Jesus is the Reason

It doesn’t matter what you do,

It doesn’t matter how you try,

It doesn’t matter what you twist~

You can’t have Christmas

without Christ.

Some people try to X him out,

Some people try another route,

‘Happy Holidays’ they sing and shout,

‘Season’s Greetings’ to keep Christ out.

 

Nothing’s wrong with Christmas trees,

Nothing’s wrong with Santa’s treats,

When we celebrate the joyous season,

Remembering that Jesus is the reason.

 

This Christmas ~Let us take a stand,

To bring back truth to our land,

We know that ‘Jesus is the reason’

We’ll keep Christ in Christmas

this blessed season.

Giving Thanks

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 It is a good idea to have a national holiday in November to give thanks. In cities, towns and villages across the United States people get together to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It is the busiest traveling season of the year. Home, family and friends are on our minds as we plan the Thanksgiving meal. 

Sometimes I am invited to the homes of friends who are not believers and I am always fascinated as I observe their ritual of not giving thanks. They do not start with a prayer asking God to bless the food nor is there mention of God in the celebration. It is just a big feast and football games. The attitude of gratitude is missing.

In contrast, there is a marked difference when I join other believers in celebrating Thanksgiving.  Jesus is invited into our midst as we ask his blessings on the food. There is usually a time when we are all asked to say out loud the reasons for our gratitude. God is recognized as the giver of all good things.  There is a purpose for our very existence and in our reflections of gratitude we acknowledge his ownership on our lives. 

As believers we do not have to wait for a special Thursday in November to give thanks. In fact, we are encouraged by Paul to give thanks in all circumstances. When we recognize that ‘all good things come from above’ and we take time to give God thanks every day, it is easier to keep our feet on the straight path because we know that God is in control.

May we enjoy giving thanks to our Heavenly Father this year as we celebrate another Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

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And Yet We Wait

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The poem of the month for October is ‘And Yet We Wait’.  These words deal with having patience and waiting for God’s perfect will even if it is taking too long.  We are often tempted to be like Sarah, Abraham’s wife and help God’s plan along because with each month that passes we get older and older knowing that we would never be able to bear a child.

We wait for prayers to be answered; graduation day; the perfect job; husbands to marry; purchasing our first home, working in the ministry and the list goes on. We know that just beyond the bend we will see the Promised Land.

You said you know all that we need, You promised that we would not want, You said you would supply all our needs, You promised to be sufficient. We trust your mercy Lord, We trust your loving kindness, We trust your never failing compassion, And yet we wait… From Poem of the Month – And Yet We Wait

The secret to waiting on God is not to be idle as we wait.  As the ten servants were told after they were given the money in Luke 19:13, ‘put this money to work until I come back.’  As we live in the present, work in the present and shine our lights in the present we are preparing for the future that God has in store for us. In his sovereignty, he sees the whole picture and sometimes the blessings he has in store for us can only be fully appreciated when we allow his grace to prepare us and build our character as we wait.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us that when we wait on the Lord that he renews our strength, when we run we will not grow weary and when we walk we will not faint. May God teach us how to wait.

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Saying Goodbye

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The card of the month for October is ‘Saying Goodbye’.  Usually those two words bring to mind loss, sadness and sometimes tears.

As children we remember moving away from our childhood homes and leaving our best friends behind. We just knew that we will never get over the pain and never have another best friend. Fast forward three months and we are doing just fine with new best friends and a whole new life. How quickly we rebound!

As teenagers our hearts got twisted into pretzels as we fell in love and with each break-up we listened to sad songs as tears flowed freely lamenting what we will never have: ‘happily ever after’.

We go through life experiencing the season of ‘saying goodbye’.  We have lost friends, husbands, parents, children, jobs, homes and the list goes on, but we have learned to deal with each loss through tears and sadness and we get up after each loss and keep on living. We can’t erase the memories; we never forget the fun times, sometimes we go back into the past to remember, we visit the gravesides, we write letters and we keep on going.

