“He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.” –Proverbs 17:27-28
Every word has a meaning. Simple enough, right? The way each word rolls off our tongue, out of our mouth, and into someone’s ear. Each and every tiny little word has meaning. The way we say things can confirm or contradict the very words we speak. There are wise, loving, hurtful, shocking, funny, strange, made-up, serious, and so many other types of words. So what do our words say about us?
There are so many verses that talk about our words. There are at least 11 in Proverbs that I know of. In Proverbs 17:27-28 it says that even a fool can be considered wise when he keeps silent. “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances,” –Proverbs 25:11. A word spoken in the right circumstances is like gold and silver! Fools can be considered wise and words in the right moment are like gold and silver. Wow!
Our words are powerful. We should mean what we say…say what we mean…build each other up. All we have to do is be kind hearted in our speech. As a woman in a “leadership” position in my job I often struggle with how I am to handle certain situations. Proverbs 31 tells us we are to open our mouth in wisdom. We are to teach with kindness on our tongue. God has told us how to use our words. So are we willing to use our words as they were meant to be used? He has told us that we are to build one another up (I Thess. 5:11), speak with kindness (Proverbs 19:22), gentle in answer (Proverbs 15:1), keeping your word in accountability and not spreading gossip (Proverbs 11:13). He has told us that we are to keep silent until the opportune time to speak.
So if our words have so much power, what are our words saying about each of us? What do we spend most of our time talking about? One of my favorite things to remember is a simple phrase I heard someone say “we speak most of the things we love, what do our words say we love?” Just like with a married person, within minutes you will know if someone is married. You do not have to look on their hand to see a ring, just have a conversation with them. The person you talk to will start talking about their spouse. That is the same way we are to be with our Father. It should not be something that we have to force into a conversation. If we truly love our Heavenly Father our conversations will naturally reflect what we love. Our love for Him will overflow from our heart to our speech and from our speech to our actions. It spills over into our choices of movies, music, televisions, and friends.
I dare you to ask yourself (and your accountability partner or friend) what your words say about you.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Rope Burns - Letting Go of Things in Our Lives
This weekend I was able to enjoy a trip to the lake with a wonderful family and a couple of friends. While we were there we had the chance to swim, wake board, water ski, tube, cliff jump into the water below us, and many other things. However, it was not until we returned that God showed me some amazing truths and parallels to His way of working in us and the very things we were able to do.
Being the control freak that I am I grab on to situations and things in my life rather than let them go and allow God to work. He has shown me it causes me far more pain to hold on then to let go. One of the things I enjoyed doing this weekend was wake boarding. I only tried it a couple of times and failed miserably. Yet, I loved it! When trying to wake board you are supposed to hold on to a bar connected to a rope that is connected to the boat while you are floating in the water with a board attached to your feet. The driver of the boat will then take off at a significant speed to get you standing vertical in the water, similar to surfing only you are attached to a boat. Well, during one of my few attempts the boat started to go and I was pulled under the water. If I would not have let go I could have drowned myself. Yet, I realized being under the water was not a goal and my body screamed, “LET GO!” So I let go. I did not want to drown or get rope burn from the rope attached to the bar. Often times in life I try to control my situations and try to hang on to a particular area of those situations until I get rope burn from holding on so tightly as God tries to show me that it is just going to drag me under. My stubbornness turns into scrapes, bruises, cuts, burns, and eventually scars. Just like a parent God cannot make those burns and such go away. Our parents try and treat the wound and keep it from scaring as badly. We will always have a memory of whatever happened that caused that scar. God is not going to just take all of it away, what would we ever learn if He just took it away? We would continually do the same thing over and over again because we did not ever learn the lesson He intended for us to learn. Just like in science, “for every action there is an equal reaction.” It is the same in life. For every action we take or thought we think there is an equal reaction. God is a graceful and forgiving God. He is also a just, righteous, and holy God. In Habakkuk 1:13 we are shown that God cannot look upon evil “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor.” Since God cannot look upon evil with favor and realizing that sin is evil and realizing that being controlling is a sin we realize that being controlling also is evil. God cannot look upon my evil with favor. Any sin that we commit is evil. He cannot look on any of our sins with favor. Thus we have to repent. Once we repent we are still going to have to deal with the affect of the committed sin. Just because we repent does not mean it will go away. Just like when we get a rope burn or other injuries. Once you treat it with Neosporin or a band aid, does not mean it is immediately going to go away and leave no scaring.
