day-by-day-1

Just One Letter

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:56:14 +0100

by Maria Hartman

Do you ever think about who the Apostle Paul used to be before he met Jesus?

His name was Saul.

This man Saul was not just any man, but was a man zealous in his desire to serve God. However he was nothing more than an instrument in the hand of the enemy. He sought to tear down, destroy, and kill what would bring glory to God, but all in the name of serving God. He was an obstacle to truth, not a protector of it…..UNTIL…..one day, as Saul was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, his life was forever altered. In his flesh, he was preparing to go to Damascus to find any who were following ‘the Way’ and bring them bound to Jerusalem (Acts 9: 1-2). Saul was going to clean up the mess that was brewing because of the disciples of Jesus if it was the last thing he did!

Well, what do you know……Saul met Jesus on the road that was, in his mind, the road that would stop others from declaring the same.

What I’d like to share today isn’t the fantastic story that follows, but to point out something so subtle that I never recognized it before.The most wicked persecutor of the gospel of Jesus Christ was suddenly changed into the most passionate witness that has ever walked the face of the earth. But do you know what, despite the most drastic change anyone could ever experience, God didn’t change his name very much at all. He didn’t become Herbert, or Gregory, or Lawrence, or Phillip…you get the idea. God in His great wisdom and sovereignty changed only the first sound of his name. He removed the ‘S’ and replaced it with a ‘P’. That’s all. Just one letter changed.

What’s the big deal? Well, for all of us, a name represents who we are. Saul was a wretched sinner who thought he was a mighty force for God. When he became Paul, he saw what a wretched sinner he really was; ironic isn’t it? But through the grace of God and his love for Jesus, Paul lived for the glory of God, with every sin covered in forgiveness by the blood of the Lamb.

Could it be, just maybe, that God made him into a ‘Paul’ so that he’d never forget who he was? That his name would purposely remind him of the Saul that God saved him from?

In order for any of us to be of use to the Lord, we must be humble; we must see how truly unworthy and wretched we really are. I’ve had a good glimpse of that in myself recently. Although it isn’t pleasant in the least, it is very necessary. To forget the depth of the sin we possess is to lose the amazement of His incomprehensible grace in our lives.

For Today: One letter, that’s all. It’s enough to make all the difference in the world; we are new in Christ Jesus…. But one letter was and is just enough to remind us of the sinner that remains, and of the filthy rags of our own righteousness.

Just like Paul, may we never forget who we used to be as we daily live to be who we are in Him.

For Now... But then...

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:44:01 +0100

by Maria Hartman

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

Have you ever stopped to think how often we want what is to come later, right now? We have trouble waiting for the best and sometimes we go so far as to try and make it happen when it isn’t possible. But nothing happens apart from God’s timetable.

So we must be content with what He provides for us today; now. For now, we see a reflection of what is there—we see ourselves (this is the purpose of a mirror), but it is only a ‘dim’ picture of what is to be. It is incomplete; it is viewed with eyes that are part of a fallen world. And we don’t see ourselves as Christ sees us; we see either the flaws and weakness or we refuse to see any of them and pretend everything is just fine.

But then…the promise will literally be…it will come. We will see Love face to face. Nothing will be dim or distorted or altered by temporal eyes. Now I know in part. Jesus dwells in me and I in Him, yet as I journey through this life, I am a part of a world where His fullness cannot be realized, His glory cannot be seen. Though my knowing grows and must continue to grow, it will never be all that one day it will eternally be. But then…but later, when I am with Christ, (and when you are with Christ)….when I am joined fully to Love, I will know Him just as right this very moment, He knows me. WOW!

Friends, I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to know Him more NOW so that I will appreciate and desire more of what is to come. ‘For now’ is OK because ‘but then’ is on its way….closer and closer every day. Praise God that He would not only know me and love me as He does, but that because of Jesus, He would allow someone like me to fully know Him.

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 3: 18 Because Jesus has removed the veil from darkened eyes, we can behold the glory of the Lord AS we are transformed into the SAME image….from glory (now because He is in me) to glory (the fullness of what is to come).

For Today: Do we really truly understand who we are right now in Christ and the process that is going on within us? Do we understand that we are being shaped and molded; transformed into something of incomprehensible worth? What worth you ask? Into the very image of Jesus Christ Himself, by the Spirit of the Living God! So the next time you look into a mirror, smile as big as you can…..you and I are heading for final victory.

