Get Back Up

 About five years ago, a good friend bought Little Bit a bike with training wheels. She has ridden the bike on and off again over the years. One day, one of the training wheels started to come off. Instead of trying to fix it, I took them both off and we began trying to teach Little Bit how to ride her bike sans training wheels. It has not been easy. Her fear prevented her from actually trying. She wanted her training wheels back on but we insisted she continue to try. 

Well, she decided she wanted to try again. The Hubs and I are standing on the porch since it had just rained. We honestly didn’t expect too much. Mostly just some rolling around. But she surprised us. She would try to get her feet on the pedals. Only reason she moved forward is she kept pushing herself, not because she was pedaling. 

But then, all of a sudden, she was actually pedaling. Maybe just for a second or two, but she was doing it. And she kept trying. She didn’t give up. Until she was actually pedaling up and down the street. We were so amazed. She even said, “I bet you are so proud of me!” Why yes, we were very proud of her. We were shocked. Amazed. And immensely proud. She would fall over and she kept getting back up. She didn’t quit. After about an hour of riding, we finally had her come inside. 

She reminded me of a verse in Proverbs. Chapter 24 verse 16 says “For a just man falls seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” 

Let’s break this verse down. A just man. Righteous. Justified and vindicated by God. 

Falls. Fall short. Fail.

Seven times and riseth up again. To persist. 

But the wicked. Guilty of sin. 

Shall fall. To stumble or be feeble. 

Into mischief. Unpleasant evil. 

A righteous, justified and vindicated man may fail seven times but he persists. But a man guilty of sin will stumble into unpleasant evil. 

The key here? He persists. If he fails, he keeps going. If he falls, he gets back up again. He, like Little Bit, didn’t let a fall keep him down. He got up and tried again. Perfection of character isn’t expected today. Sanctification is a work of a lifetime. 

When I teach in class, I know my kids are going to make mistakes. But I expect them to keep trying and not to give up. And when the test comes, I still don’t expect perfection. But I see so much growth in them at this point. 

So when a little Bit gets on her bike again, do I expect her to ride her bike without falling over? Not at all. I know she will fall over again. Hey, I still fall over sometimes when I ride my bike.  It I expect her to get up and try again. 

Be the righteous man. Or woman. If you fall. If you fail.  If you make a mistake.  Get up. Try again. Don’t stay down. Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. And move forward. Ask God for help.  I matter what, don’t stay down. Get up. This is possible only By God’s Amazing Grace. 

Signs and Wonders

 There are many miracles recorded in the Bible. Many different stories of Jesus healing the sick, bringing the dead back to life, giving sight to the blind, and helping the lame to walk. The thing I find interesting is Jesus didn’t use the same method for each miracle. Why do you think that is?

There are probably many reasons.  But one that stands out to me is that Jesus knows what each individual needs and how to provide those needs. Is it just healing that is needed. Or is there more to it? I want to look at two particular stories. A Jewish nobleman in John 4 and Jairus, a Rabbi in Mark 5. 

The Jewish nobleman specifically sought out Jesus to heal his son who was suffering from an incurable disease. He wanted to believe in Jesus. The condition of believing in Jesus rested on Jesus healing his son. The nobleman had enough faith to believe that Jesus could heal his son.  Otherwise he wouldn’t have sought out Jesus. But Jesus called him on his faith. “Unless you see signs and wonders...” I’m sure those words struck a cord with this nobleman. Jesus knew what the man wanted, but more importantly, what the man needed. I’m sure the man felt a twinge of guilt. How right Jesus was. The nobleman did not need Jesus to come to his house to heal his son. He only needed Jesus to say the words. Jesus told the man, “Go thy way, thy son liveth.” 

The nobleman did not rush home. No, he took his time. Why? Because he believed the words of Jesus. He believed his son was healed. He left with peace and joy. And a true belief in Jesus. That’s what this man needed. 

Jairus on the other hand was a ruler of the synagogue, an elder, rabbi. As a rabbi, he wouldn’t have gone to Jesus first because of how the rulers thought of Jesus. Jairus was described as a haughty rabbi. The position he held within the church skewed his view of who Jesus was. His daughter was sick and on the brink of death. But he was aware of Jesus’ healing power. He knew his daughter could be healed by Jesus. He had received word that his daughter had died. There was no need to bother Jesus anymore. But Jesus continued on. But unlike the nobleman, he needed to witness the healing power. No, the resurrection power of Jesus. The paid mourners were asked to leave. Only the parents of the girl, Jesus, and three of his disciples went in the room with the girl. And Jesus brought her back to life. 

The faith of Jairus was ignited. There is a difference between knowing and believing. I imagine his life was changed like that of Nicodemus. 

