All posts by heyjudeev5@gmail.com

Bread

IMG_3474By Judy Villanueva

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand?  Are your hearts hardened?  Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?  “Twelve,” they replied.

“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”  They answered, “Seven.”

He said to them, “Do you still not understand?” (Mark 14-21)

I can’t count the number of times I’ve read the story of Jesus multiplying the bread and fish. But, today as I read along, this particular exchange between Jesus and the disciples jumped off the page and sat down next to me!  It felt like Jesus had entered the room and and asked ME , “Judy, do you still not understand?”  My breath halted and looking up from the story, I prayerfully asked, “What, Lord?  What do you want me to understand?”  In an instant it became clear what God was saying and specifically, what His question invited me to  receive.  Bread!  Today, as my husband and I pack up our home and prepare for a move — in the midst of all our “good-byes”  — the Word of God reached out and offered me lunch!  

It is far too easy to read the Bible like we read most books, to gather information.  But, this book is not like other books and is designed to speak into our deep places, bring healing to our souls and free us to know the love of God!  When we read the Word we enter a conversation with the Almighty and He wants to give us WAY MORE than information. 

Turning its pages with eyes that want to see and ears open to hear becomes a holy space where we are seen and known, loved and transformed. 

God’s Word wants to be with us!  It has power to correct us, teach us, and help us fall in love with Jesus.  Oh that we would fear “the study of Scriptures as interesting texts instead of hearing them and God’s very words that hold out Christ and draw us to want him.” (Delighting in the Trinity, p.83)

Ok, so back to bread!  I knew what God was addressing in my heart when I read, “Do you still not understand?”  I am like the disciples who had been with Jesus and witnessed His miracles  only to worry the next moment about the next thing!   Packing up and moving is exciting but it is also unsettling…at least to me.  The Lord’s question to me was an exhortation to SEE AND HEAR, and to live my life REMEMBERING His mighty deeds!  It was a call to stop doubting and believe that the same Jesus who provided a picnic lunch for thousands can provide for me, too!  

What happens when we listen as we read the Bible, when we notice what we notice— when we let God’s Word sit next to us for a while? 

We receive that for which we deeply and desperately hunger— a basket full of bread, some fish and Jesus!

“Thank you, Jesus, for being the bread of life that fills me.  Help me to notice your stirrings as I read Scripture and trust that you will provide for each step of my life.  Amen.”

What about you?

Do you listen as you read the Bible?  Do you notice what you notice ?

Do you have eyes but fail to see, ears but fail to hear?

Are you eating the Bread of life?  Filling up on the truth of God’s word?

Stop for while and have some bread with Jesus.

Worship

Watching Over You

fullsizeoutput_23d8By  Judy Villanueva

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber;  indeed, he who watches over Israel
 will neither slumber nor sleep. 

The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.  

Knee to knee, we sat on the couch sipping tea and savoring the gift of an unhurried afternoon.  My young friend shared with me the new developments in her life, and specifically a recent diagnosis that threatened to derail her hopes and dreams for the future.  It was devastating news.  What would this mean for her future?  What could she expect?  Fear had encircled, shouting despair over her life and mocking the God she loved so dearly.  “You see?  You can’t count on God.  Where is He when you really need Him?”  The only thing we knew to do next was to scooch  in close, bow our heads, and reach out for God’s comfort in prayer.

In his fictional book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S Lewis pulls back the cosmic curtain  and allows the reader to overhear conversations between a senior and junior demon.  Screwtape, the experienced demon, instructs Wormwood in the art of temptation!  One of most eye-opening strategies proposed was to keep the human focused forward or backward, but under no circumstances, should he be allowed to dwell in the present.  He instructs that the past is frozen and the future filled with unrealities—both prime opportunities to chain the soul to regret or fear.   But, of the present moment he cautions

“The Present is the point at which time touches eternity…the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.”

In other words, it is in this present moment that we find God!  He is literally with us at every point in time!  When focusing on what is behind or ahead at a future yet unborn, we step away from the present, holy momentthe one filled with the power and presence of the Almighty.

What does it mean that God watches over us?  Or, that He will not allow our feet to slip?  I believe that it goes far beyond divine spectating!

The fervor of God’s love compels Him to draw near, so near, that He suffers with us as He lovingly holds us in ALL of our moments.

