March 18, 2024

Two ways of self-care…

 


Caregivers need to also take care of themselves. Otherwise there is no energy or even no attitude to take care of someone else. I learned this when my parents lived with us for a year. I found a senior’s daycare where they could go five days a week. They enjoyed their outings and the visits they had with like-minded others. And I enjoyed the break from meeting their daily needs.

My wounded hubby is not as demanding, yet the anxiety I have about him means taking a break from thinking about his situation and his pain. I’m reading a Baldacci mystery, absorbing and being engaged in a complex plot is an escape. So is the 1000-piece puzzle on our dining room table, definitely the most difficult one so far. This puts my mind in ‘blank’ mode, almost. This morning I was praying, drinking tea, and talking to Jesus about our needs while putting pieces mostly in the wrong places.

Today’s devotional says there are always two attitudes of mind toward anything between which we may choose. One is on the flesh side of things; the other is on the spiritual, spoke of often in the NT:
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)
Paul goes on to explain the importance of making that choice:
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:13–14)
I tried that during puzzle solving. I know this is a form of mental escape and also that this is not something Jesus did. If He was tired, He slept. If He was pressured, He withdrew and prayed. Making the right choice and thinking the facts in these verses helped my attitude from sliding into a “poor me” and pulled it back to presenting myself to the Lord — to do whatever He required of me rather than trying to escape.

The devotion suggested to take no interest at all in the old nature and its desires. I need to say my self-centered choices and that old nature is dead, foreign and not of interest. Deny it and its demands. But does that negate self-care? Likely not, for the Bible also says:
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28–31)
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)
God’s rest is not a mystery or a puzzle to be solved. It is an answer to prayer, a restoration for those who wait on Him, drawing closer and choosing His way rather than the way of the flesh.

His rest is a bit of a mystery though. When I come to Him and pray about everything…
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6–7)
…His peace does not make sense when life is not offering much peace, but when waiting on Him, and coming to Him, and praying about all things with a thankful heart, and doing His will by choice rather than trying my own efforts — His peace goes beyond making sense; it is just there no matter what might be happening.

PRAY: Lord Jesus, how persistent is my old nature to try and solve things. Forgive me AGAIN for being so self-ruled rather than yielded to You. I know these things and know that You and Your will are what this terribly slow-learner needs. Thank You for your amazing patience, and for Your remarkable peace that defies my rational mind as it sets it to rest.


March 17, 2024

God uses suffering…

 

As I watch my hubby struggling to move in any direction without severe pain, God is making me more aware of the need to be disciplined, not so much about moving my body but about not letting it dictate to me what I can and cannot do.

A few weeks ago, it was my turn. After few days in the hospital, God turned my focus by showing me how easily I can let the desire for personal comfort be an ambition. Had Jesus done that, there would be no salvation or the opportunity to be united to Him. He would never have gone to the cross if He put His comfort above obedience.
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10)
It works the same in our perfecting. We suffer and in that suffering we learn to let God have His way with us. He could use it to comfort us for another reason…
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. (2 Corinthians 1:3–6)
This is how I learn empathy. If I am never sick, then I cannot understand the struggles of sick people, never mind feel their pain or comfort them.

But there is another lesson. God wants me to be perfected by suffering, meaning that I will seek the filling of the Holy Spirit and be bearing His fruit, including joy — rather than whining and feeling sorry for myself. I’m sure this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote:
But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:27)
My hubby knows that God is using this pain in his life. Both of us see how the Lord has used pain in the life of our friend B.T. He is joyful all the time, no matter what is going on in his body. He is a delight to be around because God has perfected his spiritual walk with suffering.

Most people complain, run to the doctor or pills or booze, to get it fixed rather than seek the will of God. How badly we need that “Not my will but thine be done” attitude that Jesus had.

As for me, taking care of him involves loving patience and help with what he is unable to do because of the pain. He will heal and yet the larger thing is that through this, God has a great purpose.

