Fill My Cup (Renewed)

1/20/2018:  This post was originally written on 1/2/2013.  I wish my poinsettias still looked like these...long gone from various years of frosts and freezes...and I wish I still had that cute little cup bird feeder that a friend had given me for Christmas that year, but it met with an unfortunate accident...I keep meaning to make another one like it...maybe this year? But the message below...that's what I wanted to share with you...it just blessed me as I re-read it and thought it was worth renewing for sharing again today.  Sometimes I just run out of words and new things to say, and God takes me back to the beginning and reminds me where I came from...and how far I've come...Thank you, Jesus!!

Original Post: 1/2/2013:

"I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord."

Psalm 116:13

When I was a young woman fresh out of high school I had the opportunity to serve as a counselor at our church youth camp.  I spent the whole summer there...trying to become a guide or role model for younger teenaged girls when I was barely a year or two older than they were...and not a whole lot more experienced in the ways of the world or the Lord. I still had so much to learn...and it seemed as though that summer was just the beginning of my real journey into things of the Spirit. 

One memory that has stood out in my heart and mind ever since that summer was a song that became our theme song.  We would sing it at local churches on the weekend in between camps...and it's message carried over into my own personal life and walk with the Lord.  To this day, some 45  50!!!!  (in 2018) years later (Oh my goodness, can it be??? ) this song still evokes memories of that summer...primarily memories of when I fully began to understand what it meant to commit my heart and life to Christ. That summer was the beginning of a life time of service and growth...still growing today.  

Here it is...perhaps it will spark some memories or thoughts of commitment in your heart and mind as well:

"Like the woman at the well I was seeking

For things that could not satisfy;

And then I heard my Savior speaking:

'Draw from My well that never shall run dry.'

Chorus:

Fill my cup, Lord,

I lift it up, Lord!

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;

Bread of heaven,

Feed me 'til I want no more--

Fill my cup, fill it up

and make me whole!"

There are millions in this world who are craving

The pleasure earthly things afford;

But none can match the wondrous treasure

That I find in Jesus Christ my Lord.

(Chorus)

So, my brother (sister!), if the things this world gave you

Leave hungers that won't pass away,

My blessed Lord will come and save you,

If you kneel to Him and humbly pray:

Chorus:

Fill my cup, Lord,

I lift it up, Lord!

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;

Bread of heaven,

Feed me 'til I want no more--

Fill my cup, fill it up

and make me whole!"

"Fill My Cup, Lord", by Richard Blanchard, 1959.

My "One Word" and theme for 2013 is  (was):

“presence”

Seeking god’s

Presence

In the ordinary

And

Extraordinary

Places of my life

In 2013

On this 2nd day of the new year, I felt God's PRESENCE in looking at this cup that was a gift to me at Christmas...meant to be a little bird feeder...but it reminded me of holding up my cup to the Lord and asking Him to fill it with Himself.  That is how I want to start the New Year...filled with His divine  “Presence”.  How about you?  Want to join me on this extraordinary journey into the PRESENCE of Christ?  Let's go.   Lift your cup up to Him...He will fill it with His love, His Spirit, and His Presence. What a marvelous way to begin anew.

"Fill My Cup, Lord!" 
John 4:7-29







A Brief Candle, or a Flaming Torch?

"Life is no brief candle to me.  It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."  George Bernard Shaw

"You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." 

Matthew 5:14-16

This past week I was chatting with the new young youth pastor at the church where I am currently employed.  He was expressing to me his chagrin and shock at the lack of spiritual growth and knowledge he has discovered amongst some of the young people of the youth group to which he has been called to minister.  He was becoming a bit overwhelmed with the task set before him of reaching these somewhat hardened teens with the gospel message of Jesus Christ for salvation.  It was rather unnerving to him that a couple of the kids had actually walked out of his class after being told that Jesus was the only way to heaven!  And these were supposedly "good kids" from families who were long-standing members of the church.  They had actually become angry at him for suggesting that they might not be "good enough" to go to heaven!

Having spent many years as a pastor's wife and also as a youth director for several of the churches we had served, I assured him that this was not that unusual...especially in today's humanistic and secularized culture.  Also, the church in which we are both serving is one of the old established mainline denominations, but not necessarily one of the more "Bible-preaching and teaching" churches of our day.  Even though our church is historically sound and biblically based, it doesn't necessarily preach strong salvation type messages...at least not the type that our young youth pastor and myself are used to hearing in the church backgrounds from which we have both come. 

I reminded him that he has been called there exactly for this reason...to preach the truth to these young people without compromise.  I actually paraphrased these verses about being "the light of the world"...and to let his light (which is the light of Jesus) shine before these youth so that they might see Christ living in him and be drawn to that light.  Whenever the darkness is illuminated by the Light of Jesus, it always flees.  But when Christ begins to shine brighter in the dark recesses of the hearts and minds of those who have been previously held captive by the darkness...that light will grow brighter and stronger day by day until one day they are fully enlightened by the truth of God's great mercy, grace, and love...and they will see themselves as they truly are, and they will want that great light to shine on them and in them and through them as they yield to repentance and receive salvation for their souls.

My young friend thanked me for this reminder of his calling...and for the reassurance that he has been sent there for this purpose.  Already the youth group has more than tripled in size in the short couple of months since he came there.  It is not because this youth pastor is any great theologian or dynamic speaker.  It is because he is the "light of the world", sent to let his light so shine before these kids, so that they may see not only his good works, but the working of God's Holy Spirit through him, and they will begin to glorify our Father in Heaven as a result. 

Am I "A brief candle" of light...

I quoted the statement by Geoge Bernard Shaw above because that is a kind of a prayer for me today...and for my young pastor friend.  We have been sent to this earth not just to be a "brief candle"of light that is here today and quickly snuffed out by the howling winds of resistance and fear, but to be a "splendid torch", "burning brightly on a lampstand, giving light to all who are in the house", and then hopefully being an incendiary device to enlighten future generations.



or a "A splendid torch" burning brightly for future generations?

Which will you be?