We are left to deal with our junk even after going to God. He is the one who walks us through and shows us how to avoid situations like the one we were involved in that caused the need for repentance. God does not want us to suffer, just like our parents do not want us to suffer or go through things that are difficult. God wants us to have faith in Him and trust that whatever it is that we are clinging to that it is far better if we let it go. We are basically saying that we are afraid to let the God of the universe take care of our problems and would rather try and fix it our self. God is just waiting for us to ask Him for His help. He is not a controlling father who is going to jump in and completely take over what we are doing. We have to ask Him for help. And when we ask Him for help we have to completely let go of the situation and give it to Him. We cannot be trying to touch or control any part of it. Once we ask for God to be in control, we need to get out of the drivers seat and sit in the back. We are along for the ride. Matthew 7:7-11 tells us if we ask it will be given to us. It also tells us about a good father providing the needs of his children, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” James 4:1-8 tells us that we cause arguments and we fights because we do not have things, yet we do not ask God for these things. We are missing what God wants us to do. He does not want us to try and cling to things, He wants to be a loving Father. We just have to ask Him for the things we want. We have to be willing to let them go for a while and wait on His timing.
God is perfect. He has perfect timing. Even when it is hardest for us to see why He has us in the season we are in, we have to trust that He is doing something. We should continue seeking Him and spending time in His word and being around His people and sharing with those who do not know Him. We are only to give up the things we are clinging to and lay them in His possession to take care of the matter for us. He is the ultimate mechanic who can and will fix the things we give Him. He will give us guidance. He is the greatest Father anyone could ever ask for. He will pull us into His arms and let us sit in His lap as we whimper from the wound. He will comfort us and hold us as we heal, as He heals us. Healing is a process and therefore takes time. He is with us for all of that time.
Being the control freak that I am I grab on to situations and things in my life rather than let them go and allow God to work. He has shown me it causes me far more pain to hold on then to let go. One of the things I enjoyed doing this weekend was wake boarding. I only tried it a couple of times and failed miserably. Yet, I loved it! When trying to wake board you are supposed to hold on to a bar connected to a rope that is connected to the boat while you are floating in the water with a board attached to your feet. The driver of the boat will then take off at a significant speed to get you standing vertical in the water, similar to surfing only you are attached to a boat. Well, during one of my few attempts the boat started to go and I was pulled under the water. If I would not have let go I could have drowned myself. Yet, I realized being under the water was not a goal and my body screamed, “LET GO!” So I let go. I did not want to drown or get rope burn from the rope attached to the bar. Often times in life I try to control my situations and try to hang on to a particular area of those situations until I get rope burn from holding on so tightly as God tries to show me that it is just going to drag me under. My stubbornness turns into scrapes, bruises, cuts, burns, and eventually scars. Just like a parent God cannot make those burns and such go away. Our parents try and treat the wound and keep it from scaring as badly. We will always have a memory of whatever happened that caused that scar. God is not going to just take all of it away, what would we ever learn if He just took it away? We would continually do the same thing over and over again because we did not ever learn the lesson He intended for us to learn. Just like in science, “for every action there is an equal reaction.” It is the same in life. For every action we take or thought we think there is an equal reaction. God is a graceful and forgiving God. He is also a just, righteous, and holy God. In Habakkuk 1:13 we are shown that God cannot look upon evil “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor.” Since God cannot look upon evil with favor and realizing that sin is evil and realizing that being controlling is a sin we realize that being controlling also is evil. God cannot look upon my evil with favor. Any sin that we commit is evil. He cannot look on any of our sins with favor. Thus we have to repent. Once we repent we are still going to have to deal with the affect of the committed sin. Just because we repent does not mean it will go away. Just like when we get a rope burn or other injuries. Once you treat it with Neosporin or a band aid, does not mean it is immediately going to go away and leave no scaring.
We are left to deal with our junk even after going to God. He is the one who walks us through and shows us how to avoid situations like the one we were involved in that caused the need for repentance. God does not want us to suffer, just like our parents do not want us to suffer or go through things that are difficult. God wants us to have faith in Him and trust that whatever it is that we are clinging to that it is far better if we let it go. We are basically saying that we are afraid to let the God of the universe take care of our problems and would rather try and fix it our self. God is just waiting for us to ask Him for His help. He is not a controlling father who is going to jump in and completely take over what we are doing. We have to ask Him for help. And when we ask Him for help we have to completely let go of the situation and give it to Him. We cannot be trying to touch or control any part of it. Once we ask for God to be in control, we need to get out of the drivers seat and sit in the back. We are along for the ride. Matthew 7:7-11 tells us if we ask it will be given to us. It also tells us about a good father providing the needs of his children, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” James 4:1-8 tells us that we cause arguments and we fights because we do not have things, yet we do not ask God for these things. We are missing what God wants us to do. He does not want us to try and cling to things, He wants to be a loving Father. We just have to ask Him for the things we want. We have to be willing to let them go for a while and wait on His timing.