PRAY: Lord Jesus, give my hubby what he needs to trust You in this trial. I thank You that he can laugh even in pain and seek Your face and Your will for him. Grant him the ability to surrender to You and wait on You for the blessings to come. And give me what I need to encourage and care for him.


March 16, 2024

Dead to old, alive to new…


Today’s devotional offers a good illustration of what it means to be dead to my old life and living in the new. When I was a child, I loved to make little rooms in the forest beside our house, ride horses, play with our dogs, and play all day. I did not like housework, especially dusting and was not interested in cooking. But when I became an adult woman, my feelings were reversed and I enjoyed the things I once avoided and could not be bothered with the things I once loved.

In other words, I “took up the cross” to my childish play and no longer wanted to do those things. I became delighted in the pursuits of maturity and left behind the pleasures of childhood. While this is not a perfect illustration (I still love horses and hate dusting), it does illustrate what it means to take up the cross and die to my old life and live the new life.

Some Christians look at the Christian life as a child might view the adult life — thinking it means giving up the things they love and to do the things they hate. They call this “taking up the cross” and actually think God enjoys their grudging service. However, this idea totally misses what Jesus meant when He said:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)
When God saved me, I entered His family as a babe in Christ. As the Bible says, I needed to grow up through realizing the goodness of God. He is not a mean taskmaster:
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2–3)
Perhaps the problem with those who think that doing the will of God is “grudging service” that gives up everything they enjoy is that they have not spent enough time in the Word of God (pure spiritual milk) to taste His incredible goodness. Or it could be that they are clinging to the ‘playtime’ of their former life, preferring to stay in control of what they want to do instead of submitting to the good will of God. This submission is a choice — to turn from that worldly way of thinking and allowing God to transform my mind. In that process, I learn that His will is good, more than acceptable, even perfect.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)
As the devotional says, and as He is teaching me, if my affections are set on the will of God, I will love it. If I love it, then how can it seem a great burden? This means saying what David said and what Jesus repeated:
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:8)
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:34)
God wants me set on His will and delighting in it. This is possible as my new life in Christ changed my heart. I now recognize that I am dead to anything that is contrary to Jesus. This is my cross — that recognition that I am dead to the world and alive only in Christ. How heavy that cross can be is determined by how mature I am in Christ.

PRAY: Today’s ‘cross’ is being dead to my plans that I can do God’s will in taking care of my husband. His pain is severe and he cannot do small things, like pick up a dropped pencil or reach something at the other end of the sofa. I’m dead to my I-wants on my to-do list and alive to the will of God that urges me to pick up or reach or do whatever is needed for my hubby. Because of You, loving Your will (and loving my husband) makes that cross a great deal lighter!


March 15, 2024

Dead to sin, alive to God

 


Today’s devotional begins with this: “There is a subtle enjoyment in torturing the outward self if the inner self-life may be fed thereby.” It goes on to say that that old nature of a Christian likes to share in the glory and cannot bear to be counted as dead or ignored. All religions based on rules and do-it-yourself principles give followers the opportunity to be exalted. “Look what I did” is a common goal in even those who follow Christ. How many of us will credit ourselves (I follow Christ) rather than glory in God who changed our lives?

Legalism permeates the Body of Christ. We have our ‘rules’ even though many of them are unspoken because obedience to a rule is opportunity to pat myself on the back. In contrast, life in the Spirit is action that is seldom premeditated. It is doing the will of God and looking at what we have done with wonder (where did that come from?) rather than taking credit for it.

This is a serious matter. The NT says:
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:6–8)
Living legalistically by rules is useless. It does not accomplish the will of God nor give inner peace. It may produce a deep sense of inferiority, or feed the ego and fuel boasting, but that ‘pleasure’ does not last nor does living this way fill the empty place in our hearts. God gives His children the desire to serve Him, but doing it by rules cannot please Him. It should not please me either.

Being “in the flesh” is about living by the self-centered old nature of the life lived without Christ. It is being governed by the I-wants and gives little attention to what God wants. It is doing life without Him or the new power He gives. It is living to please me and impress others. The flesh can seem pious and full of goodness, but the inner man (mind, will, emotions) run the show, not the Spirit of God.

