Month: June 2018

We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4

Baptism is a sacrament giving witness to one’s personal salvation.  Submersion in water symbolizes death to the temptations and lusts of earthly/carnal existence and the burial of your mortal body. Rising out of the water signifies resurrection into eternal life for the one that believes.

In the city of Corinth, Paul penned this letter, Romans, to the church in the capitol of the world. He had not been there but those who had witnessed the work of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost had returned to their hometowns and begun churches, one of which was the predominantly gentile church in Rome. Paul’s objective? To teach the true Nature of Christ……life, eternal and victorious.

There is life and there is death.  There is Christlike behavior, and there is sin.  There are two different life styles. They do not intersect, they do not merge. In all of the universe they never come together.  There is nothing common between the two. Die to this world so that eternal life may begin today!

Love,

Gretchen

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look a that the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” I Samuel 16:7

Saul was Israel’s first king. He began his reign humble, but after early success his humility gave way to pride and sin followed. God withdrew His blessing and rejected Saul as king. Samuel, God’s prophet, was sent to Bethlehem, to a man named Jesse, to secretly anoint Saul’s successor.

Jesse had many handsome, strong and capable sons. Samuel was sure the eldest would be God’s choice, but he was mistaken. God did not speak except to say, do not judge with your eyes. So Jesse’s youngest son, the shepherd boy David was sent for.  Ordained as a youngster to become Israel’s next king gave time for him to train and learn. God took David under His care, bringing him into Saul’s court as a musician where he came into association with the king and his counselors. Years before David would become king, God was preparing him in a perfect way.

God wove each one of us together and He knows how and why we were created for this place and moment in time. He knows our heart. His is not taken back by our questions and concerns, surprised by the way things turned out, or overwhelmed by our manmade chaos. He is preparing each of us for the next days labor. Do not worry about man’s opinions or words of despair. God has each breath beautifully prepared for joy and peace.

Have a Great Weekend’s Eve,

Gretchen

Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Colossians 3:11

Paul was imprisoned in Rome when word of concern for the church in Colossae reached him.  It is believed that the church in this town on the border of Asia, was the result of missionary endeavors from the church in Corinth, a town 100 miles away. Paul wrote this letter to read aloud to the people gathered to worship and learn.  He sent it along with a letter to the congregation in Ephesus and another to Philemon.  Each letter is similar, but his words to Colossae are concerned with Christ like behavior beyond the fellowship of believers.

One of the struggles First Church of Colossae fought was the infiltration of opinion and philosophy with Christ’s teachings. Everyone has their penny’s worth of thought and feel entitled to share. However, those deep thinkers and talkers did not create anyone or anything, nor do they possess omniscient or omnipresent abilities or the power to forgive, restore and grant eternal life. Paul calls for a pure and transparent open heart that seeks ONLY to be like Christ, for He alone did all the things above.

The words of Colossians chapter three are very clear and need no additional commentary other than encouragement to put aside the popular editorials and manmade drama and seek solely to love God and one another just as Christ loved. That was Paul’s message then and it is very applicable today.

Love,

Gretchen

And, we who with unveiled faces all reflect the LORD’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the LORD, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

When Jewish teachers went into a city, they carried papers of introduction with them. It was their authority from Jerusalem. They marched proudly waving their importance. These teachers kept the early Jewish converts to Christianity in constant conflict with Paul’s teachings. When faith led to evidence for these new believers, the Judaic leaders insinuated Paul was a fraud because he had no letters of recommendation. To the young, persecuted and questioning church member, this was a serious problem in developing sound faith AND it must be recognized as satan’s attempt to destroy and invalidate the grace and mercy of a loving Savior.

The work of the Holy Spirit and disciples growing in wisdom and number is a greater defense of Paul’s call than someone’s written statement. Read all of chapter three to get the true since of Paul’s commendation to the Corinthian church as recognition of God’s power to transform all people and their circumstances into a perfect reflection of God.

Paul, with unshakable faith, saw the connection between the past, present and future in the Story of God and turned every event of his journey into glory to God. He suffered deprivation and humiliation far beyond human endurance but knowing the Old Covenant was replaced with the living New Covenant and an assurance of life everlasting made every breath, no matter the struggle, worth it.  So, be transformed, all day, every day!

Love,

Gretchen

I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. 2 Samuel 22:4

As king, David did not live a life of leisure and pleasure.  He was a sinner and reaped a bitter harvest for his transgressions.  His eldest son Absalom knew that David’s successor would be Solomon, David and Bathsheba’s second son. Absalom spent four years planning and finally led a rebellion that divided the population. He was finally subdued and killed, completely breaking his father’s heart.

Through victories, losses, sins and forgiveness, David always returned to seek the Heart of God.  This song of praise is very much like his own Psalm 18 and Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 32. As king, David had political enemies but he was a brilliant strategist and patient adversary.  As a father and husband, David failed on an epic scale. However, whether joy or sorrow, David chose to put God at the center of his mindset.  At the end of the day, what God had to offer, was all David wanted.

CALLING to the LORD faceted action.  It expresses unfailing trust, humble gratitude, submission to God’s authority and leadership. It is an important practice to the health of your relationship to your Creator and Redeemer and is exactly what God wants you to do.  Along with calling out to God, praise was the mainstay of David’s spiritual life. It should be the central sustaining element of your life too.

Love,

Gretchen

P.S. As children we are taught to not ask for everything. It is selfish and abuses the limited resources of parents or other adults. We carry this mindset into our maturing spirituality and superimpose this parental discipline onto God’s relationship with us. The fact is, God is NOT limited  and He wants us to ask for everything with a heart passionate to glorify His Kingdom. Call out and miracles will happen. Praise is the natural response.  God is Good!

