At one time, I was very much into Victoriana. I read period fiction, collected ephemera and other items from that era, subscribed to Victoria magazine…
That was a long time ago, or so it seems. I’d already moved in other directions when we pretty much lost everything we owned in 2010. Since then, the busy-ness of life and the demands of life’s necessities have drawn me even further away from that time of my life.
So it would seem inappropriate for one of my oldest and dearest friends to send me a copy of Victoria’s AWoman’sChristmas formybirthday. Itwould seem…
I picked it up and was instantly drawn in. I was… actually… transported. I suddenly found myself back in those days when our boys were young and Christmas was still a magical time for me, when I could hardly wait to put up the tree and spent months planning and shopping for just the right gifts.
Those days are gone-hopefully not forever, but to be honest I’ve had a hard time finding the magic of late. So I am very grateful to my friend for empowering me to touch it again. Bless you, Marilyn, for sending me such an appropriate gift.
While praying this morning, I had a fresh revelation of the immediacy of God’s forgiveness. In the Old Testament, when man sinned he had to prepare a sacrifice and go make that sacrifice. This took time, and in the meantime he had to live with the knowledge of what he’d done, that he wasn’t right with God. Today, forgiveness is as close as a softly uttered, “Oh God, forgive me!”
“I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.”
Once again, it’s a line from a song that’s had my attention and made me think.
Many parents have lost children. I thank God I’m not one of them, and thank Him that I can’t even imagine their pain; I wouldn’t want to. With that in mind, what about God’s pain when He sent Jesus to die for us?
Sending your son to war where he may well get killed… That pain is beyond imagining, but for God, who has existed forever, to send to His death the One who has existed forever right there with Him, to be separated from Him for a time for the first time in Eternity…
That isn’t cost. That’s COST. That is a God-sized pain that…
Someone told me, once, that we’ll know everything when we get to Heaven. I don’t believe that for multiple reasons (For instance, knowing everything would mean the end of growth and I don’t see God stopping us from growing.) and this is one of them. God is merciful, and in His mercy He will never let us know a pain so overwhelming that only He could handle it.
I thank God I’ll never know that pain, and I thank Him for choosing to endure it…for me.
While in prayer this morning, God gave me an illustration I hope I never forget.
He had me imagine my hand holding a mere palmful of seeds, then He reminded me that even a small quantity of seeds, like what would fit in a seed packet or the palm of my hand, can produce a large harvest.
Sometimes we think we don’t have enough to give God. We only see the few coins or dollars we hold in our hand, the few minutes we serve Him by greeting in the foyer before service…
Those few seeds, however, can produce an unimaginably large harvest. They can fill our world with color and fruit if we plant them correctly and nurture them.
So plant that handful in good ground, rejoicing that you have it to give even if you do wish it were more, then pray over it and thank God for causing the seeds to grow and produce.
Yes, you can hold the seed in the palm of your hand. The harvest, however, is another thing entirely; and He is Lord of the Harvest.
I once read that Smith Wigglesworth, who had a phenomenal ministry, never read any books other than the Bible.
On the one hand, this is hard to conceive. The amount of material that was available to the avid reader, even in his day, is staggering. Could one really turn aside from all of it? On the other hand, the Word is so rich, so full, that I often feel like the time I spend in it is too short, that my morning alarm going off is a rude interruption.
And I have seen evidence, in me, of what Wigglesworth talked about. He contended that faith is based on knowledge of Who God is, and that we gain this knowledge as we are in His Word. In fact, he said, “if you see imperfect faith – full of doubt, a wavering condition – it always comes of imperfect knowledge.”
That makes so much sense! My faith is stronger today than it has ever been. Yes, it grows as it is tried and strengthened, much like a muscle grows under the same conditions, but it grows as it does because it is rooted in my ever-increasing knowledge of Who God is.
Staying in the Word really is a necessity for the one who wants ever-increasing faith.
