All in Obedience
“Excuse me. May I ask you guys a question? I noticed you praying before your meal.”
My husband was meeting with a friend over lunch at a local restaurant when the young man interrupted them. The man and his wife had recently moved and were looking for a church home. My husband and his friend had a nice conversation with the man, inviting him and his wife to church and welcoming them to town.
Yesterday, a sweet friend presented me with a lovely figurine of a little hummingbird drinking from the throat of a tiny orange trumpet flower. I was transported back to a time several years before.
Ecclesiastes 5:2 jumped off the page at me. I realized it referred to public prayer, but how often did my private prayer time consist of me doing all the talking? I determined I would spend time listening.
Remember when your parents said, just do what I say? Did you ever tell yourself, I’ll never say to my kids, because I said so? Did you keep that vow? I said it as well, and I broke that vow as well. I think God says the same thing to us!
My precious granddaughter is in the terrific twos, so her emotions are all over the spectrum. If she does not get what she wants, screaming, crying, and pouting follow.
Upon reading Emmanuel by Ruth Chou Simons, I realized I was more like my granddaughter than I cared to admit.
Perhaps you’ve sung the song Holy Ground at some point. If so, did you feel like you were on holy ground? Sometimes I feel it more when I’m singing to the Lord, looking at the expansive ocean waters or a mountain range, or spending time with Jesus on my deck.
Have you ever wondered what it was like to only have God’s Word shared orally? No written scripture to study and memorize? What if no one had ever taken God’s words and written them down so that we have a physical Bible?
God calls people in every generation to proclaim His truth. Noah preached righteousness. Moses proclaimed God’s laws. Paul carried the gospel to the Gentiles. Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and Billy Graham have boldly proclaimed the truth of Jesus to recent generations.
I have a friend who is gifted with thoughtfulness. Every time I see her, she has a little gift for me.
Remember when your mom said, If you ____ (fill in the blank), then I will____ (fill in the blank)? It depends on the if what the then would be. Then depends on what you did with the if. Joyful or painful! Blessing or curse.
I still remember that sweltering sunny day. As a child, picking strawberries was one of my favorite summer outings. I loved walking the aisles, eyeing the perfect berry and plucking it off the bush. As we began, I distinctly remember my mother’s instructions.No tasting the berries before we pay. That’s stealing.
Do you find yourself having self-control in some areas of your life, but others not so much? I know I do. Sometimes I feel like I am on a roller coaster. I go up and up feeling like I have made so much progress and then, bam, down I go at a much faster pace than I went up.
A loud thump on our front door shattered our peace and quiet as we relaxed one evening. We looked but could not find anything. Before the evening expired my husband had ordered a ring doorbell for our front porch.
With a ring doorbell a person gets messages on their phone to alert them of any movement picked up on the front porch camera. The message displayed: “There is motion at your front Door.”
What makes you feel ashamed? I hate making dumb mistakes, like smarting off without thinking before I speak. In the past, I made many choices that I’m ashamed of. And I still do today if I don’t set my heart on Jesus.
Well, Hosea did as God told him to and married Gomer. She conceived and bore him a son, a daughter, and another son (1:3). Then things went awry. Gomer became restless, in spite of the love of Hosea: “I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink” (2:5). She had totally forgotten who had rescued her, protected her, loved her, and supplied all her needs.
Ah, January—fun fact: “January was named for the Roman god Janus, known as the protector of gates and doorways which symbolize beginnings and endings. Janus is depicted with two faces, one looking into the past, the other with the ability to see into the future” (almanac.com). Time to put on our two faces of Janus this week and dig into the book of Hosea to build some godly wisdom for 2024.
As we waited in our spot by the curb for the annual Christmas parade, our two-and-a-half-year-old grandson grew impatient. I tried to tell him about all of the cool lights and sights the parade promised, but to no avail. I could not believe it when he came up with an excuse for why he would not enjoy the event.
While these words have meaning and benefit in our relationship with others, I hear God prompting me to be quick to listen to his voice through His word….to be eager to hear, believing that all is profitable to me and glorifies God. This speaks of a hunger that drives me to Scripture for satisfaction.
Have you ever noticed how God speaks in multiple ways when He is trying to get a point across to us? Often when I read scripture and God reveals a new truth, or reminds me of something He previously revealed and I have ignored, I begin to see the same truth in other ways.
