My favorite flowers are pink bubble gum petunias. They are beautiful, prolific and hardy, blooming from early Spring up until the first frost, as you can see in this picture on the right.

But this year was different. About the middle of August, the blossoms began to diminish and then disappeared altogether as you can see in the  middle  picture! Lots of green, no color.

So, I went to the place where I’d gotten the plants and asked about this. “Well,” the clerk said, “We’ve had so  much rain this year that all the fertilizer has been washed away.  Just give them this fertilizer and the blossoms will come back shortly.” So I did that and in the picture on the left you can see what happened. The reappearance of the blossoms was almost like magic!

This made me think about “spiritual fertilizer,” the importance of having a regular quiet time. I have found that many Christians (including full time workers) do not have a regular quiet time, or it is very brief. They are lacking their “spiritual fertilizer” and the result is a lack of “spiritual flowers.”

Proverbs 8:34 came to mind, where Wisdom says, “Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.” Note the word “daily.” And where can we get wisdom but from the Word? Then in  the next verse is this encouragement: “For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD.”

So let’s listen at the door of wisdom everyday, get our spiritual fertilizer and blossom for the Lord!

More thoughts on  the earthquake in Haiti

Yes, you are there, Lord, with those suffering people. You are working powerfully for good, to open eyes, to show that the only stability in this world is in you, to bring people to yourself. You use such tragedy to get peoples’ attention and bring them to repentence and yourself.

As it says in Rev. 9:20,21, “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts”. God allows tragedy in order to wake people up to their need of a Savior. Unfortunately many still refuse the forgiveness and love He offers.

You also are working to chasten believers to develop their spiritual maturity, and to give your children opportunity to carry your grace to those in need. You are also exposing the sin of men–shoddy building practices, corruption and lack of maintenance have made the disaster much worse.

Praise you for your greatness, O God, that in the overview of all, you know what you are doing, as well as in the details. You are the only One worth trusting, worth following, worth obeying. You are the One who brings meaning in chaos, purpose in suffering, wisdom in disaster.

Epilogue: Several months later I read a report by a number of Christian agencies working together in Haiti, telling of tens of thousands that have come to Christ in the aftermath of the earthquake, and of many believers who have rededicated their lives to living for Him. God is faithful and good! He uses all that He allows to come to us for our good and His glory.

“I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.”

Psalm 91:2,3

Praise be to you for your great promises, Lord Jesus, such as the one above in Psalm 91. These promises are fastened at one end to your plans laid out before the foundation of the earth, then stretched over time as a canopy of protection, and fastened at the other end in the conclusion of history when all evil and sin will be swept away and confined to Hell and the lake of fire.

Your faithfulness is our shield and rampart, throwing back the attacks of the enemy. We live every day under your powerful, pure and persistent protection. And you give us a part in this, equipping us with the ever-present and portable protection of our spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18). I praise you especially for the shield of faith, which we can choose to raise with praise to quench all the fiery arrows of lies and accusations the enemy shoots at us.

At the same time, we live with the ever-present possibility of “escaping” to our own devices, wandering off into the fields of self and sin, exposing ourselves to the sinister attacks of Satan.

You have certainly given us great freedom of choice: great power to dwell in your shelter, or not. And in giving us this choice-potential, you have exposed yourself to grief and pain as we often choose to disobey, to not forgive, to not get up the shield of faith. Thank you for your willingness to continue to suffer grief as you work in our lives to conform us to Christ.

Praise you for your persistence in moving us towards maturity, bringing diverse difficulties our way so that we can practice procuring your grace, persisting in prayer, acting in wisdom, obeying in joy, and thereby be protected from the “snares of the fowler.”

Yours is such love, such kindness, such empowering, such willingness to suffer for the good of your children! There is no other like you! You are the Lord my God, you are the Creator and Savior, King and Shield, Protector and Redeemer, to you be glory and honor and praise forever.

Prayer: “I bow before you, my King, and give myself to you anew with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. May I honor you today in all I say and do. Lead me in what is righteous, good, lovely and graceful. Amen.”

“Let not mercy and truth forsake you….” (NKJV) Proverbs 3:3

Working with a team is not easy. To do so while starting a fellowship in a difficult country makes it a bigger challenge. First, we did not choose each other. Second, we are so diverse. Third, we don’t have much natural affinity for each other: I never would have selected any of my present teammates even as colleagues, to say nothing of friends. However, God chose us to work together and that needs to be our perspective.

As a team, we decided to make unity a top priority and selected Proverbs 3:3-4 NKJV to be the guide for our relationships: “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them on the tables of your heart; so shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and men.” (Emphasis mine)

Mercy is extending to others the undeserved grace we ourselves have received from Jesus. Mercy is the opposite of being judgmental, critical and negative.

Mercy flows from humility, which can be defined as “seeing myself as God sees me.” That is, we are all sinners who are faulty and make mistakes, but are also children of the King, forgiven, accepted, delighted in and deeply loved by God. Thus, as we see ourselves as no better than others, we will be in awe of God’s acceptance of us and be more willing to extend to others the grace God has given us.

Prayer: “Lord, unity is not natural; help me to live in mercy and truth so that in humility I can accept, love, listen to and “care-front” those around me, and thereby be more useful for you. Amen.”

“Fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord shall be safe.” (NKJV) Proverbs 29:25

If our time here in the Middle East and the things learned could be summarized in one verse, it would be Psalm 118:6, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” This lesson has been coming at me from a new angle these past weeks.

As a leader, I have repeatedly had the responsibility of telling people news which was not pleasant for them—fellow workers, locals and family members. These were unrelated events, but the basic task was the same: relate a truth I didn’t want to tell and they didn’t want to hear.

With each occurrence, I had a struggle with fear: what would the person say? Would I lose their friendship? Would there be negative repercussions for me personally? Would they become angry and tell me off?

Obedience, however, is not to be predicated on how easy or comfortable the assignment is. God leads us firmly and clearly. He is as gentle with us in His guidance as we let Him be! If I quench the Spirit by refusing to follow His lead, then I force God to use a stronger way to get my attention. He faithfully disciplines those He loves, including those who resist His leadership. But when we obey, fearing Him, not people, He can reward us the right way, taking us to the next step up in growth.

Knowing this, in each case, after much prayer, in fear and trembling I obeyed what I knew to be the Lord’s desire. And, in each case, in the end it worked out well.