Preaching to myself...

Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always. 1 Chronicles 16:11

Thoughts: As a long-time Christian I've heard "Seek His face." about a bazillion times in my life. That phrase is all over Christian t-shirts, and is a popular motto for Christian camps, etc.. But the words left out of the verse when I only think on that phrase, weaken the power of it. ALWAYS. Always. Anita, don't seek His face only when you need encouragement. Don't seek His face only when you're looking for a word of knowledge. Seek it ALWAYS. "Look to the Lord and His strength." Anita, stop trying to come up with your own strength. You don't have enough. Concentrate on the strength of your God. When you feel that you are drowning in a sea of lies, look up to Him and be lifted by His strength.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

Thoughts: Anita, you have a great responsibility as a disciple of Christ. Don't treat it lightly. You have a duty to correctly handle the word of truth. You do not need to lower yourself into the pit. You have no need to be ashamed. Do not lose focus on that which you know to be true. Seek approval only from the Lord. Do not work towards the approval of any earthly person or thing.

And Jesus, replying, said to them, "Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, whomever says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea!' and does not doubt at all in his heart, but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him." Mark 11:22-23

Thoughts: You know you have a hard time with this one Anita. You think you have faith, but do you really believe a mountain would be thrown into the sea if you had no doubt in your heart? Just by asking the question, it makes it clear that you don't have that kind of faith. Work towards it. Knowing that the Lord God could do it, and believing that He WILL do it are two different things. You have a hard time believing that the Lord God could care about a specific situation in your life enough to step in in such a mighty way. He can do it Anita. And if you don't doubt that, He promises He WILL do it.

"A stone cutter may strike a stone 99 times with a hammer, and there may be no evidence at all that the rock is cracking. Then, on the 100th time, it may split in half. Each blow was weakening the stone, even though there were no signs to indicate it. PERSISTENCE is a vital link to victory. We must know what we believe, and be determined to stick with it until we see results." (Could not find author's name)

Thoughts: Oh Anita! How many times do you only see that the stone is unbroken, rather than thinking about what is going on within the stone to change it's entire structure?! When you look on the outside and see the stone as whole, you lose heart, assuming that no good has been done. Do not lose sight of what you believe to be right and good. Be open also, to allow someone to refine your own heart through striking words of truth. Be persistent, but not just for the sake of persistence. Make sure you are looking back to the strength of God, and the words of His truth, so that your persistence will be approved of God.

All of the above verses and quotes popped into my inbox this morning in separate emails. Funny how seemingly random verses can work together in your heart to communicate with you about something difficult within your life. It's amazing to me how God works to deliver lessons to us. I guess it shouldn't be amazing after a life of seeing His power and experiencing His grace, but the wonderment of it never gets old. It's a fresh amazement every time.