devotionals

It's nice to take a break from our hectic schedules and think about God and His work in our lives. When you have a few moments to yourself, read one of these devotionals and use it to direct your mind toward God.

The Daffodil Principle. By Christa Janz
A while ago I was sent a beautiful e-mail with the loveliest daffodil pictures on it. Aren’t they gorgeous?


The story behind these vast fields of these beautiful blooms is as follows:

A lady in the US planted these fields of sunshiny flowers so that not only she could enjoy them, but all who see them. People from all over the US come to visit these fields in the spring and go away with awe in their hearts. Of course, the question always is: “How did she do it?”

In order to answer this question and others there is a poster on the porch of her farm house, which reads: 'Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking', was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. ‘50,000 bulbs’, it read. The second answer was, 'One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.' The third answer was, 'Began in 1958.'

Isn’t that amazing?

When I read this little story and admired the daffodils, something else came to my mind. When we become mothers and hold our little babies in our arms, we are overwhelmed by the awesome task, which is before us, namely how to bring up this little child so that some day he or she will be a valuable citizen of our society. As Christ followers we know, of course, that we can’t do this in our own strength, but we also know that the One, Who has called us to be His followers, will give us wisdom and strength for doing a good job.

All the little things, which we daily do for our children: feeding them, keeping them clean, playing with them, talking to them, disciplining them, teaching them – more by doing than by talking, being consistent and loving, are like the daffodil bulbs, which we plant one at a time, often with blood, sweat and tears. We trust and hope that one day, way down the road, they will bloom and refresh the hearts of people!

I know I did not think of the bringing up of our children with the “daffodil principle” in mind, but I do remember very clearly that I wanted to do a good job. I also knew that I was totally inadequate for the task and that made me rely on God’s grace every day! I have made many mistakes with our children, and I had to ask for forgiveness uncountable times. How thankful I am that they were so gracious in their forgiveness of my faults. I am also thankful that God gave them a forgetting mind… they don’t remember all the mistakes I made. I certainly praise God for that!

May I encourage you, dear young Mom, to bring up your children with the daffodil principle in mind and to look forward to the maturing and blooming of your little ones!

God bless you in your wonderful responsibility as a Mom. Remember to rely daily on God’s marvellous grace, which is totally sufficient for all of your needs!

Vows. By Christa Janz
She was in a Russian labour camp, experiencing all the pains of loneliness and hardship, suffering the depravation of her imprisonment. Her being there was the result of her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. His nearness and peace and daily communication with Him strengthened her to bear the burdens. Her heart’s desire, however, was to get out of prison and to be free to worship once more.

One day she prayed and said: “God, if you allow me to get out of here then I will celebrate that special day in thanksgiving every year, and I promise to give you all the eggs, which my chickens will lay on that day!”

God answered her prayer, and on the last day of one September she was released. Once again she was able to experience a measure of freedom, but she was still in Russia. She remembered her promise to God and paid her vow in the form of eggs… for some years!

Many years had passed. Now she was over 80 years old and living in West Germany. She attended one of our evangelistic meetings, and God’s Word spoke powerfully to her and convicted her heart. After one of the meetings she came to us and told us her story. She was heartbroken with sorrow and confessed:

“I have not kept my vow. I have sinned against God. What can I do to make things right? I do not have chickens anymore, but I do want to begin keeping my vow again.” Sincerely she repented and asked God for forgiveness. We prayed with her, and through God’s wisdom we were able to suggest that she give money to God above her regular giving – instead of eggs – a 30th of her income for the month of September.

She was happy and thanked us for our suggestion. Her sin was forgiven. Again she was free to worship God instead of being a hindrance to His work. As an immediate result she was able to see three of her grandchildren come to know the Lord, and her son-in-law make a new commitment to Christ.

Is it important to be totally honest with God? Absolutely! I have had to search my heart. I desire that there be nothing between my God and me, for you see, God says: “…pay your vows to the most High: Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I shall rescue you, and you will honour me” (Ps. 50:14-15)

Being Missional In Everyday Life. By Christa Janz
When we were in Calgary recently, we had the privilege of having dinner with Gavin Miller and his friend, Kim. We had a lovely time of fellowship with these two special young people. During our dinner together they told us of what is going on in their lives. They shared that they had been discontent with what was going on in their 20’s group, which meets Wednesday evenings at their church. It seemed to be a time, which was simply focused inwardly and lacked a focus towards the outside. At one of their prayer times they challenged the leadership with the need of being involved more in the lives of other people. Finally they came to the conclusion that they could do two things – either stay and pray for what God wanted them to do in the future, such as making lists of what they could do, or go out into the city on a prayer walk. So the group decided to do the latter, and they headed for the downtown district of Calgary. There they began their prayer walk on a platform of the C-Train. While there they saw a group of homeless people sitting together on the heat vents of the platform. Kim went over, began chatting with them, asking them whether they were hungry. By that time the others of the group had joined her. Of course their friends on the heat vents responded positively. Kim had some money along, which she had set aside for the Lord’s work, and so the young people took orders for Subway sandwiches, went across the town center to a Subway restaurant and bought sandwiches, cokes, bananas and other food items. When they returned the folks still were there, waiting for them. Together they had a great time, sharing their food and just connecting! One woman, called Momma, was there as well and with her toothless grin apparently brought a lot of laughter into the mix. She loved the bananas, because that was all she could eat! A security guard, patrolling the C-Train station stopped and wondered, what was going on and whether they had been drinking or doing drugs, but, of course, neither was the case. He had never seen anything like this before. Gavin, Kim and the others found out that Shorty, one of the young fellows, had a birthday coming up. They told him they would be back for a birthday party. Well, the birthday came, and a group of the young people packed up a barbeque, ice cream cake, pops, hamburgers, hot dogs and all the fixings and headed downtown. Parking in a back-ally, some of the young people started the barbeque and some others set out to find Shorty. The barbeque was a success; the search for Shorty was not! Even though the night did not go as planned, the young people had many opportunities to share the gospel and feed bellies. Let us pray with Gavin and Kim that they will be able to make contact again with their friend Shorty. Gavin, Kim and the rest are looking forward very much to being involved even more in the lives of people, who are in need. It was so gratifying to see Gavin and Kim excited in ministering. Both of them, of course, have their days full with work and studies, but their goal is to be pleasing to God at all times, and to live a missional life, wherever God opens doors! I trust that this window into Gavin and Kim’s life will bring a deeper desire to our own hearts for ministry opportunities, which God has ready for us –if we are willing and ready for action! God’s blessing and joy will invade our hearts as never before, when we are obedient to His call!

