Category Archives: Encouragement

The Prayer Tin

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There are only a few days left in this year, so I guess it’s time to make a few New Year’s resolutions. As I was thinking about all the items on my rather long list of improvements and achievements for the coming year, it occurred to me that my family and I have somehow let one of our most important “traditions” slip into oblivion.

Years ago, we kept a decorative tin on the dining room table at all times. Inside the tin were the names of just about everyone we knew – friends, family, and acquaintances new and old. Every evening, just before the dinner prayer, one of the children would draw a name out of the tin and we would include that person in our prayer. We always trusted the LORD to guide our selections so we would choose the name of someone who really needed a little extra prayer.

Looking back, I’m not sure when, or why, we stopped using the prayer tin, but I am determined that we are going to add it back into our daily routine. Dear reader, I may not know you all personally, but I am going to include a name card for those of you who subscribe to my blogs. I also plan to include a generic name card for those of you who read my blog, whose names I do not know. I already pray for you at times, but number one on my resolutions list is to intercede on behalf of others more than ever before and it is my great pleasure to include you.

From my family to yours, God’s richest blessings upon you.

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers (I Thessalonians 1:2)

The Silence of Friends

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“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”          

 – Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

For some time, I was quite reluctant to join an online social network.  Although the invites came, I continued to decline them for various reasons including, but not limited to, the fear of privacy invasion.  Then one day, much to my surprise, I felt a stirring in my heart; I felt I should sign-up  and begin to connect with the friends and family that had gradually slipped out of my life. So I joined.

Truthfully, there are at least a dozen things I dislike about  social networks, but I’m not here today to complain about those. Rather, I want to share with you what I most appreciate about them; which is the opportunity to share in the lives of others.

You see, I have discovered that most people join  social networks in order to  have a “voice.”  In today’s world, cold and impersonal, many folks are simply looking for an opportunity to share the details of their lives, and to know someone cares enough to listen.  I find too, that in the non face-to-face environment of the internet, many folks are less reluctant to share with others their triumphs and their tragedies –to freely share their feelings of  sadness, fear and frustration, as well as their joy.

What better opportunity for us to fulfill the biblical precept to Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep (Romans 12:15).

Yes, I am thankful for the opportunity to pray for those in need, or to speak a word of encouragement to those who are down, even if I have never met them in person.  I know there will certainly be times that I will fail my friends. But as often as I am able, I truly desire to let my friends know that I do care about the details of their lives. And I pray that in the end, it will not be my silence that they remember.

The Biggest Little Word

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What is the biggest word in the Bible?

The answer may surprise you. The biggest word in the Bible is “IF.” You may ask how I could come to that conclusion? Simple, it is because this tiny word carries enough power in it to move mountains. Even so, this word is probably one of the most overlooked and neglected words in the entire Bible.

For example, notice the first word of II Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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.

Is it possible that there is so much turmoil in our land because we are asking God to heal our land but neglect the “if” part –to humble ourselves, and pray, and  seek God’s face, and  turn from our wicked ways?

God is not a man that He should lie, so obviously, we as a nation are neglecting the prerequisites that God set forth for the healing of our land.

Another example may be found in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. Here, we are instructed:

And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth.

Scripture then goes on to promise abundant blessing and prosperity to those who obey all of God’s commandments. I hear much about the blessings, but  seldom do I hear anyone mention the prerequisite “IF.”

The Bible says that God uses the foolish thing of this earth to confound the wise. I guess he uses the smallest things too. Remember, dear reader, the word “if” has enough power in it to move mountains, when we obey the words that “if” preceeds.

One Fainting Robin

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If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Into his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

If we were to summarize Miss Dickinson’s aforementioned thoughts in one word, it would aptly be compassion.  But what does Scripture teach us about compassion?

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering… (Colossians 3:12).

 Interestingly,  Emily Dickinson was not an overtly religious person. In fact, her writings often reflect her feelings of “being shut out of heaven.” Nevertheless, she understood the importance of compassion; possibly because she was shown very little during her reclusive life.

