Like a Mighty Rushing Wind

 A Sound Like a Mighty Rushing Wind

Yesterday morning I was ironing clothes to prepare for worship. The ironing board stands beside a window. I could easily hear the wind blowing outside. It wasn't raging or storming by any means, but it was loud enough for me to hear it, nonetheless.

The breeze caused dried leaves to fall from the trees and join other bright colors already on the ground. I could hear that too. Leaves don't usually make a sound when they fall; but once they are dry and brittle they do.

As I ironed, I couldn't help but think about some of the times wind is mentioned in the Bible. The first thing I thought of was the day of Pentecost when Peter preached the first gospel sermon.

Consider Acts 2:1-2 "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting."

I find it intriguing scripture does not say there was a wind; but a sound like a wind - and not just any wind - a mighty rushing wind. The sound was meant to be heard. This was the day - it was the day Jesus kept His promise to the apostles.

Remember John 14:16-17? Christ said "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."

What a momentous occasion this was! The sound of a rushing mighty wind ushered in the fulfillment of a promise which led to the establishment of the church. How marvelous it must have been to see Jews from so many different parts of the world gathered in one place to hear the gospel preached in their own language!

Most of us think of this event as the beginning of the church. Indeed, it was. If I ever thought of it as a promise made true, I hadn't done so very often.

It is, though. Christ promised the Helper (or Comforter) would come to them and the Helper came. It was the Holy Spirit. Jesus also promised the Helper would abide with them forever. And He did. The Holy Spirit was not only there with them on the day of Pentecost. He was with them for the rest of their lives. Why do I know this? Because it is what Jesus told them.

See, we know God keeps His promises. Joshua 21:45 says, "Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass."

The rainbow is the sign of a covenant (promise) God gave Noah thousands of years ago. It was the promise God would never again destroy the earth by water. God's promises are many and they are beautiful. And we know from examples in the Bible those promises are kept.

There is one promise we should always remember. It comes from James 1:12 - "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

I'm so glad I heard the wind today. I am thankful it reminded me of the sound "like a mighty rushing wind." Always remember God keeps His promises. Hang tough. The Lord will never let us down!

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (James 1:12).

Have a marvelous Monday!

Christ above all things, Robin

The Spider I've Never Met

      A spider has taken up residence right outside my front dear.  I haven't met him  (or her) but the evidence of its presence is there every morning.  He builds his web every night, and every morning I knock it down.  You would think he would give up and move on to another home; but the spider and I have played this little game for several days now.  

     I know some of us ladies don't even like the idea of being near a spider.  Personally, frogs and lizards usually bother me much more than a spider but I don't want to let this unseen inhabitant in my take over my porch.  So the two of us - the spider and I continue doing what we do.  

     I have to admire his tenacity.  His endurance to persevere.  Now, I don't know if a spider really has that much of a personality.  I think God just made the spider to build a web every day or night.  It is the way spiders survive.  They use their web to trap their prey.  (I know not all spiders build webs; but the large majority of the species do).  
     OK, so why am I talking about a spider so much?  Well, this little adventure made me think about a couple of things.  Truth be told, I have to admire the spider's steadfast efforts.  He hasn't given up.  He keeps working.   He is quite persistent.  
      God encourages endurance -- steadfastness -- determination- persistence -- there are many words for it and the Holy Spirit used several of them in the Bible.  Ladies, we cannot give up.  We have to hang in to there.  
      Here is a great verse I found while I studied for this devotional.  When I read it,  I could not help but think of the way God made the spider.  

      We find these words in Proverbs 24:16. 

"For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity."

       I just love this!  God's people don't give up!  They know God is their strength, and their fortress.  They have a confident and steadfast hope of heaven.  So when life knocks them down... they get back up.  

       There is nothing more courageous than a man or woman of any age to walk into a charge building alone.  I've seen older people who attended worship together for many years.  When one spouse dies, the survivor does not lose their faithfulness.  As sad and as difficult as it might be, their faithfulness keeps them going and they continue to worship with their church family.  

      There is a young lady in our congregation who just graduated from high school in May.  She is the only one in her family who attends services -- and she has done so for a couple of years now.  This girl has so much strength and maturity and faithfulness in her heart.  

