Let It Shine

Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

The following is an excerpt from Moody's Anecdotes, a must read.

"A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do. 'Well,' said the chaplain, 'you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don't provoke them.'

For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked – 'By the way, did you take my advice?' 'I did, for two or three nights,' [the soldier answered.] 'How did it work?' 'Well,' said the young man, 'I felt like a whipped hound and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down and prayed.' 'Well,' asked the chaplain, 'How did that work?' The young soldier answered: 'We have a prayer meeting there now every night, three have been converted, and we are praying for the rest.'

When we see people praying over their meal in public, it warms my heart and boost my faith. I know there are those that don’t feel comfortable praying over a meal in a restaurant, or quietly bow their head. We hold hands and my Honey says a brief prayer. We do not want to make others feel uncomfortable about it nor do we want to bow down to pressure not to give thanks together just because they might. Jesus publicly prayed over food before thousands. But I'm not just talking about blessing our meals, I'm talking about the life we live out-loud.

Our children are taught a little song in Sunday School classes that we need remember to apply to out adult lives…This Little Light of Mine! Here are, as a reminder, the nuggets of the song.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine…Let it shine, all the time, let it shine

All around the neighborhood, I'm going to let it shine…Let it shine, all the time, let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm going to let it shine…Let it shine, all the time, let it shine.

Don't let Satan [blow] it out! I'm going to let it shine…Let it shine, all the time, let it shine

Our public witness is not something to take lightly. Our actions and words speak for us. And shouldn’t they? I am a Christian proud to call Jesus my Lord and of the Jewish foundation of my faith 24/7. People, let us be out and out for Christ; let us give no uncertain speech or action. If the world wants to call us fools, let them do it! It is only a little while; the crowning day is coming. Thank God for the privilege we have of confessing Christ.

If the Apostle Paul can sit in chains proclaiming his faith and Christ Lord from the depths of the dungeon and his actions and words get people saved, being a public witness for Christ in my neighborhood, schools, grocery store, etc is a cakewalk comparatively speaking. Need I say more?

Let's ask the Lord to touch our lives with power today. That we may be released from our stresses, our problems, our own desires, and certainly our inhibitions — that we may become focused on being available for the task of sharing Jesus all the time. Let it shine, People, let it shine!

Prayer Closet

Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

The Lord keeps bring up ‘prayer closet’ to me and I, admittedly and foolishly, kept pushing it aside. Just so you know, you cannot outlast God. I looked up scripture and other resources this morning to see what the Bible (and those with far more wisdom than I) had to say about it.

There are those that believe your prayer closet is a specific place, room, area you go to pray. I used to feel I was lacking somehow because I didn’t have a designated prayer closet. What kind of serious Christian prayer warrior could I be without one? I beat myself up with that until I realized my ‘prayer closet’ was any place I was privately and sincerely communicating with the Lord. My heart is my prayer closet, (my) inner room. I literally take it with me everywhere I go.

I have long been a people watcher and could sit for hours ‘watching’ and creating ‘lives’ for people around me to amuse myself whether sitting in an airport gate waiting area, my child’s school activities or anywhere. Being alone in a crowd is not difficult. My prayer closet is as functional in a crowd as it is in the quiet of my empty house. It’s not so much about the surroundings as it is the private communication and connection with God.

The scripture tells us to close the door once we are in our prayer closet. ”…Go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father…” This I believe to be key. By ‘shutting the door’ we are focusing on the Lord and prayer alone. We are not open to distraction. This is a personal spiritual discipline, not a location. The enemy is going to try to distract us regardless of where we are physically located.

Don’t misunderstand; I am not saying we shouldn’t have a quiet place to retreat from the world for our private time of prayer. I especially enjoy my time with God in the dark of my office. I am saying, however, we are not limited to that, we can have that wonderful communion wherever and whenever we choose.

We cannot look at Matthew 6:6 without Mathew 6:5. Jesus said what He did about praying in your prayer closet in context of telling us not be like the legalistic religious leaders that stood on the street corner making productions of their prayers so all that saw would know how holy they were. Prayer is not a spectacle for which to be admired, it is a personal communication with our Lord.

This brings me to the incredulous information I found in my research time, instructions online on how to build your own prayer closet. I kid you not! I’ll share one in closing, and then I’m heading off to my built-in prayer closet.

How to Make a Miniature Prayer Closet

1 Find or build a suitable-sized cabinet that you feel is adequate for housing your holy pictures. Hang or place this against the wall in an area where you can safely open it and spend time looking into it in undisturbed prayer or meditation. If you have relatives or roommates, you may want to consider a cabinet that locks. (HUH?)

