Sheltering Families

“Reverence for the Lord gives a man deep strength; his children have a place of refuge and security.” – Proverbs 14:26

What’s a family for? Here’s a picture to consider: a family is a shelter in storms. A couple of months ago I was out golfing with some friends. While the weather was beautiful when we started, by the middle of the round storm clouds had gathered all around us. Suddenly an employee of the golf course came in a golf cart and told us a nasty storm was coming. He picked us up and quickly drove us to a shelter house. Just as we arrived the skies opened up and we experienced one of the most intense thunderstorms I have ever been in. The rain was torrential. The lightening was constant, with close strikes all around us. I love a good storm, but this one was frightening. I was awfully grateful to be in that little shelter house.

Life is tough. Jesus said, “In this world you will have many troubles,” and like in everything else, he was absolutely right. While some days are 72 degrees and sunny, most of us experience some pretty severe storms in life, storms that threaten to wash us away. Things don’t always go as planned. And in those tough times we need a place of shelter. We need a place of protection, stability, security.

Proverbs 14:26 says it well: “Reverence for the Lord gives a man deep strength; his children have a place of refuge and security.” Refuge and security – that’s what a family is supposed to provide. Our families can’t prevent every storm, but they can provide us shelter – refuge and security in tumultuous times.

Whenever I’ve had a tough day, I know that I can go home and ask my wife, Nancy, to sit on the back porch swing, or take a walk with me, and just let me dump. No matter how hard the day has been, no matter how wet I’ve gotten in the storms of life throughout the day, my family is a shelter, a place of refuge, a place of safety where I can dry off, regain perspective, and find comfort.

The family of God, the Church of Jesus Christ, is meant to serve the same function. The body of Christ is meant to be a shelter in the storms of life as well.

A little over a year ago, a storm of epic proportions tore through the lives of thousands of people in the Gulf region. Thousands of homes were destroyed. And while government infrastructure has struggled to respond, the family of God, brothers and sisters in Christ just like you and me, have become a very real shelter – a point of hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. Many of you have made a phenomenal difference in the lives of broken, hurting and frightened people through your generosity. What an awesome witness to the love the God.

The nuclear family – and the family of faith – are designed to be a shelter in the storms of life.

Bringing It Home
1. Whenever the family of God serves as a shelter in the storms of life it brings glory to God. Who can you reach out to this week?
2. Who in your family or church has served as a shelter in a storm? Send them a note of thanks today.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, ultimately you are our shelter and our strength in difficult times, but you have chosen to extend your love and grace through the lives of those who belong to you. Thank you for those who have held us fast and provided a refuge during the storms of life. Help us to extend that same gift of grace to others who are barely holding their heads above water. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN
www.princeofpeaceonline.org

Sacrificial Giving Strengthens Faith

“Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, `Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, `Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’” – Luke 19: 8-10 (NRSV)

From the story of the generous widow we learned that genuine giving is proportionate. How much we give matters only in proportion to how much we keep. From the story of Zacchaeus we learn the second principle of genuine giving: genuine giving is sacrificial. Giving out of our excess is not genuine giving. The sacrificial giving of a sinner moved Jesus heart and spirit. I’m not saying you shouldn’t give if you’re not doing it sacrificially; what I am saying is that I don’t believe that kind of giving srengthens your faith, the kind of faith that brings you salvation and eternal life.

Let me give you an illustration from the physical world. If you want to strengthen your muscles you must work them beyond their current ability. In other words, you must lift a weight that is heavy enough to exhaust you by lifting it 5-7 times. Lifting a very light weight many times will not strengthen your muscles.

One of the reasons I believe God calls us to give sacrificially is that it strengthens our faith and helps us grow spiritually. If we merely give out of our excess we don’t give God the opportunity to prove his faithfulness. That’s like lifting a very light weight. It won’t strengthen your muscles. But when we give sacrificially, when we give to the point of it hurting a bit, we exercise our faith…we learn to trust in God by giving him a chance to prove himself trustworthy.

This is at the heart of this whole stewardship conversation…the issue of trust. Every piece of money minted in this country has the same four words printed on it, “In God we trust.” That’s the biggest
lie in America. If we’re honest we’ll admit that most of us put a lot more trust in the security of money than we do in the security of God’s promises. There’s a word for that; it’s called idolatry. I believe that money is the greatest idol in our culture. And nothing breaks the spell of material idolatry like proportionate, sacrificial stewardship. Let me be clear: giving isn’t for God’s benefit. It isn’t for the church’s benefit. Genuine giving benefits us. It strengthens our faith and protects us from idolatry.

Bringing It Home
1. Be honest…is your current giving sacrificial, or are you giving out of your excess? In what ways does your giving impact the way that you live?
2. Spend some time in prayer and let the Holy Spirit search your heart for any hint of idolatry in relationship to your finances. Your checkbook and credit card statements might just help your meditation!

