Sunday, January 31, 2010

WHO ARE YOU TAKING WITH YOU?

I have heard several amazing sermons over the last couple of weeks by various pastors, all with the same theme....time of our departure is at hand!! There are NO prophecies left to be fulfilled before the rapture of the Church can take place. There are many things taking place worldwide that are laying the framework for the end times as prophecied in the Bible.

One pastor this morning posed a very interesting question though. He asked, "Is ALL of your family ready to go?" Thought provoking question.

He went on to say that many evangelicals are very mission minded, and there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. We are commissioned to go into all the world with the Gospel message. BUT....how sad to think that we would travel around the world to share Christ with strangers and yet never tell the ones we love the most.

Having sat by the bedside of one who was dying recently, I can tell you when that time comes you realize very quickly what is REALLY important.

Understandably it is hard to broach the subject sometimes. We are not sure what to say, don't want to seem "pushy", don't want to alienate anyone or damage a relationship. But maybe we need to ask ourselves, what is more important...a few moments of discomfort or an eternity spent in Hell?

It is something for each of us to ponder and to take before the Lord. So I ask you today. When the trumpet sounds and the Lord takes you UP, WHO are you going to take with you?

Monday, January 25, 2010

ARE YOU A DISCIPLE?

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````Matthew Matthew 28:19 says that we are to go into all the world and make "disciples"....

Earlier today I began a blog entry. Writers get inspiration from many things when they write. A beautiful sunset, a song, a current event, personal experience, even a statement by another author can send the wheels turning.

So was the case for me this morning. I have been using a devotional that was given me recently by a dear friend. It is powerful and thought provoking...the stuff that leaves you chewing on it sometimes for days.

The writer of this article made the following statement regarding the verse above, "The commission given to the apostles was to make disciples, not just "converts". This article prompted me to write an article based on the premise that one is either a "convert" or a "disciple", meaning that some PROFESS to be a believer, when in actuality it is more a mental assent than a true conversion.

The more I wrote, however, the more I realized that my writing was neither lining up with what the former writer REALLY said nor was it lining up with what I truly believe.

Now that you are probably thoroughly confused, let me explain the difference.

One can be a believer (convert) and not be a disciple. But...you cannot be a disciple and not be a believer.

The author of the statement quoted above was saying that the disciples were to `go into the world ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````go and "disciple" others...not just lead people to Christ and then abandon them to themselves. That I agree with and sadly, too often in today's church, that is exactly what happens. That is why there can be those who have professed Christ, genuinely and with heartfelt enthusiasm. Yet, if left undiscipled, they flounder and wander and often never grow past the stage ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````point``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` of the new birth.```````````````````````````````````````````````

That is why Paul referred to them as those who preferred the "milk" rather than the "meat". In Hebrews 5: 12-14 he says" For though by this time [approximately 4 years] you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach YOU again the basic principles of God's revelation. You need milk, not meat. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness because he is an infant. But solid food [meat] is for the mature...for those who senses have been trained to distinguish beween right and wrong." (Holcomb translation)

Paul was reprimanding the Hebrew believers for they had been believers for 4 years, but were still on a "milk" diet when by that time they should have been consuming "meat". This demonstrates to us that there are believers who never progress beyond the "milk" stage. As we talked about being malnourished yesterday by refusing to come to dinner, we can easily see how this can happen in a person's life.

One essentially chooses to become a disciple. He or she chooses to go on with God, to follow Him, to obey Him, to seek Him. It is a conscious choice.

In Biblical times when a person gave their slave his freedom, the slave could then CHOOSE to go on his way or CHOOSE to remain in the household of his master by his own free will. If he felt his master was good, honest and his staying would be more to his benefit than to leave, the master would take him to the city gate and there at the gatepost he would drive an aul through the slaves earlobe, thereby piercing it for all to see. From then on that piercing would signify that he was indeed free, but CHOOSING to serve His master. In the same way, when one chooses to be a devoted follower of Christ...i.e. a disciple...he is in essence becoming a "pierced ear Christian".

