“Do You Take Happy Pills?”

“DO YOU TAKE HAPPY PILLS?” That’s the question my co-worker asked me in response to my cheerful greeting this afternoon at work. The question took me by surprise, and I prayed a lightning-fast prayer for God to give me the right answer. “I sure do!” I responded. That got her attention. As a very quizzical look came over her face, I explained: “Every morning I take one Happy Pill. It’s called the Bible, God’s Word. I open it, read it, see how much He loves me and realize that I can trust Him again today. THAT’S my Happy Pill.”

When I got back to my desk, I looked at the verse I have on a 3×5 card placed between my keyboard and my monitor. It is Psalm 28:7, which says: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices and with my song I will praise Him.” Along with the Psalmist, I can testify that happiness is a result of trusting in God. Trust Him for what? For everything. The more I trust, the happier I am!

Happy Pill, anyone?

Stuck in a Rut? Same Ol’ Same Ol’?

Just like we get bored with the same ol’-same ol’ in other areas, sometimes we just don’t read the Bible because we never did; we just don’t. That can be a rut. Or if we do read our Bible, reading it gets ho-hum. We may be in the habit of reading it just because that’s something we do. We get so used to the truths in it that we don’t allow God to really speak to us through it. We don’t get anything out of it, because we don’t expect to. That is also a rut. How about if we read God’s Word expectantly? How about if we pray, saying “Lord, open my eyes to the Truth You want me to know today.” Because God’s Word is living, powerful and applicable to every situation we face, we can open it, and let Him talk to us! Here are some suggestions I’ve found to be helpful to keep reading the Bible a fascinating daily experience:

• Set aside a certain time and place each day to read your Bible. Early is good! Alone is wonderful!
• Pray for God to speak to your specific needs. He will!
• Open your Bible and have a pencil and notepad to write things you’re learning, or that God is reminding you of. If you don’t know what to write, here are some ideas you can build on:

1. What is God showing me about Himself? Praise Him for each of His attributes you find!
2. What is God telling me about myself? Sincerely confess sins that need to be confessed, and ask His help to make necessary changes.
3. Is there an example that I should imitate in this passage? Imitate it!
4. Is there a commandment I should obey? Ask Him for an obedient heart and right desires.
5. Is there a promise I can claim? Write it on 3×5 cards, and put them everywhere. Read them often, and thank Him that He never goes back on His Word. NEVER!
6. Does this reading point out something I should be thankful for? Thank Him!

God’s mercies and compassion are new on us every morning. He wants us to get out of our same ol’-same ol’ mode and expectantly look to HIM to renew our minds daily. Let’s step up to the challenge of discovering what He has to say to us; to renew our minds. He WILL speak to us. Let’s listen!

GOD ARRANGES THE MEETING, Part 2: HOW??

God has more methods than we can imagine to fulfill each of His perfect plans. He is our sovereign, creative, wise Father who uses different venues to arrange a meeting with us. Because He longs for us to be with Him, and spend time with Him, He will use whatever He sees will work to get us on board with making that relationship happen and grow. How does he arrange the meetings? Here are a few ways we can find in the Bible:

God uses pain. In Pslam 55:4, David wrote that “My heart is severely pained within me.” Reading further on in that Psalm, we get the idea that David understood that God was arranging a meeting with him, and he made a commitment in verses 16 and 17. He wrote “As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.”  When we are in pain, we are closer to God than any other time.

God uses circumstances. Reading the gospel of John, chapter 4, we cannot believe that it was a mere coincidence that Jesus sat down by the well in Samaria. God Himself arranged the meeting between Jesus (the Living Water) and the woman who could not find satisfaction. Not only the woman found Living Water and eternal satisfaction in Jesus, but so did “many of the Samaritans of that city” who believed in Him because of her testimony (verse 39) AND…the many more who “believed because of His (Jesus’) own word”. (v. 41) He arranged the meeting for each person, and used the circumstances to make it take place.

God uses other people. After having been beaten with many stripes, Paul and Silas were thrown into prison. We read in Acts chapter 16 that God used their imprisonment in the city of Philippi to arrange a meeting with the jailer. They were God’s chosen instruments to save the jailer and his whole family. God can use another person’s example, their words, their courage, their faith, or whatever He chooses to arrange a meeting with us, too!

