Weekly Thing
Hello everyone!
My apologies for not having sent a Weekly last week. Things were a bit busy, and I had also found myself in a bit of a rut. I won’t get into the fine details since they aren’t important right now, but know that I was beginning to worry and doubt the Lord, struggling to trust Him… But you know what He did yesterday, Friday? He encouraged my heart through a certain event as though to bend down and say, “And you thought I didn’t have this taken care of already.”
Actually, come to think of it, I read Matthew 6:25-34 and Luke 12:22-34 that same morning. I’m sure you know of them, or have at least heard bits and pieces from them. These are the passages in which Jesus is speaking about how we as believers ought not to worry because our Father in heaven knows our needs and has them taken care of. Talk about God’s actions as evidence for the validity and relevance of God’s word.
This is a realization-moment for you, unfolding as a type up this email. Let me take one step further back… a few days ago I was at a group meeting, and something someone said has specifically stuck in my mind since: ‘The Lord’s word does not return to Him empty.’ Looking it up thanks to a handy-dandy concordance, this is a reference to Isaiah 55:10 and 11 where it says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth … so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty…”
So, right now, I see crazy things at work involving Scripture. What come from God’s mouth here are His promises, which are expounded upon in the rest of the Bible. One in the New Testament, in Romans 8:28, says that, “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” The rest of Isaiah 55 also mentions that God’s thoughts are higher than our own. It brings to mind other passages in Scripture, a few of which some friends of mine recently pointed to in order to encourage me.
When I started this email, I was thinking of writing about faith (again), and while although faith is still woven into this, it would seem as though I’ve been turned to write of the importance of the Bible. I’ve written before that it is imperative that we as Christians know and understand the Bible… Why? It is the text that we learn about the relationship between humanity (that’s you and me) and divinity (that’s God); the nature of humans; the nature of God; and God’s promises to us. There’s a lot more to it than that, but I think those four things pack a pretty powerful punch on their own. It isn’t a nice collection of stories that give us warm fuzzies on a rainy afternoon; they are collection of stories that reveal quite a lot about the history of God’s people and God’s character. It’s as though every page is a solider in an army meant to revolutionize our way of life. Well, it can do that only if we have life in Christ and want to model our lives after Him. I do not have the intention of exalting a book to the status of something divine - but I do have the intention of telling you that, if you believe that Jesus Christ is your one and only Savior, the Bible is designed to be your handbook on how to live your new life under Him. Not just that, but as you can see from my experience, it has the power to encourage us when things are in disarray. In turn, we praise and give glory to God.
So you see, God’s word really doesn’t return to Him empty.
I pray that each of us are given a desire to learn and understand Scripture, and to seek it when we need encouragement from God - even if we don’t know where to start. I also pray that each of us, when encouraging each other, would point towards Scripture. I also ask that the Holy Spirit would change our attitudes about God’s word and give us discernment while reading.
In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne
(I did not refer to Scripture at the top like I normally do, because this Weekly is peppered with it throughout. I encourage you to look up those passages on your own to read and meditate on them.)
My apologies for not having sent a Weekly last week. Things were a bit busy, and I had also found myself in a bit of a rut. I won’t get into the fine details since they aren’t important right now, but know that I was beginning to worry and doubt the Lord, struggling to trust Him… But you know what He did yesterday, Friday? He encouraged my heart through a certain event as though to bend down and say, “And you thought I didn’t have this taken care of already.”
Actually, come to think of it, I read Matthew 6:25-34 and Luke 12:22-34 that same morning. I’m sure you know of them, or have at least heard bits and pieces from them. These are the passages in which Jesus is speaking about how we as believers ought not to worry because our Father in heaven knows our needs and has them taken care of. Talk about God’s actions as evidence for the validity and relevance of God’s word.
This is a realization-moment for you, unfolding as a type up this email. Let me take one step further back… a few days ago I was at a group meeting, and something someone said has specifically stuck in my mind since: ‘The Lord’s word does not return to Him empty.’ Looking it up thanks to a handy-dandy concordance, this is a reference to Isaiah 55:10 and 11 where it says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth … so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty…”
So, right now, I see crazy things at work involving Scripture. What come from God’s mouth here are His promises, which are expounded upon in the rest of the Bible. One in the New Testament, in Romans 8:28, says that, “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” The rest of Isaiah 55 also mentions that God’s thoughts are higher than our own. It brings to mind other passages in Scripture, a few of which some friends of mine recently pointed to in order to encourage me.
When I started this email, I was thinking of writing about faith (again), and while although faith is still woven into this, it would seem as though I’ve been turned to write of the importance of the Bible. I’ve written before that it is imperative that we as Christians know and understand the Bible… Why? It is the text that we learn about the relationship between humanity (that’s you and me) and divinity (that’s God); the nature of humans; the nature of God; and God’s promises to us. There’s a lot more to it than that, but I think those four things pack a pretty powerful punch on their own. It isn’t a nice collection of stories that give us warm fuzzies on a rainy afternoon; they are collection of stories that reveal quite a lot about the history of God’s people and God’s character. It’s as though every page is a solider in an army meant to revolutionize our way of life. Well, it can do that only if we have life in Christ and want to model our lives after Him. I do not have the intention of exalting a book to the status of something divine - but I do have the intention of telling you that, if you believe that Jesus Christ is your one and only Savior, the Bible is designed to be your handbook on how to live your new life under Him. Not just that, but as you can see from my experience, it has the power to encourage us when things are in disarray. In turn, we praise and give glory to God.
So you see, God’s word really doesn’t return to Him empty.
I pray that each of us are given a desire to learn and understand Scripture, and to seek it when we need encouragement from God - even if we don’t know where to start. I also pray that each of us, when encouraging each other, would point towards Scripture. I also ask that the Holy Spirit would change our attitudes about God’s word and give us discernment while reading.
In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne
(I did not refer to Scripture at the top like I normally do, because this Weekly is peppered with it throughout. I encourage you to look up those passages on your own to read and meditate on them.)