Wait for IT! / Dawn Richter

Dawn Richter

Teacher at the Christian School, Bus Ministry, and Jr Church

Liberty Baptist Church

Fircrest, WA

Waiting is probably one of the most difficult things for a person to do. We go to restaurants, order food and wait 15-20 minutes for our food to be ready. And sometimes we sit there watching those who came after us get their food before us. We sit there starring at these people and we are filled with hanger! Let's be real we've all been there. We even plan exciting vacations and say "oh I can't wait for my vacation!" while we count down the days, hours and seconds until it arrives. We've spent time sitting in the waiting room of hospitals anxiously hoping for some news from the doctor. In these situations there is always something that we try to do to keep ourselves occupied. At a restaurant we'll order an appetizer or fellowship with those who are with us . And when we have been stuck in the waiting room we try to make time go faster by watching tv. But the most difficult waiting period is when God tell us to wait.
Nearly two years ago I went through a very difficult personal trial. It was a time in my life that all the plans I had made and thought were going to come to pass completely crumbled at my feet. God took me and placed me in a spiritual waiting room. During this time, one of the hardest things for me was to see others getting what I had longed for. And to be honest I still struggle with it. I have had to sit and watch people around me, and even sometimes those younger than me, get what I have been praying for myself. Though this was not easy  I've learned how to wait on God. There are four principles that I use from Psalm 37:3-5,7 that have helped me.
1. TRUST  <confidence placed in a person by making that person the nominal owner of property.>   in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt fed."
  I have learned to place my problems into God's hands and let him take over. God can handle any situation better than I can. Trusting in my own ability will only lead to stress anxiety.  (Proverbs 4:5-6) We must rely on Him.

2.DELIGHT <take great pleasure in, no other need of fulfillment thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
  God should always be our source of strength. Often when going through difficult times people will find someone or something that will make them feel better about their situation. People seek fulfillment in sports, music, tv and even other people. True fulfillment comes from having a deep relationship with God not man. Man does and will continue to fail us everyday but God never will.  (Duet 31:6)

3.COMMIT  < send, entrust, or consign, in particular, deliver, give, hand over,>   thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."   Entrusting God with our future can be difficult, because we want things to happen the way we imagine them to and in our time. But when we hand over our hopes and dreams to God, we can trust that he will have a way better outcome than we could have ever imagined. (Prov 3:5, Isaiah 55:8-9)

4. REST   <be placed or supported so as to stay in a specified position.>   in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."
This last one can be the most difficult. Sometimes God brings us to a place in our life that we don't understand why we are in this situation. We have done everything right, we have given our plans to God and trusted him to bring it to pass. Yet when it comes to resting and waiting we have a difficult time with this one I know I do. We see those around us who are getting their dreams fulfilled and we become discouraged. God tells us we must not fret because of these people. Just to wait patiently.

Through waiting on God comes many blessings. He never promises it will be easy but he does promise he will supply us with the strength needed. (Psalm 27:14, Isaiah 40:31)  Two years ago I would have never thought I would be where I am today. My visions for my life were completely different. But that's just it they were MY visions MY goals. I had to learn to give them over to God and to trust Him with the results. Although I am still in the spiritual waiting room with some things, God has been blessing me with many different opportunities. Had my goals and dreams come to pass I probably would have never had these opportunities. Gods ways are better than we can ever imagine. Waiting for God to bring it to pass won't be easy but it will always be worth it!

Unpacking For Our Trip / Mrs Stephanie Shipman

Mrs Stephanie Shipman

Pastors's Wife

Fairview Baptist Church

Kansas City, KS

Unpacking For Our Trip


Have you ever packed for a trip and when you arrived at your destination you realized that you had over packed?  My motto is usually: “Better to be over prepared than not prepared at all.” However, some things are better left behind. Sadly, many of us pack unneeded items each day! We are carrying all these extra things that we don’t need. The Bible says:

Hebrews 12:1 “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth  so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Our race is our Christian Life. Every day we are striving to become more of what God wants us to be and a lot of times we fail because of the weights and sin in our lives. I like to call them excess baggage and they weigh us down.  For our trip through life we need to unpack so that we can become the Christian that our Heavenly Father wants us to be. Some things that we need to unpack are listed in Scripture: 

Ephesians 4:31-32 “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

The first thing we need to unpack is:

BITTERNESS

James 3:11 says, “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?”

If you are carrying around bitterness (grudge or hatred) you can’t be sweet and be the example that Christ would want you to be.

Luke 6:45 “ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

Next:

WRATH

Wrath is violent anger.

Proverbs 27:3-4a says, “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty: but a fool’s wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous...”

And Thirdly:

ANGER

A violent passion of the mind excited by a real or supposed injury; usually accompanied with a
propensity to take vengeance, or to obtain satisfaction from the offending party.

Ecc 7:9 says, “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.”

These 2 pieces of baggage go hand in hand and the Bible says that we are fools if we carry them around.


Next we need to rid our luggage of:

CLAMOUR

Means to utter or proclaim insistently and noisily

Col 4:6 “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

That verse pretty much says it! Don’t be a brawling woman!

Lastly:

EVIL SPEAKING (blasphemy)

An indignity offered to God by words or writing; reproachful, contemptuous or irreverent words uttered impiously against Jehovah. 

