Be Strong

 

In a 2013 study of military effectiveness, a captain in the 82^nd Airborne Division wrote: “The Soldier’s Creed demands professionalism from every individual that it guides. [ . . . ]  By definition, the military is a profession in that it is ‘a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation.’ The Army bases its doctrine on the assumption that the organization is professional and that those individuals who are soldiers and whom Army doctrine guides champion its principles.”

As I read and re-read these words, I was struck first by the level of commitment the members of the United States Army give to freedom’s cause. I began to understand firsthand the level of commitment to academic preparation, to specialized knowledge, and to professional competence needed, especially by its leaders—to champion its principles. The individual soldier’s integrity to The Soldier’s Creed principles, then, is a deciding factor when the soldier is found in the moment of decision: battle.

Second, I was taken back by the parallels to Christian living that immediately came to my mind. As a believer, especially in the twenty-first century, I have access to so many sources that can assist my academic preparation for Godly living and service: to the Scriptures, to commentaries, to the teachings of other believers who “out rank” me in the leagues of believing soldiers of Christ, to the examples of those who have gone before and have been found faithful to the cause, and to the leadings of the Holy Spirit in my heart. The strong doctrinal emphasis and immediate attention to life practice found in Scripture pointed me to the specialized knowledge I need to live for Christ. Professional competence, then, seems to be the outworking of a life of faith girded in the knowledge of and hope in the Captain of our Souls, the Lord Jesus Christ, who went before us. “For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” Hebrews 2:10.

I thought, third, of Joshua and drew immediate parallels to his life, his military command, and service to the call each of us receive to serve in the Lord’s Army.

Firstly, Joshua spent many continued years in intensive academic preparation for the work God had required of him. He was Moses’ aide-de-damp, his personal assistant, his logistical manager, and his confidante. Joshua, born in Egypt and of the Tribe of Ephraim (Ephraim is Joseph’s second son who received Israel/Jacob’s blessing), spent forty years in preparation for the work God had for him. Moses taught Joshua. Note that this preparation is both in the Law of God--Joshua went part way up the Mount with Moses--and practical. Both types of preparation are necessary to complete an individual’s skill set. Through Moses, God prepared Joshua. Perhaps, then, the most noted words of Moses to Joshua are those of his charge: “Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt . . .” (Deuteronomy 31:23). Joshua submitted himself to a forty-year period of preparation for the work to which God called him.

Secondly, Joshua built within himself and those with whom he served specialized knowledge. That which we read about warfare and Joshua’s role as Commander of the Lord’s Army teaches us that special knowledge and understanding are necessary skills to complete God’s work. Joshua was a leader of men, a commanding officer, a servant of God. All that he did required courage—especially to march around Jericho with all of Israel the way he did. Joshua’s most important military campaign was waged God’s way: with special knowledge. Remember that even before the marching began, Joshua submitted to God’s authority when the captain of the Lord’s host told him, “loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy” (Joshua 5:15), Joshua did. Joshua had a relationship with his God and submitted to God’s authority and worshipped. All he knew about warfare was placed on the altar of obedience. We can know God that well.

Thirdly, Joshua exhibited professional competence in the way he conducted Israel’s business. He waged war, gained land, allocated that land to the tribes as God wished, and he continued in and renewed his commitment to God and Israel at Shechem. I believe his most profound act as a professional was to reiterate to Israel God’s requirements and Moses’ instructions as he was about to die. “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served” (Joshua 24:14). Professional competence based on courage and wisdom from God marks Joshua’s ministry. “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest” (Joshua 1:9, KJV).
          The study on military effectiveness concludes: “Professionals earn the trust of those they serve and maintain a higher standard of moral fortitude.  This makes the occupation of ‘Soldier’ a profession requiring commitment to more than simply drone-like execution of tasks.  It is for this reason that the Soldiers who live the creed, champion the oath that they swore to uphold, and ultimately are professionals.” We are each a member of God’s army—and family. We have differing roles, yet we have the same responsibilities before God. Joshua’s reverence for God’s law was prominent (Joshua 1:8), and his leadership model was grounded in a belief that authentic spirituality and Israel’s prosperity derived from faithful devotion to Yahweh. Through all challenges--internal disputes, war, and the need for communal solidarity--he exemplified prayerful reliance on God. We can do likewise—even as women—in the place, in the time, in the way God requires.

“Be strong and of a good courage!”