Being ‘dead to sin’ requires having the Spirit of Christ living in me. This is not an event that I can control or make happen.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:3–11)
I need to read that often. Death to sin is my reality. Alive to God is my reality. Anything else is an illusion. I died with Christ and need to consider this is so, like Paul wrote:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
It’s important to know the difference. The flesh can make itself look good, sound good, even do good, but how can I know for sure when that dead thing is flopping around? My flesh resists being exposed for what it is, but God will let me know:
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12–13)
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23–24)
PRAY: Lord God, You show me that my old nature with its desire for self-glory motivates me far too often instead of wanting to glorify You. I confess these as sin, and am thankful You forgive and cleanse (1 John 1:9) As the psalmist says, lead me in the way everlasting, that the life You gave me will glorify You.


March 14, 2024

Contentment begins with thankfulness


Life’s experiences can become life’s habits. My adult children speak of an inner desire that wants to move to another place — something they grew up doing. I’ve moved more than thirty times and this same urge hits me now and then. Usually I solve it by moving furniture or purging unused stuff so that my space seems like a new space.

However, what to do when that inner desire persists? When moving is not practical and yet the yen for it remains, almost creating a sorrow of discontent? To that question, God gives a simple answer. It started with a small story of a man who stood on a high peak in the mountains watching a storm below him. Then an eagle soared up through the clouds towards the sun. The rain’s  water glistened on its wings in the sunlight. The man realized that if the storm had not raged, that eagle would have remained in the valley and he would miss seeing the beauty of its escape into the heights. He also thought how the sorrows of life cause us to rise towards God.

After years of not moving, I must have thought that I had given up the yen to move, yet it hit this past few weeks, but been thwarted over and over. My space needs no changes except to declutter, but that is not helping remove the habit of a life of constant change. Even though the song says, “He will break every fetter,” I feel a slave to this restlessness. Yet God’s Word warns me that yielding to Jesus will break every form of slavery.
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)
It also tells me again that I have died to sin and must live for Jesus, not my desires, but His:
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)
The only use of the cross in Scripture is about being put to death, not to keep alive. When Jesus told His disciples that they could not be His disciples unless they took up the cross, He could not have meant that they were to find it hard to do His will. He was expressing that they must be made partakers of His death and resurrection as the old nature was crucified with Him. They must now live  in the resurrection life of the Holy Spirit.

I do not crucify self by accepting my lot in life and being miserable with it. A painful self-sacrifice is not “taking up the cross” but is instead counting the stuff of the flesh and my old nature as utterly worthless and fit only for death.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6)
Then the Bible gives me this:
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. (Philippians 4:11)
But godliness with contentment is great gain, (1 Timothy 6:6)
But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. (1 Timothy 6:8)
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Being content is what God wants from me. He may offer a move, but not because of my desire. It has to be His will. If that never happens, I must be content with whatever He does.

PRAY: Lord, my time with You this morning was interrupted with a phone call. After a stressful day,  I am so thankful that my hubby was not seriously hurt when hitting some ice and taking a hard fall. Prayer time with others also was a blessing because we recognized Your presence and care for us. I slept a long time this afternoon, another thank You. All of this makes full yielding to Your will much easier. The cross is not always heavy — because You are with me and help me deny my I-wants and instead be content and thankful.


March 13, 2024

Jesus is my endurance…

 


In “Streams in the Desert” the author tells of a deep trial in which God revealed to her the why of the agony she experienced. An old oak log in her fireplace began to ‘sing’ releasing noises that was trapped in its knotty hardened growth. She realized that those sweet sounds would not have been released if the log had not been in the fire.

This was the Lord’s way of showing her that His sweet music was like the songs of praise that flow out of hearts that are purified by trials, something like the singing of Paul and Silas in prison (Acts 16) but even more — like Jesus who died on the Cross and out of that great pain brought forth the sweetest music of all time, the song of forgiveness and eternal life.

This story speaks to me of two things. One is that my trials are to produce the music of Jesus, His very goodness comes forth when my hard heart is totally yielded to Him in that fire.

