Wishes, discernment....

I wish to be more discerning.

I want to recognize right from wrong. Immediately.
I want to recognize good from bad. Instantly.
I want to recognize the vital from the trivial. Consistently.

I want to have my conscience trained.
I want my senses to be alert.
I want my mind clear and focused.
I want my body responding to my spirit and not my flesh.

I want my spiritual eyes to be keen.
I want my spiritual taste to be for truth.
I want to distinguish what is pleasing and what is provoking to my Creator.

I want to recognize what is helpful, and what is hurtful to my body, my spirit, my soul.
I want to recognize temptation before it gets to me, long before I become trapped or involved.
I want to use scripture as it is intended by God, not to suit my own purposes.

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar……. you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.”(Ps. 139:1-4)

“…. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me…. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Ps. 19:13,14)


I live in a body of flesh. But I am a spiritual being and I have a soul.

Personal sin is not just offensive to God, it is hurtful to me. What is displeasing to Him is even more so because of the effect it has on me, His creation.

My sin hurts Him….and me.

Even if I don’t discern it at the moment.

I wish to be more and more discerning.

Wish Lists....

This is the time of year we hear a lot about wishes. Children have long lists, often very expensive ones.

I begin my wish list tonight.

It will NOT be a regret list.

It won’t be a list of things I wish I hadn’t done or said.

A wish is a desire. What is it that I really desire?

The words recorded in Psalm 37:4 have long been a very personal message to me…… “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

The message in that verse is not a matter of how to get what you want.

It isn’t about kissing up to God so He’ll give us everything on our wish list.

It IS, however, about the desire of our hearts being met.

How? Where from ?

Certainly not the North Pole or the fancies of department stores.

The wishes of my heart will never be realized by anything I can do. I can’t buy it, you can’t furnish it.

I wish to know Him better than I know Him now. Not so He will give me anything.

But because He already has.

He has given me life eternal......I wish to know Him as never before.

Thankful #22...

I am thankful I am becoming perfect.

"Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward--to Jesus.

I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

So let's keep focused on that goal……… There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals…..I've warned you of them many times…….Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.

But there's far more to life for us. We're citizens of high heaven!
I'm waiting the arrival of my Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform my earthy body into a glorious body like His own.

He'll make me beautiful and whole….. with the same powerful skill by which He is putting everything as it should be, under and around Him.” (Phillipians 3:13-21 The Message)

I was not a perfect child. I was, however, easily disciplined.
I was not a perfect teenager. I was, however, seldom rebellious.
I was not a perfect young adult. I was, however, responsible and dependable.

I am not a perfect daughter. I do, however, honor my father and mother.
I am not a perfect sister. I do, however, respect them as equals.
I am not a perfect wife. I am, however, completely committed.
I am not a perfect mother. I am, however, devoted and prayerful.
I am not a perfect friend. I am, however, trustworthy and truthful.

I am not a perfect hairdresser. I do, however, do my best.
I am not a perfect business owner. I am, however, honest and fair.
I am not a perfect citizen. I am, however, law abiding.

I don't always do all of the above.
I don’t always do the right thing.
I don’t always say the right thing.
I don’t always act in the right way.
I don’t always have the right attitude.

My body is not perfect.
My skin is not perfect.
My hair is not perfect.

But I am being perfected…..not by my effort alone, but by the only perfect One Who ever walked in flesh, as I do.

“It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, He did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.” (Hebrews. 10:14 The Message)

“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do:

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

Only let us live up to what we have already attained....

For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Php.3:12-21NIV)


Me?.....Perfect?

Not yet……

But He is.

“ As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.” (Ps. 18:30-32)


"His divine power has given me everything I need for life and godliness through my knowledge of Him who called me by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given me His very great and precious promises, so that through them I may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.."(2Peter 1:3-4 personalized by me)

Hallelujah.

Thanksgiving indeed.

Thankful #21....

I am thankful for hearing.
My ears have always been very sensitive to sound. So sensitive, in fact, that some sounds are painful.

My man doesn’t hear like I do. He hears low sounds easily, more easily than I do really…but the higher pitched sounds…like my female voice…he doesn’t hear it well at all... (…..or so he says :-) ........)

I’m thankful to hear music. I love all kinds.
I’m thankful to hear the sounds of nature. I love all kinds of that too.

I’m thankful to hear my man breathing next to me at night. I don’t love that every night….but I’m still thankful.

I am thankful that I can hear. But I’m more thankful that God can.

I'm thankful that He does....thankful that He has never been hard of hearing, nor will He ever be.

He will hear every single thing I say to Him.

Always.

Thankful #20

I am thankful for hunger.

…..Not the kind that comes from an empty stomach.

I am thankful that I have a hunger for knowing what God has said, what He has done, and what His will is.

I am thankful that the hunger is met with understanding another layer of truth.

I am thankful that the hunger returns, only to be met with understanding yet another layer of truth.

I am thankful for the written Word of God, the book we call Bible, a source of feeding my hunger.

Jesus said, “ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”(Matt.5:6)
The Message says it like this…."You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink is the best meal you'll ever eat.”


I’m sad that so many people have no hunger for Him. Some have just accepted their unrighteous condition and don’t have an appetite for right-ness at all.

So many people have never been empty. They are stuffed and running over with themselves. They fill themselves up with spiritual junk food and top it off with a big ME-pie.

Like it or not, admit it or not…we are spiritual beings. There is a spirit within us that will be fed. And when we don’t on purpose feed it the right thing, it will graze on all the junk food it can find, and there is plenty of it in our culture.

I am so thankful to be aware of what I am really hungry for. I am so thankful to know what it is to have that hunger fully satisfied.

When you find what you are really hungry for, nothing else will ever satisfy you again.

“ I am the bread of life.”(John 6:48)


You are hungry for God. Whether you know it or not, or admit it or not. You are.

And nothing else will ever fill you like He will.

Thankful #19....

I am thankful for community.

We are getting ready to go to a community Thanksgiving service.

As I count my blessings, I count it a great blessing to live in a community that gathers together each year, regardless of political differences, racial differences, and even religious differences…

….no matter what the sign on the door of your church building says….once a year, we gather to thank God for His blessings to our community…

…. we join together planning and preparing for the coming year…

….purposing to meet as many of the needs as can be met of those among us and those who may need help as they pass thru….



Webster says community is “a society of people, having common rights and privileges, or common interests, civil, political or ecclesiastical; or living under the same laws”.

We often get bogged down in denominating ourselves, separating ourselves into groups, categorizing ourselves…

Our enemy loves that. It helps his purposes.

I am thankful to be part of a community where Jehovah Nissi still is the banner above us.


“And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: He said, "Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the LORD, the LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation….”(Ex. 17:15-16)

Thankful #18...

I am thankful for indoor plumbing.

I remember as a little girl, spending the night with my great great grandmother and her ‘old maid’ daughter.

I don’t recall if the house had electricity or not, I didn’t notice that. But I sure did notice the absence of a bathroom. The little country church just up the road where they attended services didn’t have one either.

I remember the trails that led to both of them. I remember the smell. And I remember looking over into that hole….uuugggghhh. Wish I could forget that !

I am thankful that when I ‘need to go’, I have only a few steps indoors to be in the appropriate place, no stench, and no horrendous sights.

I am thankful that I don’t have one of those ‘chamber pots’ under my bed, and I have never had to empty one of them.

I am indeed thankful for indoor plumbing. And it just amazes me that the men of this house will walk past two of them to go outside …..