A Voice in the Dark

By Heather Arbuckle –

Startled by our barking dog, my little girls were awakened suddenly. “Mommy! Help! Mommy!” they cried out in desperation. I went to flick on a light so that I could go to them, but darkness continued to fill our modest home. To my surprise, a power line was down and we did not have electricity. Things had gone from bad to worse, as my daughters were now on the verge of panic.

I knew my large shadow would only frighten them further, so I chose to stay put and have the girls come to me. In an attempt to ease my daughters’ fears, I spoke gently into the darkness, “I am here. Just follow my voice.” As they stumbled blindly through the house, I continued to call out to my girls. Moments later, Lily and Sofie, though scared of the dark, were secure in my embrace. They had found their way because they listened for my voice.

To be sure, everyone occasionally wanders through darkness. Blinded by insecurity. Afraid of the unknown. Sometimes we stumble through life. And yet, God is there, speaking into our fears, offering His unconditional love and faithful assurance. Therefore, we, as God’s children, must be keenly attune to the voice of our Heavenly Father.

In 1 Samuel, we read about a boy named Samuel who learned to know God’s voice. Late one night, as Samuel drifted off to sleep, he heard the voice of the Lord. Unfortunately, he didn’t know God’s voice at first. Instead, Samuel believed the voice to be that of Eli, a priest with whom he lived. Three times, Samuel heard the call. Twice, he left his bed and went to Eli’s side. Both times, the boy was mistaken about who was calling out to him. Scripture teaches us that Samuel simply did not know the LORD at this time in his life. Therefore, he did not know God’s voice.

However, Eli was a man who knew God’s voice well. Promptly, he sent the inexperienced boy back to bed with instructions. Samuel was still. He was silent. And he waited. At last, “the LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1Samuel 3:10) He had learned to recognize the voice of God, even in darkness.

The same is true for us today. These are challenging days for many of us. If we are to know God’s voice, we must be quiet and await His presence expectantly. Gentle and small, God’s voice resonates through the chaos of this life, and leads us out of darkness. And yet, too many of God’s children fail to listen for His voice in the dark.

No matter how dark life gets, we have access to our Heavenly Father. Be still and listen. God is calling. Do you know His voice?

Heather Arbuckle is a writer who lives in McKinney, Texas with her husband Marty and their three children. You can read more of her work on her blog at www.hearts-for-him.blogspot.com.

Spiritual Anorexia

By Janet Morris Grimes –

For some reason we take it all for granted. We find a few choice verses from the Bible and use them as a moniker for our lives, a slogan of sorts. We pray for guidance and hope that it brings with it a continual shower of blessings. We attend church, yearning to be fed, motivated and fired up to make a difference in the lives of others.

But no sooner do we walk out of the church building do we realize that something is missing. We are.

You can’t expect to unleash the power of God in your daily life by showing up once a week. He created us to need more than this. There will always be a void in our lives until we learn to seek Him continually. Daily. Moment by moment.

Imagine a husband-wife relationship where they elected to spend time together once a week, but then went on about their business as if they were single until their next appointed time to be together. There is no way this relationship could work without the commitment of time, energy and an investment into each other.

Imagine a parent-child relationship where the parent met on Sundays with the child and attempted to provide everything they would need for the following week. Food, clothing, safety instructions, hygiene, love and help with homework. None of this can be accomplished in advance. The journey is constant; and the needs are fresh each day.

The same is true for our relationship with God, and the problem is that spiritually, we are starving ourselves.

We would never consider going a week without food. On the contrary, we train ourselves to eat at predetermined times; sometimes even eating before we are actually hungry because we have grown accustomed to eating, no matter what.

The same should be true for our spiritual journeys. God had a new message for us each and every day. If we allow Him to do so, He will give us enough meat to chew on for that particular day, using it to propel us down the path carved out for us. He is always ready to listen to us, but we rarely take the time to return the favor.

He intended for us to eat daily. Not weekly, monthly or on special occasions. He created our thirst and hunger, both spiritually and physically, and we will never be satisfied or reach our full potential until we recognize that hunger, filling it with the perfect love that only He can provide.

When the Israelites were following Moses throughout the wilderness, on their journey to the Promised Land, God proved his desire to feed them daily by sending manna. In Numbers 11:9 – it says, “when the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.”

