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Today's Bible Verse:

"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace." (Matt 6:6, MSG)

 

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A Heart After God. Majestic Mountain View Series, Part 24

Many can't fathom the grace of our Heavenly Father, even though they are active in their religion. They are always busy, so busy that they don't have time to be with God. No wonder they cannot appreciate grace. Many among them end up burned-out!

Strength can only be obtained in in a quiet, secluded place. Hope can only occur when we are not tempted to role-play before our Father. Grace can only become a reality when we simply and honestly come before our Father, for it is only then that our focus shifts from ourselves to our Heavenly Father. Once we realize that our Father is amidst us, grace will flow forth.

Let's remember that this grace was obtained at a very high cost: Jesus gave his life so that we could be reconciled with our Father once again. All of us have wandered away to destruction, but now we have the opportunity to experience Him fully once again. His grace will fill us to the top. Honesty truly pays off, while role-playing will leave us wanting.

Jane Haining, a Scottish Missionary to the Jewish children in Budapest in 1932, knew her priorities: loving God and others. She often took the time to talk with our Father in a quiet place. She always genuinely shared everything with Him. He became her everything.

Jane, with her heavy Scottish accent, was very popular in Budapest. Many amongst the children attending her school were orphans. They loved her, for she genuinely loved each one of her students.

World War 2 broke out while she was on leave in Scotland, but nothing would stop her from leaving immediately for Budapest. She had to be there to protect her Jewish students. Soon missionaries living on mainland Europe were called back to the safety of their own countries. Here again, Jane went to a secluded place to receive confirmation of our Father's will. She realized then that she couldn't leave her students. If children needed her in days of sunshine, how much more she needed to be with them during the dark days of the war, and during those darkest times, when Jews were persecuted relentlessly by the Nazis, she tried everything in her power to protect those children.

Sadly, someone denounced her to the Gestapo. She was arrested and thrown in a dark cell. She was accused of being a spy and of helping Jews. Later she was deported with her Jewish children to Auschwitz, and on August 16, 1944, she went to the gas chamber with a group of Hungarian women. She gave her life for her children, just as Jesus did. She had a heart after God's own heart.

Role-playing leads nowhere. We need genuine believers who will make a difference in this world, just as Jesus did: "Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived." (1John 2:6, MSG) This can only be made possible by spending time with our father.

I wonder if we would have been willing to die for these persecuted Jewish children?

Rob Chaffart

Announcement:

Would you like to make a difference in the world? Why not join the Answers2Prayer team? We have many volunteer positions available. By joining in, you can help in carrying out the Great Commission: Matt 28:18-20 "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"

The time is right and we are in need of many laborers. Matt 9:37-38 "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

If compelled by God, let us know.

Rob Chaffart

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