Music to my Soul – God is the Song

Have you been in a situation that might have typically sent you into a period of anxiety, but instead, you found yourself at peace and with a song in your heart? Just as negative emotions can draw us to God, positive ones, unexpected ones, can do the same. We find ourselves glad in stressful situations, and we thank and praise God. Or maybe we must make an intentional choice to trust God in spite of looming feelings. Either way, Isaiah has something to teach us.

As I pondered Isaiah 12:2 recently, a few ideas began to develop. Questions from another resource guided more thoughts toward application. I modified the questions for this blog.

Isaiah 12:2 says,

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD Himself, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.

I serve a God who saves. This salvation is eternal. It is also daily. He helps me to take up my cross daily (Luke 9:23-24). He saves me daily from my own weaknesses and wandering. When I put my trust in His power, then my flesh and sinful nature no longer have to control me. I choose to walk in the Spirit. When I don’t, that’s on me because 2 Peter 1:3 tells me that He gives me all I need for a godly life.

What concepts are important to remember about this verse?

Only the LORD can perform these acts

-Only the LORD can provide strength.

-Only the LORD can provide my song.

How does the verse help your faith to grow?

I notice two “I will” statements.

I will trust –

I will not be afraid-

Isaiah is confident that because God is His salvation, then his response is trust in God. Isaiah chooses not to be afraid. Because fear, as overwhelming as it can be, is still our choice. Again, God gives us everything we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3).

Which concepts come to mind that apply to you?

He has always been.

He has my salvation sealed.

He has delivered me from darkness.

He has shown me His love.

He has been faithful to me.

I think when God strengthens me, He leaves me with a song. Isaiah records that God was his song. The song has strength before it and salvation after it. That sounds like a defense against the evil one and darkness. One translation says, “ Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD Himself, is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation.

My prayer:

Dear Lord,
You are my strength and my song. Your salvation is my foundation. Your song is the celebration and worship in between, which gives me strength for the journey. Help me focus on you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Reader, you will answer these questions differently. The Holy Spirit will speak to you in personal ways for your need. After you study this, share it with another Christian who needs encouragement. Tell them what this verse means to you and about the power of God’s Word.

©Valerie Rumfelt

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Diagramming Scripture

Diagramming Scripture

  • Names of God
  • Action words
  • Words of intention
  • A command for us
  • Characteristics about God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit
  • Characteristics about us in our rebellion
  • Characteristics about us after we are redeemed
  • Characteristics of God’s Word
  • Consequences of rebellion
  • Results and rewards of obedience
  • A promise from God
  • The words IF, THEN, THEREFORE, ALWAYS, BUT
  • Things God will do and things we are to do
  • Place your name where there are personal pronouns.

Diagramming Scripture is another way to interact with scripture to make it come alive for you personally. It’s a partner with Scripture Writing. Use your favorite pens and circle, underline, draw arrows, or squiggly lines in your scripture writing. Have fun highlighting truths, and enjoy the colorful results of finding all that you can in your scripture writing for that day. Then apply the scripture to you, making it personal, acknowledging how the truths impact your life. Pray the scripture back to God and thank Him for the power of His Word.

©️Valerie Rumfelt

Thanks for taking the time to read my article. If you aren’t signed up already, please add your email below, and hit subscribe. Each time I publish, you will receive Winning Ways to Follow Jesus in your email first. Blessings.

You Will Love Scripture Writing

Scripture Writing was a newly discovered discipline that I added to my journey with Jesus years ago. Amazement filled my heart when I discovered people who combined their creativity with intentionality to produce countless options of monthly guides for writing the holy scripture.untitled

Every day is a new day, a new beginning. You can start new practices and routines any day. Do you need a new spiritual habit that promises to yield instant results? Scripture writing is for you!

Here are 8 reasons why you will love scripture writing:

1. Interacting and writing God’s Word is supernatural and transformative.

2. Writing God’s Word gives your brain time to capture the meaning.

3. Writing God’s word is inspiring and encouraging.

4. Reproducing the scripture in your handwriting makes them personal, helping you own the verses.

5. Focus is put on God at the beginning of the day, and you sense His presence.

6. Peace comes as writing slows you down to think and let His Word absorb in your mind.

7. Order and focus are added to your quiet time as you write that day’s scripture.

8. Anticipating the next set of scriptures each morning keeps you coming back for more.

Before you begin, you will want to find a notebook and pens designated for this spiritual practice. Find a scripture writing for the month here.  Print it. Find a favorite spot in your home where you can practice this uninterrupted.

