The Lord is My Shepherd - His Spirit is water to my Soul!

I wish I was perfect - wouldn't that be awesome to be perfect.  

To never say or do the wrong thing.  

To just wake up every morning and know that your every response to someone would be just the right one.  

The perfect words to every situation would fly out of your mouth without thought.   

Every action, deed and thought would be beyond question and reproach. 

I am not perfect!  

I'm struggling now. 

- Struggling with everything it feels like a big weight of nothingness has settled over me and well spiritually I know that this isn't from God.  I'm so not right within myself that I wonder what am I doing?  

What does God's word say about this?  

I've not been in the word lately!  I've been avoiding it actually - what does that say about me?  I have been praying but most of my prayers are about God helping me through a situation.  Or helping me figure out what to say and how to say it.  What to do.  Asking God to forgive me for my not so nice thoughts and feelings as of late.  

I think that most of this just means I'm normal.  

A Christian, not in the word, under stress and full of emotional responses as my first line of defense.  Seriously, I've cried all I can today.  

While I haven't been in the word lately,  I had been studying the 23rd Psalm.  

Studying it along with  a book written by W. Phillip Keller.  

I'm such a sheep!

The Shepherd Trilogy: A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm / A Shepherd Looks at the Good Shepherd / A Shepherd Looks at the Lamb of God

I'm glad that I was studying this before this time in the valley because I can see how much of a sheep I am!  During this time without water, when my enemies seem to be other sheep kicking me.  Why do we sheep do that to each other?  Why do I do that to other sheep?  

I am a sheep in need of rest,  I am a sheep in need of a good Shepherd.  

In need of a Shepherd that during this dry time is waiting for me to meet Him up in the meadow.  Better yet is waiting for me to allow Him to safely lead me to this quiet place of rest. 

The song Better is One Day -  is going through my mind.  The part that talks about 

Your Spirit is Water to My Soul!

There it is the water that I need that everyone needs.  Good thing I don't need to be perfect or I'd be doomed - well damned really. 

Let this be Water to your Soul too!

This is true for me - is it true for you?  Is one Day with God better than 1,000 somewhere else?

Water to your soul?

Oh things are not suddenly perfect now.

I'm still not perfect, 

right now I still feel down and my spirit is still heavy the valley is still a bit dark. 

But there is that meadow over there and I'm going to head to it because 

He is a good Shepherd.  

And well He is perfect. 

The Lord Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my dshepherd; I shall not ewant.

2 He makes me lie down in green fpastures.

He leads me beside still waters.1

3 He grestores my soul.

He hleads me in ipaths of righteousness2

for his jname's sake.

4 Even though I kwalk through the valley of lthe shadow of death,3

I will mfear no evil,

for nyou are with me;

your orod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You pprepare a table before me

in qthe presence of my enemies;

you ranoint my head with oil;

my scup overflows.

6 Surely4 goodness and mercy5 shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall tdwell6 in the house of the Lord

u forever.  (ESV)

Water from the Well

One of the outreaches this summer was the trekking outreach.  One day our guide had a friend he wanted our team to meet at a well.  This friend I’ll call him Peter and he always have lots of good conversations about the Lord and the end times.  He wanted us to meet Peter and to talk with the other man that was with them.  The meeting was at a covered well with a picnic table on the edge of a field in Southern Moldova.

Reflecting back I find it interesting that the entire conversation took place at a well.  Jesus met the women at the well and he knew her sin.  She realized that He was the Christ.  She then told everyone who she had met and many people through this sinner came to know Jesus.  

At this well the first gentlemen - I’ll call him Bob.  He wanted to bring up all these issues concerning conflicts with other nations, between nations and wars.  Since I am an American he brought up 9 11.  We tried to steer the conversation to himself and his own relationship with God, but he didn’t want to go there.  

During this conversation with Bob - a drunk man from the field came to see what was going on - he may have heard us singing.  I’ll call him Dan.  He wondered in disrupting the already confusing conversation and added more confusion.  Then he wondered off.  Then he came back and sat down.  He smelled strongly of alcohol.  

