Nursing Home Ministry

Written in Heaven

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 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice 
that your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20 ESV

There are a great many things most of us would like to do or have in life. Many of these things are good and right, such as getting married, getting a job and having a decent home for our family. Each time we reach one of these accomplishments we feel a bit of satisfaction and joy. When it comes to whatever ministry that God has placed us in, the same holds true. Sunday school teachers love nothing better than praying with a child to receive Christ, worship leaders love seeing people raising their hands and singing along and pastors get excited when the altar is filled with people praying. Now, don’t get me wrong, these are all great, but when the disciples came back super enthusiastic from a bang-up mission’s trip Jesus cautioned them to focus elsewhere. He pointed to a day when all our life is over, and our doing is done. The only thing that will matter for us then is if we find that our names are written in Heaven. One way to be sure about if our names are written in Heaven is to search our hearts and ask a simple question: “Where is our greatest treasure?” Jesus told us that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. If we have made Jesus, the treasure of our heart. If we have asked Him to be Lord of our life and to forgive our sins, then we can rejoice not just in Heaven, but here and now. Our greatest joy must always be, not that others praise us or think we are important: not that we have a stack of money in the safe or the latest model car. The greatest joy must be that we have been found by the Good Shepherd and that our lives belong to Him!

Today’s song was recorded this past Sunday at Discovery Villages, where my friends in long-term care loved singing this song. If you listen carefully, you will hear more and more voices as the hymn goes along. That is because they were still coming into the room and towards the end you will also hear some clapping joining the voices. I believe that the joy they are experiencing is because they have realized more than most of us, that none of the things of this world really count for much, but the promises of God will last forever!

Victory in Jesus

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But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

The hymn “Victory in Jesus” was requested near the end of our Friday nursing home service, and though I do love this song, it has been quite a while (maybe years!) since I sang it. I was amazed at how my friends at Life Care Center, just lit up and clapped all the way through. Then I looked up a little of the background of this song and discovered that in 1939 when Eugene Bartlett wrote this song, he had been recently paralyzed by a stroke and was confined to bed. Though he had written many other hymns, this one became his most popular and was later sung around the country by his son, Eugene Jr., as he carried on his dad’s ministry.

At the nursing home, I saw how the words and music really struck a chord of hope in the hearts of the residents. Our friends in long-term care, know better than any of us on the outside what it means to look ahead to our eternal victory in Jesus Christ. Rather than focusing on naming and claiming, we are reminded that, Jesus named and claimed us, by His redeeming blood. The Old Testament tells us, “The life is in the blood.”, and today true life and victory can be found nowhere else but in the blood of Jesus Christ. Through HIs blood He purchased our mansion in glory, where, in the words of the song, “some sweet day we’ll sing up there that song of victory!”

Counting Blessings

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And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Colossians 3:15 NLT

As I look around the room I see most of my friends seated in wheelchairs, though a few of the more active senior saints are still making their way to our meeting with a walker. But in spite of all the reasons they have to complain, it is amazing how few of them do. Instead, I hear laughter, when I tell them to get their calculators out, because we are getting ready to count our blessings. There are days when we all need to think about things to be grateful for instead of those we like to gripe about. I am thankful for this simple song by Johnson Oatman, which reminds me to do exactly that! I do hope you will enjoy our little song session and that whatever life holds for you at this moment, that God will help you to count your blessings. Some of those blessings might be in the past, maybe some even today, but for the child of God, we all have some huge future blessings to thank Him for, beginning with His forgiveness of our sins and the home He has promised us in Heaven! (Next door to Jesus according to Dottie Rambo!)