Now you are ready to begin:

  • Set your alarm to add this to your schedule
  • Get your coffee or tea or breakfast
  • Go to your special place
  • Locate the passage in the Bible 
  • Look at the passage for that day
  • Read it silently
  • Write it
  • Read it aloud to yourself
  • Diagram the passage (see blog above)
  • Ponder what God is saying and begin your prayer time

By the time you take these steps, insight comes.

Before you leave to get busy with your day, take time to write a few thoughts or a prayer to God. You may have questions, a prayer of thanks, confession, or a commitment to obedience.photo-1481624362406-b7817fa45ecf Photo by Unsplash

Other tips:

  • Capitalize the pronouns related to God or Jesus.
  • Place your name in the verses where there are personal pronouns. Look for action words or commands, promises. 
  • Minimize phone usage. What’s the point of quiet time? This is your intentional time with God, the Lover of your Soul. Make your adjustments and make your time with Him a priority.

WARNING:

If you haven’t had a very intentional quiet time with Jesus, expect obstacles and opposition, but don’t allow those to discourage you. Hearing from the Lord through His Word, and praying to Him are the most important things a Christian does to grow and abide in Him. It is the essence of who we are as His people. It develops us into who we can be for His Kingdom’s use. Don’t give up.

BLESSING:

You will feel accomplished and have new freedom in your spirit as you put this practice in your life. Interacting with God’s Word is a good practice. Even if He convicts you of sin, just confess it. Ask Him to help you be more like Him. Jim Elliot said, “Why do you need a voice when you have a verse.”

“the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

If you have a Bible that’s falling apart, you’ll have a life that’s not.

Adrian Rogers

©Valerie Rumfelt

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Do Not Be Anxious – How?

Philippians 4:6-8

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

While this is a familiar passage, when I read it for understanding I ask some questions. Maybe my questions will give you a fresh perspective on a familiar passage to most Christians. My thoughts go like this:

What’s the command? Do not be anxious.

What’s the alternative to anxiety? I can present my requests to God.

How do I present my requests to God? By prayer – petitioning God, but also thanking God for all He’s done and will do.

What is the assurance or promise stated to happen when I do this? The peace of God will come into my heart and my mind.

How big is this peace? It transcends all my understanding and has the ability to guard my heart and my mind.

What does this peace which transcends all understanding do? It guards my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. We are “in Christ” when we know God through Jesus. We are hidden. We are safe. We are in His protection.

©Valerie Rumfelt

Thanks for taking the time to read my article. If you aren’t signed up already, please add your email below, and hit subscribe. Each time I publish, you will receive Winning Ways to Follow Jesus in your email first. Blessings.

How to Leave Disappointment Behind(Ways to Move Into 2023)

Do you have disappointments from 2022? Maybe you wonder how to pass from this year into 2023 because disappointments have left you wondering, what now? Disappointments come like a boulder careening down the side of a cliff, and then rolling to the shoreline, and slipping heavily into the water, sinking. Gone.

What is gone? Your expectation. Your hope. Your dream. Whatever it was, disappointment steals. This is where we have to be careful because bitterness moves in. Bitterness will have us questioning God, not in faith-building ways, but in ways that cause us to doubt His goodness. So how do we move on?

Psalm 13 lets us hear from David, and he’s asking the LORD, how long? Is the LORD going to forget him? But, by verse 5, we see a rejoicing heart. David rejoices in God’s salvation. Not in circumstances. Not in outcomes. But in God’s salvation.

And this, friends, is where you and I can begin as we ponder letting go of a year. Maybe your year was fantastic, but even if it was, it would be really extraordinary if you had not experienced at least one disappointment. So how do we let go of disappointment? How do we move beyond this sad, controlling emotion of our human condition?

Ways to Move into 2023:

*Choose to go to the Lord and thank Him and praise Him for your eternal salvation. Rejoice. What a great salvation it is. He saved you. He saw you. You are known. He knows your name. Read Psalm 13.

*Remember, He has a plan for your life. If you are His child, His Spirit lives in you. You have a friend in Jesus. 

*Confess your sin to Him. Confess your disappointment in the outcomes, or in the disappointment of family or friends. Forgive those who brought pain. All this keeps bitterness from developing in your heart. Rejoice. Choose to be glad. Read Psalm 32.

