"Gordon"

The following posting is from Laurie Marie Hopper. Laurie works in a Christian bookstore and her time spent with customers is an important part of her daily ministry. This is the second story I've posted by Laurie in the "Stories" category.

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Life lessons learned in the Dayspring isle...

Some lessons in life I only have to learn once, but others it seems I have to learn over and over. Like the lesson of Gordon...I'll never forget the day I met him. He was looking for a card for his "dear wife" as he called her. Now Gordon is an elderly man in his nineties....at one time he was a very tall gentleman.  Gordon is stooped over a little and has a VERY wrinkly face.

I saw Gordon and said "Hi! How are you today"? I looked Gordon right in the eyes and smiled. Gordon looked back at me for a long time like he was pleasantly shocked someone would talk to him. We struck up a conversation and before long I learned that he had fought in world wars and had been a missionary and a pastor for many years. He also began to share with me all the jobs he had done...I was amazed at this man! What a full life he had led! Before he left with his card he said, "The beauty of God shines in you!" Wow, what a sweet thing for a little old man to say! I told him goodbye and have a great day.

Well.....I didn't see Gordon for about six months. Then all of a sudden one day there he was! I was so glad to see him and he was glad to see me, too. But this time Gordon was a little bit different...he wasn't as clean as he was the first time I met him....and he didn't smell as well either. His eyes were a little bit dimmer and I noticed some food in his teeth. On first impulse, I didn't want to be so friendly." THIS was different!", I said to myself. "Do I have to still be friendly to this guy"?

Now before you give up on me, you have to know where I didn't come from. I didn't come from a Christian home where you were taught basic courtesies and manners. I didn't have parents who taught me how to treat people nicely whether you liked the way they looked or smelled. God has had to teach me everything I've learned about kindness.

As Gordon proceeded to talk to me and engage in conversation, a scripture leaped up in my spirit...”For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”  1 Sam. 16:7 KJV

I knew deep inside of me that I was suppose to treat Gordon like he was the best-dressed, best smelling older gentleman I ever met. And I did, with all my heart. I spent time with him and helped him pick out just the right card.
Just before he left he looked up at me and said, “Thanks for being so nice to me. Most people don't like to talk to old guys." I laughed and said, “You come in any time you like, Gordon! I love visiting with you!"

The next time Gordon came by the store, I was on the floor putting together a new display, and he said, “Do you have a few minutes? Probably not, huh?"
I replied, "Why, sure Gordon...what do you need?"  He said excitedly, “I’ll be right back!"...Sure enough, Gordon came back with a big three-ring binder in his hands and gave it to me. I opened it up and to my amazement, it was full of the most beautiful pictures I had ever seen. Photographs.... Of flowers, birds, landscapes, sunsets, insects; pictures of cocoons opening and baby butterflies struggling out. He also had pictures of flowers in sequence...as a bud, opening a little more, and even a little more...until finally fully open.

In utter amazement I said, “Gordon, did you take these pictures"!? "Sure did"!, He replied with a grin stretching from one ear to the other. "I knew you would appreciate them so I came to show them to you."
"You do professional work, Gordon! You should sell these!" "Oh, but then I'd have to do bookwork!", he replied. After he was gone, I felt so satisfied inside and so grateful that I had not rejected him.

What did I learn? That we are never too old to dream and to be creative and productive; that the outward appearance can be so deceiving in judging what's inside a person; that I want to be like God....I want to see like He sees...He looks on the heart.

Do you have a "Gordon" in your life? Do you find yourself a little like me-apprehensive to reach out to those who might be different from you? Let me encourage you to reach out just a little more than you normally would...experience the freedom and the personal growth that comes from getting out of your comfort zone and showing God's love to those who cross your path on a daily basis. I think you'll find pleasant surprises along your journey and you'll see more like God sees in the process.

- By Laurie Marie Hopper

God’s Overwhelming Generosity

Everything in your life that flows out of love has come to you from God. Everything in your life that is good has been initiated by God. God has done everything for you, He is everything to you, and He is enriching other lives through you. His generosity is overwhelming; His blessings are limitless; His love is endless.