God is perfect. He has perfect timing. Even when it is hardest for us to see why He has us in the season we are in, we have to trust that He is doing something. We should continue seeking Him and spending time in His word and being around His people and sharing with those who do not know Him. We are only to give up the things we are clinging to and lay them in His possession to take care of the matter for us. He is the ultimate mechanic who can and will fix the things we give Him. He will give us guidance. He is the greatest Father anyone could ever ask for. He will pull us into His arms and let us sit in His lap as we whimper from the wound. He will comfort us and hold us as we heal, as He heals us. Healing is a process and therefore takes time. He is with us for all of that time.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Power Behind Dry Bones
The Valley of Dry Bones would not have been the most ideal place to visit in the world. Yet God sent Ezekiel there. God's hand was on Ezekiel and He took him to a valley that was filled with dry bones. I can almost picture an extremely sandy, dry, desert like valley filled with bones scattered about God, told Ezekiel to prophesy and He would cause the bones to come together, the He would allow sinews (tendons) to form on the bones, then He would cover the bodies in flesh, and then He would give them breath to breathe. (That would make a sweeeeeet movie! I am just saying, come on hollywood!) So Ezekiel did what God told him to do. God made the bones come together. He put tendons on the bones and covered them with flesh. Then He put breath in the bodies so that they could breathe. God made these dry bones come together and make living things. Dry bones, do you get that... DRY BONES! This is not like Juliet who drank potion that would make her appear dead temporarily. This is not like something you see on CSI where a person was buried because they were thought to be dead. These were dry bones. God's power is never ending. He can do anything. Romans 8:38-39 says nothing can come between us and God. He is too powerful for anything to separate His people from Him. He can not be defeated.
Just a chapter before God makes a beautiful promise to Ezekiel for Israel. "I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God..." The promise keeps on going. God has so much power and shows it in the best of ways, by loving His people. Even when His people were in the midst of sin to the point they had completely turned away from their Father and worshipped statues made of the very things God had given them. Although He disciplined them, He did it out of His love for them. He told Ezekiel that He was going to bring His people back together. Not only that He was going to that, but He was going to give them a new heart and a new spirit. He was going to give them a piece of Him.
God has the power to change dead people who have become dry bones into living breathing people. That means God also has the power to move mountains, the power to bring you through whatever tough time you are in, the power to save the souls of those you are praying for, the power to bring in support for foreign missions. God loves showing His power to His children. All we have to do is have faith in Him that He can do it. Ezekiel was obedient and faithful to God. God told him to prophesy and he did. There does not seem to be a break between God telling him to do it and him doing it, which leads me to believe that it was an immediate reaction. We are sinful and may not immediately be obedient when God commands us to do something, but your act of obedience and faith can show you just how powerful God really is.
CHALLENGE: Seek God on an area of your life to be obedient and faithful in. See God shine His glorious power into your life this week. (It is Wednesday so let's say from Wednesday-Wednesday). Try it, I double dog dare you to. See what God will do in your life this week as you are obedient and faithful to His call in your life.
God bless!!
Just a chapter before God makes a beautiful promise to Ezekiel for Israel. "I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God..." The promise keeps on going. God has so much power and shows it in the best of ways, by loving His people. Even when His people were in the midst of sin to the point they had completely turned away from their Father and worshipped statues made of the very things God had given them. Although He disciplined them, He did it out of His love for them. He told Ezekiel that He was going to bring His people back together. Not only that He was going to that, but He was going to give them a new heart and a new spirit. He was going to give them a piece of Him.
God has the power to change dead people who have become dry bones into living breathing people. That means God also has the power to move mountains, the power to bring you through whatever tough time you are in, the power to save the souls of those you are praying for, the power to bring in support for foreign missions. God loves showing His power to His children. All we have to do is have faith in Him that He can do it. Ezekiel was obedient and faithful to God. God told him to prophesy and he did. There does not seem to be a break between God telling him to do it and him doing it, which leads me to believe that it was an immediate reaction. We are sinful and may not immediately be obedient when God commands us to do something, but your act of obedience and faith can show you just how powerful God really is.
CHALLENGE: Seek God on an area of your life to be obedient and faithful in. See God shine His glorious power into your life this week. (It is Wednesday so let's say from Wednesday-Wednesday). Try it, I double dog dare you to. See what God will do in your life this week as you are obedient and faithful to His call in your life.
God bless!!
Friday, July 2, 2010
My Wily Heart- desiring purity in heart, mind and soul.
Written by: Caitlin
This is an article written by a sweet friend of mine. Enjoy!
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.”
