Luke 12:29-32
"What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.”
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
Recently I found myself involved in a discussion about a few well-known televangelists. It all started innocently when a group of people were discussing various ministries, and an acquaintance asked me about my own background. He said, “You seem to recognize many of these names. What exactly is your own story?” I explained the various denominations to which I have belonged over my lifetime and some of the Bible teachers I have found particularly helpful as I grew in my faith. I also expressed disappointment in some who seem more interested in teaching that God rewards our faith with material blessings. In other words, they teach that if you come and plant a $100 bill on the sanctuary altar, God will give you a gift worth many times that in return.
I got quite an earful from one person in the group who seemed to appreciate this philosophy and appeared very upset that I “didn’t get it!” My friends and I let him talk… somewhat because he refused to let anyone else talk! The acquaintance and I later evaluated the conversation and agreed that “works” alone won’t cut it with God. In other words, we can’t earn God’s favor, and we can’t buy His blessings.
The man asked me, “Don’t you want God to bless you?” Of course! He continued, “Do you think you might be blocking His blessings?” Sometimes… but not for the reasons he expressed. As I told my friend, I believe that we were created by God to bless others in His name… not to get fancy cars, mega-mansions, expensive jewelry and more. Some may indeed become wealthy along the way… but wealth is not the goal. However, I am afraid that it has become just that for some people and certain ministries.
We must be careful to guard our motives. God is very clear on this. Everything you have can be stripped from you in a heartbeat. God wants your needs to be met in every arena. But He does not want you to focus on what you can get or accumulate. He wants you to focus on HIM… who and how you can serve in His name… and never to miss out on even a single thing He is trying to give you.
The biggest blessings you will ever get from God will not be cars, jewels, houses, and furs… but rather the satisfaction of knowing you served others well in His name. The biggest blessings will be when someone says, “You helped me today,” or “Your words were just what I needed,” or “I was on my way down - your help couldn’t have come at a better time.” When you learn to operate in blessings and service to others, God opens the floodgates of blessings upon you.”
So chill out… work hard, but don’t make getting “stuff” your priority. Enjoy knowing that God is meeting your needs every single day… and using you to help meet the needs of others in the bargain. Make room for Him to work in and through you… and feel the blessings flow!
©2011 Debbie Robus
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Daily Devotional for April 23, 2011
Luke 11:9
So I tell you to ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Timothy was staying with us recently, and my mother came over to visit. She brought a blue plastic Easter basket, filled with:
• blue Easter grass
• two different packages/flavors of “Peeps”
• a chocolate bunny
• a Curious George DVD
• a bottle of all-in-one shampoo
• a bunny car filled with Easter candy
• a wand of bubbles, and
• a baby doll that laughs when you squeeze it.
I groaned when I saw all the sticky candy, and she laughed and said, “It’s okay… I’m the great-grandmother!” This is one great-grandmother who knows how to give “good gifts!” And of course, three Peeps later, Timmy was a happy, sticky mess out on our driveway blowing bubbles! He’s not old enough to actually ask for gifts yet, but when he is, I’m sure we will gladly - and readily – oblige… and our door is always open to any and all of our nieces and nephews and young friends.
Truly the basket of goodies was filled with things that, while not necessarily healthy for Timothy, were just what a kid needs on Easter week. Many needs this kid didn’t even know he had were met… and then some!
The GOOD NEWS for each of us this Easter weekend – and always – is that God’s door is always open. He may not give us Peeps and chocolate bunnies, but whatever we ask Him will be given to us, according to His will – and with our best interest at the forefront. So if you ask God for a new Mustang, and you really need transportation to get back and forth to school or work, He may give you a used Ford Focus! If you ask God to help you put food on the table, He may see that you have just enough to eat each day rather than showering you with a pantry filled with groceries. But the point is, God will answer… He will meet your needs. His door is always open!
Because of the blood of Jesus… because of the incredible sacrifice of a totally innocent man Who was willing to take our sins and die for them, we can freely ask for anything. Because this man was Jesus Christ in human form, who could not be contained in an earthly grave, the door to our Father’s house is always open. Because of the incredible love of our LORD and Savior, the Holy Spirit is available to each of us…ready to fill our hearts and be our constant companion!
