IDOK DEVOTION FOR THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2010

Praise Reports, Prayer Requests and Updates:

I’m just gonna be straight up with you.  All my life for as much of it as I remember, I have wanted to be beautiful.  Now mind you some days I actually feel a tad cute but only ONCE have I felt really beautiful… but that’s another story and not for today.

And while my case (obsession) is perhaps extreme, I think to varying degrees all women want to be beautiful.   Why else would product peddlers be so successful?!  And it would do us well if we could get our minds around the fact that spiritual beauty far, far, far exceeds physical beauty and we who have some Christian seasoning on us say we believe that, but I’m not sure we really believe it.  I’m not fussing at us … heaven knows if I am I’d be preaching not to the choir but the ‘preacher’.  Hmmm.  Maybe I am ‘preaching to the preacher’.  Okay.  Focus here!

So.  Here’s the text that started this line of writing this morning.  Proverbs 4:9 “She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty.” The note I placed in the margin of my Bible was this: ‘A garland of grace on my head; what would that act out like, LORD?  It would be a thing of beauty.  What woman does not want to be beautiful?’  And as I type I am reminded this 4th Proverb begins ‘Hear, O sons,’ .  What son of the Most High does not want to be ‘beautiful’ in the eyes of Almighty God?  I can tell you for a fact my beloved is a man of men and he desires to be ‘beautiful’ to our ABBA.   So.  What I am saying is this message crosses gender lines.  (I hope all IDOK devotions do.)

The recipient of Proverbs 4 as it was penned by human hands moved by God’s Voice was to the penman’s son.  Listen to a portion of it as we read:

⁵ Acquire wisdom!  Acquire understanding!
Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
⁶ “Do not forsake her, and she will guard you;
Love her, and she will watch over you.
⁷ “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;
And with all your acquiring, get understanding.
⁸ “Prize her, and she will exalt you;
She will honor you if you embrace her.
⁹ “She will place on your head a garland of grace;
She will present you with a crown of beauty.”

This is what I see.   God wants us to pursue Him, pursue His Word, His Wisdom, as a man pursues a woman he wants to win. What does a man do when he is courting a woman?  Even when he is occupied with what is on the ‘stage’ of his desk, she is right there head peaking out from the curtain and he is delighted!  When she emails him, he answers her right away.  When she calls, he takes that call even if he takes no other.   When he’s in pursuit of her,  surprising  her with a little gift for no special reason is normal for him.   See what I mean?  Translate that from the natural to the spiritual, and we get a glimpse of pursing God. And what does such a pursuit do for us?  Look at the woman being pursued (Mind you this only works if the woman being pursued wants to be pursued!) and what do you see?  You see beauty!  You see her extend grace  more easily than before.  You see her act in mercy.  You see light and delight in her countenance. And you see the same in him.  Translate that natural occurrence to the spiritual and what do you see?  A garland of grace and a crown of beauty on their heads — you see minds transformed by the Word of God moving hands, feet and faces to the glory of God the Father!  You see beautiful everyday living — gracing this world.  You see JESUS in us!

Now! to be a doer of this and not just a writer  (and reader) of it!

To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.

ABBA, I write this and I read it again and again and praise You for the privilege of writing it BUT that is not enough!  I am so prone to write it and read and then NOT do it, at least not consistently.   But we are gonna get there, aren’t we?  Thank You LORD.  Thank You.  There may be some IDOKs and Readers out there who feel the same, assure them You will get them there — we just got to keep on keeping on one right decision after another.   Amen and amen!  Make it so!

And as we have read the names and have remembered the request for which their names were given, You have heard and You are active in their lives and I am grateful.  Grateful to be a part of what You have done and will yet do for them.  Grateful that You have kept our IDOK Troops safe and asking You to keep on keeping on keeping them safe and whole in spirit, soul and body and to bring them home one by one safe and sound at the appointed time.  And as we put this in resting mode before posting I ask You to even in this moment tend us LORD; pursue us and birth in us a burning desire to pursue You in JESUS Name and for His sake.  Amen and amen.

