In Tune With God

2018. A new year and new chapter with crisp blank pages on which to write a composition of lessons and memories.  I love new beginnings so much that I tend to jump on all the bandwagons... #alltheresolutions :) My life can get a little loud then with all the goals and lists.  I thought and prayed asking the Lord to make clear a word to set my intention for this year.   I thought through a lot of words before I settled on the phrase "Tune My Heart." The phrase is found in one of my favorites hymns, Come Thou Fount. 

Come Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing thy grace.

Streams of mercy never ceasing 

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet 

Sung by flaming tongues above. 

Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, 

Mount of thy redeeming love. 

It fit my prayer for 2018 that the Lord would "Tune My Heart" to His voice. That I would listen closely to the sound of His song for my life. It fit my professional goal to continue to develop my musicianship and pedagogical skills for my choirs. It fit my personal goal that I would be "in tune" with the rhythm of my family. I would appreciate your prayers for this year that the Lord would tune my heart daily.

To tune, you have to listen closely to match your instrument to the pitch being played by a lone oboe in the middle of the orchestra. Tuning happens at the beginning of a concert as people are settling into their seats, and as every instrument tunes simultaneously, the orchestra swells in a cacophony of noise as each instrument plays arpeggios and scales that only cease when the concert master stands and the conductor walks onto the stage.  It is my prayer my words, thoughts, and actions are in tune with the Conductor so the composition of my life plays in tune with His Word. 

--Gabrielle Haston

His Good Spirit

Let’s start this morning with some Bible verses that have been “ringing in my heart” as I “ring” in the year 2018.

NEHEMIAH 9:20 - “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them...”

JOHN 14:16, 17a - “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth.” Then verse 26: “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things...”

Wow! The same Spirit that directed the Israelites through their many “journeys” is there to “instruct” and “teach” us on our journey this year. I love the way God’s Word encourages us with all 66 books. What a treasure we have to give us wisdom from the Old and the New Testaments as in Nehemiah and John!

***Who is the “YOU” in Nehemiah? Of course, it is the “Heavenly Father” listed in John. He is (Psalm 146:6) “the Maker of Heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them - the Lord who remains faithful forever.” HE is the One who gives His Spirit.

*** Why is “GAVE” important in Nehemiah and “GIVE” in John? Because the “good Spirit”...the Holy Spirit...is a GIFT to all believers. I love the name Jesus gives Him in verse 26: “Counselor.”

***Why “YOUR Spirit” in Nehemiah? Jesus emphasizes in John that this wonderful Spirit will come from our Heavenly Father. He will speak “truth.” What could be better than that???

*** Why “GOOD”? He, the Holy Spirit, is part of the Trinity. He is perfect, sinless, wise...as the other two persons in the Godhead...the Father and the Lord Jesus.

*** Why “SPIRIT”? John 14:17 says this Spirit will actually dwell in us. That is definitely a WOW! A person cannot “get inside” another...but the Holy Spirit is with us 24/7.

Guess what??? He will INSTRUCT us...TEACH us. Oh, my! We do not know what 2018 will bring...at least, I do not. But God reminds us in His Word in Nehemiah and John that we will have His Holy Spirit to help us make the right choices when we do not know what to do.

He will teach us the way to go, the words to speak, the profitable way to use our time, and the means by which to reach others for Him. “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them...”

--Maylou Holladay

Griping Makes You Ugly

Have you ever watched someone complain? Their body stiffens, and their face contorts. Can you feel the sour when someone on social media starts griping, even though you can’t see their face? A lifetime habit of complaining can literally make you ugly, and possibly, physically and mentally sick, because our bodies interlace with our spirits. And when I complain, I feel ugly inside, don’t you? It never makes me feel better.

We all know about those complaining Israelites that ended up walking around in the wilderness for forty years. God HATED their complaining and ingratitude. He felt angry when they started that. But life was difficult for them, was it not? Didn’t God understand how hard things were? There’s plenty in this world to complain about, so what’s a girl to do? We need to vent or explode, right? 

Consider the instruction from the Apostle Paul on how to handle such things:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Meditate on These Things

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you…

I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content… I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” From Philippians 4, NKJV

We bring our requests before God, not our complaints. There’s a difference between complaining and addressing a problem. And we all know people who just want to complain instead of resolving a problem (maybe it’s us?). We think about good things (see the list above), aka counting our blessings. Give thanks. Once, during a difficult time in my life, this was so hard for me that I had to discipline myself to list five blessings in a notebook every day.

