Category Archives: Ask

Oct20

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

1 Samuel 8. “And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.’ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. And he said, ‘This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.  He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day'” (Verses 7, 10-18). Ever read the side affects of a prescription? Often times it makes you wonder if it isn’t better to just stay sick and let your body heal itself. These verses read to me like medicinal side affects. Israel cries out for a king, which seems silly since God was their ruler. Why would you forsake the maker of the earth, of you, for someone as limited as yourself? God surmises, that they had rejected Him. God relents, but then tells Samuel let the people know exactly what they are signing up for. He tells them this: basically the king will take the best of their things for himself, and not really give them anything on return. Uhmmm… that doesn’t sound like a fair exchange. Your are leaving, God, that gives you everything freely, for an earthly king that will take everything? Here’s the thing with medicinal products the side affects happens to less than one percent of the population that use the product, therefore the benefits outweigh the risks. However, when Samuel informed the people about the ways of the king, the behavior was not a one percent change, it was a FACT. The king WOULD do everything God prophesied. Here the risks outweighed the benefits by A LOT. Be careful what you ask for, anything over God is just not worth it. The side affect: “The Lord will NOT hear you.”

Oct12

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

1 Samuel 2. “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory, for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them” ( Verses 6-8). This Chapter of Samuel is very interesting, it starts out with praise, but ends in a curse. Talk about the swinging of the pendulum from one extreme to the other.  However, I am going to focus on the praise portion, you can read the Chapter on your own to find out, who the curse was against. Verses one through ten is a prayer of praise to God from the heart of Hannah. But verses 6-8 is a reminder that nothing is a loss to God. He breaks down and builds up, He makes the poor and the rich. He rises people high and keeps some low.. all for a PURPOSE. This means a lot to me because lately I have rolled out the, “why Lord”, question more than one time to God. Thank goodness that God is a loving Father, and not a short on patience older brother. He heard Hannah’s pleas for a child and reached down and gave her the desires of heart, and now ALL she can do is PRAISE. Life does not always makes sense and there will be days when we ask God “why”, over and over again. But fear not He has a purpose and one day He will turn our pain into PRAISE. 

Sep24

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Judges 11. “So she said to him, ‘My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.’  Then she said to her father, ‘Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I” (Verses 36-37). Be careful of your words. Don’t make idle promises to God. I am sure at the time Jephthah wasn’t thinking that his vow was idle. I am sure the intentions of his heart were good. “Lord id you do this, then I’ll do this…” We do it now as well, the barter. The price Jephthah paid for his idle words? His one and ONLY child. Some may be thinking God spared Issac why not this child? There is a difference, God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac to test Abraham’s heart. Jephthah vowed to give the first thing that came out of his house after battle to God as a burnt offering, IF God would help them defeat the enemy.  God did what he asked. He made the vow, without ever thinking about what it would mean. Don’t idly vow to God, just to get what you want. God held Jephthah to his vow, He will do the same with us. So think and pray before you speak. God holds us to our word. 

 

Aug20

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Joshua 1. “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous…” (Verses 3-6). This begins the journey into the promise. Joshua is taking the first steps towards God’s second chance for His people. In these verses God promises that everywhere their feet touch or step will be their’s to possess. This morning I woke up worried. There is something I am praying about. Much like, Joshua, I feel as though God is leading me (and my family) to a promise. But we have to walk, we have to face the enemy, and we have to be prepared to battle in Christ to achieve the goal He has for us. These verses are true for us all, God has a direction and a call for all of us. He has a promise for each of us to posses, but we must trust and like Joshua, follow where He leads even if the request seems unreasonable. God blesses our obedience, ALWAYS. 

Jun2

DAY 152 (2014)

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Seek Truth...

