Challenge # 5 - Meal Ministry

There have been many things in my life that have ministered to me and blessed me beyond words. One of those things was the simple kindness of a meal. After I had my stroke I was unable to handle my normal day to day household responsibilities. I had so many beautiful friends and family who came alongside my family and made meals for us. For six months we were blessed rotten by various people providing meals. I can not tell you how much not having to worry about my next meal in a time of crisis blessed my heart. So this month’s challenge stems from my experience being overwhelmingly blessed by the ministry of a meal.

This challenge is for you to in some way provide a meal for two individuals this month. Maybe that means that you buy a coworker lunch for “no reason” or that you make a meal for an elderly neighbor. Maybe you call up a friend and invite her out for breakfast just for a time of encouragement. You could invite a family from your church or your neighborhood over to share dinner with your family. You may be bold enough to provide a bag lunch to a homeless person in your town, or pay for the lunch of the person standing behind you in the fast food line. This challenge can take place in many different ways. I encourage you to get creative with this challenge. I specifically made this challenge for two individuals, so if you do one meal for a family of four, then you have already gone above and beyond the expectation here. Keep in mind that when I set the guidelines for the challenges I do so knowing that we still have other obligations and I try to keep them well within the realm of doable. I want these challenges to be a blessing to you as well as for those who are on the receiving end of them. I have no intention of setting lofty goals only to fall short before we even get started.

I encourage you to bless two people this month with a meal. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just please be sure you are doing it with a loving spirit. No one likes to be labeled a charity case. Pour out an abundance of love with a little bit of food and you will not only bless someone, you will find yourself blessed as well. Blessings to you as you bless others!

Our Voice Of Action

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”1 John 3:18

The old saying that says, “actions speak louder than words” has so much truth to it. Sometimes the best thing we can say in a situation is nothing at all, simply show love through our actions. Often times our loving actions will speak volumes above and beyond what our words ever could in certain situations. The word of God encourages us to love not through our words, but through our actions.

Beautiful Example
“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Luke 7:36 - 38 & 47

A beautiful example of loving through actions was shown by the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with oil after washing them with her tears and then wiping them with her hair. Her actions turned Jesus’ heart to have compassion on her. Her actions were flowing from a heart of love which was very apparent to Jesus. Scripture does not state whether or not this woman even spoke to Jesus, but I tend to envision her as the silent type. She allowed her actions, driven by love, to do the talking for her. It is examples like this that minister to the very core of others.

There are individuals out there who need to see God’s love in action. It breaks my heart to see those individuals who have been wounded by the words of others and often times those very words were not even intentional. But intentional or not, wounds were created and in some cases deep scars have occurred. For some of these individuals, they have given up on listening. This is when our actions can play a vital role in displaying Christ to those whom have been wounded. It can be easy to ignore or tune out what someone is saying to us. But it is very difficult to ignore the love someone is showing us. The images of love put into action become imprinted in the mind and are not so easily forgotten. When love in action is poured out on someone, it pulls at their heart strings. Sometimes it can be these very premeditated acts of love that can bring someone to the saving arms of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful thought! I want to encourage you today to step out and shower love on someone through your actions. It could be a neighbor, a relative, a coworker, or even a complete stranger, but whomever you show God's’ love to, do it for the sake of loving and for no other reason. Do not plan to show “love” to someone and expect to get something in return. This is not how Jesus operates. Christ came to lay down His life for us knowing full well we could never repay Him for this love put into action. When our love put into action is genuine and from the heart, it will impact the lives of others more then we may ever know. I know countless stories of people who poured out love into the lives of others expecting nothing in return. They never knew the impact they had on those individuals, but the rich heritage they started in the hearts of those they served impacted generations. My family is a product of the rich heritage of love put into action. I am so grateful to those who loved for the sake of loving, expecting nothing in return. Love put into action will impact many for eternity!  

Lord, I pray that you teach us to show your love through our actions. Your word tells us not to love in word or speech but in action and in truth. Let your love flow through us in such a way that others may see you in us, not so they merely hear about who you are, but they see who you are. We desire to live out your love in action and in truth toady. Lord, send us people along our paths that we can pour out your love upon today. Let us be a vessel of love to those around us each and every day.

A Mother's Commission

The responsibilities of motherhood are vast, and even more so of Christian mothers. In this post we will discuss just some of the many responsibilities Christian mothers face in raising up the little ones they have been entrusted with.  