The Bible says in Psalms 34:13, “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.”


So—  we have all of this baggage for our trip ( for our daily lives)... How can we face each day and go through life with all of this in our way? Let’s pretend each one of these is in a heavy suitcase. Now, try going through doorways and getting into your car carrying all of this baggage everywhere you go. That would be hard, Right? Just trying to manage a purse, diaper bag, & my church Bible bag are enough for me. Each day we must go to the “Check-IN” lane and leave our baggage. Our daily “Check In” is our personal time with the Lord. It is here, that we leave them with Christ and allow Him to be in control of our life. Christ says in Matthew that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Once you check-in, HE takes away that excess baggage and gives you a boarding pass. The boarding pass is light - it is the Fruit of the Spirit. THE FRUIT which posses all of these qualities: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. 

You see, these qualities will help you along the way face the struggles of each day! Drop off the weights that are pulling you down and you will see a difference in the way you handle life. Most importantly others will see you running your race with patience and grace.

What are you waiting for …  get UNPACKING!

To Know Him / Mrs Ann Berry

Mrs Ann Berry

Involved in:

Children's Church, Nursery, Choir,

Special Music, & Master Clubs

Lighthouse Baptist Church

Lehighton, PA

To Know Him

This year in my Bible reading I have been challenged not only to read the Bible to get something for myself, but to also learn something about my God. Often times Christians, like myself, get in a rut and just read the Bible to get “something” for the day. Yet, we do not stop and learn something about the One who wrote it for us. It is easy for those who grew up in Sunday school, attended Christian camps, and Bible College to have a “head knowledge” of God and not a “heart knowledge”. In the past, there have been many times, when God has not been as “real” to me as He had been before. Mainly, because of my busy life and full schedule, He had become a part of the motions. I was not getting to actually “know” Him more and more everyday. Sure my Bible reading was done for the day, but only to study for a Bible lesson. Of course, I spent time in prayer while going down my list of prayer requests, while in the back of my mind I had thoughts of tasks I needed to accomplish. 

It was in the fall season of last year when God allowed me to slow down and focus on Him. My husband and I found out we were expecting our first child. For nine weeks, I carried our baby, until we lost it. I was most devastated, but was reminded to reflect on God and focus on His goodness in every situation. I read the Bible searching for God, wanting His comfort and found it. Since then, He has blessed us with another miracle. We are expecting our baby girl on Sept 10th of this year. 

Something utterly amazing about God is that He wants a personal, real, close relationship with me! When He saved me it did not end there. Here are a few things that I have learned and found to be personally true about my God in the past year. 

He is gracious. He gives more than I deserve. Its makes me count my blessings and continue to remind me to be thankful. 

He is faithful. No matter what trials have come, His faithfulness is comforting. He is always there, even in the darkest of times. Though the storms come, He sees the rainbow. 

He is love. He gave the greatest example of love, by dying for me. It challenges me to share and show His love to my fellow Christians and unsaved people I come in contact with everyday. 

He provides. He knows me and takes care of me. Although, I may not have every material thing I want, He constantly provides for my needs and gives extra. 

“Be still and know that I am God.” It is easier said than done. It is definitely something I am working on everyday. 

-Ann Berry

Leave it all to Jesus / Mrs Vicky Mutchler

Mrs Vicky Mutchler

Pastor's Wife

Grand View Baptist Church

Beavercreek, OR

Leave it all to Jesus

 All of us  want Jesus to take care of our health, our families, and everything else that has to do with our day to day lives on this earth. But do we also want Jesus to take care of the things that really matter most of all?  Do we weigh in the balance of eternal value all that we do?  There is one desperate need that you and I will always have : forgiveness. Just look back over this past week and see how desperate that need is. How many times did we use our minds, our mouths and our hands to please and honor God?  How many times did we fail? Now there’s a problem far greater than paying  bills, a change in the weather or getting rid of the flu.  And yes, Jesus has the solution for it—his mercy and forgiveness. Jesus is there to receive you and me and to give us his best miracle for this life and the next one. The same Jesus,  who so miraculously fed the thousands with so little... says to every troubled and burdened soul:  “...I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. “John 6:35 

Everything comes from God. If we aren’t thinking we tell our children that milk comes from cows...rain comes from clouds and flowers come from seeds. Actually...they all come from God.

I remember when I was a child and we would go to my grand parents home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. At that time my grand father was not a Christian and he would be so angry when my dad would ask the blessing on the food. He would “in no uncertain terms” explain that he was the one that should be thanked for the food, because he was the one that provided it by working hard….not GOD!

So does the fact that we’re fed, clothed, and housed better than any other nation on earth, the fact that seeds planted in our soil turn into wheat and corn and garden vegetables, the fact the sun shines on us each day and the clouds open up letting rain come down, the fact that what a kid at McDonalds makes is more than the annual salary of half the men on this planet. But best of all, coming from Jesus is his unending forgiveness for our sins, his wise and loving guidance in every detail of our lives, his strength and comfort for every rough day of our lives, and his taking us someday to live forever with him in the joys and glories of heaven. That’s what Jesus’ miracle of feeding over 5,000 souls with a little boy’s lunch says to us this day. That is why, for those other days still to be given to us you and I really can leave it all to Jesus.