Last night I was meditating on the Lord as Infinite.  At times I felt like the sides of my brain were pushing out.  The Lord is beyond our human understanding.  Words like boundless, and unfathomable, limitless, etc. cannot be perceived in human terms.

Neither can we understand His workings.  Job certainly didn’t.  I like to remind myself frequently of James 5:11.  It says, “Indeed we count them blessed who endure.  You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord–that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

In 1977 I fell head first into a six foot ravine.  It caused a severe brain injury and left me bed ridden and unable to work for six and one half years.  I didn’t remember that I fell until 2 1/2 years later.  I just thought that my health was failing.  I asked an artist friend to draw a picture of me on a potter’s wheel with the Lord’s hand on my head.  I wanted to remember that He was at work.

This morning I went to the hallway and took a picture for you.  Perhaps it will help you in your own trial to remember that His  hand is constantly on you.  He is fully engaged in your life.  He is conforming you to His image that He might be glorified.  He has an end intended.

(this is really a masterpiece drawn by Betty Kinnier.  The shading is stipple for you artists)

 

 

 

 

This morning I woke up with 2 Chronicles 16:9.  Then I looked at verse 8.  The Lord is reminding them that in another situation of adversity they relied on Him, but this time they didn’t.

2 Chronicles 14:9 says that they faced an army of a million men.  Asa had 380,000.  Verse 11 says, “And Asa cried out to the Lord his God and said, Lord it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who had no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You and in Your name we go against this multitude.  O Lord, You are our God’ do not let man prevail against You.”

In this present situation Asa made a treaty with Syria.  He opened himself to wars.

These two accounts reminded me again how each situation requires fresh trust.  Each one of our trials has its own deliverance, trust, grace, and wisdom.  We are never to rely on His past ways because He is Ever Present. He wants to show Himself strong, or reveal Himself to us in a new way in this present situation.  We can ask: what do You want to be for me right now?  He delights to give us a fresh revelation of Himself.

A year ago this month I began asking the Lord what He wanted me to meditate on as I went to sleep.  It has changed my life.  He is the initiator.  As I fall asleep, I begin meditating on what He has given me.  When I wake up in the night, I continue meditating.  He gives me insights in my sleep.

Last night He gave me impatience.  Then nearly startled me with these words: impatience is the dead-bolt of pride that blocks grace.

Impatience is pride.  It is not recognizing His control in the moment.  We are never in control of our circumstances.

James 1:4 tells us to let patience have its perfect or complete work.  If we stop it through our impatience we will lack.

Impatience is a lie.  Its a fiery dart.  It pulls us off course.  We become impatient because we think that our way is blocked.  Consider.  When we are led by the Spirit, we are going His way.  Our way is not a consideration.

When we “feel” our way is blocked, it is the opportunity to partner with Him.  We are partakers of His nature.  In that moment of feeling impatience, we do a divine exchange.  We exchange pride for humility.  We become part of His Patience and Longsuffering.  We dialogue, or meditate on His nature.  It captures our thoughts as we put on Christ, thereby making no provision for our flesh.  Romans 13:14 says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision to fulfill its lusts.”

If you have read my last two Inner Truth notes, I talked about working papers to overthrow strongholds.

When I had my injury I made a working paper for strength and centering.  I have revised it several times to add more categories.  I added one a few days ago for humility.  Pride is very subtle, and God resists the proud.  It is one that I wanted to shore up because I constantly need grace, and He pours out His grace upon the humble.

Proverbs 3:5 Amplified says, “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.”  Note that the heart and mind are together.

Last night I was meditating on reverential trust.  Revere means to honor. When we trust the Lord in the midst of our adversity, trials, or hardship, we honor Him.  We choose to lean hard on the Him in dead-weight dependence.  It is a heart decision to believe Him and take Him at His word.  Yet, if in our mind we are casting about with possible solutions, we dishonor Him by leaning on our own understanding.

Matthew 15:8 says, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”  The working papers help keep our heart and mind synchronized as we renew our mind through the truths of His word.

I just posted this on facebook.  I injured my foot a month ago, reactivating my brain injury causing it to lose center.  I made a working paper of strengthening and centering verses. They have transformed me in this new trial.  I just have to share this.

Picture this. You are standing at the bottom of some stairs. You are too weak to climb them by yourself. Then two strong supporters come and help you up. You could not have made it without them.

Strongholds make us spiritually weak. Let’s take the stronghold of fear. It not only weakens us spiritually, but physically as well because there is a constant drain on our adrenals.

You are too weak to fight this stronghold of fear on your own. However, you type out verses such as Isaiah 41:10. Then as you meditatively read them several times during the day, they will support you with truth and grace to overcome.

HIS Word is alive and powerful. As we meditatively read it, it comes to dwell in us. It penetrates our bone marrow and brings transformation spiritually and physically. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of GRACE and TRUTH.”

Here are the notes for the Inner Truth class.

Inner Truth~The Effective Messenger

HIS WORD TRANSFORMS

His word is living.  Jesus Christ is alive, seated at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever according to Hebrews 13:8.

