CLEAN ME UP

But if we walk in the light as He

is in the light, we have fellowship

with one another, and the blood of

Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us

from all sin.

I John 1:7

Because of a Bible study I had been working on, the subject of soap came to my mind. I can recall our only bath soap was Ivory Soap and it was 99.44% pure. It smelled terrible but hey, it floated. From there new soaps came on the market that folks just had to buy...Lifebuoy, Dial, Lava (for my mechanic dad) and now so many brands, it's hard to decide. It depends on what company has the best ad on TV.

Looking back now, one of the things I liked in that simpler time was that Saturday night was bath night. The wash tub from the back porch was brought into the kitchen for bath night. The rest of the week, all necessary body parts were washed from the sink. Today, soap companies have convinced folks they have to bathe or shower at least once a day and maybe twice. People in our country have always been an easy con for companies with a good claim or two.

There is one product however, known from back in eternity. It isn't promoted by some earthly company. With all of our earthly cleansers, none are of any permanent use. Clothes get dirty again as do bodies. It's a never ending process. Not so with the cleansing provided by a Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus. We were born dirty with sin and no earthly product can clean that. It's a cleanser that keeps cleaning us over and over despite our leaning toward sin.

Huge companies would refer to such a product as a kind of soap. However, we lovingly know and refer to it as “the blood.” It doesn't just insure us a Heavenly home but to peace and fellowship in the now of our lives.

What can wash away my sin...nothing but the blood of Jesus! Don't even need the wash tub off the back porch.

Dear Father, blood in our day isn't discussed anymore because there is so much of it due to sin and wrongdoing. I pray we will never grow weary of speaking of and loving the blood Jesus shed for each of us...in His precious name...Amen 

FEAR GALORE

For God has not given us a

spirit of fear, but of power

and of love and of a

sound mind.

II Timothy 1:7

Perhaps you haven't noticed the fear mentality we live with in our day. We are bombarded with fear right and left. Unfortunately, most folks buy into it all. Fear breeds fear. Fear of all sorts gets passed around. Soon we are basket cases and can't figure out why.

On TV we are hit right and left with fear. Ads on TV expose us to disease we never would have thought of, but we are told we had better buy their product or it could be tragic. TV will show us drugs we HAVE to have and see your doctor about them. There are vitamins that meet all dietary requirements. Take those and we will be healthier, sprier than ever. 

When we are bombarded with fear all the time, if we aren't careful, it can take root. Fear can become a part of everything we do and most everything we are. Think of things you have seen or heard on the media of late that we might take in and not realize it. Satan is very sly in his approach to us. Sometimes, we make his job easy. In many cases, he doesn't even have to park on our doorstep. We fall for what our culture batters us with, no questions asked.

When it comes to fear, we must always consider it's source. It's not the big companies looking to make mega bugs, nor politicians seemingly out to destroy the country we love. Those things are just tools Satan uses to keep us tense and fearful. There are times in life's situation that may be cause for concern. However when it comes to fear, we tend to feel totally out of control and at another's mercy. Scripture tells us we are more than conquerors in this life of ours. It's our decision to keep our eyes on the Father and not on fear. He has equipped us for victory.

Father, the world and it's fears seem to gnaw at our minds consistently. May we keep in mind Your gifts of power, love and sound minds and cling to those things. Help us to stay focused on You and Your will. In Jesus' name...Amen

 

IF

...Everything is possible for

the one who believes.

Mark 9:23

Having taught ladies for over 60 years, there are things I had to learn along the way about what I was or wasn't doing right. In this process, one of my biggest lessons learned was that the lesson I was preparing had to start with my own personal lessons learned ahead of teaching others. Such was with my most recent lesson.

Jesus could do anything. He was a Powerhouse in so many ways especially in meeting the needs in the lives of others. In the Gospels we find His ability to drive out demons from tortured individuals, such was the case with a particular father. He came to Jesus for help and it would seem he really believed Jesus could heal his son. In talking with Jesus one on one, he plead for help from Jesus saying: “If you can do anything......” He continued asking for Jesus' compassion on their .behalf.

There was something in the man's plea that Jesus noticed right away, because He replied, “If You can?” He then gave that wise counsel in the words we see above. It would seem that the key word in question was the word IF.

