Category Archives: faith

Recognizing God’s Purpose for Your Life

22 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by in anticipation, availability, Bible study, career decisions, Christian service, communication with God, faith, focus, prayer

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For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD (Isaiah 55:8 ESV).

It feels good when we know we are using the gifts God has given. There is a sense of completion in our work. But what about the times we see our service as something here, something there, but no true focus?

I have a friend who has the very strong gift of service. She is the first to respond to any need presented. She does menial things most others would not do. The majority is time-consuming and usually not the least bit convenient. But if she didn’t do them, there would be no one to clear a house of hoarder-like clutter, no one to sit with anxious patients through hours of cancer treatment, no one to carry numerous individuals to doctors’ appointments and pick up groceries and medicine for them.  My friend doesn’t feel like what she does counts for anything. She worries that she isn’t fulfilling God’s purpose for her life. I see her as a chief example of Matthew 25:37-40; that one Jesus says is being His hands and feet.

After retirement, I had some days of wondering what I was to do. I felt without direction and I prayed about what God wanted from me, how He might use me. In time, this is what I heard: Do for every person in your life what you can and with joy. Live in each day’s opportunities. Stop projecting out to new things and stop looking back at what you’ve done in the past. BE. DO. LOVE. Serve in this way.

That wasn’t the answer I had hoped to get. I had wanted some fresh and exciting project. Yet I knew I had heard from God so I set out to do what I could for family, friends, and others I felt God had placed in my pathway. I did eventually receive a new work that I would have never seen on my own; that of tutoring second grade children.

MEGAN_TATUM_AND_JIA_GREENER

Megan and Jia, George and Martha Washington Day 2012, my first reading friends. They are now seventh graders.

Having never considered myself very good with children, this would never have made it to my personal list of possibilities, yet I can tell you that this is one of the three things I’ve done in life that I’ve enjoyed most. It is so important for us to release all struggling to God so that His perfect plans can appear.

God knows what He has put in each of us to be used and if we submit and wait on Him—and follow His nudging—that thing will become clear. And we need always to remember it isn’t about what we do, but how we do it.  Jonah knew exactly what he was to do, but he didn’t want to do it. And when he did do it, it was begrudgingly and with anger. God saved many people through Jonah, yet he was blind to the eternal value. He was seeing the appointment with his eyes and not God’s. Let us not be guilty of that.

Give your questions of purpose completely over to God, then wait and watch. Don’t be afraid of the unfamiliar if your heart says it is of God. The One who created us knows exactly where we are best suited to serve. He has plans for us and those plans will be better than anything we could imagine on our own.

God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them (Hebrew 6:10 NIV).

 

Mama’s Bible

23 Saturday Apr 2016

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. . . take root downward and bear fruit upward. (Isaiah 37:31 ESV)

My grandmother’s Bible was a treasure beyond any price. I had hoped as her oldest grandchild that I might inherit it, however I never discussed that with my grandmother or my mother and so in the end it didn’t come to be.

What made Mama’s Bible so revered? She poured and prayed over its words daily. Her gentle, but sure hands caressed the pages. She wept and rejoiced, she trusted and she practiced. She did what Isaiah said: took root downward and bore fruit upward.

I’ve never known anyone that Jesus was as real to as He was to Dulcie Spencer. She sang songs to Him throughout the day and talked to Him as if He were right at her elbow. I’ve walked into her home and overheard her talking and thought she had company, only to find out it was no visitor but her best friend and permanent resident: Jesus. Mama relied on Him completely for every matter and that reliance gave her a radiance that cannot be duplicated by anything of this world. Mama had a heavenly glow. THE_SPENCER_FAMILY_001 - Copy

My grandmother had no earthly riches. She lived a simple life, but a life marked with beauty because of how she lived it. Mama’s standard was to do exactly as God’s Word said for her to do: she loved God with all her heart, soul, strength and mind; she loved her neighbors as herself; and she believed God’s word that when we trust Him completely, He will never forsake us. Mama’s family saw and respected that trust. I believe we were all, in fact, hugely affected by her rock-solid trust in God. My earliest memory of Mama is of her kneeling by her bed for prayer at end-of-day, long dark braids falling down her back and over her homemade gown. Mama always prayed aloud and just as I have visual remembrances of Mama, I have auditory ones, too.

wedding pic - CopyWhen I married in 1989, Mama wasn’t physically able to be with us so she sent her Bible to me for the ceremony. I can’t think of better representation of this woman that I loved more than ever I could express.

