Regifting
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13
“Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:32-35
I know it seems odd to write about regifting close to more than two months after Christmas when the thought is most common, but it simply wasn’t time for this devotional then.
I think by now everyone knows the concept of regifting – giving someone else a gift that you received. I was surprised at the number of articles debating the etiquette of regifting—only a few were against it; those that were for it had a few conditions, the main one being that it is not to be done within the same social/family group. In other words, do not give your sister-in-law something that your mother-in-law gave you, even if the present is so much more appropriate it for her because it’s her size, favorite color, matches her décor. Other than the occasional white elephant gift exchange where it is totally acceptable and expected to regift something, I don’t think that I have regifted anything. I am more the type who will genuinely be touched by the thought, put a sincere and thankful smile, and then put it in my closet to dig out years down the road to give to Goodwill, hoping that the giver won’t ask me about it. Thankfully my relatives live out of town so it hasn’t happened yet!
There is, however, one thing that we are exhorted to regift because we have received it—grace and forgiveness (well, I guess those are two things). Friends, if we are truly living as Christ calls us to live, we will extend grace and forgiveness to those who have hurt us, even if they lack remorse, even if they don’t take accountability for what they have done.
I’m not saying that this is easy—oh, heck no. We live in a broken world, and each of us have been a victim to some degree or another of that brokenness. On an extreme side, it has been only the power of God’s love that has gotten us through the hurt or shame of the act or acts that have been perpetrated on us. Some of us still carry the hurt and shame, even though we did nothing wrong.
On a much less extreme side, we still face people who are disagreeable, rude, or just difficult to get along with. Whether it’s because of their actions or words (or both), sometimes it’s just so darn challenging to get along with them (I know the Lord said we are to love our neighbor—do we also have to like our neighbor? If so, I really need to pray about a couple of folks!). We know that we should extend grace to the person standing in front of us, talking down to us…or to that co-worker who makes our work life miserable…or to the spouse or child who knows exactly which buttons to push and how hard.
But how are we supposed to extend forgiveness when we can’t easily find it in our hearts to do so?
Number one on the list: you pray. You come to the Lord with a contrite heart, acknowledging that you know that you are supposed to forgive the debts of others, just as your debts are forgiven, but that you can’t get to that point yet. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you get there. He knows that you are human; He will honor your request if it is asked in sincerity.
Secondly, thank Him for the grace that He has given you. God didn’t have to send His son to die on a cross for the forgiveness of our sin but He did. Jesus didn’t have to step out of heaven to suffer as He did and to die a criminal’s death, but He did. Were it not for His sacrifice, we would be lost forever, and this world would be the best we would ever experience.
Lastly, with a sincere heart, ask the Lord to allow you to see those who have hurt you as they truly are—pitiable and in need of His grace. Do not put yourself in a haughty position and pray as the Pharisee in Christ’s parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector (“God, I thank you that I am not like other people…”). No, friend, the persons who have hurt, wronged, or slighted you are products of this broken world, and most likely have experienced pain not unlike the one they inflicted upon you. Knowing this doesn’t nullify the hurt or damage, but it does allow you to have a glimpse of empathy and maybe even understanding. It humanizes them, and rightfully so, and equips you with a potential ability to relate to them through their suffering. It also shifts the proverbial balance of power, enabling you to extend to them something they may not be able to extend to themselves—love.
Prayer Requests
Prayers for:
Jane Hasty, who suffered a mild stroke, causing her to lose her speech, although the doctors expect a full recovery. Pray for her grandson Clay as well
Carolyn Carter, whose health is failing and is experiencing hearing loss
The 20-year-old niece of Cheri and Kenny Williams, who is receiving radiation treatment for a tumor that is causing her retina to be detached
Beloved, you have been given a gift purchased by the blood of the Lamb—the gift of forgiveness. Recycle it, reuse it, regift it, for that’s what we are called to do.
Quotes
“The more fascinated we become with the toys of this world, the more we forget that there’s another world to come.” --- A.W. Tozer
“Some people are hurting so much that you have to do more than preach a message to them. You have to be a message to them.”
Texas Snowpocalypse 2021
Boy howdy, what a week last week was, right? For those of you who may not know, Texas experienced a polar vortex where we saw sleet, snow, ice, and single-digit temperatures, the likes of which hadn’t been seen here since 1985. Some went without power for days; others didn’t have water; some experienced the loss of both. And when water came back, we had to boil the water to ensure that potential harmful bacteria were killed. A friend of mine who lives near Boerne experienced the loss of both; when the water came on, they discovered a burst pipe. Calling a plumber, she found that there were 300 customers before her. It has been quite an experience, I must say.
I wanted to share some observations I made during this whole Snowpocalypse.
Be alert and watchful. I walked my new dog Tessa (we got her the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year. She’s a 2 ½ year old German Shepherd mix and the absolute owner of my heart. There’s a devotional in the making about her, so I won’t go into any more detail here) the Sunday we canceled church because of the ice. I bundled up, wearing tennis shoes (instead of the snow boots I had just purchased the day before) because I thought it would be more of a workout because Tessa is a very brisk walker. We got a quarter mile away from my house when I moved from walking in the street onto the sidewalk and, like a pratfall in a movie, my legs went up from under me and I landed on my backside, bruising my hand and my bum. In fact, my bum still hurts a bit. It feels odd asking you to pray for my bum, so I won’t, but I’m not going to turn them down if you decided you wanted to. I’d be bummed out, though, if you didn’t pray for me. (cracking myself up at that one). After I got myself up, wincing in pain, we continued slowly on the street so that she could get some exercise. Went a far distance and then I slipped again, this time on the street. Luckily, I landed more on my side this time. However, like the physical comedy that can happen in a movie for laughs, it took me more than a couple of tries to stand on my feet, as the ice was incredibly slippery, and every time I’d try to stand up, I’d slip. I walked sideways to what seemed to be a drier part of the street, and gingerly trudged back home. Lesson: I was ill-equipped to walk my dog in an ice storm. I wore the wrong shoes and I didn’t pay proper attention to the dangers of the black ice that was around me. Similarly, we can do the same in our Christian walk. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8 to “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” If we are not aware of our surroundings, we too can slip and fall—fall away from the discipline of prayer, Bible reading, and fellowship; fall prey to the manipulations of the devil and his schemes; fall off the proverbial wagon into sin.
God’s providence and timing is amazing. Through an odd series of events, I am booked on an eight-day land tour of Iceland with my mother-in-law at the beginning of October of this year. In researching what to pack for this land trip, I found that snow boots were recommended (along with hiking shoes, which I already have a pair). I found a pair of snow boots at Kohl’s the Saturday before the storm hit—they were London Fog so they were great quality; they were being discontinued and were on sale, so I got them for right under $20. I never imagined I’d use them as much as I did before October. Their grip gave me certainty where I walked and their length protected my legs as Tessa and I walked through snow banks as we explored during her walks. Lesson: Some attribute the timing of my boots purchase to fate, or luck, or chance. But you and I know better, my friend, don’t we? We read in Matthew 6:8b: “…for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” The Lord knew I needed boots for the crazy Texas ice and snow, and He provided.
Don’t take the little things for granted. We are blessed to live in a world where (present circumstances excepted for some of us) we have clean running water, food in our refrigerator, internet and phone service, and warmth in our houses during the slight Texas winters (and boy howdy, cooling in the summertime!). Lesson: When forced to live without these things, we quickly realize how much we take these luxuries for granted. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5 to “give thanks in all circumstances”. May we remember those times in which we could not shower or flush the commode, and be thankful for all the times that we can. Yes, we easily praise Him when the power is returned, or when the water first comes out of the pipes, but do we remember to thank Him when we can access power and water without any challenges? It is a habit we should all get into the habit of doing, if we are not already.
Make hay while the sun is shining. We lost water Monday when our pipes froze, and like many others, we melted snow to put into the toilet tank so that we could flush the commode. We were joyous when the water came back later that day. I filled our coffee makers (regular Mr. Coffee for my husband, and the Keurig and the Nespresso machine for me. Can you tell which one of us is the coffee snob?) with water, as well as maybe one pitcher. On Wednesday, our water pressure started getting lower, and the water tank didn’t refill when I flushed the commode. We were impacted by the SAWS water outage, and I was perturbed with myself for not having filled up more water containers. The next morning, when I realized that the water pressure had improved, I showered and then proceeded to boil as much water as I could to keep on hand for drinking and cleaning, afraid that it would go out again. It did not go out, and as of this writing (Monday at 9:30PM, the boil notice for my street has been rescinded!). Lesson: be diligent about doing what needs to be done during the time that you have to do it. Time is not always promised to you. Jesus tells his disciples in John 9:4, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” Boil your water, hug your family, share the gospel, for there will be a time when we won’t have the opportunity to do so.
Be prepared. The Saturday before Texas was plunged into a deep freeze, I went to HEB. It was more crowded than a typical Saturday, but there wasn’t a frenzy of people stockpiling toilet paper and firewood (thankfully). I got my normal grocery items, grabbed just a few extras like ground turkey, apples, and salad mixes, and went on my way. What I regret not having picked up more of was water (see above). I knew that there was the potential for sleet, snow, and colder temperatures; I just don’t think I (or anyone) realized the downstream impacts this storm had on everyone and everything. Lesson: like the Boy Scouts motto: be prepared. Matthew tells us in chapter 24 to “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” You see, God Almighty is in control of everything in this world, even though at times it may not seem like He is, with all the evil we see in the world. We need to be diligent and intentional about understanding our own salvation—we may think that we have time to “get right” with God, or we may assume that we’ve “gotten right” with God already because we have always gone to church, and know all of the hymns by heart, and do good works. Friends, I’m going to be straight with you—that’s now how this works. Since we don’t know when the Lord will call us Home, by our passing from this life into the eternal, or by us meeting Him in the clouds in the twinkling of an eye, we cannot bank on the fact that we have an unlimited amount of time to be reconciled to Him.
If you’re reading this and are not 1000% sure that you are His child but want that assurance, please reach out to Pastor Wayne, Skylar, or any one of the church elders. We would be blessed to talk to you about salvation.
Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Prayers for:
LaVerne Prilop, who has been hospitalized since Saturday and is now in hospice care
Lana, LaVerne’s daughter, and others who are facing the potential loss of their loved ones
Those who are experiencing health conditions and concerns but are unable to get them addressed for various reasons
Praise reports:
Judy Wallace has been released from the hospital! She says that overall, she’s doing okay—that she’s tired but resting. TGBTG!
For this absolutely beautiful weather—it was at least 60 degrees warmer today (Tuesday) than at this time last week (isn’t that crazy?)
Tremendous praise for the work that Jesus did at the cross – He died to redeem us from slavery to sin and death, y’all! Praise!!
My son Greg had five minutes of power every hour through the first part of the storm. He shared that he found it to be kind of nice to have the opportunity to read instead of being distracted by video games or social media. Because some couldn’t even dial in for meetings because of the lack of power, my work week was quieter than normal, something for which I was tremendously thankful. Lesson: may we always seek to find the positive in the challenges the Lord sends us, for they are there. It may require us to ask Him to reveal them to us, but that right there is a prayer and time spent with Him.
