1 Samuel 23:1-25:44

“And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.” 1 Samuel 23:14

Every day Satan seeks to steal, kill and destroy us, but God doesn’t give us into his hand! Faith in His love gives us hope.

“These three remain faith, hope and love; the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

One tiny mustard seed of Faith can make mountains move (Matthew 17:20), uproot trees, casting them into the sea (Luke 17:6) and then solidify that sea allowing one to walk upon it (Matthew 14).

One door, opened through Grace, to the true dwelling place of a living hope in things unseen can hold you captive and revive your spirit with abounding heavenly joy, peace, rest and the full assurance of a security that upholds you according to the promises of the Eternal One who is not able to lie. (Hebrews 11:1, 6:18, Acts 2:26, Romans 5:4-5, Zechariah 9:5, 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Romans 15:13, Proverbs 10:20 & 13:12 Job 11:18)

But 1 Corinthians 13:13 says that Love is the greatest of all of these. Love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Love dies on a cross in its lovers place (2 Corinthians 5:21). Love rises from the dead and proclaims justification and righteousness for the Beloved (Luke 24:1-7, Mark 16:1-6, John 20:1-10, Matthew 28:1-10, Romans 3:23-26, 5:19, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 12:23, Deuteronomy 33:12, Song of Solomon 2:16). Love holds out nail-pierced hands and pulls you to His wounded side and shows you the scars of your birthplace. And says, “Look, touch, know that you are loved THIS much. Feel the place of your origin, the place where water and blood spurt forth and you were born and washed clean, made new and fresh as a babe, Beloved child of God; come. See the place where flesh and bone combine to create Bride.”

Yes!

Faith is strong.

Hope is soft.

But Love is the union of the softest hope and the strongest faith. Where faith and hope fall short, Love conquers all. When faith just can’t quite cut it and Hope isn’t quite long enough to reach us, NOTHING can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus. Neither height, nor depth, length nor breadth, angels nor demons, nothing in all of creation is able to separate us from what love has done for us.

Not even what you’ve done.

Jesus loved you first. Therein lies the POWER of the Spirit of Love we’ve been given. There is power in our love for Him, but it can’t hold a candle to the power of His love for us. And fully receiving the softness of His love for you is the strength that saves. Praise be to God!

1 Samuel 15:1-16:23

“I have noted” 1 Samuel 15:2

There are few things that mean more to us than when someone notices something we’ve done. Today while checking someone out at the register at Dollar General she looked at me and said, “Are you the one….” and I paused, half-hoping that she was going to say what I hoped she was going to say, half-fearing she was going to say something else. “who writes…” I got a little half-grin on my face, she was saying it! “that article for the Hamilton County paper?” SHE SAID IT! But then she went on and made it even better, “I LOVE your article! The other week when you talked about God saying, ‘Light be’…” (Inside I did a little happy dance. You know what I mean.)

It feels so good to be noticed for something that you’re doing. It feels so good to have someone tell you that they appreciate what you’re doing for them (for free and at a great cost to yourself). It’s good to be noticed.

And yet as mothers we do NOT get noticed. How many of you have had your kids say, “Hey Mom, thanks for cleaning the toilets for us today, I hate using a dirty one.” Or “Gee Mom, thank you for picking up that trash I left on the floor, that was really nice of you!” or even, “Wow Mom, dinner was GREAT thanks for making it even after you worked all day and your feet hurt and you can barely pick the fork up because you’re so tired. You’re the best!”

Yeah, they don’t do that do they?

But you know who does notice? Jesus. He notices when we pick up that piece of trash floating through the empty parking lot. He notices when we use a toothbrush or a cotton swab to clean something. He notices when we keep going even though every muscle in your body is screaming for you to stop. He notices when we push through the hard day in order to help someone else have a good one. He notices the sacrifices we make for our families and those around us. He notices because they’re really for Him.

In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about the final judgment day and how He will say, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed Me. I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit You? And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me.”

When we do something for someone else, Jesus notices because in reality we’re doing it for Him. AND, what’s more, when someone does something to us, they’re doing it to Jesus – good or bad. He notices.

In today’s Word of the Day, God tells Saul “I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” 1 Samuel 15:2-3 Now, this is years after the Exodus and the crossing of the Jordan, and even after all these years God never forgot how the Amalekalites mistreated His people. Deuteronomy 32:34-36 says, “Is not this laid up in store with Me, for the time when their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining bond or free.”

