THE BEST AUTOPILOT

Isaiah 30:21: Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” (NKJV)

John 10:26-27: …as I said to you. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me….” (NKJV)

Decisions, decisions, decisions–they present themselves the minute we open our eyes in the morning and bombard our waking hours until we finally fall asleep again. Sometimes they are more compelling, and we take time to ponder and, hopefully, pray. However, most of the time we make countless, seemingly insignificant, choices on autopilot.

It’s almost funny how our decision-making process changes as we get older. It’s no longer along the lines of where to live, where to work, or who to marry. These big decisions, for the most part, are history. Now, many of our decisions are aimed at keeping these older bodies functioning properly, such as which pill to take (or not to take) or which doctor to see. Yet even these decisions have ramifications. We might take Tylenol (accidently) instead of Ibuprofen, as I have done at times.

Yet, God is always faithful. The good news for Christians is that, despite a world of clamoring voices competing for our attention, Jesus is our Good Shepherd, our ever-present Autopilot, who assures us with the words, “My sheep hear My voice.” But just as the sheep must stay close to their shepherd, we must stay close to ours–not going our own way, forging ahead, or lagging behind. There by His side in that secret place, we will be in constant spiritual earshot of that still, small Voice of the Holy Spirit, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”

Dear Jesus,

Be my Autopilot today

Directing all I do and say.

Please lead and guide me in Your way,

Even when I forget to pray.

As much as I know how to do

I give my heart and soul to You.

My time and talents, hopes, and dreams,

My every plan and every scheme.

As I place them on Your altar.

Help me not to faint or falter

But keep me in that secret place

Close to Your side to run life’s race.

THE PLAGUE OF THE FLEAS

Fleas, fleas, they’re everywhere.

Are they in my bed?

Are they in my hair?

Jumping, nibbling, spreading their woe.

I’ve learned more about fleas than I care to know.

The frantic question is:

Will they ever go?

I pray to be more Christ-like, but when the process begins, I complain, and anxiety rules the day. This describes my experience with the plague of the fleas.

How can fleas make me more like Jesus? They are so small! Christ is so big! They are tiny black dots that jump on dogs, cats, and people, needing a host to feed and breed upon so that they can mass produce their plague of torment. They must have overheard God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.”

If you give them an inch, they will take a mile until they have infested your whole house. Unfortunately, they usually arrive unnoticed, especially if you don’t own a dog or a cat, which is my case. I’m still wondering from whence they came. But, alas, that’s the time to take action, before they invade your territory by laying their multitude of eggs that will hatch– later.

By that time drastic measures are needed, such as calling the exterminator or setting off the pest control fogger. Seeking less-toxic measures involves countless internet searches. It’s amazing how much information is out there about getting rid of fleas “naturally.”

Would you believe that if you place little bowls of water in various places at night, along with a small light (such as a tea light), fleas will commit suicide by jumping into them? As crafty as they are, they evidently can’t swim. But this method requires lots of little bowls, lots of little lights, and lots of nerve-wracking nights to finally achieve success. It also takes lots of vacuuming, mopping, and cleaning to eliminate the invisible eggs, which lead to more offspring. Thankfully, in my case these techniques finally worked.

Don’t these pesky little creatures remind you of Satan? If you give him an inch, he, too, will invade your whole territory. And just as the initial arrival of the fleas often goes unnoticed, Satan’s schemes are also set in motion inconspicuously before they are detected. By the time we realize that we have a flea problem, one has taken a nibble at us, leaving us to scratch the bite. Then it performs its famous jump, evading our swat, and onto its mission to lay more eggs. Despite the fact that they are suicidal in that they can’t swim and yet jump into water, you would almost think they are smart enough to have read Satan’s handbook on spiritual warfare.

Yet, God made them, and although I don’t know why, I do know that He can use anything in His creation for His good purposes. That includes fleas. Instead of complaining and labeling them as messengers from Satan, perhaps I should see my flea problem as a vehicle God chose to answer my prayer for Him to make me more like Jesus.