How to GET Faith

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:26:07 +0100

by Maria Hartman

People often wonder how to have faith. Some wonder as well what or who to have faith in. We complicate many issues in life by not investigating the correct source. The question of how to have faith is relatively simple, and God in His grace tells us exactly how to get it.

Romans 10: 17 Faith comes by hearing; hearing comes by the word of God.

Do you see how to have faith? If you do, you’ll notice that we have to follow the verse from the end back to the beginning. The Word of God is FIRST. Period. There is nothing else listed. SECOND, we need to HEAR: listening, understanding, meditating, examining, attending, focusing, learning, growing, etc. THIRD, after hearing the Word of God and allowing it in over and over again, we get the thing we must have in order to follow the path of our Savior.

No other ‘hearing’ of anything else will ever bring about faith in God. No great lecture or reasoning, and no knowledge shared alone apart from the inspired Word of God will ever bring about the faith that brings peace no matter the storm, and the faith that can move mountains.

Where there is faith, there is Jesus close by. When there is faith, the hardest roads are passable. Faith isn’t an isolated entity of its own; it is the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). It has a foundation that goes deeper than the lowest part of the earth and stretches as high as the heavens.

Jesus is the beginning of faith; the Author. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. John 1:1. He is the middle of our faith; the day in, day out journey each must take. For we walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7. This is often the hardest part. And He is the Finisher of our faith. He takes what He began, what we lived by His grace, and wraps it all up in a package and then presents us to His Father; holy, righteous, and ready to inherit glory with Him for all eternity.

For Today: Faith isn’t always easy and it takes much commitment on our part. But how we develop faith in the living God is simple. It is a progression that begins at the beginning….with the Word. If filtered through our ears and our heart and heard: permitted inside and allowed to dwell in us richly…it can change us drastically. That’s what faith can do.

The Message Of The Cross

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:27:39 +0100

by Maria Hartman

The Cross of Christ has a very clear message. Do you know it?

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

The cross IS the power of God. Jesus IS the power of God. The shedding of His holy, sinless blood was not weakness, but POWER. The willing sacrifice made no ‘sense’ to darkened eyes and hearts, but in it, God revealed His grace. The story the cross tells is only foolishness to those who don’t personally know the One who hung upon it. Submission is weakness to the world; but submission at the cross brought complete victory, final authority, and endless rulership…..because on the third day, He rose again.

We as His people follow right in line with what the Father’s will is for us. V: 26 For you see your calling brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. Think about this: the ‘mighty’ are put to shame through the power of the cross, by the power of the Spirit of the risen Lord dwelling in us.

V: 27 But God has chosen (He’s done it already)the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world t put to shame to things which are mighty.

The cross is the power of God.

Romans 16:27: To God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Here is wisdom in action: 1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. V: 5 that our faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The cross is the power of God.

For Today: Two pieces of wood, three nails, a crown of thorns, and the Perfect Sacrifice for all of our sins…the cross. It is everything. In it lies the hope of what those who are perishing call foolishness and weakness. Soak this in deep inside friends, it is profound….v:9 Eye has not seen, nor ear hear, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

And nobody can love Him unless they have made the life transforming trip to the cross. There, the power of God is undeniable as our sins are washed away forever and ever. Amen.

FACT Not Fiction

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:23:04 +0100

by Maria Hartman

No fiction can beat this fact: READY?

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD Your God is in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

What if you and I lived this as if it was a FACT? It doesn’t mention anywhere that this is conditional, based upon our perfect performance. Could it be because it has nothing to do with us other than the fact that we are the recipients? I think that may be the reason.

Matthew 20:18-19 tells us how Jesus had an eternal perspective all His life, including when He went to the cross. Listen carefully to it: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death anddeliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.

Jesus Christ knew all things. Look at the highlighted words and what He knew would be. All of it was in His power to stop, yet there was another ‘will’ that came into play here; the will of the Father, and the Son’s desire to complete it. But long before any of it actually happened, Jesus saw the resurrection as a completed FACT. He lived His life as fact… never living based on what He saw around Him. He would rise again.

