CLAIM TO FAME

"Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

"I enjoyed your book so much; tomorrow I’m going to start reading it all over again!" I’ll admit, I feel good when others appreciate my hard work. But, sometimes I forget to give the praise back to God. It is He who inspires the painter, who gives words to the writer and voice to the composer. 

It is amazing how God lets us confirm again our beliefs and commitments by giving us many opportunities to give it all back to Him. Perhaps one day, we will be more truly like Him when we admit everything was all His in the first place.

I have a well-used phrase I share with counseling patients when they repeatedly take responsibility for other people’s rudeness. "It isn’t about you; it’s about them."

I want to learn to lift up each day in praise: "It’s not about me. It’s about Him." Because, whatever abilities I may have, they were given to me to praise and glorify the Lord God. To God be the glory! Let us pray:

"Father God, you are full of glory and only you wear glory well. All the angels in Heaven bow before your holiness. Let this be the day when I finally realize that my life is ‘all about you and not about me.’ Forgive me when I get puffed up and forget whose I am. I love you Lord, and I lift up your name in worship. May I decrease each day as you increase. In the name of your precious son and my Savior I pray. Amen"

Doris "God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp
Go to www.dorisgainesrapp.com for book signing events.

WHAT IS YOUR SONG?

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." Matthew 7: 15-20 (NIV)

I’ve been researching for another book the last few days. What has stuck in my head is Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha. I learned short passages of the poem as a child. These are the few fragments I had remembered and have been floating through my mind for two days:

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis. . . .
. . . Touch God's right hand in that darkness
And are lifted up and strengthened;--
Listen to this simple story,
To this Song of Hiawatha! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1855

Our Lord, in Matthew 7, said we will know the people at God’s heart by their fruits. Then I read Longfellow yesterday and thought again. In order to be known as God’s people by our fruits, we must know what song we will sing. And . . . we write the lyrics with the words we say, the melodies by the deeds we do, and reveal our the passion by the love we share with others. Let us make sure that the song that is sung about us, is one that lifts the soul of the listener to God. Let us pray:

"Father God, the angels sing of your Holy message whenever they speak to us. ‘Be not afraid,’ they say. ‘I bring you glad tidings of great joy.’ Dear Lord, make of me a melody so in tune with you, others hear only your song when I speak. Forgive me when I have been rude and discordant. Fine tune my life that I may play only the good notes for you. In the name of Jesus, the great conductor I pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp
Go to www.dorisgainesrapp.com for book signing events.
Promote Yourself - a pep talk on self-promotion. To download the eBook go to www.bn.com and www.amazon.com.
Also, join the conversation at www.promoteyourself-permitsuccess.blogspot.comIt will be available in paperback soon at www.dorisgainesrapp.com and www.directbuybooks.com./kjv/psalms/118.htm

I DID IT AGAIN!

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Matthew 6: 25-29 (English Standard Version)

We have moved about seventeen times. My husband is a United Methodist minister. Does the word itinerant explain anything? Usually, the night before we would move, I couldn’t sleep. I kept rearranging furniture in the new parsonage in my head. I did it again last night.

No, we’re not going to move - at least not now. We are debating "down sizing." To my husband, that means a smaller house. To me, it means no second story but the same square footage spread out over the main floor. So, we tour open-houses once in a while. That’s what we did yesterday.

The house had many features I liked. Then I spent about three hours of my sleep time knocking out walls, bumping out a master-suite and four-season room, lowering one wall to half size, relocating the laundry room, and arranging family antiques throughout the house. To me, that doesn’t qualify as anxiety. It’s more, inappropriate time devoted to obsessing. Whatever the label, I wasted valuable sleep time on a house we don’t even own. Woe is me. Or better put, silly thou art.

I thank the Lord that I wasn’t worrying about a sick child or husband, the future of my job, or if we can afford food. But, how do we turn off the stew-button or busy-switch and place our mind on God?

