Frangipani

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Frangipani

Frangipani are a favorite garden tree here. Their blooms are from brightest yellow to deepest red or variegated like these. Their secret beauty, however, is their sweet fragrance after sunset. When other flowers close up to ‘sleep’ at night these beauties perfume the air to attract night-time moths.

Frangipani remind me to have the sweet incense of praise and prayer on my lips at the end of the day. It may be easier to praise God in the morning before the busyness of the day. But it pleases Him if our last prayers at night are ones full of praise, no matter how the day seemed to us. It may even please Him more when we praise after the hardest of days.

“Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” Psalm 141:2 (ESV)

Malayan Banyan Tree

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The Malayan Banyan Tree

We just discovered Malayan Banyan trees when we found a park in a nearby neighborhood. This tree’s ‘trunks’ stretch up and bend and twist into three different circles high in the air. The trunk and roots are all twisted and very difficult to distinguish from each other. Trunks going up and roots going down twist and hug each other.

This seems like a good picture of what our relationship with God should be. We reach up and gain strength. He reaches down and anchors us in His truth. As we bend and yield, we get stronger and stronger. While other trees may be toppled in a storm, the Banyan tree will stand.

Anemone

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Anemone

Anemone means ‘Wind flower.’ These flowers flutter in the breeze. I would love to see a whole valley with these beautiful flowers waving in the breeze. There are more than 200 varieties, in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Doesn’t that sound like us? We come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. They are said to symbolize love and loyalty. We are part of a great number who love and are loyal to our King. Let’s continue to spread our influence.

The Nations Rage

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My Bible reading recently included Matthew 24 and Psalms 2.

In Matthew 24 Jesus is telling his disciples about the times leading up to the end of this age. He lists signs of the times: wars, rumors of war, nation against nation, famines, and earthquakes. As long as I’ve been alive all of these have been happening. They seem more frequent, but maybe it is because of our instant news. Anyway, by these signs, we’ve already been in the last days for many years. I’m sure my parents’ generation thought they were in the last days with two world wars, the Spanish Flu, concentration camps, and starvation after the ravages of the wars.

Jesus then goes on to say there will be persecution of believers. We would be hated by all nations. We also see this in many places. Churches are burned, crosses pulled down, and worse, persecution so bad that whole communities flee their homes as refugees to other nations.

But, more important than all the signs, are the directions Jesus gave us as we live in these times and see the end draw nearer every day.

He starts with, ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah, and will deceive many.’” (vss 5-5) We must not forget this. We must not get so caught up in the fear and dread of the news that we latch onto anyone’s claims of deliverance. There will not be another Messiah, there is only One who saves, the Lord Jesus. Even if others follow a leader like this, we should not be deceived.

Next, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.” (vs.6) We are not to dwell on these things and get afraid and spread fear. We should look to the Lord our God who says to us, “Do not fear, I will help you.” (Isa 41:13)

He warns that persecution will get bad to the point of being put to death. (vs. 9-10) Why would He say this? It doesn’t seem a very good way to encourage his disciples. Jesus was not trying to frighten His disciples. He was just stating a fact. Persecution would be part of the end of the age. Jesus never scares us into obedience or threatens us with punishment. He wanted us to know this would happen to many believers living through those dark days. He wanted them to know so they would not lose heart and fall away from faith. He wanted them to avoid questioning whether God is a good God. He wanted them to stand together and support one another.

Now I don’t believe there are many believers who can think about persecution without cringing. We have a normal fear of pain and death. But many of our brothers and sisters today are being persecuted. Their homes are being confiscated, churches burned, and some are being killed. Some of these Christians were very new believers and God did a mighty work in them to bring them through with a good testimony. So what does Jesus tell us to do about persecution? “The one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” So for us who have time before facing persecution, we must know His Word, His presence, His comfort, His strength as more real than this world we live in now. That is who we will stand firm to the end. We will only be ready if we spend time with God and learn how to recognize His hand and help.