However, manna was only good for that particular day. If the people tried to save it for later, other than on the day of Sabbath, it rotted and turned disgusting.

God taught His people to feed themselves daily, and to seek Him in the process. Moment by moment, in a beautiful blend of dependence and discipline.

What we have to realize, as Christians, is that Satan will do everything in his power to keep our Bibles closed.

You see, he loves it when we starve ourselves.

Luke 11:3 – “Give us each day our daily bread.”

God on the Spot – Part 10: Providing the Sacrifice

By Dianne E.  Butts –

Have you ever thought about what it would take for God to prove to us that He exists? It seems like there should be an infinite number of answers. But I swear to you, I can only think of two:
1.)    Come down here and show Yourself.
2.)    Do something only God can do.

(If you can think of others these two don’t cover, I’d be interested in hearing from you.)

Even these two are inter-dependent because even if God did #1, how would we know it was Him? He would still need to do #2 to prove it was Him.

Jesus claimed to be the Christ: the one God promised to send and God Himself coming down here in the flesh. Question: But how can we know it was Him? Answer: Over and over again He did things only God can do. You know, change water into wine, calm the storm, make the blind see, make the lame walk, walk on water, raise the dead…that sort of thing.

But then something happened that seemed really unbelievable: He died. And at the hands of humans, no less. If Jesus was God, then how could this happen?

Again it was prophesied hundreds of years before it happened and then God was on the spot to bring all of His predictions to pass. Below are just ten prophecies God was on the spot to fulfill.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus were recorded by all four men who recounted the biography of Jesus in the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Below we’ll compare these accounts with two Psalms written by King David, who lived 1040 – 970 BC, Isaiah (740 – 681 BC), and accounts by Moses (1526 – 1406 BC) showing all ten of these things were predicted hundreds of years before they happened:

He remained silent. Predicted: Isaiah 53:7. Fulfilled: Matthew 27:12-14.

Sacrifice of the Son and the lamb is provided on Mount Moriah. Predicted: Genesis 22:1-18. (Compare Genesis 22:2, Genesis 22:14, and 2 Chronicles 3:1.) Fulfilled: Mark 10:32-34. (Mount Moriah is the hill on which the Temple stood within Jerusalem.)

Pierced His hands and feet. Predicted: Psalm 22:16. Fulfilled: John 19:18, 20:25.

They put gall in His food and gave Him vinegar for His thirst. Predicted: Psalm 69:21. Fulfilled: Matthew 27:34, John 19:28-30.

Mocked and insulted Him; challenged God to deliver Him. Predicted: Psalm 22:7-8. Fulfilled: Matthew 27:39-44.

Divided and cast lots for His garments. Predicted: Psalm 22:18 Fulfilled: John 19:23-24.

Our Passover Lamb; not a bone would be broken. Predicted: Exodus 12:43, 46. Fulfilled: John 19:31-37.

He was pierced for our transgressions and by his wounds we are healed. Predicted: Isaiah 53:5. Fulfilled: Hebrews 9:27-28, Romans 4:25.

Assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich. Predicted: Isaiah 53:9. Fulfilled: Matthew 27:57-60.

“Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and …the LORD makes his life a guilt offering.” Predicted: Isaiah 53:10-12. Fulfilled: Acts 2:22-39.

When Satan connived through humans to have Messiah killed, it was God on the spot to preserve His life even though He died. God requires death for sin, and so God provided the death He required to pay for the sins of anyone who will accept it. But because Jesus never sinned, death could not keep hold of Him.

We cannot atone for our sins and live. So if God wanted to save us, He was on the spot to do it all.

November: “God on the Spot – Part 11: The Remaining Prophecies.” God is still on the spot to bring about all His remaining promises, which are prophecies in our future.

© 2010 Dianne E. Butts

Dianne has written for over 50 Christian print magazines and seventeen books. Her work has been published in Great Britain, Bulgaria, Poland, Canada, and Korea. You can follow the progress of her current book of true stories of unplanned pregnancy here: www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com When she’s not writing, she enjoys riding her motorcycle with her husband, Hal, and gardening with her cat, P.C. in Colorado. www.DianneEButts.com

Meeting Tara

By Brenda W. McIntyre –

“Tara!” The vivacious student approached me with a hand full of fliers when someone called her name. “Hi!” she said, handing me a sheet.

