A New Year's Prayer

I am not one for making New Year's Resolutions. I would like to think that if the Lord brings something to mind that I need to change, I would start working on it then and not wait for January 1. The more I read and study God's Word, the more I get to know Him, the more I realize I have so much to learn and put into practice. At the beginning of this New Year, this is my prayer in the words of John Wesley:

I am no longer my own, but Thine.

Put me to what Thou wilt.

Rank me with whom Thou wilt.

Put me to doing.

Put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for Thee or laid aside for Thee,

Exalted for Thee or brought low for Thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

Thou art mine and I am Thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

Let it be ratified in Heaven.

Amen.

I want to live each day this year and all my remaining years for Him, the Lord God Almighty.

Lessons Learned from a Coloring Book - Part 3

I haven't colored for a week. So, I decided to pull out the pencils and sharpener and the coloring book. I just got started coloring when the lights went out! What to do? grab a couple of flashlights and keep coloring, of course! (Lights were off for twelve hours.)

The next day, when I looked closely at what I colored the night before, I was a bit disappointed. You see, what I colored by flashlight wasn't nice and "crisp", not close to the edges and even missing some places. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but, well, was it really worth it?

I started thinking, "It's all about the light." When the light is good, the coloring is good. Better choices are made. All goes well. But, by flashlight, things aren't so good. Hmmm...sounds familiar. 

The light of Christ helps me make good choices. His word lights up the way I should go. Temptation is easier to ignore in the daytime, in the light. Thoughts stay focused. But, in the night, in the dark, when I am tired, it is harder not to give in to temptation. My mind wanders. And when making decisions on my own instead of by Christ's leading, sometimes they are less than beneficial.

Light versus darkness....in coloring and in life, choose Light!

Regina's Story

 

This past week, I attended the World Mission Conference held in Kasoa, Ghana. The venue was the Pentecostal Conference Center (which is a work in progress, but very nice!) While there, I met a sweet woman who works in the building where I slept. One day, she came to my room to bring me something, and I greeted her and asked her name. (I know very little Twi and she knew very little English.) When I asked her name, she showed me the inner part of her left arm. There, tattooed, was her name and the name of her village. Immediately, my heart broke for her. I have discovered that there are still a few clans that tattoo there arms with name and village as a means of identification, especially if the person is in an accident. Ghana has many languages, people move, they wander...it is a way of knowing where a person belongs.

 

Then, I looked at the inside of her right arm. She told me that she received that tattoo before she became a Christian. It was a tattoo of a Ghanaian proverb, that when a dog bites, he bares his teeth. Then, as we were talking, I was looking at her beautiful face, her lovely smile...and, the markings by her right eye...initiation into the occult when she was young. What does a person say? "Our God is a loving God, a forgiving God, a God who makes us new..." You could see how she loves the Lord.

 

In the southern part of Ghana, there is the Sankofa symbol. It reminds people to "remember where you have come from." Regina doesn't need that symbol to remember...she can see every day, several times a day, what the Lord has done for her. And, she rejoices, for, in Him, she has been made new!

 

 

Create in Me a Clean Heart

This morning, while I was doing my Bible study time, I came upon the above scripture..."Create in me a clean heart O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 It caused me to reflect on what is a clean heart? I knew it did not mean that God was going to scrub my physical heart. No, it is much more than that. It is a prayer asking God to change me on the inside.to make it more like His. It is a prayer to remove the selfishness, the uncaring, the self pitying, the fearful, unbelieving part of me and to replace it with caring, serving, praying, praising and glorifying God in everything I do.

Some days it is hard for me to do. I want to enjoy my little world, believing that I don't belong anywhere else except in my flannel pajama pants and sweatshirt curled up with a good book. Some days I don't want to answer the phone when i am making a card or watching Judge Judy. But, I need to. I need to take every opportunity God presents me to reach out to others, to worship with others, to live for Him whether it is in the privacy of my own home or in public. I need to fill my head with thoughts that glorify Him.

Life is so exciting, so worthwhile, so enriching when I look to Christ, when I live for Him in all I do. Satan knows how to get to me. I'm learning to call out to the Lord more and more often. And, those times when the right spirit is within me is increasing. As I become closer to Christ, He brings to light the areas of my life that need to be given over to Him to be cleaned, to be redeemed for His work. I am so glad that God loves me just as I am, but loves me so much that He sticks with me and helps me to see what needs to change to live a fuller, more abundant life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." God is what is within me. Life in His Son, Jesus Christ is what matters in my life. And, through the power of the Holy Spirit I pray that I can live my days for Him.