Where'd THAT Come From?

Recently, I've been trying to concentrate on, "My God shall supply all my (your) needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19) I need to be more grateful for the fact that HE truly does so, then respond by wholeheartedly obeying his desires and intentions for me to not always insist on having MORE than I need!! (too many 'carbs,' etc.)  WELL, this past Saturday, a new friend and I had a curiously inspiring event happen!!! It would seem we were GIVEN more than we 'needed!'... We'd both consumed the healthy roll we'd each purchased, then proceeded to talk for 2 hours or so.. When it was time to leave, we noticed another small bag with a 3rd roll in it on our table! The really 'mystifying' fact is I KNOW FOR CERTAIN there had only been 2 rolls in the display case when we'd purchased them!! We mused over it, then finally agreed it had to have been put there by none other than GOD! We believe HE was simply manifesting Himself as indication of the pleasure HE'D received during the conversation during which I'd had the thrill of introducing her to the layout of the Bible... and, SO MUCH MORE! (BTW, we divided the roll 'for the road!') Remember.. OUR LORD loves to delight us, whether tangibly, or internally... May we all live in the WONDER of HIM moment-by-moment!!

FROZEN UP?

This title is inspired by a big 'boo-boo' made recently at a San Diego area car maintenance facility of some sort!  You see... they had changed the oil on my dad's truck, FORGETTING TO PUT THE NEW OIL IN before my brother-in-law drove it away!!! ARG!! Of course, it wasn't long before the truck simply STOPPED as its engine truly froze!!! (at a time when he needed the truck so he could join his family at a special wedding rehearsal and dinner!)  Needless to say, the repair facility is paying for a rental car and a new engine for my dad's older truck! Sometimes, blessings DO COME IN DISGUISE! 

   The spiritual application I took from all of this is we, as the LORD'S children, should NEVER attempt to 'run,' or function effectively apart from the anointing of the HOLY SPIRIT within our beings.. We will indeed 'freeze up' if not properly functioning as Spirit-filled, God-glorifying, individuals..   My question to each of us is,  "Have you checked your Holy Spirit, anointing oil's level recently?" IF not, WHY not?  Blessings to all!

'ADVENTAGES' OF LIFE

I presented the last of the 4 ADVENT lessons today so I'd like to share it with you. I was blessed as I shared the LOVE of GOD with these dear ones.. I am especially thrilled by the lyrics to the included song which is new to my husband and I.. 

This week's candle is the candle of LOVE… What more can we say than, "For God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten Son.." What a wonder... Our MAJESTIC, MAGNIFICENT, MIGHTY LORD ABOVE, would come to us in a little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger amidst livestock, hay, and all else present in a stable.

We are aware of how 'We love because He first loved us.'  Where would we be without his COMPASSION, MERCY, and GRACE?

This year, I've become aware of this wonderful Christmas song :

                        Let This Christmas Be

Let this Christmas be Christ in me
The love of God sent down
For the world to see
Let the grace You’ve shown be evident in me
Let this Christmas be, Christ in me

Creator of the heavens, Majesty unknown
Behold the incarnation in Jesus alone
Fully God and fully man
Lord help me to understand
The knowledge of your grace
Now given to me..

I am so totally blessed, and moved deeply this year, by having taken a closer look at the 4 candles of Advent (HOPE, PREPARATION, JOY and LOVE) as we approach this coming Tuesday's celebration by giving to  others because HE first gave to us! May his LOVE within each of us be the reason  for the season as we desire to give to others! Remember.. What we give doesn't need to be wrapped beautifully, having been purchased at a price because HE has already paid the ultimate price on our behalf!! His LOVE was/is SO great that HE was laid in that manger, then, hung on that cross… ALL because of HIS deep desire for us to know and access HIM personally as our LORD.                                                                            MAY WE ALL GROW MORE DEEPLY IN LOVE WITH HIM MOMENT BY MOMENT..

