Devotional Times with a Difference

Some time ago, the question of my devotional time was on my mind. You see, I’ve never been one to sit down and actually read my bible at a set time during the day. 

Most of what I know was taught to me as a child at Sunday school, group Bible studies and through the sermons of faithful parents and ministers in the churches that I have worshipped in over the years. 

Setting aside a daily amount of time, for my own personal reading, has been met with limited success. 

I tried it once and found that like the disciples Mark 14:32-42, Matthew 26:36-46 and Luke 22:39-46 that I would just drop off to sleep. I have even on occasions used prayer to get myself back to sleep during the night. By using prayer, I mean I have started to pray knowing that because the devil doesn’t want me to pray, he will make sure I go back to sleep quickly.

It has been through the posts of other members of the Photo-a-day group and a message from a friend asking what devotional material I had that I started to wonder if I need to spend more time doing a “devotional”. I was mowing the lawn when this question arose. As I pushed and pulled the following thoughts went through my mind. 

I often do my best thinking while mowing. I had a conversation with God that when something like this.

“What is a devotional time?”  

“It is devoting time thinking, talking to and thinking about God and His word.”

When do you do that?

While I’m mowing and writing my stories each day!

The light went on! Oh wow, I am having a devotional time because now I am actually writing my own devotional each day.

So now I say Hello God, I want to talk to you while I'm doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, knitting and even making meals. I know that you can also teach me things in the midst of my busyness. What would you like to teach me today?

Things will be different at your place but God will listen and speak to you no matter where you are.

Flower like a Rose

It had been really dry for weeks. The ground was crying out for rain. Cracks were opening up at an alarming rate. The Rose garden had suffered accordingly as it hadn’t been given the attention that it should have. It seemed that there had just been a long list of jobs and events which pushed watering the garden a long way down the list of priorities.

Yet, one morning I looked out my kitchen window to see one bush covered in blooms.

Previously to this someone had remarked to my daughter on my strength and my ability to come through the other side of life’s storms. There were many days when I didn’t feel very strong. On other days, the stresses in my life threatened to swamp me. So, to have someone comment on my strength was surprising.

One thing I did know however, was that any strength that I had come from only one place, God. His Holy Spirit lived within me and it was the only way I got through each and every day.

Just like the Roses that had flowered in my garden, my strength is evidence that God is very powerful. In fact, my lack of attention could be paralleled to the stresses and troubles experienced by most of us.

Yet, when we soak ourselves in the care of the God who created us we will flower with a beauty that will tell the world just how powerful the Holy Spirit is that lives within us.  

We get these assurances when we read John 14:16-18.

^“16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

¹⁷ Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

¹⁸ I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

You may not think that you are flowering very well but remember that God dwells within you and sooner all later, maybe when life is at its hardest, you will see the evidence of God’s love and care.

Soak or Scrub

There is only one type of dishwasher in our house. Yes, is a very hands-on one! To get our dishes clean either myself or my husband have to fill the sink with water and start scrubbing. Someone recently tried to tell me how to do this job. They insisted that I didn’t soak my dishes long enough before I started to clean up. Now, I don’t mind soaking my dishes sometimes. You need to be careful not to soak them too long, otherwise, you have to empty the sink and replace the water because it has gone cold. I listened to the advice but thought that sometimes soaking can just be an excuse to put off getting our hands into the sink and start working.

As I reflected on this, I wondered if this isn’t a problem for us as Christians sometimes. Isn’t it easier to let things soak for a while? We might defend our lack of action by saying that we need to pray about an issue for longer. Yet, sometimes, like soaking the dishes, it would be of a greater profit for us to get in and do some hard scrubbing.

Psalm 14:23 says “In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.” This not only relates to our earthly work. Poverty is the result of not getting in and doing the things that need to be done. 

I believe that spiritual poverty is also a result of waiting too long to get our hands dirty working for the Lord.

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;” Colossians 3:23.

So, please when it comes to working for the Lord, let’s all put on our gloves, put our hands in the sink and start scrubbing.

Green – The Colour of Hope

Isaiah 43: 16-19

Green is the colour of hope! This passage speaks of hope. As we welcome in a New Year many of us are looking for hope. Many have experienced grief, often during the closing weeks of the year that is closing. These and many other people are entering a wilderness that has to be undoubtedly navigated

.

