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Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

“I Talk!”

Posted in Devotional, Encouragement, Faith, God's Faithfulness, Servanthood on January 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

My husband and I were once exiting a restaurant with our four small children in tow when we realized one of them had wandered off. After a quick scan of the crowded dining room, we spotted her at the table of an elderly couple. She and the woman were chatting away like two old school chums.

Back then our little golden-haired beauty was a real people-person whom didn’t know a stranger. She had walked right up to the couple’s table and began to entertain them with her natural charm.

Just as our small clan reached the table, I heard miss sunshine say, “Watch what I can do!” In an instant she turned and did the splits right there in the aisle. My heart skipped a few beats because one of the wait staff was walking towards her lugging a huge tray of hot food. Fortunately, her daddy was able to scoop her up in the nick of time, to the amusement and giggles of all.

It was quite obvious that our little girl had brightened the day for that motherly old woman. Turning her gaze towards my baby boy, she sweetly asked, “What do you do, you cute little thing?”

Without hesitation he replied, “I can count to ten in Spanish. Uno, dos, tres……”

“Splendid!” she chirped. “And what about you?” she then asked my oldest.

“I can count to ten in French. Un, deux, trois…”

My oldest daughter, anticipating her turn to impress the friendly couple, was already thinking. “What do I do?” she responded, as though asking herself the question. After a brief pause, her pensive look melted into a toothy grin.

“I TALK!” she proudly answered.

Periodically, a friend will say to me, “I really want to do something special for the Lord, but I don’t have any special talents or gifting.” First, let me say that I believe everyone has some type of spiritual endowment with which to bless others, even if it is not easily recognizable.

Second, and this is very important, everyone has the ability to share their faith. You may not be the outgoing, social type but that’s okay. Even an introvert can find occasion to talk to others about the Lord.

This may be very surprising to those who know me personally, but I used to have great difficulty talking to anyone. However, it eventually occurred to me that I could better serve my Lord and Master if I were a bit more sociable (okay, maybe a lot more). I prayed about the situation and asked for help in taking steps towards this goal.

Slowly, but surely, the Lord not only enabled me to talk to others, but to enjoy doing so. Now, by the Grace of God, I too am a people-person who does not know a stranger. I engage others in conversation every chance I get and look for opportunities to speak an encouraging word into their lives, especially those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

If you, dear reader, are uncertain as to what your spiritual endowment is, pray about it until you know then serve with confidence. Each of us have a different job to do, but every laborer is valuable and every job important. Finally, remember, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men (Colossians 3:23 NIV).

Above all, let us all continue to share the Gospel with others. Jesus said if we don’t praise Him, the rocks will cry out. I’m sure the same is true about sharing our faith. No matter what, the Lord will find someone who is willing to speak out on His behalf. Will you be the one to say, “I TALK?”

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Fresh Bread in Bethlehem

Posted in Bethlehem, Bread of Life, Devotional, Faith, Guidance, Spiritual Hunger on December 21, 2010| 5 Comments »

My tummy is dancing to the aroma of baking bread wafting through my house. I bake bread quite often because it is one of the little pleasures of life that just adds an air of warmth and comfort to the home. When my family prays “give us this day our daily bread” I want that bread to be straight out of the oven. Honestly, I believe the daily bread of the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ is, in context, speaking of God’s Word, but I desire my family to have fresh bread, both physical and spiritual.

A few thousand years ago, a baby was born in the little town of Bethlehem in Judea who would change the world forever. Bethlehem is a Hebrew word which literally means ‘House of Bread.’ The baby’s name was Yeshua (Jesus, to the English-speaking world). How very appropriate that He would be born in the ‘House of Bread’ because He would later refer to Himself as the Bread of Life:

And Jesus (Yeshua) said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger… (John 6:35)

The name Yeshua literally means salvation. Therefore, when the Angel of the Lord appeared to Yosef (Joseph) in a dream, He was saying about Miriam (Mary) that she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name SALVATION: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21),

Like all mothers-to-be, Mary had anxiously awaited the arrival of her ‘Salvation’ for a long time. Can you just imagine Miriam looking into the face of this beautiful newborn baby with joyful tears saying “Alas, Salvation has finally come?”

