HAS GOD GONE OUT OF BUSINESS?

By Shirley Wiggins

Is God listening?  Does He listen to us when we are in trouble?  Is God aware of life in this new age?  Does God even care what happens to people in the world today? 

This is written from a woman’s perspective, but it is about life issues, and life applies to all people, without exclusions, and there are no age limits.

Life issues are emotional in nature.  No way around it.  Life affects us all and its effects are evident.

Recently, while browsing through an old journal, I found a list of some things I felt God was teaching me about life and about being a woman with a variety of roles in life:  wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother. 

After reading my thoughts, would you consider leaving a comment to share some of your observations about life lessons?  Is God your God?  Is God listening to you?

 I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might,
    I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens.

^2-6 I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord;
    my life was an open wound that wouldn’t heal.
When friends said, “Everything will turn out all right,”
    I didn’t believe a word they said.
I remember God—and shake my head.
    I bow my head—then wring my hands.
I’m awake all night—not a wink of sleep;
    I can’t even say what’s bothering me.
I go over the days one by one,
    I ponder the years gone by.
I strum my lute all through the night,
    wondering how to get my life together.
^7-10 Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good?
    Will he never smile again?
Is his love worn threadbare?
    Has his salvation promise burned out?
Has God forgotten his manners?
    Has he angrily stalked off and left us?
“Just my luck,” I said. “The High God goes out of business just the moment I need him.”  
    Psalm 77  The Message (MSG)   Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

I could identify with the life issues described by the psalmist as translated in The Message version of the Bible.  As you read it, let your mind remember times you also may have experienced some of these emotions. 

I don’t recall ever yelling out to God and certainly not at the top of my lungs.  I may have wanted to do that on occasion.  But I think fear would have prevented even the consideration of “yelling” with reference to God.  I would have been pretty convinced that if there were any yelling to be done, it should be Him yelling at me!

Even after the passing of many years, I continue to experience some of the same life issues that I did as a younger woman, but with a significant difference – a valuable and costly learning is slowly but surely taking place:  the certain knowledge that God is my God, and I am His child, and I know that He is aware of me, He cares about me, He is listening to me, and more importantly, He is trustworthy.

He has proven Himself faithful to me so many times and in so many ways over the course of my life that I know for sure that “the High God” has not “gone out of business!”

Like many others, I too, have spent some sleepless nights shaking my head and wringing my hands, feeling destitute of hope.

While Psalm 77:7-10 has expressed my anguish, verses 10-15 have been my continuing assurance:

“Once again I’ll go over what God has done, lay out on the table the ancient wonders; I’ll ponder all the things You’ve accomplished, and give a long, loving look at your acts.

O God! Your way is holy!  No god is great like God! You’re the God who makes things happen; you showed everyone what you can do— You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble, rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.”

My comfort came, and still comes, in the fact that God is still God and He is good.  He is a proven in my life.  I now have a history with Him that attests to the truth that, just as in years past when ”He pulled His people out of the worst kinds of trouble” and “rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph,” so He pulls me and my family out of the worst kinds of trouble, and rescues us.

My anguish and my assurance find an anchor in the truth and reliability of God in His Word:   

"If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God, “I’ll get you out of any trouble.
I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times; I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.  I’ll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!”  Psalm 91:14-16  The Message (MSG

“We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.”  Hebrews 6:18-20  The Message (MSG)

This has been my answer:   every time we have relied on the Lord, He has rescued us.  His constant presence and provision and protection is still at work in our lives, as individuals and as a family.  

“Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” ¹² So the Lord ^[a]routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.”  2 Chronicles 14:11-12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

As a result, this has become my life’s aim in every situation and circumstance:

“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.”  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  The Message (MSG)

 Life’s lessons help God’s people learn how to live in relationship with Him and others.  Certain principles are worth learning in life, and specific examples are to be found in the pages of the Bible from the lives of people in both the Old Testament and New Testament times. 

