Category: Scripture

From the Holy Bible

Doing Good

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

As a grammarian, one of my pet peeves of misuse of words is when someone asks how you are doing, your answer is, “I’m doing good.” I made it a habit to consistently correct my students who said this because as I told them, Mother Theresa “did good” so what you mean to say is that you are doing fine. After many years of following this habit, I just gave up. After all, it’s in common use now. But as I gave up the grammar rules, I did not give up on the hope that indeed they are “doing good.”

We do good for others and eventually we may reap a harvest, the harvest of their souls that live eternally with God. We just keep doing good in spite of all of the evil in the world that assaults us daily and in spite of the attacks from those who would thwart our good. So, how am I doing today? I’m planning on doing good and I hope that you are, too.

And the passage continues in the next verse that we are to do good at every opportunity. In fact, I think that we are to look for ways to do good to/for others. The young man in line behind us looks longingly at a snack at the checkout counter. Purchase it for him and tell him to have a blessed day. The young clerk in the store looks so weary that a smile is not part of their greeting. Smile at him/her and tell them what a good job they’re doing and that you appreciate their hard work. There are small things we can do everyday and there are people who go about the world doing their jobs but they don’t seem to be seen, like the housekeeping people in the hospital or the man who collects the trash every week. They deserve our respect, our gratitude and for us to take time to do good for them. A prayer is one of the best ways we can do good for others. It may not be seen or heard but my faith says that it will be felt and it will make a difference.

I hope that you all have a blessed day and that you are all “doing good.”

Pleasing God

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I’m a people-pleaser. I started that habit as a child to receive approval from a very critical mother. I would do whatever it took to get someone to notice that I was doing good things and to praise me for it. I would like to think that I have outgrown that habit, but I probably haven’t since I still find myself sometimes saying “yes” a lot when what I really mean to say is “no.” I think that’s the people-pleaser in me coming out.

Part of my devotional today is about pleasing God, making wise choices with my words and my thoughts. To do that, I have to spend time with Him, making sure that I’m on the same page as He is. Sometimes lately I have found that God has moved on to the next page, or even the next chapter, and I’m still standing in the past demanding that He fix things for me. Then He speaks quietly to my heart and tells me to just move on with Him, that it will all be okay.

If I please God, then I will be pleasing to Him and that makes my heart happy.

Have a blessed day and may you find yourself on the same page as God and be able to find pleasure in pleasing Our Maker.

Feeling My Age

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

You know you aren’t thirty anymore when you try to stay up later to read and drag yourself to bed, barely able to brush your teeth before falling on to the pillow. I haven’t been thirty in over four decades and this has been one of those weeks in which I’m feeling my years. My darling cat Daisy plopped herself down on the bath mat right in front of me and in trying not to step on her, I pulled a muscle in my leg. Ouch! So, I hobbled around for the first part of the week. Thanks, Daisy! But feeling my age isn’t all bad as I discovered this morning in my devotional. God has promises for those of us in our golden years, too.

The fruit I want to bear is more people hearing about God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness. I volunteered to work at VBS this year at our church. No, I cannot run around with the kids but I can be there for them, to sing and to pray and to just be a witness to God’s great love and the fact that He is their Rock in times of trouble.

You know, there is no greater sustainer than God and when He promises to sustain me, I believe it. No health problems are too big for God. As I have told my very negative sister multiple times, I’m not leaving this earth until God calls me home, so I’m not worried about when or how I will die. I just want to keep on working for Him until He calls for me.

How about you? Do you have a promise from God that He spoke into your heart this week? Please share it in the comments. And have a blessed day!

Hope

On By vickleaIn Scripture6 Comments

Did you see this verse in which it states clearly that endurance is taught in the Scriptures? It is also learned through life experiences. And the end result is hope. Our daughter is named Hope and there is an interesting story behind her name. My husband is a twin, but his twin Beverly died at birth while he lived. His mom was always saddened by the fact that she never had a little girl, although she was blessed with three strapping boys. When I got pregnant, I shared with her that I hoped to have a girl and she immediately told me that the male determines the gender and her side of the family only had boys. Nevertheless, I dared to hope that our first baby would be a girl, even choosing the name Hope and the middle name Ellen (her Grammy’s name). When I went into labor at the end of August, before the time of gender reveals and ultrasounds telling you the sex long before the due date, I was still hoping that the baby would be a girl but I wasn’t going to be surprised to have a boy instead. After a very short labor (less than four hours from beginning to end and another answer to prayer), our little miracle was born. A girl! Hope Ellen Watts was born at 3:15 in the afternoon on August 31st! Now, when I am praying and think about how impossible it might be for God to answer, I remember that day in the hospital when SHE was born. She lives up to her name, too, spreading light and cheer wherever she goes. I’m sure her grandmother would be so proud of the beautiful young woman she grew up to be. Grammy lived to see Hope settled meet a few of her great grandchildren, but no one seemed to touch her heart as much as Hope Ellen, her namesake and the girl who was supposed to be a boy. Encouragement, endurance and hope!

Have a blessed day today and remember to smile at others. It may give them some hope!

