I was recently reminded of the story of Lydia. Many of you will remember that she was a business woman who sold purple fabrics. She was also a Jewess. While visiting Philippi, where there was no synagogue, on the Sabbath she joined a group of other Jews who gathered for worship along the riverbank just outside the city. The Apostle Paul was also visiting that city. He knew of the Jews who met at the river so he went to seize the opportunity to share the Good News. Now we come to the really the interesting part. We read of Lydia in Acts 16:14, As she listened, the Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying (NLT). It was this verse that grabbed my attention concerning our partnership with God.
Prayer is an amazing tool available to us. We use this to call for help when we need it. We use it to ask direction for our lives, to receive comfort when we hurt. Prayer is the link that brings our concerns to the throne room of God. We are to pray for our own needs, but we have the joy and privilege of praying for the needs of others, too. Our prayers are especially important in regard to those we know and love who do not yet know Jesus personally. They haven’t received His free gift of salvation that will guarantee a place in the splendor of Heaven for eternity.
I will share something that I experienced when I was a new Christian, just fifteen years old. I was sitting in church with my parents and sister. The sermon had ended. The pastor stood at the front issuing an invitation for anyone who didn’t know Jesus to come forward and he would happily explain and pray with them to receive Jesus’ gift of salvation. A hymn was being sung as the pastor stood waiting. Suddenly my eyes fell on the back of a woman several pews in front of me. She was a visitor. My heart began to pound hard as I felt the strong urge to pray for this woman to come to know Jesus. Having never met her, and knowing she was a first-time visitor, I could not know if she was a Christian or not, but I felt this strong prompting to pray. I couldn’t have explained it at the time, but we know this was the Holy Spirit urging me to be a partner in this woman’s salvation. So I began to pray.
I clearly remember the words I prayed, “Holy Spirit, please sweep over this woman and help her to not be afraid. Let her not think about others watching her. Help her to see her need for Jesus.” I prayed these words fervently over and over. Then, to my astonishment and great joy, she stepped out into the aisle and made her way to the pastor. When the song was finished, the pastor asked we all sit. He then introduced the woman as one who had just received Jesus as her Savior. Everyone was filled with joy. I was nearly stupefied, no words to describe what I felt at that moment.
When I had prayed, “Holy Spirit, please sweep over this woman,” it was the same as Acts 16:14. I was actually asking that the Lord open her heart. There must be people in your lives that you know have not yet received the free gift of salvation through Jesus. You are concerned for them. You have spoken to them about Jesus but they have not made that decision to receive Him. You feel helpless. You so want this person or persons to come to know Jesus. As days pass you almost feel desperate.. Let me remind us all — we are partners with God. When we have done all, continue in much prayer. Pray everyday into the person’s life, situations, and meeting of others, that something or someone would be used of God to open that person’s heart.
Pray daily and pray fervently. Prayers are powerful tools; our most powerful tool, to usher our concerns to the throne room, where our Father listens in love. This Christmas season, as the story of Jesus’ birth is told over and again — use your tool. Pray and do so fervently.
Blessings of great joy be with you all.
Yesterday I was reminded of how our loving, Heavenly Father, gives us the privilege of working together with Him. Does He actually need our help? No, but He allows, even encourages our help. Why? For the same reason He offers forgiveness of sin with promise of eternal life in Heaven to all who receive His Son, Jesus as Savior. The reason is love.
When I was a little girl I have memories of helping my mother make the beds. She saw me watching her. “Would you like to help?” she asked. Eagerly I smoothed out the bedspread. “Good job,” my mother praised me. When I became an adult I just knew that bedspread probably didn’t lay neatly on the bed. My mother laughed and said, “It wasn’t the neatest, but it was beautiful because you were helping me.”
If an earthly mother or father can feel that way and react with pleasure at our efforts, how much more does our Heavenly Father smile upon us when we give our best attempts in our obedience to Him? He never asks for perfection; an impossible goal for our imperfect selves. He looks upon the effort of heart. Why have we done what we do? Sense of duty or sense of worship in our love?
