Scriptures of Encouragement ~ Too Much Static?

Scratchy static popped over the air waves. Garbled voices was all I could recognize as I wriggled and jiggled the radio dial. Just moments before, I was belting out "10,000 Reasons" with Matt Redman and then I hit a pothole along the dirt road by the river. The pothole came out of nowhere right as I was twisting the fine-tune thingy on the dial. The unexpected bump caused me to lose the station - just a little bit - but enough to reduce my moment of praise to several minutes of irritating static.

If only I had pulled over to adjust the radio, but instead I was watching the kayakers as I fiddled with the dial. Another happy distraction butted in as I talked to Blue hanging his head out the back window, panting his delight. And wouldn't you know it? My cell phone started ringing in the midst of the radio finagling!

All I wanted was to sing this great praise song, but no! Distractions prevented me. I couldn't find the station because I was in too much of a hurry to pull over and adjust the dial.

Hmmm...

How often do we do this with God? We have our focus on Him, and then a bump in the road throws off our connection. We cannot hear His voice clearly - it becomes a bunch of garbled, scratchy static. Distractions prevent us from "pulling over" and concentrating on Him. How sad...

The Lord spoke through Isaiah, "Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you - the sure mercies of David" (Isaiah 55:3, NKJV).

I believe the Lord would say, "Come. Come unto Me all who are weary and I will give you rest. Are you thirsty? Come. I will fill you with fresh Living Water. Are you anxious and overwhelmed? Come. I will give you My peace. Are you afraid? Come. I will give you my perfect love to cast away the fear. But you must come. And sit. Quietly. No distractions. Incline your ear to me and listen to my gentle whispers of love for you, My child. Listen and your soul shall live."

After great frustration and a little stubborness, I pulled over. Within seconds I had the correct station loud and clear. I turned up the volume just as Matt Redman was reaching the end, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul..." I sang with pure joy while Blue started crooning from the backseat. 

I kid you not...my 100 pound hunk of love was singing praise to Jesus, too.



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If you received Morning Glory via email, please visit the Morning Glory page to get your juices pumping as you join Matt Redman singing, "10,000 Reasons". Have a blessed day and remember, "hurry keeps your heart earthbound" (Jesus Calling).

Scriptures of Encouragement ~ A Peaceful Little Guy

The frosty morning sent a chill through me as I walked Blue. The shadows along our country road seemed especially long. They reminded me of the shadows creeping over my spirit as I dwelt on thoughts of unemployment and thoughts of friends wrestling with their own adversities. I willed myself to think about Jesus, to speak His precious Name.

As Blue and I rounded a bend in the road, a patch of sunlight broke through the thick canopy of branches above us. A small mountain boulder, freckled with specks of mica, glistened in the morning sun. A pop of lemon yellow caught my attention. On the rock, surrounded by chilly shadows, a swallowtail rested in the sun. It gently waved its wings back and forth, clearly content in the warmth provided by its Creator. There was no evidence of fear, even in the presence of its enemies - a one-hundred pound Mastiff and a butterfly-lovin' woman.

This little guy was at peace.
Surrounded by shadows and a cold, September breeze, this little guy was at peace.

I thought of the words from a few days earlier found in Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young:

"Wait quietly in My Presence while My thoughts form silently in the depths of your being. Do not try to rush this process, because hurry keeps your heart earthbound. I am the Creator of the entire universe, yet I choose to make My humble home in your heart. It is there where you know Me most intimately; it is there where I speak to you in holy whispers. Ask My Spirit to quiet your mind so that you can hear My still, small voice within you. I am speaking to you continually: words of Life...Peace...Love."

I am learning to rest in God's Presence. Like this delicate butterfly, I am learning that I am safe when I bask beneath the light of His love. Even though shadows surround me, even though the harsh winds of adversity howl, I am safe in the Presence of my enemies because I belong to the Most High God.

I am reminded of the words of David in Psalm 23 - a psalm which reflects David's absolute trust and peaceful confidence in His God:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; 

"You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Beloved, cease your striving. I have learned that it will get you nowhere. Close your eyes and lean into the arms of your Savior. Like the butterfly perched on the mountain boulder, let His Presence warm your heart and cause you to be blissfully unaffected by your enemies. You are wrapped in robes of righteousness. You are washed in the precious Blood of Jesus designating you as a child of God. 

Sweet friend, He is with you. 

Always.