In my own life too, I reflect on the life lessons worth learning, as a woman:

------- a  wife,  dearly loved,  learns  love, happiness, submission to God, and every range of emotion from excitement to contentment;

-------a mother learns compassion, kindness, patience, and gentleness, bravery in the face of fears as she cares for babies and children, nurturing them to the courage and bravery they will need for the rest of their lives.  She learns to hold onto hope and release (slowly, yet surely) her protective grip on her children;

-------a mother-in-law learns love, humility, patience, kindness, forbearance, the yielding of a stubborn will, a releasing of her own personal ambitions and plans for her children; she learns to hold onto hope… still learning to release her stubborn grip on the control of her loved ones’ lives;

--------a grandmother learns the thrill of unconditional love from her grandchildren, and also the  close but separated relationships:  there are parents between she and her grandchild, and she learns to respect their authority, still learning to release her tight grip on her expectations for her family’s  lives.

A woman learns to entrust ‘her’ family into God’s strong, secure and certain grip on her God-given family.  And, at long last, we will all learn how to begin to “free-float,” “resting in Jesus,” as we learn to give God all the glory, and EVERYTHING else!

“Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”    1 Corinthians 1:26-31 The Message (MSG)

May we all learn how to march in the band of Christ’s followers, blowing the trumpet to sound the call to come and worship the Mighty God, the Creator who yearns to be the Father to all who will come to Him through His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.¹

May we all come together in praise to our God, who listens to our prayers and continues to lead His own people with a mighty hand of power and love.  Let us acknowledge His right to rule in His sovereignty: 

^16-19 Ocean saw you in action, God, saw you and trembled with fear; Deep Ocean was scared to death.  Clouds belched buckets of rain, Sky exploded with thunder, your arrows flashing this way and that. From Whirlwind came your thundering voice, Lightning exposed the world, Earth reeled and rocked. You strode right through Ocean, walked straight through roaring Ocean, but nobody saw you come or go. ²⁰ Hidden in the hands of Moses and Aaron, You led your people like a flock of sheep.  Psalm 77:16-20 The Message

 

 

 

 

¹  Have you run to God for your very life?  To be a child of God, you must first have a relationship with Jesus Christ.   John 3:16 says:

            “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever

            believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, I encourage you to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin. As you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. (Romans 10:9) If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone, and go to church!

 

BY DEATH WE LIVE

By Shirley Wiggins

Does it make you a bit sad to see the spring and summer seasons come to their end and have all those beautiful flowering blooms fade away and die?

Even though I love fall’s bright and beautiful leaves and colors just as much, I must admit I miss the beautiful sights, scents, and smells of spring and summer. 

Winter brings its own beauty, of course, but as the colors change and green vegetation is covered over with the frosts of ‘death’ to the blooms, everything changes and we look for the beauty that may be a bit harder to find.

Death is like that, isn’t it?  It changes everything about life.  Mrs. Cowman’s Streams in the Desert¹  devotional carries that theme in the words of one whom she credits only as “Beecher.”

Beecher tells the story of some beautiful summer asters in the garden and how the goodbye was made as their season ended and they perished.

Then to Beecher’s great delight it was later found that for every aster that had disappeared in winter’s death “fifty plants had been planted.”

He said in picture-sketching words that all the winter “frosts and surly winds” caught his flowers, slew them, casting them to the ground and having trod upon them with “snowy feet” left them as if to say:  “This is the end of you.”  But come the next spring “there were for every root, fifty witnesses to rise up and say, “By death we live.”

With his beautiful words, Beecher said that the same is true in God’s kingdom.  By the death of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, “came everlasting life.”  By Christ’s cruel death on the cross and his subsequent three-day burial in the sepulcher, and then resurrection day came “the throne and the palace of the Eternal God.  By overthrow came victory.”

“Do not be afraid to suffer.   Do not be afraid to be overthrown.”  “It is by being cast down and not destroyed; it is by being shaken to pieces, and the pieces torn to shreds, that [we, men and women] become [men and women] of might…”

He warned that those who “yield to the appearance of things, and go with the world, have their quick blossoming, their momentary prosperity and then their end, which is an end forever.”

