Category: Scripture

From the Holy Bible

Going to Church

On By vickleaIn Quotation and Citations, Scripture6 Comments

My husband and I really missed attending church during the pandemic. We hardly went out except for shopping or errands, so church was our way to see friends, to associate with other believers and to get spiritually fed. In my devotional on Sunday, I read a quotation that I want to share with you that made me think deeply about the motivation for attending church.

The question we should ask is not ‘What am I getting out of church?’, but ‘What am I giving out at church?’ They did not come just to receive but also to help others.~Nicky Gumbel, One Year Bible, August 21, 2022

Giving instead of getting is an awesome responsibility, but it is the real reason to attend church or to meet with other believers.

If we meet together with an attitude of encouraging each other, then we end up being encouraged ourselves.

The hearts of the believers in the first church were happy just to be meeting together. This gives me reason to think. Is church a chore or duty or is it the place where I am happy and I am there to spread happiness to others?

May your day be richly blessed as you encourage others the way you would like to be encouraged.

Never Separated

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

When I was a young bride and married less than six months, my husband’s ship moved from Virginia to South Carolina. I was under contract to teach in Virginia, so I had to stay there while my new husband moved to South Carolina. About a month after he moved, I got the welcome but unexpected surprise that I was pregnant. So, I was living alone, pregnant for the first time and feeling somewhat lonely. We had a church home in Virginia and the people there were great, encouraging me and helping me when I needed it. The Scripture verse for today is what helped me get through eight months of being separated from Harry.

When I read it in my devotional this morning, I recalled all of the times that Harry was gone and I said this verse, knowing that although I could not see him, Jesus was right there with me, keeping me company and offering comfort when I needed it. The USN could and did separate me from my husband, but nothing could separate me from Jesus! There were many more separations between Harry and me after that because the USN has a tendency to send sailors to sea. I would move to a new place and he would go to sea. I was left alone, with small children, to find friends and a new place in that new world. But I always knew that Jesus was with me and would help me get through another move and more changes. I don’t know what I would have done without knowing that the Lord was right by my side because I am very shy and introverted, so making friends was difficult, but Jesus led me to the right places and the right people, always letting me know that I was accepted already by Him.

Now that I am older, the first part of the verse has deep significance for me. Death cannot separate me from Jesus either! He has been with me for the last fifty plus years and when I die, I get to go be where He went before me, to prepare a place for me. Just as Harry went to South Carolina first and had a home ready for me when I moved (I was nine months pregnant then), Jesus has gone before me to Heaven and has prepared a place for me. He is just waiting for me to join Him when the time is right.

May you have a blessed day, always knowing that Jesus is right there with you and nothing can separate you from Him!

How to Enter into God’s Presence

On By vickleaIn Scripture9 Comments

Every day should be a day to enter into the presence of God. But how do we go in? My devotional this morning gave me clear insight and instruction.

It’s very clear that the first thing we should do when entering God’s presence is to be thankful, truly and from the heart. We need to spend time in awareness of who God is, not just all that He has done for us, although that is important, too.

This is the same verse from “The Message” version of the Bible. I don’t usually use that version because it is such a loose translation, but I like this verse because it is so appropriate for the 21st Century. I don’t know about you but I have what seems like hundreds of passwords for different online sites, so many in fact that I have a locked password manager on my device so that if I forget a password, I can look it up again. Or, if I’m using my usual device, the computer itself completes the password for me so that I can enter the site. Isn’t it wonderful that the password for entering into God’s presence is always the same? “Thank you.” Just “thank you.”

May you have a blessed day, filled with thanks and standing firmly in the presence of the Lord.

Sweeter than Honey

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song1 Comment

Video of hummingbirds at feeder from YouTube

I have hummingbird feeders just outside my window that I watch daily from my recliner as I read my Bible, pray and then spend time in meditation. They are fiercely devoted to filling themselves with that sweet nectar. May we be equally devoted to God’s Word.

Sweeter than Honey and the Honeycomb, song

We used to sing this song in one of the churches that we attended. The words have stayed with me through the years. Good to remember how sweet God’s Words should be to our ears, as we crave insight into His character by reading His Word.

