Luke 7:13: When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." NIV

The amazing thing that we encounter in our walk with God is that no one can figure Him out.  We don’t know what He will do next nor when.  It is glorious when our Lord just sweeps in on us unannounced.  We didn’t see it coming.  What great favor Jesus must have with us when He comes in by surprise.

The Widow of Nain had just such an experience.  It came at the very moment when Jesus was most needed.  She didn’t expect Him to do what He did.  She was not asked how much faith she had nor was she asked any questions.  She just saw a large crowd coming down the road ahead of her as she was going to the grave yard.  She was going to bury her only means of support, her only family member left. Her life was going to take a real turn for the worst. She was in the direst of situations.

I think that if we had put this event up against the other events of scripture we would have a hard time making a comparison.  We need to understand that we will never know exactly what our Lord will do, or when.  We will never be able to figure Him out.  His ways are so much higher than our ways we cannot see that high. Many times reason will not answer the questions we have and never will.

Jesus was moved with compassion for the weeping of this woman.  His heart was broken along with hers.  “His heart went out to her.”  He only had one command for her: “stop weeping!”  If I can take the liberty of expressing what I see it is that Jesus was saying is: “Stop weeping, woman because you are breaking my heart, too!”  Oh, what complete empathy Jesus had for this woman in such a situation.  She didn’t know that there was any help anywhere that could overcome her problem.  Her feeling was all is lost!

I wonder how many of us feel the same way, sometimes.  We feel that there is no hope for situation we are in.  The situation may be one of our own making and still we feel that there is no relief from the pain.

We have a great deal more in our favor than the Widow of Nain.  Can I remind you that we have a risen Savior that knows our every care.  We have the Word of God to help bolster our faith.  We have the Holy Spirit that gives us guidance and strength in the time of need!  What more could we want or need?

Just a thought

Stay in your square!

Another level of staying in my “square” is found in the conversation Jesus had with Peter in John, Chapter 21.  Jesus revealed how Peter would meet his death and how he would glorify God.  Peter being Peter “turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?")  When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"

Jesus’ response resonates in my ears to this day, “What is that to you?”

What is that to me?  The only way I can explain this truth is to make up a story that reveals the Truth of God’s love as he taught it to me over a period of time.  It goes something like this:

Me: (praying) Lord please help this family I am helping with their problem.  Give me the wisdom that I need to help them. Give me insight so that I can make it all better for them.

Jesus: What is their problem to you?

Me: Lord, I want to help them so that they will not be in so much pain. 

Jesus: I have been trying to get them to see ME through their pain.  You just follow me!

Me: What then is my role in helping them?

Jesus: You are to point them in my direction.  That is all you are required to do.  You are to follow me!

Me: Just point them in your direction?  Can’t you give me some wise   counsel to relay to them?

Jesus: No, you just point them to me and My Holy Spirit will do the rest. You follow me!

Me: How do I point them to you, Lord?

Jesus:  Ask them if they have prayed together about their problem.  Ask them if they have taken time to ask God for His answer.  I am the answer to all problems.  You just follow me!

Me: Lord, forgive me for my intrusion into your workings.  I could not see what you are doing and didn’t know that you were involved.   I was just trying to help.

Jesus: I appreciate your concern for others but there are times when you get in My way and hinder what I am trying to do in their lives.  I have given you your path to walk and I am eager to help them find their path.  You must let them go so that I can work with them. You just follow me!

I don’t have to have the answer to people’s problems. Jesus is always the answer. If I follow Him with all my heart, others will see that I do.  Being the best example of a Christ following believer is what people need to see.  Are you ready to let go and let God!

Just a thought.

Jerry

John 13:16

When I first became serious about my relationship with Jesus Christ, I had so many conflicts in my mind.  I had heard so many different things that were “right or wrong” that I was confused. I did something that I had never heard of anyone doing before, but was so eager to serve the Lord that I prayed this way:  “Dear Lord, I am so confused about what to believe for my life with you.  Lord, I am a very concrete thinker and there are concepts that I do not understand. (I thought that I would educate God on me :)!  I said, “I will UNLEARN everything so that You might teach me afresh and new.  Just let me learn what You want me to learn that I may serve you better!”

For two years I did not go to church nor did I have a mentor, except the Word of God, to guide me in my learning.  Many of these thoughts, that I have written, are what the Lord has shown me and I know that they are true because He has made them who I am.  I only wanted TRUTH!

