A Psalm and a Prayer

Psalm 138

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
Before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple
And give thanks to your name for your
Steadfast love and your faithfulness,
For you have exalted above all things
Your name and your word.
On the day I called, you answered me;
My strength of soul you increased.
All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
For they have heard the words of your mouth, and they
Shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
For GREAT is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
But the haughty he knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
You preserve my life;
You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And your right hand delivers me.
The Lord WILL fulfill his purpose for me;
Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Dear Lord, May the reading of Your word magnify your name in my heart and mind and life. You alone are deserving of all glory, honor and praise. I do give thanks to your name for it is above all things. Lord Jesus, be my highest treasure. Help me to treasure you above all things; above my life, my health, my family, my friends, my job, my ministry… all these things are gifts from your hand, yet Lord, I want to worship the giver not the gift. Be magnified in my eyes O Lord! Great is your glory! Keep me humble Lord for you regard the lowly. Help me to see others as more important than myself. Do not let pride and selfishness reign in my life. Lord! Be glorified in my life! Thank you that YOU preserve my life as I walk in the midst of trouble. Lord, increase the strength of my soul! God, I thank you for the truth of your Word that you WILL fulfill your purpose. Your Word is good and true. Increase my faith Lord so that I will believe your promises. Thank you Lord for your steadfast love that endures forever. Thank you that you do not forsake the work of your hands. I thank you for your faithfulness. I am in your hands and this is good. What can harm me when you are for me? I praise You Lord! You alone are worthy. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for loving me. I pray now that as I go forth in my day that all my thoughts, words and actions would reflect my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Jesus holy and precious name I pray. Amen.

To My Friend Ricky

Please indulge me as I reminisce about Ricky. Last week, a very dear friend of mine went home to be with the Lord! His name was Ricky Lyons. So many of us will miss Ricky but oh what rejoicing we have because He persevered! He made it! He ran the race; Jesus brought him home in victory!

He grew up in North Carolina but at some point in his childhood he moved to the inner city of Washington DC where he became involved in drugs, alcohol etc... He lived a hard life, saw some of his siblings die on the street and because of this lifestyle Ricky eventually contracted HIV. Ricky ended up in prison. It was there that the Holy Spirit regenerated Ricky and he was saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ! It wasn’t long before Ricky began to see his HIV as “Heaven In View.” He lived for Jesus and for the Kingdom to come.

He began to study the Word of God in prison. Through a prison ministry Ricky became associated with a suburban church in Northern VA (where I attended and worked at the time). Ricky had a heart for Jesus... such a BIG heart! When Ricky was released from prison he burst forth in ministry in the local church as well as in the inner city! He had a heart for inner city ministry, youth ministry, for racial reconciliation, for prison ministry, for biblical manhood and biblical womanhood... he worked for the poor, for the hungry... he worked full time at the church I attended as well as being  a part time pastor in the city.. Always serving, always praying to the glory of God!

BUT! It’s not his life that I want to talk about … I want to talk about his funeral.. rather.. his HOMEGOING! It was an incredible time! I had the best time I've ever had in church! Such joy was expressed. Joy in the promises of God for those who belong to God through Jesus Christ!

One day when Ricky and I were taking a break from our jobs at the church we began to talk about funerals and Ricky said to me, “ Darlin, you don’t KNOW what a real funeral is like until you go to a homegoing.” So Ricky and I made a deal, if I die first my husband would seek Ricky’s counsel in how to give a homegoing. If Ricky dies first I promised to attend his homegoing so I could see how it’s done! Ricky beat me to the finish line and on Saturday I saw how it was done!

It was incredible! I have never been to a funeral, excuse me, homegoing, where there was such joy! There was singing, dancing, shouting, proclaiming the gospel over and over and over again! One of the highlights was when Ricky’s wife Raye sang. Ricky asked her to sing a song titled, “I Made It.’ … God’s grace was all over that woman as she sang with such strength and assurance. The song was all about persevering in our faith, with finishing the race. When that song was over the church roared with praises to God, there was dancing, it was beautiful.

