God's Patience, My Opportunity

Mary's heart was so full of gratitude that she took an expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped His feet with her hair. One of the disciples of Jesus protested. The Bible says, "Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray Jesus, objected, 'Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?' It was worth a year's wages." (John 12:4-5) The Bible goes on to say in verse 6, "He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it." Jesus was well aware of what Judas was doing, so why did He allow Judas to continue to be a disciple and even take care of the money bag? It sounds to me like Jesus is extremely patient with us, giving us every opportunity to repent from our sins and turn to Him.

When people seem to get away with disobedience, it's not a sign of God's approval of wrong behaviour; it's more than likely proof of His love and patience. But without repentance, God's patience will do you no good. Judas continued in the path he was on and didn't repent. In spite of the love Jesus showed him and the patience He had toward him, it did him no good. Judas continued in the path he was on and refused to change. Finally, he betrayed the One who cared for him the most. In the same way, if we continue to disobey God's Word and refuse to turn to Him and ask Him to change us, it will eventually lead to our destruction as well.

Be careful when you see your Christian friends do something you know is wrong and yet they seem to go unpunished by God. This is NOT proof of God's tolerance of sin. Do not follow the path they are on. If you want to have everlasting life with Jesus, you must get your guidance from God's Word, the Bible. Stop looking at your friends to see what you can get away with. Instead, saturate your mind with God's Word and live according to His will for you. Obedience to God's Word does not take away your freedom; it gives you freedom from sin. Sin binds you and holds you trapped. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Don't allow God's patience to be wasted on you. He's giving you every opportunity to come to Him so you can experience His peace and joy in this life, and eternity with Him when this life is over.

That’s a Lot of Work!

The book held me spellbound. I could hardly wait to get to the next chapter to see what would happen. As I laid the book down, I thought, “I sure would love to write like that.” But when I thought about the hours and hours of study, writing, and rewriting that would go into such a project, I wasn’t so sure how much I really wished for such a success. That’s a lot of work!

When we see a truly lovely Christian, one who is filled with the joy of the Lord, who is filled with the Spirit, we often long to be that way, too. But are we willing to invest that much time with God, the study of His Word, and praying without ceasing, or do we just want it to fall into our laps without any effort on our part. Well, that’s just not going to happen. Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” What does it mean to seek Him? When I played hide-and-go-seek as a child, I kept looking and searching until I found what I was looking for. Unfortunately, when it comes to spiritual matters, we want to say a quick little prayer when we feel like it, without taking the time to seek Him, and then we want to reap huge blessings. You can pray short little prayers for help and, God, in His great mercy, may even answer you. But to truly live a victorious, Spirit-filled life, full of abundant blessings, you must seek Him always and never stop. Because even when you have found what you are looking for in God, there is so much more to still be found. The searching will last a lifetime.

It is the same with children who grow up in a peaceful, loving environment and they see the loving relationship between their parents. They may think, “I can’t wait to get married and have the kind of marriage my parents have.” They may be under the false assumption that it will just fall into their laps. However, unless they seek God for guidance the way their parents did and unless they work at making their marriage successful by following Godly principles just as their parents did, they will be sadly disappointed. Happily-married couples have worked toward not being rude, self-seeking, or easily angered. They try not to keep a record of wrongs. Unfortunately, this is so contrary to what society expects a happy marriage to be. They love the sweet words, the cuddles and kisses, the secret looks between lovers, but are not willing to make the sacrifice of giving up their selfish nature and following God’s principles for love in 1 Corinthians 13 in order to maintain such a love.

To have a truly blessed life, we must be willing to invest all of our time and energy to draw close to God. It is only the life truly surrendered to Him that will know the deep satisfaction and contentment of serving Him and being blessed by Him. Jesus said in John 7:37 “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” We do not need to remain thirsty. Jesus promised to quench our thirst, but we must make the effort to come to Him and drink.

Tags: Women, Religion, Devotional, Marriage

Obedience Brings Joy

Do you remember the old sitcom, "All in the Family?" When annoyed about something or someone, Archie Bunker would look up at the ceiling and blame God for his trials. Everyone would laugh about it, but not my mother. She felt  Archie was using God's name in vain and making a mockery of her faith. Needless to say, she didn't allow us to watch show either.

Some people may snicker and say my mother was oversensitive, but if God's Spirit within her was grieved by this program, she did the right thing by turning it off. It didn't matter that other Christians watched the show, laughed about the comedy, and talked about it with each other. I don't remember hearing my mother judging others for not sharing her views. She just simply obeyed what she felt God wanted her to do.

Interestingly enough, my mother's measure of right and wrong and of the application of God's Word has in many ways become my measure too. Unfortunately, there have been times in my life when I chose to ignore my conscience and did what I wanted to instead. However, that was always followed by a lack of the sense of God's nearness. I hated the feeling of knowing I had grieved God's Spirit within me. Disobedience to the nudging of the Holy Spirit is just not worth it. It drains your life of joy and leaves you feeling empty.

"You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." Psalm 45:7

Tags: Women, Archie Bunker, Devotional, Christianity

Can You Hear Me Now?

You may remember the old telephone commercial where the guy is trying to call someone on his cell phone, but has difficulty being heard. He keeps moving from place to place and, with each change of location he asks, "Can you hear me now?"

Prayer can seem like that too. You pray and you ask, but seem to get no answer and you wonder if you're even being heard. You fast and make promises, but nothing changes. I've heard it said that when you get no answer to your prayers, God may be saying "no" or "wait." This is true, but not always. The bible also tells us that God expects us to obey Him so our prayers can be heard. "The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous." (Proverbs 15:29). 1 Peter 4:7 says, "The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray." In James 3:16 we read, "Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." The bible has so much to say about being in right relationship with God so our prayers can be heard. Let me just give you one more example of hindered prayer. When husbands and wives do not live together in peace, this too can hinder prayers from being heard. Look at 1 Peter 3:1-7. Peter explains how a woman and man should treat each other, and ends verse 7 with "so that nothing will hinder your prayers."

When you refuse to live a life of obedience to God and you refuse to repent from your sins, you may actually be leaving your children and loved ones unprotected. According to the above verses, it sounds to me like God will not hear your prayers, so if you are praying for your family members while living in disobedience, you are actually not being heard. This thought alone should drive you to your knees.

Let's determine to confess our sins and live lives completely surrendered to God. Tell Him how weak you are, but that you want Him to change you. I promise you that He will hear you when you pray this kind of prayer. Imagine how wonderful this year will be if God will hear our prayers for our children and other family members, our unsaved loved ones, our church, our community, our government, and the world. Do not allow your prayers to be hindered any longer.

Tags: Women, Prayer, Devotional, Christianity