When was the last time you called your doctor’s office, insurance agent, computer tech, customer service department, bank, or even your sister and actually got to talk to a real, live person? Most times a message line picks up the call and you listen to a set of instructions that leaves your head spinning so badly you can’t remember your own telephone number so you can leave a message. One message that tickles me is, “When you have finished you may hang up…” Oh, thank you! I can hang up! Otherwise I may have sat here with the phone in my hand all afternoon waiting for the next set of instructions. It can be very frustrating, can’t it, when you just want to ask a simple question and all you get is a machine?
In light of this, how sweet Jeremiah 33:3 is – Call unto me and I will answer thee... The God of heaven, our Creator is not too big to answer our call! Can you imagine calling the computer tech and having Bill Gates pick up on the first ring to help you with your request? No way! How about calling your doctor’s office and hearing his voice greet you? Don’t think so! But when I call out to my Father in heaven, He not only hears me but He answers. That is amazing. That is wondrous love. That is our God!
The next time you make a call and you hear a recording instead of the person’s voice you wanted to talk to, remind yourself of the sweet blessing of God answering you each time you call Him. Maybe you won’t find yourself quite as frustrated when you hang up the phone.
You can click out of this blog now. Sorry! Couldn’t resist! =)
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Summertime In My Heart
A sparkling jar of strawberry freezer jam. A lightening bug flickering in the yard. Eating breakfast outside on the deck. A game of badminton in the backyard. A morning dove’s coo. Fresh strawberry pie. Flower boxes laden with blooms. Fresh corn on the cob. The smell of the grill. Daylight at 8:45 in the evening. Picnics. Watching the boats skim across the lake. Driving with the windows down. Baseball. Warm weather. The ice cream truck’s bell jingling in the neighborhood. Dew on the morning grass.
These are some of my favorite things about my favorite season – summer. I thank my great God for creating the seasons. Each one is a welcomed change, but I absolutely love summer. I don’t want to take a day of it for granted. I want to appreciate the goodness of all the little things you can enjoy only in the summer months. And oh, I’ll hate seeing summer end.
When I was a little girl I remember singing the song, “It is Summertime in My Heart.”
It is summertime in my heart,
It is summertime in my heart.
Since Jesus saved me,
New life He gave me.
Ev’n in wintertime it’s summer in my heart!
I can truly relate to what the writer of this song was saying. My salvation brings with it something that is completely unique – new life! I John 3:14 – We know that we have passed from death unto life… It also brings the awe of new things – new desires, new goals, new thinking. II Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. There’s a warmth and a freshness in my relationship with the Lord. Romans 6:4 – …like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Light replaces the darkness. I John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. There are so many blessings of being saved that you only experience when you know Christ as your Savior. Best of all – there isn’t an end to this summertime in my heart! I John 5:13 – These things have I written unto you that believe on the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life…
What season is it in your heart today? If there’s the deadness of fall and winter instead of the life of spring and summer, refresh yourself with the good things God has for you in His Word and at His side. It can be summer in your heart all year long.
What About Men That Won’t Rise Up for God?
Yesterday as I shared the wonder of what God did in our service, and rejoiced in the fact that there were many men who were willing to rise up for the Lord, I was very mindful of women that would read this blog and wonder why their husband couldn’t be numbered among that group. One dear reader left a comment about this very thing. You may have a husband that is saved, yet there is no real fruit in his life. You’d love for him to be the spiritual leader of your home, but that is not the case. What is a woman to do in this situation?
Let me say first of all, that too often we put expectations on our husband of all the things we think he should be. Years ago I heard an illustration that I’ve never forgotten because it truly pricked my own heart. Think about your husband standing in the middle of a drawn box. Each expectation you have of him adds a prison bar around that box. You think he should help with household chores – add a bar. He needs to have devotions with the family – a second bar is added. Surely he could bring home flowers or a gift from time to time – add another bar. You expect that he participate in the men’s day at church – another bar is added. By the time we finish with all we think he should be he is completely imprisoned in our expectations. Psalm 62:5 says, “My soul, wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from (of) Him.” Is there anything wrong with the things we desire for our husbands? No, those are all wonderful characteristics, but it has to be the Lord that puts those components in his heart. Psalm 127:1 “Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it…” When we, even sweetly nudge our husbands to be something or do something, we are doing the building and the Scripture says we are laboring in vain. In other words, we’re doing it for nothing!
To sum up, we must:
- Let God fill our expectations. Only then will we never be disappointed!
- Let the Lord build our house. Lay down the hammer. Even if you’re just gently tapping with it, you’re still trying to do the building. Lay it down.
As I encouraged the reader who left a comment yesterday, the best thing to do is pray Scripture for our husbands. Colossians 1:9-12 is a favorite of mine, but there are plenty of other wonderful passages that you could call out for your man *(see below). After praying you quietly live out a godly life before him while you love him with all your heart and being (I Peter 3:1-6) Then wait and watch God work in ways you never could. I’ve seen God do wonderful things in my own marriage, only after I stepped aside. Could I also encourage you not to compare your husband with other men while you’re waiting? Would you want to be compared to another woman who appears to have it all together? It’s unfair to imprison our husband with those kind of expectations. (II Corinthians 10:12) Perhaps right now the Lord is wanting to show you that “when you get to the place where there’s nothing left but God, you will find that He is enough.”
Take heart, Friend. God is even more concerned about your husband than you are. He will do the work in your husband’s life, and you will find that He will meet your expectations while you wait on Him.
