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My husband and I went to Jamaica a few years ago to celebrate our 30^th wedding anniversary. We fell in love with everything about it. We thought it was a trip of a lifetime and probably would never get to go back, however, God blessed us, and we were able to go again, this time for 2 weeks.  We had talked so much about this beautiful place to our children and we wanted them to see it. We took our daughter and son-in-law with us for a few days this time. We went ahead of them and they were to meet us there. As we stood on the steps near the gate of what I considered “the closest thing to Paradise I had ever seen” I could not hold back my excitement for them to arrive. My heart would beat faster as I watched every vehicle and passenger as they arrived looking for our precious daughter and her husband. I could not wait to share this place with them. I knew how excited they would be and wanted to see their faces.

As I waited with excitement, God spoke to me… Don’t you think this is what heaven is like? Paradise, with people looking for their loved ones to arrive. Waiting with great anticipation to show them the splendor of heaven, to hear the singing and worship, to see the face of ME, the one who died for them. I can’t wait for them (and you) to arrive. What a wonderful reunion and celebration! Now, have you told everyone about me and this place? Are they excited about coming? Did you prepare or make a way for them to know me? Did you show them how to get here?

John 14: 2-3 “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Lord, help us to tell everyone we know about your salvation and the wonderful place you have prepared for us.

Have you ever watched a Potter work on a Potter’s wheel? It is an amazing thing to observe. In Jeremiah 18, God tells Jeremiah to go to the Potter’s house and there he will receive a word from Lord. When Jeremiah arrives, the potter is working on something on the wheel. As he watches closely, he notices some things about the potter and also the clay, then the word of the Lord came to him.

Recently I got together with a bunch of wonderful women at bible study and we played on a potter’s wheel. I say played because none of us really knew what we were doing but we still made several cute pieces to take home. As we worked with the clay we discussed the things that we noticed and how it related to us being the clay in God’s hands. Some of the things we came up with were…

The potter knows the clay. He knows everything about how the clay will work, dry, and mold. He knows he needs a certain kind of clay to make a particular project. The potter also added water to soften the clay and make it easier to lead. If the clay is dry, it is not as flexible as it is when wet. We also noticed that the potter had to apply pressure to change the look of the clay. Not enough pressure and nothing happens but too much and the clay will fold over or bend out of shape. We observed that when the vessel was marred that the potter would gently shape it into something that was good to the potter. The potter chose the vessel that he needed to make, the clay did not choose what he wanted to be. The thing that was special to me was watching what each one made. In the hand of the potter, no two items were alike. Each project was unique, just as each individual is.

Jeremiah 18:6, “Cannot I do with you as this potter?, saith the Lord, Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand…..

God still asks this question today. Will you allow Him to mold you into what He desires and purposes in His heart or will you fight Him all the way?

Early this morning as I walked out and sat on my porch, expecting to have some quiet time and coffee; I soon heard the noises of the traffic. Horns blaring, muscle cars roaring, and the beeping of the garbage trucks as they backed up. Down the street came the commotion of the builders working on the school building along with the dump trucks rattling. People were leaving their homes for work, and I could hear children waiting on the school bus to arrive. Noise! It seemed to come from everywhere.

Above all the loudness and busyness of this particular morning, I hear a very small bird singing. He was perched on the very edge of my roof overlooking the activities of the day. It was so small you almost couldn’t see him. There he was, just singing. His song continued to louden over everything else that was going on. He did not stop despite the things that were around him, his song didn’t weaken but only became stronger and louder. As I looked down, my bible was opened and I see underlined, “I will sing praises unto thy name”.

Lord, let me sing praises in every circumstance and help me to stand in this world and to proclaim your goodness even if it seems no one else is listening.

“Shut the door, you weren’t raised in a barn”! How many times have you heard or even said that phrase? Shut the door! Why? Either to keep something in or something out. Proverbs 4:23 says “keep thy heart with all diligence” or guard your heart with vigor and intensity. Keep the door shut. Guard what tries to go in. What God has placed in our hearts is precious, a treasure to cherish. It brings joy and peace. Satan would love to come in and destroy what we have. Although he can not take our salvation, he can take our joy and peace if we allow him. He wants us to live in hopelessness, burdened down and not walking in the freedom that was given to us in Jesus Christ. Guard your heart, do not give way to the devil. Do not listen to the lies that he has daily put before you. Do not leave the door flung open or even cracked open so he can get a foot in the door. Lock it up tight with the word of God so you can recognize untruth and deceiving actions. Satan can only take what you give him. He is very sly and if you let him visit, before long he has moved in and it is almost impossible to kick him out. A stronghold has developed, and you feel shacked and defeated. God warns us in Ephesians 4 not to give way to the devil. How do we do that? By our disobedience, anger, selfishness, or lusts of the flesh of any kind. Doing anything contrary to God’s word cracks open our heart’s door to let Satan move in. Be careful because when he comes in he brings others with him- doubt, fear, depression, helplessness, sadness, loneliness, and many more.

Keep your heart’s door shut to the things of this world. Guard it with all your strength for when you do, God will open it with love, compassion, peace and mercy.

Phillipians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ”.

Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

One day while my husband and I were walking we began discussing some trees in our neighbor’s yard. I was admiring the beautiful colors of the spring flowers and all her trees in full bloom. One type of tree stood out with it’s gorgeous bright pink petals. Since my husband works with trees, I asked him what it was. He said, “It is a cherry tree”. I have lived next to our neighbors for several years and if there were cherries on that tree they would have fallen across the fence and into our yard. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because the next words out of his mouth were, “It is an ornamental Cherry tree, it doesn’t produce fruit”. Those words hit me like a brick and just kept ringing in my head…no fruit. He continued to tell me they were known for their explosion of showy flowers in the spring but only have small bitter berries.

As I thought about his words, Matthew 7:16-20 ran through my mind. You shall know them by their fruit. A good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. Every tree that bringeth not good fruit is hewn down. Can we become ornamental Christians? Especially in the Spring around Easter, we get all dressed up on Sunday morning and greet everyone with a smile, while carrying our bibles where everyone can see it. We know the right “church” words, know all the stanzas of Amazing Grace, and we even put a little money in the offering plate. Beautiful Flowers to see. What happens the rest of the week? Are we showing or producing kindness to every one we meet or generosity to those in need? What about self-control in all we do? Are we faithful in our walk with the Lord when no one is looking? How are we doing with loving our neighbor? The bible says in Galatians 5:22-23 these are the fruits we should be producing for others to see. Good fruit so others will glorify God, not us.

The bible tells another story in Luke 18:9-14 of a Pharisee and a publican. Both went to the temple to pray, however the Pharisee stood and prayed a prideful prayer in view of everyone, while the publican stood afar off and humbly would not even lift his eyes up to heaven. Jesus said the publican went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee. Everyone that exalts himself shall be abased or made low, but he that humbles himself shall be exalted.

Are we real disciples or ornamental christians? Do we explode with showy blossoms for a short season but never produce anything for the kingdom of God? My husband relayed to me that once the flowers fall off and the tree begins to die, it is good for nothing but firewood. We need to be a good tree, that not only produces good fruit but leaves seeds for others.

I was watching and helping my husband fix our refrigerator the other day. I had a very important job. My job was to hold the flashlight while he rewired the cords. A rat had gotten in and chewed through the power cord so our refrigerator quit working overnight. I felt like this was a very strange time for a bible lesson, but it seemed God spoke to me while watching my husband. “I am the vine and ye are the branches”…(John 15:5).

The refrigerator was working great, kept things cold and was doing its job. Our daily walk is the same way. We go about our day trying to do what God has told us to do and depending on His power. Then Satan (The Big Rat) comes to try and destroy the connection between us and God. God is the source of all power in our Christian life. He is always there and He never changes. Without God’s strength and power, we become like the refrigerator. It looked the same, still held all the food, but couldn’t do what it was intended to do without its power source. As I watched him carefully rewire each individual wire, it reminded me that God knows about every detail of our lives and we must give everything to Him. We can’t just be connected in a few areas of our lives but in every thing we do. If he had only put some of the wires together, the refrigerator still wouldn’t have worked. He had to reconnect ALL of them. As he finished up and said, “Okay, let’s plug it in and see if she works”, he put the plug in the outlet and immediately the refrigerator began cooling off and making ice. We need to be careful that we don’t allow Satan to chew through our power source with distractions, sin, or anything that keeps us from studying the bible, prayer and having a relationship with God. We must stay connected, “for without me you can do nothing”.

Psalm 112:4 “Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness; He is gracious and ful of compassion, and righteous”.

Have you ever been in a noisy classroom full of 5-year old children when the teacher turns out the lights? Everyone stops, gets quiet and listens. What about a severe thunderstorm in the the middle of the night when the power goes out? What is it about the dark that makes us stop? In the darkness we see our vulnerability, our helplessness. We stop and listen for others, danger, or instructions. In the darkness of our lives, God speaks. He speaks to us regularly but just like the five year children in the classroom, we are not listening. God needs to get our attention, so He allows darkness or storms. When we get quiet and truly listen for God, we will hear Him. He doesn’t want us to depend on others or look for another source of light and direction. He wants our undivided attention. I know during my darkest times, the only thing I wanted to do was read my bible and pray, searching for answers. It took darkness to get me to “be still”, and not to move until He said so.

Whenever my children were small and the power went out, I would hear them call out for me or their Dad. My reply was always, “Stand still and I will come get you”. I didn’t want them to fall or get hurt and I had a light that I was bringing to them. As I came closer to them they would yell, “I see you coming”. They could see the light from the candle or flashlight and knew everything was okay.

God is the same. In the middle of our darkness, He hears our cries for help. He answers, “Be still, I am bringing light to you”. Be patient, listen for Him and wait for instructions. In the darkness, you will see His light coming. God doesn’t want us to fall or get hurt. He loves us and wants us to know He is there, just as He is during the brightness of our lives. When He brings the light, fear is gone, helplessness disappears and darkness fades. He fills our soul with comfort and peace. Trust God in the darkness. He will not leave you. Just because you can not see Him. it doesn’t mean He isn’t there. Stop and Listen.