I can now see how combating the fleas gave me insight into how to fight my spiritual battles. I learned that I must always be on guard against Satan’s schemes so that I can take immediate action. I learned that I must study God’s word (not the internet) and pray if I want to formulate an effective battle plan. I learned that I must be vigilant, patient, and persevering. And last, I learned that I must purify any breeding grounds conducive to future invasions.

Two Bible verses quickly come to mind. James 4:7-8: “….Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you….” (NKJV)

In retrospect, I believe that the Lord was giving me something to ponder when he allowed fleas to invade my house. And, oh yes, I should mention how I learned a new reason to sing His praises when they finally left!!

Perhaps today you are dealing with something weird and frustrating. Even though you are a Christian, you can’t fathom how anything positive can happen because of it. All I know to tell you is that if God can use a plague of fleas to teach me a lesson and, in the process, make me more Christlike, He just might be up to the same thing in your life. I’m here to encourage you to ask Him what He wants you to learn from your puzzling situation. You might be amazed by His revelation.

Feeding on God’s Faithfulness

Psalm 37:3: Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.*

Are you as tired as I am of bad news? What if for one day we turned away from all the sources of doom and gloom–tv, internet, smart phones, iPods, etc.–and spent the same amount of time counting our blessings, reading God’s word, praying, looking back at His past mercies, and thanking Him for answered and even unanswered prayer? In Psalm 37:5 (above), King David says to “feed on His faithfulness.”

One day of reflection on the truth that God is sovereign and that we who have trusted Jesus as our Lord and Savior are His children should ease our minds and put all the bad reports into their proper perspective. Meditating on a few key verses is sure to remind us that He is always with us and has our past, present, future, and our eternal future under control.

Imagine God’s loving kindness and tender mercies reaching into our past with the words of Romans 8:28, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Christians can claim this verse, though everything didn’t go as planned and we don’t understand. Even if we have failed miserably, God can still bring good out of the brokenness when we repent and surrender our all to Him.

Then there’s the present. Despite the trials, tribulation, pain, and sorrow, we can meditate on His promises, such as Isaiah 43:2, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you” and Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 2nd Corinthians 12:9 speaks of His “sufficient grace” and His “strength made perfect in weakness.” No matter how weak we feel or how deep the waters, His strength is perfect and He won’t let go.

As we look to the future we can trust in the words of Isaiah 45:2 that He “will go before us to make the crooked places straight” and Proverbs 3:6, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Even more amazing, as our thoughts turn to the eternal, Jesus’ message to his troubled disciples in John 14:2-3 bring the ultimate assurance. Although He was going away, He left them with this promise, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

In the past, present, future, and on into eternity, God is ever faithful to His children. These are just a small sampling of verses I picked at random from the sumptuous menu of His word. I would imagine as you read this, you’ve thought of so many others to add to your own list–food for thought to fill our hearts and souls, dispel the doom and gloom of this world, and feed on God’s faithfulness.

*All scripture taken from the New King James Version of the Bible

Limiting God

*Mark 6: 5-6: Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief….

Matthew 13:58: Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

John 6: 5-6: Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

Matthew 19:26: But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 7:7: Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

The miracle of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish is recorded in all four Gospels (Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6), but John’s Gospel goes further than just stating the facts. He names names and even supplies the additional information that Jesus is also testing His disciples. This is more than a miracle. It is also a teachable experience in which Jesus seeks to enlist others to take part.

This miracle comes on the heels of a time when Jesus and his disciples have attempted to get away from the crowds to rest, and after the death of John the Baptist. But getting away doesn’t prove to be that easy as the crowds follow. Mark even says they got there before Jesus did.

Jesus, “moved with compassion,” and seeing them as “sheep not having a shepherd,”(Mark 6:34) begins to teach them about the Kingdom of God and to heal those who needed healing (Luke 9:11). The time flies by quickly until the hour is now late. The disciples, surmising the situation strictly from a human standpoint, ask Jesus to send the hungry crowd away so that they can get food.

Jesus, however, has greater plans–divine plans. Since John 6:48-51 describes Him as “the bread of life which came down from heaven,” it stands to reason that He could rain down manna from heaven. Yet this would not involve the participation of others, especially His chosen twelve.

