God has rolled up His sleeves

Oh my goodness!! Our heavenly Father has rolled up His sleeves. He is at work. He is not sleeping. He isn’t tired. He is on the job. Everyone can see this. His muscles are bulging out, ready to help me.

What an image this creates for me. As I come into His presence, I can see He is ready. His sleeves are rolled up. This creates the desire in me to “Give thanks in all circumstances” because I see He is ready.

Woo Hoo!!! Our heavenly Father has rolled up His sleeves.

Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem: “God has comforted his people! He’s redeemed Jerusalem!” God has rolled up his sleeves. All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm. Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other, sees him at work, doing his salvation work. Isaiah 52

You were given this new life in God. With Him, you are strong enough to live it.

We are born. And then, some of us are born again. We have a new life. We are strong enough to live it. And live it we will.

May I recognize it is all about Him. May I seize a hold of His strength. May I know that is all I need.

You were given this new life in God. With Him, you are strong enough to live it. 

Should I be “self confident”?

The enemy is constantly trying to find ways to trip me up. God is strong and He wants me to be strong in Him. I  have the most amazing  weapons. He has shown me the way. The victory is His.

This is a challenge in a world where we are encouraged at every turn to “self confident”. It is considered a strength. In God’s world (Kingdom) it is not a strength. Our confidence should be in God. It is His strengths that are important.

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Ephesians 6:10

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• Well Prepared for God: Matthew 24:44, 1 Peter 1:13, Ephesians 6:10-17 (sidewalkschalk.com)
• Ephesians 6:10-17 (puretreasure.wordpress.com)
• Juggling Act (thoughtfulbeliever.wordpress.com)

As I get older …

As I get older, I want to be like Caleb. He was one of the 12 Moses selected to go into the Promised Land to see what it was like. Only he and Joshua thought they could conquer their enemies. The other 10 didn’t believe God and his promise. That resulted in Israel wondering around in the desert for 40 years.

So, fast forward. Eventually Joshua leads them all into the Promised Land. They fight for 5 years. Caleb comes to Joshua one day and says “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.”

Caleb remember what God had told him. He held onto it for 45 years. He never wavered. So he continues his conversation with Joshua: “So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”

At 85 he wants to go and fight some more. He is strong and vigorous. He is ready to go at it. He wants what God promised him and he won’t stop until he gets it.

So … I want to be like Caleb.

Related articles

• Joshua: Profile in Courage By Bruce Scott (chaplaingary.wordpress.com)
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• What Would You Do? Joshua and Caleb Edition (yearinthebible.com)

Is He strengthening me?

He is strengthening me. I don’t feel it right now but I know it is true. There is nothing impossible with Him.

He is strengthening me.

“It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Strength and where it comes from

Some things are amazingly simple with God. Here is one of them. God is strong. Nothing weak about him at all. Like the energizer bunny he just keeps going and going. He is always strong. He never sleeps. He doesn’t grow tired. He has always been strong and always will be.

His desire for us  is that we will always be strong as well. He sent Jesus to die for us and to share in the power of His ressurection. He gave His mighty Spirit so we could be strong. He has given us all the weapons we need to be victorious.

So there!!!

God is strong, and he wants you strong. Ephesians 6:10

May we always be strong, just as He is.

He whispers to me

The LORD comes to me and whispers to me not to despair. He is present with me. He is here. He is always here, even when I don’t know it.

He is strong like a warrior. Strong like an Iron Man. He is not decrepit. He is here to save me. He is very happy I am his child. He calms me with His love. He delights me with His songs. He lifts my soul as He whispers to me not to despair. Nothing is impossible for Him.

Words of strength and heart

John the Baptist was an amazing man of God. His words gave strength to people. His words put heart in them. Of course, they also offended the powerful. But John was faithful to the Message. His focus was on delivering God’s message of hope. He did not focus on who he would offend in the process.

May I have his same faithfulness. May I speak words that give people strenght and heart.

There was a lot more of this—words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message! But Herod, the ruler, stung by John’s rebuke in the matter of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail. Luke 3:18-20

“And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment.” ~~ Apostle Paul

God has chosen us for a new life. It is a life of love. It’s characteristics are:

• Compassion
• Kindness
• Humility
• Quiet strength
• Discipline
• Even tempered
• Forgiving

And so, we should wear love everyday. It is a garment we should always put on.

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Colossians 3:12-14

 

God knows how ….

God knows how to do surgery. He can bring about internal purification. I can trust Him. He is good, all the time.

Is God first in my life? Is He second in my life? Is He third? He wants my only priority?

I need more of that and only that. I can pay that price. He gives me strength.

How can I help?

Here is what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy on himself by avoiding anything. Particularly when it came to people and relationships. He waded right in and He helped out. So am I strong in the faith? Do I lend a hand to those who are struggling? Or do I just look for the “easy way”?

My approach and attitude should always be, “How can I help?”

May I find how our Father wants me to help!!!

Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” Romans 15:1-4

That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

Strength is for service

My oh my, there is some misguided thinking going on in this world. God has a goal for us. We are to tap into His power. Why? To serve. That is all there is to it.

It is not about what is convenient. It is not about what is comfortable. It is not about me. It is not about status. It is all about Him.

It is all about service. That is it.

“Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” – Romans 15:2