The Gift of Love

Here I am, up early Christmas morning before the family. Merry Christmas! As I was waking this morning, I started thinking of the many people who are having anything but a Merry Christmas. I began praying for them to focus on the Father's gift of Love more than on their own selves. The enemy of our souls so wants to distract us from that.

So many people are depressed, angry, confused, and/or anxious today--the day we celebrate the Prince of Peace sent as a light to our darkness. Most of these desperate people do not know that this gift of Love has truly been given to them. A gift does no one any good until they receive it. It doesn't matter who gave the gift. It doesn't matter what the gift is or how much it costs. If the recipient of the gift does not take the gift in their hands, open it and use it for it's intended purpose, it will continue to be useless. So today, I offer a prayer for all the lonely people. Yes, they are lonely if they have not received the gift of Love, even if they are surrounded by many friends and family. Father, I pray that today many will have eyes to see that gift of Love You have given them when You sent Jesus. I pray that many will not only see the gift, but they will embrace it and receive the Prince of Peace into their broken hearts.

Now for the many Christians who have received Emmanuel, God With Us, but are still depressed, angry, confused and/or anxious today, Lord please remind them Who is in control! They are doing exactly what the enemy wants them to do when they focus on themselves and all the issues that they think are causing their depression or anxiety. I pray that they would look within, but that they would look deeper within. I pray they would look deeper than the layer of the present circumstances of the mess in which they find themselves. I pray they would look deeper than the layer of the past memories of the many people who have let them down. Help them to see deep within that gift of Love they took in years ago--the gift that keeps on giving, if they will only keep receiving! I pray that they would stop allowing the enemy to rob them of the "peace that passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:6) and the "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8) that they have in Jesus!

The Senses of Christmas

I had the awesome privilege of speaking at the Peachtree City United Methodist Church Women's annual Christmas brunch on Saturday. It was a joy to see people from the past, including ladies whom I taught their children when I was a music teacher years ago and fellow teachers from my years at Huddleston Elementary school. Thanks goes out to PTCUMC Women for inviting me! Everything was beautiful and it was a delight to be there!

The topic of my message was "The Senses of Christmas." I used the article I wrote with the same title for my monthly column, "Sensesational Musings by Tammy Melton" for www.ithirstnw.net (BTW, you may click on the title of this blog post to be taken to the page to read the article...scroll down to the bottom.), but I added more about Christmas being a time to remind us to serve.

Christmas is the holiday above others that appeals to our senses. You can probably taste that hot spiced cider and feel the warmth it brings to your body and soul even as you read this! And as much as we may say we are tired of hearing Christmas music, imagine a December without it! As we gather for all our festive parties and church presentations, let's not forget the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus indeed left His throne of Glory to come experience the five senses for us that first Christmas day.

Why did he do it? He did it for us. “...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28) Jesus is the ultimate example of a true servant. (See Philippians 2:5-8) Servanthood is the opposite of selfishness. He gave it all. He gave His life so that we can have eternal life. We've all heard the saying, "Nobody's perfect!" That goes along with the Bible that says we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. The Good News is that God Himself, the perfect one, came to take our place. Now we get the best gift of eternal life! That's what Christmas is all about!

How do we thank Him? 1. by receiving the gift for which He gave His life and 2. by serving others as He served us. I encourage you to give money in the red bucket when you pass by a Salvation Army bell ringer. I encourage you to find someone less fortunate and bless them this Christmas. When we do, we will help to soften the hardness of hearts in a society that tries to push Christ out of Christmas.

Post Thanksgiving Ponderings

Happy Thanksgiving! Yes, the day we call "Thanksgiving" in America is over for this year, but thanksgiving itself needs to abound within us every day of our lives. This should be a reminder for us to show an attitude of gratitude to all with whom we come in contact. God has stirred me to thank my children more when I ask them to do something. Even though they are to obey me, because I'm their mother, it is much more pleasant for all of us if I ask them pleasantly and respond with a loving "thank you." When we stop thanking people we start taking them for granted. I certainly don't want to take them for granted! (I learned that before they ever got here when I experienced years of infertility.)

It is important to thank people in our lives, but it is even more important to thank God. He is the source of our very existence! As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:57, "Thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." When we spend that time with God in close communion, thanksgiving will automatically flow to others out of the overflow God gives us. It is a cycle: thanksgiving to God leads to thanksgiving to people which leads to thanking God for people which brings us back to God!

