Category: One Focus Blog

One Focus Blog

A Garden: God’s Gracious Gift

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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:1, 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 24).

For the last few years, I have been researching, experimenting, praying over and working in a vegetable garden – along with flower beds throughout our property. My husband made it easier for me in the vegetable garden by creating three long raised beds. My new hobby has been an eye opener as to God’s original intention for man and His love for us when He created His world. As Charles Spurgeon puts it, “All the farming …which God does is for the benefit of others and never for Himself… Though all things are God’s, His works in creation and in providence are not for Himself, but for His creatures.”

Before sin entered the world, there was a garden – a gift given by God to those He loved and created. Even then, the garden needed work, but that work was unhampered by difficulty. The order of His act of creation shows that He had man and the garden in mind. On the first day, He created light. It is hard to find plants that do not need the sunlight to flourish. On the second day, He separated the “waters”. Plants need water and humidity to thrive. On the third day, dry land appeared and He created plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed…(Genesis 1:12). On the fourth day, God created the seasons which every gardener knows you must live by.

It was on the sixth day that God created His garden’s caretakers. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image …. And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food” (Genesis 1:26, 29). The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (Genesis 2:15). 

Stewardship of a garden is a gift. Our very first assignment from our Creator was to take care of His garden. Only after sin entered the world did gardening become difficult. Now we deal with bad soil, weeds, thorns, storms and bugs that threaten to demolish the hard work done for the crop. All these, however, are a reminder of what happens when we reject God’s best design.

One Focus Blog

Longing for Jesus – Centuries before His birth

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Have you ever felt a bit like Job? Current trials may make you wonder if God listens or understands. The worst part is His silence. Do you have to go through trials alone or is there some way you can get through to Him? Job must have felt that way.

God is not a mortal like me….If only there was a mediator who could bring us together, but there is none…. Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength…. I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer me. I stand before you, and you don’t bother to look….If only I had someone to see my side!… – Job 9:33-35, 30:20, 31:35 NLT

Job was longing for a mediator. He wanted what we want – to be able to see God and know He understands. God fulfilled that desire by sending us His Son who does “see [our] side” because He walked the path of humanity, endured temptation, and was victorious over it.


“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me…. From now on you know him and have seen him!”….Christ is the visible image of the invisible God….For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus….Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. He then could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted….He lives to intercede with God on their behalf….if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate who pleads our case before the Father…

John 14:6,7, Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 2:17-18, 7:25, 1 John 2:1

The mediator Job so desperately wanted was not found in his “friends” who made lengthy speeches about his situation. Job’s request was answered in Jesus. The agony Job felt when he thought God had abandoned him was felt by Jesus – magnified because His Father had to turn away from the sin He bore on the cross – my sin and your sin. The relief Job felt when God finally spoke to him from the whirlwind reminded Job that God had always been there – he just hadn’t SEEN him yet (now I have seen you with my own eyes -Job 42:5).

On Christmas morning, God’s Son became like us. We could SEE Him. We can speak to God without fear because of Jesus. We do not have to do anything in our own strength because He has given us His. Jesus sees our side because He does understand.

Jesus is the answer to Job’s longing – and ours.

One Focus Blog

The Fear of the Lord in Action

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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding

Proverbs 9:10

In 2015 my husband began building our home on a piece of property we bought a few years prior. He has no background in building a house. He is, in fact, a preacher/teacher. When I say he “built” our home, I don’t mean what people usually mean when they say that. He did not hire an architect or a builder. He bought some software and designed our home himself. Every square inch involved an important decision.

Through every stage of the construction process, he had to make a decision to hire a specialist (such as laying the foundation or installing the electricity) or doing the work himself. Each step of the way was an experiment. Sometimes he (with my help and the help of our sons taking some vacation time to help) did the work and sometimes he was led (for practical and financial reasons) to get a bid from someone else. We prayed about it all and God was in every detail. For instance, having made our choice of flooring and ready to get the wood in order to do the work, we were led to get a quote that resulted in being less expensive than doing the work ourselves. As they say – no brainer! At that time, he was also experiencing pain with his knees and I know that God was gracious to arrange that blessing for us. Likewise, when he was ready to buy and stain the boards for the ceiling in our very high great room ceiling, our dearest friends couldn’t stand the thought of his installing that ceiling and told us they wanted to pay for the labor. We only stained the boards!

Throughout this process, I was amazed at God’s direction and provision. What I firmly believe happened was that God enabled my husband to research and gain the knowledge about the next step, understand what all that entailed and then exercise the wisdom about how to proceed.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge….the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments…the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7, Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 15:33). What seems like an abstract principle about what the fear of the Lord is became – right in front of my eyes – the evidence of that fear lived out in everyday life. It was, and remains, to me one of the most amazing evidences of the leadership of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is not intangible – it is very much evident in the life of a committed Christian.

In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence…(Proverbs 14:27).

Picture below is the work in progress and the scripture my husband inscribed.

One Focus Blog

Little is Much in the Eyes of the Lord

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“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7).