*Exercise and eat right because this, along with your spiritual habits, impacts your ability to cope.

*Start a new habit or keep up the habit to meet Him every morning and read His Word and pray to Him. This gets your day started in submission to His plan and His ways. Pray for this desire to meet Him every morning. Read Psalm 42.

Let’s read Psalm 13, Psalm 32, and Psalm 42 and let God’s Spirit speak to us and get a path for entering the new year, leaving disappointments behind and realize that God is in control. Let’s go with His plan. He is worthy of our trust. He is with us.

Happy New Year!

©️Valerie Rumfelt

Thanks for taking the time to read my article. If you aren’t signed up already, please add your email below, and hit subscribe. Each time I publish, you will receive Winning Ways to Follow Jesus in your email first. Blessings.

How to Leave Disappointment Behind(Ways to Move Into 2023)

Do you have disappointments from 2022? Maybe you wonder how to pass from this year into 2023 because disappointments have left you wondering, what now? Disappointments come like a boulder careening down the side of a cliff, and then rolling to the shoreline, and slipping heavily into the water, sinking. Gone.

What is gone? Your expectation. Your hope. Your dream. Whatever it was, disappointment steals. This is where we have to be careful because bitterness moves in. Bitterness will have us questioning God, not in faith-building ways, but in ways that cause us to doubt His goodness. So how do we move on?

Psalm 13 lets us hear from David, and he’s asking the LORD, how long? Is the LORD going to forget him? But, by verse 5, we see a rejoicing heart. David rejoices in God’s salvation. Not in circumstances. Not in outcomes. But in God’s salvation.

And this, friends, is where you and I can begin as we ponder letting go of a year. Maybe your year was fantastic, but even if it was, it would be really extraordinary if you had not experienced at least one disappointment. So how do we let go of disappointment? How do we move beyond this sad, controlling emotion of our human condition?

Ways to Move into 2023:

*Choose to go to the Lord and thank Him and praise Him for your eternal salvation. Rejoice. What a great salvation it is. He saved you. He saw you. You are known. He knows your name. Read Psalm 13.

*Remember, He has a plan for your life. If you are His child, His Spirit lives in you. You have a friend in Jesus. 

*Confess your sin to Him. Confess your disappointment in the outcomes, or in the disappointment of family or friends. Forgive those who brought pain. All this keeps bitterness from developing in your heart. Rejoice. Choose to be glad. Read Psalm 32.

*Exercise and eat right because this, along with your spiritual habits, impacts your ability to cope.

*Start a new habit or keep up the habit to meet Him every morning and read His Word and pray to Him. This gets your day started in submission to His plan and His ways. Pray for this desire to meet Him every morning. Read Psalm 42.

Let’s read Psalm 13, Psalm 32, and Psalm 42 and let God’s Spirit speak to us and get a path for entering the new year, leaving disappointments behind and realize that God is in control. Let’s go with His plan. He is worthy of our trust. He is with us.

Happy New Year!

©️Valerie Rumfelt

Thanks for taking the time to read my article. If you aren’t signed up already, please add your email below, and hit subscribe. Each time I publish, you will receive Winning Ways to Follow Jesus in your email first. Blessings.

BIRTHDAY

Because Jesus came, we have a Savior.

Incarnate means He was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit and God in the flesh. Divine and human He is.

Reborn is a spiritual new birth that comes to all who believe in His Name.

Tempted He was, but He never sinned. Perfect Jesus. Perfect sacrifice. Yet identifying with us in our weakness.

Holy is He. Righteous and Just in all His ways. God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Demonstrated His love, dying on the cross. Love unbounded for you and for me.

All is well. Peace in every sinner’s heart who asks Him, “come and dwell.”

Yonder star to Bethlehem they followed. In a stable, Christ the Lord was born.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

©Valerie Rumfelt

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The Solution to Everything

Sometimes, certain Christian music can land on my spirit in a way that shows me how close the Lord and His Spirit are to me. A song that focuses on the character of God and His love for me transcends past my self-protected shield and targets the softest places in my heart. Does this happen to you too?

Yesterday on social media, a national speaker recommended a song. It caused me to research it. Then watch it. The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sings, “I Love the Lord.” Their soulful style pierces the depths of me, cuts through my shame and guilt, and affirms my love for the Lord. Praise His Name.