When I was young, there were many preachers and bible teachers that tried to teach conflicting values.  One of the main reasons was that I grew up in a church that had a lot of criticism built into it.  It was nothing to hear so called holy people down one another in private and would sometimes oppose them in public.  I remember a church that had two factions.  One side did not even talk to one another or shake hands or have fellowship.

At a camp meeting on summer, there were two preachers that almost came to blows over whether it was wrong to wear suspenders and a belt at the same time. My grandfather said when he was younger it was a sin to have a windshield in your automobile.  It was too worldly.  So you can see where I was coming from.

I read: John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. ^NIV When I read this it was like a light came on in the depth of my soul.  I began to read and the Lord made it plain.  I believe that God gave me His word and he expects me to abide by it. No matter what may come I am determined to be deep in His Word and applying it to my life.

Just a thought.

Jerry

2 Chronicles 7:14

It seems that God’s Word is full of surprises.  There is“aliveness” to God’s Word when I read it with an open heart.  In this day and age there are so many things that need to be done and so many things to occupy my mind.  Some days I don’t know where the time has gone because of the busyness.  Everything is a big rush.  There is a plaque in one of the offices where I work and it says: “your bad planning yesterday does not necessarily become my emergency today.”

With all the hustle and bustle of 21^st Century life, it’s no wonder I am so forgetful. Memorizing deadlines, schedules, names, and appointments has become so necessary that there seems little time to become quiet and listen to God’s voice.  Even my word processor, just now, wants to change quiet into quite!

I am very much an advocate of meditating. I read in 2 Chronicles 7:14, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.^NIV  

Do you realize what “seek My face” is in today’s language is?  It means He wants us to “look Him in the eye!”  I remember when my mother used to say to me, “Jerry, look me in the eye and tell me that!” She wanted to know if I was telling her the truth.  Most of the time I wasn’t telling the truth and she always knew it.  God knows, too.

It is the most humbling experience when I stop! Meditate! And want to look Jesus in the eye. There is better communication than when I am quiet and seeking an audience with My Lord.  It is not that He is not there, because He always is there.  The truth is that I am not always there.  When I want to talk to Jesus “face to face” I have to prepare myself for the experience. Even when He wants to talk to me, I have to prepare myself. There is no hurry in God’s economy.

It is an awesome thing to come face to face with my maker.  I do that, not only to find His will for my life, but also because when Judgment Day comes I don’t want us to be strangers. I want to fully know Him and I want Him to fully know me!!  Better yet, I want to know myself better because when I am “face to face” with Him, I want to see me through HIS eyes.

There are fewer misunderstandings, directions become clearer, and there is an unspeakable peace!

Just a thought.

Matthew 6:32

For the New Year I want to give you a special gift in this writing!  I feel the urgency that someone needs to hear this!  Maybe you or someone you send this on to is in great need!

Many years ago I had a thought about the Judgment.  You know, that time when we will give account of our lives to our maker.  I wanted to know what he was going to ask me about my life.  My reasoning is that when I went to school and took a test, the test was over the material that has been presented to me.  Since this “test” will come at the end of our lives, it must be about the things that we learned and applied to our lives.  It will be measured alongside the life of our Lord, Jesus Christ!  Being “Christ like” is the command of scripture and I’m sure that He is not kidding!

So I began to pray for the Lord to give me revelation in this area and wanted Him to let me know what to expect on that Day.  I want to be ready when judgment day comes.  The first thing He showed me was that I will only be judged for what is my responsibility.  I will not be responsible for what you do or any other person does.  Just what I do with what has been given to me.

I am responsible to glorify the Lord at all times, good or bad.  I am responsible for who I put my trust in.  I am responsible for how I treat other people, whether they are friends or enemies.  I am responsible for my prayer life, etc.  To make it simple for me, I drew a square about 5x5 and began to write in that square the things that the Lord was showing me, was to be my responsibility.  The 5x5 was larger than it needed to be because a lot of things I carried were not in the scope of my responsibility!

I sat down with my wife and we agreed what would be my responsibility in the home and what was her responsibility.  I referred to the items in the “square,” until I learned what they were.  Every once in a while I have to go back and check my “square” to make sure I stay within the confines of my responsibility. (This also bring harmony at home.)

The second thing The Lord showed me was that God only gives grace for one day, a moment at a time.  I do not have “dying Grace” for tomorrow because I am not facing death.  Matthew says in: 6:34 ³⁴ Take therefore no thought for tomorrow: for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.  If I use my daily “grace supply” to worry about tomorrow then I rob myself of God’s grace today! No peace! I am not responsible for tomorrow because tomorrow hasn’t gotten here yet.

