Give Up

Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
Pro 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct[fn1] your paths.

Pro 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8 It will be health to your flesh,[fn2]
And strength[fn3] to your bones.


Give up trying to solve all your problems. You already have the answer and the best part is it makes everything work out.

Healing

Psa 34:18
The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Jer 3:22
Return, ye backsliding children, [and] I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou [art] the LORD our God.

The Lord is willing, if we ask. He will bind up the wounds and mend the broken heart. He brings us back to him and heals all our ruptures, no matter how far away or in what state we find ourselves.

Psa 73:25
Whom have I in heaven [but thee]? and [there is] none upon earth [that] I desire beside thee.

Psa 73:28
But [it is] good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

Psa 37:5
Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass.

I'm tired, but there is only one reason I'm tired. I've allowed my desires to overwhelm me. Sometimes it seems, we want things so badly that we are willing to lose all we are to get at what we want to be. When the truth is who we want to be may not be who we need to be.

I've had to let go, I've had to let go of something very dear to me. But I put my trust in the Lord and I commit my way to him. I know I'm not perfect, and I know my plans come and go. But he made perfection and he will bring his way in my life to pass. If I mess up, he'll gather me up and set me up again. If I'm doing right he'll send his encouragement. And If I need to let go he'll give me peace. And he'll even cause others to be at peace with me.

I'm going to trust in him. I'm going to trust in Him to work out hte pain, to fill the gap, to be my desire. I'm going to look to him as the source of all my supply and I'm not going to be upset when I have to change or amend my plans to stay in his footsteps.

The Rivers of God

Psa 65:1
For the choir director: A psalm of David. A song. What mighty praise, O God, belongs to you in Zion. We will fulfill our vows to you,
Psa 65:2
for you answer our prayers, and to you all people will come.
Psa 65:3
Though our hearts are filled with sins, you forgive them all.
Psa 65:4
What joy for those you choose to bring near, those who live in your holy courts. What joys await us inside your holy Temple.
Psa 65:5
You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas.
Psa 65:6
You formed the mountains by your power and armed yourself with mighty strength.
Psa 65:7
You quieted the raging oceans with their pounding waves and silenced the shouting of the nations.
Psa 65:8
Those who live at the ends of the earth stand in awe of your wonders. From where the sun rises to where it sets, you inspire shouts of joy.
Psa 65:9
You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The rivers of God will not run dry; they provide a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so.
Psa 65:10
You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops.
Psa 65:11
You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. Psa 65:12
The wilderness becomes a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy.
Psa 65:13
The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. They all shout and sing for joy!

The rivers of God will not run dry. I'm remebering the parable of the sower, who took his seed and cast it out. Some of the seed fell on rocky soil, some in weedy places, and some on good ground. I want to be the ground.

But I can't make myself the good ground. I get dry, my soil cracks, and my joy withers. There is a promise, however, and there is a hope. The rivers of God don't run dry. He is the one who causes our soil to become good, he softens our hearts with his call, and he pulls up the weeds through his sacrifice and blood.

I love the first part of this Psalm, when it says, "to you will all men come." Think about that. All men will come to the Lord because he answers prayer, he is not a god of deaf ears. He cares for us, he wants to be our source and will be our source if we only ask.

We were never intended to water ourselves, we were never intended to be the source of our own supply. Why? because he is willing and desiring to be our all in all. He wants to cause our whole being to bring forth good things, that we might praise Him and enter into his presence with joy.

In God's presence is joy forever more. We must not forget that, we must not forget He is the source of our supply and upon him all our abilities rest. If you find yourself being overwhelmed by circumstances take stock of what you are calling on to get you through. If you are continually resting in your own strength, you may succeed or you may fail. But if you rest in the the Lord and call on His name, he will help you and you'll come through with shouts of joy.

Call unto Me.

Jer 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.


I'm struck again today by the overwhelming realization I need Him. I don't need Him because I need something, I don't need Him because I think I should.

I need Him because He is the only think that satisfies. The only one who makes all things new. The only one with no end and whose depths I can't begin to fathom.

So whenever I feel like I have lost my place, that I'm not good enough, or that there are so many things I don't understand; all I have to do is call on Him. I call because He tells me to. I call because He will show me what I don't know. He will relieve the tension in my mind. And He, He will bear my burdens. This cannot be a constuct of piety, but an outgrowth of His deep desire to have us seek Him as He sought us.

Presence

Gen 3:8
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Psa 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence [is] fulness of joy; at thy right hand [there are] pleasures for evermore.
Psa 95:2
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
Act 3:19
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Jud 1:24
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

"In thy presence is fullness of joy."