Putting God First

The very first and most important responsibility as a mom is that we are to love the Lord with all that we are. This will set the precedence for who our children will become. When we put God first it brings about a whole host of benefits in our relationships with those around us, especially our relationships with our husband and children.

“Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37

Putting Our Husband Second

The next in importance is the relationship we have with our husband. If that relationship is ascue, then it can really be counterproductive for our children’s spiritual growth. I truly believe that God has established an order within the kingdom and it is within this order that things will operate the most effective and efficient. This order directly translates to the home. As women it is our job to make sure our relationships stay in the proper priority, God first, our husband second, then our children, and then all others. When we put our children over our husband or even worse, our children over both our husband and God then we can expect nothing less than chaos to develop in our home. When we keep the proper order, then it brings stability to our home and security to our children. I want to discuss what that relationship with our husband should look like for just a moment.  

Love Our Husbands

“...urge the younger women to love their husbands…” Titus 2:4

We are commissioned to love our husbands! God has given us such a precious gift of our husband and it is so important that we remember just how precious he is. Yes, there are going to be difficult times. They come to every marriage, but it is important that we keep the perspective that he is a gift from God and that we married him because we loved him. Love is not a feeling, it is an action and there is no better way to put love into action then in the marriage relationship. We can never go wrong investing in the lives of our spouse. Because the kingdom of God is about loving others, we are actually investing in the kingdom when we pour out love on our husband. Hence, one of the many reasons people will say our ministry begins at home.

Submit To Our Husbands

Paul Writes:

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Ephesians 5:21-24

I want to bring some clarity to these verses because some people like to take these verses and use them to prove that there is a power struggle going on with the man over the wife. This is not the case. When these verses are exercised properly there is no power struggle going on at all. In fact, submission is a very beautiful concept and one that we as Americans sometimes struggle with because we like our “rights.” If we take a look at verse 21, it says “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” In other words, this is a choice. We made a choice to follow the lead of Christ, just as we choose to follow the lead of someone else. If it is not our choice it is not submission, it is dictatorship. Unfortunately, submission gets a bad rap, because it gets confused with forcefully making someone do something. The true definition of submission is when we make a loving, decision to follow the lead of someone else, not because anyone is making us, but because out of love and respect we trust them to make good decisions. After all, for many of us, this is why we married our husband in the first place, we loved him, respected him, and trusted him. This is the very premise of submission! Does this mean that we as women get no say on matters in the marriage? Absolutely not! True submission does not just rely on the person choosing to follow, it also relies on the one leading to love and respect the hearts of those they are leading. Submission really is a two way street.

Let me just reiterated here. After God our next important relationship is the one with our husband, and the Bible is clear that we are to love and submit to him. We are to lovingly, respectfully, and to trustingly follow his lead. This is the Biblical order of our relationships, and this is the Biblical definition of submission.

Love Our Children

The next important relationship is with our children. This encompasses several different areas that I want to discuss. The first is that we are commissioned to love our them. This fits in right along with loving our husbands. The only difference is that the husband relationship takes priority over the relationship we have with our children. We will actually be using the same verse to show this point.

“...urge the younger women to love their husbands and children.” Titus 2:4

Train Our Children

We have also been commissioned to be our children’s teacher and trainer. God has placed these precious little hearts in our lives for us to mold and train up in the ways of the Lord. They were placed in our care for a reason. Each one of us is completely capable of accomplishing this task. This may seem so very daunting at times, but God has given us many tools to help us in this process of teaching and training our children. He has given us His word. We have an open line of communication with Him through prayer, anytime and anywhere. God has also placed people in our lives to give us support and guidance in this process. He has given us our husbands, our family, our friends, and our church family. God does not expect us to go this route alone.

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

“Fathers, (and mothers) do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Training happens in the menial tasks of everyday living. The things of God really should be such a part of our everyday life that they become normal to our children. They should be part of our natural conversations no matter where we are. They should woven into our family’s identity in such a way that when people look at our family they can’t help but think of anything other than the things of God even if they are not believers. Biblical things should be the norm for our children. The things of this world should be what is strange to them, but far too often we get that backwards. Instead of talking about the things of God around the dinner table someone ends up sharing the latest gossip about the neighbor down the street. This should not be so! We have such a beautiful responsibility here. Let’s not compromise it by letting the things of this world slip in and destroy all we have worked so hard to build. Let’s work hard at teaching and training our children in the things of God!  