He is not a far-away God, but rather,  a Father, attentive and present now and now and now!

Before my friend married the man of her dreams or held a cherished baby in her arms, she would endure a long and arduous period of suffering, one with lots of unknowns and no guarantees.  She may not have always felt the reality of God near but, all the while He watched over her coming and going.  He was the shade at her right hand, and never, not once, did He sleep or slumber.  He held her as she cried and waited and struggled to trust Him.   In spite of what we do or do not understand about our lives and even in the midst of circumstances that shout “Where is your God?” — HE IS, He is GOOD and  He is watching over our lives with love,  now and forever!

“Father, draw me into your company and the present moment that is all lit up with eternal rays!  Thank You for watching over me and, especially, for holding me in all my moments, both in joy and sorrow.  Amen.”

What about you?

Do you need reminding today that God is always watching over your life?

Do you find yourself dwelling on the uncertainty of the future or, regret over the past?

Can you bring your questions, fears and hopes to God?

God is with you now.  He never sleeps nor slumbers.  He watches over you now and forevermore.  Reach for Him.  Talk with Him.

Worship:

Amen!

daisieshouseBy Judy Villanueva

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  Praise Him all people here below.  Praise Him above ye heavenly host.  Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. (Doxology)

Frustrated and anxious, I decided to slow down from my errands and take my pulse.  “What’s up?  Why so fitful, O my soul?”  I connected immediately to the source of my unrest and sighed.  The beauty of today was that there was no agenda and, the angst that nipped at my heels today was that…there was no agenda.  Nothing to accomplish that might give me a sense that my life has purpose.  In other words, the gift of a day off, free to play or rest or dig a hole or sleep!  Instead of soaking it up I found myself restless and longing for something to fill that place within me…you know the place, the one that is God-shaped and only quieted by His presence.

My soul knew its longing would not be filled by worthy deeds but rather, by drawing near to God and finding my “Amen” …the one that was waiting to be sung to Him!

We say “Amen” at the end of prayers as a way of affirming whatever has been prayed.  It means “ Yes! So be it.  It is true.”  We do the same thing with our lives and daily live in affirmation of that which we believe and value most.  We spend our time, energy and money according to the treasures of our hearts and over a lifetime, we declare a holy or unholy “Amen” to whatever has captured our imaginations.  Think about it.  If someone were observing your days, and all the choices you make, what would they conclude about your values and deepest beliefs?  Is your life being lived and prayed in adoration and thanksgiving to God or, are the cares of this world usurping your “Amens”?  The question to ponder is:

“What are you saying “Amen” to with your life?

It was 5:00pm and I decided to take a muddy walk toward some horses and cows that were feeding on the land next to ours.  As I watched my feet hunt for dry patches, I became aware of a gentle breeze that beckoned me to notice the Companion of the ages who walked alongside me.  In that moment, I felt myself exhale the angst of the day and draw in a deep breath of peace. All worry evaporated as I was roused from my stupor and awakened to the reality of God with me. What a happy “Amen” that bubbles up within us whenever we enter God’s fellowship.  There we encounter THE Amen, the Faithful One, the True Witness, the Beginning…and there, in the middle of His “Yes” to us, we find our own “Amen” spilling out of us in praise!

 “Thank you, Father, for nestling up close and helping me to feel your company today.  I confess that I live too often saying “Amen” to things that are passing away…like, the comforts of the day,  or making life all about me.  Lead me into Your presence and fill my heart with praise.  Amen!”

What about you?

What are you saying amen to with your life?

Are you aware when God is beckoning you into His presence?

When your soul is restless, how do you draw near to God?

Have you experienced God’s “Yes” over your life?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)

Worship

Higher Ways

IMG_2837By Judy Villanueva

Isaiah 55:9  

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Turning over, I pressed the button on my phone to see what time it was…3:00am. Ugh!  I thought, “If I don’t start thinking I won’t start worrying and I’ll be able to go right back to sleep.”  No such luck.  Loved ones flashed through my mind like a slideshow, each one holding their pain or need.  Before long, I was wide-awake and aware of a familiar tightness in my tummy.  I knew that loving my friends and family with worry would never be as helpful as loving them through prayer but it was the middle of the night and I was at a disadvantage.  I wanted to pray but found myself listening instead to faith crushing questions like, “What’s the point?” and, “Does prayer really make a difference?”

