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No Fear

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

– Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV)

 

I imagine myself

standing on a mountain

 

when the ground begins to shake

and rocks start to split

 

the noise is deafening

and it’s hard to stay standing

 

I watch as mountains around me

crumble and fall into the sea

 

I stay standing

and I do not fear

 

my senses are heightened

my heart beats fast

 

but I do not fear

 

All is chaos

except inside of me

 

That is trust

 

A refusal to fear

because of who You are, God

 

That is the fearlessness I desire

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation].

– Isaiah 41:10 (AMP)

 

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong.

– 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

#1

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Many of us believe we have as much of God as we want right now, a reasonable portion of God among all the other things in our lives.  Most of our thoughts are centered on the money we want to make, the school we want to attend, the body we aspire to have, the spouse we want to marry, the kind of person we want to become…  But the fact is that nothing should concern us more than our relationship with God;  it’s about eternity, and nothing compares with that.  God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives.

– Francis Chan

 

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

– Luke 9:25 (NLT)

 

Physical sickness we usually defy.  Soul sickness we usually resigned ourselves to.

– Mark Buchanan

 

We disgust God when we weigh and compare Him against the things of this world.  It makes Him sick when we actually decide those things are better for us than God Himself.  We believe we don’t need anything Jesus offers, but we fail to realize that slowly, almost imperceptibly, we are drifting downstream.  And in the process we are becoming blind, being stripped naked, and turning into impoverished wretches.

– Francis Chan

 

But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

– Revelation 3:16 (NLT)

 

God, let me not be enticed to believe

that any thing in this life

compares with You

 

This life, my life,

is nothing

without my beautiful Creator

 

Keep me from love

of this world

to the neglect of my love

for You

 

– Susie Stewart

 

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Into Focus

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Occasionally when I’ve begun to pray, my vision seems blurred. Fuzzy. As though my prayer is out of focus because I don’t know exactly what to pray for or how to pray. But like adjusting the focus on [my] binoculars while I looked through them, I’ve found that as I pray, my thoughts become clearer, my focus sharper, and my requests more specific.

Daniel seems to have experienced this while praying because he states that God gave him insight and understanding, “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people…while I was still in prayer…” (Dan. 9:20-22). It’s encouraging to me to know I don’t have to know specifically how or what to pray in order to submit to my Father’s guiding whisper. Sometimes I’m intimidated to pray beyond the limits of what I can imagine or understand. But as I am praying, God can bring to my mind the thoughts and ideas that have eluded my own understanding.

Why is it that I think after I pray it’s my responsibility to do all I can to bring about the answer? Why do I take the battle into my own hands? Like a drowning person who tries to “help” the rescuer, I wonder how many times I have actually hindered God’s answer to my prayers. I find it encouraging to be reassured that I don’t have to know everything, understand everything, analyze everything before I pray for something.

This is true for all of us. We don’t have to have a clear comprehension of what the need is or what the solution should be. We don’t have to tell God how to “fix” things or even suggest what His course of action might be. We don’t have to solve the problem for Him. What a relief it is to know all we have to do is to get down on our knees and state the problem. The burden to resolve the situation is His, not yours and mine.

– Ann Graham Lotz

 

I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, His holy mountain. As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God.

– Daniel 9:20-23 (NLT)

 

My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.

– 1 John 5:14,15 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Ponder Love

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The very thought of God, to a man who truly loves Him, is ecstasy! If my eternity could be spent in a dungeon with my heart full of love to God, it could not be an unhappy experience to live so!

But, at the back of this, there comes a far greater thing. Brothers and Sisters, we know that God loves us. I never dare to try to speak about this great Truth of God—it is a thing to think over rather than to talk of. I like to get away quietly in a corner and just try to roll this sweet morsel under my tongue, to suck on it till I draw the very essence out of it—God loves me—or, as the hymn puts it—“I am so glad that Jesus loves me.”
For God to think of me is something. For Him to pity me, is more. For Him to help me practically, is still more. But for Him to love me—this is the greatest wonder of all! You know how you, being evil, love your own children, but your Heavenly Father loves you far more! You husbands know how you love your wives, yet there is One who loves His Church far more, for He gave Himself for her! God loves you, my Brother. God loves you, my Sister, if, indeed, you have been brought to believe in Jesus. And to know this great Truth of God is to have an “exceeding great reward,” because, if God loves us, everything must be right!

– Charles Spurgeon

 

So if you, who are sinful, know how to give your children good gifts, how much more so does your Father in heaven, who is perfect, know how to give great gifts to His children!

– Matthew 7:11 (VOICE)

 

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

– Romans 8:38,29 (NLT)

 

To be loved

now

and forever

by God

is everything

– Susie Stewart

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Unwavering Trust

/ Susie Stewart / 1 Comment

Is your trust

swayed with your emotion?

 

Is your trust

in a wave-like motion?

 

Up and down

up and down

up and down

 

Or is your trust

grounded and firm?

 

Based on truth unwavering,

solid?

 

Set your eyes, your mind, your heart

on the God who does not change

 

and let not your circumstances

lessen your trust

 

He will still those waves

if you only surrender

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I entrust my life.