 Emily was, I believe, the fainting robin she wrote about.  If only she could have grasped the truth that God is … full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth (Psalm 86:15) even towards her .  And if only others had shown her more mercy, love and compassion, as we are commanded to do in Scripture; perhaps she might have lived a more joyous life, having never felt shut out of heaven.

Dear reader, there are many Emily’s out there.  Will you be the one to show them God’s unceasing compassion by loving as Jesus loved?  Will you help a “fainting robin” back into the nest, or stop someone’s  heart from breaking? If you  do this for even one person, then your life will not have been lived in vain.

Bumps and Spills

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He was a tall man, so I couldn’t see the contents of the cup he was holding.  I assumed it was coffee, but I was wrong.  You see, as quickly as his bouncy sidekick bumped into him, orange juice sloshed all over his expensive white dress shirt. No one would have ever known what was in his cup if he hadn’t been bumped.

That made me think; human beings are all “vessels” (Romans 9:21). However, we do not all contain the same thing.  Sometimes, the best way to know  for sure what is inside a person, is to see what spills out when he or she is bumped.

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matthew 12:34,35).

Dear reader, has someone bumped you lately? And if so, what spilled out? As for me I, like King David, pray:

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14).

A Canardly

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A few years ago we adopted our outdoor dog from a rescue shelter.  She’s a mixed-breed, but I was fairly certain of what those breeds were, based on her color and markings. Still, I asked our veterinarian for his opinion. He told me she was a Canardly.  I’ve never heard of such a creature, I told him.  “There’s really no way to tell what she is,” he explained. With these mixed breeds, one  can ‘ardly tell.” I thought that little play on words was cute, and I’ve used it ever since.

Our beautiful Canardly has turned out to be the most loving and loyal dog of all. Plus, she is an incredibly vigilant watchdog.  Obviously, being a Canardly isn’t such a bad thing for a dog.  I don’t recommend it for Christians, though. How can we teach others about Jesus if they can ‘ardly tell that He is the Lord of our lives?

Jesus warned: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15,16).

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I would rather someone be frustrated by my fervor than confused by my complacency.  After all, if I’m not passionate about my Lord, Jesus Christ, how can I expect others to be?

Today, I leave you with this thought from Charles Spurgeon:

Believe me, brothers and sisters, if you never have sleepless hours, if you never have weeping eyes, if your hearts never swell as if they would burst, you need not anticipate that you will be called zealous; you do not know the beginning of true zeal, for the foundation of Christian zeal lies in the heart. The heart must be heavy with grief and yet must beat high with holy ardour; the heart must be vehement in desire, panting continually for God’s glory, or else we shall never attain to anything like the zeal which God would have us know.

Which Direction?

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Many years ago, a friend of mine was interpreting a church service when the whole deaf section busted-out laughing. That certainly got  the congregation’s attention, given the fact that the pastor’s sermon was a very serious one. He was preaching about consecrating oneself to the Lord steadfastly for a season.

“For the next few weeks,” the pastor told his congregants, “I plan to arrive early to pray.” What’s funny about that, you ask? The interpreter didn’t sign “early” to pray. He relayed to the whole deaf section that the pastor was planning to show up at the church “naked” to pray.

Being a sign language interpreter myself, I can assure you that this is a very easy mistake to make. You see the two words are quite similar. The only difference  between the two is in the direction the prominent hand is traveling. For one, the dominant hand slides across the other, and for the second sign, the prominent hand slides downward towards the fingertips.

The moral of today’s humorous, but true, story is simply this: Which direction are you going?

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death  (Proverbs 14:12).

The flip side to the above Scripture is this:

The Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless (Psalm 84:11).

Today would be a great day for each of us to examine our hearts and lives. After all, dear reader, direction is most assuredly important!