Psalm 119:9
"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
Luke 16:13
“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
Galatians 1:10
As a warning beforehand, this is going to be a completely honest article. Often when many of us Christian girls get together to talk of purity, it is easy for us to get on a high horse about the subject. Let’s not look down our noses at sisters who appear to be struggling, let us be honest: we are all struggling no matter where we are in life! No matter how many pledges we sign, rings we put on our fingers, groups we join, no matter if we even avoid the company of men entirely-temptation finds a way to creep in. Even if we maintain a physical purity, can we honestly say, when we examine our hearts, that we are truly making the best efforts possible to guard them?
Often times, when I look at my heart, I feel like the psalmist, as in regret he exclaims:
“Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.”
Psalm 73:21-22
What a struggle it is for a young woman to guard her heart against the dreams and hopes that allude to romance. How easy it is to say with our lips that we stand for chastity, while in our hearts there rages a desire to find acceptance in the eyes of men. Who can’t deny enjoying the sensation one receives upon realizing you have a man’s attention? Yes, I want to be cherished! I want to be sought after, I want to be thought beautiful! If we look at so many of the things we do on a daily basis and examine them closely, how many things would we find that we do in the name of the Lord, but for the approval of others? Or, namely, just to be noticed by guys? I can think of words that I have said about purity of all things, that truly, I only spoke so someone would think I was some righteous goody tushu, who would make the perfect 50’s housewife.
I can only speak for myself on this. It is as though I serve the Lord with a secret agenda, as if I think, “If I keep putting the right amount of change in the coke machine, eventually I’ll get what I’m wanting soon enough!” I will read every Joshua Harris book, study my Bible, seek to adorn myself with modest apparel, and all the while say I’m honoring God. I’ll say I’m waiting to date, waiting for God to open up that door, contenting myself in the relationship I have with Him, and am in no hurry to seek a romantic relationship at all. Yet within, my flesh screams: “When is it going to be time Lord?! I’ve been waiting, I’ve been doing what you ask, when are you going to give me what I want?!” And here lies my problem. What do I want? Do I really want to be fulfilled in Christ Jesus? Or, do I do what I think He wants of me, in order to achieve what I think will make me happy?
In the back of my mind, the Spirit tells me how wrong my thoughts are. My heart groans; I want my relationship with the Lord to not be so! It is here that the words of Paul come to mind:
“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Romans 7:15-24(NASB)
What would our lives look like, if we could view our flesh as God sees it? To utterly, despise it?
“Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:5-10(NASB)
In our hearts, we often have our ‘old man’ rising up, trying to gain dominion over the ‘new man’ we have received in Christ. We believers, are sealed in Christ. We belong to him, and by His grace He is daily transforming us. Daily leading us to see which passions we have clung to, that aren’t the fruit of His will. He has triumphed o’er those things which held us captive before, put to death the power that ‘old man’ had over us, and given us a new life in Him. I am a new creation, Christ has given me a new identity. Nevertheless, that ‘old man’ wants me to think he still has power. He wants me to think that I really can’t be free from him, that I have to just ‘put up’ with his ways. He wants me to think:
“I’ll always struggle with this, it’s just who I am. I’ll just go on doing the best I can, while knowing that this trial will always be a part of my life.”
What an awful lie to buy into! Yet how easy it is to convince oneself of this. We have become so accustomed with the way our society cheers for a woman to seek out the attention of men, that we can hardly imagine living any differently. How humiliating a realization it is, when we come to grips with how deceitful we truly are. How extremely humiliating when we realize the many ‘good things’ we do for the wrong reasons, as well as the many times we judge our spirituality by what other’s think of us, rather than what God thinks of us. How sad a realization it is when we see how we have empowered the old self to reign in our lives, and even influence the areas in which we think we were trusting God with. It is frustrating to no end! How can it be overcome? When faced with these truths of myself, I feel like echoing the words of Shakespeare: “Get me to a nunnery!”
So, what are we to do? Is running off to France and joining a convent really the only escape? I doubt it. Under that delusion I can easily see myself fancying finding true love with a monk from a nearby monastery, or being whisked away to care for a handsome widower’s children who stole my heart as he sang ‘Edelweiss’. (See how wily women are?!) Isolation isn’t the answer, even; though sometimes I wish it was.
Through a sermon that was preached at our church last Sunday, I believe God has given me a mindset in which to view this circumstance in a way that will enable me by Christ’s power, to resist this ‘old man’ when he tries to rise up. What would it look like, as I said before, if we could view our flesh as God sees it? To realize it is dead, old, and decrepit. To view it as an adversary. No longer as a part of who we are, but something that despises who we have become in Christ. Something that covets our relationship with Him, something that wants to take the rug out from under our feet and laugh at us as we lay on the floor in confusion in bewilderment. Something that wants us to doubt the freedom and assurance we have been given in Christ!
