Carefully Joined Together

I have been a homeowner for almost 3 weeks now!  It has been such a neat and wonderful experience with so many possibilities!  This morning I was sitting in my living room with the fire going, hot coffee and Bible in hand.  I've been studying the book of Hebrews this year with the help of a devotional by Dr. Weirsbe.  One of the cross references in the study book brought me the book of Ephesians.  After I read the passage, I continued to read on.  I came to this passage:

Ephesians 2:19-22(NLT)

^"19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. ²⁰ Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. ²¹ We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. ²² Through Him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit."

I spent some time thanking the Lord for the gift of being in God's family even though I am a Gentile, and for the wonderful ways God used so many to bring us the Gospel.  I started to think of my new house.  I reread verse 21:  We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord."  'God does not carelessly choose us or just throw His hand to make things work.  He takes care when He works...when He builds.  I starting thinking of when I was packing for my move.  At times I would take care as I packed and other times I was just ready for everything to go in boxes and just threw items in.  Oh how I am so grateful God takes care for each and everyone of us who are in His family.  He joins us together--to be His temple.

I also started to think how I am taking care as I unpack things and set up house.  My desire is to have a home that is open to others.  Where those who come feel welcome and safe.  To be ministered to and loved as Christ loves.  Even the way I set up my house can be a way to love others.  Having verses to encourage and food ready to share.

I pray that as God shows me how to use this home for His glory. He will help me to put the right amount of care into this house as He would put into His temple.  Not as it is the buildings that matter...but the people who will dwell in them.

Thank you Dear  Father for bringing me into your family.  Thank you for my house here on earth.  Thank you for the care You take in bringing your family together in a way that brings you glory.  May I take similar care of the house you have given me to manage.  And may I care for those who come into it.  For your honor and glory--In Jesus Name I pray--Amen

Delight, Numbers, and the Holy Spirit =Endless opportunities

After reading the verse: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  (Psalm 37:4), I had a few quite moments at work where I let myself silently dialog with the Lord.  I thought of the wording of this verse a bit differently than I had before.  I’ve been thinking it means if I delight in the Lord, then He’ll give me what my heart desires.  But it isn’t worded this way.  It says He’ll give me the desires of my heart.  Meaning He chooses, selects certain desires that align with Him…and He causes me to feel and want those desires.  So perhaps this verse doesn’t mean what I’ve always thought…or prayed towards.  If I am delighting in the Lord—He will give me what delights Him—His desires that become my heart’s desires. 

Then my mind switched gears a little.  Dear Heavenly Father, I’m delighting in you and I still desire to be married.  Please provide me a husband.  Is that my end goal?  No.  Is that desire above what God would have for me? No.  So Lord, what’s your desire for me?

You see, I’m 30, and I’m single.  I’ve never had a boyfriend or even a serious pursuer.  I can count on one hand the number of “dates” I’ve ever been on.  Yet I have a stirring inside of me—a desire to be a helper, lover, and intimate friend.  To work alongside my husband in ministry, to be a mom and keep house.  To learn more of God through the experience of intimate family and feel the emotions of having a child and understanding the heavenly Father’s ache of giving His only Son up.  These are legitimate and good desires.

Last Sunday my pastor was preaching on the need for spouses to be intimate (1 Cor. 7:1-5).  He also addressed those of us who are single need to practice celibacy.  He also reminded us that we need to realize that our singleness is a gift to do more than our married siblings-in-Christ can when it comes to certain ministries.

Those thoughts came back to my mind as I thought about my musings.  Then I looked over at my desk and saw a calculator.  So how many years exactly have I been “single.”  I’ll start with 18 and up to be fair.  Twelve (12) years I’ve been single.  Then I thought how long my folks were single before they married- four to five.  I could handle that many more (I think).  And then a friend who is a few years older—20 years single.  Can I do that?  Then I thought of a dear single woman who has been in my life all my years.  She’s 70, which means 52 years of celibacy.  Wow.  But then I began to think—ok I have 40 more years to go before I’m 70. 

