Friday, August 23, 2013

Psalm 65

Good morning, everyone!  

I wanted to share a Bible reading with you today that the Lord showed me.  It can stand alone without any stories from me, it is that wonderful.  However, I do have a little something to share : )

My father-in-law begins each morning reading Psalm and Proverbs.  He speaks of this frequently, letting us know what a wonderful time it is.  He reads it aloud to my mother-in-law as well.  He explained that there are 31 Psalms, so you could read through it every month.  He also reads through Psalm each month.  When we are visiting, he reads to us as well.  

I love hearing it, so we decided a while back when I began staying home, to do the same with our children.  Each morning we read a Proverb and a Psalm.  Only reading one Psalm a morning means we do not finish it in a month, being that there are 150 Psalms, and with little ones it's hard to fit much more than one in.  

So, this morning, our Psalm was Psalm 65, and I thought it was completely beautiful.

Psalm 65
To the Chief Musician.  A Psalm of David.  A song.

Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion;
And to You the vow shall be performed.
O You who hear prayer,
To You all flesh will come.
Iniquities prevail against me;
As for our transgressions,
You will provide atonement for them.
Blessed is the man You choose,
And cause to approach You,
That he may dwell in Your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
Of Your holy temple.

By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us,
O God of our salvation.
You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
And of the far-off seas;
Who established the mountains by His strength,
Being clothed with power;
You who still the noise of the seas,
The noise of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
They also who dwell in the farthest parts are afraid of Your signs; 
You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice.

You visit the earth and water it,
You greatly enrich it;
The river of God is full of water; 
You provide their grain,
For so You have prepared it.
You water its ridges abundantly,
You settle its furrows;
You make it soft with showers,
You bless its growth.

You crown the year with Your goodness,
And Your paths drip with abundance.
They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,
And the little hills rejoice on every side.
The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The valleys also are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, they also sing.

May the Lord bless you by His words as He did me.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Faith Of a Child

"Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."  Luke 18:17

My husband has been out of state this week on a business trip.  We have missed him dearly, and are so excited to welcome him back with open arms today.  Last night, the older two girls and I had a camp-out in the living room.  
Little baby wasn't invited.  I love her, but I didn't imagine little baby would sleep well piled up on the living room floor : )  Nor would I...

The girls wanted to watch a movie and eat popcorn.  So, that's what we did.  After the movie, I turned out the lights and soaked up the sight of seeing them through the dimness of the nightlight laying there in the same room with me.  It's really a joy to all sleep in the same room (every now and then!!)  They had their Pillow Pets, fleece blankets, and night time dolls.  What a sweet sight!

It didn't take either of them long to fall asleep.  Within a couple of minutes, I could hear heavy breathing.

Somewhere between 4:15 and 4:30, my four year old woke up moaning and complaining of a tummy-ache.  I asked her if she needed to use the potty, and she said no.  My motherly-instincts told me to put a bucket beside her. She quickly fell back to sleep.

At 5:30, she woke up vomiting.  I cleaned her up afterwards and she went back to sleep again. 

Again, at 6:00, she woke up vomiting.  Again, I cleaned her up and settled her back down, so thankful that I was sleeping in the same room with her.  As I tucked her back in, she looked at me and said, "Momma, will you pray and ask God to not let me throw up again?"

In my foolishness, I told her that I would pray that God would heal her, but she may still continue to throw up a little more.  I doubted that she would completely stop vomiting then, but knew she would eventually get better.

So, I prayed.  I asked God to heal her and cause her to feel better.

I climbed back on the couch and the verse above came to my mind.

"Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."  Luke 18:17

She had faith.  She completely believed that if we asked God to not let her throw up again, He would answer that prayer.  

Since she asked, we have had no more sickness.  She went back to sleep, slept until 8:30, ate breakfast, and is playing excitedly down the hall.

I was convicted this morning.  How much faith do I have in the Lord our God?  When I pray, do I really believe He will answer those prayers?  Or even worse, do I really believe He has the power to?  My four-year-old does.  All she knew was, she was sick and had a tummy-ache, and if she prayed and asked God to take it away, He would and could immediately.

"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."  James 1:6-8

I pray the Lord increases my faith.  I pray He has mercy on my unbelief.  I have to have faith that He will answer that prayer (Ironic, huh?)

A man brought his son to the disciples.  His son was an epileptic and suffered severely (Matthew 17:15).  He asked the disciples to heal him, but they could not.  So the man brought his son to Jesus.  Jesus' response?

"O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him here to Me."  Matthew 17:17

Immediately, of course, Jesus rebuked the demon and the child was cured. (Matthew 17:18)
The disciples wanted to know why they couldn't cast the demon out.  

"So Jesus said to them, 'Because of your unbelief: for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ' "Move from here to there' ", and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.'"  
Matthew 17:20-21

I have to have faith in my prayers.  I pray the Lord will give me faith, and I pray I receive the kingdom of God as a child.

What would I do without my thumb-sucking 4 year old??