Girl Stuff

"So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: For he is thy Lord; and worship thou him."

Psalm 45:11

A woman was asked to write her desire for her inner spiritual life and this is what she wrote; I thought I might share it.

I think that my desire for my inner spiritual life is expressed in the prophetic song of

Psalm chapter 45.  In my meditation of this particular passage, the Lord has spoken to my

heart many times of His will for me.   

As represented by this princess in the text, He wants me to be wholly His—forsaking all others if need be--and to be presented to Him solely for His purpose.  His desire is my heart’s desire, that He alone will occupy that special place in me, and that I will truly know Him as my Love and my King and will live for His glory.

Profile of A Worshipper

I imagine her walking into the room, eyes searching, until they came to rest on Jesus. She walked over, knelt down, and opened a box of perfume. Oblivious to everyone watching, she poured out the most precious thing she had - on His feet. Then, reverently, she kissed His feet.

Mary epitomizes the true worshiper. Her person, possessions, reputation - nothing mattered except the One whom she loved above all else.

Four things characterize a worshiper:

1. Focus. Her attention was riveted on Jesus. She worshiped Him like there was no one else in the room. Whole-hearted devotion always captures the heart of God.
2. Humility. Mary positioned herself at the feet of Jesus - the posture of humility.
3. Motivation. Devotion and gratitude was the reason for Mary's astounding worship. The Lord notices when we offer praise to Him for all He's done for us.
4. Selflessness. This was not about the worshiper. It was about the One who is worthy of all glory. Mary gave to Jesus without looking for anything in return.

Jesus will respond when we approach Him in the spirit of true worship - and give our all in love.

Kingdom Trees

  KINGDOM TREES

“It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches” (NRSV).

Where I grew up in rural Jamaica, trees were like old friends. Fruit trees of all kinds grew in my backyard. My friends and I knew every nook and cranny in them as we would often climb up and sit in their branches. 

One tree we never tried to climb, though. It was the Methuselah of trees. The big almond tree stood about 200 feet from the house and had towered over everything for as long as anyone could remember. Its trunk was so big that five or six of us held hands to circle it. We kids would play house under its wide branches anytime we got a chance.

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a huge tree in which kinds of birds make a home. (Luke 13:19)  This is a picture of how the kingdom receives people of all cultures and backgrounds. The arms of our heavenly Father are open to all who are willing to come to Him.  

And when all earthly kingdoms are dissolved, He will welcome us into His everlasting kingdom. Heaven will be our home. The Bible speaks of people celebrating in heaven “from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation.” (Revelation 5:9) And the tree will still be there. “…On each side of the river grew the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine and to heal the nations. (Revelation 22:3)

© Phillippa Brown

To All Worry warts:

I sat at my desk struggling to find faith. I could not pray. Not even tears brought relief.

Reaching for the small calendar off to my right, I wrote down the lines of a song I’d heard my mother sing often. It was all I felt I could do.

Keep on believing, Jesus is near

Keep on believing, there’s nothing to fear

I was waiting for the delivery of the office payroll. Sales had been down for me recently and I knew not to expect any pay. However, I needed the equivalent of two months rent as I was moving and that amount was required by the renter.

When the checks arrived, I opened my envelope and almost gasped. Inside was a check for about ten times the amount I needed. I gave my head office a quick call to explain that they had made a mistake. They had. They informed me however, that they could not recall the check but I could reimburse them over a period of time! What a God!

We cannot tell our future one minute from now. Because of that, we worry when things look like they are not going to work out well. But Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow….” (Matthew 6:34 NLT) He does not forget us or our needs. He does not even forget one sparrow—and we mean so much more to Him. Be encouraged. Our stories might not be the same, but our God is.

A little something to tickle your funny bone....

My 8-year-old daughter Sofia sometimes sees things a little differently from most of us.  One day while visiting a family friend, my friend remarked how much Sofia resembled her sister, Jewel.  Sofia seemed surprised at this. 
“You don’t know how much you look like Jewel?” Mona asked.

“Well, I can’t see my face,” Sofia replied, “‘cause my eyes are on it.”

Well, well.

LOVE AND SERVANTHOOD

Base Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Matthew 20:28: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

These verses set up our understanding of God’s attitude to servanthood: Love serves. Without reservation. Jesus gave the ultimate service to mankind when He gave His life. "And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” 1 John 3:16. According to John’s epistle, we perceive the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we, in turn, should "lay down our lives" for the brethren. Hmmm.

In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle details the futility of acts of service done without love. No matter how greatly we use our gifts, or how sacrificial our actions, they are of little value without love.

The Greek word used for love in this passage indicates “a selfless concern for the welfare of others that is not called forth by any quality of lovableness in the person loved, but is the product of a will to love in obedience to God’s command.” (Zondervan Study Bible, 2002)

Now this brings us to a great truth. To love and serve others, we must first love God. Jesus reminds us of the first and great commandment in Matthew 22:37-40. Our love for God will motivate us to serve others in love.

First requirement for servanthood:

Love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Second requirement for servanthood:

Love our neighbor as ourselves.

(This is an excerpt from a Bible Study lesson I recently taught.)

HEAVEN ANYONE?

