Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Ps.90:12).

Meditations, Reflections, Insights

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Ps.90:12).

The length of our days is seventy years - or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. (Ps.90:10)

Have you noticed that during the phase of a lifetime our experience of time starts of very slow and continues in slow mode for at least one or two decades.  Remember when you were a kid how it seemed an eternity between one Christmas to the next, from one birthday to the next, or waiting until the end of June when School got out each year?  We wanted to grow up fast, maybe like an older brother or sister.  Those were the days before we were loaded with other cares and responsibilities of life.

During those earlier years, hopefully, we were progressively prepared in many of the age appropriate ways for entering into the adult world in the future... where we would be responsible not only for ourselves, but for, and to others as well.  In fact, others would be relying on us to fulfill our part.  The parents' job is to train up their child so that they will be prepared one day to graduate into the adult life and responsibilities, and do so successfully.  Unfortunately, many parents fail in this area, although not purposely. Many parents didn't have an example to follow because their parents didn't have parents who knew how to train up their children to be prepared for the adult world and its responsibilities.  I fell into this category myself, both as a child and as a young parent. 

Beginning around the third decade time begins moving faster and each decade following seems to pick up more speed than the decade before.  Before we know it, our children have grown and they now have children.  Where did life go?  What did I achieve?  It is better to learn late, than not at all. But I can't help wondering if we had learned how to adapt to life and its many changes and unexpected circumstances in healthier ways earlier in life, how much difference would that have made?  I believe it would have made a significant difference in many ways.  We cannot teach or model what we have not learned, so we model our dysfunctional ways in front of our children without realizing how much we are harming their outlook on life as they too pick up on negative attitudes, hopelessness, and other negative behaviors.  We want them to learn better ways than we have learned, because we love them, but we don't know how to model a better way.

Somewhere along the line, hopefully, we do learn how to be better parents and grandparents. It is usually after a point of recognition of how we are not the parent we want to be, and don't know how to be, that we begin seeking how to go about making changes in our own lives.  It has to begin with us because our lives affect others, especially our children, and spouses, not to mention, everyone we meet.  As we change progressively, we will find others seem to be changing their attitudes toward us as well. 

  

I'm sure I am not the only person who has wished they could start over with the knowledge they now have.  How many things about our past self we would change if we could.  Our lives would be so different, and maybe our children's lives would have been different too.  We know we cannot go back, only forward.  As long as we are still breathing we can grow and change, and model  healthier, life inspiring attitudes that build up, not tear down, that encourage, not discourage, that focus on love for Christ, and others, rather than only on ourselves. We can change our future by changing our attitudes toward life's circumstances, and toward others.  I thank God that He left us His Word, the Bible, for us to learn of Him, and through His Holy Spirit be able to have our attitudes transformed to become more like His.  We will not get it perfect in our lifetime, but we know we are His children who are ever learning, and are to practice modeling our new attitudes, love, and behavior so the world will recognize us as belonging to Christ.  It is only because of Christ Jesus' personal deep love and concern for us, that He shed His blood to give us a new life, in Him. It cost Him everything; it only costs us heart submission to Him, which will enable Him to change us through His Spirit and His Word.

 A scripture God laid on my heart many years ago was this:  Romans 12:1-2

1)Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy (Christ dying for our sins so we could have a new spirit-empowered life through Him), offer your bodies as "living" sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

2)Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.

What are your thoughts on this?

Maybe you had parents who knew how to train up their children to become responsible caring adults who love God and others, and have Christ like attitudes.  Maybe you didn't.  Either way, I would love to hear your responses or maybe how you came to recognize a need to change.

~Annie~

Preview

Why Do You Say God's Ways Are Unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

Why Do You Say God's Ways Are Unjust? 

Is it not your ways that are unjust? 

Ezekiel 18:21-23,25,30,31 

 

Today, even as in other generations, those who do not know God think He is unjust. What does God say to this? God said, "If a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed (repents) and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live... None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their wicked ways and live?  Yet you say,'The way of the LORD is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?  (Consider your offenses you have committed and turn away from them.) ... Repent!  Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.  Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! 

Today, we repent (turn from sinful ways) and turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ who paid the ultimate price for our sins on the cross and proved He was Sovereign God by rising from the dead. Just as He died for our sins, we are to now die to sin, and just as He rose to life, we are to rise to a new life lived from Him, to Him, and for Him. He has freed us from the bondage of sin so that with the help of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we may do so. He has given us the promised new heart and new spirit within us to desire after Him. 

