A Change of Clothes

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

I pray that each day brings you nearer to your God and that when people see you they know that you've been in His presence.

     Today I want to talk to you about, "A Change of Clothes".  How often do you change clothes?  You might change from church clothes to play clothes; from casual clothes to a work uniform; from day wear to dressier evening wear.  You change clothes when the ones you are wearing are no longer suitable or appropriate for an event or

occasion.  The clothes don't change themselves - we have to make the effort, take the time, and remove the old outfit to put on a new one.

     I think it's not a coincidence that Isaiah 61:3 tells us to "put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."  When we are feeling sad, depressed, worried, or otherwise "heavy" in our spirits, it's time to change clothes.  Worry, sadness and depression are not suitable and appropriate attire for a believer.  When we notice them settling upon us, trying to clothe us, we need to make the effort and take the time to put on the garment of praise so the spirit of heaviness can be taken off.
     
     Have you ever tried to worry and praise God at the same time?  Have you been able to stay depressed while worshiping God?  It's natural to worry or be sad from time to time.  But when these feelings start to envelop you and you start wearing them wherever you go, it's time for a wardrobe change.  Go into your closet (or other quiet place) and begin to sign praises to God.  Audibly thank Him for your salvation and each subsequent thing He has blessed you with.  Worry won't be able to stay.  Sadness will have to flee.

 You'll enter your closet in one outfit and leave it wearing a more appropriate one - a garment of praise!

     Praise is warm and comfortable.  It never goes out of style.  In fact, it will be all they wear throughout eternity in Heaven.  And the garment of praise always fits.  As you grow in the Lord, your praise will grow right along with you.

     Lord, thank you for giving us a change of clothes that is appropriate for one who follows you to wear out in public.  Help us to be motivated to change clothes as often as we need to.

Striving to make the best-dressed list, Raelynn

Hold On Loosely

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

     I pray that you are drawing nearer and nearer to your Lord and are finding Him to be a true friend to you.

     Today I want to talk to you about "Hold On Loosely".  When I was in grade school, I had terrible handwriting.  I'd get homework assignments returned with an "F" not because the work was incorrect, but because it was so sloppy and illegible that the teacher couldn't tell if it was correct or not.  This displeased my father

greatly and he decided to do something about it.  He said my problem was that I held my pencil so tightly, clenching it between my fingers and thumb so that the lead ground into the paper, making the letters close, tight and difficult to read.  then as my hand would cramp and I loosened it up, my writing sprawled so it was hard to tell where one word or sentence stopped and another began.  My father remedied this by showing me how to hold the pencil loosely, teaching me to form graceful letters in a light, fluid motion.  We practiced for hours.  Then as I did my homework, he'd walk back and forth behind me watching over my shoulder and at any given moment, without warning, would try to snatch the pencil from my hand.  It it came out easily, he'd praise me.  If I was holding too tightly, I'd get a rap on the knuckles with a ruler.  It stung.  But his methods paid off.  When my beautifully written homework came home with A's, I was rewarded with ice cream.  This childhood lesson not only taught me better penmanship, it taught me an important principle for life today.  It taught me to hold on loosely.

     Our Bible tells us if we are followers of Christ this world is not our home.  We are merely pilgrims passing through.  Jesus is coming in a day and an hour we know not and we know that at some point, His believers will be caught away into the air with Him. (I Thess. 4:17)

 To be ready for this event, we need to be holding on loosely to the things of this world.  It's as if the Father is walking back and forth in Heaven, looking down to see how this world is progressing and at any given moment will snatch His believers off this earth with His own hand.  If we are holding too tightly to the things of this earth, I believe be won't be easily grasped and may remain.  The consequences, the Bible tells us, for those left behind will be more severe than a rap on the knuckles.

     So how do we learn to hold on loosely?  You start by realizing that the things of this earth are temporary and have no eternal value.  Then you practice letting go.  if you are out and about and are wearing a jacket over a sweatshirt and see someone i a t-shirt shivering, give him your jacket.  It doesn't matter if it's your favorite jacket or an expensive designer jacket.  These things should not have a tight grip on us, nor we on them.  We need to hold on loosely and be able to easily let them go.  Jesus said in Luke 6:30, "Give to every man that asketh of thee, and to him that taketh your goods ask them not from him again."  He was saying, "Don't expect to get it back, let it go."  He was teaching us how to hold on loosely to the things of this world.

