Christian Writers Circle

by Judy Hitson

Psalm 121:2 NIV My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

A wow factor in the hills of Tennessee each year is a vibrant display of Autumn colors. This is one of God’s simple yet profound creations. The green leaves of trees transform to lush shades of gold, orange, red and brown. I see them as gifts from heaven at harvest time. With anticipation and appreciation, I draw close to the Lord with thanksgiving as I collect leaves of different colors and shapes on morning walks. Whether you experience changing seasons, live in the tropics or dwell in cold climate through the year, know that God created this beautiful world for us to enjoy.

Think of the LORD as Maker of heaven and earth. It brings to my mind Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. What I find most amazing is the LORD God spoke it all into being. In the creation story of Genesis we find this repeated phrase, “And God said…” Get it? God spoke  heaven and earth into being. It is magnificent to consider the power of God’s spoken word. Selah.

Praise the Lord for His mighty work of creation from nothing on the face of the earth to the separation between the heavens and the earth, between light and darkness, day and night, the vast creation of vegetation on earth, birds in the sky, animals and creatures on earth. Then, God made man in His image. That includes you and me!

We could plunge the depths of creation but I invite you to the simplicity of something God made. I shared collecting autumn leaves on morning walks as gifts from the Lord. This simple gesture brings me in communion with Him. That is intimate relationship with My Father in heaven, here on earth by His Spirit through Christ, who loved me enough to come from heaven to earth to die that I might have life in and through Him for all eternity. What gets your attention in creation that has you draw close to the Lord?

Look at the first words of our verse for today, “My help comes from the LORD.” I close with the reality that the LORD who made heaven and earth wants to help you. Do you rely on Him?  He will take care of you. Draw close to the Lord and He will draw close to you. Live not with thoughts of being self sufficient, rather know the LORD God who is all-sufficient for you. Come experience intimacy with Christ through creation, the Maker of heaven and earth. He formed you in your mother’s womb and has a plan for your life with a future and hope. He is your Blessed Hope. Rest in Him and wait upon Him. Hear His words of life for you today. Be encouraged, comforted and assured of His great love for you. As Scripture says if He cares for the birds of the air, how much more does He care for you. He cares.

Matt. 6:26 NASB “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

Psalm 139:13 NIV For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.   

Jer. 29:11 NASB ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

1 Peter 5:7 Amplified Casting the whole of your care– all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all — on Him; for He cares for you affectionately, and cares about you watchfully. [Ps. 55:22.]

by

Kathleen Shore

Isaiah 66:2

My hand made them; that is how they came to be, says the Lord. I show special favor on the humble and contrite, who respect what I have to say.

~

I was taken by God’s presence as I turned the corner of the next aisle in Hobby Lobby, to see a woman in a wheelchair waiting patiently for her caregiver to find what she needed to purchase.

That very morning, I had prayed and asked Father to please keep His fire ablaze in me…that it would not be quenched by any selfish ambition within His call on my life. And there He was…answering me with His “Way.”

For a moment, I could not move forward. I felt Father’s hand holding me back until I knew what He wanted to say. In awe of my Lord, I quietly watched and silently cried out. “Lord, what would You have me to do? Whatever You ask, I will do it!” And so graciously, God revealed His thoughts that were not my thoughts, with the power of His love poured out.

“I want you to tell her how beautiful she is to Me,” He declared to my spirit. Thinking surely God will give me more to say the moment I open my mouth, I moved in with what I knew to do.

As I approached to get permission to speak to the woman in the wheelchair, I observed her condition. Her eyes were dark and sunken…her arms drawn up tight at her chest…yet the word of the Lord had begun to well up in my belly and I saw the beauty God had spoken of her.

The caregiver was a bit disconnected, but kindly welcomed me in my request to speak to her. Not sure if His daughter could hear, see, or speak, I was hard after The Shepherd’s every move in communicating. As I stepped in front of her, Father said, “Get down on your knees…” and as I did, it not only brought me face to face with her, but my posture brought me to the powerful entrance of all I wanted to be for my Lord…a humble servant.

Without thought, I began to use sign language as I spoke the one thing I knew to say, “God made you so beautiful.” Immediately she responded with exuberance, bouncing her back against her seat, with her face turned upward, making grunting sounds with her mouth wide open… “Keep going,” I heard Father whisper. And so, I did. Now aware that she could see and or hear me, I continued on sharing about His love and want of her. She was simply ignited. And in the middle of our joyful conversation I realized, she was not responding to me…she was responding to Him.

