Getting the Prescription Filled

Seventeen years ago, my fingers hurt so much that I couldn’t button my shirt or pick up my grandbabies. A rheumatologist diagnosed it as osteoarthritis, a chronic disease that, she said, could only be maintained (not healed) via drugs. She prescribed Vioxx. My husband said to me as we drove home, “Now we know the name of the symptoms, and since we know THE NAME that is above ALL names, the name, osteoarthritis, must bow to the name of Jesus. We pray for wisdom and will believe God guides us in what to do, not to just ease the pain, but for your complete healing.” He prayed those words from God's Word (God's remedy book for so much that ails us) in Philippians 2:9. We just didn't have a peace about having that prescription for Vioxx to be filled, and, it’s a good thing because a couple of years later Vioxx was taken off the market because over 60,000 patients died from taking it. (BTW, God's wisdom led us to natural supplements and the pain was gone within 90 days. All glory to God!)

I’m not advocating that we shouldn’t take medicine. Combining our faith in the healing power of God with the wisdom of the medical field can be God's way for our healing to come. When we are really sick, and beyond our faith, we may need to go to a doctor for help. If he finds an infection, he'll prescribe a remedy and write a prescription for us. He knows and expects the medicine to help us get better. He wants to help us get over the issue so we take it, then wait for it to work.

Now, think about how much God wants us to apply His Word to, not just healing our bodies, but restoring our souls and having an entire life of His abundance and success. We talk about what God’s Word says. We think about His Word. But often we don't actually “take it” and act on what it says. God, our Great Physician, has prescribed what we need in His Word. The fact is taking His prescription (or not) to love, forgive, trust, and hope (His characteristics) will determine how long we wait for success.

If we don’t know where to start, we can start with the simplest of all “prescriptions" for success. It is God’s BIG ONE – a commandment, which is sometimes difficult to swallow, but the single most important one for a life of blessing and abundance. It’s simple to remember because it basically boils down to one word: love. This one word contains the essence of all the other commandments we’ve ever been given. It says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). That’s the prescribed medicine we need to take daily……religiously.

Learning to wait well with patience involves learning how to put into practice the regularity of living as a child of God. It means putting into practice those things we already know: • Loving
• Forgiving • Believing • Doing what God says to do.

Heavenly Father, we want to love as You love, forgive like You forgive and honor You with our hearts in every way. Use us as a testimony of grace, kindness, and love to those around us. I pray for a double portion of favor and blessing in our lives! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

What Are YOU Pointing At?

My oldest grandson was a late talker, so he pointed. Not that he couldn’t. He just wouldn’t. He preferred to point and make cute little "uh uh” sounds. And, you’d better believe we were on point to respond to his “uh uh’s” and his point. We were those kinds of grandparents who doted on our firstborn grandchild. We adored responding to his ways of identifying what he wanted.

The POINT is this: our Heavenly Father is waiting for us to point to that dream, vision, or desire and more than any earthly father who wants to bless His kids, God wants to bless those Who He calls His own, His masterpieces, and His prized possessions. He wants to bless us and give us the desires of our heart.

Psalm 37:4 says "Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." That's the crux of the matter. When we, as God's kids, delight in Him, His desire is to pour out blessings on us. It’s just like an earthly father whose child is jumping up in his lap and hugging him, embracing him, honoring him and bringing him good pleasure. That father can’t help himself. He will do everything in his power to give his child what he desires (if it’s good for him/her).

I love the idea of God giving me the desires of my heart, but that promise has a condition. I must ask myself, "Am I delighting myself in Him or not?" I found two Bible verses that explain "delighting in the Lord". “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart”. Psalm 40:8 and "For in my inner being, I delight in God’s law." Romans 7:22

And, this Luke 10:27 best explains it. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind." When we delight in Him and give Him that much love, He delights in giving us the desires of our hearts.

Taking "pointing" a step further past our own desires and wants is pointing others to Jesus. The heart of our Christian life is coming out of hiding and pointing others to Jesus. John the Baptist pointed. He said, “Behold the Lamb of God” to the crowd when Jesus was coming toward them. Andrew pointed His brother, Peter, to Jesus. Hopefully, you are pointing your children and grandchildren toward Jesus by the way you love and care for them, by the way they hear you praying for them and by taking them to church. Maybe you are listening to a teenager who needs a listening ear and guiding voice and you point him to Jesus. Maybe you are demonstrating God’s love and pointing a neighbor to Him.

So what and Who are we pointing at? Maybe we need to amp up our pointing skills so that we continue to point our lives to the One Who points at us daily with His love, His favor, His grace, and His mercy. May we become known as ambassadors for Christ Who point the way for others to see Him!

What Are YOU Pointing At?

What Are YOU Pointing At?

Yesterday my daughter, Staci, shared a story with me about a friend who was "delighting" in sharing about his young granddaughter. She's not talking much yet, but she sure can point to what she wants. She knows that whatever she points to -- she's going to get. In fact, her granddaddy is at her beckoned call to give that little angel girl anything she wants.

Staci went on to share how her friend asked her "What are YOU pointing to?" He went on to explain...."God, your Heavenly Father, is just waiting for you to POINT to that dream, vision, prayer, or desire and He, more than any earthly father wants to bless His kids, who calls you His own, His masterpiece, His prized possession, the apple of His eye.....wants to bless you and give you the desires of your heart. Just POINT to them!"

Psalm 37:4 says "Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." That's the crux of the matter.....when we, as God's kids, delight in Him, He can't help Himself -- His desire is to pour out blessings on us. I love the idea of God giving me the desires of my heart, but that promise has a condition—delight myself in the Lord. That’s the part of the verse where I have to ask myself whether I am truly delighting myself in Him or not. I wondered how the Bible defined “delighting myself in the Lord". I knew it wasn’t an abstract concept. Two verses that I found helped me to know if I was really delighting myself in the Lord or not:

“I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart”. Psalm 40:8

"For in my inner being, I delight in God’s law." Romans 7:22

I think this verse explains it best....Luke 10:27 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind." When we delight in Him and give Him that much love, He delights to give us the desires of our hearts.

What are WE pointing at? More importantly....WHO are we pointing our lives TO?