When my husband was pastoring, baby dedications was one of my favorite things to see. I’m not sure why. I guess because there was so much hope and anticipation in what was to unfold and come with that little precious gift of life. Something always would grip my heart to see parents stand up and willingly say that they want God to be the center of their child’s upbringing. The words spoken were beautiful but when a dab of oil was placed upon the babies forehead, I couldn’t help but get goosebumps all over thinking of the great things that little baby was about to embark upon for God in his or her lifetime.

Just as it is a natural instinct for an infant to want some milk , I believe that all babies also have a built in desire to have more of Jesus. You could call it a Holy Hunger, a thirst that only He can satisfy.

PSALM 23:5 “You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.”

The problem is that when we grow older, many of us do not go to the cup often enough to experience the overflow of His oil. If we filled a cup up to the brim with water, eventually we would have to go back to the tap, where we got the water, for a refilling. In order to keep the cup overflowing, we must continue to keep the water flow going. Spiritually, when we do not allow the oil to saturate us, to be a continual flow in our life, our cup will never overflow. We will become dry, parched and stagnate.

The oil used at Baby dedications is not where the power comes from. However, what and Who the oil symbolizes is what goes with us and remains with us for all of our days. If we let it. The oil is there, however, we have to keep returning to the source to keep our cup overflowing.

How can we do that?

Simply by feeding the desire that you have for God. By praying, reading His Word, memorizing scripture, fasting and dedicating  your thoughts, your words and your life to Him.

Dedication is not just for babies…it is for a lifetime!

PRAYER: “Dear Lord, I dedicate my life to You today. Forgive me of my past transgressions and take my life in Your hands and mold it, shape it, transform it. Make me new in You and keep my cup overflowing with Your love, Your joy, Your peace, Your understanding. Bring me back to your fountain daily, the one that never runs dry so that I can be a working vessel for You.” AMEN

You can find more devotions over at www.womentakingastand.blogspot.com

In fact, I probably love it way too much.

Sometimes, I tend to go overboard with my compulsive cleaning mentality. It embarrassess my children sometimes, mostly when we go to a public restuarant and I point out the filthy blinds, or the 2 inches of dust on the ceiling fan above our table. When my daughter and I excuse ourselves to go use the restroom, I find myself wanting to clean the mirror or taking a wad of papertowels and wiping the counters down. Such behaviour is usually met with the rolling of the eyes or some kind of under the breath statement like, “It’s not your job to clean everything Mom!” I  know its crazy, but I just can’t help myself.

Taking my cleaning frenzy outside my own house is very similiar to what I see happening spiritually all around me. Often times, we can’t help ourselves and that is why we judge others by what we deem as being “unclean”. We notice the dust (or flaws) in them and we think if we could just do alittle dusting and polishing that we can clean them up. All the while, we focus on doing their housecleaning instead of our own.

It’s really easy in my real-life business to busy myself with taking on alot of customers and meeting their cleaning needs but at the same time because of lack of time at home, I neglect my own house to be neat and tidy. Spiritually, it is just as easy for me to overlook my messes (flaws) because I am so busy checking out the dust in someone else’s life.

What right do I have to be the dust blaster of others? That isn’t my job at all! It is God’s. He is the Master duster blaster. Look at what Romans 14:4 says…

“They are God’s servants, not yours. They are responsible to Him, not you. Let Him tell them whether they are right or wrong. And God is able to make them do as they should.”

You have heard it said before that there are those who plant, and those who sow, But there is also one who dusts…and He knows exactly what strength of cleaning power each of us needs. So let God do the dusting!

Visit my blog WOMENTAKINGASTAND for more devo’s.

We rolled the ball…and sure enough that ball came rolling right back to us. No matter  where we stood, it returned to us just like the package said it would. We stood in the kitchen and rolled the ball…it came back. We stood in the hallway..it came back. We stood in the family room…it came back. We were amazed.

I  sure wish there could be such a ball for when distractions of the world pull us away from serving God.

We all know someone, perhaps even ourselves, that because of trials and tribulations, or temptations, traded assurance in Him for the lies of the enemy. The enemy knows that if he can put extreme suffering in our path that we may begin to doubt God’s love and and compassion. Many times, instead of trusting God, we blame Him. We question why a good God would allow such bad things to happen to us.

The amazing thing about God is that even when we step away from Him, He never goes any where. He remains at our side. Wherever we go, He is present.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Just like that wonder ball that returned after we rolled it away, God remains and is just waiting for all of His children to return to Him that have rolled away.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

For years now, I have heard preachers say that we are in the last days, “Jesus is coming soon.” I believe that we truly are in the last days and that time is very short to get our house in order. All I have to do is turn on the nightly news and ask myself “why God?, why don’t You just come?”

Just like any parent who never loses hope that their lost child would be found, our Heavenly Father waits for one more to come home. Maybe it is your mother or brother. A friend or a spouse. Maybe it is your son or daughter or maybe it is a complete stranger. Whoever it is, God is waiting patiently for them and as He waits, He stands close by, never leaving them alone.

He waits. He watches. And He never rolls away.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord for being patient with me, for not giving up on me or forgetting me. Even before I fully committed to You, You were always fully committed to me. May I also have the same kind of patience with those who have fallen away from You, help me to see them like You see them, and may they yearn to roll back to You, just like that wonder ball. AMEN