Hi ladies!!
I hope you're enjoying your summer and have been able to have a bit of a break from the regular routine of school, ministry and other activities.
As you know, many GEMS counselors are travelling to conference in Minnesota this week. Please pray for these women as they get ready to leave their families behind to attend conference. Pray for safe travels, peace of mind as they are away, and that they would be refreshed, inspired, and return with renewed faith.
Because of conference, Lenae has not written a devotional for this week. I've posted a devotional I really enjoyed written by Amy from the GEMS staff blog. (a link to their blog is under favorites to the left of your screen.)
Have a blessed week!
I like dogs. Not a ton, but just enough to find enjoyment in my weekly walks with Amber – my elderly friend’s golden retriever. After four years of strolling down the same stretch of pavement every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, we’ve established a good routine.
Depending on the day, we pass a variety of people as we walk. Some stop and chat, others just smile and nod.
There’s the man who carries his oversized golf umbrella – rain or shine. He walks briskly and offers a quick wave with his free hand.
There’s the middle-aged woman and her mother who, every spring, relinquish their Curves memberships in exchange for afternoon walks together. We usually pause briefly to comment on the weather; they like to gauge how much longer they have to enjoy this tradition before the snow forces them back to the gym.
There is the old Jewish man who walks to the Synagogue with his head down and his hands clasped easily behind his back. He never fully acknowledges our presence, but he always smiles as he ambles slowly along.
The guy who mows his lawn twice a week knows Amber by name, as do the three children who ride their bikes with their dad after school in the fall. We always stop for these people, since Amber relishes the attention they give her.
The elderly gentleman who sits in a folding chair in the doorway of his garage will usually wave enthusiastically over his head, but as the days get cooler he calls out friendly reminders, encouraging me to wear a hat to stay warm.
The lady with the little white dogs we usually try to avoid. Her dogs aren’t too fond of Amber, so she crosses the street when she sees us, offering a knowing and apologetic smile as she does.
And then there’s the older gentleman who rides his giant adult-sized tricycle up and down the sidewalk, the woman who power walks to the grocery store, the guy with the fake flowers planted in pots around his yard, the lady who incessantly shovels her driveway each winter, and the couple that circles their block at the same time each Saturday.
I’ve literally interacted with these people hundreds of times. I can anticipate how they will respond to our approach, and I react accordingly.
Until about a month ago.
I had just gotten off the phone with a friend who was struggling. I was praying silently for her as I walked. I’ll do anything for my friends; I fight fiercely for the people I love, but that particular day I felt incapacitated by my own disappointed with God. His seeming lack of action in her situation left me confused and, I’ll admit, a little angry.
That’s when I saw him coming. For four years I’d heard him make the same bad joke every single time we passed him. I’ve never been able to place him: I don’t know where he lives, I’m not sure where he’s going, and I have no clue why he walks the same stretch of sidewalk week after week.
He started laughing to himself as we approached – already amused at his forthcoming wit. He grinned. I was annoyed. I braced myself as he carelessly questioned, “Who’s walking who?” before busting into a belly-laugh and continuing on his way.
I rallied a smile and opened my mouth to offer my usual courtesy laugh, but, for the first time, nothing came out.
As I walked along rationalizing my frustrations to God, the man’s question had forced me to stop. I had expectations of God. Just like the people I meet on my weekly walks, I had my response prepared, and I was anticipating what God would do. I had completed my part of the routine; now I was demanding to know why He wasn’t doing His.
He wanted to know why I insisted on being in control. Who’s walking who, Amy? Who’s in charge? Who’s following whose lead here, anyway?
Right. How silly of that to slip my mind. Insert an attitude adjustment and a realigned prayer for my friend.
It’s easy to invite God into our plans and request His blessing along the way. It’s harder to ask Him to lead us in the routines of everyday life – not to mention the big circumstances and decisions we face. Are you really, honestly, and truly trusting the Good Shepherd to set a path before you? Or are you projecting your dreams and desires onto Him and asking Him to follow along, just in case you need Him along the way? It’s easy to confuse the two; but God definitely knows the difference! Choose to follow His lead.
