Wake Me Up On The Sabbath - Janice Keats

I had the most interesting conversation with an elderly woman recently. She recalls one particular evening she went to bed and when she awoke the next morning she thought that she had slept for two days. She knew she had gone to bed on a Saturday night, but when she arose the next morning she knew it was Sunday but by the actions of her neighbours, she surmised that it must have been Monday morning.

“I peeked outside my bedroom window and I saw a man standing on his house tarring his roof,” she said. Then she proceeded downstairs for breakfast. “When I looked outside my living room window, I noticed a man in front of his home cleaning his car. Another neighbour was painting his house, and yet another was hanging out clothes. Then all of a sudden I had the compulsion to pull out my washer and begin my usual Monday morning wash. First, I asked my son what day it was. He assured me that it was Sunday. I asked him if he was sure because I wanted to get ready for church and I thought I might have slept through Sunday because all the neighbours were outside doing their chores. With her son's reassurance, she went on to church.

She knew what day it was but it would really make you wonder, wouldn’t it? Have we come to a day in our society where it doesn’t matter how we spend our time on Sundays? It is okay to put off our chores for Sunday? Do people pass Sundays by without realizing its significance? What does the Scripture say about Sunday Worship? Genesis 2:2-3 informs us that God chose a special day of the week to rest and we are to keep that day Holy. As followers of God, we are expected to abide by his wishes. But do we? Why would one neighbour choose to keep the Sabbath holy and not the other? The fourth of the Ten Commandments says: “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” Well then, how do we keep it holy? By remembering God, by worshiping our creator, and by honouring Gods command.

1 Thess. 4:7 and 8 says: “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God who gives us his Holy Spirit.”  If people believe that they’re not hurting anyone by living a life pleasing to themselves, they are forgetting about God's feelings. When a person rejects the holy living he also rejects God.

Is it too demanding of God to want our love and obedience? God gave each of us a chance to respond to his pattern for living when he gave His son to be the atoning sacrifice so that you and I may have life through Him. Titus 3:4-6 says: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

Why not live for God? No time you say? God’s word says to “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

God bless you as you worship Him this Sunday..........His Way.

Selective Memory--Janet Sketchley

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” John 11:47-48, NIV*

This comes near the end of Jesus’ ministry. He’s been preaching, healing, restoring people who’ve been dead for short periods, and now He’s raised Lazarus after a four-day stay in the tomb.

Many of the people watching Him think the only way someone could do miracles like this is if God is involved. Others can’t get past their suspicions.

Then we have the chief priests and Pharisees. Yes, some are secretly impressed by Jesus, but the party line is clear: “denounce this itinerant preacher who dares rock our boat.”

They’ve recognized His claim to equality with God—and that’s a killing offense. They’ve also seen how the people love Him—and how he makes religious officialdom look bad. He doesn’t play by their rules, doesn’t buy into the monopoly they’ve built on holiness.

But there’s more: they’re afraid the brutal Roman empire will crush a perceived uprising. They’re not just scared for their cushy positions, they’re scared of their beloved nation being pasted again.

I don’t have much sympathy for their self-protection, but protecting their people sounds more noble.

They remembered the exiles, the military humiliations in the past. Now they’d achieved a form of peace under Rome, and they didn’t want anything to wreck it.

But they weren’t remembering back far enough.

What about the God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt’s slavery? The God who brought them back from exile in Babylon?

Even the God who sent them into exile in the first place because they had turned away from following Him.

What if... the leaders believed Jesus was who His words and actions claimed? God come down to His chosen people?

I know it couldn’t have happened that way. He came to die, to sacrifice Himself to buy us back. To bring healing and eternal life.

But think about it... what if they’d recognized God in their midst? Remembered what He could do? Relied on Him to do it again?

The threat of Rome wouldn’t have seemed so overwhelming if they knew God was there: God who had defeated so many of their enemies, often at incredible odds. Running to Him would be much smarter than trying to kill him.

They remembered the pain, but they didn’t remember the hope.

Aren’t we the same?

© Janet Sketchley, 2010

* THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
--------
For devotionals, reviews and conversation, stop by Janet Sketchley's blog, God with Us: Finding Joy.

Orchids and Prayer - Lyn Kublick

This beautiful cattleya orchid came into bloom yesterday. Its blossom is the climax of a very long story.

Twenty-four years ago my daughter was given several varieties of orchids for a school project. They were all in bloom when they came into our home and several of the others have continued to blossom over the years. This one was quite stubborn, and refused to produce another flower, until this fall.

My daughter grew up and moved away from home, but I continued to nurture her plants. No matter how carefully I cared for his one there was no reward. I assumed that it was my fault. I must have been doing something wrong. I was just not good at caring for cattleya orchids! After ten or twelve years, it would have been easy to become discouraged and consign this one to the compost bin. If that had been my choice, I never would have been blessed to see this wonder of God's creation.