Prayer:
Father, it’s so easy to say that we trust in you and in your provision for us and yet we so often find our deepest security in what we own or in our savings. Help us to distinguish between our wants and our needs. Teach us to simplify the former and trust you for the latter. Set us free from any financial bondage that we may suffer from, that we might be free to give as you graciously provide. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN
www.princeofpeaceonline.org

I Love The Lord

If You’ve Ever Been In Love…

Think back (for some of you this will take longer than others) to when you met that man/woman that you just knew would be the one. Remember when you realized/admitted to yourself that you loved him/her.

Now remember how much you wanted to act like you were in a movie, and yell to everyone in the football stadium “I love (fill in the name)!!!!” You told family and friends how perfect he was. You told your boys how she was just what you were looking for.

Well, I told THE LORD I loved Him today. And He said to me, “How much do you love me? You haven’t told anyone how good I’ve been to you. You haven’t shared how perfect my love is. You haven’t spread the good news that I am always there to listen to your problems. You haven’t told your family how I helped you pay your bills when you didn’t have a high paying job, or how I got you a better one. You didn’t tell your boys how I took away that addiction that would have cost you not only your job, but that woman that was just what you were looking for. So how much do you really love me?

So, I said I would share with my friends and family (for starters) just how wonderful, perfect, understanding, patient, loving, unselfish, considerate and forgiving GOD really is. He has blessed me with a family that loves me and friends that I can confide in.

But even more than that He has saved me from a destruction I couldn’t even see coming. He gave to me the peace of knowing Him and He has never broken a promise. Truly He is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I stand in my stadium today to yell to you all “I love THE LORD!!!”

- Author unknown

The Faith of a Child

The father, a well digger,
Strong was he,
And as loving and kind
As a father could be.

And Mary his daughter,
Just five years old,
Was very much dearer
Than millions in gold.

To Mary her father
Was big, grand and nice,
So each had a treasure,
Beyond any price.

One day to the well,
Little Mary was sent
To take daddy’s lunch,
How gladly she went.

But when she looked down,
Not a thing could be seen.
The well, like a pocket,
Was dark as could be.

The father saw Mary
And heard her voice, too,
But made not a sound,
Just to see what she’d do.

She dropped to her knees,
The dear little soul,
And called down, “Oh, Daddy,
Are you down this hole?”

“Why, yes Mary darling,
I’m here at your feet,
Just drop my lunch
For I’m ready to eat.

Just let it go easy,
I’ll catch it all right.”
She did and she saw
It fall out of sight.

“Why Mary,” said father,
“There’s enough here for two,
Now this is the thing
I would like you to do.

You jump down here to me
And we’ll eat it together,
Down here in the cool
and away from the weather.”

“Oh, daddy, I’m afraid,
I can’t see you at all,
Be sure now you catch me
And don’t let me fall.”

‘Twas just for a moment
She wavered in doubt,
Then closing her dear
Little eyes she jumped out.

In the darkness, yes,
That was the test,
She trusted in faith
At her father’s request.

And both were so happy
He kissed her and smiled
Because of the sweet
Trusting faith of his child.

“Oh, sweet little Mary,
You put me to shame,
How often my Father
Has called me the same,

But because it was dark
I turned back in doubt.
Refusing the call,
Though his arms were stretched out

- Author unknown

Applying God’s Grace

“As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own grace and goodness! And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires, and that you will share in his divine nature.

So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow in genuine love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 2 Peter 1:3-8 (NLT)

“Rob” had gone to church all his life. He worshipped each week and even attended some Bible studies over the 80 plus years of his life on earth. I imagine he had heard close to 3000 sermons in his life and had been in numerous studies of both the Old and New Testaments.

He knew the Bible and the doctrine of the faith and could quote it at people, too, – which he liked to do. This all sounds great, – but most people avoided “Rob,” because he was cranky and negative and very self-centered. “Rob” had never really made the “effort to apply” the love and grace of Jesus into his life and into his relationships with others.

“Roberta” also had gone to church all her life. She had heard the same sermons and gone to the same Bible studies. She knew what “Rob” knew, – and people loved to be around her. “Roberta” had made the effort to apply the love and grace of Jesus into her life. Each day she prayed that she could be an instrument of God and that she could rise to the calling to love someone that day in they way Jesus had loved her, – and she did it!

The Christian faith isn’t about knowledge and belief for the sake of “right doctrine.” The Christian faith is about receiving and living out God’s amazing love and grace! We are to become “productive and useful” servants of the Lord, sharing acts of love with those around us. In doing so, Peter tells us, we will be transformed more and more into living out the divine nature of Jesus himself! This “effort” is a matter of choice. We must make the effort to choose to receive, embody, and share the love and grace of God.

