Day 23: No

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What have you to fear? God is with you. Let the words of David’s thoughts from Psalm 139 be a reminder of how true this song is and shall be for now until the end of the age.

Lord, you have examined me.
You know me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up.
Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.
3 You study my traveling and resting.
You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.
4 There isn’t a word on my tongue, Lord,
that you don’t already know completely.
5 You surround me—front and back.
You put your hand on me.
6 That kind of knowledge is too much for me;
it’s so high above me that I can’t fathom it.
7 Where could I go to get away from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there.
If I went down to the grave,[a] you would be there too!
9 If I could fly on the wings of dawn,
stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—
10 even there your hand would guide me;
even there your strong hand would hold me tight!
11 If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;
the light will become night around me,”
12 even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you!
Nighttime would shine bright as day,
because darkness is the same as light to you!

No amount of anything in this world will give you what you need. What you need comes from the Father. Only the love and grace of Jesus Christ can fill the needs of your desires of your heart and your very soul. It is quite comforting knowing that no matter what we go through in this life that God will never let go of us. NO! He wont! You are always in the palm of God’s hand.

Today Father in Heaven we pray that you hold us in your grace and wash us in your spirit and help us to know that you are always with us! Thank you Father for your faithful love and forgiveness in our lives. Help us to always praise you in all that we do.

Amen.

Day 15: Hear

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11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand at the mountain before the Lord. The Lord is passing by.” A very strong wind tore through the mountains and broke apart the stones before the Lord. But the Lord wasn’t in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord wasn’t in the fire. After the fire, there was a sound. Thin. Quiet. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat. He went out and stood at the cave’s entrance. A voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

 

We live in a very loud world.

So sometimes I feel like that we expect that God’s voice should match the loudness of our world, but it doesn’t does it? There are two words that come to mind when I think of noise and God’s voice.

“Listen” and “Hear”

I think sometimes we think that we listen to God’s voice, but to really hear it can be a completely different thing. You can listen all day long, but to actually hear something is something that I believe is more. When something is heard there is this implication that it has been received (whether good or bad) it has been received nonetheless.

In this verse from 1 Kings we find the prophet Elijah that heard God’s voice and responded. “God said to Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful noise comes and elijah thinks its God, but its not. Then another loud noise comes, not God. Then another and its still not God.

And then after the fire there was a sound, but it thin and it was quiet

And Elijah heard it. 

What he hears is God asking a question: Why are you here, Elijah?

What is God asking you tonight? 

Are you listening?

Did you hear it?

I believe that God is always telling us something, the question is whether we truly heard what he was saying.

God I pray that we would truly hear you for what you are truly saying. Open our ears, hearts, minds, and very souls to you God so that we can hear you and go and represent in as your disciples. In Jesus’ Name we pray.

Amen.

 

Day 6: World

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Last night we continue our purity series at our “Pulse Sunday Night” gathering. In our Senior High group we talked about the messages the world sends us in regards to having a relationship or not. More importantly the pressure that we all can feel to be in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

So today let’s think about a message that is listed on a sweetheart candy, and compare that to what God thinks about us.

Lord, you have examined me.
You know me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up.
Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.
3 You study my traveling and resting.
You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.
4 There isn’t a word on my tongue, Lord,
that you don’t already know completely.
5 You surround me—front and back.
You put your hand on me.
6 That kind of knowledge is too much for me;
it’s so high above me that I can’t fathom it.
7 Where could I go to get away from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there.
If I went down to the grave,[a] you would be there too!
9 If I could fly on the wings of dawn,
stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—
10 even there your hand would guide me;
even there your strong hand would hold me tight!
11 If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;
the light will become night around me,”
12 even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you!
Nighttime would shine bright as day,
because darkness is the same as light to you!
13 You are the one who created my innermost parts;
you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb.
14 I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart.
Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.
15 My bones weren’t hidden from you
when I was being put together in a secret place,
when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo,
and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me,[b]
before any one of them had yet happened.[c]
17 God, your plans are incomprehensible to me!
Their total number is countless!
18 If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand!
If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you.[d]
19 If only, God, you would kill the wicked!
If only murderers would get away from me—
20 the people who talk about you, but only for wicked schemes;
the people who are your enemies,
who use your name as if it were of no significance.[e]
21 Don’t I hate everyone who hates you?
Don’t I despise those who attack you?
22 Yes, I hate them—through and through!
They’ve become my enemies too.
23 Examine me, God! Look at my heart!
Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts!
24 Look to see if there is any idolatrous way[f] in me,
then lead me on the eternal path!

I realize that it is a long passage, but it so important for us to reign in and remember what this means for us even today. David’s psalm is very clear here in stating that we are never alone. We don’t need a relationship to complete us because God is always with us and we are complete in the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Even more so I love how it says in verse 14.

I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart.

We don’t someone else to make us feel loved, we are already loved by Jesus, completely. Today I pray that we would always know the message that the world sends about love and how that love is no where close to the marvelous that God gives us every second of every day. Hear the good news! Christ meets you where you are and accepts you for who you are, but doesn’t leave you there. He brings you to a new and marvelous life!

Amen.

Love in the Midst of a Whirlwind.

The last couple of weeks are a whirlwind.

Nov. 10 – Got married to my best friend, Amy Forsythe Alexander
Nov. 11 – Left for cruise
Nov. 18 – Back in Texas from Cruise
Nov. 19-20 – Couple of days in the Office
Nov. 21-23 – Thanksgiving at Harris and Alexanders
Nov. 23 – Thanksgiving with Howell and Forsythe’s

Like I said the last couple of weeks are a whirlwind.

Today I would like to share a moment that was so powerful.

Over thanksgiving I had the opportunity to introduce Amy to my cousin Lauren and my Paw Paw Jack Alexander. The implications of this need some explaining.

My cousin Lauren who passed away 7 years ago of spina bifida was always someone that seemed to me to be a conduit of God’s love and grace. She taught me so much about how God’s love is not determined by limitations but that God’s love cast limitations away and that there was no limits to God’s love and grace, and my Paw-Paw like Lauren taught me how to be a man of God.

My wife Amy reminds me a lot of Lauren. They both have such a heart for God and both to me are conduits of God’s love and grace. They have such a heart for the least and the lost, the small and marginalized, the people that are so easily ignored. I am constantly reminded by that through my time with Lauren and now my time with Amy.

Consider how powerful it is for Amy to embrace these people from my family. Two of the people that helped me in my journey to now.

This was a very powerful and God moment in the midst of a whirlwind, and a good reminder that no matter what is going on in our lives that the whirlwinds, or storms do not cast out God’s love and grace, but that God’s love and grace cast out everything that gets in the way. Nothing can limit this. Nothing can stop this. In fact as Paul says in 1 Corinthians that God’s love never ends.

So as you live your life and experience the storms and whirlwinds of life remember that God’s love and grace is always with you.

Thank you God for your love.

Amen.