Glorious & Majestic

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 76. It is a beautiful song, written by Asaph. Verse 4 stands out for me. “Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.” When you know that, not only does God know you, but that you know Him, glory and majesty are exactly what you feel within. Then, when you read all the things in the Word of God having to do with His glory and majesty, you will begin to see the king or queen you were created to be. I hope you’ll read the whole psalm for yourselves; and I hope it stirs you to look into the glory and majesty of God in His Word.

Thank you, Third Day, for this beautiful song. It’s one of my favorites.

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It Is I

Today’s message comes from Psalm 75. It is a song written by Asaph, extolling God’s power, and warning the wicked not to exalt themselves against God. Verse 3 caught my attention. “When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.” (ESV)

When I read this, and thought about my life-fresh out of my parent’s house as a single woman, and later as a wife and mother. When we live under generational curses, we’re not always aware that we are reacting in the present, to what we’ve experienced in the past. That statement in verse three means a couple of things to me.

First, it makes me think about running helter skelter, here and there, to and fro, trying to keep all the little balls I was juggling from hitting the ground. You know, you become a “god” or “goddess.” You’ve got it all “together” and those wounds…WHAT?! What wounds? Yeah, those ones, my dear. We don’t think they show, but they do. If we’re lucky and smart enough to turn to God (The Real GOD), He’ll help us see them too. Secondly, I think of the responsibility of keeping our little family “earth” from tottering, spinning out of control, and coming apart. This, when you’re living under generational curses, doesn’t work well. You can find yourself living co-dependently; and you’re passing on all the things you learned wrong.

The flip-side of all of that is that you can unlearn those things, and learn new things; the right things. You can heal the wounds, so you no longer have to cover them up. You can establish new standards and new boundaries for yourself, and for your children. Hopefully, your children will have better things to pass on to their children, as a result. After all, when it comes to the choice to change things and make them better, who makes the choice? It is I.

Romans 2:1-6 was referenced with this psalm. It’s a great checklist to look at when we’re coming out from under those generational curses. It’s also a great reminder of where you may have been, and a help to keep one humble and compassionate.

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Getting Over Yourself

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 74. It’s the next step after the pity party’s over. Verses 1-11 is where I’ve found myself before. You’re wondering, “How long is this going to take, God? Are you going to do something, or are you just going to stand there and watch them destroy me?” One time God asked me, “How long did it take you to decide to turn to me?” I did like Job, and said, “I’ll just shut up now.”

Verse 12 is a reminder that God has been at this a lot longer than you have. “Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.” Since the beginning, God has had you. He saw this day, and all those days before this one…you know, your downhill slide. Verses 13-18 recount God’s power and the works of His hands. I love verse 19. “Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.” “But, Daddy; I’m your little girl!” LOL I can laugh now; and I hope God did then. That manipulation thing doesn’t work very well with Him. But, oh, don’t we love to try it?!

Verses 20&21 is where we start. “Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.” Consider your covenant with God! It’s the one Jesus blood was used to seal. Your salvation was not the only thing Jesus secured for you. Jesus secured and assured your redemption as well. Redemption is not only about redeeming you from the power of Satan over your eternal soul. Redemption is about giving you back your power over your life here on Earth; right now! God will help you redeem your clarity, your sanity, your peace, power, joy, and love-love for Him, for yourself, and for others-even those who have hurt you. The greatest commandments, according to Jesus are 1. Love God with all your might, your heart, and soul, and 2. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Self-loathing, self-doubt, self sabotage, and self defeat are part of that vicious circle we can find ourselves caught up in. This is especially true when we’re dealing with generational curses. The biggest reason addicts and alcoholics relapse is that they never get to deal with the cause(s) of their addiction(s). Those can be found in the daily lives of the generation(s) before you, and in your own. When you begin to see and understand them, you can begin to overcome them.

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Not All In Vain At All

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 73. The psalm covers a long list of what the wicked do and can expect; of what they are like. The psalmist, Asaph, also tells on himself regarding his attitude, and his pity party. That pity party is what I want to focus on.

Verses 21&22: “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.” Oh, when I read this, I think of Jesus’ words about the good man bringing good treasure out of the good stored up inside. Then, there’s (Matthew 5:19) that tells us evil thought proceed out of the heart. (Proverbs 4:23) tells us to guard our hearts above all else, because the issues of life flow from it. (Proverbs 5:13) tells us that a crushed spirit comes from a broken heart.