But those who know God through the gruesome death and glorious resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, will spend eternity alive forevermore in fellowship with God and Christ, the Lamb! 
All because Jesus Christ died, so that whosoever will choose Him may live.
The Bible teaches throughout its pages that though there is only one way to God, and that way is through Jesus Christ, that as many as will receive Him by believing on His name, to them God will give the right to become His children through what many refer to as “the second birth.” 

John 1:1-18 tells us of the deity of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, calling Jesus “the Light.”

“The true Light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.  He came to that which was His own but His own did not receive Him.  Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. … No one has  ever seen God, but the One and Only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known.”  John 1:9-14,18 (NIV 2011).

John 3:1-21 gives us Jesus’ teaching to Nicodemus about being born again:

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council, who desired to find out more about Jesus because it was evident to him that Jesus was more than just a good teacher.

Jesus startled him with this astounding statement in verse 3:  “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

Can’t you just imagine the bewilderment on Nicodemus’ face as he asked, “How can someone be born when they are old?  Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” (v.4)

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. “ (verses 5-8).

Nicodemus asks for more, verse 9:  “How can this be?”

Verses 11-21, Jesus said:  “Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.  I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?  No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him.  For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s One and Only Son.  This is the verdict:  Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Are you, dear friend, as glad as I am that we do not have to explain the unexplainable in order to believe?  I am so grateful that God doesn’t require our total understanding; although, He does call for our obedient commitment to believe what He tells us.

Remember how Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus, received the astounding news from the angel Gabriel that she was highly favored and the Lord was with her and she would be the one to give birth to the Son of the Most High?    When she asked for more information about how that could be since she was an unmarried virgin, the angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. …” 

Mary’s beautiful response was, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.”     See Luke 1:26-38 (NIV 2011).

May we say, as she did:  “Lord, I am Your servant, may Your word be fulfilled in me.”    Amen.

 

 

 

¹Streams in the Desert Compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman; ©1965 Cowman Publications, Inc.; pages 294-295.  

 

BEHIND THE BARRIERS

By Shirley Wiggins

Just like the majestic cedars in my back yard, barriers in a relationship can grow up so high and in between so thick that seeing what is behind them becomes impossible without making the conscious effort to do so.

We planted the cedars when they were only waist-high and with plenty of space left between them for growth.  We could see between them and over them.  That is no longer possible as they are now around 25 feet high and so tightly grown together that only tiny gaps in the undergrowth allow for the slightest glimpse at the grass on the ground behind them.

To see what’s behind them now requires one of two things.  Either take a walk around them which will put us on someone else’s property, or a drive-by in the car on the street behind us to catch a fleeting glimpse as we drive slowly by the property behind us.

My husband reflected on how fast it seems they’ve grown so high and that only last year we could still see over their tops to the rooftops of the houses on the street behind us. Now they provide a barrier that keeps out sound and sight.

Barriers between people can grow like that – imperceptibly:  “extremely slight, gradual, or subtle.”  Imperceptible differences in relationship can seep in:  “not perceptible by a sense or by the mind - <a slight difference in hue between the two glasses that’s imperceptible unless they’re placed side by side.>”

Unless one symbolically places in our memories side-by-side what a relationship used to be and compare it with what it is at the moment, we may not realize a shift has taken place.

Some people will, perhaps, never notice the difference in their relationships at all.  Some will only notice when the relationship has grown so strained and uncomfortable it seems not worth the effort to stay in contact with the other person.

Some people, however, will take notice before the barrier has grown so tall and thick, but will spend so much time and effort analyzing the possible reasons for the “Why?” behind the troubling change,  that they never take the walk around to the other side to see for themselves what’s taking place behind the barrier. 

Perhaps they prefer not to intrude, not to go into the other person’s ‘space,’ their own personal, private property.

Others will possibly get out the car and drive slowly past the backside of the barrier, hungry just for a look at the loved one’s private property, grieving over the lost connection with absolutely no idea of how to get close enough to regain the full fellowship.

Years can go by and the desired invitation to come in and fellowship together may never come.  Year after year, the longed-for invitation never comes, and year by year, the barrier grows higher and thicker and harder to penetrate.