Discipline our children

Another area with our children that falls under the umbrella of teaching and training is discipline. This is an area that people get very touchy about because the Biblical view on discipline to the world seems so harsh and cruel. However, if you take a look at it, the world’s view of "letting a child be a child" is more harsh than actually carrying out Biblical discipline. When we allow children to govern their own wills, we are actually allowing them to go down a path of self destruction. I don’t know a loving parent alive that would willingly stand by and watch their child destroy their own life right before their eyes. Loving parents step in and teach their children right from wrong. Loving parents teach their children how to be full of love, how to be full of joy, how to be peaceful, how to be patient, how to be kind and good, to be gentle and how to be self controlled. These things are all taught. We do not somehow just stumble upon these things by chance. They were taught to us, and so it is necessary for us to teach them to our children. And yes there are times when Biblical discipline comes into play. Please note that what scripture states about discipline must be carried out by a parent who also exhibits love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control. Otherwise, you can throw Biblical discipline out the window and yes, you then can call it harsh. Because if we do not have the fruit of the spirit operating in our lives before, during and after a time of discipline then it will be exactly that, harsh and cruel. Biblical discipline comes from a place of love not anger.  

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11

“Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.” Proverbs 19:18

“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” Proverbs 13:24

“A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom, but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother. Discipline your children, and they will give you peace;  they will bring you the delights you desire.” Proverbs 29:15,17

The benefits of discipline far out way the things we will reap when we leave our children to govern their own wills. When we disciple our children with the fruit of the spirit flowing through us we will see those benefits become our inheritance! When we allow children to govern their own wills, it is only a matter of time until we reap havoc. It is like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, and make no mistake, it will explode with extensive proportions! I know that none of us as parents want to live in a place of havoc. So, let’s be sure to use Biblical discipline in the manner of which it was intended, to be done in a spirit of love.

We hold so many different responsibilities as a mother and there is no possible way we could touch on all of them today. But if there is anything I want this post to bring out it’s this, that we are to make sure we have our relationships in the proper order. God must be first, then our husband, then our children, and then all other relationships. If this gets out of order we will end up reaping a whole lot of hurt. God runs an orderly kingdom. We should in turn order our relationships to line up with his kingdom order. We will reap so many beautiful benefits when things are in their proper order.

Lord, I thank you that you are a God of order. I thank you that you have entrusted us as mothers with such precious responsibilities. Help us to keep a proper perspective on things. Help us to keep our relationships in proper order. Help us to operated with the fruit of the spirit flowing in our lives each and every day so that the things you have commissioned us to do will be carried out correctly. Help us to live each and every day for you.

Seeking The Value In God's Reward

One of the many amazing things about our Lord is that He wants better for us then what we even want for ourselves. God’s best is above and beyond the best we can even begin to imagine for ourselves. We often will limit God by thinking what He can’t do, or even what He won’t do for us. I wonder if part of this is because in the midst of our tough times we question God and wonder why it is we have been put on such a difficult road of travel. What is so interesting is this, when we finally do get to the end and see the reasons God put us on that difficult road, we realize that the lessons we have learned along the way have been invaluable to our spiritual walk and we would not have learned these precious lessons by being on an easier road. God has to work things out in us before we get to the end and reap the precious rewards He wants to bestow upon our hearts. If He simply gave us His best without ever working His character in our lives, then the blessings wouldn't stay. We would lose the blessings because we would inevitably end up walking away from them. We would not have the character traits required to keep those blessings in our lives. The rewards would have little to no value to our hearts, or as I like to say, the rewards would not have any of our sweat equity in them. This in turn makes them of little value to us. When we have to work for the reward, it holds a greater value in our hearts and we are not as quick to forget the faithfulness of God when the next trial comes our way.  

The Prodigal Son

This reminds me so very much of the story of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-32 (feel free to take a moment to visit, or revisit this story if it has been a little while since your last visit.) The son was already in a time of character building by working in the vineyard with his father and brother. However, he demanded his reward long before the character had reached maturity and this was evident in his life choices. Due to his impatient nature, a character trait yet to be developed in his life, he lost his reward. He squandered it on selfish desires. God does not want us to lose our reward. He wants us to be blessed and to keep that blessing, but in order for that day to come, we must walk through the hard times and go through the character training necessary that will prepare us for the day that reward comes. There are no shortcuts in character training. When we try to take a shortcut, we end up like the prodigal son and lose the reward.

In the midst of the next hard time, go to the Lord and ask Him what it is He desires to work out in your heart so that you can not only obtain the beautiful reward at the end of the trial, but more importantly, so that you can become more like Christ in the midst of the trial.

