Devotional 92 Praise of Sheep

"Sometimes we would prefer to die for Jesus than to live for Him."  When People Are Big and God Is Small  by Edward T. Welch

John 12: 42, 43 "Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God."


I dislike that sometimes my first thought in a decision I am about to make is "what will others think of me?" It is a chain wrapped around my ankle that slows me down from running joyfully after my Savior.

I am one of the sheep wandering from sheep to sheep trying to see my reflection in their eyes. I go bleating and bawling to the other sheep, looking for sheep approval. I am a skittish little sheep, ready to run at any little poke of a stone or any stray stick swaying in the breeze. I act as if I must be my own sheep and shepherd at the same time. I must protect and take care of myself. I live afraid.

With that attitude I am like the pharisees, loving the praise of sheep more than the praise of the Shepherd. Do you live for men's praise or God's? Does what other's might think of you (possibly losing their admiration) keep you from being  "crazy in love" with Jesus?

Oh, look up little sheep! See the Shepherd! Our Lord and Savior says "I lay down my life for the sheep."  He is the one we follow, the one we turn to, the one we trust.

 As Christ's love fills us up we become just the right size. God is big and people are small. Praise from men is insignificant compared to the surpassing glory of God.

I want to speak with Jesus in mind, dress with Jesus in mind, love with Jesus in mind. I want to think more of Him and less about me and less about you. 

Devotional 91 - Easy Easter

"Nothing was ever made easy for her. She was too precious to spoil by the easy." Amy Carmichael Let the Children Come by Lois Hoadley Dick

John 19:17-18 "And He, bearing His cross,went out to a place called the Place of a Skull...where they crucified Him..."

There was nothing easy about Easter. Our Lord suffered great physical and mental anguish to secure us a safe, forgiven home with God. There was nothing easy for the disciples who ran in fear for their lives and suffered the anguish of abandoning their Lord. There was nothing easy for Mary who watched the horrific suffering of her son, the Son of God.

And yet, Easter is about joy---great joy!! Through His suffering came our joy! And even in the hard task of dying, Jesus who is "the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross..." Hebrews 12:2

Jesus could endure because of the glorious future ahead. We, too can endure, because He has purchased that same future for those of us who believe.

I finished another book on Amy Carmichael who began orphanages and schools for children in India. After reading about the deep struggles for the souls of men, women, children; the loss of so much life; the painful suffering from disease; lack of sleep; I asked "Why Lord?". Where was the blessing for Amy who traveled one thousand miles to save a baby only to have it die in her arms five days later? Where was the blessing when Ponnamel, a beloved Indian friend trained for leadership, dies a slow death from cancer? What blessing when Kohila, saved as a child by Amy from temple prostitution, trained as a head nurse, fell to her death from a mountainside?

The last twenty years of Amy's life were filled with constant pain.

On one of her worst days, Amy imagined the Lord saying to her, "It is finished."...Regret flooded her soul. "Thou wouldst say, So soon? Let me go back and suffer yet awhile more patiently: I have not yet praised God." Amy Carmichael Let the Children Come pg. 154

The pain was worth it for Amy because she would see God -His comfort, His presence. She was not spoiled by easy living. The Easter message of joy in Christ and peace with God drove her to keep God's perspective in tough times.

May God grant us the grace to embrace all He brings into our lives, whether pleasure or sorrow, and to display to a hurting world the superior desirableness of Christ.

Easter was not easy, but it was destined and necessary and brings joy around the world. Praise God with me now for this yearly reminder of His love.

Devotional 90 - Age Doesn't Matter

"The question is not whether we will die, but whether we will die in a way that bears much fruit." John Piper - Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ

Psalm 71:18 "Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come."

This verse is taped to my bathroom mirror. I want to be reminded that though we are of retirement age there is no retiring from the work of God. No matter how grey, how wrinkled, how feeble, we have a job that God has given us to do until we take our last breath....tell others about Jesus. Declare to the next generation the power of God. Living joyfully in intimate fellowship with the LORD.

Age is not a plus or minus to God. The world gives a cut-off date to when we are no longer useful to the economy. God does not. Just the opposite.

Abraham and Sarah at 100 birth a nation.

