His breakers and His waves
I saw something as I was worshipping during a prayer meeting at my church today. The lyrics we were singing at the moment were:
“Holy Spirit, You are welcome here, Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere…”
As I was caught up in the song, I “felt” the breakers of the Florida Gulf sweeping over me and the water was flooded with the brightness of daylight. As I tumbled over and over under the waves, I marveled at their beauty and cleansing power, and although I was not in control, I was not afraid.
Then I heard the phrase “Deep calleth unto deep” from Psalm 42:7, so I looked it up.
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:7-8, NASB
The thought came that breakers and waves break off jagged edges of rock and polish them.
If you feel as if life’s breakers and waves have been unrelenting, I believe that God is wanting to let you know something very important—something crucial—to help you:
He is doing a work in you. Do not be afraid. He is with you in the waves and He will not fail you or forsake you. He will bring you forth, a smooth, polished stone–a lively stone–treasured by Him and useful to Him in His work and His Kingdom.
…for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] Hebrews 13:5b, Amplified Classic Bible
He is faithful,
Dorothy
© Dorothy Frick, 2026
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Nebuchadnezzar: The dream from God and the subsequent unwise image
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Daniel 3:1
In chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt of an enormous statue consisting of sections of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and an alloy of iron and clay. Daniel explained to the king that God had given him a prophetic dream to reveal the kingdoms on the earth, present and yet to come. Daniel also told him that he—Nebuchadnezzar—was the head of gold and that all the other kingdoms would be inferior to his.
Well, this morning I opened my Bible to chapter 3 and got no further than verse one. In the margin I read something I had written on 9/21/19: “I’ll bet Neb was ‘inspired’ to do this [build the idol] because of his dream.” The dream was from God; the subsequent construction of the golden image was NOT. The note I had written started the wheels to spin in my mind.
It hit me—ministries, ministers, and everyday Christians ALL get tempted to pull this same sort of thing whether God speaks to them, uses them, or reveals to them something to come.
We are all quite capable of playing into the same temptation, revering the dream, the prophetic word, or the revealed call of God on our lives, and sometimes we even expect others to do likewise. The gift or directive of God now becomes the object of worship and awe, not God Himself! And without realizing it, we have erected Nebuchadnezzar’s image in our own likeness and name.
When Jesus is Lord and the Father Himself is the sole object of your love, worship, and devotion, you would not expect—much less demand—reverence or allegiance to be shown by others to the vision, word, or gifting that God has given to you. Any respect shown or loyalty displayed to you by others is received as a gift, treated as a free-will offering, precious, and NEVER as that which is due.
Would your refusal—as a Christian or a leader—to set up your own gifting or ministry as an idol mean that you no longer have the right to speak into the lives of others? Of course not! When self-promotion is set aside, discernment is free to operate more purely. Instead of counseling based on partisan affiliation or allegiance status, now the full motive in ministering to others is to help them to embrace the Lord and discover the direction He has for them, not to get them onboard with your church, ministry, vision, or with any particular leader. Nebuchadnezzar image-builders get people hooked on themselves and not on the Father to whom belongs all the glory.
It is my suspicion that most of the partisan, sectarian issues in the church of “I’m of Paul” and “I’m of Apollos” (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-4) has to do with the erection of Nebuchadnezzar-like statues in seeking to immortalize a simple gift, ministry, or prophetic understanding. In turn, these providential blessings from God morph into idols to which full devotion is often demanded.
Stop idolizing humans! Stop idolizing ministries!
Stop idolizing the directives and dreams that God has given to you, and just simply obey them as from the Lord! By the same token, stop expecting others to pay homage to your wisdom, your words, your dreams, your vision, or your ministry.
Let people be followers of Jesus, and as for you, be available to God to use you to help them on the course He has for them. And likewise, receive as a gift—not as what is due—the help others give to you as you pursue His will for your life.
But the bottom line is this: Shun idolatry of all kinds.
Dorothy
© Dorothy Frick, 2021
Read MoreDeclare
I had a thought today while reading Romans 1:4a. “[Jesus] was DECLARED the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead…”
That word DECLARED stood out to me. I thought that word always had to do with WORDS that are SPOKEN. However, here, it is a NON-VERBAL declaration by the ultimate DEMONSTRATION of GOD’S POWER—raising Jesus from the dead.
