Good day friends! I pray your week and weekend went well!
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest…” Hebrews 4:9-11a
I am sharing with you today that I will be having a Sabbath-rest for August which will include abstaining from writing and posting the devotional blogs. I will continue to post the week’s readings for those enjoying our Journey Through The Bible, but I will not be posting my weekly devotions for August, as I am finding that I am needing time to get back to just resting in the Lord during my morning times of devotion with him. Instead of just focusing on him and giving him praise and thanksgiving, and joyfully extending all my prayer requests heavenward, I am finding I am focused on deadlines, and post times, and scheduling, and the list goes on and on.
The world might tell me I’m weak because I can’t fit it all in, and rightly so. But in knowing my limits and temptations, I’m aware that it is time for me to take a sabbath – time to rest and refocus on the Lord. With renewed focus and clarity, it is my hope to begin working through Proverbs for my weekly devotional blog, starting in September.
When taking our Journey Through The Bible this past year, I was captivated by the practicality and wisdom of the proverbs. I hope you will join me as I share my thoughts on these wonderful little nuggets of wisdom.
I look forward to having our Monday morning coffee visits, starting back up on Monday, September 3, 2018.
God bless you throughout August and always!
In Jesus’ love and mine, Brenda
me wherever I am.
Good day friends! I pray your week and weekend went well!
In the movie, Facing the Giants, one of the characters shares a parable about two farmers who endured a drought. Both farmers prayed to the Lord. One farmer continued to go around downcast. The other farmer walked around with an umbrella. The question was then asked, “which farmer believed that God would answer his prayer?”
This parable is very convicting because how many times do we pray about or for something and then go on complaining or worrying about it. On the contrary, when we have lifted something up to the Lord, we need to know and trust beyond a doubt that God is listening, God is working, and God will reveal a response. The act of prayer is not just equal to us picking up a phone and talking into it. It requires us to dial directly to him and to speak face to face with our all-knowing and all-loving God, just as we would a dear friend. This is an intimate conversation where he is intimately present. The great thing is that He wants us to tell him all our requests; great and small. No prayer request is too insignificant and no request is too big for him.
When we give our needs and life’s situations to God and ask Him to guide us and the outcome, we can release it and trust that as events arise and the outcome is attained, whatever it is, it has been accomplished according to his will for our lives. That doesn’t mean we get what we want. It means we get what He knows is best for us. At times we may feel disappointed, but other times we may be the recipients of watching God reveal Himself in our lives in miraculous ways.
Ultimately, may I encourage you to seek the Lord with all your requests and always be prepared for an answer. Seek his guidance first in all things and always trust the answers, so that just like the farmer who trusted God to answer his prayer in the midst of his drought, you may answer a confident ‘yes’ when asked, “Do you have your umbrella, too?”
Without a doubt, whether you believe it or can see it or not, you have been blessed with gifts and abilities by our gracious God. So in addition to unconsciously being a blessing to those God sets in your life- as we discussed last week- you have been blessed with these gifts and abilities, with the sole purpose to bless others and, in so doing, give God glory.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, you have blessed each and every human being with gifts and abilities. Help me to see and nurture the gift(s) you have given me and to use them for your glory in the secular realm, but especially, in your church. Guide me to be a good steward of these gifts that they may bless others. In Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!
In the same, whatever questions you may have about your existence: why you were born into your particular family, situation, etc…, just know that it wasn’t an accident, no matter how wonderful nor how dysfunctional it may be. God created you to be whom you are to be a blessing to those around you. He will give you the physical, emotional, psychological strength to overcome, if you let him. You may not know what your purpose is, and each day may be a struggle, but trust God to guide you through it, and be strong in the Lord. One day, may he open your eyes to see your purpose. To show the blessing you were to those in your life, and may you see the blessings that he undoubtedly will bestow upon you as you trust in him.
Good day friends! I pray your week and weekend went well!
In the same way, we should celebrate the freedom we have in Christ. With great joy and pride we need to celebrate this ultimate freedom and peace that is ours. In Christ, we have freedom from the slavery and guilt of our sins, and ultimately, freedom from death and the peace in knowing that life eternal is ours. There is nothing that can take away that peace we have in Christ- “…neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation!” (Romans 8:38b-39a) We should be singing from the rooftops and holding a celebration like no other.
Last week we reflected on fathers and men who have guided and influenced us. In the same light, I then began thinking about our spiritual leaders, our congregational shepherds, our pastors (or whatever term your denomination may use).