I told Bob that I could sense his heart was for peace and that his concern was for people.  That the word of God says that all nations will bow and know that He is God.  God will judge the nations.   That in the end we all go in front of God alone.  That we were there because we were concerned about him.  

Then 1 Peter 1 - 2:2 was read.  The entire tone relaxed after this, the confusion seem to dissipate.  It was very interesting the calming effect the scripture had. 

The gospel was clearly shared.  Dan the drunk man heard some of this but it was like he was fighting himself.  Did he stay and listen or did he run off.  You could see on his face sadness and heartache. 

I felt a strong impression to share with him about my own brother and how he died of a drug overdose.  About how he had told me that he wanted to stop the addictions but that ultimately it killed him.   I was just about to start when suddenly Dan got up stood looking off into the distant field and said.  “My brother died right over there...”  He started to cry. 

Wow - I knew then for sure that I was to share this.  

Through sharing this connection of loosing our brothers, we were able to get at the root of his addiction.  When he stopped drinking the pain of his brother’s death would overwhelm him and he would start drinking to numb the pain.  I told him he needed to let the grief come he needed to cry for his brother.  That the drinking was ruining his life and would cause his death.  There was more said and shared with him.  By the time we left there was hope on his face.  

It was suggested that a Bible study be started with our guide and these men.  Pray that they do get together for fellowship and to discuss God’s word. 

Pray for both Bob and Dan that they allow God to change their hearts.

Pray for the men of Moldova - it is so hard to be a provider here.  God made men to need respect, to have a desire to provide for their families and when you can not provide because there is no work...  When alcohol is cheaper than water and sold in large quantities a country ends up with a whole host of family and social problems. 

Moldovan men need purpose and hope.  

When Jesus met the women at the well - He told her that he could give her living water.  Living water the one that makes us not thirst again.  

The water from this well is only found in Christ.  

LETTING GO

There is an American Resource Center here in Moldova where anyone can go and sign up to check out books and movies that are American.  Meaning the movies are all in English and most of the non-fiction movies are Historically about the US.  There are computers that can be used and you can print out 20 pages a day if they are related to topics concerning the USA.  I for some reason find that funny.

The kids are happy because they have a lot of kids movies and I am happy because they have grown-up movies and TV shows as well.  I checked out House, M.D.: Season Six.   House interests me because he is so anti God and yet he himself has a bit of a God complex.  He is completely irreverent and sometimes I really dislike him.  But mostly I feel sorry for him.  I know he is a character in a show but sometimes I think about the writers.  What are they thinking when they write these shows.  When they portray God and religion in general in such a negative light.  There are so many episodes where a great discussion about God, sin, evil, good and the meaning behind it all is just waiting to be had.

What is and isn't God's "fault" I find it all kind of fascinating really.

One episode was about a Vietnam Vet from Canada - who had his hand cut off while trying to save a boy.  The episode is called "Tyrant" because this Vietnam Vet is very angry and mean.  He makes House back down which is not usual.  During an angry conversation with House he explains that he is still holding that boys hand 35 years later and is in a lot of pain all the time because he can't let go of that boys hand.

House in his usual way goes into the man's house, drugs him and forces him to put his stub into a box, which he has rigged with a mirror, so when he puts in his good hand he can see a mirror image.  Making it look like he has two good arms.  House tells him to squeeze both hands like he is holding on to something really hard and "If you believe in God pray that this works and while your at it you might ask him why he let you loose your hand to begin with."

So he squeezes both hands really hard and then House says, "Now, let go!"  He lets go and starts to cry because for the first time in 35 years he has no pain.

No pain - for 35 years he had pain and now it is gone.  Can you imagine the sweet release of living with something for 35 years and having that pain removed by Letting Go!  Really Letting Go!

In what ways do we not let go?  How do we hold on to pain in our lives and relive them.  We relive our mistakes, we hold on to grudges, we choose to be angry about things we can't control.