Gardeners know the value of compost and are thrilled when they discover small worms in the mixture. A seed can produce food for your family. The first bud on a plant brings a promise of beauty or provision.

Bakers know the value of yeast – so small yet so powerful. Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Luke 13:20-21).

Doctors know the danger of bad germs. Just think of what we went through with the COVID lockdowns.

David used a small stone to defeat Goliath.

Ask any parent whose much wanted baby was delivered premature what tiny means – incredible love in a small package.

Sometimes God makes sure we understand how valuable small increments of time are. We want to rush things, but He has reasons for a delay. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land (Exodus 23:3).

God’s tiny creations understand His principles of putting a little away for the future. Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest (Proverbs 6:6-8).

People often think your value is determined by your wealth. It is God who determines a person’s value. A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of the wicked (Psalm 37:16). As He looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:1-4). “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10).

God’s children are often tempted to think that they should only take the big decisions of life to the Lord in prayer. God cares about every little detail of our lives – otherwise, why would He tell us He counts the hairs on our heads? If we talk to Him about everything, when it comes time for Him to guide us in the big decisions – job, marriage, a move, a career, etc. – we have a background of communication with Him that enables us to hear Him.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

One Focus Blog

Claiming the Promises of the Psalms: Our Part

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Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise …Then they despised the land [of Canaan], they did not believe in His word nor rely on it…But then they rejected the land that was so desirable. They did not trust God’s promise…They refused to enter the pleasant land. They did not believe what he said…Then they refused to go into the beautiful land of Canaan; they did not believe what God promised (Psalm 106:24 ESV, AMP, CEB, GW,NCV)

We have looked with wonder at a multitude of promises God made in the book of Psalms. As noted in the very first post on these promises in the Psalms, “God’s promises are built on a covenant relationship. The truth of God’s word is available to everyone – giving each person the chance to become a child of God. His promises are for those who love Him.”

Unlike the children of Israel who “despised the promised land, having no faith in his promise”, we must trust God. We know the rest of the story that Psalm 106 tells us about their lack of trust. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he abhorred his heritage, he gave them into the hand of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them (Psalm 16:40-41).

The promises of God give us comfort.

This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life…Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant

Psalm 119:50, 76

The promises of God direct us.

Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

Psalm 119:133

The promises of God give us life.

This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life…Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!…Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!

Psalm 119:50, 116 , 154

If you are like me, you have seen His promises fulfilled time and time again. Our part is to believe Him and meditate upon those wonderful, incredible promises He has made.

Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it…My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise

Psalm 119:140, 148

Dare we doubt Him now?

One Focus Blog

Claiming the Promises of the Psalms: The Promise of God’s Lovingkindness

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Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You…Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, for they are from old…For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth…How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings…Oh continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart…The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime and in the night His song shall be with me – a prayer to the God of my life (Psalm 17:7a, 25:6, 26:3, 36:7,10,42:8 NKJV)

God’s lovingkindness is mentioned 24 times in the book of Psalms – more than any other book.

I understand that God is holy – a God of justice and love. His justice must be met, sin must be dealt with but once I realized that and asked Him to save me, what I have experienced in my own relationship with Him is a keen awareness that everything He does and allows in my life is because He loves me. He is a caring loving Father who disciplines when necessary, but absolutely showers with blessings when I stand close to Him. Of all the promises of the Psalms, this one is the most precious to me. I can have peace during times of uncertainty and turmoil and I know I can count on Him to be there for me in every circumstance – not because of anything I have done, but simply because He loves me.

Since the above verses come from the NKJV which uses a lovely language that is somewhat foreign to us today, it helps to examine how other translations describe this word. Faithful love, wonderful love, amazing kindness, steadfast love, covenant love, marvelous mercies, miraculous deeds of mercy, gracious love, loyal love, strong love, wonderful faithfulness, great love, unfailing love – all these define the lovingkindness of the Father that I know and love.

When we move to the New Testament, we see the love of the Father expressed through the loving sacrifice of His Son. That was foreseen by the prophets of the Old Testament, but when God’s timing was perfect, God sent Jesus to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Now THAT is lovingkindness.

One Focus Blog

Claiming the Promises of the Psalms: The Promise of Divine Friendship

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The Lord has made himself known…The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant…Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble…My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds me…Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand, You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory…Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you...When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul…The Lord is on my side as my helper…Psalm 9:16a, 25:24, 36:10a, 37:3, 46:1, 63:8, 73:23-24, 94:19, 118:7a ESV

How would you describe your best friend? Someone you really know, not just an acquaintance but someone who shares life’s details with you and you do the same. Your best friend is there when needed, loves you in spite of knowing unattractive things about you, comforts you when you are down, lovingly corrects you when necessary; in other words, someone you can count on to walk beside you and tell you the truth – for your own good.

God is greater than all of us. That is indisputable. What is absolutely amazing is that He wants to be our FRIEND! He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden and spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to His friend.

Friends talk to one another – that is what prayer is. God knows you and He wants to be known by you – you can grow in that relationship by prayer, listening to Him through His Holy Spirit and His Word.

Friendship is a covenant relationship and God’s friendship with you cost Him everything.