Our lives are full of events that we understand and right alongside is everything else!  God does not explain everything and, even if He did, we’d likely not grasp the complexity of how our lives fit into the immense orchestration of lives and events that He watches over with love. Our sanity, not to mention, our faith depend on believing that He is good and able to hold all the pieces of history and work them together for purposes that we will one day celebrate.

In the meantime, we hope and pray in the gap that exists between what we know about God and what we do not understand about our world.

Knowing God and trusting Him is everything!  Praying in the middle of the night needn’t depend on our ability to make sense of everything and can instead lean on the tender heart of the God, who listens.  Do you know His heart?  There are many good things to know about Yahweh but the experience of His love and the conviction that He reigns over, above, in and through ALL of life is a gift of peace in the dark and precious laughter in the light.  Which is easier, I wonder?

To trust in what happens next or to trust in the One who holds what happens next?

God holds what happens next…and He holds us, too!  We can’t know what we can’t know or control all that we wish we could, but we can put our trust in the One whose thoughts and ways are higher than ours.

“Thank You, Father, that You love with perfection, even when I cannot see or measure it.  Watch over all our prayers in the middle of the night and help us to feel you with us especially when it’s dark and we are tired.  Bless us and fill us with faith in Your good heart.  Amen.”

What about you? 

Do you know that when you pray, God is always listening…even at 3:00am?

Have you experienced God’s love?  Have you felt His tender heart?

Do you need faith in the middle of the night?  Strength to pray in the gap?

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night.”(Psalm 92:1-2)

Worship

Can You Feel Your “Sorry” ?

rinnaBy Judy Villanueva

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?   To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.  (Brennan Manning)

Tears spilled and cries for justice erupted as the beloved stuffed moose was kidnapped by  little sister!  The toddler hurried away with a gleam in her eyes and a delighted smile on her face.  Children are so pure in their emotions.  I don’t mean they are sanctified in their expressions of feelings, but they are AUTHENTIC!  If they don’t get the toy they want, they cry.  If they have to go to bed, EVER, they throw themselves on the floor and if Nana sneaks them a chocolate chip cookie, they squeal and promise to love me forever!  Both little people and big hurt one another— wittingly and unwittingly.  On this particular occasion, mom stepped in and instructed little sissy to return Moosey and apologize. “Sooorrreeey” she complied as she handed over the rumpled toy.  To her credit she obeyed  but, to be honest, she didn’t look very sorry.

Can you feel your “sorry” when you apologize?  Saying we are sorry is important to healing in relationships but feeling remorse over the pain we’ve caused is  AS vital to the soul.  Why?

 It has to do with the restorative power of repentance and God’s kindness in providing a way for us to stay free of self-deception and pride.   

This duo tends to be at the root of our unwillingness to let our hearts hurt when we hurt others.   Pride deceives and divides us, internally and externally, and keeps us from the intimacy we were created to enjoy with God and others.  Staying open to the Holy Spirit’s voice of correction may sting but it always leads to  Zoe lifefree, genuine, vigorous, and devoted to God.   The alternative is to ignore His nudges and in doing so, gradually lose our sensitivity to the gift of His company and counsel, along with the ability to feel our own hearts.  

Humility helps us to know ourselves as both exceptional and flawed creatures.  “To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.” (B.Manning)  

Being honest about our brokenness can feel threatening but it is in acknowledging the whole truth about who we are that we break out of a defensive posture  and into one that is liberated and activated to love. 

Feelings are designed to connect us to our hearts and, when we pay attention to them, they  help us discover the places in us that need healing and love, correction and grace.  They are meant to lead us to curiosity, prayer, and an openness to hear from God, even if it is a call to repent.   When it comes to cultivating a soft and pliable heart — one that can feel sorry and repentant, joyful and free — maybe the key to is to become like children.  No, not unrestrained and impulsive  but connected, open and authentically feeling our lives with God.

“Thank you Father for your steadfast love and for all the ways you help me follow my feelings to YOUR heart.  I want to feel my life, sorries included!  I pray that you will touch each person reading this with a true sense of your feelings for them.  Amen.”

How about you?

How free are you when it comes to acknowledging an offense and apologizing?

Can you feel your sorry?  In other words, when you apologize can you feel your heart hurt over hurting another?