Recognizing a temptation as an enemy rather than a part of our makeup, enables us to deal with it as an enemy ought to be dealt with. Christ has given us the power to overcome, though how much we desire to be free from these things is up to us. Will we let something so weak and powerless, reign in our hearts? Upon feeling the temptation to act out according to the old man’s character, I pray God gives us the strength to be filled with rage. May we turn to Him in those times, fully conscious of His power keep us safe. Turning into His embrace is like charging a sword into the stomach of our adversary.
Earlier, I quoted Psalm 73:21-22, though there is more to this passage that I would like to share.
Psalm 73:23-28 :
Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? and besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
In the two verses prior to these, the psalmist expressed his disdain for his circumstance before the Lord, referring to himself as foolish, and a beast. Yet afterward he proclaims: “Nevertheless I am continually with You; you have taken hold of my right hand.”
God was never away from him, even during his folly, God was near. How sweet a thing to remember! When we act out of our ‘wily ways’ God does not shake his head and say, “You’re on your own here, I’m too holy to be with you when you act this way. Let me know when you get everything straightened out…” God takes us by the hand when we are utterly beastly. When we have gone whoring after idols, He takes us by the hand amid our very shame, counsels us, and receives us unto glory.
I pray for myself, and my sisters as well, that we would be so utterly filled with love for Him, that the romantic idols our fancies seek after so often would fall to dust when we view them in light of His greatness. May He give us humility to see where we have fallen, and the strength to turn to Him in realization that only through His power, can we overcome.
It is also my prayer that we can encourage one another in this area, and be honest with each other amid our struggles. It is such a liberating feeling to share your heart with a trusted friend. Not only will your friendship deepen, but your eyes will be opened to areas in your life that need to be changed as you seek honesty with your sisters in Christ. Let us lift one another up in love for our King, and truly desire to be filled with Him. Not so we can snag a ‘righteous’ help meet along the way, but wholly for the sake of fulfilling what we were created to do; live for God.
Through a selfish mindset, it seems hard to imagine that surrendering our romantic ideas to Him could be more fulfilling. Here, we truly need to ask ourselves what it is that we want; fleeting moments of excitement? How many relationships have we made for the sole purpose of self-gratification? It’s a scary thought.
So often when we try to define purity, we talk of it in the context of guy/girl relationships, and it seems like this is the first place where we go wrong! If I am vowing to be pure for the purpose of honoring someone who struggles with the same things I do--if my sole purpose in striving for purity is to please another human, I think I need to re-evaluate my priorities.
Before I was given the name daughter, sister, friend, ect, my identity was with Christ. I belonged to Him before any earthly person had any claim upon me, and this still rings true today. How can we endeavor to do good things in the name of sinful people? If I ever was to marry, I would pray that whomever God brought into my life would desire me to seek God’s will more than my will, and his will. I pray for a desire to do good, to pursue purity, because my God is pure. Anything that tests my integrity threatens the unison of my walk with Him. How could I ever dream of fulfilling God’s will, if I am doing the things He desires of me for someone other than Himself?
May purity, modesty, humility, and all those traits we so desire to own, be a natural outpouring from hearts that care more for our Creator’s concerns, than the world’s.
This is an article written by a sweet friend of mine. Enjoy!
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.”
Psalm 119:9
"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
Luke 16:13
“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
Galatians 1:10
As a warning beforehand, this is going to be a completely honest article. Often when many of us Christian girls get together to talk of purity, it is easy for us to get on a high horse about the subject. Let’s not look down our noses at sisters who appear to be struggling, let us be honest: we are all struggling no matter where we are in life! No matter how many pledges we sign, rings we put on our fingers, groups we join, no matter if we even avoid the company of men entirely-temptation finds a way to creep in. Even if we maintain a physical purity, can we honestly say, when we examine our hearts, that we are truly making the best efforts possible to guard them?
Often times, when I look at my heart, I feel like the psalmist, as in regret he exclaims:
“Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.”
Psalm 73:21-22
What a struggle it is for a young woman to guard her heart against the dreams and hopes that allude to romance. How easy it is to say with our lips that we stand for chastity, while in our hearts there rages a desire to find acceptance in the eyes of men. Who can’t deny enjoying the sensation one receives upon realizing you have a man’s attention? Yes, I want to be cherished! I want to be sought after, I want to be thought beautiful! If we look at so many of the things we do on a daily basis and examine them closely, how many things would we find that we do in the name of the Lord, but for the approval of others? Or, namely, just to be noticed by guys? I can think of words that I have said about purity of all things, that truly, I only spoke so someone would think I was some righteous goody tushu, who would make the perfect 50’s housewife.