Quotes
“The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders, and interfering with God's work within us.“ -- A.W. Tozer
“We cannot afford to let down our Christian standards just to hold the interest of people who want to go to hell and still belong to a church.” -A.W. Tozer
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Corinthians 5:21
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
Romans 3:21-22a
The devotional’s title refers to a mental disorder in which a person fixates on a slight or even perceived physical flaw, often to the point of becoming obsessed with fixing it or covering it up. People with body dysmorphic disorder have an inaccurate view of themselves, which can lead to feelings of self-consciousness or anxiety all the way to the repeated consulting with medical experts like plastic surgeons or dermatologists in an effort to fix the problem. What the person who suffers sees in the mirror drastically differs from what actually exists. It was estimated in 2018 upwards of 3% of the general population, or 5 million to 10 million people in the US alone, have this condition. Thankfully, it is treatable through a combination of therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes like exercise and the avoidance of drugs and alcohol.
Spiritually, a similar condition exists, though I daresay that it’s much more pervasive throughout the body of Christ. In this condition, how the person sees him- or herself drastically differs from how God sees him or her. This person, although a follower of Jesus Christ, knows of his or her sin, and despite understanding the concept of how Christ’s sacrifice at the cross took on the punishment for said sin, cannot truly accept the fact that their sin is forgotten by an all-powerful and all-knowing God. Because they know what they did, and how egregious their sin was, they cannot fathom that the God of the universe could still love them. This disconnect can cause the sufferer to pull away from God, ashamed of their sin nature.
Friends, I know people who know that they know that they know that their salvation is secure. They know that they are loved by the Lord. They uplift those around them, praying for and serving their brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are all called to do. They attend church, participate in bible studies and are those whom I would consider spiritually mature in their walk with the Lord. They are stalwarts of Christian faith. And yet…sometimes in the quiet moments of their lives, the enemy reminds them of that sin they committed lo those years ago… that big one—that one that would church leaders to wag fingers and point…that one that would cause them to lose all spiritual credibility among their friends—that sin’s memory looms so large that it blocks the view of the light and brings with it darkness, distance, and shame. In such a state, when this person looks in the mirror spiritually, they fixate on the ugliness of their wretched condition, convinced that the Lord and everyone else sees them for who they truly are: a sinner unworthy of the love of the Father.
Poppycock! (I did want to write something stronger but…I thought better of it). Lord Jesus was righteous—He did not sin, and to fulfill God’s plan to reconcile sinful us to Himself, Jesus willingly died, taking on the punishment for our sin. It is in this act that He imputed His righteousness to us. On the topic of imputed righteousness, the website gotquestions.org says, “Through our faith in Christ, the righteousness of God is given to us. This is called “imputed” righteousness. To impute something is to ascribe or attribute something to someone. When we place our faith in Christ, God ascribes the perfect righteousness of Christ to our account so that we become perfect in His sight…..We are not righteous in ourselves; rather, we possess Christ’s righteousness applied to our account. It is not our perfection, but Christ’s that God sees when He brings us into fellowship with Himself.” It doesn’t matter what we have done, how many times we did, what we will do in the future—if we accept Jesus as our Savior, we receive His righteousness. When the Lord of the Universe looks at us, He sees us adorned in the gloriousness of the robes of righteousness. We praise and shout hallelujah because we didn’t do anything to earn this treasured gift. As the Casting Crowns song goes—“Not because of who I am/But because of what You've done/Not because of what I've done/
But because of who You are.”
Friends, the next time the enemy reminds you of your sin, tell him to go pound sand. Don’t listen to his lies – bask in the overwhelming love of Christ, and see yourself as a child of the King!
Prayer Requests
Prayers for:
Speedy convalescence from surgeries for Joe Furnish and Lori Grimes, and encouragement for their respective caregivers
Dora Santillano, who is grieving at the loss of her beloved brother JP
Dell Sheftall, who fell and aggravated an old back injury
Please know that I am praying for you. How my heart longs for you to know the freedom and the joy there is in being His child.
Quotes
“For a Christian, this world is the only hell they will know. For the unbeliever, this world is the only heaven they will know.”
“Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once.”
Qualifications for Heaven
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:5-7
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
Romans 3:11-12; 23-25a
I have been changing the message on the church marquee for years now, and it is something that I enjoy. It’s fun to pour over sources on Pinterest for references that will convey a thought-provoking idea in the limited space (and lettering—for some reason we have only like nine Cs, four of which are used within website name—odd, right?).
A couple of years ago I put something on the marquee that I felt was important as a church for us to convey, and for people to understand. For the first time ever, I had someone from the church text me to say that someone from the church had been bothered by the message, and asked if I would consider changing it. I was floored and bewildered, baffled by the thought that such a message would elicit such feedback. No, the topic of the message wasn’t political, heretical, social justice-related or anything of the like. What was the message? “Good people don’t go to heaven. Forgiven people do.” Cue collective gasp and maybe even some swooning.
At first I was miffed about getting such a call, because I couldn’t understand how such a message could bother someone who went to church, given that this is basic gospel stuff. We read Christ’s own words in John 14: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I didn’t immediately leave work and change the marquee, because the discussion happened on a Friday and I was changing the signage on Saturday anyway. The perturbed feeling didn’t go away on its own; I had to talk it out with close friends.
I realize now that my reaction was one that lacked empathy and compassion. It was also one that demonstrated a huge assumption on my part: that everyone who attends church has heard the gospel message. Now before you stop reading and scroll on down past this to get to the prayer requests and praise reports, I ask you to reconsider. Just hear me out for a bit, and then you can go about your business.
What exactly is the gospel message? The word gospel is the translation of the Greek noun evangelion, which means good news. The good news that followers of Jesus Christ receive is the fact that God reconciled the world to Himself through the sacrifice of His son who died on the cross, receiving the punishment for our sins, and that He rose again on the third day. It is good news because it is a gift from God. For those who receive it, God’s gift is grace – unmerited favor. This means that there isn’t anything that anyone can do to earn it or deserve it—no actions anyone takes or does merits this remarkable present. This grace allows the atoning work at the cross—the spilling of the blood of the perfect Lamb of God—to set us free from God’s judgment of our sins and instead enables us to wear Christ’s robe of righteousness. When we accept this gift, our future goes from eternal damnation to eternal life. We accept this gift by confessing our sin, repenting from it, and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Friends, except for Jesus, there has been no one who has walked this earth that is without sin. Scripture tells us all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Not some, all. Not only drug dealers, pornographers, and people who think Nicholas Cage is an excellent actor—all. Even your little ol’ grandma has sinned. We are all descendants of Adam, and as such, we struggle with sin. No one is good. Jesus tells us that outright in the gospel of Mark, when He speaks to the rich young man who approached Jesus and called Him good, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” By that very statement, there truly aren’t good people, as only God is good. Ergo, there are no good people in heaven, nor will there be even when I get there (ha! It was a joke, I swear).
If I have burst your bubble, I’m kind of sorry, but I’m kind of not. It’s important to me that you truly, truly know the truth, and the Truth. Friends, the only way is Jesus. The only answer is Jesus. The only solution is Jesus. And here’s an equally cool thing—you don’t have to do any type of works to receive Him—you don’t have to “clean up nicely” (because you can’t), you don’t have to wait until you stop sinning (because you can’t), you don’t have to do X number of good works (again, because you what? Can’t). All you have to do is acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess that He is Lord (“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” – Romans 10:9-10).
Friends, if you are ready to make that step, stop what you’re doing, and pray to receive Him. After you have done that, reach out to Pastor Wayne, me or another elder, a friend or family member, so that we can pray for you and help you in your new path!
PRs: Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Prayers for:
Ms. LaVerne who was hospitalized and is now at Warm Springs Rehab Hospital
Rochelle Cook for pain from her sciatic nerve
JP Perales, Dora’s brother, who has lung damage and a stressed heart from COVID
Praise Reports:
Good news on Judy Wallace’s dad
For the rain we have received
That we are each loved by our Heavenly Father
Friends, the chorus of the contemporary worship song from years sung by Todd Agnew “Grace Like Rain” reminds of what we have to celebrate:
And Hallelujah, grace like rain
Falls down on me
And Hallelujah and all my stains
Are washed away, they're washed away
Quotes
“Your ministry is found where you’ve been broken. Your testimony is found where you’ve been restored.”
“We will never appreciate Jesus’s agonizing prayer in Gethsemane; we will never appreciate His sweating, as it were, great drops of blood, until we grasp in the depths of our beings that Jesus was staring at the wrath of God we deserve”. –Jerry Bridges
Strength Training
Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Nehemiah 8:10
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Psalm 28:7a
I have been working out with a personal trainer since late February, 2020. It was set up through the USAA fitness center, so I’d meet with my trainer Danielle at 6:15 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays and then get ready for work there at the gym. When COVID forced us to work from home, we maintained the same routine but would meet virtually via FaceTime and using some dumbbells I borrowed from my son, resistance bands, and my stairs. There are a variety of strength-training exercises that she coaches me through, all with the intent of increasing muscle mass which then increases my resting metabolic rate, which means I burn calories even after I’ve stopped exercising. I don’t do enough weights to where I’ll be mistaken for a bodybuilder, but I have seen improvement in my cardio workouts as well as experiencing my clothes fitting a bit better. It’s a win-win! It’s a commitment for sure, but one in which I am reaping benefits.
Speaking of commitments, I’ve shared with you that I have found a new job, so I’ll have continuous employment and won’t have to worry about facing a countdown clock with all the stress that it brings in having to find a job. My new job is with an area and people with whom I’ve worked before, albeit in a different capacity. It officially starts this week (week starting January 17) in the HR system, but I’ve been attending meetings since we all returned from the Christmas break on January 4. There’s a tremendous amount of history and detail to learn, and there have been a couple of times my director has asked me to prepare a presentation for which I have no clue the scope of how to do it (for fans of The Office, it’s that feeling Jim has when Charles Miner asks him for a rundown—he doesn’t know what it is but is too afraid to reveal that he doesn’t know. It’s nerve racking to watch that episode for me). While the work is exciting, there is a lot of it, and I see my team logged on when I sign in every morning, and that they are still logged in when I sign off every evening. I was told that the extreme pace by which I was interviewed and hired was an indication of how quickly they needed me to take the reins and run with the program. All of these expectations have swirled around my head, increasing my stress level as each day went by with me still not having put together the presentation needed. Add to that a plethora of much smaller stressors that seemed to pile on at exactly the same time, and the fact that I had not been getting enough sleep, and I was a hot mess.
One morning in prayer, the words of Nehemiah 8 came to mind: “Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah shared this uplifting message with the remnant of Israel who had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall, and had been weeping, having been convicted of their sin upon hearing the word of the Law of Moses read to them. I sought the answer of what that truly meant, and how I could have that strength, for I felt severely lacking in that area. My weakness felt apparent on all levels—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Even though I knew that the Lord was with me, my grip on Him seemed slack.
His grip on me, however, was ever-present and strong.
