Little Things 7/30-31/18

30-31 July 2018 - Little Things – Manna by Dorothy and Tony Callies

Jesus told a story of The Parable of the Ten Pounds. The part that I want to focus on is “little or small things.” Luke 19:16-17, The lord said to the servant who have gained ten pounds more. “You are a good servant because you have been faithful in a very little . . .” (My translation).  I stopped there because I wanted to focus on that part.

New Century Version is a good translation.  “The King said to the servant, ‘Excellent! You are a good servant.  Since I can trust you with small things . . .” (Luke 19:17).

Dorothy: Actually, the Manna of July 28-29 had three titles: Little Things; All Glory to God; and Empowerment. I printed it to edit them.  Then I realized I had more to say a few things. I just didn’t know how to divide the part, but then it seems easier to write another Manna for July 30-31.  This one has something to do what I was going through that is related to July 28-29 Manna how the verses fits my situation. 

It was a humiliating experience which is why I didn’t want to mention it with July 28-29 Manna until July 30-31 Manna.  It’s awkward for me, but I will start . . . with feet . . . There are times Tony struggled to wash his feet and put on socks.  Most of the mornings, I would wash his feet, and dry them. At times, I didn’t have strength to do them. Often I had to sit on stool to make my job easier.  I struggled . . .

Thought came to me, why am I doing this . . . washing feet . . . my strength was limited. .. I wasn’t feeling good because the maintenance men couldn’t find the problem of me smelling the gas from the laundry room since we moved in last June 12th.  They tested it and several times, they can’t seem to find the problem.

Finally, a friend said to call the gas company to check it and they found the problem.  It was furnace, the corner pipe had 1/2” leak. The gas man called the Landlord’s maintenance man to call the furnace man to come and check it.  So they got the part and changed them. The gas smell disappeared and I started to feel better.  

I got my strength back and I was able to use disposable washcloth on Tony’s feet . . . Then I had a vision of God’s feet that I washing His feet as well as Tony’s feet. I don’t know how to explain this, but it wasn’t a thrilling experience at all.  It was just like the verse quoted, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Was I making God happy washing His feet?  Is that what glory of God means? 

It was a mediation time and it grew on me. Jesus said to me, “Just think of Me, washing my feet. You envision the nail prints on my feet.” That’s where a friend shared about the empowerment, “I can do all things through Him Who empowers me from within!” (Phil. 4:13).

I pray: “Lord, thank You for empowered me to do little things like washing feet as though they were great, since I do them in Your name.” During the day, I felt a song came to my heart and I could sense God’s joy in my soul and then I understood how important the little things are to Him.

This is only a small part on my side.  I can imagine that there are many of little things that God wants you to do.  You just got to find them.  “Whatever you do, just simply makes God happy doing little things for Him.” 

Song came to me:

He will fill your heart today to overflowing,

As the Lord commanded you,

“Bring your vessels, not a few.”

He will fill your heart today to overflowing

With the Holy Ghost and power. 

[Lelia Naylor Morris, Sing His Praise]

May the Lord bless you richly!

Dorothy

PS. This song came from the story of “The Widow’s Oil” in 2 Kings 4:1-7. What the title “Bring your vessels, not a few” meant “Bring many vessels you can find” from neighbors and fill them with oil, sell them, and pay your debts to the creditors.

All Glory to God 7/28-29/18

28-29 July 2018 - All Glory to God – Manna by Dorothy and Tony Callies

1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

This is a constant reminder that whatever I do I need to remember that I am doing it all to the glory of God.  It is like, I am making God happy. I am honoring Him.  I am pleasing Him.  He is the Creator so He is pleased what He created me to be. 

Prayer: “Lord, help me to do great things as though they were little, since I do them with Your power; and little things as though they were great, since I do them in Your name.” This prayer is very deeply scriptural.  Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil.4:13) and encourages, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). [Notes from Daily Bread]

I want to share a friend’s translation:  I like the word empower.  Our fellowship group quotes Phil 4:13 this way: “I can do all things through Him Who empowers me from within!” Sometimes we replace the words “Him Who” with Yahshua (Hebrew Name for Jesus- some people spell it Yeshua).  

The word “empower” reminds me of John Graham’s preaching way back in 2003 in the state of Washington when National Deaf Culture Fellowship were present. John used several illustrations to explain what empower means.  One illustration I remember was when John was working on something, he had problem and he could not get it right.  So his wife came and asked what he needs help with.  John explained and his wife knew what to do and got it fixed. 