Have a blessed and very sweet day!

Life Is a Puzzle

On By vickleaIn Scripture5 Comments

I have heard all of my life that life is a mystery and we have to solve it. I’m not sure whether it was my mother or grandmother who put that idea into my head, but since mysteries are my favorite genre to read, I have been content with that analogy for years. Then this morning I read a devotional that compared life to a puzzle and I think it is a much more appropriate fit. When I think of a mystery, I think of a bad guy who is lurking in the shadows and the good guy who always wins in the end. Well, that fits if you cast Satan as the bad guy and Jesus as the victor. But in the puzzle analogy, we, God’s creation, seem to have a more active role, so that’s why I like it.

We make plans daily. For example, I knew that this week I volunteered to work at Vacation Bible School at our church. I was first assigned to work in crafts with the elementary children, but that didn’t pan out because it required that I descend steep steps to the classroom. So, the coordinator moved me to preparing snacks in the church kitchen. But when I went to pick up my shirt for the week, I was told that I would be working the check in table outside. I had planned on one thing, but I switched twice. Why? Because I was not in charge! I’m a volunteer.

That’s what we are in the Lord’s army. We are volunteers and sometimes we like to think that we are in charge and make plans accordingly. But God, who is in charge, may change our plans according to what He needs and the perspective that He has. He sees all things and all people and knows exactly what needs to happen and when. Life is like a puzzle that God is putting pieces together and we can only see one small part of it and sometimes that doesn’t make sense to us until we back away and look at it from a distance. We have to trust that God knows what He is doing and turn over our desires to Him so that He can mold us and them into something that makes sense for His big plan.

Personally, I am not a fan of puzzles. The intricate skill of choosing pieces and fitting them together so that one big beautiful picture is complete has generally escaped me. I was able to complete a puzzle with my grandchildren earlier this summer and was so pleased that I was able to enjoy my time with them working on it. I can just imagine God working out the puzzle of our lives, with the image in His mind of what He has planned for us and how everything will look in the end. The thing is we are not at the end yet. All of the pieces are still being placed and we need to wait patiently, without stamping our feet and demanding that God follow our plans. I don’t like puzzles, but I am willing to concede that since God is putting the pieces of my life together, fitting my pieces in with the pieces of others with whom I interact in this world, then I need to let God and just let Him complete it. I have input because He has given me the ability to make choices but I don’t have the final say, and I’m okay with that. I have discovered that God is not only assembling the puzzle of my life; He is also creating it. And one day I will understand because I will see it from God’s perspective of Heaven and it will all come together beautifully.

May your day be blessed with the wonder of how much God loves you and thanksgiving for the beautiful picture He is creating with your puzzling life.

What Does Rescue Look Like?

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

Everyone who has ever been in a difficult or dangerous situation wants to be rescued from it, not left in it. But what does rescue look like?

The Bible promises that God will rescue His people from their troubles. Does that mean that our Sovereign Lord makes all of our troubles go away? I’m sorry to have to say that it does not. Sometimes rescue means that we plod through the troubles, but in my experience, it is me who changes, not the troubles. I see them in a different light, in the light of who God is and how He is with me and the troubles that are still there become smaller and almost non-existent. That is a kind of rescue that is not expected but for me it has always been welcome. It’s also impossible to say when and how God will show up to rescue us. He turns up in the most creative ways possible, sometimes in the form of a stranger who offers a helping hand and sometimes in the form of a Bible verse that the Holy Spirit brings to our minds to comfort us and to get us thinking on the right track. God promises to rescue, that is true. But our part is to be ready to be rescued in a way that may not be exactly what we thought it would be and to accept that rescue for what it is. The alternative is to wallow in our problems, throw a pity party and hope that someone will join us in that miry mess. I have found in my long life that many times the troubles I need to be rescued from are due to my own poor choices. Yet, in spite of me, God shows us and rescues me, sending help just when I’m ready to give up. God is always on time, just not always on our timetable that we like to set for Him.

