Month: November 2016

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

James the brother of Christ writes a very direct and straight forward letter to the Jews that did not live in Palestine, referred to as the twelve scattered tribes in chapter 1, vs. 1. He pulls no punches with his very direct instructions for Holy living.

Submitting yourself means to allow someone else to make decisions that directly effect you. You relinquish your power as an act of great faith. Easier said than done, I know……but only God, has the ‘know how,’ to do battle with satan. So……when we trade our insufficient power for God’s mighty strength, we are able to make the devil flee from us. What a fabulous word, ‘flee!’ That means to get away as fast and far as possible! So….the devil will put as much distance as he possibly can between himself and me if I simply allow God to lead and guide me. This sounds like a win/win opportunity!

No need for a lantern when the Son is shining!

Love,

Gretchen

For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I am not guilty of turning from my God. 2 Samuel 22:22

This verse is from David’s Victory song found also in Psalms 18. An accounting written at the end of David’s life, this song narrates David’s reign (Chapters 21-24) showing God’s faithfulness and justice.

David was not a perfect person. He was a person that humbled himself and always returned to God. This is the sum of David’s life.

I once refused to move past someone’s sin against me. It stood between us and my unforgiving attitude crippled our relationship. One day the person said to me, “Gretchen, God has forgiven me and chosen to forget what I did. If you can’t forgive and move on then that is your problem and you can take it up with Him.” This sounds brutal but it was what I needed to understand about God’s forgiveness. It is the most powerful love we will ever know. David is declaring this power. Yes he sinned, but he stands righteous in the radiance of God’s grace.

Have a very blessed Tuesday!

Love,

Gretchen

So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. I Thessalonians 5:6

Thessalonica was a prosperous city along a major east/west trade route with a thriving seaport. Today its ruins are buried beneath modern day Thessaloniki, Greece, the second largest city after Athens. Paul and his fellow missionaries, Timothy and Silas, were not well received as they spread the good news and founded a church. They were run out of town, but Timothy and Silas were able to find news of the fledgling church and brought it to Paul who then wrote the two letters, I and II Thessalonians.

These words tell of our hope in Christ’s return to take believers who have remained ready and watchful. I encourage you to read the entire chapter. This type of scripture is called eschatology. It is meant to inform and prepare Christians what will happen at the end of this age and in the age to come, grounding them in the hope of eternity with their Savior.

Eternity is a very overwhelming but inevitable. These words were give assurance and encouragement to persevere with faithfulness to the end of human life because that is just the beginning. The best is yet to come.

Have a perfect Monday!

Love,

Gretchen

The Gift of Dignity

One of the most difficult things I’ve experienced as an adult is the realization that my parents are mortal. My eyes were opened a few years ago when my mother suffered a terrible heart attack. Not recognizing the early signs of heart disease, mom concluded that she felt just fine because she couldn’t expect to feel 21 when she was 67. However, the day came that mother decided she might need to seek some medical advice (she didn’t have a doctor by the way). Having a high standard of hygiene and personal appearance mom took a bath, shaved her legs, dried and curled her hair, put on some makeup, then did her finger and toe nails with bright red polish. A few hours later dad came home for lunch and found her sitting quietly in her chair, all fixed up and lovely but out of breath, gray and dying.

The next hours brought life as I knew it to a grinding halt and humbled me with a lesson in how quickly life goes from predictable to unbelievable. Mom had emergency bypass. She met several medical obstacles and her survival is a miracle. My three siblings and I were scattered out across state lines and many miles attending to our lives and those that depend on us but we stopped and turned toward home. As we gathered the Lord placed His hand over us and gave us comfort and safety as well as wonderful support groups to help us keep our lives and families going.

During the most frightening moments of my life I saw the absolute best that God had to give through community and fellowship. A group of people from my uncle’s church in Texas were passing through Arkansas and went a few miles out of their way to come and comfort us. Our church families, a very diverse group, never left us lonely. Extended family and friends stood vigil and held us up when our strength was spent. Even today in these words I am so very grateful. God is good.

The point of this story though is this: My dad became the ultimate super hero. He never left my mom except to bathe, eat and take care of their personal business that couldn’t be done by phone. As we waited for news from the doctors dad assured us “He was the daddy and he wasn’t abdicating anytime in the near future, we’re going to be okay.” He also said as he gazed at mom’s still form hooked to wires and tubes, “She’s just as beautiful today as she was the day she became my wife.” Preserving her dignity became his supreme objective. As mom healed and came back to us he assumed some duties that others were expected, even paid to do. Why? Because they were intimate things and he didn’t want her embarrassed. He protected her self-respect at all cost and constantly reminded her that she would forever be his precious bride.

Love does not dishonor others, it always protects, hopes and perseveres. Love never fails. Paraphrased from I Corinthians 13:5, 7 and 8.

Love establishes and maintains dignity. It is a gift worth giving and receiving. Mom and dad, thanks for everything!

Love,
Gretchen

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

At a time of great personal despair a friend invited me into her home. I was lonely and afraid. She let me cry and then cry some more. After a while I felt her hand on my back and she quietly said, “I know you will find your smile some day. The sun will come out and you’ll laugh again.”

