Dewey's Daily Cup

Dear Family of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Thank you all for stopping by for a CUP!

Soak in this CUP we offer to you this day……soak in the Bread of Life this day……..

2 Corinthians 1

Amplified Bible (AMP)

1 Paul, an apostle (a special messenger) of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy [our] brother, to the church (assembly) of God which is at Corinth, and to all the saints (the people of God) throughout Achaia (most of Greece):
2 Grace (favor and spiritual blessing) to you and [heart] peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement),
4 Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.
5 For just as Christ’s [^{a]” style=”font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;”[a]own] sufferings fall to our lotb]” style=”font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;”[b][as they overflow upon His disciples, and we share and experience them] abundantly, so through Christ comfort (consolation and encouragement) is also [shared and experienced] abundantly by us.
6 But if we are troubled (afflicted and distressed), it is for your comfort (consolation and encouragement) and [for your] salvation; and if we are comforted (consoled and encouraged), it is for your comfort (consolation and encouragement), which works [in you] when you patiently endure the same evils (misfortunes and calamities) that we also suffer and undergo.
7 And our hope for you [our joyful and confident expectation of good for you] is ever unwavering (assured and unshaken); for we know that just as you share and are partners in [our] sufferings andcalamities, you also share and are partners in [our] comfort (consolation and encouragement).
8 For we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing distress which befell us in [the province of] Asia, how we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life [itself].
9 Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead.
10 [For it is He] Who rescued and saved us from such a perilous death, and He will still rescue and save us; in and on Him we have set our hope (our joyful and confident expectation) that He will again deliver us [from danger and destruction and c]” style=”font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;”[c]draw us to Himself],
11 While you also cooperate by your prayers for us [helping and laboring together with us]. Thus [the lips of] many persons [turned toward God will eventually] give thanks on our behalf for the grace (the blessing of deliverance) granted us at the request of the many who have prayed.
AMEN! PRAISE THE LORD THIS DAY AND ALL DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!}

Hi Dewey:

I thank God for the blessings of the Lord that make rich and adds no sorrow with it.

Thank you for accepting our invitation to minister at EMMANUEL Ministries Int’l. Our service time is Sunday, 12/2/12 at 2:30pm. We are located at 2105 Golf Course Rd., SE, Suite B, Rio Rancho (between Westside Blvd & 21st Ave).

We look forward to seeing you and Sharon.

Laborers together,

Barbara

God Bless you Barbara, we are blessed to be with you all!!!!!!!!!

The trial you are facing is not happening to you – it is happening for you. Let God use it for your good and His glory. Tony Evans

Fasting is not about food, it’s about growing closer the the Lord. Jerry Fisher

Jerry made that quote last night at Men’s Bible study at Valley View Christian Church in Edgewood. We studied fasting. It was a blessing. More on that as we drink this CUP.

I want to touch on this as we start this CUP, I am in tears as I write this to you today. Yesterday was a very impactful day. I have been doing this CUP for years and one of the things I have Preached on, talked on Radio and TV about is the Body of Christ coming together. Valley View Christian Church is being such an AWESOME witness to me and Sharon. Yesterday Pastor Leonard was on two TV tapings with me, the first one will air Saturday at 6pm on KAZQ CH 32 as we begin our series of Christmas messages. Then last night as traveled out to Edgewood to be with the guys for Bible study. The study was led by Vietnam Veteran Jerry Fisher, who earlier in the day fixed my car! I have known many of the folks at Valley View for about 5 years now,and they are such a shining light to us all. There are many other Churches that are also being that bright light and we need to left them up as an example to us all what the Church is to be.

One of the missions of FGGAM is to help people get connected to a Church and Pastor.. About 80% of America does not have a home Church. Being part of the Body of Christ is vital.

Let us visit the Message Bible for this……….This morning it is so heavy on my heart that we dive into the word of God, the Bread of life………Please prayfully read………read this CUP and then share it with many! Carry out the Great Commission by sharing the CUP! AMEN! PRAISE GOD!!!

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

The Message (MSG)

12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.
14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.
19-24 But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes nodifference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?
25-26 The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

PRAISE GOD!!!! We need each other!

I mentioned that Pastor Leonard Navarre is with me this Saturday and next Saturday for Dewey and Friends on KAZQ CH 32 at 6pm. We begin our Christmas messages this week……….by the way all our TV programs are now on our youtube channel, just go to youtube and type in my name Dewey Moede.

