Reminder - To Reflect

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Ephesians 5:25-27 NKJV

Recently, a friend sent me some terrific pictures via email. One photo was an incredibly majestic landscape that was perfectly reflected in the body of water in the foreground. Mountains with snow caps and grand pines, the brilliant blues of the sky and the matching hues in the lake. It was idyllic and serene, and so identical were the reality and the reflection, that it looked as though you could turn the picture upside down and see the same image. Had there been no water, the real thing would still be magnificent, but there would have been no reflection.

When the sunlight shines on them, the mountains can cast shadow, but without water, there is no reflection. I can see signs of light but the sparkle of light is only reflected through the water. Our lives as Christians are supposed to reflect Christ, but how can we do so if we are dry? How can Christ present us to Himself as a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, unless we are reflecting His perfection? Jesus is the living Water - He sanctifies us and cleanses us with the washing of water by the Word so we may reflect His glory!

Just like we shower or bathe daily to be clean, we must daily be washed by the Word of God, not just on Sunday. The winds of adversity blow and dry up the water. If there is no water, there is no reflection. What will He see when He shines His light on us? Let's reflect on that.

Prayer:

Father,
           Birth in us a great desire to know Your Word. Grant us wisdom and understanding to rightly divide its Truth. Shine Your light on us, O God, and cut away what does not reflect You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Reminder - Full-time Ministry

Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.
1st Samuel 12:24 NKJV

I have a great respect for the offices of pastors and elders and apostles and teachers and missionaries and those whose job it is to "run the church." I know the dedication it takes. The sacrifices. The around-the-clock hours. The isolation and sometimes extreme loneliness. You don't get that kind of anointing to fulfill that kind of ministry without a high level of commitment. I honor their ministry and their lives, but this is not written to them.

Wow...full-time ministry. Oh, how some long to be in full-time ministry!

How would you define ministry? The dictionary says it is the profession and services of a minister. What is a minister? Well, the dictionary does list 'member of the clergy' as one definition. Another is 'somebody's agent or representative'. Still another definition is a 'government diplomat ranked under ambassador'. What does it mean to minister? First definition is to 'help somebody. Give help to somebody in need.' Wait a minute... Aren't we to represent Christ? Aren't we supposed to help others? Doesn't 2nd Corinthians 5:20 say we are ambassadors for Christ? Then we actually are ministers to the lost and dying world around us!

Every Scripture instructs us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, to serve Him in truth with all our heart, to do anything - and everything - for Him with ALL that we have, with ALL that we are, with ALL that we possess. Not one of those Scriptures says the instruction to serve is only to pastors, or only elders, or only apostles, and teachers. No, no, no! Or to deacons and missionaries only.

That's not what it says. Absolutely not - it is directed to ALL of us. Are we alive all the time? Are we breathing all the time? Are we a Christian (all the time)? Then we are in full-time ministry. How are we doing so far?

Prayer:

Father,
            Open our eyes to see Your Word. Open our hearts to the living, breathing part of Your Word. Help us to see we are to be Your hand extended, spreading the Truth of You in word and deed. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

Reminder - Larry Gatlin and Me

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me. For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me.

Psalm 66:16-20 NLT

I've spent the last few hours going through cards, letters, old bills, old newspaper articles... a sales ad! Really?!? Most of it, I can recycle or shred, but right in the middle of it, some old family pictures. I don't know how they got mixed in with all that. Stuffing the stuff...

In the course of it, I happened upon some great and some not-so-great memories, but in my heart, I "visited" some of the milestones and landmarks of my life. God is so good! I am grateful to be able to remember, and I am grateful that I have the advantage of age to look back with an attitude of gratitude for all God has brought me through! At times like this, I always go back to what turned my life around and brought me to God, and I just felt like tonight, I wanted to share it again.

For me, it was this song. Help Me. Larry Gatlin wrote it and recorded it with Kris Kristofferson in 1972. I bought the record then, but didn't listen to it until sometime around 1980. A brief history of me at that time - paycheck on Friday, go to the bank, go to the liquor store, be drunk all weekend, sober up enough on Sunday to go to work on Monday. Be sick till Wednesday. Be good on Thursday, and start all over again on Friday. Broken. I was so broken...

This is my testimony - the shortened version. I'd been raised in church by a mother who tried, but I decided at 16 that I could never be good enough (I didn't know about God's amazing grace), so I walked away. By the time I listened to the entire song of Help Me, (ten years later), I was desperate. I knew I needed to get back to God, but couldn't find my way. I'd forgotten how to pray. I couldn't bring myself to even try to talk to God after all I'd done in a decade of debauchery. That's when I found the 45rpm record in my collection for the final time and actually listened to it all the way through for the FIRST time. God used my favorite singer to throw me a lifeline.