This is the “Good Gift” of Easter. This is the Good Gift we can enjoy all year long… every year… again and again! Ask God for anything, and trust Him to know just how to answer… and to give you “good and perfect gifts” upon request.
©2011 Debbie Robus
So I tell you to ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Timothy was staying with us recently, and my mother came over to visit. She brought a blue plastic Easter basket, filled with:
• blue Easter grass
• two different packages/flavors of “Peeps”
• a chocolate bunny
• a Curious George DVD
• a bottle of all-in-one shampoo
• a bunny car filled with Easter candy
• a wand of bubbles, and
• a baby doll that laughs when you squeeze it.
I groaned when I saw all the sticky candy, and she laughed and said, “It’s okay… I’m the great-grandmother!” This is one great-grandmother who knows how to give “good gifts!” And of course, three Peeps later, Timmy was a happy, sticky mess out on our driveway blowing bubbles! He’s not old enough to actually ask for gifts yet, but when he is, I’m sure we will gladly - and readily – oblige… and our door is always open to any and all of our nieces and nephews and young friends.
Truly the basket of goodies was filled with things that, while not necessarily healthy for Timothy, were just what a kid needs on Easter week. Many needs this kid didn’t even know he had were met… and then some!
The GOOD NEWS for each of us this Easter weekend – and always – is that God’s door is always open. He may not give us Peeps and chocolate bunnies, but whatever we ask Him will be given to us, according to His will – and with our best interest at the forefront. So if you ask God for a new Mustang, and you really need transportation to get back and forth to school or work, He may give you a used Ford Focus! If you ask God to help you put food on the table, He may see that you have just enough to eat each day rather than showering you with a pantry filled with groceries. But the point is, God will answer… He will meet your needs. His door is always open!
Because of the blood of Jesus… because of the incredible sacrifice of a totally innocent man Who was willing to take our sins and die for them, we can freely ask for anything. Because this man was Jesus Christ in human form, who could not be contained in an earthly grave, the door to our Father’s house is always open. Because of the incredible love of our LORD and Savior, the Holy Spirit is available to each of us…ready to fill our hearts and be our constant companion!
This is the “Good Gift” of Easter. This is the Good Gift we can enjoy all year long… every year… again and again! Ask God for anything, and trust Him to know just how to answer… and to give you “good and perfect gifts” upon request.
©2011 Debbie Robus
Daily Devotional for December 25, 2010
Philippians 2:3
Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
NBC Nightly News recently reported on Tracy Hall, a woman in Silver Spring, Maryland, who came up with an idea called “The Gift Tree,” which provides gifts to the children of soldiers who are stationed at Walter Reed. Hall’s own husband, an Army physician, is now deployed in Afghanistan. She created a gift registry through Target.com and Amazon.com, where people can purchase gifts or gift cards to provide items on the wish lists of the soldiers’ children, who register through a secure online application form.
The Walter Reed Auxiliary goes through the applications and lists the items on The Gift Tree for people to purchase. Each gift is wrapped and placed in a box for that particular child. Then parents stop by Hall’s home and retrieve their child’s gift box in time for Christmas. Hall said donations come largely from people in the metro Washington, DC, area… but they have had purchases by people in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania – all over the country.
Aside from the massive scope of this operation… the large number of volunteers who catalog, wrap, and coordinate all of these gifts… I was struck by something else about Tracy Hall. When Christmas is over, she personally writes a thank-you note to everyone who donated. We have to be talking hundreds of people. She said it was the least she could do for those who were so generous.
Here’s the thing… we tend to think we have really outdone ourselves if we write a check to a local charity or bake an extra loaf of banana bread for a neighbor during the holidays. I’ll be the first to tell you that I have been guilty of having good intentions… but not acting on them. So that elderly person who has no family or close friends to visit them at Christmas time sits at home alone… it’s just another day/week/month for them. The young single mother who can barely feed her family and keep the lights and heat on has to explain to her children why their classmates got all these wonderful things on Christmas morning… and they got their same old bowl of cold cereal.
As we buy our Christmas presents and drive to Grandma’s to celebrate the holidays in style, we don’t think about those who worked to check our groceries, clean the motel room in which we will stay or sell us a cup of coffee as we travel… all for little more than minimum wage. We don’t think of their families and how they will manage to provide a merry Christmas for them.