There are many who go through the motions, who have simply given mental assent to the Cross, who acknowledge God and who profess to be believers. Yet nothing ever transpired within their heart. They are not milk Christians. They are not Christians at all. They have been deceived to think that their good works or their church membership is equal to salvation. It is not.

I am thoroughly convinced that when the rapture occurs, if it should occur on a Sunday morning, many will be left sitting in the pews and not only that, but there will be a large number of pastors who are left behind as well.

Today I urge you to ask yourself these questions. Am I truly saved? Do I know that I know that I have trusted Christ and invited Him to take up residence within me? And, if I have, what is my testimony today? Past that conversion point do you have a story to tell of what God is doing in your life. Are you a "milk" Christian or a "meat" Christian? Would you consider yourself a "pierced ear Christian?

I hope as you ask yourself these questions, that you will realize where you are with the Lord and CHOOSE to go forward with Him with an undivided heart.
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Sunday, January 24, 2010

DINNER'S READY

We had only been married a couple of years. It was my birthday, but my usually thoughtful husband had not mentioned it. No card. No "Happy Birthday" when he called at lunch. No mention of a special dinner out as usual. Nothing. Nada. So I assumed he had forgotten.

Hurt and terribly wounded, I decided to just take my time getting home. I went shopping, ran a few errands, and just generally had a pity party.

When I arrived home, I found my husband trying to keep warm a delicious steak dinner he had taken off early to prepare, roses on a beautifully set table and of course, the usual card and gift. I was so sorry that I had doubted him and ruined his special plans. He was waiting for his bride and she failed to show. (or almost anyway)

From the time I was a little girl, I have had a love of beautiful tablescapes. Our church has begun a tradition of decorating tables for a holiday dinner and choir program at CHRISTmas called Tis His Season. The first year it began I was one of the first to volunteer! I LOVE IT!!!! To walk into that room and see all of those beautifully decorated tables will take your breath away!! It is a sight to behold.

There is a website that I ran across a few years ago called Between Naps on the Porch (there is a link on this page). It features dozens of gorgeous tablescapes. It is a feast for the eyes.

To me, when someone sets a table like that, it says that they are anticipating your presence and they want you to feel special and honored and cherished. And, when someone goes to that much trouble to make that kind of presentation, you can generally bet that they won't be serving hot dogs and chips. The food will be equally delectable and eye-pleasing as the table it will be served on.

Our pastor, who loves to create 'visuals', had a beautiful table set on stage this morning, complete with roses as the centerpiece, candles, china and delicate crystal. He used it to remind us that every day Jesus sets the table for us to come and dine with Him, to feast upon His word and to "break bread" with Him. And sadly, many days He waits and waits and waits and we are 'no-shows'. The next day, however, He once again prepares the table and waits, hoping we will find the time.

I wonder how long He sits at the table while He watches us pass right by on our way to the TV or the gym or the golf course? I wonder if tears stream down His face as we choose the stale crumbs of the newspaper or our magazines instead of feasting on the filet mignon of His Word. Does it not grieve His heart to see how we grow weaker and weaker from our "malnutrition" while all the nutrition we could possibly want is right at our fingertips, yet we choose not to partake?

He tells us in the Lord's Prayer that we are to have "daily" bread....not just occasionally or just on Sundays. He fed the children of Israel daily with manna and quail for 40 years! His Word is our life source and if we are to be healthy, vibrant Christians, we must feed upon it. II Timothy 3:16 reminds us that God's Word is "profitable for doctrine (so we'll know what we believe), for reproof (to show us where we've gone wrong), for correction (to show us how to make it right) and for instruction in righteousness (how we are supposed to live.) It is our instruction book, if you will, on the Christian life. If we do not open it, how can we know what God expects of us? If we do not feed upon it, we will miss all the rich treasures He has stored up for us. It is also His "love letter" to us, reminding us of how much He loves us and how faithful He is to us.

