Lessons from my son Noah

A few days ago Gina and I were eating at a local restaurant with our 8 month old son Noah. Towards the end of the meal Noah picked up a paper napkin and started pulling it with both hands. ("Paper napkin?" OK, so it was not a finer establishment.) Anyway, he pulled a few times and then suddenly ... RIP!

I hooped and hollered! I made a big to-do about him tearing that napkin. He laughed. He's got such a big laugh for such a little guy. I laughed and the meal went on.

A moment later I looked and noticed Noah pulling on the napkin again. He would pull and then look up to see my response. Well of course I would just go crazy with each pull. It became clear that he was looking for his father's praise.

I wonder, "What things to I do for my Father's praise?" Do I expect Him to go crazy for me over the simplest things or do I feel the need to do something extraordinary? Is He pleased with me only if I'm preaching or leading a mission trip or leading someone to Christ? Or is He delighted in me simply by my living each simple ordinary day for Him?

Zephaniah 3:17 says:
"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Today remember that He delights in you. He loves you. He is pleased with you. He even rejoices over you with singing. You are His and He is very happy about that.

Please pray for Wade

Please send out a prayer request to everyone for my 3 year old nephew Wade Sharp. He has 3 broken bones in as many years. He was diagnosed Friday with juvenile osteoporosis. We are praying and believing God for a total healing confirmed with a new diagnosis and no more broken bones. He is seeing a specialist on May 31st. Please join us by agreeing for his complete healing. Please also pray for his parents Michael and Emily Sharp.
Thank you.

Travis Moffitt
Worldwide Voice In the Wilderness
Associate Director
P.O. Box 740273
Dallas, TX 75374
(214) 234-6009
www.wviw.com

A Child-like Love

Noah, my one and only son, will turn six months old next week. He is amazing. He is healthy and becomes more alert and aware of his ever growing world with each passing day.

Gina and I have a little wake up routine we practice with him each morning. When we hear him begin to move around in his crib, we make our way quietly into his room. We begin by softly saying his name, "Noah. Noah. It's time to wake up."

Just a few steps and suddenly his handsome face appears just over the wall of his bed. Bright-eyed and gazing up at us with such expectation, such hope, such excitement. I will lean over and he will reach up with his little hands to my face as if to say "Good morning daddy. I knew you were coming for me."

That's when I saw it: A Child-like Love. His eyes are full of pure love every morning. A love I'm sure I do not deserve. A love I'm sure I need. He gazes at me, pearcing through to the core of my being with such a simple understanding and expectation of goodness from me. It's like he already knows he can count on me. I don't have to even do anything for it. He just gives love with such faith.

Jesus said, "Unless you accept God's Kingdom with the simplicity of a child, you will never get." (Mark 10:15 The Message)

I began to wonder, do I look at God the way that Noah looks at me? Do I gaze up every morning with a child-like love at my Heavenly Father's face the way Noah gazes into his earthly father's face? Do I trust the love of my God to care for me with simple faith or have I become to clouded with worry and want?

I heard it said recently that God wants us to seek His face not just His hands. That He will bless and provide for us because He promised that He would but what He longs for is intimacy. My son knows that I am going to feed him and clothe him and nurture him because that is what I do After all, I am his father. Have I allowed myself to also believe these truths of my Father?

So today I am learning from my son. I am learning that A Child-like Love is simple: Love God for who He is. Take Him at His word. Seek His face daily with the bright-eyed excitement of a child.

Travis Moffitt

The Path to Peace

Phillipians 4:6 & 7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In todays day and time it is easy to wake up anxious, go through the day anxious, and go to sleep anxious. Today the news states that some 3 million people in Haiti are need of relief after a devestating earthquake. Several days ago a would be airplane bomber failed to properly detinate his weapon of destruction. Unemployment in the United States as well as in many other countries is the highest its been in decades. The circumstances around us continue to give us a single command: be anxious.

Be anxious about your life. Be anxious about your job. Be anxious about your future. Who knows what calamity may befall you so you might as well be anxious.

Websters Dictionary states that the word "anxious" comes from the Latin "anxius" which is akin to the Latin word "angere" which means "to strangle."

Anxiety in our lives has 1 purpose. To strangle us. To choke us so that we can not breathe. We can not speak. We can not move. When we are anxious about any area we become focused on that thing to exclusion of all else. It chokes us and strangles us pulling us from the rest of our lives.

God has a plan for anxiety. In Phillipians we are given a clear path to guard our lives from the damage of anxiety.

First of all we are directed to pray. I've heard it said that "prayer changes things." How true this is, especially when I am the thing that is changed.

Secondly the Bible says to petition God. God our Father invites us to ask Him to meet our needs. In fact it shows our faith when we ask Him instead of attempting to meet our needs on our own.

Third, we are to take these steps with thanksgiving. We can gratefully approach God for all He has done and all that He is about to do for us.

Finally, present your needs to Him. All to often we are aware of our needs yet we hold them as a "silent prayer." God is avalable to us. We must then approach Him and voice our needs.

The amazing result of this path of peace is its destination. These steps come with a promise. Verse 7 assures us that the peace of God will guard us Even if this peace seems to make no sense in accordance with our circumstances. God promises us that His peace will guard our hearts and minds. He will keep us from being strangled by our anxiety.

So pray and petition God today. With thanksgiving present your needs to Him. He wants to guard you.