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I’m Just Saying (again)

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IDOK Devotion for Wednesday, March 3, 2010
I’m Just Saying  
            I am really into making Scripture personal.  I am into praying God’s Word back to Him because He will surely answer.  I encourage you to sit with your Bible and pen and paper in hand to write out personalized portions of God’s Word.  This one has been mine to pray and meditate on today.
            Deuteronomy 30: (New King James Version) 6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
            Kathie Whitestone Thompson personalized would be like so:  ABBA, I am so encouraged and so grateful that You have made this promise to me in Your Word. You The LORD my God will (not maybe but will) circumcise my heart (Thank You, ABBA, thank You so much for cutting away all this stuff that does not glorify You, all this stuff that makes You unrecognizable in me.  I am so relieved that I can count on You to do this) and (not just for and in me but) the heart(s) of my children and grandchildren (too), (so that I will) love You with all my heart and with all my soul, that I may live. And not just me but them too, that they will love You with all their hearts and all their souls, so they too will live, really live, not just now but forever with You.  Thank You, ABBA, for strengthening me with Your Word.  I am resting on it and I am so glad.
            Sometime today give it a shot.  Pick out a verse and personalize it.
            Let me give you one more.  Isaiah 43:10 (New King James Version)
10 “You are My witnesses,” says the LORD,
      “And My servant whom I have chosen,
      That you may know and believe Me,
      And understand that I am He.
      Before Me there was no God formed,
      Nor shall there be after Me.
            I am Your witness, LORD, You have said so (Oh LORD, thank You); I am Your servant because You have chosen me, You have chosen me so that I may know You, really know You, and believe You.  You have chosen me to understand that You are God, that there was no god before You and there will be no god after You. 
            As you get into this personalizing, I pray you will experience peace beyond your understanding, and that your spirit will oh so feel it and your face surely show it.  Hey, even your feet may find you doing a happy dance (a holy one, of course) as this truth gets down inside of you.  Wouldn’t that be grand?  I’m just saying…

            Taking Your Word personally is doing a work in me.  I am so grateful.  Thank you, ABBA, thank You.  I want us to keep going with this, on and on.  And I pray this for our IDOKs and Readers too.  You working in us is so good.  So good walking this life with You, Jesus.  So good.  Many things in this life are hard for us but You know that, we just need to talk to You about it.  And each of us praying in our respective places have things on our minds, children and grandchildren with struggles and threats of lack in various venues, we are calling upon You for intervention and asking You to make a way where we see no way.  Forgive us our doubts and help our unbelief so we may know You better and give You glory.   Minister peace and safety to all our IDOK Troops I pray today.  We love You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are our God, Three in One and we are Yours and You are ours.  Amen and amen.

Kathie

 

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T and I (again)

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IDOK Devotion for Thursday, March 4, 2010
T and I
            What do you mean when you tell someone that you are thinking of them?  Do you say that to someone you don’t like? Do you say it to one that you do not wish well for?   Psalm 40:17 says (in part) . . . Yet the LORD thinks upon me.
My point?  When we express to someone that we are thinking of them, is it not to someone we love or at least care about?  Is it not to someone that we want good things for?  And if we are capable of such feelings, how much more our God? Why do we find it hard to believe that God likes us?  And I am using the word LIKE because who of us in the Christian Faith would not say Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.  Yet how often do our insecurities cause us to act out behavior and carry on thought processes that say loud and clear that we think He does not like us very much?  Yet here it says He thinks upon us.  I am suggesting to us that He thinks upon us because He LIKES us.  And not just when we have been good little girls and boys, but always.  If you are like me you have a tendency to think God likes you better when you have dotted your i(s) and crossed your t(s) just right and if you don’t, well He likes you a bit less.  Not so!  Lets look at the text again.  But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me.  What makes you and me poor and needy? SIN – not crossing our t(s) and not dotting our i(s).  But here it is.  Right here in our Bibles He says He knows you (and, me) are poor and needy, He knows you (and, me) have sinned and yet He thinks upon you (and, me too).  We might as well face it!  He’s ‘crazy’ about us! The concept will take some practice for us to consistently believe it; but don’t you think we can do it?  Philippians 4:(Holman Christian Standard Bible)13 I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.

            I suppose it could seem that I am being flippant here but You know I am not.  You know my heart and You know I want to know Your heart.  And I am thinking others do too.  We want to know Your heart for us, Your feelings and emotions for us and yet when I say that I am reminded of the cross.  How could I let my insecurities cause me to doubt that You are not only in love me, You like me; You enjoy my company; You delight in me? And not just me but every one that has said yes to You in salvation.   I’m sorry I say one thing and act another at times.  And thank You so much for teaching and training me to forsake those insecurities and believe the Truth.  Thank You for every progress we are making; we know it’s You in us – You in us is our hope of glory.   And now we are compelled, happily so, to bring our prayer charges to You; people we have accepted the call and responsibility to pray for.  Thank You for every one of them; thank You for the privilege of co-laboring with You for their good, for their needs to be met; for them to be healed; for their insecurities, strongholds and just plain old bad habits to be repented of and forsaken; for the Body of Christ to be free, free to love, trust and labor with You for the good of each other and this world in which we live.  I was thinking today that the political machine is throttled to strip us of the freedoms You birthed this Country to display, and to bind us with financial hardship.  And yet I know it is not Your will for us to be gloomy but wise; wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  I can see it would be wise of us to become as independent of this world’s system as reasonably possible while we become more and more dependent upon You.  Working for causes is a good thing, isn’t it? But working for a cause is not as effect as the conversion of sinners, is it?  Isn’t it true that every soul who repents and believes Your Gospel makes this world a better place?  Shouldn’t that be priority with us, being available and open to You to share Your Gospel with lost people?  Make it so in us, LORD, make it so. And before we close this, we pray for our IDOK Troops; for their safety, full protection – spirit, soul and body and please bring each one listed here home safe and sound at the appointed time. I pray for peace and rest for our IDOKs and Readers. Amen and Amen.

