“Our Rock”

Father God, let this touch someones heart in Jesus Precious name Amen.
God is so purposeful in our lives that even before we pray, he provides for us. There is so much that God does some of which often escapes our attention and memory. While we always look at the big things in our lives, and the major events that we want God to come through for us, we tend to forget that he is the God of the entire universe, He provides for each of his creations and He sees all of what He has created.

The Lord brings rain to both the godly and the ungodly. In one classic example involving the deer, the Bible demonstrates the sovereignty of God in providing for his creation. It reads in Job 39:1: “Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched as deer are born in the wild?” God said this in response to Job who was complaining about what he was going through to the point of invoking God to obliterate the day he was born and forget it completely.
So if a ungodly person says to a godly person pray for rain and the godly person prays for him and to make it rain. The ungodly person gets to see God in action if it does rain. This is an example of how God works in the ungodly life of a unbeliever. So brothers and sisters believe for God to work through you to others so they will see God’s light through you. Amen.

God reminds Job that there is so much that he cares for, things that Job probably didn’t know or had not thought through.
The deer is one of the most mentioned animals in the Bible. From the Old Testament writers and cultures has a special attachment to the deer for specific reasons. For some it was its speed, for others it was its calving and still, some writers borrowed the grace and the beauty of the deer. There are several mentions of the deer in the Bible.
Today I want to talk about deer. But right now, I want to look back at a couple of church friends that made an impact in my life. Jami is one sweet person that I knew from church. Each week she would stop see how I was doing and spoke about her missions in Hatti. I liked drinking the coffee the church would get from Hatti. Anyways one day Jami stopped by my house, and we spoke about her pictures etc. So, then she would take and walk while I was in my wheelchair, and she would let me use her camera to take pictures. So, some days that she wasn’t doing anything she would visit her other friend in the neighborhood and come by and visit me. God had given me a friend who knew that I always wanted to be a photographer. I went to school in the 8th grade and learned how to develop my film of the pictures I took. Now we don’t have to developed film like that no more. It makes it more fun to be a photographer by using digital sb card. Jami was my sister in Christ and God knew it would assist me in my healing. After I had my back surgery, Jami would take me in her vehicle to take pictures. My husband Walt had bought me a 40 zoom Canon Camera, so I could take pictures also. We would take pictures of deer. Jami would tell me, just don’t move. Jamie would walk slowly, so they didn’t run. So, I was quiet. Jami could actually walk really close to them. It is so amazing how deer will look right at you and then go about their business while you shot pictures of them. They are not scared unless you give them reason and then they run.
Here is a bible verse that stands the test of healing time: He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.
2 Samuel 22:34
I want to talk about another friend from Church. Her name was Irene, she has moved on to another church. But as long as I knew Irene, she was the sweetest elderly lady that would always stop and talk to me when I was in the wheelchair. Then she gave me a book she had written. Who knew? It is called Who is this man? I read the book and a child can read it also. See God guided others in my life who was a blessing of healing. Our pastor had exercise class’s I joined at just the right time after my back surgery. Who knew? God knew. He sends those to pray for you and help you to heal. When I look back on my journey. God has been with me all along.
https://www.amazon.com/Who-This-Man-Irene-Ferguson/dp/1931823634?tag=shadow07e-20
It reads in Genesis 49:21: “Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.
Temptations have a way of binding the soul and confining it to a state of eternal capture. However, when deliverance comes and the spirit is set free, there is a sense of affection and natural behavior that makes us as vibrant as a deer. When you find a deer grazing or running around in the grassland, you’ll in doubt envy its state of freedom and expression. That is how it feels like when we are not under any chains or confinement the beauty within us flows out naturally. God is always restoring our souls gently back to Himself so we can experience His freedom.

Just like looking at the deer. God is comforting and healing us even when something scares us off in another direction, God leads us back to His path. It reads in Malachi 4:2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. We were driving out of the driveway yesterday and there was a mommy deer and a doe. They ran out in front of us, so my husband stopped the car. The mommy deer ran into the woods, but the doe was confused. The doe ran to the side and my husband proceeded with caution. The doe ran back into the street to get to mommy’s side, but another car was coming, and the doe ran back on the other side. Then the doe proceeded back to the other side to be with mommy. It all worked out. The deer and doe were back together again. I thought about this for a moment. God does the same for us. He makes a way for us to come back to Him. We may not see it at the time because of all the confusion. But memories help us to see His prompting and leading us back to Him.
I take pictures of Deer. It is peaceful and I get to see how they are so patient and how they react to my just being there. They are not scared of me. It can be really quiet and then when a car comes by, they run and stop to see if I am alright. They either stay or run. Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The hunger for the LORD can be expressed in different ways. It reads in Psalm 42:1: As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah. As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. When God set apart his people as his treasured possession, he gave them some rules and regulations by which they were to live by. Among the rules were those concerning food, what to eat and what not to eat.
There were some foods especially animals that the Israelites could freely eat without the fear of becoming ceremonially unclean.
It reads in Deuteronomy 14:4-5, “These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.” The deer is therefore approved and set apart by the LORD as a clean animal.
Samuel and Psalm, the Bible speaks of God’s establishment and direction in connection to the deer. Deer is created for the mountains and its foot structure is made in such a way that it can scale the ruggedness of the mountains with finesse. Deer do not have to look for another landscape rather it adapts to the existing landscape and makes its life worthwhile there.
It reads in 2 Samuel 22:34: “He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.” God establishes his people in the territories he wants them to conquer.
It reads in Habakkuk 3:19: “The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.”
{Let’s Pray}
Father God, I thank You and praise You for Your strength, healing love and guidance of others and myself who are being Jesus to people, especially their brothers and sisters in Christ. Let me shine Your light on others who do not know You that they will be like a deer that they know their heart beats because of You. So, they will truly know Your love for them. I love You because You first loved me and never will leave. I praise You for Your full attention, Your unconditional love, Your unconditional grace, and Your everlasting salvation to all who ask and believe. I thank You and praise You for Jesus, my Saviour, my high tower, my refuge, my rock and my all in all. Let those who don’t know You be guided back to You as lost deer who are found, and You hold them dear in Jesus Precious Name Amen.
{Power Verse}
“The God of my rock; in him will I trust he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Saviour; thou save me from violence.”
2 Samuel 22:3