Jesus is the shelter in the storm week 3

 Week 3:  Zephania 3:17

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.

Quieting us with His love, rejoices over us with singing, Can we really relate to all this when in the middle of a storm raging around us?

BREAKDOWN OF GOD AND HOW HE VIEWS US

1st phrase The LORD your God is in your midst; <God is with us no matter where we are> relationship challenge, financial, depression, health...no matter the storm HE is in the middle of it, we can call to HIM because he is already moving in our direction, looking at us ready to lift us up and be our shelter in the storm.

2nd phrase He is the mighty one:  stronger than any storm we are facing the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is already working  within us.

3:  He will save:  it doesn't matter where you've been, where you are now, what you have done.  God's desire is to save you! He created you, loved you.  He knows we face trials in the world and trouble.  He will never allow us to be overtaken in a way that threatens our eternal life with HIM.  We are always in the very palm of HIS hand.    He will rejoice over you with gladness.  God delights in us, He invites us in to His kingdom worth and looks at us created in HIS image and says with a smile "YOU MAKE MY HEART GLAD."

4:  He will quiet you by His love.  We can quietly rest in Him in the middle of a storm, no need running around trying to fix things, rush to find solutions when things feel out of control.  We can  trust that none of the storms we are facing will overtake us, we can breath in HIS love, breath out the fear and allow him to quiet our souls in this storm.

5:  He will Exult over us with loud singing.  When in the midst of a storm Gods voice needs to be loud to be heard over all the commotion.  From HIS heart, reflection of how He feels about us.  Singing about His love for us and reminding us to trust Him through the storm, it comes out in Him because He is love.  Imagine being in His loving arms being sung over while the storm rages around us .   There is a lot of comfort in that statement.

Friday Photos

Nothing like getting awakened by loud and rumbly thunder.   This was around 5:30 am today.  The weather guys/gals were right about this storm.   I plead the blood of Jesus over us and His angels of protection.  12 miles away winds were up to 70mph by time it got here we only got very heavy rain, wind and an awesome light show.

 

Jesus is the shelter in the storm!  whether it be natural storms or our life's storms he is always there!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Today's Verse for Wednesday, July 12

Mark 12:30

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

July Bible Journaling: Jesus is the shelter in the storm

 Happy July all!  Hope that you are staying cool today at 615PM cdt it is 97 with the index of 122

This months theme is Jesus is the shelter in the storm

Week 1  

2 Corinthians 4:8-9  8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 

 when we are perplexed there is no need for despair; even if we are persecuted we will NEVER be abandoned by HIM; when struck down, we will not be destroyed.  [Life is a journey with different seasons, growth, times of fruitfulness, times of hardship and storms. ]

{We are not immune to storms of life}  we have all experienced: waves of storms that  threatened to drown our peace >hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, struckdown, the storms and waves of life.

PROMISES

*God is our faithful comforter.  He will be with us during the storms of life and in times of need,  HE can calm the storms in our lives more often than not.  Seems, like He helps us through them.  Either way, He always keeps us safe in Him!  We are not crushed, despair will not over take us.  We will NEVER be abandoned or destroyed.  {GOOD NEWS:  STORMS DO NOT LAST FOREVER} all though we all face various storms /troubles in life we can  ALWAYS hold onto this promise:  GOD IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL and he is always present with us.  REMEMBER, we get peace knowing He is always with us.  He encourages us to always put our trust in Him when things get unshaken and we feel uncertain.

We all will learn about REFUGE, SHELTER, STRENGTH, SAFETY in any of life's storms.  He is present with us no matter the season.  All though we go through storms His hand is a buffer; it is a protection that will keep us from being destroyed by the storm.

Week 2 Matthew 8:26  He *said to them, "why are you afraid, you men of little faith?"  Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.