Verses 13-15 give us an example of one of the most famous pity party speeches: “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,”I would have betrayed the generation of your children.” “Poor, poor, pitiful me! I don’t know why I bother. What have I done it all for?!” That was me, and more than a few times. I finally got it. Yay, me! “It is not you who is in control, my dear; it’s ME!-you know, God?” Cain had that poor, poor, pitiful me attitude. He ended up murdering his brother.

Your Cain will kill your Able (Abel). God told Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” There are a couple of things we can see here. First, this is the same game that Satan played with Adam and Eve. He caused Eve to question, or doubt, God’s love for her. And now, Cain was angry because he felt slighted by God. Sin is also another word for Satan’s working. Secondly, there’s a revelation about who you really are in the next statement: “It’s desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” You are created in God’s image, and after His likeness; which is LOVE. Perfect/perfected love drives out fear. I believe most sin is based in fear of one sort or another. We’re afraid we’re not loved as much as someone else is, we’re afraid we’re missing out on something if we don’t have everything someone else does, etc. It goes back to that heart thing. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8) Pure can mean, untouched; free of chaos, doubt, etc., and filled with peace, love, and joy. Seeing God is seeing past the immediate moment; seeing further, to the possibility in a situation-even a bad one. Seeing God is having hope, which fosters courage and empowers faith. Faith assures us that the outcome is already taken care of. We have only to walk in the love of God, and let Him have His Will. -His will for us, and for others. Nothing you do with and for God is done in vain. As for the wicked, we war not against flesh and blood, but against the power, the principalities, and the hosts of spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. The best thing, still, one can do, is to pray for your enemies. You never really know what they may have gone through, or may be going through themselves.

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Happy Mother’s Day

Thank you, Mom and Oma, and all the other Moms I’ve had over the years. A girl can’t have too many, you know. Thank you Mandy, Jesse, Shea, and Sunny, for making me a mom. Thank you Casey, Evan, Nick, and Shilo for allowing me to be your step-in mom. Thank you, all of my adoptive children, for allowing me to be your mom away from mom. I love you all! Tons of hugs and kisses to you all!

Happy Mother’s Day to all my daughters who are mothers! May your day be beautiful and filled with love, laughter, and wonderful memories.

This comes from trendhunter.com -Artisan Created Bouquets

Artisan-Created Bouquets : flowers for mothers day

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Saturday Silly – May 8 2021

“Have you talked to your mother lately,” my brother asked his wife? “Yes,” replied my sister-in-law. “As a matter of fact, she’s coming to dinner tonight. What made you think of her,” my sister in law asked. “Today is National Windmill Day,” replied my brother. LOL ! I hear he’s coming to spend a couple of weeks in town with us.

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Here’s To The Royal Couple

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 72. The heading reads, “Of Solomon,” but by the time we get to the end of it, we can see this was a prayer of King David, possibly for his son, Solomon. The whole thing is absolutely awesome! It’s a long one, so I’m not going to post the whole thing, but I hope you read it for yourselves. When I read this, I think of the duties of Kings and Queens; the expectations God has of them, and the tremendous weight on their shoulders. I also think of Jesus; King Jesus, laughing with joy at the children, and actually touching a leper…and weeping for a bereaved mother. We are kings and queens in the earth, ruling and serving-in our households, and our communities. There are some great points to ponder in this prayer.

Verse 1: “Give the king your justice, O, God” that we might judge rightly and righteously. Verse 4: “May he defend the cause of the poor of the people” that we might crush the oppressor. Verses 5 is for parents and grandparents, great grandparents…and so forth. “May they fear you while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!” We all leave a legacy to the generations coming up behind us. May it be a legacy of love and faithfulness, strength, and faith in God. Verses 6&7 tell us a king and queen see to the needs of their people and cause peace to abound. Peace is twofold; peace within helps promote peace round about us. Verses 12-14 tell us the lives of the people are precious in a king/queen’s sight, and speaks of compassion and faithfulness to save the poor and needy from oppression. Verses 18&19 remind us who the King really is, and how awesomely privileged we are to be His hands and feet int he earth; to be charged with caring for His creation. I think I’m going to print this one out, frame it, and hang it up in my next kitchen. I want to see this reminder every morning.

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From Your Mother’s Womb

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 71. The theme of it is about not being forsaken, even in old age. But, there are some awesome revelations about God’s love in this psalm!

Verse 1 asks, “…never let me be put to shame.” That tells me that, just as God teaches us and equips us to deal with things, we need to do the same for our children. Verse 6 really hit home for me. “Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. That’s one of those times where God said, “Oh, no you don’t Maam; not with this one!” I’m the survivor of three abortion attempts by my mother.