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Are you planning a special event for your ladies in the coming months? I would love the opportunity to share with them about the beauty and reassurance of God's Presence in our darkest moments. The following is an excerpt from a message I gave in Sugar Grove, Virginia. Please visit my website at www.jubilantlight.com for more information. You may also contact me through email: nan@jubilantlight.com. I would love to hear from you.
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If you received Morning Glory via email, please visit the Morning Glory page to enter into the Presence of God as you worship along with Kari Jobe singing, "Come to Me".

Scriptures of Encouragement ~ Through the Watches of the Night

This has been a tough few days, not only for me, but for many of my friends and family. Tuesday's post was all about finding God's peace. I featured a powerful music video by Kristyn Getty titled Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer. I have listened to this over and over. The video  begins with a poem penned by Kristyn. I am compelled to share with you the words of this poem and to feature her remarkable song once more. I pray it will give you strength for the journey.

The Watches of the Night
by Kristyn Getty

I look towards the wintering trees
To hush my fretful soul,
As they rise to face the icy sky
And hold fast beneath the snow.
Their rings grow wide, their roots go deep
That they might hold their height,
And stand like valiant soldiers
Through the watches of the night

No human shoulder ever bears
The weight of all the world,
But hearts can sink beneath the ache
Of trouble's sudden surge.
Yet far beyond full knowing
There's a strong unsleeping Light,
That reaches round to hold me 
Through the watches of the night.

I have cried upon the steps that seem 
Too steep for me to climb,
And I've prayed against a burden
I did not want to be mine.
But, here I am and this is where
You're calling me to fight,
And You I will remember
Through the watches of the night.
You I will remember 
Through the watches of the night.

The Apostle Paul gave an exhortation to the Church at Corinth: "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong" (1 Corinthians 16:24).

As the children of the Lord wandered through the wilderness, they came upon an insurmountable obstacle - the Red Sea. Their enemies, the Egyptians, were closing in. A sure death was imminent.   Moses said to them, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today...The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace" (Exodus 14:13,14).

As you watch and pray through the nights of your journey, as you work hard to mend the broken places in your heart and those of your loved ones, remember this, "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be shaken" (Psalm 55:22).




And just because you are precious to me and to the Lord, I want to strengthen you with one more:



Let's pray...

Father God, We rest in You alone. You are our God, our Redeemer, our Deliverer and our Friend. We love You Lord. Help us find You in the night watches. Awaken our hearts to sense Your Presence. Use us for Your Glory - a light to the world. Quiet our restless spirits as we focus on You and rest in Your peace. Thank You Lord.
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If you received Morning Glory via email, please visit the Morning Glory page. You will be given an opportunity to step away from the chaos and rest in God alone.

Scriptures of Encouragement ~ Peace Can Be Yours

"The Lord bless you and keep you; 
The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace." ~ Numbers 6:24-26, NKJV

PEACE. Shalom. 

The Lord will give you peace...completeness, wholeness, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, rest, harmony.

He will give you peace.

How does the Lord do this? The Apostle Paul said, "For He [Jesus] Himself is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14).  It is through Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, that we are no longer separated from our amazing God. Through Jesus, we may approach the throne of grace, boldly and with our whole hearts. Through Him, we are changed - transformed - by the renewing of our minds. Through Him and because of Him, our despair is exchanged for hope, our sorrow exchanged for joy and our anguish exchanged for peace - HIS peace. Completeness. Wholeness. Rest.

It's quite simple. Call upon the Name of Jesus. Speak it slowly, with intention. Jesus. Quiet your mind and focus on Him. Jesus. His Presence will settle upon you. You will know that you know that you are not alone in your struggle.

He will give you peace.

Shalom.



Father, we need You so desperately. In a crazy, chaotic  world, You, Lord, are our constant. You are our peace. Teach us to call on You. You promise to hear us when we call. We believe You, Lord, but help us with our unbelief. You are the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. You are the Wonderful Counselor, the Author and Finisher of our Faith! We love You Lord. We recognize You as the King of kings and the Lord of lords! Thank You for Your love, Your salvation, Your peace. We praise You Lord.
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If you received Morning Glory via email, please visit the Morning Glory page and worship with Kristyn Getty as she sings, "Jesus, Draw Me Nearer". You will be so blessed. She begins the video with a poem, "Watches of the Night" that will bring you right before the Lord. Sweet blessings to you!

Scriptures of Encouragement ~ So How Do I Rest In God?

