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Lifting My Soul to God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 14, 2020
“Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”
Psalm 143:8b
 
We came in the door just before midnight following a long and stimulating visit with some local friends. There had been several opportunities to share spiritual truth. The wife of one friend showed a real interest, asked a lot of questions and listened carefully to a full presentation of the gospel.
 
In spite of this wonderfully encouraging time, my heart was as heavy as my eyelids, and I longed to just drop into bed and forget ‘til the morning the things that weighed on my heart. However, the Lord reminded me of the importance of “lifting my soul” to Him, getting out my troubled thoughts and “processing” them. So I sat down with my journal and began to write about the email I’d gotten that day.
 
“Lord, after getting that negative email from Charlie I am angry, disappointed, discouraged and hurt – I feel sorry for myself! I feel like reacting in a similar way, writing back and fully, exquisitely expressing my anger—but that is not your way, Lord. I know the key is to not give into a negative response flowing out of self-pity and a sense of failure, but to praise you, Lord, for the unseen good you are working in this situation both in Charlie and in me, and to press on in truth.
 
Thank you, Lord, for reminding me of Psalm 50:23, ‘He who offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me and opens the way that I may show him the salvation of the Lord.’ Thank you for helping me to ever lift up your name, to praise you and move on.”
 
There was a release of the burden as I thanked God for the situation and praised Him for what He was doing. It was fulfillment of David’s prayer, “Rejoice the soul of your servant, O Lord, for to you I lift up my soul” (Ps. 86:4, NKJV). That night I slept wonderfully and deeply, waking refreshed in spite of the late night.
 
During my quiet time the next morning, new thoughts came to mind of what to share with Charlie and a positive letter poured out of my head and into an email–it was truly a letter from the Lord. Charlie responded by asking forgiveness for his incorrect interaction, and later another email came expressing further remorse at his angry words.
 
The Lord worked; I am deeply thankful that He got me to listen, and to write out my thoughts in the evening, not the morning, so that He could give me both a good night’s sleep and His positive perspective.
 
The key was lifting my soul to God by writing out my thoughts and then comparing them to Scripture–to just express them verbally does not bring for me the insight that comes with writing. It brings clarity on what is actually happening so the Lord can give perspective and direction. It is truly good to “pour out our hearts to Him, for God is our refuge” (Ps. 62:8).
 
Prayer: “Lord, praise you that you call us to lift our souls to you. Help me to be consistent in honestly telling you what I am thinking, feeling, wanting, and to process these in the light of your Word. Restore my soul so that you may rule me wholly. Amen.”
–from Edified!
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Greatness

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 14, 2020

“Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”

Psalm 95:1,2

Yes, O Yahweh, you are worthy of honor and praise, you are worthy of fearing and obeying, “For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods” (Ps. 95:3).

You are the One who is actually in charge; you are Ruler and Director, Sovereign and Limit Maker, Controller and King–nothing happens without your permission. You allow only what contributes to your plans, to bring glory to your name, to sweep all willing into your Dominion, and to protect, equip, mature, break and deepen those who are in your Kingdom of Light. You have evil on a short leash, able to do only what you will use to bring your plans to pass.

You cannot be defeated: there is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against you (Ps. 33:10,11). Your power is unimaginable, your grasp of detail is mind-boggling, going from the miniscule to the mighty, from subatomic to super-galactic, from counting hairs and watching sparrows, to moving the universe and history to your desired conclusion.

I praise you, heavenly Father, that in your compassion and grace, your patience and wisdom, your power and love, you are able and eager to transform, train and teach each of your saints.

You are the Mighty King, the Gracious God who is:

  • great in power (speaking all into existence),
  • great in strength (having armed yourself with strength, you made the mountains),
  • great in wisdom (in understanding you laid the foundations of the earth),
  • great in knowledge (you can look into the future and know what is going to happen),
  • great in Love (your astounding compassion cares for your bitter enemies),
  • great in faithfulness (you kept your word and at great cost gave salvation to your rebellious creatures).

