Many of us are blessed by the organization, Focus on the Family. The originator of the organization, James Dobson Jr is one of the most admired, used and respected Christian ministers today.  His radio program is heard by millions.  No doubt he has done a remarkable job, but would he have been in such a position, had his father not been a man of prayer? Engraved on the tomb of James Dobson Sr. are two special words. “He Prayed.” Because he fervently prayed, this man of God left a legacy of prayer that will continue to impact the American family through his son for years. (Taken in part from Focus on the Family, June 1993).

“He Prayed.” What a powerful testimony.  As life was somewhat turned upside down for us in 2015 with Jon’s cancer we saw the power of prayer first hand.  There were so many that prayed for us during those hard months. Just knowing that one is not alone when the hard times come is such a blessing, but to get emails, cards, texts with “we are praying every day for you” is beyond words. We know that our Father hears and answers every prayer in His own way and His own time. I once heard the late Dr.Adrian Rogers say, “The greatest gift that one can give another is to take time to pray for them.”

When we pray for others, we are making a lasting imprint on them as well as all the lives that go after them.

May it be said of us some day, “They Prayed.”

Joy

Phyllis

One of the things that I love about the spring is to once again purchase flowers and plants for my back patio and arbor.  Recently I was shopping and I saw a gardenia plant that was just about dead. It was full of yellow and brown leaves. However, it did have some unopened buds on it.  In my mind I was thinking that I think I could save and once again restore it to a beautiful productive plant.  So I purchased it and put it under my arbor. I then began my transformation by removing all the bad leaves, watering and letting it absorb the wonderful sunshine that God provides. In about a week I got so excited, called to Jon, “come and see the beautiful white gardenia flowers and smell the sweet fragrance.” What a wonderful fragrance that emanates from the gardenia flower.

“Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.” 2 Corinthians 2:15 a

Once I also was regarded as a cast away, but God through His Son, Jesus purchased me and gave me a new Life. Just as the the sweet aroma from the gardenia plant brought joy to me, how much more pleasure and joy it must bring to our Heavenly Father when the sweet fragrance of Christ rises to heaven from the lives of His redeemed children.

Joy

Phyllis

Many of us pray for God to send renewal to our heart, our churches and our nation. I hear how badly we need renewal, but I guess the first question is how badly do we really want it. The second question is why do we want renewal. What is our motive?

1. So broken homes will be put back together?
2. So that the lost can go to heaven?
3. So there can be an end to all the violence?
4. So that our churches can be filled again?
5. So that our wayward children will return to God?

All these things are wonderful outcomes of a God sent revival, but I want to share a story that I heard several years ago that really touched my heart about my motives for asking.

Over 100 years ago there was an island somewhere in the Atlantic owned by a millionaire slave owner who happened to be an atheist. For that reason he would not let anyone go to the island to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the slaves. Two Moravian believers, both young men, were concerned that these slaves would never get to hear the gospel so they decided that their only course of action was to sell themselves into slavery so that they would be transported to the island to live the rest of their lives.

When the time came for them to leave, their families wept as they stood on the dock and watched these two men leave. As the ship sailed away one of the family members cried out, “Why are you going?”

The men cried back, “ May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward for His suffering!”

(unknown)

That’s the real motive for asking…….

Joy,

Phyllis

Several years ago I decided that I wanted to begin to do sculpting. It was one medium that I had not tried in my years of art. I took a sculpting class at a local nearby college. I remember how I felt that day when, after buying the very large bag of clay, asking the professor, what in the world do I do with the huge hunk of clay? Graciously he didn’t laugh, but instead asked me what I saw in the clay? I told him, “ I see a horse.” His encouraging reply, “then cut away everything that is not a horse.” A famous line used by others.
I thought of the scripture, Isaiah 64:8, “You, oh Lord, You are our Father, You are the potter. We are the work of Your hands”.
So many times in our lives we think we know better the hands that should form and mold our lives. Ours! When the scripture uses the word,” yield,” it means “to give up or present.” I hear people say that they are going to give God their lives. Well, how can we give Him something that He created and already owns? Yield, give up, present to Him!
Going back to my illustration about what I saw in the clay. It is an awesome thought to know that our Father in heaven knew exactly what He saw when he created us (you and me), and He knows exactly what to add and take away to fulfill in our lives His finished product, the Life of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Is it always easy? No! Does it sometime hurt? Yes! But God wants us to live in His perfect peace and trust in His ability. Our job is to yield ourselves to our heavenly Potter, not only committing our lives to Him, but take our hands off and let Him put His hands on just the way He sees fit. The word “yield” is just keeping all things under His guiding hand.
Joy,
-Phyllis

