Stayed on Him

“You will keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on You,

because he trusts in You.”

    Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

“They looked to Him and were

radiant [lightened]. . .”

    Psalm 34:5 (NKJV/KJV)

It’s easy to get our focus off God.  He’s there in the background, but not always front and center where He should be in our hearts and lives.  This can happen when our schedules are busy or when our circumstances have us worried. But the Bible gives us the remedy. . .keep our mind stayed on our Lord.  That almost seems too simple, doesn’t it?  Yet God’s word is true and His promises are trustworthy.  We’re promised peace if we keep our focus on God and when we look to Him, our burdens will be lightened.  He is our rock, our refuge, our firm foundation. . .and His grace is sufficient for all our needs.

I can say from my personal experience that it works. My mind doesn’t always stay on Him, but I keep re-focusing and peace returns. I remember His faithfulness in the past and know He’ll always be faithful, today and every tomorrow. I think about His sovereignty, nothing is too hard for Almighty God, and know that He has me and all my circumstances under His control. I look to Him and my burdens are lightened. 

So when you find yourself caught up in busy-ness and need rest or when you’re fretful and fearful about your circumstances, follow this simple prescription to regain your peace by looking to the Lord Jesus for He alone is able to meet our every situation. Focus on our all-sufficient Almighty God and be radiant in His care and love.

Thursday Devotional - See You At The Pole™

See You At The Pole™ was started by a group of students in Texas back in 1990. It has grown to become a global event, the 4^th Wednesday in September, which is next Wednesday! I know Eagan, MN is planning a gathering at their flagpole from 12-12:45 pm, Wednesday, September 25, 2019. We, in the Ann Arbor office, are planning a gathering at our flagpole from 12-12:30 pm (see the Hub event: See You at the Pole).

I think I first heard about this event back in 1993. My family was living in Oklahoma and I had just started at a new high school. I didn’t know anyone at my school, much less any Christians. I nervously decided to go early to school that day to hopefully meet others at the flagpole. When I got there, no one else was there. However, eventually others came!   

This year’s official See You At The Pole™ theme verse is:

II Chronicles 7:14              ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Please join us next Wednesday, if you are in Eagan or Ann Arbor (or plan your own for other locations!).

In Ann Arbor, we will start with a song or two, and then alternate between Scripture reading and prayer.

A – Adoration - Praising God for who He is

C - Confession of sin (personal silent time and corporately for corporate sins)

T - Thanking God for what He has done

S – Supplication – praying for our company, leadership, bosses, co-workers, and ourselves

I hope to see many of you next Wednesday! Also, please pray for and encourage students you know to participate at their schools.

Alice

Know Your Value

So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.  He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.  James 1:16-18

This life we are given is so precious.  I think about my life.  There are moments of happiness and where things have gone well.  There are other moments of sadness and grief.  There are achievements and disappointments and successes and failures.  It is fair to say that life is indeed a roller coaster.  However, God has been a constant through all of it.  But if He is truly in control, why are there so many ups and downs?  Can’t there just be a level of consistency that one might consider ‘normal?’

The answer to that question is emphatically ‘no!’  The good times are those where we are enjoying God’s blessing.  The bad times are when God is shaping us for His will to be done.  You see when we take life as a gift, all that comes with it is of value. When my teenage daughter is pushing every button to get a rise out of me or my wife is asking the same question for the third time, somehow, I find joy because I love them so much.  It does not mean it is not a temporary source of irritation.  It means that there is a bigger picture to focus on, and if I am not careful, one can let the moment overwhelm the reality.  Jesus talks about this when He refers to storing our riches in Heaven (see Matthew 6:20-21).  We can easily get caught up into those things that are worldly and focus on those things as what we value.  However, God does not value our possessions.  He values us, and no matter how we may resist, defy, or challenge Him, we are still valued to Him.

We are God’s most prized possession.  Last week, I spoke of the prodigal son realizing he was lost as part of his (and our) journey of faith.  Today, we are to realize who we are to God, and as such, we must value all that He values.  One of the reasons Jesus said part of the Greatest Commandment is we are to love our neighbors as … ourselves is to acknowledge how valued we are to Him.  Our self-worth is not based on our sense of indulgence or vanity.  Instead, it is the worth God places on us.  Not some parts of us.  Not most of us.  All of us.  As such, we are to value God above all as Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”  This require our taking God’s word to heart.  This is where the real struggle often occurs.  Our goal is to have a willingness to engage the struggle within prayerfully.  It is a struggle because we will often not agree with what the word says, but if we are willing to acknowledge the greater value of a closer relationship with God, we agree it is worth it.

You are worth so much to God!  So much so that even as we do not meet God’s standard, he sent His son Jesus Christ to fix it.  In prophesying the coming of Jesus, Zechariah said:

Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has visited and redeemed his people.
He has sent us a mighty Savior
    from the royal line of his servant David,
just as he promised
    through his holy prophets long ago. Luke 1:68-70

We are redeemed from sin because He loves us so.  Let us work to return the favor by loving Him and others as His most prized possessions.  What reassurance do you have knowing your worth to God?  How can you instill a sense of God’s value in others?  My prayer is that we know our value to God.  Amen.

How can you better yourself today?

Proverbs 31:10-31

A wife of noble character who can find?

    She is worth far more than rubies.Her husband has full confidence in her    and lacks nothing of value.She brings him good, not harm,    all the days of her life.She selects wool and flax    and works with eager hands.She is like the merchant ships,    bringing her food from afar.She gets up while it is still night;    she provides food for her family    and portions for her female servants.She considers a field and buys it;    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.She sets about her work vigorously;    her arms are strong for her tasks.She sees that her trading is profitable,    and her lamp does not go out at night.In her hand she holds the distaff    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.She opens her arms to the poor    and extends her hands to the needy.When it snows, she has no fear for her household;    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.She makes coverings for her bed;    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.Her husband is respected at the city gate,    where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.She makes linen garments and sells them,    and supplies the merchants with sashes.She is clothed with strength and dignity;    she can laugh at the days to come.She speaks with wisdom,    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.She watches over the affairs of her household    and does not eat the bread of idleness.Her children arise and call her blessed;    her husband also, and he praises her:“Many women do noble things,    but you surpass them all.”Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.Honor her for all that her hands have done,    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

I realize that I just shared a very long passage when normally we just share a few verses.  I really didn’t feel there was just a couple that I wanted to share.  This passage was shared at my Aunt’s funeral last week.  She was a very strong, independent, woman of God.  She was the backbone to her family and was a staple to her husband and sons.  As they read through this scripture, I just kept thinking that I hope and pray that I can be half the women she was.  She was such a Godly example of what a woman is to be and as I read through this proverb, I see that the Bible clearly lays out for us how we are to be. 

There are other passages in the Bible that tell us how we are to live, act and simply be as a Christian, wife, mother, daughter, husband, father, son, etc.  While some may say these are not still relevant in this day and age, I must disagree.  While we are not servants, we are still called to be a servant of the King, which means being willing to live as we have been instructed.  I know that I have a lot to learn from the above passage for how to better myself. 

Where do you turn to find ways to better yourself?  I encourage you today to turn to the Bible first.  While there are many books available that we can read to help better ourselves both personally and in the workplace, we really need to start with the instructions we find in the Bible.