Most of us are familiar with these verses, but one thing we often miss – the last verse. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” These things are too hard for me! I am literally incapable of doing them. My flesh is sinful through and through. I am worse off than I can imagine. But Christ. His Spirit lives in me. When I release control and ask Him to take over, good things happen. There really is power in positive thinking.

joyce hague

Realistic Dreamer

         As we look ahead to the promise and hope of a new year, God is teaching me to be a realistic dreamer. I don’t mean that I am limiting what God can do by any means, because He can do far more than we can ask or imagine. I am referring to completely unrealistic expectations of my fallen self and this fallen world. I love fairy tales and cheesy romance movies that end with ‘and they lived happily ever after.’ Disney and fairy tales of the more recent decades have left many of us feeling like that is what should happen in life. Not only that, but I believe even the American Dream of the perfect house with the white picket fence and 2.5 kids has led us astray in our expectations of life.

My usual idealistic dreaming can hurt my spiritual life and my New Year’s goals as well. I tend to make too many grand goals because I get so hopeful and excited, and then I find myself very disappointed and frustrated a few weeks or months later (if it even takes that long). I may not always be the greatest go-getter in part because I have perfectionistic tendencies and have grown tired of feeling like I can never achieve the goals I set.

As usual, God has been getting my attention through various avenues, but He is greatly using this new Bible study, When God Doesn’t Fix It by Laura Story, to remind me of the reality of this life. Remembering that we will have trouble in this life helps me keep my expectations of this new year more realistic. Whereas I naturally think of the ideal things that could happen, I am striving to expect that some or many of those great things could come from difficulties and trials. I am not saying that I am yet to the point where I eagerly anticipate trials for the growth God will bring, but I want to be more aware of the reality of them so I am not taken by surprise when they happen and then be more disappointed or frustrated.

I would never for a moment say that I believe the health-wealth gospel that says if you follow God, He will make your life easy and successful and healthy, and yet, somehow, that has crept into my underlying theology. Although I do not expect a perfect life, I have been hurt or frustrated when God has allowed certain pain and difficulties in my life. As for expectations of myself spiritually, I have been frustrated at how I have to learn certain lessons over and over or that the same sins are a struggle. Again, I would never have said aloud that I expect to ‘arrive’ at perfection in this life, but I did not have completely realistic expectations of what the struggle of growing in the Lord would look like.

So, my hope for this new year is not that God would give me this picture perfect life and answer all my prayers the way I want, but my hope is that He is with me and will never forsake me through any difficulty of this life. He will grant joy, peace, comfort, and strength that defies circumstance. He will be patient and strong and compassionate as I muddle in my spiritual growth this year, and He will draw close to me in my imperfection as I draw near to Him. As I make my goals for this year, I hope and pray that He will help me dream big in what He can do, but that I will also take a realistic look and break the goals into manageable, realistic steps for my personality and struggles. I believe that in renewing our minds to the truth of the difficulties in this life and in ourselves that we can learn greater contentment in whatever circumstances come our way as Jesus guides us through this promising new year. May we all fix our eyes on Him when this year brings us both joys and pains to remember that He went through so much more for us and that He promised to always be with us!

A Poem for the New Year

If you've been reading this blog for several years, you might recall having read this poem before. It's a wonderful one for the new year.

Next week, we'll hear a fresh word from Judith! 

Thanks for reading! 

Begin Again

Every day is a fresh beginning,
Every morn is the world made new;
You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,
Here is a beautiful hope for you–
A hope for me and a hope for you.

All the past things are past and over,
The tasks are done and the tears are shed;
Yesterday’s wounds, which smarted and bled,
Are healed with the healing which night has shed.

Yesterday now is a part of forever,
Bound up in a sheaf, which God holds tight;
With glad days and sad days and bad days which never
Shall visit us more with their bloom and their blight,
Their fullness of sunshine or sorrowful night.

Let them go, since we cannot relive them,
Cannot undo, and cannot atone;
God in his mercy, receive, forgive them;
Only the new days are our own,
Today is ours, and today alone.

Here are the skies all burnished brightly,
Here is the spent Earth all reborn,
Here are the tired limbs springing lightly
To face the sun and to share with the morn,
In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn.

Every day is a fresh beginning;
Listen,  my soul, to the glad refrain,
And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
And puzzles forecasted and possible pain,
Take heart with the day, and begin again.

Susan Coolidge