Bless The Work Of Our Hands

Backyard in Aura, MI

Psalm 90:12-17 KJV

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

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Traveling no longer makes me glad in my days. Although, the land that God has given us is beautiful and I enjoy the scenery.  I do not enjoy the traffic.

We are back home in Florida with prayers that our home in Michigan is sold quickly.  There are things to do here; fruitful things things to do. For the next couple of days I will be unpacking, sorting things out, putting them away and doing a lot of cleaning. I am hoping that in the near future I will be able to plant a garden or two now that I am not having to rush things between our seasons of moving between two states.  

May God bless the work of our hands that He might be glorified.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Time Is Short

Time Passes Quicker Than You Would Think
Make The Most Of The Time You Have!

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 

                                                                                (Psalm 90:10,12 KJV)

Teach us to number our days, dear Lord! Teach us to make each day count! 

So many people appear to be rejoicing that 2020 is over. For some reason they  seem to think that 2021 is going to be a much better year. Yet, the passing of another year brings us closer to that threescore and ten.

Whether our years are fruitful or not is up to us. The Lord blesses us but we often miss the blessings because we are busy pouting over minor stuff instead of rejoicing in the gifts that he has given us. 

Time passes quite quickly. One day we are young. Very soon after we are not. While we have time here on earth we ought to make good use of that time and not fritter it away feeling sorry for ourselves or wasting our days angry with others. 

Thanks be to God, Jesus the Christ came so that through his blood we might be reconciled to God and to one another. Living as though we are not reconciled to one another is a horrible way to squander away the days we have here on earth.

Let us live as children of God making the best of the days that God has given us to dwell on this earth.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Patiently Waiting

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

                                                                                       (2 Peter 3:8-9 KJV)

I consider myself to have a lot of patience. I have been waiting for answers to a few of my prayers pretty much my whole life. There are days when I think well... that's enough. It is time to quit praying for...... But, then I consider how many years from the beginning of creation that it took God to send Jesus to save us from our own sinful selves.  Quite a lengthy time that took!

Here in this season of Advent we wait and watch as we do every Advent and every year. We wait and watch for the Lord to return in full glory. We wait with patience and at times most impatiently. It may seem like the wait goes on forever; but, a thousand years to humankind is as one day to the Lord. 

We wait knowing that the Lord does not desire that for any to perish, but that all should come to repentance. God continues to wait for the lost to believe. May God help us to have the patience and the compassion to wait with love for our fellowman to hear and believe in our salvation through our Lord, Jesus the Christ. 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Life Is Short

Isaiah 40:8

Psalm 90:1-12 KJV

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

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We've heard it said in many ways: Life is short. Don't waste it. How many of us when we get up there in years wonder how the years have escaped us and we wonder why we weren't a bit wiser in the way we lived our lives; especially our youth?  The years have gone by quickly; too quickly. Yet, there is the promise of hope that all who believe in Jesus the Christ will not perish will have eternal life. So then all who believe never truly get old for how old can you get if you have eternal life? How old can you get if you are eternally a child of God?

Yet, life on this earth is short. Don't waste it. It is much better to live this short life with wisdom and and with justice than to seek those things that will wither away like the grass of the fields. It is wisdom to hear the word of the Lord and to truly listen to Him so that we might live life in the hope of living eternally in the presence of God our Father, through faith in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Today He Died For You

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4 KJV)

Was it two thousand years that our Lord Jesus suffered and died on that cross for us? Or, was it just yesterday? 

I often think that we tend to write off what Jesus has done for us as mere history from long ago; a history that is slightly relevant to our time or maybe it is not relevant at all. It has become almost a myth for many who actually profess to be Christian. 

Jesus' death and resurrection was a reality. It is a reality. It is as real today as it was two thousand years ago. It is not just ancient history. 

God's time is not our time. He does not count days like we count days. St. Peter wrote "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8)

In your devotions today and tomorrow consider this: today is the Lord's day; everyday is the Lord's day. Today is the day that Jesus died for you. It is the day that he rose from the grave for you. It is the day that he lives for and with and through you. May God grant us all fuller appreciation of this glorious day. 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Never Satisfied Sermon Sept 27 2020

Curses And Blessings

"He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys." 2 King 2:23-24 NRSV

Over the years I've gotten pretty accustomed to hearing curse words. I mostly ignore it. But, listening to people curse every time they speak causes me to get a knot in my stomach. Hearing God's name used recklessly makes me a little more than anxious. I hear words come out of people's mouths and I wonder if they realize that God is listening. When we desire that someone be harmed and we think or speak it; they are not just harmless words. Every word, whether it is a blessing or a curse, is like a prayer before God.

The story of Elisha cursing the boys and the bears coming to retaliate against them for disrespecting and bullying God's prophet is a bit disturbing. It can make one really uncomfortable to think that God would answer this prayer (curse) in such a devastating fashion. It causes me to wonder if Elisha had any clue that God would respond in such a dramatic fashion or did the curse simply slip from his lips in a moment of anger or maybe fear when he faced the mob of forty-two alone? But, he was not alone. God was with him.

God doesn't normally send bears to protect His prophets. But, there is no doubt that He is with all who serve Him and He listens to their pleas. Be careful of what words slip through your lips. If someone offends you consider the possibility that they did not mean it the way that it sounded or looked to you. It is up to each of us to decide whether whether our own words will be the words of a bully, a curse in God's name, or if they will be the words of a blessing; God hears it all. Be careful of what you pray for. 

God's Peace - Pr. J

As My Beloved is Dead; So am I

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Gen 2:24 NKJV)

Over the last couple of weeks I have commended an elderly sister in Christ into the hands of Almighty God; informed her husband of her death; and attended her funeral. It was both heartbreaking and reassuring to be with her husband and to witness his love for her. The Lord's Prayer was said many times in the last week as was the Shepherd's Psalm and many other prayers, as well. Between prayers, he lamented, "I am dead." 

This man who has lived on earth for over one hundred years knew what it meant to be one, completely one, with his wife. Assuredly, he was also an individual; but, when God joined them together as husband and wife they truly became one flesh. When she died, it was as though he died. In fact, a part of him has. This woman who was joined to him as one flesh is no longer with him in this world. A huge part of him has been ripped from his life. It is not as though he wishes death for himself; although, he might desire greatly to go home to the Lord, as well. The emptiness within him feels as though there is no life left within him as is common when we lose someone that we love so deeply. The emptiness; the grief, swallows up the breath, the life from within us. It leaves behind the emptiness; the absolute aloneness, of death.

Yet, he is not alone. He has hope. He has hope that as he was joined with his wife as one flesh; through, the gift of the Spirit of Christ, he will always be joined; he will always be reconciled to God our Father, our Lord Jesus, and to all of the people of God. "....nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Rom 8:38-39) In this lies our comfort and hope.

And, so we pray with him: 

        
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

                                              (Psalm 23:4-6)

God's Peace - Pr. J

Listen To His Voice

So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
     do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
    during the time of testing in the wilderness,
 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
    though for forty years they saw what I did.
 That is why I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
 So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

                                                                                                              (Heb 3:7-13 NIV)

It was not only Israel that has seen and heard what God had done for them. If we are honest with ourselves; we, too, have seen and heard what God has done for us. God has done great things for all people. Yet, many refuse to see. They refuse to hear. They harden their hearts as in the great rebellion. They refuse to follow in "the way." Sadly, those who continue to rebel against the Lord our God will never enter His rest as He has promised. Sadly, some of those people who reject Him are people that we care about and love. It is up to those who do believe to continue to encourage others and remind them that it is a privilege and a blessing to hear his voice. It is up to God's children to remind all people to listen to Him.

May God open our ears to hear and our eyes to see and our hearts that we might desire to listen and follow in His way. 

God's Peace - Pr. J

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

THE LORD's PRAYER

The Fourth Petition.

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does this mean?--Answer.
God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all wicked men; but we pray in this petition that He would lead us to know it, and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread?--Answer.
Everything that belongs to the support and wants of the body, such as meat, drink, clothing, shoes, house, homestead, field, cattle, money, goods, a pious spouse, pious children, pious servants, pious and faithful magistrates, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

(http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php)

 

There was no bread in the desert.  There was no meat to eat in the wilderness.  The Israelites were hungry and complained saying it would be better to be slaves in Egypt rather than following the Lord through the wilderness to the promised land.  The Lord heard them complaining.  He provided daily bread. But, he provided no more than they needed except for on the day before the Sabbath so that they would have enough to sustain them on the Sabbath.  He proved bread in the morning and quail for meat each evening.  But, some people tried to hoard it.  They did not understand that the Lord was trying to teach them to trust him and not the rulers of this world for their daily bread.  The extra bread that they tried to collect and save up for themselves spoiled so that worms lived in it.   For forty years the Lord provided this daily bread to his children.

Give us this day our daily bread. We pray it all the time. I remember Howard and my first few years of marriage. Wow! Talk about broke! He was a young Marine and I will tell you that at that time; even though I worked as well, there was not much of an income.  I had a budget of $20.00 for groceries for the month. Before I went shopping, I would do a whole month's menu just so not a penny would be wasted. Sometimes we ended up short. For some reason, I didn't think about applying for food stamps. I think I may have felt that they were for those who had less than we had. I actually felt quite blessed at the time. After all, there was always something to eat on the table. Suppers on those last days of the month sometimes were pretty sparse. They consisted of things like pancakes without eggs, basically flour and water with a  little margarine and sugar sprinkled on top or homemade bean soup. We ate a lot of homemade bean soup. But, we ate. We were provided for. Even though at times there was no meat for the table, there was always bread - sometimes homemade. God provided for our daily needs.

God provides for all that we need; not just the food which sustains our bodies. Do we really trust Him to take care of all of our needs or are we busy striving for more for ourselves? Are we willing to sell ourselves back into the bondage of people, places, things?  In whom do we trust to care of us:  God or the world? 

 

May God teach us to depend on Him above all others and then to use the gifts that He gives to us that others may also not be in need of life sustaining daily bread.

God's Peace - Pr. J

In God's Time

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:8-9 NIV

I can become very impatient. There are times when I feel a sense of urgency. There are days when I think, "OK, Lord, isn't it about time to take all of your children home? Enough is enough!" But, apparently it is not time, yet. He apparently does not want anyone to perish so everyone gets another chance and another and another to turn to Him.

There are times when I consider that my time is really short here on earth and I just don't have enough time left to reach out to all who I would reach out to. But, then I have to remember that although my time may be short here on earth, God's is not. He is with all people at all times. He continues to call all people to Himself.

No matter what is going on around you; no matter how self-serving and chaotic life around you seems to be, remember:  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  (Rom 8:28) He has a good plan. We might desire that He hurry up with His plan. But, we're going to have to wait for Him to act in His own good time and His time is not our time.

We don't know His whole plan. But; be assured, He does have a plan and that plan encompasses much more than our personal life spans. After all, He has eternity in His hand.

God is patient with us. He is a loving God. May we all quit taking His patient love for granted and turn to Him for our salvation.

God's Peace - Pr. Judy