God arranges the meeting and sends the invitation! To the burdened, He says “Come unto Me” (Matthew 11:28). When we’ve sinned, He invites: “Come now, and let us reason together; though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…” (Isaiah 1:18). When we are in need, He tells us to “Come boldly to the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16).

God isn’t pushy. He arranges the meeting, gives the invitation, and waits at the door. That’s how He does it. He promises that “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I WILL COME IN TO HIM and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20) David accepted the invitation. So did the Samaritan woman and her friends, as well as the Philippian jailer and his family. Their lives were changed because of the meeting. It’s our choice to accept the invitation or not. I want to! How about you?

GOD ARRANGES THE MEETING

            A meeting with our supervisor at our place of employment can be arranged almost any workday. It might be more of a challenge to meet with the president of the company – although not impossible, we would have to work around his schedule. Meeting with the city Mayor would be an event that would require more preparation; and to meet with the Governor would be nearly out of the question. As average citizens, we can’t even imagine ourselves meeting with the President. Requesting a personal meeting with someone of such an important office is very unlikely. How about a meeting with God?

            The prophet Isaiah declared an eternal truth that should move us to awe and wonder. He wrote: “You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways.” (Isaiah 64:5) He is referring to God meeting us! He is referring to the one and only true GOD: the eternal, all powerful, all wise Creator and sustainer of all the universes; the faithful, unchanging God who delights in mercy and truth; God who is perfect and holy, who loves us with everlasting, unchanging, unconditional love and wanted so much to forgive our sins and bring us back to a right relationship with Him that He offered His perfect, sinless Son Jesus to die in our place. This is the God who meets us!

            Because He is the initiator of all good things, He meets us! We don’t arrange the meeting; He does! Getting an appointment with Him is humanly impossible. No planning or effort on our behalf could ever arrange a meeting with Him! Not because He’s too busy tending to everyone else, or to all the catastrophes in the world; but because He is too holy and righteous to meet with us in our sinful state. Nothing we ever do could make us worthy to be in His presence; but with a deep longing to meet with us, “He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6) We rejoice because we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ as our assurance that He will meet with us. God took the first step towards meeting us when Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

            When we remember God, His love, forgiveness and acceptance, we also recall His mercy and grace towards us. This causes us to worship Him and rejoice in the righteousness of Christ that is ours. He is faithful to meet us just as He met King David, who testified “You meet him with the blessings of goodness” (Psalm 21:3) God arranges the meeting…is there any meeting on earth that compares to that?

When I Don’t Know What to Do…

Uncertainty. Pain. Loss. Health problems. Unfair treatment. Relationship issues. Confusion. Whatever tries to destroy my peace and threatens my wellbeing…that may be my scenario. I don’t know what to do, because I have to make a choice….

1. I can fuss, cry, whine, complain, despair, blame someone (even God!) for the situation I’m living, and even beg God to make it go away. I can wallow in my misery and become bitter.
2. I can try to work things out on my own. That never works. I just get stressed because I can’t change the situation. On top of everything else, discouragement will take root as I experience failure.
3. I can choose to ask God to change me, by renewing my mind. Now THAT’S the option that works! Romans 12:2 tells me to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” I renew my mind by reading God’s word and thanking Him for the following:

God will give me strength! Psalm 31:24 tells me: “Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart”.

Jesus is with me, even when I feel alone! Jesus promised “I am with you always, even to the end” (Matthew 28:20)

God is always good! Psalm 52:1 reminds me that “The goodness of God endures continually.”

This situation will not last forever! Psalm 30:5 promises me that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

God’s mercy sustains me! The Psalmist wrote: “If I say, ‘My foot slips,’ Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up.” (Psalm 94:18)

God sets the limits! I can be assured of that when I read 1^st Corinthians 10:13: “All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.” (The Message)

There’s a beautiful song titled “When I Don’t Know What To Do” by Tommy Walker that you can hear on www.youtube.com. Charles Billingsly does a good version of it, as do others. Please take the time to look it up and listen to it. It will help you renew your mind. Here are the lyrics:

Lord I surrender all

To Your strong and faithful hand

In everything I will give thanks to You

I’ll just trust Your perfect plan

When I don’t know what to do I’ll lift my hands.

