Seek First

“Therefore, do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or

‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after

all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father

knows that you need all these things. But seek first the

kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these

things shall be added to you.”

     Matthew 6:31-33 (NKJV)

Most of us do not worry about whether we will have enough to eat or drink, or fear we won’t have anything to wear. However, I was recently confronted with these verses in connection with an invitation to prayer and fasting I received from a missions board that I’m involved with.  I had not done this kind of fasting before, although I’ve had opportunities to do so, because I worried that I could not make it through the day without eating!  I knew my fear was ridiculous and yet it kept me from Biblical fasting in the past.  Then I came across these verses and they really spoke to my heart.  They convinced me I could do this with God’s help by focusing on Him and His righteousness rather than on the food I’d be missing.

It actually turned out to be a wonderful experience.  I didn’t fast for the whole day, but my goal was for half and I was able to do that without a problem.  It helped that we’d been given Scripture and prayer points for each hour, so I focused on seeking God first (rather than on my stomach) and His strength enabled me to do it.  What I had feared became instead truly a blessing for me. Isn’t that often the case?  What we fear either ends up not actually happening or it’s not as bad as we expected. Unfortunately, that fact doesn’t usually stop us from worrying.

Yet the Bible tells us we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Phil. 4:13)  By setting our focus on Him, we tap into that strength. What worry or fear can you defeat by looking to Christ and seeking first His righteousness?

Thursday Devotional - Quiet Time

Last week we talked about setting goals in line with God’s goals. One goal He has for us is to know Him better. We can do that by reading, studying and applying His Word.

For many years I had my quiet time with God before bed. Then, for over a decade, I used my lunch break to have my quiet time. Now, I have my quiet time after I get home from work, while Sarah naps. However, her naps are getting shorter, and she will probably grow out of them soon, so I’ll need to figure out a different time again!

God’s the most important person in the universe, so why wouldn’t we have “lunch” with Him each day or plan an unbreakable appointment with Him???

Hebrews 1:1-3      In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Jesus created the universe and sustains it! What time of day do you set aside to meet with Him? Or what time will you set aside? He’s available!

He’s the All-Powerful Glorious and Majestic One we can’t afford not to get to know!

Alice

The Great I Am

But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

God replied to Moses, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.

This is my eternal name,
    my name to remember for all generations.  Exodus 3:13-15

Many of you have probably heard of the poem called ‘Footprints in The Sand.’  To sum it up, a person has a dream where he was walking with God on a beach, and the beach represents that person’s life.  There are two sets of footprints as they look at his/her life, and as they look back, there were times where there is only one set of footprints.  Those times were the person’s lowest and saddest times.  They questioned God why He left them during those times.  God answered, “When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.” In my life, I looked at the times where I was successful amidst some daunting challenges, and I asked myself how exactly I made it through it.  The truth is I should know by now it was not by my own will.  It was by God’s.  He is indeed the all-powerful who can move mountains and carry us even when we ourselves have nothing left to give.

We must always remember that when we can’t do something, God always can.  As I continue my focus on the story of Moses, we left off talking about him asking the question we all ask God when facing insurmountable odds.  “Who am I?”  As much as I know how omnipotent God is, I, like Moses, will still question God’s ability to do things.  The reality is when that happens, I have chosen to be God.  I want to be the person who makes it happen.  I’m the one in control (see how one falls off the apple cart of ‘control’ so easy?).  But God in today’s verse reminded Moses of who was really in charge.  It brings me to a point my spiritual mentor made me aware of.  In verse 14, God answered “Who I am.”  Note what is at play are a couple words; am I and I am.  Let’s put these words into action.  Whenever we are answering, ‘I am,’ we are taking the place of God.  However, when we ask of God, ‘am I,’ we allow God to be the answer.  To be clear, this does NOT necessarily mean we leave it to God and move on.  As Moses did, we move forward with God doing His will and trusting Him to be the ‘I am’ when things are not moving as we would like them to.

