Praying His Will

Since I have retired, I find myself alone much of the day, but I feel the presence of Jesus within me moment by moment.  By faith I meditate by talking to Him and remembering what He has said in His Word.  Isn't that what prayer is? 

I read somewhere that the word "Meditate" in Hebrew means 'talk, to utter, to mutter.'  I believe that it was a Jewish Rabbi who made that statement.  He was talking about prayer and about praying.  I looked the word 'utter' up in a thesaurus dictionary and found other words for 'utter' are "speak, express, say, voice, sound."  Aren't those wonderful words that tell us how we can talk to our Savior, the Lord Jesus?

The words for "mutter" are mumble, complain, grumble, murmur, whisper.  Sometimes I 'mutter' to express my feelings when my prayers seem futile and go unanswered, or maybe are not answered the way I wanted them to be answered.

But our God who "knows how weak we are; and remembers we are only dust" (Ps.l03:14)
always hears our 'mutterings'  and forgives us every time we ask Him.

It is so wonderful to know that we can talk to Him whenever we want  and that He hears our every utterance and mutter.  We can talk to Him all day long about all the things that concern us or comes to our mind, or when we think of someone sick, or see something or someone that touches our heart and and our Spirit  prompts us to talk to God.  He cares and wants to hear from us.  Prayer is just that--talking and communing with a God who loves us and to One we call 'Our Father.

As I think of my children and my 'grands' who are so young, I just "utter" a prayer  that they will love the Lord with all their heart, and all their soul, and all their mind, and all their strength, and that they will love others as He loves them.

I believe this is the greatest command of all and as we try to do it, God will shine His light to others as only He can.  The things around us will grow dim when we allow Him to light up our life. 

I pray that God will bless all of you as you read my blogs, or should I say 'His promptings.'




 

I love the wind.  I can't see the wind, but I can see what it does.  I can see a tiny flower swaying in the wind as it tries to hold on to its home in the ground.  I can see shrubs bending as the wind blows them around, yet they hold on to their home in the ground that is their source of life.  I see the branches and leaves on huge trees (like those in my yard) as they move and swirl, dancing in the wind.  I sometimes wonder when they are going to be caught up in a wind too strong for them, and their roots can't hold any longer and the earth around them opens and the tree falls.

In the Old Testament book of Genesis 8  we read that God remembered Noah and all that were in the ark and He sent a wind to blow across the earth and dry up the flood waters that had covered the earth for 150 days.  We see the power of God and the mercy of God in these verses.

In the book of John 3 we read about a man named Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night.  He believed the stories he had heard about  Jesus' miraculous signs and that He was a man sent from God.  He wanted to know how to be "born again."  Jesus used an illustration of the wind to explain to Nicodemus how a man is "born again."  Just as you can't see the wind, but you can feel it and see its power, we know we have been born again by the Holy Spirit in our life who gives us power to resist sin and follow Jesus Christ.  And He does this again and again, and again, and again, every time we are tempted to sin.  We feel His power to resist the temptation of Satan to sin. 

When we believe in Jesus Christ and ask Him into our life, He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit to live in our heart. (John 3:16)  Though we cannot see the Holy Spirit, we can feel His power in us as we pray and seek to live for God by reading the His Word.  The Bible is God's Word, His instruction book on how to live for Him.  And as we resist Satan and his temptations, we become victorious over the power of sin.

We have the evidence of salvation in our life. The moment we believe and trust in Jesus Christ,
we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit works in our heart and in our life to show us the things that bring sin into our life.  We have evidence of sin through the Holy Spirit's prompting our spirit of that sin. 

God does not leave His children alone to wander down the path of life alone.  He gave us a book, and He gave us His Spirit to teach us as we read or hear His Word being taught.  The Holy Spirit makes His presence in our life known when we are tempted to sin.  He is with us to do battle with Satan and that sin  (1 John 4).

So you see why I love the wind.  It reminds me of the power of God that works in me that causes me to stand tall, walk straight, lie down in peace and sleep for God alone keeps me safe.

Annette (Nell)

People all over the world are seeking to be loved.  They do anything they can to be loved and accepted.  There are those who deny that they need to be loved.  They try to live in a world of their own making, but if you could look into the reservoir of their heart, you would see an empty space longing for love.

My book has a whole chapter thanking God for His love for me and the whole world.  Here is an excerpt from "My Personal Prayers."

