Word Filled Wednesday - In the clouds

He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds don’t burst with the weight. Job 26:8 NLT

Susan is hosting us today at Forever His

Too many words?

Image by Feuillu via Flickr

I like to imagine that I am a writer. I use words to share my thoughts and my heart. I scratch words on paper or allow my fingers to fly on the keyboard. I cherish the look of words, the sound of words, the way they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle to create a picture I hadn't expected to see.

I use words, written or spoken as a way to process what I am seeing and feeling. I talk my way into understanding. In this time of change in our church, I have found myself involved in too many conversations. This morning, I brought the issue before my Lord in my morning journaling time.

Today Lord God, I ask for Your help to know when to speak and when to remain silent.

Peace. Wait for My peace. That may mean slowing down, even stopping at times - to wait, simply wait.

If you are angry - wait. Be still.
If you are hurting - wait.
If you sense danger - wait - bring Me your fear. I can help you discern.

No one is too gifted to be beyond needing My assistance. For he who believes he can understand the world on his own is already walking a very slippery trail.

How many times have you spoken first - then come to Me to ask if your words were correct? Is it not easier My child to consult Me first?

I gave you the gift of words and speech and ask you to steward that gift wisely.

Lord, I was just realizing yesterday that I process things as I talk through them.

Yes, indeed you do - so come and talk with Me. Talk first with Me.

There has been too much talk and too little prayer. Everyone is hearing from themselves and others, words, words and endless words. I want you to stop and listen. If I am silent - wait, for I am creating a hunger for My words. I need you to know that you are desperate for My opinion.

This is not a time for isolation, that is what the enemy desires, but it is also not a time for endless chattering.

You are wise to seek My wisdom. Trust Me to guide you in the way you should go.

I am praying about whether I am to set apart a time to fast from words. I am not sure if this will be only spoken words or if written words will be included as well. If you feel so moved, please pray that I will hear the Lord's clear directions.

That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Joel 2:12 NLT

In Other Words - Choices

Kathryn at Expectant Hearts is hosting this weeks In Other Words and chose this quote:

Relying on God has to begin all over again every day

as if nothing had yet been done.
C.S. Lewis

Choices. Every day we are faced with the opportunity and the responsibility to make choices. Every day we can speak blessings or curses over our life and the lives of our loved ones. We can declare hope or we can prophesy disaster.

My marriage wouldn’t thrive if I did not choose every day to love, honour and respect my husband. I can’t store up points from yesterday’s actions. I cannot ignore, neglect or hurt a friend then say, “It doesn’t matter because I was kind to you last week.”

It is surely no different with our God. Each day we must make a deliberate choice to worship and adore Him. Each day we must choose to receive His love for us. Each day we must crawl back upon the altar and offer Him our lives.

The first thing my husband and I do as we wake every morning is pray, agreeing with the Lord that we are dead to our flesh and alive in Him, asking that His Holy Spirit fill us, lead us and that His will would be done in and through us. Yes, we might have died yesterday, but our flesh yearns to rise up again today.

Choices. A fresh start with each new day. Make the choice. Choose life. Choose Jesus!

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT

In Other Words - Who Am I in the Dark?

This weeks host is Deborah Shank at Chocolate & Coffee and she selected the following quote for this week:

"We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark- the imaginations of our minds, the thoughts of our heart, the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God's sight. Character is what you are in the dark." Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest

The word consistent keeps coming to mind. Miriam-Webster online dictionary defines consistent as:

"marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity : free from variation or contradiction"

This is my desire, that my life be free from contradiction.

“What you see is what you get.” This is a phrase that is most often used in a negative way. In my quest to live a transparent life “what you see is what you get” is good, and real and true. There may be flaws, look carefully. If you choose to take me, you must take me as I am. Who I am is who I am, who God created me to be, both in public and in the privacy of my prayer closet.

"But by God's grace I am what I am, and his grace shown to me was not wasted." 1 Corinthians 15:10a ISV

I am a work in progress, still raw, with ragged edges. If I attempt to hide those rough spots, I’ll put so much effort into the cover-up that you’ll never really see me, and you’ll also not see Christ in me. If I show you my faith without any of my doubts I betray the truth of a daily walk with my Lord.

I desire to live each moment of my day in a way that glorifies my King, so that a world that is watching will not be given an opportunity to cry “hypocrisy” yet again.

In Miriam-Webster hypocisy is defined as:

"a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not ; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion"

Lord God, I pray that You continue to lead me, guide me and teach me to walk in truth; to remove any masks I may have been wearing to gain the approval of man, for the only approval I need is Yours. Strengthen me to allow all of my imperfections to show so that my life may reflect the work You have done in me. May my life be pleasing unto You, Lord God, in the darkness of my private time as well as in my public life, for Your glory and the glory of Your Son.