House tells him - ..."Ask God why he let you loose your hand." - Sometimes those kind of things are hard - why does God allow these bad things to happen?  Why did one of my team members get leukemia?  Why did just this weekend another team member got married and then the bus that was taking some family members and friends from her village home had an accident and the only fatality was her sister.  ON HER WEDDING DAY!  WHY?

Is God big enough for these questions?  Is God strong enough?  Are we wise enough to know that DEATH,  SICKNESS and PAIN never make sense because it wasn't part of God's plan.  That God did not create a world of pain, sickness and death but that we created that.  That instead of pointing at God and blaming him we have to bow our heads and pray that God gives us the strength to praise him through it.

That Christ's death on the cross - there He took that PAIN, SICKNESS and DEATH and that we don't have to suffer forever anymore.  That this debt is paid and we can choose it freely.   We can LET GO and let God be in control.

When someone dies we hurt and are in pain because this is not the way we were created to be.  We were created to be in fellowship with our God, to walk with Him, to talk with Him and to cling to Him to live with Him praising Him forever.

I had a dream not to long ago and it won't leave.  I've shared it with a few people and I will share it here. I am in a car in Moldova (I think) and the road is very rough.  I am not driving the car - I don't know who is but the car feels somewhat out of control.  We leap off an embankment and fly through the air.  (I know this can't end well.)  But in the midst of it I start praising God.  I am thanking Him for how good He is and that even though I know that I will probably die I want to die praising Him.

Then we seem to skip like a rock skipping on a pond of water hitting the ground and bouncing back up into the air again.  Then we land smack dab in a bunch of mud.  (There is a lot of mud in Moldova.)  I open the car door and suddenly there are people all around me talking in a language I can't understand but I can't contain myself I have to share the gospel so I just start asking.  "Do you know Jesus?"

I've thought about this dream - I wasn't driving because I am not in control of my life, but I am in control of how I respond to the situations that happen around me.  I can choose to praise HIM, or I can choose to blame Him.  Thankfully in my dream I chose rightly.  My aim is to do that when I am awake too.

Lets Let Go and Let God!

Devotional: For Easter

He is Risen!

We rotate who does the weekly women’s Bible devotion at work - we have been working through learning from the women of the Bible.  I was given Mary Magdalene.

I had things I thought I knew about her but what I found out proved to show that she is an excellent women to study the week before Easter!  

Who was Mary Madalene?

She was a Christ follower!  (Mark 15:41)

Her name lets us know that she was probably from Magdala in Galilee

She was healed from 7 demons (Luke 8:2)

She was a key witness to Christ’s:

Death:                          (Matt. 27:56)

    Burial:                          (Mark 15:47)

Empty tomb:                      (Luke 24:1-10)

First one to encounter the risen Christ:  (John 20:18)

As a women and a disciple of Christ myself, I always love when I find gems like this in God’s word.  

Here was a women so devoted to Christ that she was there at the cross.  I can only imagine that once Mary Magdalene was healed she recognized who Christ was and that was the only place she wanted to be was near Him.  

Can you imagine suffering with “7 demons”  it may have been a number of physical or mental illnesses, or it could have been actual demons but regardless she was free from her infirmities.  She was healed, she was forgiven and she knew that Jesus was worth her devotion.  

She was a witness at his Death - there at the cross.  Can you imagine the oppression when Jesus took our sin upon himself and died.  The weight of all that sin darkening the sky, the utter darkness.  I can’t really even imagine it.  When all the weight of the world’s sin was paid by the ultimate sacrificial lamb and the curtain in the Holy of Holy’s was rendered from top to bottom.  Only God could have done that!  

When the body was taken away and she saw it laid in the tomb and she knew because of the Sabbath she couldn’t treat Jesus' body the way she would have wanted. So she went home and waited for the Sabbath to be over.  

When she approached the empty tomb, wondering how they could roll away that heavy stone.  Wondering - thinking about all she had learned as she followed Jesus - what did He mean, “In three days I will...?”  What did he mean by that.  Grief stricken and then the stone is already rolled away.  Running inside and - He is gone.  Where is He she asks the gardener.  