How connected are you to your heart?  Do you follow your feelings to curiosity and prayer?

Do you know yourself as deeply loved by Jesus?

Worship

 

Drifting

IMG_0891By Judy Villanueva

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Hebrews 2:1)

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (Revelations 2:4)

Colorful umbrellas celebrated along the shoreline, each granting shade and place-marking the towels and coolers that awaited hundreds of sea loving swimmers.  To avoid confusion we were careful to take note of our specific picnic area before we ran out into the ocean to play. There’s nothing like the thrill of catching the perfect wave or gasping for air after a salt water tumble! When finally we exhausted ourselves, we placed our feet on the sandy shore and looked up expecting to find our bright yellow umbrella.  What we found instead was a sea of towels and beach chairs a football field away from where we had started!  The current was subtle and, lost in play, we never even noticed we had drifted.

Drifting is the kind of thing that often happens little by little.  One minute we are where we plan to be and the next, in a place we hardly recognize.  When we do finally look up and find ourselves it is with bewilderment that we ask, “How did I get here?” or “How did I become this person?” To drift is to wander or move gradually away from a fixed course or point and it happens one decision at a time… one thought, one attitude, one act.  It happens when we give ourselves permission to lose our temper “just this once” or set our tongue free to say whatever it wants. It happens when we wander over to an improper TV show, justify a lie, or look the other way when our hearts are unkind.

It happens when we are not paying the most careful attention to the beautiful words of Christ.

Sitting in church today I felt a familiar tug. “Uh-Oh,” I thought warily, “I recognize this tug.” As the pastor spoke about one thing, I felt God speaking to me about another.  I sensed Him asking if I wanted to see where I have drifted. “Seriously, Lord? I’ve drifted? Ugh.”  As He gently opened my eyes I felt a piercing that burned somewhere inside me.  It hurt to see my willfulness and pride.  I honestly didn’t want to know this, but wrapped in His love, I let myself see and then bowed in tearful sorrow.

It’s easy to get caught up in the thrills and tumbles of the days and drift from who we want to be and how we want to live.

Paying careful attention involves learning to listen to God as He speaks to us about our lives — wherever we are!  He helps us see our lives, notice where we have drifted and find the way back to our first Love.

“Father, I thank you that you love me enough to confront me.  After all these years, I need your gentle corrections more than ever.  Help me to return to my first Love every day and forgive my wandering heart. Amen.”

What about you?

Do you want to know where you have drifted?

Is Jesus your first Love?

Do you let God confront you?  He is that still, small voice that we bump into when we read the Word, hear a sermon,  and mainly, as we pay attention to our hearts.

Everyone’s life is aimed at something.  What is your life aimed at?

Worship

Whatever Is Lovely

DSC_1493By Judy Villanueva

So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always. (Philippians 4:8)

It was completely silent, except for the sound of lake water sloshing against the sides of the metal fishing boat that held us.  I was stretched out reading while my husband sat patiently, rotating the reel, waiting for the tug that would mean we were having fish for dinner!  It was one of those extraordinary moments when one feels held within the beauty of God and, ushered into a great shalom!  Between the blue skies that watched over us and the hundreds of pines that surrounded us, it would have been difficult to imagine that we would ever be unsettled by anything ever again!  I remember stepping into that little boat with an anxious heart and returning to shore, at peace.  What is it about gazing at beauty that quiets the soul and bears witness to the reality of God—on the throne, in charge, and magnificently reigning over heaven and earth?

God is beautiful!  Massively, spectacularly, incomprehensibly beautiful!  It would be impossible to tell the story of His infinite beauty and yet, He has graced us with foretastes scattered throughout the earth!  We see hints on purple mountain peaks laced in snow, and in the array of colors splashed across the landscape on a spring morning.  We marvel under the magic of a night sky and catch our breath in the presence of the sun rising in firey splendor.  Beauty blesses our soul and speaks to us of God in ways that words cannot.

When all seems lost and despair has declared a victory, beauty always has the final word — and that word is hope!

Reflecting on the attributes of God is a worthwhile and faith-building practice.  Awakening to His beauty in this world anchors us to the reality of God…a good and beautiful God!

There is something in the human spirit that intuitively understands that beauty doesn’t just happen.  It reflects and points to its Maker!