God is in control.  Yes, we all say it, but what this means is we must be willing to submit to His authority before we even reach our barriers.  Moses is a great reminder of what is indeed possible when we take our need for control out of the equation and insert God’s authority in.  This is how we can achieve success against insurmountable odds.  Let us trust God not just when the mountain is too tall.  Let us trust Him to be with us the entire journey.  What journey are you needing to place in God’s hand today?  How can you ensure that your life is in God’s hands and not yours?  My prayer today is that give up control singing the song of God as ‘The Great I Am!’  Amen.

Everything We Need

“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the

righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God

and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things

that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him

who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us

exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you

may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption

that Is in the world through lust.”

     2 Peter 1:1-4 (NKJV)

Believers have been given “exceedingly great and precious promises” by our faith in our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Through His divine power, we have “all things that pertain to life and godliness” and through knowledge of Him, we may be partakers of His divine nature. 

What great promises to start the new year!  Who doesn’t want to begin afresh knowing that we have everything that we need for life and godliness?  But we can’t just rest on these verses and conclude it’s up to God to do all the work and that somehow we’ll obtain perfection in our Christian walk without effort on our part.  No, we have responsibility to appropriate these promises and apply them (see 2 Peter 1:5-7).

 What does this look like in daily life?  Prayer and the reading and study of God’s word, because they help us increase in our knowledge of Him.  Dependence and trust in God, because we need to keep our eyes and hearts on Him for it is only by His power that we can live the Christian life.  Listen for the Holy Spirit within us and respond to conviction, prompting and checking with obedience because that is how we grow in our walk of faith.

This is a good time to dedicate or re-commit yourself to Jesus Christ, to acknowledge Him as Lord and resolve to live and work for Him this year.  After all, it’s because of Him that we have been given everything we need to live out these exceedingly great and precious promises in 2020 and beyond.

Thursday Devotional - Goals for 2020

Have you made some goals for this coming year? How well did you do at your goals from last year?

Joe, the kids and I have talked about our goals for this year, but we haven’t written them all down yet (maybe later today!).

Yesterday, my Mom brought out some of our goals from when my sisters and I were younger and read off some of them (go skiing, play a family game a week, read the Bible more, share the gospel with at least one person, etc.). It was fun to hear what some of our childhood goals were. Sometimes we even wrote goals for other family members (i.e. for Mom and Dad to have another baby or for baby Mary to learn how to walk)! 😊

God has a goal for us to drink less milk and eat more solid food:

Hebrews 5:11-14 ¹¹ We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

We eat more solid food from God’s Word by studying and applying it daily. Reading these devotionals or a chapter of the Bible daily isn’t beneficial unless we use it and put it into practice (“constant use,” as verse 14 says). I’ve learned that journaling what I’ve learned and how I plan to apply it is helpful.

What goals will you and I set for this year in line with God’s goals?

Happy New Year!

Alice  

Ponder These Things

"And all those who heard it marveled at those

things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered

them in her heart."

     Luke 2:19 (NKJV)

Christmas comes and goes in a rush, but the Bible invites us to ponder the truths of the season in our hearts long after Christmas is over for the year.  Mary heard what the angel Gabriel said about her coming Son, what the shepherds proclaimed they had heard and seen about the baby Jesus, and also the prophecy of Simeon and Anna's testimony about the Messiah, and she "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." 

Although Scripture doesn't tell us exactly how much Mary comprehended then, she must have realized the importance of this Child and His role in God's plan. Surely, these things stayed with her as she watched Jesus grow and then die in accordance with that plan. And no doubt, these things had a big impact on her faith and walk with God.

What take-aways from Christmas are you pondering in your heart?  God's amazing love, the humility and obedience of Jesus, His self-sacrifice by coming to earth for us?  The joy and peace we know because Jesus is our Immanuel, God with us?  Not only should we treasure these precious truths, but they should cause us to walk with Him in greater devotion because Jesus is our example.

Thursday Devotional - Christmas Peace?

Did you have a peaceful Christmas yesterday? I don’t think the first Christmas was peaceful. Ours started out peaceful, but it didn’t end peaceful.