God will always bear our burdens but we have to give them to Him. He doesn’t reach down and grab them from us. Sometimes, in my own stubbornness, I have been absolutely determined to bear my own burdens, thinking that my own ingenuity and cleverness will get me out of the mess that I created and too proud to ask God for help. However, once I have decided that I cannot do it on my own, that I need His help and turn the burden over to Him, then He can take it away, lighten the load and show me how to carry a much lighter burden instead. God is ready to daily take on whatever troubles us, but we need to ask Him to do so instead of being self-sufficient. After all, our Creator knows what is best for us, if we would just acknowledge His wisdom and move on in His way rather than following our own path.

I pray that everyone will have a wonderful day, blessed in the knowledge of how very much God loves each of us and wants to take our burdens away and rescue us from our troubles.

Knowing Facts and Knowing People

On By vickleaIn Scripture7 Comments

There are two verbs that mean to know in the Spanish language. One is “saber” which means to know facts. For example, I know my multiplication tables and I know the colors of the rainbow. The other verb is “conocer” which means to know a person. For example, I know some of the people at my church. It’s a large church, so I don’t know many of them well. However, I know my husband well, or at least as well as I think I can since we have been married for almost fifty years.

Now here is the Spanish version. Note the uses of “saber” and “conocer.”

The word for having knowledge of facts is used in the first part of the verse, having some knowledge but not all the factual knowledge that they should have. Then, the last part of this Scripture switches to use knowledge of people Those who love God are known by Him. He doesn’t have us memorized like facts, but He knows us, inside and out, the “good, bad and ugly” and He loves us anyway. When the Bible refers to knowing God, it uses the verb “conocer” because God is to be known as a person, not a fact that you claim to know a lot about.

“Saber” is used in this verse because knowing that you have eternal life is a fact that you can know, requiring certain actions on our part, including confession and repentance.

“Conocer” is used here because it is referring to knowing God as a person. If we truly know someone, we know what will disappoint them and what will make them happy with us.

Jesus knows His children as his friends. How well do we know Him? Do we just know the facts that we have been taught about His life, death and resurrection? Or are we striving to really know Him, to know His heart and what would make Him delight in us. Saber or conocer?

I have barely touched on this topic of the two differences in these verbs. If you use an online version of the Bible, it is a simple thing to change to a Spanish translation (American Latina is best) and see for yourself which verb is used when you see the word “know.” I’m amazed at all we can learn about God and truly know Him by reading and studying His word.

May your day be blessed with the knowledge of him who saved you and loves you.

God’s Work

On By vickleaIn Scripture5 Comments

Did you know that you were created by God with a specific purpose in His mind? And not only that, but He has work for you to do for Him while you are on the earth.

Whatever He tells us to do, we are to do wholeheartedly. I know that when I was a child and my mom gave me a list of chores for the day, I was generally not a happy camper. The same thing was true of my children as I divided up the home chores for all of us to pitch in and do. God’s giving us work to do is like His dividing up the chores between all the people He has created so not one person is expected to do it all. We do our share, others do theirs and the work of the Lord gets done.

Have a blessed day and enjoy doing the work that God has tasked you with, knowing that He trusts you to do it and do it well.

Redeemed

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song1 Comment

Many decades ago, my grandmother collected green stamps in a little booklet. I enjoyed helping her lick the stamps and place them in the booklet in the correct spots so that when she had enough booklets she could go to the green stamp store and use them to redeem something she was saving for. I don’t remember everything she got, but I do recall the ice cream maker, with the nice sturdy crank, that would make yummy goodness after a few hours of cranking, adding salt and ice. Those little booklets weren’t worth anything until Nanny took them to the store to exchange them for a prize.

Jesus is my redeemer. I didn’t have to save up stamps or go to a special place. He just gave His life for me because He knew I needed to be redeemed, to be exchanged for a better version of me, one that is all cleaned up and ready to stand before the Father in His righteousness. No stamps, nothing I had to do except confess, repent and live for Him. In exchange, I get to spend eternity with Him. It amazes me that Job, one of the men most likely to turn from God turned to Him and recognized this truth, long before Jesus came as a baby in Bethlehem. Job knew with whom his salvation lay, in spite of all he had to go through. I know with whom my salvation lies, and I am thankful for Jesus and His sacrifice every day.

“My Redeemer Lives”-Hillsong Worship