Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi – written in 2015

A light house does not blow fog horns but it only shines.  

When I read the above I thought of our walk as Christians.  Does our life reflect the light  of Jesus.  St Mark 4:21: and he said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick?  A candle beams its flickering light so we may find our way in the dark as does the Lighthouse.  As Christians we should let our light shine & walk in the light of Christ.  We need not blow fog horns but just shine & let the Holy Spirit beam through us.  Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord……i grew up in a very legalistic religion & if we did have a little light, it was totally blown out with dos & don’ts & lots of fear. 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God….10: herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us & sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4 is filled with scriptures of love.  The pendulum swings both ways but should be in balance.  I guess my desire is not to be a fog horn but a flickering light for our Lord.

“From the Lord comes deliverance.”Psalms‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Deliverance:  “The action of being rescued or set free.”

I remember years ago when the movement of Jesus had exploded in our country:  the Jesus movement, the Charismatic movement. The Catholic movement, the Full Gospel movement, etc and how exciting it was.  I frequent many of the meetings .  My hairdresser in Dallas was from the UK and was of the Catholic faith.  Every time I went to have my hair done our conversation was on all the activity happening in and around us. On one  visit, he was in tears.  He lost his seven year old son to leukemia – his grief was immense. I felt his grief and tried to help him with prayer and heart-to-heart conversation.  His work as a hair dresser had to go on so he worked with heartache. The next time I came in to have my hair done, I was surprised to find him with a smile on his face. He was anxiously ready to tell me what happened to put that smile on his face. He said “I would get up early, still dark, and go to the breakfast room and stare outside the glass door hopeless of the pain I was in – then a bird would fly to the door and sing.  He said every morning this would happen. “Coppi, he said birds don’t fly in the dark”.  “This was a sign to me my son was in heaven, I would see him again when I leave this earth, and the pain I was in left me”.  He joined the Charismatic Catholic movement and became active in it. At that time, my own life took a turn to ugly and I lost touch with him.  All I know is that a belief in God delivered him from his pain and grief and he and his family found happiness in their faith.

“From the Lord comes deliverance.”Psalms‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Deliverance:  “The action of being rescued or set free.”

That is what the Lord will do for us……believe!

“I remember praying for my dad to be healed from Cancer, and I remember the moment he died.  My oldest brother said, “God answered our prayers”.  Though I wanted to keep my dad around, I knew the greater miracle wasn’t the fact that God could heal him of Cancer, but that God could raise him from the dead”.

Did you ever pray for a person for healing & then that person died?  Did it shake your faith in God’s healing power?  I remember back when I worked with the Chaplain at the V.A. hospital in Dallas, Texas.  I was assigned for duty to take hope to the ones dying of Cancer on the fifth floor.  I wanted God to heal them all & prayed for Him to do so.  I will relate one case that to this day I can see his eyes pleading not to be healed of Cancer but for his son to forgive him & come visit him before he died.  He gave me his son’s phone number and address, so I left a message on his son’s answering machine & also wrote him a letter relating his father’s love for him & his dying wish.  Do I know what happened between the two to cause such bitterness, anger & hate between them.  No. All I wanted was his father to be able to leave this world knowing the forgiveness & love of his son.  I wish I could say that his son visited his father & forgiveness & loved flowed but it didn’t happen.  I was in his room when he died.  I heard his words saying “no one loves me” – I was able to counteract with words of comfort  & repeated them over many times to him “that’s not true Jesus loves you”…he died hearing Jesus loves you.  I don’t know the whys & why nots I have to leave that up to God.  I just know what the Bible says – Phil 2:10 – that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow……Rom 8:11- and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you…I believe in healing and when someone asks me to pray for them to be healed, I do.  But I guess the greatest miracle is God can raise us from the dead…..we never die – we are with Him for eternity.

“Seasons change. Life changes. Jesus doesn’t. That’s all we need to know.”

Change.  I have never liked change.  I want everything to stay consistent but I find in life that is not what happens.  I was glad when I read in the Bible that Jesus does not change.  As a child in the little country church we attended, we would sing “Standing on the promises of Christ my King” and at that time in my life they were just words but now I cherish the words “Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Through eternal ages let his praises ring; Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God.…”

Following are a few verses I found and there are many more, reflecting His unchanging promises:

Hebrews 13:8 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

Malachi 3:6 

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 

Revelation 1:8 

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” 

James 1:17 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Psalm 90:2 

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 

Psalm 102:24-27 

“O my God,” I say, “take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!” Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.

“Seasons change, Life changes, Jesus doesn’t, That’s all we need to know”.  We can stand on His promises and for me, that is important.

“Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.”

John 17:11-12 NLT

John 16:23 –  Hitherto, have ye asked nothing in my name.  Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full.

There is power in the name of Jesus 

To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain. 

There is power in the name of Jesus 

To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain. (Song by Tasha Cobbs)

Do you have chains in your life?  Try repeating the name of Jesus over each one.  Let him break the ‘chain’ that has you bound with worry and concern. There is power in His name – wonder working power.  I know in my life there were times when the heaviness of problems were overwhelming me and I could only utter the word Jesus. It was all I could do but it was enough.

“If we weren’t ever shattered we’d never know the glorious touch of the Potter making something glorious out of dust, out of us.” – Lysa Terkeurst.

“I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”

– Jeremiah 24:7

“As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” Proverbs 27:19

Tom, my husband, and I spent most of the day yesterday poking in and around Thrift Stores. I see all these beautiful pieces up for sale since the person who bought them died or didn’t have a need for them anymore. I presume the children did not want them, but preferred the monies they will bring.  I know from my past, and I hope I learned, that things bought only brings temporary highs but it doesn’t last.  I would need to buy something else for another high.  I also know that when life throws you a lemon and you experience all your treasures being taken out of your life, you are left with a fragrance of them; that it is a crushing feeling.  I. also believe, that our Lord does not mind if we have all the things the world can offer, but not that those “things” have our heart.   God said in Matthew 9:13 (NIV) “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice”.  Enjoy your life, enjoy the beauty God has given you and be blessed.  But in my case, I had to be shattered, so I would know the glorious touch of the Potter.  

