“THE NIGHT IS BRIGHT AS THE DAY!”

 Psalm 139:11-12                      (ESV)

    “[11] If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

        and the light about me be night,” 

    [12] even the darkness is not dark to YOU;

        “THE NIGHT IS BRIGHT AS THE DAY”,

        for darkness is as LIGHT with YOU.”

Even though I have been a BELIEVER since 1978, I still am not as strong a CHRISTIAN as I should be.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never had anyone murdered or slept with another man’s wife as the author of this Psalm, but I have never been called “a man after GOD’s OWN heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) by the Holy Spirit either!!!

With ALMIGHTY GOD in CONTROL, there is a calm assurance that “EVERYTHING WILL BE JUST FINE”!!  My wife told those caring for me during the Brain Hemorrhage almost 18 years ago that and she was quietly “scoffed” at!!  And even though I AM CHANGED, I AM JUST FINE!!

Psalms 139:12 plainly says “even the darkness is not dark to YOU; “THE NIGHT IS BRIGHT AS THE DAY”, for darkness is as LIGHT with YOU”! HE SEES our future in a TOTALLY DIFFERENT LIGHT than what humanity has the capability of seeing!  HE IS GOD, and we ARE NOT!  HE isn’t fazed by the trials and hardships that HE uses to mold us into HIS IMAGE. HE lovingly moves us through EVEN the darkest times and into HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT!!!

Don’t be swayed by a storm of darkness that may be in our future!  GOD is in control of EVERYTHING and HE can SEE that “THE NIGHT IS BRIGHT AS THE DAY”!!!  Our FAITH needs to reflect that HE IS IN CONTROL……not us!!!

“SEARCH ME, O GOD!”

 Psalm 139:17-24                    (ESV)

    “[17] How precious to me are YOUR THOUGHTS, O GOD!

        How vast is the sum of them! 

    [18] If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

        I awake, and I am still with YOU .

    [19] Oh that YOU would slay the wicked, O GOD!

        O men of blood, depart from me! 

    [20] They speak against YOU with malicious intent;

        YOUR enemies take YOUR name in vain. 

    [21] Do I not hate those who hate YOU, O LORD?

        And do I not loathe those who rise up against YOU? 

    [22] I hate them with complete hatred;

        I count them my enemies.

    [23] “SEARCH ME, O GOD”, and know my heart!

        Try me and know my thoughts! 

    [24] And see if there be any grievous way in me,

        and lead me in the way everlasting!”

There are times when “the enemy” tries to infiltrate my mind with something that is anything but THE TRUTH to get me “off track” from what GOD has PLANNED for my life.  There is NOTHING that replace the JOY and PEACE that floods my soul when the THOUGHTS of GOD ALMIGHTY are flowing through my mind.  

But how can I rest assured that YOUR THOUGHTS aren’t being replaced by my own dreams and desires??

“SEARCH ME, O GOD”, not only to know my heart, but to make certain that I am becoming precisely what YOU want me to be!!  It is my desire NOT to be successful and make a lot of money, but to be a minister of what YOU permit me oversee for YOUR GLORY!  

“SEARCH ME, O GOD” and do with me whatever YOU NEED so that I can bring HONOR and GLORY to YOUR NAME and fulfill YOUR PLAN for my life!!!

“THE WORD!”

 John 1:1; 14                    (ESV)

“THE WORD” Became Flesh

“[1] In the beginning was “THE WORD”, and “THE WORD” was with GOD, and “THE WORD” WAS GOD.”

“[14] And “THE WORD” became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen HIS glory, glory as of THE ONLY SON from the FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.”

This morning I will keep my thoughts very brief!  How many times have I read over John 1:1 with seemingly no expectation of hearing “THE WORD”???  My heart apparently wasn’t prepared to receive that which GOD had for me???

The HOLY BIBLE is recognized as “THE WORD” by some people, but to have a TRUE understanding of “THE WORD”, GOD ALMIGHTY is required to OPEN OUR EYES….to REVEAL HIMSELF to us!  In Luke 24:45 a resurrected JESUS tells two CHOSEN men, “Then HE OPENED THEIR MINDS to understand the Scriptures,”. 

BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE is the description that adequately states how TRULY GRATEFUL I am to have “THE WORD” revealed to me by “THE WORD” HIMSELF!!!!

“LET GO!”

 As I was prayerfully considering what GOD would have me share this morning, a friend posted the meme entitled “when you’re trying to take control of everything”!  

GOD IS TRYING TO GET ME TO “LET GO” AND SURRENDER CONTROL OF EVERYTHING TO HIM!!!

“WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?”

 Luke 8:22-25                    (ESV)

JESUS Calms a Storm

“[22] One day HE got into a boat with HIS disciples, and HE said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, [23] and as they sailed HE fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. [24] And they went and woke HIM, saying, “MASTER, MASTER, we are perishing!” And HE awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, AND THERE WAS CALM. [25] HE said to them, “WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “WHO then is this, that HE commands even winds and water, and they obey HIM?”

This is the same passage of Scripture used in yesterday’s devotional.  But as I was going about my day yesterday my mind was continually on these verses and how GOD has worked in my life in the past!  

