A Remembrance of the Passing of Time

"I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread." Psalm 37:25

While shopping for groceries today, I recognized a familiar face. I couldn't recall just where I saw her before. I thought for a little bit and then realized, it was the face of a woman who cashiered at our local Foodland,gone for at least 15 years now. I thought I might say something to her, but then thought better of it, thinking she would think I was crazy if I told her I remembered her from there. But on the next aisle, she told me that my face looked familiar. And so we had a pleasant chat. She still wore the same hairstyle, only time had worn her face, and I am sure mine looked aged to her as well.

When I shopped there, it was a totally different stage of my life: the stage of being a young mother with three hungry mouths to feed. There was healthy competition in our shopping district because we had two grocery stores separated by a discount store in between. I hunted out the bargains in each place for the best value for my growing family. The woman always worked hard at the store, I remembered asking her for rainchecks on items that sold out. She always wore a pleasant smile. Now, that store has twice been replaced, and soon will be vacant once again. Nothing comes to stay.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time... you see people and then you don't see them. We are mere shadows walking the face of this planet. I am ashamed to say I used to get inwardly annoyed with a man who took forever to get across the street with his cane. He and his wife always walked about the neighborhood together. Now, I only see her.

Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them. Psalm 39: 6

My father mowed a graveyard as a young man, way out in the middle of an Iowa cornfield, a version of a known epitapah appeared on one of the graves. As a young girl, I went down to visit that graveyard, entranced by the message on the old gravestone. My father, now an old man, can still recite the verse on the stone:

Remember this, as you pass by
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, so you will be
Prepare for death and follow me.

Sobering thought for a child but now it has great impact as the years fly by. I "am" now, but my days are fleeting upon this earth. I need not get caught up in the cares and anxieties of this life, for it is just a fleeing shadow, real life begins where God is, not here on this planet. Although, right now, I have His eternal life by His grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

As I face perplexing trials, I need not worry about tomorrow. I do not know where I will be tomorrow, but I can trust that my Father above will always be faithful no matter what I am going through.

"Behold, blessed is the one who God reproves; therefore despise not the the discipline of the Almighty, For He wounds, but He binds up; He shatters, but His hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes." Job 5:17-20

Remembering Those in Prison ...

"Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill treated, since you yourselves are also in the body." Hebrews 13:3

I read this verse today in my time with the Lord. How appropriate, for there are a countless number of brothers and sisters behind bars because they name the name of Jesus. Just how can I remember them?

Looking up the word "remember" in the Blue Letter Bible (blueletterbible.org) it is from the Greek word #3415 mimnēskomai, and here are the meanings:
to remind
to be recalled or to return to one's mind, to remind one's self of, to remember
to be recalled to mind, to be remembered, had in remembrance
to remember a thing
be mindful of

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3403&t=NASB

Thinking about those who are in prison for their faith is not a pleasant thing to think about, at least from my worldly standpoint. Who wants to consider that there are those who are enduring beatings and torture for the name of Jesus? But Jesus had another viewpoint about those who suffer, totally different than the worldly way I naturally see it.

In the Beatitudes recorded in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5: 10-12)

Now that is not the natural way of looking at persecution. If you go to the Voice of the Martyrs website, (persecution.com) you can read about increasing amounts of persecution growing around the world as the love of men grows cold. It is not something that is comfortable to do, but it is reality for thousands and thousands of people across this planet.

One of the most simple ways to "remember the prisoners" is to lift them up in prayer to the Lord. I spoke with a representative from Voice of the Martyrs, and she told me that this is their number one request. Prayer is our one offensive weapon to use against the kingdom of darkness. We can pray not only that the prisoners will have food to eat but that the Holy Spirit would recall to their minds spiritual food as well. We can ask for God to surround them with His peace, even for His angels to minister to them. There are so many ways we can pray for the prisoners. I think one of the best ways is to find appropriate Scriptures and pray them to God, because He ultimately honors His Word.

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."

We may not be able to physically go to their prisons to visit them that are in bonds, but we can visit them by communing with God in prayer for them. These are members of our very own Body!