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Nothing has changed.  He is still the Word.  John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

We still behold His glory today.  2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”

God’s Word is everlasting.  Isaiah 55:11 says that His Word will never return to Him void.  Jeremiah 1:12 says that He watches over His Word to perform it.  Therefore the words we read in the Bible are the same yesterday, today, and forever.  They are the truth that never changes from one generation to another.

Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”  This was spoken to the children of Israel.  The Lord is still working today in our lives through His spoken Word.

Hebrews 4:12 Amplified says, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power (making it active, operative, energizing, and effective); it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and (the immortal) spirit, and of joints and marrow (of the deepest parts of our nature), exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.”  The Word God speaks is living.

As we take His living Word into our hearts, our thought patterns are transformed.  The word transformed is illustrated to us in the metamorphosis of the caterpillar to the butterfly.  The caterpillar becomes liquid in the cocoon, and from that liquid He forms the butterfly.  Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Our old, destructive thought patterns are metamorphosed into inner truth that brings the radical change. Ephesians 4:23 Amplified says, “And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude).”

Meditating on God’s Word is His essential best.  There is no other way to be free of the destructive strongholds that defy change.  His Word, brought into our hearts through meditating in it, is the catalyst for that change.

It has nothing to do with will power, but everything to do with His power.  The same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead, is in us to work that transformation.  Ephesians 1:19-20 Amplified says, “And (so that you can know and understand) what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His (own) right hand in the heavenly (places).”

Take the area in your life that has stubbornly resisted change.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you verses that will be His demolition ball to destroy that stronghold.  Then write or type them out.  Every day meditatively read them several times a day.  His living Word will penetrate your bone marrow.  As each new red blood cell emerges, it will be impregnated with truth to be carried to every cell and tissue in your body.

The health of our bones determines the health of our body.  Job 2 is where satan challenges God to destroy Job’s health.  Job 2:5 says, “But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”  Whew!  The heart of our health is our bones.  David sinned against God, and Psalm 51 is that acknowledgment.  Verse 8 says, “Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.”

How healthy are your bones?  No matter what state your health is in, it can be changed through the living Word of God.  His Word penetrates our marrow.  That is the fatty substance in the cavity of our bones where new red blood cells emerge.  Negative thoughts, bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, anger, hatred, etc. all affect our bone marrow.  They get carried to every cell and tissue, constantly circulating in our blood stream.  No wonder we get sick!

His Word is not a bandage.  It is a sharp two-edged sword that will surgically penetrate where no doctor’s scalpel can reach.  Nothing is impossible for God.  Take His living Word in, and allow Him to do what no one else can do.

j marilyn adams ~ December 10, 2015

Until this morning the only thing I knew about hallmark was the name of a card sold in Hallmark stores.  I looked it up.  It means: a mark stamped on gold, silver, or platinum in Britain, certifying their standard of purity.  A stamp of authenticity.

James 1:4 says, “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”  Trials bring out that essential character quality of endurance.

Our trials supply what is lacking in our lives.  A note in my Bible says that endurance is the hallmark of a mature believer.

Our trials purify our faith, like gold is purified in fire.  Endurance is the stamp of an authentic follower of Christ.

It was HIS extravagant love that caused Him to endure the cross, to die in our place.  It was the joy that was set before Him, that caused Him to endure and finish the work.

He left His joy for us.  John 15:11 says, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

His higher way to endure is through joy.  James 1:2 in the J B Philips says, “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!”

When a friend of mine unexpectedly shows up at my house, it is a joyful occasion.  I welcome them with a warm embrace to express my delight that they chose to grace me with their presence.

Trials are always unexpected.  Do we welcome them like a friend?  His joy is in us.  It is His extravagant gift for endurance.  I woke up with this song.

 Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee

Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love;

Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, opening to the sun above. 

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away. 

Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

All thy works with joy surround thee, earth and heaven reflect thy rays,

Stars and angels sing around thee, center of unbroken praise. 

Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,

Chanting bird and flowing fountain, call us to rejoice in thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blest,

Well-spring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest! 

Thou our Father, Christ our brother, all who live in love are thine;

Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began;

Love divine is reigning o’er us, binding all within its span. 

Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife;

Joyful music leads us sunward, n the triumph song of life.

 

 

 

This morning, before it was time to get up, I was letting my mind stretch through a kaleidoscope of meditating on the Lord.

The title above Job 26 in my Bible says: Man’s Frailty and God’s Majesty.  Verse 14 says, “Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!  But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

Here are a few mere edges.  He does not grow weary nor faint, and His understanding is unsearchable (Isa. 40:28).  His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways are past finding out (Romans 11:33).  His thoughts towards us cannot be numbered (Psalm 139:18).  1 Chronicles 28:9 Amplified says, “…For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understand all the wanderings of the thoughts…”

Everyone that every has drawn breath.  He is beyond our human scope of thought.  He loved each one of us enough to die for us, and bear all our sins plus God’s full wrath.  How can we but praise Him!!

Why would we even want to entertain futile thoughts?

I posted this on facebook

Are you carrying a burden?

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.”

Commit – Hebrew word galal means to roll, roll down, row away, remove. The picture is that is that of a camel, burdened with a heavy load; when the load is to be removed, the camel kneels down, tilts far to one side, and the load rolls off.