Fifty-Eight

How Great is our God. Surely, He uses all things as messages to His children. Today, is my birthday, 58 years old. Clearly the Lord reminded me this morning that five is the prophetic number for GRACE and eight is the number for NEW BEGINNINGS. How appropriate for me. Dick and I have just recently celebrated our 25th Anniversary and his retirement from full time employment at RI College. We have taken a turn in our natural lives by putting our RI home on the market and searching out land in Ken for a second home while we make our residence in Florida! Let me not forget the launching of deeper waters in the ministry the Lord has given us to the body of Christ. Needless to say, I certainly need His grace to fulfill the purpose of these New Beginnings in our lives! Then this morning Dick and I went to the water's edge to spend some quite time in the Word. I randomly opened to Isaiah 58. How am I to get that grace for these new beginnings? And I read. Fasting in many cases is a Christianize word for dieting or in some cases to give the appearance of being holy. Whatever the case may be, I must say there are very few times since my healing that I have been on a fast. The reason why people do not see the results of God's hand in their lives is because they do the righteous things of God without the right heart attitude. They pray and fast yet turn around and do as they please. They continue to exploit co workers, quarrel, and allow strife by spreading vicious rumors or using bad language to one another. This is not love at all. Isaiah goes on to tell of the ones who see God moving in their lives. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, stop pointing fingers (judging others), satisfy the needs of the oppressed, and spend some of your time on behalf of the hungry, THEN your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday. Read for yourself the promises of God from verse eleven to the end. There is much meat in Chapter 58. Take it to heart and obey our living God. Psalm 5:8 is my heart cry for the Lord to lead me in His righteousness, because my enemies would like to distract me. Lord, make straight your way before me so that I will not be lead astray! As I flipped back to Ecclesiastes 5:8 again I was reminded of how earthly things are nothing as compared to being in God's will. It says if you see the poor oppressed in a place and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are other higher still. The Almighty Himself will judge. We are to love and provide when and where He shows us! So Today I breathe in the Goodness of God, and exhale the pressures of the day knowing He will set my path straight and all I need to do is follow! Hey, that goes for you too!