by Stephanie P. | Mar 3, 2020 | Devotional, Uncategorized
A knock on his door woke him.
As he got up to answer it, he realized how late it was. “Who could be here at midnight?” he thought. As he opened the door, there stood a friend who had traveled a long way and was both tired and hungry. Realizing he had nothing in his house to feed his friend, he hurried to his neighbor.
As he pounded on their door, the man shouted he had company who just arrived, and he had nothing to feed him. The neighbor called out, “Leave me alone, I’m in bed!” The man who had company did not give up. He continued to shout his need until his neighbor gave him what he wanted.
Before Jesus taught this parable in Luke 11:5-8, he taught the Lord’s Prayer. With that prayer, He showed us the way to pray. However, the parable explains how we are to pray. It’s not just the words we use, but the persistence we show.
In Luke 11:8 (ESV), Jesus said about the neighbor who didn’t want to get out of bed, “I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence (or persistence) he will rise and give him whatever he needs.” What does this mean? The neighbor didn’t get up because his friend asked him for food; he got up because he knew his neighbor was not going away until he got what he needed.
The Hebrew equivalent of the word impudence is chutzpah and it means brazen tenacity. We can better understand this if we know the meaning of these two words, too. The word brazen means to be bold and without shame[1] and tenacity means to have determination. [2]
Is this how you pray? I honestly can’t say it describes all my prayers. In some rabbinical (Jewish) literature, they describe Moses’ intercession for the children of Israel as if he took hold of God’s garment and pleaded with Him to pardon them. [3] This is chutzpah. This is what Jesus taught.
In Luke 8:43-48, Scripture tells us about a woman who knew Jesus could heal her of a bleeding disorder if she could only touch His garment. There was a great crowd around Jesus; people were pressing up against Him making it almost impossible to get close.
Yet, her brazen tenacity didn’t let a crowd stop her from getting to the feet of Jesus. When she touched his garment, Jesus knew power had gone from of Him. After the woman came to Him and told Him why she touched Him, Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
The blind beggar in Luke 18:35-43 didn’t stop yelling for Jesus to have mercy on him even though people told him to be quiet. When Jesus asked him what he wanted, he replied, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” Jesus said, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” The beggar had brazen tenacity. He would not be silent, so Jesus stopped to talk to him.
Like them, our brazen tenacity evidences our faith. There are stories throughout the Gospels about people who did not take “no” for an answer by pushing past boundaries to get to Jesus. These were only a few stories in which Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you.”
What about the times our faith and tenacity don’t get our prayer answered in the way we hope? We all know someone who didn’t get healed or lost a child or spouse from a terrible disease. Or maybe it’s you whose prayer has not been answered. Does Jesus love us less? Did He not hear our cries in the dark or at the altar? We don’t always know why we get a “no” or “wait” from our Lord.
In her book, To Live is Christ, Beth Moore explained that in the Bible Jesus healed for two reasons. One was to prove His authenticity. He was and is the Son of God. The second reason He healed was when natural methods were not possible. [4]
The healing or the suffering? God knows which one it is. He doesn’t want us to suffer, but if our suffering takes us deeper into our relationship with Him, then it’s worth it. He knows our ultimate healing is in Heaven. But that does not mean we pray with any less brazen tenacity. Like the man who needed food from his neighbor, keep pounding on Heaven’s door.
Is there anything you have not asked the Lord because you thought it wasn’t worthy or because you felt embarrassed by it? In the verses which follow the parable in Luke 11:9 (ESV), Jesus said,
“Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.”
Jesus doesn’t want us to stop asking, seeking or knocking. Approach His throne boldly knowing He hears you and He loves you. Never give up. Pray boldly with shameless determination.
[1] Google.com, https://www.google.com/search?q=brazen+definition&rlz=1C1CAFA_enUS630US711&oq=brazen&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.4848j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
[2] Google.com, https://www.google.com/search?q=brazen+definition&rlz=1C1CAFA_enUS630US711&oq=brazen&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.4848j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#dobs=tenacity
[3] Young, Brad H., The Parables, Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation, Baker Academic 1998, pg. 63
[4] Moore, Beth, To Live is Christ, B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN, 2001. Pg. 77.
by Stephanie P. | Feb 25, 2020 | Devotional
It was night, and I was in the middle of a forest when I saw him.
It was difficult to make out his features; I only saw darkness—evil. He had something in his arms. What was it? It was small but moving on its own. It was a baby! I knew it could not be his, and I feared he would harm it. As I walked closer to him, he ran.