Father, I am so thankful for the perfect, everlasting love You have for me.  I am so glad that You are my Friend and You stick closer to me than my own family or a friend.  Your Word tells me that You will never leave me or forsake me, and that is so true.  There are times when I left You and tried to 'wing it' on my own, but You were always there waiting for me to call out to You.  You kept me in Your shadow, walking with me, keeping me from losing my way. 

After my stroke and I could not walk, You were right there teaching me to walk like You do a baby.  It was so neat being aware of all that my body was learning to do again and seeing You take me step by step down the road to recovery.  I learned a lot about You and learned that You never left me.  I can thank You now for that little 'bend' in the road of life.  It taught me a lot and it made me tough.  It taught me a lot about Your will and how You always work what we call "bad" in our life so that is becomes good. 

I wish I could tell you readers of my blog of His love in a way that is worthy of Him, but I will leave you with this verse from Romans 8.  Be sure to read the whole chapter because it will assure you of His love for those who belong to Him. 

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose."   Romans  8:28

May God bless your day.   Nell

The words of this Psalm are loved and repeated many times over to encourage and guide Christians in their walk with Jesus.  I want to share with you, my readers, some thoughts from Psalm 23.  The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside the still waters. 

God knows when we have need even before we ask and He has promised to supply that need to those who belong to Him through Jesus Christ  (Phil. 4:19).  He is our  Shepherd just as David was a shepherd to his flock of sheep and he knew what they needed. He led them to green grass, not to thorne bushes and briers.  He knew where the still waters were and He led them there, not to the rushing waters flowing down the montainside.

He restoreth my soul.  He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake.  God knows when we are weary from the troubles of daily life in the world we live and He gives us rest. He wants to bless His child and He knows that living  life according to the plan He has designed just for His own will bring joy beyond measure (Jer. 29:11).

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid for He is with me.  Sheep are afraid of the dark.  As long as they see the shepherd leading them, they will follow him; but when it is dark and they can't see him, they are afraid and they can't fnd their way.  The shepherd must get them into the sheepfold before dark.

Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.  The rod the shepherd carries is to touch the sheep's head when he strays to bring him back into the fold.  Isn't that what Jesus does for us through His Holy Spirit living in us?  When we stray away from Jesus, the Spirit draws us back into the fold. As long as we let Him guide us, we will not stray.  The staff of the shepherd is to guide the sheep so they will stay with the shepherd and not wander out away from the flock.

You prepare a feast for me in the presence of mine enemies.   The shepherd knows where the grass is green and safe for the sheep to eat.  One that offers you things to feast on like alcohol or drugs that harm your body and blur your thinking is your enemy.  

You anoint my head with oil.  My cup runneth over. Flies get into the nostrils of the sheep or around the head and they lay eggs.  The shepherd anoints their head and the nostrils with oil before the eggs hatch.  Our Shepherd does that for us.  He knows we sometimes make choices that can lead to trouble.   He comes along beside us in the person of His Spirit.  We can feel His presence and His guidance away from those bad choices. 

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  God has nothing for His child but those things that are good and His mercy is unending.  Paul said that he had learned to be content with whatever he had (Phil. 4:1; Eph. 4:4-9).

At night the shepherd herds his sheep into his sheepfold.  The sheep know the sheepfold of their shepherd.  The sheepfold had no door to keep the sheep because the shepherd was the door.  He stretched his body across the fold opening and the sheep would remain calm and content because they knew their shepherd would take care of them. That's what God does for us.  He keeps us from those things that will harm us.  It seems that He sends His angels at just the time I need help.  There is no rest  like resting in the Lord.

Isn't this a wonderful picture of our Shepherd?  Isn't that why we should trust our life to Him and follow Him all the days of our life?  One day, we will go to that mansion He is preparing for those who belong to Him.  And there we will spend eternity worshipping and praising the One who offered His life as an atonement for our sins.  He died for my sins, your sins.
 
But hallelujah! He arose from the grave the third day and He ever lives.  Our God, our Savior is not dead buried somewhere in a grave or a tomb.  He's alive!  He's alive! And He said He would "Come again and receive you unto Himself that where He is,  there you will be also." 
(John 14:3)

Jesus loves you.  So do I.  Trust Him today and ask Him into your life to be Your Savior, your Shepherd.