When I don’t know what to say I’ll speak Your praise.

When I don’t know where to go I’ll run to Your throne.

When I don’t know what to think I’ll stand on Your truth.

When I don’t know what to do…

HERE’S HOW YOU DO IT

Jehiel and his scooter

Our 3 year old grandson Jehiel ran to the scooter, stood it upright, and looked puzzled. He was obviously trying to figure out what to do with it. So “Lolo” (Jehiel’s version of “Abuelo”, Spanish for “Grandpa”) showed him, then I showed him. We demonstrated how to ride the scooter. We didn’t simply say “That’s a scooter. Ride it.” We said, “Here’s how you do it.” Riding it ourselves first, we then stayed with him and helped him ride it so he could get the hang of it. Isn’t that the way our Father God teaches us? He says “Here’s how you do it…”

LOVE: Christ told His disciples to “love one another; as I have loved you.” He didn’t simply say “love one another”. He said “Here’s how you do it” when He loved them – and us – unconditionally, eternally, no strings attached. THAT’S the way he wants us to love others. We read in Romans 5:5 that He poured that love out “in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given us.” He not only commands us to love one another, He shows us how, and empowers us to do it.

SHOW MERCY: Jesus said that our Father God is “kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” (Luke 6:35,36) He doesn’t just command us to be merciful and leave it up to us to figure out how. He says “Here’s how you do it.” Jesus showed us how to be merciful when He poured out the Father’s mercy on the undeserving – and on us – so we can see how it’s done. Think of the mercy He showed the woman caught in adultery, on Zaccheaus, on the lepers, on the Samaritan woman at the well, on Peter, on the demon possessed….the list goes on and on. Yes, He showed us how to be merciful.

FORGIVE: The Apostle Paul said we should forgive one another. He also said “Here’s how you do it” when he added “even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) By forgiving us, God demonstrated the quality of forgiveness with which He expects us to forgive others. He forgave us willingly, completely, unconditionally and forever in Jesus. He forgave us that way, so that we can forgive others even as He forgave us. He shows us how and gives us His grace to forgive others.

Just like we didn’t expect Jehiel to pick up the scooter and know how to ride it, God knows we can never love, show mercy or forgive anyone on our own. We simply don’t know how. That’s why He’s always willing to show us how to do it first, then He sticks right with us as we get the hang of it. Praise God for that!

In the Morning

“But I will sing of Your power;

Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;

For you have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.

To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;

For God is my defense, My God of mercy”

Psalm 59: 16, 17

David wrote this Psalm while surrounded by King Saul’s hit men. The account started with David in his house when messengers were sent by Saul to spy on David  “and to kill him in the morning.” (1^st Sam. 19:11) It wasn’t a pretty picture. It was a day of trouble. Although David didn’t know how he would escape the King’s wrath, he knew that he had already been anointed by God to be next on the throne, and that God was able to turn this manhunt situation around. God used the creativity of Mical, David’s wife, to save his life that night. She let him down through a window, and as he escaped, she “took an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goat’s hair for his head, and covered it with clothes.” (v.13) When Saul’s messengers saw this, they were deceived into believing that he was sick in bed. It was night.

Darkness closed in and David was escaping for his life. He may or may not have been aware of the fact that the King’s men had orders to kill him in the morning, but David had other plans for the morning, because he knew Who he was trusting in! He was planning a worship service!! That was the very night that David, on the run, wrote Psalm 59. It’s interesting to note that he ended the Psalm acknowledging who God is. David wrote that God was his defense, His strength, and his God of mercy. That’s why David could commit himself to “sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning.”

When my night is dark, and the enemy is closing in on me; when he is determined to kill, steal and destroy; when I’m in a seemingly hopeless situation, I want to take David’s example and plan my personal worship service! This will only happen in the measure that I acknowledge God’s power and His mercy. I want to claim Him as My Strength, My Refuge and My Defense in the day of trouble just as David did, and commit myself to “sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning”.

