The LORD will be the sure foundation for your times,

a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;

the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.

Isaiah 33:6

Just take a minute to read these words again…really.

When things seem shaky in your life—maybe your job or your finances are insecure…or suddenly diminshing or gone…maybe your relationship with a friend…or your husband…or your wife is tense, confusing, painful or ending…or maybe your health is weakening…your prognosis is uncertain, complicated, devastating or terminal—Do you have and know the LORD as your sure foundation…for ALL of your times? No matter what?

When things seem empty in your life—maybe you feel that every personal resource you have of energy, hope, peace, strength, sustainance and survival are depleted—Do you have and know the unfailing, exceeding and abundant riches that comes from the LORD…that come from God’s eternal storehouse…His continuous offering of salvation and wisdom and knowledge?

 And the key to this treasure—when our lives are shaky…when our lives are depleted—is to fear the LORD…to fully acknowledge the LORD as the Sovereign God, the Almighty and Holy One…the One who alone holds our lives in His hands.

And there are two sides to this treasure key: Knowing who the LORD is should cause each one of us to fear Him because the LORD alone is our very life-breath. Knowing who the LORD is should cause each one of us to trust Him with every breath of our lives…because the LORD alone loves us passionately and perfectly!

Fear and Trust of our Holy LORD make up the two sided key to the treasure the LORD has made available to each one of us!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

The fruit of righteousness will be peace;

the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

Isaiah 32:17 

What grows out of my thoughts, my words, my actions, my interactions with others? What is the fruit that blossoms—visibly and tangibly…or is sensed and perceived—from my thoughts, my words, my actions, my interactions with others?

Is the fruit of my life PEACE…the fruit that comes from righteousness? Do I bring more righteous peace to others…or do I bring more pain? Do I alleviate hurt…or do I annoy and harm? Do I help to dissipate the darkness…or do I discourage and depress? Is my fruit the righteous fruit of peace from the Prince of Peace—our Lord Jesus Christ?

What effect do I personally sense—in my soul and in my mind—from the choices I make with my thoughts, my words, my actions, my interactions with others? Do I know and sense God’s quietness and confidence…the effect of being declared righteous through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do I trust God’s love, salvation, grace and truth, power and presence to such an extent in my life that I can let my spirit and mind be quieted by my Lord…remain confident in my Lord? No matter what I experience? No matter how loud the voices of sin, hurt, rejection, shame, discouragement, loneliness, addiction, exhaustion may be?

May you and I each be able to answer, “YES! My fruit is peace!” —and—”YES! I know quietness and confidence!” Because we each know and LOVE our Lord and the righteousness that He grows up in us and blesses us with in every area…every relationship…and within our innermost beings—as we trust and obey our Mighty God!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us,

that we should be called children of God!

1 John 3:1

Great!

We probably have all used that exclamation at one time or another when we are feeling good about something—maybe some project we just accomplished…maybe some good news we just heard…maybe some plans that just came together! We’re satisfied: Great! We’re happy: Great! We are feeling good about some expectation: Great!

And then…beyond what we can even imagine…our Holy Creator—the Sovereign LORD of all that exists—has made His love irrefutably, extraordinarily and passionately known to us. Our God, out of His amazing love, has given His Son to die for our sins and our shame…and He has made us His children through our faith in His Son, our Savior Jesus!

We have been lavished with—we are, right now, moment by moment being lavished with—the love of our Heavenly Father! God lavishes His love on His children continually—and His love saves, heals, transforms, frees and never ever fails us!!

How great is that!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

Psalm 150:6

These are the last words of the last Psalm printed in the Bible.

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

So, even now, recognize that you have breath. You have been given the breath of life from God—our Creator, our Life-Giver. And if you are God’s child by faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you have also been given the promise of life eternal in the presence of Almighty God.

So, breathe. And thank God…praise the LORD…for who He is…praise the LORD for the life and breath He gives…praise the LORD for the unfailing love and salvation He offers. Praise the LORD for making you…for being present with you…for loving you—intimately, passionately, persistently.

Let everything that has breath AND everyone who has breath praise the LORD. Really. Breathe and Praise…and Breathe and Praise the LORD some more. Your circumstances will be more readily put into perspective, your hurts will be tenderly cared for, your heart and your mind will be guarded with the peace of God that transcends all understanding…and you will acknowledge the goodness and wonder of our LORD Most HIgh!

So, Breathe and Praise the LORD!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

“In that day,” declares the LORD,

“I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief.

I will make the lame a remnant, those driven away a strong nation.

The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever.”

