Venus Laney: Inspirationals

“Be still, and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10
So many times when I have thought about this verse, it has been a reminder to ‘let go and let God’. It is completely against the instincts of our flesh to surrender a problem to Him without trying to work it out within ourselves. Sometimes we need that reminder that it is necessary and ok to “BE STILL”. But, today I am drawn to the part of the verse that instructs us to KNOW He is God. What does that really mean to “know”? Here are a few good definitions I found…

v. know

1. To perceive directly; grasp in the mind with clarity or certainty.
2. To regard as true beyond doubt:
3. To have a practical understanding of, as through experience; be skilled in:
4. To have fixed in the mind:
5. To have experience of:
a. To perceive as familiar; recognize:
b. To be acquainted with:
6. To be able to distinguish; recognize as distinct:
7. To discern the character or nature of:
know. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 23, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/know
Isn’t that awesome to think of knowing Him in these terms?

To grasp in the mind with CERTAINTY “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 To understand God, we must learn from His word. This makes me think of preparing for a test in school. You couldn’t rightfully say you learned something until you were able to apply it. That takes repetition, memorization, and application. We have to do more than just read His word, but repeat it and apply in our daily lives for it to become true knowledge.

To regard as true beyond doubt. Trust and believe that “he works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” no matter what the circumstances may look like. Don’t allow doubt to enter your mind about your situation right now! Doubt is not trusting in His power or abilities. I accurately heard doubt described as putting faith in the devil. That’s a harsh reality.

To have a practical understanding of, as through experience – personal experience is KEY to knowing God. We can know ABOUT lots of people, but to truly say we KNOW someone means we have interacted with them and have personal accounts of our experiences.

To be able to distinguish; Discern the character or nature of ; We have to recognize and distinguish God’s presence in our lives. “Then he was told, "Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by." A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn't to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn't in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn't in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper. “ 1 Kings 19:11-12. Elijah was able to discern that God was in that still small voice.

Why is all this so important? Because at the times when this verse is most often applied, we are in the midst of a storm. If you can’t see God through the darkness or feel His presence in the turmoil, do you KNOW Him enough to say that He is there? Back to the analogy of school – when you took a test, the information and book with the answers were not readily available where you could see them. But if you KNEW them, the answers were inside. And no one could take that from you.

If you are struggling right now, be still. Know Him. Trust Him. Remember the victories He has brought you in the past. Read the promises of hope in His word. Don’t let doubt enter in and steal your faith. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” Proverbs 3:5 Look closely at the world around you and see areas that He IS operating in – discern what He is doing elsewhere if you can’t see Him at work in your own situation yet. Stir up your faith. My prayer for you right now is from the words of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:17; that God “may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that you may KNOW HIM BETTER.”

What is it about the butterfly that is so intriguing? As far back as I can remember I have been in awe of their beauty and the delicate dance of their graceful flight. So much so, that as a child, I would spend hours trying to capture them. I guess I thought that having something so precious in my possession would somehow make me feel more delicate and beautiful myself. I’m sure our mailman was caught off-guard more than once upon opening our mailbox. That was the only place I knew to keep them…my mother never would have let me bring one in the house.

I’m still fascinated by them. But recently, it’s gone beyond an appreciation of their aesthetic beauty. With each sighting in the last few weeks, I’ve gotten the compelling feeling that God has been trying to show me something through them. I’ve had an overwhelming sense of blessing in each of these moments – different occasions from an outdoor wedding, a mid-day walk, to a Sunday afternoon playing with my 2 year old daughter…..watching her clumsily chase after one in flight. It wasn’t until my ride to church Sunday evening that it all began to make sense to me – seeing the many cocoons in the treetops reminded me of how much these creatures embody the stages of our Christian walk.