     As I worked on my homework all those years ago, I began to look forward to and work toward getting the A's and the ice cream.  We need to look forward to our real home in Heaven and work toward that end by letting go of the things of this world.  Like my handwriting, it takes practice.

     Start practicing now, my friends.  I want each of us to be easily grasped by the Father when He comes to take His own.

I'll meet you in the air.  Your sister, Raelynn   

Famine Fighters

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

     I pray that God’s blessings upon you are so abundant that you have no choice but to share the overflow.

     Today I want to talk to you about “Famine Fighters”.  Look around you.  We are in the midst of a severe famine.  People all around us are starving, wasting away and dying.  I’m not referring to a lack of food.  I’m referring to the famine of Amos 8:11.  “Behold, the days come saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”  The time has come – it is now.

 

     Our world is starving for the Gospel, the good news that God loves them and gave His only son, Jesus, to die for them that they might have life and that more abundantly.  Without this vital information, their souls starve, their lives are wasted and they die to spend an eternity in Hell.

     What causes famine?  Famine is not caused because people won’t eat.  It’s caused by lack of food.  A recent poll indicated that only 15% of Evangelical Christians will share the Word of God.  I don’t know which is more shocking – the 15% or the fact that they claim to be Evangelical Christians!  The word “evangelical/evangelist/evangelism” means to share the good news, or preach the Gospel.  Yet only 15% of those who have the life giving sustenance ever share it with another person.

     We need to come to the place, my friends, where we are more concerned about people dying and going to Hell than we are about being called a Bible Thumper or a Holy Roller.  You don’t have to be a theologian, have tons of scripture memorized or be an eloquent speaker to share the Gospel.  You’d be surprised how many people out there simply need to hear that God loves them.  They need to know He loves them just the way they are, but too much to leave them that way.

     Paul encouraged Timothy to “Watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of the evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry”. (2 Timothy 4:5)  Be a famine fighter, beloved one.  Share the good news.  Give a starving world the words of Life:  God loves you.  He sent His Son to save you.  You can have a life of purpose.”  Share Jesus, the Bread of Life.

Stretching the 15% - Raelynn

What's in a Word?

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,
  
     I pray that your ears and hearts are tuned to the voice of the Spirit and your feet are quick to follow His direction.

     Today I want to talk to you about "What's in a Word?"  Words.  We have so many of them.  They flow over our gums and out of our lips often before our ears have heard them and our minds have considered them.  What's in a word?  Power.  God spoke the world into existence.  With our words we can bring joy or sadness, inspire or incite wrath, encourage or abuse.  There is power in our words, yet we rarely give much thought to the things we say.
     Consider this:  Jesus is the word made flesh who dwelt among us; the Bible is God's word to us.  A person's word used to mean something.  If a person gave His word, you could count on it - it was his bond.  If the things that come out of our mouths bear the same name as our Savior and God's holy instructions to us, shouldn't they reflect them?  Could that be the reason they are called "words"?  Something to think about.

     I saw a movie recently called 1000 Words, in which a man was connected to a tree and every time he spoke a word, a leaf fell from the tree.  When all the leaves were gone, the tree and the man would die.  At first the man was very careless with his words, but as he started to realize their significance, He began choosing them more carefully.  In the end, the only things he would say were things that were important, meaningful and helpful to others.
     I believe we Christians need to be intentional with the words we use.  We need to think, what do I intend to do with these words when they leave my mouth?  Are they intended to impress someone, instruct, punish, slander, heal, hurt?  What are these words meant to do?  And does their intention reflect Jesus and the principles of God found in the Bible?    Matthew 12:36 says we shall give account for every idle word we speak in the judgment.  The Greek word for "idle" used here means inactive, unemployed, unintentional.  How important our words are!
     I challenge you today, my friends, as I have challenged myself to think before we speak and to use our words intentionally to reflect our Lord and His principles.  If we could number our words like the man in the movie, how much more careful with them we would be.
     I like a quote I heard this week: "Preach the Gospel.  Use words when necessary."  I think those were words wisely chosen.

