SIGNS OF GROWTH

April 12, 2016 | lindamowles

It is spring and we see signs of growth all around us.

USED Crepe myrtle just beginning to open in spring — Crepe myrtle budding in the backyard.

The crepe myrtle in the backyard is just now beginning to open with a promise of beautiful flowers in the near future.

USED First rose of the summer — First rose of the summer!

Outside the bedroom window is the rosebush with the first rose of summer.

USED Azalea blossoms up close — Plethora of azalea blooms grace the yard.

The azalea bush in the backyard astonishes us each year as it blooms with a plethora of gorgeous flowers in a glorious display of color.

There are other signs of growth, however, that are not part of the natural ebb and flow of nature. I am referring to cranes.

I’m not talking about birds — rather, I am referring to construction cranes.

USED Crane visible from interstate in Nashville — Crane hovering over construction in downtown.

USED Crane in Nashville (C) — Crane high in the air over building.

Construction cranes seem to be ubiquitous in some communities. Everywhere you look, you can see a crane hovering over a building site.

While there are folks who will be inconvenienced by the construction indicated by the crane’s presence, a realistic view of the crane is that there is growth in the area. Someone is building something because of their confidence in the community that the investment will be rewarded based on the community’s growth, population, revenue, … all sorts of indicators that go into the decision for new construction.

In short, the presence of construction cranes are an indication of a healthy, growing community.

Growth is observable not just in plants and communities but also in human kind. It is easy to see the changes when the baby grows into the toddler, the toddler into the young child, the child into the teenager, the teenager into the adult, the adult into the senior citizen.

USED Newborn with mother — Newborn baby with mother.

USED Baby - illustration of limber — Baby showing us what limber looks like!

USED Learning to walk (C) — Toddler learning to walk with the help o a little scooter.

USED Baseball player (C) — Child becomes young baseball player.

Changes in our physical growth are fairly easy to see. There should also be growth in our spiritual life as Christians, but sometimes that is harder to see!.

Paul made the distinction between infants and mature Christians when writing to the church at Corinth:

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 [ESV]

While not the only harbinger of immaturity, according to Paul, jealousy and strife between Christians are an indications of immaturity, and such actions reveal that the individual is still acting through the flesh and not following Christ. This type of behavior is allowing our human character to control – it is not an indication of control by the Holy Spirit.

The writer of Hebrews also talks about Christian maturity.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:12-14 [ESV]

According to these verses, the Christian who is mature in the Lord is one who has discernment that has been trained by the word of righteousness, that is Scripture or the Word of God. Further, the writer says that this discernment is trained by constant practice. While the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian and is available for illumination of the Scripture, the Christian must read and study the Word and must pay attention to the instruction of the Spirit. In other words, the Christian must work and practice to train their power of discernment. When this is done, the resulting discernment enables the Christian to distinguish between good and evil.

So, what are the indicators of growth in our Christian life? How do I know if I am growing from an infant into a mature Christian?

There are many indications of growth in our Lord, including obeying His commands and loving each other.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 15:10-12.

Perhaps the best identification of virtues indicative of growth in our Christian life is the listing is found in Galatians 5:21-22 [ESV].

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

This is no ordinary fruit. While the words sound like things we talk about every day, the imprint of the Holy Spirit on the words takes them to an entirely different realm than that of our world. For example, the fruit of the Spirit of love is way more than casseroles and cards!

On Friday we will begin consideration of the fruit of the Spirit in a separate series on The Ruminant Scribe. In order for us to grow in Christ, we need to understand the work of the Spirit, and praise the Lord and our Almighty Father for the Spirit’s presence in our lives.

I pray that you will follow the Fruit of the Spirit Series and that it will be enlightening and encouraging to you in your Christian walk. Please leave your comments and thoughts about how the Spirit is speaking to you through His Word on this topic. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

We are called to grow in Christ – we are not to remain infants, we are to mature. May I not be satisfied with milk, but may I seek to obtain the meat of the Word.

Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

Father, Thank you for giving us your Spirit Who encourages, teaches and empowers us to grow toward the likeness of your Son. Thank you for loving us so much that you provide the Spirit to do that which we cannot do for ourselves, and thank you for sending the Lord Jesus Christ to take our sin upon Himself so that we could become children of God. Enable me to show forth your Spirit as I interact with people who you bring into my life.

OUR PLANS AND PRAYER.

November 19, 2015 | lindamowles

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21 [ESV]

I am a self-admitted planner. It is difficult for me to just “go with the flow”. Even when I am “going with the flow,” I am planning what I will do whenever the “flow” gets to wherever we are going. Digression from the task ahead is difficult for me to allow … but praise the Lord that my planning confronted divine guidance through prayer today.

I was scheduled for surgery and a number of beloved friends and family members said they would be praying that all would go well, that I would be protected from complications, and that healing would be sweet. As usual, there is a great deal of preparation for surgery and we did all that stuff, as directed, including packing the overnight bag, taking the book and Bible along with the Ipad, etc.

“The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 [ESV]

The hospital directions were that I could have nothing to eat or drink after midnight, but a note stated that I should take my morning medications before coming to the hospital with a sip of water. I drink milk with the medicine due to the taste if I use water: so, I took the meds with 2 sips of milk, much less than ¼ cup, and we were off to the hospital.

At the hospital, we were conducted into the surgical wing and I received the beautiful gag-green hospital gown to replace my clothing. Then I was placed under a warming blanket and was getting ready for the IV and monitors, etc. That’s when my plans went awry but God intervened in His providence and answered prayer.

The anesthesiologist came in and asked what meds I had taken. I told him, and he said, “ok”.

Then the nurse came in and went over most of the same questions again and confirmed I had taken the morning meds at home. She then asked when I took them. I responded “my husband poured the milk about 7 and I took them right after that.”

The nurse’s head popped up from her clipboard and she said “Milk?” and that was the beginning of the end of the surgery as planned.

She left the prep room saying that she needed to talk with the anesthesiologist about the milk. I was stunned – all this havoc over 2 sips of milk?

The answer to the prayers for protection and no complications became apparent when the anesthesiologist came in and told me that even a small amount of milk causes acid in the stomach. When you go under the anesthesia, all muscles are relaxed and that includes the muscle that keeps stomach acid in the stomach. So, if you have acid there (like from milk) when laying on the flat surgical table under the anesthesia, you can have reflux of the acid into your lungs without anyone knowing it is happening. [Without getting into the science of it, even I know that this is not something that would be considered a good thing!]

I don’t know if God directed me to take the meds with milk so that surgery could not be done on the day that was planned, but I am confident that He answered prayers in prompting me to mention the milk so that I would be protected from adverse consequences otherwise.

The surgery is now rescheduled and I will not be using milk for my meds.

Praise the Lord that He answered prayer by bringing to mind the milk that I had consumed at just the right time so that unwanted complications could be avoided. God has been in the business of hearing and answering our prayers since the beginning.

Back in Genesis, Isaac prayed for his wife:

“And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” Genesis 25:21 [ESV]

Many years later, David said:

“O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.” Psalm 54:2 [ESV]

“But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.” Psalm 66:19 [ESV]

Then, in the New Testament, 2,000 years ago, we have the church praying for Peter.

“So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.” Acts 12:5 [ESV]

As a result of those prayers, God sent angels to the prison and released Peter at night. He went to the house where the church was praying for him and almost did not get in because no one believed that their prayers had been so miraculously answered!

Prayer at Westminster Cathedral (C) — Prayer at Westminster Cathedral, London, England

In speaking of prayer to God the Father, the writer of Hebrews 4:16 tells us:

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” [ESV]

Beloved, the same God who answered Isaac, and who answered Job, and who answered David, and who heard and answered the church’s prayers for Peter, hears and answers the prayers of His children today when we come boldly to Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Think praying is only for old people?

Think praying doesn’t do anything?

Think praying is a boring waste of time?

THINK AGAIN!