Focus on God keeps this thanksgiving cylce going and keeps the motives of our hearts pure. Focus on people will stop the process and choke out gratitude from our hearts. Why? Because God is pure and people are not. God is the only One who will never let us down. Even our closest friends and relatives will let us down even if they don't intend to. When we focus on people, we start dwelling on their weaknesses and how they let us down. That's when seeds of offense start to take root and bitterness begins to fester.

I received a Thanksgiving e-card that had the following scripture passage on it: Colossians 3:12-17, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

Notice verse 13 says that we must forgive. We have to if we want that cycle of thanksgiving, that brings peace and joy, to keep going. Hopefully Thanksgiving was a time that reminded us to do a gratitude check. This passage tells us a list of things to "put on" that will encourage gratitude. If while we do our post-Thanksgiving check we find more offense than thanksgiving, we may need to go up a few verses and find out what we have to "put off" before we can "put on" all the good stuff! I'll let you do that for yourself. The whole chapter of Colossians 3 is rich with awesome nuggets of gold! Happy mining!!

Emmaus: The Wow Factor!

"Wow!" That's the word I kept finding myself saying while I was on my Walk to Emmaus journey in the beautiful NC mountains. It is one of those things that you cannot truly grasp until you experience it yourself. Before I went, I was asked what I hoped to get from my time at Mountain Top Emmaus. My response: "I pour out in ministry so much, I just want to be poured into!" That is exactly what happened!

What a joy to gather together with women from across the denomination lines to be set apart for 72 hours with our Lord! He certainly met us there! My two longings (being in His presence and seeing the body of Christ laying aside differences to come together) were more than fulfilled.

And my first day back (the 4th day, as they call it)...well, let's just say I certainly knew I wasn't on the mountain top anymore! Oh, yes, mountains of laundry and situations in ministry welcomed me home! Beside that, my body is tired. As one fellow pilgrim on the journey called it, I have "exhausted exhilaration!" That's OK, though, because I now know that I can operate on the overflow. When I get alone with my God, His Agape Love flows through me, cleaning me out and filling me up to overflowing. I now know that I need that overflow to keep going in ministry and everyday life without burning out.

I used to say that every Christian needs to do 2 things in their life time: 1. help start a church or ministry from the ground and 2. go on a short-term missions trip. Now I am adding a third thing: Go on a Walk To Emmaus journey! I recommend the Mountain Top Emmaus serving Western NC and North Georgia. To all those readers from Mountain Top, THANK YOU!! The love and service lavished on all the participants was such a physical example of Christ's grace to His beloved. We all come back renewed and ready to show that same love of Christ to weary believers and lost souls. Forward march!

Pause for Walk to Emmaus

I'm going to a Walk to Emmaus retreat tomorrow through Sunday night. I've never been on one but have heard so many awesome reports about them from others. I'm ready! No phone, no computer, no tv. Believe it or not, that sounds good to me! As I was just sitting here waiting for my computer to boot up so I could post a blog, I picked up a New Testament and opened it up. The very first page I saw said, "Jesus Appears to Disciples on the Road to Emmaus!" No lie! God's so good!

You may want to read the passage for yourself. It is found in Luke 24:12-32. I noticed something interesting in verses 28-29: "As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them." Noticed how it said that Jesus "acted" like He was leaving. Then they "urged him strongly" to stay with them and He did. Do you ever feel like God is going away? Maybe He "acts" like that so that you will bid Him to stay.

I know I will have quite a bit to blog about when I get home. For now I want to leave you with the last verses of the passage that are my favorite: "(30) When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. (31) Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. (32) They asked each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?' "

I look forward to revelation and burning in my heart as He talks to me on my Road to Emmaus this weekend!

Pray for our new president.

I came across another blog by Lee Grady of Charisma Magazine that is a great prayer guide for our newly elected US President. I urge you to go to it and read, "10 Ways to Pray for Barak Obama" by simply clicking on the title to this post. I am also stirred to pray for unity within the church after the effects of this campaign has left scars in many. Let's all remember who is in ultimately in charge. God is! He is the only One who sees the whole picture of what's going on with the economy, the presidential office, congress, supreme court, etc. As I said in the last post, we must seek His face! Then we will start seeing others with different views as He sees them.

I leave you with a praise report about the elections that you may not have heard. In all three states (California, Arizona, and Florida) that had propositions on the ballet about marriage, the vote was to protect the constitutional amendment protecting the definition of marriage to be a union between one man and one woman!

