Toddlers Shout!

“Nursing infants gurgle choruses about You; toddlers shout the songs that drown out the enemy talk, and silence atheist babble” (Psalm 8:2 THE Message version).

Greetings,

One of my favorite activities is pushing my little grandbaby on her porch swing.  Every morning I take her outside, put on her favorite music, strap into her pink swing, and push away.  She loves it, and I love watching her love it.  She cracks herself up, and it’s really the only time she opens her mouth where I can see her precious teeth without fear of being viciously bitten. 

This morning, however, I actually paid attention to the lyrics of the songs booming out of my portable speaker.  It’s a collection of Christian toddler tunes, and as I listened to lyrics like, “Jesus loves me,” “Bless the Lord – o my soul,” “Hosanna, Jesus saved me," and “I have the joy of the Lord,” I found myself grateful for:

Living in a nation where this type of wholesome, uplifting music is readily available for babies and everyone.

Sweet children singing their hearts out about Jesus.

The truths they are singing about are for babies, and for those of us who are not so young anymore.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we bless You and thank You that You love us.  We bless You today for all the blessings You constantly shower on us.  We are inundated with wisdom, peace, joy, faith, hope, health, and love. We are also saved from having to live this life on our own and saved for all eternity.  And thank You that when we praise You, all enemy talk is drowned out! In Jesus’ name,

we pray, AMEN.

It's a GOOD Habit!

“Base your happiness on your hope in Christ. When trials come endure them patiently, steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer” (Romans 12:12).

Greetings,

When my children were in elementary school they had one particular teacher with a very stern approach to dealing with bad behavior. She had a big, colorful construction-paper dog house on the bulletin board with all the kids’ names written on big, white, construction-paper bones.  If you misbehaved your bone was placed in the dog house.

It seems like every single day there were more bones in the doghouse than not.  I know because I made it a habit to check for my own kids’ names. And every kind of bad habit could get you sent to the dog house.

“Don’t bite your nails!” or “Don’t pick your nose!”

Then came the loveliest of all teachers, Mrs. Albury.  She had a completely different approach.  Rather than point out all the stuff the kids were always doing wrong, she made it a point to catch them doing something good. And then the world would find out because she would put a little bee with the student’s name on it in the big yellow and black beehive on her bulletin board. Trust me when I tell you that all those second graders worked hard to make it to the beehive.  

Mrs. Albury’s personal philosophy was that little children could unlearn bad habits and relearn good ones with some gentle encouragement.  She was right. She noticed that practicing good behavior led to more good behavior.  It became almost automatic for doors to be held open and for children to happily share with each other.  

Likewise, in the verse above, God encourages us to make prayer a habit because it will become the go-to response when things get rough.  Rather than freaking out and losing control, someone who is in the habit of prayer will first go to God rather than go crazy. 

Notice how the right way – the only way, really – to go through a trial is to pray your way through it.   Each of us, regardless, is going to have to endure some stuff.  How we endure is key.  Living in fear is an unbearable way to live.  Complaining won’t change a thing.  But maintaining the habit of prayer will.  Even if everything all around you is out of control, staying on a steady course of prayer will work wonders.  It will invite joy, peace, hope, and the promise of better days ahead into your situation.  I’ve heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, which is great news for all of us.  We have all been praying longer than that!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, prayer is one habit we want to keep.  Help us, strengthen us, and bless us as we pray.  We welcome You into our lives and thank You that You cover us with Your love.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

The Greatest Gift

Greetings,

This past Father's Day I gave Jorge what I consider to be the greatest gift I have ever given him.  It was thoughtful, well-made, and it's definitely an heirloom that can be passed down from generation to generation.  In the past, I have been known to hype up something to the point that once folks actually see it or hear about it, they're underwhelmed. (LIKE EVERY MOVIE I HAVE EVER RECOMMENDED!) I suppose we are all susceptible to over-promoting. But this gift? No way I could oversell it.  And I tried too. 

As soon as family and friends started arriving for our Father's Day lunch, I started bragging about the gift I was about to give Jorge.  Mind you, I had already been hiding this surprise for over three months and was super eager to reveal it.  But timing is everything, and I thoroughly enjoyed teasing everyone and making them guess.

"Are you pregnant?" (Uh, no. A geriatric pregnancy is not my idea of something you reveal to your husband and everyone else at the same time).

"Did you win the lotto?"  (No, and this gift is something the lotto could not buy or replace if anything ever happened to it).

Finally, after two long hours, I presented Jorge with...

A handmade quilt made out of every little league baseball t-shirt that my son ever wore.

The reaction was everything I knew it would be.  Everyone thought the quilt was spectacular, and some people even got teary-eyed. And while I can name every single teacher my children have ever had, Jorge can name all the coaches and the stats starting when Jorgie was five years old.  Amazing!  He spent the rest of the afternoon sharing stories of up-at bats, strikeout pitches, and go-ahead runs.

Wait a second. I need to re-write the first line of this DEVO.  The quilt is one of the best gifts I have ever given Jorge, but the greatest gift I have given him is ongoing and infinitely more powerful than any material thing.  It is, praise God, PRAYER. 

James 5:16 says prayer is, "powerful and effective," "produces wonderful results," "has great power," "accomplishes much," and "exerts a mighty influence on God." 

Who do you love who could use this gift today?

What wonderful results would you like to see in the life of someone special to you?

Really think about it and then let's pray!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We love you and approach You with confidence.  How amazing that this time with You is powerful and effective.  How can it be that we, mere humans, exert a mighty influence on You? It doesn't really have much to do with us other than we were smart enough for a moment to realize we can do nothing or bless no one apart from Your power and love.  We lift up those we love and pray for them today. We are humbled and excited to give them this gift of prayer because we desire to see wonderful results in their lives.  I specifically pray for __________________________ who needs _________________________. In Jesus' beautiful name, Hallelujah and Amen!