TAX FREEDOM DAY

I just found out that yesterday was “Tax Freedom Day”.  Here’s what www.taxfoundation.org has to say about it.

“Tax Freedom Day will arrive on April 9 this year, the 99th day of 2010, according to our annual calculation using the latest government data on income and taxes. Americans will work well over three months of the year—from January 1 to April 9—before they have earned enough money to pay this year’s tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels.”

My Mom was a published poet. She had a book of her life’s poetry published when she was 93 years old. Even though she had only an 8^th grade education, in her poetry she expressed the tremendous insight she had on many topics. After she passed away, I found this unpublished – and probably unknown to anyone else – poem among her papers.

Mom's "Tax Freedom Day" Poem

She wrote of her plans to count her blessings until the REAL “Tax Freedom Day”, that day when she would take her final breath. Anyone who knew Mom can testify that she did just that: She often counted her blessings, and expressed her thankfulness to God for His goodness! Let’s follow her example and praise God for all His blessings until our real “Tax Freedom Day”, too!!

“Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live I will praise the Lord…” Psalm 146:1,2

My Crocus Plants are Proof!

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud…so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10,11

My crocuses are under that pile of snow!

Depending on the area, northeast Ohio was buried under record (or near-record) snowfall this past February. As I was shoveling, adding to the mountain that Jorge had already shoveled off the driveway, I looked at the heap and wondered how our crocus plants would ever survive under what seemed to be tons of snow. Truth be told, I was kind of dubious. It looked impossible!

Then I remembered God’s faithfulness. He not only sends the snow and rain, but allows it to fall, in order to water the earth. How else could we enjoy countless varieties of plants for our enjoyment and sustenance? The cycle has repeated itself for thousands of years. God has been faithfully creating snow, rain, plants, snow, rain, plants, snow, rain, plants….My crocus plants prove that truth!

Here's proof!!

Through the prophet Isaiah, God also assures us that just as the snow and rain have a specific purpose, His Word does, also. Every time He speaks to me, it is for a reason. There’s something He wants to accomplish in my life. He will be faithful to change that heap of ugly snow (me) into something beautiful – like my crocuses that were hidden underneath the snow! His purpose is to form the beauty of Christ in me, and will do that through His living Word. Yes, God is faithful; He will do that. My crocus plants are proof!

Head Knowledge – or Reality?

Hearing the account of Jesus’ death and resurrection again this past weekend, I thought a lot about the fact the He is THE LIFE. When His friend Lazarus died, Jesus assured Lazarus’ sister Martha “I am the resurrection and THE LIFE. He who believes on Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25,26) By her reply to Jesus, grieving Martha knew that in her head…until she saw her brother come out of the tomb after 4 days. Then I’m sure that her head knowledge became reality, and she was convinced in her heart that Jesus is THE LIFE!

Later, Jesus declared to His disciples “I am the way, the truth and THE LIFE. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” (John 14:6) John didn’t mention in that passage what their reaction was to that declaration, but even though they had the head knowledge, some of them doubted when they heard that He had risen from the dead. Peter and John finally believed that He is THE LIFE when they entered his empty tomb on resurrection morning. Peter, having seen it, “departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.” (Luke 24:12). John “…went in also; and he saw and believed.” (John 20:8). Jesus’ words became real to them, and they were convinced that He is THE LIFE! Their head knowledge became a reality.

This same Jesus, THE LIFE, gives us LIFE! Unfortunately, like Martha and the disciples, that wonderful truth can be simply head knowledge to us. Maybe in our case, we’ve become so used to His words of LIFE that we’ve become “immune” to their real meaning. I know I have. The apostle Paul assures us in Ephesians 2:4,5 that “God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us ALIVE together with Christ. (by grace you have been saved)…”

I  want be reminded often of the reality of this life-giving truth. I’ve written Ephesians 2:4,5 down on a 3×5 card that I intend to keep close by me. I want to meditate on it, and thank God for THE LIFE He gives me every time I read it. Yes, when we were dead in sin, Jesus, THE LIFE made us alive! It’s a reality! Praise God!