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Praising the Lord in the Middle of the Mess

By: Grace Bejarano
Psalm 100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!
 
I read this scripture and I thought to myself:  How do you do this when the washing machine is broken? How do you do this when the plumber setup the shower incorrectly and you are still waiting for another person to fix the shower? How do you praise the Lord when your friend refuses to be saved and she’s losing her mind? How do you praise Him when your car breaks down, you are pregnant with your 4th child and your husband is the only one working? And how do you thank Him when your husband thinks you are crazy for thanking Jesus for all the wrong in your life right now.
 
This is what I’ve done for years! And it works!
Thank you Jesus, John thinks I’m crazy!
Thank you Jesus the washing machine is broken. 
Thank you Jesus the shower is wrong again and you are sending the right person to fix the shower.
Thank you Jesus my friend is losing her mind because she is one day closer to receiving your salvation and loving grace.
Thank you Jesus I’m pregnant with my 4th child and my car is broken down because your perfect will is working in my life.
 
Lord, I am thankful and I  bless you and affectionately praise your name! Let your will be done in my life. This simple prayer brought a free washer and dryer into my home, another person to fix my shower, and compassion for Donna, and a blessing of the 4th child and a car that will be repaired. 
 
Instead of worry and doubt, I am in the Lords perfect plan for a blessing,
 
I remember those hard days when I just wished I could be blessed AND now I know I am blessed despite what appears to be setbacks.


Commentary

By: Grace Bejarano
 
Psalm 126:5- They who sow in tears shall reap in joy and signing.  
 
This scripture doesn’t tell you how long you will sow in tears or when you will reap the benefit of those tears. It could be 7 minutes, 7 hours, 7 days or 7 years. It’s a promise you accept and believe by faith. 
 
From personal experience I have reaped the benefit of years of sowing tears and I received the joy and signing as well. Stay the course, pray at the altar, seek the Lord, cry out to the Lord for the injustices we receive, the doubt and fear we experience, the pain and agony of situations we can’t change or have no control over, sow tears over the disappointments that seem to be never ending. 
 
The Lord hears it all, sees all the tears, he will provide the joy and the singing. Lord we wait on you and we expect joy and signing from these situations. 
 
Amen. 


HELLO??

By: Anita Mondragon
 
Do you sometimes pray and feel that God is not listening?  I do-but that’s because I’m impatient!  I was in one of those frames of mind when God led me to my Promise Box.  
 
Here’s what He put in my hand….
 
“And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I WILL hear.” -Isaiah 65:24
 
But He knew I needed a little more, so I inadvertently pulled out two.  Here’s what the other one said….
 
“Thou, O Lord, shall guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory.” -Psalm 73:24  This one was also accompanied with a small poem.
 
“My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But it’s enough that Christ knows all-
And I shall be with Him.”
 
Sometimes our eyes of faith grow dim and all we see is our situation; but God see everything, and He will bring us through our troubles!  He know what we are about to ask Him in prayer, and He already has a solution to our problem.  So take heart!  He hears, and He will answer according to His will!
 
As I was writing this, God reminded me of an old country song sung by Garth Brooks called “Unanswered Prayers.”  The chorus goes like this….
 
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
That just because he may not answer doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered
Some of God’s greatest gifts are all too often unanswered…
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers
REMEMBER THAT THE NEXT TIME YOU GET IMPATIENT!!


THINGS TO PONDER…

By: Anita Mondragon
 
“Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 
 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.” -Psalm 43:3-4
 
Just stepping toward the presence of God so very quietly can be so amazing and refreshing that it delights us enormously! 


Let Me Be Your Witness

By: Anita Mondragon
 
When you stand and you peer out of Heaven so grand,
And you see tired souls stretch out their hands
To plead for help, but no one understands…
Jesus, let me be your witness!
 
When you hear them weep in bitter despair,
While demon powers fill the air
And their hearts are so heavy, yet there’s none who care…
Jesus, let me be your witness!
 
As they wander aimless through the deep dark night,
Let me see them with your eyes, and feel their plight;
Then let Holy Ghost power shine bright my light…
Oh Jesus! Let me be your witness!
 
Walking through darkness, this weary throng
Many have waited, for so very long
To hear that sweet name that turns despair into song…
OH Jesus!  Let me be your witness!
 
Let me lead them from darkness into your glorious light,
By the word of your power, your strength and your might;
Let their sins, tho’ be many, like snow, be pure white…
Oh Jesus!  Let me be your witness! 


ARE WE ALL THE SAME? YES AND NO

By: Lee Pierce
 
I was at the grocery store shortly before the Super Bowl game on Sunday, and it was a perfect mad house! Grocery carts everywhere and one could hardly navigate down the aisles because there was so much traffic. And, of course, everyone was in a complete hurry! People were running their carts into other people and their carts. I was not in so much of a hurry, so it was fairly easy for me to stay out of most people’s way, most of the time.

As I navigated my way through the store, I just casually looked around at all the people in this bustling crowd. What a significant assortment of people. If people-watching is of interest (it’s a hobby of mine), there was plenty of material to work with there. That’s when I had the thought that, in this amazing mixture of people of assorted sizes, ages, ethnic origins, and varied temperaments (some people handle being in a crowded, busy store better than others, I must say), God made every single one of these folks… and not one looks like any of the others!