IF is a word that is very iffy if you know what I mean. We use it all the time in our common everyday language without thinking about it. I'm not going to try to try to list those instances as they are too many. For that father, his situation, however, was not an everyday event. He was desperate. IF is almost a word not just of begging but a word that can cause a situation to go in most any direction.

Spiritually speaking, IF cancels out confidence. We want to be people of strong faith but IF often gets in the way. How often have we prayed, “Father, IF it be your will....” It's like giving God an out. He is going to work His will in our lives for our good and His glory and it will never come about as a result of an IF. There are times and places for the use of that word, but certainly not in our spiritual walk. We can still come boldly to the throne of grace with no if's, and's or buts and aren't we glad.

Thank You Father, for Your patience with us. Help us to increase our faith so that we never question any of Your abilities but rest in Your strength and love. We are so grateful for Your loving care and seeing to our good with no IFs. In Jesus name...Amen

 

'TIS THE SEASON

No, it isn't time to go Christmas shopping as of yet, but it's certainly around the corner. By now we know that seasons come and go. We learned early in our education that there are four weather-type seasons in our year...spring, summer, fall and winter. We have seasons in sports that rarely overlap although even they seem to be bumping up against each other.

We anticipate our weather seasons depending on the individual climates they present. No one wants a sled in July or other such mix ups. We pay close attention to weather reports, especially when living in certain parts of the country that tend to have negative weather events.

Jesus was about to ascend to Heaven. He had been with His disciples and some others for some days and now a much anticipated time was about to occur. Jesus knew much more about this special time than did the observers who knew little of anything about what was about to happen...the coming of the Holy Spirit. In His conversation in these moments, He said something very insightful in Acts 1:7...

And He said to them, “It is not

for you to know times or seasons

which the Father has put in His

own authority...”

The disciples were especially anxious to know everything that was about to happen regarding coming days. Jesus would tell them about the Holy Spirit and their coming ministry, but just before that, He wanted them to not be anxious about times or seasons. That all rested with God. It's so like us to feel the same. No matter the times, God doesn't have to fret regarding coming events, weather forecasts or any other future happenings because He's in charge of it all....and aren't we glad.

We praise You Father that we don't have to fret about coming days. You meet us around every corner and we are grateful. In Jesus name...Amen

 

CHEW, CHEW, CHEW

Finally, brethren, whatever things

are true, whatever things are noble,

whatever things are just,

whatever things are pure,

whatever things are lovely

whatever things are of good report,

if there is any virtue and if there is

anything praiseworthy---

MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS.

Philippians 4:8

Hmmmmm.....I wonder as we read our way through Scriptures, how often we pause to meditate on a verse or even a phrase. There may be a phrase we have slid over for years, and it's there every time we read. When we've been in Sunday school and church for years, and come to know the Bible fairly well, we can be careless and miss out on some real treasures.

For me, another word for “meditate” is the word “chew.” I married a man who really knew how to chew his food. I noticed that with one bite of food, Brian gave that food several chews before swallowing. He said it insured getting all of the nutrients out of the food, plus enjoying the taste.

Isn't that what we should be doing in our Bible reading? We don't have to speed through a chapter or even a few verses. If the Spirit stops us at a certain place in our reading, He probably wants us to meditate (chew) there for awhile to get all the spiritual nutrients out of the passage possible. It can't hurt to stop in our reading and chew awhile!

Thank You for Your word, Father. May we glean all the good stuff from each verse we reading without hurrying through our reading. Holy Spirit, don't give up on us...keep teaching us. In Jesus name....Amen

 

CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY

Let the words of my mouth and

the meditation of my heart be

acceptable in Your sight, O

Lord, my strength and my

Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

Through my preteen and teen years, we had a wonderful youth group in our Baptist Church. We met for our BYF meetings an hour prior to the Sunday evening service and most of us were very close friends. The Randolph's were our leaders. They often had us all out to their house for social times if there weren't any ballgames to attend. The Randolph's are in Heaven now and only there will they come to know what they meant in our lives.

At the end of our meetings on Sunday evening, there was a tradition. Our closing prayer was the above verse. We would stand in a circle holding hands with heads bowed and would repeat the verse. I've always loved the verse primarily for spiritual and now some sentimental reasons. It wasn't until as a young adult that I began not just reciting the verse but personally looking at it for content.

The verse starts out with the word LET. That indicates that it must me, on my own accepting the responsibility of putting that verse into practice. It is a fact that what's in the heart of a person will come out often quite loudly for the world to hear.