I can only speak for myself on this. It is as though I serve the Lord with a secret agenda, as if I think, “If I keep putting the right amount of change in the coke machine, eventually I’ll get what I’m wanting soon enough!” I will read every Joshua Harris book, study my Bible, seek to adorn myself with modest apparel, and all the while say I’m honoring God. I’ll say I’m waiting to date, waiting for God to open up that door, contenting myself in the relationship I have with Him, and am in no hurry to seek a romantic relationship at all. Yet within, my flesh screams: “When is it going to be time Lord?! I’ve been waiting, I’ve been doing what you ask, when are you going to give me what I want?!” And here lies my problem. What do I want? Do I really want to be fulfilled in Christ Jesus? Or, do I do what I think He wants of me, in order to achieve what I think will make me happy?
In the back of my mind, the Spirit tells me how wrong my thoughts are. My heart groans; I want my relationship with the Lord to not be so! It is here that the words of Paul come to mind:
“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Romans 7:15-24(NASB)
What would our lives look like, if we could view our flesh as God sees it? To utterly, despise it?
“Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:5-10(NASB)
In our hearts, we often have our ‘old man’ rising up, trying to gain dominion over the ‘new man’ we have received in Christ. We believers, are sealed in Christ. We belong to him, and by His grace He is daily transforming us. Daily leading us to see which passions we have clung to, that aren’t the fruit of His will. He has triumphed o’er those things which held us captive before, put to death the power that ‘old man’ had over us, and given us a new life in Him. I am a new creation, Christ has given me a new identity. Nevertheless, that ‘old man’ wants me to think he still has power. He wants me to think that I really can’t be free from him, that I have to just ‘put up’ with his ways. He wants me to think:
“I’ll always struggle with this, it’s just who I am. I’ll just go on doing the best I can, while knowing that this trial will always be a part of my life.”
What an awful lie to buy into! Yet how easy it is to convince oneself of this. We have become so accustomed with the way our society cheers for a woman to seek out the attention of men, that we can hardly imagine living any differently. How humiliating a realization it is, when we come to grips with how deceitful we truly are. How extremely humiliating when we realize the many ‘good things’ we do for the wrong reasons, as well as the many times we judge our spirituality by what other’s think of us, rather than what God thinks of us. How sad a realization it is when we see how we have empowered the old self to reign in our lives, and even influence the areas in which we think we were trusting God with. It is frustrating to no end! How can it be overcome? When faced with these truths of myself, I feel like echoing the words of Shakespeare: “Get me to a nunnery!”
So, what are we to do? Is running off to France and joining a convent really the only escape? I doubt it. Under that delusion I can easily see myself fancying finding true love with a monk from a nearby monastery, or being whisked away to care for a handsome widower’s children who stole my heart as he sang ‘Edelweiss’. (See how wily women are?!) Isolation isn’t the answer, even; though sometimes I wish it was.
Through a sermon that was preached at our church last Sunday, I believe God has given me a mindset in which to view this circumstance in a way that will enable me by Christ’s power, to resist this ‘old man’ when he tries to rise up. What would it look like, as I said before, if we could view our flesh as God sees it? To realize it is dead, old, and decrepit. To view it as an adversary. No longer as a part of who we are, but something that despises who we have become in Christ. Something that covets our relationship with Him, something that wants to take the rug out from under our feet and laugh at us as we lay on the floor in confusion in bewilderment. Something that wants us to doubt the freedom and assurance we have been given in Christ!
Recognizing a temptation as an enemy rather than a part of our makeup, enables us to deal with it as an enemy ought to be dealt with. Christ has given us the power to overcome, though how much we desire to be free from these things is up to us. Will we let something so weak and powerless, reign in our hearts? Upon feeling the temptation to act out according to the old man’s character, I pray God gives us the strength to be filled with rage. May we turn to Him in those times, fully conscious of His power keep us safe. Turning into His embrace is like charging a sword into the stomach of our adversary.
Earlier, I quoted Psalm 73:21-22, though there is more to this passage that I would like to share.
Psalm 73:23-28 :
Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? and besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
In the two verses prior to these, the psalmist expressed his disdain for his circumstance before the Lord, referring to himself as foolish, and a beast. Yet afterward he proclaims: “Nevertheless I am continually with You; you have taken hold of my right hand.”
God was never away from him, even during his folly, God was near. How sweet a thing to remember! When we act out of our ‘wily ways’ God does not shake his head and say, “You’re on your own here, I’m too holy to be with you when you act this way. Let me know when you get everything straightened out…” God takes us by the hand when we are utterly beastly. When we have gone whoring after idols, He takes us by the hand amid our very shame, counsels us, and receives us unto glory.