God’s “To Do” List

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Today I plan to start a new “to do” list. First order of business, find and compile all the other “to do” lists I have lying around, so that I can marvel at how many things I never seem to complete, and hopefully tackle some of them. Of course, the really important things get done, but I have a ton of worthwhile projects that, for one reason or another, got lost in the shuffle, never to be picked up again.

Aren’t you glad that God is not like that? I know I am. Can you just imagine Him starting something wonderful in your life, but stopping somewhere in the middle because He needed to go intervene in some crisis? Worse yet, imagine Him never completing the work?

That won’t happen, of course. Scripture says that He [the Holy Spirit] which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). God is working in the lives of every person on this planet, whether they acknowledge  Him or not; and He will never stop until His glorious return.

I guess you could say that we are all on God’s “to do” list since He is never finished with any of us. We should ask ourselves, then, is God at the top of our list? Last night I was challenged by a preacher who admonished his listeners to develop a personal spiritual growth program and pursue it vigorously. He wasn’t insinuating that his audience was neglecting the things of God, only that we should all strive to give even more of our time and effort to the Lord and His word. If we would do that, he encouraged, we would certainly grow spiritually.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but that sounds like an excellent idea. If God loves me enough to keep me on His daily “to do” list, I think it only right that He is at the very top of mine! On second thought, forget all the old lists, if those projects haven’t been finished by now, they probably aren’t that important after all. Yes, I still plan to start a new list, but the very first item on the list will be: Start a spiritual growth program, beginning with …

In fact, I’m going to go do that now so I’ll catch you all later.
God bless.

Still, Small Voice

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And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him…. but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (I Kings 19:9,12).

Finally, we have gotten some much needed rain. I’ve been praying for a gully-washer, but the rains that have come have been, for the most part, soft and gentle.

It is often the same way with God. There have been times that I prayed, feeling the need for God’s voice to be as loud and clear as a piercing boom of thunder. I wanted Him to pour down answers until they utterly saturated me, so I could in no way misunderstand what He was speaking to my heart. And yet, the answers sometimes came like more like a soft, refreshing rain –a few drops at a time, not overwhelming. I am reminded of something the Lord spoke to my heart several years ago. He said:

Sometimes I come like the softest rain, when the drops tap ever so lightly against the pane. These are they that please my heart: Those who hear my lightest tap –even in times when the sun is not shining brightly –even in the early morning hours when the world lay fast asleep. Those who will awaken to my lightest tap and say, enter Lord, I welcome you; these are they that please my heart.”

Today feels like one of those days. Precious Lord, let us hear your voice; we welcome you.

Do You Measure Up?

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“The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurement anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              — George Bernard Shaw

 We read that King David was a man after God’s own heart. But according to Scripture, there were many people –even amongst his own countrymen- that did not believe David measured up to his role as king, nor as a child of God. King David’s critics probably couldn’t let go of his past failures and mistakes, which is understandable because even David struggled with them occasionally.

I very much doubt that you and I will ever be exempt from that kind of scrutiny either. As long as there is breath in our bodies, someone is bound to question whether or not we measure up in one way or another.  Truthfully, as long as God considers you to be a man or woman after His own heart, it doesn’t matter in the least what anyone else thinks.

 Here’s the kicker: that includes us! Most of us need to learn to forgive ourselves a little more readily.  Why is it so easy to forget others mistakes but cling to our own like some well-deserved trophy when the Lord promised: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). Furthermore, He takes our iniquities and casts them into depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).

 Dear reader, the next time you are tempted to dredge up your own past failures, remember that you don’t even know where God’s sea of forgotten iniquity is. Even if you did, there’s nothing in there worth retrieving.

 The next time an enemy throws your past in your face just smile and hand him a mirror.  Oops, scratch that –I was just thinking out loud; I’m sure you can think of something a little more spiritual.

 Finally, every time the devil tries to bring condemnation by reminding you of your past, simply remind him of his future.

 None of us are perfect, but if we remain faithful to the Lord and His instruction, we will measure up in the end –He will see to that!