Though I didn’t get to keep the book she loved above all others, she did give me her faith and for that I am eternally grateful. Mine isn’t as beautiful as hers, but it is as confident. And what she passed on to me, I passed on to my daughter Kristi. I know because I have witnessed it.

I truly cannot imagine my life without this great woman’s influence. I have often said if I could choose to be like anyone in the world, it would be my grandmother. I wish I could say I had lived a life like hers, but I can’t. My journey has been one of much stumbling, failing, and starting over, however no one’s persuasion of faith has had a greater hold on me than that of Dulcie Spencer. I thank her for showing me a Jesus she never doubted and pointing the way to heaven’s door. You are my crown jewel, Mama.Copy of spencer family about 1951

Here are a few lines from a letter Mama wrote to her children not long before she died in 1991 at 91 years of age: The dear Lord has been so good to our family. I can’t thank him enough and that he lives in me all the time.  I’ve prayed to him all my life and He answers my prayers day and night. Please don’t grieve after me when I’m gone for I’ll be safe with our dear Lord and all my loved ones in heaven. 

 

While Waiting in Line

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in Bible study, Christian service, faith, Preachers

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There was a problem at the store’s point of check out. The line of waiting customers stalled and those nearest her were subjected to a loud woman intent on drawing a customer right behind her into conversation. At first I was annoyed by her rudeness and grateful we had this one person between us. But without any way not to hear, I soon became interested in what she was saying—and even more interested in how the beleaguered customer, held captive by her position in line, was reacting.

The loud lady, it seemed, had just moved back to Memphis from New York City. She had discovered that in New York people were much more open to various religious beliefs. She found Memphians were very behind the times, not open at all. She stated emphatically that it really didn’t matter what you believed just as long as you believed in something–a higher power of some kind. I watched as the woman sandwiched between us chose not to respond. The silence provoked the loud lady to try harder.

“I was brought up in a faith where you were encouraged not to read the Bible for yourself and when I finally tried it, I didn’t like the Old Testament so I only read the New Testament– if I read the Bible at all. The Old Testament is filled with things I don’t like to hear. It’s awful.” Finally a response: “It is all the same story and you need to read it all.” The loud lady began again, “I don’t attend church, there’s no need to when there are so many preachers on television. The one I really like is (a well-known pastor) because he talks only about good things; he’s the one who has it right.” The captive lady shook her head. The loud lady said, “What’s wrong with him?” “You are being conned; life doesn’t work that way. He isn’t preaching the whole truth” said the captive. That response provoked the loud lady to defend the “everything is wonderful” pastor, by saying with a quick nod of her head, “I believe he is right and that’s what I’m choosing to believe.” The captive lady softly responded just this once more but she preached a sermon: “And someday life will be over for all of us and some will be surprised to learn that it isn’t okay to believe whatever you choose.”

Thankfully, the register began working again and the loud lady was soon checked out. She turned to the lady behind her and said “Nice talking to you” and received a kind smile.

To hear the testimony from the lady in front of me was worth the wait and the aggravation of a too loud and determined to be heard customer. In a very few words, the lady who was somewhat ambushed had responded kindly and well. She chose her words and times to speak very carefully and there was never an argumentative tone. I want to think that this unhappy-to-be-back-in-Memphis lady is as open as she believes herself to be and will think about what she heard. I hope she will decide to read the Bible searchingly and choose for herself what is truth. It is far too important a decision to allow others to make for you.