I pray for myself, and my sisters as well, that we would be so utterly filled with love for Him, that the romantic idols our fancies seek after so often would fall to dust when we view them in light of His greatness. May He give us humility to see where we have fallen, and the strength to turn to Him in realization that only through His power, can we overcome.
It is also my prayer that we can encourage one another in this area, and be honest with each other amid our struggles. It is such a liberating feeling to share your heart with a trusted friend. Not only will your friendship deepen, but your eyes will be opened to areas in your life that need to be changed as you seek honesty with your sisters in Christ. Let us lift one another up in love for our King, and truly desire to be filled with Him. Not so we can snag a ‘righteous’ help meet along the way, but wholly for the sake of fulfilling what we were created to do; live for God.
Through a selfish mindset, it seems hard to imagine that surrendering our romantic ideas to Him could be more fulfilling. Here, we truly need to ask ourselves what it is that we want; fleeting moments of excitement? How many relationships have we made for the sole purpose of self-gratification? It’s a scary thought.
So often when we try to define purity, we talk of it in the context of guy/girl relationships, and it seems like this is the first place where we go wrong! If I am vowing to be pure for the purpose of honoring someone who struggles with the same things I do--if my sole purpose in striving for purity is to please another human, I think I need to re-evaluate my priorities.
Before I was given the name daughter, sister, friend, ect, my identity was with Christ. I belonged to Him before any earthly person had any claim upon me, and this still rings true today. How can we endeavor to do good things in the name of sinful people? If I ever was to marry, I would pray that whomever God brought into my life would desire me to seek God’s will more than my will, and his will. I pray for a desire to do good, to pursue purity, because my God is pure. Anything that tests my integrity threatens the unison of my walk with Him. How could I ever dream of fulfilling God’s will, if I am doing the things He desires of me for someone other than Himself?
May purity, modesty, humility, and all those traits we so desire to own, be a natural outpouring from hearts that care more for our Creator’s concerns, than the world’s.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Father's Day- A look at the role of our father's compared to our Father
We all have a father. Some of you may not know who your father is, you may have never met him but you know he exists. Some of you have a great father who you live with and see everyday. Some may have a father you live with but he is, well not great. Thankfully I have grown up having an amazing father. But I am not writing to brag on my father (as much as I would like to). So we all share a common denominator here, we all have a father. A father is the leaders, they are the initiators. They are the man of the house who takes care of their wife and children. Father's discipline their children when they do wrong and they teach them to do right. Father's love their family's, even when they make a big mess of things. Father's work hard and provide food, shelter, and clothing for their family. The list of things they do is endless. They get their so called "job description" from the Ultimate Father. Our God is the most amazing Father anyone could ever have. Now matter how terrible or how great your physical father is, God the Father beats him out by a landslide.
Our Father has provided for us in ways we could not even imagine. He has loved us when we spit in His face and chose sin/death over love/life. He is eternally great. Knowing that our father's get such a weighty job title from God Himself should give us a little more respect for them. In the past I have not been the best at loving either of my parents. I was rebellious and mean. The way I treated them and the things I said to them were uncalled for and not deserving at all. My parents have loved me through thick and thin. Even today when I was going through a rough time dealing with somethings with some people in my life (very vague...I know). They were both loving and understanding. They love me unconditionally. They, however, cannot ever love me as much as my Father loves me. I cannot love them as much as He loves them. God is love (I John 4:8). God's love reaches to the ends of the earth and outside of time. He wove you in your mother's womb. He knew you before you were born. He knows more about you than you could ever know about you (Psalm 139).
Psalm 139 does a great job of explaining how much our Father loves each and every one of us. I like using this chapter in writing encouraging letters to friends and family. So I am going to write it to all of you the way I would write it to someone really close to me. Although I may not know all of you who read this (now and at a future date), I do hope for you to get the same effect and the same desire for God when I read and re-read and go through this chapter. I hope you can get as much from it as I do. This is how much our Father loves us and our earthly father's could never love us as much as God can.
