God’s Guidance for Us

 

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When we ask God to guide us, what are we asking Him to do? Do we ask Him for His guidance, or do we ask Him to approve our plans for what we want to do?

By asking Him to guide us through a difficult time, we allow Him to:

Guard us from questionable influences.

Unite us with others who can help us.

Infuse us with Your Spirit.

Don’t give up on us.

Envelop us, Your children with Your love.

I have been going through a difficult time this summer. Most of what I write will reflect what I have been feeling. The Lord knows all about this time of my being down. He and I have had some good talks about the issues involved. Some of these circumstances are long standing situations that I really had no knowledge of.

Come and Hear

 

Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what He has done for my soul.

Psalm 66:16 (ESV)

Words written to the choirmaster

The psalmist invites those who know God and respect Him to gather and listen as he conveys a special message to them.

Do we, who live in the 21^st Century share good news when God blesses us? Or do we just keep that news to ourselves?

Sometimes, we forgo the good news and relate the sad news and the ugly news of the world to those around us.

Some of us well-meaning Christians repeat things we hear and should not do. My parents called this “Carrying tales”.

What has God done for our souls?

* He saved us from sin.

* He gives us each day as a gift.

* He guides us through each day.

* He protects us from harm.

* He listens to our prayers.

* He answers those prayers as to what is best for us and for those for whom we pray.

We Will Find Rest

 

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Thus says the Lord:

Stand in the ways and see,

And ask for the old paths, where the

good way is,

And walk in it.

Then you will find rest for your souls.

But they said," We will not walk in it." Jeremiah 6:16 (NKJV)

Words of God spoken through Jeremiah

Jeremiah prophesies against Judah, calling her to repent or face judgment at the hands of Babylon.⁽¹⁾

Stand in the ways and see,

Could the Lord through Jeremiah be telling the people of Judah that they need to look at how they live, to evaluate their lifestyles in the light of His Word?

And ask for the old paths, where the/ good way is,

Could the Lord be telling them to look fondly to the values they were taught and see the goodness of the relationship they previously had with Him?

And walk in it;

Could the Lord be telling the people of Judah to revive the practices of of their relationship with Him?

Then you will find rest for your souls,

Does God give them the hope of finding peace and soul rest? Does God give us hope when we listen and obey Him?

But they said, "We will not walk in it."

The people of Judea answered in a negative way. They did NOT want to walk in the way that the Lord told them they needed to do. Are we sometimes guilty of the same stubbornness today? Do we keep on doing what we like rather than what He tells us to do?

Prayer

Father God: Guide us in the path You want us to follow. Guide us through the difficult times we face. Give us Your wisdom as we progress through each day. In the Name of Jesus. I pray. Amen.

(1) Jeremiah Study Bible © 2013 page 972

A Closer Look at My Word

 

fineartamerica.com

I participate in a Facebook group called One Word 2024. This is the exercise we are asked to do for January.

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1.Where Is My Word?

My word, TRUST, appears on my journal cover. I try to write in it every day; so, I see it every day. It is in a gift of prayer cards that sometimes guide me when I pray. It appears on some small note pads I received from a friend.

I read several devotional books. Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest has several entries dealing with my word. I also have run across my word in The Upper Room and Our Daily Bread.

2.What Does My Word Look Like?

Picture, if you will, a small child sitting on his or her father’s lap. The child has his or her eyes focused on the father’s face as he speaks. The child is engrossed in hearing what the father says.

3. Why This Word?

God chose this word for me. I had one word “chosen”. Then I found another word that seemed to speak to me. But, as, I was finishing praying for someone, I heard “she has to have trust for the outcome.” As I typed the beginning of this post, I received a phone call from a dear friend from church. A lady, for whom we have been praying, could be very close to meeting Jesus in the next week. We are and have been trusting God in all this.

Pray When Things Look Bad

 

Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry and all of them conspired to come together and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. Nevertheless, we made a prayer to our God and because of them we set a watch against them day and night. Nehemiah 4:7-9 (NKJV)

Words of Nehemiah

Those who returned to Jerusalem had a gargantuan task before them. They had to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Not only was this a huge task, they also had to deal with foreign enemies, two different enemies and three different people-groups were poised against having Jerusalem rebuilt.

When someone turns his or her heart over to Jesus, changes happen in his or her life. Sometimes these changes cause problems from either those affected by others or by the one surrendering to Jesus.

One who is trying to change his or her life around must be vigilant for the things that can, and if care is not exercised probably will, trip him or her up.

Nehemiah and his crew did what each of us must do when we feel at risk due to someone’s plan to be in conflict with or upset our plans and keep us from our goals. They prayed.

At times, we don’t pray enough. We have times when we think we are doing something the right way just because we belong to Jesus.

We need to pray about all things that affect us, even when we can’t do anything about them. Jesus has all things under His control.

Recently, our Sunday school leader passed out index cards for each of us to take one. On it were the letters SFJTD. Below these letters were the words “Something For Jesus To Do”. All of us in the class said that was a very good thought. I will have more on this later.