Heather Holleman's Blog, page 21

A Great Family Prayer

I love Philippians 1:9-11. It’s Paul’s prayer for the believers in Philippi and for Christians everywhere. He writes this: “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

It’s a beautiful prayer. We’re asking God to fill our hearts with His love, combined with wisdom, so we know what is good and right for our lives. And we ask that our lives would overflow with good fruit.

I also love thinking of the context of this letter. I don’t know much, but I do know that Philippi essentially housed retired Roman soldiers who loved their Roman citizenship above all else. They needed to understand a new way of living and thinking that, in part, involves understanding their citizenship in heaven.

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Plum Tree Paradise

My family laughs that this bird chose high-end real estate. Only the finest! There’s a bird bath, endless bird seed, this lovely plum, and a nice view of the forest over this fence. I’m excited to see how many eggs this nest will hold. It’s round two of bird nests in the yard.

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A Fantastic Sermon on Joy

This morning, I read an old sermon by Charles Spurgeon. It’s one of the best sermons I’ve ever read on the “oil of joy” and how to experience it. You can read it here. The official title is “The Oil of Gladness” delivered on January 16 1876.

What most strikes my heart is how the oil of gladness comes in and from the work set apart for us to do. It come through work. How curious! Spurgeon says, “Let us see. The gladness of our Lord Jesus may be viewed first as the gladness which He had in His work. The Son of God delighted in the work which His Father had given Him to do.” When we go about Jesus’s work of seeking and saving the lost—being “sent” and living as fishers of people—our joy overflows. I can only imagine Spurgeon’s enthusiasm as he says, “Now, brethren, you also can be partakers in this joy! When He makes you, in your little measure, to be instrumentally, saviors of others, then you, also, partake of His gladness!”

I love thinking about the work of the day and how God positions us to bless others. This, perhaps, helps release the “oil of joy” according to Spurgeon. If you read on in the sermon, you’ll find wonderful words of what the “oil” does in your life, including healing, beautifying, and softening us for a life of a true gladness. The sermon made me think about all the ways we seek gladness and joy in our life. Here, the path to joy involves living a sacrificial, crucified life and doing the joyful work of Christ, especially as it relates to leading others to Him.

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What You’re Thinking About

Today I thought about the famous verse in Philippians 4 about what to think about. Paul writes this in verse 8: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

It’s a fun checklist. Did I think about something noble (virtuous, good, honorable) today? Did I think about lovely, admirable, excellent things? I wish I had trained my mind earlier in my life to think like this. Sometimes we fill our minds with so many negative thoughts and images that we wonder why we don’t feel the same hope and joy we once did. Consider adding to your gratitude journal a section to record lovely, noble thoughts.

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Bring Heaven Down

I love when I stumble upon writers from another time who talk about turning any situation into a place of divine love, peace, joy, and even happiness. These writers bring heaven down into their circumstances. They begin to build the kingdom. This seems like ancient wisdom we’ve lost. For example, I read a letter written by Pennsylvanian and missionary Frank Laubach to his father back in 1937. He exclaims this:

“I want them to know my discovery! That any minute can be paradise, that any place can be heaven! That any man can have God! That every man does have God the moment he speaks to God, or listens for him! . . . So in this sense one man after the other builds his own heaven or his hell. It does not matter where one is, one can at once begin to build heaven, by thoughts which one thinks while in that place. . . I have learned the secret of heaven building—anywhere.”

Paul, of course, learned this secret—the secret of being content in every situation as well. For Paul, he could do “all things through Christ” who strengthened him. He also pictured himself seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2; Colossians 3). Both Paul and Laubach fixed their minds to bring heaven down, building it around them whether in prison or in a meager dwelling place on the mission field. Maybe they’d see it like this: Heaven is having God; having God is heaven. In part now; in fullness in eternity.

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A Water Source

Here’s what I know: if you provide a water source, the birds come and make their homes in your yard. I found another nest today in the winterberry bush. What’s new in the yard? A bigger birdbath. Fresh water that I fill almost daily. The splashing makes me laugh. These birds love their bath time.

If you want to attract beautiful birds to your yard, think about a water source. Let me know what happens.

I suppose it’s the same in ministry. If what we’re offering isn’t connected to Living Water, it’s not a good habitat.

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A Nest in the Plum Tree

I venture out to the garden to check on my one little growing plumcot, and I see a beautiful robin’s nest, freshly built, and ready to house those gorgeous blue eggs. I love how, after a storm, the robins build nests from the mud formed from rain.

Something struck my heart: I planted the tree from a grocery store seed I propagated. I staked, I pruned, I fertilized, I watered. Each year, it grew. I never imagined that one day, the very seed I cared for would not only grow into a tree, but it would also serve as something more. It would house bird nests. It would bring more joy than even those plums. It would serve a whole ecosystem.

I think, when we allow God to plant a dream in our heart, it becomes even more. God is ever-blessing, ever-expanding our hope, and ever-growing our abundance in countless unimaginable ways. We think we’re doing a thing for one reason (plums), but it might just be to bless in another way entirely (birds). You’re growing something. It might be for someone else.

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The Home for the Lonely

Today in Psalm 68, I loved reading verses 5-6 in the NASB translation. It reads like this:

“A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity.”

I could spend days thinking about the words in these verses and what we learn about God. He is a present father; He is a defending judge. He is a maker of homes for the lonely; He is the guide towards prosperity.

David reveals this God as the answer to most of what torments the human heart: Missing father? Hopeless situation? Deep loneliness? Captive to sin? Needing abundant life? God covers it all. There’s nothing God doesn’t see, understand, and make provision for. He is here to comfort, provide, include, and prosper.

He is Everything—the great I AM—and exactly what we need.

As the world faces an epidemic of loneliness, I particularly love the promise that God makes a home for the lonely. He enables rich belonging—first to Himself and then to the body of believers. He is our Home, and He leads us home.

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Now on Audible! This Seat’s Saved

If you need something to listen to on your next road trip or to have on while working on a project, This Seat’s Saved is now on audiobook. It’s 3 hours and 40 minutes of great reading by Arianna Fox (Don’t you love that her last name is Fox?).

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Many?

Finally, I get to the end of Psalm 34. I stop at the word “many.” We read this:

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

Many? Many afflictions? This doesn’t sound nice. I don’t want many afflictions; I don’t want any afflictions. But we’re told here that the righteous will have many afflictions. Yet, we know the Lord will deliver us. We will eventually heal, eventually have joy, eventually be made right in every way. I think of eternity. This way of thinking strengthens my soul when I’m confused about why difficult things happen. God will deliver. He is near. He will end our affliction. Maybe not now, but someday soon.

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