GOD’S PRESENCE in the present
is what we need most.

God’s presence in the past
is recorded in Scripture.
We read of it,
our awareness of His presence
is strengthened
by what happened as each story unfolds.

Sometimes His presence
was evidenced
by a change in attitude,
an uncommon knowledge,
a rebuke,
some revealed direction,
an unanticipated outcome,
or peace in a difficult situation.

God’s presence will be better known
to future generations
as we continueto be a growing, faithful people.

Blessings to you
as you cultivate a daily, hourly awareness
of God’s intentional presence in your life.

Purpose to believe that
He is all you need Him to be,
He is doing all that you need Him to do,
so that your life will “prove” His presence
to those who still need to see Him
and know His heart of love!

Twila Charles Leichty
January 2010

YOU ARE A WRITER

Your life is a journal of many entries.
You are the one who determines
what is recorded therein.
The events of each day
may not always be those of your choosing,
but your response to all that is
will often have greater influence
in your own life
and the lives of those around
than will the actual events.
Know that the pages of your journal
will be read by those presently a part of your life
and those of future generations.

* * * * *
I wonder if the journals of Adam and Eve
would be any different
had they known that
they were writing for all to read?
I wonder how many, in making their entries,
considered the far-reaching effect
of their “journaling”
on future generations?

In the Bible we read from the journals of many:
Abraham and Lot, Jacob, Joseph,
the Pharoah of Egypt,
Moses, David, Goliath,
Naomi and Ruth,
Esther, Nebuchanezzar, Daniel,
Joseph and Mary, King Herod,
JESUS,
Andrew, Peter, John,
a lad with the lunch of five loaves and two fish,
Martha and Mary,
Caiaphas,
Barnabas, Paul, and Lydia.

I pray that the entries you make
in your life journal
throughout the coming year
will be ones that you can look back on
without regret.

Twila Charles Leichty
January 30, 2010

PATIENCE is the ability to
withhold judgment,
praying that another will see
his wrong, turn from it,
and learn something valuable
from the experience.
It is refusing to put oneself
in the position of judge,
but walking alongside another,
sharing my experiences
and what I have learned
so that the other can learn
from my wrong choices.
Patience is thinking beyond myself
and my discomfort;
it is knowing myself,
my strengths and weaknesses,
and it is taking the time
to learn to know and understand another
before I speak.
Patience is not quickly acquired.
It is often acquired
through humbling life experiences.

Another word for patience is longsuffering.
It is earning the right to speak
into another’s life,
“hanging in there”
until the other is ready
to view things differently.

Patience is a fruit of the Spirit.
It takes time to grow and develop.
We cannot grow it in our lives,
but we can co-operate with the Gardener
as He cultivates the soil and prunes our limbs,
so that the fruit of patience grows.

Twila – June 2006


Gardens are a part of summertime activity.
We anticipate the growth of what is planted
but we cannot make it grow.
Our job is to cultivate the soil, pull the weeds,
protect the plants from foragers,
see that the water supply is adequate,
and wait for God to do what He alone can do!
Our involvement in the process is not a passive one;
we are to be active in our waiting!

JAMES 2:1-13

Favoritism is is not fitting attire for followers of Jesus.
If our receptivity to those who appear to have money and influence is greater
than our openness to those who are poor,
if our way of relating is preferential or discriminating,
then we have set yourselves up as judges of others.
And it is evidence that we are not living by the law of love
and that is sin.

Do we not see those of humble circumstance but rich in faith
as heirs of the kingdom with all that love God?
Do we not see that the rich in terms of this world's wealth and influence
are really controlling us, using us to their advantage?
We need to look hard at how we are relating to others:
Are we loving others as Christ loved, unconditionally?
Do we look only at what is visible,
or do we see all as valued and having something to contribute to the whole?
What is more influential in determining how we relate ~
our needs or the needs of the other?

Favoritism is sin and when we are influenced by the external
we stand condemned,
for unless we keep the whole law perfectly,
we are a lawbreaker.
Know that we will all be judged as we judge.
Do we want judgment without mercy?
To receive mercy, we need to be merciful.
The law of divine love dictates that mercy
needs to win out over judgment in our relationships.

Prayer:
God, we are a people who find ourselves divided within ourselves.
Help us to see ourselves as you see us, so often reacting to external factors
rather than responding to others as Jesus did,
seeing their God-given value,
recognizing and addressing their underlying needs,
acknowledging and affirming their God-granted giftings.
We so often judge and relate without mercy.
Help us to be mindful that we are all transgressors of Your law
and we have need of Your mercy.
Yes, help us to give to others
what we've experienced in relationship with You!


* * * * * * * *

JAMES 2:14-26

Our tongue and our hands are part of the same body.
When we say one thing and do something different,
it is evidence of a divided heart.
Unless what we say and what we do is consistent,
others are right to question the validity of what we say!
We can not divorce our profession of faith from what we do.
Abraham's faith in God
was followed by his preparation to offer Isaac on the altar,
as directed by God.
His action, consistent with his belief,
was evidence of genuine faith, and he was called God's friend.
Likewise,
Rahab's faith led her to provide lodging and an escape route for the spies,
and secured her salvation when Jericho was destroyed.
What we do brings our faith to life and into the light!

Prayer:
Jesus said that a house divided against itself cannot stand
and we know that our faith, without actions that show it to be genuine,
will acknowledge a divided heart.
God, grant us singularity of heart, tongue and hand!