I was moving into my dormitory at college. The flier was an invitation to visit the Baptist Student Union, which I had no desire to do. Religion was for people with nothing else to believe in. I had something to believe in—graduating from college. With a degree, I would be self-sufficient and never rely on anyone. Inside my room, I tossed the paper into the wastebasket.

Not long into the quarter I began slipping into a depression. I went to bed early one evening, going into a deep sleep. It felt like I was plummeting into an abyss, sinking deeper and deeper into a black void. I awoke when my roommate came in, but couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d been dying. I became convinced I would die if I stayed at the dismal place, so I decided when the quarter was over I would pack my belongings and go home.

The same week I overheard a professor asking about a student who died. I didn’t know who it was or how it happened, but thinking about it kept me from sleep that night. Grasping for anything that might help, I got my roommate’s Bible. Clutching it throughout the night I prayed, “God, if You exist, please help me. Let me see my co-worker, Tammy, in the morning, and I’ll ask her for help.” I rarely saw her on campus, but I knew Tammy was a Christian.

Going to my first class, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Tammy was coming out of the building I was entering. I shivered from the chill running down my spine and asked if she would meet me after work.

That evening I learned it was a close friend of Tammy’s named Tara Lockhart who was killed by a drunk driver three days earlier. The funeral had been that day. Tammy was grieving the loss of her friend, yet she was reaching out to me.

Before the quarter was over I went to church with Tammy. One time was enough to spark something inside of me. Throughout Christmas break I anticipated returning to college. No longer did feelings of depression and imminent thoughts of death plague me. Instead I was filled with a desire to know God.

I returned to college and began attending church regularly. One Sunday after the service we were going back to campus. At a caution light Tammy said, “This is where Tara was in the accident that afternoon when leaving church.”

I was appalled. We hadn’t talked about Tara much. I didn’t know she attended the church where I was now a member. As weeks passed, I learned more about her and could imagine what she was like. I realized it was through Tara’s death that I was saved. I’m sure she prayed about leading others to Christ. It just happened to be in her death that she witnessed to me.

Although I went away to college feeling alone and uncertain of God’s existence, I now know I’m never alone. I will never be self-sufficient; I must rely on God to guide me every day, but I have something better than a college degree. God will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). He knows my needs before I even ask Him (Matthew 6:8). And when I go home to meet my Maker, I know I will meet Tara also.

Purple Basil Nightmare

By Susan Dollyhigh –

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Mark 14:38, NIV).

One day, I saw and purchased a beautiful, ornamental purple basil plant thinking it just the right addition for my little herb garden. This plant grew very fast. The dark purple, frilly leaves were beautiful and it smelled wonderful. I enjoyed its beauty all summer long. When winter came, the basil plant died and I soon forgot it.

Spring came and I looked at my garden and saw little, purple basil plants coming up all over the place. I felt so proud. Boy, do I have a green thumb. Those little plants just kept coming up, and coming up, and coming up. Before long, they were trying to take over my entire garden. Hold on there, I have some other things planted in this garden. I didn’t want to just pull up the basil but I had to give the giant hibiscus a little space. And my purple salvia and lilies were completely surrounded by basil. Then, I started noticing the purple plants in my other flower gardens.

Soon my neighbor told me she had purple basil coming up in her garden. “Just sharing,” I told her with a neighborly wave as I backed up to return home. It became a serious problem when my Aunt Millie, who lives in the house below me, told me that my Uncle David had taken a strange, purple plant to the city horticulturist because it was coming up all in their yard.  Soon my section of the neighborhood had become a purple basil nightmare. I was even pulling it from the cracks in the sidewalk.

That purple basil plant was beautiful. I hadn’t seen any harm in it. I just wanted to enjoy its beauty and fragrance. My experience with this plant sounds like what happens in our lives. The purple basil may be anything Satan puts in our path. It may be beautiful and fragrant. It may make us feel good. But before we know what has happened, it has taken over the garden of our lives and choked out the things we really wanted to keep. The hazard is it may even spread and affect people around us.

I should have found out more about that basil before I planted it. The horticulturist told my neighbor that it spreads and takes over everything.

We need to be aware of those appealing, beautiful traps that Satan puts in our lives because they too can spread and take over everything. God’s word and His Spirit living in us will help us to be alert before the purple basil nightmare occurs in our lives.

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