I have been reading about Paul’s joy in the book of Corinthians. His joy was alive and thriving amidst unbearable suffering. I am not that strong. Paul wasn’t either. He depended wholeheartedly on Jesus. We may have some pretty dire circumstances, but Jesus says that:

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:10-12 NIV

In the chapters surrounding these verses, Jesus was preparing His disciples to live without Him, because He was going to the cross. I can imagine they were scared and sad. He tells them to keep His commands and remain in His love and thereby, His full joy. Not joy that fills them partially, not joy that depends on emotion, and not joy that we can find ourselves. Jesus told the disciples where and how to be filled with His joy so they would be complete. In 2Corinthians, something was threatening Paul’s joy. He had a “thorn in the flesh” that he wanted taken away. When he asked Jesus three times to remove it, Jesus told him,

“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:8a NIV

I love His response to being told “no” by Jesus:

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:8b-10 NIV

He readjusts his reasoning since he can’t have what he wants. It is like he said to himself…”Okay then, if Jesus won’t change my circumstance, I will change my thinking. Jesus enough for me. If He allows this suffering, then I will boast of His power to get me through it!” Paul found the way to be joyful. It wasn’t by getting what He wanted, but by readjusting his focus and realizing:

Weakness is an opportunity to boast of the strength of the Lord! Trials are opportunities!

One more verse about enduring trials. This verse in James tells us to persevere so that we mature. Jesus always does things fully, completely, eternally, perfectly. He wants us to mature. We need trials to do that. I love this verse in James:

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:4 NIV

Dear Father,

Thank You for Your plan. We tell You that all the time, but the joy that comes from it keeps making us say it. We want to live a life of joy, knowing that we can only do that with Your power and strength in us. Your grace really is sufficient! Live in us and give us so much of You that the world will notice and want You. Despite our trials, we will rejoice in Your plan for us. because we trust You! We love You so much! Amen

GROWwork: Think of your trials. How would Jesus want you to see them? How can you share with others how He is helping you? Look for opportunities. But first, go straight to God’s Word and seek His wisdom and voice. He is ever present and never wrong:)

Love and prayers to all of you!

Tina

Did you sing this when you were little? Maybe in Vacation Bible school? I used to love this song. Now I love its message.

I’m in the Lord’s Army song…

Verse-I may never march in the infantry

Ride in the cavalry 

Shoot the artillery

I may never fly o’er the enemy

But I’m in the Lord’s army! Yes Sir!

Chorus- I’m in the Lord’s army! Yes sir!

I’m in the Lord’s army! Yes sir!

Verse- I may never march in the infantry

Ride in the cavalry

Shoot the artillery

I may never fly o’er the enemy

But I’m in the Lord’s army! Yes sir!

Over and over, in his inspired writings, Paul speaks of suffering, almost like a badge of honor. He boasts of his trials only to boast of God. In his letter to Timothy, he invites him to join the Army of Christ Jesus, who knows what suffering means. Our goal is to please our officers, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV

A prayer for today…

Dear God,

We are all called to active duty in Your army. We have our assignment to be visible expressions of Your love. Deploy and equip us Lord, to be more like You than we are ourselves today. Give us Your strength, patience, courage, blessings and mercy…whatever we need to be to show others what You are like. We love You! Amen.

In our world, materialism is rampant. Bigger is better, faster is better, more expensive is better, and newer is better. Jesus agrees… IF the thing we are talking about is the room we give Him in our lives. Our Savior came to us in a manger because there was no room in the inn for Him. I am reminded that it is up to us to offer Him all the room we have. (By the way, can you imagine being the innkeeper who turned down the Savior of the world? Later, how would you feel? ) As followers of Jesus, we never want to deprive Him of room He needs, but sometimes, I think we do deprive Him. We give Him less space than He wants, which is a Supersize portion.

When you go to a fast-food joint, (faster is better), the worker will ask you, “Do you want to supersize that?” or “Would you like a large for just fifty cents more?” They are trained to get the most out of us. They are a business that thrives on our asking for more. Our relationship with Jesus also thrives on us asking for more… of HIM. Our desire needs to be supersized because He is! In Psalms 33:5 ESV, these words spoke of His fullness.

