The Lively Blog of Thoughts

Whatever my role is today, I pray that your power through me will have an impact on the lives of those that I see or talk to today. I pray that even though there doesn’t appear to be a God in their lives, they will see you, O Lord God, in my life.

Let us live The Great Commission:

Matthew 28:16-20: Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Consider this Hymn–

1 There is much to do, there’s work on ev’ry hand, Hark! The cry for help comes ringing through the land; Jesus calls for reapers, I must active be, What wilt Thou, O Master? Here am I, send me. 

Refrain:

Here am I, (Here am I, send me, Lord, send me) Lord, Send me; (Here am I, send me, Lord, send me) Here am I, (Here am I, send me, Lord, send me) Ready at Thy bidding, Lord, send me.

2 There’s a plaintive cry of mourning souls distressed, And the cry of hearts who seek but find no rest; These should have my love and tender sympathy, Ready at Thy bidding, Here am I, send me.

3 There are hung’ring souls who cry aloud for bread, With the bread of life they’re longing to be fed; Shall they starve and famish while a feast is free? I must be more faithful, Here am I, send me.

4 There are souls who linger on the brink of woe, Lord, I must not, cannot bear to let them go; Let me go and tell them, “Brother, turn and flee,” Master, I would save them, Here am I send me. (Author: M. W. Spencer)

The words to this song below were penned by T. O. Chisholm, and the music was composed by L. O. Sanderson. 

“Be with me, Lord–I cannot live without Thee, I dare not try to take one step alone. I cannot bear the loads of life, unaided, I need Thy strength to lean myself upon.

Be with me, Lord, and then if dangers threaten, If storms of trial burst above my head, If lashing seas leap everywhere about me, They cannot harm, or make my heart afraid. 

Be with me, Lord! No other gift or blessing. Thou couldst bestow could with this one compare—A constant sense of Thy abiding presence, Where e’er I am, to feel that Thou art near.

Be with me Lord, when loneliness o’er-takes me, When I must weep amid the fires of pain, And when shall come the hour of my departure.  For worlds unknown, O Lord, be with me then.”

Many of us suffer at times, or in some situations all the time, from physical pain or mental paid of distress. Unfortunately, most people have no options, no one to turn to, and see no way out. 

Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In the hymn above, the thought is to ask our Lord to be with us but in such a way that “we believe we can’t live without Jesus in our daily live.”

Psalm 68:19: “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

This life is complicated and we sometimes don’t know which direction to turn, right, left, or go straight ahead. These are the times when we have to reach out to our God and ask for direction as we make decisions from day today. We often make choices without thinking about what my happened today or tomorrow but especially over the long term of our life.  

If we can reach a point in time where we seek our God in prayer, as we begin our day early in the morning and as we lay our head down on our pillow at night, we should seek our God’s Will for our life in our decisions from day today.  However, we have to have our heart focused on God and willing to allow him to work in our life but seeking his Will instead of what we want to do ourselves. 

Think about this song and how it impacts what you think and how you make decisions each day.  Think about your hearts desire’s as the headlights on your car and which direction you are heading.

Have thy affections been nailed to the cross? Is thy heart right with God? Dost thou count all things for Jesus but loss? Is thy heart right with God? (By E.A.Hoffman)

Is thy heart right with God, Washed in the crimson flood, Cleansed and made holy, humble and lowly, Right in the sight of God? 

Hast thou dominion o’er self and o’er sin? Is thy heart right with God? Over all evil without and within? Is thy heart right with God?

Is there no more condemnation for sin? Is thy heart right with God? Does Jesus rule in the temple within? Is thy heart right with God?

Are all thy pow’rs under Jesus’ control? Is thy heart right with God? Does He each moment abide in thy soulIs thy heart right with God? [Refrain]

Oh, how difficult it is every day to go through our daily routines of work, school, and just plain dealing with “life’s deck of cards.”  Then, dealing with these things on our mind and truly knowing that our God is in control of our life. Trying to keep everything in perspective is a very hard thing to do I like the following verses to ponder upon when I get to this point. 

