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Acceptance

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 16, 2017
In the daily practice of praying on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), there has been a significant solidification of my emotional state, giving a growing stability that is very encouraging.
 
This is not a self-centered focus, but is believing and accepting what God says about us; it is living in the light of His love rather than in self-condemnation, vague shame and the natural negative self-thoughts that Satan wants me to dwell on. I have always been critical of and dissatisfied with myself, never believing I can measure up, but this is fading as I see more and more of God’s total forgiveness and love.
 
In this, the Lord is building in me an emotionally healthy independence from others—I no longer feel obligated to be influenced and controlled by others negative emotions. And He is also developing an emotionally healthy, deeper dependence on Himself. The growing grasp of His unshifting character, manifested in His love, acceptance and graciousness, is the rock upon which I can rest. In the light of this, I actually like myself now!
 
Following is part of what I pray in putting on the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness. In this, I do not just say the words, I seek to enter into the truths emotionally, letting myself feel both sides (negative and positive) and choose to rest in the warm and rich goodness of His love for me. Try it yourself, praying this each day for a month and see what a difference it makes for you!
 
“Help me, Lord, to stand today having on the belt of truth. On one side is the truth that all I deserve as a sinner is failure, frustration, depression, despair, hopelessness, punishment, suffering and death.
 
“But you, in your gracious love, have redeemed me, cleansed me, called me into your waiting arms, made me your child, brought me into your family and into your Kingdom of light, of love and life. You have given me forgiveness, joy and peace. You have given me purpose, protection and provision. You have given me meaning, hope and a future. In you I am chosen, holy and dearly loved (Col. 3:12). I did not choose you, but you chose me because you wanted me! (John 15:16).
 
“You, Lord Jesus, love me as the Father loves you! (John 15:9): wholeheartedly, unconditionally, enthusiastically, joyfully, eternally! You are glad when I come into your presence in prayer, you laugh with pleasure when we are together and you rejoice in having me as your child. You saved me because you delight in me (Ps. 18:19).
 
“Help me to put on the breastplate of righteousness. In doing this, I agree to forgive myself as you have forgiven me, to accept myself and to love myself as you do. I choose to bask in your wholehearted approval and acceptance of me; I agree to rejoice in your unceasing love for me; I commit to reveling in your rich and eager embracing of me as your beloved child.
 
“While eagerly confessing any sin and receiving your forgiveness, I repent of being critical, negative and unaccepting of myself. I exchange these for your garment of approval, your covering of love and your continuous warm, happy, gracious embracing of me as your dear and valued child, chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before you in love! (Eph. 1:4).
 
“What a wonder! I praise you for your great and gracious goodness, your marvelous and magnificent kindness and your unending, undying, eternal love for me. Help me to walk in the light of your warm and wonderful presence throughout today, obeying you in all and loving myself as you love me, so I can better love my neighbor.”
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Psalm 27:2-3

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 15, 2017
Writing today from Germany
 
Psalm 27:2 “When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me,”
 
[Note that this is not “if” but “when.” Such attacks will come because we are followers of Jesus, and Satan hates us. So, we should not be surprised when we are attacked by people, problems and political powers. And we should remember that we also know the outcome: ]
 
“they will stumble and fall.”
 
[In the end, they will fail: Nero, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and those here who oppose you, Lord, and your Word–they will all fall while you, the Almighty Lord and God, will triumph. There is no way that anyone can prevail against the Creator of the Universe.
 
I praise and thank you, Lord, that you will fight for us in the great goodness of your heart, in the mighty power of your arm, in the expansive width of your wisdom and in the immeasurable depth of your discernment. Nothing is hidden from you, no plan is secret, no power can prevail against you.]
 
Psalm 27:3 “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.”
 
[Because my trust is in you, the Almighty and the Most High, I can be confident of your help in the most trying of circumstances. I think of Elisha in 2 Kings 6, who awoke to find his city surrounded by a large army; but he also saw the chariots of God surrounding them! And God empowered Elisha to strike the army with blindness and render them harmless.
 
So, I need to ask, “What can men do to me when you are on my side? What can I lose that you cannot replace? What can I suffer that is not worthwhile because you will use it to bring maturity, deepening and a display of your power which I can share with all those around me?”
 
Thank you that you are the God of all wisdom who, even in the mistakes I make, will work out all for good. Help me to let go of my natural tendencies, to hold all you have granted me with an open hand, and to trust you to give and take as you see best.
 
