Lion of Grace

I have many thoughts on what rock means in the Bible verses we read. First, the word rock can mean "a pebble" or it can mean "a solid large foundation." I know when we talk about the church... we ourselves are like the smaller rocks that together make up the church. We, like Peter are rocks set firmly on the faith he proclaimed. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus is the cornerstone. The rock of our Salvation. That rock is immovable. A rock that can never be shaken or overcome and is a firm foundation for anyone who believes. To me, that encompasses anything else we would try to see in Him as a rock in our lives. I don't know much about Palestine and I apologize that I don't see what that has to do with any solid rock, or rock of refuge in this lesson. I think anyone who believes is under the new covenant and has a solid rock to stand on. I'm just sorry to see all the stones being thrown there.

I just had this experience yesterday...big time. I seemed to have every assault of the enemy leveled at me and I was exhausted! I know the Lord is my shield so I read from the Word, turned on praise and I cried out....I cried until I was so tired I went to sleep. I had a very short dream that dealt specifically with my attack and I knew what I was to do. I lifted my head (He lifted my head) and and I was much better. I went to church for a class and I was met with such encouragement from so many people and a teaching that confirmed what I was to do and overcame all the lies satan tried to make me bellieve to stop it from happening. What I am to do, will benefit another and God gets the glory...'cuz I was certaintly at a loss! I'm grown in my faith and He was faithful to give me a purer heart through it. He is good!

The protected ones must go to the Most High for safety. We must acknowledge "You are my place of safety and protection. You are my God and I trust you." This is one of my favorite Psalms and I have seen mighty and powerful protection from God as a result of praying it. I'm reminded that there are many facets of this Psalm. We can't just assume that no evil will come our way because we ask in prayer. I've seen plenty of evil in my life to know that is not truth....but...I have seen protection in situations that have looked hopeless also so what is the answer? Sometimes our prayers may not seem to be heard in one way...but they are answered in another. I see this Psalm as a declaration of God's faithfulness. When we pray this, we can't really fathom, or in the flesh, see how many traps He has kept us safe from, or diseases. When we have trouble, we always know where we can run and hide and feel safe and secure in His perfect care. His truth is always our shield and protection, because the truth is His Word and we can always go to that and draw strength and courage from it. With God for us, who can be against? We don't need to fear any danger by night or arrow by day, or diseases that come in the dark or sickness that comes at noon. The key Word here to me is "fear". If we trust Him we know His good and perfect will is always done for eternal purposes. Sometimes that's not a great experience, but I've learned He is the lover of my soul. The Psalm goes on with many promises that may seem impossible, and many times I have seen them fulfilled, but most importantly, if I have seen (and I have) " bad things happen to me" or "disaster in my home." I have turned my eyes towards other promises. "They will call to me and I will answer them." " I will be with them in time of trouble." " I will rescue them and honor them." He has always been faithful in one way or another and ultimately I have always seen Him working in my life even through the worst of times. One of the most devastating things in my life was burying our second daughter as an infant. I didn't see a fulfillment of the "nothing bad would happen to me" part of the Psalm, but I saw so much more. I saw His comfort and I saw Him answer my cries in thousands of ways. He never left me and showed such gentleness and kindness. He taught me not to fear death or disease and taught me to believe in eternal life and a hope in Him. He rescued me from so many of my misconceptions in life, like what is important and what is not and who has control over anything and who doesn't. He taught me to trust Him and to give all my love to Him. He grew me in that love and taught me to reach out to others in the same circumstances. When I would have just asked to keep my child, He saw eternity and He chose to give abundantly more. I truly believe that was His good and perfect will for me and believe it or not, it was not only the worst of times, but it was the best of times. Growing in His love and grace.