If we confess our sins, He if faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from unrighteousness. I John 1:9

The scripture we know of as John’s first epistle, was a circular letter, written by John from his permanent home in Jerusalem, to the churches surrounding Ephesus. By the time John wrote this letter the pure teachings of Jesus had become tainted with opinions, blends of other religions and people’s personal agendas. This had to stop so John took action.

I am a kindergarten teacher.  I must break complex knowledge into its most simple parts to lay a strong foundation of life long learning.  I love my job because, when I reflect on how understandable and attainable the basic parts of life really are it is a total relief. It’s totally doable! This verse reminds us all that there is one very simple Gospel: Confession leads to forgiveness, forgiveness leads to righteousness…… AND the biggie!!!!! GOD IS FAITHFUL! It’s doable!

Love,

Gretchen

Out in the unwalled places, far away from the church doors, there are hearts that pray for the souls of the children, big and small, who never hear Jesus’ name except when used to defame His or someone else’s character. They never know of a Man that died for them, so they may have life and have it more abundantly. But, for them, there is someone praying, so someone must go.

Long ago I answered a call to ministry. I educated myself in appropriate Bible classes and studied the ways of the faithful that had gone before me.  My legacy included both my paternal grandparents and my own mom and dad. While in high school, a young man in our youth group also felt a call to ministry but he was a pest and I avoided him like a plague.  Oddly, we wound up at the same private fine arts college and suddenly those qualities I found so aggravating in our high school setting, became endearing in the context of my more enlightened and mature collegiate mindset. I married that guy, but it was many years before we actually began a journey into evangelism.

I have long been frustrated by people that need Jesus, know they need Jesus, but just won’t go to church.  Everything they need is inside those walls, but they won’t come in! Then one day I was in a town with no Wal Mart. Oh! The horror!!!  I made myself enter into a department store I was not familiar with. I was very uncomfortable and distracted. I didn’t know where anything was, and no one offered to assist me.  They didn’t have exactly what I was looking for, but I got a similar product to meet my need and I left, determined never to return.

Not long after, I realized much is the same with those that don’t go to church. No one volunteers for an unknown that has a dress code, behavior protocols (know to us a liturgy), strange faces and music you don’t know the words to. I wouldn’t go either if I hadn’t begun when I was too young to remember. I also began to understand that for every person on the planet there is a mother, or grandmother, a neighbor, teacher, someone, that longs for that being to find a loving world of hope and prosperity.  So, my husband and I went into the mission field in our own back yard.

One afternoon Keith met a friend of a friend. This person knew he was ministering and witnessing regularly to their common acquaintance. The friend shook his hand and said, “His momma’s been prayin’ God would send somebody. That somebody is you.”

There is not a more sacred, higher calling and no greater blessing than to be an answer to someone’s prayer.

And then I heard the voice of the LORD saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah 6:8

Someone is praying so someone must go. Perhaps it will be you.

Love,

Gretchen

When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those following Him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” Matthew 8:10

The Roman military was often brutal and therefore despised. They were the occupiers, the foreign agent of an oppressive government. But at some point, this Roman officer, the centurion, encountered a man named Jesus who was like no other person he knew. In desperation, he did not seek his own chain of command, or access the many gods he grew up knowing.  He found the true source of all power, Jesus.

Jesus is a first responder to human need. This man, a military leader of 100 soldiers, understood authority when he asked for the healing of his servant, even suggesting that Jesus did not have to leave his present place and attend his servant in person, knowing that at His very word, His will would be done.

The humble a faith of someone who should not know Jesus was unrivaled by those in the Jewish tradition. It is one thing to know that Jesus can do anything! But this man put his trust in the Sovereign supremacy of the Messiah.

Relying of God’s power is a facet of faith, but submitting ourselves to God’s authority and laying our hopes and dreams in His care is where real living begins.

Happy Saturday!

Gretchen

“Make level paths for your feet,’ so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Hebrews 12:13

Keep your eyes on Jesus.  The newly established church began with the roaring fire of the Holy Spirit, but immediately met with horrific persecution that became culturally acceptable and even desired among pagans and Jews alike. The going was tough for those that believed and awaited eternal peace. The goal was more than worth it and there was an assurance in knowing Jesus himself had already made the journey successfully.

Part of paving a level path is remembering your blessings.  Return to those praises and let them carry you through today’s sorrows or struggles. Today’s disciplines and defeats do NOT invalidate yesterday’s victories.  Discipline is a season of strengthening. It is not the definition of who we are, but what we will be. Respond with gratitude and move forward wiser and with righteousness.

Finally, this verse likens each of us to the lame. Choosing an appropriate path is our free choice and responsibility. A level path will result in correct and perfect progress forward!

Love,

Gretchen

When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. I Samuel 7:7

The Philistines were a world power when Samuel became prophet and priest. They had at one time captured the Ark of the Covenant, hoping it would bring them further imperial greatness, but unrightfully possessing this symbol of God’s presence among His people brought the LORD’s judgement and devastation so they returned it to Israel.

During Samuel’s time as judge, Israel has a revival, a real time of repentance and cleansing, then a threat comes, a challenge to security. God uses this opportunity to show Israel what He will do for those whose hope and faith is in Him alone.  Through worship, fasting and prayer, Israel defeats the Philistines.

The Philistines mistook a box as the source of power for the Hebrew people.  The Hebrew children mistook numbers for might. In verse 12 the term Ebenezer is used to name the place with an altar, a monument to God’s covenant love for His people and their reversal of fortune through obedience. Ebenezer means, “Stone of Help,” and didn’t mark a covenant made, but a covenant kept. 

                       

God alone is protection and provision. He alone is judge and He alone will settle matters of threat and justice. We can live in peace and rest because literally……God’s got this, whatever ‘this’ is.

Love,

Gretchen