After a rather lifeless Sunday morning service, the pastor noticed a young boy staring intensely at a large plaque mounted in the church's foyer. It was covered with names and flanked by American flags.Recognizing the opportunity to connect, the pastor approached, stood beside the boy, and said quietly, "Good morning young man." "Good morning," the boy replied, still looking intently at the plaque, he then asked, "Pastor, what's this?"
"Well, son, it's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service," Then, with a note of gravity in his voice, the boy asked, "Which service did they die in - the 9:30 or the 11:00 o'clock?"
Take time, and choose your words well.
-Live Productively
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him- and he was a Samaritan.Luke 17:15, 16
"Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath."Psalm 39:4,5
"God's everlasting love waits to pick you up, bind your wounds, and place you on a path of life again...a redeemed, restored life in which you begin to experience what true love really is.."
"True brokenness is a lifestyle - a moment-by-moment lifestyle of agreeing with God about the true condition of my heart and life - not as everyone else thinks it is but as He knows it to be." Nancy Leigh DeMoss
"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God" (Titus 2:3-5, NIV)
"Amazingly, God's grace humbles a woman without degrading her, and His favor lifts her up without inflating her. The life she finds in Him makes her the proud owner of everything money can't buy - a life of contentment." -Rachel Olsen
"The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian. But the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman." Elisabeth Elliot
If You Only Knew
Today's Truth
"If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water" (John 4:10 New Living Translation).
Friend to Friend
What happens when someone says to you, "If you only knew"? I don't know about you, but it makes me want to know. Jesus spoke those same enticing words to the gal with the empty bucket he met at a well in Samaria. He was engaging her and inviting her to draw water from the springs of life. He was stirring her curiosity.
While she focused on drawing physical water, Jesus continued drawing her closer to living water. The water in Jacob's well would alleviate physical thirst temporarily. The water in Jesus' well would quench spiritual thirst eternally. Jesus' living water would fill this empty woman with overflowing joy.
So she asked him, "Give me this water!"
Wait a minute. Did she say, "Give me that water?" Isn't that what Jesus asked from her? As Jesus often does, He asks us to give him something only to offer something better in return. That is the very definition of redemption.
Jesus lifted the curtain on the story of her life and the acts of the saga were exposed before her. Count them 1-2-3-4-5. Five husbands plus one extra. We don't know why she had been divorced five times. In those days, a man could divorce his wife if she went outside the home with her hair unbound or even spoke to a man in public. He could divorce her if she burned the bread or he decided that he just didn't like her any more. It didn't take much, but whatever the reasons, this was a woman who had been abused, misused, and tossed away by men she had trusted and loved.
This also gives us a hint that she was not a young woman. It takes time to experience that much rejection. No doubt the years of heartache and broken dreams were etched on her sun-scorched face. Like the rising bucket full of hope from the well of each new marriage, her dreams spilled out on the parched grounds of divorce - five times. Her longing for love left her empty and led her to yet another poor decision - man number six.
Jesus spoke to her of her past without a hint of condemnation or rejection in his voice. As a matter of fact, he applauded her honesty. He moved the conversation to a personal level, and took one step closer to the heart of the matter ... the matter of the heart. Jesus always moves the conversation to a personal level when He is about to set someone free. And He was rattling the prison keys.
What do we do when confronted with such naked truth about ourselves? We often try to change the subject. That's exactly what this woman did. She wanted to get the spotlight off of her and onto some theological or religious debate. "Let's don't talk about me," she seemed to say. "Let's talk about religion. What about the poor people in third world countries who have never heard the gospel? How can God allow bad things to happen to good people? What about other religions? Let's talk about that."
Jesus always brings the subject back to me ... to you. That's what is important to Him. Jesus answered her question by explaining that God is more interested in how we worship than where we worship. He is more concerned with our relationship with Him than our religious practices. And friend: that is what He wants from all of us. God is not impressed with religion. Jesus wasn't impressed with the Pharisees. What God wants is to enter into a personal on-going relationship with us through His Son.
Would you say that you have a religion in your life, or that you have a personal relationship with Jesus?
this devotional sure does play a strum that i am all too familiar to. the key that this woman was stuck playing, longing for something more. an insatiable desire, an unquenchable thirst for something more. this woman was stuck in one relationship to another. not 1 but 5 going on the 6th. seeking, desiring, thirsting only to find each person to unfulfill that well within her. heartbroken, weary, disappointed.. til her destined moment where she met Jesus here by this well. (contextually: women would normally go out to this well to get water around the early morning/ late afternoon when the sun wouldn't be so bright. this samaritan woman went out mid-afternoon because around town she was news gossip and didn't want to be seen by people. it also says that, Jesus HAD to go through samaria (John4:4) which was geographically going around where he normally went, so it was destined for him to meet this woman that the well of Jacob) no matter how sinful this woman was to people, Jesus still speaks with her and asks her for a drink.. for normally jews never associated with samaritans.. how many times does Jesus speak to us, no matter how sinful we are in the eyes of people, he asks us for something only for us to answer back asking Him for this fulfilling. Is your thirst being quenched or leaving you longing for more?
"Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"(John4:13-14)
-Live Productively
What is it about not being in control that makes us women on the edge?
Adriana, 48 years old and still single, knows God is in control of the intimate details of her life. And yet…
It never used to bother me that I had not met the "man of my dreams" but now as I've gotten older and the lines on my face have crept in, I have found myself thinking about it more. There are times when I feel life is passing me by. And I wonder if God has forgotten.
If Adriana had her way, the man of her dreams would have been in her life long ago.
I have been married 38 years to the same man but with two different personalities. During the last 20 years he has been a compulsive gambler. We have both been seeking help to understand and control this situation. I have no idea why, after so many years, he started this behavior. It has cost us several thousands of dollars and most of my retirement fund. I wonder what I did to deserve this. Sometimes I just feel alone and ready to jump off the cliff!
If Janet could change her husband's ways she would. But she can't. So where is God in all of this?
Chalk It Up to the Curse
Why is the longing for control so very powerful in a woman's life? I believe the answer lies in how we were made…or rather, what we've made of ourselves.
In Genesis 1:26-28 we're told that God created man and woman in His own likeness. We were made in His image, with His characteristics. That means we were created with the ability to administrate, oversee, manage. Eve, the first woman, was commanded to rule creation alongside her husband. But after Eve decided she wanted more than was given her, her punishment consisted of being cursed with an unquenchable desire to control.
When God punished Eve for her disobedience, He not only increased the pain she would experience in bearing children, but He put her in the position of "desiring" her husband's authority. God said, in Genesis 3:16, "...Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you."
Eve's resulting "desire" for her husband wouldn't be a sexual desire. Nor would it be an emotional longing for his love and attention. The word "desire" in verse 16 refers to an unhealthy desire that could bring about destructive results. When God told Eve that she would desire her husband, He was saying that she would covet his control, seek the position of authority that he was given. Her desire, or drive, would be to have the authority in the relationship. And that desire to control - that blinding obsession to get out from under male authority and have things our way- has been a source of frustration and edginess for women ever since.
How natural it is for us, then, to want to administrate - to the point that we are the ones in charge. Naturally, we want our home, job, finances, relationships, and so on to be under control, working harmoniously, bringing us joy. We want that so much that it drives us to the edge when aspects of our life seem out of control. Now that we are living in a sin-stained world, life this side of heaven will never be completely under control, and working harmoniously. Therefore, our desire to create and manage and administrate (God's likeness in us) is distorted. It results in our wanting to be "god" in our own little worlds.
God's Ability to Govern
A look at Scripture reminds us that God is the One who is in control of:
God doesn't want us to try to control the situations that are clearly in His realm and responsibility. That's where He wants us to trust in His character and His Word and leave the reins to Him. However, He does expect us to exert self-discipline over certain matters that are clearly within our ability to control.
Controlling Ourselves - Not Others
So often we hand to God the things we don't want to have to take responsibility for - our weight, our spending, our lack of discipline in certain areas, our "personality." And ironically, we hold onto the bigger things we are powerless to change - another person's heart, the timing of finding a spouse or having a baby, the weather, a flight schedule. So what are the areas we really can control? The list is short. In fact there is only one thing on the list: Ourselves. We can control our own behavior, actions and reactions.
How many times do we find ourselves saying things like:
I can't control my temper.
I'm very emotional; I can't help it.
I've always struggled with that. It's not likely to change.
I've been (insert addictive habit here) for 20 years. I've tried to stop and I can't.
I'm (insert your nationality here) and we're just that way. It's in our blood.
Those are excuses in light of God's Word, which holds us accountable for our actions. In God's Word, He tells us to control:
In short, you and I, through the power of Christ, can control our own behavior, but not circumstances that are thrust upon us. We can control our own thoughts, moods and actions, but not the thoughts, moods and actions of others.
If your failed attempts to control life have you on the edge, find your spacious place by resting in the Only One who can control all that you cannot. And pretty soon your desire will not be for the control, but for the One who is ultimately in control.
August 17, 2010
i honestly could not have said it better myself!
-Live Productively
The story is told of a young man who, at the age of thirty-two, was appointed President of the bank. He had never dreamed that he would become president at all - much less at such a young age. So he approached the Chairman of the Board, a man known for his wisdom, and asked, "You know, I've just been appointed President and was wondering if you could give me some advice." The old man came back with just two words, "Right decisions!" The young man had hoped for a bit more than this. "That's really helpful and I appreciate it," he said, "but can you be more specific? For example, how do I make right decisions?" The wise old man pondered the question for a moment then simply responded, "Experience." Growing impatient, the young man said, "Well, that's why I am here. I don't have the kind of experience I need. How do I get it?" The terse reply quickly came, "Wrong decisions!"
Wise people accept the consequences of sin and learn from their wrong choices and then apply those lessons to their lives. God honors a life of applied truth and will provide His wisdom and understanding as we follow and obey Him.
Someone once said, "..you can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair."You cannot avoid temptation. Just remember that temptation itself is not sin - but an invitation to sin. When temptation knocks, ask Jesus to answer the door.
-Live Productively
today i will celebrate life because of the simple things that bring me joy: 
