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Viewing 1 - 5 out of 5 Blogs.
“Stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Timothy 1:6, NKJV). One day Ralph Teeter went for a drive with his lawyer. He wasn’t pleased. As the lawyer’s conversation with Ralph fluctuated, so did his driving speed. That incident led Ralph to invent what we know as cruise control. However, Ralph never had the opportunity to use his own invention. Sure, he’s enjoyed the smooth ride it offers, but Ralph doesn’t drive. He’s been blind since age 5. Ralph’s story brings to mind so many other accounts of people we respect — not for trying to do what they couldn’t, but for doing what they could. For many, God had to give them new eyes, so to speak, to see past what they thought to be limiting barriers. Moses wanted to be excused from service. He knew he wasn’t a persuasive speaker. God saw beyond that to an ability Moses did have. God told the man who’d led his father-in-law’s sheep that he could also lead the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. With new eyes, Moses did just that. Hymn writer Frances Havergal was sickly most of her life. But she too received new eyes for service to God. She dedicated to God both her voice and her ability to write. Her best-known hymn describes her surrender to do what she could — “Take My Life and Let it Be.” When she was a teenager, a diving accident altered the life Joni Eareckson had expected to lead. It turned the former athletic teen into a quadriplegic. She was indeed limited. But not useless. How could she serve God? Nearly 40 years later, we know. God gave Joni new eyes to see beyond her limitations. From her wheelchair, she has faithfully honored God through public speaking, singing, a radio ministry, writing books, and painting pictures by holding a brush between her teeth. God knows your limitations. He sees your handicap. But He doesn’t focus on that, nor does He expect you to. Our limitations aren’t to be excuses for lack of service to God or to others. If anything, our limitations should drive us to humbly rely on God’s guidance. Have you been using your lack of certain abilities as an excuse? Have you been highlighting your limitations at the expense of what you have that God can use? How has God been speaking to you lately? Has He been asking you like He did Moses “What’s at your disposal?” Is God giving you new eyes to see new possibilities? He may right now be opening a door for you to bravely pass through in service for Him.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. - Romans 4:18-21 NIV These verses are a great encouragement to those of us who have ever had to endure long periods of waiting before we saw the fulfillment of God's promises to us. The emphasis here is upon the fact that Abraham's situation was completely hopeless. Yet, he believed God's promise to give him a son in his old age. It was many years before God fulfilled this promise to Abraham, and he made some mistakes during those years. Still, these verses don't mention Abraham's doubts, but focus instead on his faith. That fact should encourage us, too. Though we may struggle with our own doubts from time to time, if we hold on to God's promises, we will receive our reward just as Abraham did. If you are not feeling very hopeful today that God's promises to you will ever come to pass, I urge you to hold on to your faith. Look at these verses in Hebrews 10:35-36 NLT: "Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that He has promised." If you throw your faith away before God fulfills His promises to you, you will never receive the reward He has waiting for you. Ask the Lord to give you the patience and endurance you need to stand strong, then do your part by hanging in there when the going gets tough. Hebrews 6:12 TLB says, "Be anxious to follow the example of those who receive all that God has promised them because of their strong faith and patience." Follow Abraham's example and receive all that the Lord has promised you. Not only will you be blessed, but God will be glorified through you, and then you can be an example to someone else whose faith is faltering. The Living Bible says that Abraham "praised God for this blessing even before it happened". If you'll begin thanking God right now for the fulfillment of those promises that look like they'll never come to pass, your faith will grow in leaps and bounds and you will delight the heart of God. Take heart from this precious verse in 2 Timothy 2:13 TLB: "Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, he remains faithful to us and will help us, for he cannot disown us who are part of himself, and he will always carry out his promises to us"! Prayer: Lord, whenever I'm tempted to doubt your promises, increase my faith and give me the patience I need to stand strong. Help me to take my eyes off my circumstances and rest them on your promises. Thank You for enabling me to receive all that You have promised!
As the Scriptures say, 'God sets himself against the proud, but He shows favor to the humble.'
