THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS

Saturday, June 27, 2015 (6:46 a.m.)

Amazing God of Glory,

I get angry. Find out what I really am feeling is hurt. And then mope and whine and snivel and fret and stew and all but forget that You truly ARE our amazing God of glory! Thank You Father for all that You are.

I have a Bible [thank You that we do!] that translates Exodus 3:14 to say, “God replied [to Moses], 'I AM THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS.' Just tell them, 'I AM has sent me to you.'”

Because You truly ARE THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS, I know I am safe in You. With You. My feelings take me far away from Your instructions. My thoughts do NOT lean themselves toward Paul's teachings to the Philippian believers.

And here again, I pause to thank You, THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS. Turning in the Illustrated Bible Handbook I get to read once more “Chapter 4. Joy in the Lord A Plea for Perspective; 4:2-9. Paul speaks of joys that are found through relationship with the Lord (4). In Christ we have release from anxiety, for we can express every need to God and experience peace (5-7). In Christ we can concentrate our attention on the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy (8). In Christ we can put godly living into practice, and have the assurance that the God whose presence means inner peace will be with us (9).”

I am confessing right here and right now that I am experiencing none of that. I am holding tightly to the hurt and pain of either carelessly misspoken or immediately misunderstood words. Every time I consider letting them go, another memory comes along to remind me of the last time(s) we went through this.

I absolutely know, beyond any shadow of any doubt that this is not Your best for me. For us. I confess to wallowing. And in this confession, I am asking (Matthew 7:7) You to do in and with, by, for and through me all that I absolutely cannot [will not?] do for myself.

Right here on the heels of asking I am blessed my Your comfort and Your care. I have ready access to the words and singing of ♫In Christ alone my hope is found He is my light, my strength, my song♫

Following very quickly behind the hope found there was the reminder of the Truth of Your Word in Isaiah 40:31. “But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”

Again I confess. That is not me right now. Ah, but the hope is still to be found in Your Word. Your Truth!

A reminder comes from The Life Recovery Bible comment for “40:9-17 When we doubt God's power [which, right now, I don't] we need to remember that He is the Creator and will 'rule with awesome strength.' He has perfect wisdom and is greater than any person or nation. When we doubt [still I do not] that God can really help us overcome our dependency, we need to remember that He is bigger and more powerful than anything on earth. And this God is also compassionate and loving. He will carry us (His lambs) in His arms and 'gently lead' us down the road to recovery because He loves us.”

Blessed Father, Holy One, Amazing God of Glory, it IS to You I turn. You ARE THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS and I need Your guidance and wisdom in how best to proceed. I don't know how to trust coming back out of the shell I ran into yesterday in an unsuccessful attempt at protecting myself. I'm willing to put it all out there again, only as You direct.

I will begin by offering to read this aloud to a loved one and ask You to work as You are more than able. I love You. I want to serve You. And I am willing to set down the hurt and anger as You direct. Thank You Father. Please go before me. With me. Beside, beneath and above me. Completely encircle me with Your presence that I would not be alone in my heart, soul, mind and strength. Guard every aspect of my very fragile being.

Enable, empower, embolden us to be the people YOU would have us be. People made in Your image (Genesis 1:26). Designed to love You with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strength (Mark 12:30) and one another as ourselves (31).

These things I pray in the precious name and blood of Your One and Only Son (John 3:16). Thank You. I love You. Amen.

(794 words ~ 8:16 a.m.)