Today, won't you come to His table and partake of the banquet He has prepared for you? He is waiting just for you to join Him, to sit a while with Him, to enjoy His presence and to feast upon the "spiritual food" He has selected just for today's journey. Don't settle for the crumbs of the world, when you could be dining on the feast of Heaven.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

PSALM 2010

"I was sure by now, God
You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again
I say Amen
And it's still raining,
As the thunder rolls
I hear you whisper through the rain
I'm with you...." (1)

"I need thee, Oh I need thee
Every hour I need you
Oh bless me now my Savior
I come to thee " (2)

"Where can I go
Oh where can I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul...
Needing a friend
To save me in the end
Where could I go
but to the Lord" (3)

"What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to Him in prayer.

Do thy friends despise forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer
In His arms He'll take and shield thee
Take it to the Lord in prayer." (4)

"Farther along we'll know all about it
Farther along we'll understand why
Cheer up my brother
Live in the Sunshine
We'll understand it
All by and by." (5)

"Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows fall
Why should my heart be lonely
And long for Heaven and home?

When Jesus is my portion
My constant friend is He
For His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me
Yes His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He cares for me" (6)

"There shall be showers of blessing
Oh that TODAY they might fall
Now as to God we're confessing
Now as on Jesus we call.

Showers of blessing
Showers of blessing we need
Mercy drops round us are falling
But for the showers we plead." (7)

(1) Casting Crowns
(2) Annie Hawks
(3) J. B. Coats
(4) Joseph Scriven
(5) J. R. Baxter and W. B. Stevens
(6) Civilla Martin
(7) Daniel Whittle

Sunday, January 17, 2010

FOUL!!

Have you fouled anyone lately? I don't mean on the basketball court, but on the court of LIFE?



Think about it....in the last 24 hours, the last 7 days...have you offended anyone, hurt anyone's feelings, retaliated in anger, been defensive over a real or perceived hurt or injustice. Those are just to name a few of the ways you may have fouled someone.



Maybe you yourself have been fouled. Someone has hurt YOUR feelings, offended you, misunderstood you, let you down or failed to live up to your expectations. No doubt about it, it hurts and makes for a really lousy day.



Let's face it, we all do it. We don't intend to, we don't want to, but we all foul others from time to time. Sometimes we are aware of it, sometimes we are not. But the fact is, we do it. We are sinful human beings and we fail. And just as true, we get fouled by others who mess up just like we do. They most likely did not INTEND to foul us...to hurt us, to anger us, to let us down.



So what do we do when we foul others or are fouled ourselves?



We have several choices.



When we foul others we can:



A. Justify ourselves.



B. Deny that we have done anything wrong (although there is rarely a time when we do not have at least a tiny part to play.)



C. Pretend not to notice that anything is wrong.



D. Seek to make amends, to correct the wrong and seek forgiveness and restoration.



When we are fouled we can:



A. Vow to get even.



B. Get angry and retaliate.



C. Get angry and cut ourselves off from the individual, ending an otherwise good relationship.



D. Refuse any attempts by the offending party to restore the relationship.



E. Try to put ourselves in their shoes and understand why they did or said what they did. Was it intentional? Was it an oversight? Did they even realize what they did or said was offensive to you or why?



F. Lavish grace and LET IT GO.



Most of our misunderstandings with friends, co-workers or loved ones comes from our unmet expectations. We expect those in our lives to act a certain way, treat us a certain way and say all the right things at the right times. We don't always do that ourselves, BUT...we still expect it from others. And, when expectations are not met, trouble soon arises.



If we could just learn to let our expectations be from the Lord instead of others, we would be so much better off. We are HUMAN and as such creatures we are going to foul others and be fouled by others. It is a given.



