Category: Sister Judy (Page 15 of 291)

It is not all about spiritual disciplines, reading a chapter a day, or denying ourselves, although these are good practices. The Lord wants us to experience joy in knowing Him and being in fellowship with others who love Him. I read recently from Dallas Willard, “Personalities united can contain more of God and sustain the force of His greater presence much better than scattered individuals.” Gathering in His name helps us go deeper into the Lord, and we don’t feel like we are alone but part of a family who stand together. The enemy wants us to believe we are the only one who follows the Lord, but we stand strong when we stand together.

I love that where we live, we can have a weekly Bible study and pray when we are together, and also pray for the needs when we are apart. Because we are all mostly retired, we find ourselves praying for the grandchildren of many who no longer follow the Lord and are going the way of the world. We need to put on all of the armor of God if we are to stand in this day for it is a spiritual battle: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. (Ephesians 6) Let us not be flippant about the dangers, but know that they are real and we need all of the armor.

Just think of all that we have to look forward to! Even though we may suffer various things in this life, it is nothing compared to all that the Lord has prepared for us to enjoy for all eternity. Let us all seek to finish strong and with excitement for eternity.

A short time later I was reading in a book by Francis Chan, Beloved, and he wrote about how the Lord desires to be with us, to be near us and to eat with us. Not just a rushed meal that we gulp down but a lingering time of fellowshipping with Him. As it says in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.” I think it means a lingering meal like I had with my friend that was not rushed, but a time of enjoyable sharing.

Of course, the Lord likes to hear about our needs as well, but just like our times with friends, it good to both be able to be heard and to have fellowship together. I know I am often found guilty of rushing into my day without spending time really listening to the Lord and simply enjoying His presence. Chan tells about a college professor who asked his class to spend seven minutes silently with the Lord each morning, and nearly the whole class couldn’t do it. They were so used to their music and phones and all the distractions. But how are we going to grow in our love for the Lord if we don’t take time to be with Him? My challenge for you and for me in this New Year is to spend time with the Lord each day, and include five minutes of silence to just enjoy and listen to Him.

None of us can put Jesus into a box and think we know what He will do next. Our part is to trust, pray and ask, but as we all know, the answers don’t necessarily come as we hoped. Neither do they necessarily come quickly. We may even wonder if He heard us and is concerned over what is happening. But in the waiting, He also does a work in our heart, and it may cause our roots to go deeper into Him as we wait and wait.

Jesus is not predictable, which means we can’t be sure if He will answer our prayers in a certain way. So we need to hold things loosely and let Him surprise us rather than grumbling that He didn’t answer the way we wanted. Let us be as David who said, “I will keep my eyes on the Lord. With Him at my right hand I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:11.

The next verse that follows is asking for His help to “Rule though our willful hearts; Keep Thine our wand’ring thoughts; in all our sorrows let us find our rest in Thee: And in temptation’s hour save through Thy mighty pow’r. Thine aid O send us. Hear us in mercy, O Lord, we pray.” How important it is to rule our thought life for it likes to wander all over, especially when we want to sit in quiet and just listen to the Lord. But as our thoughts center on the Lord, we will find rest from all our worries, anxieties and fears. When we are tempted, it is His power that we need to overcome and He has promised to help us when we call to Him.

The song closes with “Show us Thy mercy, so shall we live and sing praise to Thee.” We all need His mercy and grace to daily die to our self-life and to live for Him. We are giving up our selfishness to worship and live for Him who is love, truth and peace. Why do we hang on to our selfish concerns when we can rest In Him? Let us open our hearts wider to Him and let Him rule in every part of our lives.

Many today suffer from mother deprivation, and it shows up later in our lives as mother wounds and a lack of ability to attach. John Eldredge, author and counselor, writes about children with compulsive tendencies to steal who all had mother deprivation. One family who adopted such a boy, had to lock things up every night in the house as he would steal, which was likely the result of unmet needs in his young life.

Although deprivation makes human attachments very hard, there is healing and hope for our souls. I love Isaiah 49:15-16a, “Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you—never. Look, I’ve written your names on he backs of my hands.”  God loves each of us and is the source of all mothering. No matter if we got the mother-love we needed, Aldredge writes, “We need to come home to the mother-love of God, regardless of what we learned from our earthly mothers.”

There is hope for meaningful attachment love, as when we know the Lord we are like branches that are attached to the vine and draw our nourishment from Him. It is His life that flows through us each day. (John 15) God’s love can even flow to those empty places inside of us, including the place of mother need. We can invite Him into our need for that love and nourishment. A few words of the prayer given by John Eldredge follows:

The enemy does all he can to cause us to doubt God’s love as he wants to steal our joy from us. He tries to distort God’s grace and love and wants to shame us. Pastor Francis Chan has written a book called Beloved to help us find unshakable assurance of God’s love. His mother died giving birth to him and his dad rejected him and gave him to his grandma to raise until he was five years old. His dad gave him no affection at all, but God is the healer of broken lives and he is now happily married with seven kids and five grandkids who all love the Lord. God restores what the enemy tries to steal from us.

We can go to the scriptures that speak of God’s love, especially when the enemy speaks lies to us and attempts to make us feel like we are worthless. We can meditate on Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you.”  Paul says in Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from God’s love, not even death or any kind of powers. In fact, death is our homecoming call, when we will be united with the Lord forever. Sometimes it helps to share our doubts with another Christian when we have trouble experiencing God’s love and receive prayer. Let us not live in doubt of our Heavenly Father’s love, but pray to experience it in new ways.