I looked up Justice in Vine's dictionary and it says, " A judicial hearing; what is right." I take that to mean justice goes either way. For prosecution or aquittal. Vengeance meant " that which proceeds out of justice." From God this is always holy and right, but man should never give out vengeance because we seek it out of self gratification. When we are wronged, we should always cry out to God to judge our case because He sees all sides to what is happening. We don't have that capacity. Mercy is "to have pity or compassion for the ills of others. To feel sympathy for the misery of others." I thought this was interesting because when we feel we are wronged, our part should be to forgive and even to understand why the other person is treating us that way. That's a hard thing to do when we are hurting, but it is our only role. The way I see it we should: Take our case to God. Trust He will act in holiness and fairness for all involved. Forgive the offence. Can God forgive sins without punishing them? No...because He is Holy, but Abba made a way for us through Jesus because He took that punishment for our sins. Sometimes in life though, it seems some get away with sin, but we don't see everything clearly here. We have to trust that God is just and move on in service to Him. We have to free ourselves by forgiving others. I do know there are consequences and disciplines for sin, some more drastic and life changing than others, but even that is used in mercy to teach us, strengthen us and grow us. To draw us to Him. We aren't eternally punished because Jesus' sacrifice made atonement for our sins. He was the blood offering and we have that new covenant with God. That never changes. He is so good to us that God is even faithful to use what was intended by satan to harm us and make it for our good. For those who don't believe though...there will be eternal punishment. Jesus is the only way. He met all the requirements for a just God. A holy God. For our benefit.

This is a subject very near to my heart. I was reading Isaiah today. Especially Chapter 58 1-9. I was pondering over how in the church we have become so " religious" and I reflected on knowing that is not what God really wants of us. We pray and fast and try to grow spiritually...but how many are really experiencing compassion for the person in need? How many are treating everyone fairly? How many are giving until it hurts? How many are investing time to free others from their prisons? We have become complacent. Self satisfied. Selfish. Even our "victories" in Christ are often focused on ourselves. Could the real victory be to live beyond ourselves? Jesus gave us two commands. Love God above everything and love our neighbor as we love ourself. We say we love God....but we can't even get along with each other as Christians let alone love and care for the lost, the widow, the orphan, or the drug addict, the misfit, the drunk or anyone else for that matter that for some reason ( and there is always a reason...and an opportunity for healing) has given up on life and taken an alternative route in a desperate attempt to just survive. If we love God as we say we do...we will be involved in actively seeking to come along side or to help those in need. It may be volunteering in our community outreach centers or mentoring with someone in need with whatever skills God has given to us to share. We can donate clothing instead of selling them. We can stock the community pantries on a regular basis. We can volunteer our time in so many ways! Ring the Salvation Army bell for a couple hours! Sponsor a fatherless/motherless child! Play bingo with the elderly! Be a listening ear to someone in need. Take the time. There are huge opportunities everywhere. Jesus said, " If you do this for one of the least of these, then you have done it for me." We need to remember that and really absorb that into our Christian walk. We need to see Jesus on every face in need. We need to remember all HE did for US. Then we can act out of a pure heart and give.

This question sums up why I am taking this course. Several years ago, God allowed me to see the post modern culture we are living in and how I had immersed myself in it at that time. Not only in the world, but I found that when I went to church it was even prevalent among Christians! This was my awakening and I saw that there was an epidemic going on that said " If I believe it...it is truth." I set out on a quest and asked God (at the point of giving my life to Him) to help me find wisdom and truth and and my biggest cry to Him was..." WHAT IS TRUTH?" Seemed as though everyone had their own! God has been faithful and instilled in me a love for discovering the Word. The Word is truth...LIVING truth....but we have to know it before we can live it. I sought every teacher and Bible study I could get my hands on! I still do! I learned so many truths about what God requires of us and when I strove to do that in and of myself, I learned of His Holy Spirit who can be our helper and do that perfecting work in us. I discovered a loving Father who is strong and mighty who disciplines us in love and of a Savior Jesus, who died and bought me with His blood so no matter my human condition....I am saved from eternal destruction. Now I am learning of so many more facets of who He is! That's awesome! I'm learning to recognize when I 'invent" Him for my own purposes. I'm learning to lean on Him and His Word for more and more understanding of who He is...and to truly live a life in the Spirit...not the flesh. We have a mighty God...three in one...who is the lover of our souls. If we seek Him with all of our heart, soul and mind, He will be found. He promised. That's truth...He said so! When we find Him...we find not only truth and wisdom but everything to equip ourselves for living our lives. Living our lives in the Spirit is a witness for others and our example speaks volumes! It's all about Him. Knowing Him and living for Him. That's a lifetime journey!