Much of the world has chosen this time of year to reflect on the birth of Yeshua. However, I would like us to take a few moments to reflect on Him as the Bread of Life; which isn’t hard to for me to do as I sit here engulfed in the delectable aroma of baking bread.

In the first chapter of the book of John we read:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….… [John 1:1-4] Jumping to verse 14 we read: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

So we see that the God caused a part of Himself, His word, to be made manifest in a tangible body, the body of the babe Yeshua. I know this is all pretty difficult for our finite, human minds to fully comprehend. Even so, Yeshua is the Son of God and designates Himself as the Bread of Life (amongst other descriptions).

John goes on to say:

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)

Unquestionably Yeshua, living as a man in a physical body, needed food for sustenance. Nevertheless, he understood that physical bread only satisfies our temporal bodies for a short time. He therefore emphasized the urgency of nourishing oneself with spiritual food; that which quenches the soul’s hunger always:

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. (Luke 4:1-4)

In other words, because our bodies soon perish but our souls are immortal, feeding ourselves spiritually must be our priority. But how do we partake of the bread of life? By every word of God! In the beginning was the Word… and the word became flesh. To read God’s Word is to partake of the Bread of Life.

How can the bread satisfy, though, unless it is fresh? Unlike oven-baked bread which becomes stale very quickly, spiritual bread stays fresh forever and its nutrients never diminish. Nevertheless, we should never be satisfied to live on yesterday’s bread.

Remember, Yeshua taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread

I pray that in the same way the enticing aroma of fresh-baked bread stimulates our appetite and creates anxiousness to partake of this fresh, warm comfort food, that thoughts of our precious Lord will fill our hearts and minds in the same way. May we all become desirous to start each day with a fresh, ‘warm slice’ of the Bread of Life.

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meteors

Posted in Devotional, Encouragement, Endurance, Faith, God's Faithfulness on December 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Photo Credit: Getty Image via CNN

This year’s Geminid meteor shower was hailed as the best of 2010 and I missed it. I was more than willing to bundle up like an Eskimo and head to the observatory to watch the show, but it was just too cloudy. What a shame! Sky gazers in other parts of the country reported seeing as many as one-hundred-twenty meteors an hour during this peak time; it must have been spectacular.

Even so, I can certainly understand why most people have little interest in staying up half the night to watch a bunch of meteors streak through the cold December sky. Truth be known, now that I am older I find it harder to stay awake for these things myself. Still, it would’ve been cool to watch the shower because I have always been fascinated with every aspect of creation from the microscopic to the cosmic.

I was one of those nerdy kids who could sit for hours and marvel at plain, ordinary rocks or admire the uniqueness of a single tree. In that respect I haven’t changed much. The difference is that when I look at the various things in the world around me now, I marvel more at the Creator than His creation.

God is awesome and all of nature declares His glory, especially in the heavens. Psalm 19:1 states: The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies proclaim his craftsmanship.

I believe that God created the universe in such a way that we would see these meteor showers as a reminder of how awesome His creation really is. The Geminid shower lasts for days and lights up the sky with fireballs which can be seen from almost anywhere on Earth. And, according to Nasa astronomer Bill Cooke, the Geminid showers “defy explanation.”

God does lots of things on a grand scale that defies explanation. It is His desire that, when we see these things, we turn our thoughts to Him.

The morning after I missed the meteor showers’ peak I was somewhat disappointed that I missed the ‘shower’ and there would only be a trickle of meteors over the next few days. For some reason, probably because of the term shower, I found myself thinking about a passage in the book of Ezekiel that describes a time when the Lord will bless His people with abundant peace and provision. He promises that there shall be showers of blessing (Ezekiel 34:26).

I couldn’t help but think about the many blessings that God is pouring upon the earth even now. Sadly, though, too many people fail to recognize some of them because their ‘vision’ is clouded by the storms of life. We may not be living in the fullness (showers) of God’s blessing just yet, but his blessings continue to rain down on upon us whether we see them or not; and His mercies are new every morning.

I know that the world is very dark now and people are hurting, but like the Puritans, let us pray, “…let me find Thy light in my darkness.” Your circumstances might not change immediately, but God is more than capable of moving those clouds so that you can see His glory rip through your darkness with more ferocity than those fiery meteors which pierce the night sky.