"I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths." Proverbs 4:11
A connecting place for British Columbia GEMS counselors and club coordinators. . .
Monday, July 19, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
HEED THE WARNING SIGNS
"Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
James 4:8
Warning alarms come in all shapes and sizes. There are smoke alarms that alert people to the danger of fire, house and car alarms to warn if a break-in or theft is attempted, back-up warning alarms signal that vehicles are going in reverse, and civil defense sirens warn communities of approaching danger.
Second Chronicles 29 contains multiple warning signs that the fire was extinguished in the Temple and in their hearts. It’s a chapter that details how King Hezekiah purified the Temple in the first month of the first year of His reign.
The doors were closed (2 Chronicles 29:3). Closed doors, closed hearts, closed eyes and ears all indicate that the fire has grown cold. God told Judah through the prophet Jeremiah, “To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it” (Jeremiah 6:10). Open wide your mouth and God will fill it (Psalm 81:10), open your eyes to see wonderful things in His law (Psalm 119:18), open your lips and declare His praise (Psalm 51:15). Feed the fire by opening the doors of your heart!
The lamps were put out (2 Chronicles 29:7a). When we put out our lamps by hiding them under a bowl, we fail to be the shining lights in this dark world that God intends for us to be (Matthew 5:14-15). Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Feed the fire by shining brightly in your home, your neighborhood, your workplace, and your church!
The incense altar was cold (2 Chronicles 29:7b). No burning incense indicates that there were no prayers. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice (Psalm 141:2). Leonard Ravenhill wrote, “This much is sure in all churches, forgetting party labels; the smallest meeting numerically is the prayer meeting. If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere.” If you typically prayer for 10-minutes a day, pray for 15. If you pray for an hour a day, pray for an hour and 15 minutes. No matter how shallow or deep our prayer life, we can and should pray more (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Feed the fire by being a woman of prayer!
PASSION Step: Are there warning signs that the fire in your heart has been extinguished? If so, purify it (James 4:8).
The Pharisees minded what God spoke, but not what He intended . . . They were busy in the outward work of the hand, but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart. So God was served in the letter, they did not much inquire into His purpose; and therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts.
Jeremy Taylor
Grace and peace,
Lenae
James 4:8
Warning alarms come in all shapes and sizes. There are smoke alarms that alert people to the danger of fire, house and car alarms to warn if a break-in or theft is attempted, back-up warning alarms signal that vehicles are going in reverse, and civil defense sirens warn communities of approaching danger.
Second Chronicles 29 contains multiple warning signs that the fire was extinguished in the Temple and in their hearts. It’s a chapter that details how King Hezekiah purified the Temple in the first month of the first year of His reign.
The doors were closed (2 Chronicles 29:3). Closed doors, closed hearts, closed eyes and ears all indicate that the fire has grown cold. God told Judah through the prophet Jeremiah, “To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it” (Jeremiah 6:10). Open wide your mouth and God will fill it (Psalm 81:10), open your eyes to see wonderful things in His law (Psalm 119:18), open your lips and declare His praise (Psalm 51:15). Feed the fire by opening the doors of your heart!
The lamps were put out (2 Chronicles 29:7a). When we put out our lamps by hiding them under a bowl, we fail to be the shining lights in this dark world that God intends for us to be (Matthew 5:14-15). Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Feed the fire by shining brightly in your home, your neighborhood, your workplace, and your church!
The incense altar was cold (2 Chronicles 29:7b). No burning incense indicates that there were no prayers. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice (Psalm 141:2). Leonard Ravenhill wrote, “This much is sure in all churches, forgetting party labels; the smallest meeting numerically is the prayer meeting. If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere.” If you typically prayer for 10-minutes a day, pray for 15. If you pray for an hour a day, pray for an hour and 15 minutes. No matter how shallow or deep our prayer life, we can and should pray more (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Feed the fire by being a woman of prayer!
