Entering Into God's Rest

I came to Christ in college and I felt compelled to be busy for the Lord. I served through the Baptist Student Union in revivals and community outreaches, witnessed on my college campus and served in my local church through the College and Career group.

After my marriage, my foremost ministry was to my husband and children. I was described by church members as a casually spotless homemaker, and I provided them with healthy, home cooked meals from scratch. When my children reached kindergarten age, I volunteered in local schools as a teacher's helper.

In the churches my husband pastored, I helped to lead worship with my guitar, I mentored younger women one-on-one, and I volunteered in the community at the weekly soup kitchen and seasonal food drives.

Since I had extra time once my children went to school, I volunteered in the church office, conducted women's ministry meetings, taught children's Sunday school and eventually directed the children's Sunday school.

I taught crochet classes at a local yarn shop and led my boss to faith in Christ. I did inreach to members and outreach to visitors in the church setting and helped in my husband's ministry as much as he would allow.

Then, we moved into a travel trailer and our little family accompanied my husband around the eastern USA as he went from church to church as he felt led. My children did puppet shows; and I led singing with my guitar for the children's ministries, sang specials in the church meetings and shared encouraging word pictures as the Lord gave them to me.

I home schooled my children and continued to cook from scratch in our little trailer home. When we settled in a permanent location again, God provided a job for me at a local alternative school to teach social studies and math.

I also volunteered to teach art classes, since that was not supported by the school budget. I had a few student to our home for supper every week so they could experience the love of a Christian family. A time or two, we even housed a student who was homeless or from a violent home. I continued this frenzy of service well into my 40s.

Am I telling you all of this to brag? No, but to confess my faults.

I did much of this in the flesh and was not led by the Spirit of God in many of my activities. I am sure I was walking in God's will at various moments of all of this effort; but I was often out of His will too.

I certainly was not ministering from the place of God's rest, but from my own human effort and understanding. I did not consult God in order to allow Him to direct my paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). I just ran around doing good.

It was only in my late 40s that I really realized the importance of functioning from God's rest (Lamentations 3:25-26). In my 50s, God taught me that prayer is as vital as service; and in my 60s, I started to write more, which is where God was anointing my time.

I learned to say "No" when asked to serve in a ministry where God was not calling me. As a codependent perfectionist, this was painful to do; but as I reaped the blessings of God's continual presence in all that I did do, it did not take me long to learn that to obey is much better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).

Prayer:

Father God, I am so glad that people are learning this lesson at a younger age now than ever before (Psalm 40:6). We are coveting Your presence and anointing in our life rather than sacrifice and service to which You are not calling us (Hebrews 10:6). You would much rather that we spend our time loving You with all of our heart, strength and understanding, and our neighbor as our self before we get caught up in the business of life and church work (Mark 12:33; Psalm 51:16).

You want us to listen to Your Spirit and to function in Your will for our life (Ephesians 2:10; Ecclesiastes 5:1; Proverbs 21:3), because our perfect sacrifice to You is humility, mercy and obedience as we consult You for Your will for our life rather than for us to sacrifice in areas where You are not calling us. - Hosea 6:6; Jeremiah 7:23; Isaiah 1:11; Psalm 51:17

Thought for the Day:

God created us as a Body and if we all function in the ministries to which He calls us, the church will be perfectly fitted for service to Him, to one another and to our community. - Ecclesiastes 5:1

Comfort for the Abused and Oppressed

 

God cares about the abused and the oppressed. He does not look down upon the mistreated, but He abhors their affliction. He gathers their tears in His bottle and records them in His journal (Psalm 56:8). He promises not to hide His face from them when they cry out to Him, and He champions their cause (Psalm 22:24, 140:12). He redeems the soul of the afflicted from deceit and violence. Their blood is precious in His sight (Psalm 72:14). God promises to lift up the distressed above those who try to hurt them and to deliver them from violent people (Psalm 18:48).

The Lord hates those who love violence and promises to punish them (Psalm 11:5; Zephaniah 1:9). He is wearied by the violence in homes and those who make excuses for divorcing their mate, whom they should be protecting (Malachi 2:16). God even despises verbal abuse, and proved it when He inspired Solomon to write, “violence covers the mouth of the wicked” (Proverbs 10:6,11). Jesus equates anger without a cause to murder, and He also speaks out against verbal abuse (Matthew 5:21-22).

There is comfort in belonging to Christ, comfort in His love and fellowship with His Spirit. His comfort makes us tenderhearted, compassionate, single-minded and in one accord with other Believers (Philippians 2:1-2). God gives them hope and a secure future (Jeremiah 29:11). God tells the church to bear one another burdens and to comfort each other (Galatians 6:2). God makes things right and provides the afflicted with a refuge from oppression and trouble (Psalm 9:9; 103:6). He brings down the haughty, evil person and saves the afflicted from their troubles (2 Samuel 22:28).

Prayer:

Father God, You comfort the downcast in our affliction (2 Corinthians 1:4, 7:6). You call each of us to encourage one another and to bear one another’s burdens (2 Corinthians 7:7).  By doing this, we actually fulfill Your law (Galatians 6:2). You call the strong to overlook the failings of the weak, and not to hold it against them (Romans 15:1). We love our neighbor with the same intensity that we love our self (Galatians 5:14).

