Category: Devotionals

Upon waking this morning, I realized I already faced a battle. A battle of my will, my flesh and my faith. I realized that before I even rose from the warm bed, that had allowed me comfort and safety through the night, I was faced with a tap from the that enemy I know so well but often fail to recognize until I’m engulfed in whatever activity the enemy has engaged me. The enemy is stronger than my determination, more powerful than my desire and more persistent than my resolve. I know the enemy’s name: it is self. So even before I set foot on the carpet I realized Self had been awake before I was conscious of the morning light. Self always seeks its own way.

And so I was faced with the decision to look to the LORD… to look to the hills, so to speak, from whence comes my help. I’ve sought to have my first waking thought to be of the LORD and so I called on Him—proclaiming His goodness and faithfulness, I stepped. I took another and another, fully realizing that in the dim morning’s light and the quiet of my home there was a battle raging and it was Self’s battle for my will, my attention and my affection. In that moment I realized, instantly, that the LORD Jesus, who had been my help through the day before, my Protector through the night and my Provision for the morning, was right beside me—was before me and was behind me. And I said to Him… O, LORD, I am weak and Self is more powerful than my will. Self’s lies are not from You; please help me to walk in faith, please help me to, in faith, follow You through this day.

……It’s only food. A little’s not going to do anything. You never stay on a diet anyway. Really, you don’t look that bad. You’re so vain. You tried all this before and sure, you did lose weight and it did feel good, but you did gain half of it back… and then some. You probably won’t make it…

Prayer is ruin’s remedy, doubt’s destroyer, the cure of all cares, the antidote to all anxieties, the grand panacea for all pains, and the golden key that can open the gate of mercy!” Charles Spurgeon

So I put my trust in God, I waited on Him and affirmed, surely He never leaves me nor forsakes me. I reaffirmed that through every moment of every moment the day previous, He was there. He was my strong tower, my refuge.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shalldeliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” Psalm 91.1-3

I read and I read further. I pray and I sing: The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

Teach me. O God, to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.

Let me use disappointment as material for patience:
Let me use success as material for thankfulness:
Let me use suspense as material for perseverance:
Let me use danger as material for courage:
Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering:
Let me use praise as material for humility:
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance:
Let me use pains as material for endurance.”

John Baillie

So today is the second day of my umpteenth and one diet. I will trust in the LORD who only makes me dwell in safety… and who will deliver me from the noisome pestilence of Self.

This morning I’m mulling over some thoughts shared in our Bible study last evening and I been reflecting on a statement made by one of the brothers who had just come back from an arduous hike with his wife and a couple of their daughters. He commented that what we see from the mountaintops are the valleys behind us and the valleys ahead of us.

He continued, that it’s often what we see behind us that encourages us to press on to what’s ahead— that the path the brought us to the mountain exhilarates us to face the trail ahead. He read definitions of the word exhilarate and commented that it was just before the word: exhort. Interesting.

I was inspired to look up the words in my little pocket dictionary. The word exhilarate was, indeed, just before the word exhort and interestingly, just after the word: exhibit, which is to expose, to place on display. To exhibit. To exhilarate. To exhort. To display, to make cheerful, to appeal strongly.

The LORD has given me a glimpse this morning of why my previous blog entries were lost and why the fresh new path — and why late last night I felt led to choose the template with the stones on the top — the template that’s so different from my own personal style and preference— a template that doesn’t look like “me.”

Then I was reading this morning in Joshua where the priests and all the children of Israel were commanded to go to the Jordan and were instructed that when they saw the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they were to follow it—that they would know the way they should go for they had not passed this way before―that the next day the LORD would do wonders among them. The priests were to go to the brink of the Jordan and to stand still in Jordan and as soon as the soles of their feet rested in the water, the water was parted and they and the children of Israel passed over on dry ground. Twelve stones were commanded to be placed as a memorial― twelve stones that were gathered out of the *midst* of the Jordan ― as a sign that God had dried up the waters of the Jordan as He had done to the Red sea.

That this may be a sign among you,
that when your children ask their fathers in time to come,
saying, What mean ye by these stones?
Joshua 4.6

And so, I saw that the LORD was working in me that I take account and consider more seriously the blessing and the opportunity of my life. He’s worked wonders ― truly, He’s worked miracles. What I’ve experienced in the valleys, I’ve learned to praise the LORD for on the mountaintops. What I praise the LORD for on the mountaintops I want to proclaim to whoever will read here.

In my rose garden and in other flowerbeds around our home I have large rocks… my stones of remembrance. On these rocks I have printed words, dates or phrases these stand as a testimony of what the LORD has done and are reminders to me ― not only to me but to our children ― ways the LORD has worked, blessed and provided through the years.

And so I closed my reading today at verse 24 of Joshua and truly, the LORD blessed me with a renewed mind, a renewed purpose for what I do here and it is both inspirational and encouraging as I look to the days ahead and the many things that appear to be on the horizon… even if this seems like a valley and even if it appears that a mountaintop is just ahead.

That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD,
that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.

To display, to make cheerful, to appeal strongly. To exhibit. To exhilarate. To exhort. The “rocks” or entries of this blog… slices of life, the Word and work of the LORD = The Welcome Home Blog.

We recently went to see a play in which our friends were performing. It was a neat opportunity to take a couple of the children— to spend some time with them and to experience that evening/event together.

One of the songs that was sung in the play, Annie Get Your Gun, was the Irving Berlin song, “I Got the Sun in the Morning.” Since that evening, I’ve been humming or singing that song many, many times. ♪ “…I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night, I got the sun in the morning and the moooooon… at night!” ♫ And though I often see the faces of the players and in the theatre of my mind the performance replays — more and more I’m humming the song and I’m thinking of the Word — words in the Bible that convey timeless truths and reality of the presence and creation of God.

You know, I love the light of the moon — I watch the cycles of the moon… waxing and waning, waning and waxing. I see the moon and smile knowing that wherever my children are in the world, when I see the moon, I know they’re seeing the same moon. The same sun that warms them and gives them light by day — I see. The moon that rises and gives them light by night — I see and know that they’re seeing the same moon I’m seeing. It’s connectedness and though the darkness might feel thick all around me — the moon gives light by night. I think of the glory of the LORD… and verses that say:

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained…” Psalm 8.3
“They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.” Psalm 72.5
“In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.” Psalm 72.7
“Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.” Ps 81.3
“It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.” Psalm 89.37
“He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.” Psalm 104.19
“The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” Psalm 121.6
“The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 136.9
“Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.” Psalm 148.3

God’s glory and magnificent design, His mercy truly endures forever. I stand in awe of the LORD and echo the words… what is man that Thou art mindful of him… what is man that Thou would visit him. The LORD is great and greatly to be praised. In a day where the creation is worshipped more than the Creator, I want to be careful to praise the LORD for the creation and not to worship what He’s made and provided. We have clear teaching in the Bible that even the creation is commanded to praise the LORD: “Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.” Psalm 148.3 The world and religions of the world live contrary to the Word of God and neither know nor live the promises of God. The Word powerfully described the world’s worship of idols — the creation of men’s hands; and there is no power, no hope, no salvation in them or for them until they turn from them and to the Truth.

Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” Psalm 115.1-8