Category Archives: Inspirational

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.

How Dumb Are We?

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A pastor once instructed his congregation to come forward so he could “pray for their tongue’s foot-by-foot  —honestly. Ouch! I didn’t know any of those folks but I’m sure they would’ve needed some help to hold their tongues.

Come to think of it, I think most of us could use some help in that area; I know I could. Let’s be honest. Sometimes it is hard to keep silent when more and more people are lacking intelligence or good judgment  —which is one definition for the word dumb— and we are the ones to suffer for it.

However, God’s word instructs us that it is often wise to be dumb  —dumb as in not speaking. Proverbs 21:3 says: He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. So, the question for today is, how dumb are we? I don’t know about you, but I pray that someday I can be the kind of person who always curbs my tongue.

There is reward in that. Those who refrain their tongue from evil, Scripture instructs, will love life and see good days (I Peter 3:10). It really would be dumb of us to let our tongues go loose until the pastor has to pray for it foot-by-foot. Let us instead, obey Scripture and bridle our tongues. Now that would be smart!

O God of Earth and Altar

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We live in one of the greatest countries on Earth, but let us not live in denial: America is a mess!  There are numerous Scriptures to address this concern, but for today, I simply want to share a very insightful hymn by Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1906).

 O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us,
but take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation
of honor, and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation,
deliver us, good Lord! …

Per-Severe Through Per-secution

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From a sermon by Robert J. Morgan

“We must never forget that the word perservere comes from the prefix per, meaning though, coupled with the word severe.  It means to keep pressing on, trusting God, looking up, doing our duty — even through severe circumstances.”¹

The apostle Paul wrote about our journey through  severe circumstances:

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed (2Corinthians 4:8 & 9).

 Did you notice that Paul also used a few ‘per’ words –perplexed and persecuted?  I thought I would, therefore, continue in Pastor Morgan’s thought.

Perplexed
In Greek:      (aporew aporeo ap-or-eh’-o)   perplexed indicates having no way out.

In English:    The use of the term plex indicates a combining form meaning “having parts or units”

 Persecuted
In Greek:     (dioko dee-o’-ko)   being pursued (but the rest of the verse indicates that because we are never forsaken by God, we are not overcome when pursued).

In English:   (Se)cute –cute being a 1615 aphetic variant of acute, meaning sharp or severe in effect; intense or extremely great or serious; crucial; critical

Putting that all together, we may “pursued” by very acute trials, and it may seem there is no way out, but  we will only go through these trials  in parts – or perhaps a better term would be seasons.

 Again, the Apostle Paul speaks of trials and summarizes the previous thoughts well:

 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a SEASON, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:  (I Peter 1: 6, 7 – emphasis mine)

 Are you going through trials and temptations right now?  Keep pressing on!  God will never leave you nor forsake  you – Furthermore, those trials and temptations are only for a short season and the Lord  will walk right through that fiery furnace of affliction with you !

¹Morgan quote taken from Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes. Robert J. Morgan. Thomas Nelson Publishers. Nashville, Tn. 2000

Too Heavenly Minded?

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stairway

Through the years I have heard a few preachers say that we can be “too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.” Modern translation: Radicals need not apply. When I read my bible, however, I find numerous accounts of “radical” servants of the Most High who turned their worlds upside down with their passion for God and His kingdom.

The first sermons of Jesus recorded in scripture were about the kingdom of Heaven. In fact, everything He taught, every miracle He performed, every body He healed, even His death on the cross, were all about the kingdom of Heaven. Who amongst us would ever think Him to be so heavenly minded as to be of no earthly good? And we are supposed to be imitators of Jesus Christ aren’t we?

No, I don’t think it possible to be too heavenly minded. In regard to God’s instructions, scripture commands that you impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:7)
In other words, all the time!

Furthermore, blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. (Psalms 1:2)

Why is he blessed? When a man meditates on God’s word, he acts on God’s word. It is the heavenly minded who does this world the most good –that which lasts for eternity. The more “radical” believers are, the more likely they are to turn this world upside down for the furtherance of God’s kingdom.

So then, can a believer be too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good? Again, I don’t think so. I doubt that is what we should be asking anyway. Perhaps we should be asking the opposite:

Can a person be too earthly minded to be of any heavenly good?

–just a little food for thought.

Smile Awhile

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smile

You’ve probably heard it said that it takes twice as many muscles to frown than it does to smile. That may or may not be true, but one of the muscles used for smiling  is called the levator labii superioris. On the other hand, the muscles used to frown include the depressor labii inferioris. Personally,  I find it amusing that you use the depressor muscle to frown and that it is an inferior(is)  muscle, but that’s just me.

Joy is one of the nine-fold attributes of the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:22-23), and smiling is the natural result of joy. If you can not think of any other reason to smile today, let me give you a very big one. You can say, as did the prophet Isaiah:

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (61:10):

A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. ~Author Unknown