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GET UP AND TRY AGAIN



My little daughter who is grown was one of those kids who walked all around the coffee table when she was learning to walk, touching as she went, never letting go. She could walk all over the house touching the walls or chairs, and if there wasn’t something to touch, she got down and crawled. She was over a year old when she finally let go and walked across the room.

Once at church, my best friend’s first-born son started walking across the aisle to his daddy–at 7 months old! I could barely believe my own eyes. “Edna,” I said, “that baby is not old enough to walk. How did you teach him to walk so young?” She said, “I tie a harness around him and walk him around as I do housework.” The harness held him up and he had no idea he was supposed to fall.

I read recently that babies fall at least 2000 times, while learning to walk. I probably fell more times than that when I was learning to walk. I was born with twisted feet that Mother held in her hands and prayed over. She was overprotective of me because her two-room house had concrete floors. Every time I fell she was afraid I would “bust my little ol’ noggin’.”

The Lord knows our weaknesses. He knows we were born with “twisted feet” and the tendency to fall or sin. It’s because of our sin nature that we inherited from our ancestor Adam. The only way for us to “learn to walk” was to be born again, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
 
God sent Jesus to straighten out the crooked paths and make the way straight. Jesus walks with us, with a little harness around our heart, propping us up as we walk.

The Bible says in Psalms 37:24, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His Hand” and in Micah 7:8, “When I fall, I will arise.” Every person faces struggles in their lives, but the winner is the one who gets back up after falling. The last man standing is the winner, so don’t give up.

The key to the victorious life is getting back up again.
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Come Boldly

“Wasn’t this the holiest place, where only the high priest was allowed to enter? How could we enter it so casually?” The tourist thought to himself as he entered the Holy Place in the  tabernacle in southern Israel. Of course, it was only a replica, built without the gold or acacia wood, but in every other way just like the tabernacle for which God gave Moses the plans.

God appeared to Moses and gave him the specific details of every piece of furniture, every wall, every doorway, all designed by God. The complete blueprint was spelled out to Moses.

When God gave Moses the plans for the tabernacle, it was patterned after the tabernacle in heaven. Paul said that perfect tabernacle was not made with hands, so it must be the one in heaven that God made.

The outer part of the tabernacle was the Holy Place, where the priests sacrificed animals every day to God. Inside the inner tent was the Holy of Holies, where the high priest entered once a year to offer blood as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole nation. Hebrews says that Jesus Christ is our high priest forever. After He was crucified and rose again, He entered the Holy of Holies in heaven one time, taking His own blood to place on the heavenly ark of the covenant, as the final sacrifice for all sins.

Like the tourist who described how he felt when he walked into the Holy of Holies in the replica model of the Tabernacle, we feel uncomfortable when we think of coming into the throne room of God, but since Jesus Christ offered His own blood once and for all, now we have access to God Himself, the Creator of the Universe and God Almighty.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 NKJV.

The throne of grace is God’s throne in the Holy of Holies and Jesus has invited us to come, and come boldly.

Lavon Hightower Lewis

 

 

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He Hears Me

When I got my iphone several years ago, I was excited about being able to use “Siri,” the Apple built-in assistant which answers questions and follows commands. All you have to do is hold down the Home button or say, “Hey Siri” and she answers.
I have my phone connected by Blue-tooth to my car stereo system, so when I ask Siri, she makes phone calls for me. “Hey, Siri, call Frances.” Then Siri says, “Ok calling Francine Smith.”
“No, no…Siri, no.. Call Frances Peetoom.” “Ok, do you want to call Frances Hightower Peetom?” “Yes.” “Ok, do you want to call Home or Cell or Mobile phone?” “Oh, Siri, just forget it. I’m almost to her house now.”
Part of the time, Siri doesn’t even understand my Okie accent. I’ve been trying to train Siri for 4 years, but she’s not the first one who didn’t quite understand my accent. I’ve had my accent laughed at by college classmates and customers when I was a telephone operator. I’ve always taken it good-naturedly, since I assume that was how it was given.
Even if Siri doesn’t always understand me, God always does. It doesn’t matter what language or dialect or accent I use, God understands. He’s even the one who gave us all these languages, at the tower of Babel.
God speaks the language of the heart. We hardly ever hear Him with our ears, because God doesn’t speak with a physical body, with vocal chords. We hear Him in our hearts, our spirits, because God is Spirit. He speaks by the Spirit and He hears us by the Spirit.
God says in Psalm 91:15-16, “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, and I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
 
