Are You a Practitioner?

We went out back  a few days ago to toss the ball for the dog and after a while I found myself with pruning shears in hand cutting away the debris that came down from the trees during the recent hurricane.  In the far corner of the yard there was a tangle of vines and broken branches that was precariously hanging from an oak tree a few inches from the top of our shed where we store the riding mower, lawn and garden equipment and a variety of other items.  

This particular tree sits (or rather leans at a slight angle toward my property) on the other side of our fence in a commons area between us and the neighborhood park.  I always assumed that it was community property.  But I recently discovered when following the red flags marking the property line from the survey we had done before we purchased the home that this tree is actually on our property.  

I knew that our property line goes an additional 10 feet or so beyond the back fence, but was not aware that it angles out another 12 feet or so where the side and back lines connect before angling back to the gate on that side of our yard.  So that 50 – 60 foot Oak is our responsibility!  

But back to my original point… I was pretty tired when I went out that afternoon but forced myself outside to give the pooch some exercise.  By the time I had cut down the vines, removed the broken branches and trimmed a lot of the over-growth from the back fence line, I found myself full of energy and realized that I was having a great time!  I think that it is wonderful to know that we don’t have to depend on our own strength throughout each and every day!

I wrote about Psalm 143:8 last week where the psalmist extols the Christian’s hunger to learn more about Papa God’s love each morning.  He goes on to explain how Christians like you and me have put their expectations in Him and desire to know the way that He would have us to go for we “long for and have anchored the very vitality – our exuberance, physical strength, mental vigor and the vital force and purpose of our lives on Him!” (personalized from the God’s Word © and Contemporary English Versions)

Well, that’s what happened to me!  My physical body was drained but He gave me the strength and joy to complete a task and enjoy doing it!  I was talking with someone the other day explaining how I regularly worked two or three jobs at a time throughout the years while we raised our family, but have never been so stretched and physically, mentally and emotionally challenged as I have been over these last seven years as a 24/7 care giver for my sweet wife.

But even in the midst of these trying times, Papa God is there as the vitality of my life.  You see… I don’t have to depend on my own strength, my own abilities or my own determination!  I just have to stay in tune to Him and His Word and allow His joy to be my strength!  When everything else is stripped away, He is the vital force and principle of my life!  I’ve learned that nothing else matters… nothing or nobody else can do what He alone can do!  When one is faced with what the world calls impossible each and every day, His possibilities shine as a candle in the night.

I can’t… and I won’t take my eyes off of Him for “with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 KJV)  That’s how I can smile when the health care professionals, family members, neighbors, friends and the people we walk past in the stores we shop at look at me with that sad look of hopelessness in their eyes.  I tell Piper all the time that she is a living epistle of the Word of God and will testify of how His Word is working in her body perfecting a healing and a cure.

And as for me… well, I am a practitioner of Mark 9:23 ‘cause I believe and shall see that “all things are possible to him that believes!” (MKJV)  How about you?

Have a great weekend, keep your eyes and your expectations on Him and keep asking yourself… “Whose Word am I expecting to believe and act on today?”