The Lively Blog of Thoughts

We are all faced with daily challenges that tend to weigh heavy on our hearts. We struggle with decisions that are difficult to make and feel like we are all alone.  And the lonesomeness of dealing with serious decisions makes us feel like we are truly alone.
Do you struggle with the burdens of life throughout each day?  Have you thought about how your faith in God through Jesus can pick up these burdens?  Walking alone and dealing with life’s struggles can be overbearing. However, Jesus has told us that he will help us and help carry our burdens through our faith in Him. 

Think about these lyrics:

LAY YOUR BURDENS AT THE FEET OF JESUS. LAY YOUR BURDENS AT THE FEET OF JESUS. LET HIM BEAR YOUR HEAVY LOAD. LET HIM LEAD YOU THROUGH EACH LONESOME VALLEY. AS YOU JOURNEY ON LIFE’S ROAD

TRUST HIS PROMISES AND DOUBT HIM NEVER. HE’S A SURE AND PRECIOUS FRIEND. LET HIS WILL BE GLADLY PRAISE HIM EVER LAY YOUR BURDENS AT HIS FEET. 

The difficult part is getting your mind around how you can actually lay these burdens down at the feet of Jesus, knowing that he will pick them up and carry them for you. This takes a strong faith and letting Jesus dwell in your heart each day.

Psalm 28:7–The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

Have you dropped those heavy burdens at the feet of Jesus?

As I finished my morning run and walk, I can’t keep from seeing God’s glory and power surrounding me. From the beauty of the flowers that continue to bloom, the rain that comes our way to replenish the the needs of the flowers, and the singing of the birds, it reminds me of God’s creation every day.

We need to be reminded daily of God’s grace and God’s power and how God can influence our lives every day if we look to him. Walking with God in faith provides assurance that we are on the right path. Just as we know the route that we walk or run and the path that leads us home, we should know the path that leads us straight to God. However, we must get to know God to recognize the path that He tells us to take and not let them “side streets” get us off our route home. 

Have you found the “path directly to Jesus?”  As in 2 Corinthians 5:7–For we live by faith, not by sight.  We must walk by that faith towards the path that Jesus laid down for us. 

With all the twists and turns of life, we must continue to focus on that prize that is at the end of this life’s route.

Just as the Apostle Paul knew and recorded for us in Philippians 3:14–I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It’s easy to get into a routine but is just as easy to get out of a routine. We have our regular schedule of work, school, errands to run, meetings to keep ….get the picture?  We even find ourselves in our car driving for miles and do not remember exactly how we made our way through construction zones, traffic lights or dozens of other obstacles. It’s a routine that we don’t even have to think about but yet we do this day in and day out. 

How is your prayer life?  Are you diligence about your private time with God and spending time with God in quiet time praying and talking to God? Do you do it routinely?  Do you go through your prayers and find yourself not remembering how you started your prayers, how you got through some of the thoughts but your mind wandered a bit and can’t recall what you just prayed about?  Maybe you have prayer-routine and your just in a routine and going through the motions. 

Think about the following:

Psalm 63: A psalm of David. 

When he was in the Desert of Judah. 1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me. Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Do you earnestly seek God and thirst for God?  Get out of a prayer routine buy into a routine seeking and thirsting for God. 

Have you ever been told a story, a set of circumstances about something or someone that was quite spectacular that you were in disbelief about what you were told?  Did you want proof before you would agree to believe?  Or, did your trust someone enough that you took them for their word?

We believe things that are easy to see, touch and feel, or that we can prove in some way. 

The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:  We are not to fix our eyes on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  

Most of us want to be closer to God and yearn for that closer relationship.  Just as the saying of “what’s measured gets done,” an analogy can be made about what we “fix our eyes on is what we seek and desire!”  Even if we can’t see, touch, or feel God’s presence each and ever day, we can have the faith that he is near us and guiding our path daily. Just as John tells us in 1 John 4:11-13–“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us. He has given us of his Spirit.”  Also in Hebrews 11:6–the writer tells us–“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Be aware of what you “fix your eyes upon daily.”