My stomach literally churned as I contemplated the things pulling me in so many different directions. How could I possibly take care of everything? How could I possibly take care of them well? Anxiety began to build. Those irritating little demons screamed, "Failure! Failure!" So I did what all of God's girls do from time to time. I sat down and bawled.

I'm not kidding. I did the ugly cry right in front of my Jesus.
And of course, He responded.

Like a steamship pushing through the fog came the thoughts, "In quietness and rest will be your strength, Nan. In quietness and rest."

"For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: 'In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.'" ~ Isaiah 30:15, NKJV

The Lord is teaching me to place my hope in Him, and in Him alone. HE is the solid Rock upon which I stand. Not friends. Not family. Not bank accounts or book contracts. JESUS is the One upon which I must stand.

When I allow my thoughts to focus on my troubles or my hurts or my frustrations, I am discounting the work of the Cross. Right? Jesus suffered greatly and died on the cross so that I would not have to carry my burdens, nor would I have to walk alone. 

My burdens are much too great for this little lady. That's for sure.

So how do I rest in the Lord when my world is crumbling? I cease striving. I sit quietly. And I speak the Name of Jesus. I call on Him until I can picture His lovely face and until my faith is stirred to recognize His Presence. For those moments I don't concentrate on anything but Him.

My thoughts are of Him.
My imaginations are of Him. 
My heart belongs to Him.

And slowly, yet steadily, peace settles on my spirit and I can rejoice, knowing that He is my God and I am His.



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If you received Morning Glory via email, please visit the Morning Glory page  to worship with Kim Hill as she sings, "You Alone". This song is so powerful! I believe it will be a blessing to you.

Scriptures of Encouragement ~ As Sure as the Sunrise

Has God ever made you aware of your rebellion towards Him? It's not a pretty picture, is it? Many times I have wandered out from beneath the shadow of His wing because I chose to slosh around in a pool of sorrow and frustration. Yes, I chose to take matters into my own hands. I chose to take my eyes off the One who has never failed me. And I hit bottom. Wandering alone, I quickly became discouraged and overwhelmed. Through the tears, though, I could make out a blurred image of my Heavenly Father watching over me. I could hear Him affectionately calling my name. Even in the midst of a rebellious heart, God never left my side and, because of this, I  was able to "keep a grip on hope".

"I remember it all - oh, how well I remember - the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope. GOD's loyal love couldn't have run out, His merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're new every morning. How great is Your faithfulness! I'm sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left." ~ Lamentations 3:19-24, The Message

Sweet friend, He has never left your side either.

The Hebrew word for hope in this passage is yachal. Yachal means to "steadfastly expect His mercy, His salvation, and His rescue, and while waiting, not take matters into one's own hand." Expectation is of utmost importance here.

When I was pregnant with each of our three children I lived in constant expectation. I knew that I knew that at the appointed time I would hold my child in my arms. The expectation gave me strength to endure the sleepless nights and the morning rendezvous with the bathroom. The expectation caused me to prepare for something I had not yet seen because I knew what pregnancy entailed.

Faith is like that. Hoping in the Lord, yachal, is like that. When we develop our relationship with God in such a way that we know Him, then our fears can quickly give way to expectation. Like Jeremiah (the author of Lamentations), we are able to know and remember His steadfast love. We can remember God's mercies, His faithfulness. We can remember because He has shown Himself to be steadfast, immovable - faithful. Oh my goodness, how faithful is our God!

And when we remember, we can keep a grip on hope. The Good News Bible reads, "The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise" (Lamentations 3:23).

As sure as the sunrise...did you feel your heart skip a beat?



Father, What would we do without Your mercy and Your love? For sure, we would have been consumed by now. But, because of your faithfulness we can grip hope. We can wait expectantly for your intervention. Forgive our stubborn ways. Cleanse us of all pride that causes us to try to handle life in our own strength. We love You, Father, and we stand in awe of your goodness.
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Scriptures of Encouragement ~ Beauty for Ashes

"Not only does the Lord want to turn your walls into bridges, but as He promises in His Word, He also wants to give you beauty for ashes."

And thus began another chapter in Joyce Meyer's fabulous book, Beauty for Ashes*.

I read this chapter a few weeks ago, but I could not get away from the message found on page 215. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I had to share this with my readers. The way she broke down the following Scripture is actually very simple, but get ready. Grab a towel. You're about to be washed in a monsoon of grace. Ready?

