One second, two second, three… oops, there goes my wandering thoughts again. Sorry, Lord, once more I bring my thoughts back to focus on you. Lord, I don’t want my thoughts to wander, I want to think about you, to ponder your marvelous ways, to tune my ears to the sound of heaven, to hear your voice, help me in this area of my life. Once more I dwell you; one second, two second, three… How often do we, with good intentions, start to meditate on the Lord, earnestly desiring to enter into His presence, to hear His voice, then – only a few moments later find our thoughts filled with other things? I for one must admit it’s all too often for my liking. Taking every thought captive is not as easy as it might sound, we can take a clue from the 2 Corinthians 10:5 verse indicating it’s not going to be easy, the word “Captive”. To take something captive insinuates a battle in which something or someone is captured and bound so it no longer has freedom. The victory over our lawless thoughts is won with each scrimmage, with each wondering thought brought back onto topic. We are bombarded continuously from all angles with information demanding to be processed and problems dealt with, making it difficult for us to be still. Yet Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and know that He is God. It too is a battle, we have an enemy who doesn’t want us to be still, for if he can keep us busy or distracted, even with doing good, we won’t be tuning into the sound of heaven, have time to clearly hear the Lord’s voice, or be His presence. If we are not still, refreshed or hearing the battle strategy, we are unable to fight effectively and decisively.
As we recognize our thoughts have wandered we must fight the desire to follow them. We need to stop – then intentionally turn our thoughts back to the Lord. We should not get discouraged, feel ashamed, or let the enemy beat us up in this battle; but rejoice in each victorious scrimmage where we stopped and refocused. A key in any battle is to submit to God, tell him our struggles and ask for his help; in this case to help us focus and take every thought captive. In some situations we may even need to ask to him to help us want to take our thoughts captive. As we surrender to God and resist the enemy, not focusing on distractive thoughts, eventually he will flee. It doesn’t say he will flee instantly, he doesn’t want to give up where he has had free reign, but greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. Victory is ours with God on our side.
One second, two second, three second, four – I dwell on you, Lord.
Temptation Free! What a nice thought. The question is how to get there. Alas I must say there isn’t, pardon my language here but – bummer. According to 1 Corinthian 10:13 TLB “But remember this – the wrong desires [temptations] that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you.”
Suspended! My heart did extra beats as I opened the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) envelope seeing the words in big bold capitalized letters, “NOTICE OF INTENT TO SUSPEND”. Unbelief raced through my mind with questions, what and why, is my license being suspended. I breathed a sigh of relief upon pulling the letter out discovering it was suspending the vehicle registration on a scooter. My daughter had moved and could not take it with her so it had been stored in my garage. She needed funds and planned to sell it; I thought I would buy it to help her out and that it just might be fun to putter around town on it, not to mention the gas savings.
Does anyone have some mornings like me where you just want to stay snuggled under the warm covers; where your toes dread the touch of cold wood floors?
‘Dive into the depths of my heart‘ – I actually woke up saying this one morning. For months following I asked God ‘How?’ ‘How do I do that?’ And one day, overwhelmed by the question I just started to paint this dive painting, and when I finished, He answered me:
There are times in life that seem to make no sense at all, where we can’t figure out what God is up to; the good news is we don’t have to. The Holy Spirit knows and he will guide us, helping us navigate uncharted waters. He knows every sandbar, coral reef and drop off, along with the currents and tides; as we follow Him he will safely see us through. Let the breath of heaven fill our sails as we lose the moorings, cast off the binding ropes, letting go of the known for the unknown, leaving the safety of the harbor for the open water adventures in life. We can rest secure with the Lord at the helm. We don’t need to follow the stars when the Creator of them is with us. He who chartered the waters setting our course is trustworthy and faithful. Storms may rise and waves crash getting us a little wet but, we can rest confidently with our faith in the Father to see us through.
Let us never grow weary of going to the Lord in prayer, of making our requests known, of seeking His will for our life and situations. He cares about those things that affect us. Let us freely talk with Him, trust Him to listen and respond. He takes delight when we stop, wait and listen to hear His response, instead of just saying a prayer and go on our way, never waiting to hear what He has to say. He desires to have a two way conversation. As we wait upon His reply, not rushing off to something else, He is able to share insights with us, letting us know what’s in His heart, what His plans are, why His answer is such and such. Why saying “yes” is not always the best answer, 
Beyond the Silver Coin 