Glorify Him

… although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Romans 1:21-23

My pastor preached on this passage recently and it has arrested my attention. I used to think this verse referred to those in the world – ie non-Christians – and I guess it does to some extent.

However the first part of the verse says that ‘they knew God’ which means that at some point they were believers. But because they didn’t glorify Him as God and were not thankful to Him, their whole thought processes were affected.

A new day

One thing I love about this Christian journey is that each day can be a new beginning. Even when we fail to be Christlike, or find ourselves in a hard place for whatever reason, as soon as we repent and come to Him, he extends mercy towards us.

As the Bible says,
“Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.”
[Lamentations 3:22-23]

When you come out of a slump or a wilderness place and discover the Lord waiting there for you to lift your eyes and look to Him alone … then you realize that it doesn’t matter that you’ve been in a dark place not knowing right from left. He knew where you were and He led you through.

Today is a new day. Today, walk in step with the Lord.

Ye of little faith

What a lesson the Lord gave me yesterday. I was wondering about my relationship with Him – do I really hear from Him; does He really answer me? – or is this all in my imagination?

It had been raining almost non-stop for the past few weeks – and that is normal where I live in the tropics. I love the rain, most of the time, but  nothing will dry out without the help of a clothes dryer. The sun comes out for maybe half an hour every so often but then the rain returns.

I have been unable to get to home group [midweek home fellowship] for a while because of the possibility of flooding and boggy conditions. I asked the Lord yesterday morning for a bit of sunshine to dry out the ground because I really miss meeting with my Christian friends.

About an hour later the sun came out. When my husband commented on finally seeing the sun, I said rather hastily, “Yeah, for about five minutes!” Almost as soon as I said it, the sky grew cloudy. Then I remembered  what I had asked for. How foolish of me not to acknowledge an answer to prayer. It rained yet again.

“Sorry Lord. Thank you for the sunshine. It was You who provided it and my lack of faith in You that caused me to be so negative.”

Thankfully though, it only rained for a short while. The sun came out for the rest of the day and dried out the ground. God is good.

Looking back at where I’ve been

My recent uncluttering project has unearthed some diaries I’d forgotten about. I’m not very diligent at writing in diaries. Most of them have only a few entries at the beginning and that’s all.

I’m glad I found these – they recorded my spiritual journey from several years ago and reminded me how faithful the Lord is. I had been going through a particularly difficult time and wrote out my prayers for help. Now that I think back on that time I realize how the Lord used it, just as the Word says: “All things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose.” [Romans 8:28 NKJV]. I have grown a lot since those days.

Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that our journey does indeed have a purpose. I had been feeling that my journey was going nowhere, sort of like ‘marking time’ in the same spot. But when you look back and see the Lord’s hand on your life – even in those places/times when you seemed so far from Him – it is an encouragement to keep on going.

Like Job [Job 23:8-10] we may not know where the Lord is right now or what He’s doing, but He knows where we are so we can trust Him to lead us. He will accomplish His purpose in us.

So you never know – recording those things the Lord shows you today in your journey may very well be the encouragement you may need down the track.

New tracts

I have added a new links category on the right for Tracts that I have written. There are two titles – one about Easter and one about Christmas.

These are .pdf files designed to be printed on A5 paper [ie half of an A4 sheet] and folded in half twice to produce a small booklet tract of 4 pages. Two of the pages will appear upside down so you may not be able to read them on your screen, but they will be right side up when printed and folded.

I’m still here!

I know it’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted. I haven’t disappeared, just re-organizing my house to make some space for an office so I can work without distraction. It has been a major project as I come from a family of hoarders. However, I’m learning to let go of the clutter. Though the room is not quite tidied yet, I finally have my desk and computer set up.

I have a cousin who moves house regularly and I was commenting how hard it would be to pack everything up so often. She told me that it is actually much better to move often because you don’t have time to collect stuff that you don’t need. You learn to keep only the essentials. “A rolling stone gathers no moss” as the proverb goes.

Clutter actually impedes a journey. Now there’s a thought. Generally speaking, the natural comes before the spiritual so perhaps as I learn to unclutter my physical life, my ‘spiritual clutter’ will also be dealt with?

Paul wrote to the Philippians:
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

Let’s see – forgetting those things in the past – that usually means the things I’ve repented of and been forgiven for. It’s a very good feeling to be forgiven by God. It’s like He says, “It’s over and done! When you repent, I forgive. Now let’s keep walking.”

That has to be one of the best things about this journey – God’s precious forgiveness.

Who’s filling your cistern?

I have been feeling rather unproductive lately – I seem to have a fuzzy brain and am quite dry in my spirit. I was wondering about this with the Lord this morning and He said to me, “Who’s filling your cistern?”

I meditated on the question all morning as I did the ironing and other chores. I remembered reading in Jeremiah about cisterns and I knew that the Lord was saying to beware of what is going into my spirit.

TV was the first thing that came to mind – my husband is a TV fanatic and my computer happens to be in the same room as the TV. Earplugs have generally been a great help to block out that influence. However the Winter Olympics has taken our attention in the last several days, so I’ve let my guard down. Movies, game shows, news – they all fill in the gaps between Olympics event coverage – and they are very distracting.

God in the Valley

When we find ourselves in a valley – maybe things aren’t going to plan, or frustrations crowd your life or maybe you’re just feeling down – remember that the Lord is already there, waiting for you to call upon Him.

The valleys are the places where our faith is cultivated, stretched and grown. It is also the place where we learn obedience, just as our Lord did – though he was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered Hebrews 5:8

What things did Jesus suffer?

A Profitable Word

Heb 4:2

… the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

I came across this in my reading this morning and it struck me as one of the saddest things. The Bible is meant to be profitable for us – [for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17]. So often, though, we read it with our minds only and don’t let it penetrate into our hearts.

We have to ‘mix’ it with faith for it to become profitable – for me, this means getting it from my head (knowledge) to my heart (faith), that is from knowing the word to believing it and acting upon it [or letting it act upon me] so that I am transformed by it.

I have found a few steps helpful here:

Journey to where?

Several years ago I considered writing my autobiography and at the time I thought I’d call it A Little Lump of Clay or How to be Patient in the Potter’s hands because that described my life up until that point. I was like clay that the Lord was moulding into a vessel of His choosing – dealing with the baggage of past hurts and healing them, etc. For me, it felt as if the Christian life was one of being patient while the Lord worked in my life and growing slowly in the process.

However, in the last year or so, I’ve come to realize that that is only half the story. The Christian life is not just a matter of waiting around for the Lord to do His work but is more like a journey – continually moving somewhere. Every journey begins with the first step – a conscious act to move – but it won’t be a ‘journey’ if you stop at the first step. You’ll need to take the next step and the one after that as well for it to become a journey.

Now unless your Christian journey has a destination, you may end up going around in circles. Our goal in God is “to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29) and though that may take a lifetime to accomplish, we should be continually moving closer to that goal. And the way to move forward is through obedience.