Happy Birthday, Kristi

16 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in faith

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Kristi as baby 001Forty nine years ago today, a beautiful little girl was born to me. It had been a difficult pregnancy, much of it spent in bed, but Kristi Leigh McClain entered this world with all ten fingers and all ten toes, a head full of black hair, and perfect form.

She kept me waiting five weeks past my due date, following the pattern of my mother who had all three of her children weeks late. Because my pregnancy had been fraught with problems, Dr. Phillips felt this extra time was needed for Kristi’s well being. Some years after she was born, he told me of his expectation that I would not carry my baby to term, but would miscarry. He held a special affection for Kristi, feeling she was somewhat a miracle he helped bring into being.

When my daughter was just seven years old, she came to me and said she wanted to give her heart to Jesus. The picture of us standing in the kitchen where that conversation happened is burned into my mind and heart forever—a precious memory. We went to her room, knelt by her bed and prayed the prayer that gave Kristi second birth. Her immersion baptism was in a pool of unheated water and she told me afterward that the water was cold, but when she came up it felt “so good.” I knew in my heart that Kristi’s feeling wasn’t about arising into a warmer temperature, but knowing the joy of being the Lord’s.

From the beginning, Kristi had a sweet and compassionate spirit. Her nature was to give and share whatever she had; she would do without for another to have something they wanted. She forgave quickly and easily. And, of course, that sensitive heart often brought heartbreak from those who would take advantage.

Kristi was always a good student and graduated high school a year early. Her college years further revealed her love for learning. Soon after graduation, she and her college sweetheart married and she became Mrs. Mark Hearn. Mark was sent straight from the Lord to love and stand beside her in the years to come, where Kristi would have one health issue after the other.

I don’t think it is just a mother’s overprotective heart when I say Kristi has had more adversity than most. On quite a few occasions she has escaped death itself. The Lord brought her through a severe vaccine reaction as a child, a boating accident as a teen, a highway accident with a semi truck in young adulthood, cancer that was originally misdiagnosed a few years back, and the shutting down of her kidneys and cardiac arrest not quite two years ago. This is just a partial list, a list I’ve kept since her early childhood when I realized God had special angels watching over my child. She has suffered with chronic pain for 15 or more years. Yet through it all, her faith has remained strong and sure. She has never said, “Why me?” Rather, “God has a reason for this. He has always taken care of me and He always will.” She has used her health problems to witness to the God who has saved her time and again. She looks for opportunities to proclaim His goodness on each medical visit—and there are many.

Thought it hurts a mother’s heart to see her child go through so much, it is a supreme joy to know her love for the Lord and her trust in Him. Many parents don’t know if their children have eternal security and I have the chief blessing of that assurance. Why Kristi has had trial after trial, I don’t know; I do know they have made her better and not bitter.

Kristi at 17 001I love you, my darling daughter. I delight in your steadfast faith in the One who made you and called as His own at a very tender age. You are an example of courage and strength that comes from adversity when placed in the hands of the Lord.

I celebrate you today as the beautiful gift you are. I love you more than anyone else on this earth; you come second only to God. Thank you for being my daughter and an example of faith under fire.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV)

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 ESV)

Faith versus Fear

02 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in faith

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It is in fear that faith is lost, confusion reigns and miracles are denied.

When we close the door on God’s abilities because our own are inadequate, we hamper not just His love but the fullness of it.  He would provide so much, but we keep refusing Him in our little faith.

David, the psalmist, declared the intention for those who revere God:  that He allows friendship “and reveals the secrets of His promises.”

We long to be included in such a friendship, but while it is available, we refuse the secrets, crying out instead that there is no logic – and so we deny the whispers of the One who would befriend us.

In self-induced pain, we toss and turn, we weep pitifully.  We say, “How could a loving God allow me to be so deceived?”  In fact, we should be thanking Him for the revelation and watching eagerly for its fulfillment.

Oswald Chambers writes, “We have to live in the gray day according to what we saw on the mount.”  When God reveals a certain matter to us, we should live in faith until it happens.  We should trust His whispers in friendship.  Surely we stop a lot of miracles with our reluctance to trust wonderfully in our God.

