by George | May 17, 2022 | Community News, Devotional, Newsletter
I Just Wanted To Be With You
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
James 4:8
In “The Life and Works of DL Moody”, the author says:
“He had told one of his children that he was not to be disturbed in his study, and after a little while the door of the study opened and the child came in. “What do you want,” said the father, and the little fellow looking Up into his father’s face said, “I just wanted to be with you,” and the tears started into the great evangelist’s eyes as he said, “it ought to be like that between us and our God.”
Do you long to be that close to God? I sure do!
Just to spend time with Him, not asking for anything or fretting over daily concerns. Enjoying His presence…
Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ makes this possible…
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
We come to Him through faith and He washes away our sins, that which separates us from God:
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
Ephesians 1:7
“Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Hebrews 10:22
Just like a little child, we come into His presence and find rest for our souls and a refuge from the storms of life…
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”
Psalms 91:1-2
So, let’s draw near to God, and say with the psalmist:
“But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works.”
Psalms 73:28
by George | May 10, 2022 | Community News, Devotional, Newsletter
Louder Than the Others
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
II Corinthians 5:20
This morning, the birds are singing and communicating with each other.
One bird is singing louder than all the others. Is he telling the others about the abundance of worms he found nearby? Could he be sending out a warning about the black cat prowling at the edge of the woods? Or, is this his latest “tweet”?
Whatever he is trying to convey, it’s with a sense of urgency. There seems to be a passion in his voice.
Paul is speaking with a sense of urgency. “Be reconciled to God!”
Merriamwebster.com defines reconciliation this way:
“to restore to friendship or harmony reconciled the factions. b : settle, resolve reconcile differences. 2 : to make consistent or congruous reconcile an ideal with reality. 3 : to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant was reconciled to hardship.”
Sin separates us from God. Jesus came to bridge the gap!
He took our place, bearing our sins. Paul explains:
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
II Corinthians 5:21
So, let’s heed Paul’s admonition and come to the LORD by faith, and be reconciled to Him.
Then, we can “tweet” this truth to others…
May our lives be a beautiful melody, a sweet harmony, like the song of the birds in the trees…
by George | May 4, 2022 | Community News, Devotional, Newsletter
Thankful For Failures
“The righteous may fall seven times but still get up, but the wicked will stumble into trouble.”
Proverbs 24:16
Right before the baseball season, several players decided to retire.
Reliever AJ Ramos was one of them.
“Everyday you get to play/live truly is a blessing,” Ramos wrote as part of his statement. “The ability to enjoy the process is a big part of being successful because you soon realize that every setback or failure is just an opportunity to learn and get better. So I am thankful for my failures just as much as my success, beyond grateful for my time playing baseball.” (MLB.com)
What caught my eye is his statement that he is “thankful for his failures.”
Weird. I tend to be very thankful for success, small and large. Failures? Not so much.
But, if we change our attitude, and look at our failures as an opportunity to learn, and not make the same mistakes, it becomes a positive thing.
Dale Carnegie said:
“Learn from your mistakes. Develop success from failures..”
So, if we are thankful, as Paul said “In all things.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) then we can analyze our mistakes, and develop a plan for success.
Winston Churchill said:
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts,” and, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
Like most people, I tend to stew over my failures and get depressed. But, if I could look at them through the lense of thankfulness, learning from them, I can move towards a brighter day. I can get back up again when I fall.
I found this prayer on a blog called “A Small Work” attributed to an author named Ryan:
“Thank you, God, for my failures. I do not like to fail, but I trust you use my failures for good in me.
In my failure, I realize how much I need help. So often I fail because I barrel into a task or project on my own. Thank you for reminding me of my limitations and for providing every droplet of assistance I need.
In my failure, I see my vulnerability and sin. I
recognize my selfish choices, my blind spots, and the categories I didn’t even know existed. Thank you for pointing out my mistakes and for forgiving me as your child.”
Amen!