The song was written in the 17th century by Isaac Watts. And when I wonder about that era of time, what was going on then, I conclude, as Solomon says, “nothing new is under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). That means nothing is new, nothing. The same human nature has existed all this time, and Isaac, for whatever reason, was making a claim that, in spite of this fact, he loved the Lord.

The test of the Christian life is loving the Lord through the hard and challenging times. Each challenge can purify our hearts and make us more like Jesus, or we can choose to allow bitterness to creep in and like a tarnished, silver spoon, be unusable and dull.

If we long to be faithful to God, we will learn through it all to love Him, not the outcome of our problems. We let Him mold us, and we learn how to keep fellowship with Him through spiritual disciplines, instead of keeping Him at a distance. We learn our need for Him is far greater than whatever our plea is at the time. It is His love, His character, and His faithfulness that help us in our weakness and temptation.

We learn as Habakkuk proclaimed in his suffering, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:18).

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For me, as I continue through all the bumps and bruises of life, the unexpected disappointments, the spider webs in my face situations that I can’t get rid of, I realize I still love the Lord. I have learned that loving the Lord is no longer my challenge but is my solution to everything.

I LOVE THE LORD

I love you, Lord; you heard my cries,
and pitied every groan;
Long as I live, when troubles rise,
I’ll hasten to your throne.

I love you, Lord; you bow your ear;
you’re ever good and just.
Then let my heart feel no despair!
Your power has all my trust.

If you behold me sore distressed,
you bid my pains remove;
I’ll turn my soul to you, my rest,
and witness to your love.

Isaac Watts 1719

I love the Lord because he hears my voice
and my prayer for mercy.
Because he bends down to listen,
I will pray as long as I have breath! Psalm 116:1-2

©Valerie Rumfelt

Thanks for taking the time to read my article. If you aren’t signed up already, please add your email below, and hit subscribe. Each time I publish, you will receive Winning Ways to Follow Jesus in your email first. Blessings.

Imagine a New Life

Yesterday morning in church, we sang a medley of songs about heaven as well as grace. While singing, my mind pondered how freeing it is to live a life indelibly marked by God’s grace.

None of us deserve God’s grace. Maybe as a believer in Jesus, you have wondered where you would be if it had not been for the Lord. I often do. Then other times, when aware of my sin nature, the idea of God’s grace made known to me causes me to want to weep, and sometimes I do. If you are a believer in Jesus, surely you know and experience the grace of God daily!

He cares so deeply for His children, and His love is boundless and inexhaustible, unfathomable.

With all the uncertainty in this world, the lack of peace has caused many who don’t know Jesus to at least wonder how to make sense of it all. Surely, observing the events would shake one’s soul and cause questions to swirl. I’m wondering, if you are in that state now, would you be looking for peace?

The One that lives inside me is the only One that’s been able to give my life

peace,

purpose,

and a plan.

He is my stability, my Rock, and my Home. This all-encompassing God also has a place reserved for me in Heaven. I know this for certain, and it’s not because of anything I’ve done. It’s actually because of everything He did for me when He died on the cross. Then when I made the choice to receive His gift of salvation, certainty, and assurance became my eternal hope.

 I don’t deserve this one bit.

It certainly isn’t because I’m a good person or because of any good works I’ve done.

I am not a good person, nor do I have to do good works to earn this salvation.
Any good coming from me is Jesus inside me, and the good works are done only because I love Him.
Earning my salvation is not needed.
My faith is in the person of Jesus, not a religion. This keeps me from becoming callous to the world and its troubles.

In fact, my heart is more tender to this world, and prayer is my response.

Certainly, I’ve decided to follow Jesus, which means my life is directed to being part of the solution to the world’s ills. But my hope and peace are not found in this world. So how does one find this peace?

These verses explain how to find peace with God.

John 3:16&17- “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

John 14:6- Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Romans 3:23-for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

Romans 6:23- For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:8-9 – I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. 9 It was not the result of your own efforts, so you cannot brag about it.

Acts 2:21 – And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

I Corinthians 3:16 – Do you not know that you are God’s temple and the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If you believe what you’ve just read, then you can ask Jesus to live in your heart, and He will. It is the best decision you will ever make. You can pray something like this, and Jesus will hear you and, by His Spirit, come to live in your heart.