So, the next time you are fouled by someone....probably before the day is over.... instead of getting mad, seeking revenge or ending a good relationship, stop and try to view the situation from the other person's perspective. If you know them and know their heart, more than likely you will realize that what happened was NOT intentional. They did not think it through, they were busy themselves and probably just didn't realize that their oversight would be hurtful, their goal was one thing and yours was another, etc. Remember that today they fouled YOU, tomorrow you will probably foul someone else, so think how YOU want to be treated and forgive when it's YOUR turn.


Choose to LAVISH GRACE and LET IT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the big scheme of things, relationships are too precious to allow little hurts and misunderstandings to ruin them. Satan loves to get us sidetracked from what should be our main goal....working together to point others to Him.



The next time he tries to throw you a curve ball by letting someone rub you the wrong way, give it back to him by showing the love of Christ and letting His love cover a multitude of sins.



One more time....LAVISH GRACE. I guarantee you, you will be glad you did!

GOD OF ORDER

I Corinthians 14:40 says "Let all things be done decently and in order."

Do you know how many stripes are on a watermelon? Rows of kernels on an ear of corn? How many segments in an orange? GOD DOES!

God is a god of order. He is not a god of chaos and confusion.

The world did not just "happen", it was created by a Master Designer who was all about order.

What a comfort to know that the God we serve is so meticulous even about creation, so that we can also know that if He is that meticulous about His creation, He also cares that much for US! As the Bible says, even the hairs of our head are numbered!

I received the following in an email today. Hope it will fascinate you as much as it did me.


God's order may be observed in the hatching of eggs. For example:

-the eggs of the potato bug hatch in 7 days;
-those of the canary in 14 days;
-those of the barnyard hen in 21 days;
-the eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days;
-those of the mallard in 35 days;
-the eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days.
(Notice, they are all divisible by seven, the number of days in a week!)

The lives of each of you may be ordered by the Lord in a beautiful way for His glory, if you will only entrust Him with your life. If you try to regulate your own life, it will only be a mess and a failure. Only the One Who made the brain and the heart can successfully guide them to a profitable end.

God's wisdom is seen in the making of an elephant. The four legs of this great beast all bend forward in the same direction. No other quadruped is so made. God ordered that this animal would have a huge body, and for this reason He gave it four fulcrums so that it can rise from the ground easily.

The horse rises from the ground on its two front legs first. A cow rises from the ground with its two hind legs first. How wise the Lord is in all His works of creation!

God's wisdom is revealed in His arrangement of fruit, vegetable, and grain seed sections and segments, as well as in the number of seeds/grains.

-Each watermelon has an even number of stripes on the rind.
-Each orange has an even number of segments.
-Each ear of corn has an even number of rows.
-Each stalk of wheat has an even number of grains.
-Every bunch of bananas has on its lowest row an even number of bananas, and each row decreases by one, so that one row has an even number and the next row an odd number.
-The waves of the sea roll in on shore twenty-six to the minute in all kinds of weather.

All grains are found in even numbers on the stalks, and the Lord specified thirty fold, sixty fold, and a hundredfold - all even numbers.

God has caused the flowers to blossom at certain specified times during the day, so that Linnaeus, the great botanist, once said that if he had a conservatory containing the right kind of soil, moisture and temperature, he could tell the time of day or night by the flowers that were open and those that were closed!

Thus the Lord in His wonderful grace can arrange the life that is entrusted to
His care in such a way that it will carry out His purposes and plans, and will be fragrant with His presence. Only the God-planned safe life is successful. Only the life given over to the care of the Lord is fulfilled.

(author unknown)

Friday, January 15, 2010

STRESSFUL DAYS

S-T-R-E-S-S

This is a word that ALL of us can relate to, it is something we live with almost daily. Yet there are times when it becomes almost unbearable, one weight pressing in on another....one crisis following another. We long desperately to escape, yet there seems to be nowhere to run.

How do YOU deal with stress?

