Continuing On - Dinner #54

     “Dinner’s In The Oven” has been a devotional journal of what God has shown me and taught me, week after week, and month after month – from struggling financially as newlyweds, to finding out we were having a baby, to caring for a young infant in our home.   There have been so many times that I have wondered – Should I keep trying to do this?  I send the devotionals out as emails and post them as notes on Facebook, but the blog itself only gets visited by about 15-20 people a month.  Is it time for me to just close out the blog? Should I take a break from these devotionals, entirely?  But sometimes I see 4 readers in Russia, 1 in Latvia, or 2 in France, on my blog’s statistics for the month.  Do they just happen upon “Dinner’s In The Oven” articles by accident?  Do they even understand English?  I have no way of knowing.  But it could be that there is a lady, hungry for God’s Word, all the way on the other side of the world, who waits for me to make another post each week . . . How can I stop sharing what God is teaching me?  Galatians 6:9 exhorts, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  II Thessalonians 3:13 seconds the motion by saying, “But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.”  No.  For now, I know I’m meant to keep writing.  It’s a ministry that the Lord has given me! Sometimes, I may not see many “likes”, “shares”, “comments”, and “replies”, but only GOD knows what He is doing through His Word!

     The Lord declares that if you’re giving out His Word to people, it will NOT return void!  Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” In I Corinthians 15:58, Paul writes, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

     Are you, too, trying to share the Bible with others?  In I Corinthians 3:9, Paul declares, “For we are labourers together with God . . .” We are working WITH God, doing HIS work!  How can we become “weary in well doing”, when GOD is on our side? Does it feel like NONE of the children in your small group are listening?  One of them may go home and teach their unsaved parents a new Bible song, this week!  Does your work on that Sunday School bus or in that nursery room seem insignificant? As the song goes, “Little is much, when GOD is in it . . .”

     Why should we continue on?  If it is a work that God has given you, then it is important to Him! Sometimes we do not KNOW the influence we are having on someone else.  Sometimes we never find out until we “get to the other side”.  I’d like to think that maybe there will be a lady or two in heaven, because God helped me to share His Word, over the internet, from my little home in the United States, each month.  What is YOUR special ministry and “labour of love” (Hebrews 6:10)?  Are you sometimes tempted to “give it up for a while”?  I Corinthians 12:22 tells us, “Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.”  Your work may not seem like much to you, but God says it IS necessary!  Hebrews 13:20,21 “Now the God of peace . . . Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight . . .”  While you are working with others, God is working IN YOU!  Philippians 1:6 declares that we can be “. . . confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  Don’t give up what God has given you to do!   While you are doing that important work to Him, He’s still working ON YOU!  “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

A Royal Resemblance - Dinner #49

     I come from a long line of people who have treasured memories.  They were people who held onto who they were and where they’d come from.  Ancestors of mine, as far back as the American Civil War, held onto old photographs, diaries, letters, receipts, and business cards! They were farmers and lumberjacks, immigrants and soldiers, dentists and pioneers . . . Whatever their professions, you can look at their pictures and see similarities in a jaw-line, here, or a hair-line, there.  It is pretty amazing!

     As our baby girl grows older, it becomes more difficult to say which side of the family she resembles most.  If you ask MY mother who our little Brooklyn looks the most like, she will definitely say that it’s me.  If you ask BRANDON’S mom who Brooklyn most resembles, she will surely say that it’s Brandon! Each looks at their grandchild and sees a glimmer of the baby they once held in their own arms.  Babies look like their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents . . . They even tend to ACT like them! God did that for a reason – He allowed family to LOOK LIKE family!   

     Do we resemble our HEAVENLY Father, in the way that we speak and conduct ourselves?  I John 2:4-6 “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Do we walk “even as he walked”?

     What did Jesus do, when He was here upon this earth? What kind of an example did He leave behind for us? Jesus gave Himself for OTHERS – He served others, He suffered for others, and He even DIED for others!  Luke 14:27 and Mark 10:45 go hand-in-hand:  “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” . . . “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Are we giving OUR lives for many?  Are we being tools and vessels fit for His use, even in our own families? Jesus declared, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) Do we daily “give our lives” for the sake of our little lambs? 

     II Corinthians 9:6-7 speaks of having a giving heart.  "But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." Are you sowing sparingly or bountifully in your garden of motherhood and wifehood, today?? Are you giving to your family cheerfully or just because you "have to"?? As you read, sing, cook, clean, hug, and feed, are you POURING YOUR VERY HEART AND SOUL into the role that God has given you?  II Corinthians 9:8 holds a special promise: “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”  God can GIVE you sufficient grace to accomplish what you need to in the lives of your family!   He ALONE can HELP you to be more like Him as you serve Him day by day! Ephesians 5:1-2 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us . . .”

     Genealogy is truly fascinating. A particular last name can end up on censuses, deeds, wills . . . But is our name written down “where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:20)?  Are we truly one of GOD’S CHILDREN? And if we ARE, do we BEHAVE like one of God’s children?  Whether cleaning our homes or caring for our little ones, God wants us to have a “royal resemblance”! Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  

Women Of Service - Dinner #30

     In John 18:37, Christ declares to Pilate, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world . . .” Have you ever stopped to think about why God may have wanted YOU in the world? What is your PURPOSE?  What is it that God wants you to do with your life?  Isaiah 43:7 “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”  God created you for His glory!  Are you glorifying Him with your life?