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends is you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15:13-15).

This is Holy Week. Everything Jesus endured during His lifetime and especially that week – the horrible and unimaginable torture He endured before the crucifixion and then the crucifixion itself – Jesus did it all for His friends. He is my best friend – is He yours?

One Focus Blog

Claiming the Promises of the Psalms: The Promise of Hope

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Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life…I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise (Psalm 119:49-50, 58) NIV

The war in Ukraine breaks my heart. Slaughter of innocent people, including the deliberate attack on hospitals, schools and public places where people are seeking refuge is pure evil. I have to force myself to concentrate on anything else because this tragic situation occupies much of my thoughts and prayers – day and night since it began. I find it so consuming because I have friends in both Ukraine and neighboring countries that are helping its refugees. I feel so helpless.

I remember the struggles I had when I posted “Claiming the Promises of the Psalms: The Promise of Deliverance.” With all the examples of miraculous deliverances, we still had to deal with the reality of Christians being martyred for their faith. My conclusion for that promise was that indeed the promise of deliverance is real, and best found in Colossians 1:13-14. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Even when God choses not to miraculously deliver one of His children from a trial in this life, in the midst of that trial, Satan has no power over him and a believer is ultimately delivered from all pain and sorrow.

In testimonies of Christians who are in Ukraine and those who are helping just across the Ukrainian border, the refrain is the same. God is a God of hope. How can they be so hopeful in a time of terror? Christian hope is not wishing for something that might or might not happen, but a certain assurance that the God of hope will someday make all things right.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord.

And now abide faith, hope, love….

…remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.

But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Jeremiah 17:7, 1 Corinthians 13:13, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, Hebrews 3:6

The refrain of Kristian Stanfill’s song, Hope has a Name, is:

Hope has a name

Emmanuel

The Light of the World

Who broke through the darkness

All hail the King

Emmanuel

The Light of the World

The Glory of Heaven

One Focus Blog

Claiming the Promises of the Psalms: The Promise of Mercy

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I love the Lord, for he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live (Psalms 116:1-2 NIV).

“Mercy” is sometimes translated “loving kindness”. My husband, Richard, says, “Mercy is not getting what we do deserve”. A. W. Tozer puts it this way, “We who earned banishment shall enjoy communion; we who deserve the pains of hell shall know the bliss of heaven. And all through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us…Mercy is an attribute of God, an infinite and inexhaustible energy within the divine nature which disposes God to be actively compassionate.”

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy…. [here is God’s definition of mercy] He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him, for He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes, for the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them (Psalm 103:8-18 NKJV).

Loving kindness defines God and His mercy. This promise of mercy bore flesh as Jesus, the mercy seat, provided redemption for those who would believe in Him. Christians, having experienced that mercy, have within ourselves the Spirit of God who can enable us to exhibit a sweetness of gracious compassion we could not do on our own. It is not within our sinful nature to do so; however, having taken on the nature of God as one of His children, we can then demonstrate what that is like in real life and real time. Non believers are not so much taken by what we say, but what we do. When our reaction to their unjustness toward us is compassion and kindness, it takes a little of the wind out of their sails. Merciful kindness is an unexpected response to cruelty and judgment.

One Focus Blog

Claiming the Promises of the Psalms: The Promise of Discipline

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Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law; you grant them relief from the days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked (Psalm 94:12-13).

You may be like me – surprised to find one of God’s promises is discipline. Who asks for that?

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves as a father the son he delights in (Proverbs 3:11-12)

…God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore… Make level paths for your feet…(Hebrews 12:10b-13a)

NIV

We may not want discipline or ask for it, but when we need it, God gives it. From a loving father to a child who needs correction, God takes charge when we stray from the path He has designed for us.

D. James Kennedy had this insight:

We live in an age characterized by lawlessness. We do not hold criminals accountable for their actions. We do not hold able-bodied welfare recipients accountable for being industrious and providing for themselves and their families. We do not hold our political leaders accountable for acts of immorality, corruption, and criminality while in office. We do not hold children accountable for being decent, respectful, honest, trustworthy, and upright.

The permissiveness of the past two decades has produced an age of lawlessness today. The Bible rebukes our permissiveness and calls us to godly discipline. Remember, we are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and we are called to discipline our children – and to be a disciple one must be disciplined! To be disciplined means to have boundaries, to know that there are things we should do, and things we must not do. Our children need discipline and (though few would admit it!) they really want and seek it. Show me an undisciplined child and I will show you a bundle of insecurities, because that child lives in a disordered, chaotic, and meaningless world; children need and crave structure and dependability in their lives. Show me an undisciplined child, and I will show you a child who feels unloved, because no one has ever taken the time to care for him by setting loving boundaries for his life.

D. James Kennedy, Led by the Carpenter: Finding God’s Purpose for Your Life

Led by the Carpenter was published in 1999!! Do you want relief from the days of trouble occurring now – in 2022? Submit to any discipline your loving Father may give you, creating level paths for your feet. His desire is for you to share in his holiness.

Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway (Psalm 85:13 NKJV)