children – Page 4 – Cross Culture Church

Meditation: May 13, 2014

“Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys.” Exodus 40:36

The glory cloud would settle the potential disputes among the children of Israel as to whether or not it was time to proceed on their journey. Otherwise there would have been unsettled arguments in interpreting the right season to advance, and even who had the authority to give the orders to move on. Moses alone was able to approach Mt. Sinai where the smoke ascended from the fire with the lightning, thunder, and earthquakes because the Lord had descended upon it. He had ascended into the very cloud that covered them and guided them along the way. Now the instructions given to them by Moses were received as instructions from Almighty God. The power of God has not diminished over time. Rather it was wrapped in human flesh. The unapproachable became approachable in Christ Jesus. Now it is His Word that must guide and govern our lives. When His Word is spoken, the glory cloud is lifted that we may go onward in all our journeys. Without His grace we are exposed to the enemy of our faith and in danger of going astray. But if the Word of God settles our disputes and we are committed to reach the journey’s end, He is there to protect us from all things that would otherwise impede our progress.

08 May 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: May 8, 2014

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“Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” John 19:27

Jesus made an oral testament to John, the beloved disciple to provide as He would for her after His death. It was a binding agreement in the company of others if accepted, to care for her needs as the second oldest son. Even though there were other children, his responsibility was to treat her as He would treat her in absentia. John knowing Jesus was to compensate for the void that would otherwise be in her life. This example is a challenge to every son and daughter to consider the needs of parents. To honor our father and mother is to provide for them what is needed. Jesus told John to look intensively at the woman that will become his mother. And He told His mother Mary to look intensively at the man who would become her son. A new relationship was to be forged at that very moment. As we look at our mothers, if we could for a moment see what Jesus saw in His own mother. She was the vessel chosen by God for Him to enter into the earth. We owe a great degree of gratitude to our mothers, regardless of their weaknesses. They were the chosen vessels from which we were born.

07 May 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: May 7, 2014

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“He grants the barren woman a home, like a joyful mother of children.” Ps 113:9

The exercise of affection in guiding the household and caring for children produces a joy in the heart of mothers. She was made to love her children and to maintain the household in which she has the pleasure to occupy. But what if there was no household to care for, nor child to guide? It would leave the woman who has the affection deep within without an outlet to express the innate love given to women. Yet God provides for her a home. Instead of being homeless, her place is in Christ with God. He draws her close to Himself so that nothing is lacking in her life. She will find in Him a satisfaction as joyful as that of a mother of children. It is only when she allow her mind to be influenced by thoughts of being incomplete will she be drawn away from the richness of God’s love. To some the circumstance is temporal until she is granted the privilege of mothering, while with others, her devotion is to be given over to God absolutely with a special grace to be drawn nearer each day. God will give her joy that is equal to what some mothers experience and surpassing many who do not have the right perspective godly motherhood. He has full knowledge of every woman’s lot in life and provides grace accordingly. None is cursed to a state of restlessness if He is acknowledged. He provides a home for those who will to live in Him.

06 May 0Comments 0Likes

May 2014 Article: “Giving Birth”

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The beauty of creation is that God allows us to participate in His continuing work. He alone can make something out of nothing and preserve it in order for future generations to gain a profitable return. But He allows those things that originated from Him to pass through a vehicle of delivery. The attachment to and love for what has become an extension of the person is inseparable. Think about it…God made woman for purpose of procreation. The continuance and expansion of creation has been given to her charge. Without her, life would end at the death of what currently exists. Things die during the winter season and life appears to be suspended. But when springtime comes, new life begins to bud in places of lifelessness. The barren womb rejoices over the pregnancy of hope while latent potential is developed as the process continues in the secrecy of the hidden place of the womb.

Only God could have thought of such a grand idea and purpose as to place so magnificent a wonder in His creation. The complexity of the process may be studied and examined but never completely figured out. The personalities of two distinct individuals merged into one unique being as a means of demonstrating the command of God that “the two shall become one flesh.” Not born to duplicate the past of its origin but rather a continuance to carry the original plan of God to future generations. He allows both the husband and wife to nurture the child into fulfilling his or her own destiny and the two shall become one in the process of creation through procreation. She becomes more than a wife by embracing the role of a mother. The future of all humanity is given birth through her. Things so vital to the preservation and progress of all people must pass through her if they are to ever exist. God created it that way and His way shall forever stand.

Nations are born. Although kings, presidents, and potentates will rise and fall, they all have one common origin. They all had to be born. Each was once a child. A mother once carried that child in her precious womb. The child is loved and nurtured into the formation of its character. More takes place than the casual observer realizes when the wife becomes a mother. The envisioned future of many past generations rests in her heart when she is drawn by love to her life partner. Together, they produce that which is greater than themselves because it will exist after they have passed from their earthly habitation. Not does she give birth to future hope, but she is also gives birth to a legacy. What speaks louder than words is what we leave behind after we are gone.

Our truest statement and confession of faith is our children. What did your life really represent? Was there a real purpose for your existence? The answer to those questions and the evidence that you lived your life intentionally is expressed through the children that you raised. But if it had not been for their mother, they could not have been carried long enough to be born. I am what I am and who I am because of where I came from. God set the process in motion for life to be a continuum and not a thing of the past. What exists now can be changed through future generations but only if He influences mothers to live and love according to His original design. Thank God for mothers! They are precious in His sight for they carry the future within their wombs.

25 Mar 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: March 25, 2014

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“that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” Ephesians 4:14

Children are in a stage of indecision and in need of a guidance counselor to place them on the right track. But as we grow, the instructions are there to keep us on the established track made possible through spiritual fathers. Those formative years are so important in order for “the way” to be made clear when the pressures are brought to bear against the soul to compromise. Adults should no longer act childish in their approach to life. God provides for us what is needed for our stability, but if the godly instructions are not heeded, the winds of doctrine will leave unstable to being tossed to and fro and eventually they will be carried away from the foundation. God gave spiritual gifts to those who desire to become spiritually mature. Only the mature are able to lead others to maturity. Childish and unstable thinking will breed unstable souls who will follow another as quickly as they would follow you. Whatever impresses them at the moment holds their attention, but just for a little while. Then they will eventually move on to something different. God’s desire is for each to remain rightly joined for the sake of the Body. We are then edified and He will be glorified.