The more I read about the butterfly, the more excited and inspired I became about the many similarities. The life cycle of the butterfly has 4 stages- the egg, pupa (caterpillar), larva (cocoon), and adult (butterfly). Of course the egg would symbolize our spiritual birth. This is the only stage that we experience only once. The others, I believe, repeat and recur during different seasons in our walk. Let me explain…

During the pupa stage as a caterpillar, the most important goal is eating. This is the animal’s main focus and spends most of it’s time seeking nourishment. God’s word is the most important requirement for growth as a Christian. It is the bread of life. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). We learn more about God and His will by reading His word – without it, we will spiritually starve. While this should be a daily requirement, there are times in our walk when we are just HUNGRY! During these times, we can’t seem to get enough of His word.

Then it’s time for the cocoon. Oh- there are so many wonderful visuals during this time!!! Not the least of which is the requirement for the caterpillar to find the appropriate place – he must then securely anchor himself to the spot. This is so true for us – we must be anchored in Him and His word. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). Also important to notice during this time is that the pupa is considered INACTIVE. While there is much going on inside, it is a hidden work. God is busy creating and preparing on the inside of this protective state. He shelters us and strengthens us while He is doing this work inside. But, I feel that it is so important to someone to notice that it is not only ok to be inactive during this time, it is required!!! No beauty can be seen now, but without this time, it could never develop.

When the time is right and the pupa has developed, the butterfly will then emerge from the cocoon. It is a bit of a struggle at first, but then the world will see what has been happening inside that covering. I also found it significant that the butterfly is extremely vulnerable when first hatching – it is not able to fly until it flexes its’ wings a bit and pumps blood through them. When we are just beginning to step out into our calling, we MUST be on guard and covered by His blood in prayer. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). The devil wants to steal your seed – he does not want to see this ministry for the Lord take flight. Cover everything in prayer and do not let it be taken from you.

At the glorious moment of flight, we can finally see the beauty and wonder that was intended for the butterfly from the beginning. What seems so fragile is able to go great distances – some butterflies migrating thousands of miles! Their main purpose at this point is to pollinate. Our job is to further the kingdom – spread the good news of His gospel!!! However you are equipped and gifted to do this – whether through preaching, singing, encouraging, witnessing, this is the main goal!

While on their mission – people are blessed by the beautiful colors of the butterfly’s wings. Do you know what’s so marvelous? The color is not produced by pigment. It is actually created like a prism as the light passes through the tiny transparent scales on their wings. It’s God’s light shining through us that makes us so beautiful to this world!

Right now, at this very moment, we are each in one of these stages. Each one is equally important and must be completed before proceeding to the next. As I mentioned before, with the exception of the birth, most of us will enter them more than once. “Be confident of this. He who began a good work in you will continue to perform it until it’s perfectly complete” (Philippians 1:6).

Where does God have you now? Are you filling up preparing for your next flight? Are you in a moment of isolation allowing Him to develop you in His secret place? Are you soaring on the wind beautifully fulfilling your mission of the moment? Whatever place you are in, behold its’ own special beauty and importance before moving on to the next! And don’t deny others the blessing of one day seeing it fulfilled!

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Most of us have heard the response to troubled times and hours of need in one word….PRAY! If you’ve gone any deeper with it, chances are you’ve also been told to TRUST and BELIEVE when you pray. While preparing for the Wednesday night lesson for my kids’ class at church this week, I was enlightened and renewed with one of those “God Moments” when everything just started to come together with such clarity. Connections were forming that I’d never noticed before.

I got so excited, I think I may have actually scared the kids in class last night :) They walked in the door and saw the look on my face and started to get excited, too. One of the first to walk in the room asked ‘so what are we going to do?’ with a hopeful smile. ”We’re gonna learn something tonight that will change your life!” I could tell immediately that we had different ideas about what makes our class exciting. But never-the-less, with my cowboy lasso and a pair of binoculars set up as props, I at least had them curious.

What developed over the course of the night suddenly became too much to share in the context of our class – I mean, I only have so much time and so much attention span per child to work with. But, shortly after class ended I was given a word from God to share this message in deeper and broader level. So, here I am trying to bring all these important points together to share with whomever God sees fit to bring it to…..

