Habbits

A Devotional by Margot Ciocco

An amazing team of young people that helped with the Feed.

Psalm 71:3

Be my strong refuge,
         To which I may resort continually;
         You have given the 

commandment to save me,
         For You are my rock and my fortress. 

What I want to look at today is the part of the verse that say "to which I may resort continually".  Psalm 71 is accredited to David although there are some who say it might have been the prophet Jeremiah. In most cases it is considered to have been written by someone who was not up in years. Check out verse 9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails. If you are young you still feel pretty invincible and the idea of your strength failing is really not a part of your thoughts. As one gets older and your physical body begins to decline you have to find ways to do things that were in your youth not even an issues. At 50 I don't really think of myself as old but I can look back at my younger years and see how my own body is not what it once was. I get very tired of needing reader glasses just to see the words in my large print bible. One of the things that has grown stronger as I have walked with the Lord and grown older are the habits that I have developed though years of practicing. Things like practicing to look to God rather that to get turned inside out with worry. To choose to be thankful over being bitter, and ungrateful. To choose to be in the word and to know the many stories and verses that apply to various situations are things that have paid off and continue to pay off in my life.  I am able to look back at the mighty acts of God in my own life. The many many time when the situation appeared hopeless and yet God in some amazing way came through. I have practiced standing in faith, and prayer I have gone through my share of trials and known the presence and care of God in those seasons. At age 21 when I became a believer I did not have the benefit of being raised in a christian home. I did not know any of the stories that we teach to children in Sunday school. I am ever thankful for the handful of believing friends that came along side me and answer my questions and helped model for me the walk of a believer. God put in me a hunger for His word and the importance of fellowship with other believers, and I have grown to value prayer and need to be found at the feet of Jesus.  I look for opportunities to pay that gift forward to others who are young in the Lord.

Actually when I first came to notice Psalm 71 it was because there was a word in it that I did not know. In verse 7 I did not know the meaning of the word "portent"

Psalm 71:7 NIV I have become like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.

I found the word "Portent" defined as "a sign, mark, token that by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others and is known a sign, prodigy, portent, i.e. an unusual occurrence, transcending the common course of nature of signs portending remarkable events soon to happen of miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men sent by him, or by which men prove that the cause they are pleading is God'"

Much like David or Jeremiah or the wise older person that wrote this Psalm we should, the longer we walk with the Lord become a "Portent to many" People should be able to look at our life and see a track record of faith and wisdom that is developed by many years of walking closely to the Lord. It comes from listening and practicing being led by the Holy Spirit. It comes from years of studying the word and having learned to rightly divide and apply it.  Some of it comes from lessons learned from the school of hard knocks and from the bad decisions we have made.  Sadly some people look at their salvation more as fire insurance that gets them a ticket into heaven and they go on with life as usual on their own terms. They don't spend time in the word or prayer or time alone with the Lord. They might hit a church service once in a while or run from place to place to find others to pray for them. If that is you, its time to grow up and get out of spiritual diapers. 

 

I love to listen to the sermons on Sunday but I am not dependent on them as my main source of spiritual food. My source is my own bible and my quiet time with the Lord and the Holy Spirit that leads me into all truth. As a result I am able to go to church on Sunday and encourage and serve others. I am able to be a "Portent to many". Not because I am so remarkable but because I have a vast treasury of experience with the Lord to draw upon when I minister to others. 

I had a man at our feeding say to me I don't want to be beat over the head with the bible. I could say to him with confidence that I would not do that to him. I did say however that if you ever have questions I would be happy to talk with you. This man has come and little by little over the course of several week taken little bites to taste and see what I am all about. I am pretty sure he is finding that I am kind of salty and flavorful and week after week he is drawn to come and talk to me a little more. I have found in ministering to the homeless and poor that there are both people of great faith and people who are searching but need more than someone quoting verses to them about how to get saved. They need to see the truths of the gospel really lived before them. They see too many church people come and go demanding that they get saved or listen to yet another salvation message to receive a meal or a coat. Those people come and go with the notches in their belts of people they feel they have evangelized. Jesus calls us to make disciples - to do that requires walking with someone as he walked with His disciples. He taught them and modeled for them how the Kingdom worked.

It takes time for the people we feed each week to realize that we will be here for them on good days and bad days. That we will love them in spite of how messed up they are. Little by little they begin to open up and share their pain and frustration. Little by little they begin to see that we will walk with them the often long road to freedom in Christ. 

Where am I going with this today? Its not look at me, but look at what God can do when we trust him and develop positive spiritual habits. How as we become older we can stay fresh and green.   

Psalms 92 ¹² The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
         He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
 ¹³ Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
         Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
 ¹⁴ They shall still bear fruit in old age;
         They shall be fresh and flourishing

 

I don't know where you are in your journey with the Lord. You may be my age and maybe you are just deciding to become serious about your walk with the Lord.  Maybe you have been walking with the Lord steadily over many years and are seeing the fruit that has grown and developed over time even as your body grows older. Maybe you are still young and you have the zeal and energy of youth and are just coming to the Lord. Where ever you are in your relationship with the Lord I encourage you to know Him more. To take the time out of your busy life to be found daily in His word and in his presence. There are things like character that are developed through use and practice and through making a habit of looking to the Lord and a habit of walking with the Lord and a habit of being found in his word that will cause you to become a marvel and a wonder a portent or a big sign that points to Jesus as people taste your life they find that God is good and he is faithful, that he can be trusted and leaned on. That in Him are the answers that they need. 

Prayer: 

Dear Lord, Where ever each one is in their relationship with you I pray that today you would help them to know you more fully and more deeply. I thank you for those who helped me get off to a good start and to set a strong foundation that I have been able to build upon through the years. I pray that like me we would each as we are being built up in you would look for other for whom we may also help. I pray that these readers would not think they need to wait till someday when they have become a spiritual giant to begin sharing what they know of you with others. I pray that today they would look for opportunities to encourage others. I pray that our heart would be to find those people to walk along side both those who are more advanced and those that are not as far along to come beside. May those that are farther encourage us and those that are not so far along that we might encourage them. Help us to pass along or pay forward the many gifts and blessings we have received as we have walked with the Lord.