Saturday, September 21, 2013

Intentional or Haphazard
By Hallie Gipson

“In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You
and eagerly watch.”   Psalm 5:3 (NASB)

As I was sitting in my favorite place on the sun porch this morning, the clock was chiming 9:00 a.m. --- well past the hour I usually get out of bed to spend my first waking moments with the Lord.  I had allowed myself the luxury of an extra hour’s sleep. By the time I got out of bed, the coffee was brewing and my husband was already on the porch watching the much-needed rain quench the parched earth.

The morning progressed as I read e-mails on my iPhone, ate breakfast, made a few phone calls, and completed kitchen cleanup.  There was nothing ‘wrong’ with these activities and some of them are a necessary part of my day, but the end result was a lack of intentionality in pursuing time with Lord.  I did not purposely seek the Lord before seeking to fill my time in other ways.

Is it any wonder, then, that focusing on God’s Word and prayer were so difficult?!   I suddenly became acutely aware of the subtle ways I allow things of this world -- people, problems, daily tasks, etc. -- to creep into my thoughts.  When God’s Word is not the first thing I read and when my first words of the day are not spoken in prayer, then the ‘world’ has already invaded my thoughts.

Armed with renewed understanding, my approach to my quiet-time once again becomes God-aware and intentional rather than something I haphazardly insert into my day if there is time. It serves to remind me that whether I spend 10 minutes or an hour with the Lord in the morning, that time is vitally important – it helps me to “Set your (my) mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth.”  Colossians 3:2 (NASB) (emphasis mine)

Prayer:
Father, thank You that You do not judge or condemn me, but by Your Holy Spirit’s presence, You speak truth to my heart. Plant within my heart a desire to read Your Word and spend time with You with an intentionality that speaks of my love for You.  Forgive me for placing other things before my time with You.   Amen.

“Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.”   Psalm 119:38 (NASB)

Friday, September 13, 2013

SWIMMING LESSONS


By Shirley Wiggins
I never learned to swim, never had much desire to learn to swim, but I have longed to be able to swim.  I do not like for water to get in my face, particularly my eyes, nose, mouth or ears.

Ironically, I love to look at the water and be near enough to “drink” in its beauty with my eyes.  I love the water!  Oceans, lakes, sparkling clear blue pool water  -- all of it!   Especially at sunrise and sunset:   such a glorious sight to see!  To see, mind you, not swim in.

Facing the coming of the autumn this year is both a joy and a delight, even though we missed our trip to the coast again this year.  As August blended into September, I counted this season’s change as one of adventure.

Our two-story house has sold and we have an opportunity to downsize to a house of rooms all on one level --- grateful, grateful!  (To borrow a phrase from a wonderful woman named Lucy!)
A brand-new grandbaby is set to make his debut around mid-October.  He is a beautiful little bundle of surprise coming from God to our daughter and son-in-law.   He is also a special addition to so much good in our future that we have to look forward to with great excitement.

As with all of life’s seasonal changes, challenges come, too, along with the greatest opportunities for new life-seasons.
Details, details, details - bringing in so much to do, much uncertainty, and so much work requiring so much time and energy! 

Over all of life hangs that opaque curtain suspended over the “now,” and “then,” and “when.”  One-day-at-a-time living is called for and with all these uncertainties surely they are bringing unending opportunities to practice the “walk-by-faith-and-not-by-sight principle that God has set for His people.
Determined to go through this time in my life right now in just that way, with all excitement, exhilaration, and enthusiastic expectations of good, I walked confidently into September.  Until… recently when an unexpected something  reared up in front of me and quietly said, “Boo.”  And, I became afraid.

I put on my well-worn “happy” facemask, and waded on into the ‘ocean’ – ankle-deep, and then knee-deep.  I could see the waves of potentially very rough water on the horizon, seeming to roll relentlessly toward me.
Various disappointments keep bobbing up and I keep carrying each one to my Father, who is a very powerful King.

I seek His face in prayer.  I read His word with daily diligent care.  And, still the disappointments come in -- some small and minor, some huge and scary.
And, I become afraid - again.

Awakening in the deep, dark midnight hours or the starry early dawn, I recount each one into my Father’s ears…until peace descends again, covering me with the comfort and assurance of His continued presence, and His thorough knowledge of every situation and circumstance.
Suddenly, on any given day, a most unwelcome visitor is likely to come rolling in, usually right on the heels of several of these “little” disappointments.  His name is Discouragement.

He came in this time with fully packed bags obviously intending to stay for an extended period.  And again, I became afraid.
I assessed my arsenal of resources and believed I could withstand his messy, irritating presence, as he has been a too-frequent visitor to my house in the past.  No matter where I happen to be living, he always seems to find me and barges in unwanted.

I review again in my mind all the ways and times that my Father’s Presence without fail equips me to deal with the despicable deceptions that discouragement always throws haphazardly or methodically all over the place when he drops in for a “visit.”
He makes himself at home and immediately begins to redecorate my surroundings with darkness to block all the sunlight.  He casts a pall of negativity over absolutely everything.  He delights in spreading his deceptively subtle thoughts and innuendos – never including any hint of good about anything.  Every event is always a portent of worse to come.