We interrupt this program to give you a special report!

Have you ever watched a program on TV and an announcer proclaimed, "We interrupt this program to give you a special report!"? That's exactly what I want to do. I want to get more feedback on my last post about Jesus stirring people and then give my thoughts about it, but I have to wait on that and blog what God is stirring in my heart this morning.

I woke up early (earlier than my flesh would have liked!) to that still small voice saying, "Seek My face!" I went to my computer and did a search in the Bible. Here are the verses I found:

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Psalms 27:8 NKJ When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."

Hosea 5:15 NKJ I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me."

I know that right now in light of the US presidential elections, we HAVE to do this! It's not just presidential elections, it is elections for congress, laws to protect marriage, the unborn, and may we not forget the future justices of the Supreme Court that will make rulings on many values we Christians hold dear. I pray that God will stir His people (ahh, where have we heard that before?!) and draw us to seek His face.

Now I want to hear from you about what you think that means to "seek God's face" and why that is so important. Hopefully we'll have more people chiming in, so keep your posts somewhat brief. I look forward to reading what everyone says!

Jesus "stirs up the people."

When I was reading the Bible this morning, something jumped out from the page at me. This time I want to get feedback from my blog readers, so please take a couple of minutes and send a response. The verse is Luke 23:5. The setting is when the people took Jesus to Pilate to get Him crucified. Pilate said that he found no fault in Him, but the people went on to tell Pilate why they thought he should be killed. The first argument they had was that Jesus "stirs up the people". This made them angry. What I want to know is what do you think that means and why were the people so angry about it?

Are We Listening?

Recently I had a friend email me and asked me to pray about a situation she was facing. When I responded to her, I asked her if she had asked God about it. She replied, "No I haven't. I guess I really don't want to hear what He has to say, because I'm afraid He's going to ask me to do something I don't want to do." Well, at least she's honest!

I came across a verse in my morning Bible reading today that addresses the issue of not listening to God. It is found in Ephesians 4:17-18 in the New Century Version: 17.In the Lord's name, I tell you this. Do not continue living like those who do not believe. Their thoughts are worth nothing. 18.They do not understand, and they know nothing, because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. Now I know this is talking about unbelievers, but it is a warning to us to not be as the unbelievers who refuse to listen. We all tend to fall into the trap of not listening to God--whether it be because of stubborness or because of distractions of this world. When that happens, we lack some of the fullness of life God desires for us to have.

May we stop and ponder these things. I pray that this is a reminder to you, as it is to me, to turn to God and let Him "speak" to us in the many ways that only He can....be it circumstances, through Bible reading, through other people, or in that still, small voice in our spirits. Even if there are times He asks us to do something out of our comfort zone, the end result will be joy and abundant life!

In Our Weakness, His Strength is Made Perfect!

This past weekend my plans to attend a retreat with the ladies at my church were thwarted. Instead I found myself in the bed with an upper respiratory infection. I spent many hours in the bed. I know this is a reminder to slow down! There comes a time when our bodies finally let us know that we have to stop and rest.

During this time I have pondered the whole thing about being weak. It is times like this that I am reminded that in and of myself, I can do nothing! Then I remember the verse in 2 Corinthians 9 where God tells us that His grace is sufficient for us and that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Look at what the Message Bible says: 2 Cor. 12:9-10 - "and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."

Then I was taken to Hebrews 11, the chapter in the Bible that is known as "The Hall of Fame of Faith." This chapter lists such Biblical heroes as Noah, Abraham, Sara and others and how they had faith. In verses 32-40, the author of Hebrews goes on to say that there were many others that he did not have time to go into detail about but he listed some of the things they did that proved their faith. Look what he said they did in verses 33 and 34: "who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Did you see it?! Right in the middle of the list of subduing kingdoms, stopping lions' mouths, and being valient in battle is what jumped out of the page at me: "out of weakness were made strong!" I think that point of faith comes when in our weak times, we stop and say, "Yes, Lord, I thank you for my weaknesses that remind me that I can do nothing without you. I surrender my weakness to allow Your strength to flow through me!"

Yes, I do thank God that He has touched my body and that I am out of the bed today, but I thank Him even more for the reminder of His strength that is carrying me!

Lord, I pray that my weakness will be an opportunity to excercise faith--faith that shows Your strength to those around me!

