What Happens when we Sleep?

By Gillis Killam –

God wants us to have a good sleep, but we need to lie down!

“Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?” (Psalm 127:2 MSG).

God does wonderful things in our minds and bodies when we get the proper sleep. What may be problems on our minds, when going to sleep, take on a new perspective when we wake up, and our bodies are rejuvenated.

According to The National Sleep Foundation there are four stages of sleep, and in the third and fourth stages the following things happen: This is the deepest and most restorative sleep, blood pressure drops, breathing becomes slower, muscles are relaxed, blood supply to muscles increases, tissue growth and repair occurs, energy is restored, and hormones are released: such as growth hormone, essential for growth and development, including muscle development.

God works miracles while we sleep! He neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4) but He is silently planning in love for those who trust Him.

God created Eve while Adam was sleeping (Genesis 2:21).

While Jacob was running away from the wrath of his brother Esau, he fell asleep on a stone, and while he slept God gave him a vision that showed him God was present with him, and that He had given him and his descendants the land on which he was lying (Genesis 28:10-22).

David felt abandonment when he said “weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5 NIV).

When Herod was seeking to kill the baby Jesus, God directed Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13).

An Angel spoke to the Apostle Paul in the night and told him what to do when the ship was sinking (Acts 27:23-26).

PRAYER: Forgive me Lord, for worrying about things and losing sleep. Help me to leave these troubles in your hands. Thank you for the gift of sleep! AMEN

Intervention

By Heather Allen- 

When I was six I was overcome. I knelt down and confessed that I sinned, regularly, I needed someone who would intervene. I became a teenager. I wrestled with staying home from the parties that would spiral into intoxication and sensuality. Not because I wanted to go, but because I didn’t want to be left out. But then five drunken lives are permanently altered as their car runs off the road and headlong into a tree. Three are dead, two shattered, and my public school turned into a funeral home. The consequences of compromise are far worse than being alone. Weeks after death and regret, the parties kick up again. The pattern repeats. God stands near to the broken, will we turn, will we bid He intervene?

I become an adult. I look for a new pattern. Surely the church is transformed. Surely believers extend their arms. Surely, we the beloved of God flood love on all that is broken. But it is not so, and the mildew starts here in my own hearth. Growing from an insecure doubt that I am not who God says.

The foundation has been laid. Years and years ago. But human insecurity never quits whispering “You are not enough, you will never be enough.” I hold hands with the enemy inclining my head in agreement. “So here is the plan, look around you…you’re better than that guy over there, but you’re a loser compared to her. She would never be your friend, so just ignore her.” And it turns out that he has substance to spare, and she is hurting for a true friend.

My daughter and I take a drive. She abruptly turns to me “When we seek God’s glory we find our empty, lonely emotions overcome by the jolting purposefulness of living in God’s plan.” Is serving God, by loving others, worth trading for the emptiness found in seeking what’s best for self?

We sojourn together you and I, traversing the dusty Earth roads. Will we trip one another, or will we grab hold and run together? Will we live the beautiful blessing of discipleship and fellowship? Will we be the Pharisee or the Good Samaritan? Will we stop to help the ones left to die alone? Will we follow the Pharisee who uttered all the right words and never put them into practice, or will we be the Samaritan who cared more for a broken man than his own reputation, wallet, or time?

A few weeks ago, I walked by a woman who needs my friendship in order to chat with the friend I want. I felt a pinch in my spirit. I appealed for God’s strength to love others better than myself. He reminded me that small deeds of kindness are weightier than I fathom. Intervention in one life affects eternity. Christ made himself of no reputation in order to save us. So when He says “follow me” He is asking us to live from the knowledge that we are loved, valuable, and worth redeeming. This is home. A grounding point from which we find the stability and support to love our fellow traveler.

He Too Was Despised

By Anne C. Johnson –  

Through tears, my girlfriend shared her pain about her eldest son who was being labeled at school as being gay. “I’m glad he is following God’s calling to be a light, but this is too much,” she sobbed.

Having been home-schooled since kindergarten, it was a shock when her oldest son came to his parents with the request of attending public school for high school. He felt God calling him to step out of his comfort zone and share the light of God’s love with others.

Secretly I had my reservations. This young man has such a soft heart for the Lord, and a wisdom about him that can only come from a genuine faith and relationship with God and His Word.
As a home-school parent, I wanted to scream, “Don’t send him into that dark place, they will ruin him.”

But, it wasn’t my decision. And as a friend I felt the need to be supportive. I wrapped my arms around her as we knelt at the altar, secretly begging God to change His mind and calling on this young man’s heart.

