/ Claire van Ryn

Menu
  • Home
  • About
    • FLaM Faces
    • This Little Life
  • Shop
  • Salvation
Close Menu

FLaM Faces

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

FLaM on Facebook

FLaM on Facebook

Find what you’re looking for

FLaM on Instagram

PSALM 144 “Praise be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.” v1 (NIV) God is training us. He is equipping us for “war”, for “battle”, of a spiritual kind. Not the flesh-and-blood kind. This verse led me to some domino thinkings... 1/ We are students of God! He is passing us knowledge and power. And when you learn something new, they say that, to consolidate the learning, you must do three things: write it down, speak it out and put it into practical use. 2/ This training David mentions is not at all broadbrush. Hands and fingers, he says. It’s specific, strategic even. Not brute force, but nuanced, technical. We each have unique spiritual giftings that enable us to fight effectively. But do we practice them? Do we allow the teaching, learning and growth? 3/ God is investing in us! He doesn’t need us, but He wants us to be active participants in His grand plan. And when we do His bidding, actively doing our part, it not only edifies the Body, but ourselves too. . . . 💐Check out these beautiful flowers!!! Couldn’t resist sharing. They were an unexpected delight delivered to me yesterday ☺️💛 Love them! 💐 (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus
PSALM 143 “Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in you.” v9 (NIV) Look! How amazing is this?! Yesterday, David wrote from deep within a cave, hiding out from Saul’s murderous motives. Today, David continues to unravel his despair- this Psalm groans with the weight of his turmoil. When I read this verse, it flickered like a candle in that bleak cave, bringing hope. I see David curled up, hidden, within the great impenetrable figure of God’s plan. His obedience carries him safely along the way, with all glory pointed to God. Some might think this verse cowardly. David pleads for help and admits to hiding. But by far it is the most courageous thing a man or woman can do: to hide oneself in God. A glorious picture of faith. And of course our David, hidden in our Heavenly Father, achieved immeasurably more than a mere mortal ever could. . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm143
PSALM 142 Today, David writes to us from the gloomy depths of a cave. He is in hiding from King Saul who didn’t take kindly to the public prophesy that David would be the next king. So here we have the giant-slayer himself huddled in a cave, crying out to God. “Rescue me from those who pursue me for they are too strong for me,” he says in verse six. National hero to cave-dweller. Celebrated to scorned. Yet, through it all, David kept his eyes on God. I wonder if God allowed cave times like this one from time to time to realign his faith. And I wonder if we have cave times for the same reason. Do we use the cave times to realign our faith? Because even giant-slayers and kings need reminding where their Help and Strength comes from! . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm142
PSALM 141 “Let a righteous man strike me - it is a kindness; let him rebuke me - it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.” v5 (NIV) I remember working alongside seasoned subeditors as a young and inexperienced journalist. They’d been in the gig for decades. One in particular, Murray, took me aside from time to time and pointed out ways I could improve. Corrections of spelling and passive voice and the difference between enquiry and inquiry. Those sorts of things. I was incredibly grateful, still am, that he took the time to help me grow. This is David’s heart in his faith journey... albeit described in combative terms! He desires righteous correction, to be rebuked when he has done wrong. Is my heart likewise receptive to correction - from a faithful friend, spiritual mentor or even a message delivered on Sunday or via podcast? Do I consider it “oil on my head” - that is, a blessing, or as The Passion Translation says, “healing medicine that I swallow without an offended heart”? . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm141
PSALM 140 What is the biggest threat to faith in God? This was the topic of discussion amongst girlfriends the other night, sitting around a toasty fire in the midst of Winter. Despite the realities of war, oppression and hardship, we resolved that pride is the greatest threat to faith. In Psalm 140 we see the dichotomy of faith (trusting in God) and pride (trusting in self). David is crying out to God for help. In his weakness, his plea is “rescue me...” and “protect me...” (v1) and “keep me...” (v4). He states, “You are my God” and I can hear him drawing strength from that (as the enemy surely shudders!). But then we have verse 8. “Do not grant the wicked their desires, O Lord; do not let their plans succeed, or they will become proud.” This sounds a lot like David is making a plea for his enemies’ souls. Humble them, he says, so that their pride (faith in self) is crippled and they seek God. Let us check ourselves today, as David did. Do we trust in God, or in self (or doctors or friends or resources...)? Do we run to him first, or as a last resort? . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm140
NEW BLOG POST! (link in profile 👆🏼or copy and paste the link below 👇🏼) It’s about how I’ve started the conversation with our kiddos about when life begins. Using their baby books. They absolutely LOVE looking at their baby books, which begin from when we knew they were on board 🥰💛👦🏼👧🏼 . . . https://faithlikeamushroom.com/2019/07/10/how-to-teach-value-of-life-to-kids/ #life #parenting #motherhood #mumlife #prolove
PSALM 139 I’ve been looking forward to this Psalm; the knitting and weaving Psalm! We’ll get to that in a bit, but I just love the way this gorgeous piece of prose conveys how intimately God KNOWS us. But it’s more than that. It articulates the breadth of God’s KNOWING of us in a way that brings awe and comfort instead of fear. He knows us for our good, not for control. And David spills praise words of God’s care and creativity; affirmation of how our worth is sewn into our humanity. But I can really just put my virtual pen away now and let the Psalm minister itself, so vivid and distilled is its message. May it bless you today! “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” v13-16‬ ‭(NIV‬‬) . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm139 #fearfullyandwonderfullymade #wonder
PSALM 138 “... before the “gods” I will sing your praise.” v1 (NIV) A few Psalms back, in Psalm 135, we looked at the importance of God being centre of our lives. No other gods. Here, in Psalm 138, it’s taken a step further. The psalmist is singing God’s praise in the presence of those other gods. Little ‘g’. He is not only being counter-cultural, but demonstrative in his faith. In the presence of political correctness and capitalism and body autonomy and feminism and career-laddering and greed and even the far selfish extremes of ‘wellness’ and ‘self care’, do we sing praise to God? Big ‘G’. For the psalmist, it isn’t enough to praise God in his bedroom. He is motivated to boldness in a world rejecting God. He didn’t do any of this in his own strength, however. God does require our loyalty and boldness, but He gives us what we need to step up. “You made me bold and stouthearted,” he says in verse 3. Isn’t that the BEST word, “stouthearted”?! Are you stouthearted in your faith? Perhaps, like me, you need to pray for the boldness to sing God’s name before all the other gods. Every day and in every way 😊🙌🏼 . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm138 #stouthearted
PSALM 137 “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” v4 (NIV) Can you hear the grief in this Psalm? The Israelites’ temple, the special place of worship where God’s presence resided, is destroyed. The despair is palpable. I chose this verse to chew on because I can relate, to an extent. Compared with the home of God’s presence (for the exiled Israelites of this Psalm; His temple in Jerusalem), everything else is “foreign”. So much of what we see around us contradicts the perfection of God’s plan for us. And we cry out, “How can we sing?!” in this environment of oppression and cold hearts and brokenness. But we have something that the psalmist and his friends didn’t. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Our bodies the temples. Him guiding us, strengthening us, loving us. So we CAN “sing the songs of the Lord” while in this foreign land. . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm137

Top Posts

  • Teaching Kids about Inner Beauty
  • Is Adoption the Solution to Abortion?
  • How to teach value of life to kids
  • The Nativity Pig
  • "Indescribable peace" in the midst of cancer battle

/ Claire van Ryn

  • Blog at WordPress.com.
%d bloggers like this: