PERSISTING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Align my heart with Yours today so that I can give You the glory You deserve.

I saw this quote and decided to make it my prayer As I prayed this, I started thinking about what my life would look like if my heart was completely aligned with God’s heart. How would that change me? Would I use different words when speaking with folks? Would I use a different tone? Would I be more thoughtful of other people’s feelings? Would my physical appearance change? Would I try to protect other people more? Would I be a defender of the defenseless? What exactly would my life look like? I couldn’t get a clear visual, so I did what God calls us to do when we need wisdom and understanding…I ask Him:

Dear Father in Heaven, Lord of the Earth, and King of My Heart,

Align my heart with Your heart today. That’s my prayer — to the extent that my heart can be changed, as a mere mortal, as a sinner made Holy only by You, day-after-day, minute-by-minute, Align my heart with Your heart today.

Get rid of anything in my heart that is wrong, evil, in the way of Your purposes and Your will for me. Cultivate a Spirit of constant confession in my heart, Lord, so that nothing is interfering with my alignment to You. Point out to me in a glaring way, a two-by-four if necessary, my specific sins, my wrong thoughts, my wrong words, my wrong actions. Show me the sins, even one’s I’m not even aware of, that keep me out of alignment with You.

Align my heart — adjust it, straighten it, arrange it in a proper line to be able to be in cooperation with You. Quiet the Pushy-me, Pully-You. Adjust my heart, O Lord, as with an electrical circuit, bring the two components together, in alignment, Your heart and mine, to generate power. I know that when my heart is aligned with Your’s, Your power works through me and it is electric! I know that when something is electrified by You that Your forces are unstoppable. Your power is unstoppable! When my heart aligns with Your heart you unleash the power to make something happen. Your power within me generates the energy needed to change the world, or at least my little corner of it. When two circuits align Lord, when my heart is aligned with Your heart, You make the Light Shine!

I know if one circuit is down or out of alignment, if one component is not working properly, there is no power in my life. I confess, O Lord, it is always me out of alignment with You. You are Perfect. You are Holy. You are Faithful. You are True. It is never You that is not in alignment.

Pull me into Your perfect alignment, today and every day! Pull me into Your wonder-working power! What areas of my life are out of alignment with You? What parts of my heart am I still not willing to align with Your heart? What areas of my life am I still trying to control on my own? What areas of my life am I trying to use my own weak, actually nonexistent power, to control? I confess, O Lord, that my stubborn, broken circuit, hard-heartedness is of not of You. I confess that my life does not bring glory to You when I’m out of alignment.

Thank you Lord, that as a believer that one part of the alignment is, the connection, is always there — You! Hallelujah! I praise You that Your Holy Spirit lives within me, that He is right at my heart-tip, that He is powering me to come into alignment with You. I praise You that when He works within me that Your supernatural, resurrection power, is an absolute force in my life, aligning, straightening, smoothing out and connecting my heart circuit to Your’s.

Here is my heart, El Shaddai, God Almighty, Elohim, All Powerful God, El Eloah, Mighty Strong God, El Elyon, Most High God, El-Gibhor, Mighty Messiah, Powerful Warrior King, The Mighty God, align it with Your heart today, use whatever it takes, so that You will receive All Blessing, All Honor, and All Glory, O God.

Holy Spirit, please do a work in me today. Where my prayer is insufficient or out of line with Your Will, align it and make it perfect with Your groanings to God the Father.

Amen.

This is my prayer for me today. These are my words. Write your own prayer seeking for Him to align Your heart with His today. Make it personal. Make it genuine. Introspection is hard. But it is a must. Our God is not a surface…Now I lay me down to sleep…kind of God. He is a deep supernatural, Omnipotent God! He deserves more and requires more than a glance or passing thought. He deserves all the glory!

We all know the meaning of Thanksgiving.  The Pilgrims and Indians celebrating their provisions under the most difficult circumstances. Their lives were filled with harshness, famine, disease and unimaginable challenges, yet they celebrated the harvest.  Do we give thanks in our most unimaginable challenges for the provisions God gives?  Despite this harsh world we live in, if we know Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we have all we need – the list is endless — love, comfort, peace, hope, joy, eternity, promises, etc.

I’ve been thinking a lot about those amazing provisions, gifts of our Lord.  When we think about those provisions, how can we not give thanks, even in the most trying times of our lives?  I think about how He speaks, He reveals, He calls, He encourages. In all life’s craziness, He is present!  Where would we be without Him?  How would we get through life?  I know I just could not.

