"Call Me!"

Call unto me, and I will answer thee
and show thee great and mighy
things, which thou knowest not.
Jeremiah 33:3

One of the things I loved about going to spend time in the country with Aunt Dora and Uncle Bob (my dad's aunt and uncle) was their big box phone that was attached to their kitchen wall. To make a call, one would pick up the ear phone and stand on tip toe to speak into a small speaker attachment. The caller would then turn a crank on the side of the box and would ask to be connected to a certain party. During the day, that phone would just about ring off of the wall but my aunt and uncle would rarely answer it. They told me they listened for a certain ring that was their unique ring.  All the other rings were for someone else on their party line.

This was odd to me as we had a phone at home that sat on an end table. When we made a call, we picked up a receiver and heard a friendly voice say, “Number, please.” Our home phone number at one time was 889-J...no area code, no dialing a number 1 in front of anything. It was pretty simple. We always had a party line which meant we could pick up the phone and could listen in on other people's conversations if we wanted to, but didn't because it was a rude thing to do. The calling was pretty uncomplicated “back then.”

Those were also the Dick Tracy comic book days. Dick, a police detective wore a radio wrist watch where he could call anyone or people could call him. That seemed so incredibly impossible, it wasn't even funny. Who could know what we would see today with all of the cell phones people carry around in pockets or purses. We've gotten used to seeing people with phones up to their ears whether in the grocery store, in cars, at sporting events, etc. It's a long way from that big wooden box attached to the farm-home kitchen wall of my relatives.

Communication has come a long way. Where we used to be so dependent on telephones in their original state, our phones are now very portable and have even become a combination of phone and computer. Now whether at home or on the move, we don't even have to phone people. We can text on the move or engage in e-mailing if at home on computers or on lap tops that can go with us wherever we go. We are getting away from writing notes and letters and are even getting away from human, face-to-face contact that used to be a part of every day life.

The amazing thing today is that we can be in almost instant contact with another person who holds a similar gadget that we hold on our end. The thing is that when a call comes through, I can look at my phone and see who is calling me. I can choose to not even answer the call from that person if I don't want to talk to him or her. My dead-pan, stoic pre-recorded voice can come on after so many rings asking the person to leave their name and phone number with the apology that “I can't come to the phone right now...”. How cool is that... or so we think. We can even become liars in a simple thing like answering or not answering the phone.

Much of this information isn't anything new to any of us. However, just the act of “calling” has been important to us for our lifetimes, calling that in many instances, hasn't had anything to do with a phone or computer, such as:

*A lost child in the store, calling for his mom or the mom calling for her lost child
*Mom calls children to supper
*Dad calls the family dog into the house
*Teacher calls the class in from recess
*Doctor calls a patient with test results
*Someone calls 911 when an emergency arises
*One neighbor calls across her yard to another neighbor

In every one of these situations, an immediate response is expected or hoped for. There are many instances when we call out to someone that we want their attention right away. Calling out is more than calm, cool conversation. There's a little more importance attached to when we call out to someone for something. It may not always be an emergency but it may be a little more important than general contact with another.

Lately in my Scripture reading, I have been coming across verses that assure me that when I call to God, I get His instant attention. He doesn't have some old-timey phone hanging on a Heavenly wall where He has to wait for His certain ring. He doesn't have to fumble for a cell phone or look to see who is calling in case He doesn't want to hear from a particular person. Others may not choose to take a call from me or may not get back to me with an answer to an e-mail I sent. Sometimes, we judge God by our own societal norms but God doesn't act according to our ways. He works in His own ways on our behalf.

For the Christian, God hears every communication. For the unsaved person...no. The only prayer God hears from the non-Christian initially is when the unsaved confesses his/her sin and accepts Jesus as personal Savior. Then there is the establishment of a relationship. Good things happen in the lives of the unsaved but Scripture tells us that that is for the purpose of drawing them to God, the Source of all good things.

Meanwhile, let's be encouraged by what we see in God's word to encourage His children that He hears us when we call and that our praying is never in vain. He gives us His undivided attention unlike friends who allow their children to interrupt conversations while they are on the phone. Let's go to the Word and be encouraged:

Because He inclined His ear to me,
therefore I will call on Him as
long as I live,
I will offer to You the sacrifice of
thanksgiving and call on the
name of the Lord.
Psalm 116:2,17 (ESV)

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call upon Him while He is near.
Isaiah 55:6 (ESV)

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all
who call upon You.
In the day of my trouble I call upon You,
for You answer me.
Psalm 86:5,7 (ESV)