Lord, I pray that as the difficult times come our way, that we are going to remember that you are working your character out in our heart. You desire to give good gifts to your children. And you desire those good gifts to be kept by your children. Help us to not grow weary in the midst of the trials, but to focus on you and what it is you desire for us to learn through it all. Thank you that you do not place us in the middle of a storm and then walk away from us to fend for ourselves. Thank you that you do not leave us or forsake us. You are right there with us, helping us grow and mature in our walk with you. Thank you that you are not only here helping us through it all, but you are also cheering us on as we go through it and waiting patiently for us at the finish line with our reward. Thank you that you reward those who diligently seek you. We desire to be diligent in seeking you in the midst of our trials.   

The Art Of Gift Giving

I don’t know anyone who enjoys getting a gift from someone who is giving that gift out of obligation, or giving it when they have a chip on their shoulder. God is no different in this area. He desires that we give without any strings attached, with joy, as a love offering, and with pleasure and delight flowing from our hearts. He would much rather we keep our gifts to ourselves then get them handed to Him on a plate piled full of obligation, grumbling and complaining. I realize that the verses I have chosen to share with you are often used to describe how we should give monetarily to the church, but for our purposes today I want to look at them through the lens of giving to others, and I am not necessarily speaking of money. Seeing that we are fast approaching the time of year that we celebrate the ultimate example of gift giving, God sending Jesus Christ, I felt that it was only befitting that we discussed the art of gift giving. So let’s take a look at what gift giving should truly look like shall we.

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Be Generous 
God is looking for us to be generous in our giving and I don’t necessarily think it means going out and dropping a boatload of cash either. When someone is generous, they go out of their way to bestow an abundance of kindness and concern for others.This can come in many different forms. It may be that we take a day to do yard work for an ill neighbor or we “kidnap” our best friend's children so she and her husband can go out on a date. These are both forms of generosity where money are not even in the picture. We must be willing to pour out into other’s lives in a real and true generous way. According to this verse, the more generous we are the more we can expect generosity to help us out in our times of need as well. I don’t believe this verse is telling us to be generous so that we get something in return. But when we find ourselves in times of trouble it sure goes a long way when we can turn around and see the people we have reached out to in their times of need reaching out to us in ours. Sowing generously will never be in vain. God uses this as a means to line up support when trials come our way. I truly believe that “what goes around comes around” applies quite literally in this verse.

Be Deliberate
The second key point I would like to emphasize is that we should be deliberate in our giving. “each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give” We should be proactive and plan out what it is we are going to give. We should not give because we feel obligated or because it was a spur of the moment thing. We should give because we have decided in our hearts that it is right. Giving under obligation or compulsion only makes the one receiving feel like it was forced or that no thought was put into the gift whatsoever. When we think about our most prized gift ever given to us, many of us think about those gifts that much time and effort went into. For me, the gifts I know that were given to me because someone felt obligated to do so had little to no impact on my heart. We want our gifts to impact the heart of the one on the receiving end, and the best way to do that is to spend some time planning and putting the other person first. 

Be Cheerful
The last key I want to bring out is that God loves a cheerful giver. No matter what the gift is that we plan to give we should do it with joy in our hearts. People have a way of knowing when we are giving a gift with an apathetic heart. This can often translate as a lack of love for the one on the receiving end. The opposite of this is also true, that a gift given in cheer and with a joyful spirit will in turn translate as a gift of love for the one receiving it. When we give with a cheerful heart it will not only translate to the person who is receiving the gift by bring joy to their heart, but it will also bring joy to the heart of our heavenly Father as well. Our ultimate goal in gift giving should be to bring joy to the heart of our Father and when we accomplish this, we have succeeded at the art of gift giving.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38

This verse reiterates the importance of giving in the right manner. When we give with thoughtfulness, careful planning and a joyful attitude it will come back to us with that same spirit. On the flip side of that when we give out of obligation and with a begrudging attitude we should not be surprised when others treat us the same way. What we give out will eventually make its way back to us, so why not give for the right reasons and with the right spirit. Let’s start being generous givers who overflow with the spirit of joy this holiday season.

Lord, I thank you that your word shows us how to master the art of gift giving. I thank you that you have set for us the perfect example of giving a gift by giving us your son to save us from our sins. Help us in our gift giving to be careful planners and to put others first. Help us to give for the right reasons and with the right attitude, with no strings attached to the gifts. Help us to be full of your joy as we bestow gifts this holiday season. Thank you for who you are and all you have done for us.