An amazing thing happened at that moment.  The Holy Spirit gave me the excitement of all the things I could do in 40 years for God.  I could travel; I could run a ministry, business, etc.  The sky is the limit as a single person!  What I anticipated as a depressing sort of sulking opportunity, God turned it into great possibilities by means of numbers!

I do still desire to be married, but I desire more to delight in the Lord and serve Him where (and how) I will be most effective for His work, and how He will most be glorified. 

May I delight in the Lord and may I be open to His desires for my heart, above my heart’s desires.

Waiting

If any of you are familiar with the classic Princess Bride movie you may recall the scene in which Westley (dressed as Pirate Robinson) is climbing the cliff and Inigo Montoya is waiting above only to kill him.  Inigo asks Pirate Robinson if he could speed things up.  At one point Inigo says "I hate waiting."  He then gets a rope to help Pirate Robinson up, has a respectful and entertaining sword dual, and then Inigo ends up being conked on the head and passes out while Pirate Robinson (Westley) goes to rescue his true love Buttercup.

This makes for a great movie, but we can all relate to Inigo's hate for waiting.  I know I do. 

Last week I was riding in the company vehicle with my co-worker on the way to a luncheon with another office.  On the way we got onto the subject of patience.  He has not decided to have a personal relationship with Christ (yet).  I was encouraging him as he has a way of being very kind and is able to wait for others in a polite manner.  He dubbed himself very patient.  I made the point that true patience is not only politely waiting, but also not complaining about it later.  It got me thinking about my own life and how I need to work on being patient and waiting.  It also caused me to think of how patient God is with us.

There are several passages in the Bible that direct us to wait on the Lord:

(www.biblegateway.com)

Psalm 27:13-14  

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹³ I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living!
¹⁴  Wait for the Lord;
     be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Psalm 31:23-24

English Standard Version (ESV)

²³ Love the Lord, all you his saints!
    The Lord preserves the faithful
    but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
²⁴  Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the Lord!

Another passage that is very helpful to give us both our perspective as well as God's on the subject of waiting:

2 Peter 3: 9-18

⁹  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

¹¹ Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, ¹²  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! ¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.¹⁴  Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. ¹⁵ And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, ¹⁶ as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. ¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

I am not married, but I have often observed a husband and wife interact in a way in which each person thinks they are waiting for the other person.  The man is ready to go so he is sitting quietly in the living room reading the newspaper.  The woman is also "ready to go", but she is still fixing her makeup and cleaning up in the the other room.  You hear a subtle sigh coming out of the living room just loud enough for the wife to hear.  "I'm ready honey,"  she says, "I was just waiting for you!"


Oh how there are so many times in my life where I am waiting for God to answer prayer, to show me His will.  I just sit there and wait, and often make a loud sigh (not subtle at all!), to indicate again that I'm still waiting.  Little do I remember or realize that God is at work getting things ready for the entire world.  And He is also waiting for me!


God waits for me to open his word and see the truth that should penetrate into my soul and my mind.  That I take this truth and meditate on it.  One further, I change my life to align with the truth I receive.


We as believers are all waiting on the Lord in one way or another in our lives.  But we are also waiting for Jesus to return.  To experience a new heaven and a new earth.  To be forever with the Lord!  Come Lord Jesus

Let us look back at the passage here in 2 Peter.  We are not just sitting and waiting for Jesus to return.  No, we have work to do while we are patiently waiting for that glorious day.  Verse 14: "Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."

Also we are given more instruction while waiting as well as a warning: "There are some things in them (Paul's letters, other scripture) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. ¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity"

So while we are waiting on the Lord, there are other things we can do.  We live our lives in a way that are holy and we are at peace in ourselves and with others.  Also, we need to be careful of those who twist God's word around.  We have to be careful to not be carried away by what others say.  We are to grow as we read the Bible, spend time in prayer, and in fellowship with others that are growing and following Christ.  Knowing that someday we will be in eternity with Christ!  Again, come Lord Jesus come!  And may I be found to be diligent "without spot or blemish, and at peace".