     Life is not always easy, but we keep doing what we do because we know it is the right thing to do.  I'm not only talking about going to the church building.  I'm talking about how we live our everyday lives - how we conduct ourselves as Christians.  

     Galatians 6:9 -- "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

     The reward we will reap is heaven.  And it will be worth all the things we go through here -- all the little hiccups and headaches we go through - will be worth it.  But we know sometimes what we endure is not little at all.  It is tragic.  The loss of a spouse (through death or divorce), or a child,  or our financial security, natural disasters, losing our health and independence.... 

       Wow, we go through so much in our lives.  Sometimes we don't know how we will make it.  But what we have to do when life knocks us down is rise again.  Rise up instead of give up.  

       God tells us, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).

Christ above all things, 

Robin 

     

  

Help for our Spiritual Battles

       Everyone needs encouragement.  Fellowship with other Christians is vital for strength and growth for the individual believer.  We all struggle from time to time.  We all have weaknesses.  So we need help.  Christ knew that.  Our Savior knew we would need each other.  That's why He built the church with His own blood. 
    Christ has promised to always be with us.  But in His infinite wisdom, He also knew the devil would constantly plague us.  Think about it, if satan only left Jesus for a season - then Jesus surely knew we would be harassed by the old devil too.  That is why Jesus wanted us to love and serve one another.  So we could encourage and build one another up enough to be able to face the world on a daily basis  - to help us win the battle against the devil.
     Paul talks about his own spiritual fight in Romans 7: 14-25.  It is a rather long passage, so I will not post it here; but the apostle talks about the struggle between the longing to satisfy worldly desires (whatever they might be) and the desire to follow God and do what is right.  

       Sisters we are in a fight.  We are all tempted from time to time.  My weakness may not be the same as someone else's; but we all have them.  I don't think anyone is immune to temptation.  We all face it at one time or another.  The good news is - we do not have to yield to the devil's temptations.  

      God promised we will always have a way of escape  (1 Corinthians 10:13).  But we have to look for it, right?  We have to fight our way out of the temptations that come our way.  Hopefully, we all understand I am not talking about going out and beating someone up.  

       Paul makes it clear "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).  This is heavy stuff.  We really are in a battle for our souls. 

      BUT as serious as it sounds, it is by no means hopeless.  God is not willing that any should perish.  He really does want us all to win this fight. So He helps us.  Praying strengthens our faith.  The more often we pray the closer we grow to God.  The closer we are to Him, the more able we will be to win our spiritual struggles.  

       Sometimes God's helpers come to help us.  They are present in our lives and willing to help us whenever we reach out.  God's helpers are other Christians.  Maybe they once went through what we are going through.  Maybe their weakness is the same as ours.  Maybe they love others who fight the same thing we fight.  

       On the other hand, these helpers may fight an entirely different battle. Or maybe they have just learned to love souls in the same way God loves souls.  Maybe they just want to be there for us ... to help in any way they can.  

      We can be one of God's helpers too.  We can be compassionate, understanding and loving.  We can study with others.  We can pray with others.  Sometimes all we need to do is sit down and listen.  God needs us to help those who are hurting.  

       Romans 15:1 -3:  "We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up."   

     Let's allow ourselves to be used in God's service.  Let's help others because Christ has helped us.  In this way, all of us can win those battles within.  

Christ above all things, 

Robin 

        

     
     

The Amazing Love of God

 Good morning! We are waking up to a bright and beautiful day brought to you buy the Lord Himself!

Today I hope we can all put on a smile and remember Whose daughter we are!

The Amazing Love of God

It is just so amazing to think about the love of God! One thing that is so wonderful about His love is that it is universal! Another wonderful thing about His love is that it is so personal!! These two concepts do not contradict one another at all.

God’s love IS universal. He is our Creator. The giver of life ... He gave us our life. Yours. And mine. And all 108,760,543,790(approximately) that have ever been born. Every person who ever lived did so because God gave them life. Wow! Think about that number. God is truly worthy of our praise!

Like I said, it is amazing! If God’s love includes everyone then I can rest in knowing He loves the people I love. More than I do. My parents are covered by the love of God. So are my brothers and sisters-in-law. My nieces and nephews too. Even as much as I love my children, I know God loves them ever so much more!

The Father does not leave anyone out! It gives me great peace to know this. I am glad God’s love is universal. I am thankful the Creator loved us enough to send His Only Son to this world to die for us. All of us. He gave up heaven to live on earth among people like us.