A Virgin Conceives

26-28 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.

29-33 She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

He will be great,
be called ‘Son of the Highest.’
The Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob’s house forever—
no end, ever, to his kingdom.”

34 Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”
35 The angel answered,

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, Son of God.

Hallelujah!!!

I pray that you will join us for Dewey and Friends this Saturday night on KAZQ at 6pm, a presentation of FGGAM, as we begin our Christmas messages!

As I mentioned last night Jerry Fisher led the Men’s Bible study at Valley View Christian Church on Fasting. Jerry had me read this scripture…………..

Isaiah 58

Amplified Bible (AMP)

58 Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins!
2 Yet they seek, inquire for, and require Me daily and delight [externally] to know My ways, as [if they were in reality] a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God [in visible ways].
3 Why have we fasted, they say, and You do not see it? Why have we afflicted ourselves, and You take no knowledge [of it]? Behold [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins], you find profit in your business, and [instead of stopping all work, as the law implies you and your workmen should do] you extort from your hired servants a full amount of labor.A)” style=”font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;”
4 [The facts are that] you fast only for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Fasting as you do today will not cause your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such a fast as yours what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself with sorrow in his soul? [Is true fasting merely mechanical?] Is it only to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him [to indicate a condition of heart that he does not have]? Will you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 [Rather] is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every [enslaving] yoke?B)” style=”font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;”
7 Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house—when you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you hide not yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh andblood?
AMEN!
Jerry shared that there are 3 types of Fasting and I encourage you to go to the Word of God.
Acts 9:9 Absolute Fasting
Luke 4:2 Normal fasting
Daniel 10:3 Partial fasting
Also read Exodus 34:28
1 Sam 7:6
1 Kings 19:8
Matt 6:17
Sharon and I pray today that you soak in the bread of life…….the Word of God in all that you do.
For God’s Glory Alone in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, Dewey Sharon and family

Visit us today!

www.fggam.org

If you would like to support the much needed work of For God’s Glory Alone Ministries, Dewey Moede, and Dewey’s Daily Cup please consider giving a financial gift. You can securely give by clicking on this link- http://www.fggam.org/donate.html then scroll down the page to securely give through PayPal. Be assured my friends, your gift will be of the greatest help in furthering the ministry work the Lord has laid upon us to carry out in His Holy Name.

Thank you,

Dewey Moede

If you have friends or family you think would like to share a daily cup of inspirational coffee with Dewey please forward this email and encourage them to join Dewey’s Daily Cup. All they have to do is send an email saying “Sign me up!” to radiodewey.

If you do not wish to be on this email list please kindly inform Dewey by sending him an email titled REMOVE at radiodewey@aol.com – we will take you off this email list asap

Dear Family of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Sharon and I thank our God for you and yours. In every prayer of ours we always
make our entreaty and petition for all of you with joy.
We thank you for your fellowship in advancing the good news of the Gospel.
As Paul says in Philippians 1, We are convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who
began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ right up to the time of His return, developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.

I have to share with you that Sharon is doing more and more Public speaking, giving a message of hope. After one of her most recent presentations, a person came up to her and said, “I normally leave early but I stayed to hear your message and I am glad I did.”

I might have shared this with you all before, but Friend and Adviser to us Shauna Rampley says this is such a powerful statement on the mission of FGGAM, this comes from Albuquerque Businessman Richard Griffin, “FGGAM is a difference maker in our society.”

To that my friend’s, We say, For God’s Glory Alone!!!!

Please visit us at www.fggam.org ;

Pastor Leonard Navarre sent this quote in………..WOW!

His Friend Joe Cota said, “Out of suffering emerges the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars.”

AMEN! AMEN!

Let us go into prayer……….

Dewey, An update to eight year old Jayden. The knife wound is to the left side of his chest, near the heart sack. Surgeons will try to scope the wound to ensure the heart and arteries were not damaged. If they are, he will require open heart surgery. Please have everyone add Jayden to as many prayer chains as they can. I humbly ask The Lord to show mercy to this family and plead for Jayden's life. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, Pastor Paul Holt First Baptist Church of Magdalena

I just checked my messages again and here is an update on little Jayden before we put this CUP on for you......This is from pastor Paul........

The latest news on Jayden is that he made it out of surgery and is doing well. There is no appearant damage to his heart. He may even be released tomorrow afternoon! Praise The Lord! He saved Jayden. Continue, please, to lift him up along with the family.

Praise God!!! 