Lamentations 3:19-26: I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

The following song truly speaks to us in these situations. 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Your mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.  You, Lord, are my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in you. 

You, Lord, are good to those who wait for you, to the soul that seeks you; it is good that we should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. The Lord will not cast off forever, but will have compassion; for God does not willingly afflict or grieve the righteous ones.

So let us examine all our ways, and return to the Lord; let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.

By Edith McNeill

I think there are many times in our lives that we feel we have no place to turn to. Even when we feel like we have a relationship with God, we don’t always approach God in such a way that he can bear our burdens and our problems that we are dealing with.

The Bible teaches us that our God and the Holy Spirit, the comforter, will help us through all the problems that we face. God’s word tells us that Jesus was faced with all the same problems and sins/challenges that we face. Therefore, how should we approach God in such a way that he can help us through our daily struggles and bear our burdens?

In Psalm 27:8, is says, “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’Your face, Lord, I will seek.”  How do we do that?

I love the hymn, “Lord, We come before the now,” as it gives us the theme of how God is not only approachable but that He is there for us.
“Lord, We Come Before Thee Now”

By:William Hammond

Lord, we come before Thee now, At Thy feet we humbly bow: Oh, do not our suit disdain! Shall we seek Thee, Lord, in vain?

Lord, on Thee our souls depend; In compassion now descend, Fill our hearts with Thy rich grace, Tune our lips to sing Thy praise.

In Thine own appointed way. Now we seek Thee, here we stay. Lord, we know not how to go. Till a blessing Thou bestow.

Send some message from Thy Word. That may peace and joy afford; Let Thy Spirit now impart. Full salvation to each heart.

Comfort those who weep and mourn, Let the time of joy return; Those that are cast down lift up, Make them strong in faith and hope.

Grant that all may seek and find. Thee a gracious God and kind. Heal the sick, the captive free; Let us all rejoice in Thee.

Ps. 27:8

Consider your paths that you follow today. The winding narrow roads or the wide and open freeways, all of which are means of getting you from one place to another. Where do they take you?

Think about the thoughts that randomly go through your mind and then on those occasions when a few of those thoughts cause you to go in a certain direction, turn left or right. Are you totally aware of your decisions that you make daily and the consequences of each of these?  

We are influenced by so many things that bombard us daily. Unfortunately, sometimes we tend to follow the wrong direction-the wrong path. We have our eyes focused on one thing when they should be focused on another. 

Consider the path of the lonely road in the darkness of the night. There are no stoplights, there are no street signs, and the moon is not providing any light.  You are living and making decisions in darkness.  Only the lights of your car focused ahead can provide any insight into the direction that you are going. However, maybe you are following a car’s taillights just in front of you.  You follow that light because they must be taking the right road to “somewhere.”  Will that lead you to where you should be going or not?

This is where God’s word comes into play. As the Bible teaches, there are paths to follow and paths not to follow. The only way we know if we are on the right path is to follow God’s word. Study the word to know if you are on the right path. 

Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

John 8:12:”When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Matthew 10:38: “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”  Mark 8:34:”Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

There are many examples in God’s word on how we are to live our daily lives. Although, it is not always simple to make the daily decisions that are appropriate in the sight of our God, we must daily take up our cross and continuing to make sure that we communicate to God in prayer and that we understand as best we can if we are on the right path.

A question was posed recently,”what is your daily worship for God?”  And secondarily, “has God made you complete and through with you and working in your life?”

In Philippians, Paul deals with fellow Christians on their dedication and servitude to God and how he prayed for them and their work. In chapter 1:3-11​: “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.”

How do we know (really) what God’s plan is for our life?  We know he isn’t ever “through with us” but do you wonder what he had in store for you next?  Today?  Tomorrow?  This isn’t easily answered other than through prayer and patience with God. 