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]
Psalm 84:10a (AMP)
I’m over fifty, and I turned my life over to God when I was twelve. I’ve had some truly joyous days in those years, and I’ve had days so devastating that I would never wish them on my worst human enemy. (The devil is a different story!) One thing I can say from experience is that Psalm 84:10 speaks truth…great truth.
In earlier years, church attendance was an act of discipline. I made myself get up on Sunday mornings and forced myself to ignore weariness on Wednesday evenings. Eventually, though I began to see a pattern.
Any time I truly entered into a service, taking an active part in it rather than merely letting it happen around me, I came away energized – no matter how tired I’d been when I arrived. Any time I’ve gone to church and consciously set aside my worries, fears, or pain, spending time focusing on God instead of me and my issues, I have come away with more peace, clearer vision, and often even supernatural release from even crippling pain.
I speak of emotional pain, but the same applies to physical pain. For years, I suffered from three-day, hormone-induced migraines that hit every fourteen days. Day one I usually spent in bed, sure I was going to die. On day two, I knew I was going to live, but wanted to die. By day three, the pain was still devastating, but so much lessened in comparison that I could push through it. During this time, I was first in the band and then in the choir, yet I missed very few services.
By then, I truly understood the importance of, and many of the reasons for, God’s command to assemble together (Hebrews 10:25) and simply (though not always easily) refused to let my body dictate my actions. And God honored my choices.
In the band, I played small percussion. Percussion and migraines obviously don’t mix; neither do singing and migraines. Even so, almost without fail, as soon as praise and worship began I would be totally pain free and I would stay free from pain until I stepped down and sat in my pew. Sometimes the pain stayed away and sometimes, usually, it only eased up, but continually God reminded me that He had called me to serve in the music ministry and as long as I stayed right with Him He would make me able.
So… Today there is no “I don’t feel like going to church.” Or, perhaps I should rephrase. There are days when my body would rather not go to church. I, though, have realized that I always benefit from being in service. I want to be there on the good days, when all is right with my world, but I especially want to be there – desperately want to be there – when fear, doubt, pain, or heartache are hounding me, because it is there that I find solace and strength. It IS better to spend one day in His house than a thousand anywhere else!
And as strongly as I feel this now, oh how I look forward to Heaven!
When I began actively serving God in August of 1980, it seemed perfectly natural to tithe. I’d been raised at least somewhat in church, so tithing wasn’t new to me, and my new pastor was wise enough to teach a little about tithing at every service. I also eventually discovered Malachi 3:8: “Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your] tithes and offerings.” [AMP] When I saw that we owe God not only our tithes, but our offerings, I actively began to make those offerings as well.
The man I married the next year believed as I did, so we continued to tithe and give offerings until we reached what I think of as our moment of stupidity. In looking at our budget, we decided we couldn’t afford to tithe, that we would continue to give to God as we could, but the 10% just wasn’t possible.
Within three months, all hell broke loose in our finances. Yes, money had been tight before, but we’d had no idea just how much God was blessing us until we started robbing Him and removed our right to that blessing. Three months after we stopped tithing, we admitted that we couldn’t afford not to tithe, repented, and got back to doing what we knew to do. Three months or so after that, things were back to “normal.”
It only took that one time for us to learn our lesson. We’ve tithed and given offerings ever since, and though there have been undeniably tight times God has always blessed us, making our money stretch to seemingly impossible lengths. Clearly, no matter how challenging our financial situation gets, we always know it could be a LOT worse.
No, we can’t afford not to tithe – and give offerings.
There is a line in a song we sing in church: “We bow down. We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.”
We sing this song in the present tense, and I recently realized the importance of doing this very thing. We may not wear literal crowns today, but most of us have areas in which we feel we rule, parts of our lives in which we take pride (often rightfully so), places where our “hat” is a crown.
