Month: April 2020

Be Still and Linger with Him

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.

Have you heard the saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson that says, “Life is about the journey, not the destination”?  To me, that means that we should search for joy in the preparation of the journey and savor every event along the way.  We have been on a journey over the past 5 weeks of social distancing and working from home and we have been preparing to return to normal (whatever that may look like).  For me, the preparation and journey has included lots of quiet time, quiet time to be still and to linger with God. 

One of the words God gave me in my heart this year is LINGER. The definition of linger is to stay in a place longer than necessary because of a reluctance to leave.  Up until now, it has been hard to be still and linger with God because of the demands of my career and being a mom of 3 teenage boys.  But now I can.  I have found time during this journey to linger with God and to hear from God.  In Job 33:5 it says, “For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it.”

In order for me to hear from the Lord, I need to be still.  I need to tune my ears to Him.  Jesus says in John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me.”   What a sweet time it is to hear His voice over all the other noise that is normally around us.  If we use this time to be still, hear his voice and become familiar with it, then when things go back to “normal”, we will still be able to hear Him.

I do not know where this journey is taking us, but I am making it a point to enjoy the quiet time with my Lord.  I am savoring these moments with Jesus, and I will continue to be still and make time to linger with Him.

Lord, thank you for wanting to spend time with me. Fill me with peace and hope and love so that I may be a blessing to others. Amen.

What If?

Matthew 6:33 “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

To seek the Kingdom of God above all else means to turn to God first for help. What if this entire season was meant to get us to slow down? What if this season was intended to steer us into spending more time with our Lord? God is our Father, our heavenly Father. What is more appealing to a father than to have his children crawl onto his lap, with complete and total trust and faith, and spend time with him?

If you are a parent of a teenager or a young adult, you know how it feels when you want to connect with your kids, but they just don’t have time. They are busy with friends, work, entertainment, fashion, sports, movies, etc. It is not that they are being bad, they are just busy. Is that what we were doing with God? What if God said, “Enough! I want to be with my children. I want to spend time with them and their families.” What if this season is more about HIM than us?

What is really important to you? People, objects, goals? There are so many things that compete for our attention. Any of these things can quickly bump God out of first place if you don’t actively choose to give him first place in every area of your life. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” According the Jesus, this is the FIRST and GREATEST commandment. What if that is what this is all about?

Dear heavenly father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to die for us. Please always help us to prioritize our lives so that we put you first. Amen.

Because He Lives

So many things go through my mind about Easter.  But I wonder if everyone that reads my devotions knows the full story.  From the beginning of the Bible all the way to Jesus’s death and resurrection.  The “why” behind why Jesus had to come to earth as a human, die and rise again.  So here are the cliff notes:

  • Man sinned and was put out of the garden – removed from the presence of God. 
  • Man became so wicked that God destroyed the earth – except for one family and one set of each animal.  We know this as Noah’s ark.
  • After much time, God chose one family to be his chosen people – his sons and daughters – the Israelite’s.
  • To keep his chosen people mindful of God, He gave them rules to follow.  Animal sacrifices and grain offerings were required for atonement when they sinned, but they had to keep doing the sacrifices because they kept sinning.
  • Over time, His chosen people would forget about God and fall into wicked ways. Bad things would begin to happen because of their sin and then they would call out to God.  God would always take them back.  Grace, such amazing grace God has.
  • Eventually God sent his son, Jesus, to earth as a human so that he could teach His chose people, free them from their sin, and lead them to everlasting life through God.
  • His chosen people rejected Jesus.  They did not believe he was God’s son.  They were scared of his teachings because it was different from the law that they had been following and so they conspired to have him killed.
  • They rushed him through an unlawful trial overnight and demanded the Romans to execute him, to crucify him on a cross.  After He died, he was quickly buried in a tomb, without all the traditional customs because it was the sabbath day and they could not do any work after sundown. This day is called Good Friday.
  • On Sunday, after the sabbath was over, a few of Jesus’s followers went back to the tomb to perform the traditional customs on Jesus’s body but Jesus was not there. Only an angel that told him Jesus was no longer dead.  This is called Easter.
  • Jesus became the FINAL sacrifice that was needed to give us forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life.

Because Jesus lives, I am free to have a relationship with God.  Because of God’s grace, I am set free of my sin.  Because the Holy Spirit resides in my heart, I am encouraged to tell others what God has done. 

Because He Lives!

Dear Lord, thank you for dying on the cross for me.  Thank you for rising again.  Thank you for saving me from my sins. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to guide me through this life and to help me lead others to your amazing grace.  Amen.

Technology and The Bible

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. (NLT)

Technology.  I don’t understand how an image that is 100, 500, or even 1,000 miles away can reappear on my computer screen in my bedroom.  I don’t understand how it works, but it brings me so much joy.  I am comforted by it.  I can see and hear my Mom and Day and know that they are safe.  I can sing Happy Birthday to my sister and see her excitement. 

I can share technology with other people and they can experience the same range of emotions too.  In that way, technology is like the Word of God.  When I read the Bible, I am comforted by the words I read.  I can share God’s word and I see it bring joy to other people too.  Simple words that individually are just words put together brings happiness and comfort to me every day.  I honestly don’t understand how it happens.  But I still want to share it.  I want other people to feel the same way, have the same experience. 

My soul is filled up.  Don’t you want to feel that way too?  Don’t you want that empty feeling to go away?  The only way to do that is through the Word of God.  Everything else is temporary. The Word of God will fill the empty space permanently.  It will bring you peace, and forgiveness, and a joy that you will want to share with other people too.  Jesus did all the hard work while he was here on earth.  When he left, he left the Holy Spirit here to help us.  Open your heart to hear God’s Word and the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

Don’t have a Bible?  No problem. I’m sure you have a smart phone.  All you have to do is download the YouVersion Bible App (which is FREE) and click on Plans.  Then search for “Gateway”.  In the search results you will see “Fresh Start Bible One-Year Reading Plan”.  Click on that and then click “Start Plan”.  You can read the Bible by yourself or you can read it with friends.  The best thing about the YouVersion Bible App is that you can click a button (it’s at the top of the screen on my phone) that looks like a little speaker with sound coming out of it.  If you click on it, it will read the Bible verses to you.  SA-WEET!

Dear Lord, thank you for the people that created the technology we use everyday to stay connected to our loved ones.  Encourage me daily to use the same technology to dive into your word.  Amen.