Words from the Heart

The older we get, the more there is to remember. The passage of time can blur or distort past events, softening the heartaches and from time to time shifting the facts. As a person who keeps a journal, I am occasionally surprised when I revisit an event and realize there’s more, or less, to the story than in my memories.

I think it’s vital that we remember special events, especially as they relate to our spiritual growth. It’s not an easy thing to do and it isn’t something that can be completed in a short amount of time. Yet, the hard work is worth it.

You see, even documenting painful experiences can give us a glimpse of how the Creator of the universe comes close to the brokenhearted. For me, it’s been during the most heartbreaking times that I’ve discovered just how much God comforted me and how much I grew spiritually.

Everyone will face the death of a loved one, the threat of disease, and all kinds of losses. We wonder how we will carry on. I can share from personal experience – I believed I couldn’t cope with those things, but I did. Certainly, I felt grief and suffering but God gave me strength to not only survive the deep darkness of immense sorrow, but a supernatural peace.

And those sorrowful experiences where God stepped in have been crucial in strengthening my faith. Let’s face it, if our Creator can get us through devastating loss, He can guide us in day-to-day living lives full of stress and anxiety.

The important thing is to remember.

I would encourage you to take the time and develop what I call life markers. I started with major milestones, so to speak, and then filled in other things in as I remembered.

I must confess, I was amazed to see God’s footprints more clearly in the landscapes of my grief-stricken darkness.

The more I worked on my life markers, the more I saw God’s presence in my life, and the more I trusted Him.

There are plenty of scriptures encouraging us to remember God’s laws, words, and comfort. Learning about different people in the Bible shows how others were able to reflect on all that God had done for them. One of the more interesting, and possibly less known, is Asaph. You’ll find him in the Psalms.

Asaph was one of David’s choir leaders and is credited with Psalms 73-83. The first psalm he wrote is one many could probably identify with. I particularly like him because he’s brutally honest in asking why life is so unfair.

His words in Psalm 77 are a beautiful reminder that even in the darkest of times, God’s footprints across our hearts and lives brings us to a place of refuge and sanctuary.

“I recall all you have done, O Lord. I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about them. O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you? You are the God of miracles and wonders!” Psalm 77:11-14, NLT.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: Satan would like nothing better than for us to forget God’s presence in our lives.

Blessings, Francine

SPECIAL NOTE: I pray that each commentary I write here will bless you, but please understand that some are built on previous entries. I’ve tried to build a Biblical basis from which my thoughts are developed. It’s important that you understand “my words” aren’t the end of the story, so to speak. I would encourage you to check out previous entries if you have questions concerning what I’ve written. Also, I’ve included links to several web sites that can provide much more detailed guidance than I’m able to do here. Check out “Running Empty” or “Power to Change” (see list of links to the right). For more in-depth study, you can visit “Now Try God” at http://www.nowtrygod.com or “New Christian Life” at http://newchristian.com as additional resources. The bottom line – don’t accept what I say as gospel. That’s what the Bible is for. An excellent on-line resource is BibleGateway.com at http://www.biblegateway.com.

Another good site is Crossmap, at http://crossmap.com and not just because my inspirational messages can now be found there. This organization, which has been running since 2000, serves the Christian community as a web portal. There are great columns by talented nationally known writers and pastors, a wide variety of other Christian sites, news, and commentaries.
As always, I welcome your comments or you can contact me at tenderheartaz@yahoo.com

If we want God’s presence in our lives, we won’t find it in religion. It begins with a relationship.

We spend huge amounts of money, time, and effort trying to find God. Roam the aisles of any bookstore in the Religious section and you’ll find hundreds of books. Unfortunately, unless we start with The Book, we may find ourselves lost in all the how to’s.

There are many excellent authors whose books are planted firmly in God’s truths. Often, their words help guide and direct us in our search with encouragement and inspiration. Still, if we don’t understand that God’s word is the only Truth, we will continue looking in all the wrong places.

It’s easy to tell others to read the Bible but a lot harder to actually do that. Where do you begin? What version should you use? How do you understand all that stuff?

Jesus knew how hard it would be for us and when He arose to the Father, He left us with a comforter – The Holy Spirit.

Jesus first told the disciples of the Holy Spirit in the last hours He spent with them.

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:16-18, NAS.

So many of us are heartbroken because we fail in our desire to follow Jesus. And therein lays the key. We do not have the power to follow Christ in our own strength.

All you have to do is look at Peter. He loved Jesus, proclaimed he would die in his devotion, and yet, he denied Christ three times. How often have you come across the verses describing Peter’s denial and wondered, “How could he do that?” If you search the scriptures, you will discover that Peter said what he said and did what he did in his own strength.

Look closely again at Jesus’ words, “but you will know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

It wasn’t until the disciples were pretty much at the end of their ropes, so to speak, that they were able to comprehend these words. They’d watched their Lord beaten and crucified and saw His lifeless body removed from the cross. Then they ran and hid. It’s hard to imagine the loneliness, anguish, and fear they experienced. I think they probably felt abandoned as well. Then, Mary Magdalene comes and tells them she’s seen the Lord.

As they are hiding behind locked doors in fear of the Jews, Jesus appears to his beloved disciples. His first words to them still take my breath away, “Peace be with you.”

