SOMETIMES WINNING LOOKS A LOT LIKE FAILURE!
Tag Archives: God
Who Carries You?
This week’s challenge from A Word In Your Ear is the word; CARRY
Stop into Sue’s blog after you are done here and check 0ut how others photographically interpreted the word.
http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-carry/
Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
He will rule with a powerful arm.
See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Isa. 40:10,11 NLT
Dear friends, you know who you are.This song is my gift to you today. May it light your path for a few hours. Know someone is praying for you.
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Remember the Help
I was offered the opportunity to preach the Memorial Day sermon at Cornerstone last weekend. Here is the sermon in its entirety taken from 1 Samuel 7 http://cornerstoneag.net/2014/05/25/rememberthehelp/
7 So the men of Kiriath-jearim came to get the Ark of the Lord. They took it to the hillside home of Abinadab and ordained Eleazar, his son, to be in charge of it. 2 The Ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for a long time—twenty years in all. During that time all Israel mourned because it seemed the Lord had abandoned them.
Samuel Leads Israel to Victory
3 Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really serious about wanting to return to the Lord, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the Lord; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord.
5 Then Samuel told them, “Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord. (It was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel’s judge.) 7 When the Philistine rulers heard that Israel had gathered at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelites were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching. 8 “Don’t stop pleading with the Lord our God to save us from the Philistines!” they begged Samuel. 9 So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with the Lord to help Israel, and the Lord answered him. 10 Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived to attack Israel. But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them. 11 The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to a place below Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way. 12 Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah.[a] He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and didn’t invade Israel again for some time. And throughout Samuel’s lifetime, theLord’s powerful hand was raised against the Philistines. 14 The Israelite villages near Ekron and Gath that the Philistines had captured were restored to Israel, along with the rest of the territory that the Philistines had taken. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites in those days. 15 Samuel continued as Israel’s judge for the rest of his life. 16 Each year he traveled around, setting up his court first at Bethel, then at Gilgal, and then at Mizpah. He judged the people of Israel at each of these places. 17 Then he would return to his home at Ramah, and he would hear cases there, too. And Samuel built an altar to the Lord at Ramah.” 1 Samuel 7:1-17 NLT
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Caddo’s Seven Word Sunday: 5-24-14
Living at the center of the whirlwind…
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Time To Fight!
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:35-39 ESV)
Dear friend, now is not the time to throw in the towel! You may feel like you are running blind but that doesn’t mean you’ve lost; It just means you can’t see how close the finish line is.
I am watching as the enemy of our souls is stirring up much contention within and against the church and her saints; But I know he is only doing it because we are near to a breakthrough. Victory only comes through warfare and miracles only take place when all possible solutions have failed; So if your situation looks like either of those two paradigms look up and your redemption will draw near!
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We Are Not Done Yet!
To all those weary souls out there who think they have no fight left in them Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Ma 11:28-30
Rest can only be found in the arms of Jesus, nowhere else. It’s time to take Jesus up on His invitation. Come away from the world through quiet prayer and solitude and you will be healed.
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Heaven Pt. 148: We Win!
The poor will see and be glad—
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33The Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
34Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
35for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;
36the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there. Psm 69:32-36
When I set out to do a biblical word study concerning Heaven (The Heaven Posts) I really didn’t know how many places the word itself would take me. But we certainly have been round about all sorts of spiritual topics haven’t we?
Today for instance we are talking about disabled ability.
Over the course of thirty something years of Christianity I have come to know myself as a weak man. I know my faults, failures and limitations better than anyone. I count myself among the poor, the needy and the helpless …more now than I did when I first accepted Christ, but I also count myself among the provided for, the able and the helped as well.
In myself I can do nothing. At least so Jesus tells me in John 15. But in Him, with Him, by Him Oh now that’s a different story!
You see “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Phil. 4 .
I am ” made more than a conqueror through Christ!” Rom. 8 .
And so “forgetting what is behind I press onward toward the high calling of Christ!” Phil 3
Christian you are probably standing in a position right now that looks entirely impossible. Truth be told it probably is or it would be if you had to deal with the situation in your own power or strength; BUT YOU DON’T!!! We believers never go anywhere alone. Christ comes with us; So begin acting on that truth and involve Him in your situation. God will save you like He will save Zion! Praise His name because in the end we win!
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The First Mowing
my pseudo-elizabethan garden
I finished my first mowing of the spring season the other day. I am very happy that the green grass is back and growing!
The hard thing about the first mowing is figuring out just how to go about it. After the long winter, the guidelines that were well-worn into the grass by the end of summer are all gone. It is like starting from scratch.
Life can be kind of like the first mowing can’t it? I mean, one minute everything is going along at its pretty pace and then suddenly a winter of an interruption moves into place and before you know it all your neatly organized systems of living, all your patterns, your regimens are broken.
In the middle of the interruptions we keep wishing for things to get back to normal.
The child is sick and we say “When the sickness is over and he’s well again we’ll get things back to normal.”
In the midst of the bankruptcy we keep reminding ourselves “It will all be back to normal soon.”
But when all is said and done and the chilly trial is coming to its glad conclusion what I have discovered is that what I once considered normal has disappeared. The lines of normal which once seemed so clearly etched into the lawn of my life have up and gone. It seems that just when I am all set for normal to return what was normal has ceased to exist.
As I started up my mower the other day I quickly realized my dilemma. I couldn’t see the old lines I used to follow and I had forgotten where they were. You would think after a hundred times mowing the lawn it would be simple to just pick up where I’d left off, but something had changed over the winter. I burned some brush opening new areas of lawn. The snow plows had chopped up another section. A branch fell here. Some new seedlings I wanted to keep had sprouted in odd locations there. My old methods didn’t fit anymore.
Maybe you have been through a trial. Maybe life has changed unexpectedly and now you are finding what used to be normal no longer fits. What’s a body to do?
1. Let go of old patterns that no longer fit. Nothing stays the same forever except God. Come to it that He is the only One who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
2. Embrace the opportunity to try something new. What was normal no longer is but God can bless the new patterns of your life as much as He blessed the last maybe even more so.
3. Give yourself a break as you begin to change. As I was mowing the new pattern into my lawn I realized that some of the new things I was trying to get the lawn done were not working or looking so good. That’s OK. It is only the first mowing. I have a whole summer ahead to get it right and so do you!
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Heaven Pt. 147: In the Lion’s Den
I cry out to God Most High
to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.
3 He will send help from heaven to rescue me,
disgracing those who hound me.
My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.
4 I am surrounded by fierce lions
who greedily devour human prey—
whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,
and whose tongues cut like swords. Psm 57:2-4
Let’s just face it. This world is a lion’s den. Oh not everyone out there is a lion but there are enough to go around, sho’ nuff. If you make it through to your full seventy years chances are you are going to run into at least one ravening lion. I’m not talking about a skunk or a badger or even a nasty dog of a person. The lions are those who not only annoy your steps but who threaten your very existence. They have the power to steal your dreams and reduce your hopes to rubble. They are the people who stand like shadows on the edge of your nightmares waiting to pounce and take everything that seems good and gracious in life. In the Bible they are the Serpents, the Cains, the Pharaohs, the Sauls and the Judas’.
So what’s a person to do when facing a lion? Do what the psalmist did. Do what Daniel did. Cry out to God and let Him be the one to shut the mouth of the lion. We serve a God who doesn’t expect us to fight our own battles. He expects us to give the battle over to Him. If He needs our help He will be sure to tell us. More often than not He will probably tell us…
You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ 2 Chron. 20:17
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Caddo’s Seven Word Sundays 5-11-14
No matter what comes, Jesus strengthens me!
