Saturday, April 25, 2009, 4:36 a.m. – This song is in my head:
Praise You in This Storm / Mark Hall and Bernie Herms
I was sure by now, God You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away
I lift my eyes unto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes unto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I also woke from A DREAM: We were in a large house with extra rooms. There was something to do with furniture and extra rooms with furniture. END
This past week we had the interior walls in our halls, kitchen, living room and office painted, so we had to move a lot of our furniture into other rooms or out into the garage so that the walls could be painted, and then the past two days we have been moving furniture back into the house, so this is on my mind and it could be why I dreamed about extra rooms of furniture. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
The past two months for us have been very busy months. We had a lot of house guests, moves, a new grandson born, etc. My husband and I have had little “alone” time together the past two months. So, these things are on my mind. I’m looking forward to Sunday and to truly having a day of rest.
“Lord, I come to you in a ‘nesting’ mode today of being busy about caring for my physical house and my family today. I lay down my “Martha” shoes for awhile so that I can sit here quietly before you as a “Mary” sitting at your feet. Calm my nerves and my muscles, I pray, and fill me with your peace to overflowing. In Jesus’ name I pray these things. Amen!”
I read Hebrews 4:1-13:
My Understanding: The Lord is encouraging us here that we should not merely rest from physical activity, but that we should enter into HIS rest, i.e. salvation – rest for the soul. This rest begins at the moment that we enter that rest, i.e. when we place our trust in Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior. Then one day we will experience complete rest when Jesus returns for his bride and we are with him for eternity.
We get physically tired from work, but we also get drained emotionally, mentally and spiritually. So we also need our spiritual batteries regularly recharged. So, this rest is part of our ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. When our strength is gone and we feel like we can’t carry on, we can turn to the Lord for help and for His strength.
The Lord has given us a physical day to recharge those batteries and to rest our bodies from work, but he has also given us an eternal rest that is rest for our souls for ever and ever. While on this earth we will have trials, tribulations, tests, work, storms of life, etc. And yet, even in the midst of them, we can find rest for our souls in Jesus Christ – my help comes from the Lord.
We are thus encouraged to make every effort to enter that rest. The way we do that is by following this:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts."
One day we must all give an account to God for what we did with Jesus while in this life. So, if you hear God’s voice speaking to your heart today, resist HIM no longer, but make a choice to enter that rest and to be found complete in Jesus Christ.
