I Have Fought the Good Fight~

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Greetings,

This past week an elderly lady I know, whom I have greatly admired and considered a faith hero for 20 years, was diagnosed with cancer.  It’s pretty serious, and unless God intervenes she will be going home soon.  But there’s a reason I have always looked up to her and called her for prayer whenever I have had a need.  Here’s why.  When the doctor gave her the diagnosis, her very first response was, “I have lived a long life and accomplished God’s purpose for me.  I am ready for heaven.”  Amazing!

I want to be like her.  I want to have the kind of faith that stands strong as I cross the finish line.  I want to be confident that God’s purpose for me is good, powerful, and eternally relevant.  I want to be calm and joyful as I live knowing that I am called to fight the good fight for those I love, and that I will not leave this earth until I have done that.  And when the time comes to cross from here to There, I want to go with peace, having left a legacy for those who are staying behind about the necessity and importance of a relationship with Christ.

May it be so for you as well.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, one day we will all be rejoicing with You without the constraints of time and pains of human life.  The Bible says that heaven is so wonderful that we cannot even comprehend it. Amen to that!  In the meantime, we are alive and living and while we are grateful for life, we need Your daily help to make it.  It is only through Your constant blessings of protection, provision, wisdom, joy, love, peace, healing, and hope that we can make it.  Thank You that You willingly and lovingly come alongside us every single day. In Jesus’ name, AMEN~     

Look Up

“Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3). 

Greetings,

I have a morning routine that’s about to change.  I am still going to let the dog out, drink one cup of iced coffee, eat a protein bar, catch up on the latest news, read the Bible, and pray.  But after reading this Psalm, I am going to add “wait expectantly” to my customary behavior.  

After all, when I pray it’s because I believe God cares, God hears, and God answers.  And when I “wait expectantly,” or “look up,” which is how the King James translation words this verse, it’s my way of letting God know that I have hope, faith, and confidence that an answer is coming my way.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we all have different requests which we bring to You.  Listen to our voices, Father. We need You and Your power.  We look up to heaven and wait eagerly for Your help.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Our Lord Responded~

In Tuesday's DEVO we learned that Jesus forgave the criminal who was crucified next to Him. 

I want to go back and take another look at this passage because we need to remember that the whole exchange between Christ and the criminal took place while Jesus Himself was nailed to a cross.

In the midst of His suffering He takes a moment to reassure the poor lost soul next to Him.  It would be hard to blame Jesus if He would have kept to Himself. But He didn't. A saved criminal is in Heaven today because our Lord responded.

I don't know about you, but I feel as though I have no excuses.  It doesn't matter if I am having a bad day, if I have a flat tire, if Hershey Pie dug a trench in my newly-planted grass, if my bank took it upon itself to send me a new credit card because they suspected a breach, and I spent a very frustrating hour entering in the new info for all the folks I have on auto-pay...

If someone reaches out to you or me, let's view it as a Divine assignment and respond.  Amazing things will happen when we do!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for the example of Christ.  If He can respond, then so can we.  And thank You that You always hear our prayers! In Jesus' name, AMEN. 

***NEWS FLASH***ALERT***NEWS FLASH***ALERT***

 God does not think the way you think, and the way you work isn’t the way He works!  (Isaiah 55:8 The Message version)

I hope the verse above doesn’t catch any of us by surprise, but I bet we have all, at one time or another, felt confident that we could do a better job than God.  Certainly there are things He has allowed that we would have never let happen, or things He didn’t do that we would have hardily endorsed. 

This kind of thinking is dangerous because it undermines trust in God.  And over the years when I have been tempted to question Him, I always read the verses that follow the one above:

        “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, so will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.” (Verses 9-11)

This passage teaches us that every Word from God is prosperous and filled with life to heal, save, protect, and provide for us, and that they will work hard to complete their God-given assignment.  And when they return it will never be empty-handed.  Along the way they will have inspired, encouraged, handed out generous amounts of peace, covered wounds in love, filled lives with hope, and provided a safe haven for fearful, freaked out souls who have turned their hearts toward the Heavenly Father, which has always been and will always be the goal of the Word.

I am so thankful that God’s Word is there to help me blossom and nourish me, and that He, the Mighty Lord, is the One Who does the work.  I shudder to think what would happen if I had the ability to do what I want to do whenever I want to do it.  As we approach Easter Sunday and we become a little more contemplative than usual about Jesus, let us remember that there is no greater distance than between Heaven and earth.  That’s how much higher and better are God’s ways of doing things than our own.  And that’s how far He was willing to send His Son to bridge that gap between Him and us.

PRAYER: Dear Lord,  As we pray we thank You that there is no distance between us.  You are right here next to us, and we welcome Your Word into our lives knowing that It is doing something excellent to prosper our souls.  You are so good, and we ask for forgiveness for the times we thought we knew better.  Heaven forbid! In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen! 

We Applaud You!

Psalm 47:1 Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise!