He turns to Philip and asks him, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Perhaps Philip was the mathematician among the 12 because he calculates how much money it will take to buy food to feed the multitude so that everyone can have a little. Although his vision is small and he is thinking in human terms, at least he doesn’t declare the situation impossible. After all, He has been traveling with Jesus!

Andrew, meanwhile, is scouting around looking for food and finds the lad with the famous five loaves of bread and two fish. Although he goes a step further than Philip, he has no idea how this meager amount of food can feed so many.

Think about the little boy. In all this hungry multitude, we have a young hero. He has his own little stash of food. Why should he share? He could selfishly decide that the others should have thought ahead. Though we don’t hear much about him or even know his name, we know Jesus has been teaching about the Kingdom of God, and this lad comes to the table offering all that he has.

Then Jesus instructs the disciples to have the people sit down on the grass. He takes the food, blesses it, and then gives it to the disciples to distribute to the multitude. As they watch the miracle unfold, amazingly, the fish and the bread are transformed into a feast of abundance. Everyone gets all that they want, and they even have leftovers–12 baskets of fragments.

Can you find yourself in the story of this miracle? Are you a Philip, thinking in small terms with everything boiling down to dollars and cents? Well, at least you are thinking. Are you an Andrew who, although you haven’t given up on your situation and are looking for possibilities, your expectations are low? Well, at least you still have expectations. I’m sure we all would like to identify with the young lad who gave all that he had to Jesus.

Truthfully, we probably have a little bit of each character in our spiritual makeup. To each one’s credit, they obeyed Jesus and became a part of the great miracle recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That’s a success story.

Do you believe God is still in the miracle business in this day and age? Of course we know that Jesus did signs, wonders, and miracles while He walked the earth as a testimony that He was indeed the Messiah. But we have a Bible which is filled with God’s promises that are just as relevant today as they were when they were written, and “faith” is still the criteria by which we claim those promises. We, as Christians, also have the Holy Spirit living within us to guide us.

I’m certainly not a proponent of the Prosperity/Health and Wealth gospel which is so rampant these days, but we don’t want to throw the “baby out with the bathwater” either and assume that God no longer works in miraculous ways. If we are earnestly seeking to know His will or if He has already revealed it to us, we are right in claiming His promises by faith, so that His will gets accomplished and He gets the glory!

Perhaps God is trying to involve me and you in some miracle today, but we are looking through the human lens instead of the divine lens. Jesus tells us that all things are possible with God and that we should keep asking, seeking, and knocking (see above verses). But we must ask in faith, keeping our eyes on Him, not our circumstances.

In Matthew 13:58 and Mark 6:5-6 (see above), we read a sad commentary of those who missed out on Jesus’ miracles for the most part. Jesus couldn’t do any great work in His hometown of Nazareth because of the unbelief of the people who lived there. I’d like to say that I’m not guilty of this same indictment, but I’m certain that many times I have prevented or limited the good plans God had for me by my low expectations and lack of faith and obedience.

Yet, like the disciples who obeyed even when they didn’t understand and the lad who submitted all that he had to Jesus, my desire is to obediently follow His every instruction, bringing all I have to the table, and learn any lesson He is trying to teach me. That alone will to me be miraculous!

*All scripture taken from the New King James Version of the Bible

IN GOD’S BOOK AND ON HIS TIME

Psalm 139: 16: Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

Jeremiah 1: 5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Ephesians 1: 3-5: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

Psalm 139:6: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.

Perhaps I was a strange young child, but I specifically remember a time and a place when the question suddenly struck me: where was I before I was born? How troubling to imagine the stark, dark nothingness of being no one, no where, for an endless amount of time before those few recent years of my existence! I can only imagine the despair of atheists, who consider this prospect from the other end of the spectrum, believing this life is all there is and that when they die, they will be swallowed up into the oblivion of that stark, dark, nothingness, being no one, no where forever. (Sadly, according to the Bible, their future is far, far worse.)

With little understanding of the triune God, my childlike faith revolved around Jesus and I knew that when I died He would take me to heaven to be forever with Him, so that was covered. But where and who was I before? Though I moved on from the crisis without asking anyone and didn’t dwell on it, the question remained an enigma.