Just Breathe

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

If you have ever had a panic attack, you know the terrible feeling that you just cannot get enough air and the light-headedness that follows. I used to have panic attacks frequently, particularly in large crowds or heavy traffic. Diagnosed as agoraphobic (fear of crowded spaces), I was told I could overcome the fear or it would overcome me. Well, since fear is not part of God’s desires for me, I chose to overcome the fear. How? Be taking deep breaths and saying a prayer before I faced a difficult situation and by making sure that my husband was nearby until I felt comfortable.

Today’s Scripture verse reminded me of the hard times I went through about thirty years ago as I dealt with a fear that could be debilitating except for God’s grace and power.

The devotional itself reminded me of the tactics I used to make it through the difficulty of being in a crowd. Jeanette Blackmer who wrote today’s devotional for “Mornings with Jesus” said that when you are afraid, you should say a “breath prayer.” Breathe in slowly and say, “Jesus is with me.” Then exhale slowly and say, “God created me and is with me.” Or, of course, any other short prayer that you want to say. I realized when I read the devotional that this is almost exactly what the Holy Spirit had led me to do during my fear phase. Overcoming fear means to let Go and allow God to occupy the space that fear has been occupying. Let God in and fear flees. No great wisdom, but it was a great help to me and I hope that some of you will see the practicality in this simple solution to fear.

Have a blessed Sunday and may you find a good church to worship God, our Maker and Restorer, today.

A Perfect Gift

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

When my children were younger, it was easy to find a gift that would please them because they wanted just about everything they saw on TV or that their friends had. So, from their lengthy wish list, I chose a gift or two and they were generally happy. As they got older, it became more of a challenge to find something to surprise and satisfy them. As a result, I had each child create a wish list on Amazon and I choose gifts from that list or similar to items on that list. I also always add a surprise that isn’t on the list since I listen carefully to our conversations all year long and try to glean from those the information I need to make informed and wise gift choices. The gifts I choose are not always perfect, but they are always appreciated. It makes my heart happy to see sweet smiles and hear a grateful “thank you.”

In my devotional this morning, I was reminded that I don’t have to present a wish list to God in order to receive gifts from Him. In fact, getting up this morning is a gift, seeing photos online of my grandchildren having weekend fun is a gift, meeting our son today to celebrate his birthday is a gift. Everything I have is a gift from God, especially my health and my attitude of gratitude. It was not always that way. I used to complain about everything, even after I became a Christian. Yes, that suit you chose for me is nice, but the color is all wrong. I like the cute socks you got, but they are a little too thick for me. Get the idea? Nowadays, and for the past two decades or so, I have been practicing being grateful, especially to God, for the little things and the big things that He does for me every day. God chastised me about my complaining spirit and that is a habit I have to consciously be aware of and flee from.

Of course, the best gift God ever gave is His salvation to us by sending Jesus to die for us on the cross. But God didn’t stop there. He also sent His Holy Spirit who guides and comforts us. He sends us promises in His word, promises that He fulfills daily. In addition to the verse about God’s perfect gifts, I read a verse this morning that spoke to my heart about one of the gifts that I hold most dear.

This is a promise that I cling to when I am afraid, and there is a lot that makes me fear sometimes. I don’t like to be alone at night, but sometimes my husband has to go see his brother who is about five hours away and he spends several days and nights there. But I hold tightly to Psalm 91 and the verse above goes right along with it. The Book of Psalms is filled with God’s promises. In fact, if you follow David Ettinger’s posts, he wrote about Psalm 67 this morning and the glorious promise that Jesus will return.

We are meeting our son today and celebrating. I hope that he will enjoy his gifts, but mostly I pray for him to have a good year, one filled with hope in God’s promises and confidence that God is in control. Having a God-centered life is the best gift of all!

May you have a blessed day with time to reflect on God’s gifts to you and how perfect each one is, especially the timing when He gives them.

What to Do with the Message of Christ

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

Imagine if all of us who call ourselves Christians carried out the truth of this verse in our lives! Like the early disciples, I think we would set the world on fire with the Gospel. Others would hear and see a living witness. So, what is stopping us from following this admonition? Our own choices, of course. Think about it and what you can do to build up others in Christ.

Have a blessed day, filled with God’s love and His word active in your life and heart!

A Promise from God

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

Do you remember being a child and doing a “pinkie swear” with a friend? I do, and I was always devastated when the other person broke their promise. When I became a Christian almost five decades ago, I discovered that one of God’s character traits is that He never lies and He never breaks a promise.

Do you see the promise in this verse? It’s a conditional one, meaning that we have a role to play in the fulfillment of it. We love God and He promises to love us. We seek God and He promises that we will find Him.

How do we seek God? By spending time with him, reading His Word, talking to Him as our closest friend and confidante. We can tell God anything and He won’t gossip about it or make us wish that we had not told Him to begin with.

How do we love God? By putting Him first in our lives, above all people and all things. I don’t think that we can say that we love God if we don’t spend time with Him. He isn’t the genie that pops out of the bottle to grant our wishes when we pray. He is the Creator of the Universe who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us, so how can we do less than make Him our first priority. We represent Him to all who see us and know that we call ourselves Christians, so let’s love Him by being good representatives, not poor imitations of what He desires us to be.

I hope that you enjoyed this promise as much as I did. Love=Love. Seek=Find.

Have a blessed day filled with God’s goodness, promises love.