Dear Father, even in this moment, You are hearing me as I type. You hear my heart no matter how I communicate with You and I thank You for that. I don't deserve a moment of Your listening ear except through Jesus, Who with You loves me beyond words and died for me. When no one else will listen, I know that You do. Thank You more than words can express. In Jesus Precious Name....Amen

Intimacy With God

...and when this cometh
ye shall know that I
am the Lord God.
Ezekiel 24:24b

In these lazy, hazy (and hot) days of summer, it's so easy for any of us to become lax in our spiritual habits (not a good word) and practices. Our spiritual walk can seem slow and belabored. I can't tell you how I have longed lately to have more intimacy with God, coming to know Jesus in a deeper way than ever before. I have recently done a personal search into things I know are holding me back from being the seeker God would have me be. I have given up a major church position as it has gotten to where it isn't a “builder” for me but a “drainer.” I, bottom line, just want more of Jesus in my life's walk than ever before...an intimacy I find myself longing for.

There are times as I prepare a Sunday school lesson for my ladies that a lesson especially strikes me in the heart of my spiritual being more than some others might. This was one of those weeks that challenged me beyond words. I realize that Christian books have been written and have almost exhausted the subject of being intimate with God and I don't intend to add anything that others haven't stated. I can only express what the Lord has put on my own heart.

Ezekiel, one of God's prophets was put to a test most of us would never be called upon to endure. He was to serve as a special example to God's people who had fallen into idolatry. Ezekiel was to tell the people in God's words that judgment was coming. Not only were they to go into captivity but their beloved temple would be destroyed. They loved the temple like they loved the dearest of people on earth to them. However God didn't want the people to mourn the loss of the temple. He wanted them to mourn their sin.

Ezekiel's wife was to die in this process and he was given strict instructions as to how he was NOT to mourn. I'm sure it came as a great shock to the people when Ezekiel didn't carry out the mourning procedures that were a part of the culture of that day. In all of this, God wanted His people to not only acknowledge their sin problem of idolatry but their problem of priority in their lives. They would grieve the loss of the temple, but not grieve the reason for the loss of it. God wasn't even in the thoughts of most of the people.

Many of God's people of that day, I'm sure, felt they had been doing all of the right things even though idolatry had taken over the life of their nation. Many, I'm sure were still serving God as best they could despite others disregard for the commands of God. However, for the majority, they had gone through certain spiritual rituals, even making idolatry a part of them, but their knowledge of and regard for God Himself was lost. In our day, we can find ourselves very busy with God's work...usher, nursery worker, teacher, preacher, choir member, instrumentalist, children's worker, etc. We may do one or many of those things in our churches with never a regard for God or even His will in our lives. All of our service though, means very little if our relationship with God has very little meaning.

So in reading all of this, I asked myself as I was preparing the lesson from this Scripture (that you can find in Ezekiel 24), “How well do I really KNOW God right now?” There are several meanings of that word in Scripture. It is used with reference to Adam and Eve coming together in that intimate, physical relationship of marriage. However, in our Scripture verse, written above, that word doesn't refer to a physical act but it does refer to having a deep and personal, intimate relationship with God. When all was said and done, God wanted the people in the entire process of what they were about to go through to KNOW that He was the Lord God. God longed for His people on an individual basis to really know Him in the very depths of their spirits with nothing in between Him and them. You see, anything that comes between me and God is an idol. Let me add that God is in the business of tearing down idols, so beware! There is to be nothing or no one more important in your life and mine than God Himself. I know that it may not seem fair, but our loving Father has every right to demand that kind of love and loyalty from us.

Things for the Israelites were going to get tough. There was going to be loss in abundance, inconvenience, hurt, death and every negative I could mention. In it all, God's purpose and desire was for His people to know Him like never before. When hard times do come, if we haven't kept in close and right relationship with God, we won't understand what He's doing....we won't really KNOW Him well enough to trust Him. All things in our lives are expendable when it comes to being in a personal and intimate relationship with Him.

I want that kind of relationship. I want to know Him so much better than I do at the present time. I want to view my circumstances through His eyes as best I can knowing that He is in control of all things and will never allow anything in my life that isn't for my good and His glory. The tough times are going to come, but the better I know Him, the stronger my trust will be, assured that God won't allow anything to touch my life until it first comes to His attention.

Paul speaks in Philippians 3:10:

That I may KNOW Him,
and the power of His resurrection,
and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable to His death.

I love that wonderful power in my life made possible through the Holy Spirit. Being in fellowship with Jesus in sufferings will be a part of it all and in the entire process, there's a lot of dying to self that will be required of me. No matter how difficult, I really do want to KNOW Him more personally and intimately than ever before. It will require my time and attention, with eyes off of other things I might think to be important. God has given us responsibilities and loved ones. He's more aware of that than you and I are, but we still must be aware of Him being our top priority, willing to yield to whatever He desires and allows in our lives. He will empower us through His love to handle whatever comes our way and believe it or not, we will love Him all the more intimately in it all.