It occurred to me what a huge opportunity Thanksgiving Day is to bring the ultimate praise and thanksgiving to our Most Holy God by working for His harvest.  We’re all going to be around family, friends, acquaintances, people we have known forever and people we have just met on Thanksgiving Day, what an amazing opportunity to work in the fields!  Think about it.  Taking Jesus to our Thanksgiving celebrations is the ultimate glory to our God.

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.  So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”  Matthew 9:35-38

We are the workers.  We need to get busy planting seeds in our Thanksgiving Day fields.  Here are some steps to getting the soils ready for planting:

Wednesday

Prepare your own heart today for tomorrow’s opportunities.  Remember the prayer of Peter, John and the other believers:

And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.  Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.  Then they preached the word of God with boldness.  Acts 4:29-31

Thursday

Before we attend the feasts, pray that those you come in contact with today have open ears to hear God’s Word, open eyes to see God’s Word,  and open hearts to accept God’s Word.

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 

2 Corinthians 3:16

Friday and Beyond

Count your blessings!  As you vow to only eat salad this day, reflect on your Thanksgiving Day.  Think about the conversations.  Think about the opportunities that you had to speak about God.  Continue to pray for changed hearts and minds.  Continue to pray that those planted seeds will flourish under the care of the Master Gardner.

Believers have been given the work to “go and make disciples.”  Just imagine God’s glorious harvest and what a Thanksgiving Day that will be. Don’t you want everyone you know to be there? Then let’s get to work!

I love when I see God making connections. I’ve been studying 2 Corinthians 3:12-18. About how we are now under the New Covenant (Jesus) and not the Old Covenant (the law). How because of what Jesus did we can see God’s glory so bright and we don’t need to put a veil over our faces to dim the view like Moses did.

God is teaching here that in those days (and today’s days too) that people’s minds are hardened when they hear the Word of God, a veil covers their minds so that they cannot understand the truth.

BUT…

…This veil can only be removed by believing in Christ.

AND…

…whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away.

THEN…

Now, the Lord is Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is he gives freedom. And all of us have had this veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory ever more.

As if that weren’t cool enough! As I was traveling through my Bible and checking out the cross references, I came across Ezekiel 36!

“For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.”

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

“And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God. I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain, and I will send no more famines on the land. I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines. Then you will remember your past sins and despise yourselves for all the detestable things you did. But remember, says the Sovereign LORD, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done! Ezekiel 36:24-32

This is God speaking here to His people. This is so good! In Corinthians we’re told that the veil is removed, that the believers’ hearts are no longer hardened, that the Spirit of the Lord is within us changing us day-by-day.

That’s the exact message God gave to Ezekiel. God said look ya’ll have made a mess of your lives. You could have saved yourselves a lot of heartache, pain, consequences, and evil-dabbling.

BUT…

…I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean…

AND…

I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart.

THEN…

And I will put my spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.

Thank you, Lord! People, God is a New Life-Giver. We don’t have to fix our old lives, they are just that, old. He has sprinkled clean water on us, the dirt and grime from our old lives has been washed away. He has given us new clean lives! The veil has been removed so that we can understand who Jesus is! We are new creations!

His Spirit is within us giving us the desire to obey Him. As we allow the Spirit to work within us, He will change us more and more to be like Jesus and our lives will reflect God’s glory. Truly, out with the old and in with the new. The veil has been removed so His Light can shine!

Please read 2 Corinthians 3 and Ezekiel 36. What is God saying to you?

This post is from a couple of years back, but everyday it seems more and more appropriate to our lives and the world we live in. It is such a great reminder that life is full of trials and sometimes we feel like we’ve been kicked to the curb. No, not one, is exempt from life trials, sometimes we create them, sometimes they are created for us. But we must remember that if we have received Christ as our Savior, He is ever present in those trials, the little ones and the big ones. We are His children, He will not fail.

Poor Girl – March 2021

Just look at her.  I came across her the other day while out for my lunchtime walk.  I love walking and praying through the different streets in town.  I especially like walking over by the tree streets.  Some days I feel like I could (or should) walk forever.  As I was looping around and heading back to the office, I cut across Water Street.  I’m hoofing it because I had hung out at the creek too long.  I’m moving along and there was some trash laying on the sidewalk.  I stepped over it and kept up my steady clip and then turned around and did a doubletake.  This gal was laying on the sidewalk.  At first I thought some child had lost their doll, then it dawned on me that she hadn’t been lost, she had been tossed.  She’d been trashed, discarded, thrown out.  With her hair all wild covering her face and no shoes on her feet, I thought, somedays girl, I feel your pain!

