Ebenezer Stones

“Faithful is He Who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy and He will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you].”  1 Thessalonians 5:24 (Amplified Bible)

Father, we thank you that You are faithful and utterly trustworthy.  Thank you that You will fulfill Your call for Deeper Still and that You keep Deeper Still Team Members in Your loving care and protection. We remember and thank You for Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

1 Samuel 7: 12-14

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen[a] and called its name Ebenezer;[b] for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

God is always faithful.   Samuel set a stone up as a reminder to the Israelites of the Lord’s faithfulness.  He called the stone, “Ebenezer”, which means, “the rock of help” and then declared, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”

 

The Lord subdued Israel’s enemies and delivered His people.  We can be assured that the Lord will subdue the enemy and deliver His sons and daughters.  He has been faithful in the past and He will continue to be faithful in the future.  He will do what He has said He will do.  He will fulfill the call and do it, we just need to trust.

 

As new chapters of Deeper Still are being started, let us remember God’s faithfulness in the past and expect His continued help moving forward.  He who has called us, is also faithful to do it. 

Below is another Ebenezer Stone from the Illinois Deeper Still Chapter, a barn board  beautifully displaying God’s faithfulness.  

Please pray for the Illinois retreat this weekend!  It is April 4-6^th.   Thank you so much for your prayers!!!  

Provision

“v. 5 Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread...v. 10 all who are gifted artisans among you shall come and make all that the Lord has commanded…v. 21 Then everyone came whose heart was stirred and everyone whose spirit was willing and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.” Exodus 35:5, 10, 21

Father, we thank you that you provide skilled artisans with willing hearts to bring their gifts and talents as a beautiful offering to You in the ministry of Deeper Still.  Father, thank you for their hearts being stirred so that these gifts can be used in Your service.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I was overwhelmed when I read over the prayer of provision list for Deeper Still.  On this list were the verses above plus some others from Exodus 35 and 36.  The reason my heart was in awe was because of a skype conversation the day before.    In this conversation, Judy Townsend had shared about how God was providing for every need for the Deeper Still Illinois Retreat and in some pretty crazy ways!

 

She explained how when they needed a “Mother Mantle” ( which is a very heavy and ornate cape-like garment), to place over the ladies who attend the retreat as a symbol of restoring their “Mother Mantle”,  that someone who was a Renaissance costume designer showed up and willingly offered to create it for them.  Now, I am not sure how abundant Renaissance costume crafters are in Illinois, but I don’t know very many in Tennessee (actually, I don’t know of any!)!

Then, Judy went on to share how God provided pottery jars to give to the ladies as a reminder of God’s love and care and how He keeps our tears in a bottle (Ps 58:6) and is close to the brokenhearted.  Apparently, a person who has a degree in Pottery (who knew one could get a degree in Pottery, right?) offered his talents to make these tear jars.

And then she shared how a team member had taken some old wood from an abandoned barn and how God used several people to transform these broken and damaged pieced of wood into beautiful works of art to display at the retreat.  Below is a picture of one of these barn boards.

Isn’t it amazing how God transformed what the world would consider rubbish or garbage and turned it into a beautiful work of art?  It is such a visual representation of what God does in all of our lives.  He gives us beauty for ashes, He restores the broken and makes all things new.  Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom indeed! 

God is just too much!!  He continues to overwhelm me with His goodness and provision .  I hope these examples today encourage you in how He is interested in the smallest and intricate details not only for Deeper Still, but also in your life.

Thank you for your continued prayers!  He hears and He answers. 

Beauty in Waiting

“Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.  For our heart shall rejoice in Him.  Because we have trusted in His holy name.  Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.”  Psalm 33:20-22

Father, our soul waits for You.  Lord, we thank You that You are Deeper Still’s help and shield.  Our hearts rejoice in You.  We trust in Your holy name.  We ask for Your mercy to be upon Deeper Still for we hope in You and wait on You.  We ask for You to bind the team members of Deeper Still together as we wait and trust and hope in You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Today’s devotional is inspired by the Head of the Illinois Deeper Still Chapter, Judy Townsend, and Deeper Still worship leader Kay Smith. 

“Our soul waits for the Lord.”  “Wait” in this passage comes from the Hebrew word chaka, and according to Strong’s, its primary meaning is to tie or bind together like a cord. 

Therefore, to wait is actually to bind together like a cord.  As we wait on the Lord, we are tied to the Lord and He is tied to us.  He won’t let go.  He has us.  We just need to trust and wait.  He will act. 

This is so beautifully applied to the Deeper Still team.  As a team, we WAIT with arms locked, woven into the Cord as the source of our strength and endurance. As we wait completely bound and secure in the Cord of our Savior, we can be OPEN to see how He moves and move with Him, completely unified in Him.  

As we all move together in one cord, He uses all of our unique stories of redemption in order to sew a tapestry together that is beautiful AND SO FULL OF HIM!!

We just need to wait and be open to His moving.  He is making something beautiful. 

The first Deeper Still of Illinois retreat is coming up in just a couple of weeks, April 4-6!  Please be in prayer for this new territory of Deeper Still!  Thank you for your prayers!!!