The Cure For “Gimmie” Disease

                Walking through the stores these days is to see firsthand the results of the unbridled commercialism of our country.  As a consumer-driven nation, we have raised generations of children who are without constraint as to their “needs”.  Children’s programming is laced with all the “must haves” of the season. Advertisers have honed their craft to perfection, with appealing and energetic commercials that emphasize the absolute importance of owning the latest – clothing styles, video games, electronics, toys,… the list is endless. And so is the whining, pouting, screaming, & temper tantrums that can be loudly heard throughout malls and stores everywhere! It’s a parent’s nightmare! 

                The stores themselves add to the problem in that they are only too happy to oblige their young consumers’ greed. Every aisle is jam-packed at a child’s eye level with those very items that have been touted again and again on television. The “must have” item is there, so readily available…  “So why can’t I have it?” And it’s not a new problem! Clear back in the Golden Age of the 1950s, the latest toys flashed across the screen in a relentless march! We wanted Barbie, Patty Play pal, & Chatty Cathy, or Matchbox cars, Lincoln logs, & erector sets.  Children then, and now, have serious cases of the “gimmies”.  We want it, have to have it, will “die” if we don’t get it. After all, EVERYONE else has it (implying that 1- I will be a loser if I don’t get it or 2- You are a bad parent if I don’t get it!) And we all know that even when we do get it, the next new thing has already come along, devaluing the “must have” that we just got. It’s a never ending cycle of wanting!

                There was a song written a few years back by Benny Hester called “The Never-Ending Shopping List” that recognized the propensity that Christians have to also get the “gimmie” disease. So often we use our prayer lives as opportunities to tell God all the things we must have, need to have, should have,…in order to live happily and serve the Lord with gladness. I am pretty sure that God must shake His head at our childish selfishness when He has so willingly & completely provided for us. His Word says He gives us everything we need to do what He asks us to do & supplies all our needs liberally out of His endless resources.  If we ask, He gives - not always what we ask for but exactly what He knows we truly need. After all, He sees the big picture, not the limited vision that we have, and prepares us for the long term rather than our immediate satisfaction! He delights in fulfilling our desires and can do way more than we ask or think, but still we grumble & complain either about His timing or His methods. We would prefer He behave like the genie in a magic lamp or a vending machine – request in, demand met…whether it is good for us or not!  But in His perfect Fatherhood, He gives only what He deems beneficial!  He isn’t swayed by our many words, our moaning, or even our temper tantrums! His gifts are always good and perfect! As givers, we should strive to do as well!

So the next time you’re subjected to the outcries of some whining, complaining kid with the “gimmie” disease, ­­use the occasion to thank God for all your blessings & do an attitude check of your prayer life. It should be a time to worship God, present your requests with boldness, & then rest in trusting Him to supply - rather than spending your prayer time enumerating an endless list of “needs”. He already knows them anyway!

Blessings…

Will you enjoy or endure?

The Christmas season has a nostalgic enjoyment for many reasons. There are the "family recipes" that remind us of happy gatherings around the table in years past. There are the traditions associated with Christmas celebrations at home, at different family members' homes, & at church. There are the songs of the season, & certain songs that touch our hearts with sweetness as they remind us of those we have loved and lost, or those who are far away. There are also the ornaments and other decorations, some of which have been passed down from one generation to the next. This is part of the wonder of Christmas...enjoying the memories & continuing the traditions!

There can also be sights, sounds, and scents that cause sadness or regret. We may have lost those who are dear to us and the season brings sorrow and loneliness. We may be dealing with relatives who are ill and wish we could return to a happier time before illness or age took their toll. We may have bitter memories of family gatherings where there was anger, disappointment, and even violence. For some, the holidays are a time to "put on a happy face" & endure, or hide away in purposed isolation.

The story of Jesus birth was a wonder and a miracle in so many ways, and yet as the years passed, I am quite sure Mary had both joys and sorrows to ponder in her heart. She must have cherished the adoration of shepherd and wise men, while anguishing over the ridicule she faced as a pregnant girl whose fiancé threatened to "put her away". The beauty of the star was accompanied by the smells of the stable. The fulfillment of the Bethlehem prophecy bore the cost of a wearisome trip. The midnight escape with her child was a miracle, but the slaughter of so many young children must have stung her heart. The prophetic words of others rang in her heart - the joy-filled ones lifting her spirit while she felt the fear of the Messianic sacrificial ones.