Call Him MESSIAH

     As this season of Advent progresses, I am blessed by paying closer attention to what it can mean. ANTICIPATION and ARRIVAL  are two definitions attached to Advent. The 4 candles  are said to represent PREPARATION, HOPE, JOY, and LOVE. One thing I've learned recently is how  ROMANS 15:12-13 contains a prophecy from ISAIAH conveying how MESSIAH would make HOPE available to ALL mankind.. no longer only the Israelites..Gentiles are included in verse 12! That's most of us reading/writing this! Not only that, but the point the Apostle Paul makes in verse 13 (which happens to be the one I get the address of this BLOG from!), is PEACE, HOPE, and JOY, are for all who TRUST in HIM.  In the wake of the tragedy in the elementary school recently, many of us may be feeling a lack of these needed realities in life.. I have found when I look into the face of my  LORD JESUS CHRIST, I don't need answers as to 'Why?," but can draw on his endless supplies of comfort.. yielding peace, hope, and joy in spite of 'circumstances.'  Maybe these lyrics to a song John and I LOVE to sing in harmony best summarize just how the birth of one VERY SPECIAL BABY over 2,000 years ago can make such a difference even today!

"What shall we call this man, whose voice has calmed the sea.. this man who laughs with children, and walks with fishermen? What shall we call this man whose love  has pierced our hearts, whose words of life have reached into the depths of who we are?                                                CALL HIM MESSIAH, CALL HIM, CALL HIM YOUR KING..              CALL HIM THE MIGHTY AND MAJESTIC LORD OF EVERYTHING..                                                                          THE HEIR OF DAVID, THE PROMISED ONE..                                            CALL HIM MESSIAH, THE LONG-AWAITED ONE!" 

I pray a blessed CHRISTmas season and following days for all of you!

Cheasured and Trerished!

I've forgotten just exactly when and why I tried to speak the words in this title, but it was sure one of those memorable moments when your mouth and mind just don't seem to cooperate with each other!! Of course, I laughed it off as 'one of those moments..'  But, it has me thinking about how often we possibly have 'one of those moments' when our WALK and our TALK just don't 'jive' with one another.  Paul, the apostle, speaks of this in ROMANS 7:15-20.
¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
As read and re-read this, I noticed how it's a contrast to GALATIANS 2:20 which relates how it is CHRIST who lives in me since I have been crucified with Him. Somehow, I think we all need to 'think before we speak,' so to say.. This way, we'll avoid confusing what we intend to convey to others, as well as, to our LORD!  For, we are truly TREASURED, and, CHERISHED!          

HE Calls Me His FRIEND!

Yesterday morning, I told my husband about the way this truth has fascinated me this year in particular... Now, let's see... I have been growing in the LORD for over 44 years so I'm sure I've been aware of the fact of Jesus having said this to his disciples... Wow!  It amazes me to see how our Heavenly Father has such a personalized plan for each of us as we 'Go, Grow, and Glow' in Him more each day,week, and year!

Luke 12:4 is where HE says, "I tell  you my friends...." This is only one reference to the familiarity Jesus holds with us.  How wonderful is this? I love the hymn,  COME THOU ALMIGHTY KING since it begins by us addressing his KINGSHIP, but the last line of the last verse ends by calling HIM our FRIEND!!

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED....

TRY, TRY AGAIN... At least that's the way the saying goes!  This message was going to be brief because I simply wanted to say when we do things in our own 'power and strength...' We set ourselves up for frustration and fear of failure... But, when we TRUST,  RELINQUISH, and YIELD to HIS wondrous power and ways, we are truly en route to being 'successful' in our endeavors. Well, so much for brevity! Read on! Now, I have never liked that word phrase, 'Successful Christian Living,' because it can suggest another source of potential 'failure,' to any who struggle with such matters... I MUCH prefer, the term, SIGNIFICANT CHRISTIAN LIVING. If you have time to read through the devotionals from several years ago, please do.. Otherwise, just stop to ask yourself if you are truly TRUSTING our LORD for all your needs, and to lead you in a life which pleases and glorifies HIM. Also ask if you are RELINQUISHING  all sense of what you may believe your 'rights' to be.. Our only 'rights' are to the fulfillment of the promises HE has made to any/all of us who welcome his LORDSHIP in our lives.. Finally, examine yourself to see where you may not be yielding to his desires for/through you.. For me, the recent 'flood' in my life is one of asking myself if all of my choices are truly pleasing to HIM... One final thought for now... The only way I fully understand what FAITH is, is by realizing it is fully TRUSTING in HIM and all HE is and intends for us..               Forsaking All, I Trust In HIM, is a great way to delineate FAITH for me.. (see 2nd devotional below)

