Insights

By Charlotte Lowrie

Here are some notes from recent Bible study and prayer that I hope will strengthen you in your walk with Christ.

* Love looks through the lens of eternity with Kingdom values in sight. Love endures through eternity, for God is love. And without forgiveness, there can be no love.

• “Stop limiting yourself in your thinking. You have all of the resources of heaven at your disposal. Do you need more than that?”
  
  
• Stewardship is moving the Father’s resources to new places to advance the work of the Kingdom. It is using what He gives you for His purposes.
  
  
• There are not two sets of priorities—yours and God's. There is only one set of priorities—the Kingdom priorities. There is no division. There is one purpose in heaven and on earth—that the Father’s will be done. That simplifies everything.

Living to Show Christ In Our Lives

By Charlotte Lowrie

When I think back to when I accepted the Lord, I wasn’t convinced by someone testifying to me or by listening to a sermon. I had heard a lot of sermons growing up in a Christian home. I had been witnessed to, and, before I strayed from the Lord, I had witnessed to others.

That time away from the Lord was long—around 30 long years. In those years, I worked to acquire status, a modicum of fame, and worldly possessions. In short, I had it all.

Then I interviewed a professional photographer for a feature article that I was writing. During the one-hour telephone interview, I was struck again and again by the photographer’s profound peace. I couldn’t “see” his peace, but I could hear and sense his peace. By the end of the interview, I had only one burning question—how had he achieved peace?

In response, the photographer told me about the religions that he’d encountered during his worldwide travels. And then he told me that he was a Christian—a Christian who grew up in a country where Christianity is a minority faith. He told me quietly. He didn’t ask me if I was a believer. He didn’t try to convert me. He answered my question simply. And still his profound peace hung heavily in the air.

When we hung up, I was determined to find that peace for myself. I had everything that I needed and wanted, and I considered myself to be happy. But after experiencing this man’s peace, I knew that I wanted that kind of peace.

I set about studying different religions—Western, Middle Eastern, you name the religion, I explored it. I read books. I talked to different people. But nothing rang completely true. Finally, I decided that I should give the Bible another chance. I began reading. And as I read, and over a period of weeks, I knew that the right and true answer was Christ. My decision came slowly, but the first gifts were a profound peace and abiding joy.

I recount this story because in study and prayer this morning, the Lord reminded me:

“The life you live testifies louder than words. Live that others may see Me.”

And that is my prayer.

Running to Win the Prize

If you’ve trained for an athletic competition, then you know the commitment and dedication necessary to qualify, compete, and win the competition. And even if you’re not competing for a prize, but rather for a personal best, the regime is still demanding — requiring over and above what you normally give to the sport.

In fact, is you Google Olympic training, you’ll find that six training sessions of four to eight hours a week is a minimum for a person training for a triathlon. And for gold medalists, training is year-round and often 10-12 hours a day. For Michael Phelps, peak training involves swimming 80,000 meters—nearly 50 miles—every week during two-a-day practices, and sometimes three times a day, every day including Sundays.*

Winning an Incorruptible Crown

The Olympic games must have been familiar to the Apostle Paul, a Roman citizen living and traveling during the height of the ancient games in 55 AD. During the time of Paul, the games were held every four years. (Note: the games ran from 776 BC to 393 AD when they were banned by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I.) The victors were crowned with wreaths made from a sacred olive tree that grew behind the temple of Zeus. Legend had it that Hercules, the founder of the games, planted the olive tree. Victors paraded around a grove to the music of a flute while fans chanted songs written by prominent poets.

In fact, Paul uses the games when he writes to the church at Corinth. As a thriving city of trade, Corinth was home to at least 12 temples, including a temple in the center of the city dedicated to Apollo, the son of Zeus and a pagan Olympian deity. And Corinth held foot races in their own Isthmian games every other year. These games were second only to the Olympics.

So when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he used an analogy that most Corinthians would identify with immediately—a regimen of athletic training. But Paul wasn’t talking about training for athletic competition. Rather he referred to the race we as Christians run in following Christ.

In I Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV), Paul says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

Keeping an Eye on Training

I can’t help but read Paul’s words and know that Christian discipleship requires far more training and has far more at stake than any Olympic race. Paul continues, “Therefore, I do not run as a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Clearly, Paul refers to the need to train himself to resist temptation and sin even as he preaches the Gospel. And like Paul, we must be vigilant and unyielding in resisting temptations of our sinful nature. Our goal, like Paul’s, is to glorify the Lord Jesus in all that we do. Ours is not an aimless race toward a finish line that is arbitrarily set for the duration of a competition. Our finish line is winning the incorruptible crown of life.

The Lord calls us to run like winners. As I considered Paul’s words, the Lord reminded me that winning requires all that we are and all that have. It’s easy to compete for personal glory and for the accolades of bystanders. But He reminds us not to listen to the world. Rather we are to listen only to the Lord, and He will guide us over the finish line.

* From USA Today

Prayer Challenge

How is your prayer life these days?

In Mark 1:35, we read: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

Jesus knew the value of prayer, and before He faced His day, He had long conversations with the Father. Only then did He walk out to minister, heal, encourage, feed the hungry, and to do the Father's will.

How would your life change if you spent hours in prayer before setting out on your daily journey?

You'll never know until you try it.

Here is the challenge:

Spend at least as much time in prayer this week as you spend watching television.

If you take the challenge, I'd love to hear from you. Just e-mail me at charlotte@everydaywithchrist.com and let me know what happens in your life as a result of your hours of daily prayer.