This morning as we pray for little Jayden I want to share more this week about speaking life into each other.

Henri Nouwen wrote this………

The characteristic of the blessed one is that, whatever they go, they always speak words of blessing. It is remarkable how easy it is to bless others, to speak good things to and about them, to call forth their beauty and truth, when you yourself are in touch with your own blessedness. The blessed one always blesses. And people want to be blessed! This is so apparent wherever you go! No one is brought to life through curses, gossip, accusations, or blaming. There is so much of that taking place around us all the time. And it calls forth only darkness, destruction, and death. As the “blesses ones,” we can walk through this world and offer blessings. It doesn’t require much effort. It flows naturally from our hearts. When we hear within ourselves the voice calling us by name and blessing us, the darkness no longer distracts us. The voice that calls us the Beloved will give us words to bless others and reveal to them that they are no less blessed that we.

What lovely words by Henri Nouwen. Great words for us all. Brother Paul Dokken had stressed to me that the next time my brother Daryl calls, “speak life into him” I had not heard from Daryl in months up until yesterday and we had a very up lifting conversation! I had been talking about the past too much, the hurts and so forth.

Last week I was with some folks and then gossip started, my spirit was very disturbed and I had to leave. I was sorry that I was a part of that at the start. As I left I said let’s all pray.

I am not around gossip hardly at all, because I am around Godly people.

Chuck Swindoll says this: Isn’t it strange how reluctant we are to give ourselves permission to be different and not worry about who may say what?

Let no foul or polluting language, no evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace to those who hear it. Eph 4:29

Your God given discernment plays a key roll in all this. I want to share with you that one of the greatest gifts that God has given me is discernment. You will know when to go forward or to back away. As we mature as Christians the gift of discernment grows in us to protect us from evil. Our God given wisdom grows.

Let us turn to Philippians 1: 9-11

And this I pray: that your love may abound yet more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight that your love may display itself in greater depth of acquaintance and more comprehensive discernment. So that you may surely learn to sense what is vital, and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value recognizing the highest and the best, and distinguishing the moral differences and that you may be untainted and pure and unerring and blameless so that with hearts sincere and certain and unsullied, you may approach the day of Christ no stumbling nor causing others to stumble.May you abound in and be filled with fruits of righteousness of right standing with God and right doing which come through Jesus Christ the Anointed One to the honor and praise of God that His glory may be both manifested and recognized..

.

Matthew Henry wrote this on Wisdom from Job 28........

Wisdom is the gift of God.

There is a two-fold wisdom; one hid in God, which is secret, and belongs not to us; the other made known by him, and revealed to man. One day’s events, and one man’s affairs, have such reference to, and so hang one upon another, that He only, to whom all is open, and who sees the whole at one view, can rightly judge of every part. But the knowledge of God’s revealed will is within our reach, and will do us good. Let man look upon this as his wisdom, To fear the Lord, and to depart

from evil. Let him learn that, and he is learned enough. Where is this wisdom to be found? The treasures of it are hid in Christ, revealed by the word, received by faith, through the Holy Ghost. It will not feed pride or vanity, or amuse our vain curiosity. It teaches and encourages sinners to fear the Lord, and to depart from evil, in the exercise of repentance and faith, without desiring to solve all difficulties about the events of this life

Let us hear from Sister Barbara Gould………..

Hello Everyone:

Once again it is time to gather for our once-a-month Prayer Rally. This coming Saturday, December 1, we will meet at: 1600 5th St., NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 (corner of 5th and Bellamah). Our prayer focus is: our cities, state, nation predominantly, and the world, as Holy Spirit leads. PLEASE mark your calendars to be with us so that together, in one mind and one accord we can pray for an awakening to God in our nation.

Love and shalom!

Forever His Co-laborer
Barbara Gould

Thank you Sister Barbara just a reminder that I will be Preaching at Barbara’s Church this Sunday, here are the details:

Thank you for accepting our invitation to minister at EMMANUEL Ministries Int’l. Our service time is Sunday, 12/2/12 at 2:30pm. We are located at 2105 Golf Course Rd., SE, Suite B, Rio Rancho (between Westside Blvd & 21st Ave)

Sharon and I pray we will see you there!

