1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab,"As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by the word."
2: The word of the Lord came to him, saying,
3: "Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of Jordan.
4:it shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there."
5: So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of Jordan.
6: The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.
7: It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
Later: He was sent to the home of a widow in Zarephath, and she provided him with water, and made bread for him out of the last of her oil and flour. He promised her if she would give all she had to him to eat, the Lord would continue to provide enough oil and flour to make bread until the drought was over. Every time she would use it up, when she went back and was supplied with more.
This is the story for team kid's this Thursday, and my sister Wanda will be teaching the lesson. I am so thankful that she comes home each year at this time. After the Bible lesson she will be sharing something about her life as a missionary. I am not yet sure what she will share, but I am looking forward to it.
As I was reading the lesson, it reminded me once again that in the Bible there are many places and many experiences where God provided bread, meat and water to those who put their faith and trust in Him, when there was absolutely no other way that the people could be provided for other than through God's miracles, signs and wonders. We have the Israelites getting water out of a rock and manna from heaven and the quails that were sent after they left Egypt. We have this story about Elijah and how the Lord sent him to this brook in the middle of nowhere where he could get water and ravens sending meat and bread. When that provision was gone, the Lord spoke again and instructed him to go to Zarephath, where he used up this widow's only provisions and yet the love of God and the widow's faith caused her to continue receiving a supply of food until the drought was over. We also have the miracle of the fish and bread that were fed to the large crowd gathered at the beach in the New Testament gospels and after all the people ate the crumbs that were collected were more than what was in the basket before they began feeding all those people. There are also many passages about droughts and people going through times of lacking what they needed, and several passages about rain and water refreshing people and causing things to grow properly.
I am also reminded that Christ gives us living waters and also He is the bread of life. I am beginning to trust more in the Word of God as time goes by, because it is the source of my strength, wisdom and it is living and breathing and moving in us to bring us closer to the divine purpose God has for our lives. I can do nothing without Christ. So I praise Him for His word that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same God who worked powerfully in these examples of people in the Bible in miraculous ways is still alive today, and I need to put my trust in Him, because He is the one who created all things and He made them out of nothing. He simply spoke the words of what He wanted to make, and they instantly came into being. His Word is able to accomplish much no wonder it is referred to as bread, meat, and water.
We need those things to survive and He has left it for us, so I need to appreciate His word, and let the Holy Spirit guide and teach me what Christ wants me to learn.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Ask, Seek and Knock and You Will Begin to See Answers.
Matthew 7:7: Ask, and it will be given to you;seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8:For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
I shared a couple of months ago my desire to build a community of believers who have stronger relationships with each other. Before camp meeting started this year , I began praying about this need Christ had placed on my heart. I began thinking about the small group Bible study that several of us at the church were involved in. We had around 15-20 people coming. It was absolutely life changing for those who came as we were able to see our faith in action and many prayers were answered and several of us put our faith into action. Many were able to see the abundant life Jesus has for us and we saw fruit being produced as we encouraged each other to walk daily with Jesus. That is what I was asking Jesus for, how to get that started again. After one of the evening services, I went to the book store at camp with some other friends. I placed my hand on a table while they looked around at other things. As I turned my head around to look at the table their was a book about starting small groups and advice on how to get started. So I asked in prayer and received the first step the book. The next step was to seek for assistance and share my vision with someone else. So I talked to Pastor Cliff about it. He told me that he was thinking about small groups, and was praying about it himself, so we have been meeting a few times recently to share ideas concerning it. In the meantime other believers in the church have been coming to me sharing ideas on how they would like to reach out to groups in the church who they feel need reached out to. Some have shared ministry ideas but our not sure how to fulfill the needs, so I am beginning to write down all these thoughts and ideas that they are telling me. It is kind of neat, because through much prayer and study and listening and support from others ,it is becoming clearer each day, that something is developing. In my past, almost all I got involved in, I tried to do it on my own, without much success, then I would become angry and walk away from it. Christ is showing me now that if I am going to allow Him to be the head of His church, I must rely on many members of His body for this plan to be successful. So I am seeking and finding answers to questions on how to develop a small group ministry and who needs the benefit of belonging in a group where relationship can happen.Pastor shared with me today that he talked to someone from the Greenville Alliance Church who he visited with last week who worked with small groups and he may be able to help us get started with advice on training and assistance in other areas. So that is the third step Knock, and it will be opened unto you.