It may be too late to look up and see the meteor shower, but it is never too late to look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28b).

Credit: Wally Pacholka / AstroPics.com / TWAN.

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“Danged ole Yankees”

Posted in Devotional, Faith, Spiritual Strength, Victory on July 28, 2010| 1 Comment »

civil war canon

“It’s them danged ole Yankees,” he grumbled while passing the phone to his “maw-ma.” Yankees? I was fairly certain we had just crossed the state line, but apparently we had involuntarily slipped into some kind of time warp in which the young man was arrogantly stuck more than one-hundred-twenty years in the past. Someone needs to inform him that the war is over and the slaves have been set free.

Come to think of it, some of us need to tell our adversary -that nasty, vindictive devil- the same thing. The war over humanity has already been won and we, his slaves, have already been set free.

Nevertheless, the devil and his cohorts refuse to acknowledge defeat; they are somewhat like the relentless kamikaze pilots of World War II. It has been said that even after proclamation of the war’s end, the kamikazes continued their suicide missions and destroyed several more Allied warships, with full knowledge that their country had already been overthrown and they had been ordered to stop attacking.

Indeed, the whole host of evil has already been defeated, yet they continue to attack humanity on every front. This accursed enemy, driven by fierce anger and hatred, unleashes their fury unceasingly against mankind despite this defeat. At present, God is allowing the adversary this latitude, but He has fully equipped His children to victoriously overcome every difficult challenge or circumstance that comes our way and to prevail over every attack of our dreaded foe.

Even so our faith, like a pendulum, often swings back and forth in the winds of adversity. One day we leap effortlessly over giant obstacles as if they were only small hurdles, only to stumble the very next day over the slightest uncertainties. Aware of our propensity towards weakness and inconsistency, our adversaries are lurking in the shadows, eagerly awaiting any, and every opportunity to kick us while we’re down.

We know in our hearts that God will never leave us nor forsake us for any reason. Still, if we’re not careful, we can sometimes allow circumstances to beat us down and weary us until we lose sight of the fact that God has already provided the way out. All we have to do is utilize it.

World War II provided an interesting example of this mental bondage. While the kamikazes were busy blowing-up ships, the Nazis were busy destroying lives. The concentration camp prisoners were so horrifically abused that they couldn’t grasp freedom even when offered. As part of their psychological studies, the Nazis placed some of the prisoners in front of a door which led to an open field and offered them the opportunity to walk through it. There were no guards behind the door, they said. And anyone who chose to walk through the door would continue on to freedom with absolutely no penalty; they would not even be pursued.

Of course the prisoners believed this was just another sadistic trick. Certain that they would be mowed- down by gunfire outside the door, the prisoners, like statuary, stood frozen in fear. In reality, the Nazis had told the truth. They were willing to allow prisoners to go free, but only because they were fully convinced that none would be brave enough to walk through that door.

Similarly, it is reported that many of the southern slaves were offered freedom towards the end of the Civil War, but like the Nazi’s prisoners, they were also mistrustful and therefore chose to continue in the confines of their slavery as well. I sometimes wonder how many of them gazed at some of their would-be liberators and quietly cursed those, “danged ole Yankees” because their minds had been poisoned by their cruel masters.

That’s a good picture of how the devil works. He poisons our minds with doubt. We know in our hearts that God is our liberator, but too often we allow overwhelming circumstances to deceive us into hopelessness. As a result, we fail to enter into the freedom that God has made available to us.

Nevertheless, presence of doubt doesn’t necessarily mean that we are without faith; sometimes we are simply in a season of weakness. In those times, when you can’t quite muster the strength to fight life’s battles on your own, it is important to seek others who are willing to stand in the gap – those who will go to battle for you. Likewise, if you are in a season of strong faith, please encourage your fellow man and spiritually fight on his or her behalf. We need each other.

Toward the end of the Civil War, President Lincoln gave an address to the nation. Though it was delivered to the battle weary citizens of 1865, we would do well to heed his advice. He said:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”– Abraham Lincoln
Second Inaugural Address March 4, 1865

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