PASSION Step: Are there warning signs that the fire in your heart has been extinguished? If so, purify it (James 4:8).
The Pharisees minded what God spoke, but not what He intended . . . They were busy in the outward work of the hand, but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart. So God was served in the letter, they did not much inquire into His purpose; and therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts.
Jeremy Taylor
Grace and peace,
Lenae
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
YOUR RIGHT ARM
"And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."
Matthew 5:30
I’m attached to my right arm. Literally. It’s my go-to, preferred arm in all that I do. Unless you’re left-handed, the same is probably true for you.
A few years ago my Aunt Caroline needed to make a choice with her right arm. Either she kept her arm and the cancer would continue to spread throughout her body, or she could allow surgeons to cut it off at the elbow and live. She chose the later. Cutting off her right arm literally saved her life.
The same is true for you and me spiritually. Jesus said, And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell (Matthew 5:30).
In his devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes, “Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that if it hinders you in following His precepts, then ‘cut it off.’ The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind.”
Chambers reminds us that just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. There is a time when even good things must be cut out of our lives if they deviate our eyes from being fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2). He writes, “There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them.”
It’s perfectly legitimate to shop, to hang out with friends, to surf the Internet, to text or talk on the phone, to go on vacation, to remodel your house, etc. But if one or all of these things keep us from concentrating on God they need to go! We need to cut them out of our life!
Eugene Peterson puts it this way in The Message, And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump (Matthew 5:30, MSG).
Like me, maybe you’ve heard passionate people who really want something badly, say, “I’d give my right arm for ___________________ to happen.” Or, “I’d give my right arm if I could see ___________________.”
To feed the fire in our hearts, Jesus is asking us to give our right arm. Passionate disciples count the cost (Luke 14:26-27, 33) and cut out everything in their life that keeps them from loving God and zealously serving others.
PASSION Step: What seemingly good things need to be cut out of your life so you can be a passionate disciple of Christ?
It is better to enter into life maimed but lovely in God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s.
Oswald Chambers
Grace and peace,
Lenae
Matthew 5:30
I’m attached to my right arm. Literally. It’s my go-to, preferred arm in all that I do. Unless you’re left-handed, the same is probably true for you.
A few years ago my Aunt Caroline needed to make a choice with her right arm. Either she kept her arm and the cancer would continue to spread throughout her body, or she could allow surgeons to cut it off at the elbow and live. She chose the later. Cutting off her right arm literally saved her life.
The same is true for you and me spiritually. Jesus said, And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell (Matthew 5:30).
In his devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes, “Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that if it hinders you in following His precepts, then ‘cut it off.’ The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind.”
Chambers reminds us that just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. There is a time when even good things must be cut out of our lives if they deviate our eyes from being fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2). He writes, “There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them.”
It’s perfectly legitimate to shop, to hang out with friends, to surf the Internet, to text or talk on the phone, to go on vacation, to remodel your house, etc. But if one or all of these things keep us from concentrating on God they need to go! We need to cut them out of our life!
Eugene Peterson puts it this way in The Message, And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump (Matthew 5:30, MSG).
Like me, maybe you’ve heard passionate people who really want something badly, say, “I’d give my right arm for ___________________ to happen.” Or, “I’d give my right arm if I could see ___________________.”
To feed the fire in our hearts, Jesus is asking us to give our right arm. Passionate disciples count the cost (Luke 14:26-27, 33) and cut out everything in their life that keeps them from loving God and zealously serving others.
PASSION Step: What seemingly good things need to be cut out of your life so you can be a passionate disciple of Christ?
It is better to enter into life maimed but lovely in God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s.
Oswald Chambers
Grace and peace,
Lenae
Sunday, July 4, 2010
FIRST LOVE
"Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love."
