Secure Feet

He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:3-4

Remember the beginning?

The psalm starts by intentionally looking to God for help, acknowledging that our help comes from God, the Creator of all things.

And as we recognize our weakness, we know God will help us.

Why?

Because He made all things.

Even us.

Verse 3 goes on to describe His help.

God’s protection is secure.

Within Him, even your foot will stay still.

You will not fall down with God’s help.

When you ask Him to work through you, His purposes are fulfilled through you.

He will keep you within Him.

Safe.

Solid.

Secure.

But it gets better.

God does not sleep.

He’s always awake, helping us, protecting us, keeping us secure.

There will never be a time when God is not willing to help you.

Never a time when He won’t be with you.

The Lord keeps us.

Is there anything special you keep safe and secure?

That’s how God feels about us.

He keeps us safe within Him.

We may face unimaginable trials in this life, but we can rest assured God is always with us, keeping us with Him.

In the dead of night, God is there for you.

In the pit of despair, He’s there, too.

Whether on the first day of school or the last,

When new life arrives or goes,

When relationships flourish or suffer,

When wearing masks or not,

God is always present, even wanting to help you.

Reach out to Him.

Empty yourself of you, asking God to help you with absolutely everything.

We can do nothing without Him.

But with Him, we can do anything He asks of us.

God, who never sleeps, keeps us close.

And with Him helping you, your feet will stay securely planted just where He wants them.

Photos by Michał Parzuchowski, Brina Blum, & Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

Hurled Upon

He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 2 Samuel 22:17-18

Insults, heard or implied.

Words that bring death.

When sitting near these toxic fumes, there’s not much we can do.

Especially when directed towards us.

They can explode out of nowhere.

Suddenly covering you with filth.

Covering you with filth you believe.

Covering you with lies you begin to agree with.

All from insults hurled towards you.

Like an arrow piercing your soul, words can carry death.

While they can carry death, the arrows don’t have to deliver death to you.

It’s your choice to accept the lies or not.

Your choice to keep the painful arrow stuck where it hit.

What is your other choice?

To yank it out, immediately forgiving the sender.

Impossible in your own strength.

Literally.

But that’s where God comes in for you.

When you ask God to cover you with His feathers, He will protect you.

Literally, He will.

Emotionally, and spiritually, He will cover you.

Protected by God, arrows will still come.

They will be hurled at you with frightening speed.

But – by choosing to ask God to keep you whole, you won’t absorb the arrow’s poison.

Sure, it will try to pierce your soul, spreading it’s toxic substance.

And until you are trained to immediately refuse with God’s help, it could hurt.

Even for awhile.

But every time you yank out the arrow, God’s peace will dispel the poison.

Even heal your wound.

But you must ask Him every single time.

And as you retrain your reactions to insults, God’s feathers will become stronger.

So strong, the arrows will fall away as they bump you.

Who are you going to believe?

An insulting arrow filled with someone’s jealousy, selfishness, or evil intention all filled with lies?

Or who God says that you are to Him?

Choose to remember Whose you are.

Choose to remember Who your Father is.

The One who desires to protect you from everything evil.

Humble yourself, and ask Him to protect you.

Protect your mind, body, soul, and spirit from anything not from Him.

Apart from God, we can do nothing, especially avoiding arrows filled with poison.

Psalm 121:7-8 reminds us that God will keep us from all evil.

He will even keep our lives.

Safe.

Secure.

Even more – He will keep our going out AND our coming back now and forever.

There’s nothing more we could possibly need.

Hurl away, people.

We’re ready.

Photos by Laura Crowe. Lindsey Duce, Gioele Fazzeri, & Denise Johnson on Unsplash

Security & Honor

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:33

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Security.

It’s the number one need women have from their husbands.

We need to feel protected.

Valued.

Loved.

Secure.

Once that’s covered, men, we’re good.

Seriously.

Most of our issues boils down to this one issue.

Are we your priority?

Do you have our back?

