Sunday Blogvotional: God Does A Lot With A Little

"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"  John 6:9

Imagine yourself as that young boy in the crowd of more than five thousand people.  The word gets out the leaders (apostles) are trying to see how much food is available in the crowd.  You say to yourself  "I don't have much.  I only have five loaves of bread and two fish.  Plenty for my family but definitely not enough for all these people."  You don't know how it can make a difference but you offer the small amount of food to the apostles anyway.

Then, you watched as the man, Jesus, blessed your offering.   Somehow, someway your tiny little insignificant gift was multiplied and fed every single person in the crowd. There was even an abundance left over.  You saw first hand what God could do with so little.  You'll never doubt the insignificance of your gifts again.

It may seem like the little we have can't possibly make a difference.  But when our offering comes from the heart (whether big or small), God blesses it and multiplies.  It's important to note that in this story the boy wasn't called to feed the people.  He was called to give and God fed the people.

Encouragement for the week:   What God does with our gifts, tithes and offerings is greater than the gifts themselves.  Never underestimate how far your gift will go. Give and let God use it to bless in the way only He can.

"There Is No Other Way"

I’m always leery when people say things like: "There is no other way." or “We don’t have a choice.” It seems to me when humans think there’s only one (usually desperate) solution to a problem then we’ve pretty much come to the place where the devil wants us.  One of the devil’s goals is to get us to act out of desperation.  If he can do that, he keeps us from acting on faith.  

The devil likes to get us to a point where we think (sometimes subconsciously) that God isn’t going to help us and we’ll have to handle things on our own.  Through our mostly blinded eyes we see only one course of action – one answer to our problem.  Ironically, we may even be able to admit that the course of action isn’t altogether desirable.  Our “only choice” may have some strings attached and yet we, through desperation, say “there’s no other way”.  We feel backed into a corner and make decisions accordingly.

Here’s my thought:  When the human mind conceives of only one possible solution, that’s usually the point where God says “Wait for it……wait for it.” and then poof something miraculous happens.  It’s in these moments that God puts the impossible into the proverbial hat and pulls out something completely amazing.  It’s the moment where human logic takes a back seat and God takes the wheel and drives home the point: When God is in the car, there is always a better alternative than what desperation would have you believe!!

I know all too well that waiting for God's alternative solution can be difficult but I firmly believe it's worth waiting for.  Reacting out of panic or desperation because we can't see any other plan usually causes more pain than good.  If we can remember not to jump out of the car, God has great things in store for us and will always get us to them at just the right time.

Sunday Blogvotional: What Road Is Your Goal?

Thank you Father, for talking about roads in your word. You've made it clear that the road of life we travel on is so very important. One road leads to destruction and the other leads to life eternal. So, maybe we should check our roadmap and consider which road we are on. Is our goal to reach heaven? Maybe we are just wandering aimlessly without a plan or goal? We must first have a destination in mind in order to get there.

There are many goals in life that we strive to attain like getting a college education, a good job, financial security, a happy marriage or maybe even some of us strive for fame and fortune. Some goals are more worthwhile than others yet it is important to have a goal. Without goals it’s most likely we will never reach our destination.

Our days are numbered and if heaven is our destination we have to make plans on how we will get there in the unknown days allotted to us. Will our life end on a side road where we got side-tracked? We could get stuck in the mud or lose our compass and end up lost. Where is your life taking you? Regardless of our goals, today is the day to reevaluate and check the best roadmap ever (the Bible) and see if we are on the straight and narrow road or aimlessly wandering on side streets that will never get us to the destination we desire.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13,14

Encouragement of the week: Reading the most interesting book in the world with the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide us will definitely lead us to the right destination. What can be better than that?

Special contribution this week by June (my "mumsy").

Sunday Blogvotional: Praise For Our Father

Today is Fathers' Day.  Here are some thoughts for our Heavenly Father:

Our God is an awesome god; He reigns from heaven and earth with wisdom, power and might; our God is an awesome god. Praise be to God the Father for the awesome way He works in our lives, the way He provides for our needs, for His creation and His plan for salvation. Praise be to Jesus for paying the ultimate price and bringing us into His kingdom and allowing us to be co-heirs. Praise be to the Holy Spirit who comforts and directs us and intercedes with the Father on our behalf with groans our words cannot express.

We are so truly blessed that we have a Father who cares so deeply for us.

Father, we thank you and praise you for your love, graciousness, patience, loving kindness and grace.  We wouldn't be who we are without you!

The Path Of Gratefulness

During the past several months praise has been the topic of choice between God and me.  Recently, He took me to the next natural step in our journey which led me from praise to gratefulness.

I've found that it's easy to say the words "I'm thankful for...." and fill in the blank.  But, unfortunately, saying the words doesn't necessarily mean they come from the heart.  Saying the words doesn't mean my attitude is right.  Have you ever had those moments where your heart said something completely different than your head? As believers it's easy to get caught up doing (or saying) what we're "supposed" to.  But sometimes our heart - our attitude doesn't really match up with our words.

I realized through this little lesson that silent discontentment is the same as verbal ungratefulness. When we're not satisfied, we're essentially ungrateful (whether spoken or not).  So why are so many of us plagued with discontentment?  Is it because we're constantly wanting something we don't have or continually waiting for something to happen?  Is it because we're almost always dreaming of the life we want to have instead of living and loving the life we do have?

Can we ever truly be happy when we find ourselves always in "want" mode?  Can we find joy and peace when we're always looking for or expecting something different?  I don't think we can.  I believe that if we change our mindset to be in "grateful" mode then gratefulness will take over our hearts. Joy and peace will take over our soul.

Funny how being grateful takes a conscious effort when complaining and discontentment come so easily.  It may not come naturally but I believe the efforts of training myself to be grateful will reap the rewards of a very contented life.  Each day I make a conscious effort to "open my eyes" and see my blessings.  Then I tell God I'm thankful for each of them.  He wants to hear the words of my grateful heart.  And, in truth, it's not so much to ask.

Sunday Blogvotional: Clay In His Hands

Ask any experienced potter and they will tell you that creating a great piece of pottery takes time.  Rarely is the finished product created without a few flops along the way.  The clay needs to be made smooth - more malleable otherwise it can't be worked with.  When the clay is hard, water must be added.  In the process of forming a piece of pottery, some sections of the clay may need extra massaging in order to get the right shape.  A dedicated potter keeps working until the piece is finished and is pleased with his creation.  

We see in scripture the analogy that God is the potter and we are the clay.  We, as clay pieces, are not always easy to work with.  Sometimes our attitudes dry us out and we get cracked.  Sometimes God uses a little water (the little rain of trials) to get us to the right texture so that He can mold us.  This may be uncomfortable to go through but in the end we will not be just a lump on the Artist's bench.  We will be lovingly and carefully molded into a beautiful and useful piece of art.  Just like a potter, God is dedicated.  He never stops working on us until He's made us what He wants us to be.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

Encouragement of the week:  Know this - that God loves us enough not to leave us where we are but to lead us to where (and who) He knows we can be.  Life can be difficult at times.  But in those hard times, God is using them to shape us into something beautiful.

Traveling

I'm traveling this week to be with family as we've suffered the loss of my dear uncle.  I'll be back next week.