Learning His Word "By Heart"

By Charlotte Lowrie
When I was growing up, our rural Oklahoma church was one of a group of German Congregational churches in the central United States. Every year, all the member churches would convene for an annual conference hosted by one of the churches. Each conference included many sermons, business meetings, teachings for all ages, and wonderful combined choirs. One of the kid events was a Bible memorization contest.

Much like a spelling bee, the contest was organized by ages, and each contestant recited Bible verses with Scripture references. Contestants stood in a line and the first child recited a verse. The judges verified the accuracy of the recitation and Scripture reference. Then the next child recited, and so it went until one or another child ran out of memorized verses. The last child standing won the contest.

So every year, well before the annual conference, my parents would get me started memorizing Bible verses. I remember being somewhere in the vicinity of 7 or 8 years old, as I walked from room to room in our farmhouse practicing my Bible verses. Of the two or three years that I competed, I remember winning only one contest. That year the conference was hosted by a member church in Kansas. The contest was held on an exceptionally hot summer afternoon. I was wearing a pretty dress that Mom had made, but suddenly the yards of fabric in the full skirt seemed heavy and close that afternoon. And the hotter I got, the more firmly my curly blonde bangs stuck to my forehead like glue. But I kept reciting verses, searching hard and fast for verses that hadn’t been recited by other contestants.

Then I remember realizing that I was the only person standing on the stage. Mom and Dad were smiling at me, but I was completely mortified to realize that I was on the stage all by myself. (Clearly I was too young and naïve to know what winning a contest meant.) Whether I got a prize or not escapes me, but I remember the great sense of relief I felt when they told me I could go back to my seat.

In the 1950s, we called Bible verse memorization, “learning by heart.” As a child, I always assumed that was just another way to describe memorization. But these days, I’ve learned that it means much more.

The Psalmist wrote, “I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from our commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119: 10-11 NIV)

Just as Jesus used the word of God against satan in the temptation, so the word of God serves as our shield and armor. With it, we can resist temptaton and evil. The Bible says that the word is sharper than a two-edged sword. The Lord reminds us to use His word well, to hide it in our hearts. And when we do that, it will be there when we need it.

Now, at an age when I can neither remember where I last laid my glasses nor see well enough to find them, I’ve begun again to learn His word by heart. Every week I choose a new set of verses and begin the process of learning them “by heart.” Some weeks, I learn two verses. Other weeks, I learn a lengthy passage of six or seven verses. And almost every day, I recite this week’s selection along with the passages that I learned by heart in the previous weeks.

This journey that echoes that of my childhood is rewarding beyond description. The blessing that He gives me as I recite passages is sometimes overwhelming. Other times, my favorite passages bring immediate tears of gratitude and joy. Now, as I learn by heart, I know that His words have become part of the sinew of my heart, deeply and richly embedded within me.

And I’ve found some creative uses as well. For example, I am in the last stages of a multi-stage procedure with the dentist. The dentist’s office is my least favorite place to go, and I cringe at the sound of the drill. But I finally found a good dentist--so good, in fact, that while he drills away on my tooth, I recite my Bible passages silently. If the drilling gets dicey, I just recite faster and mentally louder. And if I forget the sequence of a long passage, the Lord is there to prompt me with the first word or thought to get me back on track.

It seems improbable that it would take me all these years to understand what learning His word “by heart” means, but now I know, and I'll never forget.

Ask and You Will Receive. Really.

I want to share a recent experience with the Lord. But first, I need to give you some background so that you’ll understand the story.

I have a morning routine that almost never changes. Here is how the routine goes:

• First, I read the Bible while I eat breakfast.



• I make coffee, and then go upstairs to shower.


• Then I come downstairs and sit at the breakfast table talking aloud to the Lord (conversational prayer).
  
• I then kneel to pray to the Father (usually the Lord’s prayer with some daily conversation thrown in).


• I sit down again and ask the Lord what He would have me do today. (Note: About a year ago, I gave the Lord the responsibility for scheduling my days. So He tells me what to do and in what order. When I do what He says, there is always time to get everything done. It never fails.)
  

Recently, during our morning conversation (and before praying to the Father), I told the Lord that I was gaining too much weight, and asked if He could schedule in time to start working out again on a consistent basis. He said He could. We continued talking about going somewhere to do some photography that day.

Then He asked, “Why don’t you go clear the snow off the deck?”

“Now?” I asked thinking that we were going out to do some photography.

“Yes,” He replied.

I thought that the timing was odd because it was before the prayer, and we had just talked about going out shooting. I was puzzled, but I got busy and started clearing snow off the deck.

For the next two hours I worked on the deck. The sun was shinning with a soft golden glow that makes all the trees an amazing shade of green. The sky had watercolor shades of Northwest blues and slate-grays, and there were enormous, complex, and stunning cloud formations all strolling from west to east where they eventually stack up on top of the Cascade Mountains. It was just too beautiful for words. And it certainly made walking back and forth across the deck over and over pushing snow seem a lot less like work.

I came back inside and was drying my shoes and socks with the hairdryer when the Lord commented that the job didn’t take very long.

“It was quite a workout,” I responded.

“Isn’t that what you asked me to do?” He asked.

All I could do was laugh.

And, as He pointed out, “It was two days-worth of workouts.”

So then I prayed. Then I went to the store and bought some orchids.

Then I did that shooting that we had discussed.

And, sure enough, there was time for everything.