While recently waiting at an airport with my wife and son, I reflected upon a story my wife had told me some 18 years before during a holiday visit home to Texas when we were living in Maine. My wife was always a good-mother to be there for her children; she took great pleasure in seeing our children were well clothed, well taught and well cared for (something I will always honor her for). Isn’t it interesting in a world that says, ‘woman get out there and make something of yourself’ your real blessing will depend on your children and what they say about you. On this particular occasion, she was traveling alone with our children. She would often dress them alike or in coordinated outfits. A well remembered favorite of mine were the little denim dresses my two daughters wore to match my son’s blue denim hat… all that to say, she was making a statement that said to the world around her, “these are distinctly mine”. As I’d reminisced about the story she once told me, I got her to tell it to me again. It seems her plane was late in arriving to make a late night connection for Dallas. When they arrived at the very large metropolitan airport they got turned around and had to run hand in hand to the connecting gate. When they finally found their gate, the attendant said that the plane had already left. My wife realizing there were no more planes out, leaving her and our 3 children stranded in a strange airport, began to cry as they walked about holding each other by the hand. The cries were tears of what if, and why, and how come. As tears continued to flow, my wife felt my son’s small hand begin to gently pat her face. Isn’t that like the son, a loving touch to say, ‘I’m here, it’s okay we’re together it’s going to be alright….’ My son always did have a very good sense of direction! A short time past and a very important looking man came by and saw her crying. He was moved as he saw her tears and the children holding hands beside her. He asked what was wrong and she proceeded to tell him the story. “Quickly”, he said, “come with me.” Understanding there were no more planes to Dallas leaving out that night and her dilemma, he got on his radio speaking to someone all the while whisking them downstairs and onto the tarmac. She said from there he put them on little cart and drove them at full speed across the runway to board a plane that He had held up to take them aboard. As she re-told what happened, I had to choke back the tears, but I was moved by the reminder God uses small things to tell one very big story. He reminded me that while I could not be there, He was able to use my only son to accurately convey His love and sentiments! I believe He is saying to you, ‘I see you in your tears and I understand your problem, I’m here, it’s okay we’re together it’s going to be alright….trust Me!’. I believe the Father wants to say, ‘I’m going on ahead of you, moving on your behalf and if you’ll trust Me, I’m holding some things up to get you where you need to be. It may not be the most comfortable means, but if you’ll trust Me it will be okay. It will be better than okay, it will be a testimony of My Unseen Power that moves others and moves out ahead of you to change what you cannot foresee.’ ‘You must trust me and receive my touch and the Son of My Love.’ ‘He has the mantle of my blessing and is able to touch you offering comfort in your long standing pain. Believe Him and trust Me.’ There is and should be a moral to every story, but how seldom we see it as we stand blinded by our fears and our tears. God says receive the touch and obtain the promise. What about your story? God is writing a story on the pages of your life– a story little different from the one I just told. I’m so moved sometimes when my wife tells me of these little miracles of how she believed God’s hand was moving in her life. Our lives are always better for having acknowledged how the hand of God moves on our behalf helping us in times of trouble! This little story has been stored away in my files for months; I kept coming back to it, but couldn’t delete it because of the truth it conveys. I believed God saved this story for your benefit, so that you might see in your sorrow, when in your tears, the Spirit of Jesus gently comes alongside you to touch you and say, ‘I’m here, it’s okay we’re together it’s going to be alright… Trust Me!’ Today in your struggle, don’t fail to see Jesus; He’s there beside you; He walks with you; He moves ahead of you, to command your miracle in spite of you, and to open what has been shut, and to shut what has been opened! He’s waiting for your response of complete trust, and through it He is moving to bring forth your story–a unique testimony of His advancing power that comes in your present circumstance to say to you, “You are distinctly Mine, all and only because of the Son!” Trust Jesus today and don’t miss this opportunity; God saved it especially for you!