No one has favored you more than God. He has removed every stain of your sin, He has cleansed all the defilement of your iniquity, and He has silenced every voice of condemnation that hung over your head. He has saved you, redeemed you, and justified you.

All of God’s grace abounds toward you, all of Christ’s riches are made available to you, and all spiritual blessings are provided for you. In Christ, you have received the treasures that can never be taken away, the hope that can never fade away, and the life that will never pass away.

As you walk with Jesus day by day, you will find that your thankfulness to Him is an ever increasing symphony of praise, building into a lifelong crescendo of gratitude that flows from your heart to His. You, who have so little, have received so much, because He has been so generous.

There are so many riches that He has given to you; so many answers to prayer that He has granted to you; so many kindnesses that He has manifested to you; so many joys that He has provided for you; so many mercies that He has extended to you; so many benefits that He has showered upon you. Everything you have has come from Him, and that is the reason why your heart can be so grateful.

The Gift We Give To God

Then one of them, upon seeing that he was cured, turned back, recognizing and thanking and praising God with a loud voice.  Luke 17:15 AMP

The Bible tells us that one day Jesus’ heart of compassion responded to the desperate cries of ten lepers. They were outcasts without hope, without friends, separated from society and human contact. Some people ignored them, some pitied them, some despised them, some wept for them, but none could change them. Jesus was their only hope. “Have mercy on us,” was their collective cry.

Jesus responded to them with a word. Not a word of sympathy or pity, but a word of power. It hit them like a thunderbolt. “Go show yourself to the priest.” What a statement! According to the law, you went to see the priest to verify your healing. And as they went, in obedience to His word, they were healed—all ten!

To be instantly healed from leprosy was amazing. It meant everything—a place in society, a job, hugs and human affection, belonging, acceptance, purpose, value. But what is even more amazing is that only one out of the ten was grateful enough to return and to pour out his thanks to Jesus.

In Timothy we read, “In the last days…people will be…ungrateful.” We live in an ungrateful world. To listen to most, you would think that either God didn’t exist, or if He did, that He was indifferent, unkind, and uncaring. 

God’s generosity to us in Jesus Christ is overwhelming—God gives us a clean heart, a joyful heart, a loving heart, a peaceful heart—yet, there is one thing God cannot give us, and that is a thankful heart. Thankfulness is our gift to Him.

Where Is God When Your Heart Aches?

And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth. John 1:14 AMP

The meaning of “Tabernacle” reaches into the deepest places of our hearts. Its impact was first known to the people of Israel in the book of Exodus (29:5), was revealed to the early church through the Gospels (John 1:14), and is spoken of in the book of Revelation as an extension of God’s loving care to His people in the final days (Revelation 7:15 AMP.)  The word “Tabernacle” brings to us one of the clearest revelations of the love and care of God for His people. It says to us that God has chosen to come to us in our need, to draw close in intimacy and compassion, and to cover us with His presence.

When God’s people go through great hardships and heartaches we often wonder what can be said that will bring true comfort and hope? One of things I believe we can say with strong affirmation is that God is there, in the midst of it all, drawing closer than any friend or family member ever could. This is at the heart of Jesus, our Tabernacle. Jesus didn’t stay away from us, hiding from our sorrows in heaven; He came to us and tabernacled with us.

In the book of Revelation, God reaches out to those who have come through great tribulation and spreads His tabernacle over them—the tabernacle of His presence to protect and shelter them. In the midst of our deepest sorrows, tears, and struggles God spreads the tent of His presence over us!

How close is God to you when we face our greatest trials and difficulties?  The Bible tells us that God collects our tears in His bottle, and that one day He will wipe away all tears from our eyes. How close is He to you when your heart aches? He cannot collect your tears in His bottle and be standing at a distance. To be a collector of your tears, God is not even an eyelash away. 

There’s No Place Like Home!

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:23

The Man Without a Country is a sad story that tells the plight of Philip Nolan, who renounces the United States of America and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life on warships of the United States Navy, without the right to ever again set foot on U.S. soil or hear its name mentioned.