Yet this young mother with a small son, whose husband is deployed to Afghanistan, opened her own home to become “Santa Central” for the children and families of other soldiers. Surely she must be tired. She had decked the halls of her house with holiday décor, and she greeted those who visited warmly. But you know she has plenty to do to care for her own household and young child. Still, she thought of others. She said, “I know how I would feel if I couldn’t do the extra little things for my own son.” She put herself in others’ shoes.
The story of Christmas is not just for today… it is for every day of the year. Whose shoes are you wearing? Do you hunker down and take care of yourself and let others fend for themselves? Do you look around for needs to meet… and then do something about them? We need more “Tracy Halls” in this world who consider others to be more important than themselves. Are you willing to step up and be one?
©2010 Debbie Robus
To learn more about The Gift Tree at Walter Reed, go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40153870/. For more inspiring “Making a Difference” stories, go to http://www.makingadifference.msnbc.com/.
Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
NBC Nightly News recently reported on Tracy Hall, a woman in Silver Spring, Maryland, who came up with an idea called “The Gift Tree,” which provides gifts to the children of soldiers who are stationed at Walter Reed. Hall’s own husband, an Army physician, is now deployed in Afghanistan. She created a gift registry through Target.com and Amazon.com, where people can purchase gifts or gift cards to provide items on the wish lists of the soldiers’ children, who register through a secure online application form.
The Walter Reed Auxiliary goes through the applications and lists the items on The Gift Tree for people to purchase. Each gift is wrapped and placed in a box for that particular child. Then parents stop by Hall’s home and retrieve their child’s gift box in time for Christmas. Hall said donations come largely from people in the metro Washington, DC, area… but they have had purchases by people in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania – all over the country.
Aside from the massive scope of this operation… the large number of volunteers who catalog, wrap, and coordinate all of these gifts… I was struck by something else about Tracy Hall. When Christmas is over, she personally writes a thank-you note to everyone who donated. We have to be talking hundreds of people. She said it was the least she could do for those who were so generous.
Here’s the thing… we tend to think we have really outdone ourselves if we write a check to a local charity or bake an extra loaf of banana bread for a neighbor during the holidays. I’ll be the first to tell you that I have been guilty of having good intentions… but not acting on them. So that elderly person who has no family or close friends to visit them at Christmas time sits at home alone… it’s just another day/week/month for them. The young single mother who can barely feed her family and keep the lights and heat on has to explain to her children why their classmates got all these wonderful things on Christmas morning… and they got their same old bowl of cold cereal.
As we buy our Christmas presents and drive to Grandma’s to celebrate the holidays in style, we don’t think about those who worked to check our groceries, clean the motel room in which we will stay or sell us a cup of coffee as we travel… all for little more than minimum wage. We don’t think of their families and how they will manage to provide a merry Christmas for them.
Yet this young mother with a small son, whose husband is deployed to Afghanistan, opened her own home to become “Santa Central” for the children and families of other soldiers. Surely she must be tired. She had decked the halls of her house with holiday décor, and she greeted those who visited warmly. But you know she has plenty to do to care for her own household and young child. Still, she thought of others. She said, “I know how I would feel if I couldn’t do the extra little things for my own son.” She put herself in others’ shoes.
The story of Christmas is not just for today… it is for every day of the year. Whose shoes are you wearing? Do you hunker down and take care of yourself and let others fend for themselves? Do you look around for needs to meet… and then do something about them? We need more “Tracy Halls” in this world who consider others to be more important than themselves. Are you willing to step up and be one?
©2010 Debbie Robus
To learn more about The Gift Tree at Walter Reed, go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40153870/. For more inspiring “Making a Difference” stories, go to http://www.makingadifference.msnbc.com/.
Daily Devotional for September 6, 2010
1 Peter 4:11
If you have the gift of speaking, preach God's message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
I am so in awe of singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith and others like him. Not only can he write amazing songs that glorify God … he can play and sing them beautifully, too! Sometimes songwriters can create beautiful music … for someone else to sing! But Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, and others like them can do it all.