I just finished reading (again) Mary K. Baxter’s A Divine Revelation of Heaven and A Divine Revelation of Hell. I cannot read these books without feeling compelled to take time and to reflect on my eternal destination and the implications of living my life for God or simply ignoring His existence.

These days I ponder deeply about the times we live in and my future in the light of eternity. (Maybe because the birthdays keep adding up—no matter how I try to stave them off!) Seriously though, times are uncertain and to ignore eternal matters is foolhardy at best.

Jesus said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36)  Said another way it's, pay attention to what’s around you, and pray all the time!

I feel heaven closer than it has ever been. And a revival. And persecution of the church. To everyone, I implore you in the name of Jesus, Be ready. Heaven awaits.

A Little Song the Lord gave me....

If I would just love Him with all of my heart

If I would just give all - not just a part

If I would just praise Him, and thank Him enough

He'd give me more blessings than I ever dreamed of 

I started to sing this one day while in prayer. Never heard it anywhere before. The Lord does things in amazing ways, doesn't He? I pray that this is a blessing to you today and will inspire you to love Jesus more!

A funny thing happened on my way to church….

A friend’s church; wasn’t mine. My newly-acquired hubby and I usually met on Friday evenings to attend our local youth service, but tonight my girlfriend had an idea. (Be careful of girlfriends with ideas.)

“One of our friends is preaching tonight in St. Catherine. Why don’t you come with us? Should be fun. Just leave hubby a note and let him know where you are. He won’t mind.”

Having recently married, and still used to going out with my friends at a moment’s notice, that seemed harmless enough.

So leaving a message for Andre with a smirking friend, five of us piled into the little blue Peugeot and headed toward St. Catherine. We stopped on the way to put gas in the car then resumed our journey. After about two minutes on the road, the car began to backfire and rock back and forth as if it were having spasms.

“Oh, man,” our driver lamented, “The gas attendant must have put in petrol instead of diesel fluid. We have to go back.”

As he began to turn the car around, my girlfriend remarked in an annoyingly smug voice, "There is a Jonah on board this car.”

No one had to look around to figure out who that fit. I felt like Jonah. Like I had run away from my responsibility to be accountable to my husband and, instead of checking in with him first, I had simply gone off with my friends without much regard for what he might think. 

And, like Jonah, the Lord didn't allow me to get away with it.

As I bashfully returned to meet with my husband, I realized the Lord had taught me a valuable lesson, and one that I needed  to pay attention to in the future: To show respect to my mate at all times and in all circumstances.

“The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife” (1^st Corinthians 4:7)

  

Hold My Hand

“For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee.”  Isaiah 41:3

I was walking by the side of the road holding the hand of my happy three-year old daughter.  She was quite content to hold my hand until she saw a car approaching.  As the car came closer, she began to tug at my hand in an attempt to run although the oncoming vehicle posed no threat.  I held on to her hand and explained that we were in no danger from the passing car and that I would never knowingly place her in harm’s way.

We continued down the street but my heart felt a little sad as I reflected on the incident.  How was it that she did not know that I would take care of her?  After all, I am her mother, I thought.

Sometimes in our walk with God we become fearful because of difficult circumstances and we forget Who is walking beside us. We react to what we see or feel instead of trusting God to take care of us.  Jesus said that He would never leave or forsake us.  What a wonderful promise.  He is there when we need Him and we can be secure knowing that He will never, ever let us go.

Prayer: Lord, help us to remember that You hold our hand, and will guide us always.

© Phillippa Brown

Like John

His arms

comforting

embracing

His touch

quietly soothing

and, like John

we lean

His eyes

loving

forgiving

His gaze

serene, compelling

and, like Peter

we surrender

His presence

holy

amazing

His glory

radiant, breathtaking

And, we, His Bride

worship

Jesus, Your love is better than wine. (Song of Solomon 1:2 KJV)

© Phillippa Brown

Impossibility Thinking

“Is anything too hard for the LORD….?”

Genesis 18:14

                                                                               

How many times, when faced with a difficult situation, have we muttered to ourselves, “This is impossible?” And we shoved whatever it was aside, hoping it would somehow resolve itself as there was absolutely nothing we could do to fix it.

Human efforts have their limitations. Jesus’ disciples confronted their limitations many times, even while the Master was with them. When a storm threatened their lives, they panicked and woke Jesus up, asking Him to help. When Jesus told them to feed the five thousand, they said, “We can’t.”  When a tearful father implored them to cure his demon-possessed son, they just stood by helplessly.

Jesus, Himself, acknowledged our limitations when He said, “The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God” (Luke 18:27 KJV). And therefore in Mark 11:22, He instructs us to, “Have faith in God” (KJV). God alone has unlimited power. Faith is absolute confidence in God’s ability and willingness to help us with our needs. Faith links our impossibilities and His omnipotence. Faith makes anything possible. 

Remember the disciples’ storm at sea? Jesus rebuked the raging of the wind and the waves. Remember the hungry crowd? Jesus fed five thousand people with only five small loaves of bread and two fishes. Remember the demon-possessed boy? Jesus cured him, much to the joy of his father.

When you have done all you can, and decided that something is impossible, think again. For all things impossible, only believe. Directing our faith toward God allows Him to help us and bring about solutions that ultimately bring Him glory. 

© 2012 Phillippa Brown