Thoughts on Neediness

We all need the love of Jesus.

“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” 1 Samuel 2:8 (NIV)

As a teen I heard the term “needy” used to describe those who were without certain basic material belongings. Reflecting on those years, I only heard the word used in November and December.

As a young adult, I attended a Women’s Missionary Group that visited the county ‘poor farm’ from time to time. The group decided to visit at a time of the year other than Christmas. While I understood the thinking, it became clearer when one of the administrators of the children’s home down the road the road from where we lived told me that the residents there ‘got Christmased to death.’ By this, he meant that every civic group in the area visited during the Christmas season.

As a regular attendee of a growing church, I noticed the prayer sheet given out twice a week-on Wednesdays as well as Sundays. The names are those of members, constituents, and their friends. These people are from all age groups and all walks of life. The one thing binding these names together is their need for prayer.

We all are a needy people. Whether it is a healing touch from God, His guidance through a circumstance in our lives, or His presence in our lives, we all need the Lord.

Have you ever been in a public place and watched people as they pass by? Studied their faces, their stance, how they walk? Spoken to them? Listened to them as they conversed with others? Sent up a silent pray for these people? I should do this more than I do. I will start as a part of my goals for 2012.

Sometimes we learn more about people by watching them than by talking with them. How they behave in certain situations, how they respond to others. Do they show respect? We can learn things about people that are things we have to learn to live with and work around.

Prayer and Anxieties

“Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything, by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Phil. 4:6

Paul presents an antidote to worry. Why don’t we follow it? Is it that we don’t believe God’s Word?

Time and again, someone has asked friends of mine to pray for a special need. Some of these requests include: the search for a bone marrow donor, a change of program format for a ministry of the church, guidance for a family situation that caused deep hurt, the healing for a son, the healing for a friend or a family member, or consolation after the loss of a loved one.

I once heard that when we worry we cause ourselves to erode from the inside out. This analogy continued to remind me of a tin can. It begins to rust because of its contents. The chemical reaction between what’s inside the can and the metal itself brings about weakness in the can and that vessel can no longer do what it was designed to do.

When we worry about something, a situation in our lives, a circumstance in a friend or loved one’s family, or an issue in our community or society, we set ourselves up for ulcers, digestive conditions, forms of arthritis-like symptoms, and other disorders.

When we pray about a need, we receive a peace or we feel the need to pray fervently and wait for God to work. We turn these vexations over to God who has all things under His control.

I had to learn this lesson in my adult lifetime. Have you had experiences where you kept something bottled up inside of you and didn’t turn it over to God?

What To Do With Our Burdens

Casting for fish. Bing

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty had of God,

that He may exalt you in due time,

casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NKJV)





When we have a burden, a concern, or a worry, we have certain options we can pursue. We can fret and stew about it; that can lead us to getting physically sick or we can give it to God and let Him take care of our need.

God allows us the choice. When we choose to ‘stuff’ our problems, we eventually get a lot of issues on our hearts. The modern psychologists refer to this as having a lot of ‘baggage.’ When I first heard this term, I thought of a person carrying a full suitcase on his or her back. This imaginary person, bent from the waist, couldn’t move with ease. That person carried the weight of all his misdeeds and hurts in such a way he couldn’t see the road ahead.

Our scripture today tells us when we humble ourselves before God, He will lift us up. Our being free of the burden might not come as soon as we want. It comes ‘in due time’, when God chooses to intervene and remove that concern from our hearts.

Casting all your cares, I like this phrase. Being married to a man who used to fish, I get a mental image of a person stretching his or her arm over their head and letting the reel release the line as far away as possible. In the spiritual sense, I hear Peter telling his readers to hurl those woes onto the Lord God and not pick them back up again.

While it is sometimes difficult to leave our requests with Jesus, when we learn to do this we grow in our faith.

Walk In Obedience

Walking and Obeying. Bing

“And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you heard from the beginning, his command is that we walk in love.” 2 John 5-6 (NIV)

John returns to the command given by the Lord Himself. We are to love one another. He explains when we are to accomplish this we obey God and His commands.

As we go through 2012, we need to remember that we are commanded to love one another as God loves us. What does this mean to us? God loves us as we are, He loves us not because we will do great things but because of we belong to Him.

I saw her when she was in the hospital. She was a relative but we had different lives. She told me she didn’t approve of the way either of her children lived their lives but they were her kids. As she said it I felt scolded but later I realized she wasn’t defending them but loved them because they were hers. She made no pretense about trying to justify the behavior of her children, she loved them anyway. That day, I saw how unconditional love worked.