Hope + Faith + Patience + Praise = Your Blessing. This divine equation is a perfect example of how we have to work in cooperation with God in order to obtain our blessings. The first two elements, hope and faith, are gifts from God. It all starts with hope, which is an expectation of good things to come. Romans 15:13 says this “May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Praise God! His word tells us that He not only gives us hope, but He gives us so much they we will overflow – it’s more than we even need. God plants that “vision for the future” in us. (Thus the binoculars). It’s only through His grace that we can look ahead for something hopeful.

He will often impart this hope to us in prayer time, with a special word or even an actual “visual” moment where we can “see” something happening in the spirit. Years ago when I was praying for my husband’s salvation, one night at the altar God actually “showed” me an image of him walking up before the congregation at my church and giving his heart to God. In the vision, there were two things that really stood out to me; one was that it was a surprising moment. Even in that vision, I could sense that I was taken by surprise. Also that it was in Tazewell Family Worship Center. Well, there were months during this period of waiting that I didn’t attend TFWC. I thought, “well, my vision doesn’t necessarily have to happen here, it could be another church”. But, yet that seemed to be an important part. Also, to my surprise was that years later, when he did give his heart to God, it was not in a church service at all. It was in his own time with no one else around. So, once again, I almost dismissed the significance of the clear vision.

But then, last year, I had been praying for Mike to draw closer to God and to submit to Him in a public confession, because that was one thing he had not yet done. And then, one glorious morning, our son, Jacob was scheduled to be baptized. He had asked his dad to walk him out to the baptistery, so I was not suspecting when Mike walked out into the water. But then I realized - Jacob wasn’t with him. The pastor turned to me and said “Your prayers have been answered”. All at once that hope and vision came back to me. It was at our church, it was an unsuspecting moment and he publicly gave his heart to the Lord with that act of obedience. It WAS the promise in my vision.

Another way that God delivers hope to us is through His word. For instance, when we are praying and believing for healing, it is His word that has given us that hope for a life without sickness and disease. He tells us in Isaiah 53:5 that “by His wounds we ARE healed”. Reading His word should continually renew us with hope and promise. Jeremiah 29:11 says “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Once we have that hope, God then supplies us with our next tool. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. Faith is another gift that God graciously supplies to His children. “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” Romans 12:3. It should be noted however, that faith must be rooted in the word of God to work. “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” Romans 10:17. This is why it is so important to read His word and know His will. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, (God's will is His Word) he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15.

The illustration from last night’s lesson that sparked this entire message is that faith is like a rope that reaches up to heaven and allows us to grab hold or “lasso” the answer to our prayers. As soon as we ask our Father for something in agreement with His word, we already have it by faith. “Therefore I tell you, whatsoever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24. A cowboy uses his lasso to capture something that he otherwise could not reach. As long as he holds onto that rope he, in effect, has the captured steer, or item in his possession. What is most important is that we never drop the rope! No matter how long it takes to come to the end of it where our blessing awaits.

That brings us to the next part of this process – pulling on the rope until you finally hold the treasure at the end. Until now, God has supplied the needs. But, it takes patience and praise to reach the end, and that is up to us. Patience is referred to in the bible as a virtue - one that has to be developed or learned. It is in effect the muscle that we use to pull on the rope that brings us our blessing. The only way to develop a muscle is to work it! James 1:3 “Knowing this, that the trial of your faith worketh patience”. Only through the testing and trying of our faith will our patience grow. And just like in life, when our muscles get sore from persistent use, we must find a way to sooth them.

Praise is what will sustain us and sooth our weary souls. Psalm 22:3 “God inhabits the praises of His people.” What an awesome thought – the very presence of God is with us when we speak and sing His praises. When you are feeling weak and tired from waiting, shout out Praises to the Father and watch how he regenerates and supernaturally restores your strength.

Never give up and never let the enemy talk you into dropping your rope! “Be not weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not”. Gal 6:9. Your blessing is yours the moment you ask for it – I pray this message will encourage you and remind you as you wait!