Dear Father...I thank You for Your patience with me. I need Your strength to keep my priorities in proper order. I want You at the top of my list, learning to love You more. I want to know You better and to trust You more than ever. In Jesus' precious name....Amen

Storms of Life

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on Thee;
because he trusteth in Thee.
Trust ye in the Lord forever:
for in the Lord JEHOVAH
is everlasting strength.
Isaiah 26:3,4

You may have heard of it or even seen the movie but “The Perfect Storm” was a real incident that happened October 30, 1991. The Andrea Gail was a swordfish fishing boat manned by six experienced fishermen. They were out to sea when bad weather moved in quicker than expected. It ended up that three massive storms collided and that boat was caught in it, and the crew was unable to control the boat. The six men were killed in the horrendous weather event that many referred to as the “No-Name Storm.”

Storms happen all the time. Most of us will experience storms of various intensity on land but not necessarily on the water. There are places though where storms at sea can arise almost out of no where. Folks on those seas can be in serious danger. Such is the way it is with the Sea of Galilee in Israel. Winds can sweep down from the Mediterranean Sea through a mountainous area and can whip into the area of that sea. Severe storms have been experienced by fishermen on the Sea of Galilee for centuries.

I can't say I've ever been in a terrible storm at sea but I've been in storms of various intensities on land. Some were storms of different kinds but they are never fun. Some cause great damage to property while some may do no more than water one's lawn with some sound effects thrown in. Storms generally come with some warning. Weathermen get on TV with alerts about oncoming storms. In the distance, dark clouds can form and move quickly along with thunder and lightening. We may be cautioned to take cover for safety reasons. During a storm, nerves can become frayed and when over, hopefully, calm is restored.

There are other storms of life other than those of nature. Satan has a way of stirring up things in our lives that can keep us in turmoil and living on the edge of seeming insanity. Even without Satan stepping in, we can often create our own negative situations in our own power. However the storms come our way, they cause us great discomfort, stress and misery.

Mark 4 gives us a favorite story of the disciples and Jesus in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. We read that there “arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.” Four of those men had been career fishermen. They knew the dangers and knew that particular sea. If they were scared out of their minds, then there was reason for it thanks to their own life experiences.

Where was Jesus in all of this? He was in the back of the boat asleep on a pillow. He had taught and preached that day and being the human being He was, He was weary to the point that He could sleep even with all of the noise and confusion going on. The disciples woke Him while in their state of panic. Didn't Jesus even care that all of them were near drowning?

Jesus arose, spoke to the wind and then to the sea saying, “Peace, be still.” The wind stopped and the sea became calm...all in an instant.

Over the last couple of weeks, I think from about four different sources, I have heard a certain phrase. It may have been worded differently each time but each version said the same thing,

being...”When you accepted Jesus as Savior, He got into your boat and will never get out of it.” During any time of testing or trial (storms), I have the same access to Jesus as those disciples had in that storm tossed boat except for His human form. In my boat, He sees everything going on in my life. Just as it was with the disciples, I can cry out to Him anytime a storm of any kind strikes my life. At times, it may seem that He is asleep and I may feel like the disciples did for a bit....”Don't You care what I'm going through?” Sure He knows and He has all the answers. If He doesn't choose to calm a storm in my life, He certainly has assured me that He is always with me and will never forsake me.

Some storms in my life have been meant to bring correction while others are meant to teach me...teach me how to trust Him more and to know Him better. I don't like storms. I like my life to be calm and uninterrupted but life isn't like that for us, is it? The biggest lesson for me to learn is that I must keep my focus on Jesus and not on the storm. The storm will rob me of physical energy and spiritual strength.

The simple fact is:

Peace isn't the absence of
problems, but
is the very presence of Jesus.

Dear Jesus...Thank You for being my peace, my joy and my everything. I'm more than grateful that You are in my boat of life and that I can call on You at anytime whether in joy or during the stormy times of life. I love you more than I can express. Amen

In God We Trust

It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in man.
Psalm 118:8

There are always those in these days who like to mess around with the basic principles of our country. There also those who are un-American, who want to tear down those spiritual basics that have come to be so meaningful for all of us. “In God We Trust,” the motto of our country has recently come under fire. What bothers me about this is that as much as we Christians fuss about folks wanting to do away with this precious motto, we Christians have the privilege of placing our trust in our wonderful, loving Father and often continue relying on our own resources.

