He Will Do That...

It's 23-Acre Woods Word-Filled Wednesday!

What has God called you to?
What are the purposes He has laid on your heart?


If He's called you to the mission field,
If He's called you to serve in your church,

If He's called you to be a stay at home mom,
If He's called you to evangelize in your workplace,

If He's called you to availability,
Or mentoring,
Or waiting,
Or praying,
Or taking in the poor,
Or using your gifts and talents,

Surrender.

Listen.

Wait.

Trust.

Because...

Lord Jesus, You are faithful, and You are committed. You love us and have our perfect best in mind. Help us this day to deny whatever distracts us from You and be attentive and faithful to Your call. Whatever it is, Lord, we long to obey. We trust You, for it is in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Would you like to see more Truth-filled Scripture pictures? Then hike on over to:

A Walk In The Park

“This is MY swing!” yelled the boy, pushing the little girl into the gravel. As she began to cry over her throbbing skinned knee, the boy took his seat on the swing, pumping higher and higher into the air. “Wheeeee! I’m the king of the wooooorrrrrrrrrrrlllllllllllD!!!” he declared.

The boy’s mom sat oblivious on the bench nearby chattering away on her cell phone. The girls’ daddy came quickly to scoop her up, holding her close to his chest. In between hysteric whimpers, she poured out her pain to him: “He (gasp) pushed (sniff) me (snort) Daddy (full out bawl).” He tenderly replied, “I know, sweetheart, I saw the whole thing. It’s okay now, you’re safe.”

All of a sudden, the dad did something that surprised all those watching. He lifted his daughter up onto his shoulders. At first, she whined, “No, daddy, I’m scared.” He assured her that she was secure, so she tried to sit up straight, leaning forward and holding on to his chin at first. The man turned into a boy that moment, changing from a walk in the park to a giddy-up, jig-jagged gallop around the park with her, to which the little one couldn’t help but giggle. As he grasped her legs firmly around his neck, she began to sit up completely straight, shoulders back and chest out. “I’m the luckiest girl in the WoooooooooorrrrrrrlllllllllllD,” she shrieked with delight, throwing her arms completely outstretched in the air. She was safe and free at last.

This is the picture of the Christian life, friends. Sometimes, we’re feeling blessed along the way, kind of like a trip to the park—from tire swing, to slide, to see saw, to sand. And it’s a lot of fun. Then an enemy comes along (sometimes it’s even a friend) and pushes us down, causing us not only a skinned knee, but a wounded heart in the process. But our Father is so loving and so compassionate that He scoops us up and lifts us high above the pain to experience His safety and the pleasure that stems from it.

Even Job understood this in the middle of his horrific pain (5:11): “The lowly He sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.” What a beautiful reminder for the times when we are hurt or persecuted, even if we’re not sure why we’re experiencing it.

Did you notice that we don’t know how the story above got its start? Was the little girl racing for the swing excitedly after finding it in her view? Perhaps she was just standing in the way of the swing. OR, did she push the boy first as she tried to get the swing for herself? We have no idea if she was innocent or just as selfish as the boy, do we? This matters to us, because in our minds, if it were her fault, then surely the same response from her dad would not be warranted. That’s the thing about God….His ways are SO not our ways, are they?

“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:8-14

God wants us to see that from His perspective is a whole other view of our circumstances. He remembers how we were formed by His hands….He knows we are not perfect as He is--that we are going to mess up in our human dustiness. Because of this flawless memory and this abounding love, His comfort and security are available to us no matter what we’ve done. It is the forgiveness and grace that comes from the trust we placed in Jesus Christ to make the sacrifice for our sins, as well as the sins of others. Praise the Lord!

Which person in the park are you right now? The pusher? The pushed down? The one on the cell phone? The one scooping up the hurting? The specatator? The one enjoying the slide on the other side? From that grid, let’s take a moment to picture the characteristics of God from the verses above and apply them to our hearts. We could be any of them from one day to the other, and God has something in it for us no matter—so let’s allow Him, our King of the wooorrrrrrrrld, to minister to us and others through our own walk in the park today. Amen.