Soon enough, chest-high water escalates into neck-deep water, and my feet begin to slip in the shifting sands of the deep undercurrent of oppression.
And, I become afraid - again.  Again, I look almost helplessly around me only to acknowledge there is no human hand available to help me:

 I have to learn to swim in deep water!

The waves of life are now too strong, too frequently rolling over me, pulling me into the deep.  It will be foolish, and to my own detriment, if I continue to childishly rely upon any human arm to be available, or even able, to pull me back to the safety of the shore every time another wave of discouragement threatens to pull me into dangerously deep and shark-infested waters.

My feet too easily shift in the slippery sands at the bottom of this ocean I am in, and I shamefully admit that I have wasted too much valuable time wading in shallow water and playing about in life.  I must sacrifice everything it will take for me to finally learn how to swim, and how to float, in order to survive in the unruly waters of this life.  I wholeheartedly intend to survive, because my Father has said that I am more than a conqueror, and furthermore that my future inheritance is so certain that it is guaranteed.
Even a non-swimmer like me can foolishly let self-sufficiency keep us semi-grounded in shallow water as the smaller waves of disappointment roll around our ankles and knees. 

We recognize that feeling of letting our feet sink deep into the swirling and shifting sands of the ocean’s bottom as the gentle, and occasionally the not-so-gentle,  waves roll over us as we stand comfortably near the beach’s shore ankle-or-even knee-deep in the warm summer ocean.
Some of us are so strong-willed that we can keep ourselves mildly stable in our stance, even in the midst of waist-high or perhaps even chest-high water.  We are at ease in our spot as long as we can calm ourselves with the shallow platitudes of common sense reasoning; as long as we rely on our own way of thinking and understanding.

But, when discouragement thunders in on us like a hungry shark, no longer just the passing whale, and seems determined to wash us out of the shallows into the dark, deep, and mysterious waters of life, we realize with the utmost urgency that it is now time to learn how to swim spiritually. 
Life is so similar to the sea, that “great body of salt water that covers nearly three-fourths of the earth”  … “the ocean {that} still holds mysteries that we are only beginning to unravel.”

As we celebrate more birthdays in life, we discover that the more we learn about life, the more that we just don’t yet know about life.  Some of the things we’ve relied on in our belief system just won’t deal adequately with the dead seriousness that life takes on sometimes.
This age in which we now live, for example, is deadly serious and is the time in history for Truth, not common sense reasoning, or the philosophies of mankind, and the foolish dependence upon what we think we know, and what we are taught to ‘believe’ in our heads and recite with our mouths. 

These are the times that ‘try men’s hearts’ – the times that put to the test all we’ve been told and taught to believe in this modern, technologically savvy world in which we currently live.  This is the world which seeks to dethrone God and dismiss His laws and destroy traditional values and replace them with various myths, fables, and fairy tales that were unproven in earlier generations, but still put forth as theories, and which are now being taught broadly as though they were proven truths -- even as Truth itself is being brutally attacked, forbidden and publicly banned from polite society.  "Truth is dead in the streets..."
Disappointments come to all, and discouragement comes to many.  The ocean of life becomes more and more agitated and we hear the news reports of typhoons and tidal waves around the world.  And, we become more and more afraid because we know with ever more certainty that surely one day, they will reach the shores of our dwelling too.

As adults, we ourselves must first and finally learn to swim in the deep water with the deadly sharks, teaching at early ages, our children, and our grandchildren, how to float, and then how to become experienced long-distance swimmers in the sea of life.  Perseverance and endurance is exactly what is needed now.  Firm faith grounded in the standard of God’s truth.
God is the Supreme Swim-Team Coach.  He has mastered life in the shallows and life in the depths because He engineered life and brought it into being.  His Word, The Holy Bible, contains 66 Books of information and illustrative instruction --- well documented, and recorded and preserved forever.  Not one word of God’s Word will ever fail or disappear.  He has provided this Book because He desires that we learn everything about Him that He has revealed about Himself, about life and how to live it, and how to prepare for eternity.

His invitation to “come and dine,” remains open during this Age of Grace.  How long will this current age last?  No one can say for sure, but the Bible states emphatically that God Himself has determined its last “day”.   Each passing day brings us nearer to the preset date in time.
Open your eyes and know that the time approaches – every day brought nearer than it was yesterday.  It is high time to wake up and sign up for your spiritual swim lessons and join the Savior’s Swim Team.

He is awesomely able and wondrously willing to teach all we need to know to survive the challenges of this temporary life and inherit, as more than conquerors, the eternal life He has prepared for all who will believe on and adhere to and trust in Him.¹
Look for more to come about spiritual swim lessons, how to float, and how to swim, swim, swim in the ocean of life.

   

¹ To be a child of God, you must first have a relationship with Christ. 
John 3:16-18 (ESV):    “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

If you have never acknowledged your sin and confessed it by agreeing with God about it, and received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, you are encouraged to listen for His Holy Spirit "voice"  to invite you to pray the prayer of repentance sincerely confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin.   If you repent and turn from your sin, to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead; you will be saved," according to God's Word, the Holy Bible, in Romans 10:9.
If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone.  Then become an active member and participant in a church where God is exalted, and His Word, The Holy Bible, is taught as the standard of life.

Good Friday By Shirley Wiggins   “ The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raise...