Friends, IN HIM, our victory is certain as well. It is not a possibility or a hope without a foundation. No event or person can alter it, just as no event or person altered the victory of the Savior. We too will rise again! Praise God! And though we grow so weary from time to time, living like fiction is what is real rather than embracing and clinging to the promises of our Savior, they remain for us today. We can live with an eternal perspective instead of one that gives way to discouragement. Look again at what our gracious God wants us to know. He never keeps what is important from us. Read it aloud: The LORD (my) God is in (my) midst. The Mighty One…the only One who can save….He will rejoice over (me) with gladness….He will quiet (me) with His love…He will rejoice over (me) with singing… Wow…..how beautiful

For Today: Now, can anything ruin your day? Can anything improve your day? If we really understand what we have been given, nothing can do either. Therefore, let’s live like Jesus today; focused on fact.

A Psalm For Today

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:49:35 +0100

by Maria Hartman

Psalm 118 has some really great advice. Listen with me.

v.1: Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Do you hear the excitement?

v. 2-3: Let Israel now say, His mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron now say, that His mercy endures forever. What doesyour house say? This is what EVERY home who loves the Lord needs to declare.

v. 4: Let them that fear the LORD now say, that His mercy endures forever. This is an everlasting promise.

v. 5: I called on the LORD in distress; the LORD answered me and set me in a broad place. It is my responsibility to call…….it is your responsibility to call. God won’t respond to a call that has never been made. He’ll never leave me but I won’t have an answer without the call to Him. We have available to us a broad place of safety and security……nobody can come near to us without His permission.

v. 6: The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can ___________ do to me? The word of God says ‘man’ in the blank. I left a blank so you can fill in the name of the man or woman who causes you to fear. There is power in this truth, however it must be believed and claimed.

v. 7a:The LORD is for me among those who help me. God Himself is there in the midst of any who help me, because all help ultimately comes from Him. What would our outlook be like if we remembered this, that whenever someone ministers to us, God is literally among them.

v. 12: They surrounded me like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. This is kind of a different way to look at a verse like this, but as I read through this Psalm a few times, I saw this verse as it applied to me today. I don’t have physical enemies that are surrounding me; there aren’t nations specifically against me……..I am nowhere near that important. But I have many thoughts that surround my mind ….discouraging, negative, self centered, ungodly thoughts……….that can swarm like bees….the ‘voice’ of temptation that desires that you and I doubt the goodness and mercy of our great and mighty God. Take courage: IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, you and I will destroy those thoughts. Do you know of the power that is in the name that holds all power? I don’t think I really truly understand it as I ought. Do you call upon that name? I wonder how many evidences of God’s power and influence I have missed simply because I didn’t remember the victory that is possible IN THE NAME of the LORD. And not for just big things, but for the everyday things we deal with time and again.

v. 28: You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. My will is so necessary for the right focus. What will I do? What I feel or what I will, based on what I know of the God who loves me? And what will you do?

Oh give thanks to the LORD for He is good!

Narrow - Wide

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:38:13 +0100

by Maria Hartman

As Christians, we know and have heard the verse about the narrow path and the importance of staying on it; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are on it. (Matthew 7:13) So when we repent of our sins and come to Christ, we learn that we must move from the wide path to the narrow path. This is where we’ll stay close to Jesus; this is where we’ll walk with Him…

But when it comes to our focus or our view of life, I believe our progression needs to move in the opposite direction. We begin with the narrow focus of self and all that it wants and all that it ‘deserves’. Even when we finally come to the point of understanding our need of Jesus, our focus is still so narrow that it rarely leaves the confines of the walls that surround us.

What happens to us when we hurt or are discouraged? Where are we looking when we are experiencing defeat instead of victory, and despair instead of hope? Where we are looking is usually at the place where our vision is most diminished. It is then that we must hold tightly to the Word, and widen our gaze.

In the midst of some very challenging spiritual battles, God has shown me that the narrow view is a dangerous one to stay in. Of course as human beings, we feel much and we hurt deeply. If we love, then we hurt. As much as we may want it to be different, this is reality. The deer in the headlights posture that literally paralyzes us at times will come, but we must do all that we can to make sure it doesn’t stay. Sometimes we don’t feel like we can pray, or pick up the phone and ask for help. Sometimes we don’t feel the presence of the Spirit and wonder if He is really ‘there’ with us. We are never alone, yet sometimes that truth is too far away to grasp.

I recently went through a time like this. God didn’t take away my pain or the circumstances, but He did clean my glasses pretty well.

I picked up a magazine from World Vision that had just come in the afternoon mail. This organization does much around the globe to provide for the needs of the poor and needy. Sobering is the only appropriate word that can describe what is contained within these pages. It wasn’t that I’ve never seen anything like this before, but rather it was that I was seeing it instead of what I couldn’t take my eyes off of only moments earlier.

