Delightsome Land

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven... At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in Heaven with someone sitting on it.  — Revelation 4:1-2 Enthroned Living Lord... Everything revolves around You. Everything. We worship You as... the Center-point of the Universe, the Center-point of time and space, the Center-point of history, the Center-point of life, meaning, and purpose today, the Center-point of all of our tomorrows, the Center-point of prayer. You are the Center-point. Period. Nothing really matters except Your will and Your wants and Your way and Your Word. How could we have become so out of focus? Our distorted perspective is rooted in our hearts, twisted in our minds, then reflected in our prayers. Because... What we have wanted seems so vital, What we have thought seems so critical, What we have felt seems so crucial, What we have said sounds so spiritual, We seem to be consumed with ourselves! W...

I love surprises. Do you love surprises? If I know someone is planning something special for me, I close my eyes, plug my ears, and sing so that I don’t find out what they are up to. I don’t eavesdrop or snoop to discover out what I am receiving for Christmas either. In fact, I am pretty bummed when I know what’s coming. I want God to surprise me too! The Bible says Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. — Ephesians 3:20 I have no idea what God has in store for my life or my family. I can’t possibly know everything that I need to ask of Him. I have wasted plenty of time trying to figure it out, to control it, and plan for it. (I see you nodding your head “Amen, sister.”) But as I get to know the heart of God, I’ve learned that He might have something in mind, that in my limited thinking, I would never dream of. When I first had the desire to write, I had no idea where it would lead. I never i...

I will lift up my eyes to the hills — from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made Heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.  — Psalm 121:1-3 Who is your helper? When you turn on the television and you listen to the news, what do you see and hear? There is a meltdown taking place in the world today — economically, environmentally, politically. You start to wonder if there is a future for your children. What hope is there left for the world? I am just a simple farmer, but I want to tell you that the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest Friend who has ever lived, has been with me in my darkest times. Today He says, Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you... I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. — Isaiah 41:10 Jesus Christ has never let me down. He is more than my Helper; He is my Protector. He is the one who looks after my wife when I am away overseas pre...

My husband, Rich, lost his dad unexpectedly when he was eight. When father and son functions happened through the years, men from church and his friends’ dads always included him. Perhaps that’s why my husband has such a heart for Little League baseball and is known throughout our community as a caring coach. When our next door neighbor and her husband divorced, Rich stepped in and invited her son to be a part of our son’s team. He understood what it felt like to be a fatherless child. He drove him to practices and games, and provided snacks and equipment as needed. One day, Rich got the shocking news that his assistant coach had died suddenly. Rich’s first thought was about Chris’s eight-year-old son. “I wonder how Jacob is,” he said. Then he called Jacob’s mom. Ironically, she told him the first person Jacob asked her to call about his dad’s death was “Coach Rich.” Sometimes we go through what we go through, to help others go through what we went through. My husband, Rich, a fat...

God’s Word gives strength to our feeble prayers, doesn’t it? Which is one reason why the Daniel Prayer is so powerful. It flowed from God’s Word. The promise that Daniel came across in his Bible reading was Jeremiah 29:10-14… This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.’  When Daniel read those verses, I wonder if he rubbed his eyes, then ...

As a mom of both young kids and older ones, I’ve learned how important it is for my children to find good friends. It’s been said that we are most like the five people with whom we spend the most time.. This is especially true for our kids. Kids pick up characteristics they see. They repeat what they hear. If we want our kids to seek out positive qualities in friends, they also need to possess them. So, what character qualities are important to seek out and help grow in our kids? Here are five traits of a good friend: 1. Truthfulness: It’s important for our kids to know that they can trust what their friends say is true. Nothing hurts as much as knowing you’ve been lied to. We can teach our children to look for friends who always tell the truth. We can also teach our kids to be truth-tellers, and that lying is a sin. One way to do this is to remind them that being truthful or untruthful reflects their character. “If you tell a lie about the small things how can I — or a f...

Your Faith Will Not Fail, Even When You Do During that storied final meal Jesus shared with His disciples, only hours away from all the torments that awaited Him, there is an extraordinary exchange between Jesus and Peter. The truly remarkable thing is that this is just before Jesus tells Peter he will disown Him. Sitting at the table, where the peculiar alchemy of wine turning to blood and bread becoming body was already at play, Jesus looks across the table at the fiery, well-intentioned disciple whose face was not yet shadowed by the guilt of betrayal. And He speaks words of heartbreaking tenderness to the man who says he will die for Jesus but will in actuality curse him by morning: Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. — Luke 22:31-32 Satan has desired to sift you like wheat, says the Man who Roman soldiers will carve ...

Day Seven: Poured Out While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:6-13 NIV) The placement of this story in Matthew’s narrative is extremely enlightening, as the verses immediately following these provide us the account of Judas betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silve...

A Beacon of Hope That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope . . . the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. — Romans 15:4, 13 When I referred to the future that God is planning, a student at the University of Hawaii asked me, “Isn’t this a form of escapism?” I said, “In a sense, yes; and before the devil gets through with this world, we are all going to be looking for the exit signs.” C. S. Lewis, in his remarkable little book Christian Behavior , said, "Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not, as some modern people think, a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought m...

In the high-speed, go-go-go nature of our everyday lives, taking care of ourselves can often fall to the wayside. It gets smothered under other needs — and suddenly we’re left feeling worn-out and sick. Our shoulders tense from stress, we’ve been eating way too much fast food, and we’re having constant aches and pains. Does this sound familiar? Taking care of yourself physically is so important — important enough to do every single day. Do you love taking long walks on the beach? At sunrise, sunset, or anytime in between, long walks on the beach are beneficial for mind and body. How often did you wish you hadn’t walked the beach? You probably can’t recall a time. Walks on the beach are always a good idea, and they are a great way to take care of your body. To take care of yourself physically, begin by making small changes in the way you take care of your body, and you’ll start to see big results. Add greens to your morning smoothie, make that doctor’s appointment you keep putting o...

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings . Acts 17:26 NKJV When you understand ancient biblical life and the culture in which Scripture was written you can more easily see how it applied to life then and how it applies to life today. Ancient Health Practices: 1. Although there was no theory of communicable diseases, the isolation of the leper looks very much like quarantine ( Lev. 13:45 ). The modern disease called leprosy is a particular infection called technically Hansen’s disease. Its symptoms are different from the leprosy mentioned in the Bible. 2. Balm is a kind of resin taken from trees by cutting the bark. It was used as a perfume and was considered effective as a medicine ( Jer. 51:8 ). Although Gilead is mentioned together with balm ( Jer. 8:22 ; 46:11 ), the substance was not produced in Gilead. It may have been transporte...