They that Wait (Hope and Trust) in the Lord Shall Renew Their Strength

I don't know about anyone else but this year, make that years, have been hard.

I know that I am not isolated in this as much as I wish that were the case.  I wish that everyone else was missing the hardships and trials that life seemed intent to bring to our doorsteps.  Is this is a gift we can return?  I could sit here wishing away all the world's troubles but that will never do anything but cause me more despair.

Instead, today I write in the midst of my "going through" as a way to encourage myself and perhaps you too.  I called upon the Lord in my weakness and he answered me. I prayed earnestly for strength and He answered me.  Now, the answer may surprise you, as it certainly did me.  His answer was not the supernatural injection of "PowerAde"; it was not the taking away of the problems in my life; it was a word - make that two words to be exact.

Hope. Wait.  

Hope was easy to swallow.  Hope was so positive. It was hopeful and gave me added reason to get up in the morning.  I felt like the break through would be my testimony after just a few more sleeps. I was hopeful that the mourning period was on a timeline that had an expected end.  Joy was in the morning!

Hope. Hope. Hope.  Hope in the Lord.  Why be downcast oh my soul?  Hope is alive and springs eternal!  The diet of tears was going to be quickly replaced with laughter and joy.  When they ask where is your God?  I will simply say my hope is in God.  Tada!!!!  The Grande finale achieved.  Yet, it didn't or rather hasn't exactly happened like that.

Wait.  This word came after the calendar pages flipped over and the expected end was not yet mine. I knew that he was directing me to the prophetic words of Isaiah that says strength is given to those who wait on the Lord.  Wait and be powered up.  Wait and be renewed.  Wait and again I say wait on the Lord.

My heart meditated on these words.  I went to bed saying them and woke up with them.  Wait on the Lord, you shall renew your strength.  Wait I say.  They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.  I couldn't shake it and I suppose I was not really trying to do so.  I wanted that promised strength.  No.  Let me amend that; I need that promised strength.

So here I am - Hoping and Waiting.  Here I am being encouraged with prayer and song as God sends me winks of reminders.  It has been a verse repeated, or a song sang by a friend.  Strength is from God.  I have no might and am quite powerless in my own abilities.  However, in my weakness and in yours, His strength is made perfect.  Hope.  Wait.  We will not be disappointed.

Come to Me ...and I will give you rest

 Come to Me.

This is an open invitation to all of us - all who believe that God is God; all who are weary and heavy laden; all who are so tired of being tired; all who live and breathe are invited to COME.  

These days, we don't have many invitations that are open.  In this era of social distancing and pandemic hysteria we have more cancellations than anything else.  No-one really wants to have company over for fear of finding themselves having an unwanted guest trying to move in permanently - that dreaded virus and his friends.

However, Jesus, when he extended that invitation in Matthew 11:28 is not cancelling on us.  His door remains open and His arms are strong enough to hold you up.  Come.  That word is also a command.  It really does require a response.  You and I need to decide if we will move towards Him.  To move from our place of unrest into Him that is our rest.

To Me.  I love that Jesus was not sending us to anyone else.  He offers Himself as the source that is unlimited.  He is the very thing we need - REST.  He says "I will give you rest"  and we can trust Him to do just that for us.  

We can echo David, as he wrote My soul finds rest in God alone, my salvation is from Him..  He alone is my rock and my salvation.  I will never be shaken.  (Psalm 62 - paraphrased).

So, say yes to the invitation.  He will give you rest.

2021 STARTING POINT: WHAT IS YOUR INTENTION?

What is your intention for 2021?  No, not a new year's resolution that we make with no "intention" of keeping.  Be honest with yourself if not me today.  You know the ones we make every year and we never actually follow through with them - lose weight, read the bible cover to cover, be more intentional in building relationship with so and so.  Shall I go on?  Instead of rewording the same list from the year before, I am asking you to dig deeper and to pray harder. 

This week, the golden text for devotion was based on Proverbs 17:3 which says "the refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord test the heart".  