I grabbed that lifeline of hope. It meant everything to me. She did not condemn, shame or advise. She offered assurance to the return of joy. She carried my burden and it altered the course of my life.

There’s no need to save the world, God already did. Just keep hope alive by lifting up your fellow man.

Love,

Gretchen

Those who accepted His message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Acts 2:41

There are two types of scripture, descriptive and prescriptive. Sometimes the two overlap, other times not at all. When reading descriptive, or narrative Biblical stories we must ask, “Why is this important to me today?” The book of Acts predominately tells the story of the Apostles journey into a world without Jesus in the flesh and the beginning of Christianity. Jesus now becomes known by the Hebrew word ‘Christ’ and the same word in Greek, ‘Messiah.’ Up until just a few weeks prior to this Pentecost event these believers knew Jesus predominantly as ‘Son of God,’ and ‘Son of man.’ They were only beginning, by their faith, to understand a Savior that conquered through love and sacrifice rather than the anticipated establishment of earthly social and political power. This revelation and the coming of the Holy Spirit completed God’s redemptive work through the cross. Now the disciples were given their marching orders. Proclaim!

Proclaiming meant preaching to the same people that conspired to have Jesus executed for blasphemy. Their intention was to quiet this societal disturbance and return to their comfortably established pecking order, but instead, their selfish agenda completed God’s plan of total victory over death. Satan lost all power over sin. The response was spectacular! Three thousand!

The amazing Grace in this story is that these words were spoken by Peter, the disciple that denied knowing Jesus and ran away and hid on the night his friend was arrested AND he was preaching to some of the very people that screamed “Crucify HIM!” at the top of their lungs!

BUT…………..

NONE OF THESE OFFENSES MATTERED! EVERYONE WAS OFFERED SALVATION! So why does this descriptive passage of scripture matter?……………God loves you that much too!

Have a great day,

Gretchen

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior. Titus 3:4-6

Sometimes I read the scripture I chose and realize there is nothing more to be said. All I am going to do is add a short historical background in an effort to bring these words to life in your mind and heart.

Paul left Titus on the isle of Crete to oversee the early church. This letter was written by Paul to encourage and strengthen Titus as he organizes and trains Christian leaders. One of their greatest concerns is keeping the Gospel from being corrupted by man’s agenda. And so we have these beautiful, profound words of God’s redeeming grace. No effort of man saves you. ONLY God’s love enables this gift freely given.

I am so thankful for all of you.

Have a lovely day,

Gretchen

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3

700 years before a child came to save us, Isaiah spoke of Jesus as though he walked and talked with Him just as His disciples did because God revealed the miracle of Christ the Savior but also the devastation of judgement on the faithless. Through his 40 year journey as a prophet, Isaiah spoke to a people that would not listen. During this time he brought God’s voice of hope, faithfulness, judgement, justice and salvation and called for an obedience that would bring God’s glory to all nations. Instead, the people of Judah chose to continually put their faith in human principalities rather than the God that wove the universe together…………. The nations they trusted destroyed them.

There will come a day when God will end time as we know it. Judgement will occur and justice will be administered. No human theology, biased opinion or self-serving manipulation by man will impress Him or alter His pure truth. We have this hope for our eternal soul, but for those who believe it is possible to exist moment by moment in the assurance that God knows you as you really are and His mighty hand covers you.

A college professor once directed his students to envision themselves curled up in Jesus’ lap, head on His shoulder, feeling the comfort of His beating heart, knowing the gentle grasp of His calloused hands would never let His child fall. I followed that wise man’s directive and I found peace and rest. May you also.

Love,

Gretchen

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:7

This verse is part of the Jewish Shema, a daily recitation of worship still practiced today. (I strongly encourage you to read all of Deuteronomy 6) ‘Them’ refers to God’s commandments.

Jewish faith is steeped in deep tradition. The Story of God began long before there was written language. The only way to keep God alive and living through the generations was to actively model and speak faith daily.

The young people in our lives are learning by watching. In the blink of an eye they will be building homes and families of their own. Now is the time to imprint upon them the things we know will carry them through trials and temptations and bring them to the Throne of The One True God.

As this 2016 Holiday season begins, take a moment and pray for your family and your place in the spiritual growth and renewal that will come to your home.

All my love,

Gretchen

After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision; “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1

Abram was a righteous man, a prosperous man, a man of great faith. The LORD made a covenant with him, to make his descendants a great nation from which would come Israel’s greatest king, and the Messiah. God made this amazing unbreakable promise to an old, childless man who’s wife was beyond child bearing years. Abram needed reassurance often.

Abram’s nephew Lot got caught in the crossfire of feuding kings in the Valley of the Salt Sea. He and his entire estate were taken as spoils of war. Abram gathered a militia from his own household and faced down trained armies to successfully rescue his family member. Success didn’t counteract doubt. Abram’s faith needed affirmation.

God is faithful and good. He will keep His covenants. He will do what He said He would do, and still in weakness we cry out. God always answers.

Whether it is in praise, joyous wonder or total desolation, God wants to be the One we run to and reach for. If there is any example from Abram we might follow, it should be this.

Love,

Gretchen