Through being in the Word, research, prayer, and the counsel of friends, I have come to realize that the strength that comes from the joy of the Lord is the knowledge that He is always with me, that He loves me, and that there isn’t anything that can separate me from His love—like Paul says in Romans 8:38-39: “neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I need to emphasize that I did not arrive at this understanding on my own, in my own strength. As with the strength training I do with my personal trainer, with its exercise repetitions and the discipline to keep at it, there are tools and tasks that can help you develop your spiritual maturity and deepen your relationship with Him.
Spend time in prayer. Make time to have one-on-one time with our heavenly Father—enjoy true and gentle communion with the one Who loves you and died for you. Have a conversation with Him—don’t make it formal with fancy “thees and thous”; He is your Father. He knows your thoughts before you even have them, so be frank and open with Him. Share your fears, concerns, confessions, and praise. Be real with Him.
Spend time in the Word. I mean opening up your Bible, studying it and meditating on what you read. Snacking on a devotional in the morning cannot satiate an appetite that hungers for the nourishment that Scripture provides. Jesus tells us in Matthew 4: “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” It is in the reading of His word, through the Holy Spirit, that He can “speak” to you.
Seek the company of other believers. The writer of Hebrews tells us to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” We are a part of the body of Christ and as such, we need to rely on each other for support, counsel, and accountability.
I’m not trying to sell you on a spiritual workout that is guaranteed to have you powerwalking with the Lord in just 30 days, but I am confident that if you are sincere in seeking to deepen your walk, developing these habits are a definite step in the right direction. Habits like these take spiritual discipline, but the reward is so worth it! It’s a win-win!
PRs: Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Prayers for:
Our nation during these times of severe civil and spiritual unrest
Those who are facing seemingly insurmountable personal challenges
Those who suffer with depression and thoughts of suicide
Praise Reports:
The rain He has sent and will send our way
That Dora’s brother JP is doing better!
His blessings on Stone Oak Church
Next week’s devotional will be a picture demonstration of specific spiritual exercises like saintly burpees, holy Sumo squats, and divine mountain climbers. (I’m kidding-I tried to be clever but…alas, maybe notsomuch)
Quotes
“The devil will trick you into thinking that you’re still struggling with what God has freed you from.”
“One might better try to sail the Atlantic in a paper boat, than try to get to heaven on good works”. --Charles Spurgeon
Confession and Repentance
Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law… And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Nehemiah 8:3; 6b
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.
Nehemiah 9:1-3
We are at that time in the calendar when a number of people have solidified their new year’s resolutions, some of which may have already been broken some 2-3 weeks into January. Hey—no judgment here—I don’t even make them. I think it takes a lot of resolve to not only make them but to also keep them. Identifying that there needs to be a change in one’s life is admirable and noteworthy and actually biblical!
I’ve been hanging out in the Old Testament lately in my daily reading—I just finished Nehemiah. I’ve read Nehemiah before, but it didn’t have the effect on me then as it did now. Nehemiah was a layperson who served as the king of Persia’s cupbearer, as position that gained him the trust, respect, and counsel of the king. God put it on Nehemiah’s heart to lead an effort to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, and the king not only granted him the time to do it but also provided the funding and materials for it. Nehemiah restored the physical aspect of the city by involving Jewish citizens who had returned earlier to rebuild the temple, and they rebuilt the wall in only 52 days, despite opposition from the governors of surrounding territories. He worked with Ezra, a prophet, to bring a spiritual restoration to the citizens there as well. It is this revival that had quite an effect on me—the fulfillment of Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Friends, after the wall had been rebuilt and Nehemiah recorded the names of those Jewish families who helped in its restoration, all of those families came together inside near the Water Gate and told Ezra to read to them from the Book of the Law of Moses, and he did so from morning until noon. The entire group stood while he read for at least a good four to six hours, receiving the word and having it explained to them by other learned men and Levites. Afterwards, they are overcome by emotion, because, according to Dr. J. Vernon McGee, they had “never before heard the Word of God.” They then participate in the Feast of Tabernacles over the next several days.
They gather back together some days later having fasted, wearing sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Those of Israelite lineage then stood together and “confessed their sins and the inequities (sins) of their fathers.” They also “read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.” (chapter 9, verses 2b-3). They praise and acknowledge God as Creator and for His grace in dealing with Israel in the past and the current, despite their actions towards Him. “For You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly. Neither our kings nor our princes, our priests nor our fathers, have kept Your law, nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies, with which You testified against them.” (chapter 9, vv 33b-34). The people are so convicted of their sin in the sight of the greatness of God that they declare a covenant to the Lord to walk in God’s Law (no interfaith marriage, no buying of wares or grain on the Sabbath, and forgoing of the seventh year’s product and the exacting of debt). They also make an oath to bring money for the service of the house of God, and to bring the first fruits of the grain and flocks.
Twice now, in as many weeks, the people have engaged in the hearing of the Word for an extended amount of time and were moved to worship by its conviction. In the second scenario, they were compelled to confess their sins. Revival happened in those instances—the hearing of the word, the realization and conviction of how far gone they were compared to the greatness of their Lord, the confession of their sins, and the praise and dedicated worship they had for their Lord. In the second instance (Nehemiah 9), they were moved to confess the sins of their ancestors, going back to Moses and what happened in the desert, as well as acknowledging their present sin and its consequences – “However You are just in all that has befallen us; for You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly.” (Nehemiah 9:33).
Confession occurs when we as believers agree with God that our sin is wrong. It is an extremely important step in the spiritual growth of a believer, and is a prerequisite to repentance. Repentance takes the believer one step further with, according to Dr. Charles Stanley, a recognition that sin is against almighty God and is utterly wrong. It is heartfelt sorrow for sin, followed by a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.
In a devotion last year, I mentioned a pattern for prayer entitled ACTS, which stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. In the Confession portion, you can start by examining yourself and clarifying who you are before God. Share your sins with Him, and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any secret sin you may not even be aware of. You can do this not only on a personal level, but also on a church, community, and national level. I have found myself numerous times of late confessing sins on behalf of our nation and asking for His forgiveness.
Friends, we get an opportunity every time we come together in worship to allow His message to convict us of our sin. It isn’t always the most pleasant of sermon topics, but it is important. We also get an opportunity to repent of that sin when we go before Him in prayer. To grow in spiritual maturity, we must be in the Word and in prayer. The more we spend in those things, the more we will be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and He will grow us into the Christ followers He intended us to be.
PRs: Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Prayers for:
Those who are suffering from COVID
Our frontline healthcare workers and the staff who support them
Our nation during these times of unrest
Praise Reports:
Thankfulness that the Lord has enabled technology in such a way that we can livestream our worship service
That He has sent volunteers to work in His service!
His blessings on Stone Oak Church
May 2021 be the year that we truly pursue living a sanctified life, one set apart by the Lord for His purposes.
Quotes
“Spiritual maturity isn’t measured by how high you jump in praise, but by how straight you walk in obedience.”
“Winners of souls must first be weepers for souls”. --Charles Spurgeon
And the Lord showed up!
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:17
Most of you who have been reading these devotionals are aware of my need for a job and a number of you have told me that you’ve been praying for me about that. For that I have two things to say: a) thank you—you do not know how much it touches my heart that you would do that for me and b) your prayers worked—I have a new job lined up! It is within USAA and I officially start on January 17, though I’ve already attended some meetings to try to hit the ground running at that time.
Almost three weeks ago I was sitting in a Zoom meeting with some of my friends from Emmaus bemoaning the fact that I had to search for a new job, while planning the menu and party theme for my very own pity party. One of the ladies declared that there would come a day, soon, in which we would all be celebrating my new job and it would be abundantly clear that the Lord was in it all. While I agreed with her, I admit that I didn’t think it would happen so soon! (it was the very next day that the Holy Spirit changed my thinking and helped me realize that these events were helping me grow and not stumble). Here’s how this went down: the week of December 1, there was a job posted at USAA in an area I had supported before, in a Design role. The job was for a Senior program manager, modernizing the technical stack that area used for the users to do their job. I met with the hiring manager, as we had worked together, to find out more about the job. I applied for the job on December 7th, had a job interview via Zoom the morning of December 14, a second-round interview with two executives on December 15th, and by December 17th, I had a job offer, at a Lead level (instead of a Senior) and a small bump in pay. I did not expect the pay increase, nor did I expect that they would offer me a Lead position right off the bat. You could have knocked me over with a feather at how quickly and smoothly everything went—it was abundantly clear that this was the Lord’s hand at work. I shared this news with my friends at our Zoom meeting-exactly two weeks to the day that my friend made her declaration. God is good—all the time!! All the time—God is good!
As I was praying the next day, praising and thanking the Lord for His abundant blessing, it made me think of all the times in which people shared stories about how the Lord worked in their lives in a big way—miracles surrounding healing, marriages and families being restored, wayward lives turning around, and other testimonies too numerous to list here. Sometimes it seems that as the story is told, depending on the point of view, that all would be lost if the Lord had not shown up, and that He does so in a really big way. And some times that is truly the case—to demonstrate to all who would believe that the event that just happened whose outcome was so improbable that it can only be attributed to Him (like how He handled the dueling prophets of Baal and Elijah at Mount Carmel). My situation was not that drastic or severe—I knew that the Lord had me and that I merely needed to trust Him. And it’s not like the Lord had to “show up”—I knew that He was with me the entire time, despite the grandiose pity party shindig I was throwing for myself. But the result was still the same—when I truly started to view this latest challenge for the positive thing that it was, changing my focus from Self to Him—He provided, and in a way that can only be attributed to Him. To God be all the glory!
In just a few days, we will celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Our Redeemer stepped out of heaven and came to earth in the most humble and meager way—a baby, born in a stable. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” And the Lord showed up! The second Person of the Godhead was fully God and became fully Man, walked among us, faced the same things that we face but knew no sin. In His death, He reconciled us sinners to the righteous and Almighty God, enabling us to be children of God. This being the Christmas season, we rejoice in His birth, all the while realizing that the most precious gift we received was through His death. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Everlasting life, my beloved friends!
If you are reading this and thinking that although you’ve heard the gospel story time and time again, you are unsure if you truly understand its impact, and would like to know more about this indescribably exquisite gift, please reach out to me—I would be delighted to share more about it.
PRs: Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Prayers for:
Travel mercies for those traveling this Christmas time
The lost sheep and prodigals to return
Peace and unity for the church, country, and world
Praise Reports
My new job!
Mark Hardison’s journey of health and healing reports
His blessings on Stone Oak Church
May God’s abundant peace and joy fill your hearts as we celebrate Christmas, despite the challenges that politics, weather, and a health crisis may bring. Know that you are loved!
Quotes
“A thousand times in history a baby has become a king, but only once in history did a King become a baby.”
“The birth of Christ brought God to man; the cross of Christ brought man to God.”