The rest of the psalm talks about how God is there to refute the tongue of our enemy/enemies, including death itself. Of course, you can’t help but praise Him continually and seek Him continually, which David also speaks of in the psalm.

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We Magnify What We Receive

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 70. The psalm is a short one; a prayer, actually, of King David’s.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Hurry, O LORD, to help me! May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated. May those who say, “Aha, aha!” retreat because of their shame. May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “Let God be magnified!” But I am poor and needy; hurry to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay. (BSB) How many times have we prayed this; or something like it, eh? “Get ’em, Jesus!” Then, “Ooh, LORD/Lord, let me jump for joy when you do! LOL You know God doesn’t want us to rejoice, though, over their wrongdoing and downfall. And, when you think about them falling into God’s hands, you want to hit your knees and pray for mercy for them, don’t you? Yeah.

Verse 4- Go my attention. “May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “Let God be magnified!” It had me thinking about that phrase, “what goes in comes out.” Jesus said it this way in (Matt. 12:35) (NIV) “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. There are some powerful revelations in this. First, it tells us that we need to strive to put good things into others; especially our children. We’re told to build one another up. (1 Thessalonians 5:11) This building up includes ourselves, by the way. Stop beating yourself up, if you do, and start recalling to yourself, all the things you can do, and all the things that are right about you. Secondly, and this reinforces that last sentence, we need to recount the love others put into us. We need to recount, especially, the love that God puts into us. I got the pleasure of a surprise visit last evening, from a little sparrow mama looking for something to eat. Of course, I couldn’t resist. I thanked the Lord, for her visit; because I believe He sends them. He has a way of knowing when you need a little touch of His love. This morning the little mama came for some breakfast morsels for her nestlings. What a joy to be loved by Almighty God and His creation!

When we find ourselves doubting, recalling those acts of love toward us is crucial. It builds our faith, and our self-esteem. I know it’s so easy to start feeling like nobody in the world cares whether you live or die. This is where you sit down and remember how Gramma spoiled you with cheesecake make just for you; or the rides you got to take on uncle’s motor-scooter, the soccer games you got to tag along to. This is where you sit down and remember how God came in at the eleventh hour and said, “Oh, no, sir; not with this one, you’re not going to!” -and pulled you through that health crisis. I still keep a journal; and let me tell you, when you start writing that stuff down-and referring to it when you need to, you can feel your faith muscles growing. We magnify what we receive. Here’s the third revelation; based on that statement. Be careful what you receive into your heart. Be careful who you surround yourself with; especially in your inner circle.

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Let His Salvation Set You On High

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 69. It gives us some insight into our part in our salvation. Verse 2 of the psalm lets us know that there is no foothold in the mud. If it isn’t clear, or understandable to you, or the truth is obscured, and hidden to you, you have the responsibility to seek the truth, to get it clarified, and to gain understanding of it. One of the reasons I drank to excess was because I couldn’t hear my conscience when I did.

Verse 5 reminds us that we cannot hide anything from God. He sees, hears, and knows, even your most secret thoughts and feelings. The good news is that God loves you, and He’s on your side. He wants you to win. So you needn’t fear Him.

Verses 6-12 are powerful. I think about wanting to break those curses off for my children and grandchildren. I think about some of the things, precious things, I lost before I got serious with God about breaking free from it all. And, yes, there will be mockers, scoffers, deserters, and even haters. It’s designed that way by Satan, so he can keep you bound.

Verses 14 through 20 give us an idea of how we ought to help our children; especially when they’re struggling with sin, and the world’s view of it. Peer pressure can be a killer; literally. We make truth clear to them, and give them stable footing by clear and strong standards and boundaries. We deal with them according to mercy, not mood, not circumstance, not cost, etc. Verses 17 & 18 are very powerful. We sometimes have a tendency toward denial, ignoring the truth. We don’t do our children any favors when we ignore the truth about their behavior, or their goings -on. We leave them vulnerable to the enemy when we do that. We need to ask questions, and insist on getting answers. We rush to their aid.

Verse 29 says: “But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! We need to humble ourselves and ask God for help. Then, we need to remain humble to obey Him; to do it His way. In this way, we will be set on high (over the enemy). We need to set our children on high through our teaching, correction, and salvation. That means we make empowerment with knowledge, instruction, and with dignity-even in the thing, the goal. This verse makes me think of Jesus’ words: “… the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” When we strive to break off those generational curses, we can ransom many. Think about the generations coming up behind you.

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