Monday, May 31, 2010

NO GREATER LOVE!

Today is Memorial Day and I had not planned to write about this day. In fact, I had actually forgotten that today was Memorial Day. Saturday when I was sitting on my back porch watching the world wake up, listening to the birds and enjoying a cup of coffee, God reminded me that Monday would be a special day.

While sitting there thinking about what a beautiful day it was and how good God is to us, I was reminded of His sacrifice and how Jesus stepped down from Heaven and became human, all for loves’ sake. We will never understand (this side of eternity) why God loved us so much that he would sacrifice His only begotten Son. He loved us so much that He was willing to give up everything to die for us. I just don’t understand that.

There are many, well actually, a lot more than many, in this country today that can’t understand why so many people throughout our country’s history willingly gave their lives in order that we might enjoy the freedoms that we are privileged to have today. Yet, it seems like the sacrifices that so many have made are not appreciated.

It seems that Memorial Day, instead of being celebrated as a day of remembrance; we anxiously look forward to it as the first day of summer fun. Leading up to this day I saw polls on television asking people how they planned to spend the day celebrating. The leading answer was firing up the barbeque grill for the first of many summer meals, going camping at the lake, fishing and swimming. Just take a drive around your neighborhood and count the American flags that you see lining driveways or hanging from houses.

Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 (NIV). This country is what it is today because of the ultimate price that so many freely paid. As you go about enjoying your holiday today, don’t forget the sacrifice (first and foremost) that Jesus paid to redeem you and reconcile you with God the Father and then take time to really think about the ultimate sacrifice that so many of our soldiers have paid for your freedom. Remember, this holiday was not created for you to celebrate the first day of summer fun or even the first of many summer barbecue meals, but it is a day for you to enjoy with your family the outcome of the past 234 years of freedom that this country has enjoyed.......because of a soldier.

Dear Father,
Thank you Lord for allowing us the privilege of living in this great country! Thank you so much Father for the soldiers throughout our history that have fought and died for us and the freedoms that we have because of them. My prayer today is with each soldier that is in harms way and those that are away from their families. I thank You for the sacrifices that they make daily for me. Thank you God for your Son Jesus Christ who so willingly left his home in Heaven to step down into this world of darkness to bear my sins that nailed Him to the cross so that I might enjoy the ultimate freedom which is forgiveness of my sins and an eternity spent with You! In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Monday, May 24, 2010

FORSAKEN?

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matt 27:46 (NIV). All Christians recognize these words. They were spoken by Jesus when He was on the cross and God had turned His back on His Son. For the first time ever Jesus Christ was alone! Alone on the cross, in front of people who hated Him and weighted down by the full burden of all of humanity’s sins on His shoulders. Completely and totally, separated from God, His Father.

Have you ever felt like crying out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Have you ever had those moments in your life when you felt like God had turned His back on you? I have. Occasionally, I go through short periods of time when I don’t feel God’s presence and I think that God has turned away from me. Then I realize that God has not turned away from me, that I have turned away from Him.

For years, I thought that the reason God turned His back on Jesus was because He just could not watch His only begotten Son die. Then I realized, well duhhhh.....God could not look upon sin and Jesus had become sin for our sakes, that’s why God turned away. When we go through those periods in our life that we feel like God has turned from us, it’s not because He can’t look at us because of the sin in our life (Jesus already paid the price for that), it is that our sin is clouding our eyes and keeping us from seeing God and causing us to turn away from Him.

When I go through those separation times in my life, I’ve learned to recognize them for what they are.....something that I am doing that is causing me to turn from God. Often I find that the culprit causing this gulf between us is because I have moved my focus from Jesus to the little busy things in life that I allow to overwhelm me. When I feel this separation of total emptiness and think to myself that God has turned away from me, that is when I start to examine myself.

