Posts

Posted on

A Heavenly Treasure Chest

My dearest sister,

Someone that I love very much passed away recently. It has been challenging for me and other family members to mourn our loss. Our loved one lost the war that was declared on her her by cancer after four and a half years. She fought valiantly but to no avail, other than the four years of life had she not entered into several battles against it with varying types of strategies and armament ( treatment plans and chemotherapy). Our loved one left this world as she came. In other words, as the world declares, she left with nothing! The beautiful clothes she wore, the lovely artifacts she acquired from around this world, the jewels given to her by others, her home and all of it’s contents could not go with her. Wow, it is quite a picture isn’t it?

Our heavenly Father tells us that although when we leave this world,we leave behind all earthly or tangible material, including our bodies we do not actually leave empty handed. If we are His children then we leave this world with a treasure chest of eternal valuables! Our hearts/souls live on after our bodies die. With that Truth in mind listen to this exciting word from our Lord Jesus:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” Matthew 6:19-21

Jesus compassionately warns us to invest in a treasure that is not of this world, but instead of he and his Father’s world. He warns us as well that earthly treasure (as lovely, costly and even as fond as they are to us) will not last. So not only can we not take our earthly treasures with us when we die but when left behind they eventually deteriorate, are destroyed and possibly stolen.

Jesus exhorts us to store up that which is treasure in our Father’s eyes!!!! Our greatest heart’s treasure is our LORD himself. If He abides in our hearts He will fill our hearts with treasures that will go with us when we leave this world. (Ephesians 1: 3-14 ~ please take the time to read!) Our hearts become a treasure chest filled with valuables that will live for eternity: love, peace, patience, kindness, wisdom, prudence….

These treasures within our hearts/souls cannot be stolen from us, they cannot be destroyed. They will be what we take to heaven with us. They will be the crowns which are given back to the One who gave them to us in the first place. Hallelujah!!

As I have pondered prosperity this month, this is the picture that comes to mind. Sweet sister, this is what I long for. That my heart would be filled with heavenly treasure given to me by the hand of God through His Spirit fashioned specifically for me by His Son the Lord Jesus that when I leave all of this world behind, and my soul flys away into My Father’s arms, my treasure chest will be full of incomparable glorious valuables to be cast at the throne of my Savior!!!! Oh how I long to prosper in this manner!

Your Sister,

Susan

“For what does it prosper a man, if he loses his own soul?”. Matthew 16:26

Posted on

Mustard and Mountains

Beloved Sisters,

Mustard and mountains make for a great success story!

Are you desperately pining about why things do not go the way you want? Are you doubtful that your life is not prosperous because…and because…? Where is your Happy and Prosperous New Year?

Perhaps yesterday introduced a barrage of worries—a needed job, a sick child, a lost key. Or was it today that your project was rejected, a promise was broken, or the rent was increased. Have you yet to see your life brim full of all the expectations you had created since childhood—a dream house, a dream vacation, a dream husband? As I walk alongside you, listening and bearing some of your fearful load, I am reminded of a little lesson that Jesus taught His anxious, doubtful followers. He said, in Matthew 17:20, For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Do you hear what Jesus is saying? He is comparing the fears and frustrations of our day to a mountain. He must have been looking at a certain mountain at the time he said this: you will say to this mountain. His human eyes were probably observing the peaks, the crags, and the many, many rocks, while His divine love was peering through the souls of those around Him. What a lesson for us—coming from the only One fully man and fully God!

His lesson is, also, rather simple: Every day we face a mountain. The peaks are too high for us to climb, the crags are so dangerous, and the rocks may fall on us. And so, how do we get around the mountain that prevents us from a prosperous day? We place our faith in Him.

This is easier said than done, as this Christian woman who writes to you has, more than once, attempted to scale the mountain solo! Setting my goals on reaching those peaks, without asking Jesus to take me there, made the journey of my day longer as I continued to fall back. Without prayer to Him for wisdom, those crags ripped through my ambitions. Without depending on my Sovereign God, the rocks crushed every hope for success. The mountain left me breathless and overcome with discouragement.

But Jesus gives us a great solution with a tiny example—the mustard seed—and He compares faith in Him to that one little seed. You see, having faith in Christ Jesus is the seed from which our prosperity germinates, grows and thrives. With faith, everything we do, say, hear, think should be for His glory and praise. With faith in Christ Jesus, we are praying to Him for your success that is within the will of God.

When we have faith in Christ Jesus, we approach every action with trust that God is sovereign over the action from beginning to end. Our faith may be small for the largest of tasks ahead, yet faith in Christ Jesus will permit us to prosper, even if we fail by the world’s standards, even if we do not get what we had hoped to get—in this world.

Faith is placing our trust on what God wants for us. We can move those mountains when we look at them with Jesus. Better still, we shall walk with Jesus among the faithful–for all eternity. (Hebrews 11)

Allow me to share with you one of my favorite psalms, one that allows me to climb every mountain of the day. It is Psalm 121.

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.
Oh, what beautiful mountains to behold this New Year—with Jesus!

With Love in Him,
Mimi

Posted on

The Prosperous Word

My dearest sister,

What ideas do you have about being prosperous? Is prosperity defined in your mind by the success of your committed relationship or marriage? The amount of money you make? How happy you are with your job? Your social status? If you answer yes to any of these then we need to recalibrate our hearts and minds–not according to worldly standards but according to the standards set up in God’s word.

Psalm 1 vividly describes the prosperous man. In the very first verse, the psalmist writes, ‘Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners…but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.’ The blessed man, the prosperous man delights in God’s law and meditates on it day and night. Have you been in the Word on a regular basis? Have you let it saturate your life? I know from personal experience just how difficult it is to immerse yourself in God’s word when you are constantly being pulled in a million different directions. Dive in, dear sister! The Lord will change your heart toward it if you ask Him to and He will give you great delight in His life-giving word.

The psalmist continues saying that this man ‘is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither.’ Let that image take its full effect in your mind. Right now you’re probably imagining a great tall and robust tree with bright green leaves and deep, strong roots. The tree is prospering because it is absorbing the nutrients from the water that is planted by. Because of this it is strong and cannot be moved.

Are you feeding off of God’s word, dear one? Are you absorbing the nutrients found within its precious pages? I encourage you to start a daily devotional time if you’re not already doing so. If you feast on His word you will receive life and be prosperous no matter what your outward circumstances may be. You will be like the tree planted by streams of water that cannot be moved though storms may rage against it.

May the Lord be your faithful guide in this new year to come.

Your sister,

Kayla

Posted on

Are We Satisfied?

Dearest sister,

New Year’s resolutions. Secretly, I think most of us have them: Eat less sugar, read more, have 6 months of salary in savings, and watch less TV. At least these are a few that come to my mind. You may have the same list or maybe a bit different…but we all have some kind of measuring stick we use to measure this year’s desired dramatic change. We may even spiritualize it and say, “How can I be more godly this year?” What would that look like, though? Would what we look like and how much wealth we have be one measuring tool for our godliness?

Funny, isn’t it? One part of me thinks that selling all I have and living simply would show my incredible godliness. After all, the disciples left everything they had to follow Jesus. But then there is another part of me that thinks the Lord rewards those who are faithful with little, more…so if I have prosperity, it would be an indicator of my godliness, right? I’m so confused!

The Bible does say money is the root of all evil…wait, no…it’s the LOVE of money that is the root of all evil. What does that mean? It means loving money (or anything else) more than the Lord is the root of all kinds of evil. It doesn’t say having or not having money is evil or even a measure of godliness. Selling everything to look more holy is for selfish gain (just ask Ananias and Saphira), which does not glorify the Lord. Living a life to gain more money is also for selfish gain. We are glorying in ourselves on both accounts. We serve a jealous God who will not share His glory with another. The cool thing is that He has told us what the ultimate thing to glory in is…Himself! That is where real joy and contentment lie, glorying in the Creator and Savior of the world!

Paul says it best in Philippians 4, “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need (11b-12).” And what is this best kept secret? Being satisfied in what he has in Christ. Having our goal this year (or any year or day) to be more prosperous, eat less sugar, read more, or watch less TV will not necessarily define success, contentment or godliness in our lives. Our goal for each moment is to glorify the Lord by being satisfied in Christ. Our measuring tool of godliness is not in earthly things (however much or little we have), our measuring tool is in satisfying myself in the heavenly things. Does my life show me living for the Lord’s kingdom or my own? Am I living for health and wealth or can I say with Paul, that I have found the secret of being content in all circumstances, being satisfied in Christ?

 

Posted on

Oh, How He Loves Us!!

My dearest sister,

If you have listened to any Christian contemporary music you have probably heard the song, ‘How He Loves’ by David Crowder Band. This topic reminds me of a video I once watched pairing this song with clips of John Piper and Matt Chandler’s preaching on the cross of Christ and of His great love for us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUUmhnOPBdE

Today we are constantly assaulted with false representations of what love is. The world entreats us to believe that love is sex; love is getting what you want from another person; love is satisfaction now; love is whatever you want it to be and can be suited to your own purposes no matter what.

As Christians we often reject these evil notions with our mouths but what are our hearts doing? Do they too reject the fallacies that this evil and dark world relentlessly tries to seduce us with? Or are we in our heart of hearts, dear sister, believing in the lies of the devil, allowing him to wreak havoc in our lives? If so, what foolishness! How can we expect to find a pure love in a corrupt and fallen world? Though we know with our minds that this cannot be, our hearts are still easily drawn astray by it. Instead of looking to the world, we must look to the cross of Christ. In the cross is a beautiful and mighty picture of God’s love for you and God’s love for me. He loves you so much and He is so jealous for you that He sent His Son to die for you so that you could belong to Him. Even while you were still a sinner, still Christ’s enemy, He died for you (Romans 5:8). In the video, John Piper exclaims, “That’s love, folks! That is mega, off the charts love!”

Do you know how great God’s love is for you, dear sister? Maybe you once knew it but have forgotten it. Look again to the cross, dear sister. Behold the ‘wonders of His love’ as the popular Christmas carol ‘Joy to the World’ proclaims. Remember this Christmas season that Christ died for you, that His birth is truly a reason to rejoice. He did it because He loves you and NOTHING you do can ever change that.

Merry Christmas, my beloved sister,

Kayla