 

There is no one and nothing that can compare with you in greatness. You tower over all creation. You are outside of, over, surrounding and filling the entire universe.

You are the only true God, therefore we bow down before your greatness, we exalt your divinity, we lift up your beautiful name, we praise your unending faithfulness: you are great, you are good, you are God.

I praise you that you are in control of my day right now, Lord Jesus, that you are working things out, bringing power into my weakness, holding back the tide of evil, limiting what Satan can do in my life, arranging the details of timing, providing and protecting. In you I can rest.

 

Prayer: “Lord, I willfully enter your rest, trusting you, the Great I AM, to guide me today. Help me to stay in your shelter, O God, so I can give you further glory before the unseen hosts. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.”

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Pruning and Shirts

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 13, 2020
“My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.”
John 15:12
 
The Lord has a way of answering our prayers at unexpected times with unusual means. Recently for me, an answer began with a discussion about how to hang up clothes in the closet.
Barb hangs them so the opening of the garment faces right; I have always hung them the opposite way. One evening as Barb was putting freshly ironed shirts in the closet, she asked if I would start hanging my clothes the opposite way, the way she did.
 
I had had a day filled with details and pressures. I was not ready for a request that would add another detail to my already full plate, and that demanded reversing a habit (and a harmless habit at that!) which had been 50 years of reinforcement.
 
“What difference does it make?” I asked.
 
“To me it makes a difference,” Barb replied. As I pushed her for a reason, she continued, “The shirts won’t hang into each other if you put them in like this!”
 
Well, that didn’t make any sense to me, so I began to let her know that.
 
“Fine,” Barb said quietly, “Do it as you want.”
 
That gentle reply cut through my resistance like a hot knife through butter, as the Lord brought to mind a prayer I’d offered earlier in the week: “Lord, help me to serve Barb with joy, to do things which will reduce her stress and help her to be more effective for you.” What Barb had asked for was very small, something that would make her life easier, and here I was resisting. How foolish!
 
Verses from John 15 flooded my thoughts, “I am the true vine; my father is the husbandman…every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it might bring forth more fruit.”
 
That knife I felt cutting through my resistance was the Holy Spirit pruning off the useless, harmful growth in my life: selfishness, impatience, laziness and pride, to name a few. I want to bring forth more fruit, but often don’t want the pruning that is the prerequisite.
 
I am thankful that God is patient and faithful to keep working on me, that my dear wife is a patient and gracious soul and that I could repent, apologize to her and hang those shirts in a way that made her life easier.
 
In this process of growth, God is pleased with us when we submit to Him and to each other in love, and He also gives us wonderful, undeserved benefits. In John 15:11 Jesus says, “These things have I said unto you so that my joy might remain in you and your joy might be full.”
 
And what did He say right before that? “Let me prune you; abide in me; do whatever I command you.” These are not things that we humans naturally want, but it is obedience that brings what everyone does want: joy.
 
Prayer: “Lord, help me this day to willingly submit to your pruning so that I may better love others as you have loved me and that your joy may be complete in me. Amen.”
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A Glorious Resurrection Day to You!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 12, 2020
A Glorious Resurrection Day to You.
 
If you want to watch a tremendous presentation of the life of Jesus, watch this Sight and Sound production, free today only on your device. We watched it and were blessed and impressed with the Love and Sacrifice of Jesus.
 
Copy and paste this address and watch.
 

https://watch.tbn.org/sight-sound-theatres-presents-jesus?utm_source=jesus_event&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TBN

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Psalm 16:6

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 11, 2020

Psalm 16:6 “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;”

[Where you have placed us, Lord, is more than pleasant: we are within the Kingdom of Light, under the Lordship of the Great Shepherd, within the Family of God, on the right way to Heaven, in the company of the saints, equipped and assigned to a specific area of service to you, my beloved King.

This Truth is a wonder, a joy, a pleasure, an ever- increasing realization of the undeserved, unearned privilege of walking on the pathway of the Creator of all, the Ruler of all, the Restorer of all. In my opinion, “pleasant” is far too mild a word for this state of ever-growing joy!]

“surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

[Out of your glorious treasures you have prepared a rich inheritance for your undeserving children. As it says in Ephesians 1:3, you have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus—every possible spiritual blessing will be ours. As you are infinite and all-powerful, Lord, so these blessings will be unending, uncountable, incomprehensible.

These will include a sinless life, total security and significance, sweet fellowship with all, ever increasing joy, and living in the light of your presence. In addition, you have made us fellow heirs with Jesus, meaning that whatever He inherits, we will get also!

This will include an infinite future, an unending walk with you, an unlimited growth in knowledge of your character, having fulfilling, positive challenges of service for you, and rich, uninterrupted fellowship with all other beings in Heaven. It will include living in your glory: “When Christ, who is our life, appears, then we also will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:4).

It will include mostly and most importantly, the ability to gaze uninterruptedly on your face, Lord Jesus, being in the full presence of our Bridegroom, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Ruler of all, the Holy, Pure, Powerful, Wise and Good God of all. That will be far more wonderful than we can imagine!]

Lord, help me to walk in the knowledge of the riches of your goodness and all the pleasantness you have for stored up for us. Help me to see where I let the small (very small!) things in life take my focus off of you, to steal my joy, to trap me in the dust and dirt of a natural worldview.

Help me instead to let go of the temporary, hold on to what is eternal and rise above everyday hassles in the shining knowledge of you and who you are. May I think truth, keep on the armor and be able to stand no matter what comes, thereby bringing more honor and glory to you.

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Psalm 16:3-5

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 11, 2020
Psalm 16:3 “As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.”
 
[You, Heavenly Father, made us saints when you caused us to be born again. You qualified us to be partakers in the Kingdom of Light, you rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of your beloved Son. And you have made us glorious in Jesus, giving us His righteousness. Therefore, you delight in us, despite what we were naturally—rebellious, unbelieving, selfish and proud.
 
You have made us new creations in Christ, welcomed with joy into your presence where we are delighted in, rejoiced over, cherished and treasured. In you we can rest securely, knowing that you have accepted us fully, finally, faithfully. In you alone we are safe, for safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of Jesus.]
 
Psalm 16:4 “The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.”
 
[Every other god is false–the gods of every religion, along with the gods of comfort, power, materialism, politics and business, sex and entertainment, getting my way and controlling others.
 
Each one is an illusion and leads only to disappointment, bondage, oppression and darkness—the opposite of what you bring, Lord, for you are Light, Love and Life, you bring freedom, joy and peace as well as grace, greatness and goodness. You are the opposite of all other gods, you are the only One worthy of worship.]
 
“I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.”
 
[I must avoid involvement in any way with these other gods, not offering them any acknowledgement or worship, time or affection; I must not put any hope in them. I must not give them any credence or credit, but look only to you, Lord Jesus, the Creator, Sustainer and Ender of all, the only true Hope there is.]
 
Psalm 16:5 “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;”
 
[All I have comes from you, O Holy God: my position, my provision, my protection, my portion. And what you give is good. This includes my body, my brains, my boundaries, my bonds, my bounty; whatever they appear to be from a human perspective, they are good and I will praise you for them.]
 
“you have made my lot secure.”
 
[You, Lord, are the God of power and authority. Only you can give security: whatever you choose to protect will be untouched by the enemy; whenever you allow an attack, it will be used for good, no matter how unpleasant it may be.
 
I can rest in your glorious and endless perfection, knowing you will weave all into your great plan for the end of sin, evil and time, sweeping as many as possible into your Kingdom.
 
