2022-08-19
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today, the Holy Spirit prompts me to write about empowering Him, welcoming God’s presence, and traditions. Despite that I had a burgeoning knowledge of the NT and a thorough experience with the OT, it wasn’t until I was in my early fifties that I realized the Lord was my constant Companion. One might say I spiritually matured late! This was indeed a humbling realization. It took God all that time to break through my arrogance and pride and to replace it with recognition of just Who was in charge. Because of all the emotional pain I had gone through, He chose just the right time, as He always does. It was time for me to claim God’s blessings, PS 34: 8-9. I was one of a large number of ministers serving a large congregation in MN when He made His presence clear that He had been with me through my entire life. He had been lifting me out of the “slimy pit” of my past [PS 40: 1-3], holding my hand through a horrible divorce, bringing my dear Peter into my life, and guiding me to serve others, building faith by using the skills that God had given me by His Son, Jesus Christ.
As I grieve for Peter, my husband of 44 years who went home to be with the Lord in 2021, my Lord Jesus still comforts me, while I go on serving Him. LAM 3: 31, 36, “The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever. He may bring us sorrow, but His love for us is sure and strong. He takes no pleasure in bringing us grief or pain.” LAM 6: 36, “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.” And then, there is the matter of respecting traditions, which have been put in place by our very wise Father, first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles. Because I am a Messianic Jew living in a traditionally Jewish household, the Father particularly wants me to bridge the gap. I was raised in a Conservative Jewish household but had accepted Christ as my personal Savior. My Jewish son and his family have opened both their home and their hearts to me. The Lord is training me to enjoy both the Jewish culture, respecting its practices and in turn is also teaching my son to respect the practices of Christianity. I go to shul on Fridays with them; my son and occasionally my daughter-in-law go to church with me on Sunday. I get the benefits of both worlds. The main point of difference is that traditional Jews reject Christ’s deity. RO 11: 25 tells us that the “stubbornness of the Jews is only temporary.” It will be lifted in God’s perfect time and way.
Living in a multi-generational household is both revealing of God’s work in progress and a lesson in His way of gently teaching people to look respectfully and patiently at similarities and difference between them. PS 103: 17-19, “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts. The Lord has established His throne in heaven and His Kingdom rules over all.” One thing comes across to me loud and clear: The Lord never abandons those who love Him and make a sanctuary in their lives for the Holy Spirit. PS 43: 3-4, “Send forth Your light and Your truth. Let them guide me; let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You dwell. Then, I will go to the altar of our God, to God my joy and my delight. I will praise You with the harp, O God my God.” In deciding to live in such a household, after having my own for so many years, was at the hand of the Holy Spirit. I had to accept His guidance. PS 32: 8, “The Lord says, ‘I will make you wise and show you where to go. I will guide you and watch over you.’” He did this in April of 2021, and many time before that difficult date. He’s doing it now and will in the future. As for tradition and ritual, these definitely have their place in our lives, no matter from which culture you come. PS 145: 7, “They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness and shall sing of Your righteousness.”
PRAYER: O Lord, how very patient You are! You choose the perfect time and way to convey Your truth. Those of us with hearts open to the Holy Spirit empower Him to enrich, edify, and bless our lives every day. Learning to look for the good in others and working to build faith in them is an eternal blessing. You have built in us a desire to leave an honorable and important legacy behind when You call us home to Yourself. MICAH 6: 8, “He has show you, O Mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” The reminders of our culture and traditions really matter. We are like grapes on a vine---separate us from the Vine and we die. Keep us connected to the Vine, and we are nourished and grow with His divine goodness and understanding. Help us, Dear Father, to always remain united by the Holy Spirit in You. Accept our praise and thanks for Your presence, empowerment, and love in our lives. In Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Several weeks ago before discussing the different crowns (heavenly rewards) the Lord encourages us to earn, the Holy Spirit commanded me to recall He had more for me to present about joy’s crown. Next week, I will write more about joy’s foundation, surprise, restoration, and abiding in our lives. God doesn’t only set such things aside for people who are special or famous. He does this for any ordinary person like me who loves Him. I know He derives great joy Himself when someone who challenges Him in ways like we often do and then falls madly in love with Him and with His word, or should I say His Word [JN 1: 1-4]. Since He has told us “The stubbornness of the Jewish people is temporary” [RO 11: 25], I have to believe that He still refuses to give up on His original chosen people. What joy He will have when evil finally comes to an end, as prophesied in DN 9: 24-27! Imagine the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that will bring! Each of us is encouraged to have our small part in that. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2022. All Rights Reserved.
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