It’s not as if I one day had the answer, but during the course of my journey in faith (still under construction), after reading God’s word, receiving guidance and interpretation from the Holy Spirit, attending church and Bible studies, and listening to good Bible teachers, it all seems much clearer.

The Bible presents a sovereign, always-has-been and always-will-be God, the great I AM (Exodus 3:14), who is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing, ever-present and any other all that we can imagine–“the same yesterday, today, and forever”(Hebrews 13:8). He operates outside of time, space, and matter and any other unknown realm. He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” (Revelation 22:13). He sees the end from the beginning, and His thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts that they are described as “higher than the heavens are above the earth.” (Isaiah 55:8-9.)

I have no doubt that He is the Creator God who spoke all things into existence, in conjunction with Jesus and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1, John 1:1-10, Colossians 1:15-16, Hebrews 1:1), and that in His divine foreknowledge He could look down through the corridor of time and know that someone as insignificant as I am would at some point place saving belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, He chose me and adopted me “before the foundation of the world to be ‘in Christ.'”(See Ephesians 1:3-5 above.)

Despite the fact that He knew every sin I would ever commit, by His loving kindness, tender mercies, and amazing grace and based solely upon my repentance, and faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for my sins; and, apart from any good thing I could or would ever do (Ephesians 2:8-9), He gave me the free gift of eternal life purchased by the blood of Jesus, His one and only Son who He would send in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4) to redeem all who will believe in Him as their Lord and Savior. (See John 3:16 and Romans 10:9-10). At that moment I received the greatest exchange of all: my sin for Christ’s righteousness (2nd Corinthians 5:21), the only hope of salvation for all mankind, and His Holy Spirit came to live in my heart, sealing me until the day of my final redemption (2nd Corinthians 1:21-22).

Not only did He choose me before the foundation of the world, but He prepared good works for me to do (Ephesians 2:10). Psalm 139:16 (above) goes into specific details: “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”

Amazingly, according the Ephesians 2:5-6, written by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, even as I live the rest of my days here on planet earth, God sees me already in heaven, raised up to “sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

1st John 5:11 states it so well: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life; and the life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Life–past, present, and future–all inclusive in one Person. This is the blessed hope of all true believers.

With the Psalmist, I must proclaim: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.”(See above). Wondrous mystery of all, according to God’s unfailing word, even before I was formed in my mother’s womb and made my entrance into this world, I was in God’s book and on God’s time, all made possible because of Jesus. Someday it will all become clearer, I know, but for now this glorious glimpse of such an indescribable truth is all that I need!!

*All scripture taken from the New King James Version

(I realize this is a deep, unfathomable subject and that I could never do it justice. If you get lost in it all, focus on the the scripture, not my take on it, and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart in a way that only He can.)

(Most of all if you do not have this blessed hope, know that God loves you and wants you to be with Him forever. That’s why He sent Jesus. According to 2nd Peter 3:9: “God is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Why not ask Him to come into your heart today?)

For further study: John 3:1-18; 1st Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 3:10; Romans 3-23; Romans 5:12; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:8; Romans 10:9,10; 2nd Corinthians 5:21; Revelation 3:20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16; John 14:6; Psalm 139 in its entirety

DUSTY TEMPLES OF GOD (FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT)

Ephesians 5:18:  And do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.* 

Psalm 103:13-14:   As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 

1 Corinthians 3:16:  Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

2 Corinthians 6:16:  ….. For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God. And they shall be My people.”

Galatians 2:20:  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  

If you think the filling of the Holy Spirit is only for “super saints,” such as preachers, Bible teachers, and those involved in full-time mission work, then how should we interpret Ephesians 5:18 (above)? The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote this command to the believers at the Church in Ephesus.

God knows everything about us. If you have any doubts, read Psalm 139, Matthew 10:30, and Ephesians 1: 3-4.  In Psalm 103 (see above), the Psalmist David, a very imperfect man,  yet one described as “a man after God’s own heart,” speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about God’s great mercy, wrote: “He knows our frame;  He remembers that we are dust.”