Then, as suddenly as I had come upon them, the caregiver needed to go and I abruptly found myself in an empty aisle. Standing very still, I purposed to not presume to know the totality of what had just taken place, because I fully expected Father was not done with me. And gently, His voice came… “Did you see the way she lit up about Me…”

I was so in awe of the love in His voice for her and His pleasure in her response to Him, I could hardly reply. “Yes,” I whispered, “I saw it.” And as always, God caused me to run after Him like never before with His last words, “Know this…she will be first in my kingdom.”

~

For days following, I felt like I couldn’t get up off the throne room floor. I had been so altered by what God wanted me to know of His pleasure fulfilled. All I could think about was how I wanted to be first in His kingdom and that I wanted no earthly gain to steal that desire from me…not even the gain of what I knew God could do, but hadn’t done yet because His will was being made complete.

Who had been there for whom, in Hobby Lobby that day? All I knew was that I was running behind a woman in a wheelchair that no one on this earth would ever say she would be first at anything. And I, just wanted what she had of God’s pleasure.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

Surrender and trust to the will of our Lord amidst earthly suffering is like passing through a narrow gate covered in thorns, that becomes a grand kingdom doorway the moment we step over the threshold and fellowship with Him in it. For we are children of God…fellow heirs with Christ Jesus, if indeed we suffer with him…so that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:17). And each of us are being called, with trumpet sound, to ride upon the chariots of suffering as an escort to higher heights and deeper depths in Him if we would only live with renewed minds to this reality.

From the seed of His word dropped in perfect furrows of the heart, plowed by the “Way” of the cross, The Master is restoring His garden. We may feel great affirmation in new revelation gained the moment God opens our understanding to fresh manna in His word. But it is when we die to “self” through earthly sufferings that His character and likeness sprouts from that seed and becomes who we are, not just what we say we believe.

And so we can take joy in the midst of suffering, not wavering or ship wrecked by pain that has seared our hearts, because we know and believe – it is achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs all trials (2 Corinthians 4:17).

    We who have taken hold of the hope (which is Jesus) offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope (Jesus) as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters (and leads us into) the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf (Hebrews 6:19-20).

     Jesus, our Great High Priest, has gone ahead of us by the way of the cross. And having entered the Most Holy Place behind the veil, He calls for us to come to Him there. Our suffering joins us with him. Humbled, we become joint heirs with Christ and are welcomed into His love that, like a soothing river, brings us into more resurrection life than we had ever thought possible.

Let us be alert in knowing that our circumstances do not have the power to keep us from Him. It is only what is anti-Christ within our “self” that can keep us from Him.

Through the past six years of dying to self through the many scars of MS, I have found my Lord’s look of pleasure as I humbly lay my head down upon His chest. And there, His voice both holds me and thunders through the depths of me, even echoing to His bride around the globe saying… “Your joy in surrender to Me and My perfect timing in response to your suffering, tells Me that you trust Me; that you not only believe what I accomplished on the cross was enough, complete and done, but your surrender worships Me for it! You live in the joy of that belief instead of having another want… even another Godly want that is permissible. You don’t desire an earthly gain over being with Me in My presence. You keep your eyes fixed on Me as I steady you with My love and nothing of your suffering takes you away from Me. This, my little one, brings me the greatest pleasure. In this you say to Me, “How could I be ‘in need’ if I am living in the fullness of your presence?” For it is not your circumstances that cause you to be in need, but living outside of my presence that causes you to be in need.”

Prayer:

Father, I am humbled and broken before you. In this place I see your son so clearly – The Lamb, who chose to come in such humility…for me. And you set the signet ring of your pleasure down upon him in the form of a dove. Lord, I give You my whole heart to take joy in all that you bring to me today. You have done more than enough to fully convince me that you are so good, and even still, you won’t stop showing me! Your way, that is higher than mine, is so perfect! And your love is what I was made for. So I surrender all of my “self” to you… and trust you completely. Amen

Andrew Murray (b 1828) wrote:

“Wait on God till you know you have met with Him.”

What Are You Saying This Day?

by Brenda D. Flowers

            What are You saying this day, Lord? I hear all the discussions on the news about what is needed to improve our homes, our schools, our government and our world. I realize there is not anything we can do in our own human power to improve our lives. We need you!

Dear God, You are our source. As the flowers and plants need the sun, we need Your Son in our lives. Jesus’ resurrected life is the rejuvenating life we need this day. When we trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, Your Holy Spirit renews us and regeneration occurs. Our hearts, our minds, and our cells are new creations. We are powerful in Christ, bound in unity with Him in a way that our human words cannot describe. Our understanding here on earth is limited. We are new creations, transformed beings, when through faith we ask Jesus to be our Savior.