When we call on Him, He hears and answers the instant we call.
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Savings in Heaven

One of the banks in our town advertises that it is “the oldest national bank in the state of Oklahoma still operating under its original charter, a safe place to keep your money in troubled times.”
I haven’t been doing very well at saving money or cutting expenses. I have continued spending for groceries and household items just as I always have. However when I find myself running low on cash toward the end of the month, I just quit spending, make do with what I have on hand, and trust the Lord to supply what I need.
Jesus said, in Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven……for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Heaven is a real place, and that is where my heart is, since the Lord revealed heaven to me several years ago.
Now I store up treasures by giving to the local church and certain charities. I give of my free time to volunteer with good service organizations. I give hugs all around and spread the love of Jesus everywhere I go. I have been “laying up treasure in heaven” for many years.
We won’t need our treasures when we get to heaven. I believe the purpose of laying up our treasures in the Bank of Heaven is so that we will have it available when we need it here on this earth.
I use my bank in Vinita for day-to-day expenses, but my Bank in Heaven is where I keep my savings, so that in times of trouble, I can write a check signed by Jesus to meet my needs.
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God’s Jewelry

 

The sight brought wonder to my young heart, while sitting out in the backyard at twilight, seeing the twinkles in the air around me. We called them lightening bugs. And we pulled off their little lights  and placed it on our ring fingers, like a brilliant diamond.

Every little girl loves jewelry. We invented our own play jewelry. We licked tiny rose petals and stuck them to our ears for earrings and to our fingernails for nail polish. We put thin washers or cigar wrappers on our fingers for rings and made hair ornaments from chains of clover flowers.

Every woman loves jewelry. She looks forward to the day when her love presents her with an engagement ring, a symbol of his love for her. She treasures every gift of love she receives throughout her life, usually either passing on to her daughters her precious jewelry wardrobe or wearing them to her grave.

God must love jewelry too. In Haggai 2:23, He says, “I will make you my signet (ring)” and in Malachi 3:17, He says, “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.”

All the diamonds in the whole world could never have bought the salvation of even one person. All the pearls, rubies, or sapphires God ever created could not ransom you. He valued you enough to pay a great price for you, the precious and only Son of God, as a ransom for your salvation.

God sent the Crown Jewel of Heaven, Jesus Christ, to purchase you for Himself, so you could become His signet ring, the jewel on His finger.

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My New Dress

Do you remember your first store-bought clothes?  When I was about 12, when school started, a church lady told Mama she wanted to buy my younger sister and me a couple of dresses. One of my dresses was a light yellow shirt-waist dress, with short sleeves. I felt like a princess in it.

We were already well-dressed children. Our mother was a good seamstress and made most of our clothes, and besides that we had pretty hand-me-downs too. I look back at my school pictures and recognize some of those nice hand-made dresses and hand-me-downs, but it was so exciting to get a new store-bought dress.

When I took home economics in junior high school and later in high school, Mama came up with the money somehow to buy material and patterns. We had already learned the basics from Mama, sewing aprons on her electric sewing machine, so it didn’t take much to encourage us girls to sew, which all three of us still do.

Mother used to say, “We aren’t poor, we just don’t have much money.” We had what we needed—food on the table, electricity, gas heat, and running water in the paid-for home Granddad and Daddy built—but I’ve often wondered how many things Mama did without herself. All her faith was placed in God to provide for us, but she also worked hard.

Paul sent a letter to Timothy in which he complimented his mother and grandmother. “….When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice.” II Timothy 1:5 NKJV.

Timothy was taught his faith by his mother and grandmother. He saw their actions, their every-day lives, and witnessed the results of their faith. We children watched our mother every day as children always do, and we witnessed her life of faith, following the Lord, and depending on God to provide.

We learned how to sew from her, yes, but we learned so much more and now the genuine faith that dwelt first in our mother Eunice dwells in each of us.