Jesus rebukes the wind and sea with just His voice and brings a calming over the raging storm.  Before Jesus did this miracle; He asked His disciples this thought provoking question, Why are you afraid?  Ye, me of little faith? * This invites us to reflect on our own faith and fears that plague our lives.

Jesus recognized the disciples lack of faith yet instead of condemning them He instead invitingly and lovingly to trust Him.  In much the same way that Jesus extends his invitation to us, he wants us to have faith in Him and to place our trust in His power and authority and yest essential to knowledge that journey of faith is not always easy.  We come through storms, doubts, fear, uncertainties that arises sometimes threatens and engulfs us in their ways, but yet, just like the disciples when we find ourselves amidst these storms feeling overwhelmed and helpless, we have the invitation of where to turn.  Sometimes the waves of challenges crashes in on us leaving us feeling powerless.  It is precisely in that moment that Jesus invites us to have faith in him.

When Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves, He demonstrated His power over the forces of nature and shows us in a tangible way that nothing is beyond His control.  Same way that Jesus desires to reveal His authority over the storms in our own lives.   He wants to bring us peace, calmness from all the chaos that we are experiencing.   How do we cultivate and strengthen our faith in Jesus?

1.  Spend time with him in prayer and studying His word.  Through prayer we connect with him as our father, protector, we find comfort in his presence and learn to know who he is.  We will discover His promises, teachings, faithfulness all through history.

2.  Surrender our fears and anxieties to Him.  Jesus, understands our fears and He is ready to carry our fears and burdens if we will allow him.  He longs to replace our anxiety with His peace and fill us with His strength.  We have to turn it  ALL over to Him.

3.  Faith grows through experience.  As we encounter various trials and challenges than we witness first hand how Jesus, sustains us and delivers us in each storm we weather, becomes an opportunity for our faith to mature and for us to recognize Jesus powers working in our lives.  This is especially powerful when we go back and revisit the truths we have written down when we are going through hard times.

God, is the only one who has authority in the storms, both in nature and in our hearts.  When we place our faith in Him we can be assured that He will calm the winds and the waves and bring peace to our hearts.

Fellowship week 4

 Sorry week 4 of Fellowship is so delayed.    It has been so busy around the "farm" having to mow every couple of days, clean up from the storm, the heat ect.

Today verse is Psalm 19:10 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 

The study bible version they are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the dripping of honeycomb.

Gods word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond between emeralds.  You will like it better than strawberries in the spring! better than red, ripe sweet strawberries.

Wee would like Gods word better than berries, but what if we don't?

What if we are reading Gods word and it seems very dry and tasteless?  We have all experienced this.  We are not alone.   Do not feel bad if the season isn't right.  Read and pray about the stale season.  IE if the season for strawberries too much or not enough rain, do we forget about the berries? how they taste? NO we do not , as we have experienced that red, sweet, delicious taste.  The same is true of the time we spend in Gods word.  We know His word is precious and sweet.  THIS IS WHY WE KEEP COMING BACK TO HIS WORD TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

Week 2 and 3 Fellowship

 First of all sorry for the late post.   Early morning hours of Father's Day we had very bad storms come thru.  90+ mph winds, then lost power.   All I knew to do was pray for angels of protection around us we got the warning on phone said 2 hrs before arrival.   WRONG it was here in less than 13 minutes.   We rock n rolled for a little bit, however we only had a few small limbs down, my picnic table was turned upside down, blew my windmill down *unbroken*  across the street, they had huge hardwood trees down    I know that God had his hands on us.  At one point over 150,000 OK residence were without power.  We had 35,000 linemen from all over the country show up and give aid to help restore power.  There is still a few hundred without power 10 days later, it has been in the upper 90 with heat index into the 110 range.  Please say a prayer for those traveling that they can soon return home to their families.  

AND NOW FOR week 2 and 3 of FELLOWSHIP

Week 2 Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, so another man sharpens another. 