Dear God, I know through your son Jesus, I can have forgiveness of my sin. I know I need you. I believe Jesus is God’s son. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe God raised Jesus from the dead. Because He lives, I can live too. I receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior now. Please forgive my sin, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to follow you faithfully all the days of my life. Amen.

Please leave a comment below to tell your story of when you became a follower of Jesus. Or, leave a comment if you just began that journey.

If you did decide to follow Jesus, begin reading the Bible. Ask God’s Holy Spirit to give you understanding and begin to obey what you read. Pray, talk to Jesus, and tell Him about your life and your needs. Praise Him. Contact another Christian and share your decision. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to a church family who believes in the Bible as God’s Holy Word, who worships the triune God in all its purpose, and who values the growth of Christian character found in the person of Christ for each of its members.

©Valerie Rumfelt

Thanks for taking the time to read my article. If you aren’t signed up already, please add your email below, and hit subscribe. Each time I publish, you will receive Winning Ways to Follow Jesus in your email first. Blessings.

The Security of the Believer

I remember pedaling down our street and my daddy holding onto my bike seat. The training wheels had come off, and here we were, working together to take it to the next level. Now, I can’t tell you if I was hollering, “Daddy, let go!” or, “Daddy, don’t let go!” I just know my daddy was right there running and exerting all the encouragement he had to release me into the world of childhood biking. I worked with him while wondering if the bike would continue on wheels or if I and the bike would end up sprawled on the asphalt.

Later I would make more memories of me careening down hills without holding the handlebars embracing my play life on wheels. My daddy knew those days would come, but I didn’t. Perhaps he thought, ” I don’t want to let go of my sweet girl.” Who knows? But to this day, it is a vivid memory of growth and faith, and dependence on my dad.

Now while that’s a sweet memory of my dad holding on to me, his power was limited. He couldn’t hold me forever. He had to release me, and I had to have faith that I was going to stay up on those wheels. My faith was in my dad and my ability, both limited.

But when you become a child of God, that means you placed your faith in God. God. Omnipotent. Omnipresent. Omniscient. God.

He is not going to let you go, not one time. As a fact, He can’t. It is not in His nature to be faithless. (2 Timothy 2:13) . When you ask Jesus to save you, He saves you and keeps you. It is His responsibility to hold you forever. He will not let you go. You can rest in His powerful work in your life at the point of salvation. The triune God, the Maker of heaven and earth, is faithful and will never let you out of His hand(John 10:27-29). You can know He lives inside you forever if you’ve asked Him to.

It is not necessary that you continue to ask Him to. He is God, and He is able to keep you(Jude 24). Anything you think you might contribute to your salvation, you don’t. You received Him by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), and there’s no work you can do to keep Him. He is keeping you. He did the work on the cross, and if you are His child because you have decided to be, then He is keeping you now.

If in a season of doubt, take some time and write the verses listed below and repeat them, memorize them, and pray them back to God with confidence and thanksgiving. Peace and confidence will be restored in the person of Christ, the One who saved you.

One side issue: If you are in a season of disobedience, this can cause you to doubt your salvation. As you grow in your faith, your behavior won’t trigger you to question your salvation. You will learn to trust Him. You will remember your salvation does not depend on you. You will discover your faith is in the person of Christ, not your changing feelings. But you should confess your sin to Him if you feel distant. It is always we who move away from God, not Him from us. He wants to have full, restored fellowship with you, and sin gets in the way. Confess your sin immediately, and walk in obedience again(I John 1:9).

Be sure you have time with God daily, preferably in the morning. This gives you the time to confess your sin, reflect on who He is, get solutions to your problems, build the faith you need to let God do His work in your life, and give you the strength to obey Him.

So whether you are a new Christian or one in a season of doubt, or you’ve been a Christian for decades, here is a list of verses you can put your hope in, memorize, write down, pass on, or hand them out to your Sunday school class, small group, or someone you are working with.

  • I John 5:11-13 – And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
  • John 1:12 – Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God –
  • John 10:27-29 – Jesus answered, ” My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
  • Jude 24 – To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without finding fault and with great joy.”
  • Romans 8:38&39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

*If your thoughts are not doubts but conviction and an invitation by the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus by faith, then read the link below for more information.*

Let me know your thoughts.

Are You On Your Way to Heaven?

©Valerie Rumfelt

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. If you aren’t one of my faithful readers, it’s easy to become one. Just add your email below, and hit subscribe, and each time I publish, you will receive the article in your email first. Blessings.