Psalm 91
He who dwells
in the shelter of the Most High
will abide
in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him
I will protect him,
because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life, I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
Collections. A very witty friend of mine tells me her collections have collections.
And don't our thoughts have collections and then, maybe, pet thoughts. Pets. And don't our pet thoughts have established patterns of thoughts leading down the same path as yesterday?
I have a collection most Christians have. I have a collection of Sermons, Bible Studies and Answered Prayers that are my "Go To Collection." They are my favorite pet thought collection.
I think I'll explain it like this:
Jesus came down from an amazing mountain, where His Disciples met Moses, Elijah and God Himself. Then Jesus has the opportunity to find His Disciples are not succeeding with the father and the son in distress. The father yells out, "I have FAITH. I do I really do. God Help me to have More Faith."
My first thought upon waking is to pray for all the family and place them with Jesus. In times of sunshine, this is Joy. In times of worry, I ask Jesus to pray with me to make the Prayer Effective. I ask Jesus to borrow His Faith.
In this Prayer. We are placed where the Light of our Soul has Jesus replenishing us. At the top of Living Water soaking and seeping wherever Jesus would have this Blessing go. Blessing those around us and filling us.
This is wonderful. And if someone has trouble, then I worry.
And I remember a Sermon about a man at work who had quit praying because everything was always the same. The same Blessing. The same wife, job, children and drive to and from work. Until the day a man at the office had his child die in a car wreck. And this Sermon is about the shame of getting on the office floor (door closed) to mourn privately and the shame to Pray Again Suddenly and the shame to beg a Busy God to spare his own children. And ending the prayer pretty quickly to not get caught with more shame. Brush off the real tears and cry a little more and get back to work - fast.
The man was so caught up - he drove past his children's school to pray for the safety of all the children while taking a new detour to do this on the way home. Arriving a little later to hug his oldest child. The child calmly told him carpool had been in a very bad wreck on the way home but they all ended up fine. And realizing his prayer was for all the children at school enfolding all the children in the car on the way home. Realizing with a life-changing day - God is listening and answering Prayer.
I know a minister quite well who has a similar prayer story.
This Minister prayed over every semester of college for the son to have safe classes, good classes, a good heart, mind and soul. To meet godly people, to be safe, to have his walk with Jesus safe. For the joy of the classes, the students and the Professors. To establish His Path with Father God Almighty. And about the third year of college this former student youth minister son announced to the Minister, he was done with the Easter Bunny and Jesus.
And so far, not apparently answered prayer. Having the prayer feel, "way past the good date." Expired. And then feeling ashamed of not being hopeful to pray. And prayed and fasted on with humbug. And humbug apology.
The son graduated from college. With allll the attitudes. Came home to visit and about three years down the line - said as the milk was being placed in the wonderful refrigerator for the prompt good, fresh, good milk date. "You know why I didn't sell drugs?"
"Probably because you have a soul and don't wish to be the author of ruined lives and children accidentally ingesting said drugs and dying and knowing all your life you sold drugs. Your parents would kill you. You aren't stupid. You grandmother would know. You'd have your picture in the paper. No jobs. And we told you all your life you were smart and made good decisions and were highly intelligent as well as Jesus follower."
The son replied as the light of the Refrigerator was still showing, "Yep that."
And the son continued, "But in the dorm, people sold pharmaceutical drugs and made a fortune. And I decided I would too."
The minister said only, "No."
The minister's son continued to be upbeat. "The problem with trying to sell pharmaceutical drugs is you have to really find a supplier. And I found a co-worker who told me she would give me Hydrocodone tablets from her broken ankle. She had a ton of them and she was allergic to them. I was meeting her at work about noon for the tablets that can be sold for $120 each."
The minister simply couldn't speak and was puzzled at the upbeat tone.
"So she was late and it got to be five in the afternoon.Finally, she came into work and with her were two uniformed police people. I ran to the break room. Immediately I began to cry, realizing you and my family and grandmother would find I'd sold DRUGS. Every good thing would be wiped out. I'd never be a person who didn't sell drugs again. I'd make the newspaper. Co workers would eventually recognize me. I'd never have a good job. Probably prison. I thought about what a real prison cell looks like. I realized I'd been arrogant to assume I'd never be caught. I wondered how she was caught. I cried really hard about being hauled out in handcuffs in front of all the entire office. I pictured calling home and getting the answering machine. And then I prayed and said, "Please God oh God Oh God. Please."
"I really couldn't talk. I had faced the worst part of my worst decision. And she left with the pills. And that is why I'm never going to sell drugs." The son continued. "I prayed and if I really thought about it in the "God vein," I'd have to say God let me live my decision and fall in my decision and not take the decision. God took it from me."
Every morning, I start my day praying for the people I love. God will take our faithless prayers. Our humbug Salmon prayers. The prayers we feel hit the ceiling and when we are sorry for being without all the faith we'd like to give Father God, He treats us as our Father.
God is good, because God is good.
Abba, Father God,
You are the Shepherd of our Soul. You Oversee our Lives. Your Path is where we want to be.
You are The Lord of Lords, God of All Creation and where we want to receive our Blessings.
Our Best Prayer - our Highest Prayer - our Earnest Prayer -
We want to place our Beloved Ones in Your Heart. We want the Comforter and Teacher for them. God of Encouragement. Bless them.
Love is from God.
We pray The Prayer Jesus taught us to pray, always. Knowing You give us this day. You forgive us and Love us.
We would have Your Prayer embrace all of Your Good Creation. We would have the Heavens pour out a Blessing of more Heaven on earth. We would have the Light of all shine upon the Nations to trust more in You. We would bless our Nation with Living Water seeping and refreshing where You would place Your Love.
And in peace, joy and Love to know You answer prayers more than we can ask or imagine. You take and calm and give us joy.
Thanks be to You, Father God and Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Alleluia. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †
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