This is Thanksgiving time in America; a time when we reflect upon our blessings of this past year, but everyday, anywhere, for anyone, it can be a time of thanksgiving because of this:
“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved..” Romans 10:9-10
“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned…But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, God’s Son Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:12&15
To anyone, no matter what the sin, if you ask God’s forgiveness, He will wash you clean in heart and give you a brand new life from the inside out. He will be with you for all your days. He will touch you with His love and peace. He will give you eternal life with Him when life on earth is done.
Oh, what a time of thankfulness to know you are Read More
To me, one of the worst sounds is a cat fight. The high pitched screams can make my skin crawl. To see the fight, a wild tumble of fur and claw, adds to the terror of the moment! Such a terrible sound came to my ears just two days ago. I ran to the window in time to see an intruder cat jumping on Blackie, our sweet-natured, black and white cat, who had been calmly eating his dinner. Everything went into a blur as the two became one in an entanglement of anger and fear.
I ran outside but the enemy cat was already sprinting away in a quick flash of white and gray. Blackie was no where to be seen until I peeked under the car. There he was, wide eyed, crouching, ready to fight or take flight. I called him. He didn’t move. I talked softly; still, he hunched unmoved in his fear.
I stood and went over to his food bowl. I straightened the towel under his bowl. I poured more food. I stood waiting for several minutes, calling for Blackie. Finally, there was my boy. I petted him, stroking his back. He kept looking around nervously; then he began to eat. Every now and again Blackie would look up, glancing around him. I kept stroking him, speaking tender words. He ate until he was full; stretched, and began his grooming routine. Then I started to walk away, but his eyes turned wild once more. I returned, again petting him, speaking calm words until finally, he was settled even when I turned to go.
When I got back inside, I went to the kitchen window to look out. There was Blackie staring at the window. When he saw me, he began to eat some more of his food. Blackie was obviously taking comfort and courage in my presence. In my presence he had confidence that the enemy would stay away, if only for a time.
Psalm 23 came immediately to my mind. Verse 5 says this, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.”
Oh, the fears of life that can paralyze us, rendering our minds unable to think clearly, or our wills to move us forward. We gaze about nervously. Perhaps it’s the enemy of worry: about family needs, friend’s in trouble, financial concerns, poor health. Worry is a joy robber. Like Blackie, when it attacks, we freeze, perhaps we hide ourselves away, until we remember, our Heavenly Father is always at home in our hearts. He will give us His own peace in the midst of the things that worry us. He speaks encouraging and soothing words. He gives us what we need today, and promises not to leave us tomorrow. In His presence there is always hope. In His presence we are safe, even in the presence of the enemies that plague our minds.
When the enemy strikes, let’s remember to turn our focus from the enemy of worry, and gaze into the peace and hope of our Father. He will anoint our heads with the oil of gladness, and our cup of need will overflow with blessings of hope and courage.
I am often encouraged by someone’s testimony of what God has done in their life. Such a story was shared with me yesterday. It so inspired and excited me, that I asked permission to include my friend’s story in this week’s blog. Here it is in her own words:
“I lead a group of girls in a home group and we were talking one day about prayer. I kept on thinking that I pray and Jesus answers; however, I do not have much faith when it is something very big, like healing of a serious disease. I shared this with a friend, and went on with my week, just thinking about it, and trying to seek why and how to change that. Then, one morning at work around 4:00am (I work at the emergency room) someone dropped off a dead young man. He was without a pulse and not breathing. We do not know for how long. He was just dropped out of a car and left by the emergency room door. By protocol, we have to do lifesaving procedures (CPR) for 30 minutes, since we don’t know when the heart actually stopped, and since the person is still warm. The whole time I felt uneasy, so I began to pray, and all I was praying was for God to give him one more chance. The guy began to breathe 15 minutes later and another 20 minutes later he was talking! Turns out he overdosed on heroin and this was his 12th overdose. I looked him up on Facebook to find that he is a believer. The next day, I realized God used me to bring someone back to life and this is the biggest power of prayer! I still can hardly believe it! None of the doctors understand how this person came back to life and how he was able to speak so fast after this event. He is now out of the hospital. I secretly gave his name to a pastor who will contact him and try to help. I think about this person all the time. God really showed me that I am silly to think I can do little. Now, tomorrow our group meets again, and imagine how I will tell the girls! However, the most important thing, I really hope that this person will be healed from addiction because Satan is trying to steal him.”
