Do Your Friends Make You Better?
Some colored leaves are already falling from a few trees in our yard, reminding me the changes of a new season are nearing. God changes the seasons of our lives as well. Normally, by this time He has given me a women's study for Monday mornings in the fall, but I haven't received that direction from him. What I have received is a prompting to be intention to seek out fellowship each month with a friend who challenges me to go deeper in my knowledge of who God is and my relationship/identity with Christ.
Such a friend has been here with me this week and it has been such a blessing. She never leads me down the wrong path, but always gently sways me back if she sees me heading in an ungodly direction. Although staying in the very same house, we emailed insight back and forth to each other after we got in bed or before we got up. The other day she shared a devotional which she had received from a ministry called The Father's Business. The writer was laying out how self-sufficient we are and how we want to control of the circumstances surrounding our lives.
Taking Psalm 9 she divided it into God's Part/My Part.
Psalm 9
My Part
1) I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.
2) I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
God's Part
3)You make my enemies turn back;
4) For you have upheld my right and my cause; You have sat on your throne, judging righteously.
5) You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
6) Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy, You have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them
has perished.
7) You reign as Lord forever; You have established your throne for judgment.
8) You will judge the world in righteousness; You will govern the peoples with justice.
9) You, Lord, are a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
My Part
10) I know your name and will trust in you.
God's Part
10) He has never forsaken those who seek him.
My Part
11)I will sing praises to the Lord, enthroned in Zion; I will proclaim among the nations what he has
done.
God's Part
12) He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
My Part
13) O Lord, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death.
God's Part
16) The Lord is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
18) But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.
19) Arise, O Lord, let not man triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence,
My Part
14) That I may declare your praises in the gates...And there rejoice in your salvation.
The writer closes saying, "In the Amplified Bible Proverbs 16:3 says, "Roll your works upon the Lord. Commit and trust them wholly to Him; (He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and) so shall your plans be established and succeed." Who can do the most, you or the God of heaven and earth?
Make your own list. Roll everything over onto the shoulders of the God of heaven and earth. Experience the relief from the burden of carrying responsibility that you are not meant to bear. Declare his praises and rejoice in him.