There are SEVERAL times where I wouldn’t have gotten through the TEST has GOD not intervened!!!  Of course, July 09, 2007 is the example most are familiar with.  But Isaiah 42:5 DOES NOT need to overlooked as a KEY passage of remembrance: “Thus says GOD, THE LORD, WHO CREATED the heavens and stretched them out, WHO spread out the earth and what comes from it, WHO GIVES BREATH TO THE PEOPLE ON IT AND SPIRIT TO THOSE WHO WALK IN IT:!!

Humanity wants to glory in all its accomplishments and achievements, BUT in reality, we don’t even have the ability to make it through a single moment of LIFE without JESUS intervening on our behalf!  HE “GIVES” us the very air we breathe AND the SPIRIT to function every second of our lives!  HE permits us to accomplish HIS PLAN, even when we don’t do what we KNOW we should!!  Even David (a man after GOD’S OWN HEART according to 1 Samuel 13:14) was selfish and acted selfishly (in 2 Samuel 11:4) during certain times of his life!!

Especially when I get so caught up in the “cares of this world” (Matthew 13:42), I need to SLOW DOWN and refocus on HIS WORD and PURPOSE for my life.  “WHERE IS YOUR FAITH” is something that I must ALWAYS ask myself, ALL THE TIME!!!  My opportunities have been demonstrated to me to NOT be up to me when they will end!!!  “WHERE IS YOUR FAITH” and are you doing everything you can to make it known to others???

“MASTER, MASTER!”

 Luke 8:22-25                    (ESV)

JESUS Calms a Storm

“[22] One day HE got into a boat with HIS disciples, and HE said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, [23] and as they sailed HE fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. [24] And they went and woke HIM, saying, “”MASTER, MASTER”, we are perishing!” And HE awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, AND THERE WAS CALM. [25] HE said to them, “Where is your FAITH?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “WHO then is this, that HE commands even winds and water, and they obey HIM?”

The title of this lesson is JESUS Calms a Storm, as HE quietly and distinctly calms a RAGING sea after a few minutes earlier HE had explicitly told them “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”  Was it a coincidence that HE said what HE did when HE KNEW that “the storm” was definitely in the future for HIS disciples?  Yet as HE slept, they were battling the storm, and with NOT a lot of success!!!

Being chiefly fishermen by trade, most of them were accustomed to the Sea of Galilee winds, but this storm was unlike anything that they had experienced before.  Regardless of their pedigree, the disciples were “in danger” and went to JESUS said, “MASTER, MASTER”, we are perishing.”  JESUS responded almost immediately, HE “rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, AND THERE WAS CALM”!

Sometimes I just need for my “MASTER, MASTER” to get my EYES off of “the wind and the raging waves” and KNOW that HE IS IN CONTROL!!!  Yes, I would prefer that HE reveal HIS PLAN to me more plainly sometimes, but my FAITH that HE IS IN CONTROL wouldn’t grow nearly as much if things were so plain??  When my EYES are OPENED and I SEE that I am NOT running things, ONLY THEN am I in a position to submit to HIS AUTHORITY?

Psalm 100:3 (ESV) says “KNOW that the LORD, HE is GOD!  It is HE WHO  made us, and we are HIS; we are HIS people, and the sheep of HIS pasture”!  There are times when the storms in our lives get SO terrible that we have to give in and cry out “MASTER, MASTER”!!!  It is not as though HE suddenly gets POWER, but HE requires us to look to our “MASTER, MASTER” to get us to where we are most beneficial for HIS PLAN!!!

“IRREVERENT BABBLE!”

 2 Timothy 2:14-17a                    (ESV

A Worker Approved by GOD

“[14] Remind them of these things, and charge them before GOD not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. [15] DO YOUR BEST to present yourself to GOD as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the WORD OF TRUTH. [16] But AVOID “IRREVERENT BABBLE”, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, [17] and their talk will spread like gangrene.”

Having a decision in your future that has the opportunity to place you where you are able to HEAR from ALMIGHTY GOD can be a “tricky” thing!!  WHO we listen to has a very important role.  We can listen to “wise counsel” or we can listen to “IRREVERENT BABBLE” that brings confusion and chaos??

Surely nobody would CHOOSE on their own to listen to “IRREVERENT BABBLE” before making a decision about what GOD would have them do??  But HOW DO YOU KNOW what GOD is doing and avoid the “IRREVERENT BABBLE” from “this world”??  In 1 Kings 19:12 Elijah is being SPOKEN to by ALMIGHTY GOD WHO instructed Elijah to listen for a “low whisper”!!  A “low whisper” CANNOT be heard unless you are INTENTLY wanting to HEAR the MESSAGE!!

“IRREVERENT BABBLE” leads to hearing from “the enemy” confusion that is FAR AWAY from the TRUTH we are searching for in our lives!  When we RIGHTLY HANDLE THE WORD OF TRUTH it WILL CHANGE our lives in ways that are IMPOSSIBLE to comprehend. But we have to get away from the noise of “this world” and listen for a “low whisper”!!

FATHER IN HEAVEN, cause me to GET AWAY FROM “this world” and HEAR TRUTH from YOU!!!  We CANNOT HEAR TRUTH when we are listening to “IRREVERENT BABBLE” from the great deceiver (Revelation 12:9)!!!