A Steady Stream~

Greetings,

May you all be violently overtaken with a spirit of joy!

We will go through all kinds of stuff to satisfy our desire for food. There’s an ice cream parlor in Davie, FL called Jaxson’s, and my family and I once waited over two hours for a seat.  Just to eat a sundae.  No meats.

And once, when I was pregnant with Jorgie, I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night with an intense desire to eat grape jelly and cream cheese on a bagel. Groggy Jorge stumbled out to get it.  Not too bad, really, compared to my friend who couldn’t get enough banana sandwiches with mayonnaise and onions when she was expecting.

We all have foods we love, and our bodies were designed to let us know when to fuel up. Our bellies rumble or we feel faint. 

And yet the Lord reminds us in Matthew 4:4 “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Another Bible version of this verse says it like this: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”

In other words, God is saying that to stay alive we must feed our body AND soul.  And just like our bodies let us know when it’s time to eat, our souls do too. 

Have you been cranky lately? How about rude, pessimistic, sad, frustrated, fearful, and/or feeling like a failure?

Then it’s time for some Bread of Life. A steady diet of Jesus revives us, protects us, preserves us, redeems us, gives us our life back, gives us new life, helps us come to life, and rescues us.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we all have a favorite food, and we are grateful for the blessings of being able to enjoy several good meals a day. But we also desire the beauty, peace, protection, hope, faith, wisdom, and guidance in our lives that comes from living on Your Word. Nourish our souls today.  Give us new life. Revive us. And help us to grow even bigger and stronger in our faith. In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

Hover

Greetings,

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2).

The entire creation came into existence because God hovered.  Something amazing came out of nothing because God was close by. And He will create something new and beautiful in your life when You invite Him to hang out in your circumstances.  

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we invite You to hover over us right now with Your unparalleled magnificence. Invade our relationships and create new love, new understanding, and new trust.  Invade our bodies and create health and well-being.  Linger over our emotions and create new levels of peace, hope, and faith that will bless us in ways we never thought possible but desperately need.  We never have to be or feel empty when You, the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth are nearby.  In Jesus’ name, Amen~

STRIKE THE GROUND

Greetings, 

Elisha said to the King of Israel, "Get a bow and some arrows...and shoot the Lord’s arrow of victory over your enemy the Arameans...Now take the arrows and strike the ground." The King struck it three times and stopped.  Elisha was angry and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” (2 Kings 13:15-19).

Based on the passage above, we are going to pray one doozy of a prayer.

Dear Lord, so many times we are like this King.  We pray a few times, but then we stop.  We quit. We give up.  We forfeit answers and victories because we cease “striking the ground.”  Elisha knew that however many times the King struck the ground would be the number of times victory would be granted over his enemies.  But it was up to the King, just like it's up to us, to keep striking. The King’s approach was lackluster and half-hearted.  So much was at stake.  You were willing to give so much – to send so much power – to grant complete victory – and it was a wasted opportunity.  Yes, You are good and will still answer us, but precious Lord, we want all the answers You are willing to give, not just some.  And we know that part of it has to do with us.  Will we pray? Will we hang in there?  Will we be persistent?  Will we persevere?  The King was given divine direction and should have kept at it until told to stop.  He forfeited complete victory, but we will not.  We want to receive all Your promises. Bless us today with the strength we need to keep going. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Little Willy is in Bloom!

"When the storms of life come the godly have a lasting foundation, the righteous stand firm forever" (Proverbs 10:25).

Greetings,

It has been raining so much that our backyard cactus, Little Willy, is in bloom again.  He's usually content being dry and prickly, but the non-stop storms have brought out a lovely side of him.

May we all look at his vibrant flowers and thank our Lord that when it pours down on our lives, a sweeter, refreshing, fragrant renewal follows. 

PRAYER: Dear Lord,  there have been some wild and crazy storms around lately, but You are the anchor of my life and You hold me steady. I keep my eyes on You knowing  You are producing something beautiful in my life. Help me keep the faith.  You are my immovable Rock, and I stand firm because You decided to bless me.  I receive it! In Jesus' healing name, Amen.

Send a Refresh Signal~

Acts 3:19 “...Turn to face God so He can wipe away your sins, and pour out showers of blessing to refresh you…”

Greetings,

Last week my internet went kaput, and I was temporarily denied access to the World Wide Web.  Given my almost unhealthy codependency with the www, I immediately went to the app on my phone, hit the "send a refresh signal" button so the main switch could re-establish communication with my equipment, and then waited an arduous five minutes for my modem to reboot.

Sometimes in our hectic, running around all day, not getting enough sleep, too much on our plates, the kids are misbehaving, and the dog has poop on his paws again existences, we too might find ourselves going kaput.

We know how to pray, we know what we need to do, we know where the “Main Switch” is, but He is not receiving any alerts, bells, SOS's, buzzers, whistles, or sirens from us.  We barely even offer a nod or a wink.

But the time to turn to God and ask for a refresh signal is right now!

When we turn to Him He pours out showers of blessings and rejuvenates us.  A shower is an abundance of something.  God does not send a trickle, mist, squirt, dribble, or spray.  He sends a deluge of whatever we need to get back up and running with joy, peace, strength, hope, faith, health, and love.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we come to You now and face You because sometimes we get bogged down with our lives and there’s a failure to connect.  We know You are there waiting for us to turn to You so You can flood our lives with Your goodness.  Flood us now, dear Lord.  We need it.  And thank You that You are always ready to refresh and reinvigorate us.  In Jesus’ name, Amen!