Romans 12:5: "so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." and also I Cor. 12:12 "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ."

It is hard to understand why this amount of suffering is going on, and why so many are being martyred at this time. But we must trust that the Lord is in control of all things, and know that if we pray for the persecuted, it is as we are doing it unto the Lord.

Matthew 25: 34-40
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Proclaim Forth His Victory

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

I read in Revelation 11:15 today: "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever."

If God is dwelling in eternity future already, He sees this verse as a done deal. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ already. We are just waiting to see the outward fulfillment of this in time.

Therefore, we can have boldness as we approach the Throne of grace in prayer. We can come to God proclaiming forth His victory over principalities and powers, and the enemy. We don't just have to give him a laundry list of what we want Him to do for us, but praise Him for what is already done.

One of the greatest things I like to thank Him for is wiping out all the transgressions I have committed, that proclaimed me guilty as charged. Colossians 2:13-15 declares:

"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."

The confession part is for my sake, for He has, according to this verse, forgiven all my sins already. The confession is for relieving my guilty conscience. He hasn't just forgiven mine, but those of the whole world! The only thing that stands between an unbeliever and God is their refusal to believe. But their sin, it has already been paid for. I John 2:2 says:

"And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."

The victory is accomplished! I can praise God for what He has done, knowing it is perfect and complete, and according to the Word, I am also complete in Him.

Colossians 2:9-10 "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."

When we face problems, we can approach them with confidence, knowing that Jesus won that day on the cross 2,000 years ago.

John 19:30 "When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And he bowed His head, and gave up His spirit."

The word for finished is #5055 in the Greek Lexicon, teleo. It means: end, goal. To make an end or accomplishment, to complete anything, not merely to end it, but bring it to perfection or its destined goal, to carry it through. (definition from Lexical Aids to the New Testament compiled by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D)

Isn't that great news? When we approach God with our problems, first we can thank Him for the great victory He has wrought through His Son, Jesus Christ. This victory can never be taken away from us.We always have hope as a believer, no matter how great our problems. When we start our prayer with this thought, somehow it takes our mind off the smallness of our problem and onto the greatness of God.

Psalm 111:1-2

"Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart,
In the company of the upright and in the assembly.

Great are the works of the LORD;
They are studied by all who delight in Him."


Let us delight in Him today. Amen.

Revive Us, Oh Lord

Psa 80:14 Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see,And visit this vine. Psalm 80:18 Then we will not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.

I don't know about you, but I think we need revival in this land. Studying the lives of many people who walked with the Lord for my non-fiction book Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering (under contract with 4RV Publishing), it really impressed me how much work was done for the Kingdom in the 1800s and early 1900s with men and women like George Mueller, Hudson Taylor, D.L. Moody, and Amy Carmichael, to name a few. What was different then than it is now? One thing I noticed is there were revivals back then. It stirred my heart to think, maybe God would grant us a revival again today.

We certainly don't deserve one. Look how far we have slipped from God since 1962, the year we took prayer out of public school. God has been so patient with us, but He cannot wink at our gross immorality and godlessness. He will bring justice. In the meantime, though couldn't we cry out to Him to revive us?

I was talking to a friend of mine, and she told me she believed there had been a revival in this country in the 60s and 70s among the hippies of that time. But I have heard of none lately, at least not in America. Just that our freedoms to believe and share our faith are slowly being eroded until one day, they will be gone and it will be too late.

Today is Memorial Day and I think of the thousands and thousands who shed their bled across the centuries for the sake of this nation. They died for our freedom's sake. I wonder what they would think of what is happening today. For their sakes' we should pray. I also think of the future generations that are just starting out. We want to give them freedom. For their sakes' we must pray also. And what about us? Do we still want the freedom to read our Bibles, attend our choice of choice, to vote and enjoy the blessings we have taken for granted? For our own sakes, we must pray.

But before I even ask another to pray, I need to look to myself. I think of Daniel in the Old Testament and how he wept and pled for his nation before the Lord before God in Daniel 9:5-10, saying:

“we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets."

