I Know That Voice

 "...his sheep follow Him because they know His voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." John 10: 4, 5

    While I waited for the pharmacy crew at CVS to open, my body language spoke of the fatigue that permeated my frame. Legs stretched before me, arms folded over my chest, I was almost nodding off when a kind woman sat opposite me. With a concerned expression, she asked about my welfare but I assured her I was not ill, only tired. She offered that she had a burden to bear with her husband's schizophrenia so we struck up a conversation as we both waited.

    She seemed so serene and joyful that I felt certain she was a Christian while, together, we shared a few of our most encouraging Bible verses. However, the connection I thought we had was severed as soon as she bade me to explore the website of her belief: JW.org. I could never share a faith relationship with a Jehovah's Witness.

    The founder of the Jehovah's Witness organization, Charles Taze Russell, claimed the Scriptures would remain dark apart from his interpretations of them. There's the first red flag right there: Know the Scriptures by reading them for yourself. Do not rely on another person's two cents. The JWs have their own version of the Bible, the New World translation, which supports their teachings. They claim that Jesus is not the Son of God, but that he was a creature (not the Creator), namely Michael the archangel, and that he did not experience a bodily resurrection, only a spiritual one. 

    Jesus said his sheep will be able to recognize his voice but how is this done? By knowing the Bible for myself, I am confident of the deity of Jesus by reading, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) By reading chapter 20 of that same gospel, I know Peter and John verified Mary Magdalene's testimony of the empty grave. I also know that there's nothing I can do to earn my salvation by reading Ephesians 2: 8 & 9 which says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Just in case doubt remains, John 14:6 erases all by plainly stating: "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

    So, as genuine as the woman's faith seemed, the Voice of Jesus tells me she is sadly following false doctrine. The deity and resurrection of Jesus is a solid rock foundation; all other ground is sinking sand.

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2 Timothy 4: 3, 4

Hand in Hand

 "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand." Psalm 73:23

    When my girls were little, I loved walking along holding their little hand in mine. It was an act of protection, as in a crowded parking lot or by a busy crossing, but it was also an embrace that fit like a glove. One day came when they were too big for this but I miss it, just as I miss them sitting on my lap or reading a book with me. 

    I relish being a child in God's eyes, one who needs guidance and protection. When I walk side-by-side with my Savior, He grasps my right hand, the Scripture says. Why not my left hand, I wondered? Traditionally, the right hand symbolizes authority so, if His left hand is curled around my right one, then His right hand is free to come to my defense! 

    There are two more verses I've found to treasure:

• "For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear for I will help you.'" Isaiah 41:13
• "I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:8

    Until He comes again on the clouds of glory with all the saints and angels, Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us. When I approach life's perilous crossings and molasses swamps, it gives me great comfort to imagine looking up at His smiling, confident face, knowing He leads me to safety.

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139: 9, 10

Cleaning House

 "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139: 23, 24

    I'm ashamed to admit this, but there's a guy at work I don't like very well. To me, he's coarse, rude and foul mouthed. His presence makes me inwardly cringe as I offer no charity, though he has not requested any. "Fine with me," I thought. What nettles me more is that everyone else gets along with him just fine, so I find it unsettling to be on the outside.

    The problem lies, not with this person, but with me. I've declared him unworthy (though he, too, is made in the image of God) and slammed the door on him before he even rang the bell. As a Christian, I've got some major house cleaning to do.

    In Jesus' day, the tax collectors were the odious ones. Remember the wee little man, Zacchaeus, who climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see? What if Jesus, when he passed beneath the bough, just kept on going, pretending Zacchaeus wasn't there? The opportunity for salvation to visit the house of this repentant tax collector would have been missed. 

    The word "Christian" means "Little Christ." Since I have been shown mercy by the King, who do I think I am to withhold mercy from another? In the parable of the unmerciful servant, after the servant had been forgiven by the master his debt of ten thousand bags of gold, he went out and grabbed a guy by the throat and demanded he pay him the hundred silver coins he owed. When the master heard about it, he called that man in on the carpet saying, "You wicked servant. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" (Matthew 18: 32, 33)

    To apply the opening verse from Psalm 139, I must ask God to search me, know my heart and point out any offensive way in me, not in people I don't care for. My attitude is worse than my coworker's because I am a daughter of the King. I am the odious one!

    Lord, forgive me for I have sinned against you in thought, word and deed. 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." Psalm 51:10-12 

I Didn't Ask for This

 "His wife said to him, 'Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!' He (Job) replied, 'You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?'" Job 2: 9, 10

    When it was deemed my father had dementia, my mother was in denial initially, forbidding that word to be mentioned. Indeed, we all wondered what lay ahead for our family. As the disease progressed and stole her husband away bit by bit, she once lamented, "I didn't ask for this!" Yet, on a whole, she wore the mantel of caregiver with true grace and strength that could only have come from the Holy Spirit within her.

