SERVANT OR SON/DAUGHTER?

Do you consider yourself a servant of God or a son/daughter of God?

I'm thinking of a servant more or less in the terms of a slave. It goes without saying that as Christians we're all God's servants, doing His will, being His ambassadors.

Did you ever stop to think that the Old Testament personalities who lived for the Lord were God's servants rather than children of the Heavenly Father?

I read someplace that people were never spoken of as children of the Heavenly Father in the Old Testament. But of course I had to prove it to myself. So I got out my exhaustive concordance and looked up the word children. Sure enough -- nary an Old Testament reference could I find pertaining to children of the Heavenly Father. But once the New Testament references began, the majority of entries referred to children of the Heavenly Father.

You see, in Old Testament times, God was revealed as Jehovah, and the Old Testament saints were considered as His servants. Not until New Testament times was God revealed as a Father, our Heavenly Father. And after Christ died to redeem mankind, as Christians we were spoken of as God's children. Scripture abounds with references to our being His sons.

Now let me ask you another question. Which is more important, more favored in a household -- a servant or a son/daughter?

If God did so many great and mighty things for His Old Testament servants, how much more will He do for His New Testament children?

I'm still thinking of the last blog about the great and mighty things God did for Moses. You and I are children of the Heavenly Father. Will God not do just as great and mighty things for us, and even greater things for us, His children, than He did for Moses and the other Old Testament personalities?

Preacher's Kid

HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?

All of us, no doubt, are familiar with the story of how Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land and their 40-year journey through the wilderness.

Now, how well does your imagination work? Have you ever asked yourself how much food it would take to feed 3 1/2 million people each day? And where did Moses get this food? This required one of the biggest mathematical miracles in the world! Read the following statistics as published by the U.S. Army's Quartermaster General who figured that Moses needed 1500 tons of food a day, filling two freight trains, each a mile long. Keep in mind this was daily, for 40 years!

And how about cooking this food? That required 4000 tons of firewood filling a few more fright trains, each a mile long -- not to mention keeping warm. And if anyone tells you it doesn't get cold in the desert, don't believe them!

Then there's the water supply. If they only had enough water to drink and wash a few dishes (forget about bathing), it took 11,000,000 gallons EACH DAY -- enough to fill a train of tanker cars 1800 miles long.

Multiply 365 days a year by 40 years. That's 14,600 days. Now multiply that by 1500 tons of food, 4000 tons of firewood or 1,000,000 gallons of water! I tried it, and my mind just can't comprehend such amounts! And what about food and water for their flocks and herds? I've never heard statistics on that!

Now stretch your imagination and see if you can figure out how they got across the Red Sea in one night! If they went on a narrow path, double, file, the line would be 800 miles long and require 35 days and nights to complete the crossing. But they didn't have that much time. They had to accomplish the feat in ONE NIGHT. And that required a space in the Red Sea that was 3 miles wide so they could walk 5,000 abreast!

Then imagine this: every time they camped at the end of a day, they needed a campground the size of the State of Rhode Island, or 750 square miles!

Can you imagine Moses trying to figure this all out before he left Egypt? I doubt if he even tried. Instead he trusted God to take care of everything. And you know what? God never failed him!

What's the point of all this? We serve the same God as Moses did! And if God did all that for Moses and the Children of Israel, don't you think He can handle our puny problems? Even though they may not seem puny to us, contrast them with the problems Moses faced, and maybe you'll think again!

How big is YOUR God?

Preacher's Kid

MOTHER'S DAY

Yep! I know Mother's Day was two days ago, but it's still not too late to share something with you.

Although I'm 80 years old, thanks to three simply wonderful and absolutely stupendous stepsons (Wonder if flattery will do anything for me!), I'm celebrating my fifth Mother's Day of actually being a mother -- a stepmother, anyhow!

For the past few years at church, all mothers (including stepmothers) were given a potted plant. But this year they changed the format and we received a Hershey bar instead. Maybe you're wondering what's so great about that? You see, we have this gal in church who has her own business of making party favors, etc. So she took the ordinary Hershey bars in their brown wrappings, wrapped silver around each one, and then with special computer software created beautiful paper sleeves -- some pink, some blue -- with the name and address of our church on one side and a Bible verse on the other side and slipped the sleeves over the silver wrapping. And it's that Bible verse I want to share with you.

I don't know if you are familiar with Eugene Peterson's translation of the Bible or not. I met Mr. Peterson personally at a writer's conference years ago and bought a copy of his New Testament translation called "The Message." That's all he had finished at that time, and I loved it. I was unaware he had completed the Old Testament translation until I got my Mother's Day candy bar Sunday with Isaiah 41:13 on it. I've got to put this in a paragraph all by itself it's so outstanding.

"I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I'm not letting go. I'm telling you, 'Don't panic. I'm right here to help you'." Isaiah 41:13, MSG

Wow! And double Wow! Get a grip on that, will you? Nothing more need be said. Read it. Reread it! And memorize it!

Wish I could come up with something as grandiose and comforting as that!

Preacher's Kid

FIRST THINGS FIRST

I'm sure every praying person prays for our country even if it's only to breathe a prayer now and then. But does Scripture give us any admonitions about praying for our leaders?

Romans 13:1b(KJV) says, "(T)he powers that be are ordained of God." I like the Living New Testament Version: "There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power." Wow! That takes care of last November's election, doesn't it?

OK. Now that we've established that God has placed our political leaders in power, can we find any instructions about praying for them? How about I Timothy 2:1,2? I like Beck's translation of this passage. "I urge you, as MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, to ask, pray, plead, and give thanks for all people, for kings and all who are over us," -- why? "that we may live quietly and peacefully and be godly and noble in every way."

But the King James Version of this Scripture (as well as many other versions) inserts the three little, but very important words: "FIRST OF ALL."

Whoa! How many of us make this our first consideration of prayer? Our priority in prayer? Our number one concern in prayer?

My husband and I were discussing this after our prayer time last night and agreed that we needed to change the order of our prayers. In the past we have relegated praying for our country and our leaders to the close of our prayer time. I think we need to make a change -- starting tonight. (You see, it's my husband's turn to pray tonight! Let's see if he remembers the Scriptural admonition!)

How about you? Do you need to make any changes in your prayer life?

Preacher's Kid