2 Samuel 8:1-12:15

“And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.” 2 Samuel 8:14

There’s a verse that I live by that I think you should be aware of. It goes right along with this verse of the day about David’s victories. No matter where David went or who he was fighting, he had victory. It was the same for Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised Moses.” (Joshua 1:3)

Victory is part of being a friend of God. He is not a loser, God ALWAYS wins, period. And guess what, while David and Joshua and Moses had God with them, you have God IN you. My friends, it’s not just wherever you set your foot that you will have victory, it’s wherever you sit, wherever you stand, wherever your voice carries, it’s YOU. God’s presence lives in you just like it lived in the wilderness Tabernacle. His voice is your voice and His hands are your hands.

You may have heard of the Midas touch, well you’ve been given something much better. You’ve got a Divine Touch. Your hands have the power to heal the sick. Your voice has the power to mend soul-deep wounds. Your arms have the power to help the lost find their way, all because the Spirit of the Living God falls afresh on you each and every morning. His mercies are new and ready to save you from anything you may face during the day.

In Genesis when God calls Abram to leave his family and everything he’s ever known it’s not without a promise of benefit. God tells him that He will bless Abram so that he in turn can be a blessing to others. (Genesis 12:2) According to Galatians 3:29, “If you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” So if you have confessed that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then you are considered Abraham’s child and are eligible to benefit from the promise that God gave him.

The honest to goodness truth is that God WANTS to bless you. But He doesn’t want to just bless you. He wants to bless you so extravagantly that by blessing you He will be blessing those around you as well because they’re standing close enough to be splashed by the tidal wave of His Grace pouring over your head. How awesome is that???

2 Samuel 3:26-7:29

“Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?”

It is ALWAYS wise to consult God before diving headlong into a battle with the enemy. But I especially like how David phrases his question. “Should I go?” and “Will I win?” It’s kind of a big deal isn’t it? Knowing if you’re going to win the battle before you even go in, it has the potential to change the entire outcome of the battle. If you’ve been told by God beforehand that you WILL win the battle, but your team is losing at the moment, then you know the battle must not be over yet right?

If God has said that He would work all things out for your good, and He has (Romans 8:28), and they’re not looking good at the moment then God must not be done working things out then eh?

I really need this message today! It’s been a rough day. Sean woke up early to work out only to come back to bed frustrated and unable to work-out because Anna and Skippy were asleep on the couch in front of the TV. (They sleep together when there’s a storm.) When I went to get dressed for work I tried on my new pants but ended up taking them off because I had a little voice in my head telling me they’d look dumb with my shoes. When I came out to the kitchen for breakfast I looked into the living room and saw a gaping hole in the new blanket I had just finished crocheting! Just like my morning, my sweet little granny squares were unraveling from the centers. I have put DAYS, not hours, days into this blanket. Making each tiny delicate square from yarn that was given to me as a Christmas gift. I spent days designing and deciding just how I wanted to fit them all together. Weeks went by before it was all finished. But then things started unraveling. The first one I figured was just a fluke and I waved it off. But then it happened again, and again, and I knew I needed to do something. So I spent another DAY going through and pulling each center apart, tightening them back up and knotting them closed.

The last thing I wanted was for all those days of hard work and love to come apart. This blanket has been a work of heart from the very beginning, to see it destroyed would be… upsetting. So to see that even after going through each individual square and redoing them, they’re STILL pulling apart, well, I nearly cried right then and there! But Sean looked at me and said, “just fix them. It’s OK.” And so I did.

And while I sat there staring at those gaping holes and loose ends and feeling defeated and downtrodden a little voice inside just kept saying, “you’re not finished yet.” And I’m not. Not finished with that blanket, not finished with this Bible in a year challenge, not finished writing, not finished being an awesome wife and mom, not finished making new friends, not finished climbing the corporate ladder… I’m not finished yet. As much as this “Get ‘er done” girl wants to put a big red “DONE” stamp on everything and defiantly cross things off my ever-growing to-do list, I can’t; because I’m not done.

I have more to do, always more to do. More battles to win and more wars to fight. I haven’t reached the end of the loose ends, because just as I tie one off another unravels and I reach a new beginning, a new chapter, a new challenge, a higher rung. And it keeps me fluid, moving like water.

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for seven years. Getting back out into the world has been harder than I expected. It’s not impossible and I’m stubbornly determined to make it work. But it’s not without its drastic changes and heartaches. My life is different now and I have to accept that. There once was a time when my highest goal was to feed, change and nurture a baby that is now feeding itself, uses the restroom quite proficiently and isn’t even with me for most of the day. My children have grown and I with them, but not without a few growing pains along the way. Yes, I’m having moments in this season of transition where my centers are unraveling. But then God blesses me with the time to sit and tie them back together. And for that moment, if only for that moment, the blanket of my life filled with unfulfilled hopes and dreams is whole and useable.

The battle’s not over yet. God’s not done working good for us today my friend. If God is with us then who could be against us? I mean REALLY? Who? Who can stand against a child of the One True King and live? We’ve read the end of the book (Revelation) we know how the story, our story, ends. We win! We’re just not finished yet.

Now off to figure out how to get to work today, my tire’s flat.

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! 😀