A View From the Porch

1 Peter 5:8 (NLT) “Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaming lion, looking for some victim to devour.”

We all know that Satan will do anything, absolutely anything to draw our focus away from God, to separate us from God. Sometimes, he will use the in-your-face approach, but more often than not, he’s subtle, sly, and conniving in his tactics. And since we have a sinful nature to begin with, we must be ever so vigilant. I’m not sure why this has been on my mind lately, but I am certain that because of God’s love for me, I have his armor to put on each day. (Ephesians 6: 10-18) (NLT)
Wayne

1 Corinthians 14:1

Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it--because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. (The Message)

God gives us many gifts and says that when we use our gifts, we must do them with love. I know in this book, God is talking about gifts like spiritual gifts and not the type of gift that came to my mind. But this a story of a gift I couldn't forget. My friend, Jane, told me the story yesterday.

The story is about her four year old grandson who lives in another state and who she doesn't get to see as often as she would like. It's a story of a telephone call that lasted 3 1/2 hours and it wasn't just an idle chatter call, the regular hi and how are you stuff. This call was all about him,
what he wanted to say and it consisted of listening to him talk about everything he was doing at that moment, listening to him play a video game and hearing (and asking her to see) every move he made, it was having a virtual supper with him and then listening to his mom read him his bedtime stories, plus that extra one story. He wanted to keep the phone in bed beside him all night and he wanted Grammie to be there when he woke up.

Paul is talking about gifts of prophecy in verse 14, he insists (NIV) on whatever is done in the church must contribute to the building up of the body and love is the means by which spiritual gifts are made effective.

Jane is a constant in her grandson's life and when she can't be with him, she gets creative. He is her love and she is finding ways to give as much of herself to him as she can. The TLB version says, 'let love be your greatest aim.'

I guess I'm see a parallel in this. Jane not only uses her gifts inside the church and does it with love, but uses them outside as well. She looks to build up people as God says to do and one of those persons is her grandson. She uses her gifts for her gift.

Nancy

Revelation 22:2

The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. The leaves of the Tree are for healing the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. (The Message)

Yesterday, David was cutting down some small trees in the backyard, just clearing out a few dead ones so we could put our trampoline up in a new place, when one tree decided to be errant. It didn't go where David wanted and 'chose' to fall onto the back porch. I heard a loud thud and there was the tree. Fortunately, only the railing was broken and nothing else.

I also thought of Disney's Animal Kingdom. There is a tree called, 'The Tree of Life' in the park. This tree is huge: 145 ft tall, 160 ft canopy, 103,000 leaves of 4 shapes and sized at more than 1 ft long, 8,000 branches with a trunk 50 ft wide which spreads to 170 ft in diameter at the root base. The trunk is carved with 325 images of endangered and extinct species of animals
and on the inside is a theatre. It looks like a real tree from a distance.

Then there is the 'Tree of Life' in the Book of Revelations. It's not errant, it doesn't have a theatre inside or carvings on the trunk, it isn't made of a refitted oil platform or have leaves made of Kymar. It's a real tree planted by God along side the River of Life leading to the new
Jerusalem, the new heaven.

Back in Genesis, the first book, Adam and Eve sinned and were prohibited from eating from the 'Tree of Life' and in the last book it says we have a chance to eat again from the 'Tree of Life'.

And how did we get that chance? By God giving us Jesus, who took our sins when he died on the cross. We have a chance again to have everlasting life, to eat the fruit and to live with God when we die.

Our backyard tree was not one to depend on as it can rot and fall. The Disney tree probably will never rot and fall, as it's a fake tree. But the Tree of Life in heaven definitely will not rot, fall or ever stop bearing fruit at any time, it's real and that's the kind of tree I hope to see sometime.

Nancy

View from the Porch

Anger can give Satan a foothold.
Ephesians 4: 26-27

I was angry the other day. I mean, really angry. Heart pounding, red-faced angry. And I carried that anger around for most of the day, which obviously didn’t make for a pleasant day for me. Even though I put on a “smiley” face, I still let the anger consume me. Then, something happened. Must have been the Holy Spirit giving me a whack on the back of the head because it dawned on me that the only person I was making miserable was me and I had given Satan a foothold. I had suffered through a miserable day because I was foolish. Thankfully, God loves me, imperfections and all.