Help me to let go of my emotional perceptions, to hold onto your great promises and rise above whatever challenges come. Help me to rest in you now, knowing that you are the good and great One whom I can totally trust. May you be honored in all I do today.]
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Recipe for Happiness, author unknown

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 13, 2017

Start with a base of faith.

Add One heart full of love,

Two heaping cups of patience,

Two handfuls of generosity,

A dash of laughter,

And one headful of understanding.

Sprinkle generously with kindness

Add plenty of goodness and mix well

Spread over a period of a life time

And serve to everyone you meet.

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Psalm 27:1b

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 13, 2017
 
Psalm 27:1b “The LORD is the stronghold of my life—“
 
[in the midst of uncertainty I can praise you, Lord God, for you are the safe Place, the generous Giver, the good Guide, the Stability of my existence.
 
You have revealed your beautiful character in your promises to provide what is needed, to give what is best, to protect me and sustain me with your right hand, to be my shield and enabler. And you faithfully follow through on every promise.
 
As my stronghold, you are the One who protects in me the hurts and harm of life. To you I can retreat and find safety, comfort, encouragement and joy when all else is bleak, broken, sad and dangerous.
 
Living in the power of your promises, I praise you now for what you will do today, this week, next month, next year. I praise you that each day is a new adventure with you, as you have laid out the race for me to run and are constantly helping me to see and lay aside the weights and sins that so easily entangle. I am so glad to be able to follow you.]
 
“of whom shall I be afraid?”
 
[Since you are the Almighty, the Most High, the Great King above all, who can contravene what you deem right? Who can overrule your desires? Who can condemn when you forgive? Who can harm us spiritually when you are there?
 
There is no one else I should fear but you. Help me, Lord, to make the transfer every day, away from fearing those around me to fearing you, away from fearing what others think of me to caring deeply what you think about me, about what I do and think, wear and say.
 
You are worthy of respect, honor and fear, for you are Awesome, Almighty and Eternal, while all others are not. Therefore, I choose to believe you, to fear you, to live in the light of your grace.. Help me this day to consistently take refuge in you, thereby honoring You, your Name and your Word before all those around me.]
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Psalm 27:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 12, 2017

Psalm 27:1 Of David. “The LORD is my light and my salvation—“

[You, Lord Jesus, are the light Giver, the Sonshine of life, the Illuminator of our path. You show us the way, you reveal dangerous sins and snares, you give insight and understanding, you help us to make the right choices.

Because of you, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining on ever more brightly till the full light of day” (Prov. 4:18). We no longer have to live in “the way of the wicked which is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Prov. 4:19).

You have rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of Light where you protect us from the devil, from death, and in danger and difficulties.

You are actively working every moment to counter the attacks of the enemy, to shield us from his deceptions and help us stand against temptation. You also protect us from ourselves, from our old and evil nature.

Praise be to you that no attack, no opposition, no emeny is too fast, too great or too strong for you: you can counter all that comes, protecting and providing, keeping out what will harm and allowing in the things that make us effective. In your light we are safe.]

“whom shall I fear?”

[Who is greater than you? Who can defeat you? Who can fool you? Who is stronger than you? No one! You are the Almighty, the Most High, the Eternal One, dwelling outside of time, knowing and seeing all.

You are aware of every thought, every intent, every plan. “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD” (Prov. 21:30). You have the power to counteract the devil’s every desire and duplicity.

Yes, whom should I fear, of whom should I stand in awe? Why should I fear the words and thoughts of others? You are the One who gives us significance, you declare us righteous in Christ, chosen and beloved. You have replaced our shame with honor, while those around us often seek their own honor by shaming us.

Forgive me for elevating the opinions of others over your truth, Lord. Help me to fear you, to respect you, to care what you think, not what others think, value or say. You are the measure of all, your Word rules, your estimation is supreme. Help me today to live in the light of this Truth, Lord.]

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Thoughts on the Trinity

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 10, 2017
 
Praise be to you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Triune Lord, Creator and King.
 
The fact that you are one Being with three Persons is one proof that you are truly God; for no human or angel, devil or demon has ever thought up an idea like the Trinity. You are totally other than anything in your creation, having a character so complete and complex, so far above us that we cannot comprehend it.
 
Your being a Trinity means that you need nothing to complete you. Within your Being there is perfect love, full relationship and rich complimentarity. I praise you for the marvel of your majestic unity, where there is full cooperation, joyful submission and perfect, lovely leadership amongst your Persons.
 
I praise you that you are the One(s) who created all, rule all, and are bringing all to a conclusion. In you there is the hope of help, the goodness of your guidance, the power of your protection, the purity of your purpose and the stability of your shepherding.
 