I was having my secret pray and devotions one day in the early ‘70’s.  I don’t remember what the crisis was that day, I just remember that it was an urgent matter, but no matter, I remember the Lord speaking to me almost in an audible voice.  It was so plain and loud in my thoughts that I “heard what He said!”  He said, “1 Corinthians 4:5!”  I got my bible and opened it to 1 Corinthians 4:5, and I have never before felt such a relief from the problem of that day as I felt at that moment.  The heaviness on my heart was gone and there was joy and I felt the world had been lifted off my shoulders.  PEACE at last!

No theories, no guessing, just plain practical application of God’s Word has sustained me all these years.  When I become frustrated or anxious or depressed in spirit, I check to see if I have taken on something that is not my responsibility.  It always is something that I took on, as my responsibility that did not and does not belong to me.  It has taken the peace that I crave.  I immediately resign that issue to God and get back in my square.

Seeking and letting God define my responsibility (what I will be accountable for at Judgment) and accepting that God gives GRACE for only one day at a time, (I will not use that Grace to worry about tomorrow) and dealing with the facts, has been the most stabilizing influence on my Christian life.

If you seek Him, you will find Him!!

Just a thought.

Matthew 1:20-21

Sometimes I am amazed at what scripture tells me! After Joseph got the shock of his life that his “intended” (Mary) was with child, no doubt he experienced every emotion possible to a man that has been betrayed big time.  The emotional roller-coaster went all the way from surprise to anger to frustration to revenge, etc.  I think that when he went to sleep that night he didn’t get the rest that he usually did.

He tossed and turned on his bed for hours that night wrestling with his emotions until he fell into a fitful sleep.  He had a dream, or maybe it was a half-awake vision when the Angel came to visit him. (Matthew 1:20-21) The Angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, even told him it would be a boy, gave him a name to name Him, Jesus. And even told him what His occupation would be, saving His people from their sins.  What a plan!!  Nothing was left to chance.  God had all the details worked out long before this event, even to the minutest detail.

Here’s what I learned: Joseph's behavior shows that he accepted Jesus as his son. According to the oral set of laws of the Jews of that day, “If one says, ‘This is my son,’ he is to be believed.”  The written Jewish law explains that he is believed “as regards the right of inheritance.”  Thus Jesus, as a legally acknowledged son, and is entitled to inherit the throne of King David from Joseph, a descendant of David.

But here is the fascinating thing: Joseph ended the “betrothal” and made it a marriage, but did not consummate the marriage until after Jesus was born!  Joseph was “whole heartedly” behind this plan.  There was no reluctance; there were no doubts, no hesitations!  No trying to rationalize it out in his mind.  No getting the elders together for a conference.  No need to check with the “folks.” No need for a psychologist or psychiatrist.  In today’s vernacular Joseph said, “LET’S GET ‘ER DID!!!!!!!

Wouldn’t it be great if all people who call themselves Christian would get behind God’s plan “whole-heartedly” this way?

Just a thought.

Christmas: Reason for the Season

I remember one person in my college days that said to me, “If you really want to do something worthwhile on this campus, just find the loneliest classmate and work at becoming their best friend.” “Let them know they are really important to you!” I never forgot that and I have put it into practice all these many years, where ever I can.  It really works!  The sense of accomplishment is very satisfying.  Besides you find out many things about yourself that you have to deal with, both good and bad.

I have been reminded of late that the best place to practice this kind of “difference making” is in my own home.  Starting with my mate, I try to help her/him to become the best at what they want to be.  If we make them feel good about themselves they seem to achieve to a greater degree than if they had to climb the hill alone.  They will appreciate the encouragement that came from someone whose opinion they value.


I know a true story of two people who were both studying the ministry to become missionaries.  They took classes together and were assigned to the same mission station after graduation.  They decided that they should get married and that it would be better for both of them.  A few years later they came home on furlough.  The wife went to their local Pastor for counseling and admitted that she really didn’t love her husband and didn’t know what to do about it.  The very wise pastor began to let her see the side of her husband that she had never seen before.  He used this same method of asking her if she was really interested in making him a better person than she thought he was. He laid out things for her to do to encourage her husband in what he wanted to accomplish in his life.

She wrote her pastor from the mission station, about a year later, and it was the most precious letter he had ever gotten.  She had began to be the best friend he had ever had and she worked at it so hard that see fell deeply, deeply in love with him!!


When I think of Our Heavenly Father, who sent is Only Son to earth for the purpose of wanting to become our best friend. . . . . .

Don’t you think that this is the real “REASON FOR THE SEASON!!!!”


Just a thought.