Month: January 2018

Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, Holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1

This letter to the church in Rome is for discipleship, a call to a transformed life.  Christians must understand the deity and nature of Christ, and know His resurrection is the means to eternal life.   All actions toward man are done in love. Love in return, for God and others is sacrifice.

Jewish belief held that Mosaic Law was the completion of God’s will. Therefore, all works of God came through Jewish heritage and tradition.  Paul fought this ideology to teach that God did something new in Christ. Nothing is done through the keeping of laws, but rather the choice of God’s love perpetuating the gift of Christ’s mercy. It is Christ that remained perfectly Holy and stands before God to justify man’s sins. Christ alone is worthy of our gratitude and worship.

Paul speaks of living, not dying!  A living sacrifice is active, in motion, a catharsis for change and is pleasing to God. Because we were sinners SAVED from DEATH and given LIFE, humble thank you’s without end, made evidence in our faith and life’s choices and actions, is the response most pleasing to God. 

Have a great Wednesday,

Gretchen

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. I John 3:1

The apostle John, along with all who believe, is a member of a great paternal inheritance, greater than any prince has ever known. Sadly, the world does not recognize the favor given us, and available to them also, because they do not understand the character of He who gives grace and mercy and possesses all the riches the universe.

As were all the early church leaders, John was confronted with attempts to taint the true Gospel.  Man’s desire to manipulate everything including God Himself, while practicing self exaltation is really quiet alarming. The heart of John’s response was to declare the true and pure attributes of Christ and remind those that believe in a resurrected Savior that we must adopt the family likeness.

The Son of God became fully man, like us, so that we could become fully like Him. Family at its finest! Kinship anchored in lavish love.

Love,

Gretchen 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Galatia was a place populated by gentiles that received the Gospel with great enthusiasm. When Paul, their minister, left to continue his missionary journey, Jewish teachers came and encouraged all new believers to take up the traditions of Judaism, namely, circumcision. Sadly, they taught that you had to be one thing, a Jew, before you could be another, a sinner saved by grace. These new believers complied, but when news reached Paul, he wrote this letter explaining that laws did not bring about salvation.

There are two great temptations at play in Paul’s world. One, to be ruled by law and two, to use law to rule others.  Both paths lead to bondage of one sort or another. This is the very thing Christ died to end.

The Christian life is lived by faith, just as it began. Christ put His life aside that we might have life eternal.  By faith and love we live for Christ. Please God with your faith and everything else will take care of itself.

Love,

Gretchen

Scary Scary, Missionary!

The most mystical place in my childhood was a far off mission field.  My heroes were and are, those that put aside comfort and security and go places most won’t even imagine. From time to time, these amazing people take breaks from their labors and returned home to visit churches, bringing news of successes and challenges. Mesmerized by their adventures, while daunted by their bravery, I lived in fear that God would try and send me. I prayed deals. “I’ll be the best Christian ever, just don’t ask me to do that!”

Years went by and maturity happened. One day as I went about living and serving, it occurred that all my worries had been in vain.  Here I was in the center of God’s will in middle class America.  Then I was sad. Maybe God saw what I kept hidden. The sum of me was a heart full of fear, a will incapable of changing the world, and a life just barely qualifying as Christian. No wonder He hadn’t asked me, I was useless…… But, long before, I determined to make satan sorry my feet hit the floor. So I continued in the little things of everyday life.

I have always kept a Bible on my desk at school.  For many years it was between bookends with textbooks, manuals and other resources I needed at my fingertips. The age of technology brought less need for hardcover, so the time came when my Bible was the last book standing, and so, I laid it on my desk.  Students put things on top of it or used it as a paper weight.  One morning I took a moment, held my Bible and explained, “This is my Bible. It goes where I go. It is God’s Word and it is Holy. Please don’t put your things on it, or under it.”  I didn’t tell anyone they must agree, just comply.  The Bible was a children’s version with pictures. I allowed any child that wished to handle my Bible and I answered questions when asked. One day, a little fellow asked if I would take him to church. He wanted to know about this Holy God I spoke of.  There is only one answer to such a question. “YES!” 

Appropriate measures were taken and a mission field was born. Miles of tire tread, gallons of fuel, smiling faces serving food, camp fees paid, and acres of dirty church carpet later, a noisy ministry is alive and well way beyond the walls of a church in central Arkansas.  God’s call came in the voices of children and many answered “YES!”

This past Wednesday night I grabbed a children’s Bible off a shelf in the classroom where 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders meet.  I usually read from the app on my phone, but this night I didn’t.  Quietly, one child said, “I don’t have a Bible, but I read the one in my classroom.”  A student was so determined to hear from God, that he sought an obscure Bible in a schoolroom full of literature designed to appeal to him. 

Then I heard the voice of the LORD saying, “Who shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

The mission field, a place in great need of Christ’s example and message, is so close you can feel its heartbeat. Pray for it, wait for it and then scream, “YES!!!!!!”

Love,

Gretchen

P.S.  I am thankful for a young and faithful teacher that kept a Bible in her classroom and the Gideons that provided it, and on Thursday morning, a young man received a Bible of his very own, along with an age appropriate devotional to feed his hungry soul.  God is good.