I struggle with my daily walk. I manage to go from day-to-day through my morning prayers asking God lots of questions. This helps me put one day in front of another. 

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:31-34). 

I overheard someone in a hotel lobby one morning make this statement recently after a long night out!  I don’t know the facts and circumstances of what caused this person to make that statement, but I can only imagine. I wonder how many times we do things without really thinking through the consequences and then regret, after-the-fact, our past actions.

The Apostle Paul said, in Romans 12:1-2: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  

Offering our bodies, our walk of life, our thoughts, and our actions as if we are living a sacrificed life for our God because of what he did for us, is what God asks us to do. 

Paul also said in Philippians 2:1-5, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”

This charge given by Paul to not live a life thinking only of ourselves but rather having that mindset similar to Jesus caring and sharing with others, not self-centered but building relationships that encourages each other as we look forward to Jesus coming again and taking us to that eternal place he has prepared for us. 

Can you believe that Jonah could not follow God’s specific directions to save the Ninevites, the wicked and sinful individuals?  Secondarily, are not these souls worth saving?  Is it about what we want to do or what God wants for us to do?

Can we admit our guilt?  How long did it take Jonah to admit his guilt of not following God’s specific instructions?  It took the storm of the seas to get Jonah to start his repentance. Isn’t it interesting that both Jonah and the Ninevites needed to repent?

Thought-is my heart right with God (now)?  Read the lyrics from E.A. Hoffman:

1 Have thy affections been nailed to the cross? Is thy heart right with God? Dost thou count all things for Jesus but loss? Is thy heart right with God? 

Is thy heart right with God, Washed in the crimson flood, Cleansed and made holy, humble and lowly, Right in the sight of God? 

2 Hast thou dominion o’er self and o’er sin? Is thy heart right with God? Over all evil without and within? Is thy heart right with God?

3 Is there no more condemnation for sin? Is thy heart right with God? Does Jesus rule in the temple within? Is thy heart right with God? 

4 Are all thy pow’rs under Jesus’ control? Is thy heart right with God? Does He each moment abide in thy soul? Is thy heart right with God? 

God’s love transcends all nationalities, all situations, and His “word” says he desires “all should be saved and none should perish. 

Specifically, in 2 Peter 3:9:”The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” John 10:28:”I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”  In Matthew 18:14:”In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”

Prayer to our Father,
Our Father who is in Heaven, the creator of all things, the Heavens, the Earth, and all creation. 

May we totally understand the meaning of your name, your most righteous name, your glorious name, the name that is the Master of the Universe. 

May your Kingdom come, O Father, in accordance with your plan, as in the master plan for mankind, and the coming of the Heavens you have prepared for all your followers for all of Eternity and may we desire and long for that time. 

May your Will be done as in all of Mankind being in submission to you O Father, both in the Heavens, as a place prepared for only your obedient servants, and here on this Earth as all mankind will take note of your supreme power over all earthly things and your power over the entire universe in the ultimate Coming. 
Give us today our daily bread, that substance being the breath of life we need to fully understand your will for us, O Father. Make it simple for our understanding and our ability to comprehend. 

Forgive us our debts, O Father, regarding our failures in following your will for us as fully obedient children as we continually fall short of your most Holy plan. 

Help us to develop the same love you have for us in your unlimited forgiveness and give us a desire to forgive those with that same love for those we see daily. 

Father, don’t allow us to enter into temptation but rather put the Sword of your word in our minds and stamped on our hearts to continually devote ourselves to only your will and not lose sight of your desires for our heart, our mind, our soul. 

But Father, deliver us from the hands of satan and as we hold out your word that you have imprinted on our hearts, help us to always know your will is being fulfilled in the defeat of Satan and his followers. 

O Father, for you are the Kingdom, you are the all powerful, you are the Glory, you are the Way, you are the Alpha and Omega, you are forever and forever. Keep me close to you, O Lord!
Amen!