For God’s Glory Alone in the Love of Jesus Christ, Dewey Sharon and Family

Visit us today!

www.fggam.org

If you would like to support the much needed work of For God’s Glory Alone Ministries, Dewey Moede, and Dewey’s Daily Cup please consider giving a financial gift. You can securely give by clicking on this link- http://www.fggam.org/donate.html then scroll down the page to securely give through PayPal. Be assured my friends, your gift will be of the greatest help in furthering the ministry work the Lord has laid upon us to carry out in His Holy Name.

Thank you,

Dewey Moede

If you have friends or family you think would like to share a daily cup of inspirational coffee with Dewey please forward this email and encourage them to join Dewey’s Daily Cup. All they have to do is send an email saying “Sign me up!” to radiodewey.

If you do not wish to be on this email list please kindly inform Dewey by sending him an email titled REMOVE at radiodewey@aol.com – we will take you off this email list asap

Dear Family of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Thank you for stopping by for a CUP!

When you have a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ……….

Wherever you are going, God has already been there and paved the way for you. Matt 6:27-30

‎”One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.” –C.S. Lewis (in the chapter “Christian Apologetics” of the book “God in the Dock”)

I grab onto this quote today and share it with you from C.S. Lewis. Our Christian Faith must not be moderately important. We must stand in the gap for God, that is our mission here at FGGAM, standing in the gap for God and His people. Sunday afternoon flipping the TV Channels for Christmas programming, I was hoping for a Charlie Brown Christmas, I ran across that Christmas story of Tim Allen becoming Santa LOL! LOL!. It has been a long, long tome since I have watched secular TV. I was shocked that an ad ran for a smoke shop on this TV channel My 50 TV an Albuquerque TV station. My Police officer friends just shut down one of these joints here on the Westside. These Smoke Shops sell Drug paraphernalia, just all sorts of nasty stuff. Is this what we want our children, youth to adsorb, stuff from a smoke shop? This is horrible that a TV station would air such ad’s. I called the GM of the station yesterday and he called back and left me a message and did the usual song and dance and said he would “talk to his team” about the ad. I also talked to the Governors office about this and placed a call to the FCC to see if they think these type of ad’s are in the Public interest. Jesus turned over tables and I believe this one would have him do the same! What are we doing to God’s children? It is our responsibility to take care of His children here on earth. I invite you to go to youtube and watch my TV program I did with Richard Griffin on how God and his family fought the heroin addiction of his son, who lost 2 best friends to that nasty stuff. I am as old as dirt, a fuddy duddy who comes from the Broadcast field where you do things whether you are in Secular or Christian Broadcasting in the Public’s Best interest advertising stuff like smoke shops is not in the Public’s best interest!!!!!! Here at FGGAM we help people with drug addictions, our hope is to get them into a Church and Pastoral relationship with outside counseling. I challenge anybody to tell me that advertising smoke shops is in the Public’s Interest, they certainly are not in the interest of our Lord Jesus Christ and His children.

We must stand in the gap for those who cannot stand!

We must not take our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ moderately!

We must not HINDER our Children with such things as Smoke shops and other garbage!!!!!!!!

“Do Not Hinder Them”

“People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them, says Bible verse Mark 10:13. “When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them” (verses 14-16).

Herbert Lockyer, in his well loved book All the Children of the Bible, describes the special relationship Jesus had with children:

“The gospels portray Jesus as a lover of children. Having entered the world as a child, He knew the child heart, and thus childhood was always sacred in his eyes. What strong condemnation He had for those who outraged the rights of children, and how warmly He welcomed the little ones whom He presented as models to those aspiring to the Kingdom of Heaven!…

“Jesus yearns over all the children of the world, irrespective of their color and race, and we should share to bring them to Him because they need Him as Saviour, Teacher and Friend” (pages 51-53). My wife and I believe Jesus’ invitation welcomes not only us but our 6-year-old daughter into a loving relationship with him.

What can we do to promote in our children the love, trust and worship that we ourselves feel for our Lord and Savior? How can we help them, too, to embrace Jesus Christ as friend, helper and loving master?

Let us now go into prayer………….

This from Shari……..

Good morning to the folks I know in whom I can depend for sincere prayer. I have a dear friend at church, her name is Paula Boggs and today she faces surgery to have hopefully just a part of her colon removed because of cancer. She is a 43 year old mother of 4 beautiful children, one of which is Down Syndrome. And recently she accepted 2 foster children, one of which is severely handicapped. She is an AWESOME woman. My heart is broken for her and her family today. She has a wonderful godly husband. Please pray for her today. I’ll be heading to Marietta, Ohio shortly to be with them. The surgery is at noon today. Two of her children are in my teen department and just like her, they are rock solid Christians. Thanks in advance. I’ll reply probably later this afternoon when I find out how the surgery went.

