January 2010
Dear Friends,
God is so faithful to His children. Our database has increased to 242 families receiving food in Jefferson and Shelby counties. We had a crazy turn of events, but God worked it all for good. The online ordering for our food box sponsors was abruptly ended leaving us 130 boxes short from what we needed. Angel Food Ministries graciously reopened the online access and initially gave us one more day. In 24 hours another 78 boxes were sponsored. They then extended the timeframe again and God provided the remaining boxes EXACTLY. He knows how many families He plans to feed this month and He alone provided the resources to make that happen. Praise the Lord with me!
One person God used to help make it all possible this month was man of God, John Jones, who unexpectedly died on January 20, 2010, after suffering a massive heart attack. John loved each of you and worked diligently to help in any way that he could. He helped recruit people to donate food boxes, he located boxes and collected them so that we would have a way to transport the food to you, he helped with other tangible needs of several families and I expect he also prayed. He believed in sharing his time, money and his life, to help other families in Birmingham have what they need. He always signed every email with “Do good! Be rich in good deeds!” He is referring to 1 Timothy 6:18 “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” Even more exciting, follow along to verse 19 “In this way they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” How exciting that John now lives verse 19. He is with Jesus and has everlasting life. Every time he helped feed one of your families, he stored up treasures for himself in heaven where moths and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. (Matt 6:19-21) Matthew 6:21 says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He loved each of you and sacrificed his life for you because he loved Jesus.
Do you know the One who came to earth and lived among us to then die on the cross for all that we do wrong? Do you know the One that came and died to give us that life, the life that is truly life? I love Romans chapter 8 as it explains that we have no further condemnation in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death. We have the choice to live for our sinful nature or for the Spirit nature. When we are controlled by our sin all we have is death, but when we are controlled by the Spirit we have life and peace. If we are controlled by our sinful nature we cannot please God because we do not submit to God. But if the Spirit of God lives in us then we belong to Christ. Jesus gives us life in our bodies through the Spirit. Just like Jesus was raised from the dead, the Spirit breathes life into us when we meet Jesus. And this is what John had deep inside his core, he had the Spirit of God and his life radiated Jesus. We are not good people on our own merits. God gives us the ability to love and live a life of good deeds. God loved John so much that He sent Jesus as a sin offering so that John might live a life with Christ. Jesus died for each of us as well. He longs for us to choose Him over our sinful nature.
I grew up in a Christian home. My parents took me to church and prayed with me every night before we went to bed. We helped those in need and we remembered to thank God for our food. But none of those actions or beliefs of my parents made me a Christ follower. I had to come to an understanding that God wanted me, not my religion, my compliant behavior or my saying the right words. He wanted me to understand that I was His child and that He wanted me. He wanted me to live my life to God, to have true life. Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God allowed me to put aside my sinful nature and put on Christ. We become right before God through FAITH in Jesus Christ. (Romans3:22) When I was five years old God opened my mind and my heart to Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” I confessed my sinful nature to God and confirmed in prayer to God that I believed in faith that Jesus is Lord and that He had been raised from the dead, and I was saved. Praise the Lord. After which, I began an exciting journey with the Lord that continues to this day. He has been gracious to accept me, warts and all, and love me in spite of my humanness. He teaches me how to live in the Spirit and how to put to death my sinful nature. I still sin, but He is faithful and just to forgive me and purify me from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-10)
If you have never prayed Romans 10:9, start today. God wants you! He wants to live in relationship with you. He wants to take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19) He wants you to put off your sinful desires, live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit. (Gal 5:24-25)
I am thankful for the years I have been able to walk with God and how He has shown me more and more of who He is and the depth of His love. I especially love that as we see and experience God work, we have a history established with the Lord where we know that He is faithful. We have seen it with our very own eyes. When I get discouraged or blinded by a worldly perspective, I enjoy writing down how God has been faithful to me in the past and it encourages me to trust in Him today. Consider 1 Samuel 7:12 after God provided victory for the Israelites over the Philistines, “Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer (meaning stone of help), saying, ‘Thus far has the Lord helped us.” Remember this visual picture as you remember and testify of His greatness. Grab a stone if it will help you to remember that “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” He took care of us yesterday and today. He surely has tomorrow too.
In memory of John Jones, “Do good! Be rich in good deeds!” May his sudden death remind us that life on earth is temporary, but life in heaven is eternal. Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders (weight, ache, burden) and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Living for His glory,
Jenny Waltman