In The Midst



Wayne With Friends at Holmes Bay Church

There is an old hymn that my friends and I loved to sing when we were teenagers. The chorus says, "No, never alone, No, never alone, He promised never to leave me, Never to leave me alone."
Jesus did promise His eternal presence with His people on several occasions. Even when He stood on the Mount of Olives immediately before He ascended into Heaven He said, "I am with you always." What a comfort it is to know that nothing can separate the believer from our Creator, our Friend, our Redeemer, our King. No matter what happens -- whether in life or in death -- He is with us every hour of the day and every step of the way.

 Once a friend and I went to a Pastor's Wives Conference and there were around 3,000 of us there. What a blessed privilege to be surrounded by so many who love the Lord and fellowship together in joy and harmony. Last year we went to a conference where nearly 5,000 people were gathered in one place. What a thrill to hear all those voices as we joined together in worship, singing praises to our glorious God and Loving Savior. At both of those events the teaching, the testimonies, and the fellowship were something one can never forget.

 

There have been many times over the years of our lives that we have met with the few. Wayne and I were the only two at prayer meeting a few times. But even then, God was with us and ministered His grace to us. Jesus made it clear that He does not only minister in the big conferences or the mega Churches. He tenderly reminds us in Matthew 18:20, ". . .for where two or three are  gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

 

Some of our greatest blessings have come at times when there were only a few of us. One of those times was at a prayer meeting in our local Church. There were less than a dozen of us at a midweek prayer service, and Wayne was leading the meeting. An elderly, retired pastor was in the service as he often was. At one point he spoke up and said that he had been reading the verse that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is in the midst. Then he began to weep. He told us that He had burdens on his heart and as he thought of that verse again, he looked around the room. "Look", he said, "I am right in the middle of all of you. That means JESUS is right beside me!" The very thought was uplifting to each one of us!

 

Many years ago, I read a book by a monk named Brother Lawrence. I honestly do not remember much about the book but I remember the title: Practice the Presence of God. The very thought of being aware of the presence of our Lord is a wonderful one. Jesus will (and does) walk with us wherever we go. What a comfort!

 

Haldor Lillenas wrote these words:

 

"Jesus will walk with me down thru the valley, Jesus will walk with me over the plain;
When in the shadow or when in the sunshine,  If He goes with me I shall not complain.

 

"Jesus will walk with me when I am tempted,  Giving me strength as my need may demand;
When in affliction His presence is near me, I am upheld by His almighty hand.

 

"Jesus will walk with me, guarding me ever, Giving me victory thru storm and thru strife;
He is my Comforter, Counselor, Leader, Over the uneven journey of life.

"Jesus will walk with me in life’s fair morning, And when the shadows of evening must come;
Living or dying, He will not forsake me. Jesus will walk with me all the way home."

 

Imagine! He is with us one on one, He is with us in our large gatherings. And where there are only two or three who love Him, He is in the midst! How thankful we ought to be.

 

 

May We Teach Them HIS Way

In Matthew 18:6 Jesus said, ". . . but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."

My dear family and friends, there is nothing that we ought to fear more than discouraging our children or being a bad influence on them -- and not just our own. What an awesome responsibility we have to nurture the children that God brings into our lives and to teach them by word and by example.

We would agree that "our" children are not our possessions. They belong to God and He has entrusted their care and keeping to us -- parents, extended family, and the Church. The responsibility to teach and train them is serious and it is an awesome commission. God takes it very seriously. For example, just after God gave the Ten Commandments, Moses repeated them to the people and instructed them. He said, ". . .  you must think constantly about these commandments I am giving you today.  You must teach them to your children and talk about them when you are at home or out for a walk; at bedtime and the first thing in the morning. Tie them on your finger, wear them on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house!"

Friends, how much time do we spend in training our children from the Scripture? Do we read God's Word to them? Do we pray for them and with them? Do we teach them that the ways of the world are not God's ways? You know, it is not natural for children (and us) to love and obey Jesus. We are sinners and our natural inclination is to sin and rebellion. Even as Christians, we find that we are at war with sinful thoughts, wrong motives, and ungodly behavior. We struggle all of our lives. We tend to compromise and can sometimes find ourselves making excuses for sin in ourselves and in others.

