Deb Gerard’s Blog

1 Chronicles 12:18  “Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the chief of the captain” 

In the original language, the word “clothed” is used instead of “came upon”.  As I read this, I saw this picture of a coat being put on-a coat that covered head to foot because it was very long and hooded.  I thought of how it would feel to be clothed in such a garment.  Then I thought of that garment as the Holy Spirit of GOD and what a blessing that would be.  It would protect from all earthly and worldly elements; it would insulate me against exposure to worldly influences and would keep me unstained from sin.  Sin could not “get through” my protective Holy Spirit coat.

Scripture says, however, that since Jesus, the Spirit now actually lives, abides, resides, and dwells, within believers as opposed to simply coming upon them and covering them.  This new way is a much more invasive positioning.  Scripture further makes it clear that this positional condition of the Spirit as He lives in believers is a permanent one-a forever dwelling! 

The truth of the matter is that two things dwell within me-the Holy Spirit and my own human nature!! Scripture goes on to say it is what comes from within a person that defiles a person, not what is on the outside.  

If that is true, it sounds like the perfect combination for internal spiritual battles to be taking place inside me between the two opposing forces living there!  Having the Holy Spirit residing within takes on new importance this side of heaven because of the fact that my human nature also lives there!  Being clothed by the Holy Spirit is a wonderful thing, but being indwelt by the Holy Spirit is something so much more wonderful as it is the only power we have to win the battle within! 

I am faced then with a daily decision and so are you.  Who will dictate and control me?  Will it be my human nature or the Holy Spirit-both of whom dwell within me?   Today, this moment, I choose to yield my members to the Holy Spirit and I pray God for the strength to do the same in the next moment!

 Hi all!  I haven’t written lately!!  I am back now, though, so get ready!!  I will attempt to be more faithful!  Do let me know if you enjoy these little pieces of life!  God bless, deb

A Place of Refuge:

Proverbs 9:9-10  “The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.  And those who know You now will put their trust in You.  For you, LORD have not forsaken those who seek You.”

I got a call recently from my mom asking that I pray for a cousin who was undergoing surgery right at that very moment.  The prospect of “cancer” had raised its ugly head.  My cousin doesn’t know the LORD in the sense that she has never acknowledged her sin and relied on what Jesus did at the cross to save her from the penalty of that sin.  So, she doesn’t “know” the LORD though she knows ABOUT Him.  As I was doing my devotions following this call, the above verses came to my attention.  My heart ached that my cousin not only be ok physically but that she comes to see the LORD as this place of refuge.

 In the original language, “refuge” is defined as “secure height”.  I was listening recently  to the news on the tragic Mid East war where a battle was raging in some small town from which observation could be made from a great distance while positioned on top of this hill.  That’s just what a place of “secure height” does-it enables us to see danger approaching from a long way off and yet keeps us safe and secure at that height.  That is what the LORD wants to be in my cousin’s life.  That’s what He wants to be in your life too! 

Amos 7: 7-8 “Thus he showed me; Behold the LORD stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His Hand.  And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see”?  And I said, “a plumb line”.  Then the LORD said; “Behold I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel”.

My sons often comment on the fact that the pictures in our house are hanging crooked.  Now, try as I might to hang them straight, I have come to believe that I see things a bit slanted and thus hang things at a slight angle!  They look straight from my perspective, but obviously they are not.  I don’t currently use a plumb line or a level, but that might not be a bad idea!

GOD uses a plumb line.  He has set it in the midst of his people, of which I am now one.  It is a plumb line of righteousness.  It’s set to indicate right behavior according to God’s own standard.  We are the pictures in His room and our task is to line up, fall in line, hang “level” with his plumb line standard. I can’t use my own perspective or my own concept of what is “plumb” and straight.  I must “guy off” the true plumb line God has provided through His Son and his Word.  To do otherwise is to function on a slant–being slightly deviated from God’s standard.  At birth we are all slanted off that plumb line because of original sin, but when we line up with Jesus who is the perfect representation of God’s plumb line of righteousness, we become level and true to plumb.  Once that transaction has taken place, our soul stays on line even though the members of our flesh may tilt or tip out of plumb during the course of the day.  My task is to daily realign my thoughts, words and deeds with God’s plumb line of right behavior.   This is so necessary if I am to represent Christ accurately here is this slanted world.

Obeying the First Time! 

