Romans 5:3-5 ...we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
We can look at hard times a completely different way than the world does. They may have endurance for a time and hard times may shape their character. But we have hope. Hope that points to a God that is a rescuer, a redeemer. This scripture says hope does not disappoint or put us to shame because in our hope God's love is poured out on our hearts through the Holy Spirit who God gave us.
I can honestly say I knew the hard times would teach me valuable things about God but I had never seen the last part of that verse about God pouring His love into my heart. What was interesting was I had been driving around town and I just couldn't shake this feeling of love. Ya know the kind when you first fall in love with your spouse and you just walk around knowing someone loves you? It's the silly smile, skip in your step kind of feeling.
When we were going through some pretty rough times I started having this "loved" feeling. I was so confused by it because this feeling didn't match my circumstances at all. I asked a friend of ours and he mentioned this verse. I had known the first part of the scripture of what hard times would develop in me but had never seen the part about God pouring out His love - which exactly matched the feeling I had been having. God was showing me in the midst of my hard times how much He loved me. Look for it... He wants to show you too.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tucker vs the Plunger
This morning as I was getting ready for work, Tucker my lab/rottie mix was walking through the bathroom and somehow saw the plunger in his vision. He stopped abruptly and his tail curled as if he was in tracking mode. He would lean in and try to get a whiff of the plunger (ewww!), then back up and let out a little cry in frustration because he couldn't seem to figure out if the plunger was another dog or a really short person. I sat back and watched this scene as Tucker was more and more distraught at this new discovery, wishing my family was here to see this.
Then the most precious thing happened. Tucker noticed where I was in relation to the plunger and his realized that he needed to protect me from this disgusting necessary evil in the restroom. The next thing I knew Tucker had put his back to me and he was standing facing the plunger, protecting me, ready to lunge if anything unexpected happened. In the face of danger, through his own fear, he would choose to save me first.
What a precious love you extend to me Tucker! Here I thought you would ward off intruders or boys who wanted to date my daughters, but you have taken it to a new level. Thank you Tucker for saving me from the evil plunger. I don't know what I would have done without you. :)
Then the most precious thing happened. Tucker noticed where I was in relation to the plunger and his realized that he needed to protect me from this disgusting necessary evil in the restroom. The next thing I knew Tucker had put his back to me and he was standing facing the plunger, protecting me, ready to lunge if anything unexpected happened. In the face of danger, through his own fear, he would choose to save me first.
What a precious love you extend to me Tucker! Here I thought you would ward off intruders or boys who wanted to date my daughters, but you have taken it to a new level. Thank you Tucker for saving me from the evil plunger. I don't know what I would have done without you. :)
Mercy over Sacrafice
Matt 9:13 "Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
vs 34 "But the Pharisees said "He casts out demons by the prince of demons."
The Pharisees thought they knew "the formula" to get God to act. They had mastered the law and everyone knew they were in a place of position. Their knowledge and position became the stumbling block and kept them from being able to see who Jesus really was. How sad that they had spent so much time learning the ways of God but yet they didn't recognize His own Son. I found it sad that they knew the law in text and theory, but the ways of God had not changed them... they were not transformed by God but were robots of the law, unteachable for what God had truly intended for His people.
I took 2 things from this:
1. I need to experience God in my life. I need to not only read His Word and study the things of God but I need to see that God is working around me; healing people, loving people back to Him, rescuing people, defending His people - He is alive and relational. He desires a relationship with us. If I just look to the Word but never looked for the fruit of that word around me, I would miss the whole experience of God and who He really is. Jesus was an example of the experience of God. The law fulfilled.
2. So powerful where Jesus says "Learn what this means - I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Jesus wanted us to break free from the law. He wanted to give mercy because that represents something that would happen in a relationship. God wants a relationship with us. Why? So He can reveal Himself to us. I need both - His word and I need to experience God, His word at work.
vs 34 "But the Pharisees said "He casts out demons by the prince of demons."
