"Today's lessons are learned through Yesterday's wisdom which will create Tomorrow's power"

"strengths come after weaknesses, what we lack is at times beyond our control and sometimes we cannot help but live with it, suffer through it, just for a little while... those imperfections that GOD still utilizes to keep us humble for His service, to stay centered on His will and to be passionately in love with Him above all else, for ultimately, His Power creates in us a reflection of His Perfection."- jette v.r.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Stalkers

A friend excitedly shared with me one time about two wonderful stalkers she said she has in common with other believers. I responded “say what?”. What positive fact could be linked to stalkers and stalking? The she identified them in Psalm 23 “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

I went straight to the Good Book and tried to discover the names of these two wonderful stalkers. The Message version used the terms, “beauty and love will chase after me”. And I was not at all surprised that the Amplified Bible added another stalker, “Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life”. Isn’t that too wonderful?

God wanted us to have goodness all the days of our lives, for he has promised in Jeremiah 29: 11 - For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. He desires everything that is good, pleasing and perfect for us. Beauty is another word used to reflect goodness. In addition to facilitating perfection, the Holy Spirit has an additional role of endowing us with inner beauty.

How about Mercy. I tried to look up how many times the word mercy appears in the Bible It varies by version. The KJV uses it 262 times and the NIV 124 times.
The Bible teaches us in Ephesians 2:3-5 - But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Mercy as defined is not getting what you do deserve after you have been declared guilty beyond any doubts. It is just punishment withheld. And before we even take God’s mercy for granted, think of all the bad things that can occur but may have not happened to you – like incurable diseases, horrendous accidents and injuries, terrible natural disasters… - God’s angels must be working overtime administering His mercy!
In Romans 9:15-16, God was speaking to His people, For he says to Moses,"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."[a] 16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

Then there is love. Unfailing love. Because God is eternal and unlimited, He is the Unfailing Love. If we have Him in us, we cannot help but exhibit love. It is as automatic as breathing and other similar involuntary reflexes.

“Surely goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life”. God knows our fallen nature. He understands our conflicted human spirit. He knows best to give us these wonderful stalkers.

No comments:

Perseverance Quotes

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. ~Henry Ward Beecher
The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places. ~Author Unknown
When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. ~Dale Carnegie
Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown
When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. ~Josh Billings
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~Newt Gingrich
Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running. ~Author unknown, in reference to Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life
Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock. ~Author Unknown

Saints are sinners who kept on going. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown
Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. ~Charles F. Kettering
Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. ~Robert Schuller
Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald
With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. ~Thomas Foxwell Buxton
As a means to success, determination has this advantage over talent - that it does not have to be recognized by others. ~Robert Brault,
When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. ~Author Unknown
Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer. ~André A. Jackson

A door opens to me. I go in and am faced with a hundred closed doors. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

A Poem that blessed me...

The Lord painted a picture of my heart’s desire
A picture of which my soul did aspire
He took a thought, planted it ever so small
Letting it grow in me, quite grand and tall
He gave me a promise, a small word
A gift, a treasure from Him, My Lord
One met especially for my need
One on which I could meditate and feed
He opened my heart then and there
Placing His promise with great care
As I dwelt upon this nugget of gold
A pallet of the Master’s colors did unfold
He began to paint a picture so lush
With each bold stroke of His brush
Day by day the colors took shape
Letting hope swell into an open gate
Allowing me to move in an possess
The desire I had long confessed
What once started as a small seed
Born out of a heart full of need
Now stretches across the canvas of my life
Taking solid form in visible light
The desire once small in my heart
The Lord has made into a masterpiece of art

=Brenda Craig, poet=

defining..

this is what I found out about my first name:

Origin: Latin. Meaning: Young. In Roman mythology Juno was protectress of women and of marriage.

and my nickname has a Dutch origin and means "home ruler", " a strong and queenly disposition, she loves to be in command, and have the last word, graceful and calm under pressure, makes for a leader in whom all trust, knowledgeable and witty, she loves to cause trouble and be into everything and anything; one knows her by her ever-present smile (or laugh)

Discovering Divine Design - by Dr O Chambers

As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me . . . —Genesis 24:27

We should be so one with God that we don’t need to ask continually for guidance. Sanctification means that we are made the children of God. A child’s life is normally obedient, until he chooses disobedience. But as soon as he chooses to disobey, an inherent inner conflict is produced. On the spiritual level, inner conflict is the warning of the Spirit of God. When He warns us in this way, we must stop at once and be renewed in the spirit of our mind to discern God’s will (see Romans12:2 ). If we are born again by the Spirit of God, our devotion to Him is hindered, or even stopped, by continually asking Him to guide us here and there. ". . . the Lord led me . . ." and on looking back we see the presence of an amazing design. If we are born of God we will see His guiding hand and give Him the credit. We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires the growth of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail. Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order. Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere.Beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are a saint and say, "I will never do this or that," in all probability this will be exactly what God will require of you. There was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord, but He was never inconsistent with His Father. The important consistency in a saint is not to a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life that continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than it is to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him.

May this site be a blessing to you...

Shalom Blessings...

..a covenant, a duty and a decision...Saying shalom means more than a greeting - "Shalom" is an offer of a peace covenant, a sense of duty to serve others, and a decision to seek God’s help in achieving the wholeness that is a reflection of His Glory...Shalom is saying ..."I am complete, whole, healthy, at peace, of good welfare, safe and sound, tranquil, prosperous, perfect, full, at rest, in harmony, without agitation and possesses a sense of stability in the face of conflict, opposition or discord..

Place Your Life Before God

Romans 12:2 (The Message)

1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

The secret is this: I have learned there is little I can do in my life that will make me truly happy. I must depend on God to make me happy and meet my needs. When a need arises in my life, I have to trust God to supply according to HIS riches. I have learned most of the time I don't need half of what I think I do. HE has never let me down.