I chased him for what seemed like hours in the humid night air. My heart pounded and my chest heaved, but I couldn’t stop until I had the baby. Not knowing what I would do once I caught up with him, I kept running. I prayed hard.
God needed to help me rescue the baby.
I don’t know why, but he stopped. Catching up to the man, I snatched the baby from him, although I can’t remember how. Then I just ran and ran with him on my heels. I ruined his plan, and he was angry. He chased me to exhaustion. Suddenly, I realized there was nowhere to go. I had come to a white fence too high to climb with the baby in my arms. With my back to the fence, I watched as the figure approach me—his arrogant eyes victorious. I didn’t know what to do.
As the evil one stood before me, trying to pluck the child out of my arms, I could only whisper the name of Jesus. I realized this man hated that Name. Although it was dark, I could see his body recoil. It made me brave. I shouted Jesus’ name with everything I had.
The Name terrified him and he ran as I pursued him, yelling Jesus’ name. I watched until he was out of sight.
Then I woke up.
The next day, I got up feeling nauseous. Since my husband and I were trying to get pregnant, and I worked in a hospital lab, my coworkers gave me a pregnancy test. It was positive.
Little did I know how difficult this pregnancy would be.
At eight weeks, I passed some blood. I panicked. I was sure I had miscarried. As the doctor did an ultrasound, he discovered I had twins and explained I passed nothing more than an isolated clot.
But it continued to go downhill from there. The morning sickness was terrible. I couldn’t eat anything but ice and lost weight for the first fourteen weeks of my pregnancy. The headaches and migraines were awful, too.
I passed out one afternoon at work while on my way to the bathroom. That freaked out my coworkers. The doctor told me later my babies had pressed against my abdominal aorta and temporarily cut off blood flow to my brain. It was the last time that happened.
At twenty-seven weeks, my water broke on my way to work. The shuttle driver, who picked me up at an offsite parking lot, drove me straight to the emergency room.
He was more of a mess than I was.
The doctors and nurses seemed amused by the shuttle driver’s reaction because I looked full-term. Once I explained I was twenty-seven weeks with twins, they sobered.
Fear overwhelmed me. I called my husband to tell him the bad news: our babies were coming too soon. They transferred me to a different hospital which was better equipped to handle premature births.
As they prepped me for a caesarian section, the nurse informed me my babies would only be a pound and a half each and would stay in the hospital until their due date, which was thirteen weeks away. I prayed they would be bigger than the nurse claimed.
After their birth, Alexandria and Matthew were each a little over two pounds. A nurse told me I must have been farther along than I thought. But I knew better. Doctors and nurses rushed to hook them up to ventilators, IV lines, and heart and respiratory monitors.
One day, two weeks later, my daughter developed pneumonia in both bronchial tubes. The phone call from the hospital, informing us our baby was in critical condition, woke us at four a.m. We prayed the rest of the morning for her. When I got to the NICU later, she looked as if she were dying. Alexandria’s skin was gray from a lack of oxygen, and the doctor gave her a drug paralyzing her to prevent her from fighting the ventilator. God was faithful, though. He healed her tiny body and before long; she was as feisty as ever.
Another time, Matthew stopped breathing after the doctor removed him from the ventilator. As I watched the nurse bagging him—forcing air into his lungs, his tiny lifeless body refused to respond. She called the nearby doctor for help. I stood, wanting to scream for someone to help my baby. Instead, I prayed—begging God to save Matthew.
Suddenly, it felt as though someone’s hands were on my shoulders and I felt a peace I cannot describe. I heard the Lord’s assurance Matthew would go home with me as I sat back down in my chair. My babies came home after ten weeks at the hospital.
Matthew and Alexandria are now almost twenty-four years old. Although they had difficulties at times, they are healthy and happy college graduates.
The baby in my dream represented the babies I did not know I was pregnant with. At the time of my nightmare, we did not have a fence, nor was it in our plans to have one.
My husband had a six-foot white fence installed after I gave birth.
I realized after a year or two, it was this enclosure I had seen in my dream. The woods behind our property is where it had taken place.
The Lord gave me that vision to prepare me, not just for the battle my babies would go through to survive but to show me He would be there as soon as I called His Name. He had already won the battle; all I needed was faith.
Matthew 21:22 ESV says, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith.”
by Stephanie P. | Jan 28, 2020 | Devotional, Uncategorized
I watched my dog, Agape transform into a predator.
