Peace Like a River

By Cheri Cowell –

 

The word ‘obey’ is not considered a positive word today. Ask children to tell you what the word ‘obey’ means and many would have no idea. We don’t stress obedience. Perhaps this is because we struggle with our own obedience. It feels like we are surrendering, giving up, even losing. That’s because at the heart of obedience is the requirement of humility. Humility asks us to bend and finally surrender our wills.

Yet, the amazing thing about obeying God is the peace that flows through you and your life when you finally surrender to him. Like a full-flowing river, peace will wash over your life when you quit struggling and finally surrender. When you obey and give up your right to be right, good things flow to you like rolling waves of the sea. When your will is fully surrendered to God, peace will flow in your life like a refreshing river.

“If you had obeyed me, you would have had peace like a full-flowing river. Good things would have flowed to you like the waves of the sea” (Isaiah 48:18 NCV).

Prayer: I admit I struggle with obedience and the humility required, but I long for my life to flow with peace. So, help me to bend and surrender my will to Yours, God, so good things will roll in my heart like a refreshing river.

God’s Ways

By Anne Johnson –

 

I ran to find the ringing phone and breathlessly answered. “Hey sweetie,” my mom said. “Is Matt home?” It was an odd question. My husband Matt and my mother get along well, but in the ten years we had been married, she had never called to talk to him.

“Yeah, why?” I asked.

“I want to talk to both of you,” she said.

We continued our conversation as I searched around the house for Matt. When I couldn’t find him inside, I headed to the garden. “Here he is,” I declared, “playing in the dirt.”

Matt looked up from the row he was weeding. “What’s up?”

“My mom wants to talk to both of us.”

I put the phone on speaker, “Okay Mom, we’re both here.”

I heard my mom clear her throat before she started. “I just received news from the doctor. He found a cancerous lump in my breast. I need to have surgery and radiation soon.”

My eyes teared. I felt Matt’s arms encircle me. Leaning against him I found the strength to ask my mom the myriad of questions that rolled like a tumbleweed through my mind. We talked for a while.

That night Matt and I discussed my mom’s condition. The next morning I called and invited her to come and do her radiation and recuperating at my house. Apparently, she had thoroughly talked the situation over with my dad and older sister. They had discussed many options, and reasoned that mom should go to Seattle and stay with my older sister, Maria.

I attempted to persuade my mom to change her mind, “Maria’s not a nurse,” I said.

“No, but you have two small children,” Mom replied.

“Maria has two kids,” I countered.

“They aren’t toddlers.”

“But…” I tried to protest.

“Sweetie, are you really worried about where I’ll be, or about the fact that I have cancer?” Mom asked.

I felt like a cyclone had sucked all the air out of my lungs. My chest hurt, and no words could escape. I bawled.

“Annie,” Mom said softly, “God’s ways are different than ours. I don’t like that I have cancer either, but we must have faith and trust God.”

“I know.”

“Listen, I really think that being in Seattle is the right thing. Everything is going to be okay,” Mom stated.

Her confidence and faith strengthened me. After I hung up, I grabbed my Bible and found the scripture in Isaiah 55:8 that my mom had referenced. I prayed that God would grant me His peace and assurance, and that through this His perfect way would be revealed. Seven years later, when Maria lost her husband to bladder cancer, my niece and nephew turned to my mom for support. If she hadn’t spent those three months with my sister, the deep connection between grandma and grandchildren wouldn’t have happened.

God didn’t cause these events, but through them His good and perfect will shone through. In the middle of the battle it is hard to see the path ahead, but knowing God’s ways are best, I find strength to face life’s challenges.

Changing Seasons

By Gillis Killam –

 

We had a long winter this year in Canada. Spring was slow in coming. It seems that summer will never come! People complained on the internet, TV, in the stores, at home and on the streets.  Climatologists tell us our climate is changing and we should expect troubled times ahead.

But God has said that as long as the earth remains, these seasons will happen regardless of what the environmentalists tell us.  Genesis 8:22 states that the seasons will continue to come in their order.

We all like the summer season because it’s a time of pleasure, holidays, travel and experiencing the great scenery that God created. There are spiritual seasons in our lives as well, and we all go through fall, winter, spring and summer where we experience changes that challenge our lives.