Christian comedian Dennis Swanberg is hilarious to me. He has a knack for making even mundane everyday events sound so funny that you can’t help but laugh till your sides nearly split. I am impressed with the ability of Duff Goldman, the “Ace of Cakes,” to turn plain vanilla cakes into works of art, while I struggle to get icing on a cake without tearing it to pieces!
Artists who create beautiful masterpieces … athletes who can perform incredible physical feats … speakers like Joyce Meyer who can make the Good News of Jesus come alive in a real, relevant fashion for thousands … entrepreneurs who can create a concept and turn it into a profitable business that makes you ask, “Why didn’t I think of that?” … and even a landscape artist or gardener who can take a few plants and a patch of grass and create something incredibly inviting and Eden-like … ALL of these people have “found their niche” and made it work – for them and those around them.
What is your niche? Maybe you are still figuring it out … and maybe it will change and evolve throughout your lifetime. But for today, we all have something at which we excel … and this should be defining our ministry. If you are a good “friend” and get along well with others, your ministry may be inviting them to church and church activities – or simply being cheerful and friendly and sharing the love of Christ with others. If you make beautiful cards and like to scrapbook, maybe sharing notes and cards is your way of sharing God’s love. If you are good with finances, perhaps there is a place for you in the church or a church ministry as a treasurer or on the Finance Committee – or even managing your own money in such a way that you have extra to give to missions.
If you love children, you may be called to serve them in some way. If you are good with senior citizens, maybe this age group needs your help. Maybe you can serve as a driver for someone or for groups and individuals in your church and community. And for the record, not all ministries are associated with an organized church. Any time you are serving God by serving others – whether through your church or out in your community – you are honoring God and exercising your gift(s).
I encourage you to get busy determining where you excel. Discover your gift … your “niche”… and ask God to show you how/where to use it for His glory. We were not called to sit on our hands and waste the gifts God has given us. Figure out how and where you are supposed to be serving – and then make it happen to the glory of God!
©2010 Debbie Robus
If you have the gift of speaking, preach God's message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
I am so in awe of singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith and others like him. Not only can he write amazing songs that glorify God … he can play and sing them beautifully, too! Sometimes songwriters can create beautiful music … for someone else to sing! But Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, and others like them can do it all.
Christian comedian Dennis Swanberg is hilarious to me. He has a knack for making even mundane everyday events sound so funny that you can’t help but laugh till your sides nearly split. I am impressed with the ability of Duff Goldman, the “Ace of Cakes,” to turn plain vanilla cakes into works of art, while I struggle to get icing on a cake without tearing it to pieces!
Artists who create beautiful masterpieces … athletes who can perform incredible physical feats … speakers like Joyce Meyer who can make the Good News of Jesus come alive in a real, relevant fashion for thousands … entrepreneurs who can create a concept and turn it into a profitable business that makes you ask, “Why didn’t I think of that?” … and even a landscape artist or gardener who can take a few plants and a patch of grass and create something incredibly inviting and Eden-like … ALL of these people have “found their niche” and made it work – for them and those around them.
What is your niche? Maybe you are still figuring it out … and maybe it will change and evolve throughout your lifetime. But for today, we all have something at which we excel … and this should be defining our ministry. If you are a good “friend” and get along well with others, your ministry may be inviting them to church and church activities – or simply being cheerful and friendly and sharing the love of Christ with others. If you make beautiful cards and like to scrapbook, maybe sharing notes and cards is your way of sharing God’s love. If you are good with finances, perhaps there is a place for you in the church or a church ministry as a treasurer or on the Finance Committee – or even managing your own money in such a way that you have extra to give to missions.
If you love children, you may be called to serve them in some way. If you are good with senior citizens, maybe this age group needs your help. Maybe you can serve as a driver for someone or for groups and individuals in your church and community. And for the record, not all ministries are associated with an organized church. Any time you are serving God by serving others – whether through your church or out in your community – you are honoring God and exercising your gift(s).
I encourage you to get busy determining where you excel. Discover your gift … your “niche”… and ask God to show you how/where to use it for His glory. We were not called to sit on our hands and waste the gifts God has given us. Figure out how and where you are supposed to be serving – and then make it happen to the glory of God!
©2010 Debbie Robus
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