Jesus reaches us where we are. He meets our needs. We also receive our desires.  But the needs are of upmost importance. 

It is still true today. Many people are growing their faith day by day. But not everyone’s faith grows the same way. We may not have healing power, but we have witnessing power. We can witness to others. And God knows who to send where and how to reach others. Some people may need the one on one friendship to know Jesus. Some may need an evangelistic series. Others need the door to door experience. There are those that need to witness a miracle to have the faith ignited. Some may need to reach rock bottom before they can accept Jesus. Our job is to try. That is why God created each of us with different talents. So we can reach different people. Don’t give up on someone if you don’t see the evidence of their faith. God knows what they need and He knows how to reach them. It may not be you who ignited their faith. And that’s okay. 

How about you? Are you more like the nobleman and just need to know that God will take care of your needs or like Jairus and need to witness Him working in your life? Whichever one you are, God knows how to meet your every need. This is possible only By God’s Amazing Grace. 

Taste and See

 Little Bit doesn’t have food aversions, which we are very thankful for as this is prevalent with autistics. But she does have food she doesn’t like. 

For example, she doesn’t like cooked bell peppers, raw onions, and jalapeños. We have a rule in our house that she has to at least try it. Take a bite. Not a nibble, but a bite of the food. 

If she really doesn’t like it, then she doesn’t have to have it. Sometimes it is a good we know she likes but doesn’t want. She likes broccoli but for some reason she doesn’t want to eat it. There are times we make a new food with ingredients that she likes. Try it. Taste it. See if you like it. 

You know, God tells us the same thing. In Psalm 34 verse 8, we are told,  “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”

But what is it that we need to taste? We can’t eat God. So what do we eat?

 In Revelation chapter 8 verses 8-10, John is told to take the little book and eat it up. The book was sweet as honey in his mouth and bitter oh his belly. What book did he eat?

In Ezekiel 3 verses 1-4, God tells Ezekiel to eat the roll and speak to the house of Israel. God told him to cause thy belly to eat and fill thy bowels with the roll.

 And it was in his mouth as honey for sweetness. What was this roll?

The book and the roll are the same thing. The Word of God. 

Both men were prophets and received prophecy. But they had to eat the word to see that it was good. 

Today, we are to eat the Word of God. 

We are to consume the Word of God and see that He is good. Just like we tell Little Bit to just try it, we, too, need to try the Word of God. Just taste and we will have no doubt that God is good. Isaiah 55 verse 1 even tells says, “everyone that thirsteth,  one ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. We are to eat for free. His Word is for everyone. No one is to go without. 

If a brother doesn’t have the Word of God, share it with him. If a sister doesn’t have access to the Bible, provide access. They should be allowed to come and eat for free. 

Take the time. Taste and see that the Lord is good. You won’t stop at just a few bites. You will come back for seconds and thirds. This is one time that is good to be gluttonous. 

Fill up on His Word. This is possible only By God’s Amazing Grace. 

Selfless Dandelion

Personification. Giving an inanimate object human characteristics. The lonely cloud. The waving tree. The dancing flowers. The selfless dandelion. 

Except, dandelions are kinda selfless if you think about it. A dandelion begins as a weed growing...everywhere pretty much. I will call it a flower because I want to. It starts as a yellow flower. The petals bright and fluffy.  It then something happens. The flower begins to die. It begins to lose its petals. In their place seeds are formed. Soon the dandelion is a full head of seeds. Then the wind blows, animals walk by, the rain falls, or little kids come along and soon all the seeds have taken off. They are carried away by the wind. Soon the plant, if it is still standing, is empty of all seeds. The seeds then begin to germinate and a new plant is formed. The process is repeated over and over again. 

So why did I call the dandelion selfless? Because it gave its life to give new life. For new dandelions to grow, the previous dandelions had to die to become seeds. 

I remember being a kid and finding out my aunt was pregnant. I wanted a girl cousin. So I grabbed a seeded dandelion, made a wish for my aunt to have a girl, and then blew as hard as I could. I blew every single one of those seeds off of the plant. And a few months later we found out my aunt was having a girl. I was so excited. Not only did my wish come true, but many more dandelions were born as well. Jesus talks about a plant like the dandelion In John 12:24, Jesus said, “verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abide the alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

Just like the dandelion and the corn, Paul tells us that we need to die to self. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

When we die to self, other lives are born for Christ. More people can enter into eternal life. We must die daily to our sinful selves and live in Christ to bring others to Christ. We cannot bring someone to Jesus if we focus on ourselves. On our own works. We must focus on the life of Jesus. When others see us, they need to see Jesus. We must die to self and live for Him. It is possible only By God’s Amazing Grace. 