I'm tired, I'm confused, I'm angry, and I just want to disappear for while. If these words sound familiar it's probably because they are the staple of our diet or at least of many of the people around us. But one thing is for certain, they don't come from being in the presence of the Lord.

We need to stop running. WE need to stop hiding like Adam and Eve. Redemption is ours, we don't have to hid in the garden. Now is the time to run into the presence of the Lord, our right through the grace of God and the price paid at Calvary. You see Adam and Eve were acutely aware of their separation from God, but we through Christ are no longer subject to that separation.

So RUN! Run to the place where there is fullness of JOY. David says to run into the Lord's presence with singing and shouts of joy. This is a far cry from Adam. But David's profession should be our postion. The presence of the Lord is refreshing! The presence of the Lord is our hiding place.

But you've sinned, you've made mistakes, you don't feel like running anywhere. I'm telling you right now to shut up! If you've sinned repent, if you've made mistakes, learn from them, and if you don't feel like running anywhere, start walking and the closer you get to Him, the faster you will move.

The Lord is full of grace, and His love endures forever. So stop listening to what you think he is, stop building the walls in your mind. Take him at his word. If he says you can run into his presence, run!!! That there is joy to be had, grab it!!!And that he will keep you there, so stop trying so hard to leave.

God's call is one of repentance, and the reward is His presence. So just trust what his word says. Because living in his presence and all the promises abiding therein sure sound alot better than all the fear and doubt keeping you in the bushes hiding. Stop trusting your own ideas and cling to what he says. He says to come into his presence with thanksgiving so do it!!! and he will take care of the rest.

The Words of This Life.

Prov. 4:24 - Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips
Prov. 6:2 - if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth,
Prov. 12:13 - An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble.
Prov. 13:2 - From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things, but the unfaithful have a craving for violence.
Prov.16:23 - A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction.
Prov.16:24 - Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Prov. 21:23 - He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.
James 3:5 - Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark
1 Pet. 3:10 - For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech
Ps.141:3 - Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.

We have to watch what we say. We create our world with the words and thoughts we use to frame it. If we keep saying we will fail, we are going to fail. We set ourselves up for it, we frame our world around it. If you constantly insist you are going to get fired, you are already planning the event.

We have to confess what the Lord says. Our world must be framed in his light, on his word. If we build on any other foundation its in vain.

But think about what the Lord says. He says, "You can do all things through Christ Jesus, "he has a plan for you, "He will never leave you or forsake you, "that if you commit your way unto Him, He will establish your path."

Now don't these words sound better than; I can't, I don't know, Maybe, I'm not sure.

If you want confusion in your life by all means confess it into your situation, but if you want peace, faith, and joy frame your life on the Lord's confession and make his your own.

Hope

PSALM 16
A Michtam of David.
PRESERVE me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
Psa 16:2
O my soul, you have said to the LORD,
"You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You."
Psa 16:3
As for the saints who are on the earth,
"They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."
Psa 16:4
Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.
Psa 16:5
O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
Psa 16:6
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
Psa 16:7
I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
Psa 16:8
I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Psa 16:9
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
Psa 16:10
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
Psa 16:11
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore

Tonight I can't sleep. Maybe its the fact that I never sleep or the fact that I have too much on my mind. So I guess now is a good time to remind myself of a few things.

I have no good thing apart from the Lord. I have no peace, I have no satisfaction, and I have no vision. But the questions must be asked; if all these things are true, why so much confusion? and why so much down time?

Hope, one must have hope. One must wake up each morning with two things in mind. This day is better than the last, and this day will soon be forgotten. I once had someone tell me that God is only eternal in the present, because everything else is past of present. Maybe this is true and maybe its not, but one thing is for certain. I can only abide in the present while moving toward the future and looking at the past.

But hope, hope perceives things in a different way. It springs from the past, through the present, and into the future. Maybe this is why hope does spring eternal, because it's effect is felt before, during, and after its application. Its hope that causes us to move from our past, through our present, and into our future.

Hope, however, must have a basis. And that basis must be Christ. Any other basis for hope falters along the way and isn't capable of reaching without end into the eternal.

So here is what I must remind myself; my hope is not of my own making. It is apart from me. The Lord is my portion and my strength, in Him lies my hope. My circumstances can and will change, but he will bear me through and he will remain my portion.

Now as to the deep questions, there is a reason for confusion, there is a reason for doubt. WE have lost sight of that hope, we've turned our heads along the way. But here is the good thing; He is always more than willing to show me my hope when I turn my eyes on Him.

Psa 18:28
Lord, you have brought light to my life; my God, you light up my darkness.

Psa 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

Psa 30:2
O Lord my God, I cried out to you for help, and you restored my health.
psalm 30:11
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
Psa 30:12
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

Psa 35:27
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Conversation

My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me." And my heart responds, "Lord, I am coming."

