Effie Darlene Barba

Jehovah Rohi: “The Lord is my shepherd” Psalm 23:1. The shepherd cares for, protects and provides for the sheep.  When the pastures are barren, he leads them to new pastures.  However, sometimes it is a journey through rough terrain; but, the shepherd knows what is best for His sheep.  He protects them from the ravenous enemy that desires to destroy them.  And “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).  All too often, we forget the depth of love, our Shepherd has for us or want to believe we are lions needing not His protection.  We wander off, believing we can find a better way to greener pastures.  Then, we like David cry out: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments” Psalm 119:176.

We plead for Him to find us; but, He has not left us lost, wandering on our own. Realizing our own foolishness, we believe He has abandoned us.  We cry out: “O, God, why has thou cast us off forever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?” (Psalm 74:1).  When we forget that He is our great Shepherd who loves us, desiring the best for each of His sheep; then, we may fall into despair.  We see the circumstances surrounding us, the wounds of our journey and fail to see that His watchful eye is there amid our greatest trials.  He is guiding us away from a greater danger of our soul and leading us to a place of joy, hope, and comfort in Him.

Our Desperate Cry

When we forget who we are in Christ Jesus and the depth of love God has for His chosen sheep, we languish in our fear and desperation.  Like David did in Psalm 69:1-5, we cry out:

“Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.  I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.  They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head:  they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.  O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.”

Yet God’s reply is:

“For thus saith the Lord God; ‘Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day” (Ezekiel 34:11-12).

Jesus Christ, Our Good Shepherd

We need not be afraid whatever trials may surround us, if we know Jesus Christ as our Savior.  He is the good shepherd as He said. “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).  He died on the cross that “whomsoever believeth might be saved” (John 3:16).  “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:26). Safe, secure beneath the Shepherd’s watchful eye, we have nothing to fear; because, He is for us.

Whatever the trial.

I do not know what trial you face today.  Perhaps, you are facing a bitter divorce, or have lost a loved one.  Or maybe, you are battling with chronic illness.  Your heart is breaking, and the wounds are so grave, you are certain you will never stand again.  Maybe, you are facing financial disaster and don’t know if you can make it another day worrying if there will be food on your table.  Such is this pilgrimage journey on earth at times.  Therefore, we cry out to God in desperation.

“But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’s sake:  because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.  For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.  I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust” (Psalm 109:21-23).

Whatever the trial you are facing, if you know the Good Shepherd, rest assured.  Because He will bind up the wounds and carry you to safety; even, if it was your foolishness that lead you astray.  He loves you with an unconditional love.  His love is pursuing you, seeking you out of whatever place you have strayed to.

Do you know the good shepherd?

DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR?

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. Because there is nothing more important than this, I urge you to seek Him today.

ARE YOU IN OF NEED PRAYER?

If you have a prayer request email me by clicking here

Or if you would like to tell me your story or thoughts  comment here

For  previous posts

How to Truly Seek God with All Your Heart

Shepherd Lead Us

Shepherd the Sheep

Or for poetry

My Shepherd’s Lullabye of Love

Books Available

If you want to know more about other books I have written: You can read more about each one at: Book Resources.

Or for inspirational photos or home decor click here.

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2018
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Footnotes and Credits

Photo by Jaka Škrlep on Unsplash

How does one truly seek God with all their heart?  All too often, we seek Him only when trials come.  We go about our lives, doing things our way.  Then when trials come, we pray.  But is that truly seeking God with all our heart?  What happens when God’s answer is no.  Do we trust Him to know what is best?  Hebrews 11: 6 tells us: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  However, what does it mean to diligently seek Him.  We must first recognize that God is Sovereign.  He is perfect righteousness and His desire is to transform us into the likeness of His Son; that, we might rejoice in His Presence for all of eternity.

This is certainly not a frivolous seeking Him, only when we face trials.  But, rather, it is to seek Him first and foremost as Lord of our lives.  We must turn from our sin and seek God.  His will for our life, even if His will is different than our selfish desires.  Salvation is not just a way to avoid the damnations of hell.  Instead, we are to seek God with all our heart and trust His Sovereign Grace, accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  He is the only way to the Father. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

Salvation is recognizing that I am a sinner.  Jesus Christ-God incarnate, died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin and won the victory over sin and death. Then, by faith, accepting His gift of salvation, I now have a relationship with God.