Words can heal or words can harm. We use words just in every day communication and we don't give it a thought. That's how we talk with each other verbally or in other different ways. The danger comes when we determine certain things we are going to speak to someone no matter what. Such words can be words of anger or frustration often spoken in a much different way than intended. We can determine just as well to speak to someone in kindness and perhaps to encourage.

The above verse indicates the use of words in a very definite way. We may often feel captive to what comes out of our mouths. The problem is that what comes from our mouths have already been formed in our hearts. Our conversations might in the end indicate a heart problem and that's a problem only our Father can help us with.

Thank You Father for speaking love into my life through Your Word and Your sweet Spirit. Help me to continually see the connection between my words and the meditations of my heart. May my words always reflect Your Words as I spend time in my Bible daily. Forgive my rush to speak when I should wait to listen. In Jesus name....Amen

A REFUGE FOR SURE

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

My grandparents had a noticeable small hill in their yard on one side of their house. My grandmother loved gardening so that small hill was just covered with all sorts of brightly colored blooms. It was the kind of little hill a little girl would love to just simi-crawl up. I was strictly told that it was a place where little girls were never to play. I still loved that pretty little hill and it took a little time for me to notice that some vines on that hill had grown over a door.

When I asked my Grandpa about it, he said that it was a storm cellar. He explained it was a place to go in case a storm or tornado came into town. I knew about storms but not tornadoes. I learned again later that in the early 1900's a horrible tornado had swept through a part of our town that did terrible damage. After that many folks had put storm cellars in their yards. My grandparents had never used it so they used it to store foods my Grandma had canned at the end of the summer.

Thinking about what a refuge might be, I found it's basically a place of safety and security. It might make a family feel better to have a storm cellar if they lived in a tornado-prone area. It would serve well in times of needed physical security, but what about those times we are in need of spiritual or emotional security. We might like a storm cellar of such things but afraid there really isn't such a thing.

I remember just the chorus to a hymn we often sung years ago:

O Jesus is a rock in a weary land

A weary land, a weary land.

O Jesus is a rock in a weary land

A shelter in the time of storm.

No matter our need, when the storms of life come, we all need Someone, somewhere to flee to. We may have a special place of peace we love for when we read, pray and meditate. However, places often change. Friends may be wonderful in encouraging us when we are facing difficult times, but sometimes even friends change in place or attitudes. We have One sure place and Person to run to...our own storm shelter that never changes, open 24/7 and that takes the form of very loving arms, the hollow of a hand...even wings to hide under. There is no earthly storm shelter or refuge that can provide all of that. Only our Heavenly Father stands with open arms, real security the world will never be able to provide. He's our shelter and refuge in the time of any storm we face.

Dear Father, I'm so grateful for the salvation I enjoy because of Jesus but You have so many other things in store for us. Thank You for our live-in Holy Spirit who speaks to us through Your Word and through other godly ones. Thank You that I don't have to make an appointment to talk to You and enjoy Your presence any time I want. In Jesus' precious name...Amen 

 

GOOD GRAICOUS

And He said to me. “My grace

is sufficient for you, for My strength

is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore most gladly I will rather

boast in my infirmities, that the

power of Christ may rest upon me.

II Corinthians 12:9

For many years in my Bible reading, I wondered in Paul's writings that usually after the first two or three verses of each of his books, he used the phrase “Grace and peace be with you...” He was so consistent in that wonderful greeting to those he loved and with whom he shared his heart. I often wondered why he didn't say “peace and grace.” I eventually caught on to the fact that without the grace of God, there can be no real peace.

I don't know about you, but I used to hear the above title two-word phrase said by adults when I was but a very young girl. I don't know how often someone said to me, “Good gracious Glendarae....” It took me some years to get the words grace and gracious connected. Let me quickly say that any human graciousness can never be compared to the grace God showers into our lives consistently.

Gracious people I have known are really nice people. They are kind and very accommodating in being of help and encouragement to people they know and often with folks they don't know well. The problem for we human beings is that we aren't always nice. When we are troubled, irritated with someone or even going through a time of illness, our graciousness can be on the limited side. Our graciousness can be tempered by moods or circumstances.

 hear a lot, though, about God's grace. We know for a fact that Scripture tell us that by grace we are saved. That gives us our first real introduction to grace. Any grace God extends to us is totally undeserved. We don't deserve God's blink of His eye toward any of us but that is who God is. His Son paid the highest of price for us thanks to the grace of His Father.

