Can I Get a Witness?

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”  I John 1:1

 

Do you, as a Christian, feel like an effective witness?  Do you feel like you know enough about the Bible to talk to others about it?  Many of us feel under-qualified to be a witness. We feel like others are more eloquent, know the important parts to mention and can quote the entire Bible by heart.  Thus, we sit on the sidelines of life and live a mute witness.

But look at this passage of Scripture!  It can revolutionize the way you approach being a witness for Christ.  Here the apostle John lays out the basics of what they proclaim concerning Christ.  1) That which was from the beginning; 2) the things they had heard; 3) the things they had seen;  and  4) the things that they had touched.  This sounds like a firsthand account to me.  The things which were from the beginning has a lot to do with knowing the Bible and what the Word said about the coming of Messiah.  It is important that we study the Scripture, know how it fits together and apply it to our life.  Once we begin to walk with the Lord, the foundation of the Word has to be given priority in life.

But the rest of the things John identified appear to be things that the disciples experienced together during their time with the Lord.  They were able to tell his teachings- they had learned them at his feet.  They were able to talk about healing- they had witnessed countless miracles.  They were able to tell how they touched him and interacted with him after his resurrection. They just told what they had experienced.

A convert of only ten minutes has a testimony to share.  We can all share what Christ did for us.  How he saved us.  What he saved us from.  We can testify to his love, his goodness, his desire to be reconciled to all mankind.  People love a good story.  They love personal accounts and real-life adventures.  Your job is just to open your mouth and declare it.

The last part of this verse says, ”This we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”  We have to remember that we know the secret to life.  Many people out there are desperate, hopeless, and suicidal.  They see no reason to live, and yet we have the Word of life within us!  We must be faithful to share what we know.  This does not necessarily mean that we go around all the time telling everything we know.  But if a coworker has a sick child that is a wonderful time to tell your testimony of how God healed your child when the prayer of faith was offered.  When someone is going through a divorce, you can tell how the Lord saw you through a season of rejection and how you come to realize that you had worth and value because of the love of God.

I would like to issue a challenge to you.  Look for opportunities where you can tell what you have seen and heard with your own eyes about the workings of the Lord in this earth, and share it!  You will be amazed at how many people are desperate for the words that you have within you.

Dear Lord, help me be a faithful witness.  Show me when you give me an opportunity and let your words be on my tongue.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

 

Winning at Hide and Seek

“Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.”  Zephaniah 2:3

 

Why would anyone seek the Lord?  I am not being blasphemous; I am sincere in my question.  For anyone to seek the Lord, would they not first have to recognize that there is Someone bigger than them?  Or at least would they not realize that they do not possess all that there is, within themselves?

Thus, a person seeking the Lord is already demonstrating a level of humility as demonstrated in this verse.  Only those humble enough to recognize that they are not their own God or destiny would seek someone higher.  This verse is just chock-full of good advice.  When we seek the Lord, we will not find him unless we do what he commands.  Although God is altogether knowable, he is only known to those to whom he chooses to reveal himself. 

There have been times within my own relationship with the Lord that I have caught him “hiding” from me.  This has occurred during seasons that he was drawing me into a deeper intimacy or relationship with him.  There are times that he will lead us to search harder for him, cause us to wait on him, or allow us to sit with our questions a bit.  This never happens because he has decided he does not want us to know him better.  He wrote his willing concerning that, in blood at Calvary.  He definitely wants us to know him.  But in order to go deeper, we have to move beyond “God is great; God is good” prayers.  We have to move on to truly search for him with a heart open to learning more than we have known in the past.  A heart willing to change when sin is exposed is a heart that will find him.

Some of us want to grab on to the Lord with one hand and cling to our wants with the other.  Some of us want to go after God, but drag our worldly pursuits right along with us.  Seeking the Lord is not done in this fashion.  If we are to seek the Lord, it has to be an all-out single minded pursuit.  I love the Tommy Tenney book “The God Chasers.”  He so beautifully explains how like a loving father playing with a small child, God hides from us so that we will seek him.  All the time though, our loving heavenly Father always has his eye on us whether or not we can see him.

Not sure which end is up?  Seek the Lord, he knows.  Not sure what your future holds?  Seek the Lord, he has a plan.  Want to have a love affair beyond your wildest imagination?  Seek the Lord, he is your Beloved.

Dear Lord, I want to go after you.  I want to find you and I am willing to be changed.  Help me let go of any worldly ties and make you my only pursuit.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

                              

 

The Quest

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”  Isaiah 55:6

 

I am on a quest.  I have decided that I am going after the Lord.  Good thing for a minister to decide, huh?  Obviously this is a decision I made long ago.  But I must confess, I have put my quest on hold.  I have gotten distracted.  I have gone in other directions and forgot to come back to it.  But, I am making a fresh resolution to go after him.  Have you had the same experience?  Do you find the loudness of life drowning out the still, small voice of the Lord?  Overbearing his tender wooing?

