The Child He Embraces, He Also Corrects

Often times when I think of "discipline", I think of punishment.  When in fact, most often, discipline is "training".  Whether we are disciplining our children, or God is disciplining us.  It's teaching, instructing, training us up so we know how to live right and well and abundantly.

Hebrews 12:4-11 MSG

In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through-all that bloodshed! So don't feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either. It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

In The Silence

This morning, in my quiet time, I read a devotion that reminded me of what a jealous God our God is.  How He wants us to put Him first above everyone and everything else.  How He longs to spend time with us. 

After reading it, and the Bible verse that came along with it, I closed my Bible, along with my eyes, and began to pray.

I prayed for a little while, and then my praying stopped.  Eyes still closed, I listened to the silence.

Complete silence.

I sat in the stillness for what seemed to be a long time...and then this verse came to mind:

Silence is praise to you, Zion-dwelling God, And also obedience.  You hear the prayer in it all. Psalm 65:1,2 The Message

Tears streamed down my face as I felt the nearness of God in that moment.

Under my tears I muttered to Him, "I understand why silence is praise to You."

That we would be willing to shut everyone, and everything else off, to find solitude with Jesus.

 "Only in much solitude can ye begin to sift away the chaff and come at last to the golden grains of truth"

"Silence will speak more to thee in a day than a world of voices can teach thee in a life time" from Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved

I loved the silence this morning, and how God met me there.  Can't wait for my next opportunity to find solitude.

How 'bout you?  When is the last time you shut everything off to talk to God?

1 Silence is praise to you, Zion-dwelling God, And also obedience. 2 You hear the prayer in it all. We all arrive at your doorstep sooner or later, loaded with guilt, 3 Our sins too much for us - but you get rid of them once and for all. 4 Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest at home in your place! We expect our fill of good things in your house, your heavenly manse. 5 All your salvation wonders are on display in your trophy room. Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer, 6 Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser, 7 Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash, of mobs in noisy riot - 8 Far and wide they'll come to a stop, they'll stare in awe, in wonder. Dawn and dusk take turns calling, "Come and worship."
Psalm 65 The Message

He WILL help you.

Reading through the Word this morning and found so many good and comforting things in this passage of scripture. Sometimes I just like to let the Word speak for itself, knowing that it is alive and active and will not return void.  So, here ya go:

Matthew 6:25-34

The Message (MSG)

 ^25-26"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.


 ^27-29"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.


 ^30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.


 ³⁴"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

More. On. Mavis.

I just had to do another post on Mavis due to her loving kindness.


As most of you know, my grandmother passed away this past weekend.  We love her and will miss her dearly.  I especially can't imagine holidays without her. Anyway, back to Mavis.


A group of us (family) were in with grandma her last evening of life on this earth.  I want to be specific about that because I believe she's still alive in Heaven, in fact scripture says that "what is mortal was swallowed up by life".  Did you hear that?  not by death, but by life.   "For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." 1 Corinthians 5:4


Anyway, I say again.  ha.  While we were in the room that last evening with grandma, Mavis knocked on the door and came in.  She didn't say a word.  She just stepped inside the door, set her plastic container which was packed full of various kinds of candy,  reese cups, almond joy, suckers, you name it, she had it in there, on the floor, took the lid off, picked it back up and took it around to each one of us in the room.  Literally serving us.


About an hour later, she did it again.  She served us a second round of candy, and then went back to her room.


Not long after that, Grandma took her last breath.  The grandchildren that were there, myself included, stepped out into the hallway, to allow our parents time to be alone in the room.  Grandma had JUST passed away.  I don't know who told Mavis, or how she knew, but as we were standing in the hallway, Mavis came up, stood beside me, didn't say a thing, but spread her arms wide to hug me, still without saying anything.  She then went to each of us, one by one, with open arms, sharing sorrow and showing love.  Few words, but her actions said it all.


Interesting to me that it doesn't take much to show God's love.  To express loving kindness.  We often think, "well, I could never serve Jesus".  "I don't know how to be Jesus to someone."  