Dear friends, if you are going through a season of ‘saying goodbye’ right now just remember that:

God knows the ache in your heart. Do not allow discouragement and despair to take over. Rest in the assurance that He understands what you are going through.   One day you will smile again. One day you will know the reasons why. One day you will wake up and feel like living again.  From Card of the Month – Saying Goodbye

 

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Good News

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How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  Isaiah 52:7

There is nothing more uplifting than ‘good news’.  The phone call from the doctor’s office with a normal test result; the call from the interviewer offering you the job you wanted; the email from a friend checking in to say ‘hi’; the bouquet of flowers from a secret admirer who is not so secret and the list goes on… How encouraging to our hearts is good news!

Good news is like long awaited raindrops on the parched desert wasteland. Our souls come alive when we hear good news. As the Fall season approaches, we are filled with anticipation - the slight chill in the air; the leaves turning yellow and gold, reminders that the Thanksgiving and Christmas season is approaching.  

The season when our hearts and minds turn to the wonderful gift of redemption.  God becoming man bringing the good tidings of salvation. In the midst of the turmoil and conflicts we can loudly proclaim, ‘Our God reigns’

 

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God's Masterpiece - Ephesians 2:10

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Long before time began,

Our Creator God had a plan,

A plan that defies explanation,

The wonderful Plan of Grace and Redemption.

He made man and woman in his image

He molded their frames from lowly dust,

He breathed in them the breath of life,

He showed them he was the God to trust. 

In their innocent, un-fallen state,

his image and splendor were on display,

God's masterpiece - the Crown of Creation,

Seen in Adam and Eve - Glorious reflection.

Eve ate the fruit and gave some to Adam,

Bringing gloom and doom to all creation

God's glory departed from their presence,

God's masterpiece tarnished from broken allegiance. 

 ‘This is the end’, Satan thought,

I own the world, mankind is caught,

They listened to me—Fools beyond measure,

God’s masterpiece?—A tarnished treasure.

Wait, God is speaking, curses reign

Adam sweats for food, Eve bears pain,

A descendant is coming whose heel I will bruise?

My head won’t be crushed nor will I lose.

I will wait patiently for this special one,

I will triumph, I have won,

I will take him out as soon as he is born,

God’s masterpiece? Forever scorned.

Like sand in an hourglass, time marched on,

God sent his one and only Son,

To redeem mankind, his tarnished treasure,

He brought grace, forgiveness and love beyond measure.

The Plan of Redemption before time began,

Signed, Sealed, Delivered—Jesus blood got it done,

God’s masterpiece—His splendor displayed,

Satan’s defeated, God’s purposes not swayed.

 He breathed life into Adam at the dawn of creation,

Entrusted him with His image reflection,

God’s masterpiece? His image in us,

Indwelled by His Spirit, life conquered dust.

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The God Of Elijah

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The books of Kings are filled with many miraculous deeds done by the prophets Elijah and Elisha through the power of Almighty God.  We see a handful of flour and a little jar of oil lasting almost three years feeding three people; salt added to water and it is no longer bitter; an iron axe-head floating; oil not running out; people being raised from the dead; heavenly angels and chariots surrounding an army and one of my favorites-a dead man is brought to life by touching the bones of Elisha.

What a wonderful time to be alive!

What a wonderful time to be on God’s side!

The question that comes to my mind is: Where is the God of Elijah and Elisha?  Why don’t we see miracles like these today? Is it because our faith is weak?  Jesus said all we need is to have faith the size of a mustard seed. What will it take to develop this faith?  Or, is developing faith the wrong concept?   Either I have faith or I don’t.

Faith is not something that I can produce in myself, faith is a gift from God so that I can believe that He is and that He can do all things; nothing is too hard for Him; nothing is impossible with God.  If it is God’s will-it will be accomplished.  The most important question is:  Do I want to use the gift of faith or do I want to do it by my power and hope that it is God’s will?

By the grace of God let us live by faith!

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Instruments of Righteousness Romans 6:13

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Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. Romans 6:13

 We are admonished and encouraged by the Apostle Paul to offer the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness.  Since we are baptized into Christ Jesus we have victory over sin.  Sin is no longer our master and we now have a choice – choose sin or choose righteousness.

 We should pay close attention to our thoughts, words and actions and try to align them with the teachings of God’s Word as we seek righteousness.

The mature Christian will seek to please God in everything he or she does and heeding this verse (Romans 6:13) is a good place to start. Let us seek to offer ourselves wholly to God today surrendering each part of our body to him as instruments of righteousness.