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified Me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent Me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] ...To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn (in Zion) ...to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit. (Isaiah 61:1,2,3 The Amplified Bible)

"God has done His part by giving us Jesus...Now, you must do your part by making a quality decision that you will never give up until you have allowed Him to:

"bind up your wounds;
heal your broken heart;
liberate you in every area of your life;
open your prison door;
give you joy instead of mourning,
a garment of praise instead of a heavy, burdened and failing spirit;
AND
beauty for ashes."

I told you a towel to dry off would be necessary. **grin**

Isn't that powerful? I have read this Scripture countless times and have been blessed countless times by its message. But, never had I broken it down into its simple infrastructure like Joyce did. Oh. My. Goodness.

Can you see the picture of the cross? Can you see our Savior stretched upon the splintered wood like a lamb secured to the butcher block at the slaughter house? Why did Jesus do that? He did that so that we could run into the open arms of a loving God who desperately desired to bind our wounds, heal our hearts, set us free and bring beauty out of our dark and broken places. Whoa, dude! I can see it so clearly. I hope and pray that you, my precious reader, can see the love also.

Enough with the towel. I need a Kleenex.

*Meyers, Joyce. Beauty for Ashes. Faith Words, New York, New York, 2003.



Father God, thank You for the power of the Cross - the redemptive work done there for us...US! So undeserving. Open the eyes of our hearts to understand the depth of Your love. Help us realize that, through the cross and Blood of Jesus, our wounds have been bandaged, our broken hearts healed, we have been set free from the chains that bind us, You have given us joy and praise. You, Lord, have taken our dark and broken places and made them beautiful, all because You loved us - SIMPLY  because You loved us. Thank You Lord. We praise You. You alone are worthy of our praise.
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If you received Morning Glory via email, please visit the Morning Glory page to worship with Kristyn Getty as she sings, "The Power of the Cross". This song will melt your heart. Please take a few minutes to listen.

Scriptures of Hope ~ Hope Stood Still

Her face spoke clearly of the stress and suffering that wracked her body. Shoulders bent over in defeat. Eyes, familiar with the sparkle of life, glazed over  - the light snuffed out. Tears trickled down cheeks that once knew the rosy blush of powder and rouge, now pale from pain.

"I can't do this anymore," she said. "Please don't pray for me. There is no point. God doesn't care. If He cared He would have taken this suffering away by now. He would have stopped me from having the surgery."

Diane's * shoulders heaved as she sobbed. Surgery three months earlier had resulted in severe, allergic reactions to drugs that left her debilitated. Her life, as she once knew it, faded into the past. 

Hope stood still.

Faith? Her faith was shriveled. Wasted. Crying out to be heard by a Mighty God.

But I saw past the defiance. I saw a heavy heart, a spirit wounded by the onslaught of despair, tarnished with frustration and disappointment. Disappointment in God.

That's hard to swallow, isn't it? But haven't we all been there from time to time?

We believe in a powerful, loving God Whom we can trust to be faithful. We believe in His healing power. We believe the fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous person avails much. We believe...

Diane believed too, but now she sat whimpering as she came to terms with the honesty she had just unleashed on the Lord. I held her in my arms and began to pray. Waves of emotion washed over this precious woman. Sorrow, anger, disappointment, and despair gushed from her heart. The river of pain flowed, slowed to a trickle and then settled into a holy hush. Words from A.J. Russell's God Calling came to mind and I began to share:

"I will never leave you nor forsake you." ~ Joshua 1:5, NKJV 

"Never leave. Never forsake. This does not refer only to My Presence. This refers to all that I am. I AM that I AM! My Love will never leave you. My Understanding will never leave you. My Strength will never leave you."

Diane responded to God's Word. His Presence soothed her, reassured her and gave her hope. A garment of peace wrapped her in a blanket of love.

Was Diane's pain over? No. Not her physical pain. But her spirit rose within her and she stretched her hand towards heaven to take the hand of the One Who was there all along.

And a beautiful thing happened. 
Hope was restored. 

*Name has been changed



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I would love to pray with you, to kneel with you before His throne of grace. For personal prayer you may contact me at nan@jubilantlight.com.
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Are you looking for a speaker for your upcoming fall and Christmas events? I would love the opportunity to encourage your ladies in the Lord. For more information, please visit my website, Jubilant Light Ministries at www.jubilantlight.com
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