“ I came that they might have life and might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10b
Here it is Christmas time again. As one gets older this time of the year seems to come faster and faster. I start tuning the radio to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies the day after Thanksgiving. One of the movies that I always have to watch is; “It’s a Wonderful Life.” My most favorite part is when Clarence, the angel sent from heaven to show George, who feels like a total failure, that he did have meaning and purpose. I think it reminds me that some 2000 years ago God sent His only Son, Jesus, who came to earth to let us know that we too can have purpose and meaning by accepting Him as our personal Savior and have a life more abundant, a wonderful life.
The word “life” in John 10:10b means in the original language, “Zoe” God’s Life. The word abundant means, enough.
So the Bible says that the life that we receive when we accept Jesus as our Savior is always going to be “enough.”
Enough when we are separated from God by sin. “For God so loved the world (you and me) that He sent His only Son that who so ever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16; “Zoe Life!” God the Father did the first surgical implant by placing the Life of His Son in our heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amazing!!!
God’s Life is “enough” when bad things happen to good people. When that doctor’s report, “it is cancer.” When the phone rings, “your loved one has been in a fatal car accident.” There are so many more, loss of job, depression, wayward children and the list goes on. God in His word says that Zoe life is enough. John 14:27 “My peace I give you.” Psalm 46:1 “God is my help in time of trouble.” 2 Chronicles 16:9 “The eyes of the Lord are searching to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His.”
Oh my friend, I want to share this truth not only from the Word of God, but from personal experience that with Jesus as your Savior, He is enough for you to experience a Wonderful Life, His Zoe Life.
Joy,
Phyllis

When I was a little girl I remember the trips to Oklahoma to see my great grandmother. She was a typical great grandmother of that era, about 5’2” with solid white hair pulled back in a bun. As with most grandmothers, whatever my brother and I wanted we got. Since she didn’t have running water in her house, she had a well in her back yard. We loved to drop the bucket and pull up water over, and over, and over, spilling most on the ground. It was messy, but such fun.
This morning as I was praying about what I wanted to share with you, I was reminded of our Lord’s encounter with the woman at the well found in John 4:6-29. Read the story and be blessed. After the woman asked the question in verse 11 about not having a bucket in which to draw water from the deep well; Jesus answered her in verse 14. “Whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give shall never be thirsty again. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up continually within him unto eternal life.”
Recently, because of an unexpected challenge with Jon’s health, I have had to draw from that Living Water that my Lord Jesus promised in His Word. He has quickened my heart with some of these promises during my early morning visits with Him. Insert “your name” in these verses as I have.
“He shall be to Jon and me a restorer of life and a nourisher of our old age.” Ruth 4:15
“”Call on Me, Phyllis and I will answer. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him.” Psalm 91:15
“God is my refuge and strength, my helper, Who is always found in the time of trouble, therefore, I will to not be afraid.” Psalm 46:1-2
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, Phyllis and lean not on your own understanding and He will direct your path.” Proverbs 3:5-6
“Thou will keep me in perfect peace when my mind is stayed on Thee, for I trust in Thee.” Isaiah 26:3
Trusting in Jesus,
Phyllis

Events and circumstances in life can sometimes, let’s admit it, be a real bummer. I guess it is because those happenings catch us off guard. I will have to admit that my first response is not always the most Spiritual. It does make me feel a little better when I read that some characters in the Bible didn’t always respond well to their circumstances. In anger, Peter, who was with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane reached out and drew his sword, striking the servant of the high priest and cutting off his ear. That is recorded in Matthew 26:51. In Luke 9:54 when the people were rejecting Jesus, James and John asked, “Lord do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them.” Another event where self-pity reigned was when Jezebel was trying to kill Elijah. He came to a large bush and sat down in the shade and begged the Lord, ”I have had enough, just let me die.” Yep, to my regret I have experienced both anger and self-pity when presented with unwanted happenings.
It would be easy to say that we deserve to get angry or have self-pity. Truthfully, the only right and good answer to the unexpected circumstances and disappointing things in life is also found in the Scriptures. Let’s take a brief look at Psalm 46.
We must behold our God. “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas.” He is our Supreme power. He has authority in heaven and earth. “Come behold the works of our Lord who does wonders in the earth.” “Be still and know that I am God.” Be still (stop moving, have tranquility of mind)…Know (observe, reflect, by experiencing),I am God (Sovereign, Supreme power, Superior to all others). God is the One that controls every event that affects our lives if we are His children. Selah (pause and calmly think on this).
I am really working on those times when life sends me those unexpected events, so that I can behold my God and turn the bummer things into the joy of the Lord.
Joy,
Phyllis

