We here at North Shuswap Christian Fellowship,, have come to appreciate how much the Bible highly praises the roles of women, who are so influential in shaping the lives of those precious people entrusted to you in your homes. For example, the writer of Proverbs lists several responsibilities of the woman in the home, (things which most of us men either take for granted or are too naive and/or preoccupied to appreciate). Near the end of the chapter, we read these words, "Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband, also and he praises her". Then he comments how a woman can have an even greater impact by including God and Biblical principles in her life. "Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. (Proverbs 31:28, 30) There is obviously nothing wrong with looking nice, but the point he is making is: to focus only on externals is to deny the true inner beauty of a God centered life, which is modeled in the home.
Many of you were possibly so busy raising your families, with all the energy that entails, that maybe you have some regrets about quality time you missed out on. What a tremendous opportunity this presents as a grandmother, to invest your time and energy encouraging your grand children.
The North Shuswap Kicker May 2004
"Pastor John Giesbrecht"
Getting into God's stride
Enoch walked with God.
Genesis 5:24
The test of a man's religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times, when there is nothing tremendous or exciting on. The worth of a man is revealed in his attitude to ordinary things when he is not before the footlights
(cf. John 1:36). It is a painful business to get through into the stride of God, it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride; but when we have got into it, the only characteristic that manifests itself is the life of God. The individual man is lost sight of in his personal union with God, and the stride and the power of God alone are manifested.
It is difficult to get into stride with God, because when we start walking with Him we find He has outstripped us before we have taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined into His ways. It was said of Jesus - "He shall not fail nor be discouraged," because He never worked from His own individual standpoint but always from the standpoint of His Father, and we have to learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned by atmosphere, not by intellectual reasoning. God's Spirit alters the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and things begin to be possible which never were possible before. Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with Himself. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don't give in because the pain is bad just now, get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a new purpose.
“Heartlight” - Oct 12/07
