As The Sun Comes Shining Through

 Malachi  1:11  (Prophecy Of Jesus As A Pure Sacrifice)

For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.

As The Sun Shines Through

The last time I talked about sunflowers I told you how the sunflowers face the arising sun.  This time I want to talk about the reflection of the light from behind the sunflower as the sun is setting.  It's a most beautiful scene to see a field of sunflowers as the sun is setting in the distance.  We can enjoy seeing the sunflowers as the reflection shines from the back of its pedals.  

I am reminded that each setting of the sun is a reminder that Christ died and every arising of the sun is a reminder that Christ arose from the dead.  All nature speaks of Christ and is a revelation of His majesty and power.  I believe God gave us nature to enjoy and to love, but not to worship.  Nature is another reason to praise Him, another way for us to explain to others how loving God is and how He operates in our lives.  Every living thing, every moving power of nature and every rock formed all point back to God our creator.   

One of the things God expresses to us in scripture is to let our light shine.  He's talking about the light that He shines through us while we are trusting and living for Him.  We cannot shine the light that Christ is talking about until we have trusted in the death of Christ for us and also in His resurrection.   As I think about the setting and the arising of the sun, I think of the beautiful field full of sunflowers lit up by the light of the sun.  

There are times in life as Christians we can feel alone even when there are many other  Christians around us.   There is one that we can always count on, one love we can always count on in life and in death.  See Christ can light up our lives even when the world seems so dark around us.  He can shine through us in our darkest moments.  Sometimes our darkest moment is the very moment another sees the light shining from us the most.  

I think of Steven at his stoning, his darkest moment.  He never shined brighter than that

 moment He cried out to God for those stoning him.  He never shined brighter than the moments his eyes looked up to heaven right before he died.   The Spirit of Christ shined from His life and also at his death.  

The Bible teaches us, that those without Christ are living in darkness and their eyes are blinded.  Once we know Christ, He comes into our hearts and lives and the light of Christ begins to shine from our lives as we follow Him.  As we look to the light of His Word, seek the light of truth, and live in the light of His Word, Then His light reflects from us into a dark world.  Just as the light reflects across the horizon as night falls and lights up a sunflower field. 

Hopefully, God will open your eyes this very day to the light He is shining for you.  God's desire is for you to come to the light.  The light is this,  Christ died for sinners like you and myself.  We didn't deserve it, nor could we ever repay it, it is a gift from heaven above, given in His sweet, sweet,  love for all mankind.  He arose and now we know, He can bring light to our own hearts as we believe upon Him, as we trust Him as our Saviour, as the one who paid what we could not pay, the debt for our sin.

Let us look to the light as we seek Him each day and as we bow our heads each night to pray.  That other people may see us shining in this dark, dark world and follow our Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. That they may find life in His marvelous light and be pulled from the powers of the unrighteous night.

Won't you trust Him today?

Susan Y Nikitenko

October 24th, 2016 ©

Sunflowers

Lesson/Devotional 12yrs. and up

Poetry And Other Materials On This Site Can Be Used For Christian Bible Centered Non-Profit Ministries And must Remain Unchanged In Any Way. All Other Purposes Are With Permission Only. You May Make Requests At "susannikitenko@gmail.com" All my poems with stories are both real and fictional designed to illustrate a biblical truth. All Rights Reserved. Please Include the Site Name And Link Back To This Blog. Thank-You. Images are not all Christian but put here for the purposes of doing good works of faith, family and country.

Scarecrows - Rebuilding and Restoring

The photo above is a picture of our flower gardens over 10 years ago.

Rebuilding And Restoring

Talk about withering storms.  Poor little fellas, year after year I have put them outside and by the time I bring them in .. . they are literally losing their straw heads.  Not only are they losing heads they are losing straw arms.  Every year I put them away and then pull them out again, they have been faithful but they have been through a lot.   Not only did they need to be rebuilt, but this is the first year I had to include a makeover for each one.  They were just plain faded and needed hair transplants.

If you haven't guessed yet, They are the scarecrows I put out in my gardens every year.  I guess I could have bought new ones.. but no, thrifty I must be.  So I pulled out the glue gun, the wire, extra raffia,  the paint, the buttons, and orange sparkles and started rebuilding.  I was able to get two done so far.