     Throughout Scripture, we find women who had a heart for ministering and serving others. A certain Shunammite woman in Elisha’s day made a place for the man of God to rest during his travels (II Kings 4:10). Luke 8:2-3 tells us of women followers who shared what they had with Jesus.  A widow woman in the New Testament gave sacrificially of her finances (Luke 21:2-3). Dorcas had a sewing ministry to help the widows in the early church (Acts 9:36,39).  Priscilla helped her husband to disciple a man named Apollos (Acts 18:26). What is it that God has laid on YOUR heart to do? Is there some talent or interest that He has given you to serve Him with?

     God does not call each one of us to complete the same tasks in life.  He gives each Christian lady certain spiritual gifts, and has a special job for each one of us to do.  I Corinthians 12:18, 28 “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. . . And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers . . .” But no matter what gift God has given to you - no matter what ministry in the church - we must remember that He wants us to serve with LOVE!  I Corinthians 13:3 “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” In your area of service, are you ministering to others out of LOVE?  I John 4:10-11 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” Why should we desire to lovingly serve others for the Lord? Because He gave Himself out of love for us! Who should our example be in our service to God? The Lord Jesus Christ! Matthew 20:28 “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

     The Lord recently led me to I Peter 4:11 “ . . . if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”  As a mother with a young baby, I may not be able to go out on door-to-door visitation as easily as I would like, or be involved in as many church ministries as I once was, but I can minister “as of the ability which God giveth”!  I believe with all my heart that if you are seeking to follow after Christ, He gives you the godly interests and desires that you have, for a reason!   Just this past week, I have been discovering the amazing possibilities of telling others about the Lord over the internet. The new "Dinner's In The Oven" devotional blog now has a blog partner entitled "Pika's Preschool", listing my personal reviews of wholesome children's books.  My prayer is that many unsaved people interested in researching children's literature will be curious enough to check out the devotional blog as well, and be reached with the Gospel! http://www.pikaspreschool.blogspot.com/   It is also just another way to help and encourage Christian mothers and teachers!  Do you feel as though God has been placing a special ministry desire in YOUR heart? Do not be afraid to trust Him for it! May you find what it is that God is calling you to do, and do it with all your heart!

Ministering Children - Dinner #14

     Working at daycare this week, I realized once again how very many Bible concepts even preschoolers can grasp.  Matthew 21:16 tells us, “. . . And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES AND SUCKLINGS THOU HAST PERFECTED PRAISE?”  Even children can learn to honor the Lord!

     God oftentimes gives us opportunities to share truths about Himself with the Little People in our lives, if we will only take them.  Matthew 19:14 tells us, “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” It is our job to bring them to Jesus!  The other day at work, a preschool girl commented that one of the boys didn’t seem to care whether or not God was watching the bad things he did, and that he probably wouldn’t go to heaven.  “But we know that we don’t go to heaven by doing good things, right?” I asked her. “How DO we know that we’re going to go to heaven?”  And I was able to plant a “little seed” by reminding her that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and that we can only go to heaven by trusting Him as our Savior.  It was a typical afternoon on the playground, but God gave me an opportunity to share.

     Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  And what is this “way” that our children should go?  The way of Christian obedience! “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right . . . THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH THEE, AND THOU MAYEST LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.” (Ephesians 6:1,3)  It does not do your children or pupils any favors if you let them “do their own thing” and don’t give them some training and instruction!  SSSLLLOOWWW obedience and outright disobedience in young ones is SUCH a poor testimony for God!  I’ve worked with children for several years now, and believe me when I tell you the picture is NOT a pretty one!  How much better for them to learn at an early age to live righteously and to serve the Lord!

     Sometimes children can serve where adults cannot find an open door.  Their youth and “cuteness” tugs at people’s hearts and often allows them to be a bolder witness for God.  Even preschoolers can learn to pass out Gospel tracts to neighbors, or retell Bible stories to unsaved relatives.  They can also sing Bible songs for elderly “shut-ins” and people in nursing homes.  “. . . OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES AND SUCKLINGS THOU HAST PERFECTED PRAISE . . .” God receives praise when the Little Ones serve Him – PERFECTED praise! 

     Can children really understand what it is to serve the Lord?  The answer is definitely YES!  There is a Christian children’s song that says, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine!” Whether mothers, preschool teachers, Sunday school teachers, or choir leaders, we can play a major role in helping even the very young to shine for Jesus!  For instance, we can encourage them to make cards for sick friends or relatives, bake cookies for someone in need of a smile, color pictures for soldiers overseas, or donate food to a homeless shelter.  The ideas for childhood service are truly endless! 

     Let’s admit it - Children can sometimes be quite selfish in their attitudes and their behavior!  Are we training the young ones in our care to be a blessing to others, instead?  Are we encouraging them to praise and serve the Lord?  Proverbs 22:1 “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”  It is not so important whether your children have every toy or earthly possession they desire in life, as it is whether or not they are building a “good name” for themselves by their childhood actions.  Proverbs 20:11 declares that, “Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.” Will we allow the Lord to use us in the lives of children, that they might be known for pure and righteous doings?