James had an asthma attack that started just before bed and lasted many hours before he could finally calm down and sleep. Joe and I tried numerous things (inhaler/nebulizer/motrin/wedge under his mattress/chest massages/vapor rub/hot water to drink/standing on the front porch in the cold, etc.). Some of it would seem to help, but a few minutes later he was gasping for breath and coughing non-stop all over again. I kept praying for wisdom. Many times I told God I didn’t know what else to do and asked if we needed to go to the ER. I felt we had tried all we knew, but then He’d give one of us something else to try. Finally, after 3 different wedges, a final glass of hot water, and scratching his head, James started breathing well enough to fall asleep and stay asleep for several hours.

It was hard not to be afraid, but I knew God was with us and would give us direction. It made me think of the following promises of Jesus:

John 14:27    ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 16:33    ³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Whether you had what you would define as a peaceful Christmas, we can all claim the peace God offers. Most importantly, He offers eternal spiritual peace. He also offers emotional peace, when we look to Him for direction. He is Immanuel – God with us!

Alice

The Life of Christ

Luke 23:44-49

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”  When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.  But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

As we approach Christmas day, we think about the birth of Christ.  It is a joyous time of year.  However, as we read through the book of Luke, as I have been using this month, we are now at the point of Christs death.  While the birth of Christ is a joyous time, it really has little meaning if the rest of the life of Christ is not included. It was Christ’s death and resurrection that really gives us the hope for our future.

During this time that we are celebrating the first breath of the baby Jesus, I want to encourage us to not forget the last breath of Christ as well. 

Father God, thank you for sending your son to earth to save us.  It is during this time that we celebrate the birth of this precious baby, who was sent to us through a miraculous birth.  Not one of us wants to think about the death of someone when they are born, however it is not through the birth of Christ alone that we have hope.  It is through the life of Christ, his death and his resurrection that gives us the forgiveness and the hope for our own future.  Help us today to remember the entire life of Christ this week.

Life Verses

"Nevertheless, I am continually with You;

You hold me by my right hand,

You will guide me with Your counsel,

And afterward receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And there is none upon earth

That I desire besides You.

My flesh and my heart fail,

But God is the strength of my heart

And my portion forever."

    Psalm 73:23-26 (NKJV)

I attended Hannah's funeral this week at my local church.  I never met her because she was home-bound for several years before she died, but I got to know her a bit by reading her autobiography.  She lived an interesting but difficult life as a refugee in Nazi Germany and then as an immigrant in the U.S. but God brought her through it all.  According to Hannah's wishes, the above verses were the basis for the sermon at her funeral.  Pastor explained that these verses were given to her during her training as a deaconess nurse and they became her life verses.

A number of different passages of Scripture are extra special to me and these life verses of Hannah's are now included. Their wonderful promises really spoke to my heart.  During our lives, God is continually with us and guides us with His counsel. Then when we die, He receives us to glory.  What more could we desire than Him?

I have such peace knowing that when I fail, when my flesh is weak, God is the strength of my heart and He never fails.  He is all that I need, my portion forever---He provides for me in this life and in the life to come.  It's all God's doing.  I just trust Him and receive by faith everything from His gracious hand.  

What a blessing to look back on your life and see God's hand at work in all your seasons, to know that God has been with you each step of the way, and that His faithfulness has been confirmed again and again. 

Thursday Devotional - Our 2019 Christmas Letter/Pictures

John 1:1-4     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

I pray you are experiencing life in Him this Christmas! This summer we as a family worked on memorizing the first part of John 1. We made it through verse 8, but I had hoped to make it through verse 12! 😉  

James (7) is in first grade. He is progressing in gymnastics and has used his gym time to intentionally talk about God with his gym buddies and coach! He started piano lessons with me, partially because he already plucked out familiar songs by ear. At his own initiative, James was baptized in September by Joe, which was joyful.

Sarah (5) is in young fives each morning. She is also progressing in gymnastics. She loves to dance and sing with or without music. She learned how to ride a “two-wheeler” as she called it (when James gave her a rough push!). She faithfully prays for the needs in our extended family.

We went on a family vacation with Joe’s family to Myrtle Beach back-to-back with my family vacation to Colorado Springs. It was a first airplane flight for the kids, and everyone on the plane knew it! Joe and I got altitude sickness climbing Pikes Peak with my sister and 2 brothers-in-law. We both turned around at over 11,000 ft. (10 miles up). God helped us survive sleet and lightening on the way down!

May we all look to Christ for Joy this Christmas!

Alice