All of life has its ups & down, its highs & lows. We love the celebrations but endure the cleanup. We enjoy the gifts but dread the shopping. We decorate with joy and just a short time later have to pack it all away again. We are energized by visiting & fellowship, but stress and exhaustion mount as the season continues. While some of it is just the price we pay for what we're doing, the expectations of others can overwhelm us to the point of resentment & ingratitude often dampens our "giving" spirit.
"Well," you say, "it's just part of what we put up with to get through the season". But it doesn't have to be that way!

This Christmas season is sure to have its busyness and stress but your outlook & spiritual frame of mind can go a long way towards helping you enjoy rather than endure. Be sure you concentrate your efforts on making memories, incorporating traditions or making new ones, enjoying the spiritual  celebrations, & spending quality time with the people you love & who love you in return. Determine to be a blessing to others, whether or not you have money to spend. Get enough rest, even if everything doesn't get done. (Don't stress the small stuff because no one will probably notice anyway!) Remember, the bottom line to the season is Love - Jesus came in love, so that we can receive His love, return His love, & spread His love to others whether they know Him or not! If that is your focus, the whole season will be a success, no matter what else may happen! And your memories will end up being sweet, rather than leaving a bitter feeling in your heart!

Blessings!

God’s 12 step plan for conquering our enemies!

There is a great passage in 2 Chronicles 20 about Jehosephat's victory over 3 armies that arisen to fight against him. As I read it, I saw God's 12 step plan for achieving victory over the enemies in our lives. As you read the passage, look at these principles...

1. Recognize that you have enemies, & sometimes they seem impossibly strong. 1 Peter 5:8

2.Be honest with God about your feelings toward your circumstances. He knows anyway!

Psalm 62:8

3. Gather with others to stand with you! Ecclesiastes 4:12

4.Fast and pray, & refuse to allow negatives or worry to derail your faith. Praise, recall, admit, yield!

5. Wait on the Lord for His answer. Don't move out til you get it! Psalm 37:34

6.Listen to the answer & then Worship - He is in control and will not let you down.  Psalm 89: 13-20

7.Obey what He says, even if it doesn't make sense to you! Isaiah 55:8-9

8. Praise and encourage each other as you move forward. Col. 3:16

9. Watch God work on your behalf. Ephesians 3:20

10. Thank the Lord for the Victory. Be truly grateful. Romans 8:37

11.Tell everyone about it, especially your critics. Psalm 138:1-5

12.Rest in the victory and revive your spirit. The next battle will come along soon enough!  John 16:33

If we apply these principles to our daily struggles, we will be living as God requires of us & He will be able to intervene in our situations.

The Woman at the Well

     It was an ordinary day, like the endless days that had gone before & the seemingly endless stretch of days that lie ahead. Life had been anything but easy. She dressed and prepared for the long trip to the well. She decided to wait until noon, to avoid as much of the gossip and criticism as she could from the other women who went to the well daily in the early morning and evening. She knew what they were saying, and that it was true, but it didn’t make it easier to hear. Her succession of husbands, 5 in all, had left her friendless & despised by the other women. Her current boyfriend had chosen not to marry her, leaving her further shamed and broken. She busied herself with daily tasks but the void in her life made each day lonelier than the last.

     “Well, I’d best get it over with,” she told herself. She picked up her heavy jar, thrust her chin up with a bravado that she didn’t feel, and headed out the door. She could hear the snickers of the other women, and could feel their pointing fingers although no one dared to speak to her directly. She was an outcast, shunned by the community.

     As she approached the well, a stranger caught her eye. “What on earth is He doing here?”  she wondered. A Jew travels many miles out of the way to avoid going through Samaria. Everyone knows the Samaritans are considered half-breed traitors…part Jewish and part Assyrian. “Why would He be sitting here?”

    When she finally reached the well, the stranger spoke. “Please, woman, would you give me a drink?” Stunned that He would even speak with her, the woman responded “How can you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”  Everyone knows that the Jews consider the Samaritans to be unclean!

     Jesus replied, “If you knew what God could give you and if you knew who it was speaking with you, you would have asked Him and He would give you a drink of living water.”

     “But sir,” she said, “the well is deep and you have nothing to draw water with. Where would you get this living water? Are you greater than our ancestors who provided this well for themselves and their families?”

Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water I can give will never be thirsty again for my gift will become a spring of living water in the person’s life and result in eternal life!”

     “Please then, sir, give me some of this water so I can stop being thirsty and will never have to come draw water here again.”

     “First, go get your husband and then come back” Jesus said.

     “I haven’t got a husband,” she said as she blushed with the shame.

     “You are quite right,” Jesus answered. “You have had five husbands and your current lover is not your husband at all. You spoke the truth.”

     “Sir, you are truly a prophet.” She sighed.  Then, to direct conversation away from herself, she began questioning Him about the proper location of worship, for the Jews and Samaritans had a long-standing disagreement about it.

     “Ah, you are worried about where to worship but I am telling you that before long worshipping will not be a matter of a hill or a city, but a time is coming, and has already come, when true worship will be done in Spirit and in truth. Indeed the Father is already looking for those who will worship Him this way! God is spirit and those who truly worship Him must worship in spirit and truth!”

     “Of course, I know the teaching that when the Messiah, the Christ, comes He will make all things plain to us,” she replied.

     “I ,the one speaking with you, am He,”  Jesus said.

     About that time, His disciples were returning from their trip into town and were shocked to find Him speaking with a Samaritan, and a woman no less, but none of them dared question Him about it.

As the disciples arrived, the woman turned away, leaving her water jar behind, and ran back into town. Although hesitant to give heed to such a woman as her, many came out to hear her story and decided to go find the truth for themselves.

     While she was gone, the disciples encouraged Jesus to eat some of the food they had brought but Jesus refused, insisting He had food that they knew nothing about.”  Confused, that He had already been given something to eat while they were gone, they continued to question Him but He replied, “My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to finish the work He has called me to do.” Then Jesus said, "You look ahead to the harvest but I am telling you the harvest is ready right here and  right now. Open your eyes and look around you, for the one who planted and the one who is gathering are both being rewarded and celebrating their harvest of eternal life. The old saying is true, ‘One man sows and another man reaps.’ You are going to get to harvest that which you never planted. Other men have done the hard work and you will reap the result of their labor.”

     While the disciples were pondering this teaching, the Samaritans poured out of town to see Jesus. Many of them came & some even believed because of the woman’s testimony that she had met a prophet, One who told her of her past, but many more ended up believing on Him because of the teaching that He did. He stayed with them an additional 2 days, and when He was gone they said to the woman, “We don’t have to believe anymore because of the things you said. We have heard His teaching with our own ears and now know that this man is truly the one who will be the Savior of the world!”

Just an ordinary day...turned extraordinary

      Have you ever considered that God does amazing things in the midst of ordinary days?
      The shepherds were watching their sheep on the hillsides, just like every other night, and then the angel showed up with the earth-changing news that Jesus, the Messiah, had been born.The widow and her sons were struggling through a financial crisis, just like they had for many other days, when Elijah showed up to exhibit God's incredible power of provision through the filling of jars. Gideon was hiding in a wine cellar trying to thresh wheat when the angel hailed him and started him on the path to be his nation's unlikely hero. The woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, & had spent all her money on unsuccessful cures, heard that Jesus was in town and through a touch of faith was miraculously healed.
      Hundreds of stories are recorded in the pages of the Bible and many began as just one more ordinary day. What turned it into the extraordinary was not the circumstance or situation, but the intervention of God into that circumstance. As the characters went about their normal, everyday lives  amazing things happened. None of them woke up that particular morning to trumpets blaring or
angelic pronouncements that the day had come for their miracle. They were just going about their business & God stepped in!
      Sure, there are those occasions where God gives a timeline or at least a general idea of when He intends to do something, such as in the case of Noah's ark or Pharaoh's warnings, but most often it seems that He moves in the course of daily, normal routines.
      That's an exciting thought. The God of the universe is able to intervene into my scary or upsetting situation at any time...not just on Sunday. He chooses the time and place according to His plan. My miracles could be just around any corner, on any ordinary day! So could yours!
       Those thoughts make me want to do a couple of things: I want to wake up each day in eager expectation of the wondrous things God wants to do in, through and for me that day. I also want to be aware of things that happen, for not all miracles are all-encompassing! Each day holds hundreds of little miracles, from the beauty of nature to the car accident that was avoided. And I want to live in gratitude, for in reality there are no "ordinary days" because each and every day that we walk with God is an extraordinary gift that has its own wonders if we allow Him to orchestrate & permeate our lives! We just have to stop long enough to look for His interventions & slow down enough to appreciate them!

