Isolation

Right now, in this social climate, created by this world health crisis...we are being asked to isolate ourselves.
And that can cause many to feel alone, afraid, even in despair, to feel you haven't any resources in which to fight with.
I want to talk a bit about isolation from a spiritual stand point.

Jesus had a period of  40 days of isolation....but He wasn't alone. He had no food or drink...but wasn't without resources.
Matthew 4:1-17  (Click on link to read the account)

I think it is important to read the scripture from Matthew 3:13-17 that comes right before;

📖 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”   Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.  As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Jesus was being obedient to His Father by being publicly baptized.  He was completing His preparation for what was to come....

📖 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1

He fasted (going without food or water) for 40 days, BUT I said He wasn't with out resources?

It is because when satan comes and starts to tempt Jesus with bold statements and promises....
Jesus quotes scripture...it is the only resource He had and the only one He needed at that moment.
He obviously didn't need even His physical strength for this "battle".

📖 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

You ever wonder what He was doing for the 40 days prior to the devil showing up, while He was fasting?  
He would have learned about fasting throughout biblical history during His study of the scriptures all His growing up:
📖 Ezra 8:21  There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
📖 Nehemiah 9:1   On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads
📖 Esther 4:16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
📖 Daniel 9:3  So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
📖 Jonah 3:5  The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Maybe the most influential might have been from the life of Moses;
📖 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. Exodus 34:28

My guess as to what He was doing?...praying, talking with His Father, who had just revealed the Holy Spirit to Him (just as side note in reference to last weeks post; the Matthew 3 scripture, when Jesus was baptized, is when all 3 of the trinity (Son, Spirit of God and the Father) are mentioned being together!) 

and meditating on the Holy Scriptures ...no bible, no  e-bible needed, no scrolls...just what He had been taught and learned throughout His life!  
How much scripture can we recall?  Any scripture?
How about scripture to address a particular situation?

If we can't,  then I challenge us (including myself in this) to study...read...memorize scripture.

📖 How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.

I seek you with all my heart;

do not let me stray from your commands.

I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:9-11

God will help us, and once it is "in our hearts" He will help us to recall it when we need it.  But we can't recall something that hasn't been put there.

That is what Jesus did, He recalled and used God's word...for every enticement that Satan came up with:

For basic need...food
📖 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4
📜 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3

For physical safety...protection
📖 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Matthew 4:7
📜 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. Deuteronomy 6:16

For power...to rule the world
📖 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Matthew 4:10
📜 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Deuteronomy 6:13

Jesus countered with scripture.  He KNEW it, and HE knew how to use it.
Satan never really had the power to grant any of these offers.  But Jesus knew that the only way to crush each offer was to combate it with the word of God.
And as enticing as it might have been to entertain the thoughts, or argue that satan had no power to offer these, or even to try and debate....He did not.
He simply gave reference to scripture He had heard, learned and "hidden in His heart"

There was a purpose in Jesus isolation.  It was a time of reflection and meditation, for some of it I believe. But it was preparing for a time of spiritual warfare....a battle for His very soul.

📖 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Joshua 1:5-6

🎵 The Lord Is Your Keeper

No matter how isolated we have to be, we are never alone!
🙏I pray that you find purpose in this time and use it to draw closer to God and to "hide His word in your heart"❤

Safety Net

I am going to continue with a "thread" from last week...more like a string!
I was thinking about my Blog last week and the statement "when we are down...but not out" and I said that God gives us that time, but sustains us.  Something that occurred to me is that I believe one of the ways He does that is through the people He has allowed in our lives.  They form a community...a web...a net, so to speak, of individuals that keep us from hitting the ground!

So  this vision of a net in my mind...it starts in the center with some strands of string. These initial strings are made up of family...tied together with knots...and as we grow through life we add more and more different strands, all made up of different materials, varieties and colors but all being secured to each other with different knots. The knots are the relationships,  that get stronger with time and tending and love. Some knots aren't going to be as strong as others, obviously, but they bind each string to another.
If we get knocked down and fall..heading straight for the center of that net....that is going to have to be the strongest part...or when you hit....it will be weakened and the security will begin to unravel.
You probably have already guessed where I was going with this....

📖  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Christ has to be woven into the very center of it all!  He needs to be the first relationship in your life, the one that should be the strongest.  As you build other relationships with Christ being intertwined, those knots will be strong as well.

📖 My intercessor is my friend

as my eyes pour out tears to God,

on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as one pleads for a friend. Job 16:20-21

With Christ as a thread running through all your relationships it will create that strong safety net so when we have circumstances that cause us to falter, to fall down...we are  brought back up by the strength of those around us!

📖  Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
¹⁰ 
If either of them falls down,

one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, 
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Those times when we feel down, discouraged, even defeated...it is ok to fall....because those that God has put around you...will support you, encourage you,  and bounce you back up on your feet!

📖 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. Proverbs 17:17

🙏I thank God today for the "safety net" He has provided in my life, and the strong knots that hold it together!❤🥅❤
📖 Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
So a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend. Proverbs 27:9

Down But Not Out

I have to be honest....Monday as I lay on the couch resting and rehydrating per doctors orders, I forgot about blogging....and most everything else!

I had an ED trip Sunday night, believing my breathing issues were pneumonia, they ran a battery of tests...being that I am an over 50 female having shortness of breath!  My heart is fine! and the doctor said he didn't see any pneumonia, but I did test positive for Influenza A! 

"WHAT!!???  

"YOU ARE KIDDING RIGHT!"

See, when people come in to the ER and test flu positive everyone puts on a mask, we tell them to wear a mask, and to avoid contact with people for 5-7 days, we consider the room "isolation" and have it specially cleaned.....

As a friend messaged me today "a real disruption to your schedule"

RIGHT!  

Not go anywhere for the week?!

Not see anyone for a week?!

I had a list for the week; Ladies Study Monday night at my house, a friend to doctor's appointment, helping with a church outreach, subbing at school a day and a half, working my job at the hospital 2 nights.  Not to mention helping with grandkids!!  

All that got "adjusted" Sunday night.  

And Monday I lay resting......more bothered by the inconvenience it was to others ...me disrupting their week by being "down for the count"

AND it struck me today.....THERE IS A PURPOSE IN THIS!  It is NOT a disruption to God's agenda! And I may be down....but I am NOT out!

📖“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord   Isaiah 55:8

I don't believe God GAVE me the flu....but I DO believe that He can use this time!

I shouldn't feel sorry for myself, or frustrated....on the contrary it gives me perfect opportunities!

to Blog while doing my nebulizer treatments, to pray for all the others who are sick and suffering while I rest, to spend time quietly meditating on what God has for me in this time!

So, even when we are down, with illness or injury and OUR schedule is disrupted ask the Lord to make it HIS schedule! Ask Him to help us to redirect and to use the time for His glory!

^📖 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

We may be down for a time, but we are not out of service in our ability to worship, praise, and pray for others!

^📖 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

^📖 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,    I will be exalted in the earth.”  Psalm 46:10

I believe God takes this verse very seriously! And when we are forced to be still, we should too! (actually we should take the time to be still, even when we aren't "forced" to!" 🙂)

🙏Praying for you today and you find a time to be still!❤