    Recently, while reading a book about the caregivers of cancer patients, this man's comment regarding his wife's diagnosis stood out: "I felt like we had gotten on the wrong bus, with only sick people, and we couldn't get off." The Cancer Bus; who would choose to board it?

    Some of life's journeys have no further stops before the end of the line, but some do. For twenty-five years, I'd had a "thorn in the flesh," an autoimmune disorder which, I'd been told I would contend with for the rest of my life. Then, though I didn't ask for this, God healed me of it. I got off that bus.

    In the book of Job, Satan was permitted to push this "blameless and upright" man, Job, onto a struggle bus of great suffering. His diabolical purpose was to hear Job curse God to His face. (Job 2:5) Even after unimaginable loss and painful infliction, Job chose to place his trust in the character of God. The Bible says he fell to the ground in worship and "in all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." (1:22)

    We don't have access to the bus schedule but, as Christians, we do have access to the limitless grace and mercy of The Driver, God. Whether we're let off or not, He takes care of us during the ride.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:8

"I know that You can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2

The Recipe

 "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1: 5-8

    My great nephew, Mason, and I love to bake and we always follow the same recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I have made these so many times, the recipe is etched in my memory. While mixing the ingredients, Mason wondered if the vanilla extract would take good by itself. "There's only one way to find out," I replied, handing him a spoon.

    Sampling it, he began to sputter and spit as he sought water to rinse the offense. As we continued our sweet endeavor, he wondered if shortening would reflect the frosting-like appearance in taste, but, at my advice, he wisely chose not to sample this. After some silent reflection, he spoke: "How can ingredients that taste awful by themselves produce such good cookies?" Yet, they all have to be included in the batter or our cookies will suffer.

    Just as there are eight ingredients in our recipe, there are eight qualities we must stir into our faith if we are to produce a successful outcome. Once a sinner is saved by grace, if he just sits there idly enjoying his gift, it's like trying to create cookies from flour alone. To grow in our faith, we must keep working at it - not working for our salvation; that work was done by Christ alone on Calvary. Rather, we stir in goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love. These are all ingredients our Savior possessed; if we are to taste like Him, we must follow the recipe.

"For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1: 10, 11

From Cupbearer to Carpenter

"When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." Nehemiah 1:4

    Once upon a time, there lived a man named Nehemiah who dwelt as a captive among foreigners. One hundred and forty years earlier, his people were taken from their homes in Jerusalem and exiled to Babylon, a distance of more than one thousand miles. 

    Now, Nehemiah was doing alright for himself, considering his captive state, for he had risen in the ranks to cupbearer of King Artaxerxes, so when he heard from visitors that Jerusalem lay in burned ruins, he could have kept quiet and lived in relative comfort, but he was so upset that he wept for days in prayer and deep grief. 

    First, in his prayer, he gave glory to God and reminded Him of His covenant of love for those who keep His commandments. Then, he launched into a confession of sins, not just his own, but those of his people, the Israelites. Finally, with firm conviction, he asked God to grant him success when he went before the King with his outlandish plan: He wants to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls! This was no small task; there were at least ten massive gates that had to be repaired or rebuilt.

    Though the Bible doesn't give these details, I would imagine a cupbearer doesn't know much about major construction. Maybe he built a coffee table on the weekend once, but that doesn't make him a surveyor, a carpenter or a mason. Though he had no calloused hands, he had what it took: A childlike faith.  

    As he approached the King, "the gracious hand of my God was on me" (2:8) and his requests for a lengthy leave of absence, letters of permission and a charge account for supplies were all freely granted.

    In every story, there has to be an antagonist or two and they were sure waiting for Nehemiah upon his arrival in Jerusalem. Sanballat and his nefarious cohorts, Tobiah and Geshem, were dishing out intimidation and threats of legal trouble, but our hero responded, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right." (2:20)

    I took great encouragement from this true account of Nehemiah. I wonder if he has any idea that an American woman in the 21st century is learning from him, but is it enough to simply read this? Maybe I should apply it in my life, but how? I'll have to pray about that to my God of heaven, the same God who blessed our protagonist. I'm quite certain He will grant me success.

    Oh, by the way, that "outlandish plan" was completed in just 52 days! 

"Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes...Our God will fight for us!" Nehemiah 4:14, 20

I Am Your God

 "So, do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

    Whenever my dad was found doing something out of the ordinary, with an imperial expression he would proclaim, "Don't put me in a box!" I had the opportunity to use this exclamation recently when I surprised even myself by getting a tattoo. When I was growing up, only old navy veterans and Hell's Angels had tattoos, so I naturally eschewed the idea. So, what made me change my mind and how did I decide what to have permanently etched on my arm?

