Hello everybody. And how is the world treating you today? As for me and my house, all is well. Why? Because I am on vacation!
While on vacation, I was thinking…although we know that God is Spirit, references in the holy scriptures allows us to also attribute/ascribe qualifications of a personal or human nature to Him. When we do characterize God in this way, He becomes the very personification of humanity. That is why I can proclaim with assurance that He is my refuge and strength.
To realize that Jesus Christ is with me and I need not be afraid gives me strength and hope. Why? Because believe it or not, I’m not perfect! I make mistakes. I speak out of turn and sometimes without thinking. I sometimes forget special birthdays of friends and family members. I have also been known to forget to renew insurance policies and other business affairs. I may use profanity when I stump my toe. And although I try, I cannot always please everybody.
So, when I declare that God is my refuge and strength, I truly embrace the fact that He and He alone provides me a place of shelter and safety from the pursuit of all hurt, harm and danger. I take comfort in being in Jesus’ presence, trusting in His promise of eternal life. And I always lift up prayers asking forgiveness for all my short comings, mistakes and misguided afflictions I may bestow on others.
Another thing I ask of God is to include me in providing services to others. To always be generous in sharing my blessings with others and to remember to shout praises and adoration to the glory of God.
Just because I am on vacation with my family, I do not want to neglect my readers and followers of this blog message. I am grateful to God for allowing the Holy Spirit to converse with me each week and to remind me of the goodness of God. May you, too, be blessed and enjoy His presence each and every day.
My prayer for you…
Dear Heavenly Father. I truly thank you for Who You are and for making it possible for me to focus on the things that give me hope and to look away from those things that scare and frighten me. I praise you for the promise of eternal life and the assurance that you are my refuge and strength both spiritually and personified. Amen and Amen.
Scripture Lesson: “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
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Conversations With God Using Scripture 
Romans 5:20-21
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
The grace of God is overwhelming, thank you and God bless you.
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Thank you pcviii03 for your comment. Romans 5:20-21 reads like this from the Message Bible: “All that passing laws against sin
did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life–a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.”
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Hallelujah and Amen!!
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…and agin I say “Hallelujah and Amen!! Sorry to take so long to respond to your comment, Kristi Ann. I was on vacation to Charlotte, NC.
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So glad you had a wonderful vacation!
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Guess what, Dee! God is still in the blessing business. Just a few minutes ago I received a call from a dear sister in Christ who expressed a need to be reminded that God IS her refuge and strength. I’m sending her this blog message hoping that it will encourage her as the Holy Spirit encouraged me. Let’s continue to pray for those saints who are on the battle for the Lord!
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That’s wonderful news! I pray that God will use these words to encourage and strengthen her heart.
P.S. Sometimes I am slow to respond to your replies (not this one, obviously) because I don’t get a notification of your reply unless you click on the ‘Reply’ button on my reply. But sometimes I will check to see if you responded, even if I don’t get a notice. I don’t know if others do this.
Have a beautiful day!
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Thanks for the ‘heads-up. I did not know I had to click on your ‘reply’ button. I will comply.
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“I will comply”… LOL. You’re so funny. Can’t wait to meet you!
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