The Lord is our Masterful Orchestrator. Everything He does has purpose that uniquely fits into His plan for our lives. My writings are part of the good works He purposed for me before time began.

It wasn’t until early 2019 that I was able to resume work on His project. Seven more ebooks to publish, then the process of creating paperbacks began. Amazon doesn’t cost anything but time to publish. Ecclesiastes 11:1 says, “Cast your bread upon the waters…” Now after years of publishing, He opened the door to convert my ebooks into audiobooks. 

Psalm 16:7 says, “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.” We know that meditating on His word yields fruit for us to eat, and for others as well.

Meditating implants His word, it feeds our spirit man, and it often reveals hidden lies that control us. The next time you are sleepless, I encourage you to meditate on His word. Of course that means that it has to first be in you in order to ruminate on it.

I was memorizing Psalm 119:148. It says, “My eyes are awake through the night watches…” Does that ever happen to you? You may have trouble falling asleep, or you wake up and can’t go back to sleep.

The verse continued with a purposeful solution. It says, “…that I may meditate on Your word.” As I repeated the first part over and over, my mind went back to a season in my life in 2016. 

The Lord woke me up to meditate on His word in the middle of the night. It was a time of obedience without understanding the why. He would give me a few words or a phrase from Scripture. As I meditated on them, He would give me other verses and insights to connect with them. In the morning I would type what He gave me.

His plan slowly unfolded to end up as 28 short published ebooks over a period of seven and one half months. Later He revealed that they were to be five paperbacks, with seven chapters each of the same subject. Then I had another brain injury and it all stopped.

Romans 8:29 declared the Lord’s goal. The question: Is it yours as well? It says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…” Our Potter is always at work. He uses the pressure of our trials to center us on Him. 

We are vessels of earthen clay. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” What is our part?

Romans 6:13 says, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

Verse 18 says, “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” Verse 2 says, “…How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Verse 11 is the answer. It says, “…reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin…” We keep our thoughts centered on  Him, through the constant awareness that we are dead to sin.

I like to think of a wheel potter working their clay. First the dry clay needs to have water worked into it. When the potter sets the clay on their wheel, it is just a lump. As the wheel spins, the potter’s hands press into the clay to center it. Until it is centered, nothing substantial can be formed.

So it is with us. Our Potter works His word into our hearts. He uses the pressures of our lives to center us on Him. Isaiah 32:17 says, “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.”

In Philippians 3:13-14 Paul described how God worked in his life. Like a trapeze artist, he had to forget the things that were behind him. That is essential for us also. We cannot reach for what is ahead until we let go of our past that is behind. The forgetting is the empowerment to reach.

As Paul lived in the present. Verse 14 says, “I press toward the goal…” We press through flesh-obstacles to represent the Lord in every aspect of our lives.

Here are four more audiobooks just published. Even though you may not be interested in audiobooks, you can get the paperbacks or ebooks of each on Amazon. The rich insights from the Holy Spirit are timeless

Overcoming Resentment: stop defiling bitterness in its tracks
This is a powerful one. The Holy Spirit convicted me again as I was reformatting it for the audiobook

He Drew Me Out Of Deep Waters: encouragement for hard trials
This is somewhat autobiographical – insights as the Holy Spirit helped me navigate through the 2017 brain injury

Garden Of Your Heart: bearing fruit that glorifies God
(chapter one of Victorious Heart)

Emotionally Free: processing the present with the Holy Spirit of God
(chapter six of Victorious Heart)
🌻

I have been thinking about God’s righteousness as I have worked on memorizing Psalm 119:137-144. Verse 137 says, “Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments.”

Verse 138 says, “Your testimonies, which You have commanded, are righteous and very faithful.” Verse 142 clearly states the difference between His righteousness and ours. It says, “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.”

Our self-righteousness is evidenced through our fleshly reactions to others. We may not consciously think that we are better than someone else, but it slips out when we are faced with someone’s way of life different from ours. A prejudiced attitude surfaces.

Peter had a vision of unclean animals that he reacted to. He soon found out that God would use him to open the door to the Gentiles who were considered unclean. In Acts 10:28 Peter said to Cornelius, “…You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or to go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” Our God is not a respecter of persons ~ let’s emulate Him.

When Abraham believed, Romans 4:3 says, “…it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Believing is faith in action. His righteousness is imparted to us at salvation.

Titus 3:5 clarified this. It says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us…” Our righteousness, often expressed through self-righteousness, is as filthy rags.

In Luke 18:10 we see a contrast between a Pharisee, and a tax collector. Jesus spoke this parable to expose the hidden sin of self-righteousness. Note the words, “…I am not like other men…” The Pharisee thought he was right, but in his heart he despised others.

The tax collector’s eyes were cast down. Verse 13 says, “…God be merciful to me a sinner!” That is how we come to Jesus for salvation. We must first recognize that we are sinners. We have no merit of our own.

In Psalm 103:10 we read a definition of God’s mercy. It says, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.” His mercy endures forever.

Here are four more audiobooks just published this morning. Available on Amazon or Audible

Demolishing Strongholds

Cracking The Code Of Unforgiveness

Free To Be You

Triumphing Over Shame

Let’s take ours first. Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags…” Here’s an illustration of filth. In the 60’s my dad had an old two story house converted into apartments.

One renter did not pay her rent so he went to talk to her. She had moved out. My dad took his key and opened the front door. He said the stench nearly knocked him over. 

She threw her clothes she had worn onto the floor of her walk in closet. Her cats used it for their litter box. He had to hire a man to pitchfork the clothes out the window, down into his pickup, and take them to the dump. They were filthy rags.

Jesus died bearing our sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Our eternal standing is in Him. Colossians 3:3 says, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Here are four more of my audiobooks available on Amazon or audible under J. Marilyn Adams

Displacing Fear

Proclaiming Victory

Face-Off Your Fears

Overthrowing The Fear Of Failure