 Surrender

We surrender our will to you today,

Show us how to choose your way.
We walk by faith and not by sight,
For you alone know what is right.
When we can’t see the final end
And more trouble lies beyond the bend,
Give us strength to carry on,
As you keep us safely in your hands.
Our prayers - Your will be done,
Our dreams - Serving only you
Our wish - Walking closer with you
Our desires - Surrendering to you alone.
We heed your command to walk in your path,
For your shed blood our salvation bought.

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Card of the Month - Life's Simple Pleasures.

For those of you who know me well~ you may be able to guess why July is my favorite month of the year. July 16th is the day I say Happy Birthday to me! I read recently about a man, turning 65, who decided to celebrate his birthday by giving rather than getting. He stood on a street corner and offered $5.00 to anyone who stopped. He said that it was one of the best birthdays he ever had.

One of the paradoxical philosophies of Christianity is the thought that we are blessed more in giving than in receiving. Many of Paul's epistles speaks about 'one anothering'. We should love one another, be kind to one another, honor one another, do not be a stumbling block to another etc...

Jesus' last discourse to his disciples as recorded in the Gospel of John echoed this same sentiment when he said that if we show love to each other, people will know that we are his followers.

This birthday, I have chosen not to rejoice in the getting but in enjoying the simpler things of life.

Take time to enjoy Life's Simple Pleasures~~~

Watching your favorite movie (you’ve seen it at least a dozen times.);

Singing along with the radio;

Getting a phone-call from a friend;

Finding a card in the mailbox that says ~Just Wanted to say Hi~;

Walking in the moonlight;

Licking an ice cream cone;

Reading a good book;

Inhaling the sweet fragrance of your garden’s flowers;

Taking the long way home just to enjoy the scenic drive; …..

Have a great week!

For A Season...

Luke 4:13 – After the devil had finished the temptations he left him for a season, an opportune time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1- 8 - There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven…

Galatians 4:4 – But when the time had fully come God sent his son…

Romans 5:6 – You see that at just the right time, when we were still powerless Christ died for the ungodly.

Some prophecies in the Old Testament gave precise time for events to happen. Daniel knew that the time of exile was coming to an end because of a prophecy from Jeremiah and it motivated him to pray for the Jews - A great prayer of repentance found in Daniel 9.

We are on God’s timetable. There is a timer on our lives. We don’t know exactly where we are on that timer but we know that one day the timer will go off.

Our trials are only for a season; our disappointments will not last forever; our happiness is fleeting. We remember as if it were only yesterday that our children were toddlers and in what seems like a very short time we became Grandparents.

Let us meditate on the words of Paul from Romans 5 when he tells us that we should ‘rejoice in sufferings’. Why? Because when the timer goes off on our sufferings and we would have developed perseverance or endurance. Endurance will then build our character and our hope will be strengthened in the Lord through His Holy Spirit.

Ecclesiastes 3:11- He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men…

Take some time to reflect on the seasons of your life…Do you remember the timer going off on a time of illness, a job or a season of unemployment, maybe a place of residence or a relationship? As you waited for God’s will to be revealed he kept you safe and secure and he will continue to do so as you wait for the timer to go off on your current circumstances.

Safe In The Arms of God....

Some of the fondest memories of my childhood included singing hymns from an old songbook. A favorite song of mine was and still is 'Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on his gentle breast, here by his love o'ershaded, sweetly my soul doth rest...'

As I meditate on God's goodness, protection and love I know that these words are true. As a child I always felt safe in my earthly father's arms but when I became an adult and moved away from home, my earthly father's arms were not long enough to keep me safe. I praise God that HIS arms are long enough, strong enough and always open to fold me in his embrace.

Often times our Heavenly Father protects his children by sending us 'friends' who show their love in tangible and intangible ways.  I felt the Father's arms around me this week as he kept my family safe on his 'gentle breast'.  He always answers the prayers of his children. Sometimes the answer may not be exactly as we desire but the answer is always what is best for us.  He keeps us safe in his arms.

I have no fear when you are near,
I have no need when your word I heed,
I have no want or desire that you do not fill,
My heart can rest as I abide in your will.

I have no burden that you do not share,
I have no need to worry or fear-
About the way you take care of me,
In your light my darkness flee.