I am reminded of the example of Joshua and Caleb who were the only two original adults who were permitted to enter the promised land. That was because they concentrated on the large fruit in the land and trusted God that He would take away all the obstacles that separated them from what was promised and what was good. I trust also that this will come about and we will see the promise of fruit being produced in due season if we don't give up. Building stronger relationships with each other will strengthen the bond of peace that Jesus wants for us. I will keep trusting Him to lead and guide those He wants to be involved in leading these groups and he will send those sheep He wants to lead to greener pastures and to quieter waters where they will find rest and they will also find life and that abundantly.
8:For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
I shared a couple of months ago my desire to build a community of believers who have stronger relationships with each other. Before camp meeting started this year , I began praying about this need Christ had placed on my heart. I began thinking about the small group Bible study that several of us at the church were involved in. We had around 15-20 people coming. It was absolutely life changing for those who came as we were able to see our faith in action and many prayers were answered and several of us put our faith into action. Many were able to see the abundant life Jesus has for us and we saw fruit being produced as we encouraged each other to walk daily with Jesus. That is what I was asking Jesus for, how to get that started again. After one of the evening services, I went to the book store at camp with some other friends. I placed my hand on a table while they looked around at other things. As I turned my head around to look at the table their was a book about starting small groups and advice on how to get started. So I asked in prayer and received the first step the book. The next step was to seek for assistance and share my vision with someone else. So I talked to Pastor Cliff about it. He told me that he was thinking about small groups, and was praying about it himself, so we have been meeting a few times recently to share ideas concerning it. In the meantime other believers in the church have been coming to me sharing ideas on how they would like to reach out to groups in the church who they feel need reached out to. Some have shared ministry ideas but our not sure how to fulfill the needs, so I am beginning to write down all these thoughts and ideas that they are telling me. It is kind of neat, because through much prayer and study and listening and support from others ,it is becoming clearer each day, that something is developing. In my past, almost all I got involved in, I tried to do it on my own, without much success, then I would become angry and walk away from it. Christ is showing me now that if I am going to allow Him to be the head of His church, I must rely on many members of His body for this plan to be successful. So I am seeking and finding answers to questions on how to develop a small group ministry and who needs the benefit of belonging in a group where relationship can happen.Pastor shared with me today that he talked to someone from the Greenville Alliance Church who he visited with last week who worked with small groups and he may be able to help us get started with advice on training and assistance in other areas. So that is the third step Knock, and it will be opened unto you.
I am reminded of the example of Joshua and Caleb who were the only two original adults who were permitted to enter the promised land. That was because they concentrated on the large fruit in the land and trusted God that He would take away all the obstacles that separated them from what was promised and what was good. I trust also that this will come about and we will see the promise of fruit being produced in due season if we don't give up. Building stronger relationships with each other will strengthen the bond of peace that Jesus wants for us. I will keep trusting Him to lead and guide those He wants to be involved in leading these groups and he will send those sheep He wants to lead to greener pastures and to quieter waters where they will find rest and they will also find life and that abundantly.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Storing Supplies for the Winter
Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise,
7: which having no chief, officer or ruler,
8:prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.
I am still enjoying reading on facebook the accounts of people finding joy in canning and freezing their produce and baked goods. Many are also making jams and jellies. I probably will not do it this year. I was amazed though, how many people my age or younger are getting involved in those activities. I kind of miss doing those things. Maybe next year, I will try some canning.
