gtoGbyv's Blog

What a surreal and crazy time to be alive!!! If we allow it, a constant barrage from 360° will come at us with any “news” we might search for. In the misinformation age, what can we believe, what can we trust? Today a dear friend prayed with me for clarity about some personal issues and one big theme that came up was that I had learned not to trust people at a very young age, in my own home. It was an unexpected turn in our prayers but really made me think about the applicability to my current life and my Christianity. Perhaps God can use this distrust for good and for discernment? God has surrounded me with such an amazing group of like minded individuals, I am incredibly blessed! They are seeking Him, growing, learning, praying, sharing, and being vulnerable with each other. We have learned to trust each other. I am grateful that God has provided this network for us.

That being said, I think these times will quickly be testing our trust beyond any level we could have imagined. In that, what is true, verifiable, and trustworthy? The only thing I possess which I know to be 100% true and verifiable is the Word of God. The only One I know to be 100% trustworthy is God.

As humans, we long for someone to trust. Someone who will not let us down when we let each other down or get let down by life circumstances. It is inevitable that this life will most certainly lead to hurt of some sort. Truth seems so relative these days, causing unease and worry. But let us remember each other in prayer no matter what happens, and let us never forget our common bond in our Father. Hide the Word in your heart, lean not on your own or others’ understanding. Trust the One who knew you before you were conceived and who will be with you through these times and long after they are over.

Thank You Lord, for Your people and for Your truth. Be with us now and forever whether we are together or alone. Strengthen our trust in You to carry us through, to run the race with endurance and to run it well for our audience. Let us take encouragement from the cloud of witnesses who are cheering us on and ultimately, from You, Lord. You who chose us for this very time, knowing full well how our trust might be held to the fire to be tested.

Lord, please bless those who are reading this. Your will be done in our lives for Your glory and to expand Your kingdom on earth. In the name of the Amen.

Proverbs 3:5&6

Hebrews 12:1

Isaiah 26:3

Psalm 119:11

Jeremiah 1:5

Matthew 28:20

Hebrews 13:5

James 1:3

Matthew 6:10

Philippians 4:13

Isaiah 43:7

Revelation 3:14

The wolves are gathering because they smell blood. Might I suggest that the blood they smell is the blood of Christ, shed for us!?!? Jesus, I plead with You to kick back the mongrel dogs and the wolves which are gathering outside our door! Have mercy on us Lord, we pray. We contend now and join our voices with those who stand, doing battle on the front lines for our country and our world. We lift our voices with them Lord, for strength and hope and peace of heart.
In Your most holy Name we pray, dear Jesus. Amen, and speed this word to the Father, please Lord?

Hello, friends. Val here.

I am so grateful to have you all in my life! Thank you for love and encouragement and like-mindedness to journey together in these times. What I have to share today is a little long but rather than supply links for you to follow, I thought I would just include it all. This poem/prayer came to me very quickly in the early hours this morning. I was then led to the other two readings, which I think contain the spirit of what struck me most, about seeing God in our neighbor’s eyes.

May a mask of peace settle over the land

A touch from Your mighty hand

Oh Lord, we pray for Your fresh anointing today

A flush of joy bestills my soul

Oh, we gather now

The mountains gather now

The fences gather now

The flocks and herds gather now

Under Your hand, our blessed land

A gift from You laid once, and yet again, we pray

Oh Lord, our God, walk Your land

Pass Your hand upon this place

That we might look upon Your face

Yet in our neighbor’s eye.

A fellowship, camaraderie, one nation under God!

Amen, Lord Jesus.

Secondly, Isaiah 58, NASB:

58 “Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their wrongdoing,
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
² Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.
³ ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not ^[a]notice?’
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,
And oppress all your workers.
⁴ Behold, you fast for contention and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you have done today to make your voice heard on high!
⁵ Is it a fast like this that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it for bowing ^[b]one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?
⁶ Is this not the fast that I choose:
To release the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the ropes of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free,
And break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to break your bread ^[c]with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will spring up quickly;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The ^[d]pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰ And if you offer yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the ^[e]need of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness,
And your gloom will become like midday.
¹¹ And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your ^[f]desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not ^[g]fail.
¹² Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the ^[h]streets in which to dwell.

Keeping the Sabbath

¹³ “If, because of the Sabbath, you restrain your foot
From doing as you wish on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a pleasure, and the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,
¹⁴ Then you will take delight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

And lastly, I wanted to share this message written 2 years ago by a lady named Kathie Filby:

“It’s a Wednesday morning in November 2018, and I’m standing in the front row of chapel at Greenville University. The worship team begins to sing, “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see You.”