God’s love IS personal! He knows our names. He knows how many hairs on our head. It boggles the mind. God knows our hearts. He knows everything about us. As some of us say sometimes, He knows us “warts and all.” And guess what? The Father still loves us.

Here is an absolutely beautiful portion of scripture which shows us how great the Father’s love is. We find this in Psalm 56:8 -11: “You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me. In God (I will praise His word), In the Lord (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Did you know God cares for us so much He keeps up with our tears? He knows what we go through and He cares. Yes, His love is personal!! The Father will fight for us. He will take care of our enemies. We can trust God! He will always stand for us when we stand for Him.

God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit all want us to be in heaven with them. What a wonderful thought! The thing is, we must want it too. Here is where it gets personal. We must love Christ enough to keep His commandments. All of them. Not just one or two.

It is our choice. God doesn’t force us. Christ doesn’t. Neither does the Holy Spirit. I am the only one who can choose for me. The same goes for all of us. The right choice? The right choice puts us in the presence of God’s love for eternity. I think it's worth it!!!

Christ above all things ….. Robin

Wherever We Are

           Once a couple of years ago, I got a nice little text from my husband.  You see we were working different shifts then.  So during the week we rarely saw each other except for a few minutes at a time.  It was difficult to keep up with one another.  We did stay in touch through texting and really tried to get the most out of our weekends together. 
       The text he sent was short and sweet.  Really, it was very sweet.  My husband is not a terribly romantic guy so when I get a text like that -- seemingly just out of the blue -- I celebrate it!!  It said simply, "Wherever you are, I love you."  Of course I responded in kind.
      This made my whole day!  I smiled every time I thought of it and even shared with a few of my co-workers.  Isn't it nice to know you're being thought of by someone you love?
      Robert didn't know where I was ... or what I might be doing.  He didn't know when I might get a chance to see his text.  But whenever I did see it, he wanted me to know he cares about me.
      
       Robert might now have known what I was doing or where I was at the particular moment on that particular day; but God did.   Our Heavenly Father knows where we are all the time.  Not only that, but He loves us all the time wherever we go.  HIS love is constant - unconditional -eternal -- never changing.  The question is do we love Him? 
      God wants to be with us.  He longs to be a part of our lives.  Of course, He already knows what is happening in our lives; but God wants us to tell Him.  
       Ah, but here's the thing.  We make the choice to stay in touch.  You see God loves us - absolutely no way of denying that, but how often do we show our love for Him?  How often do we spend time thinking of our Heavenly Father?  
       It is much like a parent and child relationship.  I remember as my boys were growing up, I often felt like getting them to talk  was like pulling hen's teeth.  Many children reach a point in their lives where they don't share as much as they used to.  Their worlds grow beyond the realm of their parents.  
    But a parent's love never changes.  They still want the close connection they had with their children when they were younger.  Oh now don't get me wrong, parents want their kids to have friends and enjoy themselves.  
      A parent doesn't want to hold a child back; but they do long to sit and talk to them - they want to be included in some way.  Parents out there can relate.  If you aren't a parent, you may remember how it felt to have a parent ask you 10,000 questions about your day.  It was only their way of trying to stay connected.  
       How connected are we to our Holy Father?  All God has ever wanted -- even from the time of Adam and Eve -- is to be with His creation.  God wants us to be in touch with Him in the same way a parent wants to be in touch with their child.  He only wants to be included in our lives.  It hurts Him when we don't do that.  It is because He loves us so deeply!  
        How often do we spend time in study so that we can know how to live a godly life and be pleasing to our Father? How often do we talk to Him in prayer?  Personally,  I need to work on both of these things.  Sometimes I get so caught up in every day life I forget to include the One I need the most.  

       Ah, but the Lord never forgets us.  He knows everything about us.  He even knows the number of hairs on our head!  He waits for us to make the choice to call on Him.  God created us with free will.  We aren't programmed like robots.  Praying and Bible study are things we do automatically.  We don't run on a predetermined script.  We CHOOSE. and our loving Heavenly Father longs for us to make the choice.  See, He already knows all about whatever we might tell Him; but He wants to hear it from us.  