Now I know that the majority of us Reformed types aren’t accustomed to shouting and dancing etc in church. (  But I am here to tell you that the theology during that 3 hour service was as biblical as it gets! Sound doctrine was proclaimed with every testimony!  I am as certain as I can be that God was glorified as he saw his children celebrating and honoring Jesus. There was joy for the working of the Holy Spirit in Ricky to the glory of God!

Death is sad, but only sad for those of us who remain in this fallen world!  It is sad because we no longer have the opportunity to see our friend in flesh and blood. Scary for those who have to walk through death, for sure!!!!

BUT it is a time for rejoicing for Ricky! If Ricky had the choice of remaining in the presence of Jesus or returning here, there is no doubt in my mind that He'd remain in the presence of Jesus!  As one of the preachers on Saturday said, "Ricky used to walk by faith BUT NOW he walks by sight! The Scriptures say that when a believer dies we who remain do not grieve as one with no hope, but we have hope. Actually, I walked out of that service with ASSURANCE!  (
Psalm 116:15Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Philippians 1:21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Of course, death was not the intent before the fall.. But now, for those who are saved,  it is the only way to enter into heaven... but as we heard on Saturday, Jesus's life, death for our sins and resurrection took away the sting of death for those who are saved! RICKY MADE IT!  By God’s grace he persevered!  How joyous is that?
 
I praise God for increasing my faith as I heard testimony after testimony of how God used Ricky to bring the Gospel to young man after young man in the city of Washington DC… I praise God because I saw God being exalted, His fame proclaimed!

To borrow a phrase from John Piper’s writings, “I grieve with hope,” yet I now I am reminded afresh to live with a renewed excitement. I live excited that I am but a sojourner on earth on my way to my real home. I don’t have the disease of HIV but Ricky taught me and many others how to really live with Heaven in View.

Poop in my room!

The other morning I received an email from a friend of mine who said her morning started out a little rough when her son Jeff woke her up to tell her that their dog, Glory, had “pooped” in his room.  She said she went in, I expect somewhat bleary-eyed, to clean it up and I assume, went back to bed until a more reasonable hour of rising for the day. I received an email later in the day from Glory’s mom saying that when she went into her son’s room later in the morning, after she had woken up and once daylight was upon them, she realized she hadn’t really cleaned up the “poop” as well as she had thought and proceeded, I expect, to give that area a thorough cleaning. I chuckled a bit as I read her email and then God showed me how my sin is like Glory’s poop in Jeff’s room.

Glory’s poop in Jeff’s room is very similar to sins in my life! There are days when I will awaken to the smell of “poop” in my life… okay.. Actually let me call it what it really is: SIN!  Sin in my life is far smellier and far more dangerous than poop. Poop may be offensive to our noses, and unhealthy for us to be around for long… BUT WORSE our sin is offensive to a holy God! So, what is it that I do with that sin in my life when it’s odorous presence is made known to me? (

Clean it up! I have to clean it up! Okay.. This analogy only takes us so far… but truthfully, what sin/sins wake you up with it’s odor? What sin does the Holy Spirit bring to your mind that kind of lingers, you thought you cleaned it up but when God shines His light on your life you realize it’s still there? Is it is gossip or a critical spirit? How about sharp or harsh words to a family member or a co-worker? Is it telling “white lies” or yelling at the crazy driver in front of you on the way to work?

I praise God because he does provide a way for us to clean up our sins.

At this point, let me say that I praise God that He saved me. I praise God that Jesus is my Lord and Savior and that Jesus paid the price for my sins. Jesus bore the wrath of God that was meant for me! Could there be better news??? I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Wow! However, the reality is that although I am saved and God took care of the problem that my sin causes.. I still sin!  The truth is I am being changed daily, I am being sanctified…. but.. I still sin..
Praise God that I am no longer a slave to sin, the bible tells me I am now a slave to righteousness. I no longer HAVE to sin.. But I still do! The question that Glory’s poop brought to my mind is,” Why, when I see the sin, do I go in bleary eyed, semi-clean it up and go back to bed, then when the same sin pops up later on, why do I wonder why? Why do I still smell the poop?”

When God brings to mind a sin .. First off CONFESS it as sin to God! Admit that you have sinned not only against a person but mostly that you have sinned against GOD, Himself!
Then repent… turn away from that sin! Ask God to help you fight this sin. Fight it by removing yourself from situations that may cause this sin, or ask God to change your heart so when you are in a situation that you might sin in, you can choose not to. It’s not a matter of “making up your mind” so much as it is a matter of surrendering to God and asking him to help you to overcome this sin.