Hallelujah!

A friend of mine recently brought to my attention that the word "Hallelujah" was the same in all languages. Imagine that! The word that literally means to praise Yahweh (Jehovah, God) is spoken by people from different nations, cultures, and languages. How awesome that will be when my Jesus comes again, and we all bow down and say in one voice, "Hallelujah!"

Too often we just say words in the Christian lingo without any thought of what it indeed means. "Hallelujah" is no exception. We need to stop and realize what we are saying when we utter "hallelujah." I think of the word, "hallowed." God is so holy! Now when I say "hallelujah," I think, "How holy, worthy and pure You are, oh Lord Most High!" It is so refreshing to be in His presence and allow Him to wash away our impurities! It draws me to want to be holy and please Him.

You might think that coming into the presence of the Most Holy God would cause feelings of guilt and condemnation. Yes, if we enter in focusing on ourselves and how miserably we have failed, we may feel that way. However, if we enter in focusing on how great God is and how much we just want to be with Him, we will feel nothing but Him drawing us to Himself and giving us a desire to surrender all that garbage in our lives to Him in exchange for His unconditional, totally forgiving love! With that comes a desire to be with Him more and live a life that will reflect His light to the darkness of this world.

Think about that next time you utter, "Hallelujah!"

Keeping an Eternal Vision

I had the awesome privilege of attending the annual Servanthood Ministries Convention September 18-20 in New Boston, Texas. The theme of the convention was "Keeping and Eternal Vision." That is exactly what I was motivated to do as I left! I have such a desire now to look to God and let go of distractions.

I have been attending this convention since 2000, and I never cease to be amazed at how very real God's presence is manifested like a blanket of peace over the conferencees and like a geizer of joy springing up from within each individual heart. It is an experience that one has to be present to really know what I am talking about.

In ministry I get the feeling that I am pouring out to people as I share the love of God I have deep within. There comes a time when I have to pull away from the crowd and get alone with the Father as Jesus did to get poured into again. That's what God let me do when I went to the Servanthood Ministries convention. Thank God for filling my tank to be able to go out and pour into hurting people's lives even more!

One of the highlights of the convention for me was when a youth group from a local church ministered to the crowd with a human video to the song, "We Sing to the Nations." The young people had flags from different countries. The worship leader then got up and asked someone to hold the American Flag. The microphone was then open to anyone who felt led to pray for our country. I was one of the ones who went up to pray. I have been stirred to pray for the church in America for racial reconciliation, especially during this election. I asked a great African American friend of mine to come up to the stage. I then took her by the hand and began to pray for racial prejudism between whites and blacks in the church to be torn down. I then faced my friend, looked her in the eye, and said through tears, "On behalf of all the whites in the church, please forgive us!" She then took the microphone and said, "On behalf of my brothers and sisters, we release you from responsibility." There was more to the prayers, but bottom line, a real sincerity rang out from both sides, and the audience was moved and agreed with us in prayer.

Please join with me as we continue to pray for racial reconciliation in the church. Pray also that believers will wake up and set their focus on eternity! If they do, the racial issue will automatically be resolved!

Fireproof - The Movie

I just went to see a preview of the movie "Fireproof" starring Kirk Cameron. It is AWESOME!! It comes out in theaters next week. It's a movie that I got into from the beginning and it kept my attention to the very end. I laughed. I cried. It's also a movie that you don't have to be afraid your children will see or hear something they shouldn't. I encourage you to go see it and let me know how you like it! Go to www.fireproofthemovie.com for more info.

Entering into His Rest

I haven't entered a new blog for weeks, because I didn't understand why all my posts did not have paragraph breaks like I typed them. I didn't want to post another blog without paragraph breaks. I finally found out how to fix it! You can tell I'm new to all this!

