Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi – written in 2015

A light house does not blow fog horns but it only shines.  

When I read the above I thought of our walk as Christians.  Does our life reflect the light  of Jesus.  St Mark 4:21: and he said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick?  A candle beams its flickering light so we may find our way in the dark as does the Lighthouse.  As Christians we should let our light shine & walk in the light of Christ.  We need not blow fog horns but just shine & let the Holy Spirit beam through us.  Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord……i grew up in a very legalistic religion & if we did have a little light, it was totally blown out with dos & don’ts & lots of fear. 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God….10: herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us & sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4 is filled with scriptures of love.  The pendulum swings both ways but should be in balance.  I guess my desire is not to be a fog horn but a flickering light for our Lord.

Mother Teresa said, “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.” 

Brother Lawrence said, “There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.” Meeting with God consistently is the foundation of everything God desires to give you in this life. All of the abundant life stems from a place of intimate and continuous encounters with your heavenly Father. May your ears and heart be opened to receiving the knowledge of your Father’s love, grace, and purpose for your life. May you experience to greater levels the joy of intimacy with the God of love. And may your heart come alive in the stillness of meeting with the God who dwells in all of eternity.

When we begin our days, prayers, worship, reading, and fellowship with a heart of thanksgiving, we live out of a place of faith and reality found in the kingdom of God come to earth.  Greg Denison, First 15, September 19, 2017

Ronald Reagan said it well: “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.”

I have been attending a discipleship course on Wednesday nights at Temple Terrace United Methodist church which will come to an end in two weeks.  It is an 8 week course.  We have a different teacher every two weeks teaching on a different aspect of the Bible.  Discipleship courses are designed to bring one into a closer walk with Jesus, and I have been blessed to have taken several in my lifetime.  And, each one has been a venue of growth.  But truly and honestly the most important truth for me  – and there are many certainties in God’s word – but the one I come away with is God is love, merciful and wants a family that will worship him, walk with him, spend time with him and truly get to know Him and  the wonder of his plan for humanity.  God is love.  And, he wants our love too.

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” ~ Isaiah 40:8

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!  Luke 12:27-28

Flowers are mentioned in the Bible often as a reference for analogies and parables. Scripture calls to the beauty and divine providence of their growth and bloom to inspire us to live by faith and trust in the Lord. May we bloom as the flowers and be an example of God’s grace to the world!

I am doing a painting of a flower (it wii be done in my style of Impressionism) and when I finish it, I will post on my blog.  Flowers are mentioned many times in the Bible and above scriptures are two of my most favorites.  “God’s word will stand forever” and “They neither toil nor spin” spark an interest in my heart of hearts.  I can stand firmly on His word when everything fades around me. He promises me to stand, be still, believe, and trust him to take care of the situation.  He has it!  I do not need to spin and toil as is my usual behavior but to be still and trust Him.  He has it!  Saying all of that trust is hard for me as I want everything I pray for to happen immediately so I will spin and toil trying to make it happen.  And when all my “spinning” doesn’t happen I find myself under the circumstances and questioning God “why”.  Again I hear “trust Me” and “I have it”.  He does and it’s in his time not mine – “Leave it be  coppi – trust, wait, and quit toiling.  “He has it”.

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow.  It empties today of its strength.”  (Corrie Ten Boom)

Have you ever worried about something and it never happened?  I have.  All that energy wasted for nothing.  One can’t help but worry when the storms of life engulf them.  Yet Jesus said to trust Him and have faith.  I think of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, when everything was fine in his world, he loudly proclaimed Jesus was the Son of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, but when John was sitting in a dismal and dark dungeon waiting to be executed, he sent his disciples out to find Jesus and ask Him if He was the Son of God or if they should look elsewhere.  Jesus told John’s disciples to go back and tell John that dead are being raised, sick are being healed and the Kingdom of God is being proclaimed throughout the region.  ‘Faith, unseen faith’.  Hope that Jesus is in control and all will be well is indeed difficult to believe as John, the disciples, and you and me will experience through life.  But our hope must be in Jesus, our Redeemer, and His promises. 

