Monday, July 18, 2016

Bumping into Christ or Clinging?

The first year of my walk with the LORD I was asked to teach a 12th grade girls’ Sunday school class in our youth department. Obviously, they needed to fill a spot (Smile). Being still immature in the LORD but dripping with zeal for Him I said, yes. The real challenge came when I was asked to address the large group before they broke out into their boys’ and girls’ smaller groups. As I sought the LORD regarding that short opening message to them, the LORD kept taking me back to Luke 8:40-48 regarding a woman that had an issue of blood. I encourage you to read all the passages but for our purpose and space I want to extract ...

Luke 8:45-46
And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”


In the original Greek that word “touched” right there means to cling to, hang on to, hold. Did you catch what caught my attention? It was Peter’s response to Jesus when He said, “Who touched me?” To paraphrase Peter’s response, he said to Jesus, “There are a ton of people surrounding you and pressing in on you, it could be anybody!” But Jesus responded and I paraphrase again, “No, someone in the crowd actually grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go.” I love that passage. In other words, she approached Jesus intentionally with believing faith that He would make a difference in her life.

Can I ask you a question? Are you just bumping into Jesus, in your quiet times, ministry, church, Bible studies, conferences, summer camps, etc.? Or are you intentionally approaching Jesus believing by faith that HE will make a difference in your life and circumstances?

As this world continues to become more and more unstable daily, it is time to stop bumping into Jesus and start clinging to Him!! 

Southeast Asia Update...
I am excited to share with you that we have all but 9 M’s sponsored for the Asia trip. That is so exciting to us as we continue to make final preparations. For those of you that are giving to these ladies, thank you so much. I saw a picture on my mom’s face book today that I am posting below. It is a great illustration and so simple regarding the importance of the role of giving to churches and missions organizations that pray, go, and give when it comes to our M’s on the field of service all over this world.


Please continue to pray that God will continue to move on hearts to give towards the final 9 M’s.

Love You All,

His,
Vickie

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Gum On My Shoe....

I don’t know about you, but it is frustrating to me to be walking along intentionally going somewhere and step in a big wad of chewing gum that someone has haphazardly thrown or dropped on the ground somewhere. It is next to impossible to get off. You dig through the tracks of your shoe with a stick, knife, your key or anything else you can think of to get it off of your shoe. You rub that shoe in the grass or dirt or gravel or pavement just to give it that extra attempt of cleaning those tracks out. Now all along the way while doing this we are having a few good talks out loud with the person that we will most likely never know that deposited said gum. You know what I’m saying is true!
 
Life is kind of like that gum on our shoes. We can be walking along doing fine on our way to somewhere and out of nowhere we step into a mess. May be our marriage relationship, our family relationship, our work relationships/peers, ministry relationships, financial issues, health issues, loss of a loved one, etc., etc. The list could go on and on.
 
If you have stepped into a mess in your life lately, may I suggest we learn some lessons from the experience of “gum on our shoe?”
 
  • Stop – we don’t keep walking believing the gum is just going to fall off. It’s gum! It isn’t going to fall off! 
    • Stop and assess your situation. If we are sensitive to spirit of God in us we know when something isn’t right. 
  • Do your part – get off as much of the gum as you can with your stick, knife, keys, rubbing it on the grass, gravel, pavement, etc. (smile)
    • Take the steps to reconcile your part.... confess it to God, seek His forgiveness, admit your part to others and ask their forgiveness. Note: you are not responsible for whether they forgive you or not. You are responsible as a child of God to ask for forgiveness, if needed.  
  • Now keep walking – eventually the wear of walking will clean those tracks out.
    • Trust God after you have gotten honest with yourself about the mess, confessed and asked for forgiveness.  Now trust Him as you keep walking and He will clean the rest of those tracks out.
  • Pray – pray for those that haven’t figured out what a trash can is for regarding gum. (smile)
    •  Pray for those in your life that have been a part of the mess, and more importantly choose to forgive them…whether they ever ask for it or not.   
Luke 23:34
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
 Wow! The contrast in the verse is incredible! Jesus is opening the door to eternal life for them as He dies on the cross, and they are gambling for His clothes. What a picture of not assessing your situation. Wow! 
  
Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of all our sins, past, present, future. Yet, many are blinded to their need for His forgiveness because they have not assessed their situation. Pray for salvation for the lost, in our marriages, families, work places, peers, churches (yes, churches), ministries (yes, ministries) and the world. Pray that God will draw them to Himself through Jesus Christ and His love demonstrated toward us.
 
John 6:44 (ESV)
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

His,
Vickie