🏳️‍🌈✝️ Meet Your Shepherd

Written by Mariel Davenport

06/03/2018 

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Are you feeling unprotected, exposed to the elements of life? Financial struggles, marital difficulties, unfair treatment or just the daily pain of living in a fallen world? God’s Word has a refreshing truth for you. There is One to protect your weary soul and guide your path and call you His own. David illustrated this truth as he begins to paint the classic, Psalms 23.

“The LORD is my shepherd” — Psalm 23:1a — the literal translation of this portion of verse one is “YHWH ra’ah,” which means Lord, my shepherd. No actual verb is used, but rather just a name of God proclaimed.

David’s claim in this first verse cannot be fully appreciated apart from insight into the art of shepherding. Shepherds were often young men who were needed by various town settlements to lead several owners’ sheep to pasture. A shepherd could even be employed to look after the sheep of a whole village. The fact that David calls the Lord ‘my’ shepherd is significant because a shepherd rarely cared for sheep of his own.

But Psalm 100:3 teaches us to “Know the LORD Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”

God’s people are His sheep and He is our shepherd. Shepherds were hard-working men, who spent all their time with the sheep. The sheep got to know the Shepherd intimately and would even know the sound of his voice. John 10:27 illustrates this is true of Christ and his sheep, as well. “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand.”

Do you get the sense God is possessive of His sheep, as He nurtures and cares for them?
The Amplified Bible gives us three points of need the shepherd met for his sheep and that our Shepherd meets for His own…

“The LORD is my shepherd [to feed, guide and shield me]” Psalm 23:1 (AMP)

This is a generalization of the chores of a shepherd. The Psalms will paint a more vivid picture as you read through it, but based on these three points, I asked myself, "If my Shepherd is offering to feed, guide and shield me, then how am I choosing to receive that?"

• What am I feeding on … watching, reading, and meditating on? Is it truth from my Shepherd? (1 Peter 2:1-3)

• What is guiding me? What am I looking to for direction? Is it the Lord and His Word? Am I spending time in prayer as I look to be guided by Him? (Psalms 16:11) 

• Do I really believe that God is a shield around me? Or am I spending time fretting and worrying about my protection and provision? (Psalms 46:1)

God, the Good Shepherd, is a perfect Shepherd who extends His grace for you and me today. He is introducing Himself as YOUR Shepherd; will you trust His feeding, guiding and shielding?

Let us fix our eyes on Him alone, knowing His provision is enough, His grace abounds and His love is personal.

Copyright © Mariel Davenport, used with permission.

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🏳️‍🌈✝️ “The Secret of the Lord”

Written by Oswald Chambers

06/03/2018 

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The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him… —Psalm 25:14

What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer— “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.

“Him shall He teach in the way He chooses” (Psalm 25:12). At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense. And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Wherever the providence of God may dump us down, in a slum, in a shop, in the desert, we have to labour along the line of His direction. Never allow this thought—“I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not! Wherever He has engineered your circumstances, pray. So Send I You, 1325 L

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Our Heavenly Father understands us through ALL the complexities of our life.

Rainbow Pastor David

06/01/2018

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GRACE!  I COMPREHEND YOU IN ALL your complexity; I understand you with absolute accuracy; no detail of your life is hidden from Me.  Yet you need not be afraid of My intimate awareness, because I view you through eyes of grace.

My dear one, come to Me and receive My unfailing Love.  You are troubled by fear of failure, but My Love for you will never fail.  Here is what I see as I view you through eyes of grace: you look regal, for I have clothed you in My royal righteousness.  You are radiant, especially when you are gazing at Me.  You look lovely as you reflect My Glory back to Me.

In fact, you delight Me so much that I rejoice over you with shouts of Joy!  Because I am infinite, I can see you simultaneously as you are now and as you will be in heaven.  The present view helps Me work with you on things you need to change.  The heavenly vision enables Me to love you with perfect, everlasting Love.

The best way to see through eyes of grace is to gaze through the lens of My unfailing Love.  As you persevere in this practice, you will gradually find it easier to extend grace both to yourself and to others.
 

"How priceless is Your unfailing Love!  Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings."  Psalm 36:7
 

"The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.  He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy."  Zephaniah 3:17 NASB 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ A Heavy Load

Written by Apostolic Faith Church

06/01/2018

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Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. – Psalm 55:22

Our little pickup truck was packed almost to capacity as we were moving our daughter’s belongings to her new apartment. On the truck were a bed frame, mattress, bookcase, nightstand, books, and various other things necessary for setting up a house. Inside the cab were four people and some luggage. This was a heavy load!

It was a relief when we reached our destination and the load was lifted from the truck and carried into our daughter’s apartment. The truck not only ran better, but there was more room for our granddaughter to stretch out her feet. We all felt more comfortable. 

