…ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls… Jeremiah 6:16 NKJV
It’s so easy to forget that every trial sent your way is sent by a Savior of grace, as a tool to advance the work of grace in your heart and life. It’s so easy to forget it is impossible for you to ever be in any situation, relationship, or location by yourself because I […]
It’s So Easy to Forget… — Veda’s Vintage Views
It’s so easy to forget that every trial sent your way is sent by a Savior of grace, as a tool to advance the work of grace in your heart and life.
It’s so easy to forget it is impossible for you to ever be in any situation, relationship, or location by yourself because I Am is with you.
It’s so easy to forget that God loves and accepts you no less on your worst day than he does on your best day.
It’s so easy to forget you are never left to the limited resources of your own wisdom, righteousness, and strength.
It’s so easy to feel weak in the face of temptation and give way to what grace has given you the power to resist.
It’s so easy to question the goodness of God in times of trouble.
It’s so easy to ask yourself if God has forgotten you when you compare the trouble of your life to the seeming ease in the life of the person next to you.
It’s so easy when life is out of control to forget Jesus Christ rules over all things for His glory and for your good.
It’s so easy to forget the importance of not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but to gather together to encourage one another; and all the more as we see the day of His return drawing near (paraphrase Hebrews 10:25).
Adapted from Paul David Tripp’s New Morning Mercies
by Veda Thomas Lucas
“Again and again, I’ve had people say to me how do you handle loneliness? And I say that I can’t handle loneliness.” Elizabeth Elliot
Many people are suffering through a time of isolation and loneliness due to a variety of circumstances beyond Covid-19. Because of that, I’d like to share a few words from Elisabeth Elliot as she addresses dealing with loneliness.
They ask, ‘Well, didn’t you spend a lot of time alone in the jungle?’ I inevitably reply. ‘Yes, I didn’t. I spent a good many more years alone than I did married.’ They return, “Well, how did you handle it’ To which I reply, ‘I didn’t. I couldn’t. I have to turn it over to Somebody who can handle it. In other words, my loneliness became my offering.’
And so if God doesn’t always remove the feeling of loneliness, it is in order that every minute of every day, perhaps I have something to offer up to Him and say, ‘Lord, here it is. I can’t handle this.’ I don’t know what your emotions may be that you can’t handle, but I believe that every one of us knows something about loneliness. Singles always imagine that married people are not lonely but I can testify that there are different kinds of loneliness.
I have never forgotten what a missionary speaker said in chapel when I was a student. She spoke about the little boy bringing his lunch to Jesus. And she said, ‘If my life is broken when given to Jesus, it may be because pieces will feed a multitude when a loaf would satisfy only a little boy.’
Quoted from Suffering is Never for Nothing by Elisabeth Elliot
Whatever situations you may be facing today, my prayer is that you will offer it as a sacrifice of praise to our Lord and Savior. In His hands, He can use even our loneliness to mold us into the image of His Son that we can be a vessel fit for the Master’s use.
Blessings!
By Veda Thomas Lucas
After twenty-three years together, I still considered ours a Cinderella story. I had met and married the man of my dreams. He was my Prince Charming and we were living out our happily ever after. Then came the cancer diagnosis: fourth stage adenoma carcinoma. From the onset, the prognosis was grim.
It was then our pastor, Brandon Pugh, suggested we read the article, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.”[1] The article was written by John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota and founder and leader of desiringGod.org, shortly before Piper’s prostate surgery in early 2006.
Once we read through the article, my husband and I were able to see our situation from a Christ honoring spiritual perspective rather than the fatalistic mindset we had developed. We decided to use the article as daily devotional material with our nine-year-old granddaughter. We hoped that she too could grow in her biblical understanding of how God works through life’s tragedies.
Today we are faced with a new tragedy. One that has already devastated much of our world: the Covid-19 pandemic. The two major truths I discovered while I faced my husband’s diagnosis of fourth stage adenoma carcinoma are as applicable for each of us now as they were for me then. These truths may ensure that we survive the Covid-19 pandemic and that God will make us productive throughout it (Genesis 41:52b NKJV).
Trust God Has a Purpose for Tragedies or Pandemics
First, we must trust that God has a purpose for tragedies or pandemics. This can be difficult to accept if we don’t know or believe the scriptures that teach God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty is defined as supreme power or controlling influence.[2] The belief in God’s sovereignty is what enabled Joseph in the book of Genesis to endure sequential tragic events. Not only did it enable him to endure them, but to prosper in them. It also empowered him to forgive his brothers who appeared to humanly engineer his harsh circumstances.
