Tag Archives: Security

Most Favored by the Most High . . . Girlfriend, we get it ALL!!!

26 Jul

creation swap quiet apples 16997_Quiet_Apples ribbetToday a reader from India pulled up five different posts. I’m praying that whatever she was looking for she found HIM and she brushed spirits with His Word and His Love. More than any other message you might get here at Glimpsed Glory, I so desire for you to walk away knowing that you—no matter where you are on the globe—are secure, significant, and accepted by the Lover of your soul. His attention and His affection are part of our shared heritage regardless of where He has placed us geographically. You, Sister, are kept as the apple of His eye!

It seems to me that while there are many things that will change when we step into Glory, our status as God’s favored daughters is not one of them. I don’t have a handle on the enormity of it and I don’t have the words to fully articulate it, but I am certain that I am favored by God and so are you! I know this to be true, not because of my thoughts, but because of the Messiah’s . . .

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:20-23

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Could you or I ever know more favor or be more loved than to have the perfect love the Father has for the Son fall on us?  Could there be greater confirmation of our worth than to hear the Savior’s desire that we be loved so lavishly?  What more esteem could we hope to possess than what we receive when we are clothed, indeed hidden, in Jesus Christ?

And as is always the case with our God, He does not stop with a Word. He puts His heart and His intention for our good on display for the entire world to see. He makes a public declaration that He has summoned us by name and we are His . . . and Sweet One, the “what” He does reaches straight into the heart of Who He is . . .

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Scripture records the heart of God, the Cross reveals its Truth, and the Empty Tomb declares the victory. And we who believe, we will live His heart’s reality in Glory. Beloved, do you not see that His great favor rests upon you because you have been redeemed by the Son and now look forward to the concrete expression of your rescue when your faith becomes sight and His favor falls just for you?

God’s declaration that He does not show favoritism should never be confused with the idea that He holds something back from us.

Based on the authority of God’s Word, that simply cannot be true . . .

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32

The Giver of all good gifts blesses with Grace that flows red to every believer and Love that lives eternally in every surrendered heart. But don’t let yourself believe for a moment that God’s ability to favor everyone means the love He has for you is impersonal. That notion simply doesn’t fit with the full counsel of God’s Word. God, who does not change, has always pulled His people up close and done life in real, tangible ways . . .think of Abraham, David, Gideon, Deborah and Samuel. Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, walked and talked with Mary Magdalene, Peter, James and John. If God reached into those lives with His perfect love and Christ rubbed hearts with His people in the same personal ways . . . .then it is still true for us today.   If God were to love you differently than He loved David, if Jesus were to love me differently than He loved Peter, it would imply that either those we may view as giants of the faith were loved imperfectly or we are. Would the Father who gave the Son and the Son who gave His life suddenly decide to give us less than perfection? I believe that nothing could be further from the truth. So I say again, in God’s economy there is no favoritism because there is nothing more we can receive than God Himself. Girlfriend, we get it ALL!

It has been a recent revelation to me that I needed to repent of my insecurity and my fear of insignificance because to continue indulging in the up and down of believing that I am less than Christ has made me . . . is sin. Apart from Jesus there is no good thing in me but praise His Name I am not apart from Him! Once we surrender our hearts to Christ, the Spirit is alive and well within us. We are transformed from the inside out and clothed in Jesus heart-to-toe . . . the old has gone and the new has come. It is unbelief to allow our pasts, our misguided notions and our old ideas of who we are to flourish. Girlfriend, don’t look back at that old mindset, you don’t live there anymore!

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You put your beautiful feet in the footprints of your Savior and you stand tall in all that He has made you. Let the truth of the perfect, unfailing love of the Savior wash over you. Delight in your God who calls you to be fully committed to Him because Sister, He is fully committed to you. You, Sweet One, are the Favored Daughter of the Most High God . . . speak, live, and love as nothing less.

Mrs. B’s Morning . . . How Cool Is That?!?

11 Sep

Just a quick blurb this morning to share a couple things and hopefully, there is someone out there that needed to hear them as much as I did.  I am in the midst of recovering from a collapsed lung.  I am also in the midst of preparing to share the Word in front of a group of Sisters from my home church next weekend.  I cannot tell you how God has used my fear over this weekend to strengthen my faith nor can I adequately paint a picture of the way the enemy has tried to twist it in my mind.

We have encountered obstacle after obstacle where this retreat is concerned.  You name it and the Biddinger Crew has looked it square in the eye.  Enough so that I have wondered if I had reached outside my bounds, if I was trying to labor in a field that God hadn’t called me to or stepped outside my appointed area of influence. My mind has tried to run amok with this thing time and time again.  But over and over, God has been there putting the Sword of the Spirit firmly in my hand and giving me Scripture to engage in the combat.  Time and time again, He sent my Nehemiah Man to the wall for me and sent Sweet Friends to refresh my heart.