What I want to use this blog for is to share what is stirring in my heart from time to time and get feedback from others. What I've been mulling over in my spirit for a few weeks now is the following progression:
1. believing God leads to
2. abiding in His Word which leads to
3. obeying Him which finally leads
4. entering into His rest

I got this early one morning while reading the book of John and jumping over to Hebrews in the Bible. Here are some scriptures for each step:
1. believing God - In John 5:38, Jesus told the people that they did not have the Father's word abiding in them, because they did not believe Jesus, whom the Father sent.
2. abiding in His Word - In John 15:5, Jesus tells us that whoever abides in Him bears much fruit. Remember that Jesus is the Word in flesh just as the Bible is the written Word, so when we abide in the Word and study the Bible, it leads to us want to obey Him and thus allow Him to produce fruit in us.
3. obeying Him - Hebrews 3:18-19 says, "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."
4. entering into His rest - Hebrews 4:3 says, "For we who have believed do enter that rest..." You may ask, "What does it mean to enter into His rest?" Well, ultimately it means being with Him eternally in Heaven where there is no sin, sickness, darkness, etc. However, it doesn't just mean that. It also means to enter into that place of abundance here on earth. This includes "peace that passes understanding" and "joy unspeakable and full of glory!" It also means to enter into the place where God has called you to do what He has called you to do. Nothing can bring more satisfaction than finding God to fill the void in your life and then experiencing that abundant life and living out the destiny He has planned for you!

I also got that the roadblock that keeps this from happening in our lives is when we look to people for approval instead of looking to God. In John 5:44, Jesus said, "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?" How often do we do that? This caused me to stop and do an evaluation on myself.

On the other hand, the catalyst to help us get there is being still and waiting on God. The more alone time we spend with God in prayer, Bible study, praise/worship and just meditating on Him and being with Him, the more we will desire to believe Him, abide in His word, obey Him and enter into His rest. He then starts showing us how we can still be aware of His presence everywhere we go! This also caused me to stop and do an evaluation. At times when I'm frustrated with the busyness of life, I need to pause, step back and thank God for His presence with me! That so helps! I call it a perspective check.

I challenge you to do as the Bible says in Psalms after some of the verses: Selah. I understand that this means, "Pause and think about that!"

Be Blessed Indeed!
Tammy

The Lord Directs Your Steps!

I have had such a full week full of God appointments! My daughter, Amy, made it to the nationals in our church's Fine Arts Festival for youth. We went to Charlotte, NC (along with thousands of teens from AG churches all over the nation) for her to sing with a small ensemble and a large ensemble from our church and play a french horn solo. What an awesome experience for her! She did very well in all three events. She made superior ratings and missed the call back by one point. Great for her first time out.

While in NC, I also had the opportunity to meet with many people from different churches to give them packets about my book and speaking. I call these God appointments, because I did not know I was going to do all that. I had a friend who was also going and knew contacts tell me to take packets, so I made the packets not knowing who they would go to. God knows my heart to go interdenominational. I was able to meet with people from different churches: Assembly of God, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist and Foursquare Gospel.

I came back Friday, and Saturday I had the awesome privilege to attend a writer's workshop at the East Metro Atlanta Christian Writers Group in Covington. Elizabeth Sherrill was the speaker. She is an incredible author and woman of God! She's written over 1500 articles and over 30 books including The Hiding Place, Cross and the Switchblade, God's Smuggler, etc. (Go to www.elizabethsherrill.com for more info on her.) I left with a renewed passion for writing!

As I look back over the week, the verse comes to mind: "A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps." (Prov. 16:9) That is the desire of my heart! I want to keep doing what I feel God has directed me to do, but I always want God to have the final word in case I might miss something He wants me to do! I want to also remember that His plan for me unfolds one step at a time!

Introduction to this blog...

The world of blogging....oh yes! I have been meaning to enter this world for a while and finally did. I first started a blog on http://www.shoutlife.com/, but I didn't realize that the only ones who can read it are those that are members of shoutlife. Now with this new blog, anyone can read and comment.



For those of you who maybe stumbled across this and do not know me, my name is Tammy Melton. I am the wife (for 22 years) of Bill Melton (the BEST husband!) and mother of awesome daughters, Amy (8th gr.) and Amber (5th gr). I am a Christian speaker and author. My book, Loving God With All Five Senses, was published in 2007. It is great for inspirational reading or for a 6 week individual or group Bible study. For more information, go to my website, http://www.legacyministries.info/. There you can click on a link to see a 3 1/2 minute promo video about the book.



I am also the President of a new ministry Bill and I started called Legacy Ministries for Christ, Incorporated in the Peachtree City/Fayetteville area of GA. You can get more information on that at my website as well. In a nut shell, we have an Equipping Center that is for people from all different denominations in the community to come together to be trained and equipped in whatever area of ministry the Lord is stirring in them to do.



I will basically be using this blog to post things that God is stirring in my heart. I would love to get your feedback.



Be Blessed Indeed!
Tammy