God, in His awesome power and artistry, made us all alike—when you look at a person you know immediately that you’re gazing at a human being, not a horse or a dog. Yet, every one of those people is unique in untold ways. Further, while there may have been literally hundreds of people navigating the store aisles, if a friend or acquaintance appears, you recognize them almost immediately.  

As I contemplated that thought, I admit to being amazed that God could take a very similar structure, such as that of the typical human being, and make their face so unique. Forget height, weight, voice quality, skin color, hair color, etc. Just their face alone is enough to make nearly everyone unique and identifiable (I certainly allow for the fact that there are people who look very much like someone else somewhere, but in the main, in a random group of 100 people, typically every single one of them is differentiated).

So people are special, as we are made by God alone [Gen 2:7]  and in His image [Gen 1:27] to rule over all of the beasts, the fish in the sea, and birds of the air [Gen 1:28]. And, even in those cases where two people look very much alike, there typically still are many differentiating features between them, such as height, voice quality, etc.  And God clearly puts great stock in the life and importance of each individual person: “Whoever sheds man’s blood…his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God He made man.” [Gen 9:6]

And so? If one chooses to take a cavalier attitude toward our experiences, one might end up saying, “If you’ve seen one mountain, lake, ocean, cloud in the sky, you’ve seen them all; they all look mostly alike in many ways.” In one sense that attitude would be somewhat correct, if not maybe a little shallow. Of course, in reality, each mountain you witness is a different experience, often encountered with different people.

But, I find it fascinating that God goes to the trouble to make us each highly unique. Every single person I know or meet is wholly one-of-a-kind. Their facial features, build, voice, approach to life and what they love and value. All those things taken together that make them an individual. Yet God made, knows, and loves each one of them…and can have a unique, one-on-one relationship with each single person. If you stand in awe as you look up at the starry night sky, try simply looking around yourself at all the artistry exhibited by God in each and every person. Everything and everyone that God touches is so unique and special—and so are you!



DO YOU KNOW HIM???

By Anita Mondragon
 
We’ve all heard it.  Perhaps at times, we’ve even said it.
 
“Oh my God!” is now a common term.  There is even an acronym for it OMG!  Cursing and using the name of God and Jesus can be heard many times throughout the day.  It may be used more in the world than in the church!  You hear God’s name used at work, in the general public, and especially on TV and in movies!  The name of God and His Son Jesus, are now among the common expletives used to express our deepest anger.  How sad!  Because the name of Jesus is LOVE of the purest kind!  He died so that we could live….But my question to those of us that use it so loosely is this…DO YOU KNOW HIM?  I mean, do you KNOW Him in a personal way?  Is He your friend?  Is He your refuge?  Is He your Savior?  
 
Years ago, when I was married to my first husband, he used God’s name very freely in conversation.  It wasn’t used in the sense of invoking the power of God into a situation, nor was it used to seek repentance.  It was in the midst of foul language and curses.

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WAR!

By Anita Mondragon
 
If you belong to Jesus, you need to know…we are soldiers in the army of God!  
 
Most of us live our lives as though all is at peace in the world.  We don’t care to trouble ourselves with the weight of the world’s problems.  We know where we will end up when this life is over, so we are satisfied to sit on our Blessed Assurance and let the world go it’s way.  But let me remind you (me included), WE ARE AT WAR!  
 
A few years back, there was a movie called the War Room.  The lady in the movie had many prayer requests, so she made her closet the place where she’d pray.  She hung sticky notes with her requests to God.  She would daily go into her closet, close the door, and bring each request before the throne of God Almighty.  This closet became known as her War Room.  

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EVEN WHEN I FAIL

By Lee Pierce 
 
Have you ever felt like you let the Lord down? Done things you know would not please Him? Fail despite your best intentions to serve Him and be there for Him? I have to admit, that describes me way too often! I sometimes have the very best of intentions…then I blow it!

It’s safe to say, however, that none of those failings surprise our God. He knows us well and understands how weak we can be. Yet He still always loves us, and that fact never ceases to surprise me. Which is surprising in itself since He is God & His ways are not our ways [Is 55:8-9]. I should never expect God to react to people and circumstances the way I would in my fallen flesh. Thankfully, He doesn’t!


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LIFE COACHES…HOW DO YOU FIND THE BEST ONE? 

By Anita Mondragon
 
Nowadays…you hear a lot about Life Coaches.  Everyone wants their own, ‘personal” life coach.  I know I need to make some changes in my own life…so I went to google to find out exactly just what a life coach really is.  Here’s what google told me….

“We help people move forward and set personal and professional goals that will give them the life they really want. Most life coaching clients are healthy, successful people who might be a bit stuck or simply want to make a big change in their lives and want the support of their own personal coach to do so.”

Okay.  That’s exactly what I thought a life coach was 

Then I wanted to know the cost of employing a life coach….

 “Life coaches charge rates similar to other helping professionals. Most life coaches charge somewhere between $75 and $200 per hour. However, you can find coaches who fall outside of that range.”

Well, I shared all of that with you because we are ALL IN NEED OF A LIFE COACH!!


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One Response to “Forgiven- A Daily Devotional”

  1. Anita says:

    What a great prayer! As Believers, this is the kind of stuff we should be seeking God for on a daily basis!
    Thanks for the reminder sister Francine!
    -anita

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