The Pharisees thought they knew "the formula" to get God to act. They had mastered the law and everyone knew they were in a place of position. Their knowledge and position became the stumbling block and kept them from being able to see who Jesus really was. How sad that they had spent so much time learning the ways of God but yet they didn't recognize His own Son. I found it sad that they knew the law in text and theory, but the ways of God had not changed them... they were not transformed by God but were robots of the law, unteachable for what God had truly intended for His people.
I took 2 things from this:
1. I need to experience God in my life. I need to not only read His Word and study the things of God but I need to see that God is working around me; healing people, loving people back to Him, rescuing people, defending His people - He is alive and relational. He desires a relationship with us. If I just look to the Word but never looked for the fruit of that word around me, I would miss the whole experience of God and who He really is. Jesus was an example of the experience of God. The law fulfilled.
2. So powerful where Jesus says "Learn what this means - I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Jesus wanted us to break free from the law. He wanted to give mercy because that represents something that would happen in a relationship. God wants a relationship with us. Why? So He can reveal Himself to us. I need both - His word and I need to experience God, His word at work.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Obedience over Success
Ok I admit it... the closer I come to my 40th birthday the more I wonder about the significance of my life. What have I done with this life God has given me so far?
20 years ago my measure of success would have involved loving God, a big job, big income to go with it, a happy husband and 2.5 children and the white picket fence. What the last 20 years have taught me is that there are far more important things; the gifts God has given me and what I have done with those gifts are how success will be defined in my life.
I was listening to a new CD this morning and Jimmy Needham sang about how my obedience will be the measure of success and it struck me. There is no greater way to keep me on the path of God's will that will lead me face to face with my Creator; hopefully hearing "Well done, good and faithful servant". That will be ultimate success.
So my future will not be measured by success or human significance but by my obedience to my Father in heaven.
Thank you Father for the your truth in my life.
Rochelle
20 years ago my measure of success would have involved loving God, a big job, big income to go with it, a happy husband and 2.5 children and the white picket fence. What the last 20 years have taught me is that there are far more important things; the gifts God has given me and what I have done with those gifts are how success will be defined in my life.
I was listening to a new CD this morning and Jimmy Needham sang about how my obedience will be the measure of success and it struck me. There is no greater way to keep me on the path of God's will that will lead me face to face with my Creator; hopefully hearing "Well done, good and faithful servant". That will be ultimate success.
So my future will not be measured by success or human significance but by my obedience to my Father in heaven.
Thank you Father for the your truth in my life.
Rochelle
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Press in...
When the heavy heart comes... press in
When the future is uncertain... press in.
When you are scared... press in.
When you have said the wrong thing or behaved badly... press in.
Go to Him. Submit to Him. Release it to Him.
He is there - available and ready.
He already knows where you are at and He is not shaken.
He already has a plan to take you from where you are to a new place He has for you.
You don't have to stay where you are.
Trust Him and go to the new place He has for you... He will be there too...
Lord, take me to a new place today.
When the future is uncertain... press in.
When you are scared... press in.
When you have said the wrong thing or behaved badly... press in.
Go to Him. Submit to Him. Release it to Him.
He is there - available and ready.
He already knows where you are at and He is not shaken.
He already has a plan to take you from where you are to a new place He has for you.
You don't have to stay where you are.
Trust Him and go to the new place He has for you... He will be there too...
Lord, take me to a new place today.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Out of the mouths of babes
Morgan and I had an interesting conversation on the way home from church tonight that served as my devotional for today. We were talking about the difference between doing something for God or realizing what God has done for us. Which draws us closer to God? Sacrifice or Acceptance?
I was stunned by the wisdom of my (almost) 16 year old. As she shared her heart I realized the truth that God had already planted in her. She talked about how she hears about self sacrifice and striving to live a life that pleases God. I asked her "What's wrong with that?". She went on to explain that if that becomes her focus, it becomes all about works, what she needs to do to get a relationship with God. She explained she wanted her focus to be what God represented to her, how He loved her, who He was. It was then that she would be compelled to transform her life to align with Him. If it was the other way, then it would be more about what she could do for Him, not what He had already done for her.