--Janet Hicks

Look Around

 

Are you looking around? I mean really looking? 

When I was young, I didn’t know that one day I would wish that I had paid better attention to the people around me and even my surroundings. Things I thought I would never forget, I have forgotten. I wish I had just paused and looked with intention like I was taking a picture with my mind. I have forgotten classmates and friends from our youth group. Our family moved a lot, so I’ve forgotten about some of those homes. Does it matter that I cannot remember everything? I suppose not. But I want to.

Life blurs when we do a lot of the same activities over and over. So many things are similar. But occasionally, something out of the ordinary will stand out and stick. That’s why, if we want to remember, we must be intentional in the mundane to pause and focus our attention.

My family members are subtly changing right before my eyes. I’m changing too. Our surroundings are changing. The church I attended growing up burned to the ground a while back. It was a large church with many halls and connectors to other buildings. I have since forgotten so much about the layout and how it all looked and even so many of the people. As a young person, I had such fun exploring those corridors, but now I cannot recall how it all went.

We will soon be moving into our new building. I’ll miss the time we’ve had at the Adventist facilities. You can bet I’m looking around. I want to remember the beauty of that place, the special times there, and the kindness of those people. But I also want to look into the faces of those attending our church and remember you all. Impossible, I know. But I plan to try.

One day, in a generation or two, we will all be forgotten. Hopefully, the fruit of our lives lived walking in the Spirit will live on even in those who don’t remember us.

 Forgive me. I’m waxing nostalgic today, but seriously, look around.

 joyce hague

The Poetry of Psalm 23

             Of the 150 psalms in the Bible, Psalm 23 is surely the most well-known. My guess is that most of our church members can recite it by heart and name several songs based on these famous words. This psalm also happens to be the theme of this week’s VBS program at our church. Sometimes we can become so familiar with something that we are in danger of not letting it amaze us as it should. My prayer for this week, as well as for this blog post, is that we would feel the beauty of the truth of this psalm in a fresh way.

Psalm 23, like all of the psalms, is actually a poem, or a song. The beauty of poetry is in its unique way of communicating a message. Well-known British poet of the 19^th century, Percy Bysshe Shelley, wrote the following about poetry: “It awakens and enlarges the mind itself by rendering it the receptacle of a thousand unapprehended combinations of thought. Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.” Did you catch that? Poetry makes that which seems familiar sound unfamiliar so that we can see it in a new light.

If we took the poetry out of this psalm, we could say something like this: God cares for us and provides for our needs. He brings refreshment to our souls and leads us according to His law. Even when we go through difficult times in our lives, we do not need to be afraid because He is with us, guiding and comforting us. God brings great blessings to our lives; his goodness and mercy will always be with us. One day we’ll be in heaven with Him forever.

Aren’t those incredible truths? Praise God for doing all these things for us! David could have listed those truths out in prose like that, but instead He chose the metaphor of shepherd and sheep and included the image of a banquet table to paint a beautiful picture of these truths about God. Familiar concepts are shared in unfamiliar ways, and we see things in a new light and often with greater understanding.

I hope you take some time to read through this well-known psalm again this week. Think deeply about the word choices David made (inspired by the Holy Spirit) and what they mean for your spiritual journey. And pray for the VBS kids and workers that we, too, would grow to love and trust our Shepherd more as a result of this week.

-- Amy O'Rear

A Prayer for Our Home

 

We have just celebrated an auspicious anniversary in the United States. Two hundred fifty years feels like a long time, and it is—for a person. For a country, however, two and a half centuries is not yet a mark of longevity. I am so glad we have lasted this long, however, and I pray for our leaders and decision makers to have wisdom and courage to do the right thing.

 But certainly the United States does not have a corner on God’s blessing. Believers everywhere are instructed to pray “for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (I Timothy 2:2).

On my journey through Psalms, I have come to #144. In this psalm, David acknowledges God as his “fortress,” his “deliverer,” and his “shield.” He asks God to make Himself known and to deliver him [David] from enemies. It’s a beautiful prayer that has echoes of other well-known passages, bringing comfort and peace.

Then, starting with verse 12, there is a meaningful four-verse passage that makes a perfect prayer for our country—whatever country we might live in. Here it is in two different translations:

¹² That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters

 may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:

¹³ That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:

¹⁴ That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.