Pandita Ramabai, a Hindu woman was converted to Christ after reading a copy of the Gospel of Luke. It was part of the fruit of William Carey’s works in India. He was known as the father of the modern mission movement. In 1898 while visiting the Keswick Convention (started in 1875 known as “living the whole life of Christ”), Pandita pled with the some 4000 to pray for a Spiritual movement in India as was happening in America. She at the time was caring for some 2000 girls in Bombay. After several months of prayer, 1200 of the girls accepted Christ as their Savior. Later another 600 were converted to Christ. Pandita Ramabai then started prayer circles of 10 girls to pray for the salvation of others. That began to spread and encompassed many prayer groups. In June of 1905 a mighty Spiritual Revival began across India.
As I read and study about how God used this bold woman and small groups of girls committed to pray for a new and fresh work of God in India, I am challenged even more to be consistent and fervent to cry out to the Father for Spiritual Renewal in America. Isaiah 62:6-7 “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchman all day and all night that will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” Can we not add our America to this request from God through the prophet, Isaiah?
Joy,
Phyllis

Several months ago, I was wanting to share how women were used in the great mighty works of God in past centuries to usher in revivals and Spiritual Awakenings. A friend shared the following article with me. I will be paraphrasing some of the devotional due to space.
E Michael and Sharon Rusten in a devotional in “One Year Book of Christian History” wrote the following:
In 1856 in Ulster, Ireland, James McQuilkin was invited to tea. There a visiting woman skirted the civilities of discussing the weather and spoke openly on a subject McQuilkin found uncomfortable: the condition of his soul. After another guest described the nature of her Christian experience, the visiting woman said to McQuilkin, “my dear, I don’t believe you have ever known the Lord Jesus.” McQuilkin later wrote, “I knew that she spoke what was true of me. I felt as if the ground were about to open beneath me and let me sink into hell. As soon as I could, I left the company. For two weeks I had no peace day or night. At the end of that time I found peace by trusting the Lord Jesus.”
The following year McQuilkin felt a burden to pray for his neighbors and asked three friends to join him. Once a week the men gathered in a school house to pray for each person in their community by name. This was September of 1857. Unknown to them, God was laying on the hearts of many others to start prayer groups in Northern Ireland. Pastors started preaching about revival.
After nine months of prayer McQuilkin’s prayer group saw their first conversion. One morning in the city of Ballymena a young man fell prostrate in a crowded marketplace and called out, “Unclean, Unclean! God be merciful to me a sinner.”
March14, 1859 McQuilkin’s prayer group responded to an invitation to a prayer meeting. The church was so crowded they moved it to the street. Hundreds knelt in the mud and rain confessing their sins and praising God. They were the first of one hundred thousand people God called to Himself in 1859. A reporter to Ulster reported that the “Ulster movement touched off revivals in England, Scotland and Wales and it all started with an unknown woman unafraid to speak spiritual truth over tea.”
We never know what will be the effect our conversation will have on others. The woman at tea had no idea that God would use her to launch a nationwide revival. Our responsibility is to faithfully share God’s truths as we go about our daily lives and leave the results to Him.
“I have not been afraid to speak out, as You, O Lord, well know. I have not kept this good news hidden in my heart; I have talked about Your faithfulness and saving power.” Psalm 40:9-10
Joy,
Phyllis

Every once in a while I will be looking at facebook and someone will post, “like” if you love your daughter. Or “like” if you love your son. Of course I always click “like” because I do love my children. Sometimes someone will even post “like” if you love God. I always want to press “like” 10,000 times, but of course I don’t, I only get one click. Much is said about love in February with the celebrating of Valentine’s Day. It is wonderful to celebrate and express our love to others, but human love can sometimes be so fickle and conditional. Don’t get me wrong, I do love the chocolates that I get from Jon, LOL. I want to share with you about a love that is never fickle or conditional and is freely given.
John 3:16…”For God so “ loved” the world (us) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would have eternal life,”
Romans 5:8-10 “But God demonstrates His own “love” toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died for us. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Romans 8:35 & 38…”Who shall separate us from the “love” of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the “love” of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If you have not accepted Jesus as your personal savior, this is such a beautiful time to accept God’s “love” through Jesus, and let Him lavish that unconditional “God the Father’s love” on you! If you, like me, have already accepted His forever “love,” let’s tell Him now how eternally grateful we are and celebrate His true “LOVE.”
Phyllis