        Remember the parable of the prodigal son?  We can learn so much from this lesson, I know.  But one thing I always think of is the choices the young man makes.  He chooses to go away and spend his money on "riotous living." Eventually, he regrets this decision.  He "comes to himself" and decides to go back to his father.  

       The picture Christ paints of the father is indeed touching.  He didn't beg his son to stay; and he missed him every day.  But it was the son's choice.  I'm sure you know what Jesus said about the father?   We find it in Luke 15:20 -

"But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion,

and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him."

        I believe the father had been looking for him and hoping he would come back almost since the day he left.  Yet, he did not run to greet his son until the son made the choice to come home.  The son had to be ready to come back.  Only then did the father run to welcome him home. 

         God will always choose to meet us .... wherever we are .... whenever we choose to remember Him and spend time with Him.  He loves us wherever we are whether it's at home, at work, on the road or on vacation or .. well, wherever we are!  It really is that simple.  Choose to connect with Him.  Choose to get to know His Son.  Jesus told us the only way to get to the Father is through Him. Become a friend of Christ and keep His commandments.  I know you will be glad you did!

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. (John 14:23)

Christ above all things, 

Robin

        
      
      

How's Your Vision?

        Not so long ago, I was sitting at the kitchen table when I looked up and saw something on the counter which seemed a little out of place.  I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't tell exactly what it was.  I am near sighted so things that are far away are just a blur.  
        Anyway, this object was either black or dark blue.  I knew it wasn't a knife or a spatula - or any other kitchen utensil for that matter.  I continued to squint and stare for several seconds while I ran all sorts of possibilities through my mind.  Did Robert leave a screw driver or some other tool on the counter?  
      Before I belabor the point too much longer, it turned out to be an ink pen.  Nothing really weird... no big deal... just a simple ink pen.  I just didn't remember leaving it there.  
      As I mentioned earlier, I am near sighted.  I can't see things far away without my glasses.  I know I'm not the only one.  Many people are nearsighted.  This is a physical characteristic.  But what about my spiritual vision?  Where should my spiritual sight be directed?  
       Several times throughout His ministry, our Savior miraculously healed the blind, and others with all manner of diseases and afflictions.  Through His power as the Son of God,  they could see again.  Jesus had such great compassion for all those He healed.   
       Mark records an example of the Lord's compassion in Mark 8:22-27.  A blind man was brought to Him. Verse 23 Mark tells us Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of town to heal him.  Our loving and compassionate Savior did not leave it to the man's friends to lead him out of town.  Jesus did that Himself.  He held the man's hand to lead him to a place where He would heal him.  How awesome is that?!!
        Christ had compassion for those who needed it -- who sought Him out.  There were some who rejected His teaching.  Jesus called them blind too; but their blindness was spiritual not physical.  The Pharisees refused to believe Jesus was the Christ.  They could not see what was before their very eyes.  They saw Christ, the man, with their eyes; but they could not see Christ, the Messiah, with their hearts.  
        "Blind leaders of the blind,"  Christ called them.  Can you imagine how frustrated and heartbroken Jesus was to know these men had no interest in anything He had to say?  They were threatened by Him and sought only to destroy Him.  And yet, Jesus loved them too.  If only they had been willing to turn to Him, He would have healed even those with spiritual blindness.  
        We have to keep our eyes - our hearts and minds open to the word of God.  We need to give ourselves a spiritual eye exam from time to time.  Study and learn of Christ so that we can maintain our vision.  We need to keep our eyes on the prize of eternal life.  
        I am reminded me of  1 Peter 1:6- 10.  This is the passage where Peter tells us to "make every effort to supplement" our faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and with love.  All these characteristics are interconnected.  They build on each other and help us to grow into mature Christians.  They keep us from blinding our hearts.
        Led by the Holy Spirit, Peter goes on to say if we develop and build on the qualities he mentions, it will keep us from being ineffective or unfruitful Christians.  What a wonderful promise!  
        We really need to pay attention to the promise because the warning comes next.  Peter warns:  "For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins."  This is a grave warning. 
         If we lack faith, virtue, and knowledge our vision dims.  If we have no self-control, steadfastness or godliness our spiritual future looks grim.  If there is no brotherly affection or love in our hearts we become ineffective and unfruitful. We forget. We forget the love Christ has for us. We forget we were cleansed from our sins.  We become spiritually blind. What a sad state to be in!  
       Wait, Peter doesn't leave us hopeless.  Actually, he places his warning in the midst of two promises.  Both of these are conditional.  The conditions are the same.  "Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election,  for if ... IF (emphasis mine) you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."  
                                                                 (1 Peter 1: 10-11)  
          