Amazing Grace

A while back We were driving down a lonely road.  Just our little family. Just having a conversation and minding our own business. When the dreaded lights shone in our rear view mirror. What had we done wrong? I didn’t think we were speeding. Our tags weren’t out. Our lights worked. We had no clue. We pull over and wait. We said a prayer asking God to help the officer be nice and to not give us a ticket. Come to find out, we were stopped for going a mile or two over the speed limit. And hen he said the words every driver wants to hear. I’ll give you a warning today. We then praised God for His mercy and for the grace the officer showed us. So you know what we did? We sped off going 10 miles over the speed limit to make up for time lost. I mean. The officer did show us grace. 

No. That’s not what we did at all. We drove off carefully and watched our speedometer. We made sure we stayed under the speed limit for a while. Why? Because he showed us grace. If we really had sped off, it would be like a slap in the face to the officer. 

There is a story in the Bible in Matthew chapter 18. A king was going through his accounts and one servant owed him ten thousand talents. This servant did not have the money to pay the king back so he was to be sold along with his wife, kids, and all that he had so that the payment could be made. Of course the servant didn’t want that. He fell to his knees and begged the king to give him time to come up with the money to pay off his debt. The king had compassion on his servant. He has grace. He forgave the servant. The servant was free from his debt. What a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He wouldn’t have to be sold not would he have to pay back all the money. This servant, after receiving this amazing grace, went and found another servant who owed him a hundred pence. But instead of showing the same grace the king showed him, he laid hands on this man and demanded he pay him what was owed. He fellow servant fell to his knees and asked for patience. He agreed to pay it all back, he just needed time. The servant was just shown grace. Do you think he would return that grace to his fellow servant? No, he didn’t. He cast his fellow servant into prison sentencing him until he could pay all that he owed. People were watching. They saw what just happened. They went straight away to the king. The servant was called back in before the king oh thou wicked servant, I forgave you all you debt, because you asked me. Shouldn’t you also have compassion on your fellow servant even as I has compassion on you? Of course the king was mad. He showed mercy and grace to his servant only for him to turn around and punish his fellow servant for something less than what he was forgiven for. 

God gives us grace. He forgives us of our sins. But that doesn’t mean we need to keep sinning. Jesus died for each one of us. He said us from our sins, not in our sins. There are Ten Commandments that we should follow. Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments. We obey because we love Him. We are not saved because we obey. We obey because we are saved. 

Paul said in Romans 6 verses 1 and 2, “what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

We are saved by grace. But why would we knowingly continue to sin? We could have sped off after receiving a warning, grace. But we did not. We accepted the free gift and sped no more. God has forgiven us our sins. Do we continue to knowingly sin? No.  We should go and sin no more. 

Accept His free gift. This is possible only By God’s Amazing Grace. 

Omnipresent

 This last weekend, the Hubs and I celebrated our fourteenth wedding  anniversary. Praise the Lord. Many people didn’t think we’d last six months let alone 14 years. But God has been good to us. We did quite a few different things, just the two of us. Miniature golf, walking around the pond, chased ducks, visited three different states. The most shocking thing we did was paddle boating. Those who know my fear of water know how hard that was. But by the grace of God, I was able to get on and we had fun. Our legs didn’t. But we did. And at one point we were in three different states, at the exact same time. Left foot in Arkansas, right foot in Texas, and hands in Louisiana. And at one point, the Hubs and I shared a kiss while standing in different states. I was in Arkansas while the Hubs was in Texas and Louisiana. 

Even though it was for a brief moment, it was pretty cool being in more than one place at once. As a mere mortal, I do not get many opportunities to be in multiple places at the same time. 

But God, He is omnipresent. He is all present.  He is able to experience being in multiple places at the same time, all the time. Not just on special occasions. Not just in a few different places.  If God is omnipresent, He is present everywhere. You and I can both be praying at the same time, and He will hear both of our prayers. When we are in church, we invite God into the sanctuary.  If He isn’t omnipresent, then how would He be at my church and your church and their church all at the same time? 

“God has always been. He is the great I Am. The psalmist declares, ‘Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.’ He is the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity. ‘I am the Lord, I change not,’ He declares. With Him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He is ‘the same yesterday, and today, and forever.’ He is infinite and omnipresent no words of ours can describe His greatness and majesty.” Medical Ministry page 92 paragraph 4. 

God was with Daniel in the lions den, but also with King Darius. God was with Naomi and her family in Moab, but He was also with the Israelites that stayed in Bethlehem. God was with Peter while He was in prison, but He was also with those praying for Peter’s release. God is with me, but He is also with you. All. The. Time. He promised you He would never leave nor forsake you. He promised that not just for the Israelites. He promised it for you and me. He is with you.   

Job 34 verse 21 says, “For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees all His steps.” 