Sometimes just being there is all it takes.  Amazing how much love you can feel through a little candy and a few hugs.  


So, I learned from Mavis again.

Learning From Mavis

She's never "preached" to me, but what she "does" says so much.  I'm referring to Mavis Kile.  We've seen a lot more of Mavis since my Grandmother has been in the nursing home.  Mavis has a room right across the hallway.

She is always so happy to see us, and greets us each by name, and if one of us is missing she'll always ask about that member of the family.  Particularly "the Pester".  That's what she calls Josh.  She will often sit behind our family in church and watch as our nine year old "pesters" his sister...hence the name.  LOL

As I've come to know Mavis better, I have been so impressed by her witness for Christ.  She amazes me.  She had a white board put up outside her door so that she could leave messages for people.  This was her message a couple of weeks ago.  In case you can't read it, it says this,

"have you taken Jesus as your Savior?  That is the most important decision we make in this life!   Enjoy a whole new life in HIM!
Be saved today!!  Let the beauty of our Lord God be upon us.  Amen."

I love that at her age she is STILL witnessing for Christ!!

Just this morning, in worship, Jennifer was leading, the congregation was praising mightily, and you could feel the Spirit moving.  As things got a little softer between chorus and verse, I could hear Mavis, who on this day was sitting all the way across the church from me, say, "thank you Jesus."


My heart was moved by hearing this senior saint praise the God of all creation.  The God who has brought her through all the ups and downs and to this point in her life.  The God that she can't stop singing about and talking about.  The God that she walks with now, and will be with for all of eternity.  And I so hope that, like Mavis, I never stop singing about Him, talking about Him, and loving Him.

Thanks to Mavis for loving on all of us by giving us gum and candy, ha, and being such a great witness of Christ's love to us.

Here's a picture from Easter of Mavis with "the pester."  LOL

Sin Country - Grace Country

I don't think I have ever read Romans 6 in The Message prior to today.  I love how it explains baptism and living in the freedom of Christ instead of the freedom that we think sin brings.  Here it is:

Romans 6

When Death Becomes Life

 ^1-3So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!

 ^3-5That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country.

 ^6-11Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

 ^12-14That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

How Denny and I lost weight.

Believe me when I say that I understand the frustration of being heavier than you want to be, but not really knowing what to do about it.  I remember saying a couple of months ago, "if I just had a plan, I could be a more disciplined eater."  I know you may say, "yeah right", but it's true for me.  If I have a plan, I typically do a pretty good job of following it.  Not always, but most the time.

I typically gain weight over the winter and this winter was no exception.  Only difference was, I started gaining weight in October, when usually I don't gain 'til Jan/Feb.  But my work schedule, plus our home schedule kept us hopping this year.  I was ran crazy at work, and gone every night at home.  The only time I could have exercised would have been FIRST thing in the morning, or LAST thing at night.  To be honest, I spend time with Jesus first thing in the morning, and I did not want to give that up.  And, to be honest, by the time the end of the night would roll around, I would be exhausted!  To add to all of that, due to the craziness of our schedule, I found myself somewhat stressed out, and was finding comfort in food more than ever.  That's not good.

That's one thing that God is teaching me on this diet (which I think of as more of a fast) is that I should not find my comfort in anything, ANYTHING, but Him!

Denny and I are both doing this diet.  He has lost 20lbs in four weeks, and I've lost 14.  If you too are looking for a plan, click here to see the diet we are following.  We heard about this plan from our friend Linda Noel.  If you're local, then you may know Linda, or at least remember that her husband Jeff used to be our preacher at FCC Marshall.  They are also the couple responsible for leading me and Denny to FCC.  If I remember correctly, Linda lost 30 lbs in 40 days on this diet, and has kept it off for nearly a year.

Our drummer on the FCC praise team, Jerry Vickery, also has done this diet and he lost 48 lbs in 40 days.  So, if you're interested in trying it here is the link.  I recommend that you read EVERYTHING that is on the site, including Dr. Simeon's manual. The diet is very strict, and you won't want to miss a thing.

Feel free to ask me questions.