“He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”

Full. Full goodness. Full righteousness. Full justice. Anything that Jesus, God or the Holy Spirit does, they do in a big, meaning very full, way. Here’s part of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. He wanted them to really grasp the fullness of God.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17b-19

The thing is…we cannot fully comprehend God’s fullness, but we can still ask Him for it, so we serve Him with a full heart. It is a simple but profound concept that He can live in us so that we do things fully for Him. We can be dedicated, consistent and fully loving when He is in our hearts. We fill our stomachs, gas tanks, refrigerators and pantries. Why not keep our hearts full too?

Dear Lord,

You are so full of awesomeness that our minds can’t think it; our words can’t explain it; our prayers cannot express it and our hearts cannot fathom being so full of You. Please take up as much room as You need so that we may do Your will better, and fuller. All we know is that You are infinite and fullness comes naturally to You. Thank You for making a way that we could live with You in us. We love You so much! Amen

GROWwork: Read Ephesians 3:17-19, but insert “I” where it says, “you.” I just tried it and it reads like a plea for God to fill me with all He can. Why settle for less? Let’s ask for more of Him:)

Love and prayers to all!

Tina

December 2, 2020

Because we are starting the month of Jesus’ birthday, the idea of ‘gifts’ is on my mind this morning. The word ‘gift’ has warm and wonderful connotations. A gift is something we give to someone on their birthday or other special occasion, because we care about them. We will be giving Christmas gifts soon. God cares about us and gave us the best gift ever, His own Son! He also gave us spiritual gifts.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 ESV

There was a time when I thought God did not give me a gift. I felt useless in the church because I could not find “my thing” to do for Him. Some people can sing like angels or preach or teach or play instruments well. I was very concerned until my best friend’s dad told me, “You are meant to be the best Tina God made you to be.” That phrase is part of the reason I am writing the blog. He encouraged me to be me and not compare myself with others. What a blessing to have that godly encourager as a friend! God used him.

If God can use a Christian-killing man like Paul and a little boy named David and a prostitute named Rahab and Moses who stuttered, He can certainly use every one of us. Not only can He use us, He wants to use us! No big talent is needed, just a big faith in God and the desire to please Him. We receive His gift and can serve each other with it.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. 1 Peter 4:10 ESV

Paul lists some spiritual gifts here. The Spirit of God gives us what He deems best.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 ESV

Dear Father,

Thank You for making us like we are and loving us as we are. Show us please, how we can serve You in the church as part of Your team. We thank You for Your gift of Jesus and the Holy Spirit who teach and direct our hearts and hands and feet. We want to please You by actually using the spiritual gifts You gave us. Please help us remember it is Your ability that fully equips us to serve. Nothing else matters more than pleasing You. We love You so much! Amen

GROWwork:

Write down, or think of, ten things you are good at or enjoy doing. Write down things you did as a child that you used to love. Can any of these be used for God? He allows us to do Kingdom work!

Might He be calling you to be an encourager or something else that will show others the love of God? I will pray that you find that. It is NEVER too late to begin giving your gift back to God and watching Him work through you.

You are loved. You are special. You are gifted! Prayers for God’s best to you all,

Tina

November 30, 2020

It Depends On Others

We come to part three of this series. In Part One we focused on how our loving actions stem from our love for God, our Master. Part Two taught us that our actions are shaped by our own choices of who to serve, ourselves or the world or God. Today we will consider that growth in our Christian walk depends on others.

It really does.There are so many facets that a growing spiritual life entails, but I wanted to focus on our view of others for a moment. We know we are commanded by the Lord to love others, but how much? How often? Why is it so important?

The first and best place to look for answers is always the Bible, so let’s go there. Here is what Jesus says :

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35 NIV

How loving He is to share His commands so we can be successful in serving Him and God properly. He points out that EVERYONE will know we are following Him, just because of the way we love! That’s a pretty amazing statement! Loving others tells them about Jesus:)

It is easy to love someone who is nice to us. It is usually easy to love other Christians because we are one in the Lord. But what if others are not nice or Christian? I found a verse that I don’t remember reading before!

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.  Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Colossians 4:5-6 NKJV

God, us, and others…We all relate to each other. Depending on our love for God, love for ourselves and love for others, we make choices that reflect our level of commitment to each other and to God. It is all relative. Those choices, made based on Jesus’ command to love will determine if we grow stronger in our relationships or weaker. That is the underlying theme of this series. Everything is relative, but love is the bonding agent between us all. Love is the motivation. Love is the answer.