I’m a quirky sort from time to time  — some would say the majority of the time.  Be that as it may, this week with my head a bit cloudy with sinus congestion and my body in slow mode I am really quirky. 
Here’s a case in point.  When my Baby Girl greeted me with ‘Top of the morning to you’  this morning, I Googled it to see what others said it meant.

Some say, contrary to what I thought, it’s not an Irish greeting — not unless they are making fun of us Americans.  Whatever!  I like it!  I like it because Baby Girl says it and I like it because it just may help me remember that I need to give the ‘top’, the first part of the morning (day) to Father in one one-on-one conversation so the completion of the saying can be well with me.  I learned the common response to ‘Top of the morning to you‘ is ‘and the rest of the day to you’.

Sooo at this writing,  it’s too late to send a ‘Top of the morning to ya’ greeting, so how about a ‘And the rest of the day to you’!!

So what’s up with this?  Just an extra hello and I’m thinking of you.  Why?  Cause I’m quirky! And because I’m just itching to tell somebody, anybody, about a conversation that I am attributing to FATHER GOD and me this morning while in the bathroom — me, not Father — in the bathroom.  (A little humor … ok, very little!)   Some elements of the conversation I am leaving out for privacy reasons, but it went something like this:

Father, I have told ____ that I want a _____ and so far it has not happened so I am now telling You.  Father, I want a ______.  I paused and then I said and a _______.  I paused and then I said and a ______.   I paused.  And then HE said: ‘Anything else?’
I literally burst out laughing — thought I was gonna fall off the throne!   It was hilarious and beautiful and warm and comforting and led me to say ”Oh LORD I hope that was You because that is just what I want!!  CONVERSATION  with You.  Normal GOD to Friend, Friend to GOD conversation!”

I told you I was quirky … BUT I can’t tell you how much I want it to be TRUE!!   Just quirky holy FUN with the GOD of the Universe — my Father!

Holy hugs, Kat…

P.S. No, before you think I am taking some OTC drugs, and that accounts for this post … I’m not.  I really am this quirky obviously, since I am sharing it with you — loving it!!

See ya’ll in the morning … LORD Willing!  Kathie

IDOK DEVOTION FOR WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2010

Praise Reports, Prayer Requests and Updates:

Kathie, Could you please put a motorcycle biker on the prayer list.  His name is Bryan Dunford.  He was in a motorcycle wreck and is in ICU.  He and his family covet our prayers.  God Bless.  Martha.

I am improving but still off keel.  For today, one verse keeps coming to mind to share with you.

Here it is in our familiar King James Version. Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Which is the version from which I memorized it.  How about you?

And the Amplified reads this way: ³²And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.

And the New Century Version: ³² Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.

And the final one for today is from The Message paraphrase: 31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

And as I have sat and waited for a closing; this comes to mind.  Each of us will most likely have an opportunity today (tomorrow) to encounter some cutting remarks, some backbiting, perhaps even some profanity.  And following those cutting, backbiting, profane remarks will there be heard useful, helpful, kind words?  And will those be ours?

To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.

ABBA, I pray to be kind in my thoughts for if I am kind in my thoughts I will surely be kind with my words.  We pray for Bryan, I don’t know his condition but I pray for mercy and grace and for healing and restoration in all ways for him.  I am continuing to pray for Melinda for her healing and well being all around and for all the others whose names we have read, ABBA, asking that You tend to each of them just as they need You.  And for our IDOK Troops I again ask You to protect them and keep them safe from harm and to bring each of them home safe and sound.   I ask You to minister to Andrew.  You know his needs; you know the concerns with children and parents and I just ask You to bring him word soon that he is so wanting to hear.  And others are coming to mind, surgeries pending, papers to write and little time to do it; classrooms to ready for summer and all the deadlines and hype that teachers are facing this week; I ask You to help them accomplish all this with peace in their hearts and I pray for a precious grand baby and ask that she heal quickly with minimal pain, LORD, and please no scarring.  These and others, ABBA, I bring to You and thank You in advance for what You do. Amen and amen in JESUS NAME.