Will you fight for us?

We need to know this.

Our cups are filled to overflowing when we feel defended.

First in your life.

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Honor.

It’s the number one need men ask of their wives.

Do we value our men?

Raising them up, not tearing them down?

Listening to them, not rolling our eyes in response?

Respecting their wishes?

Withholding the nagging and esteeming him to your friends?

Greeting them with a kiss when the day’s work is done?

Men need to know this.

They need to feel valued through your honor of them.

When husbands feel honored, they feel secure and loved.

When wives feel secure, they feel loved.

When both feel loved, marriages thrive.

God’s intention is for your marriage to thrive.

Thriving is more than simply existing.

Thriving is bounty.

Bountiful marriages yield fruit.

Lives that reflect God’s love and grace, thriving in the security and honor of marriage.

Treasure your wife.

Honor your man.

And you will reap a hundredfold.

Photos by Ryan Franco, Brooke Cagle , &  frank mckenna on Unsplash

 

Roots

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:3

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How do we deeply believe in God?

What does that look like?

Picture a tree.

You are that tree.

Ok, you can be any tree you like.

Personally, I like Maple trees.

I used to collect those twirly things as a girl and sell them.

Anyhow, where are the roots of a typical healthy tree?

Underground.

Safe and secure.

Solid.

Watered from deep below the surface.

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Your faith is like this tree.

Trees with deep roots withstand the blows of life easier than trees with small shallow roots, that are visible on the surface.

How do you grow your roots under your tree?

How do you deepen your faith?

Remembering His faithfulness to you.

Praying for your family and friends.

Fellowship with others who confirm His words.

Diving into His Word, taking them into your heart.

Sharing His faithfulness with others.

Singing worship to God, reminding you of His greatness.

Searching for His fingerprint.

His fingerprints are all over your life if you simply pause to look.

All of these things remind you of His faithfulness and point you towards Him.

Every time you purpose your mind on Him, your roots grow deeper.

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Don’t forget to look back, proving my theory.

Think about storms big and small when you were a new Christian.

Probably fell over a few times.

Think about life now.

Yes, we fall over sometimes, but I bet you’re stronger now.

Bet you’ve had some monster storms you’ve withstood with God’s help.

But you kept your faith through them.

Oh, not perfectly, of course, but you’re still here.

You still believe despite.

Trees don’t work to grow their roots.

It happens with time and water.

And just like a tree, your faith will grow with time and water.

Time spent in faithfulness to God and water from His word, fellowship with others, and praying.

Just as a majestic tree stands solidly on the ground, towering over the earth, your faith will stand solidly on this earth, towering over fear and life absent from God.

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Photos by Aaron BurdenRichard HodonickySilvestri Matteo, & vision webagency on Unsplash

If God Does

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34

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“If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.”  Oswald Chambers

Unpacking this, there is so much to see.

If God places you anywhere (and He does, because He is sovereign over all), He is completely and totally enough to cover all of your fears and anxieties, washing your mind with His peace.

Completely and totally enough to cover it all.

Even those fears you harbor deep inside.

He is enough, washing your mind with His peace.

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If God places your hands to work, He is more than enough, helping you not only survive, but thrive.

If God places you at home with your less than appreciative child, His love for you will cover the gaps, filling your heart with Him.

If God places you in a hospital, caring for a loved one, His care for you will shine through your care of that loved one.

If God places you in front of a large crowd, your voice will carry His message to others, speaking to their very souls.

If God places you somewhere to stand up for His name, His strength will carry you securely onto the wings of His safety and love.

If God calls you to live without your spouse, His care for you will cover all of the holes left behind.

If God calls you to mother or father children who have grown in your heart alone, His grace will marry the lines between parent and child.

When God places you, His child, in any situation, He will be enough.

He is enough.

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He will do all this and more if you place your trust in Him, wanting to mirror His likeness.

To be His hands and feet.

To shut yourself down, pouring out His life instead.