The world should see the change in our lives. We are change agents, purposeful created beings, living NOW for a reason. May we Christians WAKE UP to the light of Revelation and live as though we are transformed with purpose.

Oh, God, please forgive us for not plugging in daily to You, our source of energy and our hope. We are like rechargeable batteries, charged beings in a way. Our battery, our life, must get charged daily to truly live in power.

This morning, before I came to You, Lord, I was feeling weak and drained. If I am truly honest, after hearing and reading the World news, I was feeling a little fearful, too. But now, in quiet, I sit focusing on You, Jesus, and as I sing praises and express thanksgiving for my many blessings, I am feeling hope arise within me. I am being charged for this day, just this day.

Lord, awaken us all this day and may we truly experience new life, even more powerful than the day before. Bring your supernatural energy to our fleshly bodies.  Thank You, Jesus, for Your intercession for Your body, the church. I, with my will, choose to trust You as my source. I am plugging into You. Thank You for all I am and help me to realize as I humble myself, You are my strength. Then I will live in Your will, strong, courageous and will make a difference in this world.

Intimacy with Christ through Life
by Judy Hitson

John 3:16 NKJV “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

It is a miracle of life when we believe in Jesus Christ and receive His Spirit. When I received His life in me and His forgiveness of my sins, I no longer feared death or hell. It was like a heavy weight lifted off me. He revealed that I was accepted in the beloved and needed to forgive myself which took time because of sins in my past and self righteous living.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

As a child, I learned to practice religion, go to church, confess my sins, attend Christian school, follow rules and believe in God. However, I was bound in fear, visualizing God in heaven looking down on us as Judge with a gavel in His hand, while I lived on earth trying to be good and please Him. Soon after being born again, a revelation came to me reading John 5:24 NASB “Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” As I write that verse, the words of a hymn come to mind, “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine, O what a foretaste of glory Divine”…………  Soak those words in your spirit, O child of God. It is a blessing to see things from God’s perspective rather than human reasoning and understanding. We have the privilege through Christ and the life of His Spirit to see as He sees and live Christ as He lives through us.

Are you living Christ or practicing religion?

The second birth is being born again through Christ by His Spirit. ( See John 3) It is the beginning of life for us with God. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you, John 6:53 NASB. As Christians, Christ…is our life, Col. 3:4, from morning to night, even in our sleep. Without Christ, physical life is existing on this earth without God’s life, being earthly minded. The Spirit gives life, John 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6. As I write, I hear the words of Acts 19: 2NASB and he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

In closing, consider intimacy with Christ through life, ponder these words and questions:

2Cor.2:14-16 NASB But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?          

Are you a fragrance of Christ?

John 7:37b-39a NASB “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” But this He spoke of the Spirit……

Do rivers of living water flow from your innermost being by the Spirit?

John 20:31 NASB but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

Do you have life in the name of Jesus Christ?

John 14:6 NASB Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.     

Do you come to Father through Jesus Christ?

Intimacy by Holding On
by Brenda D. Flowers

Have you ever had times in your life when you wish your overwhelming circumstances would change quickly? Have you prayed for relief, hoping the relief would come immediately? Maybe you needed direction from God about important life changing decisions you had to make. Possibly, you were feeling uncomfortable or dissatisfied at work or at home. In all our lives, either as children or in adulthood, there have been times when we have felt sad, hurt, lonely, fearful, confused or possibly even abused.

When life’s events cause terrible wounds, doubt or fear, we, as Christians, know we can call out to Jesus. In terrible times, even nonbelievers, often without thinking, call out to God. Yet, what do we do when we pray and we don’t know if God has heard us, or when we do hear from our Lord His answer is, “Wait”?

Recently, I have been experiencing new trials and testings which I know God is using to help build my Christian character. During my past “wilderness” seasons, I have always grown closer to my Lord. I have learned to realize the purpose in going through hard times. I could not handle my circumstances without the Lord in my life. I must be totally dependent upon Him. I am discovering my intimacy with Christ has grown even closer because I have cried out to Him more.

A few days ago while reading a devotional written by Carolyn Larsen, I read these words “hold on to Jesus tenaciously.” Her divinely inspired words seemed to pop off the page which often seems to happen when God is trying to reveal His truths to me.

True intimacy is the act of holding onto Jesus tenaciously. I realized as I read these words, it is in the waiting periods of life or in the wilderness seasons, when we must cling to our Lord with unwavering faith.