There is so much more about him to know, so much more to seek.  I think about how Moses talked with God, face-to-face as a man does with a friend.  I remember the friendship that Abraham enjoyed with the Lord and I see my relationship with the Lord coming up short in comparison.  God is the same.  Thus, the shortfall in the relationship is definitely on my side.

My grandmother died without answering some questions I had for her.  Not because she was not willing to answer-but because I never got around to asking her.  I thought I had plenty of time, and by the time I realized it, I had waited too long.  Now the Lord may be found.  But for those who resist him now, there is a time that there will be no more chances, no more calling, and no more time.

He is here now. He is near to me, and desires to be even nearer.  The Bible makes it clear that if we draw near to God, he draws near to us.  Want more of him?  The ball is in your court.  Want more intimacy? Set aside the time; set aside your inhibitions and go after God!

Dear Lord, thank you that you are near.  Show me how to chase you.  Show me how to seek you, to hear your voice and glean from your Word.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

 

 

Getting Credit? Be Careful

"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”  Isaiah 42:8

 

Have you ever done something really awesome, only to find that no one gave you credit for it?  That is really hard to handle.  In fact, the difficulty seems to be directly proportional to the oversight.  If I hand my husband a drink and he forgets to say “thank you”, I can handle that with no problem.  If I give my husband all my Christmas cash for his birthday and he does not say “thank you”, that is a little harder to handle.

On a broader scale, how many times does God come through for us and we say “Oh, I did it.  Yay, me!”  He alone is God.  He alone is the Almighty, Omnificent, Omnipotent, Omnipresent one.  Whatever good comes my way?  He did it.  My gifts, my ability, my talents?  All his doing.  We cannot even rub two brain cells together without him giving us the ability.  So why do we withhold praise from the only one who truly deserves it?

Thank you, Lord for all that you do for me, all that you have done all that you will ever do.  Thank you for who you are, your power, your love your strength.  You have done amazing things on my behalf and I praise you for it.  I praise you in advance for all you are doing that I cannot even fathom.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

Tomorrow? Forget About It!

 

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”    Matthew 6:34

                                                            When you look ahead to all that lies before you in 2013, are you brimming with hopefulness, or are there things that lurk ahead that brings you concern?  Most of us find ourselves a mixture of the two extremes:  we want to believe good things are ahead, but life has a way of bleeding from one day to the next, and from one year into the next.

I will confess that I have had some time off from work over the holidays, recovering from some health stuff.  A mind at rest tends to look ahead and borrow trouble…  A time to remember work problems that are yet to be conquered;  bills that loom without  an obvious remedy; family issues that could go really well…or really badly…

Thanks goodness (!) that with all that could go wrong we have today’s passage of Scripture to guide our thoughts.  Borrowing trouble from the future causes much dread and angst.  And let’s be honest.  How many times has the actual outcome been much easier to manage than the thing we feared?

Living in today is a skill that must be developed.  Certainly there will be enough aggravating people; traffic problems and slow cashiers to keep us stressed out on a given day, without worrying if we can pay taxes on April 15^th, four months from now.  Obviously a balance is necessary as not all problems can be solved in a day.  But most of what we obsess on is issues that may not even come to pass, or if they do, God has a solution waiting for us when we get there.

As you live today, live in hope!  As you look to tomorrow, acknowledge that God has the answer for tomorrow’s problems.  Most likely, God’s solutions will not arrive until the day that we must have the answer. But he is faithful to show up- and forgetting that is a big time-waster and peace-stealer.

Dear Lord, help me to walk in the faith that you have given me for today.  Help me remember yesterday’s deliverance and Your faithfulness.  Help me to look ahead with hope and assurance that you will see me through it.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

God Wants to Share his Secrets with You

“See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”  Isaiah 42:9

 There is nothing like the New Year to cause a time of reflection.  What went well last year?  Where did I fail?  What do I hope to see happen in this New Year?

For a person who does not know Christ, looking ahead can be a daunting thing.  But for those of us who have turned the reigns of our lives over to Christ, the future should be hope-filled and exciting. That does not mean that the Christian never struggles, but we are to know the One who hold the future and trust that he has a great plan for our lives.

The second part of this Scripture says that new things God declares.  In fact, it goes on to say that before these things occur that the Lord will announce them to us.  Does that baffle you a bit?  Only God knows the future.  Much of the future is unfolded to us as we get to it, but there are wonderful moments in time where the Lord reveals some of the unknowns in our life to us.  This is a blessed part about walking intimately with the Lord.

