Ecclesiastes 5: As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. ² Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few.

 

I read this verse and it has 'bothered' me ever since..

we are told so many times to pray constantly.. to go before the throne boldly...

then you read this...

when I first read it I was thinking about when we enter church.. what is on our mind when we get there? while our intention is probably to worship.. what is our mind centered on before the worship service starts? is it centered on God or on our lives and what we think and what we want and what we are doing and what is going on?

 

then it says to keep your ears open and your mouth shut.. to not being hasty in bringing matters before God as He is in heaven and we are on earth.. so let our words be few... how does this tie into praying without ceasing? ARE we talking too much? does the Lord possibly put us on a back burner because we are constantly talking and probably not saying anything new?

 

you know if you talk too much to certain people.. they will block you out.. you have surely done it with kids if not others... does God do that with us? as God is good for saying something once or twice then expecting us to just hold on to it.. sometimes being silent for long periods of time... so is that possibly what we are to do too? are we to pray about a situation then let it go.. just believing that He will work it out and deal with it.. trusting the one prayer was enough...

 

I can tell you.. this is NOT what I do.. I beat down the door of the Lord.. LOL! but now I stand here and wonder if I am wrong... are we making God.. the God of the universe.. the Creator.. are we making Him too common? are we treating Him as if He is just regular? just one of us? is that possibly where the wrong is in how we act toward Him.. are we not giving Him the reverence due to Him?

Isaiah 50: 10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant?
If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God. 11 But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment.

as I read this I wonder how often I have felt I was walking in God's light and really I was walking and relying on myself... and not even realizing it... 

I know that the deeper we get into the Lord, the more we see.. or that is the plan anyways.. LOL! I find for my own self.. the closer I think I am getting to God the less I see... I don't think this is as I think it should be.. but I recognize that when we walk by sight.. we are not really trusting in God.. when we cannot see then we have to trust Him... 

I realize that the less I see.. the more I acknowledge that whatever God chooses.. that is what I want... and whatever He determines.. even if it is not according to my own desires.. I still recognize that it is best for everyone involved.. too many times I have wanted my will and it has caused disaster for myself, my children, even innocent bystanders sometimes.. 

it is truth that God uses all situations for our good.. but too often we go through many things unnecessarily... I don't want to endure or learn from anything that I didn't need.. 

lead me Lord on the path you have chosen for me.. do not let me be drawn to the right or the left.. keep me close to you and always in your will for my life. amen!

Mark 6: 41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. 44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!47 Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. 48 He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. 50 They were all terrified when they saw him.

But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!” 51 Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed, 52 for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.

I saw this pointed out a few days ago and was shocked.. it is amazing how we can read the bible over and over yet always have missed something.. there is always something more to see and learn from it... 

first let me say.. I am SURE I don't really recognize the significance of the miracle of the loaves either... 

but how amazing is it that they are right there with Jesus... they see Him every single day doing miracles.. healing.. teaching... they KNOW Him... and verse 52 says... their hearts were too hard to take it in... 

this happens so often to us all... we are unable to believe.. unable to accept something great from God because we are still too hard hearted to take it in... it's not that we don't want to believe or to see.. we are just too weak in faith... we believe yet we don't believe... we hear yet we don't hear... we know yet we don't know... 

Father I believe... help my unbelief... 

Psalms 33: ²² Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.

 

some days the love of God is all encompassing.. I can feel it so strongly.. it is more overwhelming than the love of any human being...

that is a wonderful feeling..

 

some days I feel as though God has forgotten me completely.. like He no longer even knows my name...

that is a horrible feeling...

 

we can't always feel something... even in relationship with humans.. sometimes we feel they don't care.. but they still do.. even when they are somewhat distant... we are usually still sure they love us...

so why is it that when we can't 'feel' God, who is Spirit not flesh, we panic... or at least I do... I can live without the love of a human many times.. but not without the love of God for even minutes..

 

Father.. remember me again.. let me see your promises while I am still in the land of the living... let me feel your unfailing love surround me.. overwhelm me with your presence.. because my hope is in you alone...

Ephesians 3: 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

I pray this for all of us... that we can continue to grow in Christ and become more like Him each day.. that we will become stronger and more trusting of Him.. that we will fulfill all that He has planned for our lives...

Isaiah 46: ³ “Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. ⁴ I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

 

I am thankful today that God will carry me throughout my life... that He is my creator and He loves me.. that He accepts me when I am right and when I am wrong too.. I am thankful that He will care for me and that He will save me.. and when I am too tired.. then He will carry me..

 

I love me some Jesus...

2 Kings 17: 37Be careful at all times to obey the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands that he wrote for you. You must not worship other gods. 38Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not worship other gods. 39You must worship only the lord your God. He is the one who will rescue you from all your enemies.”

 40But the people would not listen and continued to follow their former practices. 41So while these new residents worshiped the lord, they also worshiped their idols. And to this day their descendants do the same.

I think of how many times the bible keeps telling us how important it is to not worship any other gods... in this chapter, the israelites (the northern kingdom) was taken over by assyria and removed from the land.. the king of assyria replaced them with people from many other places who only knew of other gods.. God sent lions to kill them because they were not worshiping Him... the king then sends the priests back to teach the people about the God of the land.. who is of course the only God there really is... 

I find it amazing... about me.. about you.. about everyone.. we always say that we don't worship other gods.. but when we put anything at all before God.. we are worshiping something else.. I can say I don't do it.. but we all do.. many times unintentionally... any time we are disobedient to what God wants we are putting whatever we are disobedient about before him... 

in my own life I know I have done it over and over about a man.. I can't even tell you the times that I have not done whatever God wanted in the hopes of pleasing a man... truthfully I would say I have done it over my children sometimes... and I have done it many many many times over money... which all of these things come down to wanting my desires over the will of God... 

I am thankful that while I am not always achieving it.. my desire now is for God's will above my own... as many people as God destroyed and deserted for putting something else above Him.. I am so thankful that He waited on me to get myself together and do things His way... His love is everlasting.. and I am thankful...