From my front window, I could see a herd of twelve deer, all does, walking up my long driveway. We have a six-foot-high fence and gate surrounding our five acres of property.
Our German shepherd guarded it. She saw them and at once went into hunter mode. Agape crouched, never taking her eyes off the deer while inching her way toward the herd. As she tore into a full sprint, they saw her and ran.
First, she separated them into two groups. The first group jumped over or went through the vertical PVC splines of our fence forcing them to expand to the circumference of their bodies.
She stayed with the second group, chasing them to the back of our property.
I followed window to window trying to keep up.
My dog drove the next group into two, and then separated a doe and her yearling, from the others. At this point, I ran to my garage to watch this match unfold.
The mother doe, who Agape separated from the yearling, came out of nowhere nearly knocking me over as she ran past me back to the front yard. The yearling ran along the opposite side of the driveway with my shepherd on her heels… uh, hooves.
We have a fifteen-foot-wide rock-lined creek across our front yard.
As I watched the yearling run towards it, I could see my dog getting excited as she anticipated the kill; the deer had nowhere to go.
Then, it happened.
In one graceful leap, the doeling sailed over the fifteen-foot cavern, catching up with her mother on the other side. My breath caught; it was a beautiful site.
But my sweet, defeated dog stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the creek and the deer on the other side. I called her. She came with her head bowed as she lost the will to chase the pair any longer.
What I Learned from this
First, watching this 100-pound dog go after twelve 100-200 pound deer, I wondered how different the outcome may have been if those deer stopped acting as prey and realized they outnumbered and out-weighed my dog.
They could have turned the tables on her and left her running to her doghouse with her tail between her legs.
Our Predator
Satan is our predator.
When Satan’s prowling turns into an all-out sprint against us, we can stand against him as the body of Christ. There is no need to scatter in fear.
Our joint weight and power in the Holy Spirit defeats Satan as we pray for one another in the name of Jesus.
Has there ever been a time in which you tried to fight a battle alone?
Read Ephesians 6:18.
We are stronger together!
by Stephanie P. | Nov 11, 2019 | Devotional
Today’s post is by my friend Diane Virginia. She is a wonderful storyteller and I love to read everything she writes. This story was first used on www1.cbn.com for a Memorial Day post. Since it is Veteran’s Day, I thought is was appropriate to use it.
I hope you enjoy it.
In Ronald Reagan’s 1986 Memorial Day[1] speech given at Arlington National Cemetery, [2] the President says, “It’s the young who do the fighting and dying when a peace fails and a war begins.” He lists hero after hero, outlining through these examples why we honor our fallen military men and women.
Reagan shares, “Not far from here is the statue of the three
servicemen. … Perhaps you’ve seen it—three rough boys walking together, looking
ahead with a steady gaze. … The three are touching each other, as if they’re
supporting each other, helping each other on.” Reagan is stirred by this
artistic rendition of the three young men because it typifies the commitment
and courage of the United States’ armed forces, some having given their own
lives to save the lives of their loved ones at home.
King David, for example, like Reagan, makes an accounting of his
military men and their achievements. First, he names Adino the Ezinite who
spears eight hundred enemies in one battle. He continues his honorarium and
names Shammah the Harite who stands his ground in a barley field refusing to
yield it to the Philistines (see II Samuel 23:8). David mentions other heroes
along with their accomplishments.
If God is “The Prince of Peace” (see Isaiah 9:6), then why do we fight wars in the first place? President Reagan answers this question towards the end of his speech by saying, “If we really care about peace, we must, through our strength, demonstrate our unwillingness to accept an ending of the peace. We must be strong enough to create peace where it does not exist and strong enough to protect it where it does.”
Sometimes peace needs to be enforced by military prowess. When godless men oppress our children, women, and elderly, it is then we must call upon the courageous amongst us, including our brave young men and women, to save us from these intruders.
Our peace is not free…. It is the gift of selfless heroes who look beyond their needs to secure ours. Jesus says,
“The thief comes only to kill
and steal and destroy. I [Jesus] came that they may have life and have it abundantly
(John 10:10b ESV).”
Our military robs the enemy of his assignment to destroy, and
secures life for us.
It is fitting for us to honor our fallen American mighty men and
women, for they have paid the ultimate price to secure our freedom, because
their love is like our Lord’s. When Jesus faces death on Calvary’s cross to
save humanity, He says,
“Greater love has no one than
this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13 ESV).”