Psalm 27:8

I've been very guilty lately, guilty of not responding to my own heart's desire. Some people like to ring their hands and scream at the heavens; maybe they think if they yell loud enough they'll get an answer. And some of us like to play the stoic; thinking if we sit long enough we'll finally be able to see what's been there all along. But I think the simple truth is this. We are called to conversation, we are asked to speak, and we yearn to listen.

"Come and talk with me." Can you imagine? That is what we are asked to do. We're not asked to climb a mountain, we're not asked to look into a pond, we're not asked to repeat a mantra. All we have to do is talk. He's sworn never to leave us or forsake us. Why not act like it? Why keep pacing around the mountain waiting for it to move?

Answer Him, say as the psalmist, "Lord I am coming." It's just that easy; no bells, no penance, no unanswered questions.

You know I've been severlly neglect lately in having these converstaions. My heart hears him call and my only answer is in a minute. I can list all the excuses; fear, being tired, doubt. But in the end I can't escape Him. He really does love me too much to let me keep going without him. He is the one who swore to keep me and he is the one who carries out his plan for me.

So now I have the decision. My heart hears Him whisper, now it must answer. It must answer and my head has to stay out of the conversation. There is only one way to peace friends and it isn't in doing everything you are supposed to or reaching every goal. It's in knowing your creator and knowing that conversation and intimacy with Christ is the only peace and that He really is our only good thing.

Jhn 14:18"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Jhn 14:19"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
Jhn 14:20"At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
Jhn 14:21"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

Loneliness is not something anyone should take lightly. In fact I think it's something that should be taken very seriously and rooted out whenever it's found.Relationship, I think that is the most central desire of any human being, more than food, more than sex. The desire to know that not that somebody loves you or all of those wonderful things but to know you are never alone.There is a time for solitude, that is certain. But there is one time God looked down and said, "It's not good.'" And that was when he saw Adam sitting there all alone. He didn't look down and say "He's broke," but it wasn't good to be alone.

But here is the rub. We want, we want and we need other people in our lives and sometimes we want those people so badly that we lay everything about ourselves on an alter built on longing to hear someone say I like you or a love you.And what's worse is so many time we scream out at the one who loves us most that he doesn't love us at all because we can't see his love. But there is a promise we must teach ourselves to cling to, a promise that will pull us out of any depression and make clear any situation no matter how dimly lit.You see people all around you will tell you to go find yourself. Go be your own person, because only when you know you are complete will you ever know how to be with other people. BULL SHIT, I can think of no lonelier or pathetic individual than the one who is completly satisfied with their own company.

Christ told us he would not leave us as orphans. He said he would be our guide, he would be the friend that sticks closer than a brother. Well let's start taking him at his word. Let's start saying Lord I'm not lonely because I know you are with me. I am in you and you are in me and you are in the Father. This is not some new age technique of finding the god within you. No this is taking the savious at his word that when you believe in him he comes and makes a home with you, no matter what state you are in.Christ said He who seeks his life to find it will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake and the gospel will find it. Now where in there do you see anything about finding yourself and everything being alright?Lose yourself in Him and let him give you the desires of your heart, but don't take my word for it read PSALM 37. He tells you if you delight yourself in him he will give you the desires of your heart.

So stop looking for yourself and what you want, He wants to give it to you.Now don't be lonely he says I won't leave you as orphans, believe him. An orphan doesn't know where he came from or why he came about at all, so stop acting like you are all alone. Take the hand that is reaching to guide you. Stop looking so hard for yourself and look up to all you can and want to be.Your heart wants a relationship that will never end. SO let it have it. The old hymn still rings true, turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. He will give you yourself and show you just who you are and who you are made to be, not just now, but in every time and circumstance you can imagine.

Psa 4:1	HEAR me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
Psa 4:2	How long, O you sons of men, Will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness And seek falsehood? Selah
Psa 4:3	But know that the LORD has set apart[fn1] for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him.
Psa 4:4	Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
Psa 4:5	Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in the LORD.
Psa 4:6	There are many who say, "Who will show us any good?" LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.
Psa 4:7	You have put gladness in my heart, More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
Psa 4:8	I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Tonight I'm restless. I can't sleep because I think too much. But how do you tell your mind to be still? not quite sure yet. But here is what I must know.

Faith, faith is the anvil on which I must pound out every care and every doubt. Worry it seems is a symptom of fear and fear has no place where love abounds. So perhaps this is a question of love.

It is an easy thing to say God loves me, it is a completely different matter to believe it. Why there is so much difficulty probably lies in our inherent desire to earn affection by having some inherent worth. But divine love does not exist on these lines. Divine love seems not to give affection, but to give completely itself.