It’s July 4, Independence Day, and maybe a celebration of a few other events as well. Most of us, at least in America, have been looking forward to this day. This means generally a holiday for most workers, a day for family gatherings, and a day to relax and enjoy time with your family.
Isn’t it interesting how we look forward to various events that are in the future. We plan for these days, we make sure we have all of the preparations in place, we may invite friends and family to join us, all to enjoy time together.
There is a Day coming when we will all be invited to this event. Many of us are trying to make preparations, hopefully, we are inviting friends and others to join us for this glorious day of the return of Jesus our Lord and Savior to come and get us.  
There were men in the Bible that were able to see Jesus’s assent up into the heavens. They, with millions of people since, have been anticipating this future coming.  The bible tells us in John 14:1-4: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”  Also in Mark 13:26-27:
“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
On this celebration day, as we enjoy being with our family and friends, after longing for a day off of work, a day away from our normal pace, may we also anticipate the Coming of Jesus to take us home to that great place He has prepared for us!  

Happy July 4th!

Tomorrow is a significant day in the history of our great country. And we call it the celebration of Independence Day. I wonder if the original founders of this Country who fought so hard for freedoms that we probably do not entirely understand could ever be understood by today’s Americans. I am not challenging at all the freedom that we cherish today but just wonder how it has been diluted by history over the years.

In some ways, this translates into the freedoms that we have when we are in the body of Jesus. We, as Christians, still fight daily the desire to be close to Jesus and to have the freedom in Christ of knowing that anything in this world today cannot keep us from enjoying those freedoms with being in the arms of Jesus. However, there are Christians outside of our great country that are fighting for their freedom of being in Jesus that we do not understand at all. So in some ways, the freedom that we have in this great country is taken for granted just like our great freedom in Christ because our fellow Christians, in some countries, have to fight daily for the freedom in Jesus that we should not take for granted.  

By Lee Greenwood:

If tomorrow all the things were gone. I worked for all my life. And I’d had to start again. Just my children and my wife. I thank my lucky stars. To be living here today b’Cause the flag still stands for freedom. And they can’t take that away bAnd I’m proud to be an American. Where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the ones who died. Who gave that right to me. And I gladly stand up next to you. And defend her still today. ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land. God bless the U.S.A.  From the lakes of Minnesota. To the hills of Tennessee. Across the plains of Texas. From sea to shining to sea. From Detroit down to Houston. And New York to L.A.  Where there’s pride in every American heart. And it’s time we stand and say. And I’m proud to be an American Where at… Full lyrics on Google Play

Let’s pray daily being thankful for our freedom and that it is not taken from us!!

Stories abound in life from newspapers to television clips of people being lonely.  We hear horrific accounts of people lonely and depressed either without family to connect to or with only distant relationships with family and no close friends to share their daily life struggles with.

Does it have to be this way?  Why do we feel alone in this world? Where are our connections that we can share life’s highs and lows?  There’s no simple answer to these kinds of questions. Sometimes we isolate ourselves, sometimes our past actions keep us from developing relationships and sometimes we don’t spend the investment to develop close relationships.  What is this investment?  Why do I need to invest to build a close friendship? This world can be a very lonely place if we tread the paths alone. 

The Bible teaches us that we are not alone in our daily walk if we have a relationship with Jesus.  In Jesus we have someone to lean upon and someone to share our burdens with. However, there is this investment again. To really know Jesus and to and develop a relationship with him,  we have to come to know him. We have to desire to daily walk with him and we have to follow his commands.  One such command is after we get to know him and to understand his will for us, we must be baptized into Christ, except him as our Savior, let the the Holy Spirit dwell within us, and daily follow after Him. 

One of my favorite hymns is “Walking Alone at Eve” by Thomas R. Sweatmon and Music by Will W. Slater.  Think on these words–

Walking alone at eve and viewing the skies afar, Bidding the darkness come to welcome each silver star; I have a great delight in the wonderful scenes above, God in His power and might is showing His truth and love.

Sitting alone at eve and dreaming the hours away, Watching the shadows falling now at the close of day; God in His mercy comes with His Word He is drawing near, Spreading His love and truth around me and everywhere.

Closing my eyes at eve and thinking of Heaven’s grace, Longing to see my Lord, yes meeting Him face to face; Trusting Him as my all where-so-ever my footsteps roam, Pleading with Him to guide me on to the spirits’ home!