¹⁵ Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. (KJV)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

¹² When our sons in their youth are like growing plants,
And our daughters like corner pillars fashioned for a palace,
¹³ Our granaries are full, providing every kind of produce,
And our flocks deliver thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
¹⁴ May our cattle be bred
Without mishap and without loss,
May there be no outcry in our streets!
¹⁵ Blessed are the people who are so situated;
Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord! (NASB)

Do you see what the writer is saying here? His request is for the nation’s children to be strong and productive. He’s asking for plenty of food from gardens and pastures--for enough to feed the nation’s people and some to share with others. He’s asking for peace, contentment, and safety in the cities. The final verse of the chapter implies that such people recognize where their blessings come from, that they fully acknowledge God as their Lord and source of all good things.

I submit to you that this prayer is a good one for us to apply to our own homes—to our town, our state, and our country. Other scriptures instruct us to pray for those in authority. I am asking for them to have the right priorities as mentioned here and to listen to good counsel. God knows how to use our prayers to bring about His will, and it is He who brings good to His people wherever they live.

--Sherry Poff

Finding Treasure

 

When we were getting ready to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, my husband, Jim, booked an Alaskan Cruise. The cruise was one of the most beautiful I’ve taken and revealed so much about the beauty of God’s Creation.

While on the cruise, we scheduled several onshore excursions, and one was a train ride up to the Canadian border when we arrived at Skagway. Unfortunately, on this day, Jim had contracted the nasty stomach illness common on cruises and was quarantined, so I decided to do the excursion alone. As the train traveled up through the mountains, we were told to look in a specific direction and find the trail that went up through the mountains. We were told that this trail was the path taken by gold-diggers during the gold rush era. The path was extremely steep and narrow.

In his devotional, “Living in His Light,” David Jeremiah made the following comment: “Hungry for wealth, prospectors traveled from all over the United States –and many from other parts of the world –to search for mineral treasure buried in the ground. No sacrifice was too great relative to the treasures to be found.”

Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (ESV) Many prospectors for gold and silver gave up their lives for treasures that they never found. King Solomon used the seeking earthly treasures as a metaphor for seeking spiritual treasures, mainly wisdom. In Proverbs 2:1-5 we find a guide for seeking spiritual treasures which include: “receiving, hearing, applying, asking, seeking, searching – all things necessary when looking for something of value.” (Jeremiah). In Proverbs 3:15 we are told that “wisdom is more precious than rubies.” I Peter 1:7 says that “our faith is more precious than gold that perishes.”

The early prospectors sought treasures that were valuable but temporal. As believers, are we seeking temporal or eternal treasures? Is your heart focused daily on God, or are you looking to find treasures and pleasures in the things of this world?

Remember: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

--Bonnie King

Praying for Our Adult Children

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward." (Psalm 127:3)

I wanted to be a mother when I was still a child myself. I began babysitting very early and expected to have a large family someday.  But life does not go the way we expect it to. So I found myself in my mid-twenties with no husband and no children. Then came physical problems and major surgery.  After the surgery, my doctor told me there was only a slim chance I would ever have even one child. I grieved but left it in God's hands. There was nothing I could do about it. Several more years  went by. I married, and now was the time to see what God would do.  And God was gracious to me. Fourteen months after the wedding, my first little girl was born. Psalm 113:9 says, "He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord."  Yes, I did praise the Lord.  And in the next six and a half years I had three little boys and another little girl.  I had my big family, five children. Those were good years, busy ones.  The year my fifth child was born I began home schooling.  And life became even busier.

Those years passed and now my children are grown, four of them married, three grandchildren. Nothing prepared me for the reality of parenting adults.  Still a mother, but now a different role.  In these years I have discovered that my role as the parent of young adults has narrowed. Two things now take priority:  I must love them and I must pray for them. Jodie Berndt reminded me that "the same God who watched over my children's lives when they were young is still looking out for them today."

I found that I could love these grownups, but I did not know how to pray effectively.  Praying for adult children is hard, the issues are more serious and the consequences more profound.  I don't care who you are, there is no such thing as a perfect family, untouched by challenges and sin. And perhaps I should add here, there is no perfect mother who has done it all right. I found that I wanted to tell God how He should answer my prayers, what He needed to do in their lives.  I am working at releasing that desire to tell God what my children need.