The Plan

      Life doesn't usually turn out the way we think it will. Most of my friends and I thought we'd be our moms...living in suburbia, raising a family, loving husband by our sides and surrounded by family and friends. Perhaps, if we had pursued a career, we would work for a while but only until children came along. We jokingly referred to it as the "picket fence dream."  I even have a picture on my wall of a picket fence with pink roses growing through it.

      Well, life didn't turn out that way for me. Circumstances and situations derailed my "picket fence" scenario a long time ago. Life has definitely had its ups and down, and I can truly say it has never been boring. I have done many things I never thought I'd do, ministered to types of people I never thought I'd encounter, and lived a totally unexpected life!

      Last night in Bible study, we revisited the Christmas story (I know, it's only September) and talked about it  in ways that were different from the normal telling. I found myself thinking of Mary. She must have had a normal girlhood, right up until the point where the angel showed up. From then on, there was no way her life could be the typical one that I imagine she had mapped out. From the elation of Elizabeth's acknowledgement to the agony of watching her son be crucified as a criminal, Mary lived in a world of extreme contrasts and ever-swirling emotional tides. There's no way she could have imagined all that she dealt with, both amazing and terrifying! 

      Which leads me back to my initial thought. Life is full of unexpected twists and turns. We can be floating along with hopes and dreams, having our ideal plan perfectly mapped out, only to encounter a tidal wave of circumstances that totally re-route us. Our situations change due to our own adjustments, our needs & wants, or the influences of others. The expedient things circumvent the plan we thought was our future and we're on a totally different path from the one we chose. 

      The only certainty in life is that there will never be total certainty!  Good or bad, change will always take place. Thank God, He has the plan under control. We don't have to be in charge or worry or fret or try to manipulate life and its challenges. We just need to be sure we're walking with the Lord as closely as we possibly can so that wherever the path goes, we know He's not only there but has already prepared the way! No circumstance or situation takes Him by surprise and nothing we can do (or don't do) will demand that He institute Plan B. His plan is perfect, complete, & always works to our benefit even if we don't see it or understand it at the time. He never deviates from it because it's His design. We can choose to submit to it willingly, or He can cause our circumstances to keep bringing us back to it, but His plan will always prevail!  

      In light of all of your challenges and opportunities of this season in your life, aren't you glad you have the assurance that God has it all under control? Live in peace and refuse to worry - it will all work out just as it was Planned from the beginning!  It's God's promise!

The Power of Encouragement

• 
  This teenager lived alone with his father, and the two of them had a very special relationship. The son loved to play football - even though he was always on the bench, his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a game. This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school. But his father continued to encourage him, but also made it very clear that he did not have to play football if he didn't want to. But the young man loved football and decided to hang in there. He was determined to try his best at every practice, perhaps he'd get to play when he became a senior.
  
  All through high school he never missed a practice nor a game, but remained a bench warmer all four years. His faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him. When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a "walk-on." Everyone was sure he could never make the cut, but he did. The coach admitted that he kept him on the roster because he always puts his heart and soul to every practice, and at the same time, provided the other members with the spirit and hustle they badly needed. The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games.
  
  This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but he never got to play in a game. It was the end of his senior football season, and as he trotted onto the practice field shortly before the big play off game, the coach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegram and he became silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, "My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today?" The coach put his arm gently around his shoulder and said, "Take the rest of the week off, son. And don't even plan to come back to the game on Saturday."
  
  Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were astounded to see their faithful teammate back so soon.
  
  "Coach, please let me play. I've just got to play today," said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close playoff game. But the young man persisted.
  
  Finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. "All right," he said. "You can go in." Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, he passed, blocked and tackled like a star. His team began to triumph. The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, this kid intercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown.
  
  The fans broke loose. His classmates hoisted him onto their shoulders. Such cheering you've never heard!
  
  Finally, after the stands had emptied and the team had showered and left the locker room, the coach noticed that the young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, "Kid, I can't believe it. You were fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it?" He looked at the coach, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Well, you knew my dad died, but did you know that my dad was blind?" The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, "Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could do it!"

  **This touching story was passed on to me by my friend Sandra Bond. Thanks, Sandra, for reminding me of the power of encouragement! Sometimes we forget that it's just our faithful encouragement that makes the biggest difference for someone else!