After the death of their father, Joseph’s brothers fully expected Joseph to repay them for the wrong they had done to him. Instead, when his brothers approached him pleading for mercy Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good (Genesis 50:15-20 NKJV).”
The term “good” as it is used here in Genesis means capable of accomplishing God’s designed purpose. [3] Joseph realized God had sovereignly placed him in a position second only to Pharaoh in order to save many people (Genesis 50:20b NKJV).
While God’s designed purpose for us through this pandemic may be entirely different than for Joseph, the Apostle Peter assures us that nothing affects a believer by mere happenstance.[4] Peter emphases the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish us through our sufferings (1 Peter 5:10 NKJV). In other words, God is sovereignly working through the events of our lives to mature us as Christians that we may accomplish His purposes for His glory whether by tragedy or pandemic or any other circumstance. In time of tragedy or pandemic, let us echo the words of Christ, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not my will but Yours be done (Luke 22:42 NKJV).
Glorifying God Must Be Our Ultimate Goal
Second, glorifying God must be our ultimate goal. If not, self-preservation at all cost will be. When my husband was diagnosed with cancer, my days and nights were consumed with how we could prolong my husband’s life or possibly beat the bleak odds of his survival. I found myself spending endless amounts of time searching through every internet site, probing for any information regarding how we could improve his prognoses. Bible reading and meditation were crowded out by my obsession with his cancer.
Not long after the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in our state, I found myself equally obsessed with it. I downloaded the Center for Disease Control app. Each day I’d check out a map highlighting the number of cases for each county and the death totals. I planned my schedule around our Governor’s 5 o’clock updates concerning the pandemic. Soon my desire to glorify God through the pandemic had taken a backseat to uncovering information about Covid-19.
Protecting my daughter with multiple autoimmune diseases became my ultimate focus. Then in a twenty-four hour period a friend’s daughter was rushed to the emergency room suffering horrendous gastrointestinal problems, another friend’s son died from complications of diabetes, and another friend’s eleven-year old daughter had a brain aneurysm. It was as if God said to me if he wanted to take my daughter’s life, he didn’t have to use Covid-19 to do it.
As difficult as it may be, self-preservation can’t be our ultimate goal. We must be as the Christians spoke of in Revelations 12:11 NKJV, “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. Our ultimate goal must be to exalt Christ whether by life or by death (Philippians 1:20 NKJV). When our ultimate goal is to glorify God and exalt Christ at all cost, no tragedy or pandemic can shake our faith or steal our peace.
I by no means want to minimize the seriousness of the personal tragedy us or our family members may be facing. Nor do I want us to ignore our responsibility to be safe at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, or the next pandemic that may be on the horizon. But, I do pray we are able to approach these and all difficult situations with a Christ honoring spiritual perspective that trust our Sovereign Savior, rather than with a fatalistic mindset that loses all hope. And, I pray that as we walk through our personal tragedy or this world wide pandemic we abundantly grow in our biblical understanding of how God works through them for our good and His glory.
[1] Piper, John. 2006. Desiring God. February 15. Accessed April 10, 2020.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/dont-waste-your-cancer.
[2] “Sovereignty” Merriam-Webster. 1828. Accessed April 10, 2020. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sovereignty.
[3] Wenham, Gordon J. 1987. Genesis 1-15 in Word Biblical Commentary volume 1. Waco: Word Books.Pg. 18.
[4] “Happenstance” Merriam-Webster.
What’s your heart’s desire for the year, 2020?
As I drive my granddaughters to school of the mornings, we work on memorizing scriptures. Then we pray over our day and for other concerns or needs we have. I also model for my granddaughters how to formulate prayers from the specific scriptures we are working on. In this way I am attempting to teach my granddaughters to pray biblical prayers.
By doing so, we can be confident we are praying according to the will of God. If we are praying according to his will then we can be confident he hears us. And if we know God hears our prayers, we can be equally confident he will give us what we are petitioning him for (1 John 5:14).
When we were working on memorizing an example prayer by the apostle Paul from Colossians 1:9-13, I asked my granddaughters from the list of things Paul prayed for the Colossian believers which they would pray for themselves. Without any hesitation, Anna, age thirteen, answered that she would be filled with the knowledge of his will. I think many of us would have the same heart’s desire. We all want to know what God’s will is for our lives. Ezekiel 33:7-9 reveals an important element of God’s will.
“Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.”
God’s will is that we warn others of the result they will face if they reject salvation. We can accomplish God’s will by sharing the gospel with whosoever he gives us opportunity in 2020. May that be our heart’s desire and may God give us the desires of our hearts.
“Ministry is seldom convenient.” Dr. Roy Lucas
What’s your heart’s desire for the year, 2020?