Prayer is a powerful tool. The mind cannot even imagine what all God can do through a praying person. Prayer is the one thing that makes demons tremble. Satan does all he can do to discourage Christians from engaging in prayer. Since evil forces are so aware of the power of prayer, shouldn’t we Christians be aware, too?
The above testimony reminds me of Peter in Acts 9:40. A young woman had died. Peter was taken to the room where she lay. This is what the Scripture says, “Peter asked everyone to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the dead body he said, ‘Get up, Tabitha.’ She opened her eyes and sat up.”
God’s ways never change. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that, “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Peter prayed and someone was raised to life. My friend prayed and a dead heroin addict was raised to life. Like my friend said, it was silly of her to think she could do so little, when all the while, she could make a difference by using the best power tool ever! Let’s challenge each other to use our tool, and then let’s stand tall and watch our God at work!
I once met a young woman who was going through some difficult times. Her marriage was crumbling, she lost her job, money was melting away with all the bills to be paid. She lamented for her children whom she called, “innocent victims in the middle of my mess.” I learned of all her difficulties when she asked to speak to me, desiring to share the pain that lived in her heart.
As I listened, she told me that Monday thru Friday was spent hitting the pavement, going from one business to another, hoping to be hired; any job would do. Saturdays were spent with her children, trying to make up for their own pain as they listened to their parents argue about their troubles. “Sometimes,” she told me, “I just make a plate of sandwiches and we go outside to have a backyard picnic.” My heart went out to this woman who obviously loved her children and her husband. She was in quicksand and could not dig her way out.
“What do you do on Sunday?” I asked her. She brightened as she told me, “Oh, I always send the children to Sunday School.” “You don’t go yourself?” I asked. “No, that’s the time I do things like wash all the clothes and get our house cleaned for the start of the week. I send the children because I want them to know about God,” she continued, “but deep in my heart, I’m not sure He really cares.”
As gently as I could, I began to talk to her about how much God loves us; He knows our needs, and He longs to provide all the strength and peace and wisdom that we need to get through the anguish of hard days. “Then why doesn’t He help me?” her searching eyes longed to know. “Have you remembered the if?” I asked her.
There are so many times in all of our lives when troubles come to us, and we wonder why God doesn’t help, but we have forgotten the “if.” Let’s look at Matthew 6: This is a beautiful chapter. Jesus tells us how to pray what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” He gives us many encouragements like, “Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves.” He says, “If God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t He surely care for you?” Further down in this chapter we come to verses 32 and 33. Jesus says, “Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day…” That’s where we often stop reading. We concentrate on how God will take care for us. We like that part. Then, we are confused when troubles only mount higher and higher. Why? We forgot to pay attention to the rest of the verse. We forgot to read the “if.” Let’s read on: Jesus is telling His listeners that their Heavenly Father knows all their needs and will surely provide for them, “if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of heaven your primary concern.” The “if” in this sentence is vital.
It’s impossible to leave God out of our lives, and then expect Him to be our everything. God is a perfect gentleman. He will not force Himself into any situation. He must be invited in. The woman in our story above had forgotten the importance of “making the Kingdom of heaven her primary concern.” She was making her daily troubles her primary concern. She was on a wheel of no end, spinning faster and faster, out of control. There was no way off, until she stepped to the middle of the wheel, asking God to be the center of her life. As she began to lean on Him, and learn His ways, she began to sense the peace she had longed for. She began to have clarity of mind to recognize God’s own wisdom as He led her. She had a renewed courage that she had long ago forgotten she ever had. Life took on a joy, even in the midst of troubles, that she never thought possible.
Let’s not forget the “if.” It makes all the difference in the world.
This week I’ve been reading in the book of Matthew. There is an interesting exchange of words between John the Baptist and Jesus. It’s recorded in Matthew 3:13-15: “Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John tried to talk Him out of it. ‘I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,’ he said, ‘so why are you coming to me?’ But Jesus said, ‘It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.’ So John agreed to baptize Him.”
John’s argument was plausible. There he was, an ordinary man serving God. Then, who should appear before him? None other than the Son of God Himself! We can easily understand why John was astonished that Jesus should request to be baptized. The Son of God? The Holy One? How could an imperfect man baptize the perfect Son of God? John could make no sense out of the request; that is, until Jesus gave the reason — because obeying God, whether we understand or not, is always the right thing to do.