The realization of God's holiness made Isaiah react with fear. He had the realization of how unclean he was and that he lived among unclean people. He saw the contrast between God and man....big time! I think he knew at that moment how insignificant he was and how awesome and powerful a presence God is. I see the coal as a burning, cleansing process...much like what the Holy Spirit does in our lives as He purifies and cleanses us. Once cleansed, Isaiah responds by offering himself in service to God. That is also symbolic of our lives in the Spirit. We offer our lives to God in the same way and allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit to further His Kingdom. No matter the cost!.

Tired and weary. Rest. This week I have strugglked with perfection. Expecting it in myself and becoming increasingly aware of my striving in it. Thank God He is faithful to show me I am not perfect. I am small and I need Him and I need to rest in Him. He is God. I am in His hands and I can trust Him to love me as is. He's doing a good work in me and He will finish it...in His time. It is so easy for us to wander and end up striving by ourselves even if the intention is to be closer to Him! " Come to me, all you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. The teaching that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light." When we end up tired and weary....give it over and trust Him. He meets us in our need and makes us strong again! Free to fly! All praise and honor to His glorious name!

In Psalm 95, God is the Lord, the Rock, our Savior, a great God, King over all Gods, Sovereign God, God our Maker and Creator, God who belongs to us, our Shephard. We are to sing for joy, shout His praises, offer thanksgiving, sing songs to Him, worship and bow down, kneel before Him and know we are His people and He will take care of us! Day and night! Devoted to Him. Humbled before Him. Thankful to Him. Understanding who He is. Trusting Him. Believing Him. Giving Him everything and our all. Entering into His rest. Awesome! I needed to be reminded of that! Blessings to all!

Our Maker has every inhererent right over all His creation. He is sovreign over everything. We are His and all we have is His. All that is absoluite....but He is a gracious God too. He has given us free will. He allows us freedom to make choices and to live freely. He gives us the choice of seeking Him and who He is and and what would be good for us to do. He is always so graciously found by all who do seek. That results in accepting from Him not only our freedom in good choices, but in His guiding and disciplining when we make not so good choices. We know that He knows all things and wants only for our good...so our responce should be to try and live in His will. We should be in prayer, in the Word and in fellowship with Godly people to find out what His will is for us. He is always faithful to reveal...if we ask.

It's ridiculous for the pot to second guess the potter because a pot is the creation, not the creator. Only the creator knows what He is fashioning. We as Christian do this by trying to tell God what He is doing (or should be doing) in our lives. I read an interesting sign the other day. It said, " Most Christians do want to serve God.....as His advisor!" Isn't that what we do? We try to tell God the next best step in our lives...not to mention sometimes in the lives of others around us! We need to lay all that down and give the Holy Spirit free reign in our lives. A better attitude would be to seek God and be in obedience to His Word above all things and then allow everything to be added to us in that way. We will be living more in His will and through Him we can live in better relationship with each other. We need to ask the Holy Spirit everyday to help us. He is faithful!

David knew that there was no person or circumstance bigger than his God. That is why he could step up to a giant and with a little rock win the victory! That was God's work...not David's! God is no different today than He was back then. He's still bigger than anything or anyone we face. Anything that is in opposition to His will in our lives He can and will conquer if we KNOW He's our living God! We, like David...need to know our God is our warrior and our deliverer. No matter what adversity we face in our lives...if it's standing in the way of God's will for our lives....He will act! Goliath mocked the living God of David. That didn't sit well with David. He knew His God and I often wonder...did he shout " Living God! Show this liar your glory!" and then let that rock fly! When Goliath went down....that surely inspired fear and dread! In our lives we sometimes can be our own worst enemies too. We incorporate ungodly practices and beliefs and we are warned about those things. If we don't fear ( respect ) God and listen and apply those ways He offers to follow Godly living...then we ourselves are standing as enemies of God. We need to choose who's side we are on daily. I know God will inspire fear and dread in us too....but always to turn us back to Him and restore us to the right side! To a living God who is for us! I was reading Lamentations 3 this week. That's a classic example of how man has always related to God. I don't know about anyone else, but I live it in my life and I see the truth in His Word. God's discipline and learning to fear Him. The hope we always have in His unfailing love and the turning to Him once again to seek rescue and ultimately God never leaving His own defenseless. God sends fear out to our enemies declaring I AM! His glory is shown, I'm restored and I gain a deeper appreciation of His love and mercy and the fact of Jesus on the cross and a risen Savior! It always come full circle. I stand amazed!