Tenacious has various meanings. The definitions and Latin origins as taken from Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary:  tenacious–1 Having great cohesiveness of parts, tough.
2 Adhesive, sticky. 3 Holding or tending to hold strongly as opinions, rights, etc.; followed by of; hence, stubborn; obstinate; unyielding; or persistent. 4 Apt to retain; strongly retentive, as memory. [<L tenax, tenacis holding fast < tenere hold, grasp, embrace]

In my mind’s eye, I picture myself about to fall off a cliff reaching out to Jesus who takes hold of my hand. I am clinging to Him and He is clinging to me. I feel His strength and hope arises in knowing He has hold of me and He will save me from the disaster my fleshly body is being pulled to by the gravity of my current life experiences. I am holding on “for dear life” as the expression goes, and dear life is what He will bring to me.

I can feel the Holy Spirit’s power as my Lord and I are together in that holding position. I am in the process of being pulled up and out of the negative force field, the danger zone, although it may not feel like it at present.

This intimate time of clinging and trusting the Power who will save me seems like forever. Although someday, I anticipate realizing the waiting period was really only a short amount of time.

As I meditate even longer on the idea of holding onto Jesus tenaciously, I picture the clinging of two people, the rescuer and the one being rescued. I think of a young child who has just been pulled out of icy waters and is in the loving embrace of his dad. I see a little one pulled to her mother’s arms just before she runs in front of a car or runs into a fire.  I visualize the loved ones clinging to each other.

The words “hold on tenaciously” remind me of that type of intimacy, the clinging of two, one the saved and One the Savior. I find joy and hope by reaffirming my faith. These current terrible circumstances in my life will not take me away to disastrous end as long as I hold onto the One who has the power to save. I am making a choice during this hard waiting period to hold on tenaciously to Jesus. Magnificent intimacy is found as I apply complete trust and unwavering faith in the act of holding on.

Hebrews 3:6-8 NKJV  But Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:  ‘Today, if we will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the Wilderness… 

 His Invitation To Intimacy
by
Kathleen Shore

My Lord is the greatest of gentlemen… He does not push, pull, or shove me, but draws me to Himself with a lovingkindness that is far better than life itself.

~

One particular Friday morning, I was completely invigorated and strengthened by God’s love pursuit of me. It took hold of me as I went about the house cleaning in preparation to leave the children with my husband for the weekend so that I could travel and minister the love of God to a beautiful group of women. And although I had asked my Lord (as I always do) to wreck me with His love in a brand new way, so that my words would be like fresh manna, I must say… He took me by surprise.

At first, I did not realize His approach. It seemed to be just a random remembrance of an old diamond wedding band commercial that I idolized as a young married woman. But as the vivid picture flashed across my mind, a resurgence of awe and wonder swept over me and I stopped cleaning for a moment to take it all in, as though viewing it for the first time.

It must have been the way the man and woman walked together through the cobblestone village square. They were so unaware of other people, undisturbed by the pigeons all around their feet. Simply captivated by each other, they had a silent knowing of the love they shared. Then he stopped, and turned to face her. Holding out a stunning diamond engagement ring, he drew a deep breath and boldly declared at the top of his voice, “I… LOVE… THIS… WOMAN!”  Silence fell among the people, bringing their busyness to a halt as hundreds of pigeons rose up in flight with almost an angelic movement in their wings. And just as I was about to give my thoughts and emotions to this old idolized memory, God moved in on me with His invitation to a deeper intimacy with Him.

Like a sequel to the short film I had just viewed in my mind, Jesus re-played our love story. Without skipping a heartbeat, I saw myself looking up to the top of a hillside, where God had put on display how high, how deep, how wide was His love for me… poured out through His Son hanging on a cross. And all for love of me, my First Love willingly gave His life to suffer in this way.

With His eyes peering down into me, and His blood poured out, He then drew His last breath and boldly declared to all of heaven and earth, and under the earth, “I… LOVE… THIS… WOMAN!”

~

Pierced to my core, I was undone by His love all over again. I had locked eyes with The One who loves me, and gave His life for me. And as I stood looking into the source of all I ever needed, these scriptures washed over me.

Psalm 91:1 NIV
He who abides in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

John 15:4 NIV
Remain in Me, and I will remain in you.

I realized that I had a lifelong, moment by moment invitation to respond to His love. Immediately I thought to myself, “And what is my response to His declaration of me?”

Prayer:

O Lord Jesus, Lover of my soul,

I want to say, “Yes,” with my life that I am Yours. Thank you for declaring Your love of me on the cross. Thank you Father for giving your Son. Now would You roam through every corner of my heart? Would You take full possession of me? I look to no other. I desire no other. And until You return for me, I will live awake, looking for You my Bridegroom.

Hebrews 12:1 & 2 NIV

…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.