He sees your tears. He sees your joy. He sees your frustrations. He is with you. And He is with me, too. At the same time. Even though we may be in different cities, states, countries, or even continents. He is omnipresent. 

So next time you feel lonely, like no one is listening, no one cares, know that God is there with you. Always. You are never alone. This is possible only By God’s Amazing Grace. 

Calling Jesus

 Growing up, we had a phone that was connected to a phone jack. I would call the number needed. Someone would answer the phone hopefully the person I was intending to call.  Sometimes the person would not be home and I’d have to leave a message, if they had an answering machine. Either I’d have to wait for them to call me back or I’d have to call back later.  Sometimes I would call and the person would already be on the phone. So I would get a busy signal. Again, I’d have to call back later.  Call waiting was invented. So the person could still answer my call even if they were already on another call. 

Cordless phones were invented and I could go into any room I wanted to talk on the phone. But if anyone knows me, I paced the house while on the phone. And eventually, cell phones were invented. I could call someone specifically and not have to call the house. So if the person was out and about, they could still answer the phone. I didn’t have to wait to talk to someone until they got home. There came lots of advantages when cell phones were invented. Now we can talk on the phone while in the car. And instead of talking, we can text now. 

But a few disadvantages as well. If there wasn’t a cell tower near by, then the signal wasn’t any good and a conversation couldn’t happen. 

Well, The other day we were hanging out as a family. Little But pipes up and say, “I wish I could call Jesus.” We asked her why when she could talk to Jesus anytime in prayer. She said because that way she could hear His voice on the other line. We talked about talking to Jesus in prayer has so many more benefits than talking on the phone.  But I get that. 

Being able to talk to someone and hear their voice on the other end is comforting. There is something about receiving audible cues that you are being heard is reassuring. There are some good things to a phone call that would make talking to Jesus on the phone more advantageous than in prayer. There would be an immediate answer. Jesus could automatically tell you the answer to your question.  He could congratulate you when something great happened. He could give advice when needed immediately. He could audibly tell you that He loves you. Such amazing reasons to talk on the phone versus in prayer. 

But the advantages of prayer outweigh that of a phone call. 

There are no dead zones. None. When you talk to Jesus you don’t have to worry about losing the connection or hearing static on the other line. There is a stretch of road we drive on regularly. Anytime we are on a phone call on that road, we always lose the call. And in the moments we haven’t lost the call, only a few syllables get through. Not even a few words. Just syllables. I like being able to talk to Jesus without the prayer being disconnected. 

Another advantage is I don’t have to worry about the battery life of my phone. Too many times I am at a low percentage. There are days I plug my phone in at the end of the day at 1percent. I like to play on the wild side.  But I don’t have to hang up with Jesus because my battery is too low I can connect with Him at any time despite the battery life. 

In all honesty, my battery is low if I’m not connected with Jesus. He charges my life battery. Another benefit to prayer versus the phone is I don’t have to wait for God to answer the phone. He will always answer in prayer. I don’t have to worry about Him being on another call. I don’t have to wonder if God’s phone is on silent like mine always is. 

I don’t have to worry about being able to talk to Jesus because I can’t  find my phone. I put it down and two seconds later I’m running around looking for my phone. I even have a tile on my key ring because I’m constantly looking for my phone, or my keys, or pretty much anything that isn’t connected to me. 

I can call God through prayer because I don’t have to keep track of something to contact Him with. 

There isn’t a time restriction to God’s prayer line. There isn’t a rule on calling between the hours of 9 and 5. He is available twenty four seven. I always tell my students they can reach out for help, but I won’t respond after 9 at night.  God isn’t like that. He will listen anytime. 

And One of my favorite reasons I prefer prayer over using the phone is God isn’t too busy for me. He will answer no matter what. He loves me so much and is willing to listen anytime I need Him. He will drop what He is doing for me. I don’t know anyone that will do that. I know the Hubs loves me but there are times he cannot answer the phone. My best friend has had to tell me she’ll have to call me back later because now isn’t a good time. But God. He can take my call now. 

God doesn’t need a phone to talk with us. He doesn’t need call waiting or voice mail. We can get through when we need. The connection is always good with Him. There will never be static or dropped calls. He isn’t too busy to listen to you. You want to talk to God now? Good.  Do it. Don’t worry about where your phone is. Don’t worry about what time it is. He is there waiting. He will answer. 

The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. Psalm 145:18 Jesus tells us to pray without ceasing 1 Thessalonians 5:17. God has listened and has attended to the voice of my prayer. Psalm 66:19. 

So put the phone down. Call the prayer line. It is open twenty four seven. He will be there to listen. He will answer. Prayer is so much better than a phone call. We don’t have to connect to a phone jack or to a power source. He is our power source and prayer connects us constantly. He is always ready for your call only By God’s Amazing Grace.