Daniel continues on with his prayer for his people in following verses. I noticed though, that Daniel seems not to have any noticeable character flaws in the Bible, yet he takes responsibility for the sins of his people.

Isaiah also takes on the sins of his people when he receives the vision of the throne of the Lord in Isaiah 6:5, saying:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.”

Neither man was afraid to identify with his people as they cried out before the Lord. We need to realize that if we the church in America had been acting as salt and light, we would have shown forth to the unbelievers in our nation as a city on a hill. We would have been a preservative for our country. (Matthew 5:13-14)

But it is not too late. We can start praying today for revival. Consider a few other verses on this subject:

'Restore us, O God of our salvation,
And cause Your anger toward us to cease.

Will You be angry with us forever?
Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?

Will You not revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?" Psalm 85:4-6

"if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14

"Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way." Psalm 119:37

"Come, and let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth." Hosea 6:1-3

A Mother's Musing...

"Oh fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Psalm 34:9-11

This is my first mother's day as both a mother and grandmother. It is precious to visit with my new little grandsons. As I think about my own years as a mother, I did not realize then how quickly they would pass. Even though I am still in middle age, it seems each year passes by faster than the one before. I bumped into an old neighbor of mine at the store today. It seemed like just yesterday they moved, but it was thirteen years already.

I had the blessing of going for a mother's day brunch a day early today with my son and his family. It makes my eyes well up with tears at times, for when I do pay a visit, it reminds me that already so much of life has passed. I remember my son as a little boy, but now a man. I remember with joy my happy times as a mother, but I do have regrets too.

If only I would have realized how short a time I really would have my kids, I would have done things differently. Most importantly, I would have liked to show them a mother that did not waver in her faith. I wasted a lot of time fretting, time that could have been spent showing them how great God was, and how much He could be trusted.

Reading God's Word every day for myself has bolstered my faith.I wish I would have done it back then. I wish I would have read it to them every day. It is the only reliable thing we have in the universe. Just today I read an incredible verse about the Truth of His Word:

"The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of your righteous judgments endures forever." Ps. 119:160

That Word alone could have saved me so much grief, just to believe it and demonstrate it before their little watching eyes.The years are gone now, and I won't live in regrets, but hopefully maybe someone who reads this may learn from my mistake.

In years past, I disliked the book of Ecclesiastes because it seemed depressing, but now it makes such good sense. Solomon had everything he could possibly want from this world, but he realized at the end of his life it was all vanity and chasing after wind. All the accolades of men, all the accomplishments, all the pride of life really meant nothing in the big picture.

As Solomon comes to the end of the book, he gives some great advice to the young, something I tried to teach my children. He says in Eccles. 12:1: "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come..."

I always took that to mean that if one is receptive and open to the LORD as a child, it is easier for them to stay on the path of faith, while if you harden your heart, it only becomes more and more difficult to believe when you get older.

At the end of the book, and at the end of Solomon's life, he concludes by saying this:

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all." (Eccles. 12: 13)

So,how does this all have to do with being a mother? Well, I guess what I am trying to say is I would not have fretted so much about the little details of life, but focused more on showing faith and teaching my children the only thing that will outlast this universe, God's Word.

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." Matthew 24:35

"...All flesh is as grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever." Is.40:6-8

I would have focused on what David said: "Come you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD." (Ps. 34:11) I especially would have emphasized how much the Heavenly Father loved them and cared for them.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

Guilt or Grace?

"how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:14

Guilt is a lousy motivator, don't you think? For most of my life I have been subject to my own "you should's," "you ought's" and even worse, "you didn't do this" or "you really screwed up there's." The funny thing about guilt is, it never helps me to do what is right. It only pounds me down, making me want to hide and shirk my responsibilities even more.

It is the same way with God's law. God never intended for us to live up to it. "How could that be?" someone might ask. In amongst all the "thou must's" and "thou shall not's" we forget that the law was given to us to show us that we could not keep it. Ever.

Romans 7:4-5 says: "Therefore, my brethren, you were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death."