Change the Preposition
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1 Peter 1: 6-7
Because I am a work in progress, I have to admit that even though I declared in last week’s devotional about that I trusted in the Lord, I still was not fully settled in my soul about everything that had been happening. I was sharing these thoughts with my Wednesday evening Zoom call ladies (a group of six ladies who connected through Emmaus, who are now each other’s accountability partner and beloved sister in Christ), telling them that although I had the head knowledge of His promises, the need to trust Him, and the fact that it is flat out ludicrous for me to worry about what is happening in my job prospects and family’s health, I lacked the ability to fully make it happen in my heart. I just couldn’t get there from where I was emotionally and spiritually. I wanted the physical reactions I had been experiencing (racing heartbeat just from sitting at my desk, jitters, headaches, and the like) to stop, and in their place I wanted that perfect peace that Isaiah mentions in chapter 26, verse 3: You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
My friends told me the same things I would tell one of them if they were in my same predicament. They prayed with and for me, and one of them announced that she couldn’t wait for the day that I told this group about the surprising new job I had that I never thought I would be able to get, for that meant that it was only through God and that He delivered on His promise to meet my needs. I was challenged to glorify God in these days of uncertainty. Again, all things that I knew with my Vulcan-like logic and intellect but the head knowledge wasn’t translating into the heart knowledge, leaving me feeling quite disconnected and maybe even a bit worried, if I’m honest.
The very next morning during my prayer time, I asked the Lord to help me get to the point where I felt that same confidence in my heart, to overcome that disconnectedness. I was tired of being the victim in the screenplay of my life and the guest of honor at my own pity party. I honestly cannot remember now how exactly it happened, but the thought occurred to me as I was talking with Him that the trials I’ve been facing haven’t been happening to me; they have been happening for me. The Lord was not some capricious bully out to smite me out of cruelty; He was my Abba Father. He loves me and wants to grow me, with the ultimate goal of being more Christ-like. Talk about a game changer—a total change in perspective! I know it sounds cliché, but I felt different after that realization—lighter in my spirit and a bit more joy in my step. The random racing heartbeat has gone away thus far, tempered by the peace He has given me because I trust in Him.
He is so good, I tell you—so amazingly good!
Prayer Requests
· For unity and grace as we fully participate in the season of Advent by preparing our hearts for the celebration of the birth of our Savior and Lord
· For those who are convalescing from or facing various health-related issues
· For the caretakers of those who are ill
· For the broken-hearted and the lost
Friends, I know that the perspective He allowed me to have is one that you can have as well, if you earnestly seek for Him in the midst of the trials and tribulations you experience. I am praying for you.
Quotes
“Real peace is not the calm. Real peace is the presence of God in the storm.”
“When you’re hanging on by a thread, make sure it is the hem of His garment.”
Do You Trust Me?
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:3
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8
The other day I watched the movie Enola Holmes, a period piece about the teenage sister of the famous British detective. I enjoyed it tremendously, as it was engaging and full of intrigue. There was a scene in which she and a young man are being chased on a train when she spies an escape that would require jumping off onto a grassy slope as the train slowed down while approaching a bridge. She didn’t get the chance to explain her plan to this young man; seconds before it was time to jump (because the villain was ever so close), she looked him straight in the eye with outstretched hand and said, “Do you trust me?” He hesitated for a brief moment, clasped her hand and jumped. Despite the bumps and bruises, they safely escaped to London.
The next morning that scene’s question reminded me of another movie in which the question was posed the same way—Aladdin. In fact, it’s posed twice—both by Aladdin, and both to Princess Jasmine, in different situations but both with the same outstretched hand and almost challenging way in which it was posed. Jasmine’s character of course takes Aladdin’s hand and flees harm’s way in the first scenario, and sees a whole new world while riding a magic carpet in the second.
There have been a lot of challenges going on for me this year, both personally and professionally. In addition to my husband having been laid off from his job back in March because of the lockdown (don’t worry—he found another one in July), I found out in February that the service that I was the program manager for was going to end in October and that I would have to find a new job after the end of January 2021 or receive a severance package. It’s a standard practice and it isn’t anything personal; “it is what it is”, as the saying goes. My stepmother passed away suddenly at the end of May, leaving my dad to have to sort out family issues with her children and navigate trust paperwork and car titles all through the midst of a pandemic. I’ve experienced a couple of health-related concerns (don’t worry—I’m okay) and not too long ago, I had to run a close family member to the emergency room for chest pains for which we still don’t know the cause (it wasn’t a heart attack). I am burdened with concern for the church family still feeling like a family, given the separations we’ve experienced as of late. Add to all of this the emotional and mental overhead and toll that the pandemic, extended political drama, concerns about civil unrest and division, and I am admittedly overwhelmed.
I’ve grappled with the fact that I’m feeling stressed at times, not because I feel like I shouldn’t be experiencing hard times—no, I know that the difficult times are purposeful for my spiritual growth. I grapple with that fact because I feel that as a believer, I shouldn’t be stressed because I know He has my whole life with its heavy and silly drama in His hands. I have even written about the liberty I have felt in knowing that those big boulders are all taken care of in Him. Husband gets laid off—God has us. I have to undergo a nuclear stress test because the cardiologist saw an irregularity in my regular stress test results—God’s got this (and He does—my heart is fine). I’m faced with working to shut down a program I gave four years of my blood, sweat, and tears to and have to find a job when it’s through—God has me through and through. So why am I stressed? Do I not have enough faith?
These questions were rattling around in my head during my prayer time the other day when the scene I described earlier from Aladdin popped into my head (where Aladdin reaching out to Jasmine asking “do you trust me?”) I remember thinking that the topic would make a great devotional, made a mental note of it, and continued to pray. It wasn’t until later that it hit me that the question was more than a devotional topic—that it was a question He was posing to me. “Do you trust Me?” I’m ashamed to admit that my initial reaction was one of fear to the point of almost dread—if I say “yes”, does that mean that something else is going to happen? Is He going to test/prune/grow me even more?
What I’ve realized since then is that to truly surrender and die to myself, as I am called—as we as believers are called to do—I have to acknowledge with both my words and my actions that He is the Lord of my life and as such, has all of my tomorrows in His hands. And even if those tomorrows come with even greater challenges to my so-called earthly security, ones that threaten to add water to the deep end of the pool in which I feel at times that I’m barely treading water, I know that my life preserver comes in the promises of hope my Father gives me in His Word, and in the comforting presence of His Holy Spirit. When the waves of chaos start to close in, I need to be deliberate in my calling out to Him, through direct prayer and requests to friends to pray for me. He will never leave me nor forsake me. I also know I do not have to bear the burdens alone, and I will be better about asking for prayers from my Christian brothers and sisters.
Yes, Lord, I do trust You. I trust You in all things.
Prayer Requests
· For Maurice Perkins, who fell last week and is in the hospital, and for encouragement and support for Betty.
· For Bill Horn, who fell and broke his elbow while visiting family, and for comfort and support for Grace as they seek an orthopedist
· For unity within the Church as we face untold distractions and challenges
· For us to trust in Him and to seek His will in all things
Dear ones, let us always seek to trust the one Who created the heavens and earth, determines the number of stars and calls them by name.
Quotes
“God isn’t asking you to figure it out. He’s asking you to trust that He already has."
“Surrender your pen. Trust God to write your story.”
The Great British Baking Show
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-4
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment
1 Corinthians 1:10
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Colossians 3:14
I know that I am tremendously late to the game, but I’ve started watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. I don’t watch a whole lot of reality television, so I’m not really in the best position to judge it against the whole of reality television, but I absolutely love this show. It could be that I’m fascinated by the lilt of the British dialects and the way they pronounce oregano as “or-eh-GONE-o” or basil as “BAZZ-el” or the “h” in the word herb or the seemingly delectable and magnificent-looking pies, breads, and pastries they create despite a ridiculous time limit. Actually, it’s both of those things and more, but I’ve recently realized what exactly it is that makes me love this show so much: the way the contestants and the judges & hosts seem to genuinely care for each other. If you’re unfamiliar with the show, let me bring you up to speed: 12-13 amateur bakers are competing for the prestige of being named Star Baker each week, culminating in winning the competition at the end of the series. Each show consists of the bakers having to bake three different recipes, and alas, one baker is eliminated each week. In most of the episodes, it’s not a surprise to the one who is not asked to return, because they know how well they did based on the feedback from the judges. The thing that just touches my heart is that right after the host announces the baker who will be leaving them, the two female hosts, the two judges, and the rest of the bakers all surround that person and just love on him or her. Tears are shed, not just by the person going home, but also by some of the remaining bakers, for genuine sadness at that person’s impending departure. There is an authentic sense of caring for all involved, and I have to admit that it’s quite refreshing.
I’ve also seen instances in which the bakers are helping each other out. Mind you, they are competing against each other for the title of UK’s Best Baker, but I’ve watched a baker help a younger baker plate her pastries because of an earlier baking debacle; I’ve seen two bakers help another get his cake out of a very sticky pan. There is sincerity in their willingness to help, and a humility in the recipient of the weekly Star Baker award. (Mind you, I’m only into the second season, so future seasons may show something completely different, but I’m betting they won’t).
There is something to be said in the unity that comes from having going through such a shared experience as a televised baking competition, with its ridiculous time constraints applied to technically difficult challenges designed to test the skill of each person. Common experiences such as these produce a camaraderie that most would not understand. This can create a bond and an empathy that can help sustain each person during their challenging trials.
Similarly, as believers, we can experience the same thing. (Wait, am I actually comparing the life of Christ’s followers to the Great British Baking Show? No, silly, I am not). As believers, we are each a child of the Living God, of the body of Christ, and recipients of the greatest gift ever conceived: that of eternal life and with it, the surety of never living this temporary life alone. Because we are in His family, bought with His blood, we have His Spirit working in us to mold and temper us into having the mind of Christ. We have the same commands from Jesus, and as such, the same goal. Proverbially, we are on the same team.
It is concerning to me when I hear of divisions in the Church. Internal denominational squabbles are punchlines in clean humorists’ jokes—tiffs about the color of the carpet in the sanctuary, the placement of the pastors’ parking spaces in the church parking lot, and the strength of the coffee, to name a few. The thing is, though, is that I daresay that each of you nodded in uncomfortable understanding to at least one of those things I just listed. Add to those squabbles some of the latest Church struggles – to have both in-person and livestreaming worship services; to allow the ordination of homosexual pastors; traditional versus contemporary services; and the list goes on—and you have an opportunity ripe for the enemy to do a “slip and stir”—he slips in through a crack in the church’s armor caused by a slight disagreement over the length of the church service or how songs are sung and then stirs things up in other areas, and pretty soon there are people truly upset with their brother or sister in Christ and a rift setting in. Because it’s human nature to choose sides, what starts as a crack grows into a crevice which could grow into a chasm.
Friends, this year has been tough on all of us, worldwide. There is a plethora of stressors threatening to overwhelm even the most spiritually mature and disciplined of us. I am not meaning to be alarmist, I promise. I am speaking about the Church universal—the body of Christ right now. Now, more than ever I’d say, we need to remember and act on the greatest commandments—to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. Focusing on these commandments on a personal and individual note will enable us to be united as a church and as the Church, of one accord. As the bonds of unity are strengthened, we are able to withstand both the overt and the stealth attacks from the enemy.
The world is watching. May they see Jesus in us.
Prayer Requests
· For Gina Sheftall’s surgery this week
· For Grace, the four-year-old daughter of Cynthia Wilkerson’s former nurse, for her recovery from surgery to remove cancerous lymph nodes and her tonsils. She will continue to need prayers as she has a malignant brain tumor, the course of treatment for which has yet to be determined
· For those family members and friends stricken with COVID—Jack’s sister and brother-in-law, Witt Mitchum, and others
· For us to continue to seek His will and direction for His church
Friends, we take heart because we know that the enemy has been and is defeated. We must remain vigilant, though, for we are not immune to his attacks. Let us seek to fully understand, support, and love each other as He has called us to do. He will honor this sacrifice, and He will be glorified in it.