We live in a wicked world and the old devil (I refuse to capitalize his name or title) is out to deceive, to tempt, and to destroy. Oh, how careful we must be that he does not use us as tools to bring spiritual harm to the children, God's precious jewels.

Let's sit down with the Bible and prayerfully examine ourselves. Let us ask ourselves some questions:

• What am I doing to help the young people around me to know Jesus, to trust Him, and to grow in grace?
• Do I pray for them and praise them when they do well?
• Do I correct them with love and grace to show them God's love or do I discourage them?
• Do I apologize to little ones when I am a poor example to them and thus teach them how important it is to repent when we sin?
• Am I supportive of Christian parents and respect the decisions they make in their own homes since they must give account to God, or am I critical of them and encourage rebellion in their children?
• Is my example godly by the way I speak and behave or do I compromise with the world?

Those are serious thoughts. We can teach them HIS way only if we walk with Him. A prayer to that end is reflected in this wonderful, old hymn: "Teach me Thy way, O Lord, Teach me Thy way; Thy gracious aid afford,  Teach me Thy way. Help me to walk aright; More by faith, less by sight; Lead me with heavenly light, Teach me Thy way."

Oh, Lord, help! Without YOU, I can do nothing.
 

Our Transparent Facades

The Bible says in Hebrews chapter four that "the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Do you wonder what a transparent façade is? My husband says that is an oxymoron! And, indeed, it is an oxymoron if we are talking about the decorative front of a building. Some are beautiful to the eye -- such as the façade of a cathedral, a castle or the Taj Mahal.

Some of the handiwork of mankind is amazing. But I want to talk about a different kind of façade. That is, the false front that we put about ourselves when we try and make ourselves appear to be something that we are not. It could be something as simple as a pasted-on-smile when our inner person is angry, sad or afraid. We all put on a façade when we go for a job interview. We call that putting our best foot forward and that works until the interviewer asks us something like, "tell me your strongest qualities and your weakest areas." Whoops! If we are going to be honest, the façade has to come down.

We don't need to be going around and talking about all of our own faults or airing our dirty laundry with others. Some things are best kept privately between us and another person or with God alone. That is because we may have sin or temptation that would harm others if we talk about them. I remember a preacher named Harold Vaughn who said we should never cleanse our own conscience with the tears of another. For example, it is wrong to bring up something from the past to someone who would only be hurt by that knowledge.

Yet, God has told us to confess our sins to one another. He has told us to pray for one another. And we need to do that. It is good for our spiritual health. But it can be unpleasant. Let me tell you a story from the years of my young motherhood. Once a group of women was meeting in a home for prayer and Bible study. I had been struggling with feelings of jealousy toward a member of our family and I knew in my heart this was sin. So I confessed this to our group and asked for prayer. One of the older women said to me, "Why, Brenda! Christians don't get jealous." That hit me hard and discouraged me. For a minute or two I questioned my relationship with the Lord, but realized that I was His child, I had sinned, I wanted forgiveness, I wanted healing, and I expressed that to the group. The same lady said, "that is not being jealous. That is feeling badly."  A person could call it feeling bad but in my heart it was jealousy and it was sin.

What are we to do when we have thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are not glorifying to God? First of all, we will know the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We will know that we have sinned. We are called to repent and we ought to do so immediately. God's wonderful promise in I John 1:9 is that when we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive ... and to cleanse!

When we throw up a façade and pretend that we are righteous in our own self effort, we are being hypocrites. By doing so, we may fool people around us but don't forget: our facades are transparent to God. He knows our hearts, our actions, our intentions. He is always ready to forgive and to help us live as the people He created us to be. What a blessing!