It also speaks to me of the yielding. That log had no choice. It was in the fire and it could burn without a sound, but it yielded a song. I can be the opposite — silently enduring, making no music. Or I can deny myself and let the trial be my cross, my place of dying to self where music can come forth.

Today’s devotion says that trusting Jesus is both simple and very difficult. The old nature continually resists. When Jesus said to take up my cross, He was not talking about the challenge of obedience being a difficult cross, but the challenge of death to self and being willing to obey, even dying for Jesus.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matthew 16:24–26)
Some have assumed that “taking up the cross” means doing the will of God and the challenge of obedience is the ‘cross’  but that is not the main idea. While obedience means giving up what I want to do, the heavy burden is not in obeying God but dying to sin. That old nature resists death rather than welcomes it. As for obedience, Jesus said:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)
He never indicated that taking up His cross is about serving Him. Instead, it is about leaving me, myself, and I out of it. Doing His will is a delight and the abundant life. Denying myself is a battle and all about death.
And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:38–39)
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:6–11)
This is where I always need to remember that facts pull the train and faith follows facts, not feelings. The old nature bases its desires on what feels good or what I think will feel good. The new person in Christ bases its desires on the will of God and considers the old nature a bothersome noise and a slave to sin. But that slave is dead.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
PRAY: Lord, that old nature already died on the cross in You. I need to take up that cross and quit trying to retain anything of that old life. This is a wonder and a joy. May I stop fighting to keep a dead thing alive, always remembering I was crucified with You, but also that “if I endure, I will also reign with You” (2 Timothy 2:12) — and not only that, You are my endurance!


March 12, 2024

Trusting God in all things…

 
Last night, every prayer request involved situations over which none of us have any control or ability or even ideas about what to do. They involved broken relationships, lack of opportunities, and others making poor or even dangerous decisions. Today’s devotional is about letting go of our possessions, yet this and those prayer requests require the same attitude — total trust in God.

Broken relationships prompted: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5–6) God is able to turn hearts even in these days of split families and feuds between people and nations. While I am responsible to live at peace with those in my life, there is nothing I can do that will change the wars in the world or bring peace between fathers and children. Surely we need to trust the Lord God to change things.

Lack of opportunities can involve everything from wanting a job, wanting a new car, to wanting a husband. Waiting on the Lord does not mean sitting and waiting for the phone to ring, yet in human searching for changes or new things, the doors can be repeatedly closed. My best efforts do not automatically mean success. Writers can send book proposals to dozens of editors. Skilled workers can submit resumes to dozens of employers. People can belong to several match-making groups yet still be disappointed. God must be trusted to open doors.

Paul and Silas were in jail — praying, singing and worshiping God. They did not look for a way to escape yet…
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (Acts 16:26)
Even then, the opportunity was not for escape but to lead the jailer and his household to faith in Jesus Christ. We have an Almighty God who can open literal doors as well as doors of opportunities to do His will.

As for decision making, He says:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5–8)
This is an incredible promise even though it comes with a caveat; I must ask in faith that God will answer. Why do I need to be certain? Because God’s answers are often not what I expect. What if I wanted wisdom for buying a new car and He told me not to buy a car at all? What if I wanted wisdom for other choices and His choice was not on my list? This happens, and I must not let my I-wants clash with His wisdom because, as these verses say, my I-wants will mess with my faith. When they are strong, I tend to assume they come from God and make me think He will do whatever I want. Again, this calls for prayer but also a plea to be yielded to the will of God and to whatever He knows is best for me. And this is how I can pray for others — for wisdom and faith, both from God and given by His goodness.

PRAY: Lord, each day is filled with choices, never mind prayer needs that I cannot begin to do anything about, even pray specifically for because I don’t know what You want done in many situations. Surely I need wisdom in prayer as well as in taking action. Grant this to me today for all decisions, including what I need to do and what I need to avoid. May Your will be done in my life and in the lives of the people in my heart and in my prayers. And as I prayed yesterday, guide me in what to give away and what You want me to hold unto.