It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your name, O Most High. Psalm 92:1

This Psalm was anonymously written but is titled, A Song for the Sabbath. 

Believers in the One True God are called to set aside labors and cares one day a week and intentionally focus on the wonder of the Creator and Lover of our soul. It brings our storm tossed lives back into a harbor of calm water.

A Holy day is important to the emotional and spiritual well being of the community of Christ.  It is a gift, but it is also mandatory maintenance for survival.  This Sabbath is our little bit of Heaven on earth. For when this life is over, we will enter into an eternal day of worship.  We will rest, sing praises and relish in the fellowship of those we love.

Love,

Gretchen   

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His name, the LORD. And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Exodus 34:5-6

Moses returned from 40 days and nights in the presence of God, bringing the engraved laws of the covenant nation.  While Moses was with God, the Hebrew children, under the leadership of Aaron, lust for a tangible god and orgy type worship.  When Moses finds the chaos and desecration of God’s kindness and provision he throws the precious stones, written by God. Now, Moses has returned to the peak of Mount Sinai and God’s mercy.

The people have sinned and God says He will destroy them, but Moses pled their case. God heard and extended forgiveness and restoration. The announcement from God to Moses, that He is the LORD, is a perspective builder.  Moses was carrying the burden of the people’s sin, but God exclaims it is His character that will determine the destiny of these people, not Moses’. Everything is going to be okay, but there is some work to do.  Moses and God spend another 40 days and nights rewriting instructions for Holy and set apart living so the world may be blessed.

These people, just set free from slavery, were terribly quick to worship god’s of their own making.  What an insult to God’s love!!! Still, God CHOSES…….HE CHOSES to be slow to anger, ABOUNDING IN LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS to mankind.  

You are loved so very much! 

Happy Friday,

Gretchen

Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Psalms 86:1

There are times when I read vignettes of time in the Bible, i.e. most of Isaiah, and I think, “This is talking to a specific group of people, in a specific situation, in a specific time.  It’s a lovely story, but what does it have to do with me?” Well, here’s the greatest news you’ll ever hear!  God is constant!  Perfect in perspective and judgement and completely without bias. What He did for sinful humans throughout history, desperate for, yet undeserving of mercy and grace, He will do for you!

David is not financially poor.  He is spiritually bankrupt, broken, exhausted.  He needs mental rest and assurance that the weight of the world doesn’t really set on his shoulders. It isn’t his physical life that needs saving, it’s his sanity! Can you relate?

Because he knows that God is good, loving, and able, David, the poet, puts his humbled and tired heart to pen, takes it to God and leaves it there.  Do you think he got a good night’s sleep after reflecting on the trustworthiness of God? I think so.

Rest Well,

Gretchen 

The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.  Isaiah 58:11

God chose a covenant nation who’s purpose was to bless all nations. In remaining Holy, God’s plan of redemption and complete restoration of mankind can be made full. Instead, these people, this nation, became self-centered. God’s promises became their entitlement. God’s love became their focus of abuse and exploitation.

Isaiah 58 speaks of fasting, one of the highest forms of worship and connection to God.  Again, this became a self absorbed ritual centered on the whims, convenience, and lust of the people rather than the honor of God’s sovereign power and glory.  As condemning as this passage is, it is also a call to correct relationship with God and sacrificial love for others.

God’s call to all who know Him is to show love toward one another.  To bless others is to represent God’s infinite resource and sustenance for all mankind’s needs.  Follow the laws of God/love. Find the purpose of your life in Him alone. You are called to Bless others. There is more than enough for you and those who come your way.  That’s just the how God works.

Love,

Gretchen

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I Peter 1:3

The persecution of Christians in Rome was horrific but had been somewhat contained until the Emperor encouraged enemies of Christians across the Empire to take every advantage to annihilate them. It is believed that Peter wrote this letter shortly after Paul’s martyrdom and sent it to the churches Paul established to encourage and fortify them for the days to come. In this atmosphere of suffering Peter reminds everyone that Christ’s work of grace and salvation was through suffering.

There is nothing for Christians in looking back.  We are born again, into a new living hope, a great gift from God, His love for us fulfilled. Peter, face to face, denied Christ in the very moment of Christ’s great agony. He knew the shame of sin and weakness of resolve. Three frightening, excruciating days later he was face to face with a risen Savior. He found grace, only grace. NO condemnation.  He knows the joy he speaks.

Peter wasn’t special because of his time and place in history, he was merely a man, a sinner saved by grace and that is all.  His words of praise must be our beacon and faith in the storms that will come our way too.

Love,

Gretchen

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Psalms 100:1-2

The thought of the Lord is our greatest source of joy, therefore, to worship is delight.  Sing loud and sing proud! It is God we’re singing too and it is He we are singing about!

The Bible speaks frequently of singing. Moses taught the people of Israel to sing as they journeyed on their way to the Promised Land. Psalm 100 was meant for use in public worship and is still today, one of the most well known and most often sung Psalm of all.

Whatever the occasion, fear or triumph, everything drove David to the LORD and worship. Let’s follow his example and someday, our voices will rise in symphony with Davids, in eternal love and worship at the Throne of God.

Love,

Gretchen