Jesus leads the spiritual army, and conquers the ultimate
battle—and in the process, secures for us eternal life.
It is worthy of a national pause to thank God for the United
States’ armed forces, who have followed in the footsteps of Commander Jesus by
giving their lives to save ours.
Thank You Lord, for our
fallen heroes, for they have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep America
free.
[1]Memorial Day was first called
Decoration Day, and established as a national observance by General John A.
Logan in May 1868.
[2]https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiF6ZTh55jhAhVpUN8KHVNEBmUQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailysignal.com%2F2011%2F05%2F30%2Fpresident-reagans-1986-memorial-day-speech-at-arlington-national-cemetery%2F&psig=AOvVaw2q4PjeRAlKocp
Copyright © 2019: All rights reserved: VineWords Stories and Devotions Inspired by the Vine: Author Diane Virginia Cunio; Pen Name, Diane Virginia: Fallen Heroes: Our American Mighty Men; www.vinewords.net
About the Author
Diane Virginia Cunio is the author of The Kiss of Peace: An
Intimate Exploration into Song of Solomon (awaiting publication). She
is passionate about sharing Beloved Jesus’ divine love for you, His bride, as
allegorically portrayed in the vignette, Song of Solomon.
She has developed the
model for motion-activated musical prayer-stations for use in the garden
retreat, themed to the places you as Beloved’s bride travel to in Song of
Solomon.
Diane is a regular
contributor for Christian Broadcasting Network. She has written for Faith
Beyond Fear, Pentecostal Publishing House, The Secret Place, and other
ministries.
To schedule Diane as a speaker, please
contact her via her website: Stories
and Devotions Inspired by the Vine. You may
find her on Facebook or
contact her via email at email@vinewords.net.
by Stephanie P. | Oct 8, 2019 | Devotional
A filter is a common word in today’s
vernacular. Growing up, it meant a white, paper thingy you used in your Mr.
Coffee to keep the coffee grains from getting into your cup of caffeine. Now,
we have the French press and the Keurig, and there is no need of the big, white
filters anymore.
Filters on our phones and computers
make our selfies and pictures look anyway we want. I can make myself look
twenty years younger, glamorous, silly, or like a cat, dog, biker, or a banana.
I have friends and family who love to take
selfies with Snapchat. We send crazy photos to each other, laugh at one
another, and make comments.
You can turn a color photo into
black and white or a vintage-style picture. On Instagram, there are over twenty
different filters to choose from to apply to every picture we take.
But….
All of us have filters ingrained within us.
We can have filters for different reasons:
We inherit certain filters, people teach them to us, or they develop in us by circumstances beyond our control.
We had a German shepherd named
Olivia who loved us as much as we loved her. She knew we would protect her so
she protected us. She knew she could trust us, too. Whenever anyone came over,
she would walk up to them and roll onto her back so they could rub her belly.
She loved people because no one had ever given her a reason not to. (I realize
that is not always the case.)
Our current dog, Sophie, does not
trust anyone. To us, she is the sweetest dog, but let someone visit or drop off
a package and she will bark and growl at them until we make her stop, which is
why she must stay behind a fence.
Sophie has a pancreatic problem which also causes behavior (fear) issues. Before we knew what was wrong with her, she was already starving. Her body did not digest the large amounts of food we gave her so she ate everything she found. Believe me it was not good. She ate dozens of eggs from our chickens and a couple of times she ate the chicken, too. :((
Two dogs raised in the same way, but
one loved all people and the other is afraid of everyone.
Hurt, betrayal, pain, illness, or any injustice can be a filter causing us to see things a certain way. Our worldview can skew how we perceive God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, or how we read and interpret the Bible.
For example, sometimes I may need to examine why I react to particular things. I have a friend who told me if I always over-react to the same kinds of comments or behaviors (triggers); I can ask God for the cause of this reaction.
He has been faithful to show me why
certain things trigger a negative response from me. My trust issues and
disappointment with others stem from family dynamics which affected me as a
child.
God has done deep healing in me over
the years.
I want to see Him without the
filters caused by my parent’s dysfunction. And I want to know truth that only the
Holy Spirit and the Word of God can teach me without the negative filters of hurt
instilled by teachers and pastors through their erroneous teachings.
Ask God to remove your current filters through his healing and truth. Ask Him to reveal the root of those filters.
Be transparent. Remove the filters telling people you are happy all the time and you don’t need anything. Be vulnerable. Let people get to know the real you.