The big picture; the grander view; the desperate world…. hungry for not only food and care, but for hope and purpose. Hundreds; thousands dying grueling, agonizing deaths every day, only to move into an eternity that is worse than what they’ve already lived because they never heard the precious name of Jesus. I rarely think about that! I’m too focused on me! I’m too busy looking at what is wrong in my life! Where has my thankful heart been? Who are my eyes looking to? There are many things that can and should get our attention; this was just what God used in my life on that particular day. Suddenly I saw far more than empty faces that had no name; I saw what could happen to me and to others when we fix our eyes on what is before us rather than what is beyond us. A hopeless spiral begins and the enemy has us fully discouraged and burdened. In zooming in so close, we don’t gain anything; we only miss what needs to be seen…

For Today: Please don’t get me wrong; all of us will hurt and have some very tough days as we travel this earth;( there is purpose in that for us as well). But our eyes must eventually and swiftly move to the broad view of our Great God…who He is and what He’s called us to…and the urgent need of the hour. And when this happens, we do so with the recognition that yes, we do have needs and must depend on the Lord for His provision, but we acknowledge that others have much greater needs than our own.

Maybe the best way to say it is this: When our eyes are wide, focused on Almighty God, our steps will most naturally follow the Savior along the narrow path that we are called to walk. But when our sight is narrow, focused on ourselves or a trial instead of others or the God in the midst of the trial, we are much more apt to step away and wander onto the broad road that is full of ungodly views, empty solutions, and certain heartache.

January 31 - Proverbs Chapter 31

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:49:01 +0100

I never thought of this before, but in the book of Wisdom, God presents the very last chapter to us through King Lemuel….because of the influence of aMOTHER.

How many heartfelt words does a mother speak to her children over the span of her life? ……..And how many times does a mother feel like the words she speaks are just going out into dead space…..not falling on receptive ears? We must speak them no matter what it feels like for we have no idea how or when God will use them. How many tears does a mother shed because of her children? …………From thoughts of what life will bring, to the choices they will make, to the hurts they will experience……to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ….being to them what it has been to us. Let’s see what a godly King was taught by his very own mother. Look carefully at how it shaped his life and what he desired to find in a wife. V: 10-18, 20, 25-31

Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships; she brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household. She considers a field and buys it; for her profits she plants a vineyard.

She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good, and her lamp does not go out by night. She extends her hand to the poor; yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.”

Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.

For Today: I’ve read this before; but it was truly new to me today. This young man’s mother, through her life and testimony, showed him exactly what he wanted to find in a wife for himself….and it is so beautiful. It isn’t the most gorgeous woman in town, or the one with the best education. It isn’t the skinniest or most fashionable….it is a woman with the characteristics and heart of his very own mother. A mother’s calling isn’t glamorous but it is about something so much more rewarding.

A godly wife and mother is a servant. Her ‘work’ does not generate a paycheck, but it does generate stability and warmth, comfort, and belonging. She is wise, kind, loving, steadfast, available, dependable, and strong. She is the glue that mends hearts, and the arrow that helps point the way. She is willing to look past the here and now and her own needs to see how great a calling God has given her. Her devotion and love lifts up her husband and makes him proud of who she is….and proud that she is his. Her love and devotion to her children provide them with what God designed for her to be the giver of: TENDERNESS. And one day, and in many, many little ways throughout each day, her reward is and will great. Her children arise because she was the mother who loved them through thick and thin….and they call her blessed. Her reward IS seeing the ‘fruit of her hands’….a strong family unit that she is such a key part of….The life of her husband, and the life of her children will praise her… in the gates, and wherever they are.

How can we as women, ever think there is a higher calling than this? How can we think that greater satisfaction can be found anywhere else?

Praise God we are given the highest, best, and most significant job in the world. If someone calls you wife and mother….you’ve got it all.

January 30 - Proverbs Chapter 30

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:20:48 +0100

The title of this Proverb is ‘The Wisdom of Agur’. There is a note in one of my Bible’s which reads as follows: “Agur was most likely a student of wisdom at the time of Solomon. His proverbs reflect his humility, a deep hatred for arrogance, and a sound theological mind.”

Let’s listen to what he has to say and reflect on the questions he poses.