We also have an everyday, every hour grace that God extends into our lives that we again don't deserve. God will never withdraw it or lessen it. In fact, Paul was told of God's grace and it's sufficiency in his life no matter the circumstances. He was assured of God's ongoing power, a grace sufficient for every circumstance.

That was great for Paul, but guess what....it's sufficient for us as well no matter what our days look like. Because of God's grace in our lives, we are to extend that graciousness into the lives of others. There are folks who don't deserve our favor but we extend it anyway just as our Father pours His undeserved grace into our lives.

Father God, without Your grace, we would be nothing, floundering in life with no purpose. Thank You for not giving up on us even though we don't deserve a moment of Your graciousness. We are grateful because of Jesus love....Amen

 

PRESS ON

I press toward the mark for

the prize of the high calling

of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:14

Been watching the world track championships this week. Brian watched anything that had to do with track and field. That was a a consistency for us from the time we got married. The older I get the harder it is for me to watch anyone lose in their sport.

There was always one thing that just irked us when it came to any of the races, be it men or women, no matter the distance. Many of the races came down to the final turn headed for the finish line. I would imagine there are coaches of the runners who grew gray hair in the process of watching their athletes headed for the finish line.

Perfect example...I recently watched a race where one runner was obviously going to win his heat. The young man in second kept looking back from side to side to see how near his competitor was to him, how much of a threat. Only the first two winners of a particular heat would go to the final race. Fortunately for the gaping young man, he did come in second which did move him into the final race. There have been times when we have seen such going on and such a runner has lost. That was always sad to watch when in reality, he should have gotten into the finals, but he was distracted.

In a sense, we believers are also in a race, a race that demands our putting our focus where it should be. We aren't in a race for any medal or standing proudly on the winners podium. Our race involves much more than any athletic event we could ever participate in on this earth. Our reward is a prize beyond measure or earthly treasure. No matter who we are whether young or old, all as believers are participants.

World athletes train vigorously in so many ways to be the best they can be. They exercise, watch their diets, get needed rest and of course, sponsorship. We have the best Sponsor in our race. We have His word to feed upon along with His promised rest. We should exercise in obeying our Coach and actively serving Him and others. Our job is to press on, aiming and focusing on the finish line. Our goal....finishing well to God's glory.

Father, help us to avoid distractions of this world that would keep us from being all for You we can be. I know I'm not racing to beat any human being. Satan doesn't want me to count for You but You are so much more than he is. Help me to stay focused on You and those things that count for You. In Jesus' name...Amen

FIND ME IF YOU CAN

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from

Your presence?

Psalm 139:7

Growing up and still quite young, I had a huge imagination that I know would be hard for anyone who knows me to understand. Most of my adventures were alone. I was big on making “play houses.” Many girls will remember that term. I made mine all over the place. We had a very high front porch and I had a place all cleaned out under there where I could play for hours. I loved our old broken down coal shed. When my Mother couldn't find me, she would go there and would find me chewing on a piece of coal.....I loved the taste of coal. I could find places mostly near our house for my adventures. Once my “house” was ready, I would go get my dolls and there would teach them songs and tell them stories. I feel bad that kids today know nothing of such play times.

For years, I have loved Psalm 139. If smeone reads and absorbs it, taking it to heart, it's a wonderful Psalm that can make a person feel more than important to God. It's a wonderful piece of Scripture to build a healthy self esteem because of God's personal attention.

The questions we know answer themselves. You and I can go absolutely no where but what God is there. In this Psalm we see a couple of instances where it would seem there are those who would try to get away from God. They might even try to escape even being in the presence of God. A few of the following verses give examples of where folks may like to escape to from God. The places mentioned seem to ridiculous to me but are: ascend into heaven, bed in hell, fly on wings, parts of the sea...that person may really feel escape is possible. But then we read in verse 10:

Even there [places mentioned] Your hand shall lead me,

and Your right hand shall hold me.

Sometimes my Mother had to get out of the house to find me. I had my secret places but she always found me. God didn't have to go looking. He knew no matter my secret places, He always knew where I was.....by the way, He still does.

Thank You Father for keeping an eye on me, always knowing where I am and what's going on in my life. I pray I will never desire to hide from You but always be in close and loving fellowship with You. Keep me close. In Jesus' precious name....Amen