To you be glory and honor today, Lord. May praise and thanksgiving continually well up in my mind and spill off my lips. May the light of your love shine from my being, may you be lifted up in my actions and reactions, my attitude and speech. May praise be the keynote of my life today, may the darkness of complaining and discontent, grumbling and negativeness be swept away in the brightness of your presence so that you may have more glory before both the invisible hosts and visible folks.]
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Psalm 16:1-2

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 9, 2020
Psalm 16:1 “Keep me safe, O God,”
 
[And You can easily do this, Lord Jesus, my Good Shepherd, for you are incredibly powerful, deeply wise, all-knowing, all-present and all-seeing, living outside of time. You are passionately loving and whole-heartedly compassionate. I can cry out to you, know that you will hear and that you will answer in the best way. Praise be to you.]
 
“for in you I take refuge.”
 
[This is my part, coming to you, thinking Truth, meditating on Scripture and obeying you: trusting you and, praising before any answer comes. As always, it is a partnership between you, Lord, and your children. I praise you for how you call us to join you in what you are doing, making us responsible, giving us the power of causality, as Pascal said.]
Psalm 16:2 “I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord;’”
 
[This is a statement of surrender—you are my Adonai, my Authority, the One I obey, the One who has the right to demand absolute obedience while promising absolute provision. To say “You are my Lord” means, “What you command, I will do.”]
 
“apart from you I have no good thing.”
 
[This is a full focus on Truth—only you, Lord, are truly Good. All else that I have is chaff–temporary and worthless in the long run. As the author of Psalm 73 said, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you!”
 
To live this Truth is freeing, powerful and focusing: “apart from YOU I have no good thing!” All else must be viewed in relation to you, as elements of stewardship, as tools, as means of obeying and glorifying you. It is in you that all comes together.
 
Praise be to you, Lord God–Heavenly Father, King Jesus, Holy Spirit–for you are the reason for our existence, the focal point of life, the eternal and infinite God.
 
Therefore, I choose anew to bow down before you and then to praise you, love you, glory in you, honor you, exalt your name and your Word, rejoice in you, revel in you, and obey you–all for your honor. May you be exalted in my life today.
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Such Patience!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 8, 2020
Praise be to you, Lord God, for your kind and consistent, detailed and direct involvement in our lives. I exalt you, Lord, for how you are so persistent in pouring pardon into our lives, giving us the opposite of what we deserve. Thank you for your patience with us as we zigzag along, bouncing between arrogant rebellion and abject self-pity. We are so prone to spiritual amnesia! We so quickly forget the most basic spiritual truths:
–that we deserve only condemnation and rejection, but you constantly give us the opposite;
–that we can do nothing without you;
–that you are our Shepherd so we will not lack anything necessary;
–that we can offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving instead of complaining;
–that we can keep on your full armor and effectively fight the devil rather than people.
But in spite of our forgetfulness, you do not give up on us, Lord Jesus. You are gracefully, lovingly consistent in correcting, reminding, protecting and, when necessary, rebuking us.
You, Lord, are a wonder, too good to be true–but are actually even better than that! I thank you so much, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of not just being in your family, but of being able to come, at any minute, directly to you in the throne room of Heaven, and to crawl up in your lap for comfort, encouragement and redirection.
Help us to live in the light of your great goodness, your rich righteousness, your lavish love and your powerful presence. Help us to join you today in your plans, to shed our pride, our selfishness, our lust for significance and security, and instead to find rest in you alone, humbly bowing before you in the fear of God, joyfully accepting all you will bring in your plan for us.
Help us to move by prayer, to work through obedience and to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit so that you may be honored throughout this day.
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Snuggle with God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 7, 2020
Praise be to you, Lord, for how faithful and good, wise and powerful you are. We see this in the expanse of the heavens, which you stretched out for billions of, not just miles, but light years. You filled it with stars, (Psalm 33:6) gathered them into galaxies and the arranged the galaxies into formations—and you know the name of each of these trillions of stars (Psalm 147:4); you know their number and you keep them in place.
 
As you are able to administrate all that, so you are certainly able to deal with the small details of my life. Being outside of time, you know every event that will come and can shape them to be useful in our lives, or prevent them if it is best.
 
I think of the many times I’ve had close calls in driving, including one this week: but you prevented an accident each time and kept us safe. And I’m sure there are thousands of times you have protected us in every area over the years that we were not aware of it.
 