FAMILY DEVOTIONAL #51     SUCCESS, or SIGNIFICANCE?       10-18-08

TODAY’S message will actually address two words that can bother me..  I mentioned in  

   #44, BACK IN THE SWIM that I don’t like ‘success’ because it implies failure is

   possible. (As a Christian, I personally don’t think I can fail but, I can deprive myself

   and others of the fullness of all the Lord intends for/through me.) The other word

   which concerns me is, ‘why?’.  #42, NOT ‘WHY?’ BUT ‘HOW OR WHAT? spoke a lot

   about this…

THE reason I am revisiting these words is because I am ‘facing up to the fact’ of the

   presence of both of them in scripture!  In our study of THE LIFE OF MOSES this

   year, John and I have just read of when Moses was rather flustered as Pharaoh

   insisted on acting irrationally. EXODUS 5:22 finds Moses returning to the Lord asking,

  “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me?” The

   Lord never answers the ‘Why?’ but, He does go on to tell Moses just what He intends

   to do! Check it out, if you’d like!  I’ve said enough about ‘WHY?’- Now, ‘SUCCESS?’

THESE FAMILY DEVOTIONALS  are not being written for any reason other than to help

   all of you as well as myself, develop fuller, personal walks with our Lord. As we do, He

   will be glorified each time someone looks into our eyes, realizes that we didn’t act

   irrationally in times we might have, or otherwise notices a quality of life they may be

   secretly craving?!  I will testify to this by letting you know that within 2 months of me

   having welcomed the Lord into my life, a Girl Scout acquaintance of mine told me she

  ‘wanted what Pam, Debbie, and I have!’

   AT ANY RATE- I see ‘my’ devotion to writing these, NOT as something to be able to

   SUCCEED in, but as something that is definitely SIGNIFICANT, thanks to the feed-

   back which lets me know how HE is blessing through these.

RECENTLY, John and I were reading something said by a Christian athlete, I believe. He

  really “HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD” for us when he agreed that the use of the term,

 ‘Becoming a successful Christian’ can really intimidate someone, thus deterring them  

 from even considering Christ’s desires for their acceptance or fellowship. (That implied

  possibility of failure might cause them to think, ‘I don’t need another area to fall short

  in!) SO- dear one, PLEASE don’t allow yourself to fear failure as HIS, but, do let Him

  use you in ways that are significant for yours and others’ encouragement in Him.  As I

  write this, I am listening to a very old 33 RPM album on which EVIE (whom we named our

  daughter after!) is singing ALL THE GLORY MUST BE TO THE LORD.  Living life with

  this desire will definitely let you succeed in pleasing the Lord, thus being significant!

FATHER GOD, help me live significantly for/through you each day! In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

     ‘FAMILY DEVOTIONAL’  #28    TRUSTING OR RUSTING?

TODAY I opened a devotional book that I use a lot- The state-

        ment I read simply said, I NOT ONLY LOVE GOD and

        TRUST HIM, I LOVE TRUSTING HIM!  It made me con

        sider if I do or don’t truly TRUST Him IN everything or

        not! I was once challenged deeply by this question—

        “DO you TRUST the LORD as much as you say you LOVE

                                                                                       HIM?”

THIS line of thought led me back to the passage in HEBREWS,

        chapter 10, verses 19-23 that I will refer to for the next

        few weeks as I ‘digest’ it myself…  After 2 verses tell us

        about our SURE personal access to the LORD- (no more

        veil or barrier between HE and us due to the blood of

        JESUS!), the passage continues by encouraging us to

        DRAW NEAR TO GOD WITH A SINCERE HEART FULL

        OF ASSURANCE OF FAITH!

THERE is a song which states  that ‘TO hear with my heart, to

       sing with my soul- To be guided by a hand I cannot hold- To

       trust in a way that I cannot see- That’s what faith must be!’

       It played on my computer as I sat here! I wish that you all

       knew the light-hearted, almost whimsical melody that it has!

       I encourage you all to LET THE LORD lead you to delight in

       trusting HIM more and more each day! Tell him your fears,

        frustrations, concerns, etc… He wants to hear them!

THIS prayer might help--  FATHER GOD, I really DO want to

       enjoy trusting YOU! YOU are my source of TRUE LIFE!

       I love you LORD- In JESUS’ name,   AMEN!