Month: August 2020

For I know the plans that I have for you…

Jeremiah 29:11

My husband and I are now retired, our two children are married adults and have children of their own.  In this season of life, I have a lot more time than when I was raising children and working, and many choices exist for ways to spend time throughout the day – time with my husband, church ministries, family and friends who need help and encouragement – the list goes on. 

How do we choose what to do with our time? I have learned the most important thing is to spend time alone with the Lord early each morning before anything else happens.  I start by asking Him to quiet my mind and delete all the distractions so I can focus on Him.  I ask for eyes to see Him, ears to hear His voice, and a heart to respond to how He leads. This verse in Jeremiah greatly encourages me:  I know the plans I have for you (Jeremiah 29:11).  The Lord knows the plans He has for me!  And I know He waits for me to ask Him.  I can rest and enjoy peace as I trust Him to lead me through the day, watching for what He has planned!  I am learning to depend on Him completely, and I delight to see how He leads! 

I made a list of Scriptures that encourage me as I am waiting for God’s direction for life and ministry opportunities.  I keep it on my desk so that I can refer to it often.  These scriptures and the quotes I included from another source help me, and I pray they will encourage you too.

Ephesians 2:10 We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

John 10:4 When He puts forth all His own, He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow Him because they know His voice.

John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth…I will even make a roadway in the wilderness.

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God…

Psalm 37:7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…

Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.  I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

II Chronicles 16:9 The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His (NASB)… whose hearts are fully committed to Him (NIV)

I didn’t get permission from the author to use the quotes I would like to include, but if you have the Jesus Calling devotional by Sarah Young, I recommend reading her messages for January 25th and October 27th.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Are there changes that need to be made in your priorities, your attitudes, your choices that will make a positive impact on the way you spend your time?

What is a specific step you can take to begin?

They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water.

                                                                   Jeremiah 2:13

            Over and over again throughout the book of Jeremiah, God reveals His deep sadness over His people who continually turned away from Him.  The contrast between what He longed to give them and what they actually chose for themselves could lead to the question, “Why?  How could they turn away from God who loved them so much and had promised blessing and abundance if they would only obey Him?”  The warnings against disobedience were absolutely clear, and the consequences of disobedience were devastating. 

            Listen to God’s words in Deuteronomy 6.  He has been speaking to the people of Israel through Moses of the blessings awaiting them when they entered the land He had promised to give them – great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied (vs. 10, 11).  And the warning immediately follows:  Then watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt…You shall fear only the Lord your God…otherwise, the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth (vs. 12-15).  God’s people could have enjoyed the fountain of living waters, but instead they chose broken cisterns that hold no water.

            It is no different for believers today.  God still generously offers that fountain of living water to all who come to Him. He who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35). Jesus came to give us abundant life and joy in Him. 

            Are you satisfied with living water from God?  Or are you experiencing the frustrations and dissatisfaction of a broken cistern you have made yourself?  At times we try to fill our lives with more people, more activity, more material pleasures.  Too often we turn away from God, perhaps not even consciously at first. We think we would be happy …if only I had more money…if only I had a less demanding (or more challenging) job…if only my kids didn’t need so much of my time and energy…if only my husband (or wife) were more understanding…if only….

Until we turn back to God in repentance, nothing can truly satisfy us.  We will always want more, and it will never be enough. There is no lasting peace and contentment from anything except being filled with living water.  The indwelling Holy Spirit is the living water offered to everyone who comes to Jesus by faith in what He has done for us on the cross.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

How would you honestly characterize your life right now?  Is your life a container filled with living water?  Or are you still creating your own cistern and discovering that it holds no water?  Don’t keep trying to patch the broken pot so that it can be filled with things that can never satisfy and will lead only to destruction.  Return to the fountain of living water, to God. 

Where are you tempted to turn to find fulfillment and happiness apart from God?  Will you take time now to confess and ask God to fill you with the living water?