Over the past year, I’ve read the Bible more, I’ve prayed more, I’ve fellowshipped with my church family more and I’ve noticed that when I allow life to impact me more than these things, that is when I feel the gulf between myself and God. I realize that I am spending more time worrying about me, myself and I than I am thinking about, praying to and studying God’s Word.

During those times when you find yourself saying “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Just realize that it is not God turning away from you, but it is you turning away from God. God loves you more than anything, you are the most important thing to Him and He wants more than anything to have the same personal relationship with you that He does with His Son Jesus! You are His child but it is up to you to completely and totally surrender to Him.

During those times examine your life and see where you’ve caused the disconnect, maybe you’ve forgotten to read the Bible lately, maybe you’ve been missing your quiet time in the Lord’s presence, maybe you’ve allowed life to interfere....whatever it is, know that it is you who has turned, not God. Always remember, “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5b.

Friday, May 14, 2010

You Can't Pick and Choose

It saddens me to think of all of the people who have accepted Christ, but who don’t believe that the bible is completely true. But I do understand where they are coming from because at one point in my life, I was in the same place. I don’t even know for sure when my mind was changed. Perhaps it was when I started hearing God speak to me through His Word. It was during the time when I was really questioning things because I was making my faith my own. I finally came to the decision that if God is God, then He was big enough to protect His Word through all of these years. If God can’t keep the errors out of His Word, then what kind of a God would He be? I also realize that there are some stories in the bible that can seem to be hard to believe. But when they’re hard for us to believe it shows just how little faith we actually have. But that’s what this is all about…faith. If I have to see everything before I can believe it, then there is no need for faith. If everything in the bible was simple, there would be no need for faith. I need God to challenge me to help me grow spiritually. I don’t want it all to be easy. I want to continue to learn new things from the Word of God the rest of my life. When it comes to hard things in the bible, why can’t we just say, “I don’t understand how God did that, but He’s in control and I don’t have to figure it out.” There are things that I don’t understand in God’s Word, but He continues to teach me and help me to understand who He is.

Why do we try to limit God? Sometimes it seems we prefer to put God in a box so that we can feel we’re in control of our life. But are we really in control of our lives anyway? No, God is. What I see is that by not believing the bible is true, it helps us to feel like we’re in control. When we pick and choose what parts of the bible we believe are true, we feel like we have some control of our life. We can pick out all of the promises of God in the bible because we like those. But the hard parts of the bible, like sexual immorality, greed, gossiping, and whatever else we don’t like we throw out because we think that doesn’t apply to us today. We know what’s right. Ummm… Do you realize who you just pushed off the throne? We set ourselves up to be God when we start picking and choosing what is true and what’s not true in the bible. God has set our standard, and we have no right to change what He has put in place.

I’ve experienced that when you read the Word believing that it is all true, it brings a whole new light to your spiritual understanding. When you see the miracles and how big God shows Himself to be, you will be changed forever! God can use the Word to change your life when you believe it’s true. But if you don’t believe it’s true, then it’s not going to be effective to renew your mind. And when we’ve believed the lies that the enemy has told us, the Word is exactly what we need to renew our minds.
The question is, “Is my God big enough?” Is he big enough to keep the Word intact and to perform the miracles described to us in the Word? Is my God big enough to send two of each animal to Noah to live on the ark while the earth was flooded? Yes! Is my God big enough to part the Red Sea? Yes! Is my God big enough to bring down a giant with a sling-shot and one smooth stone? Yes! Is my God big enough to send His Son to the earth through a virgin birth? Yes! Is my God big enough to send His Son to the cross and then raise Him from the dead? Yes!! If He’s not big enough, then we’ve got a crisis of faith.

I just wonder if there’s a correlation between those who believe the Word is true and those who have a personal relationship with Jesus, because that’s how it was for me. When you love Jesus, you love His Word. He tells us that He is the Word. (John 1:1-2) Now, if that’s not hard to understand, I don’t know what is! But I still believe it’s true! And I know He will continue to reveal Himself to me and to you in different ways as we continue to stay in His Word, knowing that every word of it is true.