Man can only look at the outward appearance and see a disheveled made bed. God looks at the heart and sees a rumpled and crooked bedspread of love, and He is filled with pleasure. Whatever He has put in your heart today, do it with gladness. It’s always the effort that counts.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
Yesterday Americans celebrated Thanksgiving Day. It’s a time to share good food and fellowship with family and friends. It’s a time set aside to be thankful. It can be a time of sadness when there is an empty chair from the absence of a loved one. A year can bring grief, pain, sickness, accident, or financial upheaval. Many ask the question, “Why?” Why did bad things have to happen this past year? For the child of God, it’s the answer that brings peace and hope.
I spent years traveling, always keeping a suitcase on the ready. When I would visit my parents and it came time to make yet another trip to the airport, when I reached my destination, I always found a note from my mother tucked away someplace for me to find when I unpacked. She ended every note with I Thessalonians 5:18, In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Such an instruction from God may seem unrealistic. Why be thankful for bad things that happen? This is a mistaken understanding of the verse. The wrong question has been asked.
The right question is: “Jesus, will you help me through this?” He answers with a resounding, “Yes!” No one can avoid pain in this world, but when we cry, our tears are so precious to Him that He holds them in a bottle (Psalm 56:8). When we can’t see which way to go, He gives us direction. When we feel the pain of rejection from those we love, He wraps us in His love and comfort; Jesus was rejected, too. He understands everything we ever feel. Therefore, in His immeasurable love for us, He gives hope and comfort, inner strength and peace, and fortitude to carry us through each day. He shows us joy in other things around us; perhaps friends or family, or the cheery hello from a neighbor, the laughter we hear from a child, the affection from a pet. No matter any pain or sorrow, Jesus is our everything to get us through anything. In that, we can be very thankful.
I hope Americans enjoyed the special celebration of Thanksgiving Day. I hope everyday for all will be one of thankfulness and joy. Jesus is always our light even in the darkest of tunnels.
Have you see on the news the videos of floods in various parts of the world this past week? One video particularly grabbed my attention. A dog was walking down a street carrying a bone in his mouth. He suddenly stops when he sees a wave of water rushing down the street! How unexpected! The dog had probably trotted down that street many times in safety, but now a torrent of water flowed swift and strong toward him. He stood frozen but when the water reached him it carried him along with its strength of flow. Amazingly the dog sees a wide window ledge and manages to take hold with his front legs. Grappling against the rush of water he pulls himself onto the ledge and sits watching in astonishment as the newly formed river keeps rushing along.
Later in the day, inflatable rescue boats were coming down the street, no doubt looking for people in need of escape. The dog was spotted. The boat came close and stopped. One of the rescuers managed to grab hold of the dog and bring him into the boat. When they returned to their headquarters the dog leapt out of the boat and followed them inside. A blanket was spread on the floor for him. The dog sat on it looking all around him. Whenever anyone approached he wagged his tail, appreciating any pats on the head and words of comfort. He had long ago lost the bone, but that now paled in comparison. All he then wanted was safety and comfort,
This reminded me of Job in the Old Testament. He suffered tragic loss in the death of his children, financial devastation, and painful illness. Even so, Job said of God in Job 23:10, He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold. James wrote about Job in the New Testament, Indeed, you have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. As the book of Job concludes we see that God blessed him twice as much as before. He suffered greatly, and some would say, unfairly, but he was blessed abundantly.
When we feel we are drowning in troubled seas, and all you can manage is to grab hold of a ledge of some hope, hold fast! The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). You will not be on the ledge forever. He will rescue. He will comfort. He will feed you with reminders of His love and help. Like the dog on the ledge who waited patiently, forgetting the bone once so important, may we also sit before the Lord, forgetting the tangible things here today and gone tomorrow, focusing instead on Him — just Him. When we know He will comfort, strengthen, and be our peace in the midst of any storm, all else becomes a bit trivial. Our Father truly does know the way that we take, and when we are tried and tested, learning that clinging to bones is temporary, but clinging to Jesus is for eternity, then indeed, we shall come forth as gold.
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