¹ The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, his utterance. This man declared to Ithiel—to Ithiel and Ucal:

   ² Surely I am more stupid than any man,
      And do not have the understanding of a man.
       ³ I neither learned wisdom
      Nor have knowledge of the Holy One.
       ⁴ Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?
      Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
      Who has bound the waters in a garment?
      Who has established all the ends of the earth?
      What is His name, and what is His Son’s name,
      if you know?

      ⁵ Every word of God is pure;
      He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
       ⁶ Do not add to His words,
      Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
       ⁷ Two things I request of You
      (Deprive me not before I die):
       ⁸ Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
      Give me neither poverty nor riches—
      Feed me with the food allotted to me;
       ⁹ Lest I be full and deny You,
      And say, “Who is the LORD?”
      Or lest I be poor and steal,
      And profane the name of my God.

       ¹² There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,
      Yet is not washed from its filthiness.
       ¹³ There is a generation—oh, how lofty are their eyes!

     And their eyelids are lifted up.
       ¹⁴ There is a generation whose teeth are like swords,
      And whose fangs are like knives,
      To devour the poor from off the earth,
      And the needy from among men.

      There are three things that are never satisfied,
      Four never say, “Enough!”:
       ¹⁶ The grave, the barren womb,
      The earth that is not satisfied with water—
      And the fire never says, “Enough!”
       ¹⁷ The eye that mocks his father,
      And scorns obedience to his mother,
      The ravens of the valley will pick it out,
      And the young eagles will eat it.

       ¹⁸ There are three things which are too wonderful for me,
      Yes, four which I do not understand:
       ¹⁹ The way of an eagle in the air,
      The way of a serpent on a rock,
      The way of a ship in the midst of the sea,
      And the way of a man with a virgin.
       ²⁰ This is the way of an adulterous woman:
      She eats and wipes her mouth,
      And says, “I have done no wickedness.”

       ²⁴ There are four things which are little on the earth,
      But they are exceedingly wise:
       ²⁵ The ants are a people not strong,
      Yet they prepare their food in the summer;
       ²⁶ The rock badgers are a feeble folk,
      Yet they make their homes in the crags;
       ²⁷ The locusts have no king,
      Yet they all advance in ranks;
       ²⁸ The spider skillfully grasps with its hands,
      And it is in kings’ palaces.

For Today: Have you ever stopped and wondered how some of these things could be? If you have, you aren’t alone…many wise men and women stopped and considered the ways of life that are before us. We are meant to consider and reflect on things such as these….What is it about what you see in nature or in man, or in the character of God that amazes you?

January 29 - Proverbs Chapter 29

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:10:56 +0100

1: He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed; and that without remedy.

Do you know someone like this? My mom used to call it the ‘hard head’; but I guess God calls it the hard neck. This isn’t the person who nobody cares about; it is the person who is corrected often, with many attempts made to point them to the narrow path….but sadly, they are content to travel the broad road; to “Have it MY way”. Suddenly however, their destruction comes; and it comes without any way out of the mess they’ve made. You know, if God didn’t want our necks to bend, He would have made them like rigid walls. When we harden our hearts to His voice… our necks are next…and before long we are unwilling to turn back. Those who will not be reformed must expect to be ruined. What a dangerous place to be.

2: When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.

Does that remind you of anything about our world today? Don’t ever let anybody tell you that the Bible is ‘out dated’. It consistently speaks of things that are applicable to all people of all times. Its accuracy points to an Everlasting God who knows what each and every generation faces.

18: Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.

The word ‘vision’ here means prophetic vision or revelation. If the people do not ‘see’ or ‘hear’….if there is no one to teach the truth, no one to share the word of the Lord…no one to open the Bible with the lost and hopeless …then there is no vision of the Savior…no view of grace…Without vision, we have no purpose in life…we just go through the motions…follow the sinful desires of our hearts….seek immediate gratification because there doesn’t seem to be anything more. But there IS SO MUCH MORE. Praise God for the revelation of the Word of the LORD and the vision of His precious Son to us personally.

25: The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.

There is no point in fearing man, ever. There is no point in fearing groups of men. Though it is so easy to do, (and all of us have done so more times than we’d like to count), we only become slaves when we fear man. We put man before God when we fear him, and become paralyzed to the purpose the LORD has for us. Only a healthy reverence and fear of God can keep us completely committed to our calling. Only our trust in the LORD shall deliver us to a place of safety where no man can snatch us out of His powerful Hand.