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| To Keep It GoingI received a message from Xanga recently that informed I would lose my site name if I didn't post something. So here is my obligatory post to keep it going. I hope I can add more devotionals in the near future. But I make no promises!!!
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| Rebel Without A CauseThis is something I posted on my other Xanga site in Dec. 2004 .....I was searching my site for something else, and was convicted again by my own words. Thought I'd share it. **Note: the 2 1/2 year old daughter I wrote about in this article is now 5 1/2 years old.
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Have you ever thought of yourself as a rebel? I just realized
today how much I rebel against God's conviction in my life. I just got
through disciplining my daughter for being defiant. It's amazing to me
that a 2 1/2 year old can display such a strong, defiant personality.
I told her to lay her head on her pillow...she responded by scooting
herself down onto her bed so her head was nowhere near the pillow.
After reprimanding her and telling her to put her head BACK on her
pillow, she defiantly told me, "NO". That is unacceptable in our
house, so we went and did some disciplining and pruning of a defiant,
rebellious attitude.
As I was talking with my daughter, she would not look at me, she
screamed, she cried, she coughed ("my throat hurts Mama")...in short,
she did whatever she could to distract me from the real reason we were
sitting there together. I began to think how much she is like me. I
too, try to reason with God, I try to distract Him from what He is
convicting me of. I try to rationalize what I did as being right. I
try to ignore His conviction. As my daughter was ignoring the issues
in her life , I realized how her refusal to relent hurts my
relationship with her. My refusal to deal with God's conviction hurts
my relationship with HIM.
After we finished our discipline session, my daughter's attitude was
so much different. She listened to me. She cried, not out of defiance,
but out of sorrow for her actions. We were reconciled through
forgiveness and love for each other. And the fellowship was restored.
I, too, experiece reconciliation with God when I finally give
in to His discipline in my life, and in sorrow, repent of my sin. I
can experience greater joy in trusting God than in fighting for self.
I want to have a tender heart to God's discipline, instead of fighting
Him every step of the way. God's ways are out of my comprehension, so
I need to quit pretending I know more than God does. I want to rejoice
in God's discipline and pruning, because it means that God loves me and
cares about me deeply. Discipline is not punishment, it is love. A
love that does not want to watch me hurt myself with bad behavior, and
wishes me to be more Christ-like than i am at the moment, just as I
don't want my daughter to grow up believing that it is OK to be defiant
and disrespectful to those around her.
As much as I love my daughter, God loves her infinitely above and
beyond that. And He loves you too. Are you tender towards His
discipline?
Hebrews 12:7-11
FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
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| Time for a Foot-WashingWhat seems to be the biggest problem in America today? Busyness. No one has
time to spare. Our days are filled with rushing from one commitment to the next,
multi-tasking to get everything accomplished from our daily list. Unfortunately,
this unending sense busyness can cause us to choose to only serve in areas that
are comfortable for us, or seem "socially acceptable". Lately, I have been
thinking about this urgent busyness that pervades our culture and our churches.
We experience so much pressure to put on a good front to the world, to our
church, even to our friends, proving that we can handle it all and we’ve got it
all together. Many people can even feel guilted into serving in a ministry
because it’s what you’re “supposed” to do.
I wonder if we’ve forgotten what our
Lord called us to - the real heart of what our ministry should look like. The
night before Jesus was betrayed, He sat with His disciples and ate the Passover
Supper. During that supper, Jesus put His own needs aside, and knelt before each
disciple to wash their feet. The Teacher was serving the students. The Creator
knelt before His creation. It was an act of complete humility and servitude.
Listen to what John 13:12-17 says, “When he had finished washing their feet, he
put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have
done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so,
for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet,
you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you
should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater
than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that
you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
In the busyness of life, in the hustle and bustle and hecticness of
schedules, appointments and commitments, let’s not lose sight of what our true
calling as Christians is to be…..servants. If we fail to serve one another in
humility, we risk exalting ourselves above our Lord. Humility doesn’t always
look pretty - actually most of the time it seems quite degrading, but humility
is what the Lord desires of our lives. Instead of filling our days with
busyness, let’s begin to fill our days with service - be it an official ministry
at the church, or just your own personal outreach to others. Let’s examine our
hearts, and make sure that we are not serving only those who are attractive,
outgoing, desirable, but to those who truly need the encouragement and help.
Being a servant of the Lord requires rolling up our sleeves, putting aside our
pride and serving, not our schedule, not our social standing, but our Lord.
Don’t let the busyness of life distract you from serving. Are you ready to do a
little foot-washing? | | |
| Do You KWGI? (Kwiggy)Last summer, one of our church's missionaries was back for a few
weeks.One Sunday night he spoke about how God doesn't want us to be
filled with fear, but that fear is a lack of understanding who God is. One statement that he made really stuck out to me.
"Do you KNOW WHO GOD IS?"