As a Christian, I find the above two truths both challenging and comforting. Despite all that God knows about us, He never asks the impossible of His children. It goes hand in hand with a  verse I claim found in 2nd Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” What we can never do on our own, God desires to do in and through us if we confess and repent of our sins, empty ourselves, and get out of His way. Yes, the same rule that applies to being filled with anything else applies to being filled with the Holy Spirit. We must first provide an empty vessel for the filling.   

On a personal level, I find that it’s not the weakest areas of my life that cause the inward struggle. I know that I must totally depend upon the Lord in these fragile places and the Spirit can handily move into and fill them because they are so devoid of self. The test comes when I am faced with submitting my so-called strong points–those prideful places where my ego is most securely lodged–to that same Spirit. But I can’t expect to be filled with the Holy Spirit until I surrender all that I have to Him, placing it under His control for disposition. With everything at His disposal I am ready for that filling, and as a result, Jesus is unencumbered  to begin His work through me. (See Galatians 2:20 above). 

In the November 28th journal entry of Oswald Chambers’ devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, he says, “We have to enter His kingdom through the door of destitution.” The great thing is that Jesus stands ready at that door, having already paid the price for us to enter when He died on the Cross for our sins.   

Will the filling of the Spirit be a one-time event that will endure until the Lord calls us home? Unfortunately, no. Unlike His initial entrance when we first trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, which does happen only once (John 3:3-18), the filling or control of the Holy Spirit is a continual process as we surrender more and more completely. Though we fail we should not despair. Jesus has promised to “always be with us” (Matthew 28:20), and His great mercy is graciously extended to us each day!! (Read Psalm 103 and Lamentations 3:22-23.) 

Though our bodies are described in 1st and 2nd Corinthians as the “temple of God”(see above verses), He understands that we are a fallen race, living in a fallen world and that we get dusty as we trudge through this weary, earthy land. That’s why Jesus came to pay the price for our sin, and He is always there to help us to recommit, even when we fail miserably, if we come to Him in true confession and repentance with our eyes fixed upon the standard goal. Even the Apostle Paul struggled with the two natures we all possess: the law of God we received through our spiritual rebirth and the law of the flesh with which we still contend. (Romans 7:23-25). 

I found a small booklet several years ago, entitled “My Heart-Christ’s Home,” written by Robert Boyd Munger** which has helped me. It describes in simplistic terms how Jesus by way of the the Holy Spirit first comes into our hearts when we place saving belief in Him. Once He moves in, He begins the process of a makeover. I suppose the theological word is sanctification. As He goes to each room in our spiritual heart, He instructs us as to what needs to be done in that room to make it more hospitable for Him and useful for His purposes. I think of this as His searching our heart for any sin that will vex his Holy presence in any way, thus causing Him not to feel at home and hindering what He wants to do through us. Finally, the writer has that aha moment when he excitedly understands that the only way to keep his house in order is to sign all of his own rights away and give Jesus the deed to the house. What a beautiful picture of what it means to be filled with the Spirit!

This can be more than a lofty aspiration if we want it badly enough to give the Holy Spirit the total run of our temple. He will clear out the dust and transform us more and more into the glorious image of Christ each day so that we become so intertwined with Him that anything that offends His Spirit will be offensive to our spirit as well.

Think of the difference we can each make in  our own little corner of the world and collectively in the Kingdom of God if we understand that being filled by the Spirit is not a suggestion for only an enlightened few. Instead, it is a commandment given to all Christians.

If we say we can never do this, then we are at the exact precipice of the “door of destitution,” which is the beginning place. What we can never do on our own, Jesus is poised and ready to do as we die to our own personal agendas and, by placing our faith in Him alone, allow Him to work out the details in and through us. 

What if this very day each of us, as true believers, claim, even memorize, Galatians 2:20 (above) as our life verse and ask the Lord to give us His filling? I want that desperately!! Don’t you?    

(For further study:  read John 14 and 16, and Matthew 11:28-30)

*All scripture used taken from New King James Version

**Can be found on Amazon 

The Offensive Message of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.*

1 Corinthians 1:23: but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.

Romans 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…..