If you are already experiencing the living water, thank Him for that!  Ask Him for opportunities to bring others to the fountain of living water — to God.

           

           

           

          

         

… Learn what is pleasing to the Lord

                                                                  Ephesians 5:10

            My husband and I had invited several friends for dinner one night, and he offered to help me get ready.  The guests were due to arrive shortly and the table wasn’t set, so I asked him to go to the hall closet and get the tablecloth.  While looking for the tablecloth, he discovered a box of ski gloves we had stored in the closet.  He noticed that spots of mold were growing on some of the gloves.  I was busily preparing for the dinner guests when I noticed that he was scrubbing ski gloves at the kitchen sink.  If we had been planning a ski trip for the next morning, it might have been more appropriate, but that was not the case.  The table still was not set for dinner.  Needless to say, I wasn’t pleased.

            Mold on ski gloves does need to be cleaned off. There was nothing essentially wrong with that activity.  It’s just that it wasn’t what I needed him to be doing right then.  There were more urgent things to be done at the moment, like setting the table for dinner!  Even now, many years later, we occasionally tease each other, “Is that mold on the ski gloves you’re working on?” 

            I am often reminded of this verse in Ephesians encouraging us to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.  We all have many choices to make throughout the day about how to spend our time.  How do we know what is pleasing to God?  By making time alone with Him our highest priority each day, spending time in the Word, in prayer, listening for His voice, trusting Him for all the resources necessary to do whatever He calls us to do.  He will be pleased as we follow Him.  I’m learning to start each day praying, “Lord, take my hand and lead me through this day.”  I recognize that He is my Shepherd, and His sheep know His voice.  That is the way I can keep from being distracted by the many choices that present themselves throughout the day.  

            I am confident that as we pray and ask the Lord for His will, the decisions we need to make will become clear — maybe not today, when we want to know, but in His time.  He has promised to be the still small voice saying, This is the way, walk in it… (Isaiah 30:21).

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Spend some time focusing on Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

If you have not already made this a part of your life, I encourage you to make time with the Lord a priority — daily, offering yourself to Him to do whatever would please Him during the day.  The only way you can know for sure is by asking Him!  Trust Him for all the resources to carry out whatever He places before you.

When is the best time for you to set aside to have time alone with the Lord?

What changes can you make in your current schedule of activities to make regular time with Him a priority?

Now unto Him who is able to do  exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or imagine…

Ephesians 3:20

A few years ago, my women’s Bible study group committed to support the ministry of a missionary couple in Papua New Guinea.  In their monthly prayer letter, we read of a major project – the printing of the New Testament and Proverbs their team had translated into the language of the people they had worked with for many years.  The missionaries had calculated the cost of printing each book and presented their supporters the opportunity to contribute toward the amount for printing an entire book or a partial amount.

As the Bible study leader, I presented this opportunity to the women to discuss what we could do as a group.  I’m ashamed to admit that I looked down the list to find the cheapest one – the book of Jude cost $159.  I thought if no one else wanted to contribute, I could write a check for that amount myself.  But one of the women said, “How about the book of John?”  We were currently studying the lessons I wrote for that book.  I looked at the price of $2,224 and laughed, saying “yeah, right.”  That ended the discussion for the day. 

The next morning, I woke up to spend my quiet time with the Lord.  As I prayed, the thought immediately came to me, “Why not the book of John?  Didn’t you just teach the lesson about Jesus feeding the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish?   Didn’t you just teach the lesson about Peter jumping out of the boat to walk on water when Jesus called him to come?” 

All day, thoughts continued about sponsoring the book of John.  In the afternoon, I called the group member who had suggested that book.  I told her my thoughts from the morning.  We prayed together and agreed that we should move forward and sponsor the entire book of John.  We both felt really excited!  I called each of the women in the study, and all agreed.  So, I emailed the message to the missionaries with our decision!  That was March 8^th.  We needed the total of $2,224 by September.  