One of the saddest stories in real life is the plight of the homeless who live on city streets and parks throughout the country. These are people with a thousand different stories to tell, but who all have one thing in common, the absence of a place they can call “home.”

The saddest story of all is to learn of someone who is spiritually homeless. There is no greater emptiness, loneliness, or isolation than this. Jesus Christ came to make His home within our hearts. His presence makes it possible for every person to find their true home and their eternal home with Him.

The home that Jesus wants to make within us is not a dark, cold, harsh place that we will tremble to enter, but a home of splendor, beauty, and tenderness that will always make us feel welcomed.

Here are six characteristics of the home that Jesus wants to establish within us.

1. A home of love….where His arms are extended to help, to support, to encourage, and to embrace.
2. A home of acceptance…where you are valued, celebrated, enjoyed, and appreciated; where He is genuinely happy to be in your company.
3. A home of protection…where you can be sheltered from the coming storm and find safety from the heat of day, the cold of night, and the battering winds that beat against your life.
4. A home of fellowship….where your hearts can open up to one another, where feelings can be expressed, where thoughts can be exchanged; where deep touches deep, and soul touches soul in harmony, in unity, and in sweet communion.
5. A home of light…where a glow fills the hallways and floods the rooms with welcomed illumination; where it is possible to clearly find your way and fully discover the treasures within.
6. A home of warmth…where the fire of His presence burns brightly; its beauty drawing you close—bringing laughter, shared joys, common interests and celebrated victories, while the golden flames of mercy and grace warm the deepest chills within.

Work and Rest

Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. Exodus 34:21 NJKV

Work is a good thing. Work is in the will of God. It is a way we honor and obey God. Work is a blessing. If we are out of work, we can ask God to lead us and to provide us with honorable work that will glorify Him.

Work makes us active, productive, and useful instead of passive, idle, and dependent upon on others. It provides a way of expressing our gifts and talents, it inspires creativity, it helps to develop character, it brings new relationships into our lives, and it gives us the satisfaction of doing a job to the very best of our ability. When we receive and recognize that our work is a gift from God we have no reason to grumble and complain about our work.

It is also good to remember that the God who wants us to work also wants us to rest. Even though His will is for us to work, He does not want us to be consumed with our work or to have our work consume us. Rest is another way of reminding us that God is reasonable and considerate. He does not treat us like machines, but like people who have physical, mental, and emotional limitations. In God’s plan, one day of rest will refresh our spirits, renew our minds, and restore to us the strength we will need for the week ahead.

Lord, thank you for the wisdom of your ways. Thank you that you know what is best for me. Thank you for giving me the strength to work and the opportunity to do it. Help me to work when I work, and to rest when I rest. Bring my life into a proper balance and help me to keep a quiet heart in all I do.

A Few Quotes

Our Christian life today is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet still to come; for God has “made us to sit down with Him” who first was seated by mighty power in the heavenly places far above all (Ephesians 1:20; 2:6). This means that the work of salvation is not ours but His. It is not that we work for God but that He has worked for us. God gives us our position of rest. He brings His Son’s finished work and presents it to us, and then He says to us, “Please sit.”
His offer of salvation cannot, I think, be better expressed than in the words of invitation to the great feast in the parable: “Come; for all things are now ready.”
-Watchman Nee

You are His…by conquest. What a battle He had in us before we were won! How long He laid siege to our walls against Him. But we have become the conquered captives of His omnipotent love. Thus chosen, purchased, and subdued, the rights of our divine Possessor are inalienable.
-C.H. Spurgeon

Will The “Real You” Please Stand Up!

Do you know who you really are in Jesus Christ? Have you discovered your true identity and are you living in the reality of it today? Years ago there was a TV game show called To Tell the Truth. During the show three contestants, each claiming the same identity, stood before a panel of judges. The object of the show was to see if the panel, by asking a series of questions to the contestants, could identify who was telling the truth. After the panel members made their guess, the host of the show would say, “Will the real ………….please stand up.” 

