"My Maintenance Inhaler"

A couple of years ago one of my daughters was diagnosed with asthma. The doctor started her on what they called a "maintenance" inhaler twice a day indefinately.  These two puffs twice a day were so important so much to the point where it determined regular breathing or hardly breathing for my baby girl. So, you could imagine what would happen if we "forgot" to give her inhaler to her a couple of times?  We would start seeing my daughter having a difficult time catching her breath, especially in the cold weather.

You see, the maintenance inhaler is just that, it helps maintain a healthy breathing pattern. Well, our spending time with the Lord is much like it in the same way, in that we must maintain a relationship everyday. By doing so, it is much easier to handle the difficulties when they come, and they will come.

It's usually easier, no matter what it is in life, to stay caught up, rather than if you were always playing catch up. Would you agree? I think most of us would.  That's why I choose Jesus to be "My Maintenance Inhaler". He gives me eternal life and helps sustain my spiritual walk by spending time with Him. By seeking Him out, we get close to Him. In James 4:8- it says "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

Just as by not using your maintenance inhaler correctly as prescribed by your doctor, could lead to a deadly situation, and in the same manner we could develop almost a spiritual anorexia in which we could be on the verge of starving our prayer life. 

So let me leave you with one question. Are you showing signs of suffocation because of spiritual anorexia? If so, lets all commit to taking our "puffs" from our maintenance inhaler (Jesus) daily and fatten ourselves up on the Word of God a bit.

"The Greatest Love"

"Jesus, You are truly the Light of my life,

You rescued me and gave me the strength to fight,

You are my everything,

I can't say with words how much to me you mean,

I can show You by giving You my praise,

And by singing aloud with my hands raised,

There is nothing in this world that I love more,

Since I asked You in by opening my heart's door,

Lord, You are there as I draw near,

And faithful to make my path very clear,

You are my Jesus whom I'll always love,

So, any difficulties I face in this life, I'll put You above"

"Truly Amazing"

"God has shown me the areas where I've been wrong,

Through the teaching of His Word and His Praises in the Psalms,

He is so determined to want us to succeed,

That He will go to the ends of the earth if that's what we need,

He's not a God that He see just one person left,

The Word says coming to the saving knowledge of Grace is for our best,

God is gracious to offer us His Mercy,

Even while we are still dirty,

He offers us a brand-new Hope,

One from Jesus, not the world, will stay afloat,

These rhyming words in this poem are nothing new,

But, the subject matter in God's Word, my life has found to be true."

 



"Your Free Gift"

"The Only way to God is through His Son,

Then your New Beginning has begun,

Jesus left us a Comforter as He ascended to the Father,

And by trusting in Him you would need no other,

The Holy Spirit will help you stay on the straight and narrow,

By following Him, He'll guide the direction of your life's arrow,

You see, God loves and cares for us so,

Not even the most intelligent person could ever know,

God's Ways are not our ways,

And He knows the number of your days,

So seek and find Him while you still can today,

Because waiting until tomorrow may be too late."



"Don't Waste Time"

"Do we waste the life we've been given,

Or do we answer God's calling and start living,

When we learn to hear God's own voice,

Doing what He says is always our choice,

He makes our hearts to want to serve,

All people even those we think don't deserve,

It's not up to us to judge,

And even more so to hold a grudge,

When we let go, and let God lead,

He will open our eyes so we can see,

I'm saying today is the day to make things right,

The Word of God says do it before ends night."

"Invisible Pain"

"The pain I feel you cannot see,

But, it is real inside of me,

You look at me and say "he's all good",

When in reality, you misunderstood,

I look normal until I begin to walk,

If you got to know me better, I'd talk,

The pain inside of me, you have no clue,

But this one thing I know to be true,

Because of what Jesus' Blood did for me,

His death took care of all my needs,

Yes, I still deal with physical pain no eye can see,

But my heart, and my spirit have been set free."

"The Trial Lawyer"

"Peace Comes In The Mourning"

 "Peace comes from enduring the trials of our life,

Although during it feels like being stuck with a knife,

The pain is grueling as we all know,

But in our heart of hearts it must hurt for us to grow,

As God stretches us to our very limits,

All we can think is "when will this end", counting down the minutes,

The time goes by before our own eyes,

We try waiting patiently for God's reply,

And If we wait just a little longer,

God has promised to be faithful and make us stronger."

I believe some of us treat our trials like a relay race. We start as the gun goes off only to carry our problems ourselves, then we hand it off to someone else (tell a friend), then to God. Then we take the baton back from God because He wasn't working quite fast enough or doing it in the way we thought it should be done. Because it's natural for us to feel the need to be in control of the situation.

You know, God has instructed us to give Him our worries various times in His Word (1 Peter 5:7-"Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."). I wonder how many times we were about to have our prayers answered only to have them be delayed because we couldn't trust God to handle them for us. God never intended for us to go at it alone. We were put on this planet and designed to need someone, not to isolate ourselves from God or people. (1 Corinthians 12:24-26-"while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.")

When we put ourselves in a box, we isolate ourselves from everyone, as to say we don't need anyone. That's not true. We all need someone. We ALL needed a Savior. God knew that, so He sent His Son Jesus. But, we sometimes have a tendency to want to "John Wayne" it, and that wasn't God's plan. I've said this before, God wants the best for us. Is it truly God's best that we go through live alone? With no friends?  I think not!

Satan uses isolation when we are going through a struggle. His plan is to keep us away from the flock (church). The very same people that would stand in the gap for us in prayer. The church is the body of Christ. We are called to be there for one another through the good and the bad (1 Thessalonians 5:10-11-"He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."). Look at it this way, wolves hunt in packs, they draw one sheep, usually a young or a weak one away from the rest of the herd. Then they attack it as a group only to devour it. Satan, plays the same game with God's people. He does it in a patient manner though. It may be through the music we listen too, t.v. computer. Now, none of these things are bad in moderation. But they can all be used as tools to draw us away from spending time with God, family, friends, everybody from the outside world. Then when he's got us there he starts putting thoughts in our heads that shouldn't be there.

And if we allow this for very long without reinforcing our thoughts with the Word of God, you may start believing them. That's the point where Satan has hooked you. And you don't even realize you've been caught. The mind is a battlefield, we must protect it with the artillery of God's Word! You know, Jesus intercedes for us in Romans 8:34-"Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."
So, Paul says Jesus is interceding for us in Heaven. God has acquitted us and has removed our sin and guilt, so it is Satan, not God, who accuses us. When he does, Jesus, our advocate for our defense, stands at God's right hand to present our case. Now you see, we have a Trial Lawyer, His name is Jesus!