Message of the Week

MOTHERS…GOD’S PRECIOUS GIFT

Mothers are a precious gift from God. The book of Wisdom (Proverbs) says there is a woman whose “children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but you excel them all.” (Prov. 31:29) Who is this woman? Her name is, “MOTHER,” and she is a precious gift from God, as the next verse reveals: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” (Prov. 31:30). Our moms are a blessing. And we shouldn’t take them for granted. We should tell them how much we appreciate them and encourage them to be what God wants of them. What are the qualities of a mother who is a GIFT from God? There are four of them each one beginning with the letter of the word, “G-I-F-T”:

G – GRACIOUSNESS
I – INTELLIGENCE
F – FAITHFULNESS
T – TENDERNESS

Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the Lord should be praised. (Prov. 31:30.

The Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8-37 was Godly and well-to-do. She seemed to have everything she needed and be contented. However, when Elisha prophesized that she would have a son by next year; her initial response was surprisingly lacking faith – she objected! Her response revealed the depth of her desire for a son, yet there was a great fear of disappointment. She would rather live in a “safe zone” with God.

God does not intend for us to live a lifeless Christian life. God wants us to encounter Him. God used Elisha to interfere with the Shunammite woman’s life, so that she could have an encounter with the living God! God could have just given her a son, the desire of her heart. That is what many of us wish for. But God went further to strengthen her faith. There was a twist in the event – her son became ill and died. Her great fear of disappointment was confirmed! In verse 28, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”

God was preparing the woman for a greater encounter – the son came back to life! She did not just receive a son, she encountered heaven on earth! That is precious!
Friend, are you living in a “safe zone” with God?

God uses ordinary people to achieve extra ordinary results.
When a challenge presents itself one of the easiest things to do is to sit back and let someone else take care of it. This is not how God intends us to live. He wants us to step out in faith, to take up the challenge. But we don’t have to do this alone. God has promised us that he will always be with us. When we step out in faith an amazing thing happens, we see God move in our lives. We see the impossible happening. Relying on God, putting our faith in God is as key difference between those that know God and those that don’t. The great news for us is that God has given us the freedom to choose which of those groups we want to be in. Do we want to be passive in our faith or do we want to be active?

Joshua 1:9
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

“I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end. He noted that first came the date of her birth. And spoke of the following dates with tears. But he said what matters most of all was the dash in-between those years. It matters not how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash. So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that could still be rearranged. So, when your eulogy is being read with life actions to re-hash. Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?” (The Dash by Linda Ellis)

The dash between dates: small, insignificant yet so much can be said in between. We only get one chance in life. How are we spending it? How are we measuring it to see if we are spending it well? God has made each of us with a purpose to fulfill. We need to ask ourselves whether we know what God’s purpose is for us and how much of that purpose are we living out today. In today’s society of fierce marketing, many things are seeking our attention, stealing our time and resources away from investing into God’s purpose. If we are not investing into God’s purpose, then whose purpose are we investing into? Yet the one who finds God’s purpose in their life would not want to be doing anything else!

Together, even when far away! These days especially, technology enables rapid communication anywhere in the world. We tend to take this for granted, but the reality is that this is very recent technology. My uncle migrated to Australia from England about 1920 and married Olive here in Australia. She passed away and he remarried another person also named Olive during the Second World War from 1939 to 1945. My family who still lived in England then, did not hear about this until after the war was over because communication failed and the mail did not get through. So they did not realise for a while after the war that my uncle’s Olive was a different one! Can you believe that the Internet and mobile phones have only been with us for 20 years! However, although distant, we are only a prayer away. Our hearts and prayers are still with you. We are currently enjoying staying with our daughter in Oxford, U.K., but our prayers for you are that God’s blessing will abound. Please keep us in your prayers too.

Philippians 1:27 ESV
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,