Monday, May 10, 2010

IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY

When I was taking undergrad classes in college, we’d call the classes that had nothing to do with our major, just “garbage in and garbage out.” The classes had to be taken to fulfill requirements, but they weren’t necessary for our future jobs. These classes were just a waste of time and a waste of money. Whatever we did learn in those classes was quickly forgotten.

It seems to me that the term “garbage in, garbage out” is also true for our lives. Every day we (you and I) waste our time and money on useless things. We busy ourselves with things that aren’t really important to us and doesn’t amount “to a hill of beans” especially when you compare it to eternity.

We’re so busy filling our lives and more importantly, our minds with things that just don’t matter! Satan is watching every move we make and throwing more useless “stuff” at us to keep us busy! Your life is as busy as you want to make it and as busy as you allow Satan to make it for you. Don't get me wrong, I know that your life is busy with things that you must do. But there are things that you don't have to do and do them anyway because you think you have to do them. That's just another way that Satan uses you. Satan loves to remind you how busy you are, especially if it keeps you from spending time with God (either in prayer or in His Word). When he does this, we get busier and busier. I am not preaching to you.....I too am very guilty of this! Sometimes, we just have to recognize our limitations and say “no!”

I am trying to change my “garbage in and garbage out” activities. I have found that if you really work hard to get closer to God that He will make it easier for you to get closer to Him.....you just have to really want it and you have to really work on it and you have to ask Him for His help! But Cindy, just how do you do this? Well, I know that you hear this all the time, but how about turning off the television for a while, how about turning off the technological gadgets for a while, how about using that quite time to read the Bible, to pray and have some time just to be alone to talk to and listen to what God says to you! Trust me, I wouldn’t ask you to do something that I am not willing to do myself. I have learned to turn off the television and when I do have it on, I listen to the Christian music channel. As far as the television goes, in the beginning it was very hard for me to make myself keep it on the music channel, I had other things to watch, but now, I want to listen to the music and I always hear a message from God in the songs. These songs and my quite time help to keep me grounded and focused.

I have found that the things that I used to watch, holds no interest for me any more. I have also noticed that I have more time to have quite time with God and more time to read His Word. Also, I have found that the more time I spend with God, that I find myself wanting to spend more and more time with Him. When you sincerely ask God to help you discern what is “garbage in and garbage out” in your life He will help you to understand what is truly important.

It takes time, it takes a lot of effort on your part, it takes you realizing and admitting to your limitations and it takes you wanting to get close to and follow God! Before you get busier and take on another project, ask yourself, is this “garbage in, garbage out?” How does this activity that is requiring my time away from a relationship with God compare......in light of eternity?

When you seek God with all of your heart....you will find Him. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jer 29:13 (NIV)

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Unplugged

When you start looking for God’s hand in your life you start seeing more and more places that have His fingerprints on it. A few weeks ago, my husband, Kirk, mentioned the possibility of extending an upcoming business trip of his to celebrate our anniversary. I liked the idea of going to Redondo Beach, California, but didn’t think too much about it actually working out. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Kirk tells me that he has the trip lined up and if we have places for the kids to stay, we could get my airline tickets and be ready to go. We were able to find some willing friends and the kids were all set. Cindy, being the sweet lady that she is, offered to take me to the airport. Everything was lining up nicely. Before I knew it, the day was here to get on my way. The morning was stress-filled as it can be when you’re trying to head out of town, but that’s a different story for another day! I got to the airport early and found a kiosk to plug in my technical gadgetry while I waited for the flight to depart. But lo and behold, I found I had left my laptop power cord at home! I started to get a little bummed, but then thought about God and how He had arranged this trip. Maybe, just maybe God wanted me to go on the trip “unplugged”. Besides, this trip was supposed to be about me and Kirk, not about my laptop and what I could find to do on it. And, thankfully, I had brought a couple of books with me. I figured it was God’s plan for me to read those as well while I had some time on the flight.

