Confidence

As I studied Colossians 1 this morning, these verses stood out. 

"We continually give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), as we are praying for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] and of the love which you [have and show] for all the saints (God’s consecrated ones).” Colossians 1:3, 4 (AMP)

I especially like that phrase: 'the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness.' 

Absolute trust and confidence in HIS power, wisdom and goodness! WOW! No better ROCK SOLID place to put my trust. And that covers all aspects of what I’d need: POWER…. strength to accomplish His will, WISDOM…. knowledge to make decisions as I carry out His will, and GOODNESS…. those blessings that God showers on me… HIS BEST… as I live in accordance with HIS will!

The Best

"The desires of good people lead straight to the best" Proverbs 11:23a (MSG)

I have this verse posted on a closet door. 

Desires: distinctly good sense

Good: righteous man 

Best: good = benefit 

"Trust the Lord, and do good things. Live in the land, and practice being faithful. Be happy with the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Entrust your ways to the Lord. Trust him, and he will act on your behalf." Psalm 37:3-5 (GW)

Trust the LORD: my trust is not in RHONDA.. but my trust, reliance is to be in God!

Do: accomplish

Good: rich, valuable in estimation

Happy (delight): take exquisite delight; to be soft or pliable

Desires: request, petition

Entrust: roll, roll away, remove

Ways: course of life, or action, undertakings

Trust: be bold confident, secure, sure, put confidence, make to hope

Act: absolute act, act with effect 

As I read these verses this morning, God reminded me that He wants what is BEST for me.... in order that I accomplish HIS will. It's not about "me", rather it's about me surrendering to God and allowing Him to work so that He receives glory and honor. 

As I prepare to move and make plans to move, I need to step back and remove "Rhonda" from the forefront. I'm to put my reliance in God so that He can accomplish good! 

I've always found the meaning of the word, "delight" interesting. To be soft and pliable. Reminds me of when I played with Play Dough. When the dough is kept in the tightly sealed jars, it was fun to take it out and play with it... it was soft and pliable and didn't take much work to form it into shapes. 

Yet, when I left the lid off, the dough became hard. It took a lot of effort to mold it, and often I'd just give up and throw it away. 

"Rhonda" means strong and powerful. Too often, I leave the "lid off" of my heart thinking I know best and can figure all the details of life out on my own. Yet, I soon realize, that being tough and hard, only makes it more difficult for God to work with me to create His masterpiece. 

If I'm soft and pliable, and I have the good sense to fully trust God, He will accomplish His will and purpose. He will lead me straight to the BEST!

Wish List

This year, I'm sharing my "Treasures" of my study of my "Ponder the Morsels" book. I've picked 31 Psalms to study throughout 2013. Today I studied Psalm 16. Here is what I learned.

I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord. Without you, I have nothing good.” Psalm 16:2 (GW)

I say to the Lord, You are my Lord; I have no good beside or beyond You. Psalm 16:2 (AMP)

And I have said, “Only you are my Lord! Every good thing I have is a gift from you.” Psalm 16:2 (CEV)

"My good is nowhere except in thee; I have no source of good of any kind - happiness, hope, life, safety, salvation - but in thee. My good is not without thee." This accords with the idea in the other member of the sentence, where he acknowledges Yahweh as his Lord; in other words, he found in Yahweh all that is implied in the idea of an object of worship - all that is properly expressed by the notion of a God. He renounced all other gods, and found his happiness - his all - in Yahweh. Barnes' Notes on the Bible 

It is a greater glory to us that we are allowed to serve God, than it is to him that we offer him that service. He is not rendered happy by us; but we are made happy by him. He can do without such earthly servants; but we cannot do without such a heavenly Master. William Secker

There are times when I find myself thinking and yes, maybe even wishing, some things were different in my life. Having a husband, less pain, more money to buy things I’d like, and the list continues. And if I allow myself to dwell on the things I don’t have, and that are really out of my control, I find myself becoming miserable. That’s when I remind myself of the Children of Israel. Each time they looked around at what other Nations had, or looked at their current circumstances while forgetting where they’ve been, they started to murmur and complain. Whey they wanted a King, because all the other Nations had one, God said, OK I’ll give you a King. And then problems followed. 

I don’t want to get my “wishes” if they are not God’s best! I don’t want to settle for second, or third options. God has and will continue to shower me with gifts—exactly what I need for the very moment. God has an endless supply of gifts and He knows much better than I what I need for this moment, day, time in my life. 

When my wish list is focused on me and me only, than I’m heading for trouble. But when I make sure my wish list is God-focused, I know full well that every wish will come true. 

To create a positive day, I need to make sure my wish list is God focused, and rejoice in the fact that God has given me and will continue to give me everything I need. A day filled with God’s gifts is a positive day!