Ironically, I close my eyes while fervently asking the Lord to reveal Himself to me. Admittedly, there are mornings where I am not so sincere while offering up my worship to the Lord in song. However, this morning I really mean it. I want to see Him: the King of Kings, the Lord Almighty, the Righteous One, the Great I Am. Then we repeat the refrain: “Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.”

And then the strangest thing happens. Somewhere from deep within me, I hear a voice telling me to open my eyes and if I do that, then I will see Him!

I opened my eyes, knowing that my view would consist of mainly 18- to 22-year-olds, many from southern Illinois, some from East St. Louis, and others from California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Vietnam, Ecuador, China, Venezuela, Croatia, Ghana and many other places that I have probably never visited. Many of these students are Christians, but not all. Many of them were worshipping there with me, but not all. I imagine that some were probably trying to complete a homework assignment; others were probably checking Facebook or Instagram. Yet it seemed that God was telling me that if I wanted to see His face, then I needed to open my eyes and look at their faces.

A long time ago, I came to understand that I have been created in the image of God. This revelation brought so much freedom and a true sense of my identity in Christ. It is so wonderful to know that I have been adopted into the family of our good, good Father and that there is nothing I could possibly do to make Him love me more. This revelation changed me and how I saw myself. However, seeing others in the image of God doesn’t just change me; it changes everything. The sometimes hard-to-swallow truth is that every person – every person – bears the image of God. This includes those who look like me and those who don’t, those who talk like me and those who don’t, those who live like me and those who don’t.

Genesis 1:27 clearly tells us that “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

In other words, there has never been anyone born who was not created by God in the image of God. Indeed, there are many people who are obviously His image-bearers. I can think of some of my own mentors, pastors, and so forth. It doesn’t take a lot of faith, on my part, to see them as carrying the presence of God and bearing His image. But how can it be that every single person is created in His image?

When the psalmist declared, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13–14a), he was not only speaking about himself but about all of mankind — every single one of us.

The challenge, of course, is that there are many who are “alienated from God and [are] enemies in [their] minds because of [their] evil behavior,” as Paul puts it in Colossians 1:21. Yet this does not negate the fact that they – like you and me – were created in God’s image! I also was alienated from God, living for myself. Yet thankfully, according to Paul, there is a “But now” — “But now” I have been reconciled to God (v.22).

In one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, he goes on to say that we now have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). As image-bearers of God who have been reconciled, our task is now to bring the good news, the hope of the gospel, to those image-bearers who remain alienated from Christ. If we see them merely as sinners, then chances are that we will simply judge them rather than reach out to them in love. And if we truly understand the Scriptures, we must be able to see Christ in each one of them. Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it like this: “As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbor, as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you, makes demands on you” (fmchr.ch/dbonhoeffer).

James reminds us that: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness” (James 3:9). So how can we bless, rather than curse, those image-bearers who don’t yet know this great God of unconditional love and mercy? Here are a few suggestions:

By giving dignity to the elderly, to widows and orphans, thus honoring the image of God in them; by rescuing those who have been trafficked, demonstrating our belief that they are fearfully and wonderfully made; by working toward racial unity and reconciliation, concurring there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free because we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28); by offering hospitality to the stranger, the immigrant and the refugee, ministering to their needs as if ministering to Christ himself (Matthew 25:31-46); or on a smaller scale, by smiling at the person next to you at the checkout, or by inviting that lonely student or neighbor for Sunday lunch.

All of this makes me wonder how our community might change if we truly believed that everyone was created in the image of God. C.S. Lewis wrote, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit” (fmchr.ch/cslewis). In other words, next to God, people are the holiest beings on earth simply because they have been created in the image of God.

By the time I had sung “open the eyes of my heart” for the third or fourth time on that Wednesday morning in chapel, I started to understand more clearly the truth expressed by Jean Valjean in the musical “Les Misérables”: “To love another person is to see the face of God.” Seeing the face of God in those around you will not just change you, but rather it will change everything.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). ” (2 years ago written by Kathie Filby)

Be of good cheer, take heart, for He has overcome this world!! (John 16:33)

Val

Lord, I pray that whatever darkness is without, that we would fight it with the light that is within us.

I ask that whatever You have been revealing, You keep revealing and whatever You have been healing, You keep healing. Lord, help us all clear our minds of chaos and focus on You and Your present help. Lord, help us believe that what we see with our physical eyes is not necessarily the truth, but help us see Your Truth through Your Spirit within us.     Amen!

