Good morning! Welcome to the 1st reader in Nigeria! :) HELLO! Great to have you joining us in the Word! :) Well... so far this morning I have completed 2 cups of yummy blonde coffee, 1 fruit smoothie, just took my vitamins and am drinking a glass of water with a red straw. A nice, thick, red bendy straw! I love straws. I am a straw user! It's so much more fun to drink with a straw, don't you think?
Today's Reading Schedule: Proverbs 20, Psalms 20, 50, 80, 110, 140, Proverbs 31:10-31 (AMP)
Another day in the life of a busy American Christian. The gnawing sensation there, in the back of her mind... like many people, she knows a quiet time would be a 'good idea' but she just hasn't been able to make it happen.
As I read Psalm 20, immediately verse 1 jumped off the page. The words "ANSWER YOU" rang in my mind. In order to "answer" a question or cry needs to be made. It's hard to answer when there is no question. The verses today expressed dialog, expressed that of the need for conversation. The verses expressed plans and purposes being divinely orchestrated via counsel of godly men and women of God, or counsel directly from the Holy Spirit. But the prerequisite to COUNSEL, the prerequisite to ANSWERS begins with a QUESTION. Begins with DIALOG. Begins with time, set aside to seek the ONE and ONLY. To seek our Savior, our Guide, our Help. To spend the time with Him that will draw us into our direction, the time that will draw us into His will for our lives being discovered. So that OUR PLANS would divinely line up with HIS direction for us. Like what it talks about in Proverbs 16:3 (amp), "Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed." Isn't that AWESOME?! When we ROLL our works upon the Lord, HE will cause our thoughts to become agreeable with HIS will. And then, with our thoughts in agreement with what HE wants for our lives, WE are able to establish plans. OUR PLANS. And HE will cause OUR PLANS to not only come into play, but to succeed. But it all begins with dialog! It all begins with TIME spent before the throne of grace. Time spent, where the alarm clock is set early, we REFUSE to hit the snooze 3-4 times, but that we DEFY our flesh and get up. We get up, KNOWING in advance that our time getting with the Lord WILL BE BLESSED. That He will talk to YOU. He will direct YOU. He will ANSWER YOU! And we are able to truly say that our plans and purposes are being directed by COUNSEL. Counsel with the ONE and ONLY true God. Because of that time with Him, that time in HIS presence, our desires are coming into alignment with His desires for us. They are becoming ONE. Our plans are coming from a time spent with Him. Our desires, that are becoming our very own are born out of a time spent before the throne. Our desires and His desires are ONE.
Our Proverbs 31 friend has established priorities. Sure, in this verse it is talking about how she is CONSIDERING taking something else on. She is CONSIDERING it. But, BEFORE she commits to adding another thing to her plate, she looks at her current obligations. Would bringing this "one more thing" on disrupt her current obligations. Would she not be able to fulfill them? Since she is the ULTIMATE WOMAN, and we know from Proverbs 31:15 that "she rises while it is yet night and gets [spiritual] food..." She IS spending time before the throne of grace. If things or obligations would get in the way of her FIRST priority, spending time fellowshipping with her Lord, after consideration she would CHOOSE NOT to take on this additional thing. She CONSIDERS wisely before accepting more to her plate, and she knows when it is best to say NO. What a Spiritual, Biblical, wonderful word.... NO. Sometimes a word more of us need to know. NO.
What's keeping you from regular time with the Lord? Are you too tired when you wake up? What's keeping you from going to bed earlier? Do you need to say NO to that late night movie? Do you need to say NO to Facebook? NO to twitter? NO to the 11:00 News? Or, do you just need to jump in a cold shower to wake you up in the morning?
I'll close with some Words I felt the Holy Spirit told me this morning....
Slow down to speed up. Slow down and ASK for direction from a God who is longing to spend time with YOU!
Today's Reading Schedule: Proverbs 20, Psalms 20, 50, 80, 110, 140, Proverbs 31:10-31 (AMP)
Proverbs 20:18 - Purposes and plans are established by counsel; and [only] with good advice make or carry on war.
Psalms 20:1a, 4 - MAY THE Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May He grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans.
Psalm 140:6 - I said to the Lord, You are my God; give ear to the voice of my supplications, O Lord.
