I had the sweet privilege yesterday of talking with a young woman about some hard things that she is experiencing in her life. Most of the difficulty she is facing is from choices she’s made outside of the will of God. There has been a straying from the Lord that has taken her down a tough path. I had the opportunity to open the Word of God and share with her the way back to the Lord. My heart truly aches for her and I’m praying she will take the counsel given and return to the Savior who so desires that she return to Him.

I went to prayer meeting last night with the burden of this dear woman on my mind. As the service began we opened our songbooks and sang “Come Thou Fount.” As we sang the words in the third verse my heart cried to the Lord, “Yes, Lord, this is me!” They are as follows:

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

As I sang I thought about the young woman I had counseled in the afternoon and how her heart had wandered, but I also thought about how my own heart is indeed prone to do the same thing. I am prone to leave the God I love! It is crucial that I understand my hearts’ propensity to lead me away from the God that saved me. Without that understanding I could very easily ignore the warning signs of straying and wake up far from Him. This does not happen overnight, it happens little bit by little bit.

What are some warning signs that we’re straying from God?

· Not reading the Bible and a lack of desire for reading His Word
· No desire to pray
· No desire to be in God’s house
· No burden for the lost
· Doing things we know are disobedient to the Word of God, and excusing it
· No desire for Christian fellowship

Just like a physical is crucial to my physical well-being, a daily spiritual check-up is necessary in my life so I don’t follow my wayward heart. How thankful I am that He loves us no matter how far we may stray. However, there is daily grace available to keep us from straying. May each of our hearts cry out daily, “Here’s my heart, O take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above!”

I don’t know who invented the GPS, but I think it’s just about the most brilliant piece of equipment ever! On the pamphlet that came with mine it says, “personal travel assistant.” It’s like have my husband on the phone guiding me each step of the way (that was our pattern in the past!). It gives such clear directions, both spoken and drawn on the screen before me. I know when a turn is coming up, when I need to change lanes on the interstate, where the exits are, and when I’m nearing my destination. It also tells me when I’ve made a wrong turn.

There have been times that I’ve put in my destination, and then along the way have had to make a stop for lunch or a restroom break that wasn’t put into the instructions. My “personal travel assistant” tells me to make a U turn. Of course I ignore it because I need to go another way, just for a little bit. I had every intention of getting back on the the route they’ve mapped out for me – I just need to make a little detour!

This morning as I was reading in Mark 12 I read about the chief priests, scribes and elders coming to Jesus to question Him about what authority He did His miracles. Jesus wisely answers them, then gives a parable that in essence reminds these men that they were not accepting the Savior that God sent into the world to save them from their sin. The scribes were angry and the Scripture says “they wanted to lay hold on him, but they feared the people,” so “they left him, and went their way.” I realize that this is saying that they decided to leave and go away, but in reality they also went their own way. They did not like hearing the Truth that Christ spoke. It pricked their hearts and rather than listen to Him, they ignored the instruction and took a detour. They had NO intention of getting back on the route Christ mapped out for them.

As a Christian, it’s my responsibility to follow the route God has laid out in His Word. It’s not always what I want to do; sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it goes against my flesh. But if I’m to get to the desired end (Christlikeness) I must stay on the path. As a pastor’s wife I’ve had many opportunities to speak with women that are going through a trial and have come to me for counsel. Sometimes this dear lady will follow the counsel from the Scriptures, and what a joy that is! Other times I’ve seen a lady hear the Truth, but ignore it. She wants to go her own way. She’s going to take a detour because she doesn’t like the instructions she heard. Spite the fact that she needs to make a major U turn she keeps going the direction she’s mapped out instead of the one her Personal travel assistant (the Holy Spirit) has given her.

If we’re to get to our destination of being like Christ we must listen and stay on the path! We may not like the scenery along the way, but we can trust God. He knows how to guide us better than we can guide ourselves! Let’s not ignore his directions.

Many times as I have my devotions, I type the thoughts the Lord teaches me in my devotional journal on my computer. Often I’ll type a word and then see it underlined in red. Red underlined words mean that word isn’t spelled correctly – or that it isn’t a word in the dictionary of my computer. The word “servanthood” is one such word – it’s just not in the vocabulary of Microsoft Office Word! But it is a word, and it was one that was in the vocabulary of Jesus; as a matter of fact, it was the essence of His life!

Servanthood isn’t in the vocabulary of two men in the book of Mark either. In Mark 10:35-52 we read of two times where a request is asked of Jesus. The first request is made by James and John. When Jesus approaches them He asks, “What is it that I should do for you?” They then ask that they be granted to be seated one on each side of His right hand in glory. Jesus tells them that it is not for Him to grant such a thing. The answer was “no.”

In the next part of the passage we read about blind Bartimaeus crying out to Jesus. Jesus comes and asks him the same question He asked James and John – “What is it that I should do for you?” Bartimaeus says, “That I may receive my sight.” Immediately Jesus tells him to go his way; his faith had made him whole. The answer was “Yes!”

What is the difference in these two requests? The first request would have magnified James and John. Being served was what they desired! They were looking for a position. Jesus told them and the rest of the disciples that whoever would be great must be the servant of all. Jesus was just that. How humbling it must have been for James and John to realize that they wanted to be something that was contrary to the very nature of our Savior!

In the next scenario when Bartimaeus is cured of his blindness. we see clearly that Jesus is exalted – not Bartimaeus. After his healing Bart followed Jesus “in the way.” He wasn’t seeking for a following for himself; he now became a disciple.

The difference in the two requests was their motive. The things that we ask God for must be things that would exalt Him. If we’re asking Him to grant something so we can have a position or get recognition can we really expect Him to give it to us? If there’s a matter we’ve been praying about and the answer has been “no” perhaps we need to look at it and ask ourselves if this would exalt Christ or ourselves. Oh, initially we might not have that thought of self- exaltation, but what about the hidden motive of our heart? We need to ask the Lord to search us and see if we have a right attitude concerning the thing we’re asking Him for.

Jesus left the glories of heaven to come to earth to humble Himself to be a servant. Everything we do, and every request we make should resemble our Savior. Is servanthood in your vocabulary?

Another Monday is here …another week, another month – with needs to be met and demands to fulfill. How can a woman do it all and not end up in the crazy house in the process? It can only happen when we realize that we cannot do it all, but the Lord can. We are so limited in what we can do and God is so boundless! We can’t do anything without His enablement. Consider:

A Woman can:
feed a hungry family
administer medicine
teach a child
love her husband
discipline a child
teach a Bible lesson
exercise her body
quiet a restless child
clean a dirty house
put a child to bed
sing a song

But only God can:
bring nourishment to their body
bring healing
impart wisdom
unite their hearts
break their will
convict of sin
give strength
give peace
clean a sinful heart
make them sleep
give a song

I find that the best place to acknowledge my need for God and His authority in my life is on my knees each morning. I give Him the demands on my day and my burdens. It is only then that I am able to see the second column – the things only God can do begin to take place.
What has He done for you today? I’d love to hear about it!