I have an example from my own life….  For years a close friend of mine has accused me of being critical of her… each accusation brought about cries of innocence from me…  this has literally gone on for years! Each time, I would go before God and say something to the effect of, “IF I’m being critical, please forgive me… help “her” to see that I’m not.” Hahaha.. I know I know… how could I be so arrogant? Well, that’s what sin is, isn’t it? Last week, I realized there was still some poop in my room as I was again confronted by my friend of my critical spirit! This time, by the grace of God, I went to Him and said, “Show me where I am being critical.” ….. Ummmm… He showed me. BOY DID HE SHOW ME!  I then confessed my sin to God, repented and went to my friend and asked for forgiveness. I literally feel different now with my interactions with her… to be critical doesn’t even occur  me! How great is our God to show me my sin and then through confession and repentance I am cleansed. How great the grace and mercy of God..  Now, I am so much more aware of how I can be critical and with God I can make sure the poop is cleaned up!

Will I still be critical? I’m sure…I don’t want to be, but I may be. I love this quote from John Newton, the author of the favorite hymn of many people, Amazing Grace. He once said:

"I am not what I ought to be.I am not what I wish to be.I am not even what I hope to be.But, by the Cross of Christ,I am not what I was."

Amen? I encourage each one of us to pay attention when God shows us sin in our life… the Bible says in 1 John 1:8-9 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Thanks to God, and to my friend’s dog Glory for reminding me to take care of the poop!

God's lessons through my Puppy

So we have a new puppy, we named him Rufus! Rufus is a chihuahua mix... He weighs about 14 pounds ...He's absolutely adorable! I can't take any personal credit for the selection of our pup.. all blame, I mean all credit goes to my husband and youngest son!

One Saturday morning they went to the local Petsmart to their "adoption day." No sooner did they get out of the car when Sam spotted and fell in love with Rufus! As they were going through the process of completing the paperwork the woman who was handling the process said, "now, I have to warn you, this dog has resource guarding issues." In other words Rufus's philosophy in his thus far 4 months of life was this, "EVERYTHING IS MINE! IT ALL BELONGS TO ME." haha! oh boy this was going to be fun! Sure enough once Rufus was home he snapped and growled and protected everything from his food, to his toys, my son's bed, he even started protecting certain rooms, not letting us near those things he decided were his!
I did some quick internet research on chihuahua behavior. Apparently resource guarding is very typical behavior for a chihuahua. I found out the way to fix this behavior is to teach the chihuahua that NOTHING belongs to him and that EVERYTHING comes from his master, you must train the dog that his very life depends on his master. The way it's done is for 2 weeks you only let the dog ear a few nibbles at a time ONLY from your hand. After 2 weeks you let the dog watch you put the food in his bowl and you keep your hand near the bowl... Eventually the dog learns that his sustenance comes from the master and this transfers to other things that the dog regarded as his own.

IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In just 2 weeks Rufus learned to stop growling and snapping.. He began to trust me and the other members of the family ... he realized that we have his best interest at heart and we will provide all he needs.

I thought to myself, "wow! in just 2 weeks my Rufus learned what God still tries to teach me!!!!" I think of how peaceful and rest my puppy is now... how much more so are we, as believers, at rest when we trust in our Lord and Master!? How must more at peace I am when I realize that nothing is mine! Not my house, my work, my husband, my children, my car, my ministry, my friends, my health, my LIFE!!! How much more content are we when we realize and live out daily the truth that our God provides for our every need, our very sustenance and to let him have HIS way in our life! God took care of our biggest problem, which was our sin by sending Jesus to live, to die as payment for our sin and then be raised up from the dead! If He took care of our biggest problem won't God take care of our lesser problems? Of course he will! I know that when I walk by grace and trust in the full promises of God I am not "growly and snappy" like Rufus! Most of all , when I walk in trust, satisfied that at all that I have is not my own but from God's hand and when I am satisified in Jesus alone as my highest treasure GOD is glorified!!!

How kind of God to give my a puppy to teach me lessons of His Kingdom!