There have been times in my life that I have had this type of unveiling by the Lord.  Once before a pastor of ours announced his resignation I had a very strong feeling of new beginnings about the church.  Thus, when the announcement was made, although it seemed a bit frightening, I was comforted by the knowledge that the Lord had given me a “heads-up” about what was to come.  Another time, in prayer I began to feel a nudge to pray for a particular job.  There was another person in that position at the time and I certainly did not want to covet what another had, but I could not get around the leading to pray for the position.  So I laid hands on their office door, prayed for God’s best for them and his direction for my life.  Within a couple of weeks, this person unexpectedly walked away from a position that they had held for over a decade.  Right at the moment I needed the position to come through.  Did I pray that person out of a job?  Of course not.  God knew where he was moving them and what he had for me.  He just allowed me to partner with him in the change to build my faith.

There have also been times that I have had a fore-knowledge of frightening things coming my way, but with that knowledge I felt God’s peace and strength to handle it.  At one time in my life I kept feeling an inexplicable need to fast day after day.  I had no idea why.  Later, I came up against a situation of spiritual warfare in ministry and was so grateful that I had prepared my spirit for the battle at hand.

My life is nothing extraordinary.  I am sure you have had similar experiences if you have walked with the Lord for a while.  Often, when we do not have these types of spiritual foresight, it is because we have not taken the time to pray and listen to what the Lord says.  Don’t let you daily devotional only be a time of giving the Lord your wish list.  Be sure you allow time for his response and direction.  He may speak to you through Bible study; through quietly waiting on him or through reading or listening to what some other man or woman of God is sharing.  The Lord is not limited in how he communicates with us.  Begin to look for and expect his declarations for your future.  And as a word of caution, know that any leading you receive will always line up with the Word of God and will be to the glory of God.

Lord, show me anything that you desire me to see about the direction you have for my life or any area of ministry you want to open to me.  I need you to guide me through all the uncertainty of my future. In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Sherri

 

The Felling of the Mighty (Christmas) Tree

"See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”  Isaiah 42:9

 

Ah, the Christmas tree.  Its twinkling beauty holds the power to mesmerize and condemn. Condemn?  Perhaps you are now questioning my reasoning.  But for me, and other neurotic souls, that tree has a condemning thing about it.  After Thanksgiving, as I ride along and realize that other folks on our street have their tree up, I begin to have the nagging feeling.  I need to get the tree up. The kids won’t even know it is Christmas unless I get the tree up.  Once it is up, I can thoroughly enjoy looking at it. But then a new nagging starts… you need to get presents wrapped and under the tree… a feeling fully satisfied on Christmas Eve when it is full of the best we have to offer that year to our children.  And then, you guessed it, the day after Christmas… it begins to taunt me once again.  I then start with a quandary… How long must I keep this thing up to make it worth all the hassle it was?  Am I a scrooge if I take it down immediately?  In our early years of marriage, when we were childless and had money to spare, I would always leave it up until after New Year’s Day, because my husband is a New Year’s baby.  I would wrap up several presents (again, this was B.C.- before children) and enjoy it until he opened presents on his birthday.  But these days, his birthday is a quieter and lower budget affair.  Thus, my conundrum.  Do I take down the tree or leave it up until after his birthday?

OK, so maybe you now realize you are reading the rantings of a woman off-kilter.  But let me ask you this- what is the Christmas tree in your life?  What is it that hangs over your head, makes demands on you and causes torment?  Is it debt?  Is it health that you could improve by making lifestyle changes?  Parenting guilt and expectations?  An unfulfilling job?  Whatever stares you down on a daily basis, we face the same questions:  What do I need to do?  What do I need to let go and put away?  Is it time to conquer this thing or recognize that this is a fight that I do not need to win?

These questions are one reason why I cherish the new year.  As today’s passages states, “the former things have taken place and new things I declare…”  There is a lot of water under the bridge.  Some of it has been awesome- milestones of our life.  Other things have been frightening, disappointing and down-right depressing.  No matter; it is in the past.  Now you look ahead with a year full of potential.  Will there still be disappointment and pain for me in 2013?  Most likely- unless the Lord soon returns for us.  But this year can be a great year if we apply ourselves and seize the opportunities that the Lord puts in our path.

Tomorrow we will talk about looking to the new.  But today- survey your life.  Pray and read the Bible a bit.  Ask he Lord the hard questions.  What do I need to let go of?  What do you desire to change in me? Let today be a day of putting the past behind you, and stirring up yourself to embrace the new with zeal and enthusiasm.

Thank you Lord, for Christmas and all it means to me as a Christian. But as I put the past behind me, I ask that you help me to know what to let go of and what to cling to.  Help me find renewed hope and strength in you.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Happy New Year!

Sherri