Be blessed my friends,  Raelynn

One Man's Trash

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

I pray that you have more blessings than breath to count them all.

     Today I want to talk to you about "One Man's Trash..."  We live in a throw-away society.  In your grandfather's day, if something broke he would fix it.  He'd spend whatever time, effort and money was required to make it work again.  Not so today.  Today if it breaks, you throw it away and get a new one.  And I'm not just talking about things...this trend seems to apply to people and relationships as well.
     Do you know what the leading cause of depression is today?  It is feeling like you have no value and no purpose; broken people who have been discarded; people broken by circumstances, broken by wrong paths they've taken who can't find their way back.

     I have been broken, my friends.  Since February 2000, I have had the love of my life die, became estranged from both of my children, lost a business, had a home foreclosed on, gone bankrupt, seen my credit score drop from 798 to 400, lived in an apartment with cockroaches where shootings are commonplace and people urinate in the elevator, had my car grafitti'd, and become divorced after 10 years of marriage to a man who had been unfaithful to me while I supported him financially for 5 of those 10 years.  To top it all off, I discovered that he never loved me to start with - he loved what I was able to do for him.  I felt used, broken and discarded.  Have you been there?  Are you there now?  
     Don't despair may friends.  Jesus takes the broken people the world has discarded and fashions them into something beautiful, something of value, something useful.  One man's trash is Jesus' treasure.
     Today I feel beautiful.  I feel valuable.  Today I am being used to encourage others.  Jesus has picked up the broken pieces of my life, brought restoration and healing and has given me a purpose.  He can do the same for you.
     Jesus is more than a Sunday School lesson.  He is more than a man who lived in Bible times.  He is the creator of the universe, the One who loves you so much He gave His own life for you.  He is the One who ate with sinners, who heals the broken, who gives new life, purpose and value.  You need only to believe that He is God and cares for you and allow Him to pick up the broken pieces of your life.

     Let Jesus fix you today, my broken ones.  I can't wait to see the beautiful vessel he will fashion you into and the purpose He will give to your life.  You may feel discarded but you are much loved and you are a treasure in the hands of Jesus!

Renewed in Christ and walking daily in His love, Raelynn

Step by Step

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

     I pray that when the weight of the world tries to bow your shoulders, you choose to bow your head and bend your knee.
     Today I want to talk to you about "Step by Step".  Right after I was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, I was in a church service where a message was given in tongues.  Immediately, in my mind I heard the words, Thus saith the Lord.  I thought, "The Lord is giving me the interpretation of the message", and I waited for the rest to come.  And I waited.  And I waited.  Finally, I heard, Thus saith the Lord again.  I knew I was supposed to speak it out, but where was the rest?  I'd feel foolish if I said only that and nothing else, so I chose not to speak at all.  After the service, the Pastor came to me and said, "The Lord showed me He gave you the interpretation.  Why didn't you share it?"  I explained that I only had a few words and I was waiting for the rest.  The Pastor explained that when we've been found faithful with little, God will give us much.  The next week in service, the same thing happened and I heard Thus saith the Lord in my spirit and I silently pleaded with God to give it to someone else.  But when He repeated those 4 words again, I stood up and opened my mouth and out came, "Thus saith the Lord" followed by several sentences I didn't know I was going to say.  I found out later that the message ministered to several in the congregationwho needed to hear that exact word from the Lord.
     Psalm 119:105 says, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."  The lamps used in those times were shallow clay bowls into which oil was poured and a wick was set that gave off just enough light on a dark, moonless night to illuminate the spot right in front of your foot where you would take your next step so you'd not step in a hole or stumble. 
     How much easier it would be to use a floodlight to navigate dark paths with, to be given a full message before you opened your mouth, or to know God's 5-year plan for your life.  But the Lord knows that if we knew everything that was to happen before it did, we'd probably not follow the path He's chosen.  In His wisdom, He chooses to lead us step by step.  That's why it says in Matthew 6:34 to take no thought for tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself.
     Let God's Word be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path, beloved ones.  Let it lead you step by step through this Christian walk.  If we are faithful to take one step, He will illuminate the next. 

Walking in the light as He is in the light,  Raelynn