Maybe you are like the wife from the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou" whose husband said she just "Runn oft"....

Or maybe you are like Jenny from the movie "Forest Gump" who prayed "Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly away...far, far away!"

Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone with the Wind" had another method of dealing with her many stresses. She said "I won't think about that today. I'll think about that tomorrow".

The psalmist, David, surely knew a little something about stress when he penned these words "My heart is sore pained within me and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said 'Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest." Psalm 55:4-6 (Sounds a little like Forest' Jenny, doesn' t it?)

Still others turn to alcohol, drugs, sex, and other avenues of relief.

There are really only two places you can go for true stress relief...to the Lord Himself in prayer and to His Word.

Just listen to a few verses from the Book of Psalms:

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why are thou disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God." Psalm 43: 5

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." Psalm 46:1,2

"Be pleased O Lord to deliver me; O Lord make haste to help me!" Psalm 40:13

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me; hope in God for I shall yet praise Him for the help of his countenance...yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness [toward me] in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me and my prayer [shall be] unto the God of my life." Psalm 42: 5, 8.

Yes, David certainly knew where to take his stress, didn't he?

We can take our stress to the Lord on our knees, also, for no one knows us like He does. No one cares for us like He does. No one understands the depths of our sorrow, our hurt, our anxiety, our fears, our disappointments or our struggles like He does.

We may share some of our problems with our friends or family and they will do their best to help. But there is no greater friend than Jesus for He knows us like no other and He loves us like no other.

If you find yourself stressed today, I pray that the words to this old familiar hymn will remind you where to go and that there, on your knees, you will find the peace and rest your soul longs for.


WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS
What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer
Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield thee;
thou wilt find a solace there.
---Joseph Scriven

Thursday, January 7, 2010

A PERSONAL MESSAGE OF TRUSTING GOD

Several months ago while visiting Grand Junction Baptist Church, Pastor Danny Rachel shared the following testimony of a father who just learned his 6 year old son had a brain tumor. It is a powerful testimony about what it means to truly trust the Lord in ALL things. I pray it will bless you as much as it blessed me.


A Personal Message of Trusting God

It’s now been more than two weeks since this trial began. God has been so good to us. Probably 90% of you who have joined this group, I’ve never met. Thank you so much for this great outpouring of love.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve done a lot of thinking about what God might be teaching us through this. We’ve received many comments from people who have admired our faith through this trial.

I’ve always been a little uncomfortable with those comments. As I’ve thought about why that makes uncomfortable, I’ve come up with two reasons.

First of all, I’m unsure about what kind of faith is being talked about. I’ve never been sure that it is God’s will that our Gideon be brought back to full health. Now, when I say that, I’m not saying that I don’t think God could do that nor do I want you do think that I don’t desire that. I just don’t think that is the way God always works. However, I do know that God does work all things out for Him to get the maximum glory.

Now, many of you may ask "how can God get glory unless he heals Gideon?" My response would be that he definitely gets glory by healing Gideon, but He gets even more glory when we have our full satisfaction in Him and Him alone!
God isn’t all satisfying and worthy of my praise because he makes us healthy and wealthy. He isn’t worthy because He heals my little boy. He is all satisfying because He is God and He always does what is right! He is all satisfying because he rescued me from my biggest problem.

Our greatest problem isn’t poverty, lack of self-esteem, or brain tumors. Our biggest problem is we have sinned against a holy, righteous God. He has saved me from my sin, and for that reason alone he is all satisfying. He is enough.
Yes, we have faith in our God, but our faith is that He will do what’s right and what is best…even if that meant taking Gideon from us.

Psalm 73:25-28 says it best: [NIV]

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Those who are far from you will perish;

You destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.


The other reason I’m uncomfortable for praise of our faith is because this faith isn’t something of our own doing. This isn’t something that we "tried" and found it to work so we went with it. This faith we have is a gift from God. We cannot take any credit for our trust and faith in God during this trial.


