Come Where There is no Fear

When the boy’s were little & I was trying to teach them the spelling & use of “there, they’re & “their”,  I’d say “Where?” & they’d say, “There!” That funny phrase popped in my thoughts as I read the book of Micah.

He’s a prophet warning the people of Israel of the coming consequences of their sin.

Chapter 4 takes a turn, however, & begins to tell of the end of times. He writes that the mountain of the Lords house will be the highest & most important place on earth! People will beckon each other to, “COME...to the mountain of the Lord {where} he will teach us his ways & we will walk in his paths.”

It will be a time of “peace & prosperity...for there will be nothing to fear.’

When I read the phrase, “for THERE will be nothing to fear”, the grammar teaching surfaced in my thoughts.  

The people beckoned each other to come!

Where? There!

THERE, at the mountain of the Lord’s house where there will be nothing to fear!

Even though this speaks of a future time, there is a Truth for the here & now.

Years before Micah was born, a psalmist writes where we might find help:

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

It is unclear whether the hills are a picture of the Lord or if they are troubles in the way of coming TO the Lord, but the bottom line is that He is the place where hope, comfort & peace may be found!

Where might I feel no fear?

There, at the highest & most important place of all: the mountain of the Lord’s house.

We need GO nowhere because He is ever THERE beside us. His name is Emmanuel, God WITH us! When we turn our gaze beyond the hills that litter the paths before us, we can see & experience the end-times-kinda Peace prophesied by Micah!

Oh Father, I know 1st hand this morning the sorrow that settles when the hills before me seem to loom larger than life...& yet, You are larger than the hills we face so we face You. We leave the lesser things to come fix our gaze on the Maker of heaven & earth! WHERE we may rest naked & unafraid of anything that comes our way! THERE, at the footstool of Your throne, where grace, mercy, love, & peace abound. We answer the call to come!

#OneYearBible #Peace

December 15th One Year Bible Readings

💡MICAH 1:1-4:13

💡REVELATION 6:1-17

💡PSALM 134:1-3

💡PROVERBS 30:1-4

Which Direction Will You Go When God Says, “Get Up & Go”?

I remembered a rabbit hole this morning after I read about Jonah. God clearly told him to, “Get up & go”, but Jonah wasn’t having ANY of it.

Jonah DID get up, but went in the OPPOSITE direction, “to get away from the Lord”!😳

After he hopped on a ship to Tarshish, however, “The Lord hurled a powerful wind” causing a violent storm that threatened to sink the ship.

When I looked up the root words, I was blown away, (no pun intended) that “wind” comes from “ruach”. It means, “wind by resemblance of a blast of breath”!😬

It reminded me of a rabbit hole I dug into called  “Operation Popeye”. In a nutshell, it’s a program that began in the Nixon era where the US gov’t used cloud seeding technology to disperse chemicals into clouds to induce rain.

If you dig deep, you’ll find pictures of the Kentucky sky prior to the recent tornados that hit the US. The path of the tornado that hit 5 states is the longest twister in history!🤔It makes you wonder if the operation is still operating?

Anywho, even though our gov’t has apparently been in the business of using weather modification as a weapon of war, they weren’t the 1st to militarize meteorology.

God saw fit to use the exhale of His very breath to incite a violent storm & wake up a very stubborn Jonah.Through a series of events, Jonah is tossed overboard & is immediately swallowed by a big fish.

It is in the dark, dank, stinky belly of the fish that Jonah FINALLY returns to the Lord.

Sometimes the Lord tells us to “get up & go” but we, like Jonah, do an about-face. We choose our own way only to find ourselves in a dark, dank life replete of light that comes from facing God.

He loves us SO much! Even in Jonah’s outright disobedience, the Lord prearranged for a fish to swallow him! God saved Jonah in a way that first seemed like death, but His ways are ALWAYS higher than what we can fathom, especially when we’re many fathoms below water 😂

Father, thank You that Your love includes discipline & correction! Thank You for taking us to depths to woo us back to Your Way.  We don’t want you to have to pull an “Operation Jonah” to get our attention. May we keep our ears open to Your whispers & choose to follow Your Ways!

#OneYearBible

December 14th One Year Bible Readings

💡JONAH 1:1-4:11

💡REVELATION 5:1-14

💡PSALM 133:1-3

💡PROVERB

Come, (As You Are) Let Us Adore Him!

I love Christmas songs. I’d play them 24/7 from Thanksgiving to Christmas if my husband wouldn’t be so annoyed 😂 It’s not so much the lyrics that I like, but more so the memories that the melodies invoke🤗

Yesterday we sang a new rendition of, “Come Let Us Adore Him” at church. Every time we sang the word, “Come”, I pictured The Lamb of God Who sacrificed His sinLESS life to cover my sin-stained life beckoning me to come.

Tears began to leak from the corners of my eyes as I thought about the many times that I didn’t come because I thought I had to tidy up my life before I could come before The Most Holy One.

At one point, the song transitioned to speaking The Names of the One To Whom we come.

As each name fell from my lips, the little leak became a steady stream. I felt like one of the elders I read about in Revelation.

John gets a glimpse inside heaven as the door to the very throne of God stood wide open giving an all-access-pass to the Creator of all Things!

As he stood before the door, a voice suddenly beckoned him to, “Come...”

The scene was spectacular, but imagery faded & emotions rose as I pictured the 24 elders falling to their face before the Creator proclaiming,

“You are worthy oh Lord our God to receive glory & honor & power. For you created all things, & they exist because you created what you pleased.”

I don’t know what you’re facing this morning, but Father, Son & Holy Spirit invite you to come as you are.

Jesus became The Way so that you might receive an invitation to the most holy place to meet the most Holy Trinity!

His name is:

• Wonderful Counselor-He will lead you in The Way you should go

• Mighty God Who is more powerful than any hardship you face

• Prince of Peace Whose very Presence calms the storms

• Everlasting Father Who will never abandon you

• Emmanuel, the Holy One who is ever by your side

• Son of God & Savior to the world!

The One Who is worthy of it ALL beckons you, “Come, as you are!”

Father, You alone are worthy of our adoration & praise! Forgive us for the times we freely give it to anything/one else. Jesus, thank You for conquering sin & death! Thank you that You invite us to come! You are worthy of it all!

#OneYearBible #worship December 13 One Year Bible Readings

💡Obadiah 1:1-21

💡Revelation 4:1-11

💡Psalm 132:1-18

💡Proverbs 29:24-25