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A Contagious Thought! |
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Greetings!
 Hello! This is the first of a twice weekly e-devotional from contagiousjoy4him.com. We are excited in this next step to reach and minister to the one's that minister 24/7. Our prayer is as you read the "Contagious Throughts" contained in this email that you will be encouraged, empowered, and enlighted, to pursue our Lord and His ministry that He has placed you. There are literally thousands of minister's wives that God is using in their families, churches and communities just like you. So join us and may you experience joy as in I Peter 1:6-8, "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory."
Yours for our Lord,
Diane Nix
Contagious Joy Team |
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Lessons Along The Way:
"and You Will Know That I Am God"
Ps 46:10 - Be still and know that I am God.
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 Psalm 46:10 commands that we "be still - be quiet - quit fussin' around - and, KNOW: that He is God." It commands that we be certain of the factual truth about who God is, recognizing Him in the most personal manners. This command includes the challenge to distinguish Almighty God from the false gods that clamor for our attention day after day.
God uses my curiosity about familiar words to enlarge my understanding about His word. The word know for example: what does He want me to know? I began with a simple dictionary.
Know: to be cognizant of; have a concept of in the mind through [the senses]. 2. be certain of; apprehend as true or factual. 3. To be acquainted with through previous encounter; be familiar with. 4. To be sure about the identity of; recognize. [the definition also includes "to distinguish between-discriminate; apprehend.
I love phrases too, like "that they may KNOW" or "that you may KNOW". I first noticed this phrase when teaching Ezekiel, and I am amazed with the various descriptions telling how God wants us to recognize Him, to know Him, and to relate to Him. Scripture is life changing, alive, and interacts with our hearts and lives. While we see "darkly", we still can see! In John 14:21: "The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves me, ... and I ... will show [reveal, manifest] Myself to him." When we want to KNOW Him, he manifests Himself to us! When we obey, we begin to KNOW more.
Contagious Joy is designed especially for wives of ministers, and I know why I am in ministry. I remember clearly! May I share about my knowing? I never imagined a life of ministry![i]
I married very young, and the young man that captured my heart was not much older. I recall praying with his mother, and sensing the Holy Spirit confirm that our marriage was a good decision, [but I also recall thinking that I would marry him regardless. A bit of a rebellious streak I admit.] I did not marry a preacher, and Dick was not a Christian--a fact that had little impact upon me then. I hate admitting that my immaturity and decision to wed was because he was just so darn cute! We had two children by age 20, but scraped for every opportunity to "make-it".
The day came that my husband was born-again, and Christ actively, rapidly, changed him, our marriage, our lives, and the focus of all our attention. My husband's call to ministry was HUGE for the both of us, and a treasure. I never want to forget the awesome privilege to participate with what God is doing. I knew then, and know more intensely now: God does not need me but allows me the privilege to work with Him and on His behalf.
Life and ministry became our journey, and the majority of my adult life was spent as a minister's wife. I say "minister" because my husband was a senior pastor, associate pastor, church-planter, home missionary, professor, evangelist, and oh yes-youth minister. Our ministry took us to churches in the most rural places, a small town county seat, large "snow-bird" cities, including one of America's largest cities.
God made Himself known to me - through a time of pain.
I recall the day when I felt like I would dissolve into a pool of despair - depression would have been a step higher for me then. This was a time of spiritual identity crisis! I felt I could not make it any longer without seeing evidence of God that very day. I needed to KNOW that He was there. I needed to KNOW Him in some tangible way. Would He show Himself to me? I did not dare think such a question, and never asked it in real words, only thoughts.
It was a dark time for us both. Life and ministry seemed to turn its back and desert us, or at least that's how it felt. The very first time I felt this desperate God displayed the most vivid rainbow I had ever seen! One day when I saw His bow, I got on my bicycle and rode street after street, as long as I could see it. I just knew in my heart that no other person alive saw the rainbow: that it was just for me! During that season of my life, He showed me many, many rainbows in the sky. Now, years later, I continue to marvel at His sign in the sky, and always praise Him for my personal sign of His presence and His knowledge of where I am. His bow in the sky reminds me that He knows where I live, what my needs are, and of His presence in this world and in my life. God is so faithful to manifest Himself in some tangible way that we may KNOW Him. When my youngest grandson was born in California, there appeared a precious rainbow that Sunday afternoon--a sign to me in Texas that my children in California were under His care. My heart leapt with joy and praise as I accepted His confirmation of such a momentous occasion.
My story is not unique: what has God done to speak personally to you? What has God done that YOU may know that He is God? I know you can make your own list. Have you done that lately? Have you "counted your many blessings and named them one by one"?
Nurture your spiritual walk each day. Recognize the reality of Almighty God, in your own life! You are His daughter, one of His children, part of the royal family. He is more interested in who you ARE than what you DO. He loves you, and has written His letter to you, that you may know. He has manifest Himself time and time again - - open your eyes to see - - that YOU may know! That you may KNOW!
Anita Onarecker
[i] Funk and Wagnall's, The Standard College Dictionary. 1975
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Upcoming Events - Click on picture for more details
The Pastors' Wives Session
of the SBC Pastors' Conference
Monday, June 9, 2008
8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Sagamore Ballrooms
(2nd floor, Indiana Convention Center)
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
J O H N 17 : 3
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