When I arrived in California, God had given us favor at the hotel and we had a beautiful room with a nice view of the ocean. Saturday we decided to take a bicycle ride on the strand. It took us a while to find the right bicycle for me, though. The first bike’s chain came off after heading out a short way. The second bike’s tire blew out while we were standing in the hotel. (We decided that obviously wasn’t the bike for me!) But the third bike apparently was the one, and we headed out for what turned into about a four hour ride in the sunny but cool California weather. All of this is to say that we had a wonderful time. And through it all I saw God’s hand upon the entire weekend. I knew that God was working behind the scenes on this trip, and He is working on your life too whether you see Him there or not. And I believe that if you look closely enough, even those things that seem to be inconveniences can be used by God for our good. For us, the inconvenience of the forgotten power cord kept me off of the computer and gave me more time to focus on the time with my husband. Because of our inconveniences with the bikes, the hotel gave us the bike rentals for free. There are just too many things to mention where God showed His favor. I came across this verse and it seemed appropriate for my trip and this upcoming Mother’s Day weekend as well.

Proverbs 18:22 – “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.”

This Mother’s Day, remember the mothers in your life and thank God for them, and then personally thank them for all they have done for you. And when you spend time with them, consider “unplugging” from those things that take your attention away so you can focus on what’s really important – the people in your life.

Monday, May 3, 2010

SMALL THINGS

I am taking classes and have been since the summer of 2007. I am so very tired of school and can’t wait to finish. Lisa and Vanessa (the other two cords) know this and at our meeting on Monday the 19th, they asked me what I had left to do for the current class that I was in. I told them that I had a really big assignment left, but I didn’t want to do it. They said, “We’ll pray for you to get it done this week and get it over with.” I told them, “don’t count on it, I still have 2 weeks before it is due.” Because they were praying, God did give me the motivation to work on and complete the assignment 2 days later, on Wednesday the 21st. I was feeling pretty proud of myself because I finished it.....a whole 2 weeks before it was due!

One week later, my husband called from work and we were talking about plans for May and I said “well, I still have 2 weeks before May” and he said....”today is the 27th, May is Saturday.” I said....”WHAT! Today is the 27th! Are you serious! I’ve got to hang-up now; I have 2 assignments due TODAY!”

Was it coincidence that Lisa and Vanessa prayed that I would work on the big assignment and get it completed the week before it was due? Was it coincidence that my husband called on the 27th, the very day the assignments were due? It still took me all day to get the small assignment done, but if I had to have done both, there is no way that I could have completed them. After, I uploaded my teacher the assignments....on time and thanked God profusely....I had time to think about what had just happened.

Is God really concerned with the small things in our life? If God had not had Lisa and Vanessa pray a week earlier, I would not have been motivated to begin and finish the big assignment. If God had not had my husband call on the 27th, neither assignment would have been turned in.....PERIOD! I completely lost a week! Satan got me off track by whispering to me “you still have 2 weeks left, don’t hurry, and don’t sweat it” But, God knew that I only had one week left! God has shown me many times that He is in my life, concerning the important big things and now I know that He is watching out for me, even with the insignificant small things.

That got me to thinking.....how awesome is our God and how undeserving I am! I mean, who am I when there are so many more important things going on in the world, when so many people need help with really, really big things but still He makes sure that I get homework done on time? God really meant it when He said “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NIV). This little episode spoke volumes to me, clearly God just said “I’ve showed you that I can take care of the little things in your life.....now trust me with the plans that I have for you....trust me in everything!” Last week my faith grew even more. Faith means trusting God in all things!

God is with you always, He is always watching out for you even when you don’t even know that you need watching out for. You’re never alone. If God is concerned with small insignificant things like school assignments.....imagine the big things that He can accomplish in you and through you!