Warning: Worry Ahead

While visiting the deserts of Arizona, I decided to go for a walk at dusk. Before I headed out, my father-in-love warned me of all the potential dangers. He said, "there might be javalinas [wild pigs] ready to attack if you get between them and their young. Also there are Africanized bees swarming in the area, and other insects, which are known to be quite dangerous. One neighbor south of me was attacked and barely survived."
Read more

The Call to Difficult Things

Moses was called to a task he didn’t feel equipped to do: Talk with Pharaoh and be the man to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt. I can just hear him stuttering all his excuses to God. David was the youngest of many sons and yet, God called him to kill Goliath and chose him to be king. Rahab ran the first Underground Railroad for displaced spies. Countless others in God’s Word were called to do hard things.
Read more

You See What You Are Looking For

I remember once in a conference the speaker talked about how people see what they are looking for. He said if they’re looking for the negative, that’s what they see and if they’re looking at the same person or situation for the good, that is what they see—you see what you’re looking for! I have learned…he was right.
Read more

New Year and a New You

By Cheri Cowell –

Statistics tell us 90% of Americans will make New Year’s resolutions. Sadly, 50% of us will have abandoned our goals by the end of January. Of those still holding on to hope, only 50% will be realized. So, why do we continue this tortuous ritual?

Perhaps it is the hope that this year we will make better choices. This year, we tell ourselves, will finally be the year we turn that corner, flip over the new leaf, and begin again.

In another ritual, during ancient days, the standard or flag was carried into battle by one sworn to uphold all that the emblem signified, even to the point of wrapping his body in the banner before the fatal blow should the safety of the symbol no longer be secured.

In the same way, Christ was God’s standard-bearer to the world. His standard is the measure by which we are called to live.

Are the goals you’ve set for 2013 based upon His standard or someone else’s? Are God’s goals part and parcel of your own goals? Are serving the poor and disadvantaged part of your goals? Is time in God’s Word scheduled into your calendar? If you’re not sure, you may want to make one of your goals to spend some time getting to know your Standard-Bearer better.

When we know His ways, we’ll know our way.

PRAYER: God, I declare today that You alone are my Standard-Bearer. Help me to align my goals and priorities in 2013 so they reflect Your standard, Your goals, Your heartbeat.

“He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. From the west, people will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along” (Isaiah 59:16-19 NIV).

A New Year’s Resolution

By Susan Dollyhigh –

The young woman’s body shook and her tears flowed. Kathy* had just moved into the homeless shelter, and she was in the early stages of drug and alcohol withdrawal. When Kathy learned we were having Bible study, she ran from the room, came right back, Bible in hand and tears still flowing.

Having just celebrated the New Year, we talked about resolutions and how they are changes we want to make in our lives. We talked about the Potter and the clay, and how our Father is in the continual process of molding and changing our lives to shape us into the beautiful vessels that He wants us to become.

As we made a list of our resolutions for the New Year, Kathy shared that she had already made hers. She had been saved through faith in Christ just a month earlier. Ever since that time, Kathy had planned for the next day to be her last day to drink and get high. Kathy had truly encountered Christ, but she was afraid of being sober. Yet over the past month, while praying and studying God’s Word, He had given her the power to finally say “no more.”

Another resident then encouraged Kathy as she shared how God had helped her survive a similar experience. This woman was so very kind and loving and supportive and she assured Kathy she would be there to help her. She then closed her eyes, lifted her face toward heaven and sang “What a Day That Will Be.” As she sang to her Lord, all of her worries seemed to melt from her face.

This woman laid aside her own problems to minister to Kathy. Are we able to and put aside our problems and minister to others in need? Do we truly encounter our Father when we close our eyes and lift our faces toward heaven? We will if only we have faith as great as this precious homeless woman.

*Name changed.

Prayer: Father, please help us to be flexible, soft, clay. Help us to allow You to mold us into the beautiful vessels that You want us to become.

“Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8 NIV).

« Previous Page — Next Page »