psalm 139:7-10

I am 1,500 miles from the home I live and pray in, yet God has gone on this trip to Nevada with me. What a happy thought!

Jonah thought he could run away from God, but he couldn't do it, for God is everywhere. Even in the grave itself, this Psalm says God is with us.

Joyce Meyer says, "Sometimes we try so hard to get into the presence of God, but the truth is that it is impossible to get away from Him. He is in constant pursuit of us." From the book "New Day, New You".

I Will Bless the Lord at All Times.

I've been having nightmares about traveling to Nevada. I am leaving today. Last night I asked my husband to pray with me about it and he did. I had a wonderful sleep and he said I was laughing during the night.

When I woke up and went outside, I started thinking about my daughter, Christine, who is going through some very hard times. I heard the Lord speak to my heart, "Don't worry." Immediately, my shoulders relaxed and I thanked him for always helping me. I know I must leave Christine with him and not worry.

How do people manage their lives without God? All I can say is that he is the strength of my life.

"I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall be continually in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me. And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him and were radiant. And their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them."

Psalm 34:1-7

Do What We Can Do.

I was watching Joyce Meyer the other day. She was talking about how God will ask us to do something and if we do it, Jesus will do what we cannot do.

She spoke about the man in the temple who had a withered arm. Jesus said to him, "Stretch out your hand." The man made the effort and was healed completely. (Matthew 12:13

Jesus said to the man waiting by the pool, "Get up, pick up your bed and walk." Even though the man had been ill for 38 years, he tried to get up and when he did God healed him. (John 5:8)

Jesus told a blind man, "'Go wash in the pool of Siloam.' So the man went and washed and came back seeing." (John 9:7)

Ten lepers who came to Jesus to be healed were told by him to, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they walked towards the temple they were healed.

Jesus asked these people to exercise faith in him before he healed them. I would suppose it is the same for us today. If he asks us to do something and we don't think we can do it, if we take one step towards it I think Jesus will move in with the miracle.

Joyce kept saying, "If you believe God wants you to do something, then do what you can do, God will then do what you cannot do." I like this teaching. It is based on faith and belief, two things I want to grow in my life.

None of these people said to Jesus, "I can't do that." I wonder how I would have reacted. I hope I would have reacted with faith.

Lily

My granddaughter Lily, who is nine years old, has recently begun a new life with God. A few weeks ago, she started asking Sandy, her step-mom, if she believed there was a God. Sandy said yes and answered all Lily's questions. Lily then asked her to buy her a Bible. Her father is an atheist but said she could have one, so Sandy bought her a New Testament.

Lily has started praying and she says God speaks to her. She reads her little Bible and is happy to have it. When Sandy told me all this I rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. I remembered how Jesus said, "Rejoice because your name is written in Heaven." Luke 10:20

Lord, I pray you will bless Lily and may she grow in knowledge about you. May she love you and serve you all the days of her life. Thank you for speaking to her heart. Thank you for loving all people of the earth!

All is Vanity Says the Preacher!

I just finished reading a most interesting book by Joyce Carol Oates called, A Widow's Story. It is a moving account of the death of her husband of 47 years whom she loved so much. Neither Joyce, nor her husband believed in God. In the book she is devastated by his death and is strongly tempted to commit suicide.

She tries to understand what it means that he is gone and then says, "Vanity of our lives. Vanity of our love for each other, and our marriage. Vanity of believing that somehow we own our lives."

She recalls a Scottish ballad that says,
"There once was a ship
And she sailed upon the sea.
And the name of our ship was
The Golden Vanity."

It seemed to her, I think, that all she had shared with her husband died that day with him. There was no hope for her of seeing him again. Nothing made sense and nothing mattered because he was gone forever.

This reminded me of the Book of Ecclesiastes. King Solomon felt the same about his life and all he had done.

"Vanity or vanities, says the Preacher. All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?"

He wrote of how he pursued wisdom and folly. How he tried to find meaning in pleasure and wine. He bought great possessions and saved up silver and gold. He had many wives and slaves. He lived in a palace and walked in his gardens. He ate the best foods He took whatever he desired. And then he sums up with the message:

"All was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." The King did not find happiness or fulfillment in these things.

This is the summation of a life apart from God: Vanity - Lack of usefulness, worth, or effect.

Jesus said,
"And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world (vanity) but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?"

No. Nothing is worth more than your soul. Why follow vanity, when you could follow a
God who died for you and will give you more than the whole world could give?

Doubt

"If you lack wisdom, ask God who gives to all generously and without reproach. But you must ask in faith without any doubting..." James 1:5

James also goes on to say not to expect anything from the Lord if you doubt.

James is here talking about asking for wisdom. We know this is God's will for all of us. In the verses immediately before this he is explaining about having joy in the midst of troubles. We need wisdom to understand this.

If we are praying to get a certain job, we should ask that God's will be done and then accept whatever happens. But in asking for wisdom, goodness or faith, we know these things are his will for us. That is why James says not to doubt. If we do, we are saying, "I don't know if God will really do this for me."

Pressed by Affliction.

Today, I read a devotional taken from the book, "My Utmost for His Highest" at http://www.utmost.org

"We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life."

This quotation spoke to me. My faith used to be sustained by feelings and blessings and when darkness and emptiness came to me, my faith failed. I didn't understand how God could allow such suffering to me and people I loved.

I've learned a lot since then. I understand what it means to praise God even in suffering. I realize what Joyce Meyer means when she says, "Love God for who He is, not for what He can do for you." I understand this world is encompassed in a war of good against evil, and we must not let the evil discourage us, but keep our eyes on Jesus.

Jesus said, "In the world, you will have tribulation (closely pressed, squeezing, in the Greek), but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

When nothing in our lives is right, at least we know that God is right and be grateful for Him overcoming the world.

What We Say.

I was reading Proverbs 15 and noticed how many times he spoke about what we say.
I know I have written about this subject before, but for me it is a very important one.

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."

When I was first married, if my husband yelled at me, I yelled right back at him. But then the fight would escalate into a shouting match. Nothing was resolved and feelings were hurt. We have both learned by God's grace to curb our anger and give gentle answers. We rarely fight now, and when we do it is over in seconds.

"A soothing tongue is the tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit."

This verse tells the power of our words. Imagine that what we say can be like the tree of life in the garden of Eden. Amazing!

Then there is the opposite of life and what we say can crush someones spirit. What a terrible responsibility!

"The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things."

I am trying to learn to think before I speak and write my blogs. I don't want to say anything to discourage or hurt someone. Especially when someone asks for advice, I need to take time to think and pray before answering. This is a goal to work towards.

The wicked say evil things. It is hard to listen to or read some of the things people say. Still, we must love people who do evil, for they are loved by God and are just doing what comes naturally to them. I have spoken evil things myself and I'm sorry about that. Even when we are Christians, in a moment of rage we can say something evil. But thank God he is a forgiving God.

"How delightful is a timely word."

This is so true. Many times people have helped me by their kind and timely words. The Bible itself is full of delightful comfort and help.