That got me to thinking. I SAY things all the time; but what is my LIFE declaring? It is certainly speaking day in and day out.
I will pray that my life, as well as my words, will declare the things God has ordained for me to declare. I am aware that this will take some discipline, self-control, and at times being brutally honest with myself and others. It will take the power of God that is beyond my ability.
But I believe it will be well worth it.
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
The winds are blowing
Today I passed by two different bird’s nests, violently spilled upon the ground. Nearby the second lay a blue egg, never to burst forth with feathered life. Instantly I realized that yesterday’s high winds had casualties: They swept away both home and offspring for more than one bird.
My mind shifted to a biblical application: During “interesting” times this one thing is of utmost importance—upon what have you been building your “home”?
Are you basing your decisions and hopes on shifting sand (or vulnerable, branching outliers of popular thought)? Or are you building your life on the solid, wind-resistant bedrock of the One who created the wind, ground, rocks, and branches?
His Word is a sanctuary in times of peace; during the storm. His Word is a living refuge of protection.
Be cautious as you build. The winds are blowing.
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
Read MoreObey anyway
Here’s what I just posted on Facebook:
Barbara’s got all the blankets
It’s Thanksgiving time again, and like many of you, my mind goes back to the kinder, gentler times of my childhood.
Our family usually traveled to Oklahoma City to spend the holiday weekend with Grandma and Granddaddy Bollinger. They had a small three bedroom house, so my sister and I shared Grandma’s double bed while she sacrificed and slept in Granddaddy’s bedroom with him.
Well, despite the quieter days of the early 60’s, when Barbara and I had to share a bed…WW3 was soon to follow.
That first night we arrived, the night before Thanksgiving, Mom tucked Barbara and me into bed and then joined the other grown ups as they sat and talked and finished up all of the Thanksgiving preparations.
Let me tell you. Barbara is four and a half years older than me, and I was extremely suspicious of her privileged position as the oldest girl in the family. She was vicious in my opinion, as she was known at times to pin me down and tickle me until I nearly wet my pants…OK…I did wet my pants. She was a true foe of the highest order.
On the other hand, she was equally leery of me. I was the baby of the family, and she knew I was the privileged one. To her way of thinking, I got away with murder as I screamed “MOMMMMMY!!!” every time she even looked at me.
Yes, war was brewing as soon as Mom turned out the light…
“Give me the cover!” I cried as I grabbed hold of a wad of blanket.
“Let go! It’s MINE!” she demanded as she pulled the cover back.
Soon we were kicking, yanking, screaming like little wildcats, pulling blankets in every direction. Flashes of static electricity snapped like enemy fire in the darkened Oklahoma bedroom…
The noise of our warfare soon reached the kitchen where Mom and Grandma were taking the last pie out of the oven.
And then we heard it…the unmistakable sound of Mom’s feet, walking across the living room, into the hall, her hand upon the doorknob…
“GIRLS!” she whisper-yelled. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING???!!”
I felt vindicated. I, the victim, the baby, and the innocent recipient of the oppression of that older person of privilege–my enemy and my sister, who lay over there in this very bed–I would revel in the justice only Mom and Dad could meet upon her.
I yelped out in my very best “poor-me-I’m-the-victim” voice, “BARBARA’S GOT ALL THE BLANKETS!!!!!!!”
As Mom cracked the door open and switched on the light…there, before God and all the turkeys of a million Thanksgiving dinners, lay the truth….
Barbara, entirely exposed to the cold in her little cotton flannel pajamas, lay shivering….and I, yes I, the victim of her privilege, had the entire pile of blankets heaped up on me and spilling over my side of the bed to the floor.
I may or may not have gotten spanked…but as I crawled back under the re-spread blankets, a new thought began forming in my little girl brain that late Thanksgiving eve: Maybe I’m not ALWAYS the victim here. And MAYBE…just MAYBE…my supposed people of privilege don’t ALWAYS have the advantage…
And if you ever watch the news with me nowadays, you may hear me whisper this little saying under my breath as I watch the conflict of our time: “Barbara’s got all the blankets.”
Happy Thanksgiving,
Dorothy
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