We are praying, yes we are!!

Hi Dewey,

I was going to ask you..a friend is battling cancer and is in the hospital. Her name is Chantel and like Martha she is fighting hard but needs God right now.

Thank you
Roger

We are praying now for Chantel.

Yesterday I traveled to Portales, NM to visit Gretchen. Please pray for her and the anxiety that comes with College and peer pressure. Our Children are in such a different world than we were at that age, Their menu has more than quadrupled, it is the internet……..on and on the stuff our Children face.

From Victor Martinez……….

Please pray for our 12yr old dog Jazz. He has severe pancreatitis and is receiving treatment at animal hospital. Prognosis is guarded and day to day. A truly sweet and great dog.

We are praying Victor! yes we are! Victor I just sent Karen Rowe James Robison’s book on God and Pet’s, it is an awesome book that shows how special are animals are.

When people come to the CUP for prayer they know that there are over a 1,000 prayer warriors now praying! PRAISE GOD!!!!

November 28, 2012. When times get difficult, often the only remaining help is from the Lord himself. Many have befriended you. But in all honesty, you wonder about your friends in times of trouble. Where are my friends? King David often felt this way. Once he found himself in a cave “all alone” with no one to help. Yet David was a friend of God. He was a great warrior gaining many victories. His battles often were within his heart and soul. He was often discouraged and depressed. But look at the final outcome. He is revered even today throughout the nations and peoples of the earth. How? God was his help and came to his side. He won the battle of the heart and soul.

Psalm 142:4-6 (NLT) “I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me. Then I pray to you, O LORD. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.” Ras Robinson

Now this from our Dear, Dear friend Shari Johnson

Colossians 4:1-6~ Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
As Christmas approaches, I’m mindful of the sweet spirit that comes from the season. Even the grumpiest of Grinches hearts seem to expand during this time of year. Reflections of childhood can bring sweet memories and bitter heartache for many as I’m aware. I was blessed with a great childhood; godly parents and a huge extended family that filled my grandmother’s home to the brim. Seven children and their children would gather there for Christmas with many of us who lived a distance away spending the night. We crossed the Elk River in Braxton County, West Virginia by john boat to get to my Mommaw Vada’s humble home with three cast iron beds, a hide-a-bed in the living room down stairs and one other bedroom. We’d have twenty and upwards spend the night and if you do the math, there were not enough beds to go around; so we’d pile as many kids in the hide-a-bed sofa as we could and giggle till the wee hours of dawn. Until grumpy Uncle Dennis would threaten to beat us with the yard stick!
Those are memories that I pray stay etched in my mind forever! But what I discovered as I grew up was that my generally tender hearted and kind Uncle had just gotten back from the Vietnam War. As kids we had no concept of what he had seen and experienced on the battlefield. But apparently it sounded somewhat like six giggly rowdy girls banging metal hide-a-bed legs on the floor, but not nearly as funny. As kids we had no concept of his struggle with the noises of war, but as adults we are without excuse.
During this season there are two prayers that I desire to see answered:
Open Doors
Paul said to pray that God would “open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ.” Hearts are indeed tenderer this time of year. We need to be ever mindful of an opportunity to share the love of God through Word and deed. There’s no shortage of broken hearts this time of year or any other really. A word of encouragement can go a lot further than you’d imagine. It doesn’t cost a dime to stop and say a prayer for someone. Visit the elderly or invite someone to church. It cost very little to drop a card in the mail to a veteran to let him know you remember the sacrifice he made, or go caroling at his home with a basket of fruit and thank you card. What about sharing some goodness with the parents of a soldier now deployed, these are rough days for them. The mystery of Christ is not such a mystery when the door is opened to share Christian kindness.
Open Hearts
Paul also reminded us to “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” We didn’t know what was going on in Uncle Dennis’ mind when he towered over our bed with his 6 foot 6 inch silhouette. We only knew that we better be still. God reminds us that there are times to speak, and times to be silent when dealing with the hearts of men. Our hearts need to be open and ever conscious to say the right thing, at the right time, especially during this season that might just bring a bad memory alive instead of the good.
I hope this Christmas that God opens doors for us to open our hearts and share the love of Jesus! I pray that the pathway is filled with opportunities to let our little lights shine!
God Bless you!
Shari Johnson
www.theJesusChick.com