2 Install a shelf in the cabinet a reasonable height from the bottom. You'll want to put a small shelf underneath it for storing your holy book or notebooks.

3 Use the top part of the shelf to create an altar. Use statues, pictures, or other sacred items to add to the atmosphere of your sacred space.

All that said, I’m thankful I carry my prayer closet with me, I never leave home without it!

In Jesus' Name

James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call in the church elders (the spiritual guides). And they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord's name.

For a short book in the Bible, James is brimming with a wealth of scripture. I’ve been reading and studying the Book of James for a few days now from my Hebrew-Greek Study Bible. As I’ve mentioned before, I love to study from this version of the Bible because it does not put scripture in modern terms and lingo but reflects the original Hebrew & Greek. It also puts things in context to the culture at the time it was written. Let’s never forget, the Bible was originally written by Jews for Jews, so understanding their culture is necessary.

Were we to say, “The man tripped gaily across the room” today, it would not mean the same to anyone younger than 60 as it would to our grandparents.

“My mother laid a trip on me” would not mean she blessed you with a journey.

“He was tripping out” doesn’t refer to a seasoned traveler.

“I learned to survive during my trip up the river” is not about enduring a reality show.

Yes, context and culture are very important. That being the case, what does “in the name of the Lord” mean to you and me in our time? It does not mean, as a matter of habit, we must close our prayers in the name of the Lord. It’s intent was to indicate our willingness to permit our prayers to be acted upon under the sovereign will and purpose of God. In John 14:13 our Lord said, “And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” We know perfectly well that we, as believers, do not always get from God what we ask.

The Lord certainly gives us the freedom and commands us to pray for all that we wish our Heavenly Father should do for us. But our Heavenly Father, knowing more and better than we do, gives us not that which we ask for, but that which He discerns as the best for us. And the best for God’s child is not always necessarily health and wealth, but sometimes it may be to allow sickness and privation designed by God to bring the believer into a closer walk with Him. I know that may be an unpopular statement but let’s be honest, when do we turn our thoughts more toward God? When we are healthy and wealthy or when we are sick and dependent on God for our daily bread? Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purposes. The word ‘good’ agathon, used in the original text, does not mean more of what we would like to have, but a closer relationship with our God.

So, do we really mean “in the name of the Lord” as scripture in the original text to indicate our willingness to permit our prayers to be acted upon under the sovereign will and purpose of God? Or do we use it more of a bonus to ‘seal the deal’ in hopes of having our will and desires met? Be honest.

My Honey and I end every phone call with “Love you, bye.” While it is good to express feelings and love for one another, do you really think that cursory “Love you, bye” does that? No, it doesn’t, it’s a ritual. We do love one another but that does not adequately cover our commitment. Have we gotten to the place where “In Jesus’ name” in our prayer life is more like ‘love you, bye’? Something to think about.  

Trial by Fire

James 3:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

This morning I had planned on writing about a particular subject matter and the holy tap on the shoulder changed all that. My Bible reading gave me the scripture and words ‘making bread’.

The first step is to dissolve the dry yeast in warm, tepid water and a little sugar. Tepid water is water that is warmer than lukewarm, but not real hot to the touch. The next step is to put 2 1/4 cups of water, and 3/4 cup of milk into a saucepan, put it on the stove, and heat it to scalding. After the water and milk is scalded, add 6 tablespoons of shortening, 6 tablespoons of sugar, and 3 teaspoons of salt. Mix that together until it's melted, and then put it aside to cool. After cooled, add the yeast mixture and stir it together. Okay, we're ready to add our flour. Start out with about 3 to 4 cups, and mix in enough flour until it's too thick to stir. When too thick to stir, you'll want to turn it out onto your surface. Put the rest of your flour into the middle of your surface, and then pour your dough into the flour. And using your hands, you'll want to knead that flour into your dough, and you just keep kneading and kneading and kneading until the flour's gone. And when your dough is elastic and not sticking to your hands and not sticking to the surface, then it's ready. If it's not, you'll want to add a little bit more flour until you get that right consistency. Take the dough that you just kneaded and put it into a large, greased, bowl. Cover it with a clean cloth, and put it into a warm place, and let it rise until double. Sometimes it'll take up to 90 minutes. After it's risen to double, you take your fist, and you punch it down. Now you're ready to form your loaves. Using your hands, you take the dough and you form it into a long roll to fit the pan. After you've formed your loaves, you will let rise until it's double or into the shape you want. After it's risen, you take a toothpick, and very gently poke a few holes down the middle of the bread. Bake them for approximately 30 minutes. Take your bread out of the oven, and let it set for about one minute. And once you have the bread out, you'll want to brush the top with a little butter. Let the bread completely cool before you cut it. And that is how to make bread by hand.