Thought for the Day:

We encourage each other in our times of distress. - Hebrews 12:12

The Blessings of Generosity

In the eyes of the Lord, giving includes both our heart and our hands. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). We are to give both kindness and provision for the needy. From ancient times, God tells us not to harden our hearts against the poor, especially to those in the household of God. We are to open our hearts and our wallets wide to them without expecting anything in return (Deuteronomy 15:7-15; Nehemiah 5:8-12).

We can be eyes to the blind, ears for the deaf, feet for the lame, give clothes to those without, love the orphan, care for the fatherless and bring joy to the widow (Job 29:11-17, 31:16-23). We are not to withhold any good gift from those to whom it is due, when it is in our power to give to them what they need (Proverbs 3:27-28). Even if our enemy is hungry or thirsty, we are to give him/her food and water (Proverbs 25:21).

 
God promises to deliver us from trouble and to exalt us with honor if we consider the needs of the poor (Psalms 41:1, 112:9). Generous people reap abundance in return for their liberality (Proverbs 11:25). If we give to the poor, we shall never have need; but if we look the other way, we shall be cursed (Proverbs 28:27). If we give to the needy, God will satisfy us in our times of affliction and then our darkness will turn to the brightness of the noonday sun (Isaiah 58:10).

Jesus said that when we give to the hungry, thirsty, unclothed, sick and imprisoned, that we actually give to Him (Matthew 25:35-45; Galatians 2:10). Even if we give someone a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name, because we belong to Christ, He will reward us (Mark 9:41). If we have any extra food, coats, blankets, outfits, shoes, etc, Christ commands that we share them with those who have none (Luke 3:11). He gives us the example of the Samaritan who bound a stranger’s wounds and paid for his care until he was well (Luke 10:33-35).

In Acts, the early church members never said that the things, which they possessed, were their own. Instead, they had all things in common and no one lacked anything they needed. Some who had this world’s goods even sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with everyone else who had needs. In this way, God’s great grace was upon them all (Acts 2:32-46). They even sent provision to Believers in other cities (Acts 11:29; 1 Corinthians 16:1-3; Romans 15:26-27). Women, such as Dorcas, were full of good works and made garments to share with every person who had none (Acts 9:36-39).

By His grace, the Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, so that through His poverty we might become rich. In the same way, God does not require that other people be blessed at our expense. His desire is for everyone to have equality. Therefore, when someone has abundance, they give; and then in their time of need, others will give to them. That is how the Kingdom of God works. If he that gathers much shares until he has nothing left over, then he that gathered little will have no lack either (2 Corinthians 8:1-15). Our giving will join our prayers and come before God’s throne as a memorial for us (Acts 10:4). Even if we are the most generous person alive, however, if we do not have love, it profits us nothing (1 Corinthians 13:3).

There may be a time in the not so distant future that life in the world in which we live will return to dire circumstances, such as the early Christians suffered. There are already many who live in impoverished areas that can use our generosity and support. If we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly; but if we sow bountifully, we shall always reap bountifully. God is able to make all grace abound to us, so that we have sufficiency in all things in order to give generously to those in need. When He enriches us bountifully in every area, we burst forth in praises to Him. Then, when we share from our abundance with others, they will also praise God for His provision (2 Corinthians 9:6-15).

God encourages us to give liberally, because He is pleased with such sacrifices (Hebrews 13:16). If we do not even provide for our own family, or the family of God, we actually deny the faith and are worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8). God wants us to do good, to abound in good works and to share with those in need (1 Timothy 6:18). God will not forget our labor of love when we minister to His Saints in His name. He will give us mercy both now and in the day of the Lord’s return (2 Timothy 1:16-18; Hebrews 6:10).

Prayer: 
Lord Jesus, we greatly rejoice in Your provision for our life. Help us to learn to be content in whatever circumstances in which we find our self. Teach us both how to be abased and how to abound. We can do all things through You, because You strengthen us. We desire that Your spiritual fruit will abound to our account. Make of our lives a sweet smelling sacrifice, which is always acceptable and pleasing to You (Philippians 4:10-18).

Thought for the Day:

If we have this world's goods, and we see our brother or sister in need, and refuse to show compassion to them, how does the love of God dwell in us? - 1 John 3:17

Acceptance With Joy

Read: James 1:2-4
"Knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven."~ Heb 10:34c (NKJV)

I constantly struggle to accept with joy the various negative circumstances that harass my life. For instance, a few years ago we bought a tiny, old brick house built way back in 1971, a 700 sq. ft. fixer-upper. The once dark, paneled walls now stood faded and blotchy. Fiber tile in the suspended ceiling dripped with orange grease, cigarette smoke and age. Old yellowed, metal office blinds covered the few windows. Even after I cleaned the scarred, dry-rotting linoleum kitchen floor it still looked dirty. An outdoor laundry room exposed me to the tropical heat and rains. Permanent pocks marred the reflective film on the windows. This house desperately required a “facelift.”

As the seasons blended from one to another, I finally got sick of listening to myself complain. I realized that I needed to “lift my face” to Heaven with a smile of gratitude instead of a frown of criticism. I thought about the many homeless people who had no dwelling at all. At least, I had a secure residence in which to live. From then on I started focusing on the good qualities about this home. I referred to it as our miniature, antique cottage. I praised God for a dry roof, no termites and carpeting on the concrete floor. True to form, once I changed my attitude, then God miraculously started providing what we needed to remodel.

PRAYER:

Lord, help me to focus on meeting the needs of those less fortunate than I am, and to remember that Heaven is our true home.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Allow patience to produce her perfect work.