This
knowledge is not just a head knowledge, but letting your heart be
molded into who God is. As you read God's word, as you begin to think
on what you are reading, you learn who God is. What does it mean
that God is gracious? What does it mean that God is trustworthy? What
does it mean that God is love? How does that effect what you say, do,
think and act? DOES it effect what you say, do, think and act?
God's
word is truth - The Bible is the very words and thoughts of God, given
to a sinful world. It is God's way of teaching, comforting,
reprimanding, and loving you. But it is not enough just to read it -
you need to take time to think about what you read, and to apply it to
your life.
Sometimes it can be hard to apply God's word, especially if you're
reading something that is particularly dry. But let me share with
share with you one of my recent experiences in reading and applying
God's word.
When I was in high school, I had the great privilege of
participating in the Awana program. We had verses to memorize, lessons
and projects to complete. But the most daunting task by far was
the bible reading. The high school Awana program is designed to read
thru the entire Bible in 4 years. With each book of the Bible you
read, you also had to memorize the author, the date when it was
written, and give an oral short summary of what each book covered.
There were many books that I LOVED! I didn't even mind Leviticus (I
know, I'm strange!) But the one book that could put me to sleep in an
instant was the book of Isaiah. I STRUGGLED thru Isaiah. I DREADED
Isaiah. It is a very sad book, because most of Isaiah is a reprimand to
the Jews for how they've sinned, and how God will punish them. I
struggled to get any spiritual food from the book of Isaiah, and I put
off reading it for as long as I could. (I think I even started and
stopped reading it at least twice!)
Over the last couple of
years, I decided that I wanted to spend some time reading the Old
Testament, especially targeting the minor prophet books and some of the
other OT books that are easy to skip over. I loved reading thru Job, I
ate up 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, (got a bit bogged down on
the Chronicles) and I found that one of my favorite books of the Bible so
far is the book of Joel. After reading all these book, I thought, "What next??" And then, the dreaded thought......Isaiah.
Well, needless to say, I struggled with starting Isaiah. But
strangely enough, I began to love the book of Isaiah. The one thing
that popped off the pages was that God desires
for His people to listen to and obey Him. And He gave them chance
after chance after chance, yet they still rejected Him. As I read
this, I began to ask myself, "Do I know who God is?" I know ABOUT Him,
I TALK about Him, I worship Him, I strive to bring Him glory. But
sometimes I get so busy doing for God, that I forget to spend time just
getting to know who this marvelous God is, and what He is like.
As
I read of the God of Isaiah, my heart broke as I realized how many
times God has held His hands out to me to help me, and I have batted
Him away, telling Him I can take care of myself. The book of Isaiah
has shown me the heartbreak of God when His people reject Him. As I read, I asked myself, "What does this tell me about WHO GOD
IS?" It changed my view, not only of God, but of myself as well.
I
am but dust. I am clay in the potter's hand. But for the grace of
God,I would be dead in my sins and trespasses. But God, who was rich in
mercy, raised me up out of my sins to make me alive together with
Christ! And now my job is to KWGI (Know Who God Is) and bring Him
glory.
I hope that God is teaching you about who He is. I'd
love to hear what you've been learning. Leave a comment, if you'd like to share!! Until next time,
KWGI,
Jennie
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| The Song of Your Heart (Hannah Part 3)Last time, we ended with Eli blessing Hannah because of her fervent praying. Hannah went home minus her heavy heart, but she didn’t go home with a sure promise that she would get what she desired. I love I Sam. 1:18 where it says that Hannah’s face was no longer sad. She had given her burden to the Lord, and was now waiting on God to answer, but in the meantime, she was living joyfully.
Take a look at your own life. How many times have you taken a worry or concern to the Lord in prayer, saying that you will trust Him with it, then promptly shouldering it again once you say AMEN? It’s so easy to fall back into worrying or fretting over our concerns or sorrows, but God wants us to cast our care on Him and LEAVE THEM THERE!!! Not for just a few days, not until we feel we’ve given God enough time to take care of them, but simply leave them for God to control and deal with us as He sees fit. You know the amazing thing about that? Once we let God take those worries and quit worrying about them ourselves, we have joy and peace! Ps 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”
Did God hear Hannah’s prayer? Did He grant the desire of her heart? Oh yes, and in a big way. Look back at the end of v.19, it says the Lord remembered Hannah. This doesn’t mean that He had forgotten about her for a while…it simply means that it was finally Hannah’s time to have her prayer answered! God answered her prayer with a son named Samuel which means “name of God”. Hannah had a reminder of God’s mercy and goodness in this little boy whom she had prayed for. Even his name was a constant reminder that God answers those who call on His name. And Hannah had 2-3 precious years of watching Samuel grow, before taking him back to Eli for his life of service. Finally leaving Samuel with Eli must have been so hard….I look at my Justin-boy and I think, would I be willing to give him completely to the Lord right now? I have to admit, I’m pretty particular about who baby-sits him, and making sure he stays near me in stores or in our neighborhood. I can’t imagine not having him in my life for every single day. I’m sure there must have been tears on Hannah’s part just thinking about giving her God-gift back to the Lord. And yet, God had given Samuel to her as just that…..a gift. Look at how she presents Samuel to Eli in I Sam. 1:26-28 - “I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord.” Hannah’s giving of Samuel was complete, there was no loophole for her to come get him back. She had made a promise to the Lord, and she was keeping it.