To behold His beauty is to discover His heart, peek at His face, and hear His loving whispers.  There is revelation of God on flower petals, ocean waves, and glaciers — ladybugs, redwoods, and the Milky Way!  At the heart of beauty is a happy God and our soul is calmed in its presence.  It bears witness that He is real, on the throne, in charge, and magnificently reigning over heaven and earth!

“Thank You, Father, for this world and every inch of beauty within it!  Help me to hear your voice through all of it.  I am so grateful for starlit skies and glassy lakes, for delicately colored flowers, rainbow trout and moose!  I praise you, most beautiful God!  Amen.” 

What about you? 

How does beauty impact you?  Does it?

When was the last time you were astounded by God’s beauty in creation?  How did it make you feel?

Is beholding beauty a familiar practice?

Do you know God as beautiful?

Worship

How Long?

IMG_2744By Judy Villanueva

Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” (1Kings 18:21)

OUCH, this hit me right between the eyes!  I am reading a book on the beatitudes and right in the middle of the chapter called “Happy Are The Pure In Heart,” this verse jumped off the page and threw water in my face!  “What?  ME?  Hobbling between two opinions?” But in my heart of hearts, I knew it was true and as I toweled off my face, I reread the words and let them sink in more deeply.  The words felt like a strong correction and at the same time, like the most loving words I’ve ever read.  I think that’s how it often feels when God speaks.  He always tells the truth but with so much love that my heart melts, my knees buckle, and my hands open to receive whatever gift He offers me, even if it’s a correction.  The morning reading became a confrontation and an invitation to stop wavering and decidedly place my life in God’s care.

What are my “two opinions?”  Where am I double-minded?  I confess that I waffle back and forth between trusting God with all my heart and wondering if He heard the prayer I just prayed.  There are days when my feet must dance because the goodness of God has touched me and there are days when I can’t discern the reality of His presence.  So, I hobble along.  Do you hobble, too?  There are many ways to waver between “two opinions.”   It might be living one way on the outside and another on the inside or agreeing with the Word spoken on Sunday morning but determining your own way when you walk out the door.  It may even result from living a life so distracted by many things that there is little room left for the One Thing —WHO is everything.  

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:4-5)

Living between two opinions dims our light and dilutes our saltiness, not to mention the fact that it weakens our ability to trust and obey God. 

So, what empowers us when God says, “How long?” to reply, “NO LONGER!  You are God and no other!  I will follow YOU!”?  Because when the moment of truth arrives and we are faced with a decision on who to follow, whatever has been filling our hearts and minds will drive us in one direction or another.  What is establishing Truth inside you? 

I realized after some pondering that only the Word of God can heal my hobble and if I want to follow Him with a singular and faithful heart I must fill my soul with HIS Opinion and leave room for no other!

This evening as I crawled into bed I felt more than anything, LOVED.  Like a father that sees His child struggling, I felt God loving me in my weakness even as He illuminated the state of my doubting heart. He didn’t turn away. He drew near and I’d almost swear I felt His breath on my cheek as He spoke “Try again, my love, and trust Me.  You really can trust Me.”  

What about you? 

Can you feel the tug of war for your heart, mind and strength? 

Do you ever find yourself limping between two opinions?

What is establishing truth inside you?

Saturate yourself with the Word of God and let it fill you.

Worship  *** You’ve got to hear this song!***

It All Counts!

lakekayakmirrorBy Judy Villanueva

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” (Genesis 28:16)

“The word present, of course, means near, close to, next to, and the prefix omni gives it universality. God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone.” (AW Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy)

Laying face up in my closet I stared into the blouses that hung above me. This little cubby proves to be a quiet place to pray and always helps me feel tucked away with God.  Do you ever wake up aware of your soul’s longing for God — for an experience of His face, a moment of His love, a Divine touch?  I do, especially when life gets prickly.  To feel His presence infuses all the pieces of my life with hope and meaning.

No matter the trial or richness of any moment, it is the “God with” factor that makes me strong, hopeful, and happy!

As light breaks the night, I wake up with this prayer on my lips, “Find me Father.  Bump into me today.  Help me to live this day with you.”  I admit that what I’m asking for are lightning bolts and holy visions, but instead, God greets me in the morning with whispers and melodies, smiles, coffee and the grace to find Him in the gifts embedded in ordinary days. And, I’m slowly learning  that it all counts!