Tag: blessing
His Table of Provision
Times like these are days marked by uncertainty. There are pressing fears without and fears within. For the believer, there remains only one constant; it will be the insight you draw from the Word of God that keeps you; it will be this truth that gives you a bearing. When Jesus fed the multitude with one small boy’s offering, He makes a point giving insight into times like these. That day there was not enough money to feed such a crowd, yet the favor of God at Jesus’ blessing was all that was necessary to transform small things into great. The point is we are living in times when your resources will fail, and it will be more important than ever to understand His ability to take the small things and make great impact, not only in your life, but in the lives of many others. In times like these, in the coming days ahead, who are you going to trust? Jesus offers the favor and blessing of God that can unlock the wealth of His kingdom. Like that small boy, He desires to use you and that small gift you possess. What will you do? Times like these require decisive action. What about your gift? It’s greater only in His hand producing the blessing of God. Commit yourself by faith, seek the increase of His presence, and practice thanksgiving and praise for the provision He declares is your’s in Christ, for to those who trust in Him there is no want. Psalm 23 declares, amid troubled times there is a table of provision which He has prepared in the presence of your enemy. So go ahead and thank Him and be expectant in His praise because the table has been set; He is just waiting for you to come and dine in His sweet fellowship.
The Mountain of God’s Presence
There is a view behind my house, although it is hidden by the trees, that I’ve often wondered about. I had a sense it was a grand, glorious view, if but one could only rise above the obstacles that blocked the beauty of it. While recently looking at I map, I discovered something I had missed. A very short distance behind where I live was Mt. Sinai; it is one of four recorded summits in the area. My discovery brought so much excitement, I spent the best part of a day just trying to find a way to go up the mount. In my search, I began thinking of Mt. Sinai in the Exodus chapters 3 and 19; it was the place of God’s presence, and a place where he spoke promises. Then this thought occured to me, ‘Mount Sinai, the Mount of God had been there behind my house all along and I didn’t know it’. You know what I suspect? Mount Sinai is there shortly behind the place where you live and you failed to understand its significance. It is a place of glory; Jesus lives there in God’s presence making intercession for you, like Moses, to behold that glory so you might be His witness. He says to you pull off your shoes, for this mount is holy. It represents a place of consecration in your life laying aside some things. Like those trees, blocking the view of His glory, He says to you, ‘rise above to get a view of the mount; make the discovery that it is near to where you live–it is near to your struggle, near to your fears, near your failures, near to you bonds’ saying, ‘come to my glory and remove the obstructions. Come to the mount, it is a place where I reveal my name, my position, my Kingdom, and my Lordship to you.’ After the cross, Jesus resumed His rightful position and is now living at the right hand of God to pray for you to receive God’s power. We are told to come boldly before His throne of grace that we might find mercy and grace in our time of need. It is interesting to note, Moses brought God’s people to the foot of the mountain, but only Jesus fills full the word by bringing us up the mount to a high place with Him. And there near His footstool, He says ask what you will and I will make you to live for me and that more abundantly.
The Rain That Brings Harvest
God says, ‘If you love Me and serve Me with all your heart, I will send the early and late rain bringing the necessary provision to finish the work of harvest in these times’ (Deut. 11:13-14). We live in difficult days, yet glorious days when you consider the Master commands a harvest. He presides as Lord of the harvest urging our service as His followers. In James 5:7-8, He says to you in these days, ‘be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord’. The reference to brethren is a reference to kinship and friendship; if you care to receive it, is a call to discipleship. It is a call to follow the things that drove the ministry of Jesus. In these two verses he says, consider the farmer and be like him. What about the farmer you ask? He is waiting on the precious produce of the soil with a vested interest in the field. These verses remind us the coming of the Lord is at hand, and that we should find ourselves committed to the produce of His field. Like the parable of the talents says about His return, He will be looking for your produce. He is not coming back so you can show Him your stuff. His return will be all about souls and what you’ve done with the seed He gave you. Jesus said, ‘lift your eyes and look on the fields white unto harvest’. Right now, amid perhaps, the greatest mixture of Christianity and darkness the world has ever known, there is a harvest waiting. However, one can only reap by being a friend of Jesus as John 15 states. He is saying, ‘I chose you, I appointed you to bear fruit, I appoint you to a harvest’. ‘Understand the season of my return is near, I’ve given the early rains, but it’s the latter rain that ushers in harvest.’ The body of Christ need remind herself and be encouraged that the rain of God’s blessing for harvest comes to a people–to a whole hearted people– who have lost themselves and yet been found, in a place of prayer. Praying with expectatation, they are looking to be found faithful in their work with a complete dependance upon the Lord who sends the rain that brings harvest. Do you understand the signs of the times? Have you heard His call? Let’s pray for eyes to see His field and for the rain that brings harvest.
GraceLife 