As I thought about wildernesses, I found myself realising that there are at least two types that I know of. One is dry, barren and looks as if it goes on forever. Even in this type of wilderness we need a path to follow or else we will find ourselves going around and around in circles and getting nowhere. The other wilderness is overgrown with undergrowth that has to be hacked down in order to make progress with many hidden dangers lurking just out of sight.

We are reminded in verse 16 to forget what is old and behind us. So as we move into the new year let us look forward in hope as God makes a path for us to move forward.

Mary’s Faith

Luke 1:26-38

When we talk about Mary’s faith when Gabriel announced that she was going to be the Mother of God’s Saviour we so often focus on the virgin birth. Yet, there is something that I missed until recently. Gabriel visited her while she was living in Nazareth. She would have known enough Scripture to realise that God’s Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. 

Was this part of her question “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”. 

Did she wonder if Joseph would be willing to travel to Bethlehem? After all, he already had his own trade and family there.  Did she even want to go to Bethlehem herself? Maybe it was one of those places that she had often been grateful she did not live in.  

To Gabriel’s words, “with God nothing shall be impossible” she responds with immense faith and commitment; “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.” Somehow, God was going to have to move her and the baby to Bethlehem. I wonder if she thought that she might even have to go alone? She knew that regardless of how they got there the journey was going to be dangerous.

No matter what the future held for her, she was still willing to do what God required of her.

When God calls us to the mission field that He has for us, regardless of whether it is overseas, at home or writing and speaking, we have different hurdles to overcome than the ones Mary could see. Possibly because they are often unseen they are less daunting. 

Yet, I find it so hard to step out and remember that with God all things are possible even, keeping me safe in dangerous circumstances.

Helping Lazarus

I was thinking about Lazarus one night and what a powerful picture is drawn here for us. Here we have two people living two completely different cultures. The rich man who has all that he wants and needs. I picture him coming out of his safe secure home each morning, nodding to Lazarus. Some mornings greeting him with "good morning Lazarus, how are you today", he might even throw him a coin or two if he was feeling particularly good that day, before walking to the city gate. 

Lazarus not only wanted help, he needed help. Here is a man in great need and from a completely different culture. 

The rich man had all those resources at his disposal and God wanted him to help Lazarus but the question is, how. I think that we just expect the rich man to take Lazarus into his home and share all his wealth with him. 

What sort of help did Lazarus want or need?

Lazarus didn’t want to live with the rich man, his life and existence was meant to be outside the rich man’s compound and that was where he wanted to stay. His home and family were already established and they relied on him for their survival.

So, how was the rich man supposed to help Lazarus? 

The rich man should have come out and sat down with him, listened to him to find out how he had got into such a position. It is too easy to assume that the Lazarus’ of this world have made poor decisions or made silly mistakes that leave them facing really bad consequences.

This is not always the case. 

Often they find themselves in such positions due to the greed, business decisions or power plays by other people around them. The other causes could be droughts, that kill stock, floods which wash away the infrastructures, fires or winds that burn or blow away feed and grass. So it was important for the rich man to come out and sit with Lazarus and listen to his story in order to understand the issues that he faced. It was not something that he could do in a few minutes or even a few hours. It’s imperative that the rich man give Lazarus a lot of time, even to the point of taking his mat outside and lying beside Lazarus and letting him talk long into the night. It was only by engaging with him over the long term that the rich man or men in this world can get to understand the differences in the cultures that exist.

I know that the Bible tells us that the dogs came to Lazarus and licked his sores, but I have to wonder if the rich man was even aware of how much pain Lazarus was in. Now you are going to say how could the rich man miss it. It is very easy to hide the pain that we feel often because we imagine that the world doesn’t care. I think that many of the Lazarus’ out there also try to follow the Bible’s instructions “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” Matthew 6:16.

So in order to discover the extent of Lazarus' pain, the rich man has to be compassionate and bring out a bowl of warm water, slowly and gently wash off the different layers of dirt, mud, blood and dust that have collected on his feet. Only then will he be aware of just how hurt and damaged Lazarus is. It is only then that the rich man can know and understand what treatment is truly needed and what will be most effective.

