an intentional walk

I daresay that most of us who read here desire in our hearts to go deeper with God. I would like to think that all of us are seeking to go Higher with Him than ever before. Our relationship with our Lord should be one that is constantly growing. Constantly changing. Constantly moving forward closer and closer to His side.

If we look back at our spiritual walk and we don't see that we are any closer to Him today than we were at this time last year, there is something wrong in our relationship with Him. If we are ever going to be all that we can be for Him and through Him and of Him, we have to be walking in the Spirit daily and we have to be on the path leading to Him.

Do you want to go deeper? Seek Higher? Our growth in our God is contingent upon our nourishment of His Word. We will only grow in knowledge through the fervent study of the Holy Scriptures.  We must make a daily effort to spent quality time with God in His Word. The more we do this, the greater  hunger we will develop for it.  The greater our hunger for Him and His Word, the more we will devour it and nourish our spiritual lives with it. 

As we sit before Him, let's sit with hearts wide open, eyes focused on Him and spirits ready to receive.  Let's pray that He will speak to us and enable us to comprehend. Pray that He will reveal the hidden manna from His Word to us and that we will grow in our intimate, personal relationship with our God.

His desire is for us to KNOW Him like never before. Let's be intentional about our spiritual walk and purpose in our hearts to nourish ourselves with the Word daily.

"For He satisfieth the longing soul, and

filleth the hungry soul with goodness"

(Psalm 107:9)

Seeking Higher,

Don't Be a Delilah

If you're not familiar with the story of Samson & Delilah, you should go pay a little visit to the Old Testament book of Judges. Samson's story starts in Chapter 13, but it is in Chapter 16 we meet Delilah.

We're told Samson, a man of great strength, was in love with Delilah. He told her the secret of his great strength...it was his hair, it had never been cut. And she told the Philistines (his enemies), and they cut his hair, and gouged out his eyes, and bound him with shackles, sending him to prison.

Samson loved Delilah. But she betrayed him by sharing his weaknesses. How about you? Are you sharing your husband's weaknesses? Oh, perhaps not with his enemies, but with your friends?

Proverbs 31:11 says, "The heart of her husband trusts in her." When we share our husband's weaknesses with others, we are in fact weakening him further. Keeping his weakness between you and your spouse will strengthen your marriage.

That isn't to say that as women we don't sometimes need a trusted girlfriend to share our issues with. That isn't what this post is about. But certainly you know who your trusted girlfriend is. It isn't the group of gals together at your ladies night out. It isn't even in your group Bible study. You can ask for prayer in a general manner without specifics. The Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit can intervene with others are praying for us, and don't need the details. As wives we must respect our husbands.

Finally, stay away from the proverbial scissors. We may not cut our husband's hair and take their strength - but we may cut them down, and in doing so steal their strength in our own eyes, and in theirs too.

Your husband, like you, is God's dearly beloved. Are you treating him as such? Don't be a Delilah.

525,600 minutes

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Psalm 39:4-5

525,600
That is how many minutes are in one year.

One.single.year.
What are we doing with those minutes?

A recent storm took our power for just a few moments. Everything stopped. The computer was forced to rely on battery power, the radio stopped, no warning, just yielded to the silence of our home, the washing machine ceased it's spinning and the air shut down.

Though the clock remained still, quiet, dark...time was still passing. Not even the rage of the storm could stop time. Time is something that stops for no-one. We can’t reverse it, neither can we regain it…what we have and what we do with it is fully within our hands.

In making the Sabbath Day Holy, or set apart for no work or labor – God was trying to show us the importance of making time for Him. As a child, I attended church every single Sunday. As an adult, it seemed natural to carry on the tradition. Truly, one hour per week...who cannot commit to that? There are 8766 hours per year, only 52 of them brimming with the expectation of worship. So, a challenge still remains – will we set aside time for our Lord and Saviour? Are we saving our time for Him, strictly for church, or are we spending time with Him daily in His Word and in prayer?

"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Mark 1:35

It amazing that for things we ‘want’ to do- time very seldom is a factor. We rearrange, reschedule, cut short, cancel, we make all the necessary changes to make ‘it happen’. But for God…the first fruits are not always reserved for Him. He just always seems to get the ‘timeouts’ of our life. Just a few seconds here and there, and then we wonder why life is passing us by. He calls us and we forgo calling Him back. He sends us His people tired, needy and desperately craving His truths and we busily hurry by them, missing the opportunity to share Him with them. What are you doing with your minutes? I know mine are painfully misaligned. I certainly don't mean it to be that way, however if my time is short, then I want to be serious about making changes to embrace the Lord every.single.day.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

This summer, God has quietly led me through the first part of a year-long journey through His Word. I look forward to our quiet time together and anxiously scroll through the readings eager for His wisdom and prayerful about what He is doing in my life. In encouragement and love, I share with you that "I don't always get it." However, the Lord has made it clear to ALL of us that our understanding is not His understanding. Ultimately, I do desire to understand clearly, however, for this minute, I am at peace spending critical time with the Lord each day, trusting His guidance and wisdom to make ALL of my minutes more meaningful, with His purpose and not my own.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Psalm 90:12

With Him, life goes from being just good to great; discernment helps me manage my time better. He has shown me how I need to prioritize differently. Our minutes need to "count", my minutes with Him make the rest of the minutes worthwhile. If I can do "it", whatever "it" may be, to His glory and serve Him gladly; 525,600 minutes hold great purpose.

We are assured that if we seek Him readily, he seeks us also.

What are you doing with your minutes???