My mother and I used to spend all summer canning and freezing fruits and vegetables. She was one who would not waste anything. People would give her beets and she would can the beets, but she cut off the greens and we would freeze and eat them. They tasted like spinach. We would go for walks around town, and if she saw someone with an apple tree she would stop and ask if we could have the ones that were on the ground to make applesauce. She would share these gifts of food with her older friends during the winter. She would let them come over and pick out what they needed. She passed away in early December of 1994. That year we had the whole backroom filled to capacity with the work we had been doing all summer. We also bought a bigger freezer. We had gone to a place that sold us tons of meat Pork, beef, chickens and other meats at a special price. Some people gave us some venison to freeze. Mom got really sick in the beginning of November that winter, and she knew that she wasn't going to live much longer. She told me not to give away the food we had prepared but that I would need it to last through much of the next summer for myself. She used good wisdom just like the ants in Proverbs. The only jobs I had at the time were odd jobs that I was doing for the elderly. The food lasted until early September of the following year when I got a full-time job working at the Riverside hotel. The night before mom died she told me that she was going home for Christmas. When I got into the car to go home from visiting her, I thought about the last words she spoke to me,"I am going home!" She didn't say she was coming back to her earthly home, but she meant she was going to her heavenly home to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus." During the night her health continued to worsen. Most of my brothers and sisters were with her that day, but I was not able to be with her, later that evening she did enter that heavenly home that she was promised to receive on that day several years before when she accepted the free gift of salvation.
.
7: which having no chief, officer or ruler,
8:prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.
I am still enjoying reading on facebook the accounts of people finding joy in canning and freezing their produce and baked goods. Many are also making jams and jellies. I probably will not do it this year. I was amazed though, how many people my age or younger are getting involved in those activities. I kind of miss doing those things. Maybe next year, I will try some canning.
My mother and I used to spend all summer canning and freezing fruits and vegetables. She was one who would not waste anything. People would give her beets and she would can the beets, but she cut off the greens and we would freeze and eat them. They tasted like spinach. We would go for walks around town, and if she saw someone with an apple tree she would stop and ask if we could have the ones that were on the ground to make applesauce. She would share these gifts of food with her older friends during the winter. She would let them come over and pick out what they needed. She passed away in early December of 1994. That year we had the whole backroom filled to capacity with the work we had been doing all summer. We also bought a bigger freezer. We had gone to a place that sold us tons of meat Pork, beef, chickens and other meats at a special price. Some people gave us some venison to freeze. Mom got really sick in the beginning of November that winter, and she knew that she wasn't going to live much longer. She told me not to give away the food we had prepared but that I would need it to last through much of the next summer for myself. She used good wisdom just like the ants in Proverbs. The only jobs I had at the time were odd jobs that I was doing for the elderly. The food lasted until early September of the following year when I got a full-time job working at the Riverside hotel. The night before mom died she told me that she was going home for Christmas. When I got into the car to go home from visiting her, I thought about the last words she spoke to me,"I am going home!" She didn't say she was coming back to her earthly home, but she meant she was going to her heavenly home to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus." During the night her health continued to worsen. Most of my brothers and sisters were with her that day, but I was not able to be with her, later that evening she did enter that heavenly home that she was promised to receive on that day several years before when she accepted the free gift of salvation.
.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
How Can We Rebuild a City
Isaiah 58:9: Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry, and He will say,"here I am. If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
10:And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday.
11:And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden,and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
12:Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age -old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
This morning in Sunday school, this scripture was in our classes book called Crazy Love. It was a reminder to me to stay focused on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. He who began a good work in us will be faithful to see it to it's completion. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or imagine.
So I will continue to encourage and spur others to get involved in good deeds so we will see the harvest of righteousness in due season. God is continually working in us and with us for His good pleasure so that when we reach the point of our purpose we will be able to walk into it. (My paraphrase).
The journey began when I was holding onto a root of bitterness and I could not stand it any longer so I called upon Christ. I cried out to Him when there was no other place or other people to turn to, and He heard my petition and He answered me that very day and said' "Here I am." I was trying to handle the situation in my own strength, but He reminded me that my thoughts and ways are not the same as His. My own way was to point fingers and speak wickedly of others instead of showing forgiveness to them. Because of doing things my way I was holding to my own thoughts which was creating a division in the body. Hebrews12 talks about that root of bitterness and if we allow it to grow and share it with others it will cause other believers to be defiled. So Jesus Himself taught me the power that comes with letting go and how to cultivate forgiveness.