We have a new Lantana plant growing in my favorite pot on our patio.  This year, same as last year, the beautiful pot has been placed carefully in the center of a decorative wrought-iron garden stake in the ground at the edge of the patio.

Recently, I sat outside early one morning, sipping hot coffee, and enjoying the beautiful sights and sounds of nature.  I happened to notice that the Lantana pot was off-center.  When I asked my husband if he had perhaps moved the stake while edging the lawn, he assured me he had not moved it.  After he walked down to the patio to take a look, he said the pot was actually still in its place and not off-center at all.  I just happened to be looking at it from an angle that made it look off-center.

When we try to assess relationships, with or without barriers, our “angle” must be precise.  An “angle” is defined in the dictionary as “the precise viewpoint from which something is observed or considered.  The thesaurus says “angle” is “a certain way in which something appears or may be regarded.”

The way we look at or think about aspects of our relationships with other people can color the way we see the situation and the person, if our angle isn’t centered – anchored – in prayer.

Our emotions can cause the “hue” of our view to be altered based on our feelings and not necessarily the facts.  We know that ‘barriers’ are simply something that obstructs, “something immaterial that impedes or separates…”

The sooner we sense a barrier in any relationship and act to learn more about it, the easier it may be to prevent a chasm that can separate loved ones.

Misunderstandings can grow into barriers.  If we ignore them, or pretend they don’t matter, sometimes they can grow as imperceptibly as the 25-foot cedars until the relationship is so strained, we might be tempted to let it die rather than nurture it by doing the hard and uncomfortable and inconvenient things that will cause it to bloom again into the beautiful part of life that God intended from the beginning.

God designed families and there are no other relationships more important on this earth.  The only relationship that should take precedence over family is that of one’s own personal relationship with God the Creator who also desires to be God, our Father.

He designed salvation to be the Way back into His own family, after sin erected its barrier between God and people.  God sent His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to rescue people and restore us to full fellowship with Him, to tear down the barrier of sin that separates people from the God who created them for that uninterrupted fellowship with Himself.¹

He is the Source we turn to first when we realize that barriers have come up between ourselves and our loved ones, allowing disunity to come between us and another person.  We rely upon the Comforter, Counselor, and Friend that God left on earth after Jesus’ ascension back into heaven:  His Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit then guides us and guards us as we prayerfully seek reconciliation with alienated loved ones.  We never give up on relationship with others because God never gives up on relationship with us.

Family matters to God because He designed family.  (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:20-24.)    

God desires to be Father to every person.  We love Him only because He first loved us. 

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God is manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  1 John 4:7-11

“Jesus said …, ‘You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”  Matthew 22:37-40 (NKJV).

God desires unity in His family of believers, and also in our human family relationships.  We never give up on Love! 

May we all be blessed with the unity of love in our hearts and in our families. 

 

 

 

 

¹For adoption into God’s Family, you must first have a relationship with Christ. 

John 3:16 says:“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever

            believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, I encourage you to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin. As you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. (Romans 10:9) If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone!

 

 

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

By Shirley Wiggins

“…, she was overwhelmed.” 2 Chronicles 9:4b (NIV).

Scripture references:  1 Kings 10:1-13;  2 Chronicles 9: 1-12; Matthew 12: 42 (vv38-45); Luke 11:31 (vv29-32; 24-26); and  2 Peter 2:20.

One day, as I was driving to a nearby town to meet my daughter for lunch, I heard Dr. Vernon McGee’s sermon on the radio.  He was speaking about the Queen of Sheba.

His words grabbed my attention, and I couldn’t wait to look into the Scriptures with the idea that this would make a good Bible study.  Two things immediately stuck in my mind then, and others have developed since, as later I hastily perused the Scriptures in anticipation of a deep and thorough study. 

