November 2011 Devotionals
November 28, 2011
Tell Jesus What You Need,
But Do It with Thanksgiving!
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford
In the years that our seven children were small, and when we were in the pastorate, hosting many overnight visitors, a wiry little woman named Helen came every Monday to help me with the laundry. (Once, just because I was curious, I kept track of how many pieces of clothing I washed in one week. I counted 489 pieces.)
Helen had been a telephone operator for years, but when the company started using digital equipment, she decided she was too old a dog to learn new tricks, and started cleaning houses for a living. She had been abandoned by her husband many years before. He'd left her with three small children to care for alone. She didn't seem to be daunted about it; she was a cheerful Christian and greeted every day with enthusiasm.
Imagine the delight of our three little boys when one day she rode up to the house on a shiny chrome Harley-Davidson, dressed in leather, a huge helmet perched on her head. She really was tiny, weighed at the most 110 pounds. "Helen!" I expostulated, "that machine is so big if it ever got away from you, you could never pick it up!"
"I've ‘laid it down' twice at a stop light," she answered merrily, "So I just ask the gentlemen in the cars stopped at the light to help me, and they always do!"
The thing I found most delightful about Helen was her quiet, assured confidence that God would take care of her. In her place, I think I'd have often tearfully asked God why He was making me go through all that bad stuff. But Helen didn't seem to be anxious at all. She'd pray; thank Jesus for the way He'd already help her; tell Him what she needed; and go serenely back to work, confident He would help her.
That's exactly how God wants us to handle our burdens! He tells us, in Philippians 4:6:
"Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God."
Why pray "with thanksgiving"? Certainly because it will help us to become grateful. But also, because our faith will be strengthened as we enumerate the many, many things God has already provided for us! What happens when we pray "with thanksgiving"? Verse 7 answers,
"And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
"Pray with thanksgiving," the Lord promises, "and you will have a peace you can't explain." But even better, "You will be shielded from anxiety because Jesus will guard your thoughts and your emotions."
No wonder dear Helen could thank God all day. After all, He was with her every step of the way!
November 21, 2011
God's Forgetfulness
A Word of Thanksgiving from Elizabeth Rice Handford
He's a middle-aged man now, with a trim salt-and-pepper beard, loving his family, and trying to do right. He trusted Jesus as a child, and now takes his family to church regularly.
But he is haunted by something he thinks the Bible teaches. When he was a young man, he spent several years in the drug culture and broke his father's heart by his bad choices.
Now those years haunt him. Someone taught him that when the final judgment comes, everybody will sit in a big arena, something like a movie theater, and every sin he has ever committed will be flashed on a screen. Then he'll find out what punishment God is going to mete out to him.
But that's not what the Bible teaches. On the contrary, the reason Jesus died for our sins was so, if we asked Him to forgive us, the judgment for our sin would fall on Him. There may be some "fall-out" left over from those days our friend spent in the "far country," some consequences for his bad decisions. But his sin has already been forgiven and forgotten.
Isaiah 53:5,6 says it like this:
But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way, And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
The Scripture is so plain, it's hard to imagine how it could be distorted.
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12
I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. Isaiah 44:22
Can a holy, all-powerful God actually forget anything? Yes! Yes! Yes! Here's what God Himself tells us in Hebrews 8:12 :
Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
God will never forget our name. He'll never forget how much He loves us. He'll never forget to take care of us. But yes! When we trust Jesus, He doesn't remember our sins or hold them against us.
What a wonderful reason to rejoice this Thanksgiving!
November 13, 2011
What We Need: Not Smarts, But Trust
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
Our dear granddaughter Bailee was born into a world that mystifies her in many ways.
In the classroom, she can read Nancy Drew stories, but in arithmetic numbers do all sorts of odd things. Geography is a set of pictures in a book with funny shapes and strange names. And science? Who knows what that's about?
But Bailee knows, with all her heart, that "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Her child-like faith and love for Jesus bless all of us.
The other day she asked me, "Grammie, Jesus is God?"
"Yes," I nodded.
"But then how can He be God's Son?"
Oh, dear Bailee, how can I explain to you something that even really smart people, theologians, have tried to understand? It's true, because the Bible says so. But I'm sure not smart enough to understand it.
The wonderful thing about life with Jesus is that we don't have to be smart, or famous, or rich. All we need to do is trust Him, and let Him be all those things for us.
Here's the way the Apostle Paul said it:
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty . . . But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:27-31
We, like Bailee, often feel inadequate, not wise enough, not smart enough, to meet all the challenges of the day. How wonderful to remember that God has given us Jesus to be our wisdom, our strength, our counselor. All we need to do is trust Him. What more could we ask?
November 7, 2011
The Shortest Verse in the Bible
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
"Mother, what's the shortest verse in the Bible?" I was twelve years old, headed for a Bible club, where I would be expected to quote a verse I had memorized. Time had run out; my ride was waiting. I needed a short verse, a really, really short verse so I could memorize it in the car.
Mother smiled. I think she knew my dilemma. "Jesus wept." John 11:35. Now hurry; you're keeping them waiting."
"Thanks," I yelled, trying to remember the reference as I ran.
At Bible Club, when it came time for us to quote our memorized Scriptures, I probably smirked. All the kids would know exactly why my verse was so short.
But when I quoted it, "Jesus wept," instead of chiding me, the club leader said, "You know, kids, that is a remarkable verse. Jesus is God-He made the whole world and yet, when His friend Lazarus died, He wept. Do you know why?"
I was stunned. The only way I'd ever thought about that verse was that it was short and easy to remember, never a thought about what it meant.
He went on. "The Bible tells us that Jesus became a man so He could understand us, so He would know what our temptations are, so He would be able to help us when we're tempted. Let's follow through on this before we listen to the verses the rest of you have memorized."
He turned in his Bible to Hebrews 2:17,18 and read,
For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Our leader looked up, wiped a tear from his eyes, and said, "Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus because He loved him. He loves us just as much. He knows how terribly we grieve when we lose someone we dearly love. He grieves for our grief, and He faced death on the cross so He could destroy death forever!"
From shortest-verse-in-the-Bible to precious reality in my life! What a lesson I learned that long-ago day.