“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
My sense of direction has always been lacking. I do not know how I ever traveled without the modern-day GPS; however, even the GPS can get it wrong. When I come to a fork in the road, my best GPS is patience to know God’s direction.
My roses are no longer blooming, but if I went to cut the stems back, I would still find thorns. The thorns would still prick my fingers and make me say, “Ouch!”
Thorns are not just seasonal. I suppose that even though I am a Christian, I still carry thorns that will prick from time to time. Christians are not perfect people. I still sin. I still disappoint loved ones and others. I still get pricked with life events.
As great as Paul was after his conversion, he still got pricked in life. He had hardships. He was imprisoned, beaten, threatened, stoned, shipwrecked, and robbed. During his trials, he asked God that Satan, his thorn, leave him. God’s answer is found in 2 Corinthians 12, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
I have to remember that when I am weak, I am strong in my Lord, Jesus Christ! I can still do amazing work with a “thorn in my side” as long as I have Jesus.
I continue to praise God for His Son, Jesus, and for forgiveness of my sin and the courage to carry on in life.
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.”
Trials are not necessarily hardships; they can just be new, scary adventures in life. I know when I retired, I was scared of what lay ahead. Would I be able to live on reduced income? Would I find something I would enjoy doing and being constructive? Would I be lonely? Would I just hobble along and get into a rut with no happy expectations?
All this kind of thinking was a trial. A "test" as I looked for a new door of opportunity to open. I never want to miss out on, “Consider it all joy!” I also have to fall back to the following verse of scripture which comes afterward. “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”
I strive to seek God first as it says in Psalm 63:1, “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
Seeking God’s Face…An Intimate Fellowship
Seeking God’s face does not happen over a weekend;
It takes a commitment, day by day,
To make Him your special friend.
The pursuit can be shallow-rooted
Or absorbed skin-deep where it cannot be looted.
His face can be found in any place you roam
Or just by resting with Him at home.
Paul sought God’s face from a prison cell.
He prayed; He witnessed-
From where he dwelled.
Jonah rebelled and delayed.
From an unhappy place,
He sought God’s face from the belly of a whale
Oh, what a story He had to tell!
Seeking God’s face cannot be hurried through;
It cannot be just a casual approach.
There is a cost to being made new.
It’s a lifetime ritual-
Not done in a moment or an hour to seek the spiritual.
O Lord, for You, my soul must thirst,
And I must seek Your face first;
In my time-in my prime-
Day by day- in every way;
Week by week I seek, year by year, to keep God near.
Mary Crisp Jameson 11/7/2024
“When You said, “Seek My face”, my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.” Psalm 27:8 NKJV
my heartaches He bears.
He hears
and wipes my tears.
He delights
and, my pathway. He lights.
He covers and guards
when my way is hard.
His hands hold power
in my woeful hour.
He listens!
He protects!
He guides!
He loves!
He delights in me.
I think the story about the Three Little Pigs is an excellent one to illustrate how we are to build the foundation of our lives and homes. It tells of how each little piggy built their homes from either straw, sticks, or bricks. The first two get blown away by the puff of the “big bad wolf”.
The story is similar to what we are told in Matthew 7:25, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
My Rock is God! The big bad wolf is Satan and his ways. So how do I want to build my house?
The Israelites wondered forty years. Were they excited that the door was finally opening, leading them into the promised land? Did they look at the open door as a new opportunity?
How do I act or what do I think when a door opens- when a new stage in life is provided? Does excitement spark? Do I:
Want it!
Own it!
Take it!
And, Thank God for it!
“The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.” Deuteronomy 2:7