I have given myself to feed those who are hungry. I don't mean for food (I am a terrible cook) but those who are hungry for the Word of God and try to help those who are afflicted. The more I spend time with others doing that, I have seen peoples lives change, but many times it becomes a slow process, but I am beginning to see change in peoples lives as they apply the powerful Word of God into their situations. I am seeing light beginning to pierce through the darkness. I was frustrated for a long while, but that gloom is changing into midday.
I will continue to trust the Lord to guide me and show me what is the best course to take to teach my brothers and sisters to be changed into the image of God, but I will always remember without Christ I can do nothing on my own. I must also remember that I have not reached perfection myself and on this side of glory, I never will, so I must also study the word myself so I can rightly divide the Word of truth. I also must become obedient to what the Holy Spirit is trying to instruct me to do. As I do this I will become like the watered garden and continue to be healthy, so I can be that example for others to follow. My desire for others is not to be legalistic, but that they would experience the same freedom that I have experienced in areas of my life as I have applied the scripture to my life and that I might grow as I learn from other church family members as they share their walk of faith.
As we make this commitment to work and walk together then we will become united in purpose even though we may have different ideas on how to accomplish good works, but as Pastor Cliff always reminds us let us cherish those differences, then we will grow in our knowledge which is a gift from God and we will be able to build our cities and communities as we begin building on the foundation and allow Christ to be the chief cornerstone. He will use us as an organized body to repair and restore that which the enemy has destroyed and stolen from us.
I thank Jesus for this reminder and encouragement from His Word this morning. As Paul Cobb always reminds and encourages us, keep pressing forward in the things of the Lord.
10:And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday.
11:And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden,and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
12:Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age -old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
This morning in Sunday school, this scripture was in our classes book called Crazy Love. It was a reminder to me to stay focused on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. He who began a good work in us will be faithful to see it to it's completion. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or imagine.
So I will continue to encourage and spur others to get involved in good deeds so we will see the harvest of righteousness in due season. God is continually working in us and with us for His good pleasure so that when we reach the point of our purpose we will be able to walk into it. (My paraphrase).
The journey began when I was holding onto a root of bitterness and I could not stand it any longer so I called upon Christ. I cried out to Him when there was no other place or other people to turn to, and He heard my petition and He answered me that very day and said' "Here I am." I was trying to handle the situation in my own strength, but He reminded me that my thoughts and ways are not the same as His. My own way was to point fingers and speak wickedly of others instead of showing forgiveness to them. Because of doing things my way I was holding to my own thoughts which was creating a division in the body. Hebrews12 talks about that root of bitterness and if we allow it to grow and share it with others it will cause other believers to be defiled. So Jesus Himself taught me the power that comes with letting go and how to cultivate forgiveness.
I have given myself to feed those who are hungry. I don't mean for food (I am a terrible cook) but those who are hungry for the Word of God and try to help those who are afflicted. The more I spend time with others doing that, I have seen peoples lives change, but many times it becomes a slow process, but I am beginning to see change in peoples lives as they apply the powerful Word of God into their situations. I am seeing light beginning to pierce through the darkness. I was frustrated for a long while, but that gloom is changing into midday.
I will continue to trust the Lord to guide me and show me what is the best course to take to teach my brothers and sisters to be changed into the image of God, but I will always remember without Christ I can do nothing on my own. I must also remember that I have not reached perfection myself and on this side of glory, I never will, so I must also study the word myself so I can rightly divide the Word of truth. I also must become obedient to what the Holy Spirit is trying to instruct me to do. As I do this I will become like the watered garden and continue to be healthy, so I can be that example for others to follow. My desire for others is not to be legalistic, but that they would experience the same freedom that I have experienced in areas of my life as I have applied the scripture to my life and that I might grow as I learn from other church family members as they share their walk of faith.
As we make this commitment to work and walk together then we will become united in purpose even though we may have different ideas on how to accomplish good works, but as Pastor Cliff always reminds us let us cherish those differences, then we will grow in our knowledge which is a gift from God and we will be able to build our cities and communities as we begin building on the foundation and allow Christ to be the chief cornerstone. He will use us as an organized body to repair and restore that which the enemy has destroyed and stolen from us.
I thank Jesus for this reminder and encouragement from His Word this morning. As Paul Cobb always reminds and encourages us, keep pressing forward in the things of the Lord.
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