Revelation 2:4
The church in Ephesus was filled with doers. They did good deeds, worked hard, and persevered. They were people of principle. They endured hardships for the sake of Christ, couldn’t stomach wickedness and sin, and even tested apostles to see if they were men of integrity or imposters. In all these admirable qualities that you may be even be longing for in your own church today, they did not grow weary (Revelation 2:2-3).
Do you think they were shocked when Christ gave them correction instead of commendations? He said: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love (Revelation 2:4).
When Dr. Helen Roseveare was serving as a medical missionary in Nebobongo a rainstorm in the dry season soaked the few items that were contained in her thatched roof home. She sat “cross-legged on the pillow, with the umbrella over [her] head, an open Bible on [her] knees, a flashlight in [her] hand . . . – and wept.”
Thirty-six hours later while she swept the house, dried out the mats, and mopped the books she felt a voice asking her, “Do you love Me more than these?”
In her book, Living Sacrifice – Willing to be Whittled as an Arrow, she writes, “There was nothing wrong with having pictures on the walls, mats on the floors, or books on the shelves, as long as they were not important in my life. If they began to take the place of my ‘first love,’ they would have to go.”
What or who is your and my first love? Is it financial security, good health, achievements, recognition, or family? Is it hard work in GEMS, good deeds within your community, or perseverance in the church? If the Spirit were to ask you right now, “Do you love Me more than these?” What would the “these” be for you?
If we’ve fallen from the height of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Revelation 2:5a, Mark 12:30), we must heed the course correction that Christ gave to the church in Ephesus: Repent and do the things you did at first (Revelation 2:5b).
To refuse to do so comes with serious consequences. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place (Revelation 2:5b. See Revelation 1:20). To return to your first love is to receive an eternal promise: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7).
PASSION Step: Feed the fire by guarding your heart and keeping Jesus Christ your first love.
Jesus desires your love more than all of your service and obedience combined. Don’t put your work before your worship; give Him your heart.
Anne Graham Lotz
Revelation 2:4
The church in Ephesus was filled with doers. They did good deeds, worked hard, and persevered. They were people of principle. They endured hardships for the sake of Christ, couldn’t stomach wickedness and sin, and even tested apostles to see if they were men of integrity or imposters. In all these admirable qualities that you may be even be longing for in your own church today, they did not grow weary (Revelation 2:2-3).
Do you think they were shocked when Christ gave them correction instead of commendations? He said: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love (Revelation 2:4).
When Dr. Helen Roseveare was serving as a medical missionary in Nebobongo a rainstorm in the dry season soaked the few items that were contained in her thatched roof home. She sat “cross-legged on the pillow, with the umbrella over [her] head, an open Bible on [her] knees, a flashlight in [her] hand . . . – and wept.”
Thirty-six hours later while she swept the house, dried out the mats, and mopped the books she felt a voice asking her, “Do you love Me more than these?”
In her book, Living Sacrifice – Willing to be Whittled as an Arrow, she writes, “There was nothing wrong with having pictures on the walls, mats on the floors, or books on the shelves, as long as they were not important in my life. If they began to take the place of my ‘first love,’ they would have to go.”
What or who is your and my first love? Is it financial security, good health, achievements, recognition, or family? Is it hard work in GEMS, good deeds within your community, or perseverance in the church? If the Spirit were to ask you right now, “Do you love Me more than these?” What would the “these” be for you?
If we’ve fallen from the height of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Revelation 2:5a, Mark 12:30), we must heed the course correction that Christ gave to the church in Ephesus: Repent and do the things you did at first (Revelation 2:5b).
To refuse to do so comes with serious consequences. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place (Revelation 2:5b. See Revelation 1:20). To return to your first love is to receive an eternal promise: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7).
PASSION Step: Feed the fire by guarding your heart and keeping Jesus Christ your first love.
Jesus desires your love more than all of your service and obedience combined. Don’t put your work before your worship; give Him your heart.
Anne Graham Lotz
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