The great news is that there is nothing that disqualifies any of you reading this from having this same faith. No amount of sin disqualifies you. I can say this because I know that I’m probably a greater sinner than any of you and God has been so kind to give me this faith.


Many of you reading this I know are in one of two places. Some of you think that you are a believer, but you aren’t. Some of you know that you aren’t a Christian.
To each of you, I would like to ask you the question-How do you feel right now about your sin? Do you hate it? Are there things that you are treasuring more than Christ?


Maybe you’re treasuring wealth. Maybe it’s sex. Maybe it’s your home. Maybe it’s your children. If you couldn’t do without any of these things, then you have every reason to doubt you are a Christian.


Jesus is the only way to heaven. No one can be good enough to get there. God demands perfection and we just can’t come close to attaining that. That’s why we need Jesus. He lived a sinless life and then became the substitute for His children’s sins.


If you are now seeing your sin in a different light…if you are now seeing how bad your sin is, perhaps you are one of His and He is now calling you into His family.
Plead with Him to save you and He will. He is so satisfying, friends! I’ve never known it as strongly as I have in the last couple weeks. He really is ALL that we need.


I would be happy to talk to any of you who have questions. Feel free to send me a message. (Note: John mentioned this for those on the Facebook Group.)
–John Jordan (copied from Mark "Here I Blog" Nov. 19, 2009)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

WORTH REPEATING

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Jude 24 - “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you fussed and fumed through life’s challenges, wondering if the Sovereign Creator of the Universe was on vacation?

I have a message for you: The God who hung the stars, the God who poured the oceans, the God who raised the mountains, the God who knew you before you were knit together in your mother’s womb, this sovereign God is your Savior. He is your King, and He is in control. When you are plucked from the depths of sin, you are placed in the very hand of God! You can’t climb up into the hand of God; you are placed into the hand of God. Hallelujah! Our efforts didn’t get us there. His grace placed us there. And His love will keep us there forever.

Adrian Rogers - LOVE WORTH FINDING

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

UNTECHNOLOGICAL GOD

"This program has performed an illegal operation and must be shut down. We apologize for any inconvenience".

Don't you just love getting those messages when you are right in the middle of something on your computer?

Yesterday I had composed an email to my daughter, lamenting the frigid temperatures predicted for the end of the week. We are planning a trip for a scrapbook retreat this coming weekend...something we look forward to and plan for ALL year long. It was more of a funny message than a serious one which was a good thing because when I brought up my computer this morning I had one of those obnoxious little messages like the one above saying that my OUTLOOK EXPRESS had shut down. Hence, my message to her did not GO! Thankfully, it was nothing urgent!

It made me think though. How often our marvelous new technology goes south! This same daughter has just had a horrible week with her computer. After loading new memory that she received for CHRISTmas, her computer crashed...died....dead as doornail! No reprieve. Gone. So she buys a new one only to have it crash and burn after loading her virus protection software. Can you spell N-I-G-H-T-M-A-R-E??

Thankfully, with the help of a friend and Best Buy manager, she got a new one and now all is working well. But for several days she was without her computer, something she uses every single day.

In this age, we've come to rely heavily upon our technological devices. One can scarcely drive down the street without seeing at least every other person driving and talking on their cell phones. Walking through a store, one can see any number of people appearing to be talking to themselves, having the most animated conversations. Only when you finally see the little device stuck in their ear do you realize that they are not mentally disturbed.

Now, with the advent of the iphone, the madness has gotten even worse. They are, without a doubt, very ingenious devices and can do so many different things. But I've also noticed that those who have them are somewhat obscessed with them. They are CONSTANTLY checking them, afraid that they have missed not only a phone call or text but now they can check their email, FACEBOOK or twitter updates constantly so that they do not miss ANYTHING going on with all their friends and family. Even last Sunday the man sitting next to me in church was using it to shine a light on his Bible!! Not that that was a bad thing, but then seconds later he was surfing through the gadget doing other things as well. Hopefully, he was a great multi-tasker (though that is very uncommon among men) and was not only keeping up with the latest news, weather and twitter updates, but was also looking at a Bible commentary ap as well.