Joyfully His,
Venus

Judges Chapter 14:5-9

So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.
"He turned aside" these are the words that jumped out at me when studying these scriptures a few nights ago. Sampson was going along, following his own agenda when he remembered how the Lord had moved mightily upon him earlier at that same place. Then, he turned aside! He stopped and took the time to purposefully go back and acknowledge the work of the Lord. When he did that, he was rewarded again. There was HONEY in the carcass of the lion. Honey is referenced in the Bible as something sweet and also as nourishment and provision.

When we take time to remember the great things God has done for us, we are blessed for that effort and that blessing will sweeten the bitter times. It will also nourish us and sustain us as we continue on our journey.

If you are feeling weak and tired in your walk, turn aside and remember the great & mighty things that God has done before. It will strengthen you & feed your faith with the sweetness of honey!!!!

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For years, I have been blessed by the encouraging messages and words that God has delivered through a dear friend, Lorraine Dean. I received a timely message from her this morning that I wanted to share with you all. In light of the events at VA Tech this week, we need to be reminded of God's strength and power more than ever...
Proverbs 18:10 - "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe"

Wow....God's name is a safe place to run to any time you need help.... He is the Great I AM!
Don't you often wonder why so many times we try to do it our way...figure it out...??????? Guess cause we are human and still have lots to learn.

His word plainly tells us that without Him we can do nothing..but with Him all things are possible that is in His will!

Today I encourage you to run to Him.. Seek Him in all that you do.. Let Him be your guide.. Let Him be Your Strong tower.. Your Provider..... Your Protector...Your Healer..... Your Counselor.... Your Light... If you are facing fears.. And you seem afraid... Run to your Hiding Place....
So many times we do not utilize the blessings nor receive what He has for us.. Simply because we do not run to Him.. We do not ask Almighty God.. Our Heavenly Father for the things that we need.. Do you now remember that He told us in His word that He is the Great I AM??? We have not because we ask not... We do not receive because we do not believe This moment I encourage you to think about the many Names of our God.. There is only one God but He has many names....

Healer - Malachia 4:2
Redeemer - Isaiah 59:20
Deliverer - Psalm 70:5
Friend - Matt. 11:19
Restorer - Psalm 23:3
Mediator - 1 Timothy 2:5-6
Hiding Place - Psalm 32:7
Resting Place - Jeremiah 50:6
Spirit of Truth - John 16:13
Eternal Life - 1 John 5:20
Lord of Peace - 2 Thessalonians 3:16
Living Water - John 4:10
Helper - Hebrews 13:6
God of Comfort - Romans 14:5
THIS LIST GOES ON AND ON.......

HE IS SUCH AN AWESOME .... MIGHTY GOD... HE LOVES YOU SO VERY MUCH.. AND CARES ABOUT YOUR EVERY NEED!

Take time today to thank Him for all that He is and all that He has done for you...and is doing for you....!!!!!!!!!!

If you are facing situations today that seem heavy to you... Give them to Him.. Reach out to Him... Come unto me if you are burdened.. He says.. I will give you rest... The above names are just a few.. There are so many more found in His Word... Go through the list and give God thanks for being that to you.....
This was just a reminder today of what God wants to be to you... Will you let Him??? Will you seek Him? Will you receive what He has for you??? He loves you my friend..

Heavenly Father.. I come to You today in the Name of Jesus... That Powerful Name of Jesus... Asking you to touch each individual that reads this today... Touch their mind and help them fully realize how much You love them... And How powerful You are... I thank You for love and for the wisdom and knowledge that You give to us.. Today I ask You to touch each person who reads this in a major life changing way. Let them feel Your presence and love.. Help them to realize all that You are... Thank You ... AMEN.

To whomever is having a struggle today.. God knows about it.... Run to Him .. He is your strong tower... He will protect you.. He will not leave you.. He will touch you in a mighty way... But you must seek Him.. You have to ask Him... You cannot do it alone... HE IS THERE FOR YOU... REACH OUT TO HIM THIS MOMENT.... Listen He is calling your name right now... He loves you!!!