Nae's Notes

What is it we have? Look at 2 Peter 1:3 “Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know personally and intimately the One who invited us to God.” The Message version

Living a life pleasing to God. That’s why we are here. There are those who think that pleasing God is too hard to accomplish. This verse says we already have everything we need- not just some of it. It also says we didn’t have to ask or work for it. It was given to us when God invited us to Him. The middle section holds the key to unlocking the formula to make it work. We must get to know God personally and better than we know anything else. We can’t know Him through someone else’s experiences or beliefs. We have to be the one to put in the time to get to know God. When we do, He reveals to us what He wants us to do and how He wants us to live. That is a life that is pleasing to God. We will survive each day when observing others and their walk with God. We will thrive when we actively make an effort to get to know Him personally. Spend some getting to know Him to find out how you can use what He’s already given to make each day pleasing to Him!

In the book of Jeremiah, he tells the people that they are going to be taken into captivity and the city destroyed. They are shocked because they are God’s people, and He has always taken care of them. The same message is repeated multiple times throughout the book and says the impending judgement is because they didn’t listen to the words of the Lord. In the first 7 verses of chapter 25 these words appear 4 times in the NASB version, “you have not listened” or “inclined your ear to hear”. The Lord is using Jeremiah to remind the people that a key part to their blessings and protection is listening to God and what He says.

I was reminded of this recently during my prayer time. God reminded me of some things I am supposed to do and haven’t done yet. I know God is not going to bring destruction on me because I haven’t acted on His words. Upon reading the words in the chapter above I remembered how important it is to do what God tells us to do for Him. Some of what He tells us may be to help ourselves or to help others. Sometimes I think it’s just to see if we’re listening to Him. It has to be a 2 way street not just a 1 way street of requests. We can survive those periods between God’s requests and our actions because of His grace. How much quicker will be thrive when we don’t wait to act upon His words?

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ…” 2 Corinthians 2:14a NRSV

I came across this verse in my journal, written almost 4 years ago to the day. The statement I wrote with it read, “Thankful for the promises of God no matter how things look.” I have no idea what happened at that time to prompt that brief entry, but it is very fitting for today as well. God’s promises don’t change even when our circumstances do change. He is not moved by the things we encounter each day that seem to contradict that verse. You may have circumstances surrounding you today that don’t appear or make you feel very triumphant. If we felt triumphant all the time we wouldn’t seek God. We would feel triumphant in our own abilities to take care of situations. This world is not set up to make us feel good. This fact is emphasized in the second part of the verse, “and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” 14b NRSV. We are here for Him and to bring others into knowledge of Him. That is not a small task. We need God and His leading to the right things at the right times to reach the people He wants us to reach. We forget in our wants that God just wants us to know and follow Him and be led in His triumph not our own. It’s hard to give thanks when we don’t get what we want, but we have to remember God sees everything and wants what is best. When God wins, we win. We can survive getting the things we think we want. We will thrive when we give thanks for letting God lead us into what He wants which causes us to be triumphant with Him!

There’s a lot of answers to that question. At the end of the day, the important thing to remember is that you matter to God. There’s so many things in this world that will come and try to pretend they are more important than that. Sometimes people come into your life that try to tell you other things. They make you think that there are things that are more important than your relationship with God and following what He has told you. Only you know what path is right for you when you are following God. Don’t let the noise of the world take you off your path. Jeremiah 7:23 has some simple advice:

“ But I did say this, commanded this: “Obey me. Do what I say and I will be your God and you will be my people. Live the way I tell you. Do what I command so that your lives will go well.””
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭7‬:‭21‬-‭23‬ ‭MSG‬‬

God commanded that we obey Him and live the way He tells us to live. Some people might mistake life going well for never having any problems. That’s not realistic. Our lives will go well in the fact that when we obey Him we will end up where He wants us. The only thing that matters is that we matter to God and do whatever He wants us to do while we are here. We will survive the times we miss the mark and get distracted by the noise. We will thrive when we live the way He wants us to live and obey his commands!

Nobody likes carrying heavy objects for long periods of time. It causes fatigue and soreness that interferes with our plans. Being anxious is similar to carrying heavy things around for long periods of time. We become tired more quickly and cause ourselves unnecessary pain by worrying about what is going on in our lives. Proverbs 12:25 says, “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.” (NIV) Many times others don’t know we are anxious and feeling weighed down, so they can’t provide the kind words we need in order to cheer up. What do we do then? Open the Bible and look at the words God says about us. Be your own cheerleader by speaking the kind, encouraging words over yourself. Some examples are:

“Trust in the Lord…and enjoy safe pasture.” (Ps 37:3)
”Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Ps 37:4)
”…those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”(Ps 37:9)
”If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” (Ps 37:23-24)

Don’t survive this week carrying the weight of your anxiety with you each day. Thrive by speaking God’s word into your mind, so you can cheer up and drop the extra weight!

Psalm 34:14 says, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (NIV). Are the two parts meant to be separated or do they go together? An argument could be made for both. Lets take a moment to view them together.

Seeking peace is turning from evil? That seems a little harsh. When you think about it, though, we tend to do things that aren’t good when we don’t seek peace. It may not be intentional, but there is turmoil when peace is absent. Sometimes turmoil causes a loss of peace or losing peace causes turmoil. When we are in turmoil, we don’t gravitate toward good things in our words and actions. I recently allowed something out of my control to steal my peace. In the midst of it, I felt turmoil and did not want to do anything good to help others. I wasn’t intentionally doing evil and most people probably didn’t even know how I felt. In the moment I was all about myself and how I felt and not focused on how I could serve and bring glory to God, which is why we’re here.