Prayer. By Christa Janz
Hundreds of books have been written on prayer! That is a good thing, and I am sure our lives will be enriched, if we read them, but we will never learn how to pray unless we practise praying! I remember a crusade in Vevey, Switzerland, where my husband preached night after night. We had the great joy to see people, young and old, come to repentance of their sins and receive new life in Christ Jesus.Towards the end of this crusade the leaders of the churches had arranged for a testimony night. What a privilege it was to hear different stories of how God had worked in hearts to prepare people for the final step of accepting Christ as Saviour.One young man talked about prayer. He said something like this:“I always thought that prayer was something for old ladies and children. I am a real ‘he-man’, and prayer was something unthinkable for me. I could not pray! Then I came to Christ, and I learned that prayer is actually talking to my best friend. I don’t find it hard to speak with my friends, and when I thought of the fact that God is my best friend, that He loves me and gave His only Son to die for me so that I could become a child of God, I started to just talk to Him. It has been a new experience for me to talk to God and to enjoy fellowship with Him.” This young man was absolutely right. Prayer is talking with our best friend. We can share with Him our deepest needs. We can bring Him our gratitude, our worship and we can glorify Him by spending time in His presence. This is a wonderful and awesome privilege. As a wife I talk to God about my husband. I thank Him for a man, who desires to walk with God and be used by Him. I praise Him for the privilege of being his wife and for a good marriage. As a mother I thank God for my children. I praise Him for allowing them to become Christ followers and for their desire to walk with Him. I pray for their daily responsibilities and ask for wisdom in their decision making. I am deeply grateful for their love for God and for us. As a grandmother I praise God for our grandchildren. How blessed we are as grandparents that they want to follow Christ. My prayer for them is that they would wait for God’s best in their lives – including marriage partners. As a housewife I talk to God about my daily duties. I have often asked Him to help me with my cooking, baking and cleaning. When a cake turns out well, I thank Him for it. When I get a compliment for a meal I pass it on to Him. I praise Him for His wonderful supply, when I go shopping and can pay for my purchases. That is a gift from God and not something to be taken for granted. You see, I don’t want my life to be just routine, I desire that everything that I do would glorify God. Do I always reach these goals? By no means! So often I fail and mess up. Then I need to confess my sins – again I can to talk to my heavenly Father about it – and He is willing to forgive and cleanse me from all my failings (1 John 1:9). How I praise Him for this. Speaking to God is important and necessary! There is no such thing as a relationship without communication, and prayer is communication!

Flexibility. By Christa Janz
Flexibility is not something, which comes naturally to me. I like to plan my day and my week, and then I like to stick to it. But as the wife of an evangelist with a very versatile schedule, I had to be willing to learn that my priorities are not necessarily God's priorities. Often my plans had to be put aside, and my days and weeks - even today - do not at all go the way I intend them to go. I remember vividly a "classic" example of God's plan versus my plan. It was Saturday evening. The weekend was planned, and it happened to be one during which my husband would be home. Our children and their spouses and children were home, and I had looked forward to this weekend with much joy! I had prepared our dinner for Sunday, the table was set for breakfast, and I was just enjoying a leisurely bath. Then the phone rang. Some of our son's friends were near by and wondered if they could stay with us for the night. Of course they could. We still had room and were looking forward to having them. I expected them to leave again after breakfast, and then we could still go ahead with our plans as a family. After breakfast, however, these people told us that they intended to stay till Monday. To my shame I must confess that I became rather unhappy - even a bit angry inside. How would they impose on us like that without even letting us know ahead of time? Did we not have the right to enjoy the weekend the way we had planned it? The more I thought about our situation the more upset I became, and pretty soon there was no joy left in my heart. And then the Lord began to deal with me. Had I not told Him years ago that His plans would always come before mine? In a gentle way He reminded me that this, once again, was an opportunity to be flexible and allow Him to change my plans. Also He showed me that actually I have no rights at all, and since I am His servant, He can do with me as He pleases! I confessed my selfishness to Him and asked Him to give me joy in this ministry of hospitality. I wanted to make these people comfortable in our home. Do you know what happened? I began to enjoy our weekend, changed plans and all, and as I look back to it now, I know that God had a special blessing ready for me. I would have missed it had I not allowed Him to change my plans. But, have I learned this lesson once and for all? No! Again and again the Lord gives me opportunities to practise flexibility and accept the fact that His ways are different than mine, just because His thoughts are higher than mine, and because He sees the end from the beginning! I am glad that I am His "student", and that He is so wonderfully patient with me.