My Portion Forever

Reading through a Bible Study book this morning and the author had written this Psalm.

It's Sunday morning. I'm home with a sick kiddo. So many people who attend our church are out of town or sick this morning. We have visitors coming and my pride is stirring deep in my soul. Fears that they will walk in and not see many people and leave to never return haunt me. 

Lest you think I'm overly dramatic, let me also state: The hubs has worked hard on his sermon this morning. Hours of labored studying late into the night each night after his full time job and I'm feeling distraught at the fact he has prepared this beautiful sermon for only a handful of people. 

Now, do I know there will only be a handful of people for sure? Nope, I don't. But in my flesh... I am certain nobody is going to be at church this morning. I am lamenting and frustrated that I cannot even go myself! Nevertheless, I send my sweet husband and precious healthy children off to church while I wave goodbye listening to the sick child call for me once more.

Afterwards, I sit down to read some of my already mentioned book and read that Psalm. Oh how the Lord loves to correct us in our sinfulness. I love to be corrected by Him. (Weird.. I know.) Although it is often painful and not a fun process.. I love that it brings me back into the fold of His arms and His strength and makes me relinquish my own will.

So I read this Psalm from above and the Lord spoke truth over me...

He is our portion! He is *my* portion. When my desires or plans don't prosper. When my perceptions & ideas fail. My portion is Him! Forever! He is my strength when I feel disappointed. The hubs pastors this church and I serve this church (we both so dearly love & cherish) for Him and Him alone! Not for anyone else.

So I prayed for revival this morning within our church. My prayer is the Lord will strip away all the preconceived notions that I have (which I think He did that already, don't you?) Because it's not about our songs/music. It's not about special readings. It's not about sound boards or nursery workers. It's not about how many people are in those pews to warm them today. It's only about Jesus!

As I felt the same stir of feelings earlier this summer on my way to a breakfast I had planned for our church ladies, then the Lord showed me the same thing. It's not about the food, the people, the visitors, etc. It's about Me, He says. So I prayed for the Lord to strip it all away and make it about Him! Oh He is SOO good, because He did that! We had an amazing prayer service (which I had not planned) and even a woman was saved!! How great and how good the Father's love is for us!

Ephesians 3:20 says He will go exceedingly beyond our wildest dreams...

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Then I sat down and began reading the book of Mark and was blessed by something I hadn't noticed before. Mark 3:7-8.

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.

Have you ever read these verses and passed them over? Holy smokes... these places listed were no where NEAR the Sea of Galilee! (In chapter 2 He was stated to be in Capernaum, right on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, so we know that's what sea they're referring to in Chapter 3. Plus, my commentary says so too!) 

People coming from Idumea... Isn't that nuts? They were walking or on camels/donkeys too, ya'll. Let me just say... they weren't on airplanes! All the way to see Jesus! Whether they wanted healing or to just check Him out. Some were scribes who wanted to find fault with Him. Nonetheless, He preached the truth. He healed. He saved. He comforted. He loved. He called. He equipped. He served.

He did what the Father sent Him to do and because He did, then his ministry was fruitful! People came from all over to be apart of His ministry!

So the Lord showed me... even though we are a small little church in a country setting surrounded by corn.. if we do His ministry with Him in mind (and not ourselves) then He will be fruitful to multiply us... if (and when) He so chooses. Location cannot stop Him! 

Everything else may fail, but He is our portion! He is our strength! Truly... we desire nothing on this earth but Him being glorified. It is only, ever, all about Jesus!

Walking in Obedience

I haven't blogged in a while as other things have taken priority these past months. We have had some unexpected changes this year, but God has been so faithful... as always! The Lord has put into place every piece of the puzzle we needed to help us along the way to fight the spiritual battle we were in. Joyfully, the crazy has met a new calm and peace has fell on our home once again.

I was privileged to attend a Beth Moore conference this weekend. My first one ever and I LOVED getting to see her in person. It truly blessed me!! I have done several of her studies and am in love with her candidness and lightheartedness. I covet the way she speaks truth over women from the Bible. God revealed many things to my heart this weekend. One thing she said that I loved and resonated with is that I am capable, compassionate, and courageous. I never thought I'd say, "You know what? I totally am!!" How mighty our Jehovah is to restore me, equip me, and heal me the way He has. She said those words, and I was like... "Thank you! I *am* those things!" It blessed my soul, but rest assured... I still have much to work on. The Lord had more for me to hear this weekend... and the piercing truth He revealed to me was shocking, yet freeing!

We studied at the feet of Jesus this weekend and Isaiah 60:13 says that where He places His feet is glorious! How I long for Him to walk around me like He promised to do with the Israelites in Leviticus 26:11-12. He promised to tabernacle with them... like in John 1:14 where it tells us Jesus took on flesh and tabernacled among us. He walked among us. I pray He will walk amongst me.... with me... alongside me... dragging me... whatever He has to do! I just want Him with me, because where He walks and places His feet... is holy! I desire to be in His holiness!!

One way the Lord is speaking to me that I am in His presence and in His holiness is by being obedient. We talked of that this weekend also... being obedient. As I read over my notes from the conference, then I am find myself drawn to Abram's obedience in Genesis 13:14-17. 