       I love this section of scripture. It is so beautiful to me.  Jesus loves us so much.  He wants to provide that entrance into the eternal kingdom for us.  He truly does; but gaining the entrance doesn't automatically happen.  We must be cleansed from our sins.  Next, we must keep our spiritual vision in good shape.  We develop and increase in these wonderful traits and follow the word of God.  Then we gain the entrance to the beautiful eternal kingdom.                 
       Unfortunately, Jesus cannot heal our spiritual blindness unless we are willing to be healed.  He leaves it up to us to make that decision.  It is always our choice.

Christ above all things, 
Robin
  

Don't Get in a Hurry!

          There is an old saying, "Haste makes waste."  This is true in so many cases.  This morning I was in a hurry as I loaded the dishwasher.  There was no particular reason for my rush.  I guess I just wanted to be through with the job.  Anyway, when I pulled the top rack out to begin my loading,  it came off its track.  
          Oh, no permanent damage was done.  I just had to work with it a little bit to get it back on its track so it would roll properly.  When it happened, it stuck and I could not move it into the machine to close the door, nor could I pull it out far enough to load dishes into it. Nonetheless, I was able to get it fixed 'all by myself,' as young children say  sometimes.
          If I had broken my dishwasher, I would have been in a mess for sure!  I was thankful that didn't happen; but it got me to thinking.  There were times in my life when getting in a hurry did get me in a mess.  When I was younger, I made hasty decisions fairly often.  Sometimes I still do. :( 
        Obviously this usually isn't the best way to go.  Major decisions need to be weighed carefully in our minds.  Pros and cons both need to be considered.  Take for instance, a new job offer.  The salary may be higher than your current one; but what about the work load and hours required?  The extra responsibility and time away from family may not be worth the extra money.  
        A job is just one example of why we shouldn't make decisions in a hurry.  Choosing a life partner is even more important.  We should never allow ourselves to be carried away in the emotion of a moment and make a monumental decision which could effect the rest of our lives. I know some quick romances last for years; but even then at the very least we should make sure our potential partner understands we are committed to Christ first and foremost. 
      These examples are more obvious than others.  We've all been with a group of people and felt the pressure to do something we know is not right.  Take gossip for instance.  Say we are in the break area and someone shares private information about a co-worker. 
       Do they expect us to join in the talk?  Do we have to take a turn sharing information about someone when we know the person would not want this tidbit to become public information?   Making a quick, spur of the moment decision to tell something we know would be hurtful.   could damage a friendship, destroy a person's reputation and cause our soul to be lost. 
       There are so many instances when getting in a hurry can be a dangerous thing - whether physically, emotionally or spiritually.  Flying off the handle and losing our temper or jumping to conclusions can be really dangerous.  We should remember to think before we act or speak because being in a hurry could land us in big trouble!  
        Cutting corners at work just to get a job done could hurt your reputation as a good employee.  Making snap judgments about people or new ideas is also spiritually dangerous.  It could cause you to be unkind and unloving which is not Christlike behavior.  
         Avoiding new ideas can keep you from learning and growing.  If we aren't willing to grow, we end up on the losing side of life.  This is true in our workplace, in our homes and in our relationship with God.  
       If we make up our mind about someone before we get to know them, we may be missing out on a great friendship.  We may lose an opportunity to teach someone about God.  Either way, we are missing untold blessings.  We would never want someone to form such a quick opinion of us, would we?  It is never right to prejudge anyone.    
       So my friends - don't get in a hurry!  Let's take our time.    Do our work the right way.  Be careful about making decisions too quickly.  Choose wisely with all factors taken into account.  Consider the consequences of allowing social pressure to guide our actions.  
        Let's think before we act or speak.  Let's hold our temper.  Let's not jump to conclusions or form opinions about new ideas without knowing all the details.  And we should never, never make up our minds about a person without getting to know them first.  

        Life is way too short to be in a hurry about anything!

"Do you see a man hasty in his words?  There is more hope for a fool than for him."  (Proverbs 29:20)

Christ above all things, 
Robin