The label on the jar makes all the difference

What is on the label of your jar of jam? Did you know what an important difference it can make?  My five year old does.

I took a Sunday school lesson not so long ago where we were learning that Jesus accepts us. The material said to use the acronym JAM to help the children remember 'Jesus Accepts Me'. 

I bought some cute little empty jam jars and a few big pots of cheap strawberry jam. I decanted the jam into the little pots and put labels on them: JAM: Jesus Accepts Me. I cut little circles of cloth and attached them over the lids with an elastic band.  They looked very sweet. The children got to take one home each.

My daughter was very pleased to have Jesus Accepts Me jam on her toast.  My son also wanted Jesus Accepts Me jam on his toast so the little jar was soon empty.  When it ran out I got out the big jar of jam from which I'd filled the little ones. But he was not happy.  He only wanted jam from the Jesus Accepts Me jar.  We tried explaining that it was the same jam, but he was still not satisfied. In the end I refilled the little jar and then spread it on his bread.  Then he was content that he'd had 'special' Jesus Accepts Me jam.

This is story does not model the most brilliant example of parenting but I felt God spoke to me through it. 

It was the same jam. The only difference was the label on the jar it was in. 

I thought about my life as a Christian.  When we are saved, it's like we are 'decanted' into Christ. He takes our sticky mess and puts it in his perfect self.  Now the label on our jar says "Jesus accepts me."  It says "forgiven". It says "justified". It says "loved". Wow.

What is on the label of your jar? 

Thank you Jesus for accepting me into your jar. Thank you for the 'labels' you put over me. Help me to believe them and not go back to accepting  others' labels on my life. Amen.

Connect your charger

I don't know about you but my phone regularly displays the message 'Connect your charger'.

My phone regularly needs its battery charged by being plugged into the mains power supply. Left by itself it will not last much more than a day and a half before fizzling out.

One day it struck me that this is how I am with God. I need to connect with Him regularly. Daily. To plug into His infinite resources.  To receive the power to live in a way that honours Him.

I tend to run around trying to be very impressive for God in my own strength and fizzling out.

I love the way John 7:38-39 puts it:

'Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit'

Wow. How I would like that to be a description of me - that rivers of living water flow out from me.

And yet the criteria is very simple: believing and trusting in Him. Which means going to Him to receive the power, the water, the Spirit, the resources needed. And then simply to let that flow from me.

When the power has come from Him.  There is always more to plug into.
When the resources have come from Him. They never run out.
When the rivers find their source in Him. There is limitless supply.

And then He gets the glory. Because it is His power on display.

Father, thank you for reminding me through my mobile phone for my constant need to come to You for all I need. May my life bring You glory because of Your power displayed. Amen.

Circling prayers around Christmas

I recently read Mark Batterson's book Praying circles around your children.

The main things I got from it were:

Pray asking God what He wants me to pray about.
Write down what you feel God says to pray about and keep at it!

It is actually very simple. I keep reading books about prayer because I want someone to tell me what to pray and then I'll pray it and I'll get the powerful answers they get.

But actually only God can tell me what's on His heart for me to be praying for my family, myself and things in my life just now.

So I have been taking baby steps in asking (and trying to remember also to take time to listen as well!). It has helped me stick at praying over things much more than ever before. When I'm not praying what I think I ought to be praying for but I'm praying what I believe God has asked me to pray for, I find I can pray with much more faith and persistence.

I felt God gave me some verses to pray specifically about the Christmas period, where we as a family spend quite a chunk travelling away from home, meeting up with relatives. I usually find it quite draining as I try to connect with everyone and have reduced personal space.

This year I felt God gave me these verse to 'circle' from Zechariah 8:

"a sowing of peace"
I prayed that I would sow peace wherever I went.

"you will be a blessing"
I prayed that I and my family would be a blessing wherever we went.

"do not fear"
I prayed for freedom from fear.

"seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts"
I prayed that this Christmas would be characterised by joy, gladness and cheerful feasts.

As I daily prayed these prayers over the Christmas period God showed me many things.

As I prayed that I would sow peace, he showed me that when I'm stressed about Christmas, I bring stress into the atmosphere and affect those around me. I realised I needed to first receive His peace and be full of peace myself. Then as I received His peace, I would sow peace into the places I was and bring peace to others. It would be His peace.

As I prayed over being a blessing, God showed me that it wasn't all down to me to be so amazing that I blessed everyone. Again, I need to receive the blessing He has for me and simply let it overflow to others. So it wasn't me try to bless by my own effort out of my own resources, but recognising I just needed to be connected to God and be ready to be a means for Him to bless them.  Then the glory all goes to Him.

As I prayed for freedom from fear, God helped me see more clearly some of the fears that I needed to be set free from. He helped me see the ways I'd been thinking wrongly and showed me some simple truths that I had not grasped before. For example, "The stress of my hostess is not all my fault. I do not need to feel guilty about it and it's not my responsibility to make it all go away. I can only seek to not add to their stress unnecessarily."  Another revelation was "It's ok to be an introvert and need time on your own. Take the time and don't feel guilty about it. Then you will be more refreshed by your time alone and more ready to come back out and enjoy socialising again."  I was also living under the fear that my relatives were privately judging me for the way I live my life because it's different to theirs. I realised I needed to let myself be me and let them be themselves and not feel we ought to agree on everything just because we're family.  My fears were easily seen to be silly and unfounded when I brought them out into the open and recognised them for what they were.