Recently, I saw unconditional love displayed by an older couple. They had had been victimized by a younger member of their family. My friend spoke of their concern about this young relative being placed with hardened criminals while being retained by the authorities. I took the time to tell my friend that she had reminded me what unconditional love looks like.

Sometimes we follow God’s guidance and others treat us shabbily. When this happens, we still have to follow His direction and obey His words.

Do Not Dwell On The Past

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing.”
Isaiah 43: 18-19a (NIV)



We hear people say, “Live in the moment.” Usually, the person behind this phrase is advising us to focus on issues that affect our lives today, not something that happened 20, 30, or 40 years ago.

God tells the people to not relive in their minds the past of their nation. He had just told them to forget what happened to them in their past. Warren Wiersbe, a Christian writer gave me a very good usage of the word forget. The passage was Philippians 3:12-14. In this passage Paul tells us “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on. . . .” Mr. Wiersbe wrote that the meaning here of ‘forgetting’ is not to remove from our minds. Rather it is that we no longer allow the things of the past control us.

I believe we can apply the same usage to this passage as well.

One time, back in the early 1980’s, I witnessed a situation that caused a church to fire a choir director. The church was within its rights. This circumstance should not have happened among Christians. Eight years later, I saw this person at a church league athletic event, acting as a referee. I found myself remembering what had happened earlier. I shared this at a Wednesday night Prayer Meeting at the church I belonged to. One of the Lay Ministers reminded me, “God doesn’t remember eight years ago, why should we?”

I learned a lesson that night. I had to accept that that person may have sought God’s forgiveness. I had to forgive that person as well.

God tells people in exile He is doing a new thing. He makes a way for the Israelites where there wasn’t one before.

When we find ourselves under a burden, we need to ask God to make a new way out of the circumstance or, to put it another way, to allow good to come out of the bad situation.

A New Way

Look forward to the future, "Veil of Forgetfulness"
Bing

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you
not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams
in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)



The Lord God speaks to His prophet Isaiah. He also speaks to us. We have times when people’s actions and words tend to get us down. During this time of a new year, we should practice forgetting all the hurts we have endured in our pasts.

“Forget? I can’t forget what they did to me.” How many times have we said that in our lives? I once read a thought about the word ‘forget’ as used in scripture. Warren Wiersbe wrote in a Bible study on Philippians words that I still have in my heart. The passage was Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to take hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

Mr. Wiersbe wrote that the word ‘forget’ did not mean to banish from our minds. Rather, the meaning was that we no longer allowed things to control us. I found this perspective to free me from some harsh things that happened to me in my past.

When we dwell on events that happened a long time ago, we permit those feelings and those difficult words to color our outlook on life. I have read where a woman who goes through the horror of violation develops wariness about men. A friend of mine was a victim of her stepfather’s misguided passion. She still has protective habits that date back to her adolescent years, even though she has had a good adult life.

Our dwelling on things in our pasts tends to make us sick. We develop ulcers and nerve problems because we can’t lay things to rest. An extreme example of this is the PTSD condition of some soldiers or of someone who has witnesses a horrific crime.

God makes things new and easier for us. Each day is new, we can begin again.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)

Prayer:

Dear God,

As we go through this time of making changes for this another year, let us remember to give the hurts and heartaches of our pasts over to You. We will do this willingly and wait for You to act on them in our behalf. In the name of Jesus, I pray, AMEN

Walk In Love

"Walking", Bing

“And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command

but one we have had from the beginning.

I ask that we love one another.

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.

As you heard from the beginning, his command is that we walk in love.”

2 John 5-6 (NIV)



John returns to the command given by the Lord Himself. We are to love one another. He explains when we are to accomplish this we obey God and His commands.

As we go through 2012, we need to remember that we are commanded to love one another as God loves us. What does this mean to us? God loves us as we are, He loves us not because we will do great things but because of we belong to Him.

I saw her when she was in the hospital. She was a relative but we had different lives. She told me she didn’t approve of the way either of her children lived their lives but they were her kids. As she said it I felt scolded but later I realized she wasn’t defending them but loved them because they were hers. She made no pretense about trying to justify the behavior of her children, she loved them anyway. That day, I saw how unconditional love worked.

Recently, I saw unconditional love displayed by an older couple. They had had been victimized by a younger member of their family. My friend spoke of their concern about this young relative being placed with hardened criminals while being retained by the authorities. I took the time to tell my friend that she had reminded me what unconditional love looks like.