Have you ever felt like that?  Tossed about?  Discarded?  Trashed?  Like you’d just been through it – whatever your it was?  Me too.  Sometimes it’s my own doing, over committing, over working, over thinking, over selfing, just over.  Sometimes it’s just the way the world is, way over.  Sometimes I have felt just like her, broken, beat up, hair all tangled down in my face, and trouble walking because I had no shoes on my feet.  Please, tell me I’m not alone!?!

No matter how many times we feel like we’ve hit the pavement, Jesus knows how we feel, doesn’t He?  Remember, He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and deep grief?  He too was flung, tossed out and trashed, wasn’t He?  He was even crucified.  That’s tough to think about.  Doesn’t seem like something that should happen to someone who came to save, does it?  A king brought low so his subjects, his people, could be placed on high?  That’s not the kind of king we’re used to, is it?

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

2 Corinthians 8:9

But that, my friends, is called amazing grace and it truly does have a sweet sound, doesn’t it?  Jesus came to save us from the overs, all we need do is call to him from the concrete.  When we’re feeling broken, downtrodden, tossed out and about, hair a muss and barefooted, He is our strength, our healer, our comforter, our deliverer, our only constant.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears;

He delivers them from all their troubles.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted;

He saves the contrite in spirit.

Psalm 34:17-18

When we are low, He bends low to lift us up.  He gently combs the tangles from our hair, pushing it off our faces, places new shoes on our feet, and sets us upright.  No matter what has thrown us to the sidewalk, He will be there to pick us up.  Jesus made that promise to us and Jesus keeps His promises.  We only need seek Him and He will find us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

I again walked the same route a day later.  Standing in front of the house where I saw the doll, was a friend of mine from a few yeas ago.  Sharon.  I started to say hi and keep truckin but I stopped and showed her the picture.  We laughed and then I told her how I knew exactly how that poor girl felt sometimes.  We talked about how Jesus can relate to how we feel because of the way He was treated.  We also talked about how Jesus can pick us up from our sidewalks, dust us off, and give us hope.  Jesus can be seen in our every day, even in the trash on the sidewalk, we just need to look for Him.

There is a line of trees on my daily prayer walk. They’re planted about ten feet apart creating a property border on this south side. They’ve grown relatively quickly and really are quite beautiful, except for one.

While walking the other day, I took notice of this particular tree. Each time I walked by it, it caught my eye. Out of the 15 or so trees planted, this tree looked different. It’s the same species as the other trees, but it’s growing differently. All the other trees are beautiful, full, and a great green. This tree, although green, if you look closely (sorry for my bad photography), you will see quite a few brown spots in it. Parts of the tree were dying off. In fact, it looks like the brown spots are going to take over the tree.

That tree looked sometimes how I feel. You too? There’s lots of green but then the brown spots start to move in and threaten to take over. It’s curious to me how we can somehow go through life feeling vibrant green and flourishing and brown and dying, all at the same time.

We are going to have vibrant green times and brown times in our lives, simultaneously. All of us, no one is excluded, will have blessings and curses at the same time. This is life in an imperfect world. How we handle them reflects Whose we are. We can lean into the green or we can be broken by the brown. Depending on the day, I could go either way. Somedays I’m a great green and some days a broken brown. I don’t think I’m so different than most folks. The difference for believers though is that we get to choose what we will focus on. Just like when we look at the picture of the tree. We either focus on the green or the brown.

A few days later while out celebrating the splendor of the King (I hope you’ve gloried in His incredible handiwork this fall), as I walked by this tree, I saw some brown branches laying on the ground. The tree was still green, reaching tall, but the brown branches had started to drop off. Each day I walk by it, more brown is dropping off the green tree. This reminded me of the incredible love of Our Father. That although we got brown and green going on in our lives, He keeps His Promises, and He is ever faithful, helping us work through the brown with the green.

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:22-23

I don’t know about you, but His promises that He loves, He is faithful, and He is merciful to us, gives me cause to be watchful and expectant for the daily shedding of the brown and the growing of the green. Thank you, Lord!