Jonah 3:1 “Now, the Word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time saying, ‘Arise, go to Ninevah…”  At first blush (and if we didn’t already know the story), this would seem but a simple deal.  God had obviously told Jonah a first time to go to Ninevah and it would seem that Jonah didn’t do it.  NOW God is telling him a second time.  After God told him the first time, Jonah ran in the opposite direction.  He then was on a ship that came upon a huge storm that threatened to capsize it.  Jonah was then thrown overboard as a way to save the ship (You see, in those days, people really considered early on that maybe GOD had something to do with things like this and maybe someone was disobeying something!!!).  Jonah ends up in the belly of a big fish for three days and finally is vomited up on dry land, really white skinned from being bleached by the fish’s stomach acid!  NOW, after all this, GOD tells Jonah a second time to go to Ninevah.  Verse 3 says “So Jonah arose and went to Ninevah, according to the Word of the LORD!”

As I read this story again this morning, these thoughts came to me.  First, a great deal happened between the two directives from the LORD.  Second, there were some pretty immediate and severe consequences to Jonah’s disobedience to God’s instructions.  Third, in hind sight, it would seem that the wiser move on Jonah’s part would have been to obey the first time!

Oh, did this speak to my heart!  How many times does God have to tell me more than once before I obey?  How many consequences have I suffered because of initial disobedience?  How many times do I read in the Bible, His instruction manual for my life, to do this or not do that and I choose to “run in the opposite direction”? 

God gives us stories in the Bible as examples to guide us and teach us so we don’t have to repeat those same lessons and learn the hard way!  God wants immediate and complete obedience and throughout His Word, He clearly indicates the results-obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings cursing!!  I am such a slow learner (and probably, if I am really honest, more rebellious than slow!!) but I am so grateful to a gracious God who hasn’t resorted to using a big fish to teach me!!!  Oh God, may I choose this day to obey the first time!  May my readers do the same!!

Mark 4:41 “And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, ‘Who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”

The disciples had just experienced nearly hurricane force winds on the Sea of Galilee, a lake 690 feet below sea level and surrounded by hills in which severe winds often arose.  The disciples were familiar with such storms and felt sure this one was strong enough to drown them.  Jesus was in the boat with them, but so exhausted from sharing, teaching and healing that He was sleeping through this horrific storm. 

The disciples rush to Him for help, as they believed they were about to perish.  Jesus speaks peace to the storm and though such storms normally ended gradually, upon the command of Jesus, this one abates immediately. 

After speaking the storm to calm, Jesus asks the disciples “How is it you have no faith?’  It is at this point the Bible indicates in Mark 4:41, “And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, ‘Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey Him?’”  The disciples had feared for their very lives during the storm and, in that fear, they ran to Jesus for help.  His response (calming the storm with a word) results in exceeding fear and absolute wonder as to who this Jesus really was if even the storm obeyed Him! 

Who is this One?  Jesus asked Peter on another occasion who he thought He was and Peter told Him.   The Bible records his answer in Matthew 16:16 where Peter says to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  This is the One who calms the storm with a word.  This is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  This is the One we can run to for help and know we will get it!  Take comfort and draw strength in knowing this truth about this One!

 
We had a guest speaker in church today.  He gave a tremendous message on lessons learned on the road through throat cancer.  He ended his message by quoting Jim Elliot, a missionary to the Auca Indians.   Jim was martyred by the very ones to whom he came to bring the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ.  In the inside cover of Jim’s Bible, he had written, “He is no fool who gives  what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”.  I have heard that quote many times in the past and every time it has hit me profoundly.  To give away what I cannot keep would include things like my stuff.  How much time and energy my stuff gets!  How much of my thoughts deal with my stuff!  The truth is not one stitch, not one key, not one bubble of my stuff will leave this earth when I do!  To gain what I cannot lose…. What is included in that category? First, and most obvious, is the forgiveness of my sins-the very sins that previously damned me to an eternity in hell.  Once I asked for this forgiveness and it was granted by my just and loving and holy God, I can never lose it!  The cool thing is that forgiveness extends to cover past, present and future sins.  I have gained eternal life through reliance of what Christ did on the cross.  He was resurrected from the dead and He is going to resurrect me because I have put my faith in Him!  Once gained, I cannot lose it for the very Word of God says I am safe in the palm of His Hand and no one can push, pull, drag me out of there!!  I have gained peace, joy and hope while here in this life because I know whose I am, I know who has me and I know where I am going!  Lastly, I have gained a story of real deliverance by grace that no one can deny or negate and forever belongs to me.  So, what do I do with all that I have gained and cannot lose?  The Good Book says I am to share it and let others know the reason for the hope that is in me.  I just did!  The question is— what are YOU going to do with it?