Micah 4:6-8

 The LORD sees and knows the full outcome for all eternity. And in His conquering love and His faitful acts towards His people, our LORD will gather all of us who are weak, hurt, discouraged—the lame of body, mind and spirit—and bring us fully to Himself. Our LORD will draw back to Himself His people who had either been captured and carried away as exiles by the evil, prideful and selfish acts of others or by their own evil, prideful and selfish acts. For we who turned away from the LORD and suffered the grief from our choices, the LORD’s compassionate love will not fail us as we repent and turn back to Him and His love and His way.

We will be gathered to our LORD as His people…we will be made strong as individuals and as the LORD’s people—as His nation…as the Body of Christ. And the LORD will rule over us in His Holy, Perfect Love and Authority forever and ever. No more weakness, no more exile, no more grief.

May we each, who are the people of the Living LORD, recognize that His power, His rule and His love are available to lead us…to rule us…to protect us…and to embrace us in His eternal care RIGHT NOW!

Let “that day” be today for each one of us as the children of the LORD!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and everyone else, just as our does for you.

1 Thessalonians 3:12

The foundational desire that our God has for us is to make His children more and more conformed to the likeness of His Son, our Savior and Eternal Lord, Jesus Christ. Our Holy God wants to make us more and more—in our deepest inner character and in our sincerest outer expression—like Himself.

And for that to happen, our minds, our perspectives, our attitudes, our thoughts, our words, our body language and ALL of our actions need to be more truly infused with love and more fully offering love—God’s kind of love. A love of strength and courage, of humility and sacrifice, of grace and truth, of forgiveness and freedom, of passion and peace.

May we each truly allow the Lord to increase and overflow our love for each other and everyone else—His way…with His kind of love.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:15

Whatever…wherever…whenever…with whom ever—let’s each choose, as God’s deeply loved children, to do everything in the full awareness of who we are in Jesus Christ! Let us each choose to live our lives in the love and freedom, grace and truth, power and purpose to which God calls us as His ambassadors in this world.

And let’s be thankful! Really, Really THANKFUL!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Unabashed in his praise and in his trust of the LORD…and uncovered and unprotected about his feelings and circumstances—that’s how David writes his psalms.

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who love your salvation always say,

“The LORD be exalted!”

Yet I am poor and needy; may the LORD think of me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

O my God, do not delay.

Psalm 40:16-17

David puts forth his absolute assurance of who God is, lifting His name high—praising the LORD as the One who saves us and as the One we must seek. Then, in the next few phrases, David reveals his vulnerability and his need for God to help him—to save him and to deliver him from the cruelty, the injustice and the battle he is currently experiencing in his life.

In other words, David sees both eternity and his present circumstances pretty clearly: The LORD is to be exalted…and he needs God desperately.

This is the balance—and the grace and truth—in which we should all live our lives: Exaltation and Desperation.

Exaltation for our Creator and Savior because there is joy and peace and strength that come to us in acknowledging and praising our LORD for who He is!

Desperation in acknowledging our very real need for our Great God who alone can bring true salvation, true healing and true help to our lives!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

 Life can be very messy. Life can move at too quick of a pace. Life can be mundane. Life can be maddening.

But! Always our LORD is majestic! And it’s soooooo good for our souls to remember that…and really see the clear evidence of our LORD’s majesty…no matter how messy our lives may be!

Read…pray…sing…and do it all over again…as you take in the words of Psalm 8:

O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all of the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet;

all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is you name in all of the earth!

Wow!! Taking time to think about the majesty of our LORD sure helps my head, heart and spirit to breathe more deeply…and my smile to come more easily. Taking time to push back from the messiness…and the messed-up-ness…of this life to focus on the ETERNAL MAJESTY of the LORD is good for our souls and every area and relationship of our lives!

O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is you name in all of the earth!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

After the Israelites returned from exile in Babylon, Nehemiah was instrumental in directing the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. He cared deeply for his people and for the holy city of Jerusalem. He wanted both his people and Jerusalem to be rightly and righteously protected—both physically and spiritually.  Nehemiah used his God-given authority to place others in positions of authority. Hananiah was one such man.

After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed.

I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do.

Nehemiah 7:1-2

Nehemiah’s description of Hananiah is to the point and without a lot of words. He was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do.

Wow. It makes me wonder: How would people really see me? Do my faith and integrity show as clearly as Hananiah’s? Is that true always? Or just in my Christian circles…or with nice people? Do strangers in check-out lines…or tele-marketers…or those driving alongside me on the speedways highways see me as a woman of integrity and faith? Am I the same person—with the same integrity and fear-faith in God—in my most intimate of circles as I am in the most public of arenas? 

Our God is One. Always the same. Always Love. Always Grace and Truth. Always Faithful. May each of us…may I…be more and more one person—a person of integrity and faith in the LORD our God!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane