Love Worth Finding

[Judy Harder]

September 18

Do You Have Only A "Prayer Life"?

"Pray without ceasing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:17

You are to pray when you are adding up prices in the grocery store line. You are to pray when you are changing a tire. You are to pray when you are singing a song. You are to pray when you are teaching a little one how to read.

We are commanded to pray all the time. But how do we do this? Think of a mother who has a child who is ill with a fever. Finally, the fever breaks and the mother and child settle down for some much-needed sleep. Not a noise from the television, from the street, or from the phone could awaken that mother. But one whimper from her child and she's awake, right? That's because even when she is asleep, she is in tune with that child—just as we are to be with God...constantly communing and attuned to His voice.

Prayer to us should be as natural and continual as breathing. Jennifer Kennedy Dean asks an important question: "Do you 'have a prayer life'—or are you living a praying life?" Think about the difference.

[Judy Harder]

September 19

Willing to Be Thought A Fool

"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." - 1 Corinthians 3:18

One day, the great preacher of yesteryear Harry Ironside was traveling with friends on a ferry. They were having a glorious time singing praises to the Lord when someone critically interrupted them saying, "Who are you people? What are you doing?"

Dr. Ironside replied, "We're just some Christians having a good time praising the Lord." And the heckler replied, "You're a bunch of fools!" Ironside said, "You're right! We're fools for Christ's sake."

The way of the Christian is sometimes foolishness in the eyes of the world. When was the last time you made a fool of yourself for Christ's sake?

[Judy Harder]

September 20

First, Read How It All Turns Out!

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." - Revelation 1:8

A boy was reading a murder mystery one day, and he became anxious about whether the heroine was going to live. To alleviate his anxiety, he read the last chapter and discovered that she survived!

Afterwards, when he read that the villain was planning a dastardly deed, he chuckled to himself and thought, "If you knew what I know, you wouldn't be so haughty."

Christians know the last chapter, and that helps us cope with the present. Indeed, the glories of the future can help dilute the sorrows of the present. The devil's doom is pronounced in Genesis—and it's executed in Revelation.

[Judy Harder]

September 21

One Way to "Get Prayer Back in Schools"

"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." - Hebrews 10:24

One area where Christians can shed the light of Christ is in our school system. We have a generation who has no standards of right and wrong—everything is relative. In our schools our children are being taught that they have descended from animals. Is it any wonder that many have begun to act like animals?

What can you and I do? We must "love" our way back in! We must get involved by becoming members of the PTA. We must encourage teachers and tell them we are praying for them. We must go to school board meetings and find out about policies and curricula. We must pray daily for our classroom teachers and administrators.

We must seek to be holy people in a godless world. And if we don't, we are contributing to the demise of the next generation.

[Judy Harder]

September 22

"Artist At Work"—on Your Life

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." - Philippians 1:6

In Scotland some men were sitting around drinking tea and swapping fishing stories. One man, with a flamboyant gesture of his hand, knocked another man's hand, splattering his tea on the white plastered wall, creating an ugly brown stain. He was horrified, but the man said, "Never mind." And he took out his crayons and started to sketch around that stain. Suddenly there emerged a royal stag with his antlers spread.

The artist was Sir Edwin Lancier—England's foremost painter of animals. He was able to take that old stain and make something beautiful out of it.

Jesus Christ is that kind of an artist. He can take a life that has been stained, and by His transforming power He can make something beautiful out of it.

[Judy Harder]

September 23

Sharing Jesus with Your Children

"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." - Deuteronomy 6:7

Have you ever tried to take a tasty bone away from a dog? It's a good way to get bitten! But what if you put a steak down on the ground? The dog will drop the bone to get that steak.

This is the mistake so many parents are making today. They spend their time telling their children "Don't do this. Don't do that. That's wrong." By such behavior, these parents are failing an entire generation. Many times, children are never shown the riches of Jesus Christ. In every 24-hour cycle, there are a multitude of teachable moments for sharing and modeling life in Christ.

Children must be shown that what they have in the Lord Jesus Christ is so much better than what this world has to offer. But are they seeing that in your life?

[Judy Harder]

September 24

Is It Time to Refresh and Renew?

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit." - Psalm 51:10-12

So many people have the idea that being a Christian is like taking foul-tasting medicine—it tastes awful, but you know you'll feel better one day.

They're like the young man who prayed at a prayer meeting with few in attendance: "Oh God, be with us now, and help us while the rest of the people are out there having a good time."

Do you ever feel that going to church or having a quiet time is like going to the dentist? Then you're getting your satisfaction in life outside of a relationship with God. It's time to spend some time in prayer and ask God to renew your spirit.

[Judy Harder]

September 25

Murmuring or Grateful?

"Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." - Philippians 2:14-15

Do you know the problem with many of us when we obey God? We murmur about it while we are doing it! And God is taking notes, because halfhearted obedience isn't obedience at all. Remember, God is looking at the heart, not the deed (see 1 Samuel 16:7).

Do you know why we murmur? Because we've taken our eyes off Calvary. Jesus didn't murmur on the way to the cross. Oh no. Do you thank God for the pains in life? Or only the gains?

Ephesians 5:20 says, "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

[Judy Harder]

September 26

Our Giving God

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." - James 1:5

James 1:5 tells us that if we lack wisdom, we are to ask God. Let me tell you what that literally means. If you lack wisdom, ask of the "giving" God. Have you thought of God as the "giving" God?

What does it mean to you that God yearns to pour out His blessing upon you? Do you say to yourself, "Oh goodie, goodie, let me see what I can get from God"?

Or does it humble you that the Almighty God who created the air you breathe, the ground you walk upon, and the body you are draped in...this God loves you and wants to bless you? I pray it is the latter, for that is the heart of a child of God.

[Judy Harder]

September 27

Our Unchanging Father

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." - 1 Corinthians 2:14

God made the mind of man. All true discoveries and all true knowledge in this world come from God. It is God's Truth and we do not have to be afraid of it. But that doesn't mean we are to casually stroll down the devil's lane of godless philosophies.

God's Truth doesn't change like philosophies. Malachi 3:6a says, "For I am the Lord, I change not." I don't know whether that means anything to you, but it means an awful lot to me, dear friend.

The same God who loved us enough to put His Son on the cross two thousand years ago still loves us with that same love today. We don't have to worry when we come to God in prayer that we might catch Him in a bad mood. Now, if that doesn't start your motor, you don't have one.