Wayne Moore

Psalm 51:10

Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

The prophet Nathan confronted David about an affair David had with Bathsheba and in this Psalm David cries out to God for forgiveness and cleansing.

Have you ever seen a diseased heart? It could be larger than normal or different in color or pitted or spongy. Those of us who took biology likely saw both healthy and diseased hearts and saw the difference between them side by side on the table. Not a pretty picture to see.

Then I got to thinking about my own heart. Is it diseased with sin or is it strong and healthy? Do I need to ask God for forgiveness? Do I need to ask God for a pure heart? For him to give me a new one?

And I don't mean new in the sense of brand new, but new as in the renewing (to begin again) of my old heart. Take away any sin I have and give me new energy and strength. Make my heart pure.

I don't think any of us want a diseased heart and yet we probably each have one whether we realize it or not. And when I think of a diseased heart in a dish on a table next to a healthy one, I want the healthy one. And so if we think of it in that context, we need to be on our knees begging for forgiveness. Maybe what we've done or what we do isn't what David did or (in our eyes) as bad, but to God it doesn't matter. A sin is a sin is a sin is a sin. No one worse than the other in his eyes.

So ask God to create in you a new heart and renew his spirit in you today and everyday. Ask for that healthy heart.

Nancy

Psalm 43:3

Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me, let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. (NIV)

This makes me think of lighthouses at the ocean. There are more than 60 lighthouses along the Maine coast and they start in Kittery and end in Machias. Many (28) were transferred from the Coast Guard to local preservation groups and some (8) are owned privately and all but a handful have local support.

Picture a lighthouse on an ocean island or peninsula. You can see the rocky boulders on the shore and can watch the powerful surf (when the tide or a storm comes in) break over the top of the rocks with a tremendous force. But through all that, picture a light from the lighthouse shining out over the sea and listen to the horn that warns the ships of those rocks and shallow
waters. Lighthouses are essential for their safety. One light can save lives.

Then I think - light does save lives. God's light can save our lives. Like a lighthouse, God's light is there in our darkness and steers us away from the rocks and shallow waters and his words (like the horn) are there for us if we can't see the light.

God's light won't go out or be transferred like some of the lighthouses are and I'm thankful His light will continue to shine forever. It's so very important that it will.

Nancy

Psalm 35

Reassure me; let me hear you say, "I'll save you." The Message

Psalm 35 is an appeal by David to God. David had enemies who attacked him for no reason and he wants God to rescue him.

My dog, Samantha, was a Doberman/Shepard mix. Kind of a funny looking 70 lb dog with a tail that curled up over her back, a barrel chest and a boney little head. She had a loud ferocious bark which could be a little intimidating to people who didn't know her. I firmly believe no one would have ever come into my house when I wasn't home as she would run to the door barking, jump up to see who it was and then continue to carry on until they left. She was, she thought, a brave dog, protecting our house from whatever she (in her dog mind) thought wasn't right. Her house, her land, her road. She told everyone those things were hers.

However, there was a side of her that wasn't so brave. Places away from 'her house/land/road' could make her nervous, like a trip to the vet. She was a different dog and would lean on me and practically became a part of me, be it my lap or my leg. She needed a hug or a pat and for me to tell her she would be ok. I can remember her big brown eyes looking up at me for the support she needed, someone to save her. By herself, she was afraid and with me, she could get through those times better.

Isn't that something we all need? Someone who will stand by us and support us. I can be strong at times, but I have more times I'm not and I need someone to say it's ok or I'm doing the right thing or they understand my fears or reassure me they will stand with me no matter. It usually only takes that one person to give me the inner strength I need to, 'get through' a situation.

I know God wants me to put him first and I'm trying to do that, but I also believe he knows how important it is for us to have a someone who we can share our thoughts with or a someone we can lean on for support emotionally, a someone who gives the hug or the pat on the back and a someone to remind us that God understands and loves us at all times and we are never, alone, even when we feel alone.

Nancy