Quotes
“Your most powerful testimony is how you treat others after the church service is over."
“It’s easy to judge. It’s more difficult to understand. Understanding requires compassion, patience, and a willingness to believe that good hearts sometimes choose poor methods.”
Pray With Me
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me
John 17:20-23
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Romans 12:12-16
We are now in November, almost six months into a pandemic for which there may be some relief in the form of a vaccination sometime next year, but there are no guarantees that everyone is going to even get the vaccine. This pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, regardless of whether one chooses to admit it or not. Add to that the political upheaval the presidential election has caused, as well as the difficulties exacerbated by health concerns, financial woes, plus other stressors, and you have a ground that are quite ripe for the seeds of division to be sown, even within the body of Christ. The enemy has had a field day poking his proverbial finger into people, causing a maelstrom of angst, hurt, and heightened sensitivities. I have been sensing that angst for a while, across a variety of different groups of folks I interact with, and I have been praying for those different groups, both individually and corporately.
I am now calling on you to join me. It’s not that I don’t think that my prayers are effective, because they are – James 5:16b tells us that “The effective prayer of a righteous person has great power.” I am asking you to join me because of the effect prayer has on you and on those for whom you pray.
If you are hesitant to join me because you are unsure of how to pray, allow me to allay your fears. There are prayer models (mnemonics that will help you remember how to pray) like ACTS: Adoration (praising God for who and how He is), Confession (repenting of those sins you committed, and asking Him to reveal those secret sins you didn’t realize you had and asking forgiveness for them), Thanksgiving (thanking Him for what He has done for, in, and through you), and lastly Supplication (presenting requests to Him on behalf of others and yourself). Or you can use the Lord’s Prayer as a framework. However you to choose to pray, just do it. Spend time with our Almighty God—sincere, unadulterated time with Him—and He will honor it.
Join me in praying for the following:
· For our Pastor: Lord, I lift up Pastor Wayne to You. Thank You for His servant’s heart that offers so much love to You and to Your sheep. Uplift and protect him during these unprecedented times. Help him continue to deliver the messages You want us to hear, and be with him as he goes through the process of becoming an ordained Cumberland Presbyterian minister. Thank you for bringing him to our church! We thank You also for Jody and her sacrifice, love, and support.
· For our Worship leader and Youth Director: Lord, we are thankful for your work in Skylar’s life and ministry. Continue to watch over him and his bride Erica, as they dive into building those ministries that You brought him to Stone Oak Church for. Thank You for his passion and love for You.
· For our Session: Lord, it is a challenging job to be an active elder, as it is purely a volunteer workforce! Give them the direction to make the decisions that are accordance to Your will and the wisdom to curate the spiritual health of the congregation.
· For behind-the-scenes workers: Lord, we are so very thankful to have those who are willing to give of their time and talents, all of which run the gamut in their service to You and this church. Continue to fill them with joy as they serve You, and add to their numbers, if it is Your will, so that they do not become burdened in their service
· For the lost among us: Lord, if there are people who sit among us who are lost, we pray that their hearts, ears, and eyes would be opened by the Holy Spirit through Your inspired Word, preaching, and the love of the body of Christ. Use us, please, to present the gospel to them and to those in this world who need to know Christ.
· For connection: Lord, these are tremendously challenging times. There are members of Your body who are hurting, who are feeling disengaged and forgotten, and may not feel like they are a part of Your church right now. We praise You for what You’ve accomplished thus far from a technology point of view and sharing the service, meetings, Sunday School and the like; please show us what else we can do engage our brothers and sisters who are unable to fellowship in person.
· For unity: Lord, the turbulent times we’re in right now are a breeding ground for the seeds of division. Help us to empathize with each other; help us to understand the impacts of the words that we use and how they might be interpreted or misconstrued; help us to assume positive intent in all things. Protect us from the fiery darts of the enemy whose sole purpose is to divide and distract us from true worship of You by pitting us against each other.
Friends, this is not an exhaustive list. These are those things the Lord has put on my heart right now, the heaviest being the last two. Those two have been on my heart for a while, and I’ve struggled with how to even address and share them with you, especially when I don’t have a silver bullet fix for them? The Lord, in His abundant wisdom, patience, and love, led me to understand that although He made me a problem solver, there are some things that I can’t solve alone. Hence the need to involve you guys—the body of Christ—and ultimately Him, the One to Whom we will pray.
This concept is a work in progress—I reserve the right to continue to add to the list as the Lord leads, so watch out for possible sequels to this devotional topic.
Quotes
“Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays." - Soren Kierkegaard
“Church isn’t about where you meet, how often you meet, or how many or what types of songs you sing. It’s about coming together as a family of believers in Christ and worshiping the God of the universe.”
Truth
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John 16:13
I have a daily routine-- now that I’ve been working from home lo these almost eight months! – in which I walk to the neighborhood mailbox after I log off my work laptop. It’s not a far jaunt by any means, but it gets me out of the house and my blood flowing a bit, after a long day of sitting at the computer. I’ll rifle through the mail, setting aside the few bills we get along with the various charity requests we receive, and after tucking away my beloved Readers’ Digest when it arrives, I’ll recycle the extraneous ads and offers from credit companies and the like.
The makeup of my mail has changed over the past couple of months, as I’m sure yours has, matching the pace by which television commercials and radio ads have been airing for the upcoming local, state, and federal election. For every Wendy Davis flyer I and each of my family members have received (we once received four of the same flyer—two addressed to me, one to Troy, and one to my husband), we get the same tit-for-tat flyer from Chip Roy. On the television, it’s John Cornyn and MJ Hegar, and of course, Trump and Biden. Each candidate touts that their opponent’s leadership will lead to ruin, and that theirs is the correct and genuine key to success, health, and personal satisfaction for everyone. ‘Murica!
Whatever is one to believe? Is the truth truly something that can be defined and represented by one candidate or another? I’m afraid not, as everyone’s truth seems to be relative these days, as it best aligns to one’s views. The uninformed voter is likely to fall victim to following the one with the loudest voice, or the one who slings the most amount of mud, and will be lucky if there is a modicum of truth in the message. The informed voter does all that he or she can to understand each candidate’s positions, cutting through the political maneuvering and sleight of hand to find the truth.
As believers, we face the same challenges as we navigate the world on our journey through life. We are accosted by a barrage of opinions presented as truth and volleys of politically appealing promises meant to affirm who the world says that we are or should be. The enemy has a fine array of weaponry with which to distract and confuse, to disarm and deter us from understanding truth. But fret not, my dear friends, for we have the actual Spirit of Truth living with us at all times. He directs our focus onto Lord Jesus, conforming us more into the image of Christ through our study of scripture, through prayer and communion with our heavenly Father, and through fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit in us that we are able to grow in spiritual maturity and seek more of His truth in our lives. With more of His truth in us, the less affected we are by the chaos and confusion of this world.
Dear ones, it would be an understatement to say that these are challenging times of late. Add to that mix a contentious and volatile presidential election and, regardless of who wins that election, angst, anger, and less-than-ideal behavior and action on both sides of the political spectrum. Once all of the ballots are counted and a winner declared, there will be a cacophony of accusations, political posturing, and division. However, as believers, we will know what truth truly is. I pray that we all find comfort in the fact God is going to allow the person who is best suited to fulfill His purpose and plan to be elected, regardless of whether we voted for that person or not. I pray that the Spirit of Truth leads us to ask for God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. I pray that we can still understand our bond to each other and our unity within the family of Christ.
Prayer Requests
· For the passing of Dora Santillano’s sister—may Dora and the Santillano family be comforted by the Lord’s peace and encouragement during this time
· For those burdened with addictions
· For those sharing their faith and being persecuted for it
· For us to be of one accord in seeking His will for His church
To those still worried about the election, I invite you to read the devotion I shared in George’s Sunday School class yesterday: https://www.1517.org/articles/gods-not-worried-about-the-election
Quotes
“Throw yourself upon God’s faithfulness as you do upon your bed, bringing all your weariness to His dear rest.” -- Charles Spurgeon
“Before you ever had this problem, God already had the solution.”
Out of Sorts
Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression,
But a good word makes it glad.
Proverbs 12:25
I woke up Friday morning a bit out of sorts. The past couple of weeks had brought challenges from all angles—health, work, family, spiritual, and although I thought I’d worked through most, if not all, of these issues, there was still apparently something lingering below the surface. My morning routine was off as well—though I’d dressed in workout clothes for after my morning time with Him, I decided not to work out and instead scrolled through Facebook and Reddit.
When I logged into work, I discovered an email that just bothered the dickens out of me, regarding a piece of feedback that we were supposed to troubleshoot back in July but had been stuck in someone’s queue until the previous night. The state of my being out of sorts increased dramatically and I vented a blue streak with my team in our stand-up meeting. It was so out of character for me that a coworker reached out to me afterwards asking me if I was all right.
I wasn’t proud of how I’d responded during that meeting. I don’t like feeling like I’m on the verge of losing my cool, helpless to control the irritability inside of me. As I am wont to do, I got into my head to see if I could determine what truly was bothering me. As I have learned to do, I asked the Holy Spirit to help me in my emotional and mental quest, and He did not disappoint. He and I are still working on me turning over every single concern over to Him, knowing that some are more immediate than others, and that all of that relinquishment relies on active work on my part.
Friends, if ever there were a time that stress would or could impact us, now is that time. The worries about COVID-19 and its physical and financial impacts are tremendous. Of equal impact is the political environment we find ourselves in, with the endless mud-slinging commercials and mailers or Supreme Court justice nominations. Of even more or targeted impressions and influence, in my opinion, are the “discussions” or inflammatory comments that appear in our various social media platforms. Add to that volatile mix the challenge of distance learning, racial injustice, as well as any potential disagreements within the family or church, and you have a recipe for a tinderbox of emotions, be they irritability, anger, or depression, or any combination of the three.
What is a believer to do?
· Understand that, despite what the enemy may tell you, having feelings like these does not mean that we have failed as a Christian. It simply means that we are still on this side of heaven, living in an unglorified body that is subject to the ravages of this world. Seek to understand what may be at the root of these responses. Spend some time in communion with the Lord, asking His Holy Spirit to reveal the true source of what you are experiencing. If you need help unpacking any of it, or delving further into it, seek out counseling services through Pastor Wayne or others.
· Acknowledge that if you do need to reach out for help, it is not a sign of weakness to do so. It is actually a sign of maturity and recognition of your humanness.
· Give yourself grace. Piling negative self-talk with the emotions you’re experiencing does you no good, and can actually be detrimental to any healing you may need to experience.
· Be purposeful in spending time in His Word. Don’t read a devotional or two and think that you’ve satisfied the need for bible reading. King David and other writers (some known and some unknown) of the Psalms wrote of despair, distress, deliverance in times of trouble, healing, and joy, among other things. Study Romans 8 to understand the depth and breadth of the love that our Father has for you, and study the gospels to see how Lord Jesus demonstrated that love. Allow the Word to speak to your heart, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand its message.
