Proverbs 30 & 31; Psalm 33; Ephesians 1

Today is my parent’s anniversary…53 years. Wow, I can’t imagine the memories and lessons tied up in that time together.

Having lunch with a gal today, she's convinced that God has forgotten her. I just want to love her with a love You provide. To just be so convinced of Your love that I can be to her what you lead me to...???... I am and can remain so twisted in what I NEED to do when really there is NOTHING I can do….love her, be there for her…challenge her IF and when You say to….and will I know it’s YOU and not me getting in the way??? John Piper prayer:"O that I might discern the leading of God when something outside my usual path is called for. "

MORE things that make me go hmmmmmm:

• Proverbs 30: 5-6 The believer replied, "Every promise of God proves true; he protects everyone who runs to him for help.So don't second-guess him; he might take you to task and show up your lies."
• Pr. 30: 7-9 And then he prayed, "God, I'm asking for two things before I die; don't refuse me—Banish lies from my lips and liars from my presence.Give me enough food to live on, neither too much nor too little.If I'm too full, I might get independent, saying, 'God? Who needs him?'If I'm poor, I might steal and dishonor the name of my God."
• And then the whole Proverbs 31 wife…..whoa.... and yet to dismiss it as more than I can aspire to I miss... ….so just an awed and inspired ‘whoa’.
• Psalm 33: 4-5 For God's Word is solid to the core; everything he makes is sound inside and out. He loves it when everything fits, when his world is in plumb-line true. Earth is drenched in God's affectionate satisfaction…..
  9 Earth-creatures, bow before God; world-dwellers—down on your knees! Here's why: he spoke and there it was, in place the moment he said so. 10-12 God takes the wind out of Babel pretense, he shoots down the world's power-schemes. God's plan for the world stands up, all his designs are made to last. Blessed is the country with God for God; blessed are the people he's put in his will. 13-15 From high in the skies God looks around, he sees all Adam's brood. From where he sits he overlooks all us earth-dwellers. He has shaped each person in turn; now he watches everything we do.
  16-17 No king succeeds with a big army alone, no warrior wins by brute strength. Horsepower is not the answer; no one gets by on muscle alone. 18-19 Watch this: God's eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love. He's ready to come to their rescue in bad times; in lean times he keeps body and soul together. 20-22 We're depending on God; he's everything we need. What's more, our hearts brim with joy since we've taken for our own his holy name. Love us, God, with all you've got— that's what we're depending on.

I may always and forever ‘do’ it wrong…..and luckily nothing depends on me I just need to depend on HIM. And in that dependence move into instead of away from all that frightens me…..to live a life of risk means well….it means I gotta stay dependent on Him because really everything tends to frighten me, or disappoint me or…..love us God with all you’ve go – that’s what we’re depending on.

• Ephesians 1: 3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
  7-10 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
  11-12 It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. 13-14 It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
  15-19 That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn't stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!
  20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

So... this is where I’ll be today..sinking deep down into this. Crying out to believe it with everything that I am and in the belief become more of a woman who loves without being so freakin scared…in repenting of THAT fear comes humiliation and maybe it’s in that humiliation I will begin to remember it’s sooo not about ME??? so the Piper prayer for today....."O that I might discern the leading of God when something outside my usual path is called for. "