The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.””Exodus‬ ‭14:14‬ 

Definition of calm:  

Not showing or feeling nervousness, anger, or other strong emotions.

I have a friend who I admire and one of the reasons is her calmness.  Since I am a hyper-thyroid grasshopper, playing golf with my friend calms my ‘hyper-ness”.  I can imagine how the people of Israel felt when Moses was leading them out of Egypt.  They were panic stricken when they saw Pharaoh approaching and the Egyptians overtaking them.  No calmness there only lots of complaints!  Moses instructs them “to stand still and stay calm and watch the Lord rescue you”, which he did.  Believe me I know about tsunamis blowing in and covering you with waters of fear.  Standing still and trusting God is hard.  But I know also He will go with you and fight your battle if you will stay calm and let him.  “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain”.  Isaiah 40:5.  And as one of my favorite gospel song goes – sung by Lynda Randle:

“Life is easy, when you’re up on the mountain

And you’ve got peace of mind, like you’ve never known

But things change, when you’re down in the valley

Don’t lose faith, for you’re never alone

For the God on the mountain, is the God in the valley

When things go wrong, He’ll make them right

And the God of the good times

Is still God in the bad times……” 

“He is…..”

“The children of Zion can be glad and rejoice because rain has returned to nourish the ground.” (Joel 2:23). All this leads up to its climax in verse 25: “I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.” What this meant for these people was that God would give back the harvests that had been destroyed.

The above scripture has great meaning to me.  I can remember standing in my twin sister’s home totally devastated, crying most of the time.  I knew my twin had all she needed on her plate and did not need me with all my pain and grief.  My dear friend, Dean, would call me and encourage me with the above scripture.  Hang in there Coppi, God loves you and He will restore your loses to you – not only worldly goods but love, friends, peace, etc.  At that moment in time my mind could not grab hold of what she was saying, but she never let up on calling me and encouraging me.  My friend is in heaven now.  I still miss her.  When we are passing through the storms of life, we need someone like Dean to remind us of God’s faithfulness.  No, my life did not “ bloom” over night.  I went through years of leaning heavily on Jesus and the scriptures.  But, in those years of training, I also learned things about me that needed to be corrected.  It was indeed a very long and painful time, but Jesus is faithful.  Grateful is a word that is imbedded in my heart.  Today, I have love, friends, joy, peace, and all the worldly “things” again – but what I am so very grateful for is what Jesus did inside me.  I feel like I am not the same person I was those long years ago – I think the “locusts” ate some of the uglies out of me. 

 “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6.

Just a thought by coppi

John 13:12 says, “When he had finished washing their feet. . .” Please note; Jesus finished washing their feet. That means he left no one out. Why is that important? Because that means he washed the feet of Judas. Jesus washed the feet of his betrayer. That’s not to say it was easy for Jesus. That’s not to say it’s easy for you. But that is to say, God will never call you to do what he hasn’t already done!  (Max Lucado 12/27/2017 on Forgiveness)

Jesus is our trailblazer – He never asks us to do anything that he has not already done.  When I read Max Lucado’s words about Jesus washing THEIR feet meaning Judah’s feet also, I realized as often as I read John 13:12 I never grasped that Jesus washed Judah’s feet too.  Jesus knew Judah would betray him yet he washed his feet and dried them.  Forgiveness is a word in the Bible that I would like to skip over as asking forgiveness is not always easy.  I remember years ago, sitting on my bed with a pen and pad in my hand asking Jesus to bring to my mind ones that I needed to ask forgiveness.  Several of the names I rebelled and said “they were the ones who hurt me…they should ask my forgiveness”.  Silence.  “Okay I will make an attempt to contact them either by a note or via telephone but please Jesus be my mouth piece”.

I did.  It’s important to me not to harbor anything that would break my relationship with God, I want to make it right even if I feel I was the one 0wronged.  I don’t think I want to go wash their feet as Jesus did for Judah, but come to think of it, it might be easier than the other way.

“Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me! My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “ Lord, I am coming.””

Psalms 27:7-8 NLT

“Come and talk with me”.  “Lord, I am coming”.  I love visiting and talking with my friends.  It always blesses me to do so.  As I was reading my meditations this morning I came across Ps 27:7-8 and I realize the Lord also wants us to come and spend time with Him. What I do is close my eyes and imagine Jesus and I sitting across from each other at a table.  Of course in my anxious spirit I start by asking him to answer all my prayers – “Be merciful and answer me”!  But I hear in my heart “come and talk with me”.  Talking goes both ways…..I need to listen also.  What I heard this morning was “I heard you, trust me”.

Ps 23:1 the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want….

Every time I read that part of psalms I stop at the word ‘want’ and remember how the word want in that scripture saved a friend of mine’s life.  He was going through a divorce and was devastated over the thought being separated from his two little girls.  He decided to take his life as his pain and depression was so overwhelming.  However, as his thoughts were going in that direction, he noticed his Bible laying on a table, picked it up and it fell open to Psalms 23.  “I shall not want” lighted up like neon lights in his spirit.  As he related me his story, he said those words meant to him that he would not be separated from his girls.  True to the word ‘want’ in Psalms, my friend trusted what he heard, he did not take his life, and his little girls spent more time with him than their mother.  I lost track of him when I moved to Florida but my prayer was that maybe the Lord would restore his marriage and the family be united.  “Little words mean a lot especially when the Lord shines his light on them”.