Perfect love casts out fear, that's what we must know. That's why we can sleep at night. Not because we have worth, not because we micromanage, not because we have stacked the deck, but because love is perfected. But again this is something that has to be revealed to the soul as something more than can be found empirically.

The Lord continually says cry out to him, that he is our rock. We must do this, we must cling to and cry out. No man ever loved that dared not cling to his beloved. We have to stop marching toward some goal. There is nothing to march towards, it's already here. We just have to believe, we have to cling to it, and depend on it more than ourselves to pull us through.

Psa 56:3
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

Even when the deck seems stacked and all your failures are calling you by name, there is no need to be afraid. Fear comes, disappointment rages, but the anchor holds. We must trust in him, even when the storm is raging.

To the Chief Musician. Set to "Do Not Destroy." A Michtam of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.
BE merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For my soul trusts in You;

And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
Until these calamities have passed by.
I will cry out to God Most High,
To God who performs all things for me.

He shall send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches the one who would swallow me up.
Selah
God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

My soul is among lions;
I lie among the sons of men
Who are set on fire,
Whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.

They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down;
They have dug a pit before me;
Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen.
Selah

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise.

Awake, my glory!
Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.

I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.

For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens,
And Your truth unto the clouds.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth

Psalm 57

Not even going to lie, yesterday was rough. It was one of those days where you expect everything to go your way and you walk home with your tail between your legs, asking why did I even get out of bed. But one has to resist temptation. You have to resist the temptation to give up, to doubt; to doubt whether your prayers are even being heard. I'm learning, I'm learning that faith isn't an exclamation point put on events that go your way when you need them to. Faith is looking at the mountain and saying move. It's reaching out towards your goals when you know you alone can't lay hold of them.

He tells us all things are possible if we believe, not all things are possible if everything lines up right. I've heard it said that faith doesnt look into the mirror to see what's there, but rather Faith has its own mirror that reflects what is possible. Let's lay it down. There is the temptation to say the storm will swamp the ship, but what are we told. If we cry out to God, he perfroms all his purposes for us. Things may look bleak and may feel even worse, but Christ slept in the boat while it was tossing and that sounds like a much better plan to me than trying to plot the course of every wave.

So here is the final word. We have to praise him, we have to praise not in the hopes that something will happen if we do, but because we know he has set his face towards us and he is worthy of our praise. There is one sure sign of free heart, its filled with song. You can't help it. And now I will follow the psalmist example I will sing unto the nations his praises and not look to what is going on around me. I'll sing for his mercy and I will sing because his faithfullness cannot fail.

Vision

Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he.
Prov 29:18

We have to change the way we think. We have to change the way we see ourselves. A mastered ability to pick apart our own faults is by no means the reflection of a productive use of time.

Catch a vision, see the person you are supposed to be. Christ tells us the old man is past away and all things are made new. So why not behave like you are a new man? Why question that feeling in your gut that says, "maybe you should talk to that guy" or "just spend a little more time with me this morning?"

I think maybe we make things to complicated. Christ said his yolk is easy and his burden light. So why not take him at his word and get to plowing? Simple faith doesn't ask questions, but more importantly it doesn't wait. It doesn't need to be convinced there is a benefit to acting.

So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture,
Will give You thanks forever;
We will show forth Your praise to all generations.
Psalm 79:13

There were two things I wanted to know as I walked to my final this morning; 1. why did I ever take a Botany course? and 2, why am I still in school?

It's an incredible thought to think of oneself as being a person set apart, being raised in a place of safety. We really are His people and he has obligated himself to take care of us. We didn't just stumble into His place one day and start getting free meals. He actually sought us out and leads us into His habitation.

This brings me to my final thought. Why not be thankful? not just "Oh Lord thank you for our daily bread," but "Oh Lord thank you for the bread, the grass, the trees!" I think there is a clear line to be drawn between having an appreciation for one's position and welfare, and truly being thankful for the opportunity to have and be at all.

When you read the last part of the Psalm it says, "We will show forth your praise to all generations." Think about that, we have the opportunity through our lives not just to show our appreciation for what He has done, but to praise him for it. We, the work of His hands, get to show His praise through our lives even after we are long gone.

Seeking

When You said, "Seek My face,"
My heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek."
Psalm 27:8

Seek the LORD while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

"For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the LORD for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
Isaiah 55:6-13


"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Matt 6:33-34

I find it fitting to start this blog with one thought; I'm not going to worry about anything anymore. I will do one thing and it is the thing I have been told to do. I will seek the Lord's face and let Him take care of the rest. May sound crazy, may go against everything my body and mind are telling me, but I do not see any other options and to be honest I don't want any. So with this in mind feel free to make as many comments or criticisms as you like, but just remeber I know where most of you live!