The other day as I was taking care of Christmas the Chihuahua, she climbed down my husband’s leg, went straight to her wee wee pad and successfully used it.  Quite an accomplishment for a little puppy.  I was so impressed that I clapped for joy.  I have also been known to clap at sporting events, at the end of a great movie (Gladiator anyone?), after an amazing vocal performance (I just saw David Phelps in concert.  Please YouTube him), and even when Rayray once played the recorder out of her nose for a talent show at school.

Psalm 47:1 invites us to clap for God and to shout joyful praise to him.  And the invitation is across the board to every single person. 

Clapping is a universally accepted sign of approval, and the longer the applause, the more it shows that something resonated with us in a positive, life-affirming way. 

When directed to God, our clapping is an outward expression of the inward joy we have. Can we have joy when unhappy stuff is happening in our lives?  How can anyone feel like clapping or shouting joyful praise when they are not feeling well? Or they have relationship struggles? Or financial troubles? 

It all hinges on whether or not we truly believe that this life is temporary and that the best is yet to come.  We absolutely can clap and shout when we accept that God’s kingdom, where we will know no suffering, is on the way. 

I encourage you to please click on the link below for the most beautiful and inspiring description of heaven that I have ever read.  It will get you clapping!

http://www.faithgateway.com/heaven-heavenly/#.VMqRLmjF-_o

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We applaud You.  You are the best.  There are many times we feel low, but when we shout praise to You, our spirits are lifted again.  Praise Your high and holy name.  You are the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.  You are magnificent and in control.  Thank You for the amazing life that awaits us all because we believe in Jesus.  In His name we pray, AMEN~

The Keys are Right There~

Matthew 16:19 “You have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”

One of my favorite TV shows is the 1960's sitcom The Andy Griffith Show.  It’s such a funny show, and it seems like almost every episode someone winds up in jail.  One time a character named Otis was locked up for the night and was waiting to be let out when all along the keys were right in the middle of the two cells hanging on a peg.  That’s one of the running jokes of the show.  The keys are always hanging on that peg within easy reach of anyone who is inside.

So many of us are like Otis: The keys are right there, but we don’t realize it or just plain don’t use them.  We stayed locked up in fear, loneliness, stress, hopelessness, sickness, and need because we don’t use the keys. 

Which keys?  The keys to the kingdom.  And how do we receive them?  By prayer.  We always come back to prayer.

Prayer is the means by which heavens doors open up and bless us here on earth.  Prayers eliminate barriers. Prayers give us complete and free access to everything God has to offer.  Please refer to Psalm 103 for a tiny glimpse of everything that is ours. 

Prayer is never about a free pass to ask for whatever we want and to do whatever we want to do; God will never do anything contrary to His Word.

But prayer is the means by which God decided to make a bridge between heaven and earth.  Christ gave us His life to build that bridge and like Otis, all we have to do is reach through the bars and grab those keys.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for so freely giving us the keys to the kingdom.  Some days, we forget to use the keys, or we forget they are right there.  But thank You that they are the easiest things to access; all it takes is a little talk with Jesus.  We say “YES!” to Jesus and the health, protection, peace, love, and hope that He offers right here where we are on earth.  And we say “No!” to anxiety, disease, worry, fear, loneliness, and hatred.  Heaven agrees with us, and we receive it! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!

Rest in Peace, Abuela Maria~

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

Monday night greetings~

Today my husband's grandmother, Abuela Maria, passed away; she was 89 years old.  It was peaceful; it was sacred.  I saw her all weekend long, and I was there this morning to kiss her one last time before I see her in glory.  I will forever remember how she always managed to find a few bills to slip into my kid's hands when we visited.  Every time I snap open a can of Diet Coke, I will think of how she insisted on serving us soda, in a glass, with ice, and a napkin wrapped around it.  Whenever I see a chihuahua, I will remember how she had three of them, Cookie, Candy, & Ricky, and lovingly fed them until they looked like piglets.

And I am always amazed, how even at these difficult moments, the love of God is evident, strong, and comforting.

My mother-in-law, God bless her, was calm and tranquil.

Family and friends quickly gathered and shared memories and yes, even laughter. 

Her hospice nurses were angels from on high.  So loving, so patient...

And the chaplain who arrived shortly afterward, with his Oklahoma drawl and genteel spirit, spoke in such a soothing tone that I did not want him to leave--ever.

It impressed me to tears that his wife passed away six years ago from Lou Gehrig's disease, and he was so comforted by the hospice chaplain who visited with him that he turned around, left a management job at  Walmart, and became a chaplain himself.

Today I share my gratitude with each of you because I promise that if you look for reasons to be grateful, no matter what you are going through, you will find them.

And when you find them you will become mightily aware that God cares for you each and every moment of your life.  God bless you all.

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, One day we will all rejoice together forever.  It will be so grand that You tell us that we are incapable of understanding just how AWESOME it will be.  Amen to that!  In Jesus' name, Amen~