Soon other ideas came to me – maybe we could have a bake/craft/garage sale.  What about including other Bible study groups, Sunday School classes, the whole church!  We were excited to see how God would lead and provide for this commitment.  The pastors and church leaders gave a clear go-ahead with their full support.  I made a personal announcement to the congregation the next Sunday telling of the opportunity and inviting them to participate.

The following week, I got a call from the church treasurer asking if I wanted to know how much money had been contributed so far.  In just one week, we received $1,215.  Less than a month later we had received a total of $2,220!

We had a garage sale, and contributions kept pouring in. By May 14th the contributions totaled $3,629.  Our commitment was exceeded by nearly $1,400!  We could apply the extra money to the printing of other books! In the May prayer letter from the missionaries, they announced they had received all the money needed for printing (and even shipping!) the entire New Testament, plus Proverbs.

            What a faith-training experience for me personally! I felt so humbled to see what God did with a very small step of faith.  More recently, as I recognized God’s call for me to publish the devotionals that I’ve written, I could look back at this experience and trust Him to lead each step to accomplish it.  Setting up a website was far more complicated, and at times more frustrating than I thought it would be. There were times when I was tempted to put all the pages back in the file cabinet and just leave them there!  But God is faithful to equip and provide for whatever He calls us to do.  And I’m so blessed as I grow in faith to follow wherever He leads.

I pray this experience will encourage you to trust God for His ability to do whatever He calls you to do.  He is able to do “exceeding abundantly above what we can think or imagine!”

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Has God called you to do something that seems impossible? 

How have you responded?

How has this message encouraged you?

What steps will you take to respond to the Lord’s call?

Jesus said, “Remove the stone…Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

John 11:39-40

Jesus spoke these words at the tomb of Lazarus who had been dead four days.  He told the people gathered there to remove the stone from the tomb. 

When I read this Scripture recently, the question came to mind:  What “stone” needs to be removed from my heart so that I can see the glory of God. The Phillips translation says “so that I can see the wonder of what God can do.”  Any “stones” of sin in our heart stand in the way of our ability to see clearly all that God wants to do in our life, our ability to hear His voice.  They keep us from experiencing the closeness we can have in a loving relationship with Him.  They stand in the way of the blessing that God longs to pour out on us. Here are some examples of “stones” that come to mind:

• Busyness
• Fear
• Unbelief
• Pride
• Rebellion
• Lack of forgiveness
• Lack of trust
• Unhealthy relationships
• Need to be in control
• Self righteousness
• Lack of love
• Judgmental attitudes
• Serving other “gods”

Can you identify with any of these?  Can you think of others in your own life? As I was asking God to search my heart and show me anything that needed to be confessed, He brought to mind a long-held lack of forgiveness toward a family member who passed away a long time ago.  I thought I had worked through that issue over the years, but I was aware that the unforgiveness was still a problem.  I confessed, and asked God to change my heart and help me to release those feelings.  I realize how God has forgiven me, and He has made it possible to let go of the negative feelings I have held onto for so long.  By God’s grace, I am experiencing a freedom that could not happen with my own effort.

I noticed from the Scripture that removal of the “stone” comes first, then we can see the glory of God more clearly — not the other way around.  God will help us remove the sinful “stones” from our heart if we confess and ask Him for forgiveness.  The result is cleansing, freedom, peace and joy in a right relationship with the Lord.  We will “see the wonder of what God can do.”

Only through the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins can we escape God’s judgment.  Once we accept Jesus’ sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin and place our faith in Him, His blood cleanses us from sin and removes it from us.  We can claim God’s promise in Ezekiel 36:26:

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

If you have never received God’s gift of salvation through Jesus, it is not too late.  You can ask Him to forgive your sins, invite Him to cleanse you and give you a new heart and a new spirit.

Maybe you have been saved already, but you have been living life on your own terms without living a life that is pleasing to God.  Listen to Him calling you back and make the choice to follow Him. 

What “stones” need to be removed from your heart so that you can more clearly see the glory of God in your life?