Twila Charles Leichty
January 26, 2010

Matthew 11:25-29

At that time Jesus answered and said,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father:
and no man knows the Son, but the Father;
neither knows any man the Father, save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

God's truth is hidden from those who are considered the wise and learned,
those who believe they already have the answers.
Their pride and expectations of how things should be
blind their eyes and close their minds to further revelation of truth by Jesus.
However, those who are as children, open and responsive to instruction,
sensing the heart of the Message-bearer and soaking in the Word,
are those who eagerly grasp Jesus' teaching
and adjust their thinking and behavior to newly revealed truth.

It is hard to comprehend the unity between God and Jesus.
God has committed all things to Jesus.
They know each other intimately.
Jesus is the One who helps us know God better,
but what He reveals is limited by our heart's receptivity.

Those of us who are exhausted and overwhelmed
are told by Jesus to come to Him.
He wants to give us rest.
We are invited to slip into the yoke alongside Him, to let Him disciple us.
He knows us well for He walked among us.
He is gentle and humble in heart,
allowing us to draw on His strength when we are weak.
He does not expect us to “go it on our own”
and willingly shares with us whatever it is we need.
For that reason, we find His yoke easy and the load lightened,
ourselves refreshed.

Twila Charles Leichty
January 23, 2010

James 1: 19-27

We are to be quick to listen, slow to speak,
and slow to become angry.
Listening means that we take time to hear what others are saying,
asking questions that draw others out,
encouraging them to think, examine and share with us.
It means letting go of our initial impressions or judgments,
maintaining a receptive attitude toward the other,
being empathetic and active in the process,
clarifying and summarizing what is said.
Anger is an emotion that can be quickly elicited
and the handling of it, tricky.
It can do immeasurable damage,
hurting others and destroying the good that God desires.
It is necessary to throw away
every thought, attitude, and behavior
that is not God-honoring
and willingly, humbly take in and live out the word of God,
which is able to deliver, save, protect,
and bring both us and others into wholeness.

We are not to be people who only talk about
what is good and right, what the Bible tells us,
we are to DO it,
taking what we have heard and say we believe,
putting our work clothes on and translating it
into a language that others can easily understand.
If we don't do this, we deceive ourselves.
(Others already see the discrepancy, our hypocrisy.)
Our only hope is to stay “in the Word”,
remembering who we are and always being cognizant that
blessing comes when
hearing and doing are walking hand-in-hand with each other!

It is easy to do the things
that make others think we have a relationship with God.
However, there is a test ~ the test of the tongue.
If we do not control our tongue, we are providing evidence
that shouts duplicity.
Pure worship, the kind that can not be faulted by God or man,
is that which seeks to help those who are distressed and in need
and that which keeps us from allowing the dirt of the world
to pollute our thoughts, attitudes and behaviors!

Prayer:
You are a God whose Word is truth.
Jesus came to earth, spoke Your words, and translated it
into a language that we could understand.
Help us not to be people of duplicity.
We want to be people of integrity, like Jesus.
We want our words, attitudes and behaviors to be consistent
with what we profess.
Help us see ourselves as you see us.
Give us the will and strength to involve in true worship
through the way we live out what we have heard.

Twila Charles Leichty
January 20, 2010

James 1:1-18

James is speaking to us as he would speak to an equal, a fellow Christian.
He does not “use” his relationship, as brother of Jesus, as clout
but warmly embraces us as brothers and sisters.
We are scattered and living apart from each other.
He is using this letter as a way of encouraging us,
challenging us to grow where we are and not to despair.
When we are surrounded with difficulties of many kinds,
we are to face them with an inner calmness and confidence,
embracing the experience,
realizing that it can be used in bringing us to full maturity and wholeness in Him
as we persevere, believing that God is the supplier of all we need,
and allow God to work within us to develop character traits
that are God-honoring.

If any one of us lacks wisdom
(can't figure what God wills to do through the experience),
James encourages us to boldly approach God and ask,
reminding us that He is a generous God and will not find fault with such a request.
However, when we ask, we are to do so with a single focus,
to grow more and more into His likeness,
not wavering in our desire and wanting the knowledge for selfish reasons.

A Christian in humble circumstance is a person who should value it,
knowing that it is working for his good in character building.
Similarly, a person who is rich should value it
but be aware that his possessions can disappear
as quickly as a flower dies in the heat of the sun.
God can and will work through all circumstances
to build within us those character qualities
that reflect Jesus' attitude and behavior.

Those people who continue steadfast in their love for and walk with the Lord,
persevering through the difficulties,
are promised a lasting reward.

When we are tempted, we can not say that God is tempting us.
God is not one who can be tempted by evil, and He tempts no one.
We are all tempted by our own desires
and we are the ones who give in
to wrongful thinking and behaviors that work toward our destruction.
Desire selfishly satisfied gives birth to sin
and when sin is full-grown, it brings about death!

We should not allow ourselves to be deceived.
Every good gift and character-building experience
(that which brings about wholeness and maturity)
comes from God above.
Our heavenly Father is a God of light,
consistently revealing to us where and how we need to grow
and making manifest Who He is and what He does.
He does not change.

Of His own will, He brought us into being by the word of truth,
that we might be a kind of first fruits (first to ripen and be harvested) of His creation,
an offering that acknowledges Him as our source.
How we live,
who we are and what we do,
is a way of expressing our gratitude to Him

Prayer:
Thank you, God, for showing us that experiences that are difficult
are to be embraced,
that growth and maturity is birthed through them.
When we don't understand what You will to do through the difficulties we face,
help us to bring our questions to You and believe that You will show us
what we need to know, how we need to grow,
so that we can more fully honor you through our attitudes, words and actions.
Help us to remember that we are our worst enemy,
that our self is prone to grasp for things
that appeal to our appetite, give us a sense of power,
and we honor what we think will provide well for us in the future.
We choose to be your bond servants,
humble, loyal, and obedient.

Twila Charles Leichty
January 15, 2010