You are certainly the Deity of details, the Shepherd of strength, the Lord of lavish love. You are the One we can trust, rest in and rejoice in.
 
Last night when I went to give a discipleship lesson, the couple had just gotten a new little dog. He’d been suddenly taken from his familiar environment where he’d lived all his 3 years and was feeling very unsure and insecure in this new situation. For some reason he would not go to the two females in the house but jumped up on the man’s lap for a bit, then onto mine where he snuggled down and stayed for the whole lesson. Somehow he felt safe there, and enjoyed the scratching I gave him.
 
So it is with us and you, Lord. No matter how challenging our situation or how dangerous and painful the happenings in our life may be, we can snuggle down in your embrace, knowing that you have already prepared a path through whatever is facing us, that you will accompany us along the way and carry us through. You have a plan, you are faithful, you are able to carry it out.
 
The only element we have to add is trust, based on our knowledge of who you are; then you will pour peace, joy and hope into our lives (Rom. 15:13), along with more than enough grace (undeserved help) to move through any circumstance with power. “Trust in Him at all times, O people, pour out your hearts to Him, for He is our refuge.” Psalm 62:
 
I praise you now, Lord Jesus, for the day you have laid out before me. Help me to keep on the full armor you have provided, to trust you by getting up the shield of faith through offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving and to join you in what you are doing so that I may give you more and more honor each day.
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Day 2 of retirement (written in 2015)

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 6, 2020
 
Praise be to you, Lord God, that you were there, waiting for me this morning, after watching over us all night. I praise you for your grace and goodness, your power and provision which you’ve prepared for me for today.
 
Thank you so much for the purpose you give us in life: living for you, joining you in your great plans and giving you glory–which means revealing you to those around us. And how can we do that?
 
First of all, by being people of praise. As we respond to the events swirling around us by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in whatever comes, we reveal to others your Sovereignty and Love. We live the truth that you are in control, so whatever comes to us flows with your permission and purpose, from your wisdom and love.
 
As we trust you in the events of our days, you give us joy and peace and make our lives overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13). Then, as you promised (2 Cor. 12:9)), your power will come and you will show us your salvation in the events that face us (Ps. 50;23). As we note your power and salvation and talk about them, we are revealing your faithfulness and power to those around us.
 
Which brings us to another way of giving you glory: seeing the “God-sightings” you bring into our lives daily (when you provide, protect and guide), and then when we share them with those around us. Like yesterday while shopping, I had a question about an electrical item, but there was no store employee to help me. However, as I went around the corner, there was my neighbor who is an electrician and he readily answered my question. God at work. God revealed.
 
Another way of revealing Him to others is to share what we are learning as we read, study, memorize and meditate on Scripture. The insights and understandings He brings are far above human thinking and help us shift from a natural worldview to a biblical one.
 
For instance, in 1 Peter 1, where I am re-memorizing now, it says that trials come to us to test the genuineness of our faith (are we responding with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, trusting God, or do we complain, revealing the falseness of our faith?). Every negative event is a test and a chance to reject our natural response, to trust and grow.
 
But there is a further reason for trials: if we respond with faith, then when Jesus is revealed at the end of time, we will be given praise, honor and glory by God Himself!
 
That’s a worldview shift–moving from the momentary, myopic, me-centered goal of being comfortable, to the wide, high and deep understanding of how this particular discomfort fits into God’s great scheme for ending history and ushering in an eternity where He will share His glory with those who have lived by faith here.
 
This is the call for us to fix our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him—the joy of redeeming all mankind, pleasing the Father, being glorified as the Savior, ending evil and ruling forever in righteousness–endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2).
 
Even in writing this, I am glorifying God, revealing to you, more of His powerful and pristine Character, helping you to worship Him more and better. May we be aware of the everyday opportunities to reveal God’s glory to those around us by praise, by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, by noting and sharing God sightings, and by sharing what we are learning at the feet of the Holy Spirit.
 
May we live out the purpose of our existence today, glorifying God in our lives!
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