May They Know God

Time is getting close now, we patiently wait for the new arrival of Mason Hamlin, our second grandson, a wonderful blessing from God. As I think of the new one and the one who is already here with us, baby Isaiah, who was 15 months old yesterday, I think that no matter what they do in life I pray that they will love Jesus and live a life pleasing to Him. Although I do not pray this specific prayer for them every day I do pray as Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:16-19 "I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength from his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And you may have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long how high, how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is to great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." For you see the most important thing that anyone will ever do is to give their lives to Jesus. The only way to Heaven is through him and our lives here will be made full because of him, no matter what our occupation or what we accomplish here on this earth. So no matter what occupation our grandchildren hold, if it be collecting the trash, working at a restaurant, staying home and raising their children, a doctor, a pastor, a teacher, a missionary, whatever God leads them to do I pray that they will give their lives to Jesus and be His follower and love Him with their whole being and that they will know how much that Jesus loves them. You see the world honors those who are intelligent, beautiful, rich, and powerful, but we need to honor people who love Christ and no matter what they do are living for Him. So my deepest prayer for all of our family is that they love God and live for Him. I can think of no greater blessing than to go to my grave knowing that in Heaven our family circle will be unbroken and I pray that God will use me, "Grandmawmaw" (or as Isaiah has been calling me "mom", his mom is "mommy",) to help them know Jesus and that as it says in Philippians 1:11 "May I always be filled with the fruit of my salvation (the fruit of the Spirit) the righteous character produced in my life by Jesus Christ for this will bring much glory and praise to God."

Serving the Lord

Many times I have thought, "how can I serve God?" "What does He want me to do?" As I was reading today in 1 Samuel 3:1, it says "Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli....." As I read this the thought hit me, maybe in assisting Ed and helping our children and their spouses, my parents, and others this is a way of serving the Lord and if I can serve the Lord in this way I am already serving Him and most of the time with the right attitude but now I was also convicted because I do not always have the right attitude when I help and that is NOT how God wants me to serve Him so I had to talk to God and ask His forgiveness for my attitude at times and ask Him to help me remember when I am assisting others, and most of the time that is my family, that I am serving Him and to have the right attitude and serve with love for God and for others. It is truly amazing how God speaks to us through His Word, there is no other book that is alive like the Bible, just that small sentence spoke volumes to me. I thank God for giving us His Word.

How to Thank God

How do we thank God every day for all He all He has done for us? How do we thank Him for giving His life for us, for coming to earth and living among people who sin, where there is sickness and death, where there is time, where there is sadness when in Heaven it is perfect and everything is good. He came and died for us, He took on our sins but never sinned, He was spit on, whipped, a crown of thorns was placed on His head, He went through terrible suffering on the cross, His Father (God) turned away from Him, all because of us and our sins. He became the ultimate sacrifice for us so we no longer have to offer sacrifices, so how can we as believers thank Him? As I was reading Psalm 119:1-8 today I found the answer, verse 7 says "As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should." That pretty much sums it up, if we want to thank God every day for what He has done for us we need to live as He has commanded us to. How do we know how He wants us to live? By reading His Word, the Bible. One of His commands is that we "do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together..." that is talking about going to church and by going to church we will learn more about how God wants us to live, when we learn how God wants us to live and live that way we will be showing Him that we love Him and letting Him know that we are thankful for all He has done, for it tells us right in His Word...."....I will thank you by living as I should."