I am convinced that God gave that song to Larry Gatlin for me. It was the prayer of my life - for my life, of exactly where I was, and exactly what I needed.

If this resonates with you, let me tell you this. You're never too far gone. You've never done more than God will forgive. Jesus has already willingly paid the price for your soul. His grace truly IS amazing. God loves you and He will use everything at His command to get to you. Let Him know when you realize you need His help.

Prayer:

Father,
         I pray for the one reading this right now who needs to know Your saving grace. Please reveal Yourself in a very personal way so they know it's You. Save souls, heal their mind, body and spirit, and set them free from those things that tie them in knots, Father. Put people or things in their way that will point them to You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Reminder - Who's Passing Who?

Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.
Mark 6:47-51a NIV

I know I've read this passage many times, but tonight, it finally sunk in that Jesus intended to pass by them. The Message reads, "He intended to go right by them." 

Why would He do that? He saw them fighting the wind that was against them. He saw them straining at the oars. These were seasoned fishermen who knew their way around a boat, plus they were His followers and they were struggling. Why wouldn't He just run to them and save them? But notice, it wasn't until they cried out in fear that He acknowledged them and turned to them.

How often do we do that? We're going about life, doing what we know to do. And there are those times when life gets really hard, and we just keep trying to do life in our own strength... All the while wondering why God doesn't do something. Can't He see what we're up against? Doesn't He see us struggling and straining? Is He really going to ignore our plight?

Let me ask the tough questions - Have we called on Him or are we still trying to do everything in our own strength? Have we acknowledged and confessed our need for Him or are we too busy indicting Him? Are we passing HIM by?

Prayer:

Father,
           Forgive us for thinking that we can do anything apart from You. Thank You for loving us enough to correct us and to turn our hearts. Thank You for Your protection and provision. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Reminder - Guaranteed Life

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Philippians 2:5-8 NLT

It seems we spend most of our lives trying to prove who we are or who we want people to believe we are. And yet, Paul told the Corinthians, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” 

We all want to be a new creation. We all want to have a new life, but we don't always want to do what it takes to have that. As Christians, we are supposed to die to self.  When it comes to the reality of that, we don't like the sound of it or even the thought of it. However, to have new, there must be an end to the old. And we're so worried about that! We don't want to "lose ourselves."  And we sure don't want to die. One of my favorite Alan Neel quotes is, "The only way to have resurrection life is to actually die [to self]."  

The writer of Hebrews says it best, Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT

There's nothing to fear. We're talking resurrection... a guaranteed life in Christ.

Prayer:

Father,

          Thank You for the Truth of Your Word - the comfort and peace in Your promises. It is good to know there is something solid to stand on - something that does not change or waiver. There's no chance of losing our balance when we're standing on Your Word. Help us to understand it better - to rightly divide between soul and spirit so that we truly understand what it means when we read ...in Him we live and move and have our being... In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Reminder - Which Is It?

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
Hebrews 10:35-36 NLT

"I've left it in the Lord's hands." How many times have we heard that? How many times have we said it ourselves?

In the course of conversation, I found myself questioning - Are we believing God or blaming Him? Is it a declaration or a denial? Faith or failure? When we say we've left it in His hands - are we declaring our confidence in God to see it through to fruition, or is it a cop-out because we don't want the responsibility?

Actions speak louder than words. When it comes down to a choice between God's will or our own way, do we continue to do God's will - to trust Him despite what we feel, what people say - or do we quit? Which is it?

Prayer:

Father:

            According to Your Word, we choose to walk by faith and not by sight. We have not yet achieved it, but we focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, we press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which You, through Christ Jesus, are calling us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen 

Reminder - Pair Up

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT

It never ceases to amaze me how God deals with each of His children uniquely and yet, corporately, speaking strongly to our spirits. 

I am amazed at the things God confirms in us. Through giving thanks and acknowledging Him in all areas of our lives, it is as though God strips the blinders from our eyes regarding the wiles of the enemy, to keep us divided. Scripture tells us in Matthew 18:19-20, "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Two can accomplish much more than one because we were never called to walk alone.

We have to be about our Father's business. Keep in mind, that we will get much more accomplished when we think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. "And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."

I heard a story on the radio about horses. They did a study regarding how much weight horses can pull on a load. After hooking up the first horse, it was determined that one horse could pull 250 lbs. Figuring that a pair of horses could pull twice as much, they were shocked to discover that a pair working together could actually pull 1,250 lbs.! Jesus said, "Come my yoke is easy..." Let's pair up with Him!

Prayer:

Father,
Your Word tells us to be of one mind and one heart and one spirit. We want to yoke up with You so we can accomplish great things for You and in Your Name. Help us to fulfill our purpose in You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen