And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:5-8

Jesus spoke to the gathering on the mountainside, warning them to avoid being like the Pharisees who made a show of their praying and the doing of their good works. He told them (and us) that when we pray, we are to pray in private…speaking with the Lord in a quiet place (in secret). In doing so, we are totally alone with God. We are focused upon Him and we speak only to Him. It is a private and intimate time with the Lord. We are unhindered by distraction around us, unseen and unheard by others who we might otherwise want to impress.

There was another warning. It was to sincerely speak to Him making our prayers and supplications ‘short and sweet’. Because God already knows our thoughts and our hearts desires, we need not pray in repetitive phrases or long flowery speeches. In the private places of our own hearts and minds we may lift our praise, our adoration, our thanksgiving, our confession, our requests. God knows, and hears and will answer. (“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear” Is 65:24)

This verse of scripture is not meant to mean that we should not have corporate prayer at any time, but it is speaking to individuals who are in danger of being like the hypocrites….those who ‘perform’, rather than being honest and sincere before the Lord. They are looking to be recognized by the hearers, the crowd, rather than standing in intimacy before the Almighty God.

In Exodus, Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai having a one on one conversation with God. He was gone for 40 days and nights, and when he came down, he discovered that, in his absence, the Israelites had made a golden calf and were worshiping the idol. Moses was so distraught at the sin of these who God was making an effort to deliver, that he (Moses) built a tent where he could fall down before God in prayer for their forgiveness.

When Jesus wanted to pray to His Father, He separated Himself from the crowds, and followers, and even from his disciples. He went into the wilderness or into the Garden at Gethsemane, where He could be honest and real with God.

These are just two examples of men who meant business with God. Their hearts were heavy with burdens. They wanted God to hear and answer their earnest prayers, and so they put all else aside in order to speak to their God. We would be wise to take heed, learning from Jesus’ warnings and examples. Let us pray concisely, and effectually, believing that God hears and will answer, according to His will.

And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

1 Samuel 17:26-27, KJV

There he stood alone, in the shadow of a mighty giant. He was young and armed only with a sling shot and five stones to sling. He knew his enemy was feared by all, and he might also have been afraid as he stood face to face with the mammoth being. But David was not feeling fearful of Goliath.

David focused not on his enemy. He focused not on the fact that he wore no protection or that his weapon was small and perhaps inefficient against the mighty sword, heavy spear and the armor of the giant. He focused not on the fact that he stood against odds that were greatly against him. He focused not on fear. Why not, when the battalions of soldiers shook at the presence of the nine feet, nine inches tall Philistine? How could he stand, without perspiration of stress and palpitations of fear in his heart?

David was not pleased to hear the mocking of his God and his people by this bully. He asked ” Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?” In essence he was asking, “Just who does this guy think he is?” David wasn’t going to tolerate this situation. He knew that God was on his side. David knew that his God was present in the situation at hand. He knew, therefore he trusted. He stood firmly and with conviction. He saw only his God. He looked the problem in the face and he ran toward it, while others had fled. Goliath laughed at the sight of this young man, taunting him further. David loaded his slingshot and slung one stone. It hit its target, and Goliath fell dead to the ground.

I came to realize as I read and reread this account that Goliaths are in our lives all the time. Sometimes they are quiet, and the SON shines in such a way that we don’t see the shadows. We go on without much notice of them. Other times they are huge and noisy, and the shadows overtake us and they lay across our lives, darkening our days. It’s then that we must get ourselves out of the shadows, by making a leap of faith into the Sonlight. We need to look for God in those times. We need to do battle with Goliath, using the strength provided by God. One of those strengths, no matter how weak it ‘feels’, is trust. Another is surrender to the knowledge that God never fails us, and no matter where we are, no matter what our circumstance, God knows best where to take us and how to take us through to work things out for our best and for His glory.

A line from a recently-watched movie was ” You must look beyond the obvious to see the truth.” Let us look beyond the problems, the hurdles, the fears. Let us look to God. Let us go forth into today, with our focus on our God, clad in the full armor of God (Ephesians 6). We will be ready to look the enemy in the eye and to slay those Goliaths in our lives.

Years ago, I was in the struggle of trying to ‘fix’ a bad marriage. I just didn’t know how. I was a Christian, but I was not a mature one, and hadn’t yet learned to leave things to God and follow His leading. I HAD to fix things….no matter what it was. It didn’t work. It never does. I’ve learned that the hard way.

But during that time, I decided to take a long walk beside the ocean in my hometown, to work out some of the stress. As I walked along the edge of the sea, breathing in the heavy salt air, I began to talk to God. I stopped and looked at the ocean, rolling in, wave after wave, with perfect rhythm. I said, “Lord… the sea is so large. It has no boundaries.”

Almost immediately I heard that still, small Voice within me answer, ” Yes, it IS large, but I Am greater still. And, although you cannot see them, the sea does have boundaries. I have no beginning and no end.”

I spoke again. “The water flows and ebbs, it continues without thought.” and the Voice replied, “I created the sea, and all that is within it. I set the waves in motion and I caused them to roll as they do. “

I continued. “There is so much life in the sea. The fish, the whales, the plant life, the tiny little things I can’t even see or recognize.” Again, the Voice answered within me. “That is true, the sea holds much life, but I am the Giver of all Life.”

It hit me that I was having a conversation with God, a real ‘give and take’ conversation. It amazed me. Though I heard no voice in my ear, I heard it in my heart. It was comforting.

Turning, I walked along the shoreline, taunting the waves to catch my footsteps, I noticed the sand. “Lord, there are so many grains of sand, no one could ever count them all.” The Voice answered again. ” I have numbered them. There are many, more than the stars in the skies, and if every grain of sand was one of your problems, I would know each one of them and every detail of each one.”

I stopped. I needed to sit and think about what had just happened. I had just had a conversation with the Almighty God, the Creator of all things. I’ve not, to this day, forgotten that. Over the years as I’ve walked with Jesus, the conversation has come back to me and replayed. New insights for me have come from it when I realize that I was there to ‘work out my stresses.’ I didn’t invite God into that, other than to be amazed at His handiwork. I didn’t invite Him to join me that day…but He was there anyway.

Looking at the experience from time to time has shown me that it is God that I should appreciate, more so than His gift of creation. It has reminded me that God knows all things, and He sees every act, deed, thought, emotion that is in my life. It has caused me to realize that I can turn over the ‘fixing of everything’ to Him, for He holds it all in His hands. It has taught me to see GOD in a very different way as I’ve grown, and to keep looking at Him.

I’ll sum it all up with a line that I heard in a ‘random’ movie we watched last night. “You will never be able to see what IS or what WAS or what WILL BE unless you are willing to really look.”

Lord, please keep my eyes on YOU…and my vision clear. Amen

O Master, let me walk with Thee,
In lowly paths of service free;
Tell me Thy secret; help me bear
The strain of toil, the fret of care.

Teach me Thy patience; still with Thee
In closer, dearer, company,
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
In trust that triumphs over wrong.

What a glorious prayer that is to speak…or to sing! To draw near to Jesus, to sit at His feet, as in the story of Mary and Martha, to listen to Him, to learn all that He has to teach, and to be guided through the lessons that I might become more like Him in my life…that should be my goal.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me…save that Thou art
Thou my best thought, by day or by night…
Waking and sleeping…Thy presence, my light

This is my purpose…to look Jesus in the eye, and ask Him to be what I set my sights on. Nothing else is so important as He is…not the race, not the prize, but the running with Him to the end. I recognize that, I say that…but do I live that? I speak those heart-felt words to Him, “Be THOU my vision”, Lord…’be my goal. Be my purpose, be my ALL. “

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
I need Thee, oh…I need Thee….every hour I need Thee
Oh bless me, now, my Savior…I come to Thee.

I realize how much I need Jesus! I need to be one with Him….not only in the moments when I need something from Him….but every moment. How else will I get to know WHO He is?

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,
Feed me till I want no more;
Feed me till I want no more

I am weak. He is strong. I need to pray more. I need to listen more. I need to surrender more to His Word. I need more of Him in my life. I need to make this my never-ceasing prayer…

More of You, Lord, that’s the way it has to be
I need more of You, ’til there is no room left for me.
Seems like I never get enough
Of Your grace, Your peace, and Your power and Your love,
Lord, I need more of You in me.

Amen

Have you ever been betrayed? Did you have any indication that it was about to happen, or were you blindsided? How did you feel after it happened? Did you feel cut to the core? What did you do in response?  Did the betrayer’s hurt touch more than just you?

Think of this, the worst of  betrayals. One of  Jesus followers, one of his hand-picked, beloved twelve apostles, schemed  and conspired to betray Jesus. Judas. He was the treasurer of the money for the poor. (Would that tell us that he was to be trusted?)  But, we see that he cannot be trusted…not with cash, as he was said to have ‘pilfered’ from the money box. He was a  thief.  He was not faithful to the Master. He was greedy, and sold out Jesus, the Innocent, for thirty pieces of silver.

What  did that accomplish?  Jesus was arrested, tried, found guilty of nothing, and yet He was convicted and  crucified.  What was  His response to the betrayal…to the beating, to the inhumane treatment?  As He hung on the Cross, waiting to die, His words rang out across the Hill of  Golgotha. “Father, forgive them! They know not what they do!”  Forgiveness.

Now, look at Judas. What was his response to the horrible act that he had committed and caused to occur?  He was consumed with agony for what he had done….knowing that Jesus would be put to death as an innocent man.  He went back to the  chief priests and elders, and attempted to give back the money they had paid him. Perhaps he was hoping to free Jesus from the fate that awaited Him.

Perhaps he was hoping to relieve himself of the guilt that weighed so heavily upon himself. The priests and the elders paid no attention to his pleas. Instead they turned to him and said, in essence, ‘What do we care, Judas? That’s your problem.’ Finding that there was no solution for what he had done, and being overwhelmed with the knowledge that he was responsible, Judas threw the money on the floor at their feet, and went away and committed suicide.

How did this betrayal and the results of it affect other people?  Pilate, the governor, wanted nothing to do with the death of Jesus, literally washing his hands, to indicate that he would not be a part of the death of an innocent man.  A centurion guard near the Cross became a believer that Christ was, indeed, what He had claimed to be…’truly the Son of God.’ (Matt 27:54)

Many were touched on that day by the Spirit of God, and over the ages, many more have come to know the Truth of who Jesus Christ, the innocent man who was crucified, really is…the Living God.

The betrayal by one follower of Christ set into motion a harsh reality on that day. It was a plan of God’s design, but difficult for even Jesus to understand as He prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet, being God, He knew all that would happen. He knew each detail that would occur, and though He might have stopped it at any point along the way, Jesus willingly gave Himself  up to die for the benefit of all people everywhere.  This one betrayal turned the world upside down for all eternity….and it’s still difficult for us to understand, nearly two thousand years later.

Lord, help us to keep our hearts a-tuned to You that, even though we may not understand the plan, we would be willing to do what You ask, that Your work on earth might be accomplished. Amen

After so many years of being a Christian, you’d think I’d realize that God’s way is always best.  I do realize that, and yet, reeling myself into a place of submission is still difficult for me at times.  And so, I tackled this assignment with prayer and with the hope that  I can communicate the Lord’s idea, and not my own wrongful thoughts out of it.

I looked up the word, ‘marriage’ in the dictionary. It isn’t even worth repeating. In today’s world, people have such views of marriage that are so contrary to Christ’s design for the sacred covenant of marriage. They go into it these days, with the thought that “if it doesn’t work out, there’s always the option of divorce.”  Some delay marriage or deny it altogether.  Is that what God desires?

At the creation, God made a man, and seeing he was alone and that it was not good, God took Adam’s rib and formed a woman to be his partner. They were to walk and live as one unit, to raise their children together, to be a team during life.  Fast forward to Ephesians 5: 22-33. Again, God gave instruction on marriage, through Paul’s pen.  He lovingly, yet firmly, tells us that the MAN is the HEAD of the family. He is told to love his wife with a love likened to Christ’s sacrificial love for the Church. The husband is responsible to keep his family in order at all costs, but with LOVE, not demands, not commands, not abusively, not to ‘lord over’…but lovingly, sacrificially.  The MAN is the authority over the wife, according to the Word of God. Women can like that or not, but it’s a fact.

This doesn’t remove a wife’s responsibility to her family. God has words for her, as well. She is instructed to ‘submit’ to her husband, to be subject to him.  What does that mean?  I looked up each of the words…submit and subject… in my collegiate dictionary, though I pretty much knew what it would say.  Both terms mean ‘to yield’ or ‘to place under authority’.   That tells us, wives, again, that our authority is our husband.

Now comes the hard part. Submission to God seems easier, somehow, than submission to a person in front of me whose position on something might vastly differ from my own.  I can easily give him ‘the right to his opinion’, but struggle with giving up to his authority (even if I cling to my opinion.) Does it matter that I have an opinion?  Of course it does. God created us to be individual, unique people, with opinions, feelings, etc.  But the bottom line is, that I must place myself, first, under God’s authority and if He says that I must yield to my husband’s decision, than so be it.

I believe that the text is indicating that regardless of our individual feelings and thoughts, we must learn to obey God’s design.  We need to yield…to Him and to each other in our daily lives. We need to work together for the good of the family and the relationship. We are not to cling to our stubborn ways, but to cling to each other working as a team.  We are not meant to hop from one team to another, but to ‘cleave one to another’, as is the wording of many marriage ceremonies.  ’Cleave’ means ‘to adhere to’…stick with, stay….through it all. God is the Captain of the team, husbands have been created as co-captains, and wives are team members.  Being in the proper positions, will make us winners in the game of Life.

Lord, help us to listen to our Captain, and to set our minds to do what it is He has planned. In such a way, our hearts and minds will know peace and order.  Amen

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.

Ephesians 4:14-15

As a parent, grandparent, aunt, former child-care giver of over 100 children at various times over the years, I’ve seen much child-like behavior. While children can be comical, sweet, innocent and obedient, they can also be selfish, devious, gullible, vulnerable to influences of others, and unsettled. They need to be constantly watched over by a responsible person, in order to keep them from danger. They need to be corrected and redirected at times, and constantly protected.

I remember a time when I sat my three teenagers and two pre-teens down at the table, and I told them that when they were little I was able to watch over them all the time, but now that they were older, they were out of my sight more often than not. I explained that they knew right from wrong, they knew the ‘rules’. I told them that I expected them to live by the things I’d taught them. If they didn’t, ultimately they would be the ones to suffer. Yes, I would hurt, and I would, undoubtedly, be judged as a parent by their behavior, but they would have to carry the reputations. I hoped that they would make the right choices so that they could live without any shame or trouble.

Christians also are capable of child-like qualities. God has given us the rules, and He’s given us choices as to how we will live. Many of us, even after being saved, fight hard to continue living our own ways. Living out our own desires and acting out our own thoughts is disastrous, as our flesh is constantly at war with the Holy Spirit. We, stubbornly, want our way. He wants what’s best for us. When we rebel against the boundaries given to us in God’s Word, we find ourselves producing behaviors that are not attractive as Christian people or glorifying to the Father. We practice sinful behaviors. We might have temper tantrums or outbursts of anger. Maybe we drink alcohol…maybe a little too much. Perhaps we find ourselves using vulgar words. Perhaps we go to places where we’d be ashamed to be found by our Lord or our Christian brothers. Maybe we do things that are even worse. What do these things do to our Christian reputation?

This type of living exemplifies our lack of Christian maturity. We are still acting like children. We need someone to redirect us. We need to be chastised. We need to be reminded of ‘the rules’. We need to listen to His voice and pay attention to His instruction. When we wander from God’s Words, we are vulnerable . We will believe the lies of the tempter and fall prey to his words. When we walk our own paths, we are in danger. Just as parents hold the hand of their children in a place of danger, our Father wants us to cling to His Hand. It is time we grew up.

When God created man, He formed Him, in the image of God. When He created each of us, He knitted our bones together in the womb of our mothers. He worked according to His perfect plan, putting the parts together that would work just as He wanted them to. He not only made the machinery which moved and breathed and thought, but deep within the heart of us was placed something we cannot see. It is our soul…a part of us that was created by God to need Him, to want Him.

As Christians, after a time, we feel the tugging of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. Our souls know that something is missing in our lives, and that something is revealed to us as a real relationship with the Lord. The first moment that we submit ourselves to God, He begins to rebuild the creation He made. The more of Him we hand over, the more He perfects us, according to what His will is for us. What He wants us to do is to recognize that we can become the perfect ‘us’ when we place ourselves in the able hands of the Creator.

There is no other way we will become a work of art…a Masterpiece. HE alone is the Master, and as we live, work, submit, yield to Him, the Masterpiece will become more beautiful, more like Him.

This song from the mid-1970′s is my prayer as He forms me in small and great ways by His mighty hand.

Father, You are the artist with canvas and paint
Color my life with Your blue skies and rain
Paint seasons of sunshine and places of pain
‘Til I am a picture of Him.

Refrain:
Make me a portrait of Jesus.
Paint Your love over my sin.
Let Your life shine like a light through mine,
‘Til I am the picture of Him.

Lord, I am a canvas for You to create
Capture the look of Your Son in my face
And when You paint problems, Lord
Frame them with grace,
‘Til I am the picture of Him.

Refrain

Lord, You paint my future,
According to plan
I trust You though sometimes
I don’t understand
The rainbow of reasons that flows
From Your hand,
To make me a picture of Him.

Refrain

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 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. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Heb 10: 19-22

What is Sacrifice?  Webster’s dictionary gives these definitions:

• An act of offering to a deity something precious; especially : the killing of a victim on an altar
• Something offered in sacrifice
• a: destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else b: something given up or lost

Exactly!  The act of offering to a deity…GOD, something precious…ourselves. With sincere hearts, with complete surrender, we gave our lives to Him at the time of our prayer for salvation. We were, as it says in Heb 10:22 “sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. Following that, we gave our bodies to be ‘washed with pure water” in the act of Baptism. Those activities of a new believer were not the end of it. More was expected of us.