Jesus warns us not to be deceived by false prophets. (vs. 11, 23-24) And Jesus warns that because of the increase in wickedness, the love of many will grow cold. (vss 12-13). One last warning in this chapter is that no one knows the day or the hour that the Lord will come. Our job is not to figure out the date and time, We are to keep watch, be ready, doing what the Master has planned for us to do. ( vss. 36, 42-46)

Now just after reading these verses and thinking about them, I turned to my Psalm for the day, Psalm 2. At breakfast, my husband played a modern rendition of this Psalm put to music.

It opens with, “Why do the nations conspire and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’”

That sounds like the news we get from the media today! Mobs riot and tear down any reminder of good people who have done good for our nation. They rob and destroy churches. They want to wipe out any memory of good and righteousness and Christian influence.

But the next verse tells us God’s opinion of all their bluster and evil. “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’”

God has their end fully planned! They may seem to win for now. We have read the last page of this story. God wins! He rewards those who love and honor Him! He has a place for us to dwell in His presence with no more weeping and no more pain. We are not forgotten! We will not be left out!

If you have read this far, you may be concerned about your preparation for living through harder days before the end of the age. In some of my next posts, I will be talking about ways we can grow in our faith and dependence on God. I will provide links to different types of aids to build your strong foundation on our Savior and our Lord.

What All of Us Have in Common

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Ephesians Devotions – part 6

Based on Ephesians 2: 1-10

When you look back at who you were and what your life was like before you turned to Jesus, what do you see? Some of you remember your rebellion and obviously sinful behavior. Some of you feel shame because of the thoughts and desires you had, even though you didn’t act on them. Others may look back and feel that you weren’t so bad. You were a good girl, obedient and maybe even went to church, though you didn’t understand why that was important. You may have been one that tried to fulfill the letter of the law.

Well, Ephesians 2:1-10 is Paul’s answer to all of that.

Paul begins with, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

If we were openly sinful, we know we were dead in our sin. If we were just trying to fit in with the world, our friends, and our culture; we were dead in transgressions and sin. If we just listened to the messages of the world, our enemy was at work in us to increase our disobedience, and we were dead in transgressions and sin.

Verse 3 catches even those who were just trying to do their best. “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.” All of us have satisfied cravings of our flesh. We raided the cookie jar, or we borrowed things and never returned them, or we schemed to get what we wanted. It is a most human trap. Satan first used it in the Garden of Eden and he is still successful with it today.

So, all of us, by nature were deserving of wrath. (verse3) God hates sin. Sin must be punished. God knew we could never pay the price. “But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.” (verses 4-5) God loves us! He loves us so much! God is rich in mercy! His plan worked! Christ took our punishment and now we are alive with Christ.

God raised us up with Christ and seated us in the heavenly realms. (verse 6) That is a mystery! Of course it does not mean we’re physically seated in heavenly realms. But God sees us as in Christ. Christ is seated beside the Father in heaven. And in God’s eyes we are in Christ. We do not have to understand this. Paul wants us to know why this is true. In the coming ages God will show how immeasurably rich His grace is by showing His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. This is another hint that there are ages to come after the world as we know it ends. This world and our life here is only the behind the scenes action that will go on stage in the next age. . . in eternity.

This section wraps up with three verses that we may be familiar with. Verses 8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no-one can boast.” We have nothing to boast about, it is all God’s gracious gift to us. Our only responsibility is that we believe it.

The last verse in this section is, verse 10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We can marvel at God’s handiwork in our lives. As we remember who we were and what we used to do, we can be thrilled with what God is making us. God has worked so steadily and thoroughly in my life that I hardly recognize who I am now compared to who I was before Christ. He teaches us little by little and changes us gradually. We can speed up or slow down the process by whether we yield to Him or resist. But as long as we are willing, He keeps working in us, for us, and through us.

This verse gives us our first inkling of what we must do. Later in this letter, we will learn more about the good works God intends for us to do.

Take time to consider where you came from before you knew Jesus. Think about people you know who might relate to where you were and want to get to where you are today. Pray for anyone God brings to mind. Be open to sharing your story whenever you have the chance.