14 After Lot had separated from him, the Lord said to Abram, “Look from the place where you are. Look north and south, east and west, 15 for I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Get up and walk around the land, through its length and width, for I will give it to you.”

18 So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.

Abram wasn't just told what he wanted to hear. He was given a vision and He was told to be part of that vision by doing something. Getting up and walking around the land. Interestingly, the word Mamre actually means "vision" and Hebron means "linked together" or could also translate to mean communion or fellowship. Isn't it cool how God sent Abram to Mamre, a place of vision? A place where Abram could look around and see all that God was offering him: land & descendants. Abram's obedience to God led him also into fellowship with Him while in Hebron. It was there he built the alter to be near the Lord. Do you see how the LORD is in all caps? That's the Hebrew word Jehovah. Jehovah means personal, unchanging God. Not just the God of the universe, creator, sustainer God. It means, God who has & wants a close, personal relationship with you!! So not only did he receive fellowship with God through obedience, he received fellowship through his action. The action of obedience and the action of building the alter. Now, he would only have to practice patience as he waited upon Jehovah to bring the descendants he was promised.

As I read this passage, researched the meanings behind it, and savored the truth of God's call to obedience then I'm reminded of one of Beth's points this weekend: What happens between God and us at His feet has everything to do with our feet.

Are you being obedient to God in your life? Are you walking where He says for you to walk? Are you finding fellowship with Jehovah God in your call to obedience and the vision He has given you?

If not, then I encourage you... Look at where God wants to take you. Get up and obey His call on your life. Then walk in the knowledge of what He has created you for. There, you will find fellowship with the unchanging, personal, loving God... our King!

Serving with Gladness

I want to share with you about the ability to rejoice at the feet of Jesus & serving Him with a glad heart. How blessed we are to stand in His courts and worship Him!

There was a tribe of Levi out of the Israelites named the tribe of Korah. Also called the Kohathites.  We learn what their responsibilities were in Numbers 4. The Kohathite clan was responsible for the duties of the sanctuary and all the work relating to it.  When the Israelites were ready to move camps then Aaron (the high priest) would go in and cover everything in the Tent of Meeting. Then it was the Kohathites job to come in after everything was covered and they would transport all of the items. They were warned not touch the holy objects or they would die.

 

photo credit The Laymans Bible

However, move on into Numbers 16 and a rebellion begins against Moses. Korah was 1^st cousins to Moses & Aaron. No doubt he felt jealous of the great calling that Moses & Aaron had received. He says to them (in so many words), “Just who do you think you are?” “What makes you so great that you get to be the leader & high priest over all of us?”

Moses reminded Korah that he was also ministering to the Israelites. He got to perform the work of the Lord’s tabernacle. Moses then asked Korah, “Isn’t that enough?”

It says in Numbers 16:31-33, “Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all of Korah’s people, and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them and they vanished from the assembly.”

It took all of the men who served in that ministry. It took their wives, children, home, and all their possessions. We’re talking thousands of people! That’s one big hole in the ground!! It was there…. And then it wasn’t anymore.

I tell you this because I think it’s a really cool story! I also tell you this as a reminder that we all have an important part to play in the body of Christ! 

Some in the tribe of Korah were spared, though. I want to read to you Psalm 84. Think about these words as they were written by ancestors of the Korathites.

Psalm 84

Longing for God’s House

For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹ How lovely is Your dwelling place,
Lord of Hosts.
² I long and yearn
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh cry out for^[a] the living God.

³ Even a sparrow finds a home,
and a swallow, a nest for herself
where she places her young—
near Your altars, Lord of Hosts,
my King and my God.
⁴ How happy are those who reside in Your house,
who praise You continually.Selah

⁵ Happy are the people whose strength is in You,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baca,^[b]
they make it a source of springwater;
even the autumn rain will cover it with blessings.^[c]
7 They go from strength to strength;
each appears before God in Zion.

⁸ Lord God of Hosts, hear my prayer;
listen, God of Jacob.Selah
⁹ Consider our shield,^[d] God;
look on the face of Your anointed one.

¹⁰ Better a day in Your courts
than a thousand anywhere else.
I would rather be at the door of the house of my God
than to live in the tents of wicked people.
¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord gives grace and glory;
He does not withhold the good
from those who live with integrity.
¹² Happy is the person who trusts in You,
Lord of Hosts!

Think of it in these relatable terms written by Beth Moore:

“O God our Shield, You may turn Your face to look on us one more. We are the anointed servants You assigned to a task. We are not guilty of our father’s sins, for we have found complete satisfaction in Your courts! Hear from our hearts, O God! We are a people humbled to accept any form of servitude You would grant us. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to take up residence in the finest abodes this world could boast. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.”

God created you to be set apart in a specific ministry that He created just for you! He has a purpose for you! Don’t allow even a day to go by that you aren’t submitting to all that He has for you. Better is one day in His presence, serving & worshipping Him than living 1000 days elsewhere. Desire Jesus and use the gifts He has given you to offer up to Him and serve Him diligently!

Psalm 100:4-5 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”