April 2010 Devotionals

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April 2010

April 2010 Devotionals

April 26, 2010

Sunday Morning: Getting Ready for Church

A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford

Yesterday. Sunday. At the Handford home. Time to get ready for church.
Walt brings in the Sunday newspaper. Makes coffee. Decides what to wear without any fuss. Showers. Blow-dries his hair. Gets his Bible, and he's ready for church.
Libby checks through her closet, finally chooses an outfit. Decides it needs pressing. Presses it. Wants to wear comfortable shoes, but chooses the dress-up, less comfortable shoes to match the outfit. Finds the necklace she bought to match the outfit. Make-up. Perfume. Hair spray. Purse to match the shoes. Bible. She-finally-is ready for church.

But on this Sunday morning there is an area-wide power outage. The sanctuary is in total darkness, except for a row of candles across the front of the platform. Ushers with flashlights seat the people. No words for the hymns on the screens. No keyboards, only the piano. No sound system for the pastor or the musicians. No air conditioning. We could have been Christians in Rome in the first century, worshiping together in the catacombs, with nothing-

-Except people with hungry hearts, eager to worship God with fellow Christians. A wonderful message of God's grace, from the pastor's heart, voice straining to make sure people can hear him. We raise our voices in old, familiar hymns, so no printed words are necessary. This must be what God really wants of us: our earnest, deep and passionate love for Him, as we worship alongside fellow believers.

No one sees, or cares, if Libby's shoes match her purse.

April 19, 2010

God's Mercies Are New Every Morning

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford

You've heard the expression "bone tired"? That's the way I felt after all the children and their spouses and the grandchildren and their spouses and the great-grand-babies came home for Christmas dinner one year. That night I fell into bed, wondering if I'd ever want to get up again. As I drifted off to sleep, a refrain from Sunday's worship service went through my head, "He is exhausted, the King is exhausted!"

My God exhausted? My King tired? The idea was so ludicrous I sat bolt upright and laughed. The refrain of that song is, "He is exalted, the King is exalted, and I will praise His name forever."

Well, I thank God that He never does get tired! But it gets even better. He promises us that every morning He will give us exactly what we need for the day's challenges.

Here's the way Lamentations 3:22,23 says it:

It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed,

because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning:

great is thy faithfulness.

God's mercies, His compassion, His faithfulness: these are new every single day, for my joy and comfort. I can never exhaust God's love. I can never live beyond His mercies. He is faithful, always, forever. He committed Himself to take care of us even before He created us!

So, yes, the next morning I got up, refreshed and eager to meet the day that would be filled with God's compassion and faithfulness. No wonder that praise chorus ends, "The King is exalted, and I will praise His name forever"!

April 12, 2010

Always Wanting One Thing More

A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford

Ever wondered why Eve, in the Garden of Eden, pouted because God had forbidden her only one single fruit in His whole wide world? God had given her and Adam all the bountiful treasures of His beautiful world. But when Satan reminded her there was one fruit she was forbidden to eat, she decided she couldn't live without it. Her greediness and disobedience hurt all of us (-but then I'm afraid I would have made the same choice, and you, too).

Example: a woman and her daughter drove home from attending a wedding shower at a lovely home in an elegant neighborhood (true story; no names!). She drove into their own driveway, looked at their home, and said to her daughter, "Our house is so ugly!"

"No, Mother," the girl said, "our house is beautiful. Don't you remember how beautiful you thought it was when you and Dad first bought it?"

"But in comparison to the Smiths-"

"Oh, Mother, you've just gotten used to it."

"But if your Daddy wouldn't give so much money to the church, we could afford a house like the Smiths, too."
"Mom, I think God gave you the house of your dreams because Daddy does honor the Lord." (And we think so, too.)

What was the mother's problem? She focused on what she didn't have, instead of enjoying what her loving Heavenly Father had so kindly provided. Her focus was wrong.

The book of Philippians chapter four talks about this. God tells us not to be anxious or fearful about anything. He tells us to pray about anything, to pray for what we need. Then He adds an interesting statement: "Pray, but pray with thanksgiving." Tell the Lord what you need, yes, but remember to be grateful all the wonderful things He has already given.

If we do this, God promises us, we'll enjoy a peace we can hardly understand!
It's not until several verses later in the chapter that Apostle Paul writes,

"But my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19

When we saturate our lives with gratitude, God will give us everything we need, everything!
A simple pattern:
> Don't be anxious about anything
> Ask God for what you need
> Ask with thanksgiving
> Enjoy the peace that passes understanding
> Then enjoy seeing God meet your every need!

How many good things have we missed because we focused on the one little thing God denied us, rather than thanking Him for all He has given?

April 5, 2010

Wonderful Truth from a Comic Strip

A Conversation with Elizabeth Handford

O.K., now you know: I like the comic strips. When I was a little girl, we called them "the funny papers." They aren't always funny, true. Johnnie Hart started drawing his B.C. cartoon in the '50's in answer to a challenge that he couldn't sell a prehistoric cartoon character.

He could, and did, and won many prestigious awards before his death in 2007. Hart was a committed Christian, and occasionally preached a memorable truth in his usually light-hearted frames.

In the B.C. comic strip for March 30, 2002*, two female characters are talking. (I have no idea of their names!) One is reading from the Bible to her friend. "Oh, my goodness. . . says here. . . Jesus descended into Hell!"

"You're kidding!" says the friend.

"Oh, no. . .not to stay! . . . He just dropped in to cancel our reservations."

"Whew!" says the friend.

That's the glory of the Easter story!

We-all of us-were doomed to Hell because of our sin. We "had reservations" there.
But Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. He suffered the pangs of Hell in our place so that we would not have to "keep our reservations." Instead, God wants to give us all the treasures of Heaven in Jesus. How I hope you are enjoying His incomparable gift of salvation in this Easter season.