I am sitting here at my computer tonight totally in awe of the power and life in the Word of God.  In the last week, I have been involved in a significant number of biblical counseling situations.  In all of these sessions, the foundation has been the sufficient Word of God-as in sufficient to deal with any and all problems that present themselves.  The amazing thing I am discovering is that the Word IS, indeed, sufficient!   I have seen the Word speak to an angry wife and cause her to see that a gentle answer truly does turn away wrath.  I have watched as a young girl came to understand that “self control” is a much needed fruit of the Spirit!  I have even had the privilege of being used by God to share the truth of the Gospel and hear this precious woman pray the most sincere words of repentance in response to God’s Word.  I have, with my heart in my throat, encouraged a woman to use the steps of confrontation found in Matthew 18. I have seen her, though afraid, act on them because she believed they were true and right.  I watched as a young mom so believed the words of Proverbs 25 applied directly to a wrong action she had taken that she went and undid it!  The disciples knew that the Word of God was the truth.  They had seen the results from the application of the Word of God to an individual life.  They were willing to die for its truth and to stand on it through whatever the circumstances. 

 The power and life I have seen in this Word of God has strengthened my faith.  Because this week happened, I am bigger in Christ, stronger in doctrine, more sure in pronouncement and more trusting in the God whose Word this is.

Hello, good friends out there!  I was reading in Luke 22 today and something just struck me -something I hadn’t see in this way before.  Jesus is preparing to celebrate the Passover.  His disciples ask Him where He plans to celebrate it.  Jesus instructs them to go to the market, find a man carrying a waterpot and follow him to a house.  Once there, when questioned as to their reason for being there, they are to tell the owner “the Teacher says to you, ‘Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples’?  The owner would then take them to a large upper room for their use. 

What I found so amazing in this story is that this is an unknown house owned by an unnamed man who simply obeys the directives of “the Teacher”.  Sometimes I want to serve the LORD famously and be known and recognized for my service-to hear the oohs and aahs all around me.  This unnamed man sought only to obey -without fanfare and without recognition.  Nowhere in Scripture is he identified.  He remains forever in this world unnamed.  Oh, but, in heaven, he already well known and recognized by the One, the ONLY ONE whose recognition matters and there his mansion awaits!

I have been going through a time of doubting and wondering why God allows certain things to happen.  I have been in “Valleytime”.  No one likes valleytime.  Everyone fears it, but Goduses it to grow us up, to mold us, to strengthen us, to move us toward being all He designed us to be.  When you think about it, nothing grows on the mountain top!  Things grow best in the valley!  What we sometimes forget is that God is everywhere-He is even there in the valleytime, even when it is “the valley of the shadow of death” talked about in Psalm 23.  We can trust Him to walk through the valley with us.  We sometimes wish He would remove us from valleytime, but when He doesn’t, it is because he knows our frame and He knows our hearts and he knows what is best for our growth-He is always thinking about our growth as His objective is always to make us more like Jesus!  I am discovering that even in valleytime, I can trust Him to be there and to see me through.  You can, too, so take heart, my fellow valleytime traveler!

Hi all! 
I was reading in Philippians one morning when a couple of verses really hit me.  Philippians 2:13 states, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure”.  Then in Philippians 1:6 it says, “He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”.  What struck me is the fact that nothing is of my own doing!   My very desire to be saved was a work of God in me.  He gave me the will to WANT His salvation and the WILL to be drawn!  As the popular worship song clearly states, “It’s all about Him, it’s not about me!”  Then, once the work of initially saving me is over, He continues to work to make me holy, to sanctify me, to make me more like His Son.  The unbelievable thing is that once he starts this good work, He continues to work and will continue to do it all for His good pleasure! 

 
This is true for me AND it is true for you!  How cool is that!  It brings the God of this universe pleasure to first bring us to Himself by His will working in us.  Then it brings Him good pleasure to continue to work in us for that good pleasure.  It is so wonderful even though it sounds like a broken record-He starts something for His good pleasure and continues something for the same reason!   How fantastic this is!!  What a loving God He is!  How much He wants a restored relationship with us-not because we are so wonderful and worthy of His efforts, but because it gives Him pleasure! 

 
It humbles me to think that He is willing to do all this so that I can have all of His grace and goodness even though I deserve none of it.  It moves me to tears to try to grasp such love, such depth of loving expression, such goodness.  To top it all off, He will continue His efforts on our behalf-efforts to make us like His beloved Son-until that Son returns to get us!!  As the song goes, “He who began a good work in me; He who began a good work in me-will be faithful to complete it; He’ll be faithful to complete it; He who started a good work will be faithful to complete it in me!!”  Could anyone ever be more faithful than that?  This ought to put us on our faces in worship before this gracious yet Almighty God!!