I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t trying to distract my thinking. I enjoyed the amateur architectural work and home design. I realized my sleep time was poorly spent when it was time to get up. Scripture tells us, He will give us perfect peace when our mind is stayed on Him. So, if our lack of sleep were actually due to worry or anxiety, the passage from Matthew printed above is our reminder of the promise of release from that which binds us.

God knows our needs. Worrying about them solves nothing. Perhaps we need to rest in God so we can have the insight and clearness of mind to allow Him to guide us. Sometimes, the Lord will direct us to a gifted physician who can prescribe anti-anxiety or antidepressant medication when the negative emotion is caused from a chemical imbalance in the brain. Whatever the need, prayer therapy can also help bring peace when we pray specifically for release from anxiety, so the Lord can answer specifically. Our prayer today, is for release from anxiety. Let us pray:

"Father God, maker of all there is, holy, holy, holy is your name. May your kingdom came and make its home in my heart, so that I might know you as the angels in heaven do. For today, Lord, I pray for release from anxiety that eats way at the person you created me to be. Forgive me when I have turned my back on others who are anxious or their heart is in need. I know they cannot do it on their own. But, you can calm their heart and rid their lives of anxiety as you are doing for me. I ask for release for them and for me so that we may better serve you. For these things I give you the glory, for only you are worthy of praise. In the name of Jesus, your son and our redeemer I pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp
Go to www.dorisgainesrapp.com for book signing events.








































 

A TRUE SEED

My husband's uncle was reared Amish! He loved to carry his heritage into his garden to the back and side of their home.

[Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' "'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"] Matthew: 24-30 (NIV)

Uncle Dan was proud of the variety and robust growth of the vegetables in his little patch. Raised in an Amish family, his engineering genius was trapped inside homemade dark blue trousers and shirt, and a large wide-brimmed black hat. As a young man, he tested out of the high school he never got to attend and enrolled in classes at nearby Notre Dame. After a few weeks, he was asked to guest-lecture in his engineering class, since he was vastly more well read in the topic than his professor. After marriage and a family came along, daily weeding and watering his fresh green sprouts connected his life in the world with his Amish roots.

It so happened that Dan also had creative nephews, both in the family and in-laws, who loved to play tricks on him. His overreacting when the spoof was detected was legend. One night, several of the more mischievous guys sneaked into his freshly turned vegetable bed and drove non-bearing corn seeds into the ground. The seeds sprouted and shot up above the ones Dan had planted himself. He was so proud! He had the tallest fresh corn stocks in the county. They grew toward the blue sky, eight feet above the earth. "I’ll bet the ears will be huge!" he bragged.

When the corn was nearing harvest, he discovered that there was not a single ear to be gathered. In retaliation, Dan "planted" political stickers from the opposing party on the back window of the rascals’ cars.

Dan couldn’t harvest corn from stalks that only looked good. They were only an empty promise of food for the family. The tall beauties were no more than garden weeds. Like the Lord’s work among us, at harvest time they were cut down and thrown into the burn pile. Let us make sure that our "face of the Christian Church" is more than a picture of the proper things to do. Let us be true seeds that bring food for our souls and for the souls of those around us. Let us pray:

"Father of the seed and the Harvest, I bow before your holy name and the name of your son, Jesus Christ. May your kingdom come to the earth in the time pleasing to you. While I wait on you, Father, take my faith and make it a true seed for your Glory, that I may provide food for the lives of others. I do not need to know whom I touch, so that I cannot brag. But, use me Lord in the lives of others, that your joy and peace may come to their heart. Forgive me when I turn inward and brag about what I have done. Only your work through me is part of the true stalk, and those seeds I surrender to you. In the name of and by the power of Jesus your son, I pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp
Go to www.dorisgainesrapp.com for book signing events.

Promote Yourself - a pep talk on self-promotion. To download the eBook go to www.bn.com and www.amazon.com.
Also, join the conversation at www.promoteyourself-permitsuccess.blogspot.comIt will be available in paperback soon at www.dorisgainesrapp.com and www.directbuybooks.com./kjv/psalms/118.htm