Bringing It Home:

1. Are you making the effort each day to partner with God to share the love and grace that transforms you and others? Pray each day that God can use you to love someone boldly.

2. As you embody and live out the love of Jesus in your actions look for the fruits of this active faith to grow in your life: moral excellence, greater knowledge of God, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, and love for all. Celebrate and thank God when these actions are growing in your life, – it is confirmation that your efforts are inspired by divine grace and hitting the intended target.

Prayer:

God, you are love in all you say and do. Your grace and love are not just sentiments, but an action that caused you to send your Son to die for me. I pray that I would not simply know of your love but that I would make every effort to apply that love in my
relationships with others. I pray that your Spirit would guide me and give me courage to live out my faith boldly. Amen.

John A. Holm
Transforming Church Institute
www.transformingchurch.net

The Power of Prayer

A young Christian university student was home for the summer. She had gone to visit some friends one evening and the time passed quickly as each shared their various experiences of the past year. She ended up staying longer than she had planned and had to walk home alone. But she wasn’t afraid because it was a small town and she lived only a few blocks away.

As she walked along under the tall elm trees, Diane asked God to keep her safe from harm and danger. When she reached the alley, which was a short cut to her house, she decided to take it. However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man standing at the end as though he were waiting for her.

She became uneasy and began to pray, asking for God’s protection. Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrapped around her, she felt as though someone was walking with her. When she reached the end of the alley, she walked right past the man and arrived home safely.

The following day, she read in the paper that a young girl had been raped in the same alley, just twenty minutes after she had been there. Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been her, she began to weep.

Thanking the Lord for her safety and to help this young woman, she decided to go to the police station. She felt she could recognize the man, so she told them her story. The police asked her if she would be willing to look at a lineup to see if she could identify him. She agreed and immediately pointed out the man she had seen in the alley the night before.

When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke down and confessed. The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and asked if there was anything they could do for her, she asked if they would ask the man one question. Diane was curious as to why he had not attacked her. When the policeman asked him, he answered, “Because she wasn’t alone. She had two tall men walking on either side of her.”

Moral of the story? Don’t underestimate the power of Prayer

- Author unknown

A Prayer

Dear Lord:
Every single evening
As I’m lying here in bed
This tiny little prayer
Keeps running through my head.

God bless my mom and dad,
And other family.
Keep them warm and safe from harm
For they’re so close to me.

And God, there is one more thing
I wish that you could do.
Hope you don’t mind me asking,
Bless my computer too.

Now I know that it’s not normal
To bless a motherboard,
But listen just a second
While I explain to you my Lord.

You see, that little metal box
Holds more than odds & ends
Inside those small compartments
Rest so many of my FRIENDS.

I know so much about them
By the kindness that they give
And this little scrap of metal
Takes me in to where they live.

By faith is how I know them
Much the same as you
We share in what life brings us
And from that our friendship grew.

Please, take an extra minute
From your duties up above
To bless those in my address book
That’s filled with so much love!

Wherever else this prayer may reach
To each and every friend,
Bless each email inbox
And the person who hits send.

When you update your heavenly list
On your own CD-Rom
Remember each who’ve said this prayer
Sent up to God.com.
Amen.

- Author unknown

Jesus Really Loves You

Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at their church, the Pastor and his 11-year-old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel tracts. This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said “Okay Dad, I’m ready.”

His Pastor Dad asked, “Ready for what?

“Dad, it’s time we gather our tracts together and go out.”

Dad responds, “Son, it’s very cold outside and it’s pouring down rain.”

The boy gives his Dad a surprised look, asking, “But Dad, aren’t people still going to Hell, even though it’s raining?”

Dad answers, “Son, I am not going out in this weather.”

Despondently the boy asks, “Dad, can I go — Please?”

His father hesitated for a moment then said, “Son, you can go. Here’s the tracts; be careful son.”

“Thanks, Dad!” And with that he was off and out into the rain. This 11-year-old boy walked the streets of the town going door-to-door and handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel tract. After 2-hours of walking in the rain he was soaking bone-chilled wet and down to his very last tract. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to but the streets were totally deserted.

Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the door bell. He rang the bell – but nobody answered. He rang it again and again bit still no one answered. He waited but still no answer. Finally this 11-year-old trooper turned to leave but something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the front porch. He rang again, and this time the door slowly opened. Standing in the doorway was a very sad looking elderly lady.

She softly asked, “What can I do for you, son?”

With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU! I came to give you my very last Gospel tract which will tell you all about Jesus and His great love.” With that he handed her his last tract, and turned to leave.

She called to him as he departed, “Thank you, son! And God bless you!”

Well, the following Sunday morning in church, Pastor Dad was in the pulpit and as the service began he asked, “Does anybody have a testimony or want to say anything?”

Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet. As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face.

“None of you in this church know me. I’ve never been here before. You see, before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband has passed on, some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart . . . as I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to live.

“So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof then stood on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck. “Standing on that chair, so lonely and brokenhearted, I was about to leap off when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me.

I thought, ‘I’ll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.’ “I waited and waited — but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent and then the person ringing also started
knocking loudly. I thought to myself again, ‘Who on earth could this be?! Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me!’ “I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder.

When I opened the door and looked I could hardly believe my eyes! “There on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever seen in my life! His smile! Oh, I could never describe it to you!

And the words that came from his mouth caused my heart, that had long been dead, to leap to life as he exclaimed with cherub-like voice, ‘Ma’am, I just came to tell you that JESUS REALLY
DOES LOVE YOU.’ ”

Then he gave me this Gospel tract that I now hold in my hand. As the little angel disappeared back out, into the cold and rain, I closed my door and read slowly every word of this Gospel tract. Then I went up to my attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn’t be needing them any more.

“You see, I am now a happy child of the KING, and since the address of your church was on the back of this Gospel tract I have come here to personally say, ‘Thank you to God’s little angel who came just in the nick of time, and by so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in Hell.’”

There were now no dry eyes in the church. As shouts of praise and honor to the KING resounded off the very rafters of the building, Pastor Dad descended from the pulpit to the front pew where the little angel was seated. He took him in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.

Probably no church has had a more glorious moment and probably this Universe has never seen a Papa that was more filled with love and honor for his son, except for one: This Father, God, also allowed His Son, Jesus, to go out into a cold and dark world. He received His Son back with joy unspeakable, and as all of Heaven shouted praises and honor to the King, the Father sat His beloved Son on a throne far above all principality and power and every name that is named.

There may be someone, reading this, who is also going through a dark, cold and lonely time in your soul. You may be a Christian, for we are not without problems, or you may not yet know the King. Whatever the case, and whatever the problem or situation you find yourself in, and no matter how dark it may seem, I want you to know that I just came to tell you, “JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU!”

- Author unknown

Stepping Stones

The Lord came to me like a dream one day
And asked, “why do you sorrow?”
I answered, “Lord my life is so full of pain,
I can’t face one more tomorrow.”

The Lord sat down beside me
And gently took my hand.
He said, “Let Me explain to you
And then you’ll understand.

Each sorrow is a stepping stone
You must surmount each day,
And every stepping stone you climb
Is a sorrow that’s passed away.

The road of life is a mountainside
With crevices in which to be caught,
But as you struggle on your way
I, the Rock, will lend support.

Every stepping stone you climb
Makes spirit and heart grow strong.
Exercising character and faith
This road seems painful and long.

The way is paved with stepping stones
To uplift your heart and soul
Though difficult, they aid your way
To a City paved with gold.

I know that you are tired
For I too have walked this way,
My sorrows did they multiply
But I cleared many stones away.

I left My Rock to lift you up
I left behind My story.
To give you strength to make your climb
To that special place in glory.

And never fear, the Rock is here
You’ll never climb this mountain alone
Surmount life’s sorrows, continue on
For they are but stepping stones.”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

- Author unknown

The Mountain Climber

They tell the story of a mountain climber, who desperate to conquer the Aconcagua, initiated his climb after years of preparation. But because he wanted to keep all the glory to himself, he went up alone. He started climbing and it was becoming later, and later. He did not prepare for camping but decided to keep on going. Soon it got dark…

Night fell with heaviness at a very high altitude. Visibility was zero. Everything was black. There was no moon, and the stars were covered by clouds. As he was climbing a ridge at about 100 meters from the top, he slipped and fell. Falling rapidly he could only see blotches of darkness that passed. He felt a terrible sensation of being sucked in
by gravity.

He kept falling….and in those anguishing moments good and bad memories passed through his mind. He thought certainly he would die. But then he felt a jolt that almost tore him in half. Yes!! Like any good mountain climber he had staked himself with a long rope tied to his waist.

In those moments of stillness, suspended in the air he had no other choice but to shout, “HELP ME GOD”, “HELP ME!”

All of a sudden he heard a deep voice from heaven…”What do you want me to do?”

“SAVE ME”

“Do you REALLY think that I can save you?”

“OF COURSE, MY GOD”

“Then cut the rope that is holding you up.”

There was another moment of silence and stillness. The man just held tighter to the rope.

The rescue team says that the next day they found, a frozen mountain climber hanging strongly to a rope… TWO FEET OFF THE GROUND.

How about you? How trusting are you in that rope?
Why don’t you let it go? I tell you, God has great and marvelous things for you.
CUT THE ROPE AND SIMPLY TRUST IN HIM…

- Author unknown

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