Rainbows, breezes, sunlight and hugs — puffy white clouds and the taste of buttered toast all count as God’s love reaching out to us.

Cultivating an openness to “count” what we may regard as ordinary blessings becomes a powerful pathway into the Divine presence.

The practice of noticing the day’s blessings is a habit that can form in spite of our reluctance to recognize the Holy within the ordinary.  We are products of a culture that craves special effects, so cooperating with the Holy Spirit as He draws our attention to His gentle movements of love can be challenging.  It requires that we let go of our preconceived notions of Holy encounters and avail ourselves to watching for “God with” us in and through the very life given to us each day.

I stumbled out of bed this morning and moved toward the coffee I smelled brewing down the hallway.  As I took that first warm sip of goodness, I thanked God for taste buds and the new day.  Later, working at my desk, I noticed movement outside my window and there, staring in at me, was a gloriously colored bird arrayed in bright yellow and crimson.  I could not help but stare back at him and offer thanks to God for the beauty He splashed all over this little creature!  Here he is!DSC_0504

That same afternoon I found myself on a couch soaking in the company of a friend, all the while aware that I was in the middle of another good gift.  Do these count as the Divine reaching into my life and offering me love?  “Surely the Lord is in this place”—  the very place where we live each day!  Whether in a closet, on a couch, or stumbling out of bed, God is always with us and wants to be found!

“Father, find me. Bump into me today and help me to live this day with you. Thank you that you love being found!   Help me notice your gentle movements of love today. Amen.”

What about you?

Looking back on your day, are you aware of God’s gentle movements of love?  What were they?

Where do you most easily notice God?

How does the “God with” factor affect you?   He is with you.

God loves to be found!  Ask Him to bump into you today.

Worship

Take The Bet!

IMG_3249By Judy Villanueva

“Now, this I know:  The Lord gives victory to his anointed.  He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.  Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.  They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.  Lord give victory to the king! Answer us when we call!” (Psalm 20:6-9)

 I was on a road trip recently and as I stared out the window I could feel the strain of worry pressing in on me.  Abraham seemed to join me in the car and suddenly, I felt his faith reach over and slap me!  It was a good, wake-up kind of slap that pushed me out of an anxious  stupor.  The verse

Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited it to him as righteousness”

reverberated in my mind and with it, the desire to please and honor God by believing that He is who He says He is.   It reminded me of Pascal’s Wager, wherein he,  a 17th century French philosopher, threw out the challenge to bet on God Paraphrased, he proposed that if you bet on God and He does NOT exist, you lose nothing BUT stand to gain everything if He DOES exist.   Conversely, if you wager that there is no God and in fact there IS, you have bet with your life!  As I pondered what this had to do with me I felt God say,

“Judy, you can keep living as though life is random (and be afraid) OR, you can bet on ME.   I have heard your prayers.  I AM Faithful. Trust Me — take the bet!

Are you weary of worrying and fatigued by fear?  While subtle, the things that make up our daily lives, good and bad, speak to us about God and little by little shape our image of Him. If we are not careful to renew our minds with the truth of who God is,  our view of  Him will warp.  The temporal and transitory will define what we think of Him rather than His eternal and unchanging Word.

AW Tozer says that What we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

If we think He is inattentive or uncaring,  how will we trust that He is intimately aware of all our ways?   If we forget that He is Mighty,  how will we ever rest in His arms, especially in times of great trial?  Peace resides in knowing that God always acts with perfect knowledge, victorious power, and faithful love.  Betting on God is all about believing that He is who He says He is!  Another mile passed and I realized that my heart had calmed.  I looked over at Abe with a smile, grateful for his nudge and decided to follow his example.  I took the bet and am trusting that God is and always will be –  faithful.  I pray you will, too!

“Father, I thank you that you are who you say you are, always. I want to honor you by believing that you are faithful, even when I cannot figure out my life. Strengthen and build a believing heart in me. Amen.”

What about you?

What do you need help believing God for today?

What is the basis for your image of God?  Your own understanding?  Circumstances?  The Word of God?

Where have you placed your trust?  By who or what is your heart governed?

Do you, like me, need God to strengthen and build a believing heart in you?

“May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;  May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.  May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.  May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.  May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.  May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God.”(Psalm 20:1-5)

Worship