Father, forgive me when I take lightly the gracious gift of prayer. Forgive me when I fail to recognize the awesome privilege of coming in prayer to the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. Forgive me when I forget that I can only come to you because of Jesus Christ, my Savior, who covers me with His righteousness and has forgiven me of my sins. Thank you Father for hearing the prayers of your children, even those raised on my behalf. Praise your Holy Name!

BLUEBERRIES FOR CHRIST

August 22, 2015 | lindamowles

I love blueberries. I like to have them on cereal, over ice cream, in muffins, in granola bars – I love blueberries. My Beloved, on the other hand, will eat some blueberries but he is not as fanatic about them as I am . For him, a little goes a long way.

The other morning, we were preparing breakfast and I was scooping out blueberries from the freezer bag and pouring them into my granola cereal and getting my Beloved some Cheerios.

I asked if he wanted some blueberries and he replied “Yes, but not many.”

Being the dutiful wife that I am, I counted out eight blueberries and put them on the top of his cereal, and then asked if that was sufficient. I really thought he would want more, but he did not – eight was just right.

So, we ate our cereal and when we were down to the milk, I noticed how blue the milk was in my bowl and I assumed that the color was so deep because I had so many blueberries with my granola.

But, when I looked at my Beloved’s bowl, his milk was as blue as mine even though his bowl had so many less blueberries!

I confess that this was far from a scientific experiment. However, a few things can be deduced from our breakfast challenge. First, a blueberry is not a strong fruit – its skin is thin and it is small in comparison with other fruit. Its taste is mild and it probably won’t win a contest for being the most distinctive taste in the panoply of fruit flavors.

Second, the blueberry is a champion of color. Those eight little berries colored the milk the same hue of blue as did my 4 scoops of berries. [You can conduct the same experiment just by dishing out the berries in the first place … if your hands touch them, even when frozen, you will have blue marks on your fingers.]

Third, what a powerful impact those eight little berries had on the white milk. Quiet, no grand heraldry announcing that the blueberries were doing something … they just made their presence known by coloring their world.

Then I thought of Scripture and our witness to the love and power of our Lord Jesus Christ. We too are supposed to affect our world for Jesus by our word, work and witness.

Jesus said we are to be salt and light to the world. Matthew 5:13-16. Neither salt nor light leave the area around it unchanged. Both have an immediate affect on that which it touches. Light does not leave the darkness alone when it appears – light totally obliterates the darkness. Salt is not just a flavoring. Indeed, according to the Salt Institute, there are about 14,000 uses for salt. It has been said that the use of salt as a preservative for food was an early cornerstone of civilization. [You can read more about salt at http://www.care2.com/greenliving/47-smart-uses-for-salt.html#ixzz3jU24iqym]

In short, Jesus was telling His disciples that they should have an affect on the people with whom they come in contact. And, through the power of the Holy Spirit, this affect should be quiet, enduring and efficient no matter the circumstance.

Jesus did not include the blueberry in His command to His disciples when He said that they should be salt and light to their world and I certainly don’t want to add anything to Scripture as it is, I believe, the inerrant Word of the Living God.

But, I think that the little blueberry can be an example of what He was saying. We should not just soak up the milk, we should not just hear the Word, we should not just bask in the fellowship of our friends … we should be out in the world leaving behind the mark of Jesus Christ just as the blueberry leaves its mark when it comes in contact with your hand.

When we are in contact with our family, neighbors, fellow-shoppers, drivers, church members, club associates, whomever … whatever our interaction with others may be, there should be an impact for Jesus Christ.

Can people tell that we are Christians by the way we color our interactions with them?
We may be small, weak and not very assuming in appearance, but do we make a mark for our Lord in our society, not just on Sunday at and after services, but on a day to day basis?

So, what about you? Have you colored your world today? Have I?

Lord, please forgive us when we have missed opportunities to witness to others about your love and grace. Forgive us when we fail to follow your lead in presenting the gospel message of salvation to others who may be asking about what Christ means to us. Lord, forgive us when we have soaked up the Word, hoarding it for ourselves, without recognizing that it will increase when we spread it abroad. Lord, help us live for You no matter where we are or who we are with. Let us remember that You are ever present with us, to give us the words to speak as you did with Moses and the prophets. Praise Your Holy Name.