Seek Truth…

I saw something today that made me mad. Before I start this post I want to put out a disclaimer. While this post may seem political in nature, it is not. The object is about the deceit used by some to sway the beliefs of another.  The bible talks about being a Berean. Who are the Bereans? In the book of Acts the Bereans are a sect of Jews that listened to what the Apostles said, but then took what they heard and tested it to make sure it was truth before deciding to believe it. Therefore, Paul in the scriptures urged all followers of God to be like the Bereans. What’s my point? Today I signed into Facebook, I started to read the news feed and noticed a link posted by one of my friends, that shows a video of President Obama saying this: “Ordinary people are too small minded to govern their own affairs. They need to surrender their rights to an all powerful sovereign.” Now I never talk politics, because at the end of the day I believe that God is in charge of it all and in the end He’ll win (if I know how it ends why worry about what’s happening in the middle? I’d much rather spend my time trying to make a difference rather than worrying). Again I am not politically minded, but I am pretty certain that if the President of The FREE World said this to anyone, the news would be all over that…like white on rice. So I Googled the ENTIRE speech, and guess what? The President did make those statements, however, they were made at two separates points in his speech and convey a completely different message. This is where my anger comes in, I know this speech is fake because I searched until I found it. I needed to make sure it was true before I decided to malign the character of another. But what about the people who don’t check? Who aren’t Bereans? We can be easily swayed, with advancements in technology and our human nature to believe what we see without checking the facts for ourselves. We can believe a lie as truth and build a doctrine for life around something that wasn’t ever REAL truth.  Today just a warning don’t believe just because… Believe because it is TRUE. Know what you believe and know why? Be a Berean.

“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).

So what’s my plan? Be a Berean.

May7

DAY 127 (2014)

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We can't do it alone, we all need help on the journey. (Picture taken at House Of Hope, S. Korea)

We can’t do it alone, we all need help on the journey.
(Picture taken at House Of Hope, S. Korea)

Have you ever just “missed it by that much”? I feel like that’s how things have been working lately (and no for the record I am NOT whining). It is an observation that I am making about recent events in my life. Lately it feels like I always come really close, but still miss the mark. Normally I would be upset, but recently I have discovered that this is a tool that God has been using to break down certain walls and barriers that I had built up. Walls that need to be broken in order for me to get to the next leg of this journey. Remember yesterdays post? Let go of the past to take hold of the future. Missing the mark means that I have to seek help, and not only seek it, but not be afraid of it. Why would anyone be afraid of help, you ask? Because needing help somehow translate to failure. What I have been slowly learning (really, really, slowly…poor God I feel bad for Him) is that asking for help is not a sign of failure, on the contrary it is a sign of maturity. Because when we ask for help we put what’s necessary before our pride. Recently I needed help and didn’t ask for help, because I was too stubborn. The outcome? It got waaay worse before it ever got better. We are not called to be an Island, we are not meant to stand alone, we are meant to help an be helped.

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

So what’s the plan? Break down walls.

Mar17

DAY 76 (2014)

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keep-calm-god-s-got-your-backI haven’t posted in awhile. The last few days have been a rough. It feels like I am stuck in a dark tunnel and I can see the light at the end I have been walking toward it for what seems like forever, but not getting closer. Oddly, the more I walk toward the light the further away it becomes. I am realizing I have an issue with pride, and not the “I am awesome”, but the false humility kind. It is sad because right now as I write this I need help, and I am still (even after learning a really good lesson yesterday), struggling to ask for it. Why? Because to me it is a sign of weakness. A sign that I am not trusting God to do what He said he would do. Yesterday someone said this to me, “Asking for help is about trusting God, and trusting the people He has placed in your life.” I hadn’t thought about it from that perspective, I am all about helping, but I never saw the importance (until yesterday) of being helped. It very humbling and breaking to ask for help. To be vulnerable enough to show your fault and inadequacy. However, it is a necessary step to get is to move forward. If our pride keeps us from asking, then it is also keeping us from receiving. I am in the midst of breaking down this wall. It is difficult, but necessary. My wise counselor also said, “If God wanted to He could drop what you needed from the sky. But He wants you to grow through the asking, and He wants the one being asked to grow through the giving.” Who knew this would be my biggest struggle, yet?

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

So what’s my plan of attack? Ask.

Here’s a bit of irony to further hit home the point. Yesterday the first sentence in my Pastor’s sermon were these words: “Find someone that says, ‘I need HELP'”. Yup, God’s got jokes… 🙂