There are many people in our country who are Lazarus but we know them as Bill, Jack, Ian, Tom, Robert, Mary, Jane, Sue, Lisa or Jenny.  

Eyes

They say that eyes are the windows to the soul, which means that when you look at a person’s eyes you can see more about how they are feeling. That look will tell you if a person are joking around, serious, sick, sad, angry or in a world of their own. When I was little, we had a couple of sayings, for those who were in a world of their own. One is no longer politically correct but the other was “the lights are on but no one is home”. For some reason or other these people have decided to switch off from the world around them and take a break. When we really look at people and see the message in their eyes we are only seeing a snapshot of them. We can only see what they are feeling at that precise moment.

It is the same with everyone, when we see them we can only see how they are today, this minute or this hour that we spend with them. When we walk away from their company we cannot see the pain, drama or joy that they experience while we are not in the presence.

This applies for authors as well. Our followers read what we write and they see into our hearts but it is only what is there at the time of writing. They do not see the dirty dishes on the sink, the laundry full of washing, the kids’ bedroom mess. For farmer’s wives that write, they do not see the hours working alongside the husband, regardless of if it is in the office or the paddock. They do not see the drama of animals having to be cared for and saved from predators.

Psalm 139:1-8 says:

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

What a wonderful thing that He sees all this and more!

Time

Time has a very different dimension for me now. Since losing my mum as a result of an accident, I am far more aware of the need to get things done and just how necessary it is for me to not let time hang heavy. If I do, then I know that I am going to slip down into that dark pit that many of us dread, the pit of depression.

I am reminded of the verses in scripture that tells us: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; ……..  A time to break down and a time to build up; A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4) All of these selected things seem to me to be very relevant to the process of grief. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time to do this particularly in our current society’s climate. We are under pressure all the time to pull ourselves up by our boot straps and get back into the swim of life. Life is so busy for many of us that there simply isn’t enough time to take time out and really connect with those around us. Is it any wonder that when people bow to this pressure and sometimes they don’t have a choice financially, that they start to sink into that dark pit?

I was headed in that downwards direction. Since making the commitment to write a story every day, using the Photo-a-day prompts, I have felt so much better. I now have an external motivational tool to help me move forward. My mother lives outside of time now but I must still live within it confides – I pray that I will use it wisely.

 

Wall

What is that saying? “The writing is on the wall”. As mothers we often groan when we see writing on a wall. As it usually means that “Little Johnny” or “Missy” have found some pencils, crayons or textas and managed to create some artwork in the wrong place, meaning extra work to remove it and bring the wall back to its pristine condition. Then there is the graffiti that often sends a message, not always polite mind you, to the public as they walk the streets or ride the train. This artwork can often just say that people were bored, frustrated or destructive. Occasionally though there is what can only be described as street art and shows great talent.

Messages being written on the wall date back to ancient times when King Belshazzar sees a hand write a message on the wall of his palace. (Daniel 5:5-9) It frightened him and he had to ask Daniel to interpret it. Daniel tells King Belshazzar that “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it…Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting…Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5:26-28) This is why when we say that the writing is on the wall we usually mean that we are predicting the demise of something.

It would be easy as we look at our society today to imagine that the “Writing is on the wall”. There is so much crime, broken promises by those in power, greed and all sorts of “sick” behaviour that one could despair of ever seeing the return of what we could consider a civilised society.

There is hope! Jesus came to earth, this we celebrate at Christmas time, grew up amongst us and showed us not only how to live but provided us with a way to be able to be better people through Him.

Signs

Things seemed to be hold for such a long time and so I often felt like asking God for sign. I wanted to know what I had to do to move forward. I wanted to know if I was getting in His road. I wanted to know how long it was going to be before something happened.

Each time that I felt like asking God for the sign I would remember another lady and the lesson she taught me about asking God for signs.  

Her life, at the time, was on hold while they waited for a property sale to go through and the move to their new place. There just seemed to be one hold-up after another and so she asked God for a sign. She wanted to know how long it would be before they were able to move into the new place.  One day while they were driving home, she looked up at the sky through the car window; there was a cloud that caught her attention. It was shaped like a very old fashioned number four. No one else in the car knew what the significance of this would be as they had no idea of her prayer or how she wrote her fours. 

Now she still had a problem: was God telling her that they would be moving in four days; four weeks; four months or even four years. She realised that even though God had given her a sign she didn't know much more than before.