1)       She had a lot of questions in her heart and mind, and when she asked them of him, King Solomon told her everything God revealed to him.  Neither God nor Solomon withheld truth:  God revealed ALL to Solomon, who, in turn, told ALL he’d been given to the Queen, withholding nothing;

 

2)      How far this woman traveled to get answers to her heart-questions;

3)      The Source to whom the Queen sought out at much time, trouble, and expense to herself; and the sources people of today look to for answers to our hearts’  issues;

4)      I can’t help but wonder:  how deep are our heart’s probing questions?  Are we only concerned with who wins next week’s American Idol contest, or are we genuinely concerned about the deep and life-altering events of today?

5)      Compare what it was that overwhelmed the Queen of Sheba with what overwhelms women (men, boys and girls) today.  Oh, Lord, may we be overwhelmed with those matters which overwhelmed the Queen of Sheba!  Amen.

Other considerations in my mind were, and are, how lax and lazy our generation seems to be concerning anything to do with God and His Word as compared with the Queen’s arduous trip, which Dr. McGee said could have taken several months. 

Even today, those who seek God seem to have as their priority a quick and easy answer – not willing to dig out what God has preserved in the Bible for our knowledge and for our good, and not willing to wait long even for the proverbial quick and easy answer.

I am thankful for all of the insight God has given to so many great men and women who devoted their lives to relationship with Him, and the study of His word.  Their books are filled with so much information about the Bible, and about the people of the Bible and the culture of the world. 

What a wealth of resources available to those who desire in-depth studies of God’s Word.   People like Matthew Henry, A. W. Tozer, Charles H. Spurgeon, Hannah Whitall Smith, Oswald Chambers, Andrew Murray, and many, many more.

I love to pull out their commentaries and books and glean from their God-given wisdom about Him and His word.  God’s great Wisdom is available to any person who will invest their time and energies in seeking His face through His Word!¹

I was intrigued that day when I ran across the statement in 2 Chronicles 9:4b (NIV), referring to the reaction of the Queen of Sheba when she met King Solomon and saw His way of life:    “… she was overwhelmed.”  :     “…there was no more spirit in her.”(Amplified Bible and NKJV.)  “… she was breathless.” (NASB.)   

The reason for my excitement at discovering her emotional response was two-fold:

1)      My recent journal writings entitled, Whelmed Over (Almost Overwhelmed) were about  my own personal feelings of having no spirit left within me; and my resulting forays into the dictionary and the Thesaurus to get a deeper and clearer understanding of just what the term “overwhelmed” is conveying about this human experience in today’s world ; and

2)      Learning that other women were feeling equally as “overwhelmed” as I.  During lunch that day, my daughter had shared with me that she felt “overwhelmed;”  my granddaughter, in a conversation earlier in the week , had used the word, “overwhelmed,” to express her feelings resulting from a current situation in her life; and, lastly, on my drive home that day, my neighbor had mentioned in a telephone conversation how  “overwhelmed”  her daughter was feeling as a result of a series of things taking place in her life.

It seemed then, and now, that it is not coincidental that so many women are feeling overwhelmed.  I also believe that just as many young girls and boys, and men, are likewise experiencing some of these same feelings of being “overwhelmed.”

 I was reminded again that when I am dealing with something that affects me so deeply as to distress me, very likely there are many others dealing with life issues which leave them feeling distressed and overwhelmed.

And, most importantly, I am reminded that whatever distresses people also distresses Jesus Himself.  Whenever any of us are overwhelmed with the distresses of life, Jesus Christ is the One to Whom we may turn for relief, and peace. 

He is the One who can and will lift us up and deliver us from all our distresses.  Psalm 107 is an interesting and revealing account of the wonders of God’s love and forgiveness and mercy toward people whose own sins brought them to reside at a place called, in one Bible translation, “Wits’ End.”

It is noteworthy that the Queen of Sheba was overwhelmed at King Solomon’s wisdom, wealth, and relationship with the Lord.  It was to the king’s God that she ultimately paid verbal tribute:

“Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on His throne as king to rule for the LORD your God.  Because of the love of your God for Israel and His desire to uphold them forever, He has made you king over them to maintain justice and righteousness.”  2 Chronicles 9:8.

When I researched the Scriptures referenced at the beginning of this piece, the things I read inspired me, motivated me, and caused me great concern.

