Articles from this month's issue of the Berean News

Perspective

by Larry Urbaniak

MAWG

Most of us live very busy lives, probably too busy. So it is vital for our Christian growth that we don’t neglect what should be the really important priorities. One of these is that we spend time with God, alone, one-on-one time each day. I try very hard to spend moments alone with God (MAWG) at the very beginning of each day. When I miss a day, I feel really bad about it -- sort of like I cheat God. But really I only cheated myself. And even if I spend later time with God that day, my day just doesn’t seem the same without that morning time.

Of course we should get in the habit of taking MAWG time throughout our day. We need to learn to listen to God and not let the noise of our activities muffle His voice. It’s strange that even religious activity can do that. Often when I feel restless, I realize that I am in need of spiritual nourishment. It is important to satisfy that need and not just quiet it or distract it.

Part of my MAWG time needs to be in silence and in solitude. Silence and solitude are similar, but they are not the same. Silence means the absence of sound. Solitude, from a spiritual perspective, includes the companionship of God after I have become silent. Silence can be frightening. Observe how people are impatient with silence and rush in to talk or fill the silence with other noises. Are we afraid that in silence we will discover that there is little of substance within us? If so, we will experience loneliness.

In spiritual solitude, however, we can connect with God through Jesus Christ. God has promised that He will send His spirit to direct and teach us. We can remind ourselves that be-ing is more important than have-ing. Our real worth is not in the things of this life that we work so hard to possess. It is never enough to be productive and useful from the world’s perspective. We must allow God to transform us from within so we can grow and be productive from a spiritual viewpoint.

We need MAWG time to strengthen our faith. We need to be reminded that faith is NOT a feeling. Faith is the power to believe and the ability to see everything through God’s eyes. We need to see others and ourselves through faith. Our human eyes often become dim because of sin and because of self. The Bible exhorts us to walk by faith and not by sight. It is only through faith that we can become freed of things “seen.”

As a child of God, I need to be fed and nourished in order to grow. I need to spend time studying and learning in the scriptures. I need to be part of an active church fellowship, a spiritual family. My brothers and sisters in this family help me to grow, hold me accountable, love and support me, and give me the opportunity to serve them. We worship and praise and study and fellowship together. And we certainly need to do that. But we also, each one of us, need to regularly spend those moments alone with God. Both the quality and quantity of MAWG time are important. Give it priority in your life and witness the results!

Roy's Reflections
by Roy Boswell

A Few Reminders for the New Year

I’ll start this article by asking you a few questions. You probably already know the answers to all of them. There’s probably not one of them you haven’t already asked yourself quite a number of times; you just may have worded them differently. But let me share them with you once more just to “remind you.”

Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll ask a question. Take a moment to think very candidly about your answer. Then let’s listen to what an inspired apostle, full of the Spirit of God, would say in answer to the same question.

  • Do you remember what you have in Jesus Christ?
    “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV)
  • Do you recall what your everyday life should be about in Jesus Christ?
    “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7 NIV)
  • Do you realize how serious a mission we, who are consecrated, have set before us?
    “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.” (2 Peter 2:20-21 NIV)
  • Can you grasp what is being prepared for you when you live in a devoted way for Jesus Christ?
    “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:13 NIV)
  • Can you gain insight into just how vital it is for you to remain vigilant and alert against anything that would lure you away from what we have in Jesus Christ?
    “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.” (2 Peter 3:17 NIV)
  • Can you strive to get into the frame of mind where you can see Jesus clearly and not lose sight of Him and what he’s done for you?
    “ For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins” (2 Peter 1: 9 NKJV)

An inspired apostle - Peter - wrote the words you just read. And he wrote them to people he felt confident were standing secure in Jesus Christ. Maybe you are; maybe you aren’t.
“For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.” (2 Peter 1:12 NKJV)

Nevertheless, he thought it would be good to “remind them” of these sorts of things.
“Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.” (2 Peter 3:1-2 NIV)

And I feel the same way. Simply because “everything is on the line” when you are consecrated in your faith to Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Each one of us would do well to be “reminded,” not only at the beginning of this New Year, but daily as well.
“So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live . . . . And I will make every effort to see that . . . .you will always be able to remember these things.” (2 Peter 1:12,13,15 NIV)

A Daughter's Heart

The Father’s Loving Hand

by Donna Mathewson

This morning as I was doing my morning devotions, I came across a most amazing Scripture in Hosea. It sparked my curiosity, so I began to look into its meaning. What a blessing from the Lord I found! The passage is found in Hosea 2:15 and reads, “Then I will give her her vineyards from here, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.”

