Herd and Follow

 Your statutes are wonderful;
therefore I obey them.
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
 I open my mouth and pant,
longing for your commands.
Psalm 119:129-131

Psalm 119~ It "herds" me...

Yes, "herds". Like herding cows.

When I was a kid growing up on a dairy farm, we used to herd the cattle to the barn for milking. In the summer, several of us would go up the road to "cross the cows" from one pasture to the other. Armed with sticks, we would circle around behind the cows so we could "herd them" toward the gateway that we would open for them to cross the road and go through the next gateway which would lead them to the trail made by daily "cow travel" and then on to the barn. We left one person on each side of the trail (on the road) to make sure they didn't do a 45 degree turn onto the road instead of into the second gate.

Because it was a daily walk for the cows, once we got them on the trail, only one or two people would follow them to make sure they continued all the way to the barn and didn't get distracted by grazing temptations.

Psalm 119 herds me to the Word of God.
Where God speaks.
Today I have heard (no pun intended) the Lord speaking about several things. One was regarding a message that He is unfolding to me. It is about following. It occured to me (via God's voice) when following the work-out instructor on my Firm video yesterday that "following" is a daily activity of the human race.
Everyone is following someone and someone is following us.

We bloggers "follow" one another.
We have sidebars that say, "follow me on twitter."
Or "follow me on facebook."

We also follow rules (or not)
follow lines
follow signs
follow news
follow cars
follow a course
follow a plan

We are clearly followers.

So yesterday the "follow" message was planted.
I then expressed a "Life Lesson" on Facebook about being
careful that the one you follow is imparting good things
so you in turn will impart good things to your followers.

Today after turning off my video, the Today Show was on
with their summer Friday concert series featuring Lady Gaga.

and the "follow" message continued....

I had heard the name "Lady Gaga".
 Oddly, when getting my nails done earlier in the week, a catchy song came on the radio.
I inquired about it, and found out it was, none other than, yup. Lady Gaga.
Hmm.
So out of curiosity, I didn't jump in the shower right away but continued to watch her sing. And dance. Loved the sound. Loved the artistry. But then. Her outer wear came off and there she was in the middle of the square in a white bra with a cross on the front of each breast. It didn't take long to see in this beautiful, talented woman a disregard and irreverence for God.
So I shut off the TV.

Soon after, sitting with my Bible, I was lead to a Psalm of David~
Psalm 101 (emphasis mine)

1 I will sing of your love and justice;

to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.
3 I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.
The deeds of faithless men I hate;
they will not cling to me.
4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,
him will I put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him will I not endure.
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.
8 Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the LORD.

I heard Him again, loud and clear:
I should sing about Him. I should not look at vile things.
I should have nothing to do with people that have perverse hearts;
nothing to do with evil.
My eyes should be on the faithful and blameless of the land.
[Verse 8 is another message for another day.]

In light of the message I was getting and the enormous crowd
gathered to watch the lady in New York, I decided to investigate her a little more.
A little tentative about digging too much after Psalm 101's message...

I began to watch one of her music videos, and not too far in, had to turn if off
due to offensive (vile) material.
Then:
Apparently Lady calls her fans "monsters" or "little monsters".
On her website was a video interviewing her New York concert-goers about
"What it means to you to be a little monster".
So I watched the video. Here is a quote from a young man:
"The fans that love her love her, and we'll follow her until the day we die."
...and I thought, "where is she leading them?"

*gulp*

And I hear the Savior say, "Come follow Me." 

*For more on 30 days of hearing God speak, visit Sandy's blog*

God Speaks to me

I love this topic. I am going to link with a new blog (well, new to me) "God Speaks Today" which I came across via Lisa Smith because her blog feeds into my friend, Facebook. Yes, Facebook is my friend. Because I visit it daily, I learn from it, I express myself on it, and even have little disagreements on it...(usually with family members as it seems to go...you are lol'ing with me now right?) I actually told my girlfriend last week that I feel called to Facebook....so, what does God speaking and Facebook have to do with one another? In my life, much some days...

Sandy from "God Speaks Today" has given opportunity to linking of blogs for "30 days of hearing God".

When I first surrendered my life to Jesus. When I heard He wanted to be Lord of my life, take my sin and give me His righteousness, I recall knowing His voice. Somehow I just knew when He said something. Maybe because it was new to me to hear something in my heart that would change my course from what I was used to, to something new that was pleasing to Him.

I have always been instructed, directed, corrected, consoled, torn down, built up, and  (at times) breathless while reading His Word.

But there have been times of seeming silence. Seeming. But I have found that the Lord even speaks by His silence. Have you ever experienced that with someone. Just sitting together means something. Now I have to admit, I don't often just sit. I almost always have His Word, a pen, and my journal. But I do spend morning time laying in bed listening and talking to Him. I am a slow riser. I am also a thinker. Or as Dad used to say, "a daydreamer". So I hear His voice through His Word, and while I lay in bed. But I also hear Him when I am running, working out, driving, listening to music, reading blogs. And yes. Even on Facebook!

Wednesday mornings I drag myself out of bed (early) for a weekly prayer meeting. Usually it is just Pastor, his wife, and a few others. This Wednesday, as my alarm went off, I checked my messages (from Facebook) on my phone, and there were some things that...upset me. They were in response to something I posted.  It was the "upset" that dominates your thoughts, and no matter what distraction comes it is not loud enough to steer your thoughts away from it. Until you can spend some time with the Lord and get His perspective. (and fix it!) So I was sitting there fighting the mind battle of "letting go" in order to engage in the prayer meeting...when Pastor opened with this:

Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

God Speaks.

He assured me through His word that I was speaking His Word, not mine. That He was the author of His word, and He knew the motives of my heart. People question motives sometimes. People come to false conclusions sometimes. We tend to be self-guarded and defensive. (the reason I "get it" is because I am one of the people~especially when I forget God is my defender~NOT ME!)

And when I got home, after spending a little more time with Him, I knew how God wanted me to respond to the comments. Not defensively, but purely. And it resulted in peace. In my heart and on the thread. He worked it for good and even better, He was glorified as His word and His Truth were expressed.

Yes, Facebook is my friend because it keeps me humble. It has me running to God some days. Leaning in for His voice. "Should I speak here Lord, or stay quiet?". ...You Speak Lord. Through me. Often in spite of me.

One Thing

Only one thing is needed. That is what Jesus said to Martha

when she was complaining that Mary was in his presence

instead of working on the meal with her...

That (He) speaks to me today.

Come.

Spend time in My Presence.

What are you spending yourself on?

What will the rewards be of taking time to do what you are doing?

Ulitmately in Eternity, I mean.

Will you really "give it all up" to follow Me... as you sing in the song?

When the temptations come

to turn back

to (the Egypt)

that I delivered you out of...

What will you do?

Look at me?

Come to me?

Trust me?

Or will you groan, feel like you lost something?

Will you remember that something was~in reality~

bondage?

Do you recognize the "ashera poles" around you?

Do you understand that many of my people are still worshiping at the "high places"

that have not been torn down?

Will you do what they do

or will you stay true to me?

Are you whole hearted

or half~hearted?

Is your witness effective?

Or are you worldly?

Come sit with me and listen to what I have to say.

Then you will stay true.

You will be full

because I love you.

Truly.

I am the way, the truth and the life.

I am here waiting for you to spend time with me.
That is the one thing you need.

~Jesus~