We need to occasionally examine our hearts to see if we have any hidden sin in us that we need to take to God in prayer and give it to Him. Why? so He can enable us to be free from it and progressively replace it with the character and attitude of Christ.   We need to remember that all behaviors first stem from an attitude.  We must bring the attitude to God and with the attitude changed, the behavior will gradually follow suit.

God sees our hearts and examines our motives, and knows all we think and do. It isn't difficult for us to see the faults or sins of others, but we are often blind to our own faults...at least, until someone points them out to us. We all need to examine our own heart attitudes and even those things that may be pointed out to us, to see how, when, or why we exhibit a particular behavior, and to bring it to God. We are to pour out our heart to Him to help us change our attitude in that area and replace it with a more humble, gentle, patient, sensitive attitude in order that we would honor Christ in all our ways. 

It doesn't feel good when someone (often a family member) points out a fault, but if we want to grow in both grace and knowledge and honor Christ in all our attitudes and ways, we need to examine our own heart attitudes and how our words may sound to others... even if they weren't meant to sound that way. Do we come off as a know-it-all? Do we talk twice as much as we listen, when it should be the other way around? Who is our focus on, ourselves, or others when we are speaking? Do we speak to them as we would like to be spoken to, or do we talk in a way one would to a child or someone with a dementia? Do we have a control problem? Do we have a pride problem or lack of humbleness? We should examine our heart attitudes not to feel guilty, but to grow spiritually to emulate the character of Christ Jesus more and more. We must first recognize our faulty areas before we can practice new biblical attitudes to replace the old ones.  Sometimes God may show us a fault at a time while listening to another person who has that same type of fault.  They probably do not realize how they sound to another either.  We cannot change another’s behavior or attitude, but we can certainly ask God’s help for working on ours. This will be a witness to others that with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and prayer, we can have our attitudes transformed, and grow more and more in grace.

Do you find you have learned behaviors and attitudes passed on by parents? Many of us do and we aren't always aware of this either, until someone points it out to us. I have three sisters, and a friend of mine has two sisters. In both of our families there is a spirit of competitiveness, a stubbornness, a need to be in control of our environment, a need to rescue others, as well as a need to watch our backs. When you get two or three sisters (or brothers) who hang out together who carry same or similar family traits it can become a real challenge in the patience department, and for your relationship to survive, forgiveness is a necessity to learn and practice.

We are not responsible for our parent's faults, or sins, and neither are they responsible for ours. We are each responsible for our own, and are responsible to look to Christ Jesus as the answer for salvation for the penalty of our sins, and through faith in Him by the grace God gives, we find out that Jesus also released us from the power of sin in our lives, when we are focused on Him rather than ourselves. He has also given us the Holy Spirit as our Counselor, Director, and Enabler. The Holy Spirit teaches us through the Word of God how to live our lives to glorify God (Hebrews 12:1-3) and honor Christ in both attitude and action.(Romans 2:1-2) He has given us everything we need to live a godly life. (1 Peter 1:1-9)

God is so just that He took the penalty for our sin upon Himself and gave us the freedom to choose life or death.  Eternal life comes through Jesus Christ, who is the only Way, Truth, and life (John 14:6). Life is in and through His Son, Jesus Christ and if we reject Him, we reject God, and therefore eternal life.  Why does anyone want to stay in their sin and die in it?  All who will come to Jesus, He will not cast out. It is our choice.  Faith comes through the Word of God (Romans 10:17) and we are nourished by the Word of God on a daily basis. (Matthew 4:4); The Word is our food and the Holy Spirit is our refreshment.  We need both, as they always work together.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on anything in this post in the comment section below.  Thank you.

~Annie~

Spiritually Flourishing

Meditations, Reflections, Insights

 Psalm 92: 1-2 and vv.12-15 

                                                          

Spiritually Flourishing

 

1.  It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.

      a) How often do I give thanks and give praise? 

      b) When is the most likely time I do? 

      c) When do I most likely forget to give thanks and praise His name? 

2.  To declare Your loving-kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness every night.

      a) What are the first thoughts and the first words out of my heart and my mouth in the morning?

      b) In what way(s) did God show His faithfulness yesterday and through the night?

12. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree (symbol of being victorious), he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. (Cedars grow in forests and therefore help each other withstand the storms). Another way to look at a Palm tree is as a symbol of a single victorious witness and the cedar as a collective witness/testimonial as a church.

13. Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.  When we are firmly rooted in the Word of God and seeking to live our lives in His presence and for His glory, desiring His will rather than our own, we will flourish in our spiritual life and become a light in this dark world.  As a moth is attracted to the light, seekers will be attracted to those who are letting their light shine brightly and are always prepared to give an answer for the reason for the hope that is in them. And they will do so with gentleness and respect.  (1 Peter 3:15)

14. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.   Even though as we age our bodies begin their wearing out and we often have to adjust to aches and pains, our hearing and/or vision depreciates, and we have difficulties in other areas, the one area that is not wearing out is our spiritual life.  Our spiritual life will still flourish as we feed on the manna and drink of the Spirit and look to the Son.  This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.  (The "Therefore" at the beginning of this passage refers to vv. 7-15)  2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

15. To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.  He is the Rock of our salvation, and He is full of grace and truth. (John 1). He is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14).

What are your thoughts on God's faithfulness and on spiritually flourishing?  Please share your thoughts or experience so others may be encouraged...if you are comfortable doing so.

~Annie~

 

ABIDING FRUIT

I Chose You, and Appointed You, That Ye Should Go and Bear Fruit, and That Your Fruit Should Abide—John 15:16

THERE are some fruits that will not keep. One sort of pears or apples must be used at once; another sort can be kept over till next year. So there is in Christian work some fruit that does not last. There may be much that pleases and edified, and yet there is no permanent impression made on the power of the world or the state of the Church. On the other hand, there is work that leaves its mark for generations or for eternity. In it the power of God makes itself lastingly felt. It is the fruit of which Paul speaks when he describes the two styles of ministry: "My preaching was not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstrations of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The more of man with his wisdom and power, the less of stability; the more of God's Spirit, the more of a faith standing in God's power.

Fruit reveals the nature of the tree from which it comes. What is the secret of bearing fruit that abides? The answer is simple. It is as our life abides in Christ, as we abide in Him, that the fruit we bear will abide. The more we allow all that is of human will and effort to be cut down short and cleansed away by the divine Husbandman, the more intensely our being withdraws itself from the outward that God may work in us by His Spirit; that is, the more wholly we abide in Christ, the more will our fruit abide.

What a blessed thought! He chose you, and appointed you to bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide. He never meant one of His branches to bring forth fruit that should not abide. The deeper I enter into the purpose of this His electing grace, the surer my confidence will become that I can bring forth fruit to eternal life, for myself and others. The deeper I enter into this purpose of His electing love, the more I will realize what the link is between the purpose from eternity, and the fruit to eternity: the abiding in Him. The purpose is His, He will carry it out; the fruit is His, He will bring it forth; the abiding is His, He will maintain it.

Let everyone who professes to be a Christian worker, pause. Ask whether you are leaving your mark for eternity on those around you. It is not your preaching or teaching, your strength of will or power to influence, that will secure this. All depends on having your life full of God and His power. And that again depends upon your living the truly branchlike life of abiding—very close and unbroken fellowship with Christ. It is the branch, that abides in Him, that brings forth much fruit, fruit that will abide.

Blessed Lord, reveal to my soul, I pray Thee, that Thou hast chosen me to bear much fruit. Let this be my confidence, that Thy purpose can be realized—Thou didst choose me. Let this be my power to forsake everything and give myself to Thee. Thou wilt Thyself perfect what Thou hast begun. Draw me so to dwell in the love and the certainty of that eternal purpose, that the power of eternity may posses me, and the fruit I bear may abide.

That ye may bear fruit. O my heavenly Vine, it is beginning to dawn upon my soul that fruit, more fruit—much fruit—abiding fruit is the one thing Thou hast to give me, and the one thing as branch I have to give Thee! Here I am. Blessed Lord, work out Thy purpose in me; let me bear much fruit, abiding fruit, to thy glory.

The True Vine. Andrew Murray

PREVAILING PRAYER

I Appointed You That Ye Should Go and Bear Fruit, and That Your Fruit Should Abide: That Whatsoever Ye Shall Ask of the Father in My Name, He May Give It You—John 15:16

IN the first verse of our parable, Christ revealed Himself as the true Vine, and the Father as the Husbandman, and asked for Himself and the Father a place in the heart. Here, in the closing verse, He sums up all His teaching concerning Himself and the Father in the twofold purpose for which He had chosen them. With reference to Himself, the Vine, the purpose was, that they should bear fruit. With reference to the Father, it was, that whatsoever they should ask in His name, should be done of the Father in Heaven. As fruit is the great proof of the true relation to Christ, so prayer is of our relation to the Father. A fruitful abiding in the Son, and prevailing prayer to the Father, are the two great factors in the true Christian life.