Moses at 80 leads a nation out. It is said of him when he dies at 120, "His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished." Deuteronomy 34:7

Joshua and Caleb were 85 when they led the nation into the promised land. Caleb says in Joshua 14:10-12 "Here I am this day, eighty-five years old...now give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke. It may be that the LORD will be with me and I shall be able to drive the (enemy) out as the LORD said."

Then you have Anna in Luke 2:36-38 who was married for 7 years and a widow for 84, that's 91. Let's say she was 15 when she got married, that makes Anna 106! She served God with fastings and prayers night and day. God revealed to her that the baby Jesus being carried into the temple courtyard by His parents was the Savior. She ended her days giving thanks to God.

I want to be like that! Don't you? Full of the life of Christ...filled with His love...praising and giving thanks...willing to fight the enemy with the truth of the Bible...telling all who will listen of our wonderful, all satisfying, most desirable Savior!

Psalm 92:13, 14 "Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing."

You don't have to be healthy to flourish, just in love.

Devotional 89 Christmas Obstacle

"When you get up on the wrong side of the bed, choose the wrong route to work, or push the wrong button, be ready with a word of worship. Sovereign Lord, do whatever You like. You are in control." Secret Strength by Joni Eareckson Tada

Daniel 2:20, 21 "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons.."

Psalm 31:15 "My times are in Your hand..."

I have a little automated toy mouse - furry and gray. When wound up it races across my wooden floor twirling its black tail and making clacking noises.

My great niece who is a year and a half is afraid of it. At first I tried to get her used to it, to tell her it would not hurt her, it was just a toy. But then I thought I could use this to my advantage.

I do not let her go in my laundry room because my husband stores his art paints on the floor. I would invariably forget to shut the door because I use it so often. And she would invariably discover the open door and find it a great source of entertainment to get Aunt Carol to chase her out. So one day I placed the little furry mouse in the door way.

Voila! I could go in and out with laundry but my niece would not step foot across that door way. She would stand several feet a way staring at the mouse and complain until I came out.

That was an obstacle I put there by my decree with a purpose that was good for both of us. Now my niece did not feel like it was a good purpose. It was keeping her from something she wanted. But in my mind it was keeping her safe.

So are the obstacles that God places in our lives. They are always for a purpose. Our times are in His hands. If a change needs to be made in our schedule, our job, our finances, our family, God can bring about obstacles that get us moving and looking in the right direction.

If things seem to be going wrong this Christmas----not enough money for the gadgets, not all the family will be able to gather, weather does not cooperate, a flat tire on the day of travel, to ill to enjoy the holidays, a death, or a quadriplegic as Joni Eareckson Tada was---do as Joni suggested in the quote at the top. Worship! Because your Sovereign Lord is in control of even this.

May Christ be your joy this season.

Devotional 88 Christmas Resolve

"I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. ...I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what C. S. Lewis calls their 'divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic' existence." Clyde Kilby, professor at Wheaton College...Oct.22, 1976

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork."

The above quote was from a lecture given at Wheaton College by Professor Kilby who actually gave 10 resolves that he was determined to live by. This was resolve #6. This is the one resolve I wish to practice for the month of December.

I resolve to pause each day and look at the beauty of Christmas. To see in it the divine magic and wonder of God coming to earth.

When I have been busy cooking and cleaning, I will stop for a moment and go outside (whether raining or snowing, blowing wind, or frosty sunny) and I will breathe in the crisp air and look up and thank God.

On days I spend playing with a child I will look at their sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks and kiss them and thank God for such a creation as babies and children. For our Great God and Savior was a child.

When I hear Christmas music while busily shopping I will stand still for a moment and really listen to it even as others whip around me. For Psalm 100 says "Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God;"

When I light my candles I will say: "Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the world, come to save sinners such as me."

When I rub shoulders with friends and family and enemies, I will (as the quote above suggests) see them with a little more terrifying, ecstatic, divine magic as a creation of God for a purpose. Just as in the Christmas story the shepherds, the wise men, and even Herod played a decreed, divine role given by God.

So I resolve to pause, look, and listen. Will you do that with me? In your busy schedule will you allow for a little magic? Today the heavens are declaring the glory of God!

Luke 1:46 "My soul magnifies the Lord, and spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior."