Then John explained the idea was “empower.”  When he could not solved the problem alone, his wife came to help.  This is “empower.”  My wife came to help me and she empower me to be able to do my job.  Together we signed “power” and “with” as “together.”  Empowerment means together.  Like we have problem, Christ came and asked what do you need?  He works with us.  That is empowerment. 

God is glorified when Christ empowered us to do it all for the glory of God.  I pray again that Holy Spirit help us: “Lord, help me to do great things as though they were little, since I do them with Your power; and little things as though they were great, since I do them in Your name.”  In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!

Song: Friendship with Jesus

Friendship with Jesus

Fellowship divine;

Oh, what blessed sweet communion,

Jesus is a friend of mine.

(Inspiring Choruses)

May God bless you today!

Dorothy

Discipline 7/26-27/18

26-27 July 2018 - Discipline – Manna by Dorothy and Tony Callies

Hebrews 12:11 KJV: “No chastening seems to be joyful . . . but . . . afterward it yielded fruit of righteousness . . .”

Sounds like it’s difficult to grasp this meaning of the word, chastening. For me, the best translation is disciplines. It means strict training that corrects or strengthens mental ability or moral character.  The translation of New Century Version seems easy to read.

“We do not enjoy being disciplined.  It is painful, but later after we learned from it, we have peace, because we start living in the right way.” Heb. 12:11.  I was reading the devotion from the Daily Bread and here’s what I found, an article from Joe Stowell.

“God is passionately interested in our positive growth as His children.  At times He needs to confront us with unpleasant circumstances to catch our attention and *reorient our lives to more consistently produce the “peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11).  *reorient=to face the situation again.  Don’t resist God’s corrective hand.  Respond to His reproofs (corrections) with thankfulness that He loves you enough to care about what kind of a person you’re becoming.” [Quote from the Daily Bread written by Joe Stowell.]

Dorothy: When I read this, I thought, Sigh! So this is a discipline time to learn.  I was reading Hebrews 12:1 through 11.  I knew God was speaking to me from His Word. So I wrote a few notes that impressed me as a reminder from different verses.  I thought it might be interested to share this with you.

Notes that I wrote from the Journal #5:

Heb. 12:2       Let us look only to Jesus . . .

                        He suffered death on the cross . . .

                        He accepted the shame . . .

                                    but has joy God put before Him.

                        Now He sits on the right side of God’s throne.

Heb. 12:3       Jesus’ example:

                        He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to Him.

                        **So do not get tired and stop trying.

KJV                 Christ endured contradiction of sinners Himself . . .

                        v. 2 Christ endured the cross . . .

                        Note: The word endured impress me. 

                                    Jesus bears patience with suffering.

Heb. 12:7       Hold on through your sufferings.

Heb. 12:5       Don’t stop trying when He corrects you.

Heb. 12:6       The Lord disciplines those He loves.

Heb. 12:10     God disciplines to help us . . . to have fruits of the Spirit.

Heb. 12:11      It is painful . . . we learned from it . . . we have peace . . .

Heb. 12:12     You became weak so now make yourself strong again.  End.

With index card, I wrote to remind myself: I can do all things through Christ, because He gives me strength. Phil. 4:13 NCV. Prayer: Thank you, God Father for this word of encouragement. Thank you for giving me the strength to endure all things. Thank you for reminding me what Jesus went through for me.  Now I pray for my friends and families that you will bless them and give them strength to endure whatever they go through.  Thank you that you love and care for all of us. Thank you for healing our bodies through the blood of Jesus and in Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen!

God bless you today!

Dorothy

Weary! 7/21-25/18

21-25 July 2018 - Weary – Manna by Dorothy and Tony Callies

Verse for Today: Galatians 6:9

"Let us not become tired in doing good work because at the right time God promised His abundant (more than enough) blessings to reap. Just don't give up yet." (my translation from kjv).  

Dot: I feel like I'm speaking to myself and thank you Lord for encouraging us with God's word today. Feels good to trust in Him. Lord I ask you to bless all of us and strengthen our bodies to be healed in Jesus name.

Thank you for your great mercy Lord Jesus and we plead the blood to wash us spiritually and be clean in Jesus name. Amen. And I trust You God Father to make Tony a new man today. In Jesus’ name! Amen.

News about Tony:

Last week he walked three times to the Mall, twice less than a mile.  Third time, he became worn out so he walked short and slower.  His therapist encourage Tony to keep walking.