God leads us along paths that sometimes make no sense to our human understanding. Most likely, everyone has at one time or another asked, “Why, God?” The road we travel can be a rocky one. We want a path that’s smooth. We want a path that doesn’t require great effort to walk on. “Why, God?,” we want to know, when we believe we see a better way than what God is requiring. “Isn’t there an easier way, God?” we plead, because the way ahead, as far as we can see, is scary. There is a corner ahead and we can’t see around the bend. “Do I have to go there, God? I can’t see what’s there.” God answers, “You can’t see around the corner, but I know what’s there; I’m going to use what you find, and what you go through, to make you even stronger. I’m going to mold you to be like me. You will thank me, my child. Trust me.”
Doing what God says to do, going where He says to go, being what He says to be, is the right thing to do because: God never makes mistakes, He loves you at all times, He is the Master Potter molding you and me into a character that is courageous, strong, full of peace and joy, and He blesses those who determine to obey Him. Why does He give us certain commands? Why does He lead us along paths that are sometimes difficult to walk on? Because He loves you so much that He designs a way to make you the best you that you can be.
Determine to trust everything He says to do and walk in the direction He says to walk. It’s the right thing to do because it’s the only way to grow God’s own peace, and a fearlessness inside you that can face all obstacles. Who doesn’t want that?
Like the old hymn says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
In order to begin writing today’s blog entry, I looked up the dictionary definition of “pervasive.” It means: “an unwelcome influence or physical effect spreading widely through an area or a group of people.” What I was doing yesterday and today involved something that had become pervasive and it was definitely unwelcome. It was sticky brown dust and green algae — all over the house!
My mother’s house is covered in white vinyl siding. When it was first put up years ago it was brilliant white. Then, as the year came on, so came the dust and algae. How did it get there? Basically, farmers plow their fields, and north winds blow cold that produces algae in places where the sun doesn’t shine all that much.
The grime creeps up slowly. It’s barely noticeable until one day the streaks of brown and green scream out! It’s been building up throughout the year, but it seems to have arrived overnight. Well, I tackled it good: a spray bottle of bleach and a garden hose to wash it away took care of the problem. The bleach eats the grime and in minutes it’s all pretty again. There was a section of the house that didn’t look so bad. I nearly left it until I stepped back to look at the whole house. Wow! That put it all into proper perspective. When I looked at what was already cleaned, the part that I thought was okay actually stood out in its obvious dirt! I quickly applied the bleach, and now the whole house is gleaming white.
Don’t we do that in our spiritual worlds? When we invite Jesus into our lives and ask Him to forgive us of all our sins, He applies the blood of the cross and cleans us up perfectly! We’re gleaming clean and forgiven! Of course, we still live in an imperfect and sinful world. Therefore, we get our feet dirty. Perhaps that’s the obvious grime. What if we cleaned our feet everyday but ignored the rest of our bodies? What if we asked forgiveness for some sins but ignored others? Of course, when we take time to step back and see ourselves as God does, it puts things into proper perspective, and we clearly see that our minds and our hearts need cleansing. All sins must be dealt with because just one left will leave us still dirty. Even if we consider it a “little” sin, if left unattended, it will grow, and when it grows, it will choke our joy. Sin left unattended will keep us from reaching our full potential in Christ. Why, therefore, do we try to hang on to sin? It’s destructive! It’s not pretty. It is of no value to us.
Let’s not do that to ourselves. Let’s not lie to ourselves, saying that just one sin doesn’t matter. Jesus died for that one sin; it matters. Let Him wash it away. Then, walk free and full of joy. The only other choice is to walk around dirty.
Let’s come to Jesus everyday to be washed and forgiven. He never refuses a repentant heart. Read His loving words in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let’s settle this,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.'” Go ahead, get your house washed today and bask in the beauty of holiness.
My neighbor over the road has not been well. Therefore, I have had the joy of taking care of her donkeys that live in the field behind her house. There are several adult donkeys and three little ones. I love going over each morning to fill their trough with water and to put grain in their food trays. Often, I just stand there, watching them as they eat and drink.
They are very curious about me. They now know what time of the morning I appear. Several of them begin braying. All of them come close to the fence in anticipation of what I will have for them. However, there are only a few who let me touch them. The others look on, they step close, they sniff my hand, but as soon as I lift my hand to pat them on the head, they back away. To me, it seems they have a longing in their eyes that says, I want to trust you but I’m just too afraid.
This morning, there was a joyful break-through! One of the younger donkeys came close, sniffed my hand, and stood still as I lifted my hand to pat him on the head! As I walked back across the road, I was ecstatic! The little donkey trusted me! I can hardly wait until tomorrow morning when I can go back to show love to that little donkey some more!
