Category: Verse for the Day

Cast Your Cares

Cast Your Cares

Carolyn

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you…” (Psalm 55:22).

I’m in the middle of a 3-part series that I’ll return to soon, but I ended my last post saying we left the high places (from our trip to Switzerland) and hit the ground hard back in the valley! In so doing, we’ve been talking about “casting” a lot – “casting” our cares on the Lord (1 Peter 5:7) and remembering His perfect love “casts” out fear (1 John 4:18), thinking where in Scripture we find the command to “cast”!

While there in Switzerland, we saw this cute church in Lauterbrunnen and visited. They had a bowl of business-size cards for guests to take. I debated whether we should take one, perhaps making sure to leave enough for others. My daughter handed me one, and I slid it into my purse pocket and forgot about it.

I was shopping yesterday and looking for my credit card in my purse pocket and found this stuffed in there. It was a sweet reminder from our time at that beautiful church and of our need to cast our burdens, cares, and anxieties on the Lord who cares for us!

I looked at the church website and saw this quote from Jochen Klepper, who I see online was a prominent German Christian writer, journalist, and one of the 20th century’s most significant Lutheran hymn writers:

“You who hold time in Your hands, Lord, take up the burden of this year as well and turn it into blessing. Now that the center has been firmly established by You in Jesus Christ, lead us toward the goal. You alone are called the Eternal One, knowing beginning, end, and center amidst the fleeting passage of our times: remain graciously turned toward us and lead us by Your hand, that we may walk securely.”

Whatever you are carrying today, remember the Lord cares for you, and you have the perfect place to cast your cares!

While I was shopping yesterday, I also heard this song twice, back-to-back on one radio station and then another. What a great reminder that “What You said on the mountain is still true in the valley”!

Purity and Promise – Matthew 5:8

Carolyn
I woke up a couple of weeks ago with this verse in my mind and I’ve been ruminating over it since then.

Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

I was struck by what seems to be a promise to those who are pure in heart – they will “see God”! Not only this, but they are “blessed” (having the happiness that comes from divine favor, my Bible notes say).

And then I wondered what it means to be “pure in heart.” I found this online:

“The Greek word for ‘pure’ here is katharos. It means to be ‘clean, blameless, unstained from guilt.’

“The Greek word for ‘heart’ is kardeeah. It can be applied to the physical heart, but also refers to the spiritual center of life. It is where thoughts, desires, sense of purpose, will, understanding, and character reside.

“So, to be pure in heart means to be blameless in who we actually are. Being pure in heart involves having a singleness of heart toward God. A pure heart has no hypocrisy, no guile, no hidden motives. The pure heart is marked by transparency and an uncompromising desire to please God in all things. It is more than an external purity of behavior; it is an internal purity of soul.”  (See http://www.gotquestions.org/pure-in-heart.html.)

When by faith in Christ we come to know God, he purifies our hearts and cleanses us from unrighteousness. But there is the process of sanctification, of ongoing holiness that keeps us in that purity. It’s not just a thing at one moment in time.

So my next thought was “How can continue to be pure in heart?”

Psalm 119:9 gives us an answer:
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.”

We stay pure by living according to God’s Word. I don’t think we can hope to be pure in heart if we are not in God’s Word regularly.

We can offer this prayer that David offered after his sin in his life.

Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

1 John 3:2b-3, speaking to the children of God, says, “we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Prayer: Father in heaven, thank you for the sacrifice of your Son that brought us redemption, for the purifying work you do in our lives to refine us and make us like yourself. Help us to walk and live according to your Word so that we might be clean and pure. Convict us where we need to be pure in heart. Cleanse us from any unrighteousness, and create in us pure hearts. Renew in us a steadfast spirit to love and follow you. Help this purity to be our heart’s desire and for you (the One who is perfectly pure) to be our heart’s desire. And may we know the outcome of this purity, the promise that you give us, that we will be blessed and see you! Let us experience this blessing and promise, I pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Verses for the Day: Phil. 4:4-7, 1 Thess. 5:16-18

Carolyn

I love it that “the Lord is near” and we have nothing to fear. Instead, we can rejoice, give thanks, and pray.

Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Why Verses for the Day?

Carolyn

The “Verse for the Day” blog posts began as notes of encouragement each day to my children. I was choosing select verses that God had used in my life and sharing those with my children.

I became convicted that perhaps I should put the verses more in context and decided to choose a book of the Bible to go through, which might also teach my children about more in-depth Bible study. The first book I chose was Galatians, and this has turned out to be far more challenging than I anticipated! I can’t share what I don’t know, and so I have to study and read a good bit more. In the process, I’ve been the one encouraged.

I continue to post these here as a record for my children. However, I don’t pretend to be a Bible scholar! I’m not. In fact, I’ve encountered challenges to getting through Galatians, but want to persevere with what I started. And hopefully by sharing this with my children and here, I am simply sharing what any of us can do when we open up the Word of God each day, study it, and ask Him to lead us by His Spirit. God and His Word have the power to change our lives, and that’s the biggest message I want my children and anyone else to know!

Verses for the Day – Romans 12:1-2

Carolyn

I found a slip of paper this morning in my Bible. It’s been there for a number of years, though I don’t often look at it. There were some notes on it that I wrote down one time when I had to give a brief testimony years ago.

It said, “What drew me to God?”

And I had written, “The Word and His Spirit.” Then I explained with this sentence, “Started with diligent study [of the Word] and led to His supernatural invasion [by His Spirit].”

That pretty much sums it up. I remember moving in 2002 to where we live now and starting Bible studies that took me to study the Bible each day. It was regular, it was consistent. I was learning and growing. There wasn’t anything earth-shattering or emotional. It was just consistent, deliberate study of the Bible every day.

Over time, God’s Word began to take root in my life, and He by the power of His Spirit made all that I had studied and was studying come alive to me. Indescribable joy and blessing followed.

The Lord showed me that if I loved Him, I would obey Him (1 John 5:3). But I wouldn’t obey Him and His Word if I didn’t really believe Him. These things (faith, love, obedience) were all connected.

My faith and belief in God would lead me to obey Him which would show my love for Him, and that would lead to blessing.

FAITH leads to—-> OBEDIENCE which shows my —–> LOVE for God, which ultimately brings —-> BLESSING and great JOY.

Maybe it sounds complex, It’s not. This is why I encourage you to read the Bible because that’s where truth is and that’s where these things will begin to grow. You may not see it or feel it at the start, but you keep doing it because you believe that it matters and that it changes you. And God by His Spirit will do the work.

I end this post this morning with two verses from Romans 12:1-2. I looked up the word “beseech” at the beginning, and it means beg eagerly, implore urgently.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

PRAYER: Father, we see that transformation comes by the renewing of our minds. As we renew our minds in Your Word and truth, our lives are changed by the power of Your Spirit and Your Word, leading to joyful hearts and great blessing. Help us today to believe You and that these things are true, to obey You, to love You, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, pleasing to You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.