Heb 10: 23 goes on to say that we should ‘hold fast’  (tightly, firmly) to the hope, without wavering.  Hmmm… without wavering.

What does that mean?  Does it mean that we can run and cling to the hem of Christ’s garment when we want something, when we need Him to do something for us?  Does it mean we can return to our old ways and run back and forth to Jesus with a prayer of repentance when we get into trouble?  NO! “Without wavering” means that we must walk in His footsteps, moment by moment. That means seeking God’s will, and yielding to it, regardless of how uncomfortable it may seem at the time. It means that we must surrender our own thoughts and trust in His.

Sacrificial living won’t always feel good. When you  give up something that you are used to doing, however unhealthy it might be, it’s not easy to do. God’s Word tells us that man’s thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways.  Sacrificing anything is contrary to man’s selfish nature.

It takes practice to let go of old things and to begin new methods of living. Consider physical exercise. It causes muscles to ache.  However, the more we use those muscles, the stronger they get and the more natural it is to use them. Likewise, exercising these new spiritual muscles may cause moments of pain, but, the more we use those muscles, the stronger they get and the more natural it is to use them. Think of it as ‘growing pains’.  Our sacrificial living is healthier, and it produces growth. Do you see the pattern emerging? Our faithfulness in the practice of giving to and for the Lord, results in our strength, and growth in spiritual things. The more grow, the more we want to please Him.  The more faithful we are, the more He can use us in accomplishing His work.

We are to encourage one another in this vein. When it’s ‘hard’ to run that race set before us, let us call out, first to our Coach Jesus for strength, and then to the other team players, our brothers and sisters in Christ who will be our cheerleaders. We all need a friendly smile, a helping hand, a pat on the back sometimes. We all need a little scolding, too, at times and help in finding our direction. Each of us needs a little nudge, at times, to do our work with a cheerful heart.  Let us pray for one another and encourage one another to ‘keep up the good work’ as we attempt to develop new patterns of sacrificial living.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6

How will we be satisfied?

Can you imagine going all week, until Sunday, without eating a meal? You’d be tired, grumpy and lethargic without any food in your body, wouldn’t you? You’d have no energy and little interest in anything because you’d be deprived of the fuel it takes to operate in a healthy manner.

The same is true of us when we leave our Bibles, untouched, between church services. A week without the Word of God would be detrimental to our spiritual lives.  There would be no direction, but our own, and that usually ends us up in a place we don’t want to be. There would be no assurance of God’s love that is ours, and that would leave us feeling needy and alone. There would be no chastisement or reminder of sin that we could easily fall prey to when not listening to the Voice of God. Ignoring the Word could result in a disaster for us, spiritually speaking.

When we are malnourished, we are a sad bunch, a weak family of Christians. We haven’t much desire to serve because we have no energy or motivation to do so. What good, then, are we to the Lord?  Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? It is good for nothing, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” (Matthew 5:13)  Even if we have an idea of serving, how will we know what to do or how to do it the way He wants us to without His instruction?

We need to encourage one another to read the Word, faithfully and often. We need to be self-disciplined, setting a specific block of time for the studying of the Bible. Devouring the delectable tidbits from the banquet table that God sets before us will nourish our spiritual lives in ways we cannot imagine!  We will grow closer to Him, we will move in Him, we will serve Him, we will please Him!  A proper spiritual diet is one that incorporates prayer, studying the Word, and then carrying out what we have learned.  Praying, alone, won’t accomplish the work of God. Neither will reading His Word. We must put what we’ve learned into practice.  There is no sense knowing something without using the knowledge. All this may not come easily, but it is not always easy to do what is best for us or for the good of someone else.

Think of it this way, would we, if we were carpenters, go off to a job without the tools we’d need in our toolboxes? No, of course not. We’d accomplish little that day, having left our tools at home. The same is true of the Bible. Leaving it untouched, unread, does not prepare us for the work God wants to have done in the world around us. We have a kingdom to build for Him. Just as we cannot hammer a nail with our hand alone, we cannot build a kingdom without His blueprints and instruction.  Let’s remember to use the tools He has supplied us with for the job!

Let us each find a time each morning, when we may sit with Jesus in a quiet place. (“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10)  Unhurried, let’s spend time speaking with Him through prayer, listening to Him through the reading of the Bible.  Then we can go forth into the new day with a calm assurance that we are prepared to do the work He puts before us.