For I am your GUEST—
a traveler passing through,
as my ancestors were before me.Psalm 39: 4-5, 12 NLT
In my morning devotions the other day, I was struck by these sobering words about my aging life and the speeding passage of time that has been my 72 years.
Read More. . . The whole time I was jealous. The joy on their little faces! The freedom! The abandonment! To freely give their physical selves over in total trust to those foam blocks to “save” them. WOW! Something like that has never been easy for me, and still isn’t.
But like most things in our physical, human existence on this earth, this abandonment and resulting joy is a picture, a metaphor. And I can get the metaphor: Just as my grandchildren joyfully abandoned themselves to “the jump,” so I day by day, abandon myself to the LORD, Who is my total security and trust!.
Read More. . . The Gentile seekers were led to Jerusalem by a celestial phenomenon, the star. They were not experts in the Scriptures, but they were driven to learn more about what God was doing in their day. And they undertook an arduous journey that probably took months to find the answer to their question.
Israel’s wise men knew the Scripture, yet they were not motivated to find out for themselves what God had done. They weren’t motivated enough to travel five miles to Bethlehem to see for themselves.
I love the Scripture, I’ve known the Scripture since I was a small boy. But I understand that Bible knowledge alone cannot generate spiritual vitality. . .
… we are like the star that led the Magi to Christ … or we can be. We can, in our very person, be the light that points another to the King. You and I have the King of Kings living within us. But as always it is our choice whether we allow the King to live through us and manifest His presence to seeking hearts who are walking in darkness all around us.
Author Tim Chester, in his lovely Advent devotional on Philippians 2 The One True Gift, caught my attention when he pointed out from Scripture one way that God says we can shine like stars …
Read MoreDear friends
Happy New Year 2020. It’s hard to believe we are entering a new decade, isn’t it! The past ten years have brought many changes for each of us — from the delightful to the challenging to the downright tragic and everything between. And God has been with us and in us every step of the way because we know Him who is Life indeed.
And now we can “let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him.” (Oswald Chambers)
Before we continue on with our blog posts in this new year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you,
Read MoreA new year is upon us, along with those pesky thoughts of New Years’ resolutions. Well, resolutions are no temptation to me anymore. I’ve given up trying to change myself by my own self-effort. The indwelling Christ is my “Game-changer” and my “Life-changer.” And a few years ago, He brought a lovely “new thing” to my attention … the idea of a word for my year. So for the past several years, I have had my word. But my word had never stuck until in 2016 I stepped aside and allowed the Lord to “give” it to me, rather than try to come up with one on my own.
Read MoreDo not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past.Behold, I will do something NEW, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19
Everyone has regrets...it's part of the human condition!
Read MoreAs the old year is coming to a close and the holiday glitz and cheer have dwindled, what is rushing in? Anxieties and fears for today and the year yet to come? Then hear these words again from your Creator and Savior:
Fear not, for I am near you!
Fear not, for I am closely associated with you! I've gone through it all too!
And now finally and forever...
Fear not, for I am united with you forever...we are one!
Read MoreAs near as God has always been to His people, when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, pierced through and entered our human history, everything changed.
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman... Galatians 4:4
God came closer still... He became one of us and so He took on our fears, the greatest of which is our separation from Himself. Even though God was nearby, there was separation...until Jesus!
Read MoreNow that gifts are unwrapped, the food at least half-eaten, the many emotions grabbing at us during the season fading, the loneliness getting deeper and the grief, abandonment, "being left out" -- all having left their wounds...and the dread of bills looming in the back of our minds. We feel lost! So enters in...fear! Yes, fear!
God had set me up one year to think of fear...
from the terror of a grandchild seeing glimpses of a horror movie on Halloween to a blog by a young mom about the fears for herself and her family....
from the anxieties of aging to the arresting truth, read in a book, that fearlessness is a characteristic of the Holy Spirit in a life...
Read MoreThen in the midst of the struggle, the still small voice of the Lover of Souls spoke,
I entered your world. You can enter his!
Wow! That stopped me dead in my tracks. The struggle was over, and I began to listen with an open mind and heart
Read MoreChristmas blessings from a branch in the VINE.
Thank you, dear readers, for journeying with me this Advent! I hope you feel better prepared to remember our Lord, Emmanuel's coming to our earth. I certainly do for the writing.
Read MoreThe shipwrecked at the stable are captivated by joy and wonder. They have found the treasure in the field of Bethlehem. The pearl of great price is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Everything else is cheap, fake, painted fragments of glass. . . .
Read MoreJesus Christ is of no importance unless he is of supreme importance.
My friend Penny is a walker (a very serious, fast walker, by the way). But Penny doesn't just walk for exercise, she also "walks" closely with the Lord. So when Penny shares, I listen. And when she shared about a favorite Christmas carol, it made me take notice. Why? Because while walking, Penny has been doing what this song describes.
Read MoreIn the midst of our lives, and between the two great mountain peaks of God's acts in the world, we look back and remember, and we look forward and hope!
AW Tozer, From Heaven, p. 108
We live in the land between two Comings...But that raises the question, what about our life in-between?
Read MoreHe is HERE … right here, right now. The God of the universe in human flesh! Our Redeemer, our Brother, our Friend. The One who was waited for, longed for, foretold … now ours. Celebrate!
Enjoy this magnificent rehearsal of the coming of the God Who is HERE with us!
Read MoreWe would give up everything we've ever written to have penned this one verse, a stanza that comes as close as is humanly possible to capturing the splendor of who Jesus is.
Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ, by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola, p. 173-174
What is that one verse? that one stanza? Authors Sweet & Viola are referring to the last stanza of the well-known carol, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.
In my opinion, however, it isn't just the last stanza that is all glorious with the splendor of Christ...it's the entire song. In fact, even the stanzas that were removed* from the older version are splendid indeed. But I'm getting ahead of the story.
Read MoreA few Advents ago, I met a new-to-me British author, Tim Chester, through his Advent devotional The One True Light. I’ve loved this little volume that has led me year by year through the first eighteen verses of the Gospel of John.
Well, this year I discovered his other two Advent books: The One True Gift (On Philippians, chapter 2) and The One True Story (on the story of Christ through the Old Testament to Jesus’ Coming). So this year, each Advent day finds me meditating through all three, each one in turn.
The books are not coordinated, but one day in reading all three, a thread grabbed and entwined me in an amazing truth: Jesus is not only Emmanuel, God with Us; He is also Emmanuel, Us with God!
Read MoreIf ever we needed to know God is WITH us in every possible way, it's NOW, after another year of the unanswerable "why's" of life. We struggle to make sense of all the violence, suffering, and injustice we see all around us. Though we can't know the answers, we can turn afresh to the One Who has us in the palm of His Hand. The God Who became One of us...flesh and bone and joint and sinew...who experienced every emotion possible, raw and gripping, tender and affectionate! He felt it all! And He feels our current struggle with us too!
Read MoreWhile we were traveling to be with our daughter and family for Christmas, a dear friend shared a link to this article from GodTube via Facebook. Even though I had already posted about this wonderful song, I couldn’t resist passing on the backstory as well as this unique rendition of this most moving of contemporary Christmas songs.
Why not meditate afresh as you read and listen. And a blessed Christmas to you and yours?
Read MoreJanet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.