I praise you that when turmoil comes, I can cling to the certainty of your presence, the comfort of your help, the constancy of your goodness and the completeness of your power.
 
You have provided solutions for the three aspects of the curse flowing from the Fall. You have given us forgiveness and cleansing for our guilt, honor and glory for our shame, and power and strength for our weakness and fear.
 
I praise you, Lord God, for what you are doing in and amongst us. To you be glory forever. In response to your goodness, may I live wholeheartedly for you, trusting you by rejecting complaining and grumbling through offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Fill me so full with your Holy Spirit that He will overflow onto all those I will meet today and thereby give you a continual flow of honor and exaltation. Amen.
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The 3D Gospel

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 10, 2017
 
Recently a little book Josh recommended to me brought together a number of truths I’d collected over the years. “The 3-D Gospel” by Jason Georges explains the three terrible results of the fall and the three wonderful ways God has provided restoration for each in the death and resurrection of Christ.
 
When Adam choose to trust Satan and himself, he ate of the forbidden fruit and Immediately he became guilty. He and his wife also became ashamed, and tried to cover their shame with leaves. And they became afraid, hiding from God when He came to talk with them.
 
While different cultures tend to emphasize just one of these results over the others (Western “guilt culture”, Eastern “shame culture” and animistic tribal “fear culture,”) we all suffer the twisting effects of each part of this trinity of guilt, shame and fear.
 
In our Western culture, the gospel is presented mainly as dealing with our guilt (think of the Romans Road presentation—and this is certainly correct). However, little or nothing is taught about how the gospel also provides a solution for our shame and our fear.
 
Many (if not all) of us have a sense of shame, maybe from past experiences where we were abused verbally, emotionally or physically. We also have failed to measure up to biblical and church culture standards. And we all have done foolish and destructive things we know are wrong. Shame is there, but often not acknowledged. Undealt with, it is a weight and blight on our souls, keeping us from loving ourselves so we can love our neighbors well.
 
Fear also is a big factor for us, as the world seems to be falling apart, as Christianity is more and more marginalized, denigrated and portrayed as evil. We wonder where this all is going, and are filled with fear. Look at how many believers are consumed with worry, experience anxiety attacks and need medical help to cope.
 
God knows all about this and has provided a solution to each one. When the Holy Spirit does His work of conviction, He addresses each of our areas of need: guilt, shame and fear. As it says in John 16:9-11. “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong…
–“about sin, because people do not believe in me” [there is guilt];
–“about righteousness, because I am going to the Father” [there is shame as we stand humiliated before the righteous One, who exposes the emptiness of our futile, selfish attempts to make ourselves look good];
–“and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” [There is fear as we, too, stand judged and worthy of condemnation.]
 
However, for those who respond to the Spirit’s work, Ephesians 1:18-19 tells us what God has given to free us from each one of these: Paul writes, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know:
–“the hope to which he has called you” [forgiveness in place of guilt],
–“the riches of his glorious inheritance in his saints,” [honor in place of shame]
–“and his incomparably great power for us who believe” [power in place of fear].
 
All of this I vaguely comprehended, but now they have come into full 3D focus and it makes a difference. I have wholeheartedly looked at my hidden shame from my failures and sins, as well as from others’ opinions of me, and am embracing the honor Jesus has given me by taking my shame on Himself in His suffering before and on the cross.
 
I have also confronted my fears more directly, embracing the fact that “God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7 KJV). This is making a difference in my life, and in the lives of those I am sharing this with.
 
So I encourage you, too, to embrace the full trinity of the gospel, internalizing the fact that Jesus died to save us from our sin, our shame and our fear. “My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge” (Ps. 62:7).
 
As Corrie Ten Boom said, “If we look around us, we will be distressed; if we look within us, we will be depressed; if we look to Jesus we will find rest.”
 
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Meditations on Psalm 23:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 8, 2017

 

Meditating on, “The Lord is my shepherd….” Ps. 23:1
 
Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you are the great Shepherd of the universe. You are wise, powerful, all knowing, all seeing, all present. You are the One who sets up and takes down rulers, who controls the flow of history, who will bring all existence to an end.
 
Your power is infinite: what we see in hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis is just a tiny bit of your strength. We cannot begin to imagine a power that could create a galaxy like the Milky Way: 100,000 light years in diameter, containing billions of stars, many much bigger than our sun. You simply spoke and they came into existence.
 
