Dwelling In The Shelter

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1)

The Hebrew word for dwell in this passage is yashab. Yashab means to sit down, to remain or stay or to make that place your abode. It is where you live. Psalm 91 is a wonderful picture of God's protection and care. The outcome of sitting down is rest in his presence. Rest is a real good thing. I read an article today by Greg Laurie that talked about how 50% of Americans are constant worriers, but only about 8% of the things they worry about are actually legitimate.

Life can be stressful. but we have a place of refuge in the Lord. It is a place of rest and peace. We access it by our fellowship with Him. We do that by time in the Word, prayer, worship and a heart attitude that cultivates His presence. What do I mean by that? We learn to live in an awareness of His presence. In 1st Thessalonians 5:17 Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing." If we think of prayer as a religious exercise that would be impossible, but if we think of prayer as communication (communion) with the Lord then it can become a reality.

There are times when how we pray will be more intense than others. Sometimes we will withdraw to a quiet place, just as Jesus did. Sometimes though, we will find ourselves in a place where we just can't do that. Does that mean that God won't hear us or we can't receive His wisdom and help? Absolutely not. He is always near, but we need to sharpen our awareness and understanding of that. It really starts with a mindset that God is with me wherever I and we are having a constant conversation.

There is rest in this constant conversation with him. Stop striving and chasing. Psalm 91 is a wonderful place to start.

A Whole Hearted Walk

"I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore." (Psalm 86:12)

I love the phrasing here -- "I will praise You... with all my heart." It is so easy to approach life and even our walk with the Lord in a half hearted manner. We're told in Colossians 3:23, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men." Life is full of distractions that draw our hearts away from what is good. This relationship we have with the Lord is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week relationship. He is always with us. The problem is that we often approach the relationship in a half hearted manner.

We do that, for the most part, because we are distracted by life. Life is busy and stressful. That's why we need some alone time with Him even more. Yes, He is with you wherever you go but there need to be some times when you give Him your full attention. Not for His sake, but for yours.

Doing this really requires you to be intentional. It won't happen by accident or happenstance. Like any other worthy goal in life such as losing weight or trying to exercise it requires some discipline and pressing in. If you don't make it priority it won't be. It's also not about some legalistic quiet time that God requires of you. Please don't approach your fellowship with God as some kind of painful obligation. Walking with Him is the most wonderful thing there is!

"He has shown you, O man, what [is] good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

Koinonia

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers."
Acts 2:42

Acts 2:42 gives us an interesting glimpse into early church life. Here we find four things emphasized.

They continued steadfastly in:

The apostles' doctrine (teaching, receiving and doing)
Fellowship
Breaking of bread (eating together)
Prayers

What we really have here is a picture of community at work. People who were together a lot! Acts 2:46 indicates they were together daily. It is easy to compartmentalize our lives: church, work, home life, friends, etc and all too often that's where things stay and we miss much that God has for us.

One of the greatest joys of the Christian life for me is relationships. We eat together a lot at our church. Some of the eating is done at church while some is done in other places. This last Thursday we were part of group that got together at Cracker Barrel. Those times are precious. It is in those times that we really get to know one another. It is our involvement in each others lives that really begins to bring meaning and purpose to what we do at church.

We've never been called to walk this journey alone. God calls us sheep. Part of the reason for that is that we have a need for community. We have a need for other people. We need one another in the body of Christ.

In Philippians 1:3-5 Paul wrote, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Fellowship is the Greek word koinonia and it means so much more than just getting together for the occasional church supper. It's the same word we get communion from. It is a word that really points to the enmeshment of our lives together in the body of Christ. Paul had a special bond with the church at Philippi.

And maybe that's the point. We need people in our lives who we can share our hurts and struggles, as well as our joys and victories, with. We need friends who will laugh with us and cry with us and give us real help when we need it.

Ultimately, so much of life comes down to relationships. Relationships seed the opportunity to bless when we have the ability to do so and receive when we need help.

God loves you so much! Ask the Lord to get you hooked into folks who live the love of God!