I gave them special care though they will never be perfect,  two of them are standing outside, with sparkly cheeks.  Ready for all kinds of weather and ready to do their job scaring off crows.  All the while making the season a brighter place.

I decided to use these straw-trimmed scarecrows to talk about the storms we go through in life. The times that our faith is tried and our joy lost.

The storms of life, like our problems, or hardship.  Sometimes they can leave us feeling broken and in some cases not just feeling broken, but literally broken mentally and spiritually.  It seems when a person goes through his hardest blows in life, is when friends tend to forsake him, thinking, " You're not as strong as I thought you were."  Then one day, sad to say, their storms blow and they find out they weren't that strong either, none of us have arrived spiritually.  We are always learning about God and about ourselves through both good and bad.

I think of John the Baptist, after a lifelong faithfulness,  finding himself in prison questioning if Jesus was who He said He was.  He was questioning his whole life's work.  Before his beheading, Christ sent messengers to assure him He was the Christ.

 John was martyred for the cause of Christ.  Know for sure, that John met God on that day and was given a crown.  He was instantly whole and joyful in the presence of God in heaven's bright land.  The Bible describes John the Baptist as the greatest man who was born of women.

Luke  7:28a

For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: (KJV)

Now our hardships may not be the kind that John had to go through, because life brings different people, through different problems.  Life always has difficulties that we must wither and we have choices through those difficulties.  The biggest way to overcome this is to believe God and trust in His grace. Let him rebuild our broken hearts as we trust him through our storm.

God uses people in different places in life.  He has made us, especially for the place He wants us to be. 

The place that God wants us to be, is the place where we can shine the brightest.  Some problems we face are simply because we are out of God's will.  God sometimes will direct us back to where we need to be by presenting us with difficulties. (chastisement)  The Bible teaches us that life WILL have problems ... Job 5:7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

Some problems are not because of chastisement but have a purpose far greater than we may ever know.  All the biblical prophets went through problems that God has used to teach us some of life's greatest spiritual lessons. The examples are too many to mention all.  Job comes to mind as one of the greatest examples of undeserved suffering.  If you read to the end you'll find  God restores and rebuilds Job's life.

Sometimes our problems are designed to get us ready for what God has for us next.  God will sometimes strengthen us for greater responsibility.  The problems are there in order to change us for a greater purpose. 

The most important thing to remember through life's storms is to remember Jesus calms the storms, rebuilds, and restores them.   Praising him and trusting him as Paul and Silas did in the prison house.  God was so moved by the praise that He broke down the prison walls.

Act  16:25

 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

The Bible is full of problems overcome by Christians who remained faithful and joyful in the things of the Lord.  No matter what if we are His children heaven awaits us and everlasting joy is our inheritance.

Father, help us to trust you and stay faithful through life's difficulties.  Put a song in our hearts and praise upon our lips.  Let your presence shine through our lives even through life's tears and sorrows.

Use our lives to touch others in a way that will make a true difference for righteousness' sake and the cause of Christ.. I pray this in the name of Christ Jesus, Amen 

I still have several scarecrows to rebuild and I'm planning where to place each one.   Hopefully,

these guys will remind us that life gives us problems, but we have a God who is molding our hearts and lives as we love and trust him.   He has a purpose that we may never know until we set by his side in heavenly places.

Susan Y Nikitenko

Object lesson: Scarecrows

Rebuilding The Broken
Scarecrow Devotional

2015 ©  Adjustable for ages K- and up

Psalms 23:3

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Poetry And Other Materials On This Site Can Be Used ForChristian Bible Centered Non-Profit Ministries And must Remain Unchanged In Any Way. All Other Purposes Are With Permission Only. You May Make Requests At "susannikitenko@gmail.com. All my poems with stories are both real and fictional designed to illustrate a biblical truth. All Rights Reserved. Please Include Site Name And Link Back To This Blog. Thank-You.

Poetry And Other Materials On This Site Can Be Used For Christian Bible Centered Non-Profit Ministries And must Remain Unchanged In Any Way. All Other Purposes Are With Permission Only. You May Make Requests At susannikitenko@gmail.com - All my poems with stories are both real and fictional designed to illustrate a biblical truth. All Rights Reserved. Please Include the Site Name And Proper Credit Back To This Blog. Thank-You.