No matter what circumstances you find yourself in today, I hope that you set them aside for just a little while so that you can worship the Only One who deserves praise, honor and glory.
“How Great Thour Art”-Alan Jackson
Worship Wednesday
Category: Song
Open Eyes, Fixed on Jesus
There are all kinds of things that can grab our attention as we make our way through the obstacles of life. However, if we keep our attention on the path that God has laid out for us, we will be fine. We have to realize that God is leading us in the way that is best for us, even when it seems crooked or perilous at the time. God knows best, and we just have to keep our eyes on Him.
As we travel down this pathway called life, it is good that we pray for God to open our eyes to see the truth of His Word. The more we know about the Father through studying His Word, the closer we stick to the right path.
I think that it is important to note that Hebrews 12 follows the great leaders of the faith of chapter 11. The word “therefore” connects the two. Our great cloud of witnesses who are cheering us on include the heroes of the faith like Abraham, Enoch, Moses, David, Samuel, etc. We are running a race but it isn’t a sprint. It is a race of endurance that requires that we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who went before us and is waiting for us at the right hand of God.
May your day be blessed with open eyes and a full heart!
Worship the King
When I woke up this morning, I had a prayer on my lips and a bad attitude in my heart. Once again, I had slept badly and was tired, but I knew that I had to get up to begin my morning routine so that we can go to church. I know I grumbled to myself and sighed deeply more than a few times, but I made it through the preparations to start the day. Then, I sat down with my devotional and all I could think is how grateful I am to be alive, to be able to go to church and to worship the King, my Savior and my Creator. Once my focus changed from me to Him, so did my attitude.
Proclaiming God’s love to others is what we are called to do, but this morning, I just needed to speak about God’s love into my own heart. Sometimes we have to be ready to receive before we can give out to others and this morning was a time when I needed to receive. If you are having a tough time with circumstances in your life, just sit back, focus on God and His love for you. It puts things into a new perspective, one that is manageable and not so overwhelming. God is there, all the time, ready to hear and answer, but He really loves it when we come without a list of requests, just ready to worship.
May your day be blessed as you worship the Only One who is worthy!
Fixed Eyes
Have you ever watched a new infant and how intently he/she watches you? The eyes are fixed on you, following the sound of your voice as you move around them. As the child grows older, their attention may be momentarily called away to another object, something shinier or more interesting to them. But if you say the child’s name, like magic, their focus returns to you. At least that is the way I have noticed things happening until the child is about six or so and then all bets are off about whether you can get and hold their attention or not.
What is our focus when we are talking about our spiritual walk? As a new Christian, I was eager to learn all I could about God and His love for me. I didn’t want to miss a single minute of His guidance or plan for my life, so my eyes were fixed on him. Then, as a child maturing, my focus was captured by other “shiny” things, this pastor or that evangelist and a new message that they were giving. Or sometimes, my focus was captured by friends, family, trials and sicknesses. In other words, as I aged, I took my eyes off the One who created me and started paying more attention to the creation. God has reprimanded me and let me know that is the wrong path to take and I am working on forming new habits.
Another reason to come to the Lord as a child is the total trust we have in Him and the way we don’t let Him out of our sight. No matter what room I moved to when my children were young, they were right there beside me. I called them my shadows because they kept their eyes on me and when I moved, they did, too. That is the way I think we should keep our eyes on God. A steady looking at Him for our guidance and for direction for what our next steps should be. When we keep our eyes on Him, all of the problems we have seem to fade into insignificance because we know that they are temporary but He is eternal.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus-Hillsong Worship
May your day be blessed and your eyes be fixed on Him, the one who knows and loves you best.
Praise Day
God is worthy of all praise, so let’s focus today on just being thankful for all that He has already done and all of the plans that He has for us. He is worthy! Let us praise His Holy Name!
Disciple and Teacher
For many years, actually about forty, I was a classroom teacher. I taught in eleven different states and over twenty different schools. I taught in public schools, Christian schools and even a private school for the children of diplomats. I wanted to be a teacher since I was a child and I worked hard to make that dream come true. But it not come without sacrifice, just as all things worth having require some kind of sacrifice. I am grateful to my high school Spanish teacher, Señora Mary Smith, who encouraged me in pursuing my gift with language. She became my model and I became her disciple. A disciple is another word for a student. I was her student for all four years of high school and was happy to be able to tell her that I was majoring in Spanish in college in order to become a Spanish teacher. I know for sure that many of the methods that she used so successfully became part of my routine with my own students, but none more so than constant encouragement and pointing out what was right with their work first, then gently leading them to correct errors. I think that is the way that Jesus deals with me, too.
In spite of my age, I do not consider myself fully trained yet. I am not like Jesus, but I am a work in progress, becoming like Jesus. Note that “becoming” is a progressive verb and that’s what I am, a work in progress. In turn, I have tried to be a role model for others to follow so that they, too, can learn to be disciples of the Lord. One of the songs that I sang to encourage myself is “He’s Still Working on Me.” It is as true today as the first time I sang it many decades ago. In my impatience, I thought sometimes that I would arrive at the station, get off the train and continue with the rest of my life. But I’m still on the train of being made into His image, and I don’t want off until He is totally done with me. That day will come when I stand in His presence, but in the meantime, I am still a willing disciple, ready to learn the new lesson that He has for me each day. Just as I did not learn Spanish overnight, I have not learned all that God has to teach me in one or two lessons or devotionals or even years of them. There is always something new that He can teach me, some new way that I need to learn, some new path to take and something about me that needs to change to be better.