How carefully we tiptoe about, demonstrating more fear than faith, forgetting the power of our God.  His joy is in giving; His word declares that He is able.  “My purpose will be established . . . .  I have planned it; surely I will do it.”

But we must hold onto the knowledge that without faith it is impossible to please God.  When we refuse Him our faith, we fail to activate all that our Lord would do for us.  J. Oswald Sanders said that “when sight brings no helpful vision and comfortable emotions are largely absent, the prayer of faith finds its greatest opportunity.”

The words of Martin Luther enhanced such a statement when he wrote, “not the merits of my prayer but the certainty of Thy truth.”

Just how many miracles do we deny when we stare dead center into the face of our problems and not into the face of the Problem Solver instead?  If we would but lift our chins upward and rest them in the palm of His waiting hand, we would unleash all the glory and truth of heaven.

Our Creator Sets Limits

03 Friday May 2013

Posted by in faith, nature

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Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, “This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt”? 

Job 38:8-11(NIV)

The ocean is my favorite part of nature.  I love to watch the rhythmic movement of the waves, hear the sound of them rolling into shore or crashing on rocks.  The waters have a vastness that seems wild and free, yet it is restrained by God’s command, the boundaries He set.

How can I trust that God’s boundaries for the ocean will hold?  How can I walk by the edge of the water, and not be afraid that a boundary will give way and I will be swallowed up?   It is by faith in the One who created the seas and determined how deep and wide they would be, by faith in the One who spoke that they might come so far and no farther.

Such is how we must trust God with the problems and perils of our lives.  Sometimes it seems trials go on forever, pile one upon another.  We begin to ask if God has forgotten us when relief is slow to come.

It helps to think of the ocean and how God has it in control.  Just as He limits the oceans’ reach, He limits how much His children go through.  We don’t always understand our tribulations, but God has said He uses all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  We must place our trust in that word from God.  We must trust that the same One who created the boundaries for the seas, created limits for how much happens to us.  We must trust that all will have its place in forming us for eternal life.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey him!” Matthew 8:27 (NIV)

The Requirement of Faith

14 Tuesday Aug 2012

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It is all about faith.  Faith in what God wants to do for us.  Assurance in what God will do for us, once faith is applied.

In Mark 10, we see several examples:

When Jesus welcomed little children that some wanted to hold back so as not to bother Him, Jesus corrected them and explained that they were the example for all of us in how to come to Him:  unafraid, unquestioning, ready to believe He was the giver of good things.  Like children, we must come ready to receive.  This is the kind of faith God desires.

When Jesus encountered the man of great wealth, and said to him to leave all that he had behind and follow Him, it was again about faith.  The man went away sad because he was unable to part with what he had.  He misunderstood God.  God does not delight in taking good things from us; He delights in giving better.  When we trust God with all we have, He restores and pours out even more.  In this teaching (verse 30), Jesus explained he would repay 100 times over to those who exchanged faith in themselves and the world, for faith in Him.

Then there was blind Bartimaeus who may have given the clearest lesson.  When the blind beggar heard that Jesus was nearby, he shouted to Jesus to have mercy on him.  Though the crowd sought to silence Bartimaeus, he would not be silenced.  He had decided in his own heart who this man called Jesus was.  He was the long-awaited Messiah, the One with the power to save and heal.  This was his chance to have his blind eyes opened and he wasn’t going to miss out:  “Rabbi, I want to see.”  And what did Jesus say?  “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you” (verse 52).  Immediately, blindness fell away and vision took its place; he arose and followed Jesus.

We must be convicted in our own hearts about Jesus and what He wants to do for us. When we fail to trust in Him, we too are blind.  It is a blindness of heart and mind to the One who loves us and waits to bless His children.  He asks but one thing in exchange: our faith.

It truly is all about faith.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him

(Hebrews 11:6 NIV).”

