A Baby - A Work of Art by Barbara Chadwick

I have a granddaughter and a grandson and his wife who are expecting babies next month.

Is there anything more precious than a new baby?

All the months of waiting are over and the baby arrives. A brand new creature with a personality all it's very own makes it's place in the family. There is not another being on earth just like this one. This is amazing! We cannot really comprehend it.

When my first baby arrived I couldn't get enough of watching her; watching her stretch, watching her little arms and legs wiggle and move, examining her fingers and toes, arranging her hair into a curl, then brushing it over. The first days, then weeks and months flew by and each new and different thing she did was a marvel to me. Then with each of the other three babies we had I went through the same thing all over again.

David talks about this in Psalms 139:13-17, "For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!"

To realize, first of all, that God created this being that so delights us and then to know that He has ordained all the days of this precious little one, that all its days were written down before this one even appeared to us, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain." Ps. 139:6

When our children are born to us and we realize the enormity of the responsibility we can ask God for help. We can place them in God's hands and ask Him to work out his plan for them in the days of their lives. Psalms 138 verse 8 reads, "The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. Your love, O Lord, endures forever - do not abandon the works of Your hand."

In Philippians 1 verse 6 we are told, "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." So not only do we ask God not to abandon this precious work of His hands but we have the assurance that the One who began a good work will complete it.

What We Have Because Of Other People

What benefits are you enjoying because of someone else’s hard work?

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:6-11

Today as I was walking out in my garden I was struck by how much I have because of other people. You see when we moved into this house it had six grape vines. The woman who owned the house, two owners before us, planted them. This year they are each trying to outdo the other in the amount of grapes they produce and the ever reaching leafy vines. They are just amazing! Even more amazing is that the only thing that I did was to water and prune. I’m reaping the benefits of someone else’s work and it’s really nice! “but God made it grow.”

This May my mother-in-law gave me a whole bunch of potted plants … like a truck load. The problem was that she lives in Waco, TX and I live in Las Cruces, NM. So my wonderful husband rented a trailer and he and my son drove out to TX and transported the whole thing back here. Then they spent the next 2 weeks helping me digs holes (well they did the digging … I did the directing … directing’s hot sweaty work, don-cha know ;) So over the past month I’ve been watering and pruning and watering … and more watering … You did know that Las Cruces is in the desert?! “but God made it grow.”

Now what I didn’t know was that most of the plants she sent me are flowers, or flowering bushes, or flowering trees. (I’m just learning how to grow things.) And it has been the most amazing month to see the plants survive the transplant and to sprout new stems and leaves … and the biggest delight of all … the blooms. I’ve had yellow irises, red bulbs of some kind, a gorgeous white trumpet flower thingy with 7 blooms all in a circle on top of a very long stem, delicate lavender bulbs and yellow ones too, and currently there are these blue/lavender flowers covering this bush-like plant in one of the pots. It is so amazingly beautiful! Once again, I’m reaping the benefits of someone else’s work.

Larry’s mom is the one who planted them and raised them up, I just moved them to a new location and watered and pruned.

“but God made it grow.”

My neighbor has the most gorgeous trumpet vine in her backyard and guess what? The other day I noticed that I have a very small trumpet vine growing near our shared fence. I promptly moved my soaker hose right near it. I want to take advantage of that vine. You see I hope to benefit from her hard labor and enjoy the excess plant in my yard. “but God made it grow.”

Now my husband and I have planted some things on our own. Those plants took a bit more work, a lot longer watering, a lot of digging, a lot of wondering if it would work. But today we are reaping the benefit of our own hard work. Perhaps someone later on down the way will enjoy the benefit of our hard work. “but God made it grow.”

God encourages us to do everything to the very best of our ability and He tells us to bless one another. I want to be thankful for the work people before me have done. I want to truly enjoy it and not take it for granted. But I also want to labor diligently so that those who come behind me will have something to be thankful for. Hopefully they will be blessed by the work of my hands. I desire to work in such a way that God will get the glory because “God made it grow.”

Find Us Faithful

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

May the fire of our devotion light their way

May the wisdom that we leave

Lead them to believe

And the lives we live inspire them to obey

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

Stains

Stains

by Barbara Chadwick



I don't like stains.

Washing dishes the other day a favorite plastic bowl was stained with the sauce from chicken cacciatore. I used soap and a scrub brush with no changes so I added bleach to the soapy water and let it soak. This got me to thinking about stains.

So I went to the Dictionary on e-sword (a computer Bible program) It gave me the following words (the words in red)

Soil, v.t. 1. To make dirty... to stain; to defile
Soil, n. 1. Dirt and foul matter upon another substance
2. To stain, tarnish. A lady's honor will not bear a soil (stain)

I was in the bathroom at Barnes & Noble in Anchorage one day and a lady came in. She began to wash - actually scrub - her hands. As I washed my hands in the next sink I noticed that her hands were red and raw and yet she scrubbed away. I dried my hands and as I left I glanced her way again. She was oblivious to me as she scrubbed. What stain had so wounded her that she couldn't scrub it away?

Speck, n. 1. A spot; a stain; a small place in anything that is discolored by foreign matter.
2. A very small thing.