The Queen had heard very great things about King Solomon concerning his wisdom, his wealth, and his relationship with the Lord.  She made that long and arduous trip for the purpose of ‘testing’ this king to see if all she had heard could possibly be true.

“She said to the king, ‘The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.  But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes.  Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard.”  2 Chronicles 9:5-6.

The account of the journey taken by this majestic queen to know the certainty of all she had heard is filled with meaning for people today.  Such great reports about King Solomon had reached her country, things so great that she was unable to believe them unless she saw them for herself.  Her desire for truth was so great that she was willing to journey "to the ends of the earth" to know the certainty of what she had been told by others.

 There is an important and timely warning for our generation today, as noted in the New Testament, of what Jesus said about this Queen:  “The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.”     Matthew 12:42.

One greater than Solomon has come!  The apostle Paul said we may have the very mind of Christ! 

Christ Jesus said His Holy Spirit will live in believers and will teach us all things. (See John chapters 14-17.)  Jesus promised that … “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”   John 14:26-27.  See also 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.

Jesus died on the Cross, was resurrected from the dead, ascended back into heaven. He died and rose again that mankind could be reconciled to holy God through the forgiveness of their sins by placing their faith in Him.¹

What a fortunate people we are!  We may well be the generation still living when Jesus makes His triumphant return to earth to gather His people to Himself!

We need not be deceived by false teachings or teachers.  We must not rely on what we hear from others.  We must go to the true Source, no matter what it costs us in terms of time, expense, trouble or inconvenience, in order to know Truth for ourselves. 

We have the opportunity and the responsibility of seeking the Truth for ourselves, and encouraging others to do the same.  Truth matters.

Come and see for yourself, this great God and King of Kings and Lord of Lords! 

Open His treasure Book and go exploring in the study of His reliable and faithful Word.  Begin, or joyfully continue on in, your own Journey of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jennifer Rothschild is a beautiful example of the grace and beauty of the Lord  Jesus Christ’s indwelling power in a human life.  One of her songs is entitled, “Hear the Journey Call.”  Let me leave you with the words to her song:

Hear the journey call, hear the journey plead;

It beckons me to live beyond belief, 
 

It calls me to a place, whispering His grace.

I will walk the path He leads me on,

‘cause I’ve heard the journey call…”

He’s calling your name!  Can you hear Him?  Open His Word and hear Him!

 

 

¹ Reconciliation to God requires that you must first have a relationship with Christ.

John 3:16 says:  “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, you are encouraged to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin.  As you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9.)

If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone!  And, go to church this coming Sunday!

 

WHERE WILL YOU BE ON THE LORD'S DAY?

By Shirley Wiggins

 “The first day of the week, Sunday,  adopted by the early Christians as the day of worship” of the Lord God.  The full phrase “the Lord’s Day” appears in the New Testament only at Revelation 1:10…   Christian worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, was based on the occurrence of Jesus’ resurrection during the early morning hours of a Sunday…”  It has been associated with Sunday observance also with its being the first day of creation.¹

Sunday is the Lord’s Day.  The day set aside for His people to come into His church and hear His word preached, and taught.  A place and time for families.   Families are to love one another and fellowship together, speaking kindly to and about other family members.

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we become family with our Christian siblings, and under the headship of our heavenly Father, who adopted us into His royal family, we love each other.

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.  For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.  We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.  And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3 (NASB).

On every Sunday, “The Lord’s Day” – the day set aside for its special purpose, we have another opportunity to come together in His house to worship, praise, and sing glad songs to Him and about Him:  His faithfulness and loving-kindness to people.

I wonder, though, as I/we/they/you  (the collective “we”) gather in, each in our own certain churches of worship, when we see each other, what do we see?

Does any one of us ‘see’ with clarity the multitudes laboring under the heavy loads of Life?  Do we recognize suffering when we see it?  Hear it? Touch it?

 Do we perceive the hidden, deep emotions of the people around us:  the loneliness, the desperations, the disappointments?

“On every pew sits a broken heart” – a phrase I’ve heard, and the title of a book by a Billy-and-Ruth-Graham daughter.