Clothed in Salvation and Righteousness (Repost)

20 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by in adoration, comfort, faith

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Of everything I’ve written on Prayerful Pondering, this post has received the most attention.  First published in March of 2011, I am pulling it to the top of the list as a repost, and praying it will continue to bless.

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Imagine it. Standing before God, clothed not in all that would condemn us, but in salvation and righteousness. Not in the filthy rags of our sins, but in salvation and righteousness. Not in the paper garment of pride and self-interest, but in salvation and righteousness. Not in the clung to-coverings of resentment, frustration, and anger, but in salvation and righteousness. Not in the way the world sees us, but in His salvation and righteousness!

Isaiah 61:10 says “I delight greatly in the LORD, my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

That leaves me in complete awe. It leaves me without words adequate to express my gratitude. It causes me to fall on knees of thankfulness and weep before the King of Kings, to praise the One who does that for me – the lowliest of the low.

Jesus, He who is clothed in a royal robe of love and sacrifice, compassion and forgiveness, kindness and humility, gentleness and patience – it is He who holds out His arms to me. It is He who gave me the garment of salvation and arrayed me with righteousness when I said yes to Him. This One who alone is Holy has exchanged my unclean earthly garment, foul and unsightly beyond description, and adorned me as His bride, worthy to come to Him and live with Him eternally.

Philippians 3:20-21 says “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.” It is the miracle of God’s love.

God’s Value on Love

25 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in faith, love

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Matthew 17:20 “. . . I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.“  (NIV)

1 Corinthians 13:2 “. . . and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing.” (NIV)

I have a deep and abiding faith, a faith that has sustained me for more than 60 years.  It is a faith that has carried me through the waters and the fire, scripturally speaking, a faith that has seen a miracle of healing come to be.  Even so, my faith couldn’t move a mountain.  It couldn’t move a rock in the road! I ponder on so great a faith, but I cannot get my mind around it.

My eyes go on to the last part of the sentence in 1 Corinthians 13:2 “. . . but have not love, I am nothing.”  (NIV) Even a faith that would move a mountain is not worth what love is worth to Almighty God.  In His eyes, love has the highest value of all.  In my earthbound thinking, it seems faith would be the greatest, but it isn’t so.

1 Peter 4:8 says, “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.” (NIV)  It was God’s love for us that provided the blood of Jesus our Savior to cover our sins.  And this alone should tell us all we need to know about the highest value being placed on love:  the Father shed His only Son’s blood because of His love for us, a love greater than anything we will ever understand.  Peter declares that our love for others is of far more importance to God than all the wrongs we do.  He prefers looking at our plusses, not our minuses.

Perhaps John says it best with this simple message:  “God is love.” 1 John 4:16 (NIV).  Not God loves, but God is love.  So if God is love, then we see why He delights in our giving love to others.  It is evidence to the world of our likeness to Him, that which speaks the truth of God.

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34 (NIV)

In the Name of Jesus

29 Tuesday May 2012

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“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”  Matthew 25:40 (NIV)

I belong to a weekly women’s prayer group and often take copies of things I’ve found inspirational.  Though it seemed well received, something made me wonder if I was doing too much of it.  But then, within a couple of days of my wondering, two women in the group contacted me about my last hand-out, to tell me how it had ministered to them.  They both shared personal details of things they were praying over and described how the information had blessed them with insight.

So what caused me to wonder if I was overdoing?  I believe it was nothing but the evil one himself.  Satan is always quick to cause us to doubt ourselves.   He delights in breaking down the confidence of Christians in our ministry to others.

I thought about the woman who anointed our Lord’s head with nard when he was in another person’s home.  Surely it took boldness for her, as a woman in that day, to go there and minister to Jesus as she did.  She had to get past second-guessing herself and focus on the opportunity at hand – to love the Lord.

This is what we do when we reach out to others in the name of Jesus, even in the smallest of things.  We love Jesus by caring for others.

Prayer:  Jesus, thank You for providing reassurance when we question anything we do in Your name.   May our acts of kindness always be as unto You, the One we love and serve.