I know this picture is a little hard to see. It’s hard to take pictures in the dark, but what I saw filled my heart so. As you might know, I love walking in the dark. The thing I love about walking in the dark is that it helps me to see clearly the Light. It makes me focus. It makes me aware. The world we live in is super bright with so many things that are supposed to help us see, supposed to illuminate us, but they don’t, they distract. Sometimes in order to see the Light we just have to walk in the dark.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10

I’ve mentioned before we live at the foot of the mountain. And I’ve mentioned before, atop the mountain are several towers, three of which are lit with flashing lights. Their rhythmic flash of red grows in intensity. This flashing is to let folks know that there is a tower atop the mountain. It’s not a loud, blaring light, it’s a soft, silent sign of the tower. The flashing red lights are not as visible during the day, when the world is filled with screaming lights. You can only completely see the tower light, against the backdrop of dark.

There’s one spot on our drive that fills with water when it rains. It’s not exactly a pothole, it’s more of a dip and it tends to hold water at the slightest rain. Mud and leaves collect there making it a good mudpuddle. When I’m walking after a rain, I try to be conscious of the puddle for obvious reasons, I don’t want to walk through the puddle and get all slopped up and my feet wet. But as I’m looking out for the puddle, I notice something. The silent signal of the tower is reflecting in the puddle. I could see the light from the tower shining in the mud. I stood there for a few minutes just watching, watching the flashing tower and the light in the puddle’s silent promise. My heart fluttered.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5

His assurance to us is His Light in our darkness. The reflection of our Strong Tower in the mudpuddles of life is so comforting. The Light nods to us, wraps his arms of love around us and says I’ve got you. The Light is His pledge that even in the puddles of life, He will still shine. He will not leave, change, or move away. His Light will continue to shine in our dark places — slowly, steadily, constantly, growing in intensity. The puddles won’t last forever, eventually those puddles dry up and the mud is washed away. Until then, look for the Light in the dark.

Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.  Praise ye the Lord.  Psalm 150:6

In reading last week, I was reminded of this verse.  It’s a familiar verse, isn’t it?   The thing that brought me to my knees though was the statement the unknown writer made about the verse:

Imagine every single one of God’s creations praising Him for His goodness.

Ponder that for a minute.  What would it look like, what would it sound like, what would it smell like, what would it feel like if every living thing in heaven and on earth praised God for His goodness.  Here’s my vision of every living thing praising the Lord:

The trees of the fields and the mountains are stretching to heaven, swaying and bending low then rising high and tall their trunks to heaven again and again, their creaking shouts of praise to God. 

Imagine the leaves of the trees whirling through the air, lifted up, up, up and then gently drifting down only to be lifted up again.  Their rustling songs of praise and adoration. 

The flowers of the earth dancing on their stems, colors brilliant having been kissed by the sun.  Petals stirring in royal wave expressing their praise.  Their sweet-fragrance wafting on the air rising high as an incense of praise to our God.

Imagine the birds of the air swooping and sweeping in joyful chase and song, beaks pointed to glory offering hymns of praise to God that combine for a heavenly symphony. 

The fish in the sea gliding and dipping, the whales leaping in praise high above the surface, their powerful splash forcing droplets of water to meet the heavens like tears of joy. 

Think about the animals of the earth in obedient reverence lifting their praise.  Running, leaping and jumping in praise. Their praise-filled frolicking sweet to heaven’s eyes.

Picture the stars in the heavens sparkling and twinkling, glowing and shining bright in praise to our Lord.

Then think about every human being on this earth, faces turned upwards, hands lifted high reaching to touch heaven, knees humbling bowing before the King, bodies swaying in worship joining the praises of the angels in heaven singing Holy! Holy! Holy!

Now I want you to close your eyes and envision the trees, the fields, the mountains, the leaves, the birds, the fish, the animals of the earth, the stars in the sky, and all God’s children united with the angels in Heaven, with one anthem raised in adoration to the Most High God.

Oh Lord, my God
When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration
And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!  Praise the Lord!

I had a little bit of a different plan today, but I came across something this morning that made me change course. Something I just had to chew on for a bit.