· Actively identify those triggers that may be affecting you. Do you find yourself in a foul mood after visiting a certain family member? Are your emotions in turmoil after watching the television news or viewing various social media platforms? Remember, negativity begets negativity. Take an active break from those activities that adversely impact you. Trust me, your Facebook friends may not even notice your absence, but your mental health may benefit greatly from it.
· Truly know and trust that the Lord has this whole thing. In fact, I’m not even telling you to trust that He has it all figured out, since there is nothing for Him to figure out! To say that He has to figure it out implies that things are a mystery to Him and that He has no control over the current and future events. Poppycock! No, friends, the Lord is sovereign and omniscient. The Lord either causes things to happen or allows things to happen. Nothing is a surprise to the Lord. Stressed about the election? Know that the Lord will allow the election of the person best suited to fulfill His plan. Concerned about a battery of medical tests you may be facing? Experience the refuge and the very present help in trouble that the Lord provides (Psalm 46:1), knowing that all things work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Anxious about what else 2020 could possibly bring? Spend time in prayer and communion with Him, confident that “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1). Remember, He is the Lord of our valleys as well as our mountaintops. He has this and He has you.
2020 has been a heck of a year. If you are struggling, please know that I am praying for you, and know that you are surrounded by your brothers- and sisters-in-Christ who are praying for you as well. Not all of us may know your specific situation, but please glean comfort from the knowledge that you are being lifted up in prayer.
Prayer Requests
· For Cheri Williams and her family at the loss of her mother Mary Lou
· For the Santillano family—for Ray and April, as he is at the Pentagon and she is in San Antonio; for Dora; for their children Noah and Crystal and grandson Maxxen
· For Wayne and Skylar, for their protection, discernment, and wisdom
· For God’s will to be done in the church and beyond, on earth as it is in Heaven
Just a gentle reminder—some people are fairly forthcoming about sharing their struggles; others of us, not so much. May we seek to have empathy and grace for each other, as sometimes the inner battles are not always obvious.
Quotes
“In Heaven we shall see that we had not one trial too many.” --Charles Spurgeon
“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” -- Corrie Ten Boom
No Condemnation
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:1
Growing up, I felt like I was a pretty good kid—I enjoyed school, got good grades, rarely got in trouble, and I remember getting spanked only once when I was in kindergarten because I went into the street to see a frog that had gotten run over by a car (isn’t it funny how distinctly I can recall that memory but there are times that I can’t even remember why I walked into a room for? I know I cannot be the only one who experiences this…) My parents were kind and good people; my mother was a stay-at-home mother at least until I got into high school, and my dad was an officer in the Air Force who helped guide and develop my spiritual walk. My dad was more of the disciplinarian—ours was the quintessential “wait until your father comes home” type of house of the 1970s and maybe a bit later. That threat straightened me right up—not because I was afraid of any physical punishment—no, that was never necessary; no, it was because I didn’t want to disappoint him. Fear of disappointing him was a tremendous motivator in my desire to “fly right”.
Please don’t misunderstand and stare daggers at and give cold shoulders to my dad the next time he visits and comes to church with me—he never lectured me on how upset he was in me or told me how I would never live up to his expectations of me—on the contrary, he always told me how proud he was of me and how much he loved me. *I* was the one who didn’t want to cause him to lose faith in me, or to experience any angst because of something that I did or didn’t do. My fear of disappointing my dad was self-induced, and stayed with me for a while, eventually transitioning from my earthly father onto my heavenly Father.
You see, I know that we are all supposed participate in the Great Commission. The words of Jesus to “make disciples of all nations” weren’t just thrown out by our Lord as parting shot, afterthought, or suggestion—no, He was instructing the disciples and His followers (us) to be purposeful in sharing the gospel with the lost while we are out in this world. I just don’t do that enough (or at all on some days). There are others who seem to have absolutely no problem at all talking to everyone and anyone about Jesus. I am not a part of that camp. I have analyzed myself fifteen different ways to Sunday to find out why I don’t easily share His love—heck, I’ve even wondered if I’m truly His child, because if I was walking with the love of Jesus in my heart and living in in the depth of it, why in the world would I not want to share the gift with others so they could experience the same? Was I afraid of something—of how others might perceive me? I didn’t think so, but I couldn’t say so with certainty.
In my musings of this conundrum, I often thought of what it would be like if the Lord were to call me Home tomorrow, in full knowledge of what I didn’t do for Him. It’s a given I would be awestruck, not able to stand before His gaze, but would He even want to look upon me, the one to whom so much had been given, the one for whom He died and I couldn’t be bothered to share Christ’s message with others? Would I, the one without excuse, even be able to be before Him? Would His disappointment in me be palpable, deservedly crushing me in its heaviness?
I am almost embarrassed to say that while this concern was hugely real to me, it did not motivate me into immediate action. I justified my inaction to a degree, telling myself that we are all members of the body of Christ, and that others are more cut out for the sharing of the gospel with strangers, or that my spiritual gift leans more on the side of exhorting and mercy and less on the side of evangelism. I was not 100% convinced with my reasoning, though, and I visited the thoughts of disappointing Him regularly, feeling like a hypocrite whenever I communed with Him. Fear of disappointing Him was the price I begrudgingly paid for my inaction, and I accepted the exchange, forlornly resigned to hope that the Holy Spirit would work more diligently in me to get me to the proper mindset and obedience.
It wasn’t until I read Romans 8 again for the umpteenth time did I finally feel the weight of the burden begin to slip. You see, the realness of what Paul writes about in chapter 7 has always resonated with me—why do I do the things that I do not want to do and why do I not do the things that I know that I should do? (Paul expresses it better in Romans 7:15 “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”). I identify so with the intensity of the emotion he expresses in verse 24: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”. But there is the hope and declaration of goodness in verse 25: “ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
Romans 8:1 introduces a reinforcing thought to what we read in the last verses of chapter 7 with the use of the word “therefore”: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”. Though I had read this verse many a time before, as Romans is one of my favorite books, and chapter 8 one of my most beloved, it was the assurance of the “no condemnation to those who are in Christ... who walk according to the Spirit” that unshackled me from the worry of disappointing Him. My mindset had been all wrong—my heavenly Father doesn’t look down at me with a disapproving stare, resigned to constant disappointment at what I don’t do for His kingdom. On the contrary—because of what Christ did on the cross for me, my Father looks down at me with an indescribable intensity of love! I am not a disappointment to Him. He loves me, despite the sins I have committed and despite the fact that He knows the ones I am going to commit. God is not conditioning His outpouring of love based on what I am doing or not doing. I am not a disappointment!
And my friend, neither are you, despite what you may think. Do not give into the lies of the enemy who will tell you otherwise. The Creator of the heavens and earth loves you more than you can ever imagine, knows you more intimately than any human possibly could, and delights in you. There is no condemnation to those of us who are in Christ, who are led by the Spirit. Bask in that thought and promise, for it is glorious!
Prayer Requests
· For Mary Lou, Cheri Williams’ mom, who is recovering from a kidney infection and whose medications were causing her to faint. She is doing better, and we praise Him for the fact that Cheri was able to spend time with her on Sunday, when she was taken to the hospital
· For those dealing with health issues, be they physical, emotional, or spiritual—if this describes you, dear one, know that you are being lifted up on prayer
· For the impact of COVID worldwide—in India alone, 6 million people have been diagnosed
· For us as the body of Christ to be of one accord and to support each other and lift each other up
The Lord and I are still working through my evangelism challenge, but it is with love, spiritual introspection and discipline that these conversations are happening. To God be the glory!
Quotes
“When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.” –A. W. Tozer
“Child of God, you cost Christ too much for him to forget you.” -- Charles Spurgeon
It’s Romans 8:28, friends!
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
About 16 years ago I developed what looked like a large gash on my right calf. (Apologies to those who have heard this story. I think I may have even written on about it before, but here we are again). The skin wasn’t broken but there was an ugly red jagged line on my leg and it was quite warm to the touch. I hadn’t done anything to my calf and was flummoxed as to what in the world had happened. My calf got more painful and I finally saw the physician’s assistant at my doctor’s office about it, as it hurt to walk. She diagnosed it as a subcutaneous infection and prescribed antibiotics.
A couple of days later, the pain in my calf has not gone away and out of the blue, I passed out at work. I saw the PA the next day and pointed out a bulge in my upper thigh near my groin. Both she and the doctor sent me to the hospital to be hooked up to stronger antibiotics and to have a Doppler (basically like a detailed ultrasound of the veins in my leg). While in the hospital, my chest started hurting, and my heart pounded when I walked from my bed to the bathroom. I alerted the hospitalist who put a heart monitor on me. Heart readings were fine. I was released 23 hours after I’d been admitted.
A couple of days later while at Troy’s soccer game, I passed out twice and was rushed to the same hospital. It turns out that I had developed a deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), some of which had broken off and traveled to my lungs, resulting in pulmonary emboli (PE). I was given mega doses of clot-busting medicine, and was in ICU for three days and in a regular hospital room for another week. I had a cardiologist, pulmonologist, and hematologist watching over me. Having never been hospitalized except for a couple of days for the births of my sons, it was quite an experience.
The doctors were able to determine that I had a genetic mutation that predisposed me to blood clots, and the birth control pills I had been on up until that time apparently had triggered the DVT. Because it was genetic, the hematologist advised both my dad and my sister to get tested. While my dad tested negative, my sister tested positive for the same genetic mutation I had. We had some insight! You see, not too far long before all of this had happened, my sister had suffered a couple of miscarriages. I cried with her and comforted her when they happened. I had not experienced one myself, and had no explanation. But now that she had been tested for this odd mutation, she was able to work with a high-risk obstetrician when she got pregnant again, and I am the proud aunt of two wonderful nephews!
This is one of my real-life, personalized examples of the promise of Romans 8:28 coming to life. Had I not experienced the life-threatening condition I had, how many more miscarriages would my sister have gone through? I would gladly go through something like that again to have spared her additional pain and suffering.
Friends, I know some of you may be wondering why I’m sharing this story again. It’s just that in all of the chaos and challenges the year 2020 has thrown at us all, I want us to keep in mind the perspective of Romans 8:28 during this pandemic:
· Although we had talked about and probably planned for livestreaming our services at some point in the year, look how quickly we were able to make it happen and help connect the Stone Oak Church body.
· I now take part in a weekly Zoom meeting with three to five other ladies of different ages and races, and at different spots on their spiritual walk. We connected through the Walk to Emmaus and hold each other accountable for commitments, all the while lifting each other up, laughing, and praising God for having brought us together. We have committed to continuing to Zoom even if/when things return to “normal”. We did not do this before the pandemic.
· The Zoom meeting started when one of the ladies wanted to have a real dialogue after the George Floyd murder and protests. That whole issue in and of itself enabled an open sharing of hurts and perspectives.
· My husband was laid off from his civil engineering job back at the end of March for four months because of the lockdown and economic impact of COVID. He has since started at a new company, and told me just the other day that he realized that he just never seemed to be the right fit for his old company. He worked a tremendous number of hours for them, was always stressed, and seemed to be caught in a power play between two of the leaders at the firm. Had the layoff not happened, he wouldn’t be at his new company now, loving every minute there.