Have you noticed that in this day and age when we talk about God, most people are not offended? Yet, when we talk about Jesus as the “way, the truth, and the life” and the only way to God (John 14:6), they are. We can avoid making waves by talking in generalities about so-called deities, religions, and belief systems, but if we draw the red line in the sand–the Cross of Christ on which Jesus shed His blood for the sins of mankind– that’s when we are tuned out and turned off by those who think all paths lead to God.

Christians have a choice. We can tell people what the Bible says and not be “ashamed of the gospel,” recognizing it to be “the power of God unto salvation” (see above) or remain quiet to keep the peace and not offend. Sadly, we often choose the latter, not because we are ashamed, but because we are fearful of being labeled fanatical, judgmental, narrow-minded, intolerant, and whatever other adjective we might be called. Instead, we are in essence watching those Christ died to redeem from sin and judgment, marching to their doom on their way to hell, a place God never prepared for them. Will they look up from that gruesome inferno and prison to ask us why we didn’t love them enough to tell them?

Surely Jesus was subjected to the cruelest offense of all. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Think about that great exchange. How can we keep this good news to ourselves when the whole word needs that hope?

The gospel is not a hard message to proclaim and is so simple that a child can grasp it. The Apostle Paul summarized it in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,” and John 3:16 encapsulates it so well: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It doesn’t take a Biblical scholar or member of the clergy to share that message. Just think about the first disciples.

As we consider how we can share the gospel, using our own spiritual gifts and natural talents, it is a good idea to start with prayer. I often think of my former Sunday School teacher who has now gone to her eternal reward in heaven. She said, with a tear in her voice and a radiant countenance, that she got up each morning and asked the Lord to give her an opportunity to tell someone how wonderful He is. She used her own testimony to lovingly open doors to conversations that lead to sharing the message of the Cross. Though she suffered bouts with cancer, to the very end of her life she remained faithful to boldly and unashamedly share the gospel. She wanted to finish well, and she did. What if we took our cue from her?

Jesus died on the cross as the potential Lord and Savior of all people and according to 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Would that we had the same mindset! Do we love others enough to tell them the truth, even if they reject it?

The message of the Cross is the hope of the world. Lord, help us to speak it, always in love, to those who so desperately need to hear it, even if it seems offensive to them. Help us to remember that even though the power is in the message, not the messenger, we are always on mission to draw that red line in the sand and be the messenger of the Cross.

*All scripture used is taken from the New King James version of the Bible.

Pandemic Lessons from My Back Porch

Psalm 19: 1:  The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. (NKJV)

Matthew 10: 29-31:  Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (NKJV)

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As I sit here on my back porch on this beautiful Spring morning, the world of Nature all around me is carrying on as usual for this time of year. Surely no one has told God’s creation and furry creatures about the dreaded Carona Virus, a/k/a COVID-19, which has stopped mankind in its tracks.

Amazingly, the trees and flowers are in full bloom, unabashedly exposing themselves to the clear blue sky and billowy clouds overhead. As they reach upward toward the sun in a magnificent display of unmasked beauty, they offer no hint of protection from the silent killer suspected of lurking here, there, and everywhere. Will they come through this pandemic season unscathed?

Has no one told the birds to “shelter in place” and cover their beaks? Just listen!! They are merrily singing their various songs in unison, just as they always do. Don’t they know the church doors are closed and human choirs and orchestras are not meeting together to raise their voices in praise and worship to their Maker? What about that old crow? Doesn’t he know about the perilous pestilence as he opens his mouth wide, crying, “Caw, caw, caw”?

Didn’t Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel get the Memo? Haven’t they been following the news? Would you believe they are scampering around, climbing trees, munching on their breakfast with their little paws actually touching their faces–no masks, no gloves, no social distancing? Don’t they know? Haven’t they heard that the world as we know it may be ending?

Dear Lord, thank You that Nature’s story is unaffected by this pandemic that is holding mortal man hostage. Even as I do my part by taking precautions and “sheltering in place” on my back porch, I can still enjoy Your creation’s undiminished beauty. Thank you for reminding me that You and only You are in control. I know that, despite the Carona Virus, the world will not end until You decree it, and You have a far better one waiting for your children anyway. In the meantime, day after day, creation continues to declare Your glory. Please help us to do the same, and quiet our fears as we learn to trust You more and more.