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Romans 1:20

When I first read this verse, it seemed innocuous enough. It’s one of those verses that I would typically fly right over and head right into verse 21, without reflection, without a thought. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But as I read it, I kept getting hung up on

Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities…

Read that over a couple of times. Does that make sense to you? I’m sure you’re much quicker on the uptake than I am, but I got a little tripped up. When I think of God’s creation, everything He made, I think of things that I can see. You know, the sun, moon, stars, trees, flowers, grass, rain, clouds in the sky, everything that is good. In fact, the verse specifically references the earth and sky.

Here’s where I got tripped up — clearly see his invisible qualities. There are a couple of words in there that don’t correspond. See and invisible. They’re opposites, right? How can you see what’s invisible? Are these two words at odds? Can we truly see what is invisible? Yes! How is that? Because God has revealed what He is like in and through His creation!

Just take a minute and look at His creation. Think about it. Take a look at the sky, the movement of the clouds, and the colors of blue, pink, gray or black. Take a look at the sun. The energy it puts forth that lights our days, warms our earth. Look at a flower, the magnificent details of the stems, the bloom, the petals, the color, the smell. Then think about how many varieties of flowers there are and how each is intricately made. It boggles the mind. Then think about how grass (or in our case mostly weeds) push up through the dirt to blanket our yards and fields. Think about the falling leaves. Think about how some leaves change color and some don’t. Just think about that! Creation is truly incredible.

The most incredible thing about what we can see is that it reveals the invisible, what we cannot see! Nature shows us who God is. He is an all-powerful God — think about the sun. He is a God of supreme intelligence — think about the human body. He is a God who is intricately detailed — think of the petals of a flower. The “He is…” could go on and on.

What we can see makes it possible for us to clearly see his invisible qualities. His power. His might. His creativity. His attention to detail. His intelligence. His order. This list could go on and on too.

The point is that He shows us who He is every single second of every single day. He is constantly revealing himself to us. God is showing us what He is really like in and through his creation and we need to think about that.

It’s super hard to get deep within ourselves. It’s much easier to get deep within other people, isn’t it? It’s super easy to see what others should or shouldn’t be saying, doing or thinking, isn’t it? Those are just excuses for not looking at ourselves. God is revealing himself to each and every one of us, individually. He’s speaking to us, trying to get our attention. And if we are completely honest and we actually think about it for a minute or two instead of running full steam ahead (away), we will see Him. All we need do is to stop and think.

For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. Romans 1:19

God has revealed himself to us. It is instinctive. We aren’t lost because of what we cannot see. We’re lost because of what we can clearly see and refuse to believe. We must draw on our instincts.

So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Romans 1:20

We’ve heard a lot about PPE over the last few years. PPE=Personal Protective Equipment. Think mask and gloves. We’re all a little tired of hearing about PPE, those three little letters can trigger the dread-part of our brain. But, how very important they are. Not just during a pandemic, but also when you go to the dump. Yep, another trash post.

Remember my thoughts last week about the “landfill” or the “dump?” Well, I had one more…

When you travel the road back to the actual dumping grounds, to that deceptively beautiful dumping ground — remember, trash on trash on one-side and the beautiful three-state mountains on the other? Anyway, there is a requirement to drive back to that spot…every person in the vehicle must have PPE. Yep. You must have in your vehicle a hardhat, a neon vest, and protective eyewear for each person. Once on top, you must put them on before you exit your vehicle.

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. Ephesians 6:10-18

So pop that hardhat of salvation on your head. It may seem wobbly, too tight, or too loose, but, go ahead and just ratchet that strap. We know who wins in the end, God wins! Although we may sometimes wonder how it will all happen, we are absolutely sure that God is the victor. This assurance of eventual deliverance keeps us from retreating or surrendering. We march into battle with our salvation completely protected.

Don’t forget your vest, the shield of faith. We are assured that Satan will point his fiery arrows right at the heart of every single believer. Wearing our vest, the shield of faith, will assure that every arrow meant for destruction will fall to the ground. The shield of faith is confidence in the Lord — confidence that he will protect us, no matter how many arrows come our way. When all hope seems lost, when destruction seems inevitable, when doubts swirl in our heads, when the ship looks to be going down, the shield of faith gives us the power to say that Satan is a liar and God is truth, and then saying: “I believe God.”

We must put on our eye shields. We must keep our eyes on the Lord at all times. Look directly into the Lord’s eyes — don’t blink. We need to sink our eyes into the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. No matter what we go through, the Word of God speaks to it. It offers counsel, compassion, guidance, and hope.