As a mother, it wouldn’t have surprised me if the story of Hannah told that at leaving Samuel with Eli she was crying, bemoaning the fact that she would have to live without her little boy constantly with her….or even if she had decided that she could “give Samuel to God” without actually taking him back to Eli. But Hannah remembered her promise to the Lord, and follows through with it! Not only that, but she did it with JOY and THANKSGIVING!!! WOW!
Look at I Sam. 2:1-3.…Hannah prays to the Lord, “My heart exults in the Lord….because I rejoice in Your salvation. There is no one holy like the Lord, Indeed there is no one besides You. Nor is there any rock like our God. Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and with Him actions are weighed.” These are not words a weeping mother, but of a joyful, thankful, happy woman. Hannah, even in the midst of great personal loss could see that God was sovereign, that His knowledge far surpassed her own, and that God had blessed her in His timing.
A few years ago, I read the story of Martin & Gracia Burnham, written by Gracia entitled “In the Presence of My Enemies”. Martin and Gracia were missionaries in the Philippines who were taken hostage while on an anniversary trip. There were held for a little over a year - their captors made them trek through jungles, chained them to trees, gave them very little food at times, plus the Burnhams had to deal with sickness, weight loss, 17 gunfights, extreme emotions of anger, jealousy, sadness and depression. At the end of it all, Martin was killed and Gracia was wounded as they were caught in the crossfire between their captors and their liberators. Reading Gracia’s story, I thought there are not many other people who would have more of a right to be angry at God…angry for the year that was lost with their three children, that she now has to be a single mother, at their Muslim captors for refusing to release them, that her precious husband was killed right next to her, at the many times they COULD have been liberated - but never were. And yet, Gracia’s story was not one of anger, but of acknowledging that GOD was in control through her entire captivity, GOD had allowed her to go through all that horrendousness to help her lean on Him more fully. One thing that really stuck out to me was when Gracia wrote about a conversation she and Martin had in captivity. They talked about how they may not LIKE what was happening, they might even hate it, but that they could serve the Lord with gladness whether they made it out alive or not. Even after Martin’s death, Gracia has made the commitment to continue to “serve the Lord with gladness”.
What is your heart song today? Are you mad at God for not giving you something, or maybe taking something away from you? Do you feel you “deserve” better? Or perhaps you simply feel that God is not listening to you. Do you feel abandoned? Can you sing Hannah’s song of joy today? “My heart exults in the Lord…..for the Lord is a Lord of knowledge.” Can you sing Gracia’s song of gladness? “Serve the Lord with gladness, Come before Him with joyful singing.“ (Ps. 100:2) Can you thank the Lord for the hard times, knowing that it is all to make you stronger, more dependent on Him? The chorus of one of my favorite songs goes like this.
O rejoice in the Lord, He makes no mistakes.
He knoweth the end of each path that I take.
For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold.
(Rejoice in the Lord by Ron Hamilton)
Hannah could have sang the same chorus. She knew that her time of barrenness was for a reason. And by having to wait so long for Samuel, she appreciated the gift all the more. And she was blessed with being the mother of a priest, and the last judge of Israel. But most of all, she experienced the great joy of resting in God’s goodness and relying on His wisdom over her own.
Gracia could have sang the same chorus. We can look at the situation of being held hostage for a year and think that it was all for nothing, that Martin died for nothing, but they were able to witness to their captors and the other hostages, an opportunity that they would not have had. Their story has reached all over the world, and Martin’s memorial service was played in its entirety over the airwaves. So they had a chance to witness to thousands, if not millions of people. And God has given Gracia amazing opportunities to minister to people because of the heartache she has gone through.
I hope today that you are looking to God for the song of your heart. It can’t be found in the world, possessions or even other people. It is found in your Maker, your Abba Father, your God. You can be joyful even through difficult times. When you serve the Lord through ANY situation, you will find the joy that Hannah and Gracia found….they joy of an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-loving Father God.
Oh, one more note on the story of Hannah. After Samuel, God blessed
Hannah with 3 more sons and 2 daughters!!! God first blessed Hannah
for her prayers by giving her Samuel, then He blessed her sacrifice of
giving Samuel back to God by blessing her with 5 more children!!! What
an awesome God we serve!!!!
Serve the Lord,
Jennie
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