Tag: wisdom

What is Your Captivity?

James 1:5 -“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

 I was reading this verse and I was led to the reference Scripture, Jeremiah 29:12. I did read more than the one reference Scripture and wanted to share my thoughts.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 – 11) “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12) Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13) And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14) I will be found by you, says the Lord and I will bring you back from your captivity.”

Although the reference is wisdom, I was drawn to the last verse with God stating that He would bring the Israelites back from their captivity. It struck me that although God references the physical captivity of the Israelites here, we today are held captive by many things; the past, the present, and the future. Hence, my title for this post. It makes me think about so many things that keep us captive and not truly worshiping and seeking God. We do not rest in the peace He references above. There are times when we are so consumed with what we want, we are unwilling to accept that God is all-knowing and He knows what is ahead for each and everyone of us. Sometimes what we want will bring evil upon us.  His thoughts toward us are of peace, and not evil, to give us a future and a hope.

There is a tendency when we read the Scriptures to expect God to respond in what we want and according to our mindset instead of what He knows is His best for us. When we ask God for wisdom, do we ask according to His thoughts toward us? Do we ask for true wisdom or do we just want what we want? The foundation of truth is that the beginning of wisdom is the fear (reverence and awe) of God.

Something to chew on. 

Be blessed,

Hello There

His majestic artistry

It’s been almost three weeks. Been dealing with some health issues. Here I am, though. Ready to encourage and inspire. Pray that all is well with each of you. By well, I mean that you are dealing with whatever challenges you have. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”. This excerpt from the Serenity Prayer (most popular and to me, straight to the point) speaks to everyone of us as we deal with life. I believe that when we accept what we cannot change_what’s not in our ability to change_the stance puts us in a position of power. We can move on to the things we can. From that point, we are able to walk forward in spite of fear_courage_ and the most important part is the wisdom to know the difference. This comes from God. We need to ask and keep asking for discernment. Each day may bring new challenges. However, God is with us every day. He promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He said in His word to “Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.” Jeremiah 33:3 (NASB)

Be blessed in the Lord!

Aligned with God

I thought about this post yesterday when driving to pick my daughter up from work.  Gratitude and appreciation fill my heart today as God continues to prove His faithfulness and love.  Writing is a passion of mine and He has opened the door.  Of course, it is His gift to me. The Word of God says that your gift will make room for you.  You may be asking how this is related to the subject.   When things are chaotic, and you really can’t figure out what direction to take, it’s time to stop, take inventory, and proceed with knowledge and wisdom.  The knowledge of truth and wisdom comes from God.

Well, a few weeks ago I attended a service that talked about being aligned with God. This Pastor spoke about receiving strange instruction from God.  In his review of the Scriptures, he brought to our attention several instances that showed when the children of God called upon Him in challenging situations, He gave strange instruction.  I preface with this because many times when we finally get to that place when we are aligned with God, He has given us strange instruction. It’s not the typical “what I would do in this situation” instruction.  It’s what He wants us to do in the situation.  Strange instruction may seem just that to onlookers but being in alignment with God is more important that making sure someone understands exactly what’s going on.  Many times, we don’t even understand every element of what God is doing.

As I write, and praise God for new paid writing assignments, it has taken me quite a bit of time to be rightly aligned with God.  I’ve tried doing my own thing for so long and trying to figure it out, I kept missing the mark.  God didn’t withhold blessings but the fulness and richness of His blessing was amiss.  I don’t say this lightly and don’t want it to be construed in the wrong way.  But, if you evaluate situations that have occurred in your lifetime, check and see which of those had the fullness and richness of God’s blessing.  We walk this journey sometimes accepting that we will just get by, and that God will give us enough strength for the next step or carry us sometimes.  And, then, there are  those times that His richness and fullness brings tears to the eyes because you cannot get this from anyone but Him, your Creator.  He fills your heart with His love for you when you realize that He knows the most intimate details about you and fills the needs of those details.  Today I praise God!  Praise Him with me.

Sandra Vercellono

Change in 2010

I am up early.  Need to go to bed.  However, I am thinking about change for my family.  My son has mental illness and sometimes it is hard when he hurts and I cannot help.  I am going to the hospital later on this morning to see  him.  He sounds really good but I hope that he is now on the right medication.  I am looking forward to seeing him and knowing he’s alright.  I do pray that God would continue to open doors for understanding and bonding and that He would strengthen us.  God’s wisdom is what this family needs to help my son in his journey.  And, we need God to show us how to help make my son’s journey the best for him.  There is so  much more I want to write but need to go to bed in order to get up early enough.  Will post more later.