I wonder if there might also be as much truth in this rendering of that statement:

“On every pew sits a multitude of broken-hearted people.”

Rare, indeed, I believe it would be to find even one person (man, woman, boy or girl) not laboring under their own personal sorrow.

Jesus Himself was (is) widely known as “The Man of Sorrows,” and the Bible speaks many times, and in many places, of His sufferings.

But, what do we “see” as we come into the church?  Saints?   Sinners?   Slackers?   Repeat “offenders”?   Failures?   “Less-than desirables?”  The Faithful …. Or the Faith-less (in our own opinion)?

Those who do not measure up to our own standards of righteousness:  the undesirables… the un-dependables… the drop-ins and the drop-outs….  The weak and wayfaring ones, and the wandering and erring ones.

The “hypocrites” (how dare they show their faces here?!)?

The outcasts:  the discouraged;  the despairing ones, the dejected, the disappointed, even the dis-jointed ones:   disabled spiritually.

What are we thinking?  Believing? 

What do we see?  More importantly, what does God say about what He sees?

One thing God says in both Old and New Testament alike is:

“For I desire and delight in dutiful steadfast love and goodness, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of and acquaintance with God more than burnt offerings.”  Hosea 6:6 (AMP Bible)

“Go and learn what this means:  ‘I [Jesus] desire mercy [that is, readiness to help those in trouble] and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims.  For I came not to call and invite [to repentance] the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin).”… Matthew 9:13 (AMP Bible).

Mercy -  beautiful and kind compassion born out of grace…The same kind of grace that God gives to each of us.

The very thing each human desperately needs is what God desires…

A related thought:  How much of what ‘we’ are laboring under in the form of our own individual, personal sorrow is the result of a mistaken belief – a faulty view of the world born out of a deceptively false view of the God who made the world? 

The God Who made the world is the God of love, compassion, kindness, abundant grace and forgiveness.

No matter who holds the false and deceptive belief, the ultimate outcome always results in personal sorrow for one or many.

Conclusion:  Sin, by deception, resulted in the death on the cross of Jesus Christ, and from that sacrificial suffering was born the mercy God desires – abounding grace, resulting in the salvation of souls, one by one,  resulting in many.

Let us be sure that we make room on the pew beside us for all of God’s people to come in and feel welcome in the household of God’s family.

“We know that we have passed over out of death into Life by the fact that we love the brethren (our fellow Christians).  He who does not love abides (remains, is held and kept continually) in [spiritual] death…. By this we come to know (progressively to recognize, to perceive, to understand) the [essential] love:  that He laid down His [own] life for us; and we ought to lay [our] lives down for [those who are our] brothers [in Him].  But if anyone has this world’s goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in Him?  Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity). … And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him.  And this is His order (His command, His injunction):  that we should believe in (put our faith and trust in and adhere to and rely on) the name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and that we should love one another, just as He has commanded us.  All who keep His commandments [who obey His orders and follow His plan, live and continue to live, to stay] and abide in Him, and He in them.  [They let Christ be a home to them and they are the home of Christ.]  And by this we know and understand and have the proof that He [really] lives and makes His home in us:  by the [Holy} Spirit Whom He has given us.”  1 John 3:14,16-24 (AMP Bible).

Let us go joyfully to church this Sunday and listen and learn and pray and sing and fellowship with our family!  God loves to see His family together in His house of worship and prayer. 

Remember, your place is saved there for you, and your family members will be looking for your face in the crowd!

 

 

 

¹The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, ©1987 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.; Grand Rapids Michigan.  Page 662.  See also Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; Matthew 28:1.

A GODLY MOTHER

by Hallie Gipson

With Mother’s Day only a few days away, it’s natural for our thoughts to turn to mothers – our own mother in particular. If our mothers are still living and our relationship with them a good one, we might be focused on purchasing just the right card that conveys just the right sentiment, or that perfect gift we know our mother will love. But for some, Mother’s Day evokes memories of a relationship that is or was stormy, hurtful, or non-existent.  