It has been more than a month since we moved to first floor and it took some times to regain our strength.  As for me, I get tired at times.  A few times Tony was able to dress himself which surprised me when I overslept some mornings when I was so worn out.   

I am asking you to pray a special prayer that God somehow get some healing in Tony.  I was surprised to see this verse of Galatians 6:9 on July 21 that was on Rhonda Barrett’s Prayer Calendar, Precious in His Sight from Deaf Ministries’ Worldwide. 

It was as if Holy Spirit was helping me translate the verse that was more clear for me and it really encourages me so much.  So thank You Holy Spirit for the word of encouragement.

May the Lord bless you too!

Dorothy and Tony

Bend His Head 7/11-20/18

11-20 July 2018 – He Bend His Head to me – Revised Manna from Dec. 1-4, 2013 - He Inclined to me.

Psalm 40:1 “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined to me, and heard my cry.”

NCV: “I waited patiently for the Lord.  He turned to me and heard my cry.”

The word, incline means to bend the head or body forward or to lean; to bend from an upright position like [the tree leans to one side]. So I visualized God bend His body and His head with His ear to hear my cry. David knew God would incline, bend down Himself to hear his cry. So David waited patiently for the Lord.

John, the beloved mentioned that someday, “we shall be like Him” (1John 3:2). Paul mentioned that “God chose us to become like His Son” (Romans 8:29). So how do we become like His Son? Waiting on the Lord does that work, transforming us to be like Him. It is God’s work through the power of Holy Spirit for “we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1Jn.3:2).

Come to think of it! What exactly does the word, wait mean? It means to remain in place in readiness (prepared for use or action) or expectation of something. Await means to be ready for something like [a reward awaits you].

Dorothy:  On Friday morning, I was praying more earnestly for Tony. I was losing patience for not seeing result.  Today as of July 14, 2018 on Saturday morning, after arriving home from errands, Tony got out of the car and walked by himself a few feet away from the car without a walker.  I had to hurry around the car and to get a walker for Tony. I said to Tony, “Wow! What a faith! You walked a few steps by yourself!”   

Holy Spirit reminds me that God does care and He heard my cry.  That was a great encouragement to me. It led me to sing this chorus.

Song: O, To Be Like Thee

O, to be like Thee! O, to be like Thee!

Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

[Lyrics: Thomas Obediah Chisholm, Sing His Praise]

May God bless you!

Dorothy

Growing in the Wind 7/1-10/18

01-10 July 2018 - Growing in the Wind – Manna by Dorothy and Tony Callies 

Mark 4:41 “. . . Even the wind and the waves obey Him!”

“Imagine a world without wind.  Lakes would be calm.  Falling leaves wouldn’t blow in the streets.  But in still air, who would expect trees to suddenly fall over?  That’s what happened in a three-acre glass dome built in the Arizona desert.

Trees growing inside a huge windless bubble called ‘Biosphere 2’ grew faster than normal until suddenly collapsing under their own weight.  Project researchers eventually came up with an explanation.  These trees needed wind stress to grow strong.” [Note from The Daily Bread devotion by Mart Dehaan]

Dorothy:  God, the Father had been speaking to me through this special devotion that I had read several times in the past.  But this time, God allows this article to go deeper into my heart about “Growing in the Wind.”  

You know, we talked a lot about “stress of life.”  I wonder if that was normal or not until I read the sentence . . . “These trees needed wind stress to grow strong.”  Then having a daily stress of life is like a wind against us in order to become strong.  I remember Psalm 1:3 tells us that “we shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bring out fruits in season.” 

How do I feel about this?  Awesome!  It just encourages me to understand the handiwork of our Heavenly Father, the importance of the “Wind” that truly built our faith in Jesus Christ.  Yes, God send the Holy Spirit to teach us all things which I reminded myself daily with John 14:26. 

I pray for my friends and my family who are going through a lot of challenges that they will understand the value of “growing with the wind.” May this devotion reminds us that the trees without facing the wind, will certainly collapsed. Lord, I ask you to open our eyes that we may see Your wonderful work in our daily lives.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!

Song:  Trust in the Lord

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,

And lean not to your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

(Inspiring choruses from Prov. 3:5-6)

May the Lord truly bless you!

Dorothy

Note:  Those nine days has been a trying time for me until I read the article about “growing in the wind.”  Then I understood those “trying times” are actually the “winds” that strengthen me and Tony and I pray that this devotion will strengthen you as well.