Looking up the word “trust,” I find that it is the belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest and effective. It is also the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety of a person or thing. These are mere definitions of what trust is and all of it, we find in Jesus Christ and more. There isn't a thing we face but what we can dump it in Jesus' lap. We can trust Him with any care or problem we face. He is ever present and we can rely on His ability to work on our behalf.

We've all seen it or we have done it ourselves. I think dads especially like doing it while doting moms look on. The first time I saw it done was my own dad with my little sister Kay. He put Kay standing on the edge of our front porch when she was about 2 years old. He stood below at ground level. Our porch was rather highd and Daddy extended his arms upward to Kay and encouraged her to jump. It was obvious that Kay had never done this before. Mother and I both called out encouraging words to her to jump. I had done this any number of times and knew that Daddy never dropped me. After a few minutes, Kay jumped into Daddy's arms with her banana curls bobbing in the air. She did it a second time, still reluctant but more trusting than the first time. With practice not just on that day but other days, she could jump off of that porch into Daddy's arms with abandon.

I have seen dads do this and at times would teasingly pretend to drop the child with a deep catch and unbeknown to that dad, a trust was broken. All it took was one jump like that that broke a trust that was hard to retrieve.

In recent days, I've gone through some difficult things in my life. When it rains, it pours and that's the way it's been for me. I'm afraid for a time, I did what I've done before in trying to work things out for myself. Trusting God in the hard times just wasn't registering with me. I wish I could be a spiritual giant who immediately puts my trust where it ought to be but I often fail. The Lord seems to let me do my struggling and then He so very gently steps in with His sweet assurance that I can rely, and yes, trust Him to sustain me and work on my behalf.

I know that the Lord is faithful to His Word and because of that, He is more than trustworthy. Just want to share some things from God's Word that will encourage us. Some of these are very familiar, but all should encourage us to place our trust in Jesus with no hesitancy.

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust,
and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH
is my strength and my song; He also
is become my salvation.
Isaiah 12:2

For therefore we both labour and
suffer reproach, because we trust
in the living God, who is the
Saviour of all men, specially
of those that believe
I Timothy 4:10

Then, of course, is the old but good verses from Proverbs 3:5,6:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.

I have decided that in my own life, I must make the decision to trust. In the course of life, I have had people who “dropped” me, destroying whatever trust I had at the time. We've all experienced times where people have disappointed and let us down. Trust under those circumstances was seemingly destroyed. However, Jesus has never let us down...He's never dropped us when we have jumped into His loving arms. I want my first reaction in times of difficulty to trust in the Lord Jesus. I invite you to join me in this wonderful venture of trust.

Dear Father...I praise You for being worthy of my trust in every way. Increase my faith in the fact that You can solve any problem I face. I love You...in Jesus' precious name...Amen

The Sweetest Name

 

...and thou shalt call His name JESUS
Matthew 1:21b

Very recently, I heard something very convicting in a sermon. The preacher was suggesting that for the most part, Christians can go day after day never even speaking the name “Jesus.” He added that a sad fact is that if not careful, even on Sunday's in church, we might go the entire day not hearing Jesus' name. At first I was shocked at both statements. I thought quickly to my own teaching of my Sunday school class and had to ask, “Do I ever mention His name in the course of my teaching?” Today's Sunday school literature tends to be very topical so a teacher can get lost in a topic and not in Jesus. The sad thing is that we may hear His name used in cursing out in the world where God isn't honored. If the world misuses that precious name, I'm not surprised. However, what's with us if we never counter-act the world's evil usage of that precious name by never speaking it in love ourselves.

In an acrostic using His precious name, I am reminded of just a few of His qualities that have meaning in my own life:

J- JOY...as I am reminded in Scripture that “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”

E- ETERNAL LIFE...because of Jesus, my Savior, and His love I have eternal life.

S- STRENGTH...He is my strength and shield in all circumstances of my life.

U- UNCHANGING...yesterday, today and forever...consistently the same.

S- SHEPHERD...this poor, dumb sheep needs tending and I love my shepherd.

We could use so many wonderful words for Him in an acrostic like this because He's just too precious to describe in one small article. You could look at the letters of His name and add your own characteristics you have found in our Lord. I could write blogs on all sorts of topics that I would hope could encourage, bless and perhaps help with some healing. However, there is no one like Jesus who has all the answers to our lives whether in our ups and downs or in's and outs.

In these days, I have been reminded of the chorus from a hymn:

Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
And He's just the same
As His lovely name.
And that's the reason why I love Him so,
For Jesus is the sweetest name I know.

Dear Jesus, I thank You today for who You are in my life. Forgive my laxity in thinking more about You in the course of my day. I realize there is power in a name but no power like in Your name. May I never forget that. I love You...in Your precious name. Amen