My mother bought a yellow wool sweater in Scotland and gave it to me. It's my favorite sweater. One day as I cooked a wonderful spaghetti sauce, some of the sauce just jumped right out of the pan onto my sweater! I have tried everything I ever heard about to get that stain out! I have worn it a couple of times anyways, thinking, "Who would notice?" But would you believe people's eyes would go straight to that spot?! It is now (after repeated scrubbings) a small spot but it has ruined the whole sweater.

Every time I see that sweater I feel guilty. Guilty that I ruined the special sweater that my mother gave me, guilty that I didn't wear an apron to protect it, and guilty that I didn't make the sauce that morning before I got dressed for company. I also feel guilty when I remember certain other things I've done or said.

But as a Christian feeling guilty is wrong. It's like a stain in itself. Satan loves for us to feel guilty because it keeps up in his grasp. But the Bible assures us that Jesus blood washes away all sin.

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." Ephesians 1:7

Discolor v.t. 1. To alter the natural hue or color of; to stain

We picked up a computer table at a garage sale. It had a dark stain on top. I thought, "No problem, I'll just scrub it off." I used Bam, then Windex, then Comet. It wouldn't come off! I asked Kenneth to sand it. Even that wouldn't take it off. The stain was too deep. So we bought some dark brown paint and painted the top of the cream colored desk. OK! I like it! A two-toned desk. Beautiful!

Whatever that stain was is still there but you can't see it anymore.

In Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus calls the Pharisees, "whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones. . . On the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

In verse 12 of chapter 23 He says to be humble. In verse 23 of that chapter he continues the discourse saying if you tithe but then neglect justice, mercy and faithfulness, you're a hypocrite!

It's easy to think of sins like murder, theft, pornography, etc. as being dark stains but Jesus put a lot of emphasis on the stains of pride, hypocrisy, greed and self-indulgence.

"First, clean the inside of the cup and dish and then the outside will be clean." Matthew 23:26

Indelible 3. That cannot be effaced or lost; impressions on the mind may be indelible; reproach or stain on reputation may be indelible

Melissa Greene says in, To Trust In You, "...after any trial or tragedy you have to get back up and take the next step with God. You don't have to figure out how you're going to make it to the end of the journey. You just have to take the step."

Stain v.t. 1. To discolor by application of foreign matter 2. To dye 3. To impress with figures in colors different from the ground 4. To blot, to tarnish, to stain the character.

What if our lives were so stained (impressed) with Christ that we exemplified the justice, mercy and faithfulness Jesus talks about in Matthew 23:12?

Stain n. 1. A spot 2. A blot 3. To cloud or obscure by Superior Splendor

Rev. 11:17 Lord God Almighty.
The One who is and the One who was.
Rev. 15:3 King of the ages
Rev. 15:4 for You alone are Holy
Rev. 22:16b I am the Root and the offspring of David, the bright Morning star

These last words are like an Ode to Christ:

Unblenched 1. not injured by any stain or soil
Unimpeachable 1. One who cannot be accused, free from stain
Unspottedness 1. The state of being free from stain or guilt
Whiteness 1. Freedom from any darkness. 2. Purity, cleanness 3. Freedom from any stain
Wipe 1. To cleanse from evil practices or abuses. 2. To overturn and destroy what is foul and hateful. 3. To wipe away a stain or reproach

Praise God the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin! We are all stained. We have all sinned. Just as every mother of small children carries wipes to wipe away stains from every imaginable kind of thing, Jesus Christ wiped away our stains on the cross. We continue to grow and change in our Christian walk. We can all say with Susanna Aughtmon,

"So here I am. . . I'm barely breathing after kids, work, church, disappointment and weaknesses cloud my vision. But I have the hope Peter had. God knows who I am and who I'm supposed to be, and even though I'm frequently caught napping, Christ isn't done with me!"
(from the book, Confessions of a Supergirl by Susanna Aughtmon)

Am I a real light? Or am I just for show?

Yesterday was the 4th of July. And it occurred to me as I listened to the firecrackers going off outside, that they are beautiful ... but they are just for show. They don't last and their light won't shine all night. I want to be the real deal. I don't want to be a flash in a pan, a ten-second star in the night. I want to be someone that God can use ... really use ... until He takes me home.

I subscribe to an online magazine that I find very inspiring. This past week they published an article that was so profound I felt that I should share it with you. The question stopped me in my tracks and it's been hovering in my mind for days. I hope it does the same for you.

The Question That Changed My Life - by David Ryser.

(The Parousia Network of House Churches - (www.parousianetwork.org)

Editor’s Note: This article was forwarded to me by Andrew Strom. To subscribe to his e-mails send a 'subscribe' email to- prophetic@revivalschool.com)

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this:

Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise. Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old--barely out of diapers--and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, "An enterprise. That's a business." After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha's raised hand, "Yes, Martha." She asked such a simple question, "A business? But isn't it supposed to be a body?" I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, "Yes." She continued, "But when a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?"

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, "Wow, I wish I'd thought of that." I didn't dare express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha's question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. "When a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?" There is only one answer to her question. The answer is "Yes." The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don't even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know God--much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don't care if He lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ--that's pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love someone we don't even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?

I was pondering Martha's question again one day, and considered the question, "What's the difference between a lover and a prostitute?" I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, "What would happen if God stopped paying me?" For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any conditions? It took several months to work through these questions. Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.

So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute? There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for that matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both places. Take it from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no substitute for unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose. - Dr. David Ryser.