Devotional - Snapshot 87- Death

"The Bible speaks of two ways of dying. The people of God...die in faith, and enter that place God has prepared for His people from the foundation of the world. The only other way one can die is to die in one's sins...and the worst calamity that could ever befall a human being is to die in that state." R. C. Sproul

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15

On September 23, 2011 my mother died. It was a glorious moment for her as she left her labored body and entered into the beauty, peace, joy of heaven. Jesus, whom she trusted as her God and Savior on May 3, 2011 at the age of eighty, was there to wipe every tear from her eyes.

Our son sang a song at the funeral--"It Is Not Death To Die" by Bob Kauflin. Here are some of the verses.

It is not death to fling aside this earthly dust,
And rise with strong and noble wing, to live among the just.

It is not death to hear the key unlock the door,
That sets us free from mortal years, to praise You evermore.

O Jesus, conquering the grave.
Your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in You will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die.

So my, dear sisters, there are two ways to die...with Jesus or without Jesus. I tell you the truth, your mind can not conceive what awaits you when you die trusting Jesus as your Savior. To die is to gain!!! One dies to live! The grandest, most glorious home is ready for you and I. Joy unspeakable, love most divine, no insecurity, no guilt, no fear, no worry will be ours in the presence of Christ. For those of us who believe, it is not death to die.

But wait, if you do not believe Jesus is who He says He is ---fully God and fully man, the great I AM, God come in the flesh---you will die in your sins. And that will not be pretty... but terror unspeakable, gnashing of teeth, weeping and crying for eternity.

As Joshua said in Joshua 24:15 "Choose you this day whom you will serve! But as for me and my house we will serve the LORD!"

My husband and I thank you for all your love and support at this time, but we are not weeping as the world, for mother has Christ. Do you?

Devotional - Snapshot 86- You are You

"Just remember, no matter how cool you think you look, everyone will be laughing at that picture of you in ten years." Chris Brooks, Student Life Camp Pastor

"For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13, 14

My mother had just come to live with me. I had guests over for Sunday dinner and she asked to help. "Yes," I said, "you can put the silverware on the table."

I was whipping around the kitchen putting the final touches on the meal while my friends leisurely chatted. I opened the oven door to get the meat out and forgot Mother was standing there with the silverware drawer open retrieving the necessary utensils. I never do anything slowly, so "CRASH!" went the oven door against the silverware drawer. Mother gasped, the guests grew quiet. I turned and looked at Mom and I perceived she was angry, though she said nothing. I told her I was sorry and then I sheepishly looked at my guests and said, "I move too fast."

They continued their conversation, Mom resumed her task, but a wave of inner shame came over me. My mind began to recriminate me. "You move too fast!" "You are making your company uncomfortable." "Why do you do that?" "You are not a good hostess." "You are an embarrassment."

I brought the meat out on top of the stove, holding back tears. I couldn't shake the bad feeling I had about myself at that moment. The negative thoughts were coming fast and furious swirling around my head. Then a still voice began to intrude---"I made you fast."

"What?" I silently whispered.

"It's okay, Carol, I made you fast."

A settled, sure peace washed over me cleansing me of the dirty, muddied thoughts about myself. God had seen and heard and had intruded in my thoughts. "My frame was not hidden from You...Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, ..How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!" Psalm 139: 15-17

Isn't it wonderful the wide range of temperaments, personalities, gifts, weaknesses, appearances, God has made in each one of us. What you don't like about someone may be the very thing God put into them to display His diversity and love. Oh sure, I do need to be sensitive to how my personality affects another, so I can moderate myself for Christ's sake that Christ might be glorified. But we shouldn’t feel shame for moving fast, or moving slow, or speaking with a squeaky voice, for laughing loud or never laughing, or being organized or scattered, being spontaneous or liking predictability, being a planner, being a thinker, being a doer, liking hymns or contemporary music, comfortable raising hands in church, not comfortable, being shy, being a talker, seeing the big picture, seeing the details. We could go on and on. The list is endless because God's creative energies in us are endless. To feel shame for being Carol or for being you is to not appreciate God's workmanship.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

"Lord, help us to see ourselves and each other with eyes of creative wonder in You."