Isn't it amazing how we naturally think about what we need to be doing for God? Really? Does He really need us to do things for Him? I went to the word and here's what I found:
Isaiah 41:29
Behold, they are all a delusion;their works are nothing;their metal images are empty wind.
Romans 4:2
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Galatians 2:16
yet we know that a person is not justified [Or counted righteous); by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
and His Word was very clear. So if it's not about what I am doing for God, then what is it? Back to the word again...
Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.
My role is to accept the gift that God has for me (salvation), to acknowledge that He is God with everything I am, but most importantly to remember that it is not about what I can do for Him, but to acknowledge everything that He already is and worship Him.
I was stunned by the wisdom of my (almost) 16 year old. As she shared her heart I realized the truth that God had already planted in her. She talked about how she hears about self sacrifice and striving to live a life that pleases God. I asked her "What's wrong with that?". She went on to explain that if that becomes her focus, it becomes all about works, what she needs to do to get a relationship with God. She explained she wanted her focus to be what God represented to her, how He loved her, who He was. It was then that she would be compelled to transform her life to align with Him. If it was the other way, then it would be more about what she could do for Him, not what He had already done for her.
Isn't it amazing how we naturally think about what we need to be doing for God? Really? Does He really need us to do things for Him? I went to the word and here's what I found:
Isaiah 41:29
Behold, they are all a delusion;their works are nothing;their metal images are empty wind.
Romans 4:2
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Galatians 2:16
yet we know that a person is not justified [Or counted righteous); by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
and His Word was very clear. So if it's not about what I am doing for God, then what is it? Back to the word again...
Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.
My role is to accept the gift that God has for me (salvation), to acknowledge that He is God with everything I am, but most importantly to remember that it is not about what I can do for Him, but to acknowledge everything that He already is and worship Him.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Do as I say, not as I do?
Reading from Matthew 23 today...
I thought it was interesting that Christ said to the crowds and his disciples about the Pharasees, "practice and observe what they tell you, but don't do what they do. They preach, but they don't practice." Harsh... but isn't that what we do?
We are so quick to see how others should live. Trouble is, we are blind to the way we are living. What do we reflect in our own lives? Are we busy telling everyone else how to live, but neglecting to "live it"?
Where the mirror or better yet the magnifying glass gets really big for me here is in my children's lives. Because at home is where the rubber meets the road. Do my children see me pray? Do they see me spending time with God? Because they also hear my words that can be harsh and judgmental sometimes. They see how I spend my time and my attitudes. My heart cries for authenticity in my own life, but I have to ask myself today if my actions do. I want to make sure that in our house, Christ wouldn't say... "children practice and observe what your mom says, just don't do what she does".
I desire an authentic life living for God. Living it out with humbleness (required by scripture, not because I am naturally humble), grace (that only God can give), and transparency (as a choice). Lord, teach me again today.
I thought it was interesting that Christ said to the crowds and his disciples about the Pharasees, "practice and observe what they tell you, but don't do what they do. They preach, but they don't practice." Harsh... but isn't that what we do?
We are so quick to see how others should live. Trouble is, we are blind to the way we are living. What do we reflect in our own lives? Are we busy telling everyone else how to live, but neglecting to "live it"?
Where the mirror or better yet the magnifying glass gets really big for me here is in my children's lives. Because at home is where the rubber meets the road. Do my children see me pray? Do they see me spending time with God? Because they also hear my words that can be harsh and judgmental sometimes. They see how I spend my time and my attitudes. My heart cries for authenticity in my own life, but I have to ask myself today if my actions do. I want to make sure that in our house, Christ wouldn't say... "children practice and observe what your mom says, just don't do what she does".
I desire an authentic life living for God. Living it out with humbleness (required by scripture, not because I am naturally humble), grace (that only God can give), and transparency (as a choice). Lord, teach me again today.
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