God Is Working When We Don't Even Know It!

I think this is the first time I have posted on my blog for the second time in less than 24 hours. The reason is I am so excited about what God is doing in my life right now, I cannot sleep! It is 1:33 AM. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a night owl. I usually start shutting down at 9:30 or 10:00.

Rather than continue lying in the bed with a thousand thoughts racing, I decided to get up and go to www.crosswalk.com to read my assignment for my daily Bible reading plan. Today's scripture included the story about Jacob having the dream about the ladder going up to Heaven with angels going up and down it (Gen. 28). It goes on to say, And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."

As I read I thought, "That's it! I know how he feels!" Lately God has shown me that He has been working when I did not even know it. I can think of recent examples about Him doing this concerning contacts about my book, Loving God With All Five Senses, my ministry (Legacy Ministries), and the 1st Women's Conference Legacy is presenting on the 31st of this month called Lighten Up! Going Deeper!

If you would like to see what all is going on with any of these things, I invite you to visit my website at www.legacyministries.info. Thank you for allowing me some time to unload some of my excitement so I can go to sleep now!

Pray for Gaza!

This morning I went to www.crosswalk.com to read my assignment for the day in my Bible reading plan, and my eyes fell on a link about a Baptist Church being damaged in the midst of the bombing between Hamas and Israel. (If you click on the title of this blog, it will take you to the article.) As a born-again Christian so many thoughts race through my mind as I think about what is unfolding before our very eyes! Wow! Think of it!

Growing up I used to hear sermons all the time about the rapture of the church. I remember reel to reel movies being shown at church all about the Lord's soon return. Since then I have not heard much about getting ready for the Lord's return. Now things are changing. At least they better! All those things they used to preach about are actually happening, and they are increasing at an alarming rate. I don't mean to scare anyone. If your heart is right with God all this news should excite you. If you are not sure, it is time! (I recommend going to www.powertochange.com.) Remember, Jesus' return to take His bride, the church, to Heaven is our "Blessed Hope." (See Titus 2:13.)

Let this blog be a reminder to you to do as the Bible commands us and "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." The only way there will be peace is when the "New Jerusalem" is set up. That means when we pray for peace in Jerusalem, we are actually praying for the Lord to come! In the meantime, let us also remember to pray for the Christians in the area, like this Baptist church that happened to be right in the midst of the crossfire. We need to also pray for the Jews and Muslims to find the true Prince of Peace as we have. Jesus is the world's only HOPE!

New Year - Fresh Start!

Can you believe it is already a new year? I'm looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2009! I'm so glad God gives us new beginnings. Now is the time to re-evaluate. How is my relationship with God? with Bill? with the girls? with fellow believers? with others? How do I manage my time? How much time do I waste? Where do you draw the line between relaxing and wasting time? Hmmm....so many questions go through my mind every January.

Here are a few things I'm going to try to follow through on for this year...

1. Give God first fruits of my time.
2. Pray for people as soon as God brings them to my mind.
3. When I win, I'll praise God; When I lose, I'll praise God! (This taken from the movie we watched on New Year's Eve, "Facing the Giants"...I srongly recommend this movie!)
4. Don't jump to conclusions as soon as something happens!
5. Keep hugging my family...one of my favorite things to do!
6. Get in shape. (Read my January column for more thoughts on this one. My article, "A Tasty New Year's Resolution" can be read at www.ithirstnw.net.)
7. Read the Bible through. I listen to the DailyAudioBible podcast, which I recommend: www.dailyaudiobible.com, but this year I also want to read straight through. I recommend www.crosswalk.com. You can register for free and have a daily reading plan with whatever version you choose. You check when you've read the reading assignment, and it keeps track of your progress.
8. Focus!

I could go on, but that's enough!

May God bless you as you re-evaluate at the beginning of another great year! Happy 2009!

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!