Dear friends, take heart tonight! There is a wave of evil encroaching on our country and world that we must fight with all that is in us. And what is in us is promised to be greater than what is in this world! 1 John 4:4: “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”. This is our encouragement and follows the verse that says “…and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”. This heaviness you feel is in direct opposition to the Spirit which is alive in you and can only attack your humanity. We need to draw upon the inner strength to rise above this wave.

The Bible says in Matthew 10:27&28, “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who can kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”. This may be the time to disconnect from outside sources of information and turn to the Bible, to let it “whisper in our ears” truth, truth which will sustain us when the flesh fails. Romans 8:6 says “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”.

The Bible calls us to be salt and light in Matthew 5:13-16. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

So, all of you whom I love and pray for, direct your attention to things unseen and timeless truth. I challenge myself and all of you to draw upon the Spirit which Jesus said in John 14 the Father gives us as a helper and teacher and a reminder of all that Jesus taught. I would encourage you to read all of John 14 to find the strength and power and encouragement that is promised when the enemy comes. Not if, but when it comes, and that time is now.

You are not alone! “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9.

In the name of the Amen and may His peace be unto you tonight and always.

Val

 

I have been following the Lord for quite a while now and if there’s one thing that has become abundantly clear, it is that I will never be perfect this side of heaven. I sometimes say that with God I’m not perfect yet, I’m just less of a mess!

Many days, as I am grieved by my shortcomings, I’m not even sure that I am less of a mess at all. The difference now is that I want to let God heal and change me and am aware that I need Him to. It is not a comfortable or easy process. I am encouraged by the stories in the Bible though, of some of the great men of God who also struggled with their humanity. 

David was often devastated by his sins and failures. In Psalm 51: 2& 3 for instance, he writes :  “Wash me completely from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me all the time.”  The apostle Paul, who wrote at least a third of the New Testament books, must surely have had many regrets from his former life. Even after his conversion from persecutor of Christians to devout follower of Jesus, he said in Romans 7:15: “I don’t understand my own behavior – I don’t do what I want to do; instead, I do the very thing I hate!”. If you read on after verse 15, he talks further about his sinful nature battling against his identity in Christ.

Both of these men give us the answer to where their hope was found: in God’s grace towards them. One such example in David’s case, is Psalm 32:5: ” When I acknowledged my sin to You, when I stopped concealing my guilt, and said, “I will confess my offenses to Adonai (God)”; then You, You forgave the guilt of my sin.”  In Romans 7&8, Paul acknowledges that his hope of being “less of a mess” also comes from the Lord: (7:24&25) “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. (8:1&2) Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”. 

It is clear that an honest evaluation and confession to God about the recognition of our sin is key, along with asking for forgiveness. Then in II Corinthians 9&10, Paul also tells us what happens after that. “But He (God) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”.

Our relief from striving and attempting to attain perfection on our own is summed up in Phillipians 1:6: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”.  I pray that you find the comfort in this message that it has given me.

Shalom!

Val

 

Hello again.

I just relocated my blog after ten years. Here in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic, my one and only message from ten years ago is more appropriate than ever. Hope! 

Hope is a valuable commodity in this world at a time when commodities like toilet paper and meat are in high demand, quantities are being limited, and stock is often completely sold out. Luckily for us, what God offers is never in short supply and is available anytime we need it: HOPE! 

Hope is referred to over 120 times in the Bible. One of my favorites is Lamentations 3:21-26. “But in my mind I keep returning to something, something that gives me hope–that the grace of Adonai (God) is not exhausted, that His compassion has not ended. On the contrary, they (His mercies) are new every morning! How great Your faithfulness! Adonai  is all I have, I say; therefore I will put my hope in Him. 

There may be days when you, like I, have to rest on this promise. God’s mercy and hope will greet us every morning, allowing us to start over when the day and night before may have been incredibly dark and hopeless. There have been times in my life when I went to sleep with that as my only consolation. I had nothing left, no prayers, no hope, nothing but this verse to sustain me. He never failed me, not once did this promise let me down! 

I would encourage you if you are struggling or depressed or feel hopeless today, to remind God of His promise and say before you go to sleep, “I know Your mercies will be new in the morning.”. Or “I thank You that Your mercies will be new in the morning.”. I believe you will see that He is faithful to His promise and in that you will find hope refreshed to get you through that day. 

Shalom (Peace)

Val

Hello!

For my first blog, I will only say this:

Take Heart!

GOD is with you.

Today I recommend reading Psalms 31.