The Spiritual Highs

So I started do work on homework and it was too much to think about so I thought I would do my devotions for the day instead. So much more fun! I read the story of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. It's the story of the refusal to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. They are threatened with being thrown in the furnace. In verses 17 and 18, they reply to the king by saying

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Their confidence in God struck me. They knew God had the power to save them and they were calling on that power. They also were confident that they only knew part of the big picture. A friend of mine is in a lot of physical pain and it breaks my heart to see her hurting. We have both prayed for healing but it hasn't come yet. In frustration I talked to a friend of mine who reminded me that we don't know all of what God has planned. Yes, He doesn't want to see us hurting but also the testimony of us walking through something could be of more influence than the immediate healing. The story in Daniel 3 today brought that to the surface again. They trusted God no matter what. Their faith was based on trust and love in a deep relationship.

At the end of the story, when God sends his angel to save Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego, King Nebuchadnezzar starts praising God for the miracle. This is the second time in Daniel so far that he does that. His faith is based on  miracles. From David knowing and interpreting his dream to the three jews being saved, Nebuchadnezzar believed only after a spiritual high.

How often do we only believe when we see God work in miraculous ways? Is your faith one like Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego deep, rich and not based on personal gain? Or is it like King Nebuchadnezzar only surfacing when you can see and understand what God is doing?

Limiting God

I have a question that I almost always ask my friends and family, "What is God teaching you?" Today, skyping my friend, she asked me that question. After a long, winded thought process I came to a conclusion.  I was reading Daniel 2 this morning.  Daniel and his friends were sentenced to death because other wise men failed to interpret the king's dream and therefor all of the wise men were to be killed. Daniel told his friends to plead for God's mercy that He would reveal the mystery to them. Low and behold God did. That got me thinking about how Joshua asked God to not let the sun set and it didn't.

Just because the world says something is one way, doesn't mean it has to be. I have been learning through my own life and through the book I just finished, Love Does by Bob Goff (which I highly recommend!!!) that we can ask God for anything. He delights when we come to him with every little thing. I realized that I have been limiting God. When the world says its one way I have just given up and accepted that. Now I am not saying challenge everything the world throws at us, but we don't have to accept everything either. Daniel wasn't going to just let him and his friends be executed when he knew that the God in heaven, one loved him and two had, and has today, the power to change circumstances.

God is the God of the impossible. He rose from the dead, He healed people, He makes the world go round. Just because we can't imagine what He can do, doesn't mean that it isn't possible. What can it hurt to ask God? He says ask and it shall be given to you(Matthew 7:7).

Ask but Don't Forget To Thank

I have been gone for the last week, no email, no facebook. It has been wonderful, but now I have to sift through everything and see if I missed anything important. For a couple years now I have been getting a daily verse emailed to me. Sometimes I read them and really soak them in and sometimes I just glance at them like they are any other email. Today I had all of last weeks verses to read, so I was just glancing at them but this one just hit me.

"Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." -Philippians 4:6

Now, this is one of the few verses I memorized as a kid, so I feel like I know it really well. But today God showed me something new. Just goes to show that God's word is alive.

 I often feel odd asking God for things. He is the God of the universe, what right do I have to ask him for anything? I have slowly been learning this year that is it by grace that God WANTS us to ask Him for things. He wants us to have the desires of our hearts. It helps me to think of the things my own father wants me to have. Just like my father on earth, God wants me to have what I desire in life. Reading this verse this morning hit me in a new way. Don't worry, ask God for anything, but don't forget to THANK him for what he has already done.

I am reminded of the times that we feel like nothing is going right and life just sucks. In those times we often ask God a lot of things, but in those times let us not forget to thank him for all the amazing things he has done before this time when you feel like nothing is going right.

Daddy's Little Girl

I have the best dad ever! He loves me, he leads me and we have fun together. My dad kind of followed me to college which has been a huge blessing. As I have grown older our relationship has deepened. In the last year as my faith has grown I have been able to share it with him and grow even more from the words he shares with me. When I am in the middle of something he gives me the tough love to do the right thing. When  I just need someone to go to dinner with, he takes me out. When I just want to sit in silence, he just sits with me. I could not have asked for a better dad. In our day and age I am lucky. Not everyone is blessed in the way I have been blessed. I am so thankful that with the relationship I have with my earthly father I am able to have an example for my relationship with my Heavenly father. My earthly dad shows me many attributes of my Heavenly father but where my father lacks, God doesn't. For those of us whose earthly fathers scare us, or we don't feel like they love us, know that your Heavenly father will never betray you! He loves you more than anything in the world. He died specifically for YOU. He will hold you when you cry, he won't hurt you. He will listen, he won't ignore you. He will guide you, he won't misguide you. He loves you.

Pictures From Jesus

God speaks to each of us in a unique way. God speaks to my mentor and my mother in pictures. I love when He gives them a picture for me. One girl I know just sees words when she prays. I began to wonder how it is that God talks to me. I don't get pictures, I don't see words. In fact, often I am not sure I hear God at all. I started to get really frustrated. I wanted to get pictures. I loved the pictures God had given the women in my life for me. I started to pray that God would give me pictures

One of my love languages is words. I love the power of words and the encouragement they are. Little did I know, God speaks my love language, I just hadn't been listening. After mimicking David and telling God how I really felt, I was blown away by the way he proceeded to talk to me. He gives me verses. Sometimes the reference of the verse is irrelevant, sometimes it is the same one he gave me the last three times I prayed but out of obedience I have learned to look it up no matter what. 

Once I learned the way I hear God best, he gave me two pictures. In that moment I was overwhelmed by how special those few pictures I have are. If God spoke to me in pictures all the time, I would not remember them all. They would be common place to me. But with the scarcity of them, I remember the pictures God has given those around me. Those pictures are precious and I often think upon them to bring me back to that place I was at when I was given them. 

Little Lessons

I am constantly learning. Whether it be a new word, a new song or some little lesson God is showing me. I have discovered that metaphors make my life relatable. If I can compare something tangible to an intangible part of my life or spiritual walk, I am more likely to understand it. So the words that follow are the metaphors, the struggles, the little joys that God shows me throughout the day. I pray that these words touch your heart and encourage you the way they have encouraged me.