The Valley of Achor is a symbol of defeat, failure and loss. Joshua 7 tells the story of the Valley of Achor.The nation of Israel had lost a battle to the Amalekites. It was a battle that should have been easily won, as the Israelites outnumbered their foe greatly. Even the Israelites were confident of the win. But they did not win. The enemy drove them back and killed some of their men. The Israelites were perplexed. When Joshua implored God for an explanation, he was told there was disobedience and sin in the camp. To make a long story short, the Lord led Joshua to the house of Achan. Achan had disobeyed the Lord and stolen both money and other possessions in a previous battle that the Lord had said must be destroyed. The people stoned Achan and burned all that was in his possession. Once that sin was rooted out and God had been obeyed, Israel went on to win the war with the Amalekites and won the victory.

Don’t each of us have our Valley of Achor? Have we not all gone up against a foe that was insignificant only to be defeated? Defeat must lead to a searching of our hearts. Is there any sin there that needs rooting out? Have we neglected to obey God in some area of our lives? If so, we must cut it out before it eats away at our hearts. We must ask for forgiveness and obey God’s commands. The Valley of Achor led Israel to humiliation at the hands of her enemy, but it also led to self-examination, prayer, faith, and eventually victory.

The beauty of the story is that each Valley of Achor has its door of hope. The key to that door is obedience, confession and repentance. On the other side of that door is hope and victory in Jesus Christ. Through our sins, we have learned of the forgiveness of God; through our failures we have been taught our own weaknesses. Through repentance and forgiveness of our sins, we have tasted God’s infinite grace.

Out of all this comes a song of our youth, a song of deliverance, a song we remember from the day when we first found Jesus Christ and he delivered us from bondage in Egypt. When we have been delivered from sin, whether it was the first day of our salvation or many years later, a song of amazing beauty will rise up from within us. It will be a song of praise and adoration for our God, a song for the One who will never let us go, no matter how we fail him. God has promised to complete the work that he began in us (Phil. 1:6) and he is faithful in all that he does (2 Cor. 1:18).

The valleys are placed in our lives to teach us obedience, confession and repentence. If we learn the lessons God has for us, we will find the fruition of hope on the other side. We will find fellowship and the tenderest of Fathers waiting with open arms to lift us up to a life of victory. I am so thankful for a Father such as this. His love refuses to leave us in our sins. He will bring us defeat that we might taste victory. There is a song of praise that rises up in my heart for such love and I am sure there is one in yours as well.

The Father’s Loving Hand
by Donna Mathewson

Father, how can my feeble words express,
The feelings I once had of sorrow and hopelessness.
Selfishness reigned within,
My life was so very full of sin.

And yet you looked down at me with a father’s love,
Your loving hands reaching down from above.
And you broke my heart, a pain too great to bear alone,
My whole being ached to the core, to the very bone.

I cried to you in my despair and then I found.
Again with loving hands you reaching down.
And you drew me lovingly to your breast,
You healed my heart with your loving caress.

Father, I am in such awe when I see
The magnitude of your love and grace toward me.
You forgave my sins and replaced them with grace,
How I now long to see your face.

And I shall never forget, how with love and with care,
You reached down and broke me and then helped me to bear,
Your love and grace reached into my heart,
Changing me forever, and from you I will never again part.

Father, how grateful we are that you do not leave us in our sins, but with love you reach down and break our hearts that you might heal us and draw us to you! Thank you for the Valleys of Achor that have been placed in our lives. Help us to see the sins that need rooting out. Help us to cut away this gangrene that it might not infect our whole lives. Cleanse us, Father, and draw us through that door of Hope to yourself. May the song we once sang of deliverance and praise to you, rise up from within us that we might bless you, for you are a God of unending love and mercy. Your grace flows so freely to us and we are so unworthy! May we always praise your name and never take for granted all that you do for us each day. Thank you for placing the door of hope in each of our valleys. May we worship at your feet and bring praise to your name for evermore! Amen

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