That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These are the closing words of the parable of the Vine. The whole mystery of the Vine and its branches leads up to the other mystery—that whatsoever we ask in His name the Father gives! See here the reason of the lack of prayer, and of the lack of power in prayer. It is because we so little live the true branch life, because we so little lose ourselves in the Vine, abiding in Him entirely, that we feel so little constrained to much prayer, so little confident that we shall be heard, and so do not know how to use His name as the key to God's storehouse. The Vine planted on earth has reached up into Heaven; it is only the soul wholly and intensely abiding in it, can reach into Heaven with power to prevail much. Our faith in the teaching and the truth of the parable, in the truth and the life of the Vine, must prove itself by power in prayer. The life of abiding and obedience, of love and joy, of cleansing and fruit-bearing, will surely lead to the power of prevailing prayer.

Whatsoever ye shall ask. The promise was given to disciples who were ready to give themselves, in the likeness of the true Vine, for their fellow men. This promise was all their provision for their work; they took it literally, they believed it, they used it, and they found it true. Let us give ourselves, as branches of the true Vine, and in His likeness, to the work of saving men, of bringing forth fruit to the glory of God, and we shall find a new urgency and power to pray and to claim the "whatsoever ye ask." We shall waken to our wonderful responsibility of having in such a promise the keys to the King's storehouses given us, and we shall not rest till we have received bread and blessing for the perishing.

"I chose you, that ye may bring forth fruit, and that your fruit may abide; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you." Beloved disciple, seek above everything to be a man of prayer. Here is the highest exercise of your privilege as a branch of the Vine; here is the full proof of your being renewed in the image of God and His Son; here is your power to show how you, like Christ, live not for yourself, but for others; here you enter Heaven to receive gifts for men; here your abiding in Christ has led to His abiding in you, to use you as the channel and instrument of His grace. The power to bear fruit for men has been crowned by power to prevail with God.

"I am the vine, my Father is the Husbandman." Christ's work in you is to bring you so to the Father that His Word may be fulfilled in you: "At that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say not that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you." The power of direct access to the Father for men, the liberty of intercession claiming and receiving blessing for them in faith, is the highest exercise of our union with Christ. Let all who would truly and fully be branches give themselves to the work of intercession. It is the one great work of Christ the Vine in Heaven, the source of power for all His work. Make it your one great work as branch: it will be the power of all your work.

In My name. Yes, Lord, in Thy name, the new name Thou hast given Thyself here, the true Vine. As a branch, abiding in Thee in entire devotion, in full dependence, in perfect conformity, in abiding fruitfulness, I come to the Father, in Thee, and He will give what I ask. Oh, let my life be one of unceasing and prevailing intercession! Amen!

The True Vine. Andrew Murray

CHRIST'S FRIENDSHIP: ITS EVIDENCE

Ye Are My Friends, if Ye Do the Things Which I Command You—John 15:14

OUR LORD has said what He gave as proof of His friendship: He gave His life for us. He now tells us what our part is to be—to do the things which He commands. He gave His life to secure a place for His love in our hearts to rule us; the response His love calls us to, and empowers us for, is that we do what He commands us. As we know the dying love, we shall joyfully obey its commands. As we obey the commands, we shall know the love more fully. Christ had already said: "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." He counts it needful to repeat the truth again: the one proof of our faith in His love, the one way to abide in it, the one mark of being true branches is—to do the things which He commands us. He began with absolute surrender of His life for us. He can ask nothing less from us. This alone is a life in His friendship.

This truth, of the imperative necessity of obedience, doing all that Christ commands us, has not the place in our Christian teaching and living that Christ meant it to have. We have given a far higher place to privilege than to duty. We have not considered implicit obedience as a condition of true discipleship. The secret thought that it is impossible to do the things He commands us, and that therefore it cannot be expected of us, and a subtle and unconscious feeling that sinning is a necessity have frequently robbed both precepts and promises of their power. The whole relation to Christ has become clouded and lowered, the waiting on His teaching, the power to hear and obey His voice, and through obedience to enjoy His love and friendship, have been enfeebled by the terrible mistake. Do let us try to return to the true position, take Christ's words as most literally true, and make nothing less the law of our life: "Ye are my friends, if ye do the things that I command you." Surely our Lord asks nothing less than that we heartily and truthfully say: "Yea, Lord, what Thou dost command, that will I do."