You are my hope, my strength, my joy,
You are the anchor of my soul,
You dry my tears and bring relief,
In your presence I have no grief.

I surrender my anxious heart to you today,
My burdens are being washed away,
I feel the peace you bring to me,
My heart, my mind, my life is free.

Thank you Heavenly Father for keeping us safe!

The Greatest of These is Love - 1Corinthians 13

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Love In Action

What love does…

Shows Patience; Shows Kindness; Rejoices in Truth;            Protects Always; Trusts Always; Hopes Always;              Perseveres Always

What love doesn’t do…

Does Not Envy; Does Not Boast; Not Full of Pride;                   Does Not Dishonor Others; Not Self-Seeking; Not Easily Angered; Does Not Keep Record of Wrongs; Does Not Delight in Evil

Reflections

The reason love is so much better than the other gifts mentioned in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13 is because those gifts are temporary. We won’t need those other gifts beyond this life. Those gifts are imperfect and incomplete because completeness and perfection is an attribute of Deity and as humans we fall way short of perfection.  When we meet Jesus face to face we will realize that we only had a very limited vision of who he really is and what he desires of us.

If we have the gift of prophecy, eventually our prophecies will be fulfilled and when we pass from this life our voices will be silent.

If we have the gift of tongues, eventually our tongues will be silent and the gift will be gone.
If we have the gift of knowledge it is only good for this life and it is usually incomplete.

Faith is needed for salvation;

Hope is needed for encouragement and vision;
Love will last for all eternity:

When we get to heaven faith will vanish into sight; hope will disappear into reality but love will continue on forever. We will love God throughout eternity; we will love our brothers and sisters throughout eternity. Let us learn how to love today so we will have a running head-start on this greatest gift.

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Jesus walks on the water...

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 Do you feel that your life is being buffeted by the wind and waves of circumstances beyond your control? The following 10 verses from Matthew 14 may be of great encouragement to you…

  ²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.  ²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

• The very thing that would make their life easier initially brought them tremendous fear.

 ²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

• Jesus always has the answer to our fears. ‘It is I’
• These 3 little words are all we need - ‘It is I’; It is I, Jesus, I am here with you. I am here to help you. Do not be afraid…

 ²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ “Come,” he said.

• The question is do we wait for our circumstances to change like the other disciples did or do we take the chance and jump out of the boat like Peter did?

   Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

• Peter was getting out of the sinking ship. He would rather take his chances with the unknown than perish in the boat.
• Peter believed that it was Jesus. He started walking on the water to go to Jesus. Peter had faith when he started.    
•  What caused Peter to lose heart? He saw the wind… Peter knew what the wind was capable of; He knew that there was no reason why he should not be swept away by the wind into the turbulent waters and drowned.
• He was afraid and rightly so. A mere mortal man was not meant to walk on water; man was not made to stand up to the wind. Nature is a formidable opponent. Ask anyone who has survived an earthquake or a hurricane. There are always points in the storm when you are sure that you are going to die.
• There are also times in our lives when we have all shouted, ‘Lord, save me!!’ 

 ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

• Isn’t it beautiful that Jesus immediately saves us? He will never let us sink. What a wonderful Lord and Savior he is!
• The gentle rebuke to Peter was, ‘you of little faith, why did you doubt?’
• Doubting will have us sinking in no time…

 ³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

• All the disciples were saved. Those who stayed in the boat and Peter who chose to walk on the water.
• When God is with us the wind of change, fear and circumstances will always die down, they will disappear; fear does not last long in the presence of God.
• The only appropriate response in the presence of God is worship.
• The Spirit of God lives in our heart so we should always be worshiping.
• If we remain in a state of worship we are not be fearful
• When we have no fear, we are living in faith
• When we are living in faith, we rise above the wind and the waves of our circumstances.

Faith allows us to get out of the sinking boat,   

Faith allows us to face the storm, 

Faith pushes us to reach out to Jesus, 

Faith keeps our feet on top of the snarling water of death.

Doubting will cause us to sink,

Doubting will cause us to fear,

Doubting is the first step in failure,

Doubting will cause us to fall.

Crying out to Jesus is the answer to sinking,

Crying out to Jesus is the answer to fear,

Crying out to Jesus is the first step in getting rescued,

Crying out to Jesus allows us to rise from despair.