He's SPEAKING! Are we LISTENING? Ministry

What energizes you? Serving others?

mjpien — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:01:07 +0000

Sometimes this old body doesn’t want to get up and get going in the morning… it complains each step I take and if I don’t keep going….well, let’s just say that sometimes my husband says “people will think you are an alcoholic” because I’m still in my robe.

What got me going this morning? Serving someone… I received a phone call from a women who had been referred to me about some medical equipment that I use. Since I had so much success with the equipment, I was more than happy to share the information, in hopes that maybe she could benefit. I was a little embarrassed at how excited my voice was when I shared with her how this equipment had helped me. Then it dawned on me… I was helping her, serving her with information. I found new energy in my day because I was able to give someone hope of relief. It reminded me that when I am unable to engergize myself to get going for the day… that I should be thinking about serving, yes, in serving others, I am serving Christ. This gets me energized….this makes me excited! What energizes you? Try serving others for Christ!

Matthew 25:35-40

^”For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:

Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.

Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink?

And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee?

Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee?

And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.”

Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve : to give, and not to count the cost, to fight, and not to heed the wounds, to toil, and not to seek for rest, to labor, and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will. — Ignatius of Loyola

Wait Upon the Lord

mjpien — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:15:16 +0000

Isaiah 40:28-31

Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

John Oswalt, an Old Testament scholar, notes that “waiting on the Lord” implies two things.

1) Complete dependence on God

2) A willingness to allow Him to decide the terms

Oswalt writes, “to wait on him is to admit that we have no other help, either in ourselves or in another…[it is] to declare our confidence in his eventual action on our behalf. Thus waiting is not merely killing time but a life of confident expectation.” (Oswalt, New International Commentary on the Old Testament: The Book of Isaiah Chapters 40-66, p. 74).

When we wait upon the Lord, we must learn to wait with our eyes turned toward Him, not on our circumstance.

Do you want a closer walk with Jesus?

mjpien — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:17:43 +0000

I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 3:14

With all our busy activities we are continually running around. We may never slow down to walk closer with Jesus. Just think…. If you do not have a goal in sight …then you usually end up running either in circles or coming to dead ends. And of course, you want to arrive at your destination yesterday. Just like so many things in our fast paced lives… not only are we in a hurry, we want instant answers, instant results, and instant satisfaction. How can you have a closer walk with Jesus…when you are so busy running all the time… Slow down and LISTEN. Not only will He help you see the goal and the prize of the high call of God, he will provide the answers, satisfaction and results you long for. Meditate on this song….and ask yourself if this is your plea? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Ks49apflE

Help, I want to get off this treadmill!

mjpien — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:50:12 +0000

The last verse used on day 2 of the Journey called, Help, I want to get off this treadmill is:

The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

This is a wonderful verse to end the Day 2 Journey on. One of the first questions in this Journey asks, “What is important to me?” followed later with writing down the top five priorities in my life. Then we get to the question, “What motivates me in all I do?”

To answer these question truthfully will reveal my true priorities. As a Christian, I know the right answers to these questions—but am I actually applying them. Have I allowed so many things to keep me busy that I have lost track of the right answers? What am I allowing to motivate me—does it line up with God’s word. It is always good to stop and take a review of what our priorities should be and what should be motivating us.

Bottom line, I need to put my total hope in the Lord. He will help me put my priorities in correct order and as a bonus, he gives me the strengh and shield to redirect my busy life to what really matters. When my heart trusts in him, I am helped!

If you are going through any of the Spiritual Journeys, please share your thoughts on this page… let’s get some dialog going and encourage one another!

Psalm 119:05 Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet

mjpien — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:19:40 +0000

The word of God is a lamp, a light to show us the way. One summer vacation, we stopped at a tourist attraction….a walk through a huge cave. The director went in front of us with his light and we were fine as long as we could see the light. We came to a huge opening and the director told us he would turn off his light so we could see what total darkness looked like. Off went his light…and silence, all we could hear was the dripping of water off in a distance. There is no way a person could find their way out of that cave without a light and someone to lead them. That is the way it is with the word of God… It is the light we need to show us the way. Otherwise, without it we stumble and fall, get lost, or simply freeze and go no where. When we had the light we could see where we were going. The light keeps us from stumbling over things. It helped us to stay on the right path. We were so thankful for our guide and the light he was carrying. Psalm 119:05 tells us…Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Those who allow the word of God to be their light and guide and obey its teaching will be on the right path.

How about you? When you find yourself in utter darkness, go to the Word of God; cry out Abba, Father and he will be your light and show you the way. He’s SPEAKING! Are we LISTENING?

Surrendered

mjpien — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:20:40 +0000

God speaks to us through the Bible. As I was reading this scripture today I started looking closely to the words. Do I delight in his commands… We live in such a time that we tend to complain about commands and I had to ask myself, “Although I don’t verbally complain about God’s commands…do I internally? Do I pick and choose what I’ll obey from God’s word, like it was a catalog. Have I said, ‘I’ll do that one and that one and that one….but I am not going to do that one.’ “ It comes down to how much I reverence the Lord. If I reverence the Lord, I will delight in his commands. I will want to obey….all of them. When we do, that is called surrendered. There was an old song I learned as a child in church called “I surrender All”. It went like this, “I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all” Have you surrendered? Do you delight in His commands? When you love someone, you want to please them and you listen to them. Is today your day to surrender your all to Him? Dear God, Help us to surrender to you out of reverence for who you are knowing that you will put a desire in us to delight in your commands. Love, Marilyn

Psalm 112
1. Praise the LORD
Blessed are those who fear the LORD,
who find great delight in his commands.

2. Their children will be mighty in the land;
… the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3. Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their righteousness endures forever.
4. Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
5. Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
who conduct their affairs with justice.
6. Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
they will be remembered forever.
7. They will have no fear of bad news;
their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
9. They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,
their righteousness endures forever;
their horn (dignity) will be lifted high in honor.