Paul is talking to the Colossians about giving grace to non-believers. He suggests we speak carefully, with grace and wisdom and use our time wisely. We will draw people to want to know Jesus when we treat them as Jesus would. The wisdom Paul says to use is found in God’s Word, in great supply!

Dear Father:

Thank You for guiding our time in Your Word. You teach us so much. Your best for us is that we desire to do our best for others. Please guide as You love to do, giving us a glimpse of the “big picture” of how important it is to always relate with love. Thank You for the abundant supply of inspired words You gave to the authors in the Bible, that guide our actions. You make it possible for us to live for You and love for You in a world that sometimes doesn’t. We love You so much! Amen.

GROWwork:

List one positive change you can make to improve your relationship with God. Find a verse to encourage you to do that this week.

Pray for love and grace to relate to others this week. Look for opportunities to use the bond of love to draw others to Jesus.

Love and prayers to all. Have a great day!

Tina

November 29, 2020

It Depends on Us

In part one yesterday, we focused on how our actions depend on God. We may act respectfully and characteristically of God because we love Him so much. We are His servants, although we are treated like His children. We obey our Master, Father…if we choose Him, that is. We may choose God and righteousness or the enemy and our world’s gods. The choice is ours.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 NIV

It is just not possible to serve two masters. Whatever master we choose, we will draw closer to and emulate. Others will be able to tell who we serve by what we do the most. Do they see us hate, turn away from, listen to, turn towards, help, pray for others? Do they see us being loving or selfish, kind or unkind? We shoulder both the responsibility and the privilege of deciding who we want to look like….Jesus or the world. Here’s a couple verses that can guide our actions:

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30 ESV

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4

Dear Father:

As Your child and as Your servant, I am happy to serve You. I don’t always make the best choices on my own, however. I need Your wisdom and guidance every single day of my life. Thank You for loving me so much that I see how to love others, with grace that forgives. Thank You for Your constant presence in the Holy Spirit that coaches me to obey You more and better. I love You! Amen.

Friends, this was the hardest devotion to get down on paper. I think it is because we DO have so many choices, and the important choices we make either move us a step toward God or away from God. It is all up to us but it is not about us. It’s all about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and doing their will.

Love and prayers to all!

Tina

For today, tomorrow and Monday, I feel led to do a three-part devotion with the series title being, “It is All Relative.” Today’s devotion is:

It Depends on God

You know how you can talk to some people about absolutely anything, because they are a best friend? You can pick on them or tell them when they are right or wrong?And with others, are you not as free because you are not as close? That’s the subject of our next three devotions. How we act depends on who we are relating to. God is no exception to this.

As Christians, we should treat God as our Master because, well, He is God! We are His bondservants. As defined in Merriam Webster’s dictionary a bondservant is “one bound to service without wages.” also : SLAVE Paul’s letter to the Colossians describes how bondservants should relate to their masters:

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.” Colossians 3:22

Paul was telling bondservants to obey their masters, not just because they are owned, but because a sincere heart shows respect to God. The way we behave is a reflection of how we feel about God. He explains in verse 23 that ALL we do needs to be as if we are doing it for the Lord.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

Everything we do is relative. All of our actions need to point to our love and respect for God. That seems like a simple point, but it has huge implications; it changes everything!

When we work a job, Paul’s advice suggests we do it as if God was our boss. When we cook a meal for our family, we are to do it as if God was there. It means we think before we speak. What we say, think, do, feel, etc., depends on our love for God. Our actions mirror His patience and love. It ALL depends on God.

Dear Father,

Thank you for inspiring Paul to write this message that is so vitally important to our spiritual lives. In order that we shine the light of your love, we need to act it out in all we do. You are our master and we want to obey You always. Please help us focus on servanthood as we enter the Christmas season. Remind us, with the Holy Spirit’s nudging , that our actions tell others who we depend on for our joy and strength. May ALL we do honor You. We love You! Amen

GROWwork:

When we let our actions depend on God’s approval, what things may change?

As for me, I will be more patient and respectful of others. With the Lord’s help, I will listen better. We are doing ALL of it for the Lord:)

Love and prayers to you all,

Tina