This morning, as I was contemplating all of this, the thought came into my mind that I had been given the perfect way to gracefully bow down to my fear.  I could simply say I didn’t think my recovery would be far enough along.  And I began to turn this over in my mind and mull the idea that perhaps this was exactly what God had intended.  And all of this before my feet even hit the floor this morning.  The enemy appears to be an early riser but . . . . The God of More, the One who takes my anxious thoughts and gives me peace, He never sleeps or slumbers.  His eye is always upon His own.

Ever patient with me and bringing to life the Truth that His mercies are new every morning, He set about again to chat with this thick-headed child.  I just can’t help but marvel at the fact that He doesn’t constantly deep sigh at me, cross His arms, and tap His Holy foot in my direction.  But He doesn’t.  He continues to work with me.  It’s no wonder I giggle and relate so well when Paul tells the Philippians, “Oh I don’t mind repeating myself.  Perhaps this time you’ll catch it.” (Marilyn Paraphrase)

So, with no deep sigh and no Holy foot tapping, God began to speak to me by combining the Truth of His Word with the obedience of His saints.

First, I got a series of beautiful texts from my Sweet Girl before 7:30 this morning.

Text One:

“Mrs. B!  You won’t need to find a standing stone to remind you of God’s strength and healing in this situation!  It’s literally written on your chest!  How cool is that!?!”

She had no idea that the theme verse for the retreat is Proverbs 3:3 and the very thing I had been studying the evening before was His Testimony written on the tablet of my heart.  But I had not considered the stitched up gash left behind by the chest tube.  You are right Sweet Girl – How cool is that!?!

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;

bind them around your neck,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:3 (NIV, 1984)

Next text:

“I hope you get to spend time delighting in the Lord this morning Momma, because oh! He is delightful!
Listen to this:

Lam 3:27-33 “It is good for a man to beat the yoke while he is young…Though [the Lord] brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.  For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.”
How God wishes we could learn the easy way, but He would rather bring us into His best for us as soon as possible than let us be comfy but unsatisfied! Praise the Lord for His mighty works this morning Mrs B!”

She did not know that the introductory teaching session will involve the “yoke of __________” we hang around our necks in place of God’s love and faithfulness. She did not know that I was grasping for understanding of this affliction — trying to discern the purpose of God.

She did not know – but He did.

Moving on to my morning devotionals. I receive the verse of the day which was Psalm 121:1-2 today, Girlfriends in God, and one other.

Opened the first one and read the opening lines:

In Christ, you are enormously gifted. You have an unseen enemy who is after that gift. 2 Tim.1:14 “Protect that good thing entrusted to you.” – Beth Moore

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you–

guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

2 Timothy 1:14 (NIV, 1984)

Ok Lord, I’m listening.  Those thoughts are my own fears and I will not succumb.  I’m announcing to the heavenlies that I’m standing firm in JESUS.  Dressed head-to-toe in Him, fully armored up and believing that the prayers of the saints are at my back, I will be brave.  I will cast every anxiety on you because you care for me.  And I will not shrink back. Nothing, absolutely, nothing is beyond Christ Jesus and I refuse to sell Him short.

Faith isn’t about my feelings but, I confess to you that I love the sense of His Good Pleasure falling on me.   No deep sigh to be heard.  No crossed arms vibe in the room.  No floor tremor from a tapping foot.

He took my anxiety, my prayer and my petition, and He gave me His peace.  He took my less-than, who-wants-this junk and He gave me Himself.  He is always the God of More.  I cannot say it enough.

So God had reassured me through the obedience of the saints and His Truth.  But He wasn’t quite finished yet.  He had one more thing to say on the subject.  I opened my last devotional and read Romans 12:11 (NLT). . . (don’t you love HIs humor)

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Marilyn paraphrase again, “Child, you’ve been hanging around in your uncertainty long enough.  Go to work. ”

I have to believe that while the name at the beginning of that sentence may change, the message is meant for every Sister reading this post.  Beloved, don’t you let the voice of the enemy shout you down–You declare that Love speaks louder. Don’t you let those doubts make you feel small–You proclaim that Truth is bigger. And don’t you let that serpent tell you that you are less-than because Girlfriend, YOU SERVE THE GOD OF MORE!

(Written with much love for my Sweet Child and thankfulness for her inability to keep the goodness of her God to herself.  I love you Punkin!)

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