After reading the recipe for making bread I understood why it went with the scripture. You really have to persevere to get flour and yeast to be a loaf of life giving bread. Added with the sweetness of sugar and usefulness of salt, it goes from a grocery list to sustainable nutrition. It’s in the ‘making’ that all the hard bits happen. I highlighted those to show that making bread can be an analogy for life and the changes we must go through to Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

We’ve all felt dissolved and in deep issues heated to scalding. We’ve been mixed together until melted and put aside to cool. Mix in enough heartache until it's too thick to stir. Then our ‘warm’ place for a period of time where we wait for our ‘rising’ only to have circumstance take its fist, and punch su down. We are molded by ‘the Potter’ and set aside to let rise until double. Only then, we are put through the fires of trials and tribulation that Bake them (us), making us mature and complete, not lacking anything.   

When we are being scalded or 'kneaded and kneaded and kneaded', set aside and punched down, it is difficult to remember we are going through a process that will take us from our natural sinful state to something useful to the Lord. That is where the joy comes in! It was bread, you know, Jesus multiplied to feed the thousands…there’s another lesson in that, I see it already!

Set the Table

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

An admired man of faith, George Mueller (1805-1898), did many great works for the Lord in his lifetime, among them building several orphanages.

The following is a great story he tells:
It was time for breakfast at of one of my orphanages in England and there was no food. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but there was no money in the home’s account. A young girl whose father was a close friend of mine was visiting the home. I took her hand and said, “Come and see what our Father will do.” In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. We sat down at the table with the others and and I prayed, “Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat.”

At once, we heard a knock at the door. There stood the local baker. “Mr. Muller,” he said, “I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow, I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 o’clock this morning and baked you some fresh bread. Here it is.” Muller thanked him and gave praise to God. Soon afterward, a second knock came. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. There was no way to move and repair the cart except to empty it of the milk he needed to still deliver so he asked me if we could use his milk. We had a wonderful breakfast that morning.

Faith was the pinnacle of George Muller’s life. Without a personal salary, he relied only on God to supply the money and food he needed to support the hundreds of homeless children he befriended in the name of Messiah. A man of radiant faith, he kept a motto on his desk for many years that brought comfort, strength, and uplifting confidence to his heart. It read, ‘It matters to Him about you.’ Mueller believed that those words captured the meaning of 1 Peter 5:7, and he rested his claim for divine help on that truth. He testified at the end of his life that the Lord had never failed to supply all his needs.

Many Christians…okay, most of us…probably all of us, at one time or another did not really wait in faith for God to provide our needs. We professed it with our mouths...especially to other Christians because it was the ‘Christian’ thing to do and say, yet we spent countless hours creating new gray hairs as we stressed ‘trying to figure something out’. I’m not saying we should sit on a rock doing nothing, George had the table set in anticipation of God’s provision after all. Our culture is one of ‘doers’, we want to make things happen. We get in God’s way will all our ‘doing’ and I imagine He has stepped back many a time to let us run with issues He was prepared to handle. Saddest part of all is we tend to take pride in finding our own solution. So, we didn’t wait on God and we were proud of ourselves for ‘figuring it out’ and thwarted His work. No wisdom there, been there – done that!

We are not a patient people. From reading the Bible, it seems people never have been. We want what we want and we want it now. Doesn’t take a lot of faith to stomp around demanding our right to instant gratification, now does it? Any little two-year old can show you how.

I’ve had a recent situation where casting my cares made a big difference in how I allowed that situation to affect me. Here is the circle of events: Situation made itself known. Instantly, I felt distressed. I gave it to God. He took it. Distress left me. He gave me peace. I accepted it. Gave thanks to the Lord.

The situation was not immediately resolved but I was able to wait on Him to ‘fix it’ and was in complete peace in that waiting time. Notice in the brief description above the ‘give and take’ involved. Moreover, notice the ‘take’ NOT present. I didn’t give it God only to take it back after leaving it at the foot of the cross.‘It matters to Him about you (and me)’ Remember that God is concerned with our every need! Cast your cares upon Him today.