Lord Jesus, a new day, a clean page of my life, is drawing.  Write your will on it.

Quote: Shari Smyth

Lord, your love & protection is the one true thing that I can count on.  It’s always ahead of me, guiding my way through all uncertainty.

Quote: Ed Grinnan

Meaningful quotes for me today.

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’” Isaiah 6:1-7

I had a dear friend, she is dead now, but this was one of her favorite scriptures.  She loved the part where it says “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”  I think we all carry guilt from the past and wish we could have a retake, but that part is in the past and not to not retrieved: guilt will raise its ugly head and the regret is overwhelming for me.  My theory is journaling the wrong and going back to the source with forgiveness, if possible,  and for sure going to the Lord asking Him to forgive for the sin.  He does not touch my lips with a coal but he removes the guilt  and my wrong/sin is atoned for.  

Quote from Matthew Henry’s commentary: “A glimpse of heavenly glory is enough to convince us that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Nor is there a man that would dare to speak to the Lord, if he saw the justice, holiness, and majesty of God, without discerning his glorious mercy and grace in Jesus Christ. The live coal may denote the assurance given to the prophet, of pardon, and acceptance in his work, through the atonement of Christ. Nothing is powerful to cleanse and comfort the soul, but what is taken from Christ’s satisfaction and intercession. 

Jesus is our Jacob’s latter to God.  We are now able to come before him with our filthy rags – sin – and ask for forgives and he will atone all our filthiness into “clean filthy rags”.

According to a national organization dedicated to the study and aid of mental health, holiday stress is a widespread occurrence that plagues more of the population every year, for more time each year. “Americans are stressed during the holidays, we’ve long known this,” said David Shern, president of Mental Health America. “However, on January 2, when a person may expect the stress let up, they instead find themselves feeling down, physically ill, or anxious. This is because stress takes a serious toll on a person’s overall health—both physical and mental.”And the phenomenon is hardly unique to America. (Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.)

Standish, my deceased husband and who was a surgeon, used to tell me that stress and emotions can affect your physical health.  I totally agree.  I remember in the distressful times in my life, somehow someway my health suffered.  But I was struggling to survive the tsunami that hit my life, I did not have time to be sick.  I usually have very low blood pressure, but during those times my blood pressure was off the charts.  I was put on blood pressure medicine to lower it.  Migraines, I never suffered with them either, but they too showed up.  Issues I never suffered with happened, because I was so strewn out with stress and emotions.  It was not a good time in my life, and I hope never to encounter again.  The lesson I learned was I had to depend on prayer, scriptures, and Jesus.  He guided my life through the storm.  He put good people in my life to help me, and after all the darkness, a glimmer of hope and light broke through and I was able to see the sun.  I try and remove myself from anything that will cause me stress and emotional havoc by making good choices, but I also know I cannot avoid living and things happen but I try and not live under the circumstances.  

Scripture“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”ISAIAH 58:1

“Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.”

‭‭The people of Isaiah’s day had the same problem as the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They trusted in empty ritual, apart from the spiritual reality. Real fasting – fasting that is partnered with real repentance, and isn’t only about image – has great power before God (Matthew 17:21). But God sees through the hypocrisy of empty religious ritual, including fasting.  It isn’t that Isaiah or the LORD are down on fasting. They are down on any empty religious ritual. The answer isn’t to stop fasting, but to get right with God and make your fasting more than superficial.   Those who serve God with sincere hearts and actions enjoy a health and life of the soul that is impossible for the superficial follower of God to know.(Quote from Enduring Word)

Our God does not like any part of hypocrisy.  I have pondered why, because God knows our hearts and all He asks is that when we come before Him is to be truthful without deceit.  If you desire to be a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes, I guess you better leave all deceit, etc behind and come before God with honesty and truthfulness; then He will listen and start you on the path of restoration of walls and homes. 

“You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward. They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who y preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.”

1 Peter 1:8-12 NLT