Traps - Your Present Doesn't Have To Be Your Future

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. I Corinthians 6:11

This week I didn’t get to make soap as I had intended, but I did come across the biggest writing spider I have ever seen. There she hung beside the downspout. She made squiggles down the middle of her web as she positioned herself look like another flower. Surrounding the downspout were purple coneflowers, day lilies, black-eyed Susans, and butterfly bushes planted in mounds along a split rail fence. Bluebird houses and birdfeeders lined the fence. Hardwood trees of every description brought shade just on the other side. The spider paused to attract her morning meal of bees or butterflies or a juicy grasshopper. Patiently she waited. She had put the handwriting on the wall for some unsuspecting bug.

When I was a kid our parents and grandparents told us if a writing spider wrote a name in a web that person would die! Nearly scared us to death. Every time we saw a writing spider we checked close to make sure she hadn’t written our name. Writing spiders were nearly as good as ghost stories for a good scare or tea cup fortunes to tell us the future. Somehow  adults aren't as interested in their futures as children. We adults tend to live for the present.  

The world puts forth its attractions, spinning a web to catch the unsuspecting; giving us the line that “It doesn’t get any better than this”. The unsuspecting cannot see the handwriting on the wall that says “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” Daniel 5:27.

However there is a way to escape the web weaved to deceive. Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6). When we repent of our sins and turn from the world to Jesus Christ, He writes our names in His book. Now, there is the place to see your name written. Revelations 21:27 says, “And there shall in no wise enter into it (heaven) any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they (the saved) which are written in the Lamb’s book of life."

So how about you? Has Jesus written your name in His book? Maybe you think you are beyond hope. That’s another trap of the world. I Corinthians 6:9,10 names some of the traps the world lays for us, but it doesn’t end there. Read on to verse 11. “And such WERE some of you:” Your present doesn’t have to be your future.

Hey Kids

Have you watched a spider spin a web?
Maybe you’ve read The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

Have you noticed the animal that kept hanging around the web when the other animals left? What happened?

Look around your yard this week for spider webs. Stop and observe for a little while.

What can the spider teach you about hanging out in the wrong place or with the wrong friends?

 

Father, help us to be aware of the traps the world offers and may each of us turn to your Son to find our secure future.  In Jesus name. Amen.

             

God's Way or My Way?

 

Scripture

Deuteronomy 5:9,10

Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Genesis 14-18

Observations

Genesis 14:22,23

Abram defended his family (Lot) but did not take payment from the king of Sodom. He had given tithes to Melchizedek, King of Salem to give praise and honor to God for defeating the enemy but he was not going to take gifts from Sodom and have them say the Sodomites made him rich.

Genesis 15:18

Abram pours out his heart to God. God has made him promises that Abram just doesn’t see being fulfilled. Nevertheless Abram still follows God’s directions and God reveals more of His plan for Abram and his descendants. Abram continues to put his trust in the one True God.

Genesis 16:5

Sarai makes plans when she doesn’t see how God’s plan is working out. If God is going to give Abram a child she figures it must be by someone other than herself but as his wife, she plans to be involved. As usual our own plans backfire when they are not God’s plans. God’s plan is one husband and one wife for life (Matthew 19:4-6). God will take care of the details.

Genesis 17:1

The Lord appeared to Abram and told him that He was all Sufficient or Almighty. (Geneva and KJV) Almighty gives me the sense that He can do anything. All Sufficient means He’s all I need. Abram (99 years old) needed to have a fatherly arm around him. The term seems personal. “My Father can do anything and He will take care of me.” Abram can feel secure.

 

Genesis 18:19

God knows Abraham, that he will be the spiritual leader of his home. He will teach his sons to follow the Lord. God has a plan for Abraham’s family because Abraham has a heart for God.

Application:

We cannot see into the future but we can be assured that if we put God first and follow His Word that God will take care of the details. God has a plan to prosper us and our families for generations to come. The question is, Will I follow a plan that doesn’t seem to make sense at the time or will I try to figure out a plan of my own?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, help me recognize when I am trying to go my own way. Help me to recognize Your plan and follow it, that you might prosper my family for generations to come. Amen.

 

Won’t you share what God is revealing to you from His Word?

Blessings,

Gail

Filling a Hope Chest

      

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Isaiah 28:10

Let’s see what’s in here; a potholder I made when I was 8; a pillowcase I made when I was 12; a crochet doily from Grandma. When I finish this piece I’ll add it to the others.

I may go buy that set of dishes.

That’s pretty much the way it goes for a young girl preparing years in advance for her wedding and future home. Add a little here and a little there with no one special in mind, just a hope that one day she will marry and start a home. But, how are we preparing spiritually for our homes? As wives and mothers it is our job to nurture the children God will give us. II Timothy tells us Timothy’s mother and grandmother provided him with a spiritual upbringing as will as a physical home. Are we preparing spiritually for our future family? Our children are the only real hope for the future. They are the only thing we can take with us into eternity. But how do we prepare?

Line upon line and precept upon precept. We fill our lives with the things of God so that we may bring those things our of our hearts and give them to our children. Are we making time to read God’s Word every day? Do we have a prayer time? Do we have a Christian friend to help me grow and hold me accountable? Are we memorizing scripture? Are we attending a church that will help me grow? If we already have children are we doing those things with and for them?

Encourage one another. Won’t you share your ideas for your spiritual Hope Chest?