    I chose the scripture reference above because I will never disbelieve this divine promise and I will never outgrow my need to be reminded of it. As for the reason, I thought, "I have verses taped to my bathroom mirror, on my computer desk, on the wall of my work station and in the glove box of my car so why not have one where I can see it any time I need to and where, perhaps, someone else may inquire of it, opening the door to share my faith?

    This verse from Isaiah has become my life verse because, though there has been plenty to be fearful about, I take great comfort in hearing God tell me, "Don't be discouraged or intimidated!" He will strengthen me and help me so what do I have to fear? Take those four words, "I am your God" and ruminate on them, placing the emphasis on the different words.

• "I am your God." The same God that spoke to Moses through a burning bush and helped David overcome a giant is the one who watches over me.
• "I am your God." If I were the only human on the earth, Jesus would still lay down His life for me, that's how loved I am.
• "I am your God." The great I Am, the Alpha and the Omega, the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, the Ancient of Days is my Father and best friend.

  So, when I lift my sleeve a bit and spy the ink, the strength and reassurance I need are there to remind me of all this. 

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has bourne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me." Isaiah 49:15, 16 

What Do We Deserve?

 "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities." Psalm 103:10

    After World War Two, an already broken world was shattered leaving millions of people homeless and heaving with grief. Seeing the need, one Christian Dutch woman sewed seeds of loving kindness as she told the story of her survival of the concentration camp, Ravensbruck, to any who would listen. After one such message at a church service in Munich, she was approached by a former SS guard who asked her forgiveness for the cruelties he had shown her and her sister, Betsie. 

    Even as the angry and vengeful thoughts boiled through her veins, she recognized the sin of them and silently prayed for help. "Jesus Christ died for this man," she wrote in her book, "Was I going to ask for more?" As she obeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit by extending her hand to his, the powerful love of Christ coursed through her, flushing forth the vengeful thoughts and replacing them with the supernatural joy of forgiveness. 

    In 1950, when former POW Louis Zamperini returned to Japan to face a roomful of former guards, by human standards he had every right to mow them all down like Rambo, but as a Christian, he overcame evil with good by shaking their hands in sincere forgiveness, and the love of Christ shone like the noonday sun! 

    I love the story of the faith of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Years after his own brothers had sold him into slavery and lied to their father, saying Joseph had been killed, he was faced with a decision when these men kneeled before him in contrition and dire need. Shaking in their sandals, the brothers wondered, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" (Genesis 50:15)  

    Indeed, what if Corrie had slapped the guard and spewed righteous anger at him? What if Louis had taken out his trauma on those men who so cruelly beat him? Wouldn't he have had the right to do so? 

    No. We don't have that right. "'Vengeance is mine,' says the Lord. 'I will repay.'" (Deuteronomy 32:35) If we are tempted to get even, let's remember the words of our dying Savior, who could have called legions of angels to come to his aid, yet He gave His life for the sins of the world: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

    Getting back to our friend, Joseph who, by the way, is a Christlike figure in the Old Testament - did he treat his brothers as their sin deserved? "'So then, don't be afraid,' he said to them, 'I will provide for you and your children.' And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them." (Genesis 50:21)

    "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matthew 6: 14, 15

Thy Kingdom Come

 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever." Daniel 2:44

    Adolf Hitler had a dream. He thought a perfect, purified gene pool of people would be the ticket to world domination so he diabolically set out to "cleanse" the world of those he deemed unfit. 

    Where is he now? What became of his kingdom? It lies mingled with the dust of the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. 

    The prophetic words of the Scriptures tell us of a coming one-world government, a global currency and a rising man of lawlessness who will rule this kingdom: The Antichrist. Rather than a yellow star of David, the mark of the beast will be used to winnow out those deemed unfit in this kingdom, prohibiting them from trading in the marketplace. A false prophet will deceive the inhabitants of the earth by killing all who will not worship the image of this Antichrist.

    Do these words frighten you as you see signs and implications unfolding around you? If so, read the verse above. The Bible has much to say about this kingdom of God; here are the main points:

• It's established by God of heaven
• It will never be destroyed
• It will never be left to another people
• It will crush all other kingdoms
• It will endure forever and ever
• Our Messiah, King Jesus, will reign over it forever
• It is not of this world
• It will be ruled with a scepter of justice, peace and righteousness
• It cannot be seen; it is within us as believers
• It is not a matter of talk but of power

    How does one become a subject of such an enduring kingdom, ruled by Christ?

• Repent of your sins and be born again by the Holy Spirit
• Put your hand to the plow and never look back
• Do the will of the Father
• Love God
• Become like a little child; humble yourself
• Seek first His kingdom; make Him your priority

    This kingdom of God knows no boundaries. It is defended, not by armament but by the power of God. It's identified by the symbol of the cross, not a swastika or any other mark, and is governed by love, not hatred. Only in this kingdom will people find truth, unity, peace, joy, power and, above all, unconditional love. "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matt. 13:43)

"Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." Isaiah 9:7