I love Psalm 139 and the fact that He knows everything about me. He is LOVE and He offers His mercy and grace in all our joys and trials. Take comfort in these words and realize our Lord is not standing by waiting to beat us up when we falter -- when we sin:

"O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
³ You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it. . . .
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts!
²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting!"

It's time to tear down my facades. They are transparent to God!

Where is God?

The eternal God is your refuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms.
He thrusts out your enemies before you;
It is he who cries, ‘Destroy them!
--Deuteronomy 33:27

 

One time I was working on a talk entitled "Hope and Healing in This Troubled World." Wayne was working at his desk and I was at mine. Suddenly I asked him, "Where is GOD when the bottom falls out?"

 

I thought he would give me a few points that could be expanded for the talk. But his answer came without hesitation. It was one word: "underneath". So simple, but so profound! I shall never forget it.

 

Tonight I chose this picture of Grampie Wayne holding baby Isaac. His arms are "underneath" and this baby is resting in peace. He is safe. He is secure. He is comfortable. He is dearly beloved.

 

This picture and these thoughts are precious to me because in their own, faltering way they remind me of just how blessed and cherished we are by our Heavenly Father. I know this grandfather and I know he would protect his loved ones with his very life if need be. How much MORE God has done for us -- and will continue to do!

 

Life on earth can be very tough. Sometimes the bottom really does fall out. When trials and sorrows come, we are often reminded of just how fragile and helpless we are. I've been there, and so have you. Two things comfort me at those times. First, all that challenges our peace and well-being on this earth is temporary. And secondly, we never walk alone. Never!

 

Consider this old song by Dottie Rambo:

 

"I feel the touch of hands so kind and tender.
They're leading me in the paths that I must trod.
I'll have no fear for Jesus walks beside me
For I'm sheltered in the arms of God.

"Soon I shall hear the call from heaven's portals
Come home my child, It's the last mile you must trod
I'll fall asleep and wake in God's sweet heaven
For I'm sheltered in the arms of God."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Clay Doesn't Decide

One of the things on my mind as I began writing this little blog was my desire to be the person that God created me to be. This is nothing new to my heart, but at seventy years of age it seems I should be a lot closer to that goal by now.

If you are a Christian, you can probably relate. You may look at your life and evaluate your accomplishments and your missed opportunities and hope that you have made a difference for someone along the way.

Most likely you want to be a helper and an encourager to your family, your friends, and the people that you meet on your journey. And if you are anything like me, you wonder if you have spent too much energy on yourself and too little on others. It is easy to question your motives and also question your effectiveness.

Wait! We keep forgetting, don't we? We give lip service to the fact that that HE is the Potter and we are the clay, but do we really understand that our job is to yield to Him while He makes us into the kind of vessel He wants us to be? In His hands, we are molded and shaped and fired and used for His purpose in the time and place of His choosing. So the question isn't so much what have you and I accomplished, but how much yielding have we done? How often have we stopped struggling to be who WE think He wants us to be? In His hands, we are being used whether we know it or not.

Let me give you an example. This one blew me away. It really did. A couple of weeks ago, I went into my Mom's Church and took a seat near the front. We were a few minutes early. All of a sudden a woman that I had never met came over and said, "I am so glad to see you. You are Ruth's daughter, aren't you?" How did she know who I was? That remains a mystery. The woman told me that she reads my blogs and told me they are helpful to her. Really? I had no idea. How did she even find the blogs? To my knowledge, that Church doesn't know about them. Maybe she did a search or maybe someone passed the site along. That remains a mystery, too.

Later on, we found out this lady is facing serious surgery. I am so happy to have met her and to have been given the opportunity to talk with her. It was a joyful thing to share a blessing that God gave me a few years ago. It is an honor even now to pray for her. What an awesome GOD we serve. He orders circumstances and He does things with us and through us to help others -- and He even does that without our knowledge. What a wondrous thing it is to be in the Potter's hands and to be involved in  what He is doing!

If we are Christians, the LORD has given us gifts, placed us where He wants us, and is using us to bless one another and to bring glory to Him. . . "God has so composed the body. . . that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." (From I Corinthians 12)