Shutting yourself down doesn’t mean you become nothing.

It’s the opposite, really.

Shutting yourself down means turning off your selfish ways and pouring out God.

God, who loves all of us so very much.

Remember Whose you are.

Remember what that means.

That when He places you in life, He is more than enough.

More than enough.

Overflowing amounts of Jesus are available you.

I’d rather have Him than anything else.

Thank you, God, for being more than enough today.

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Photos by Michael Liao on Unsplash

God’s Continuing Provision

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He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He causes me to stand on the heights. 

Deer are so nimble.

Unlike us.

We tend to fall.

A lot.

But deer rarely stumble.

God made them that way.

When we trust God, He will cause our feet to stay strong.

Firm.

Securely on the path He has opened for us.

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He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 

God helps us fight.

He shows us what to do and just how to do it.

He gives us His incredible strength to accomplish great things.

Necessary things.

We are amazed at our strength when we are strong through Him.

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You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great. 

God helps us, saving us, shielding us.

We do not falter with His right hand steadying us.

Keeping us upright.

More than upright, but successfully tall.

Standing tall and unharmed.

Perfectly whole.

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You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way. Psalm 18:33-36

God creates the path and walks with me, guarding every step, ensuring I don’t fall. 

All I must do is trust His way, holding onto Him.

The way is unknown, every step taken in faith; however, it is very good. 

Why? 

Because God is perfect. 

God is good. 

I am His.

And He is mine.

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Photos by Matt PalmerRebecca Prest,Guillaume Briard,Orlova Maria, & Karsten Würth (@inf1783) on Unsplash

Securely Loved

And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security. Job 11:18

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Are you securely loved?

By anyone here on earth?

Have you the pleasure of knowing you are completely surrounded by that love?

Completely safe through the knowledge you are absolutely securely loved?

Do you have that from your folks?

From your spouse?

A dear friend?

Securely loved means you don’t have to perform to earn it.

You can mess up, even royally, and stay in peace, knowing you are loved for who you are, not what you are.

Securely.

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Have you lost that security?

Ever?

Have you lost the undying love of your folks?

Has the spouse you vowed to love left you through death or divorce?

There are few earthly relationships God has designed to provide love.

Secure love.

Love that doesn’t measure your worth based on what you are, but loves you for who you are.

Love from parents and spouses are the two that come to mind.

Unfortunately, our broken world produces lives that fall apart from the lack of secure love.

Our one and only hope of secure love rests in the loving arms of God.

In the One who created us for love.

Who designed our hearts to love.

His love is secure.

It will never fail.

If you’ve never felt securely loved, it’s time to place your trust in God.

His love for you will astound you.

You mess up, but He still loves you.

You put other things before Him, but He still loves you.

You recommit, deciding to get serious with God for the 110th time and He still loves you.

God loves you.

How much?

He sent His one and only son to die for you.

For you.

His love predates you and will go on for ever.

Rest securely in His love.

You can never earn it, so He gives it to you freely.

When you trust in Him, you are absolutely securely loved.

Forever.

My Rock

There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. 1 Samuel 2:2

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Jesus is the Rock upon which I stand.

He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

He is evermore.

Everlasting.

Secure.

Safe.

He stands tall, unmovable, unshakable.

Even on stormy days, He stands fixed.

On my own, I waver with the wind.

My own strength fails me over and over.

Lies creep into my brain, training me to believe Satan’s identity of me instead of God’s.

There is more.

There is life.

Renewal.

Redemption.

Restoration.

When I hold onto Jesus’ hand, clasping His hand in mine –

His strength becomes my own.

His peace floods my soul.

His identity for me becomes my own.

Stormy days still come.

And will continue the rest of my days.

But holding onto God and clinging to Him changes everything.

His anchor keeps me grounded.

Grounded and rooted in love.

His love.

Choose to grasp His hand and dwell in His love.

Choose.

Then once you have chosen Him,

Choose to stay.

Always.