The New Living Translation states, “Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.” Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬. Working to maintain peace indicates it requires constant action, focus, and discipline in order to stay in a state of peace.

The Message version states, “Turn your back on sin; do something good. Embrace peace—don’t let it get away!” Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭14‬ ‭MSG‬‬. Picture a child with his/her favorite stuffed animal. They hug it tightly in order to keep from losing it or having someone else take it away. It is with the same passion that child has that we should work to embrace and hold on to our peace. We will survive each day with diminished peace. Wouldn’t it be better to thrive by embracing peace and not letting something steal it away from us?

And third and fourth and fifth…..

How many chances will we get to do the right thing? That depends on what the right thing is and who is defining the right thing. Chances are different than redos.Websters dictionary defines chance as “something that happens unpredictably without discernible human intention”. A redo is something “to do over or again”, (Webster’s Dictionary). A redo is something that takes place when we realize we missed the mark or may have misstepped. It’s intentional. A chance is something that is not intentional or planned by humans. Sometimes they go together. For example, throughout the Old Testament the people of Israel miss the mark and seek other gods and help from sources that are not God. Jeremiah chapters 2 and 3 are just 2 of the places that Israel’s foolishness is documented. At the time of their sin, they didn’t realize they needed to redo anything because they justified their actions. Our lives sometimes follow that path as well. That’s where the chance piece comes enters the picture. God gave them another chance to do better and stay focused on what He wanted them to do in order to have what He promised them they could have. Those chances came at times the Israelites were not expecting them and usually at their lowest points. God in his mercy and grace brought about opportunities that they didn’t know about in order to get them back on track. He didn’t just do it once; He did it as many times as needed to get their attention.

Our lives can be similar to this. We lose focus or follow the wrong path and needs a redo. Often times we don’t realize we need this redo until well into the mistake. There are times God brings those second, third, fourth, etc. chances about before we know we need it. Grace. Mercy. Redirection. We don’t know we need these things yet because we are simply surviving on the path we chose. We will thrive when we accept and follow God’s second chances and maybe not need to redo that lesson again!

Plants need water and light to survive. Some die immediately when those things are withheld. Sometimes the death is gradual. The flowers stop blooming or the leaves start to shrink and wither. This is a sign that the plant needs attention. At that point you have a choice-you can water the plant and expose it to more light or you can ignore it, and let it die.

This is not unlike our relationship with God and the things He has promised. God plants a seed in us, and we are excited at the prospect of what this seed will bring. We spend time helping that seed grow into what God intends for it to be. We worship, pray and read His word to assure the seed grows. Without our attention to the seed, it has the potential to get lost in all the things going on around us. We get busy and forget to give the seed the attention we did when it was first planted. It is then we forget what that promise was in the beginning. The seed begins to die. If it is only starting to wither, you can bring it back to life by watering it. God’s promises work the same for us. We can bring those promises back to life by returning to worship, prayer, and reading His word with the same enthusiasm we had at the beginning. John 15:4 says,”

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.15.4.NIV

We can survive the waiting time to the promise. We will only truly thrive by remaining in God, so he can bring about the fruit of the promise.

Spring…blooms on trees and flowers. For a season, these plants are dormant, resting, not living to their full potential. This period of rest is essential for the plants to be everything they are created to be when the season changes and it’s their time to shine. We are not unlike plants in this way. There’s an appointed time for us to bloom-to move into the next season God has for us. Instead of being dormant during this time, we should continue to seek God in order to know when it’s time for us to bloom. Ps. 105:4 says, “Search for the Lord and His strength; continually seek Him,” (NLT). We aren’t supposed to just seek Him when we need something. If we seek Him continually we will know when it’s time to move to the next season.

In addition to seeking the Lord, we should also rest in Him and recharge for the next season.

“The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.””
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭33‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.33.14.NIV

The verse says His presence is with us. His presence is with us when we are resting and waiting and then goes with us into the next season.

The danger with resting is that it can lead to complacency and keep us from living to our full potential in the waiting process. In our rest, we are not to stop seeking God and letting Him work in us and through us. Rest in this case is not “freedom from activity”. Instead it is “a peace of mind”. (Webster’s Dictionary). It can be difficult to rest and remain at peace when it feels like there is no movement forward especially if we think we are ready. When plants bloom early there is danger that a frost will come and damage their blooms and leaves. This leaves damage that is visible and takes time to overcome. The same is true for us. We can survive moving into the next season before the appointed time and skipping the resting season. We will thrive if we seek the Lord and His rest in order to move into the next season at just the right time!

According to the dictionary, a pitfall is a pit flimsily covered or camouflaged and used to capture and hold animals or men; a trap or snare (Websters dictionary). That is what comes to mind when pitfall is mentioned to most people. The second definition given is somewhat more intriguing, “a hidden or not easily recognized danger or difficulty”. It is not unusual to associate danger with pitfall. Most people work hard to avoid danger, so you might think that pitfalls aren’t a problem. Then you look at the word “difficulty”. Difficulty seems to be something that is not anticipated-not easily recognized. This makes them unavoidable. Sometimes falling into these hidden difficulties does lead into the first definition of being captured and held in the pitfall.

Hidden difficulties cannot be avoided. Focusing on the difficulty will allow you to remain there. Switching focus from the pitfall to God and His word can help get out of the pitfall faster. Consider the following verses:

“For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭36‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭97‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God gives us life and shines his light on us when our hearts are right, and we focus on Him. We can survive the pitfalls, or we can thrive by staying focusing on God and letting Him light our path!