 PROFOUND TRUTH:  we as individuals have the sound capacity to influence & sharpen each other.  In our journey of faith (I) we need this from each other, other Christians' with whom we are in fellowship with:    In ancient times iron was a vital tool for daily life used for many different purposes; sharpening weapons, farming tools.  Iron could not reach full potential without process of sharpening.  The process involved rubbing 2 pieces of iron together causing edges to become sharper and more effective.   We need influence, encouragement so that we may grow and mature.   God, NEVER intended for us to walk the spiritual journey alone,  He designed us as social beings, created for community and relationships, meant to come along beside each other, support, challenge and inspire each other, become the person God has called us to be.   As iron sharpens iron we sharpen each other with honest and edifying conversation.  When we work together in the ups & downs of life <think of the impact of positive relationship ever encountered with people in your (my) life; friend, mentor, fellow believer they spike words of  wisdom that really resignated with  you (me)?  Their words may have change perspection and pushed you to grow or affirmed the truth that God had already been speaking to your *my* heart , interactions have a way of shaping and molding us into better versions of ourselves.   

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:  The process of sharpening can be very uncomfortable just as iron rubbing iron causes friction and sparks, our interactions with each other might reveal areas in our life needing refinement.   Humbling or painful.  GOD uses those moments to mold and shape us to make us more like HIM.  Embrace the opportunity to live, learn, grow and to allow the Holy Spirit to work thru these relationships to sharpen our character to be more like him.   DONT FORGET we have a responsibility to sharpen other s with words, actions, attitudes all have the power to affect those around us, we can choose to build each other up or tear down, encourage/discourage, love/judge. 

REMEMBER:  bring out the best in others, bringing to God's love and truth.

Week 3  Hebrews 10:24-25 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

We are not meant to live out our faith alone; we are called to come together as a community of believers to encourage one another/ spur one another onto good deeds, love and to lift each other up in times of need and to celebrate each others successes. 

God created us to live in community with each other, when we can come together to worship, pray, study God's word we are strengthened in our faith and encouraged to be in the path that God has sat out for us.

When we neglect fellowship we can become isolated, discouraged and makes it easier for the enemy to come and convince us of lies that then take place in our hearts .

Fellowship, allows us to serve on another and to use our gifts/talents to build up the body of Christ.  When we work together, we can accomplish so much more than working on our own. Support one another in times of need, fun to celebrate in times of joy.    In our busy lives it is easy to become complacent, making excuses for not gathering with other believers.  We might be tempted to not attend church, small group meetings, ect, thinking we can grow our faith on our own.

THE TRUTH:  WE NEED EACH OTHER!  support, encouragement of fellow believers to strengthen our faith, and to  remind us of the truth.

Make fellowship a priority:  Encourage one another, lift up in time of need, spur in the time of victory, so that WE can continue to grow in our faith and be more like Christ intended us to be.

I am thankful for my fellowship through my bible journaling, and blogging, as well as attending church, and other church related gatherings.

June bible journaling: FELLOWSHIP

Jesus Prays for All Believers

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

SO THAT, the answer why fellowship and unity are so important:  So that the world may believe.

root meaning of FELLOWSHIP:   companionship, spirit of friendliness                                                                          Synonym: communion, rapport

root meaning of UNITY:  Quality or state of not being multiple, oneness, condition of harmony.                          Synonym: Orchestration, Symphony, Symmetry  (if a team of musicians are not in tune with each other imagine how awful the sound would be).

Sometimes even as Christians' we march to the beat of our own tune, oblivious to those whom we are hurting around us.  The world is watching, and longing for that fellowship and harmony. The one common ground that we have:  The foot of the cross, and before the throne of God.  Sweet harmony and unity are what we fill through fellowship and it spills out onto others.  We get that fellowship through; Church, friends, gatherings, but remember the benefits:   The world is watching and we never know who may be watching us or who may need a blessing.

Please be the blessing that other people need and that you shing to others so they will seek what we have.   

POINT THEM TO HIM!