In the Key of HE,

Casting My Cares...

When worry comes even though I've resisted it,
When my stomach aches with concern for someone I love even after I've turned his situation over to the Lord,
When I repeat the same prayer over and over as someone who longs to overcome her unbelief,
All I know to do is pray some more.

Today is one of those days, but I will choose to trust in Him.
Over and over, He has proven Himself worthy of my belief.
Time and again, He has sustained me--and those I love as well.

I will choose to trust in my Lord.

Psalm 55:22-23a (New International Version)

"Cast your cares on the LORD
and He will sustain you;
He will never let the righteous fall.

But you, O God, will bring down the wicked
into the pit of corruption;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men
will not live out half their days.
But as for me, I trust in you."

Amen.

Fruit is a VERB

Written by LauraLee Shaw. Inspired by the Holy Spirit

John 15:8
”This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

L et the Fruit of the Spirit come alive in you,
O beying the Word of the Lord in
V erb form,
E agerly acting upon that which you have hidden in your heart.

J ust as Christ demonstrated His love for you,
O pting to die for your sins, so
Y ou should choose to lay down your life for others.

P ractice what you preach,
E xude joy in work, as well as play,
A sk God--beg God to
C omplete His work in you
E ach and every hour of every single day.

P ursue peace
A ctively, showing even more than
T elling.
I nvite your
E nemy to break bread with you.
N otice when someone is alone and
C are about the underdog
E specially.

K now that the Lord will
I gnite His Spirit in you as you acknowledge your
N eediness and complete
D ependence upon Him to do the work.
N O WAY can you produce the practice of patience on your own!
E ven when the enemy pursues you, God will
S helter you under the shadow of His wings.
S imply trust and obey.

G o for it!
O bviously you are beginning to see that
O bedience gives way to a fruit-filled life.
D o you have faith like a mustard seed?
N o? You see…
E ven when showing kindness to others causes you pain, you are
S haring in the
S ufferings of Christ.

F or by His stripes your hurt will be healed,
A nd
I t will give way
T o His goodness spilled out as blessings in your life.
H e will pour them out from the
F ullness of His love for you.
U nderstand that He does not give as the world gives.
L ove in His form does not always bring happiness.
N ever did He promise you a trouble-free life or
E xemption from
S uffering.
S o why believe then? “What’s in it for me,” you ask?

G rowth—the spiritual kind.
E nergy—the lasting kind.
N ot only those, but also
T ruth and
L ove—the faithful kind.
E ndurance and
N ever
E nding
S trength--the
S upernatural kind.

S o let His gentleness be
E vident to all by
L iving this
F ruit-filled, Holy Spirit-filled life.

-- ONLY HE CAN GIVE YOU THE SELF-CONTROL TO BEHAVE THIS WAY.

C an I share something else? If you love God with all your heart, then
O bey Him. Don’t just say that you love Him.
N o one will believe you love Him if you don’t show His love to others.
T ake a moment to pray on this living, active Word from Him.
R epent if need be. Then respond by
O ffering your body as a living sacrifice.
L et the Fruit of the Spirit be a verb in you.

Colossians 1:10

”And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…”

***Scriptures taken from the NIV Translation
***The fruit of the Spirit is found in Galatians 5:22-23


Adapted from the following NIV Scriptures: Luke 11:28, 1 John 3:18, Psalm 119:11, Romans 5:8, 1 John 3:16, Matthew 5:19, 1 Thessalonians 5:14-17, 1 John 5:14, James 2:22, 1 Peter 3:11, Romans 12:20, Psalm 41:1, Romans 8:10-11, Galatians 3:3, Psalm 51:17, Philippians 1:6, 2:13, Psalm 57:1, Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans 2:13, Philippians 1:11, Matthew 17:20, Romans 8:17-18, Isaiah 53:5, Deuteronomy 28:2, Ephesians 3:18, John 14:27, 16:33, Ephesians 1:19, 3:20, Colossians 1:29, Romans 5:5, Philippians 4:5, John 14:15, 1 John 4:20, Acts 3:19, Romans 12:1