God gives us all the protection that we need. We must see that there is a “ring of truth” about our walk with the Lord, that our lives are right (righteous) with God and walk with one another, that we seek to make peace wherever we go, that we lift up that shield of faith together to quench the flaming darts of the evil one, that we protect our minds from fears and anxieties that easily assail, and that we use God’s word to good effect in the power of the Spirit. Remember it was by the repeated sword thrusts of God’s word that Jesus overcame his adversary in the wilderness. David Watson

The Personal Protective Equipment given to us by God does us absolutely no good, if we don’t put it on. But when we do, we will still be targeted by Satan, but no matter what comes our way, we know that the Lord is fighting our battle and He always wins.

Around our joint we tend to accumulate trash. You too? Seems like we constantly have feed bags from the barn, old dog beds of the Worst/Best, old cracked planters, kinked-up garden hoses, mud-laden outdoor rugs, even an old crib that was held together with bungie cords. In fact, we still find buried treasures in bags on our property (I’m told that’s how they used to get rid of trash in the olden days?).

Now we “repurpose” as much as we can, we consider ourselves earth-friendly people, but sometimes, we just got trash. So, a couple of times a year we load up the truck, tie it down, and travel slowly to the dump — oh wait, that’s not the “acceptable” term — we travel to waste management — we travel to the landfill (like that sounds so much better). Nowadays we people can even make a dump sound less harsh and more appealing, can’t we.

Anyway, we did just that thing last week. Loaded all our junk up and went to the dump. We went on free dump day, however, it wasn’t free for us because our junk wasn’t considered a certain kind of trash? No matter, it was still trash that needed disposed of.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the “landfill” but quite frankly, it is an engineering marvel. Whoever came up with it was pretty genius. Just think about that, someone created a way for us to get rid of all our trash. Hmmm.

When you get to the dump you drive onto a scale and you’re weighed, vehicle and trash. You are then directed where to dump your trash, based upon the contents. Smaller trucks and cars are directed about 100 yards away to throw their trash into a gigantic dumpster, easy peasy. But trash trucks, dump trucks, construction trucks, trucks with the big stuff, even trucks our size are directed to move on down the road.

After hanging a left, we started ascending a dirt road. It’s a pretty steep climb up a dirt road. I grabbed the armrest a time or two. But once you get to the top, it’s like being on top of the world. You can see as far as Maryland and Pennsylvania right from the dump in Hedgesville. The view is breathtaking…

…and so is the smell. It’s a jolt to be reminded that you’re at the dump and despite the spectacular view far off, you’re standing on trash.

After coming back to the reality of why we’re there, we start trash tossing It’s a wild kind of thing. We stand in the back of the truck and just toss our trash out onto the ground along with everyone else who’s traveled the steep hill to get rid of their trash. A gigantic front-end loader kind of thingy just keeps rolling back and forth over the trash we just threw out compacting and crushing it to smithereens. Our trash is no longer recognizable, it is obliterated, as if it never existed. We then sweep out the truck bed to make sure nothing is left behind, we get into our truck, and we descend the trash mound.

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us His ways

so that we may walk in His paths. Isaiah 2:3

When we reach the ground there’s this sign:

When you drive through the truck wash, hoses power wash the trucks to clean them and remove any yuckiness left behind and any mud from the journey.

We again drive onto the scale and we obviously weighed significantly less. We’d unloaded our burden. We had gotten rid of our trash.

Are you having some of the same thoughts I did?

I thought about my heart-trash, aka sin, the stuff I need to get rid of. I can’t even load all of it into my “truck” because I don’t yet recognize that attitude, or those words, or that tone, are actually trash.

I thought about how I let my trash build up to the point that it is sometimes overwhelming and takes a good while to toss it out.

I thought about ascending the dirt road and how it can be really messy sometimes, we’re sometimes covered in mud by the time we actually let loose our grip on our sin.

I thought about how clean we are when we descend the mountain, how we’ve been washed by the Blood of the Lamb.

I marveled at how the Most High Engineer created a way for me to get rid of the trash in my life!

I thought about how when I toss that trash, my sin, out of the bed of the truck, that it is erased, blotted out, and it is destroyed, forever, and never thought of again!

I thought about the spectacular, clear, endless view that awaits if I’m willing to get rid of the trash that is piling up and stinking up my life.

My My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul!

The Holy Spirit heightened my senses at the dump. Isn’t that awesome?!?! Who’d a thought the dump could be so thought-provoking?