If I read that right, it says that the Law arouses our sinful passions when we were in the flesh. But if we are in Christ, we don't have to listen the old letter that kills, but act from the totally new person we have been made to be through Christ. The new person is enabled by the grace of God, not the Law.

In II Corinthians 5:17, it says if any man is in Christ, he is a brand new creature. The word for new is kainos (Strong's #2537) meaning, in that usage: "all things are new, previously non-existent, begin to be far different from what they were before." http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2537&t=KJV

God does not motivate through guilt. For most of my life, I have listened to guilt motivations from myself and others, but guilt is not a good reason to go out and do something. It is like I am saying Christ hasn't quite paid enough and so I must do something good to try and make up for the bad things in the past that I have done. In that case I have not yet completely comprehended the finished work of Christ.

When He died, He died for all of my infractions: past, present and future. He knew in advance the mistakes I would make. Only when I forgive myself for them, and believe they were truly paid for, can I move out truly free, not trying to make up for them somehow.

Christ's blood was enough! I do not have to listen to the guilt manipulations of myself or of others. This whole world system works on a basis of merit, but God works on a basis of free, undeserved grace which we can never, ever repay. I can live my life knowing that I am the object of God's love, as great for me as it is for His Son, not because of anything I ever did or will do, but because of His magnificent grace.

When Jesus prayed for us, His beloved children, He stated that we are loved just as He is:

"I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made known Thy name to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:23-26

Beyond My Own Understanding

Psalm 76:10
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise You; With the remainder of wrath You shall gird Yourself."

In vain the other day I "vented" before God but could not stay in that state of mind too long. I hated the feeling of tension welling up inside me and so instead I ended up crying out before Him.. Today, when my heart again was overwhelmed I went to my secret place to cast my burden on Him.

It is there I can go and pour out my heart before God, the living God, the God who hears. People can offer sympathy and prayers but they cannot solve your problems, only God can. He solved our biggest one 2,000 years ago by dying on the cross for each and every human sin. Scripture says He will be praised, so how on earth could my "venting" ever accomplish anything worthwhile? Yet He heard me in my hour of need, and He did not cast me away. Well, I guess if He was there for my biggest problem ever (sin and death), He will be there also for my problems in this transient life.

Lately I have been thinking on what constitutes a blessing by God. People say all the time that they are "blessed" when they have a good job, a nice house, a nest egg for a rainy day, etc. What if you are being persecuted, though, like the believers in North Korea who just received a death sentence? According to the American way of thinking, we might not consider them blessed. But Jesus said in Matthew 5:11- 12:

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

What if it seems like one trial seems to come upon the heels of another? James 1:2-3 told us to:

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."

Somehow that seems to be the last thing I want to do in a trial. I either want to grumble about it, or press the panic button, but certainly not count it all joy. Why it goes it against every single natural thought I have!

These Scriptures prove to me that God does not see trials and adversities the way a man does. I love that about God, that He does not think like us! If He did, we'd all be in trouble!

Isa 55:8-9

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts."

But Scripture tells me I need to takemy every thought captive in I Corinthians 10:4-5:

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ"

These two verses tell me some important truths.

1. We are in a warfare.
2. Our weapons are not carnal. Human help will not help, only God and His Word can help us.
3. These weapons from God want to bring down every thing inside me that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, of what He says is Truth in His Word.
4. It is a battle for every single thought.

Only God can make us victorious in this battle. We cannot fight this on our own. Sometimes, for me, during trials, a thought will come in that will make me start fearing, but I realize that thought needs to go because it is exalting itself against the knowledge of God, of Him promising in His Word that somehow I will be left hanging out to dry, that God will not provide for me. Today, after I prayed, I was tempted to think that I was still the same old "me," and not victorious, but then I started humming some songs of praise to God as I walked along outside and I felt my burden starting to lift.

And then the Spirit brought to mind two beautiful Scriptural promises, something to meditate on in the midst of trial:

II Cor 2 :14 "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."

and....

Isa 42:3

"A bruised reed He will not break,And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth."

Oh, may He recall more and more of His precious promises to us as we walk through the hills and valleys of life!