– Psalm 143:8 (NIV)

 

If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get His help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

– James 1:5-8 (MSG)

 

Late that day He said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took Him in the boat as He was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused Him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”

Awake now, He told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”

They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!”

– Mark 4:35-41 (MSG)

 

Photo by Arik Stewart

Good & Trustworthy

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The God Jesus reveals would never do anything to harm us.  He has no malice or evil intentions.  He is completely good.  And the fact that God is also all-knowing and all-powerful makes His goodness even better.  I can trust God even if things look bleak.  It does not matter that God is all-powerful or all-knowing if He is not all-good.  If He isn’t all-good, I will never be able to love and trust Him.

– James Bryan Smith

 

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

– Psalm 125:1 (NIV)

 

He is the Rock; His deeds are perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright He is!

– Deuteronomy 32:4 (NLT)  

 

But as we come to know the good and beautiful God that Jesus knows, our struggles take on a whole new meaning.  If God is truly good and is looking out for our good, then we can come to Him with complete honesty.  We can practice honesty when we pray – baring our soul and confronting those hurts that make us doubt God’s goodness by handing them over to Him for healing.

– James Bryan Smith

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

The Pursuit

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

…the goodness and mercy of God isn’t just following after me placidly. The goodness and mercy of God pursues after me passionately…

God is so bent on blessing, He chases.

God’s not out to get you — He’s out to give to you.

And God’s blessings don’t pursue temporarily — but relentlessly.

It’s right there in His Word: His goodness and mercy pursue me not just some days — but all the days of my life.

When I’m in a wilderness, His mercy and goodness run after me.

When I’m hurting, His grace hunts for me.

When I’m plagued by problems, His goodness pursues me.

No matter where I go, He hasis two blessing men right there in hot pursuit: goodness and mercy, and no shadow of death can overshadow the goodness and mercy that shadows the child of God.

Even the discipline of the Lord can be a grace of the Lord and all the interruptions of a day can be the intercessions of Christ.

I whisper it to myself when it’s noon on the first day of the week and everything is closing in on me and I am already behind:

Whatever is chasing you — no matter what it looks like — it’s grace.Whatever is chasing you — no matter what it looks like — it’s grace.

And grace isn’t what makes us feel good: grace is all that makes us more like Jesus.

I can breathe deeper. I could smile. I don’t have to feel anything pressing on my chest — I could live relieved. Like I can re-live.

Because the real truth is: God wants to bless more than we want to be to be blessed. So why run from whatever God is giving? It’s only got to be for my ultimate good and His ultimate glory.

We don’t live in pursuit of a better life — it’s the blessed life that’s in pursuit of us.

It’s there on the counter, that open journal where I count gifts, and it may feel like I’m looking for goodness and mercy, but it’s grace and mercy that finds me.

No one chases grace — but grace chases everyone.

– Ann Voskamp

 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

– Psalm 23:6 (ESV)

 

Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.

– Psalm 23:6 (AMP)

 

Certainly Your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me where I go, always, everywhere. I will always be with the Eternal, in Your house forever.

– Psalm 23:6 (VOICE)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Gracious

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

Your God-sized graciousness

can’t wait to shower

it’s refreshment on us

 

You long for us, God,

to experience the freedom of grace

the depth of grace

the weightlessness of grace

 

and You wait

and You wait

and You wait

 

and while You wait

we carry the weight

 

the weight of guilt

the weight of shame

the weight of the ungraciousness of people

 

and You long to show us

love

and

compassion

 

You wait patiently

for the laying down of our pride

 

and You are quick to fill

when we finally surrender

to what we needed all along

 

beautiful grace

 

 

– Susie Stewart

 

So the Lord must wait for you to come to Him so He can show you His love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help.

– Isaiah 30:18 (NLT)

 

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!

– Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)

 

He is a rock. What He does is perfect. All His ways are fair. He is a faithful God, who does no wrong. He is honorable and reliable.

– Deuteronomy 32:4 (GW)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Grief & Grace

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

But in thinking about love and grief we must be careful not to confuse either with that sentimentality which is part of cheap grace.  The kind of loving grief I’m talking about involves acceptance of the precariousness of life and that we will all die, but our wholeness is found in the quality rather than the quantity of our living.  Real love, between man and woman, friend and friend, parent and child, is exemplified for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who offered us and still offers us the wholeness of that costly grace which gives us the courage for healthy grief.

We live in a time where costly grace is what makes life bearable; more than bearable – joyful and creative, so that even our grief is part of our partnership in co-creation with God.

– Madeleine L’Engle

 

For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

– Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NLT)

 

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

– Psalm 24:18 (NLT)

 

God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

– Matthew 5:4 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Endure

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

What then are we to do about our problems? We must learn to live with them until such time as God delivers us from them. We must pray for grace to endure them without murmuring. Problems patiently endured will work for our spiritual perfecting. They harm us only when we resist them or endure them unwillingly.

– A.W. Tozer

 

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

– Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)

 

The readiest way to escape from our sufferings is, to be willing they should endure as long as God pleases.

– John Wesley

 

Photo by Susie Stewart