As I thought about this verse I realize that God, through his refiner's fire, intends to draw out the impurities in our lives.  He stands at the mouth of the furnace, as Spurgeon says, and carefully tends to us, skimming away the dross. He intends for us to be like pure gold that can only be achieved through heated flames.  The hotter the fire, the purer the gold.  

You may ask, what does this have to do with "my intentions"?  In the midst of trials and testing we may be tempted to give up.  We don't like to experience hardships or to endure anything that will stretch us to the limit.  However, as we set our intentions out before the Lord, who directs our paths, we know that there will be testing.  We do not want to deceive ourselves into thinking other wise.  The encouragement is to understand that God is the one testing and God is the one that is helping us to pass the test.  Hallelujah! 

Job says after he has tested me I will come forth as pure gold (Job 23).  After we have suffered for a little while, the God of grace...will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10, NASB).  It's the Lord.  Your intentions are known to Him as He knows your heart and He is faithful to help you.  As we are tested and refined, what happens is that our intentions become what His intentions were for us all along.  Somewhere along the line we become aligned to Him and can truly say Not my will but thy will be done in and through me.

So, get out the pen pencil and whatever paper you can.  Ask God to test your heart and reveal to you His intentions for you in 2021.

AND THIS CHRISTMAS WILL BE...

 And so this is Christmas, and what shall we do?  This year, 2020, is not to be forgotten.  I know many of us want to pack it up and throw it out with the empty boxes in the nearest recycling bin.  However, I have a different proposal.  What if we instead look at it more closely, with pen and paper in hand, ready to take the notes of the things we have learnt about ourselves and others?  What if this Christmas, with mask and lock downs is the perfect time to show others that you remember them and you care?

In church this morning, my pastor talked about walking in service to God and others even as we face the impossible.  It was a reminder not to cease or become weary in the doing of good.  There is something we can do to help bring some good to someone else.  there is a neighbour that might just appreciate a box of chocolate or just a card with a heartfelt message of hope.  Maybe,  you have an extra bag of rice or flour and can spare to give it to another.  

You can still serve even when the prayers are unanswered (at least in your mind) and you don't know about your tomorrow.  You can shine your light so bright in your corner of the world so that others can see and worship the Father in heaven. It is possible that this Christmas you can be the gift, wrapped by God and given to others as a blessing.  It is possible that this Christmas is a call to shift our focus from what we don't have in our world to all that we do have, being recipients of God's favor.

Listen to me, this is not to trivialize or make light of anything you are now experiencing.  It is not easy and I am pretty sure that you may want to do anything but shine - twinkling lights or inner glow.  However, don't get stuck there.  God looks for those that will remain faithful even in the barrenness of  their lives.  He is "outmatched in His faithfulness" and will open the door of "provision and miracles"  in our lives as we avail ourselves to Him.

So, you decide how you will finish the title.  It is your choice really how it will end.  Let me remind you once again, of the lyric we have sung a time or two "And this Christmas will be...."

Merry Christmas.

Your Will Be Done

 "...Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  (Matthew 6:9-10).

These words are not unfamiliar to many.  It is the Our Father prayer that Jesus taught the disciples in response to them asking him to teach them how to pray.  I wondered for the first time about the words Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  

For sure Jesus, who was praying to God the Father, was making it clear that the will to be done was not that of man's or the devil's but of God the Father.  It was not debatable or with room for many interpretations.  The will of the Father is the only will to be done.  

Now this might be easy to say in prayer if we want to be flip and robotic.  However, when we are sincere and truthful we realize that our own will surfaces to choke the words we are taught to say.  We are born willful and so to bend to the will of anyone else is hard at times for us.  

Jesus established that God's will was already being done in heaven.  Heaven represented the perfect, unchallenged, fully obeyed and revered will of God.  Earth, stained with sin and ruled by the prince of this age, challenged God's will.  However, the earth belongs to God and all the inhabitants within it.  His will will be done regardless of whether we are willing or not.  

The truth is that we cannot do it "My way" without bearing the consequences of that choice. Let us not be like Jonah who heard the voice of God and decided to do what he thought was better.  He ended up in the belly of a large fish, and had caused loss and anguish for those that were innocent of his decision.  I don't dare throw stones his way as I have done just as much.  