We don’t have to remember what everyone has done to us over the years. We don’t have to recall all those grudges, because God’s got it all under control. Every action in this world has an opposite and equal reaction. You reap what you sow. What goes around comes around. Call it whatever you like, it’s all the same thing. Our actions have consequences to them. If I plant a seed of corn, a corn stalk is going to grow. If I plant a watermelon seed, a watermelon vine will come up. I can’t plant an apple seed and expect to harvest peaches from the tree. So if I’m constantly going around sowing seeds of discord, can I possibly expect harmony to grow? (Or vice versa.)

God has noted. He knows what you’re going through. He knows where you have been and He knows what you’ve done. And there WILL come a day when all the hard work, and time and tears and turmoil that you’ve been through will have grown and will be ready for a bountiful harvest. And you’ll be right there with a basket ready to bring it all in! He will make sure of it! 😀

1 Samuel 4:1-7:17

“Till now the LORD has helped us.”

Several years ago Beth Moore introduced me to this passage of scripture where Samuel places a rock as a memorial and names it “Ebenezer” which means – stone of help. Since then I started collecting rocks, mostly small ones. It seemed like they just started presenting themselves. To me they were mile markers, lines drawn in the sand, growth marks on the door frame of my heart, God has helped me this far. They’ve created a visual way for me to see and remember the goodness of the LORD here in the land of the living. He HAS been faithful.

The LORD is my rock and my Redeemer. He is the cornerstone on which my life is built. He is my firm foundation that keeps me grounded when the storms of life come. Ad Oh, how they come! Yet I never face them alone. In each and every day, every mile of my walk through life is written in His book. He knows the number of my steps He knows the direction they will take and He knows the tilt of my heart. And what’s really awesome is that He doesn’t know my heart from the outside in, like everyone else. No, He knows my heart from the inside-out because that’s where He lives!

For a little over a year now I’ve written an article in the local newspaper. If you flip open the Hamilton County Reporter you’ll find my picture under the banner, “Not the Perfect Mom”. I want people to know that I’m not perfect and that God’s OK with that. I want people to know that they’re not perfect and God’s OK with them. And while I had suspected that my struggle with my lack of perfection stemmed from a certain level of insecurity, today I confirmed it.

While praying I was led to flip open the copy of Beth Moore’s So Long Insecurity that just *happened* to be in the bag next to my chair. And right there on page 17 (and 23), primed and ready to convict me, was the fruit of the root of insecurity:

*a profound sense of self-doubt

*a deep feeling of uncertainty about our basic worth and our place in the world

*chronic self-consciousness

*chronic lack of confidence in ourselves

*anxiety about our relationships

*living in constant fear of rejection

*a deep uncertainty about whether our feelings and desires are legitimate

*harbors unrealistic expectations about love and relationships

-“These expectations, for themselves and for others, are often unconscious. The insecure person creates a situation in which being disappointed and hurt in relationships is almost inevitable. Ironically, although insecure people are easily and frequently hurt, they are usually unaware of how they are unwitting accomplices in creating their own misery.”

But as if that wasn’t enough, Beth described how she fit into that little insecure profile and wouldn’t you know it she ended up describing me! So, I’ve decided that the time is NOW to read this book. And while part of me wants to dive right in and “get ‘er done”, there’s another part of me that wants to really dig in deep and do it well. I want to make sure that I don’t just pull off the fruit and call the tree dead, I want to dig it up by the roots and cast it into the sea! I don’t want to just say, “So long Insecurity”, I want to SHOUT it because I will KNOW that it is GONE!

So I’m making a reading plan and I’m posting it on here. 1) So that you all will hold me accountable. 2) So that, perhaps, if you saw something familiar in that fruit listed above, you might want to join me. Like an online book club! 😀

I was going to include the reading plan with this post, but my time is running out and I want this plan to be a good one so that I can get all the way through it. So I’ll try and post it on Saturday if at all possible!!! Thanks for understanding.

UPDATE: Here is a link to the reading plan for Beth Moore’s So Long, Insecurity You’ve Been a Bad Friend to Us

1 Samuel 1:1-3:21

“And Samuel grew and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.” 1 Samuel 3:19

Last night I sat and watched my son open a piece of candy and throw the wrapper on the Living room floor! Obviously I immediately scolded him and made him pick it up, but it makes my point today perfectly. Did he throw the candy on the floor or the wrapper? He kept the thing that was precious and threw away that which was unimportant to him.

In the verse of the day today we find something precious. As Samuel grew the LORD was with him and didn’t let any of his words fall to the ground. God valued the words of Samuel, they were precious in His sight. This shows us something meaningful about, not only Samuel’s relationship to God, but also our own. God values words. Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:34 that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Our words are our heart pouring out through speech. That means something to God. Our words are precious to Him because they are the contents of our heart. And there is little in this world that means more to God than your heart my friend.

YOU are precious to Him. Jesus loves YOU!