Yes, I am a disciple, but I am also a teacher and so is each of you who proclaims to be a Christian. We are not saved to hold the message in our hearts and minds and be quiet about the wonderful gift we have. We are saved to tell others, to teach them the way that they should go so that they can also celebrate a new life in Christ with us. We are each a disciple and each a teacher. Each one teach one, then two, then three until the world knows the Gospel and Jesus returns.
May each of you fulfill your roles as disciple of the Lord and teacher for those who seek Him. Have a blessed and wonderfully fruitful day!
He’s Still Working On Me by Nashville Digital
When you listen to the song, please listen to each verse and not each chorus. This song has a lot of wisdom and encouragement in it.
Not by Works
I am and always have been a person who seeks the approval of others. I want people to like me, to appreciate what I have done and to notice that I am helping. I don’t think that I am alone in this desire, but I do know that this need to work towards acceptance isn’t necessary with my relationship with God.
I have read these verses, memorized them, taken notes from numerous sermons about them. But they are now settling into my heart. I spent years trying to please my mother, but there was nothing I could do to make her happy with me. I just was never good enough. I had straight A’s on my report card, but my mom brought up the fact that I had gotten a C on a test recently. I was just not good enough. I knew from a young age that my mother cried when she had me, stated repeatedly that she never wanted me and even refused to name me. (My dad names me, ironically, for my mother.) In spite of a less than welcoming childhood and all kinds of physical problems, I grew and matured and at the age of twenty-one, I became a Christian. I didn’t have to do anything special for God to love me. I just had to be me…a sinner saved by grace. There was and is absolutely nothing I can do to make myself more acceptable to God. He loves me just the way I am. That has been a freeing truth in my life. I still like to please people, but if I don’t, I’m not totally devastated. I just keep trying to please God instead by serving others. Not because He requires it, but because He doesn’t require anything of me except for me to believe and accept Him as my Lord and Savior. I have been changed from the inside out and it’s freeing to know that I can’t earn grace!
May you, too, find the freedom that comes only from accepting God’s free gift of salvation. And may your day be blessed with finding others to tell about His love, mercy and grace!
Just As I Am-The Vagle Brothers
Our Amazing God
After the man who was paralyzed was healed, the people’s reaction was amazement. Daily, God walked among them because Jesus came to earth as a man. But when miracles began to happen, they were amazed. Should we not be constantly amazed at what God has done and is doing? All we have to do is look around us at all He has already created for us to enjoy, look at our own health and well-being and the blessings of family He has given us. We see remarkable things daily, if we just open our eyes.
No one is like our God, the God who sees us, hears us and answers us. He is holy and is to be praised, not just for performing miracles, but for who He is and always has been.
God speaks and things happen. I have difficulty getting my grandchildren to even hear me when I speak because they are so attentive to their television shows. Yet, God spoke and the whole earth was created. Amazing God!
The Mother of the Savior
One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Mary, Did You Know?” I think that is because I am a mother and I can only imagine how hard it must have been to be pregnant as a teen, giving birth to God’s Son and knowing that His mission on earth would be a short one since His destiny was to be the Messiah for all mankind. I recall when I was pregnant with my children, all the imaginings and hopes and wishes I had for each child. I cherished the moments with them when they were growing up, watching carefully to see the choices each would make and allowing them more freedom as they matured. What must it have been like for Mary, the woman who knew she was giving birth to the One who would sacrifice His life for all of us?
This verse gives us insight into Mary’s character as a mom. She, like many of us, treasure our children’s childhood, knowing that one day they will grow up, leave home and establish a life for themselves apart from us. Mary was a human mother who had all of the love of a regular mother for her beloved son, and like most mothers, she treasured the preciousness of her time with her child.
Unlike most mothers, though, Mary received a prophecy from Simeon when she and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to be consecrated to the Lord. The prophecy included the fact that she would one day suffer tremendous sorrow because her firstborn son would die. It is not the “natural way” of things that a child should predecease a parent, but that was part of Jesus’s destiny and God’s plan of salvation. How much did Mary know? Enough. But she still was willing to be obedient and give birth to the Messiah. She didn’t cower and say, “No, not me. Choose someone else to do this hard thing.” Knowing that the road ahead would be hard, she chose to be the mother to the Man who was also God, the One who would one day die on a cross with her watching beneath it. I admire Mary’s sacrifice and fortitude, but I don’t worship her because she is not God. She was a human whom God chose to use to fulfill His plan for all of mankind and her willingness is to be remembered by us all as the ultimate sacrifice of a loving mother and obedient servant of the Most High God.
Mary, Did You Know by Pentatonix
Have a blessed day as you ponder the real meaning of the season and the sacrifice that Jesus and Mary knew that He was going to make.
Overcomer
I am an overcomer, and so are you if you are a Christian. Following in the path that the Lord has prepared for us, we cannot always expect the way to be easy. But we can know without a doubt that Jesus goes before us. Since He overcame all that life on earth and Satan threw at Him, we can, too. It takes faith, perseverance and steadfastness, but we can do it!
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 