Kathie

 

Copy Paste Chew Again

Applause (again)

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IDOK Devotion for Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Applause
Now comes the hard part.  Deciding which Scripture to share and develop with you in the amount of time I have before taking inventory of the freezer, going to the store and ironing clothes, etc. etc.
More and more I am convinced this personalizing Scripture is the way to freedom in Christ.
Isaiah 53:(NKJV)
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
      He was bruised for our iniquities;
      The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
      And by His stripes we are healed.
We have read this Scripture so many times maybe we are too familiar with it – familiar but not intimate. It is intimacy we want.  I have not watched the movie, The Passion, in a way long time.  I need to do that again to bring fresh again in my soul His wounds, His bruises, His stripes for me.   And as important as they are and it is of upmost importance, something else has caught my attention this morning: And by His stripes I am healed.  I made this note to myself: He is my Healer.  That means every thing that is broken or sick about me, He is my Healer. He came to fix my brokenness.  He came to fix every sin sick thing about me.  That was/is my focus this morning as I read that verse.  Maybe you would like to focus on it too.  Maybe you could be encouraged too that whatever is broken about you; whatever is sick within you – He came to fix it!   Not maybe He did, but for sure He did!  You can depend on Him to heal You.  I am depending on Him to heal me – every broken part, every sin sick part!
Isaiah 54:10 (NKJV)
10 For the mountains shall depart
      And the hills be removed,
      But My kindness shall not depart from you,
      Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
      Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
However shaken the terrain in my world gets, He will not depart from me.  He will continue to be KIND to me. He has made peace with me – put me at peace with Him and that is not going to change, not even if mountains and hills around me are blasted level.   Now! That will preach!
Let me give you one more verse.  I could spend so much time on this and would love to, but your time to read and my time to write is limited.
Isaiah 48:18 (NKJV)
18 Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
      Then your peace would have been like a river,
      And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
I confess Beth (Moore) got me started on this (well, all of them this morning).  Peace like a river.  How is a river?  It promotes life around it, gives transportation, runs freely over and around boulders, rocks, and mud banks; has a source of beginning and has a destination. Oh, yes I was about to forget – it has boundaries!  Do you see it? The Peace we have from Christ Jesus promotes life in us and those around us.  His peace in us reaches out to give others ‘transportation’ to Him.  His peace in us gives us the power to go over or around obstacles in our path.  His peace within us gives us FREEDOM to flow from when He saved us all the way to Heaven, our destination.  And boundaries; the Peace of Christ active within us will keep us between the ‘banks’ of His Righteousness!  And that is the safest place for us to be from now all the way to Heaven!
Okay. Your turn.  Like the waves of the sea – His righteousness is like the waves of the sea. What are the waves of the sea like?  May I get you started?  Powerful! Beautiful!  Here’s an interesting link: http://www.virtualnjshore.com/tbwaves.html
If you will, spend a little time comparing righteousness like the waves of the sea – I’d be delighted for you to share your insights with me.  No obligation, of course.
            DADDY GOD, You’ve blessed me so today!  Thank You.  You are AWESOME!  Your Word is alive.  It’s full of Your Power.  You transform us with Your Word.  With all the reverence I have, I just want to clap my hands and say Good Job, LORD! Good Job!  You certainly deserve our applause!  Thank You that You are teaching us to applaud You.  And I pray that my applause won’t be confined to just sitting here before this screen with others who think pretty much the way I do but that I and them will get up from here and applaud You out there too where our rivers twist and turn and wind among people who need Your Life and need to know they can come to Peace with You; that they must come to Peace with You or they will never see Heaven.  Make us uncomfortably aware of hell and that people are going there — so uncomfortable that we will be instruments of Peace in Your Hand to them.   I am remembering that You are calling us to prayer; I don’t want to forget that, don’t let me.  Don’t let me slack up on praying, make it so that churches will be Houses of Prayer.  Make it so that our homes will be houses of prayer too.  Real, effective prayer that moves mountains of doubt and unbelief in us and our families and friends and acquaintances – make it so, LORD.
We bring too every name spoken here; all of them, LORD, heal what’s broken, heal what’s sick we pray.  Remember Israel, to keep Her safe.  Remember America to forgive and bring to repentance.  Expose lies all over this Nation and exalt Your Truth I pray.  And now as we prepare to move from this screen, keep us mindful of You.  Amen and Amen.
Kathie