He Will Lead You to Still Waters

He Leads me beside still waters…

We were driving through “old stomping grounds” as they call them the other evening. Crossing a bridge over the Little Missouri River we remembered one of our more daring adventures. We decided to take a flat bottomed boat and go for a little ride with our then 2 year old daughter. Everything started out great, but soon we were in swift water and then the motor stalled and then the boat got hung up on a tree limb. We were about to go under when the miraculous happened – the boat got loose and the motor started back up! The first thing Danny did was head back to where we launched the boat.

As young people we all do things that are adventurous but dangerous. With a small daughter aboard the fun was totally drained from the whole experience. The lesson was learned but it didn’t stop us from continuing with adventures. We just didn’t always take our little one with us.

Life is really a wonderful adventure, especially when you’re married to your best friend. Without Danny I would not have done much of the daring things we’ve done if any of them. But with Danny even the rough spots in the river of life have been worth it.

I’m thankful that with the Lord the adventure of the faith has a promised outcome of good. Although there are rapids of despair and stalled moments of discouragement and limbs of adversity in the way, we keep going for new territory. We keep sitting in the boat with our Lord and letting Him calm the storm we might find ourselves in. But we aren’t giving up and we aren’t going back to shore. We’re staying with Jesus and we’re going to keep adventuring for Him.

God wants you to know that He has promises you can count on when you are adventuring in life. One of the greatest promises is that He will lead you beside still waters. This is restoration time beloved. You’ve made it through the rapids, you’ve managed to get free of the sandbars, and although your engine has stalled time and again God has gotten you going. Not all adventures are fun, not all travels have great rides, but God Himself promises you will be safe in the boat with Him. Safe in His arms, led to still waters – waters that calm and refresh and restore.

Oh beloved, don’t quit living. Don’t retreat from God’s call to follow Him with your whole heart. Don’t settle for the shoreline. Keep your eyes on God’s horizon for even when things are rough there is rest around the bend. Keep your eyes on the Lord for He is the captain of your ship and the Captain of your life. Even the hardest things that come your way will be used for your good and His glory. Absolutely no one can tip your boat and ruin your adventure or keep you from your destination – not people, not situations, not even the enemy himself. God has called you to a purpose far beyond mere human and natural circumstances. The adventure of a lifetime is letting God make your life supernatural in Him.

Launch out! God loves you and He’s for you so you can keep sailing for more adventures with Him!

Psalm 23: 2b- 3 …He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name.

Mark 39:40 When Jesus woke up, He rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then He asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Colossians 2:6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him.

Psalm 25:1 O Lord, I give my life to You.

Psalm 103:5 He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

God Will Mend it and Give You a Ministry for Him

She called our office looking for help. The garbage men had delivered her monthly supply of  trash bags, which are in a large roll.  The only problem was that they threw it into her yard and broke off a shrub at its base! Would it grow again? Was it ruined? What would happen? Should she pull it up and discard it? Replace it?

I forwarded her call to one of our agents. With knowledge of horticulture she was able to answer the woman’s questions and give her hope.  If we had no agents with knowledge none of us would be able to help.  I could have forwarded her call to the agent who knows about cooking and canning, but that would not have helped.

Unless there is knowledge to impart, there’s no need to speak with someone else. If we only speak with folks who know nothing more than we do, we’ll all be in the same boat. If we think we know so much that we don’t need to ask anyone else, we’ll be up a creek without a paddle. 

The agent in my office could have said no to the call. “Tell her I’m busy trying to learn more, read more, seek more. I don’t have time to help.” 

But taking the chance and answering the call not only helps the caller, it helps the receiver of the call. If we take the chance and let God use us to impart knowledge we will also learn in the process. We will grow in faith, fellowship and love.

People have lots of issues. Some of them are far more serious than a broken branch on a small shrub. But they’re looking for answers.  They need help. They need relief. They want to be able to look beyond their brokenness.  They want to recover and thrive again. They want to produce new fruit, flower in faith and shine the glory of their Maker.

For every believer, we are gifted with a spiritual education to receive. This education goes on throughout our lives. We don’t get our “diploma” until we arrive in heaven, but we should be learning truth to live out in our own lives. And as we learn we should be asking God to use us to impart His Truth into the lives of others. We’re not learning for ourselves – that would be self-centered. Rather we are learning to share – and that’s God-centered.

Oh beloved, God knows the brokenness you’ve experienced. He knows the things that have been thrown at you.  They may have been intentional or unintentional but they hurt all the same. Whether from a stranger or a loved one, the pain is agonizing. There is no hope for recovery, redemption or regeneration on your own. Until you stretch out your life to the One Who has Rivers of living water.  If you will let God heal your hurts and grow you in your faith He will then use you to help others.  God will indeed use your former brokenness to impart to others His redemption, His reparation, His restoration.

Run to the Lord this morning and give Him your brokenness – everything – your hurts, your disappointments, your fears, your anger, your unforgiveness, your discouragement…And watch as He not only repairs your life, He will make it all new! Why would He do this? Because He loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters.

Revelation 21:5 And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new. Also He said, Record this, for these sayings are faithful (accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy) and true (genuine). AMP

Psalm 103:1-2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me.

Psalm 23:3 He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him—not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake. AMP

Psalm 96:2 Sing to the Lord; praise His name. Each day proclaim the good news that He saves.

1 Corinthians 9:23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.