What we don't remember is that our very lives at such a time as this is in fact His will being  done.  Think about it for a second; You are the will of God here on earth.  You, born whenever, living wherever and looking however is apart of the will of God.  

God never makes mistakes and you and I being formed by Him are not the exception to that truth.  Therefore, we can see with fresh eyes our purpose here on earth - Ambassadors, Agents, Witnesses. The name we call it doesn't matter.  We are His masterpiece and as Jesus taught us, we should pray for His will to be done on earth through us and in us as it is in heaven.

That's fine

My grandson Rilley says things that often times has me laughing or in wonder at his wit.  He is three and had a recent encounter with his Dad.  To me it was the writing on the wall.  Okay, let me stop being so dramatic and get to the point.

Rilley asked his Dad to bathe him.  Unfortunately, his Dad was unable to do so as he was at that moment leaving the house.  The UBER was at the door and my son was not going to be able to do as requested.  So he tried telling Rilley that this was not possible.  Of course try reasoning with a three year old that already has their mind set on something.  

The pleading and begging was in full effect.  Neither one was about to back down from their stance.  I was thinking that the time it was taking to settle each one could have seen to the bathing and dressing of the child.  Finally, my son was asking for a hug so he could assuage his conscience and leave in peace.

Unfortunately he met his match.  Rilley was having no part in this attempt to say sorry (if that is what it was anyway).  He refused to hug him and instead said that's fine Daddy!  That's fine!!!  He would not budge and the back and forth began again.

"Rilley come give me hug good bye!"

"No Daddy, that's fine!" 

So it went on for a few minutes until I reminded my son of the waiting cab.

When he left we (my mom, sisters and I) stood around and just looked at each other.  How could this little thing born just a few years ago be so willful in holding onto his hurt and be so determined to not give his Dad he wanted?  How could his Dad not cancel the UBER and give his son a bath? 

I saw the writing on the wall...Time moves quickly and little boys become men quicker than we would like them to be.  No one has to teach us to hold our grudges; no one has to teach us to be selfish and willful.  We are born like that.  The echo of Rilley's "That's fine" was a testimony of the sin nature we have been born into and how badly we need Jesus.  We need him because truth is we are not fine.  Rilley was not fine and fell into a fitful sleep with his unwashed body. 

Just as he needed a bath we need a cleansing from our Father.  The good thing is this, He will always say to us "That's fine"  and cleanse us willingly.  We will never catch Him off guard nor will He ever be unwilling when we ask for Him to "bathe" us.  

God, please make us clean from the stain of sin.  Please help us to never look to men for our help but to You.  Lord you are what we need.  Thank you for the blood of Jesus that removes all our filth and leaves us with a newness that is beyond compare. In Jesus name, Amen.

Time to take a stance

Everyone is talking about it.

You cannot live in 2020 and not hear of it.  If you, like me, are detached from the media (social or otherwise), you will still hear about it and even engage in conversations about it.  It is that pervasive.  In fact just today someone sent me a video that had a different spin on things.  It was a white lady stating that she was not white but black - just really lightened.  To be fair, I stopped listening after that comment so not sure if she redeemed herself after that comment.  I said to my friend who wanted to "educate" me that I am not sure I am in agreement with that comment.  She said, It's true and people need to know the truth.

I always hear that line from "A few good men" : You can't handle the truth!  The issue on race has blanketed the COVID19 pandemic.  It cries out for attention and demands change from every person.  I am a woman of colour and this unveiling of truth has been hard to handle. I am a mother, a sister and a friend of black men and boys.  My grandson is bi-racial and it hurts me to think of a future where his crime is being black.  I get it and yes I feel it deeply.

However, what stance am I taking?  It is time to take a stance - one way or another - but what should that stnace be?  What should I be lining up behind?  What is the message I want to add my voice to in this time of racial upheaval and a viral pandemic?

I stand for truth.  I stand for love.  I stand for righteousness.  I stand for Christ.  I stand for lending a hand and giving without holding back.  I stand for all lives matter - black, white and every other shade, however they identify themselves.  I am taking a stance.  I will not be moved.