Category: Whispers (Page 50 of 161)

The apostle Paul writes often in his letters about freedom. He mentions it ten times just in his letter to the Galatians.  He says in Gal.5:!3, “For you were called to freedom, brother. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” A free life is a gift and not something we earn but something that is free for all who receive it. We’ve probably all met people who we have met that just sail through life freely and lightly, even when going through hard times. It is beautiful and speaks volumes even though they may not say a lot. We also, can live free only because of God’s actions and our part is to respond. On our own we can’t live a life of freedom.

 Next Job’s body was attacked and full of painful sores, so much so that he used broken pottery to scrape himself as sat in ashes. At that point his wife told him to renounce God and die. Some encouraging word and from the one closest to him!  But he responded with that we not only receive good from the Lord but we also have to accept misfortune. To add to his problems, his friends accused him of sin as the cause of all those terrible things happening to him. How about those times we are misunderstood by our friends, our motives are maligned and we feel helpless to defend ourselves. We may have to just sit tight for a while until God reveals to them what is really going on. Job had to listen for days to all the accusations but the Lord ended up defending him and having him offer prayers for his friends who judged him. We know from the familiar story that God also restored everything and twice more to Job.

  When we go through those hard times, let us know that God is doing a deep work in us; He sees and walks with us through it all and has our good in mind. Let us not lose hope but remember that one day He will restore us with far more than we have endured in our suffering.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Al and I already saw our first robin on the Paul Bunyan trail! Today Al is going to Pine City to get our taxes done and I hope to clean all the blinds and windows while he is gone. 

How do we live like the Lord desires for us, with intention and as wise people? Too many times in our Christian walk we can go on auto pilot rather than having purpose in each day. Katy Boykin writes, that “Intentional livings is co-authoring your life with the Creator of the universe (God) to make your highest contribution to yourself and the world.”. We are to pay attention to how we live and make the most of the opportunities the Lord puts before each of us. How we do that may be quite different for each of us, as He has a unique purpose for each of our lives and gifted us accordingly. The closer we come to Him as we read the word, worship, spend time in prayer and listening to Him, the more we will be able to accomplish His purposes in our lives.

Living intentionally will help us live each and every day with purpose as we make progress in choosing His will over our will and learning to trust the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our lives. It means dying to self and our desires, but it is replaced with choosing God’s ways and for His pleasure. He will show us the areas in our lives that need His attention and free us to be our true selves and live with purpose. We all have spiritual gifts given us and as we recognize and know how we are gifted we will find that we can live more purposefully. One person with the gift of mercy will find opportunities to go along side another to bring help; the one with the gift serving will spend time pouring out for others in ways of meeting their needs etc.

Let us not be lethargic and selfish but rather live whole heartedly for the Lord and bring much glory to Him.

 .

I was reading this morning about King David when he made plans to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. It was a large wooden container, overlaid with gold and inside were placed the tablets of the ten commandments, manna, and Aaron’s rod; on top there were 2 cherubim with spread wings on each side of the mercy seat where the presence of the Lord dwelled. It had molding around it with gold rings so it would be carried between 2 poles without anyone touching it. But instead of carrying it the way they were instructed, they put it on a cart and when Uzzah put out his hand to steady the cart, he immediately died. He ignored the way God had commanded and lost his life. It didn’t matter how the people felt about it and agreed how it was to be carried, for they were to obey and not to touch it. God’s word and ways always trumps ours. I often pray, “Lord, this is what I want, but I want your will more. I will be okay with whatever happens, for it is in your hands!” I wish I could say I always do that but I also fail and do my own thing and miss His peace.

The best way to live is to live is an uncompromised life for God, not self, and to follow how He would lead us. I suspect we all argue with God at times, going our own way and thinking we know better, but it isn’t long until we discover His way is always best. As it says in Psalm 93:1 & 5, “God is King, robed and ruling. God is robed and surging with strength…What You say goes—it always has. ‘Beauty’ and ‘Holy’ mark your palace rule, God, to the very end of time.”

Laura responded by writing, “Until we lose a sense of what ministry costs us and the tradeoffs involved in serving others, we will struggle to love and serve as Christ did.” Perhaps we all have times that we are weary and then asked to drop everything to minister to a family in need. Or we get irritated when we are busy and called to serve when others around us do not do their part. It goes against our sense of fairness and we may grumble and complain and feel like a martyr.

But what if we lose our sense of sacrifice and become more selfless and even joyful in service to others? I love to get the newsletter of a missionary couple that we help support. They have spoken at our church when they were on furlough and exude joy as they tell about their ministry. Even their newsletters are not complaining about how tired they are or how much they sacrifice with all the many groups coming or other places they are called to speak, but rather how God is working and moving and the joy of being part of it. What a difference. When we serve others out of our own power, we will get exhausted and find ourselves complaining. But when we rely on the Lord and experience His love for us, our sense of sacrifice will turn into praise and joy, not complaint. Like Laura says, Let us not serve the Lord out of obligation or guilt but out of a spirit of gratitude for His love and generosity to us. May we be like Mary who said in Luke 1:38, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

  We make mistakes and sin daily even when we are not aware, and all of us need forgiveness. When I went to our Women’s Bible study the leader was busy getting ready and I told her I would put out the name plaques of card stock on the counter so everyone could claim them when they came. There were two piles but what I didn’t know was that she had them alphabetized and I just haphazardly put them on the counter. I messed up and I wasn’t even aware at the time. It hit me that there must be a multitude of times in my life and maybe your life too, where we are doing maybe even good things but still missing the mark because of doing it the wrong way or a wrong attitude, or wrong timing. God is so merciful and wants us to surrender to Him and to desire to follow His lead.