Regardless of the current relationship with our mothers or our memories, we must use God’s standard set forth in His holy word for being a godly mother. We are called to account for our actions even if our own mother was not a godly example for us to follow.

If you are not a mother, please don’t be discouraged that your gifts of nurturing and molding children for the Kingdom are not being used. You can become a “Spiritual Mother” by pouring those gifts into the life of a child being raised by a single parent, a child being raised in a foster home, an international student who’s far from home – the possibilities are endless! There are many ways to love, encourage, and nurture the children around you and make an impact for the Kingdom.

The only way to be a godly mother is to be a Christian mother – you must first have a relationship with Christ. 

John 3:16 says:

            “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever

            believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, I encourage you to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin. As you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. (Romans 10:9) If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone!

When you have the love of Christ in you – in your heart – then the love you have for your children and family will flow from that love-relationship with Christ.

The Bible tells us that God created all life – even from the beginning – so we are to value life as God values life.

Genesis 1:27: “God created man in his own image . . . male and female He created them.”

            Psalm 139:13: “For You (God) formed my inward parts; You (God) wove me in

            my mother’s womb.”

The Bible also says that “children are a gift from the Lord.” (Psalm 127:3).

That’s a great thought!! You can consider your children presents from God Himself!

So how do you care for those precious “gifts” – your children? The “tips” that follow may seem simplistic. Each one is certainly a deep topic in itself and worthy of more development than I have chosen to give for this article. My desire is to give you food for thought as you reflect on Mother’s Day and to point you to the best “know-how” book there is – the Bible!!

1. LOVE

What is love? The Bible tells what love is in 1 Corinthians 13:

§         Love is PATIENT – not getting short-tempered when your children are fussy or cry for a long time.

§         Love is KIND – being gentle, not rough.

§         Love DOESN’T GET ANGRY EASILY – even when your children misbehave and do things you have told them not to or just get on your last nerve for no apparent reason.

§         Love PROTECTS – do everything you can to keep your children safe and out of danger both physically and emotionally. Guard their hearts by carefully monitoring what they watch, what they listen to, and what they read.

§         Love NEVER FAILS – always love your children no matter their behavior.

2. DISCIPLINE

§         You want to discipline and correct your children out of love and not anger. If your children can learn to obey you, then they can someday learn to obey God, submit to Him, and also submit to those who have earthly authority. The goal of a Christian mother is to raise children who will grow up believing in Jesus Christ.

3. TEACH/FEED them God’s word.

§         Just like you give them milk and food for their bodies, you must give them food for their souls. Food for the soul is found in the pages of God’s word, the Bible. It’s never too early to start telling your children Bible stories and singing hymns to them.

4. SERVE them.

§         When you serve someone, it means putting that person’s needs ahead of your own, even when you are tired or would rather be doing something else.

§         Jesus is the greatest example of what it means to serve others.

ü      He healed the sick – Mark 1:34

ü      He fed the crowds of people – Matthew 14:13-18

ü      He washed the disciples’ feet – John 13:5

§         Colossians 3:17 says: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him..”

5. TAKE THEM TO CHURCH.

• Sunday School is a great place for your children to learn more about Jesus. It’s also a great place for them to interact with others their age in a Christian environment.
• Attending church also places us in an environment to grow spiritually by studying God’s word and hearing others teach His word. The more you know about God, the better equipped you are to teach your children.
• Being with other believers in worship is also a great encouragement. The fellowship you will have with other mothers at church will be a good reminder that there are women who face the same joys and trials of parenting as you do. And you might find an older mother willing to give you some wise and godly advice about raising children. 

6. PRAY for them.

§         Your prayers for your children are the greatest gifts you can give them.                 1 Thess. 5:17 says: “Pray without ceasing”. You can pray all day long for them – when you are feeding them, dressing them, bathing them, playing with them, putting them to sleep.

§         Prayer also helps you to stay in a right relationship with the Heavenly Father. He will enable you through the Holy Spirit to be a godly mother to your children.

If God has blessed you with children, then you have a high calling indeed!

Proverbs 31:30

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”