God's All Ears

Ever feel the need to just vent to someone? Ever feel better after you call up a good friend and just let it all out? People spend a great deal of time talking to each other and even themselves! We talk with friends, family and even therapists. Talking is good for us. It helps us work out our problems, come up with solutions and gives others an opportunity to share and carry our burdens with us. Do we give that opportunity to God as well?

We have 24/7, instantaneous access to the Creator of the entire universe and He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us and Jesus went willingly. He has our best interests at heart and cares about us more than we can possibly begin to imagine, and do we go to Him? Do we spend as much time talking to Him as we do our therapists, friends and family? He is the one in control and He is the one that has the power to immeasurably more than we can imagine. Ephesians 3:20. Do we go to Him?

The Bible instructs us to go to God in prayer for everything. Look at Ephesians 6:18. "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." It says on "all occasions" and "all kinds of prayers and requests". Are you happy? Pray! Are you sad? Pray! Do you have a request? Pray! Look at Philippians 4:6. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." It says to go to God in "every situation." Maybe you're going through a life-changing ordeal or maybe you just need to figure out what to feed your kids for supper; pray about it! God cares about the little things too. Do not put limits on God's power by refusing to present even your smallest requests. There is nothing too big or too small for Him to notice.

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians encourages this continual act of prayer, as does Colossians. Look at Colossians 1:9. "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, . . ." It says "we have not stopped praying." Colossians 4:2 tells us to "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Devote yourselves. To devote means to concentrate. It also means to set apart; dedicate by a solemn act. 1 Thessalonians 3:10 uses the words "Night and day." "Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith." They prayed earnestly, night and day. How many time do we petition God? How often do we go before Him and present our requests? Do we say it once and then wash our hands just because His will be done? Do our prayers not mean more than that? Every example of prayer in the Bible points out that persistence is key. Luke 18:1-8 tells us about a parable that Jesus told concerning a persistent widow. Verse 1 explains the purpose of the parable. It teaches us that we should pray and not give up. Do not stop praying. Do not give up. God is listening.

"devote." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 25 Apr. 2013. .

The act of prayer is solemn and it is time that we set apart to speak to God, but it is also something that we can do continuously throughout our entire day. Yet, you may feel that you don't always have the right words to say to God. You needn't worry or fear. Romans 8:26 tells us, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans." We don't need words because God already knows what is on our hearts. He already knows what we need before we ask. A cute little story was shared around Facebook regarding a little girl who was saying her bedtime prayers. She bowed her little head and folded her little hands and began to recite her ABC's. When questioned, she replied, "I didn't know what to say, so I gave God all the letters and He could put them in the right order."

So I urge you, take 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to heart. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Can you hear me now?

Back in the "old" days, when people lost an electronic signal they would follow a simplistic ritual to retrieve it. One might wiggle around the 'rabbit ears' that sat on top of the television. If that didn't work, then a swift smack against the side of the machine was sure to restore order. Compact radios were waved around in the air and then you would have to "freeze" when you caught that signal lest you lose it again. Drivers would carefully inch forward while waiting at red lights if the radio signal cut out. Today, we have a man wearing a business suit who meanders all over the country saying, "Can you hear me now?" so the cell phone company can enhance the signal. We keep an eye on how many "bars" we have and we complain to the company when the signal goes haywire.

Do you do that with prayer? How many times do we blame God or complain to Him when we think He hasn't answered our prayers? We accuse Him of not listening, of not hearing us and even of abandoning us. Let's get one thing straight: it isn't God's fault. You lost your signal. Is that possible? Let's turn to Scripture.

1 Peter 3:7 suggests that the prayers of a husband can be hindered. "Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." Two definitions of "hinder" are as follows: 1. to cause delay, interruption, or difficulty in; hamper; impede: The storm hindered our progress. 2. to prevent from doing, acting, or happening; stop: to hinder a man from committing a crime. You can look at those definitions at dictionary.com by clicking here. Basically, if a husband does not treat his wife with respect, his prayers at best will be delayed. God cares about how you treat people. Check out 1 Peter 3:8-12. You can even read part of that in Psalm 34: 12-16. Verse 12 says, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Perhaps there is something in your life that you need to straighten out. Righteousness will strengthen your signal. Get right with God.

