When it comes to your relationship to the Lord, are you one of His in the fullest sense when you need Him? Lynn shares her feelings about this.
“So you will be My people, and I will be your God” (Jeremiah 30:22).
A dear friend used to sign off his correspondence with these words: One of His. He served the Lord with complete abandon even though living in the most excruciating chronic pain for thirty-five years.
I can sum up the lessons I learned from him in these words.
We each are to serve the Lord wherever we find ourselves, no matter our circumstances. He alone is our strength. We learn this in deeper ways when our own strength is weakened or taken away.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord” and “serve the Lord with gladness” are exhortations in Psalm 100 (ESV). This is more easily done when all is well in our lives.
I can say, for myself, that when my days were carefree, I loved the Lord and honored Him–but I did not run to Him or turn to Him in the ways that I do now.
I need to be aware of His nearness at all times for He is all of my strength. I need to be aware of His presence. In order to persevere with the challenges in my life, I want to focus on Him and not my challenges. This makes Him glad for then He can be my strength. Together we are bonded. My trust in turning to Him is the foremost way in which I serve Him. It brings Him joy and it brings me strength!
As God never changes, we are the ones called upon to change and be changed. It is an issue of the heart, both His and ours. We seek, we find, we are found. We trust, we wait, we learn. We are one of His. “. . . I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are Mine” (Isaiah 43:1b).
Serving the Lord as one of His results from knowing and believing that He is not only Lord and Savior, but that He has called us his friends. We are no longer servants. (John 15:15) A servant serves out of obedience. Friends find joy in serving out of love.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord for calling me to Yourself. To be one with You is the highest calling. Amen.
About the Author:
Lynn Severance is a retired elementary classroom teacher. She lives in Lynnwood, Washington. She writes to encourage others as God has encouraged her during 30 years of living with daily physical challenges. Visit Lynn’s blog and sign up to receive new postings in your email box! http://lynn-severance.blogspot.com
Share a time when you found yourself in deepest need of drawing close to the Lord and how He met you in your need. What would you tell a friend about the Lord’s faithfulness when they find themselves struggling to believe He is near? What are some ways you feel that you serve the Lord with gladness?
Being one of His will mean we are called to a faithfulness that only comes from the Lord’s calling us to Himself. We have not only Christ’s model of complete surrender, but the example of many who have journeyed the road before us. Listen as Steve Green reminds us in song of this narrow but important path we walk.
Great encouragement today, Lynn. Thank-you so much! I’ve always liked that song by Steve Green and have it on a CD by him. Thanks for sharing it today.
Hope you’re having a good day.
Thank you, Lucille. I am glad you were encouraged by this devotional.
I have loved the Steve Green song for so long. I return to it often and thought it tied in well with what I shared here.
I have had a good day.
Lynn: These words from your devotional really spoke to me: ” My trust in turning to Him is the foremost way in which I serve Him. It brings Him joy and it brings me strength!” Heb.11:6 says that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.” Faith and trust are so fundamental to being “one of His”!
I find myself turning to Him more and more for what I need day by day. And, in the process, being astounded by the ways He provides. As we in Canada prepare for our Thanksgiving weekend, this is one of the multitude of things I thank Him for.
As to the last question: getting meals is always a difficult thing for me and so we don’t have a lot of company. But this week one of my closest friends and her husband, who were house sitting for her daughter just an hour’s drive from us, came over for an early Thanksgiving meal. She brought stuffed chicken breasts and candied yams and I took care of the rest. It was a joy to prepare (and clean up, although she did some of that for me) for this event and we had a great time. I think the key was that we are really good friends and we don’t get to see each other very often because of the distance between our homes.
So that fits in with your point about being called friends of God.
I’m glad you’ve had a good day.
HI Beth,
Thank you for your comments. I am glad you tied in Hebrews 11:6 as I do agree with how fundamental faith and trust are for any of us as we turn to Him for strength and guidance.
I am happy to read about your experience with the company – also good friends. Having them help by bringing part of the meal has to have helped very much and gave you a chance to relax and enjoy the day.
Happy Thanksgiving and may you have more times that go this smoothly!
Love,
Lynn
Thanks, Lynn, for another meaty precious devotional. Loved it & always timely for me!
Soooooo related to: “I can say, for myself, that when my days were carefree, I loved the Lord and honored Him–but I did not run to Him or turn to Him in the ways that I do now.” This is so very true for me too. My relationship is so much deeper & richer now & not so flippant….can’t find the right word for that!!! Thankfully He knows what I mean! LOL!
I believe too that we can always serve the Lord, even if all we can do is breathe….we can pray! I often wonder how I would cope if I didn’t have my faith…..unimaginable! Lotsoluv Kerryn
Thanks for sharing, Kerryn!
Yes. I don’t think any of us realize how much of any strength we have ( or have had in the past ) is His strength. When I was “strong”, out and about doing, doing – and the doing was good and Godly, it was His strength helping me to achieve.
Now, when I feel so little strength, I recognize the reality of His strength differently. I recognize that there really was never a time I was truly self sufficient. It has taken the neediness of the past 30 years and from here on out to truly “know” His strength is all that keeps me going.
Love,
Lynn
Amen to that! Lotsoluv Kerryn
People often laugh, thinking I am joking when I say that I would rather have this illness and the closeness that it brought me to the Lord; than to have full health and not know this level of closeness and dependency. It is so true.
And Kerryn, you are so correct when you say that even if we can do nothing else, we can pray. Praying may be the biggest thing we can do!
Beth, I am glad that you had good friends over. I have always loved having people in my home, and I used to have folks in often. But now, I know that it is a blessing to others to bring things and to help.
Larry and I do love the song, “Find us Faithful.” Larry is the Great, great etc. grandson of one of the original Methodist circuit riders in Indiana back in pioneer days!
Thanks for your comments, Sandy!
Love to you!