I am not opposed to technology. On the contrary I really like it and I'm amazed by all that these latest gadgets can do. I'm sure I'd be as bad as the rest with an iphone if I had one. Probably a good reason NOT to get one! But the only problem is that they are great as long as they work. But...when the inevitable happens and they don't...oh my, how it disrupts our world!

Computers malfunctioning at home are catastrophic enough, but when a computer that controls an airport or a train station shuts down, it creates mass havoc. Remember the grid shutdown a few years ago? And when there is a national disaster and the phone lines are all jammed, people are in a virtual panic, trying to reach loved ones.

Aren't you glad that we do not have to rely on technology to communicate with God? We never have to worry about His system crashing. We never have to worry that His lines will be jammed. We never have to worry that we won't be able to get a signal or that our "roaming" will fail. There is never the possibility that signals will get crossed and our GPS to finding Him will lead us to the wrong god.

No, with God the lines of communication are always open, day or night no matter where on the planet you are. Even if you are in outer space, God can still be reached. After all, He is the Master Designer so He can tune in to you from anywhere!

You will never get a busy signal. You will never be shut down in mid-sentence. You will never be told you are the 12th caller in line, that you may choose to hang on or call back later. You will never reach an answering machine.

When you want to talk to God, all you have to do is call Him up. Want to know his phone number? Here it is: Jeremiah 33:3 "Call unto me and I will answer and show you great and mighty things which you know not." He will hear you, He will listen and He will respond.

Why not turn off your cell, unplug you iPod, turn off your iphone and shut down your computer and give Him a call? I'm sure He'd be delighted to hear from you.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

TIME TO CLEAN UP!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It's a new year AND a new decade. Out with the old, in with the new.

Wish life were that simple!

As I look around me at the clutter, the piles and stacks of things that need my attention, the CHRISTmas decorations that still need to be put away, this person who loves order and organization is going insane!!! And it seems the harder I go, the behinder I get. Ever feel that way?

Where does it all come from? How can so much stuff accumulate in such a short amount of time? I mean I have cleaned it up more than once during the holidays and it seems while I am sleeping, it all just mysteriously re-appears and brings more with it!

Of course, as any organized person knows, it's all a matter of staying on top of everything and putting things away as you use them or as they come in. My problem has been, there have not been enough hours in the day to stay on top and not enough energy left at this point to climb up there!

It occurred to me this morning as I was looking around at this ever growing mess, that that is just how sin creeps into our lives. In the midst of the hurry and scurry of life, little things just sneak up on us sometimes. And, since we are so caught up in the rat race, we tend to ignore them even if the signs are there. We just make excuses or rationalize those trivial little things away as NBD..."No Big Deal".

Yet the Bible tells us that they ARE a big deal. Song of Solomon 2:15 warns us to beware of "the foxes...the little foxes that spoil the vine."

Psalm 1:1 warns us, too, that there is a progression to sin. "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." Notice how the one spoken of began by walking by sin, then he stopped to take a look and before he knew it he had sat down in the middle of it. That's just how sin overtakes us.

As we begin the New Year cleaning up and cleaning out, maybe we also need to do some spiritual housecleaning, too. Maybe we need to take stock and see if any little "foxes" have crept in...wrong attitudes, impure thoughts, anger, bitterness, ungratefulness, apathy toward the Word or our prayer time, etc.

The psalmist had a remedy for this. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 140: 23, 24

Let's make that our New Year's prayer so that we can start this new decade on the right foot and in the right frame of mind. We can also echo David's prayer, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51: 10.

As you clean out the clutter in your home, don't forget to de-clutter your heart as well, then you can truly have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!