· We were blessed that Pastor Ray’s PSC orders were delayed by at least what—four months or so?—and that he was able to remain home with his family (and his church family to a lesser degree) during that time.
I’m not saying what we’re going through isn’t without its challenges—it is. For some of us, this pandemic with its restrictions and life-changing burdens has resulted in the loss of family members and friends, severely reduced (or eliminated) visitation with ailing or elderly family, increased stress levels in having to be both parent and teacher to school-aged children, and the list goes on. I am not discounting these challenges or trying to gloss over them euphemistically. But if we cling to the promise that is in His inspired word in Romans 8:28, we know that the Lord will work things for good for those (us) who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
It bears noting that sometimes that good may not always be evident or revealed to us this side of heaven, and we must be okay with that. I am also of the opinion and understanding that the “us” who will benefit from these good workings may be the corporate “us”. Hear me out—if tragedy strikes a family and it results in a grief-stricken not-yet-believing family member seeking God in the thick of it—isn’t that good? If a challenging medical diagnosis for one person causes a team of people to intercede in prayer for him or her, causing faith to grow and spiritual disciple to sprout in the pray-ers, isn’t that good?
May we seek to embody the hope and promise of Romans 8:28.
Prayer Requests
Praise for Steve Kale’s successful heart surgery and recovery
For those physically, emotionally, financially or otherwise impacted by this pandemic
Praise for Mark Hardison’s negative bone biopsy!
For our nation now and in the weeks leading up to the election
For us to pray as Paul exhorts us to in Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people
Dear ones, I pray that you would have eyes to see the love that is in Romans 8:28. Words are not adequate to describe the love the Father has for His children. I will, however, use Paul’s from just a few verses after Romans 8:28:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Quotes
“Job never saw why he suffered, but he saw God, and that was enough.” –Tim Keller
“My faith rests not in what I am, or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what he has done, and in what he is doing for me.” -- Charles Spurgeon
Coram Deo
For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God in the light of life.
Psalm 56:13
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
Psalm 115:1
I have been reading Paul’s letter to the Romans. I read somewhere that not only are you supposed to study Romans, but you’re also supposed to read it like a book. Since I finished my study of it last week, I started reading it less for study and more for pleasure and insight. As I was reading chapter six, I came to a term that piqued my curiosity—“slaves to righteousness” in verse 18. Now the odd thing is—I don’t recall it piquing my curiosity within the past month or so when I truly studied it, so why now? (dontcha love it when the Holy Spirit calls your attention to something that you’ve read before but now has new meaning or curiosity to you? I love it when He does that!!)
So I Googled the interesting phrase, and of course, found a number of results. The very first one what a devotional on the Ligonier Ministries website, which calls itself the “teaching fellowship of R.C. Sproul”. The devotional talked about the processes of justification and sanctification, and then had a Latin term that I had never heard of (not that I know a lot of Latin, but it, too, piqued my curiosity and down that rabbit hole I fell): Coram Deo. I Googled coram Deo and found another blog post on the Ligonier Ministries website, this one written by R.C. Sproul himself. According to Mr. Sproul, “this phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.” It literally means “before the face of God.” In simpler terms, the phrase acknowledges the omnipresence of our heavenly Father and declares that everything that we do is done unto Him.
Coram Deo provides the basis for us to understand that we should be aware of His constant presence and to live a life that demonstrates that awareness. It is God whom we live for, not ourselves nor others. It is God’s approval that we seek; His is the ultimate authority for which we live. As one website says, “coram Deo reminds us that we live for an audience of one: the Lord God.”1 He alone is worthy of our praise and worship. He alone is sovereign; He alone is glorious.
Friends, living our lives “before the face of God” is not meant to be a scary thought. It can perhaps be a sobering one, but only through the conviction of the Holy Spirit in an attempt to mature us. Coram Deo calls for us to live out our faith in utter transparency and openness, allowing our beliefs and convictions to influence our actions, even (and maybe especially) those outside of our time spent in worship, all to the glory of God. Living coram Deo informs our spiritual maturity as we yield to the teaching and direction of the Holy Spirit to become more like Christ, all to the glory of the Father.
Prayer Requests
· For travel mercies for Pastor Ray as his PCS to the Pentagon is happening now, and for comfort and support for April, Dora, and his children.
· A multitude of thanks for His bringing Skylar and Erica to Stone Oak Church and for the enhanced worship we are engaging in on Sunday mornings
· For us to be a church that believes in the power of prayer and prays continually
· For the victims of the west coast wildfires and the committed first responders who are battling those blazes
If you’re curious, Coram Deo is pronounced like “core-um Day-o”. Perhaps this two-word four-syllable Latin term can be an easy reminder for how we are all to live as followers of Christ and children of the Living God.
Quotes
“Stop listening to every dysfunctional thought. Tell your mind to align its thoughts with the Word of God and to dwell on what He says about you. You were made by a King. You are loved. You are of great worth.”
“God uses our trials to build our faith, draw us closer to Him, and give us a testimony of His faithfulness for others to see.” -- Dr. Michelle Bengtson
1 https://www.gotquestions.org/coram-Deo.html
You Are Not Alone, Part 2
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2
Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;
Romans 12:10
I set out to go walking one Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago, to get a cardio workout in since I didn’t quite feel like going to the gym. I brought a six-ounce water with me, put in my AirPods and started listening to the last minutes of Francis Chan’s Letters to the Churches on Audible (side note: this is an absolutely terrific book, by the way!). I started down a main street in the greater Stone Oak neighborhood, mapping out in my head where I’d walk and bump that against the time I needed to run errands I’d intended to run later that day. Off to a great start, I decided to deviate from where I had originally intended and went up to the back end of Huebner road, where it intersects with Hardy Oak. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a new stretch of road that has provided shortcuts and time savings to travelers going to Costco and the medical center area. That specific corner is nothing but concrete and asphalt and fenced-off dry land.
Proud that I was getting in a good workout by merely walking in the oppressive Texas humidity (it was only 90 degrees but it sure felt hotter), I looked down at my watch after a while to see that it was tracking my heart rate at an impressive but insane 180 beats per minute. Looking for some shade, I found a small tree that provided a smidgeon of it and sat down, willing my heart rate to go down and drinking some water to hydrate. When it finally got down to about 146 beats per minute, I figured it would be safe to start up again. I walked slower this time, not wanting to tax my system any more than I needed to in the head and humidity. When I found my heart rate back up to 180 in less than two minutes and feeling kind of woozy, I sought shade in which to sit down. Because it was 11:20, the sun was nearly straight above me and this being Texas, there really aren’t the types of trees around that can provide a decent amount of shade. I sat near a concrete barrier, debating with myself what my figurative next steps should be. You see, I pride myself on being in decent shape—I don’t run marathons and am certainly not a gym rat, but I do work out with a personal trainer twice a week and do cardio workouts the other days, resting on Sundays now that we’re back in person at church. It was only 90 degrees—I’ve walked and worked out in hotter weather. I was only a mile and a half from home—once I got up the slight hill, it would have been a fairly simple return. I should have been able to go on in my own strength. However, my heart rate wasn’t decreasing at the rate it seemed to before, and the wooziness got worse, turning into nausea. Reluctantly, I called my husband to come pick me up and sat on the curb, defeated.
My husband showed up just a couple of minutes later, handing me my water bottle and drove me home. I apologized and thanked him, telling him I felt like such a wuss for having to call him. He said that he was glad that I had, saying that the main message he heard when he was going on rucksack runs and other physical fitness exercises in the Air Force was to not overdo it in the heat—to not let yourself get overheated and risk heat exhaustion or even heat stroke. When we got home, I sat on the couch cooling off, exhausted, doing absolutely nothing (which is not like me at all) but rewatching season one of The Good Place.
Fast forward to a little bit later that week when I was on a weekly Zoom call with five other Christian women from my Emmaus group. One of them had written a devotional about the emotional valley she had been in for a bit. In this devotional, she reminded those who may be feeling too overwhelmed in their valley to reach out to those in the body of Christ for help, and exhorted Christian brothers and sisters to reach out and check on those they may not have heard from in a while. When I gently asked her why she herself hadn’t followed her own advice and reached out, she said that she felt that she should have been able to go through it by herself. Sound familiar?
My dear friend is one of those who is constantly watching out for her family and friends, to lift up and take care of them. She dislikes feeling like she is burdening someone else with her problems, and felt that she should have been strong enough to handle this time alone (well, not fully alone, because she did cry out to Him). The five of us lovingly fussed at her, explaining that when she is overburdened, we can come along side of her and help carry her load and pain. We asked her to let us be a blessing to her, understanding that it is in that helping that we are blessed as well.
Friends, life is not without its challenges, especially as of late with the absolute chaos that has been the year 2020. It is difficult to not be impacted in some way by the pandemic and action resulting from it, racial injustice, the political arena, riots, unemployment, and so much more. It’s understandable and normal for your emotional health to be impacted by these things. Be watchful, however, for those signs that may indicate that your handling of things may be getting too stressed and that help, professional or otherwise, is needed. Some of those signs (this is not an exhaustive list) can include withdrawing from friends and family (like not wanting to answer the phone when someone calls or declining invitations to meet (not COVID-related)); not coming to church or watching the livestream; or finding yourself spending less time in the Bible or less time in prayer.
If you do realize one or more of these signs, I ask you to reach out to someone—a Christian friend, a counselor, Pastor Wayne—someone who can help you or at least listen. Resist the urge to think that as a believer, you should have all it all together. Resist the urge also to think that anyone will think less of you because you reached out—quite the opposite, I’d say!
Friends, you are surrounded by the body of Christ. Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Corinthians that we, who are many, were all baptized into one body, and that when one member suffers, all members suffer with him or her. Just like we surrounded our friend in that Zoom call, your church family can do the same for you. We can do that for each other.
There is a song that we sing at each Walk to Emmaus event entitled The Servant Song (here is a link to it on YouTube) and its lyrics fit so wonderfully here in this lesson:
Will you let me be your servant?
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.
We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I'll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we've seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we've known together
Of Christ's love and agony.
I will echo my friend’s admonition from her devotional: if you find yourself in a valley, reach out. If you are not in a valley, check in on your friends and family who just might be. Pray, text, call, visit, or do all of the above, but attend to them.
Prayer Requests
· For Mark Hardison who will be receiving treatment for the additional signs of cancer recently discovered. Pray for Roseann as well.
· For positive change and healing in the racial and social landscape of our nation
· For law enforcement, first responders, healthcare workers, pastors and church leaders
· For families who are dealing with school starting in the midst of a pandemic
Know that you are being prayed for, even if I don’t know your specific situation. Know that the Lord is with you—cling tightly to His promise to never leave you nor forsake you. Know that you are a member of the body of Christ and are loved tremendously.
Quotes
“Remember He is the artist and you are only the painting. You can’t see it. So quietly submit to be painted.” --C.S. Lewis
“God’s plan for your life far exceeds the circumstances of your day.”