These commands are to be done as a proof of friendship. The power to do them rests entirely in the personal relationship to Jesus. For a friend I could do what I would not for another. The friendship of Jesus is so heavenly and wonderful, it comes to us so as the power of a divine love entering in and taking possession, the unbroken fellowship with Himself is so essential to it, that it implies and imparts a joy and a love which make the obedience a delight. The liberty to claim the friendship of Jesus, the power to enjoy it, the grace to prove it in all its blessedness—all come as we do the things He commands us.

Is not the one thing needful for us that we ask our Lord to reveal Himself to us in the dying love in which He proved Himself our friend, and then listen as He says to us: "Ye are My friends." As we see what our Friend has done for us, and what as unspeakable blessedness it is to have Him call us friends, the doing His commands will become the natural fruit of our life in his love. We shall not fear to say: "Yea, Lord, we are Thy friends, and do what Thou dost command us."

If ye do. Yes, it is in doing that we are blessed, that we abide in His love, that we enjoy His friendship. "If ye do what I command you!" O my Lord, let Thy holy friendship lead me into the love of all Thy commands, and let the doing of Thy commands lead me ever deeper into Thy friendship.

The True Vine.  Andrew Murray

ELECTION

Ye Did Not Choose Me, But I Chose You, and Appointed You That Ye Should Go and Bear Fruit—John 15:16

THE branch does not choose the vine, or decide on which vine it will grow. The vine brings forth the branch, as and where it will. Even so Christ says: "Ye did not choose me, but I chose you." But some will say is not just this the difference between the branch in the natural and in the spiritual world, that man has a will and a power of choosing, and that it is in virtue of his having decided to accept Christ, his having chosen Him as Lord, that he is now a branch? This is undoubtedly true. And yet it is only half a truth. The lesson of the Vine, and the teaching of our Lord, points to the other half, the deeper, the divine side of our being in Christ. If He had not chosen us, we had never chosen Him. Our choosing Him was the result of His choosing us, and taking hold of us. In the very nature of things, it is His prerogative as Vine to choose and create His own branch. We owe all we are to "the election of grace." If we want to know Christ as the true Vine, the sole origin and strength of the branch life, and ourselves as branches in our absolute, most blessed, and most secure dependence upon Him, let us drink deep of this blessed truth: "Ye did not choose me, but I chose you."

And with what view does Christ say this? That they may know what the object is for which He chose them, and find, in their faith in His election, the certainty of fulfilling their destiny. Throughout Scripture this is the great object of the teaching of election. "Predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son." (to be branches in the image and likeness of the Vine). "Chosen that we should be holy." "Chosen to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit." "Elect in sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience." Some have abused the doctrine of election, and others, for fear of its abuse, have rejected it, because they have overlooked this teaching. They have occupied themselves with its hidden origin in eternity, with the inscrutable mysteries of the counsels of God instead of accepting the revelation of its purpose in time, and the blessings it brings into our Christian life.

Just think what these blessings are. In our verse Christ reveals His twofold purpose in choosing us to be His branches: that we may bear fruit on earth, and have power in prayer in Heaven. What confidence the thought that He has chosen us for this gives, that He will not fail to fit us for carrying out His purpose! What assurance that we can bear fruit that will abide, and can pray so as to obtain! What a continual call to the deepest humility and praise, to the most entire dependence and expectancy! He would not choose us for what we are not fit for, or what He could not fit us for. He has chosen us; this is the pledge, He will do all in us.

Let us listen in silence of soul to our holy Vine speaking to each of us: "You did not choose Me!" And let us say, "Yea, Lord, but I chose You! Amen, Lord!" Ask Him to show what this means. In Him, the true Vine, your life as branch has its divine origin, its eternal security, and the power to fulfill His purpose. From Him to whose will of love you owe all, you may expect all. In Him, His purpose, and His power, and His faithfulness, in His love let me abide.

I chose you. Lord, teach me what this means—that Thou hast set Thy heart on me, and chosen me to bear fruit that will abide, and to pray prayer that will prevail. In this Thine eternal purpose my soul would rest itself and say: "What He chose me for I will be, I can be, I shall be."

The True Vine.  Andrew Murray