Author Jean Fleming in her book, A Mother's Heart, recommended these steps as we pray.  "Acknowledge God's hand on their lives, even before they were born.  Admit any areas we resent in the way God put our children together. Accept God's design for each child, thanking Him for how he or she is made. Affirm God's purpose in creating our children for His glory. Ally ourselves with God in His plan for their lives." Now allow God to direct your prayers.

Jodie Berndt's book is helping me with my adult children. It is entitled Praying the Scriptures for your Adult Children: Trusting God with the Ones You Love. She wrote that we must "learn to see our kids through God's eyes--and align ourselves with His plan for their lives." The chapters in her book divide into areas our children struggle with: relationships, milestones, health, safety, and well-being, and victory over temptation. She shows how to pray God's words back to Him. Remember that Isaiah 55:8 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." I do not automatically understand what God is doing in my children's lives.  But I can trust Him.

I want to recommend this book to you. It is Praying the Scriptures for your Adult Children by Jodie Berndt, published by Zondervan Press.  Perhaps your children are not yet adults.  She has also written Praying the Scriptures for Your Teens  and Praying the Scriptures for Your Children.

I want to share this prayer for you.  It is found in Colossians 1:9-12.

We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power,  according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father.

                                                                ~~Faith Himes Lamb

I Have Called You Friends

 

Jesus said, “I have called you friends”. “…come unto me all ye that are weary and

heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

 

Memorial Day – for all of its rain this year – has passed; school has finished for the summer; church activities, small groups, and meetings have been placed on a hiatus; and life is settling into the pattern of “the lazy, hazy days of summer.” Routine is settling around us. Perhaps, after the rush and busyness of changing seasons, hurried activities, and whirlwind schedules, we may find an empty hollowness, a hole, a feeling that something is missing. We may also feel the weight of being the planner, the executor, the giver in so many ways lifted from our shoulders, but – in its wake – comes dryness of heart, a need for peace and rest.

 

Sometimes, when all the activity ceases, even for a short time, the weight of burdens can come, the stretch of finances overwhelms, the loneliness of empty days pervades, discontent with life’s situation drains energy. Our hearts, then, turn to Jesus – our Savior, our Friend – in, perhaps, a different way. We seek His peace in the stillness. Sarah is recorded in Hebrews as a woman of great faith. She too, however, had to learn peace in the inactivity—in the long days of waiting and wanting. She was unhappy with her state: childless. She manipulated the situation and sought her own solution by giving her maid Hagar to Abram. We know the story well. However, as we look deeply into the situation, we see two disenfranchised women. Hagar conceived. Sarah did not and found she was despised by the very woman who was her slave. Sarah took out her frustration on Hagar in such a way that Hagar ran. We soon realize that taking matters into her own hands did not bring Sarah peace but a dryness of heart.

 Sarah longed for a son, yes, but she also in those days of waiting needed to learn to be still in the wake of all the activity around her. She needed God’s gracious peace and rest to be hers. She needed to trust God’s Word and promises to her. She needed to see her God in a different way—a way that would bring quietness to her heart. Sarah had fourteen years of stillness before her. She had no notion as to how God would work. She had struggled, and continued to struggle, with her own inadequacies. She needed God’s peace. Sarah needed, but did she fully seek God’s way and peace?

 Our sister in the Lord teaches us that God’s peace comes in the stillness. God works in our situations to supply what we need when we need it. She exemplifies for us a woman overcome by her burdens who had to give them back to the God who promised. She had to learn that the dry seasons of life should drive us to closer dependence upon God. Sarah learned that in God’s time, in His way, and in His merciful love, He would act on her behalf. God rewarded her not only with the promised son but by recording her as a woman of faith in the face of obstacles.

 And we, too, need to cling to the promises of God. The old hymns teach us “Jesus what a friend for sinners, Jesus lover of my soul . . . He my Savior makes me whole.” “I’ve got peace like a river, peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river to my soul,” claims the African-American spiritual. The Isaiah 26:3 hymn speaks to “peace, perfect peace”and Spafford’s “When peace like a river, attendeth my way/ When sorrows like sea billows roll/ Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say/ It is well, it is well, with my soul.”  These speak to those who have gone before us who also needed God’s peace and rest. They are part of “the great cloud of witnesses” who encourage us.

So, before the activities of summer take over our lives, allow God to step into our period of drought. Activity will not bring satisfaction. Simple trust, sometimes hard-fought, supplies the peace we need in an over-stimulated world. To God be all glory.

 

--Janet Hicks