Talk Less, Smile More
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
James 1:19
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Romans 8:14
I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to have seen the Broadway musical Hamilton while it was on its run, or if you’ve streamed it on Disney+ several times like I have, but the devotional title is a reference to a bit of advice Aaron Burr’s character gives the titular Alexander Hamilton when he first meets him. Hamilton’s character tends to be not only talkative but also frank and brash in sharing his thoughts on various subjects, which runs counter to how Aaron Burr’s character handles himself.
It’s advice that we could avail ourselves as well. It ties fairly well with the message James shares in the first chapter of his book, with an emphasis on the “talk less” part.
There were times at the beginning of my spiritual walk as an adult when I found myself realizing that I had either a) missed an opportunity to say something or b) reacted in a way to someone in a way that is perhaps less reflective of His presence. This realization oftentimes would happen at least a good while after the opportunity or incident, when it was too late to rectify the situation. I’m sure the Holy Spirit in me shook His head at my situation several times, wanting to thump me on mine each time words came out my mouth before my brain had fully formed them. As time went by and I was growing in maturity in Him, however, the time between the realization of the event and the actual event seemed to shrink, thus enabling me to quickly counter the effects of what I did or did not say or do.
After a while of this, I recognized that there were times that the Holy Spirit moved the proverbial time table, and that I was able to take the appropriate witness opportunity that was presented to me OR, a more likely scenario, to not say something or react to what was being presented to me—all while still in the moment.
I had always understood the sensible lesson behind the wisdom James shares in verse 19 of the first chapter of James: practice counting to 10 in those situations that can set you off, thereby allowing you to cool off and not overreact. And the “quick to hear and slow to speak” piece of it aligned with the truism of God giving us two ears and one mouth, so as to enable us to listen twice as much more than we speak. Made sense to me as quite practical advice. But, as I realized recently in prayer, it’s more than that. Heeding James’s words is an active way through which you yield your spirit to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Consciously and actively overcoming your natural response in heightened or unique situations and submitting yourself to the Holy Spirit allows Him to do His work in and through you.
Be quick to hear – truly seek to listen to what the other person is saying, and for what he or she is not saying. Strive to understand, relate, and validate or empathize, and to not judge or condemn. Focus on the relational aspect of the communication between you and the other person.
Be slow to speak – this is where those of us who pride ourselves on being the first to answer, or being quick with a clever response will find ourselves challenged to truly slow down and be sensitive to the Spirit. Doing this will help to ensure that our words are intentional and guided by Him.
Be slow to anger – this one seems pretty self-evident as to the purpose behind it, but I’m going to mention it anyway. Hot-tempered anger is not good for anyone, you or the other person, and it does nothing to help any situation. James also continues in verse 20 to say that “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Solomon tells us in Proverbs 14 that “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.”
Prayer Requests
· For Cheri Williams’s mother, who has a lung infection, and for Cheri and her family who are concerned about her
· For Pastor Ray and April, and Miss Dora, for their PCS to Washington DC, that the Lord grant peace, encouragement, and protection to their move and to their friends and family
· Praise and gratitude for the new faces the Lord is bringing into our church family!
· For us to be the church that Jesus calls us to be in the midst of what is going on in this world
Friends, I am constantly amazed at the work that the Holy Spirit does to lead us into all truth. Not only does the Lord tell us in His word how we should act in ways of righteousness and love, He also gives us the means by which to do, though His Spirit. May we never cease to praise Him for His goodness!
Quotes
“You grow when the Word of God means more to you than the words of people”. –Christine Caine
“If all your prayers were answered, would they change the world or just yours?”
Divine Transcendence and Immanence
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Acts 17:24-25
“Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill heaven and earth”? declares the Lord
Jeremiah 23:24
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
Psalm 139: 1-2; 4-5; 7-8
A while back, as I read the commentary of a passage of scripture I’d just read, I came across a phrase that I had never heard before. It fascinated me so much that I wrote the phrase down in the Notes app on my phone or iPad. I have apparently deleted since as I can’t find it anywhere. I’ve Googled the concept of what this phrase was trying to convey, and I still cannot find the exact terminology. I recall thinking that I’d never forget what it was and yet here I am (there’s a meme I’ve seen on Facebook that describes me justly: the biggest lie I tell myself is “I don’t need to write that down—I’ll remember it!”). Give me your grace though, please, and stroll with me a little bit.
I do recall that I had been ruminating on the dichotomy between the vastness and majesty of God the Creator and the sweet personal nature of His Son’s life-giving salvation, the promise of which dwells in me in the form of my Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. It is mind boggling to me to entertain the thought that the Creator of the universe—God Almighty, my heavenly Father, maker of the heavens and the earth and the limitlessness of the universe, whose enormity none of us is able to fathom—deigns to commune with me in those times of prayer and Bible reading. Like a superhero—no, THE penultimate superhero--who makes time to share a conversation over coffee with an adoring yet gawky fan—the One whose traits include omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence not only meets me in that holy time of prayer, but is also a part of the prayers themselves, where He as the Holy Spirit “intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words,” as Paul tells us in Romans 8. I am gob smacked, to be honest, each time I think about the unfathomable experience that I get to have each and every time I need to! Not only does my heavenly Father meet me in prayer—He wants to meet me in prayer and wants the same of me! Utterly boggles the mind, I tell you!
Alas, none of the concepts and terms that displayed in the search results as I sought to name this ring the proverbial bell for me. There were two, however, that came close—divine transcendence and divine immanence. The first term describes the fact that God that is distant and above His creation—that He transcends us. He is distinct and set apart, wholly sovereign and holy. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways, as we read in Isaiah 55. He alone is God, and we are most certainly not.
The second term immanence describes the concept of God being near us, fully active and involved in His creation and their lives. He is intimately a part of our lives, dwelling with His people. The quintessential example of this is seen in John 1:14—"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The second Person of the Godhead stepped out of heaven and “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Jesus walked among us, fully human yet fully divine. Emmanuel—God with us—indeed!
Friends, it is our God who embodies both contrasting concepts—His pure holiness (transcendence) intersects with His relationship to us as our Father (immanence); His omnipotence is juxtaposed with His offer of rest for all who are weary and burdened; the Shekinah Glory of the Lord that led the Israelites in the desert is contrasted with Jesus being called the bright morning star and the light of the world. These seemingly oxymoronic concepts are all wrapped up in the very one Who created us, gave us the breath of life, and Who redeemed us. How wonderful it is to explore these great and mysterious concepts, presented to us by a loving God!
Prayer Requests
· For Steve Kale and his heart valve surgery—for quick healing during his convalescence
· For families stressed by the demands of work and online schooling
· For relief for those impacted by natural disasters: the California wildfires and hurricanes Marco and Laura
· For us to be the church that Jesus calls us to be in the midst of what is going on in this world
I continue to be amazed at what the Lord shows me on my spiritual journey. I pray that you are as well, and that He continues to reveal abundantly more as we seek Him with a hunger and passion to know Him more.
Quotes (both by A.W. Tozer)
“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts”.
“God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.
Politics
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Matthew 28:18
He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
Daniel 2:21
The political aspect of my Facebook feed increased dramatically following the swell of the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests that resulted from the George Floyd murder, and continues at the same or perhaps even an accelerated pace the closer we get to the election. As I’ve written before, I tend to abstain from posting anything political because I am less than equipped to argue or defend my position, and it would be ridiculous to do so on social media, because it’s…well, social media and the internet and you can never win an argument or change someone’s mind on social media. It’s simply not worth the headache.
However, some of the points that both sides (let’s go with progressives and conservatives, which tends to translate into Democrats and Republicans, respectively, but I’m not getting political right now, even though that’s the title of this devotional) of the socio-political spectrum make sense. Regarding immigration, I’ll see Bible verses from one side: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19) and “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35). You’ll also see the contrasting verse that calls for the obeying of the law: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1). On the topic of the protests, I saw posts that stated that Jesus supported peaceful protests by citing the example of when Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple (Matthew 25:12), and in support of the call of “Black Lives Matter”, people used the example of the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18). Countering the latter, I saw posts like “Two thousand years ago, Jesus ended the debate on which lives matter. He died for all.”
And then there’s the issue of politics, with citations about biblical character, morals, and leadership qualities, or lack thereof, in our current commander-in-chief, again from people on both extremes of the political spectrum, with a lack of voice from the moderates, all peppering my Facebook feed.
If you’re like me, though you long for a world in which things can be black and white and operate best in such an environment, you see 62 shades of grey in virtually every situation. I see applicability of most of the examples that I listed above, and agree with them, to a large degree, even those who seemingly contradict each other. And because I can see those variations, it’s difficult for me to take a stance on a topic, and I’m left a bit confused and concerned as to the correct side to take. What adds to that unease is the loudest voices of my progressive friends are of those who are retired ministers and church laity—does their involvement in the church make them more “right” than anyone else? What is the Church’s stance on social and political issues? Should there even be a stance?
I’ve pondered this question so many times, and have prayed about it a couple of times, longing for an answer. I was pleased to hear an answer this past Sunday, in a sermon I heard at the church I attended with my in-laws. My in-laws live in Frankfort, Kentucky, the state capital, where politics is a way of life. The pastor felt called to preach a series on the topic, and titled his sermon “Politics v Faith”. I listened raptly, as this seemed to be an answered prayer. He started off explaining that he was confident that one week he could explain how the Republican party was the party of Jesus, from its policies and programs, and the next week he could preach the same about the Democrats. He said that both sides choose scriptures that support their platform or agenda as well as getting Jesus “on their side” (Amen!). He then gently suggested that instead of starting with an agenda and fitting Jesus into it, we should start with Jesus, regardless of where that takes us. He reminded us of what Paul tells us in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”, as well as what he said in his letter to the Corinthians: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Christ should be the source of our decisions and voting habits. He exhorted his flock to have their faith inform their politics rather than their politics inform their faith. He also shared a quote by Tony Evans, a popular pastor and author: “Jesus did not come to take sides. He came to take over.” Lord Jesus didn’t come to set up anything that would support your political position or mine; He came to “set up a kingdom that is infinitely more important than anything we fight about here.” The pastor also said that “it’s foolish for the Church to be divided over political issues or any political party, because one day, those parties will all be dead and Jesus will be still be king.”
Friends, we are called to be different than the world; we are called to be the salt and the light in this world. We need to remember that we while we are in this world, we are not of this world—our citizenship resides elsewhere. Let us show the world what it truly means to follow Jesus—to have Him lead us into all truth. Seek to understand how the Lord will have you think, act, and vote on key social and political issues, and how the Holy Spirit will guide you into all the truth.
Prayer Requests
· For the Santillano family in their upcoming PCS to Washington, DC, and for their family who will remain in the San Antonio area
· For those families whose children are starting new chapters in their lives, from kindergarten to college
· For those who are lost right now—may we be lights that shine as beacons to them
· For pastors and leaders in the church, as we experience inevitable change with the pending [tremendous] absence of the Santillanos, the resumption of our in-person services, and whatever other changes we may encounter
So, I am not 100% sure if I have a fully informed understanding of my original question, as far as the Church proper goes. However, since we are the Church, figuratively, I have the answer I was seeking for me. I’d be curious to know your thoughts on the matter as well.
Quotes
“There are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way. C.S. Lewis
“Why do bad things happen to good people? That happened once, and He volunteered.” R.C. Sproul, Jr.