Tempted? Tired and Hungry? Cadbury Mini Eggs? TFW

Happy Wednesday, Faithful Weigher's. Our meetings yesterday were so uplifting and encouraging to perseveres on this path that God is walking with us on.  We have been talking about temptations and satan's lies around us.  Well, for those of you who read the Daily Bread, today's verse is Matthew 4:1-10. It states," ..the tempter came to Him, (Jesus) when he was tired and hungry."  Hmmmm....this is right where I have been these past few days.  In this state of mind and body, "escapes" around us look so good to us, don't they?  My most recent example is this happened yesterday. I am feeling very tired and worn from not being able to sleep a good, solid nights sleep for over a week.  I was hungry because it was already after 1:00 pm and I realized that I had not even had a protein bar for breakfast and it was past my "normal "eat when I'm hungry" time which is usually about 11:30ish.  Well, I was in Aldi's grabbing a few needed grocery items when in the midst of the boxes in the last row, hardly visable to the scanning eye, I saw that they had bigger bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs.  You know, the little milk chocolate eggs with a hard shell.  Well, they hopped their way into my cart!  Ohhh, they would taste real good with my afternoon coffee.  And the did!  I was rebuked by my friend when I said I "sinned" when I bought them. Yes, she is right. It was not a sin to buy Cadbury Mini Eggs.  It was not a sin for me to eat them with my afternoon coffee, knowing that it was part of my "fist full" of food that I needed to nourish me.  However, I realized this morning after reading these verses in the Matthew and the comments in the Daily Bread that when I was tired and hungry, I zeroed in on that purple bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs!  Hmmm... satan tempted Jesus with bread.  He tempts me with Cadbury Mini Eggs!  The truth is that he is still in the business of tempting us when we are tired and hungry!!  We still need to be responding to him as Jesus did!  He spoke God's words back to him.  May be encouraged by this today, as we seek the Lord for what we need today and trust Him to supply those needs and not that which tempts us to satisfy us for a moment.  Wow!  I think I got it, Lord, for today, that is.  I will continue to trust You for my needs for tomorrow.  Blessings on this Wednesday, my sweet Faithful Weigh Friends.

His Time, A New Word! TFW

I trust that you are looking forward to spending some time in the Lord's house today.  I know I am!! This is my first favorite day of the week.  The next one, of course, is "Ministry Tuesday". :)

I learned a new word today!  If you are like my husband, you may already know it.  I probably should have already learned it, but as we know, we come across things, words, ideas and even more importantly, truths in God's Word us when His time is right.  How do know that "His time is right?"  With the curiosity of what a something means!  I had to have read this word, on this day, in "Jesus Calling" for the past 3 years. I usually mark down meanings, aha! moments and underline phrases that "hit" me on that particular day.  However, when I read this word today, I immediately said to myself, "What does that mean?"  I also noticed that nothing was written above it or that there were no arrows to the margin with a definition.  Huh!  It was "His time" for me to dig a bit deeper into this thought today.  So, being the woman of the techno world that I am...ha ha...I grabbed my cell phone and asked Google what cacophony meant.  She, yes, a woman's voice responded that it means a "harsh mixture of sounds."   Aha!!!   In the context of today's devotions in "Jesus Calling", it made perfect sense.  In the study that we have been doing with our Faithful Weigh book study, it now makes even more sense.  God's time was right! I love it!  IF you have "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young, it is a MUST READ.  If you don't then I will share the verse and thoughts with you.

It is a verse that I have come to love and have found such joy and peace through over the past few years.  Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."  When God's time was right the first time, I read that verse and was in AWE!  Most of you know that I LOVE to sing for the Lord. I am always in awe what He does with the songs He gives to me to share and with my quivering body and voice.  Knowing how intimately connected I am with Him through singing, it just blew my mind that my God, the God of the universe, would sing over me and rejoice over me with so much more intimacy than I could ever imagine.

 It is a testament of who God is!  

Ok, back to my new word, cacophony, and why His time was right this morning.  The words of Sarah Young, "The voices of the world are a cacophony of chaos, pulling you this way and that.  Don't listen to those voices; challenge them with My Word."  Bingo! Right on, Sarah!  She must have been reading our handouts and learning of the temptations and lies the world so freely gives about who we are, what we look like and what we should be eating!  As I wrapped my mind around this whole revelation of becoming aware of this cacophony, I realized this important thing about me and my relationship with God. (Even before I read the rest of today's words in Jesus Calling.)  As I have sought the Lord in more areas of my life, He has given me more and more of these "aha" moments.  In these moments, I am drawn closer to Him and am learning more about who He is.  Then I read the "rest of the story" and it was right on.  She says, "I love to reveal Myself to you, and your seeking heart opens you up to receive more of My disclosures."  Amen and Amen!!  I have found this to be so very true!  As I sat, in this silent revelation, I realized that the closer I draw to My God, the more the sounds of this world become a "cacophony of chaos." Chaos that I used to think was normal and even more sadly, the truth!  It is clear to me now why His time was right this morning.  I wasn't here at this place in my relationship with the Lord a year ago.  I had read over these words without even a thought about all of this.  Isn't God amazing how He works everything for His purposes and glory?  Even the timing of our Faithful Weigh studies and the work He has done in my heart over this past year that brought new meaning to me today with a "new" word, cacophony.  

I trust that you, too, are seeking the Lord with an open heart and listening to His still small voice. To do this, we must shut out the voices of the world around us and be still and know that He is God. (Psalms 46:10).  In this stillness, you can almost hear Him rejoicing over you with the most beautiful, intimate voice you have ever heard. Oh my dear Faithful Weigh Friends, listen to Him and not the cacophony around you.

May God bless your worship to Him this day,

Mary Ann