She’s Just Like Her Father!
Jul 20
by Victoria Robinson
Have you ever heard the statement, “She’s just like her father!” That can either be a compliment or a disparaging remark depending on the character of her father. Girlfriends, are you just like your father? More importantly, are you just like your heavenly Father? One of the endearing traits of our heavenly Father is his kindness. He is well-known for it to the point of sacrificing His own Son so that we might have the forgiveness of our sins and thus spend eternity in Heaven.
A great story about kindness is found in the book of Second Chronicles. In the town of Shunem lived a woman who showered a man of God named Elisha with hospitality. This kindness continued to the point of her building a room onto her house for Elisha to stay at when he came to town. Because of her kindness Elisha wanted to do something nice for her. She told him no and that she was perfectly content. However, Elisha persisted and asked someone else what he could do for her. His friend told him her husband was old and that she did not have a son. Elisha summoned her to come back and told her “Next year at about this time you shall have a son!”
When you are being kind you are being just like your Father and you never know what He has in store for you. Your motive should never be a material reward, but sometimes as in the case of this Shunemite woman—wonderful things will happen! Yet, the most important reason to be kind is our heavenly Father tells us to. In fact, the Word of God goes so far as to warn us, “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness.”
Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would be known as ladies of kindness just like our heavenly Father!
… Tell her that we appreciate her kindness to us. … ~ 2 Kings 4:13 TLB
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love and his kindness go on forever. ~ 1 Chronicles 16:34 TLB
Now all praise to God for his wonderful kindness to us and his favor that he has poured out upon us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved; and he has showered down upon us the richness of his grace—for how well he understands us and knows what is best for us at all times. ~ Ephesians 1:6-8 TLB
One day Elisha went to Shunem. A prominent woman of the city invited him in to eat, and afterwards, whenever he passed that way, he stopped for dinner. She said to her husband, “I’m sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy prophet. Let’s make a little room for him on the roof; we can put in a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, and he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.” Once when he was resting in the room he said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman I want to speak to her.” When she came, he said to Gehazi, “Tell her that we appreciate her kindness to us. Now ask her what we can do for her. Does she want me to put in a good word for her to the king or to the general of the army?” “No,” she replied, “I am perfectly content.” “What can we do for her?” he asked Gehazi afterwards. He suggested, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.” “Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When she returned, he talked to her as she stood in the doorway. “Next year at about this time you shall have a son!” “O man of God,” she exclaimed, “don’t lie to me like that!” But it was true; the woman soon conceived and had a baby boy the following year, just as Elisha had predicted. ~ 2 Kings 4:8-17 TLB
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. ~ Romans 11:22 NIV
Tags: compliment, elisha, endearing traits, eternity, forgiveness, heaven, heavenly father, hospitality, kindness, love, man of god, material reward, motive, oh give thanks, she's just like her father, shunem, shunemite, thanks to the lord, tlb, Victoria Robinson, wonderful things, Word of God 
Posted in A Godly Life | Comments Off on She’s Just Like Her Father!
♥ Seeking Restoration ♥
Jul 03
by Victoria Robinson
Three times within the eightieth Psalm, the psalmist seeks restoration from God. Each time he says, “Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.” Our need for restoration comes from varied reasons. Sometimes it is due to our own sinfulness. Other times it is due to circumstances beyond our control. It can even be due to the need to intercede for someone else.
-
King Nebuchadnezzar found himself desolate because of pride. As soon as he repented and acknowledged that the Most High is sovereign his sanity and kingdom were restored.
-
Joseph needed restoration not because of sin, but because of the providence of God. Throughout his ordeal he glorified God and eventually experienced immense restoration.
-
A man of God interceded for King Jeroboam for his hand to be restored.
Girlfriends, do you need restoration either for yourself or a friend? The Israelites received gracious restoration of an ugly devastation they endured due to sin. The prophet Joel describes how a great army of locusts had devoured Israel and then goes on to proclaim the words of the Lord, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten … You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. ” The psalmist gives us great hope for restoration when he says, “Who, O God, is like you? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.”
Dearest girlfriends, let us seek the Lord for restoration of anything we need in our lives as well as our friends.
Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again. ~ Psalm 71:19-21 NIV
You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; you have been angry—now restore us! You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking. You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger. But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow. Selah Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. ~ Psalm 60:1-5 NIV
‘I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. ~ Joel 2:25-26 NIV
“This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules. Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. … At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. ~ Daniel 4:24-28,3436 NIV
… he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ~ Psalm 23:3 NIV
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ~ Psalm 51:12 NIV
So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” ~ Genesis 41:41-44, NIV
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. ~ Genesis 45:4-8 NIV
When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the LORD. Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before. ~ 1 Kings 13:4-6 NIV
Tags: circumstances, depths of the earth, devastation, face shine, israelites, king jeroboam, king nebuchadnezzar, locusts, man of god, ordeal, pride, prophet joel, providence, psalm 80, psalmist, righteousness, sanity, seeking restoration, sinfulness, three times, Victoria Robinson
Posted in Dealing With Sin, Dealing With Your Past, Encouragement, Forgiveness, Mercy, Provision, Trusting God | Comments Off on ♥ Seeking Restoration ♥
What You See Is Not What You Get!
Mar 29
by Victoria Robinson
If we live our lives based on what we see with our natural eyes we will never live up to the expectations our heavenly Father has for us. Bad spiritual eyesight causes us to make wrong decisions. David was a young boy without military experience when he boldly went up against the over nine foot tall champion Goliath and won. Had David looked at the situation with his natural eyes, he would have rightly ran away in fear, as all the others before him. Elisha’s servant looked at the siege of horses and chariots surrounding him. His natural eyesight was clear, yet his spiritual eyesight could not have been more blurry. When the Lord opened the servant’s spiritual eyes, he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around. The Lord was with them in full force!
Girlfriends, what you see is not always what you get! Beware of not seeing your circumstances as the Lord does. The Word of God says we are to live by faith and not by sight. The greek word for faith is pistis which means conviction of the truth. When you are confused by what your natural eyes see, live your life by the conviction of the only truth there is—His unchanging Word! This is how we strengthen our spiritual eyesight.
Dearest girlfriends, I pray we would open our spiritual eyes and see the “hills full of horses and chariots of fire”.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ~ 2 Kings 6:15-17 NIV
David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” … Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. ~ 1 Samuel 17:32-33,37- 50 NIV
Tags: chariots of fire, elisha, greek word, heavenly father, man of god, military experience, natural eyes, natural eyesight, niv, o lord, pistis, servant, spiritual eyes, spiritual eyesight, unchanging word, Victoria Robinson, Word of God, wrong decisions
Posted in Spiritual Eyes | Comments Off on What You See Is Not What You Get!