February 21 2019

Created and Known

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
Psalm 139:13-18
You have been created by a loving God.  
He knew you before the foundations of the world.  
He thinks precious thoughts toward you; so many that they can’t be numbered.  
He has a plan for your life!  
He loved you when He created you, before you accomplished anything.  
You worth comes not from what you do, but simply because you are you! 
Having a relationship with God is not about doing or not doing. 
Having a relationship with God is about learning to have a real and meaningful relationship with the One who knew you before time began, and loved you even then.  
Stop striving.  
Start spending time.

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February 21 2019

Blinded by our own Expectations

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? “Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? “But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” John 7:45-52

The people saw the miracles and heard Jesus speak with authority and they believed.  
The Pharisees, however, felt that they were all being deceived. 
How can two groups of people see the same things and have such different interpretations and beliefs about it?  
It all comes down to your expectations.  
The people were open and willing to receive what they saw and heard as it was, in the moment, and without previous expectations about how it would look like.  
They believed.  
The Pharisees, however, had a very clear expectation of what the Messiah would look like and act like and how the whole process would unfold.  
Because it wasn’t what the expected, they did not believe and felt that everyone was being deceived.  The Pharisees were blinded by their own expectations.  
They couldn’t accept that God was doing a new thing, they were waiting for a continuation of the old thing: 
“Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
What are you expecting today?  
Has God given you a promise that you have all mapped out?  
Are you willing and able to be open to the fact that God may be doing a new thing and that thing you have mapped out may look very different from what you expected?   
We often miss the move of God because we are blinded by our expectations.  
We must not be like the Pharisees who couldn’t see the Messiah because there hadn’t been a prophet who came out of Galilee before.  
They missed the move of God because they weren’t open to God moving in a new way.  
Oh that our eyes would be open to the Hand of God moving in our lives and in the lives around us!

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February 20 2019

Today

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song for Alamoth.
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Come, behold the works of the LORD,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Someone needs to hear this today.  
Someone needs to take a minute and let this Psalm sink in.  
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 
Is that you today?  
Are you in the night hours?  
Morning is coming.  
You may bend and move with the wind of the storm, 
but you will not break.  
Do you need a refuge today?  
The God of Jacob is our refuge.  
Are you in the midst of the battle? 
Be still, and know that I am God.  
There is something for everyone here. 
Stop, sit and let it sink in.  
God has you!

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