Aren’t we, at times, like scared little donkeys? Our Heavenly Father only ever loves us. He feeds and waters us. He kisses us with His love in each new day that dawns, with every friend that hugs us, in the laughter of children. In the darkest of storms He is there helping us through. Then, when He stands at the fence, longing to reach out and draw us to Himself, we step back in fear. What will He do? Where will He tell me to go? What will He require of me?
I can see the fear in the donkeys’ eyes as I stand there longing to reach out and pat them on the head, stroking their silky ears. They know I’ve never done them harm. I’ve only ever provided for them and blessed them. Our Heavenly Father has never done us any harm either. He provides and blesses us; still, we jump back in fear when He longs to draw us close.
I could see the glimmer of relief and enjoyment when that little donkey finally let me pet him. I hope he comes close tomorrow, too. I hope we all get close to our Heavenly Father, also. He’s always waiting. He never pulls away. We’re the only ones that do that. Let’s move beyond our fears. Let’s step close to the One who loves us with a passion that cannot be measured.
“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy.”
This past week my thoughts have often lingered upon some very dear friends; a pastor and his wife. A shock to all who knew him, this pastor died last week from a massive heart attack. Naturally, tears have come to his family, church family, other relatives, and friends, but what has stayed with me this week, is the fact that peace has come, too.
The world gives a type of peace. We know that because Jesus once said to His disciples that He would give them peace, but not like the world’s peace. The world’s peace is based on circumstance. The peace of Jesus is based on relationship with Him. When we choose Jesus and all He has to offer, then we become citizens of heaven.
When we are citizen of a particular country, we are granted certain rights and privileges. It’s the same when we become citizens of heaven. Heavenly citizenship grants us the right to access God’s own peace — He will put that peace right into our hearts. When we are citizens of heaven, we have access to God’s own wisdom to guide us through all our days on earth. When we are citizens of heaven, all our needs are provided — all the comfort needed, the strength, courage, joy, and peace that never depends on circumstances.
It’s a wonderful thing that God’s peace never depends on anything but Himself. Circumstances are changing and passing. God never changes and He never leaves us. It stands to reason, then, that His peace is unchanging and steadfast, too.
Too often, I see that many Christians forget they are citizens of heaven. Therefore, they flounder around in their own strength when God’s perfect strength is available for the asking. They waste precious hours and even days trying to come up with a plan to get them out of their troubles, when God’s guidance is ready to lead them. All they have to do is seek for it and they will find it.
Whatever you’re going through this week and in the days and months and years to come; please don’t live merely like a citizen of the world. Think higher! Look up! As the Apostle Paul encouraged us in Philippians 1:27, “Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ.” Check your behavior in all your situations, and ask yourselves if you’re living like a citizen of the world, or are you living like a citizen of heaven, which is your spiritual birthright.
The other day I had a sweet flashback to my childhood. It happened when I found a quarter that had fallen to the floor near the couch. As I bent to pick it up, my mind suddenly traveled back in time to when my sister and I were little girls.
As children we were given our chores to do. At the end of each week we were rewarded with our weekly allowance. I remember when I used to get 50 cents a week. Then it rose to 75 cents. I was so excited when it rose to a whole dollar!
To supplement our income, my sister and I discovered that sometimes, when our father sat on the couch, coins would fall out of his pockets and slip down between the couch cushions. Oh, what happiness, when upon our couch cushion explorations, we would find an assortment of quarters, nickels, and dimes. We were rich!
Now, it didn’t happen every time we searched. There were many days when we lifted the cushions to find the space empty of the treasures we had hoped to find. Did that stop us from looking another time? Absolutely not! We always believed that, with our diligent searching, the day would come when we would strike it rich once again.
When we grew up, something was revealed that touched me sweetly. We were told by our mother, that there were many times when our father would deliberately hide the coins for us to find. He got as excited as we did when we found the waiting treasure.
Once again, as I reflect upon something that took place in my physical world, I am also reminded that our Heavenly Father behaves in the same way. He inserts blessings into our lives all the time. Sometimes, He gives blessings to us outright; but at other times, He hides the coins beneath the couch cushions, taking pleasure with us when we find them.
Jesus told us in Luke 11:9, “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Please don’t ever stop looking diligently for what you need in God! If you do give up in the asking and seeking and knocking, it may be that you’re sitting on your quarters of blessings and don’t even know it. The coins of blessings are there. Have fun searching!
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