“Mary!” (John 20:16)

Not a gardener - but her Lord!  Rabboni!  

Clinging to Him - not wanting to let Him go ever again.  But his quiet voice saying tenderly, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father...” John 20: 17.

What I am struck by here is Mary not recognizing Jesus until He says her name.  Then she knows that this is her beloved.  The lover of her soul.  She knows without a doubt who He is and her immediate reaction is to cling to Him.  

In John 10: 1-3 it says:  “Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.  But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.  To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

He calls his own sheep by name and the sheep hear his voice!

She heard his voice call her name and she knew this was the one to cling to.  Here was truth in the flesh, risen from the dead, worthy of her utter devotion. 

He told her what to do - John 20:17  ...”go to My brethren and say them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” 

And what does she do - she runs to the disciples announcing,  John 20:19 ...

”I have seen the Lord...”

This is what our own response to our own encounter with the risen Christ should be.  We are also witnesses to His work in and through us.  Here was a women utterly devoted to Christ, she followed Him, she learned from Him and she told about Him.  She is a awesome example for me as a disciple of Christ’s to share with others...

“I have seen the Lord.”

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

My Bible Reading Plan

I've used many plans to read my Bible.

The current plan that I am using is  Professor Grant Horners Bible- Reading System.
How is that for a title?




What Professor Grants suggests to do is read 10 chapters a day.  Yes, I said 10.  He says to get one Bible and stick with it.  Read the 10 chapters briskly but with understanding.  Don't get bogged down, don't journal.  Not that your not thinking but your going to be coming back over these books quicker than in any other Bible reading plan you've ever done.  Your going to become so familiar with your Bible as you continue with the plan.

So what are the 10 chapters
1.  The Gospels you read through them over and over.
2.  Genesis - Deuteronomy
3.  Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
     Philipians, Colossians and Hebrews
4. 1 & 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon,
     James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude and Revelations
5. Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon
6. Psalms
7. Proverbs
8. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings,
    1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
9. The Prophets
10. Acts

What I like about it - I like that there are no dates on this plan.  I don't ever have to feel behind.  I pick up where I left off and read as much as I can.  Some days I don't read all 10 in one day.  I might read 5 one day and 15 the next or I might end up reading 3 chapters in one book because I just love it so much and in the end I end up reading 9 chapters total but not of the whole 10 list.  This is a flexible plan you could read 5 in the morning or 5 at night.  I do jot notes down - right in my Bible though I know some people would be aghast to do that.  I have nice wide margins and my Bible was made as a study bible to be written in and highlighted with symbols and colored pencils.   I've been using this plan since January and I plan to stick with it for a long time.

Other "systems" I have used in the past are:

The One Year Chronological Bible NIV (One Year Bible: Niv) is one that I used for many years.  This was my devotional Bible not the Bible I brought to church with me.  Since it was in Chronological order I found it really helped me focus on the Bible as one whole historical account not just random books.  There is a logical sequence of events.
  

The One Year Bible NLT (One Year Bible: New Living Translation-2)  I would do this one when I got tired of doing the Chronological Bible this is not my favorite format but it is good to get you in the habit of reading the whole Bible in a year.

I once did something similar to Horner's system which was to read:
1. The Books of the Law
2. Everything between the Law and Psalms
3. Psalms
4. Proverbs
5. Everything after Proverbs up to the Prophets
6. The Prophets
7. The Gospels
8. The rest of the New Testament

I did this for a period of about 3 months then my life changed and I dropped it and went back to the Chronological Bible.  I think that Horner's suggesting of reading Acts each month is a good one since it is such a missional book.  He says if you don't know why you should read through Acts each month - that just shows why you should read it every month.

Developing the habit of reading through the Bible in a year was one thing that really grew me as a Christian and my walk with the Lord.  I can't say I have less questions but I do have a richer understanding of God and my relationship with Him did deepen.