SEEK GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART

David wrote in Psalm 27: 7-8 “Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me and answer me. When thou saidst, “Seek ye my face’; my heart said unto thee, ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”   If we truly understand the gift of Salvation that we are given, we will fall before Him in adoration and praise.  We will want to know Him more. That means, we will seek God when life is filled with blessings as much as when life turns upside down.  We will trust His plan in our life, even when we do not understand.  So, how do we seek God?

God said, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Note, we are to humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways.  Oh, certainly I cannot in my own power and strength overcome sin in my life.  But God can.  He has promised to every believer that His Holy Spirit will indwell us.  The Holy Spirit in us can overcome sin in our life.  But how do we release this power?  By seeking God in prayer and reading His Word.  Therein lies all the power we need.

Warning!

Proverbs 1:24-30

“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.”

To seek God only as a “fixer” of problems, ignoring His counsel and denying Christ as the only means of Salvation is not how to truly seek God. The first commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all of thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37).  Therefore, He is our greatest treasure and to seek God is to conform to His will; trusting Him to perform in and through us what we cannot do ourselves.  We are to abide in Jesus Christ and His sacrificial love for us.

Concluding Thoughts:

First and foremost, do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?  If not, that is my prayer for you.  If you do, I pray you seek Him by spending time with Him each day.

DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR?

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. Because there is nothing more important than this, I urge you to seek Him today.

ARE YOU IN OF NEED PRAYER?

If you have a prayer request email me by clicking here

Or if you would like to tell me your story or thoughts  comment here

For  previous posts

How to Labor with Joy: not in vain

Or for poetry

My One Desire: All Else I Count But Loss

Books Available

If you want to know more about books I have written: You can read more about each one at: Book Resources.

Or for inspirational photos or home decor click here.

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2018
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Footnotes and Credits

Introduction Photo by Peter Dlhy on Unsplash

On this Labor Day, I thought it best to review some of the scriptures concerning labor.  Because as God’s children, we are called to labor.  We are to diligently perform the job we have been so blessed by God with here on earth.  Furthermore, we are called to labor for the Kingdom of God as well.  In all that we do, do it unto the Lord.   “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).

Blessings for Our Labor

Psalm 128 (NKJV): 1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
Who walks in His ways.² When you eat the ^[a]labor of your hands,
You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
³ Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
In the very heart of your house,
Your children like olive plants
All around your table.
⁴ Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
Who fears the Lord.

The labor of the righteous leads to life,
The wages of the wicked to sin. Proverbs 10:16 (NKJV)

Do Not Labor in Vain

Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain. Psalm 127:1 (NKJV)

³⁶ But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were ^[a]weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. ³⁷ Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ³⁸ Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”  Matthew 9 (NKJV)

²⁷ All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. ²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am ^[a]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Matthew 11

True Labor of God

²⁶ Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”²⁸Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent”  John 6 (NKJV).

We, who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, are to spread the gospel; because, we love Him.  We cannot be silent; yet, we must tell of Him in word and deed.  Therefore, consider all that you do and do it as unto the Lord.

Victory for Our Labor

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.  1 Corinthians 15:58 (NKJV)

DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR?

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. Because there is nothing more important than this, I urge you to seek Him today.

ARE YOU IN OF NEED PRAYER?

If you have a prayer request email me by clicking here

Or if you would like to tell me your story or thoughts  comment here

For  previous posts

What About Works in the Life of the Believer?

Worthless Works, Humble Servants, and the Power of Christ

A Worker’s Prayer-God’s Grace to Serve

Labor to Rest

Or for poetry

What About the Unknown Servants

One Nurse’s Choice to Serve

Alive with Hope and Joy

Do You Want to Know the Secret to Abiding Steadfast Joy?

ABIDING, STEADFAST JOY

A labor of love, this book provides you with 3 foundations of truth from the scripture which once known will provide you with abiding, steadfast joy. Undaunted by the storms of life; your joy will overflow.

WHEN INJUSTICE AND VIOLENCE REIGN:
Through a study of Nahum, Habukkuk, and Zephaniah; I brought their message into our modern times. Answering the questions of “Why, God?”

Providing a foundation of faith and hope; even, as we see so much evil in the world and in our nation. With so much sorrow and despair, this book I wrote to guide you into discovering God’s Perfect Plan of love; amid this chaotic world filled with life’s storms.

You may click on the picture for more information on either of these books.

ANOTHER Book Available

You can find this and all my books on Amazon.com, search Effie Darlene Barba or click this link to be taken there

OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE

If you want to know more about other books I have written: You can read more about each one at: Book Resources.

Or for inspirational photos or home decor click here.

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2018
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Footnotes and Credits

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Photo by Samuel Giacomelli on Unsplash