You Don't Have to Press Zero

An interesting commercial aired recently that showed a man walking in the surf while dialing a customer service representative. As soon as the ringing ceased and a voice came on, he pressed zero on his phone's keypad. Pressing zero typically gets us to an operator who can then direct our call to the appropriate person. Well, as it turned out, the man didn't need to press zero because a real live person had answered instead of the typical automated answering service. The catch phrase used in the commercial was, "You don't have to press zero. I'm here. How can I help you?" How powerful! I'd rather be a customer for a company that cares enough to have a real person talk to me than one where I have to listen to long drawn out menus as I try to figure out which buttons to press to get me to the right person, only to end up leaving a message to a machine in the end. Getting a live person right away sounds like a little slice of heaven! And it is. When we "call" God, we don't have to navigate our way through the angels before we get to speak to the Almighty. We don't have to press zero. When we call on God, He is right there listening! "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?" Deuteronomy 4:7.

But it gets even better than that. Not only is God listening, but praying is the most powerful and even magical tool that we have. James 5:16 tells us that it is powerful when used by the righteous. "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." Jesus urged us to pray and gave many promises. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:22. What an amazing promise! Notice the condition: If you believe. Elijah prayed that it would not rain and it didn't. James 5:17. "Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years." You can read more the story in 1 Kings 17. Put your trust in the Lord, have faith that He will deliver. We need to take advantage of the power of prayer and believe that we will receive. Remember that you are talking to the Almighty. If you don't believe you will receive, then it is like you do not believe in God's awesome power. God can do anything. Anything. So go to Him and don't be afraid.

A Lost Nose

The hour is late and whispers are running wild; do you know where your nose is? Most of us have heard the expression, "Keep your nose in your own beeswax." Basically, it means to mind your own business. So I will ask you again; do you know where your nose is?

It is a lot easier, or so we think, to come up with solutions to everybody else's problems. We offer unwanted albeit well-meaning advice and we are quick to consider ourselves experts in the various fields of advice. The married advise the singles. Women with multiple bouncing babies advise scores of infertile women. The employed advise the unemployed. We think we know better because we think we've been there. But what does the Bible tell us to do with our nose? We read in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 "and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,". There are three things to note here. First, lead a quiet life. Second, mind your own business and third, work with your hands.

First, lead a quiet life. Don't air your dirty laundry for the whole neighborhood to see. Save the drama for your mama. We all have problems and things that happen. Some things are for sharing and others, not so much. In other words, don't gossip about yourself! Take your prayers and petitions to God and lay your heart bare to Him. People can't stick their nose into your business if they don't know it!

Second, mind your own business. Don't get yourself entangled and enmeshed in someone's life or someone's problems when you don't belong there. You need to follow Galatians 6:2 where it tells us to "carry each other's burdens", however, do not confuse that with meddling! Just a few verses down, in verse 10 it says, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." When you carry someone's burdens, you are doing good. You can do good without sticking yourself in the middle of someone else's affairs. You just have to watch yourself and evaluate yourself. Know when to step back.

And third, work with your hands. If you're busy with your own work, you don't have time to go sticking your nose into what everyone else is doing. It's too busy being right where it belongs!

So, if you've lost your nose, I suggest you find something of your own to work on. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:3-5. "“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." We all have enough business of our own to fix, so get to work on your own planks.

Give it to Jesus

Dear Lord,

I've been carrying around a pretty heavy load lately. I have a lot of worries, a lot of happenings and a lot of people that I have to deal with and frankly, I'm not doing a very good job with all of it. I read in Matthew 6:27 that you can't add a single hour to your life by worrying, so I took all my worries and packed them in this pretty gigantic box. There's nothing I can accomplish by holding on to these worries and they are blocking my line of sight that leads to You.

And then I had all these "events" happening and they are more than I can handle. My burdens are great and I am weary. Then I read in Matthew 11:28 that You said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Here I am. I packed all those burdens in that box as well and I've brought it to You. I shall put my trust in You, Lord. I see how you care for the lilies of the field and the small sparrows in the sky. I saw what you said about my worth in Matthew 10:31. You said, "So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." So, I went ahead and packed my fears into that box as well.

There's still a lot of people out there, though, and I sometimes get frustrated and annoyed and lost my patience with them. Then I read what Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:16. "But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life." 2 Peter 3:9 reminds me of God's patience. It says, "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." I will remember that our goal is to get to heaven.