- James 4:6 NLT Recently, my husband, Joe, taught us all a wonderful lesson in humility. He was driving home from work one evening and was tired and anxious to get home. He knew better than to drive too fast, but he threw caution aside and leaned on the accelerator. As soon as he saw the flashing lights of a police car coming up behind him, he immediately turned to the Lord and humbly asked for His forgiveness and help. When the police officer approached Joe and chastised him for driving so recklessly, my husband admitted his wrongdoing and guilt without hesitation. As a result, the officer did not slap Joe with the severe penalty he deserved, but gave him instead a minor fine and sent him on his way. Overjoyed and grateful, my husband thanked the officer and gave praise to God, vowing to be more careful in the future. This experience is a perfect example of the truth of James 4:6 NLT which says: "God sets Himself against the proud, but He shows favor to the humble." Time and time again, my family and I have witnessed the difference it makes in our lives and circumstances when we've resisted being prideful and stubborn, and have chosen to humble ourselves before God and others. I can remember a time when my husband would be in exactly the same situation as I just described, but instead of reacting with humility, he would react with anger and stubborn pride. Needless to say, the results were always negative, and sometimes the consequences were even devastating. Once my husband began resisting the temptation to become hostile or offended in situations like these, he began experiencing for himself the goodness of God. Now he's "hooked" and knows that when he's in a "tight spot," the best thing for him to do is to humbly admit his fault and pray for the Lord's forgiveness and help. Why don't more people experience for themselves the goodness of God? The answer is simple--pride. While the Lord earnestly desires to reveal His goodness to us, He can't do that as long as pride is controlling our lives. That's why Satan works overtime trying to get us to become offended, angry and willful. He knows that these attitudes will drive a wedge between us and God. They will keep us from enjoying the fullness of God's blessings, and will ultimately prevent us from fulfilling our God-given purpose. Suppose when that police officer pulled my husband over that day he thought to himself, "I was wrong and I don't deserve the Lord's help, so I won't expect it or ask for it." This is another mistake that so many of us make. We get caught doing wrong and we decide for ourselves that we don't deserve God's mercy or assistance, so we don't ask for them. This is just as wrong as reacting with anger or hostility. First Peter 5:6-7 TLB says: "If you will humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, in His good time He will lift you up. Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you." The Lord longs to have us humbly turn to Him in our times of need so that He can demonstrate His unconditional love for us, and His willingness to act on our behalf. When we make a mistake, God isn't going to make us feel worse by beating us over the head with guilt and condemnation. That's the devil's job. Today, my heartfelt prayer for you is that the next time you're in a "tight spot," you'll remember that it's the humble that get God's help! Prayer: Lord, forgive me for the times I've been prideful, angry or willful. From now on when I'm in trouble, remind me to humbly seek Your help and forgiveness. Give me the grace I need to mature in Christ, and help me to do my part. Thank You for revealing Your goodness and love in awesome new ways!
Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. A young couple was visiting a reknown jewelry store in New York City. They browsed through cases of magnificent diamonds with their gleaming yellow light along with many other splendid precious stones. Among those beautiful stones, one in particular caught his wife's eye. It was completely lusterless and didn't seem to be in the right place."That is one terrible looking stone, do you see that?", the she said. The curious husband asked a clerk if they could see the stone. The clerk opened the case, took out the stone and held it in his hand for a few minutes. When he opened it, there was a perfectly flawless stone. There was not a place on it that didn't gleam with the splendor of the rainbow. "How did you do that?", they asked in surprise. "This is an opal", he replied. "It is what we call the sympathetic jewel. It only needs contact with the human hand to bring out its wonderful beauty." Merely a touch brings out this stone's beauty. We live in a world where beauty is hidden under pain, sin and suffering. How many lives only need the warm touch of human sympathy, love and compassion, to make them gleam with a radiant splendor? Reach out and touch someone this weekend for His glory! Share with them the love of God and not only will they receive a glimmer of joy, but you will gleam with His radiance too! When the Lord asked whom shall I send, Isaiah replied "Hineni (here am I)".
His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new fnendship - when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded, and cannot ask one question, then He begins to expound. Watch Jesus Christ's training of the twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were perplexed. They constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly expounded things to them; but they only understood after they had received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26). If you are going on with God, the only thing that is clear to you, and the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul. Your brother's sorrows and perplexities are an absolute confusion to you. We imagine we understand where the other person is, until God gives us a dose of the plague of our own hearts. There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now, or are we taken up with little fussy notions, fussy comradeships in God's service, fussy ideas about our bodies? Jesus can expound nothing until we get through all the noisy questions of the head and are alone with Him.
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