I remember one time in my life when I seemed to be bogged down with the cares of life. A number of issues were troubling me, and looking back, I realize that my heart was in a similar condition as our pickup truck on moving day. Each item, though not terribly upsetting by itself, was weighing me down. As I knelt in prayer the Lord showed me that He wanted to take care of my problems for me, that He was big enough to carry my load. I had been taking my cares to the Lord, but that morning I left them with Him, and I felt the load lift. How much better I felt when that burden was finally gone!

Several times in the Bible we are admonished to take our burdens to God. In 1 Peter 5:6-7 we read, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” God wants us to cast all our care on Him! Our natural tendency is often to try to figure out a solution on our own, but in doing so we usually end up fretting and worrying. When we leave our worries with the Lord—telling Him about them in prayer, submitting to His will for our lives, and then trusting Him to take care of every detail of our lives—He lifts our heavy load and gives us true joy.

 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ The Staggering Question

Written by Oswald Chambers

06-01-2018

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He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" —Ezekiel 37:3

Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.”

It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.

“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves…” (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.

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🏳️‍🌈✝️ Is There Only One God?

Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg

May 30, 2018

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Before I say anything else, I admit that this question, “Is there really only one god?” sounds both ridiculous and blasphemous. But you know me, I normally ask questions most people don’t ask. So, here we go: Does the Bible really present its audience with a monotheistic worldview (i.e. only one god exists)? The answer to this question is surprisingly – no.

In fact, the Bible reflects the ancient worldview of a god-congested universe. Here are just a few representative texts:

“God stands in the Divine Council; He renders judgment among the gods… I said, “You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High.” (Ps. 82:1, 6)

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.” (ESV, Deut.32:8 following Qumran/LXX version of the Hebrew.)

“Ascribe to the Lord, sons of the mighty (literally from Hebrew sons of gods), ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.” (Ps. 29:1)

“Who is like You among the gods, O LORD?” (NASB, Ex. 15:11)

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God…” (ESV, Deut.10:17)

“You shall have no other gods before Me. (NASB, Ex.20:3)

The view of the divine world presented in the Bible is not monotheistic, but rather henotheistic (there exists a multiplicity of gods, but One Supreme God exists above them all). Apostle Paul, whose thinking was very much in line with this very idea (because of his pharisaic idea of the Shema), wrote the following:

^“For although there are many that that are called gods in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many gods and many lords) – yet for us there is One God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist”. (1 Cor. 8:5-6)

There are other powerful heavenly beings (this is how in Biblical times gods were understood – any god is bigger than any human). Now we commonly refer to them as angels and demons (as well as principalities and powers), but in the Biblical times most people called them gods and/or sons of god/s.  Clearly, Moses, Jesus and Paul presume this.  They also are in agreement on an even more essential point. While there may be other “gods,” only God Most High, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is worthy to be worshiped, adored and obeyed! 
 

🏳️‍🌈✝️ Hide and Seek - Waiting is TOUGH!!!

Written by John P. King

June 1, 2018

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I don’t know about you, but for me, waiting is tough! I hate to wait. Why is waiting so hard? Because waiting implies that we do not have control over our circumstances or the timing of events in our lives. We like to think that we own our destiny, yet if we are honest we would admit that we can barely see beyond today.

We might have plans and dreams, but really, today are we where we thought we would be five, 10, or 15 years ago? So who is to say where we will be in the future? Only God knows that. In my experience, He usually remains rather silent on the issue of disclosing what is to come. He allows us to walk day by day and sometimes those days seem to drag out. Whether there is something we really want to do, or even when we feel like we have no direction whatsoever, the times and seasons of our lives can become unbearable.

Can become unbearable, if we let them. Psalm 27 is a wonderful Psalm that can help us through those difficult, unexplainable times. In this passage, David is expressing angst over the adversaries in his life but he also lets the deep cry of his heart come out. It is a cry that is centered on his desire to simply be with God.

“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” Psalm 27:4 (NASB)

More than anything, David wanted to be with the Lord. Verses 8 and 9 continue the thought:

“When you said, ‘Seek my face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.’ Do not hide your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation!” Psalm 27:8-9 (NASB)

The Lord had given David the challenge – “Seek my face.” David understood the challenge and knew that sometimes, seeking God’s face is easier said than done. Why? Because as was mentioned earlier, our plans and dreams don’t always turn out as we expected. Sometimes, it appears God plays a game of hide and seek. Finding Him is not as simple as it may seem. It takes work to find God.

David closes the Psalm with a great encouragement.

“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13 (NASB)

There was a firmly rooted conviction in David’s heart – no matter how tough, bizarre, or long the days seemed, he knew he was going to see the goodness of God in his life. Holding fast to this truth allowed him to endure and, quite literally, changed the rules of the game from “hide and seek” to “wait and seek.” David goes on to say in Verse 14 (NASB),

“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.”

If we believe that God has good things for us, we will be willing to wait for them. Courage will give us the strength to wait for God while we seek him. Sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it? Just like in the real game of hide and seek, everyone wants to be found. Those in the best hiding places will eventually reveal themselves if the seeker is patient. If by faith we seek God by waiting for Him, He will inevitably come to us.

Copyright © 2012 John P. King, used with permission.

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