I will leave my box with you and I will fix my eyes on You. I will run the race and not give up. I choose the narrow way.

As Ever,
Me

I challenge you to pack your own box. Get a box and write down all your worries, fears and anything that takes your eyes off of the cross and put it in the box. Tape it shut. Cut a slit in the top so you can always add more when needed, but you can't take anything back out. Write Jesus on the box because all of it belongs to Him. Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 11:30, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Carry only His yoke.

The Strength of Gentleness

Society often looks down on quiet, meek-seeming people as if their nature showed weakness. A quick-temper and flapping tongue boasts of strength, but it is nothing more than a flashy show of childishness. A soft-spoken person is anything but weak. It requires a great deal of strength and self-control to maintain a spirit of gentleness. A calm person is not complacent, but rather in control of their body and their actions. They are firm and unyielding in their dealings with other people.

My former boss carried such a beautiful, quiet and gentle spirit with her everywhere she went and I'll never forget her soft, yet non-negotiable voice. Every so often the ladies would organize a "Ladies Night Out" and we'd meet at a restaurant around town for dinner. On one particular evening, we had chosen a little, quaint Italian restaurant. Our party must have had near twenty guests and the waiter began to explain that he had to put everything on one check and that he could not split it for each of us. Without batting an eye, she replied, "No. You can split it and you will." Our waiter, slightly flabbergasted, attempted to tell her he could not split the checks and started spouting off computer reasons. She offered a small smile and repeated herself. "You can split it." He sputtered and gestured and again attempted to make a speech about being unable to split the check. She looked him straight in the eye and said, "You can split the check. You will split the check. Do not worry, you will get your tip; split the check."

Not once did she ever raise her voice. Not once did she lose her small smile. She never gave a hint of annoyance, nor did she complain about the waiter or the check. Her tone was so matter of fact that you simply could not argue with her, because she didn't argue. She made a simple statement and repeated it over and over. What composure! I remember feeling frazzled and frustrated with the waiter and panicking about how we were going to pay our bill correctly with so many ladies eating out together. She simply did not take no for an answer, nor did she let it ruin her evening. She maintained her cheerful disposition throughout the entire exchange.

And yes, our waiter did split our check.

1 Peter 3:4 says, " . . . the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight." You see, God cares about how we conduct ourselves and how we treat other people. Self-control and kindness are just two of the fruits of the Spirit, and these two are essential to maintaining a gentle and quiet spirit. This, then, is how we ought to live. Colossians 3:12 says, "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

Use your ears and listen to your voice. Think on your actions and what you do with your hands and your facial expressions. Does the world see the gentleness of Christ in you?

Got Your Checklist?

If you're going to get everything done that needs to be done, you have to keep a to-do list, a checklist and a calendar. People used to carry around little booklets and calendars as planners. Nowadays, most of us use some sort of smartphone and the internet to keep up with our schedules. These things come in handy when you are keeping up with bills or making out your grocery list. They can help keep your organized at work so you complete your projects in a timely manner. Yet, we've become so dependent upon using such lists, that we take them places they ought not to go. And where is that?

Let's consider the Pharisees who constantly plotted against Jesus. The constantly "checked" his actions and those of his disciples. They became angry when Jesus healed on the Sabbath and when his disciples did not wash their hands before eating. They asked him questions not to gain knowledge but to try and trap him in contradicting the Law. They had their little check lists and went around evaluating everyone they could find. They were so intent on finding sin that they lost sight of the purpose of the Law.

Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?

The very question shows a lack of love and it shows the the coldness of heart that these Pharisees had. Jesus had the perfect answer for them. Matthew 12:12 ". . . therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Other times the Pharisees asked Jesus, "Why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" Mark 2:27 says "Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." The checklist of accusatory questions continues with topics such as fasting and hand washing. They condemn him for eating with "tax collectors and sinners." They ask about paying taxes. They even bring an adulterous woman to him and demand that she be stoned as the Law commands. Did Jesus stone her? No. He said, "“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7.

So, before you pull out your checklist, take a good look at yourself. Matthew 7:1-5 says it quite well. "“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

How quickly we condemn each other, but our Lord is compassionate and shows mercy. He didn't even wait for us to repent before sacrificing his only Son. Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Put your checklist away. Forgive each other. Show mercy and praise God for ". . . there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, . . ." Romans 8:1.