Proverbs 31:16 - She considers a [new] field before she buys or accepts it [expanding prudently and not courting neglect of her present duties by assuming other duties]...The alarm clock goes off. She rolls over in bed and knows that this time she must get up. She can't afford to hit snooze again. Rubbing her eyes, she crawls out of bed squinting to read the red numbers on the clock. Dang it, she thinks. I need to get moving. Hurriedly, she rushes into the bathroom, jumps in the shower, quickly washes off, wakes up and gets out. I'll just pull my hair up again today. No time to wash it this morning. She throws on clothes, brushes her teeth, grabs her make-up and heads downstairs. 'I don't have time to put on my make-up, I'll just have to do it on the way to work again. I guess I won't be doing eye-liner today.' As she passes the kitchen table she sees her Bible laying where she laid it yesterday after getting home from church. 'Man, I really need to wake up early to have a Quiet Time. Maybe I'll get around to it tomorrow.' She pours the coffee that is left over in the pot, grabs a banana and heads out the door.
Another day in the life of a busy American Christian. The gnawing sensation there, in the back of her mind... like many people, she knows a quiet time would be a 'good idea' but she just hasn't been able to make it happen.
As I read Psalm 20, immediately verse 1 jumped off the page. The words "ANSWER YOU" rang in my mind. In order to "answer" a question or cry needs to be made. It's hard to answer when there is no question. The verses today expressed dialog, expressed that of the need for conversation. The verses expressed plans and purposes being divinely orchestrated via counsel of godly men and women of God, or counsel directly from the Holy Spirit. But the prerequisite to COUNSEL, the prerequisite to ANSWERS begins with a QUESTION. Begins with DIALOG. Begins with time, set aside to seek the ONE and ONLY. To seek our Savior, our Guide, our Help. To spend the time with Him that will draw us into our direction, the time that will draw us into His will for our lives being discovered. So that OUR PLANS would divinely line up with HIS direction for us. Like what it talks about in Proverbs 16:3 (amp), "Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed." Isn't that AWESOME?! When we ROLL our works upon the Lord, HE will cause our thoughts to become agreeable with HIS will. And then, with our thoughts in agreement with what HE wants for our lives, WE are able to establish plans. OUR PLANS. And HE will cause OUR PLANS to not only come into play, but to succeed. But it all begins with dialog! It all begins with TIME spent before the throne of grace. Time spent, where the alarm clock is set early, we REFUSE to hit the snooze 3-4 times, but that we DEFY our flesh and get up. We get up, KNOWING in advance that our time getting with the Lord WILL BE BLESSED. That He will talk to YOU. He will direct YOU. He will ANSWER YOU! And we are able to truly say that our plans and purposes are being directed by COUNSEL. Counsel with the ONE and ONLY true God. Because of that time with Him, that time in HIS presence, our desires are coming into alignment with His desires for us. They are becoming ONE. Our plans are coming from a time spent with Him. Our desires, that are becoming our very own are born out of a time spent before the throne. Our desires and His desires are ONE.
Our Proverbs 31 friend has established priorities. Sure, in this verse it is talking about how she is CONSIDERING taking something else on. She is CONSIDERING it. But, BEFORE she commits to adding another thing to her plate, she looks at her current obligations. Would bringing this "one more thing" on disrupt her current obligations. Would she not be able to fulfill them? Since she is the ULTIMATE WOMAN, and we know from Proverbs 31:15 that "she rises while it is yet night and gets [spiritual] food..." She IS spending time before the throne of grace. If things or obligations would get in the way of her FIRST priority, spending time fellowshipping with her Lord, after consideration she would CHOOSE NOT to take on this additional thing. She CONSIDERS wisely before accepting more to her plate, and she knows when it is best to say NO. What a Spiritual, Biblical, wonderful word.... NO. Sometimes a word more of us need to know. NO.
What's keeping you from regular time with the Lord? Are you too tired when you wake up? What's keeping you from going to bed earlier? Do you need to say NO to that late night movie? Do you need to say NO to Facebook? NO to twitter? NO to the 11:00 News? Or, do you just need to jump in a cold shower to wake you up in the morning?
I'll close with some Words I felt the Holy Spirit told me this morning....
Those rushing out to their jobs, waking up to late to spend time with Me, feeling rushed and a sense of chaos accompanies the rest of their day. 'Slow down to speed up.' Priorities. Many people are too busy and do not even have a list of priorities. They do not slow down long enough to even see where they are going, they are just in a hurry to get 'there'. For many, I would change their direction. They would be able to do what they love for a living, not just make a paycheck at a job. Their un-fulfillment would change to a daily excitement to embrace the day. But so many don't slow down long enough to ask.Today, tomorrow, slow down and ask. Slow down to speed up. Slow down, get quiet before the Lord and watch how a normal "chaos-filled" day, will change to a day filled with peace. A day where things just line up. A day where you actually get things done early. A day directed.
Slow down to speed up. Slow down and ASK for direction from a God who is longing to spend time with YOU!
1 comment:
Amen...as I PLAN my day.
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