Your power and attention to detail is unbelievable. To make carbon-based life possible, you created the sun a million times larger than the earth, burning at just the right and incredible temperature. You placed the earth at exactly the right distance from the sun so it won’t be too hot or too cold. You put it in an orbit just the right shape so summer is long enough for crops and winter isn’t so long that people would starve. You spun the earth at the optimal speed so night isn’t so long that we’d freeze, and day isn’t so long that we’d get too tired. And you tilted the earth at exactly the right angle to make the different seasons and climates. You did everything perfectly.
 
In this you show what a wise, strong, good and trustable Shepherd you are. I praise you for the wonder of your Character, seen in your being the Creator, the Redeemer, our Savior, Provider, Protector and Great Guide.
 
You are Love, you are Light, you are Life. And you have declared yourself to be my Shepherd: you wanted me as your sheep; you chose me before the foundation of the world; you arranged all the influences I needed in life so I could come to you.
 
What I actually deserve, as a rebellious sinner, is continual punishment, rejection, suffering, failure, hopelessness, despair, death and eternity in Hell apart from you.
 
However, you had mercy on me, you wanted me as your child. So you suffered, died and rose again to make it possible that I would be your sheep. You called me, you cleansed and transformed me, you claimed me as your own, you commissioned me to special service and you cherish me.
 
I stand before you now dearly loved, deeply cared for, doted on and delighted in. In you, Lord Jesus, I am fully forgiven, fully loved, fully accepted, fully yours. I revel in your love, I bask in your desire for an ever-expanding relationship with me. I rejoice in your unconditional, deep, rich acceptance of me as your child, your sheep, your beloved.
 
I bow before you in awe and reverence; I rise up today to return your love in obedience to your Word, to walk in the joy of being yours, to reflect the light of your love to those around me, living in the perspective of Psalm 73:25: “Whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you.”

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Psalm 26:8-12

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 8, 2017

Psalm 26:8 “I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells.”

[Praise you, Lord, that you now dwell in each believer, in each of us, and together as living stones we make up your church, your bride. Help me to live the reality of that, to love the church universal and the church local. Help all of us to be in awe of you and live in such a way as to bring you honor, both personally and as local congregations.]

Psalm 26:9,10 “Do not take away my soul along with sinners, my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes.”

[Praise you that, although I am naturally one of these sinners, in you I am made an innocent, being cleansed and forgiven, transformed and adopted. Therefore I will not have to go with the wicked into punishment, but with you into an eternity of joy and peace, of goodness and grace. Help me to recognize my tendency to do the natural, negative, nasty things, to reject them, and to live instead in the freedom of wisdom, submission and obedience to your Word and Spirit.]

Psalm 26:11 “But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me.”

[I do want to live a pure life, but cannot do so on my own; help me to walk with you in your way of purity, positiveness and power. Thank you that you have redeemed me and that I stand in safety because of your blameless life, Lord Jesus. Praise you that you are merciful to me far beyond what I deserve.]

Psalm 26:12 “My feet stand on level ground;”

[Praise you that I have all I need in you for stability, effectiveness and safety. You have set a race out before me; you smooth out the way, you help me forward, and running before me, you guide and direct.]

“in the great assembly I will praise the LORD.”

[Before all, Lord, I want to give you honor and glory, praise and power, exaltation and strength. You are the good One, you are the powerful One, you are the trustable One. So, I bow before you in awe and thankfulness, I rise up in grace and joy, I move ahead in this day with thanksgiving and faith, fully clothed in the armor of God, able to stand no matter what comes.

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Weakness and Wonder

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 6, 2017
As we move through life with all its unknowns and challenges, it is wonderful, Lord, to know that you are guiding us, that you will lead us in paths of righteousness.
 
I am so small, so ignorant (I couldn’t even buy the right corner piece for the rain gutters today!), so weak, so bound up in my own viewpoint, so influenced by selfishness and sin that in myself I cannot make wise decisions.
 
When I tried to buy tickets for our trip to Germany last week, you prevented the transaction from going through, even though I thought it had. This was because you knew the dates I had picked were wrong, and enabled me to change the dates to better ones with better flights without a problem.
 
You, Lord Jesus, are my wise and all knowing Shepherd who cares for your sheep. You know the future, you know the next things to come, you know the needs I’ll have today, next week, next year.
 
I praise you now for how you will provide and protect, for you are good and pure, you are wise and loving, you are kind and firm, you are powerful and gracious, you are my God.
 
You are also my Rock: unshakable, unassailable, unchanging. You are my Salvation: the One who redeems and rescues. You are my High Tower: giving safety, vision and insight. I can trust you.
 
Help me to know how to deal with things today, Lord. Only with you can I press forward properly, denying self, obeying your Word, listening to your Spirit. I praise you now for your help to come. May I honor you today in all.
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