I have always had great respect for those in authority due to the fact, simply, that we are called to respect and obey authority. Although this is God’s command, I have come to view those in authority quite differently. When I was younger, along with the need to be respectful to those in authority, came my ignorant and naïve thought that the individuals who held these positions of authority were to be perfect, superhumans in their positions and were performing their duties perfectly: all police officers were 100 percent law abiding, politicians were 100 percent truthful to their citizens, and pastors were 100 percent Christ-like. So child-like, I know. As I have grown older, I have come to learn that this respect is due the position- yes, but as for the individual holding such position, he/she is still a sinner, just like you and me. They are no different. They struggle with temptation, addictions, weakness, insecurity, pressure from the sinful world, weakness of their sinful self, and Satan’s lies. This realization particularly blew my mind when I learned this about our church shepherds: pastors, priests, reverends, etc. If you were like me, I respected my pastors because of their Christ-like care of His Bride, the church; their encouraging words, their words of guidance and correction, and the fact that I only saw them as perfect icons among their people.
I have since learned that it is not fair to put our shepherds on these pedestals for many reasons. First, because it’s not true; they are sinners, they make mistakes and hopefully our pastors are humble enough to admit their errors and are living examples of God’s gift of reconciliation: asking for and receiving forgiveness. Secondly, when we place them so highly, we can become very critical and begin to pick out every little mistake they make. Soon this attitude allows Satan to stir us to becoming bitter or disheartened with our Shepherd’s service, our church, and at times, God Himself. Finally, I believe this type of attitude gives people an inaccurate view of Christ. When people- especially non-Christians, new believers, and our children- hear the gospel preached from the pulpit and see us all acting on our best behaviour in church, while the whole way home we’re complaining and nitpicking about all of their imperfections, we are seen as hypocrites; no better than the Pharisees. (Check them out in the New Testament. Neither John the Baptizer nor Jesus had positive things to say to or about them.) When others see us in this light, we certainly are NOT the lights that Christ calls us to be. In this light, Satan is winning at using us to keep others from knowing our loving, merciful, grace-filled God, that sent His one and only Son to take to the cross their sin, my sin, my pastor’s sin, my church’s sin, and to pay the deadly price that I, they, we deserve.
Yesterday was Father’s Day. I admire and respect the role of fathers as instituted by God. In fact, I don’t feel fathers are given the respect they deserve. Yes, there are fathers that do not live up to their fatherly responsibilities but neither does society encourage them in those duty, nor does media depict the role of Father in its proper light. Over the past couple weeks, I have been doing a lot of reflecting on fathers and their unique and important role in the lives of their children and their love for their children.
Then, on the same day, my daughter sent a snapchat photo of my son-in-law with his hand on my daughter’s tummy, with the caption, “His hand is forever on my tummy!” The innate sense of love and protection of these young men has been on my mind and has melted my heart these past couple weeks. Their hearts are for their new babies. They weren’t given a manual or a text book. They just know these little miracles, that have stolen their hearts, are their responsibility. Then, later the same day, I read the congratulatory words that my husband expressed to my girlfriend’s husband, the new grandpa, and what a great grandpa he will be because he is such a great Dad. These words also made me reflect upon my husband, and the old saying that ‘it takes one to know one’.
Unfortunately, many children are not raised with fathers that have given themselves to their children, for whatever reason and, unfortunately, because of sin in this world, there can be a multitude of reasons. However, may there be a person in each child’s life that guides that precious soul to the knowledge of the love that their Heavenly Father has for them; a love that is abundantly greater than any human father can give. As mentioned above, no father is perfect, and some children are plagued with parental deficiency in their days, but it is my prayer that these children know how much our 
Heavenly Father, through Jesus our Saviour, loves them and desires to be their protection and hope for the future. God is our ultimate Father, but he has given men the desire to be for their children the protector and overseer that allows children to see a glimpse of what God’s self-sacrificing love means for them. Thanks and God bless you, Dads!
Good day friends! I pray your week and weekend went well.
Sometimes I find it is so hard to see or focus on God in this world with all the activities in my day and the busyness of my live, not to mention the many ungodly things happening around the world. There is violence and war, greed and selfishness, lust and sexual connotations everywhere, just to name a few. Is it any wonder than that we adults, let alone our dear young people, struggle to walk in line with God’s desire for our lives, to see and seek him while being bombarded with these ungodly characteristics of our society and selves?
Well in one little small way, I came up with a way to bring God into my thoughts and heart in the midst of everything else going on around me. While listening to music, especially love songs, I listen to/sing it as if it is God singing the song to me, or I to Him. In some cases, this strategy doesn’t quite work, but in most cases, it is astounding how relevant it can be. In fact, more than once it has brought me to tears, because it awakens me to the reality that only in God’s relationship with me, can I experience such intimate, unconditional, self-sacrificing love that so many secular songs claim. Even the songs that sing of passion and love can be relevant; just read Song of Solomon, which is a depiction of the relationship between God and mankind.
Prayer: Dear Lord, the ways of this world are not new to you. You know what sin has done to mankind. Help me to remember you in all aspects of my day, despite what may going on around me. Help me to keep my mind on you, knowing you are with me always. In Jesus’ name I pray! AMEN!