If you do not know who you are Christ, you will not be able to “stand up” to your true identity. Because you are in Christ, you cannot let the devil try to tag you with a false identity.

You are the Lord’s person and possession. He made you and He owns you. He has ownership of you through creation and redemption. Isn’t good to know that you are doubly His! You are no small thing to Him and your life is no small matter in His loving hands.

You are His, wholly and completely. There are no doubts in His mind or in heaven’s records. The devil has no lien against your life. Because of the purchase price that Jesus paid upon the cross, Satan has no rightful claim upon you. He cannot approach the courts of heaven and say, “The shed blood of Jesus Christ was not payment enough to claim this life. I still am owed back payment and I refuse to release my legal rights.”

Satan also has no parental right over you. The devil is not your father and he cannot say, “This is my child and I have every right to my authority over him.”  You are now God’s child. You have been adopted into God’s family. He is your Father and you are a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, there are no ties to your past to pull you back; no fears to hold you back; no chains to keep you back.

The Son has set you free, you are a new creation, the old has passed away and the new has come. Refuse every lie that places you outside of Christ. Forget the former things, for God has done a new thing in your life. You are not a victim who is held captive by the past, your circumstances, or your upbringing. Don’t live in the past, for you have died to it all and your life is now hid with Christ in God.

Don’t every say, “Poor me.” Instead, say, “Rich me!” Jesus became poor so you could become rich. You have been lavished with riches—riches of grace, riches of mercy, riches of kindness, riches of love, riches of salvation, riches of glory for now and forevermore. There is no reason to live a defeated life because Jesus is your life, and He is the victorious warrior. Be free, for Jesus has freed you; live free, for Jesus is your freedom. He is your life, and as He is so are you in this present world.

Today

I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. Philippians 3:14 nlt

There is a heavenly call of God upon you today. A call for you to move on and press on toward all that He has prepared for you. Yesterday’s progress is all behind you. Your best day is today, whether you take a small step forward or a giant leap, this day will move you closer than you have ever been before.

What a day this is! You have never gone this way before. Today may be the start of an anticipated vacation, the day of a planned event, or it may be a normal day spent around the house or at the office. What you have planned for today is not what makes it meaningful. What makes your day meaningful is that God is in it.

 [God] was in [your day] when you first opened your eyes. He has sustained you through the night, greeted you with new mercies at morning’s light, given you the breath of life, and promised to direct your steps until day’s end.

Because of God’s mercies you can follow Him with all of your heart today…you can take each step today with a quiet heart…you can move ahead today with great confidence of faith knowing His love keeps you close to His heart, mindful of His promises, and confident of His care.

God’s mercies declare that you are covered in His compassion; His peace proclaims that you are renewed in His rest; His love heralds that you are bathed in His blessings of joy.

Are you tired or weary today? Allow God to renew you with His strength. Are you discouraged or downhearted? Allow God to lift you with His love. …Are you in need of reassurance? Allow God to hold you in His embrace.

The Ministry of Writing

I am convinced that we don’t have a ministry because we decide to have one; we have a ministry because God gives us one. Our calling, our work, and the fruit that comes from it is God’s doing, not ours. Our privilege is to obey what God tells us to do; our responsibility is to serve Him faithfully in the place of obedience, whether it is a hidden place or a public place. His blessing and His anointing comes to us when we are living in agreement with His will. We cannot manufacture God’s blessing and anointing simply by being ambitious, highly motivated, or hard working.  The anointing and blessing of God comes through the work of the Holy Spirit, not through our own efforts. An ounce of obedience is worth more than a pound of strife and a ton of self-effort.

I learned an important lesson early on about a writing ministry. You don’t have to be a great writer to write great things. To say it another way, content is more important than style. There are many great writers that have received great acclaim and great rewards. However, that does not mean that great writers necessarily write great things. What excites me about writing is not my style or my ability to write, but the subject matter (the content) of my writing. I have been given the glorious privilege of writing about the heart of God expressed through the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is, without question, the greatest subject anyone could ever write about, and it is a subject that can never be fully expressed or explored. 

“And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” John 21:25 NKJV