One week later at the altar again, my friend shared with me, “They are calling him gay. All the kids are ganging up on him because he doesn’t do the ‘dating thing’ and isn’t girl-crazy.”

She questioned her decision of letting him go to public school. I knew she wanted to do everything in her power to help him and make this horrible situation go away. To erase his pain and soothe his troubled heart.

I found myself asking God, “Why this persecution? Why this torment?”

The answer came strong and clear. “This young man belongs to Me, and he is taking a stand in My name.”

Scripture says that Jesus was often called demon possessed or accused of witchcraft (John 8:48). In Jesus’ day this was the worst thing to be called. Today, the taboo word is gay.

In my daily devotional reading of A.J. Russell’s, God Calling, I came across the most fitting statement for my friend and her son’s current struggle, “Life with God is not immunity from problems, but peace in the problem.”

God’s word said we would be hated and despised. (John 15:20) Though it doesn’t always erase the pain we feel when the world seems turned against us, we know that God is for us, and that Jesus completely understands our hurts and pain. Running to Him during these moments is the Band-aid our spirit needs.

I pray through this lesson my friend and her son, as well as myself, will be strengthened by the knowledge that we are as much of a threat to the darkness around us as our Lord and Savior was during His sojourn on this earth. I pray God will give us all the strength and the patience to continue to love and the endurance to shine His love and light into this hurting and darkened world.

Lions and Lambs

By Hally Franz –

By all accounts this winter has been a rough one, so it’s nice to finally make it to March. Though spring has not arrived yet, if the old saying holds true, this month will go out like a lamb after coming in like a lion.

Those two creatures, lions and lambs, provide perfect pictures to represent fierce, ferociously cold winter days and the gentle, sweet warmth of spring. With regard to weather and animals, both visuals signal with utter clarity an attitude or mood, and very real behavior and actions that accompany it. Both are appreciated and necessary at times, together providing balance and complementing one another.

In our faith, we typically strive to exhibit the softer spirit of the lamb. We want to be Christ-like in our interactions with others, because we hope our behavior will honor Him and draw others to Him. It seems unnatural to take on the lion’s personality. However, there are times for lion behavior as well.

When defending our Christian beliefs, standing up for Biblical truths, fighting forces of evil – none are better than the lion to be the champion of faith. Jesus behaved like the lion when he drove the merchants and money-changers from the temple. He knew what was needed in that moment, just as He did in all His lamb moments as well.

Both the lamb and the lion demonstrate love, but they do so in different ways. Whether we are talking about faith, parenting or weather, there is a place for both. They may seem like polar opposites, but neither is as special without the other.

PRAYER: Gracious and Giving Father, help me to identify those times when the spirit of the lamb will serve You best, and help me to recognize when only the strength of the lion will do.
“And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise” (John 2:15-16 KJV).

Tiger, Turtle or Trust?

By Cindy Martin –

The winds of adversity blow at us from many directions: sometimes it’s the howling sting of poor choices; sometimes it is the gale force winds of unfounded persecution and sometimes it’s just the steady breeze of the fallen world in which we live. Regardless of where they come from, they all have a bite to them.

Two common responses to pain include reacting like a tiger where we lash out and fight back or retreating like a turtle into the perceived safety of our shell in an attempt to shelter ourselves from the outside world.

While there are definitely times to speak up and times to be quiet, I believe the underlying response God desires is that of trust. Trust in God’s complete understanding of the situation and His overwhelming desire to meet us in the midst of the struggle so that He can carry us through to victory. Isaiah 30:15 tells us “in quietness and trust is your strength” (NIV). Often times this is perceived as a weak and almost lazy response to the trials in our lives. I beg to differ. It is hard work to bow your knee before God and ask Him to have His way in the midst of the seeming chaos; to align your will with His and to have the grace and faith to wait until He in His sovereignty intervenes.

As this process unfolds, God knows we often need shielding from the storm and He reminds us in Psalm 3:3, that He is a shield about us; our glory and the Lifter of our heads. We can take further instruction from the prophet Daniel who was falsely accused and maliciously conspired against. He did not pick up a placard to protest the actions of his perpetrators; he didn’t even go to the king to plead his case or try to explain the deviousness of those plotting his death. Instead he faithfully and quietly continued to obey what God had asked him to do – to pray. God honored His faith and delivered him. To be sure, he was thrown to the lions, but what the enemy intended for evil, God intended for good. The backdrop of his situation provided an amazing opportunity to put God’s magnificent power on display.

Personally, I take comfort in the fact that no matter how fierce the winds may get, when Jesus says, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39 RSV), they have no choice. They must obey!

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, thank You that You anchor us in the storm and that the winds of adversity are silenced by the sound of Your voice.”

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