Finally, my prayer for a season of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts was answered as I let myself enjoy the time with my family and let go of the striving, effort and fears.

I felt that these prayers were answered because I had started with prayers that God had shown me were the ones to pray. And as I prayed God didn't really change the situation I was going into. He changed me. He helped me listen to Him, trust Him, receive from Him and let go of things that were not from Him. He helped me see things in a new way.  All praise and glory to Him.

Not because they deserve it

Just before Christmas I was reading the account of Jesus washing his disciples' feet.

It struck me afresh:

Jesus washed the feet of Judas.  He knew Judas was about to betray him to death.

Jesus washed the feet of Peter. He knew Peter was about to deny him three times.

Jesus washed the feet of the rest of the disciples. He knew they would all desert him and run away in his darkest hour.

He knew their weakness.  He knew they would doubt. He knew they would fail him.

But he washed their feet. He served them. He modelled humility.

Then he said:
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet" John 13: 14

And so there we have it. No excuses.

He has washed our sins away by his blood. Not because we deserve it. Not because we've earnt it. He has poured out his love upon us.

We are called as His disciples, to serve one another in humility.

Not just those who deserve it.
Not just those who earn it.
Not just those who appreciate it.

 But all our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We pour out love and service in humility because we follow the example of Christ:

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

The year of the stockings

Well it all started in Hobbycraft. I saw a cute little stocking with reindeers on the front and I wanted one. But the stocking was too small. I wanted a bigger one with those smiling reindeers on. And so birthed in my heart the desire to make  a stocking for each of my two children that was ‘not too big’ and ‘not too small’ and ‘just right’. And then I saw the sparkly iron-on letters and now I wanted to make personalised stockings for my children.

So I shared my idea with my husband who said “No. We have stockings already for the children. There is already so much to do. This task is unnecessary.” And he was right. And I agreed with him.

But this desire had got a grip of me and although I had agreed with my husband, I went out and bought the stuff I would need ‘just in case I had some spare time’. And then, with the stuff in my house, my desire to make it grew even stronger and I started on the stockings surreptitiously when my husband was out.  I kept working on them until they were nearly finished before confessing to my husband so that by then it would be too late for him to tell me to stop. (He was very lovely and gracious to me when I confessed by the way.)

When they were finished I was really pleased with how they looked. They’d turned out better than I’d hoped. But they are tinged with sadness now, because of the way I did it.

It’s not wrong or sinful to make personalised stockings for your children. (Although it is not strictly necessary). However, my deceit towards my husband by saying one thing and doing another, and my putting my desire for these stockings above honesty and submission to my husband, that was wrong.

And then when I hung the stockings by the fire place, the children were very excited, but I realised I had made it be all about getting presents and that was not where the focus should be.

So I have since made another personalised stocking that says “Jesus”. I have hung that above the fireplace. And my desire is to help myself and my family to focus on what we can give to the One who gave everything for us. 

Jesus, help me honour You in the way I prepare for and 'do' Christmas. Help me see what is important and what is not. May I give you the gift of my love and obedience this Christmas. Amen.

Post script:
Here is Jesus' stocking and its contents when we pulled them all out on Christmas day.  See my comment below.

Don't stop too short

“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. " John 5: 39-40 

It is possible to search the Scriptures and think that life is found in them. To spend many hours in Bible reading and Bible study and to almost worship the Scriptures. But the Scriptures are there to point to Jesus. Life is found in Him. I need to come to Jesus to have life. The Scriptures are a tool to point me to him but if I come to the Scriptures and stop there, I have stopped too short.

Jesus forgive me for thinking that my righteousness or salvation is somehow linked to how well I’m keeping up with my Bible reading plan or how many chapters I’ve read on a certain day. Forgive me for dealing with the Scriptures on a purely intellectual basis. May I come to your word with a heart that is seeking You above all else.   Thank you for your promise: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13. Amen.

Fullness of joy

Sometimes it can seem as if a particular word keeps cropping up and for me lately that word has been ‘joy’. And I’ve felt like it’s something I really want but don’t really know what it really is or how to get it. So I’ve been meditating on this scripture:

You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

Psalm 16:11

And here I discover that it’s actually very simple. Joy is found in His presence. In a strange way it can seem easier to pursue joy by running around trying to do and get things that give me pleasure and minimise the things that I don’t like.

What if the challenge of finding joy was simply this: to say ‘no’ to some of the busy-ness: the ‘jobs’ that seem so necessary, the TV watching time that seems so important for relaxing, the social engagements that are so fun. What if it was simply to say ‘yes’ to Jesus. To sit quietly in His presence. To take time not just to blurt out all the things I’m struggling with and all the things I want him to do for me. But to take time to ‘be’ in His presence. To still my soul to listen to Him. To tune into His heart. To let myself know His love and power available for me right here and now. 

Jesus, forgive me for hunting for joy in all the wrong places. It is found in You. I come to You now. Show me the path of life – to walk with You through this life. Help me still myself now before You and to hear and receive what You want to show me. Amen.