No matter how we complain about the weather, it does nothing to change it. We have to cope with it no matter what the season. So it is with spiritual seasons that bring us tough and bitter experiences: cold as well as warm times. When we face storms in our lives we need to prepare ourselves to stand firm. In arid times when there are dry spiritual seasons in our lives, we must draw upon the resources of the spring of life in Christ. In times of tragedy or the loss of a loved one we need to take comfort from the God of all comfort.

The word of God is for all seasons. Paul told Timothy to “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV). No matter what season we may be going through, God’s word will give wisdom, encouragement, comfort and direction. Paul told his disciple Timothy that the Bible is the source from which we can draw what we need (2 Timothy 3:16).

Jesus told His disciples that the times and seasons, whether future or present are in His hands (Acts 1:7).

The Apostle Peter said we are to be ready at all times to give an answer for the hope that is within us (1Peter 3:15).  God said he would never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

In a world filled with hopelessness we need to sow seeds of hope in the lives of others; no matter what season we may be experiencing.

Prayer: O God, help me draw upon your strength and comfort not matter what season I face in the future. AMEN

 

What’s a Wasted Life?

By Dawn Wilson –

 

A popular retro refrigerator magnet proclaims, “A clean house is a sign of a wasted life.” From the looks of my house, I’m not wasting any time!

No, the truth is, everyone wastes time. A motivational video by performance artist Ze Frank used jelly beans to show the essence of time in our lives.

He used data from the American Time Use Survey (Department of Labor). The video’s narrator says the average American has approximately 28,835 days of life. A pile of jelly beans represented those days. A man extracted first one, then 364 candies for the first year of life. Then, 5,575 jelly beans represented the first 15 years from childhood to the threshold of adulthood.

The question was, what do we do with the remainder of our time?

Sleep equals 8,477 days; and eating, drinking and food preparation comes to 1,635. Work takes up 3,202 days, and we travel for 1,099 days. We watch television (or entertainment) 2,676 days. We spend another 1,576 days doing chores, tending to pets and shopping. Another 564 days, we care for friends and family. We spend 671 days grooming, bathing and visiting the bathroom.

We’re involved in community and religious activities or duties, charities, and taking classes for 720 days.

What’s left? Time “for laughing, swimming, making art, going on hikes, text messages, reading, checking Facebook, playing softball, maybe even teaching yourself how to play the guitar.”

But then the thought-provoking questions: “How much of (that remaining time) do you think you’ve already used up? If you only had half of it, what would you do differently? What about half of that? … What if you just had one more day?”

As a Christian, I’ve thought a lot about wasted versus purposeful living. I don’t think we’ll know we’re wasting life unless we consider what it means not to waste it.

In Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper wrote, “God created me—and you—to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion—namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying His supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.”

It sounds like the opening words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

Enjoying God and displaying His supreme excellence are both crucial. Expressing joy without concern for God’s glory fails to give Him the honor He is due. We were created for His glory in all things (Isaiah 43:6-7; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

 

Living Abundantly

By Judy Davis –

 

“John 10:10 changed my life—it showed me the truth about the devil, and about Jesus….Jesus tells you to believe Him, and that the reason He came is to give LIFE to you…and to give it to you MORE ABUNDANTLY.”   Oral Roberts Commentary

Are we living a happy and abundant life?  Are we truly convinced God loves us?  He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die so we may live forever. With His guidance and precious Holy Spirit living within our heart, let’s live a life pleasing to Him. And when we fall and we will, He is there to help us and forgive us.

The greatest example of living a full life is to know how our Lord lived. He always stopped to talk with others no matter where they were in their spiritual life. Living a full life requires being selfless. Thinking of others and putting them first takes time and patience. We should be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and let Him lead us to those who are in need.

Are we secure in who we are?  Do we like ourselves?  Spend time taking care of you. Our lives are important to God and who we are depends a lot on how secure we are in what we accomplish with our lives.

We should have a good attitude and this requires discipline. Choose each day to be filled with God’s love, peace, joy, and our attitude will show that we have spent time with Him.

Examine our hearts. Those subtle sins we commit such as anger, criticism, gossip, complaining and murmuring must be dealt with. Before giving our tithe we should pray and ask God to forgive us of any sin and guard our heart. This pleases God when we humbly come before Him asking for His grace and mercy daily to overcome those areas that are not right.

“There is just one thing people need in order to live a happy, abundant life:  to be convinced that God loves them.”  David Gregory

PRAYER:  Thank You, Father, for the abundant life You have given to those who have made Jesus Christ Lord and Savior.

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 KJV).

 

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