When we lay everything else at Jesus’ feet–our burdens, our brokenness, our sickness, our pain–we should lay these crowns at His feet as well. In doing this, in submitting one’s whole life to Him, you see those strong places strengthened even more; also, when you recognize that no matter how much you “rule” in an area it is He who reigns supreme, you steer clear of the sin of pride.
It is far better to lay one’s crown down that to have it removed as a result of sin.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
It astounds me when I consider that these words were written to a church – to Christians. Specifically, they were written to the Laodiceans, the ones God rebuked for being lukewarm. Still, they were written to a church and He refers to Himself as being outside the door! He is saying to these Christians, “I stand at your doors and knock. If any one of you hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to you and dine with you and you with Me.” Why does He say this? Why is He standing outside the door?
Who can underestimate the rewards of letting Christ live in us? How many times has a Christian said, “Oh, I would love to step back in time for just a little while, to sit down to dinner with Jesus and really spend time with Him”? But we don’t have to step back in time; He offers us this option right now, today! Yet…
How many of us, complacently thinking ourselves right with God, go to church every Sunday, sing our songs, perhaps even tithe on our income…but leave Jesus standing outside the door? How many of us have refused to hear the knock, to open our selves up to Him and let Him come in? Admittedly, it can be a frightening thing, to consider allowing the Most Holy One to truly maintain residence within us. For Christ to be present flesh must be absent – must die – and flesh has a serious problem with being put to death. It seems far easier to ignore Jesus until that fateful moment when we wake up and realize what we have done – that He is on the outside, begging to be let in, and we are locked up within walls…all alone.
Yet He is a God of mercy. Even to those who have lost the fire, the ones He says are neither hot nor cold, the ones He threatens to vomit out of His mouth, He offers hope. Though He has been pushed to the wrong side of the door of their hearts and had that door closed in His face, He waits. In His loving mercy He knocks, trying to attract their attention. He even calls out to them, for He says, “If anyone hears My voice…” He is a gentleman. He will never force His way into a place where He is unwanted, not even into a church or a so-called Christian’s heart, but He will stand, wait, knock and call for an astoundingly long time…far longer than any of us would stand outside someone’s door.
And to the one who has shown Him the wrong side of the door, He makes a promise. If that one hears His voice and opens the door, He will come in to them and dine with them, and they will dine with Him. Rather than holding in contempt the one who has pushed Him outside, He will forgive them for all the wrong they’ve done Him and honor them with His presence as if they’d never wronged Him at all. What a love this is!
Several years ago, I was on a road trip and a comment was made about the leaves changing colors. I’d recently learned the science behind it and offered the information that the colors are there all the time; they’re just covered up by the green of the chlorophyll. Instantly, one of my companions said, “There she goes…correcting us again.”
I was stunned, and I was hurt. I explained that no, I just found the information fascinating and had thought they would too. She understood and apologized, and we were good, but the incident stands in my memory as a reminder that, no matter how hard you try to avoid it, your past will sometimes come back to haunt you.
You see, I used to be really bad about correcting people. I assumed everyone was like me, wanting to know how to use good grammar, properly pronounce words, use expressions correctly, etc. When this event occurred, however, I had been actively not correcting people for a long time.
It came about as a result of correcting a friend (with pure motives, I assure you) and offending her. On that day I decided that I would never again correct her in any way unless she asked for it. It didn’t take long for me to realize this was the best policy to use with everyone. I do still occasionally correct people, but when I do it’s a slip up and I try to apologize. I can’t stop the edits that go on in my brain, but I can keep them from passing my lips.
So by the time the “always correcting” comment was made it didn’t apply anymore, but she was so locked into the way I used to be that she didn’t even realize it.
I’m glad I remembered this incident today. It’s a good reminder, to me, to not judge people by what they used to be, to not be the one who brings their past back to haunt them, but rather to accept them as who they are today. Sometimes that may mean I have to really look at them, taking a fresh look and even getting to know them all over again in a sense.
It’s worth the effort. Friendship is that important.
Celebrating Jesus!