*Other passages to pray: Psalm 1, II Thessalonians 1:11-12, Ephesians 3:13-19, Philippians 1:9-11, I Thessalonians 3:10-13
Rise Up O Men of God
Yesterday morning in my quiet time with the Lord before church I prayed, “Lord, your word says in Psalm 147:5, ‘Great is our Lord, and of great power.’ I long to see, not what man can do today, but what You can do. Help us not to come to church this morning and practice formality and ritualism. We want to see You at work…” I had no idea how God would answer my prayer, but I just trusted that He would.
The service began with the sweetness of Sunday school and the study of Psalms 146-150. We were reminded “let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6 As we sang our hearts praised the Lord. A baby dedication followed with the parents and grandparents being reminded to be godly examples for this little baby boy to follow. It was a sweet, tender time as this little one was prayed for and given to the Lord. As the preaching time approached my husband put up on the screen the opening slide for his message. The slide read: Rise Up O Men of God. I Timothy 1:7 His heart was overflowing with the joy of the morning…he stood and looked out over the quiet congregation. Then a man close to the front spoke up (an unusual occurrence without being prompted).
“Pastor, may I say something?”
“Certainly.”
“That screen says, Rise Up O Men of God, and I just have to stand up and say that the Lord saved me and I praise him for it.”
Another man stood after him.
“I have to stand with my brother and give testimony of what God’s done in my life…”
When it was finished fifteen men had stood to testify of God’s love and grace in their lives! The regular preaching time never happened because a great God moved in with His power. It was something like I have never experienced before, but hope to witness again the next time we meet in God’s house. The service ended with the men gathering down at the altar to pray. What a precious service it was! If you missed it, I’m sorry for you!
In the service last night the message reminded us of our response to praise – “teach me Lord.” What does the Lord want to teach me as a result of the sweet time of praising His name yesterday morning? One thing I’ve thought a lot about is that as these godly men have a desire to rise up for God I have a responsibility as a woman.
It is my responsibility (and yours) to back up my own husband in His desire to rise up for the Lord. It’s odd, but sometimes we wives pray for our husbands to take the lead, then when they attempt to do that we buck them. As our husband desires to be godly men we need to be behind them 100%. Say “yes” when he asks us to participate with him in ministry. Be willing to serve alongside him, and obey his desires for your family. Yes, I said “obey.” If he wants to make a change in the child training, do it. If he wants to go early for prayer time, go. If he wants to refrain from a particular worldly activity to protect your family, don’t argue – obey.
It is my responsibility to pray for my husband and the men of our church to be courageous and rise up for God. In the days ahead it may take great courage to stand for the Lord. Pray for their courage. Pray for their steadfastness. Pray for their purity.
Praise the Lord for His great power and for the wonderful work He did yesterday. I am looking for His working around me today, and I am desirous to respond to my husband as He submits to our Great God.
Serving Without Cost
The proverbial woodshed is where I’ve spent my morning. It began as I read II Samuel 24. David had sinned against the Lord in numbering the people. Due to his sin 70,000 men died in a pestilence that was to have lasted three days, but was shortened, by God’s mercy. As is David’s character, he repented of his sin, and asked the Lord to put the punishment on him and his father’s house for his great sin. David then is told to offer a burnt sacrifice. As he goes to gather the threshing floor and the materials necessary for the sacrifice, a wealthy man by the name of Araunah desires to give David what he needed. What would most of us have said at that moment? “Woo hoo! This is my lucky day!” Then the fifty shekels of silver would have been slipped back into our pocket to use for something else (probably self). But David did not do that. He told Araunah, “I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing.” Woodshed, here I come.
Oh that my heart would be willing to only offer to the Lord that which costs me something. Too often I serve when it’s convenient for me, when it fits into my planned time schedule, and when it doesn’t take me out of my comfort zone. That doesn’t sound much like sacrifice. When I look to Calvary and see that Christ’s sacrifice for my sin cost Him His life, I am rebuked at my puny gift that has cost me nothing.
One of my favorite stories of missionaries is that of David Livingstone (pictured above). He was born in Scotland in 1813. He trusted Christ as his Savior and then desired to “show his attachment to the Lord” by giving his life in service on the mission field. He left for Africa when he was 27. He was accompanied on part of his journey by his father, whom he never saw again after that day. Speaking of the sacrifice that people said David had made, David said this:
“People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply acknowledging a great debt we owe to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny? It is emphatically no sacrifice. Rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, danger, foregoing the common conveniences of this life–these may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing compared with the glory which shall later be revealed in and through us. I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk, when we remember the great sacrifice which He made who left His Father’s throne on high to give Himself for us.”
David Livingstone lived a very difficult life on the field. He and his wife suffered many hardships while there. Two of their children died in infancy. His wife died at 42. The end of David’s life found him alone, with no family near him. At four on the morning of May 1,1873, the boy who slept at Livingstone’s door wakened, beheld his master, and fearing death, called Susi. “By the candle still burning they saw him, not in bed; but kneeling at the bedside, with his head buried in his hands upon the pillow. The sad, yet not unexpected truth soon became evident; he had passed away on the furthest of all his journeys, and without a single attendant. But he had died in the act of prayer, — prayer offered in that reverent attitude about which he was always so particular; commending his own spirit, with all his dear ones as he was wont, into the hands of his Savior; and commending Africa, his own dear Africa, with all her woes and sins and wrongs, to the Avenger of the oppressed and the Redeemer of the lost.”
I am taken, once again to the woodshed. How rebuked I am at his words and his life. I cannot call what I do for the Lord a sacrifice when it costs me so little. Do I only witness when I’m in the mood? Do I pray if it fits into my schedule for the day? Do I only give when I still have something left for myself? Do I only serve when it’s what I want to do? Each time I serve in such a manner I can picture myself stuffing those 50 shekels of silver back into my purse.
“Oh, Lord, forgive my selfish heart and help me to serve you only when it is of cost to me.”
RefreshHer 