As I drive my granddaughters to school of the mornings, we work on memorizing scriptures. Then we pray over our day and for other concerns or needs we have. I also model for my granddaughters how to formulate prayers from the specific scriptures we are working on. In this way I am attempting to teach my granddaughters to pray biblical prayers.
By doing so, we can be confident we are praying according to the will of God. If we are praying according to his will then we can be confident he hears us. And if we know God hears our prayers, we can be equally confident he will give us what we are petitioning him for (1 John 5:14).
When we were working on memorizing an example prayer by the apostle Paul from Colossians 1:9-13, I asked my granddaughters from the list of things Paul prayed for the Colossian believers which they would pray for themselves. Without any hesitation, Anna, age thirteen, answered that she would be filled with the knowledge of his will. I think many of us would have the same heart’s desire. We all want to know what God’s will is for our lives. Ezekiel 33:7-9 reveals an important element of God’s will.
“Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.”
God’s will is that we warn others of the result they will face if they reject salvation. We can accomplish God’s will by sharing the gospel with whosoever he gives us opportunity in 2020. May that be our heart’s desire and may God give us the desires of our hearts.
What’s your heart’s desire for the year, 2020?
As I drive my granddaughters to school of the mornings, we work on memorizing scriptures. Then we pray over our day and for other concerns or needs we have. I also model for my granddaughters how to formulate prayers from the specific scriptures we are working on. In this way I am attempting to teach my granddaughters to pray biblical prayers.
By doing so, we can be confident we are praying according to the will of God. If we are praying according to his will then we can be confident he hears us. And if we know God hears our prayers, we can be equally confident he will give us what we are petitioning him for (1 John 5:14).
When we were working on memorizing an example prayer by the apostle Paul from Colossians 1:9-13, I asked my granddaughters from the list of things Paul prayed for the Colossian believers which they would pray for themselves. Without any hesitation, Anna, age thirteen, answered that she would be filled with the knowledge of his will. I think many of us would have the same heart’s desire. We all want to know what God’s will is for our lives.
When determining God’s will for our lives lets considered Ezekiel 33:7-9:
“Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.”
This scripture reveals an important element of his will. God’s will is that we warn those who are walking in rebellion to his word and his ways. God wants us to share the gospel with whosoever he gives us opportunity in 2020. May that be our heart’s desire and may God give us the desires of our hearts.
by Veda Thomas Lucas
Scripture describes a time in the Apostle Peter’s life in which he had done what he thought he couldn’t. On the night Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He predicted that all the disciples would be made to stumble because of Him. Mark 14:27 (NKJV) Peter in his overzealous confidence responded, “Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.” Mark 14:29 (NKJV) Peter was so sure of himself he proclaimed emphatically that if he had to die with Christ he would not deny him (Mark14:31NKJV).
God, in His omniscience, had zeroed in on a weakness in Peter’s character. Through humbling circumstances Jesus allow Satan to shift Peter, pruning the pride that would prevent him from becoming the leader of the early church God intended him to be. Along with Jesus’s prediction of Peter’s denial was that of his restoration in answer to His prayer for him. After his repentance, he was to be used to bring the other disciples to a restored relationship with the Lord. Luke 22:31-32
Is there an area in your life in which you’ve grown self-sufficient, overly confident, or adamant you couldn’t fall into temptation concerning? Often, we can identify these areas by the lack of time we spend in prayer over them. If the Holy Spirit brings something to mind, ask the Father to prune that tendency from your heart. Give Him permission to use whatever means is necessary so that you may fulfill the purposes He has for your life.
Mark 14:29 (NKJV) Peter said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.”
Father, help us guard against pride that causes us to act independent from the power of the Holy Spirit. Help us to always walk in a spirit of humility aware of our great need of you regardless of the task. In Christ name, Amen.
by JoAnn Finley Black (Used by permission)
God sent me up the Amazon, with happy children to play.
The experience was so joyful,
I was tempted to stay.
God sent me to the mountains,
where poverty is very real.
I happily cooked for the workers,
and prayer-walked the ancient hills.
God sent me down to Mississippi,
the work surely was hard.
The food was good, fellowship sweet,
I survived happy but tired.
God sent me to Laurel Lake Camp,
to prepare for the summer’s youth.
Ii was surprised at my assignment,
cleaning toilets was so uncouth.
God sent me to help Kentcuky Changers,
and I was truly blessed.
I helped feed three hundred teenagers,
when they came home to rest.
God’s sent me to the broken, broken dreams, no joy, no play.
He whispers, “Be still and listen. I’ve sent you here to pray.”
Veda's Vintage Views 