Sometimes it seems that the practice of prayer can be rather like watching over an obstinate plant. There are several things that I have brought to my Father, over the years, with no visible result. I could become discouraged and conclude that I'm praying wrong, or that God isn't interested in my requests. One of the things I have prayed about, for years, is my writing and the difficulty of publication. It would be easy to give up and stop praying. Still, the ways of God are as hard to understand as the puzzles in horticulture. My task is to continue to work, pray and trust in the Lord of the eventual result. His schedule is obscure, but it is faultless. His answers come in His time, and are perfect.

It's More Than Charity That Begins At Home—Lynda Schultz

Today is my birthday. I'm one year closer to heaven. Today also marks the beginning of my fiftieth year of knowing the Lord. That's the birthday I really find amazing. It seems like such a short time ago when, at the age of eleven, I asked Jesus to be my Saviour and the Lord of my life.

It happened one Friday night at a children's program and the first thing I did when I got home that evening was to tell my mother and father what I had done. As I was reading in Mark this morning the idea of telling those closest to you about your spiritual decisions impacted me once again. The story is about a demon-possessed man. When Jesus cast out the demon and the man was once more clothed and in his right mind, all he wanted to do was to follow the Lord wherever Jesus was planning on going. Most leaders would love to have a few more followers in their entourage but in this case the Lord told the man: "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you" —Mark 5:19, NIV. And so it was.

Family is sometimes a "hard sell" because no one knows your wrinkles better than those closest to you. On the other hand, sharing your faith with family, new-found or not, is a logical step. My parents didn't say much when I told them that I had accepted Christ—they never were very demonstrative. But those few words did have an impact. A short time later I went forward in church when the pastor gave the invitation at the end of his sermon. He had encouraged me that Friday night to testify to my new faith in front of the congregation and to express my desire to be baptized by this public declaration. As I stood at the front of the church I sensed someone beside me. I turned my head slightly to see who was there. To my eternal surprise, there stood my mother.  As usual, she hadn't said a word to me about what had been going on in her own life—it wasn't her way. She'd been a believer for many years but had never publically declared that through baptism. My decision proved to be a catalyst for hers.

Over these fifty years of celebrating Jesus I've had many opportunities to share him with others. But no reaction to my words has been as special as that demonstrated by my mother so many years ago. When the now not-demon-possessed man returned home to tell his family and friends what the Lord had done for him, the Scriptures say that: "all the people were amazed" —Mark 5:20, NIV. I can't help but believe that this amazement produced much spiritual fruit for the Kingdom.

If charity begins at home so does telling how much the Lord had done for us, and how he has shown us his mercy. You just never know how the Lord will use even the words of a child.

Creative Words - Dorothy Bentley

As Christian writers, we need to keep returning to the Source for inspiration. Our Source is the Lord.

Who is God? There are all kinds of analogies about the Triune God. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How can we understand Him?

God is revealed in His creation. Here are a couple of examples of how God’s triune nature is revealed:

He is like an egg. Three parts in one: shell, white, and yolk.

He is like water in three forms: solid ice, liquid, and vapour.

These may sound trite, yet their simplicity is deceiving. It’s almost impossible to make something as complex as an egg, so delicate and strong at the same time, with two separate compartments inside. The Cadbury people use moulds and machinery. God does it within a bird.

It says in the book of John that Jesus is the WORD, meaning God’s Word:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

Genesis demonstrates the creative power of His WORD:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.”

This is just one small portion of the Genesis account. Reading the whole account slowly while reflecting on God’s creative words brings humility.

As a writers, it is important to be rooted in our responsibility to allow the Lord to reside within our words. May they be words that bring hope, thoughts that bring peace, stories that bring healing.

I Have A Dream by Brenda Leyland

Source

"I have a dream."  A simple sentence.  Only four small words.  But the day Dr. Martin Luther King uttered those immortal words, it set something in motion that is still at work today in our world.

"I have a dream."  Two thousand years earlier, Someone else declared that He had a dream.  Well, He didn't say it in so many words, but when He spoke as recorded in John 17:21-26, He declared the dream He had for us, for the world:

That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us. Why? So that the world would know.

That the world would know what?

That the Father sent the Son, that the Father loves the world as fiercely and wildly as He loves the Son. That the Father loves the Body of Christ as deeply and as intimately as He loves Jesus.  And, that this same love with which the Father loved the Son may be not just for us, but IN US.

We look at the world around us, we realize that Dr. King's dream is still far from being fulfilled. We look at the world around us, and we see that Jesus' dream is still far from being fulfilled.

Freedom from tyranny does not reign for all people...yet.  Freedom from the fear of not being fully loved does not reign for all people yet either.
 

I don't know about you, but the day I started catching hold of the truth that my heavenly Father loves ME with the same kind of love as He loves Jesus, I began to experience how precious I am to Him.

That's when Perfect Love begins to cast out all fear... to cast out the ultimate fear that I am not fully loved, not fully accepted in the Beloved, or that I am not fully welcome in this world, and that I won't be in the next either.