Many people asked Jesus for signs while He walked on earth but He spoke to Thomas, who wanted signs, thus the name “Doubting Thomas” saying: “Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” John 20:29

A Day to Forget

I have been praying a lot this week about what to post for Mother’s Day. This morning I thought about how I have celebrated Mother’s Day this week. I had the pleasure of a cuppa with two daughters, I spoke with my mother over the phone on Thursday and again this morning and I anticipate a visit from my sons today. So many blessings! Yet, God made me think about all those mothers who don’t have these blessings. What about the women who have no children, the mothers who are facing their first Mother’s Day without a child? 

Think about the mothers whose children have abused them, forgotten them or just don’t care, how about you give them a special thought.  SO:

Dear Lord

You know all those women who would rather forget what this day is supposed to celebrate, who are sad, lonely and hurting badly. I ask that you wrap your arms around every one of them, give them comfort and help them to see one little thing to make them smile.

Amen

Sharing Christmas

It was another Christmas that did not feel like Christmas. It was getting tedious. During the week I had listened, while men smiled, as they credited their wives with all the gift shopping, wives saying they were depressed, because they had been left with all the work. I saw very few shops with decorations in place. To cap off the whole week, members of my own family wanted plans changed at the last minute to suit themselves. “God, why is Christmas such a chore?” I prayed.

Then, I saw the most common picture associated with Christmas. It was Joseph walking all the way to Bethlehem, leading a donkey, which was carrying a very pregnant Mary. They shared the workload! 

If we are to believe the romantic stories of Christmas’ past, all the members of the family worked together, to make sure everyone else in the family was cared for. I thought back to the many Christmas experiences I had as a child. The memories included all the adults working together.  The men helped each other get the outside chores done, the women chatted, while they prepared the meals, as the children played together outside. 

The birth of Jesus would not have happened, without the “Trinity” working together. “’For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Christmas presents the greatest opportunity to tell the politically correct world about the love of Jesus. Yet, it seems to me, that we could easily let the opportunity slip through our fingers.  

Yes, if God allows it, we will get another opportunity next year. Let’s start planning now to share the greatest story ever by working together.

Greatness

A great lady, known for her charity, hard work and love for her country, died. At the same time, in another country, a mass killing took place. It appeared this young man wanted to be remembered in history. Lady Dianna Spencer, Lady Murdock, will both be remembered for their works of charity. History remembers those people who give their lives for the good of mankind.
 
There is one other person who sacrificed His life, so that others would be able to live. Jesus Christ did just that. He lived His life, carrying out every day, many acts of charity, as we are told in John 21:25. “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” He then gave up His life on the cross so that all men could be given a way out of eternal death. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17) 

As I watched the media report on both these people, I found myself wondering why people feel the need to be remembered, if at all, for evil rather than good. Why more people did not take up the banner of charity! Yes I know that evil dominates our world, but God is stronger and we should aim, in the strength of Christ, to be remembered for the good we do. The only way for that to happen is for all of us to roll up our sleeves and start.

Life's Storybook

A particular chapter of my life had come to an end. It was finished! As I waited to find out what was in store for me next, I got to thinking about how life is just like a story. It is sometimes said that our lives are made up of various chapters. That made me think about how a book has many chapters but the last one is the one that finishes the story. I then realised that, yes, while our lives might be like a story in a book there is one very big difference. Our last chapter will go on for eternity!

Revelation 21 and 22:1-5 tells us something of what that chapter will be like for those of us that have faith in Jesus and have had our sins forgiven.  On the other hand we read in Matthew 8:12, Matthew 22:13 and Revelation 20: 11-15 of the consequences for those who do not have their names written in the Book of Life.

Every person will have a different story written about them but there will only be one of two last chapters for all of us. One chapter will be our lives spent eternally in Heaven and the other will be eternity in Hell. All of us still have unfinished stories, chapters that are still to be written. It depends on how we write those chapters as to which closing chapter will be the last in our story.

If you are reading this, you are still living and still have time. The pages of your book are still clean, waiting to be written on. How your story continues determines the final chapter for your life. Choose Jesus and Heaven will be the final destination, Ignore Him and Hell is inevitable. Which final chapter will be yours?