As the disciples rejoiced, Jesus then told them, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” John 20:22.

We cannot receive the Holy Spirit if we are living by our own strength. Usually, it’s only when we come to the end of our rope that we are ready to enter an intimate relationship with Jesus.

Blessings, Francine

Scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible

Dear Readers:

For those who are returning guests and to those of you new to my blog, you will note an absence of posts between Aug 3 and November 29. There were 20 posts on the Beatitudes, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:3-8. I’ve removed these posts and they can now be found in my column on Crossmap (http://www.crossmap.com/). I invite you to visit Crossmap – it’s filled with a variety of columns, information, and news of particular interest to Christians.

I began posting a new series of inspirational commentaries on my blog this month. They focus on what it means to abide in Christ and will continue with encouraging inspirational messages on how to have a closer relationship with our Creator.

As always, please feel free to contact me at tenderheartaz@yahoo.com with thoughts or questions.

Here’s information from the Crossmap website about their columns:

“Crossmap Columns was launched in June 2004 to showcase uplifting and encouraging columns from Christian writers.”

“Crossmap posts columns with the young to mature Christian in mind. Although we will have some articles written about the very basics of faith, and several about more mature ideas such as Christian philosophy, the majority of columns focus strictly on how to be better Christians. For young and growing Christians, these columns should be invaluable – they are insights into the daily lives of Christians who have already walked the path of the Lord for years, and in some cases, decades. Columns are written by husbands and wives teaching how to be more loving and considerate, by fathers and mothers explaining how to best raise children, and by pastors whose writings are extensions of the sermons they have lived preaching.”

Blessings, Francine

If we want to have God in our lives, we must first learn to abide in our Creator.

The word abide has several meanings, usually beginning with the negative connotation of “to put up with or tolerate.” A second definition is “to wait patiently for.” I like that one, but if you do a little research, you’ll find another meaning that I believe more clearly illustrates what I think Jesus meant when he was instructing His disciples. “To continue to be sure or firm or to dwell or sojourn.”

I sometimes think we see God almost like the great and powerful Oz – impossible to approach without performing some heroic feat. The truth is we can’t perform heroic feats without intimately knowing our Creator. If you don’t believe me, just think about David and Goliath. Most of us aren’t even thinking about performing daring deeds; we just want to get through each day with some sense of peace.

But how do we do that?

As Jesus was talking to his closest friends during his final hours on earth, he told them, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7, NASB.

The Message gives an even clearer picture: “But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.”

These verses are within the context of Jesus’ teaching about the “Vine and the Branches.” Earlier he says he’s the vine and God is the vinedresser who takes care of the branches – that would be us.

In verse 5, he tells us that those who abide or, make themselves at home with him, will bear fruit, but without this kind of connection, we can do nothing.

It begins with a relationship that requires active interest, care, and love between God and us through Christ.

I am sometimes amazed when I read the Bible. It truly is like a love letter … from the Creator of the universe to His beloved creations – each of us.

Blessings, Francine

I used to have a popular saying tacked up to my bulletin board … “If God isn’t in it, it won’t get done.”

I smile when I think back to how many times I looked at that saying and prayed that God would be involved in whatever project I might be working on.

Needless to say, it usually didn’t work.

The truth is, if God isn’t in our life, then much of what we try to do won’t get done … at least not the way God intends it and probably not the way we hoped for.

We struggle, sacrifice, and work hard towards a goal we’ve set for ourselves. Many times, it’s something we believe God wants. Unfortunately, the fallacy is that it is something we want and God’s involvement comes after we’ve made a commitment, started a project, accepted a new job, or begun a mission.

We must first seek God’s will, not our own.

We love to quote various scriptures from the New Testament claiming the promises Jesus spoke about. There are at least fourteen instances where He spoke about asking and receiving. We like to end our prayers by saying, “… in Jesus’ name,” and think that covers our requests. After all, we have scripture that tells us so. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:14, New American Standard

Of course, the verse is taken out of context. John 14 is part of the intimate time Jesus spent with his disciples during the Last Supper. Jesus spoke lovingly and tenderly to those who were closest to him. And he had a lot to say. If we base our actions on this one verse, we’re going to be disappointed … over and over again.

If we want to claim a scripture as a promise of Jesus working in our life, maybe we should quote a different verse that is both a beautiful and concise promise Jesus left for all of us:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7, New American Standard

In the next few days, I’d like to look at how we can have God in our life and be confident of the things we ask.

Blessings, Francine

SPECIAL NOTE: I pray that each commentary I write here will bless you, but please understand that some are built on previous entries. I’ve tried to build a Biblical basis from which my thoughts are developed. It’s important that you understand my words aren’t the end of the story, so to speak. I would encourage you to check out previous entries if you have questions concerning what I’ve written. Also, I’ve included links to several web sites that can provide much more detailed guidance than I’m able to do here. Check out Running Empty or Power to Change (see list of links to the right). For more in-depth study, you can visit Now Try God at http://www.nowtrygod.com or New Christian Life at http://newchristian.com as additional resources. The bottom line – don’t accept what I say as gospel. That’s what the Bible is for. An excellent on-line tool is BibleGateway.com at http://www.biblegateway.com

As always, I welcome your comments or you can contact me at tenderheartaz@yahoo.com