When I look around, I still see so many not living in the experience of that Perfect Love. We are not yet free from the tyranny of fear. Although many of us will assent that God loves us (our head knows it well), yet so many do not experience Love so perfect that it literally casts off all fear.

Oh Lord Jesus, I want Your dream fulfilled in me. I want Your dream fulfilled in my brothers and sisters. For when that happens, then the world will know that You love them too.

That the world would know. It's going to happen... it is happening!

  

The Children - Glynis Belec

Tonight I pray for the children.

I pray for my beautiful grandchildren whose little hands caress my hair and my face. As I tickle little tummies, I take blessed delight hearing their sweet laughter. A contented smile, a sloppy kiss, a tiny hand pressed in mine - I marvel at how blessed I am to be a grandmother. I thank God that He has granted me more days so that I may enjoy the bedtime moments; the warm bubble baths and rubber duckies; the gentle voice of a child tucked in, as he whispers, "I love you grandma..."

I pray,too, for the children who do not know the love of a grandparent - the bomb killed so many family members that afternoon they say.

I pray for the child whose screams of fear go unheard because of the gunfire. Only two children remain uninjured the newspaper reads.

I pray for the child whose parents choose the high of hallucinogenics over the high calling of parenting. Social services will step in and take the child away (again.)

I pray for children who live through daytime nightmares: child labour; forced prostitution; physical abuse; mental cruelty; neglect of mind, body, spirit.

I pray for the child who goes to bed hungry and wakes up crying, and for the child who does not have a favourite blanket, a best friend, a rock collection.

For the child who does not have a father, who does not have a home, who does not have a Bible, I pray.

I pray for the child whose picture is on a milk carton or on a pornographic website, but not in the wallet of a loved one or in a gilded frame in the living room.

As I lay me down to sleep this night, Father, may your Spirit be upon these children and may I be part of the solution. AMEN

"Come!" -- Pam Mytroen

“Come!” said Jesus to Peter as he straddled the boat and dipped his foot in the cold waves. Peter wasn’t about to sit in the boat when Jesus was having all the fun. If he could walk on water, so could Peter. While the other guys were saying, “You’re fish bait”, Peter was saying, “What a story I’ll have to tell! What an adventure!”

So Peter jumped from the boat with visions of his name on the front page of the Jerusalem Post. All went well until he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. Suddenly he wished he didn’t have an audience. He could hear their guffaws in the background.

He didn’t become an expert at a walk on the lake, but Peter still holds the record for the only mere mortal to ever to walk on the stuff, all because he saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and heard the laughter of the Master, while the other disciples couldn’t hear beyond the wind or see beyond the waves.

What adventures do you long to do? Climb a mountain? Write a book? Travel to an exotic location? Close your ears to the waves of discouragement, the winds of “No, it can’t be done.” Listen close for Jesus’ laughter and you’ll hear Him calling "Come!"

He stands on the impossible, grins, and waits for us to join him. He loves to have fun – why else would He walk on the water? He could have done the front crawl all the way across the Sea and that would have been miraculous enough.

Peter never forgot that evening on the water. While Peter made history and had the time of his life, Jesus taught him to trust, to keep his eyes on Him, and most of all, to recognize the voice of God.

God has treasures for us too that are only received by peeling our white knuckled hands off the edge of the boat and stepping out towards his voice. Moving away from the warm arms of security forces us to grow.

We’ve been rowing long enough. Jesus is laughing. Let’s go.

(Just one thing - take a friend from the boat so she won’t laugh behind your back!)

Freedom to Live Abundantly -- Lorrie Orr

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Galatians 5: 1a (NIV)

I recently had the opportunity to rock climb on an indoor climbing wall. This was a new experience and I was apprehensive. Heights make me uncomfortable.

I put on the safety harness, and the belayer, who controlled the safety rope, fastened me to the rope with a solid knot. I turned to the wall and began climbing. At times I grasped rocks with both hands while one foot sought a new support. At other times my feet stood secure while I groped for a new, higher hand hold. Although I worked hard, I realized I was free from the fear of falling. Why? Because I trusted the safety rope, the harness, and most of all, the young man who held the rope. I was free to climb, to explore and finally, to touch the ceiling.

In the same way, when I totally entrust my life to Christ, when He “holds the rope,” I am free to live the way He wants me to. I can say “yes” to whatever He asks me to do, to be open and vulnerable with fellow believers, to show love and compassion to the people I meet each day. I am free to move out in confidence because He will catch me when I fall.


Thought for the day: The more I entrust my life to Christ, the more freedom I have to live an exciting, abundant life.


Prayer: Lord, thank you that You are completely trustworthy. I know that because I trust You with my life and all of its results, I can do the things You ask me to do.



This was first published in the Upper Room a couple of years ago. More and more I realize how much I need to let go of the fears that hold me back and to keep entrusting myself more and more to my loving God.