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. (He knows everything about you. He has searched you inside and out)
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar. (Just like in the jingle many people sing about santa "He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake..." Only God is real :) )
3You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. (He has seen your path and where you lie down. He knows you what you are going to do before you do it)
4Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all. (He knows what you are going to say before you say it. He knows it ALL)
5You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me. (He has given you a path and no one can change it. If you are His, you are His forever...and ever...and ever...and eternity)
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it. (We cannot, in this lifetime, ever understand how He has such knowledge and such wisdom and such power. We can say "He is God and has all power" but we will not fully comprehend His Awesomeness until we meet Him face-to-face in our final home)
7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me. (No matter where we go He is there. We cannot go deep into the ocean and lose Him or high into the sky and hide from Him. Even our hiding place He sees us. He has full access to us 24/7 and then some)
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You. (He is a light in the dark and nothing can shut Him down. When we are afraid of the night we know that He is still there with us shinning as bright as ever)
13For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb. (He wove you in! He made you to be. You were not just some cosmic accident. You are here for a purpose, a divine purpose from the most amazing God!)
14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well. (We are told to praise Him because of all the great that He has done. We should praise Him everyday and not just once a week or once a month or once a year...everyday, every single day. He has given you every breath. He gave you eyes to read this. He gave you ears to hear and a nose to smell and tastebuds to taste... He is wonderful and magnificent in every way.)
15My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. (He has seen you before you were even a thought in your parents head. He has known you long before you knew you. He knows how many days you have to live. He knew this before you were woven in by Him)
17How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You. (Your earthly father thinks about you quite a bit but I doubt he thinks about you as much as God. God thinks about you more times than there are grains of sand. He loves you so much!)
19O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
20For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Basically we can sum all of that up with:
YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES YOU!
Do not forget to show your earthly father how much you love him but do not forget to praise you heavenly Father for all He has done for you and how much He loves you even when you forget He exists. Love on your father and you Father today.
God bless!
Our Father has provided for us in ways we could not even imagine. He has loved us when we spit in His face and chose sin/death over love/life. He is eternally great. Knowing that our father's get such a weighty job title from God Himself should give us a little more respect for them. In the past I have not been the best at loving either of my parents. I was rebellious and mean. The way I treated them and the things I said to them were uncalled for and not deserving at all. My parents have loved me through thick and thin. Even today when I was going through a rough time dealing with somethings with some people in my life (very vague...I know). They were both loving and understanding. They love me unconditionally. They, however, cannot ever love me as much as my Father loves me. I cannot love them as much as He loves them. God is love (I John 4:8). God's love reaches to the ends of the earth and outside of time. He wove you in your mother's womb. He knew you before you were born. He knows more about you than you could ever know about you (Psalm 139).
Psalm 139 does a great job of explaining how much our Father loves each and every one of us. I like using this chapter in writing encouraging letters to friends and family. So I am going to write it to all of you the way I would write it to someone really close to me. Although I may not know all of you who read this (now and at a future date), I do hope for you to get the same effect and the same desire for God when I read and re-read and go through this chapter. I hope you can get as much from it as I do. This is how much our Father loves us and our earthly father's could never love us as much as God can.
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. (He knows everything about you. He has searched you inside and out)
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar. (Just like in the jingle many people sing about santa "He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake..." Only God is real :) )
3You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. (He has seen your path and where you lie down. He knows you what you are going to do before you do it)
4Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all. (He knows what you are going to say before you say it. He knows it ALL)
5You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me. (He has given you a path and no one can change it. If you are His, you are His forever...and ever...and ever...and eternity)
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it. (We cannot, in this lifetime, ever understand how He has such knowledge and such wisdom and such power. We can say "He is God and has all power" but we will not fully comprehend His Awesomeness until we meet Him face-to-face in our final home)
7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me. (No matter where we go He is there. We cannot go deep into the ocean and lose Him or high into the sky and hide from Him. Even our hiding place He sees us. He has full access to us 24/7 and then some)
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You. (He is a light in the dark and nothing can shut Him down. When we are afraid of the night we know that He is still there with us shinning as bright as ever)
13For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb. (He wove you in! He made you to be. You were not just some cosmic accident. You are here for a purpose, a divine purpose from the most amazing God!)
14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well. (We are told to praise Him because of all the great that He has done. We should praise Him everyday and not just once a week or once a month or once a year...everyday, every single day. He has given you every breath. He gave you eyes to read this. He gave you ears to hear and a nose to smell and tastebuds to taste... He is wonderful and magnificent in every way.)
15My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. (He has seen you before you were even a thought in your parents head. He has known you long before you knew you. He knows how many days you have to live. He knew this before you were woven in by Him)
17How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You. (Your earthly father thinks about you quite a bit but I doubt he thinks about you as much as God. God thinks about you more times than there are grains of sand. He loves you so much!)
19O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
20For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Basically we can sum all of that up with:
YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES YOU!
Do not forget to show your earthly father how much you love him but do not forget to praise you heavenly Father for all He has done for you and how much He loves you even when you forget He exists. Love on your father and you Father today.
God bless!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Ishmael and Isaac- Long Lasting Effects of Our Sin
When we think about sin we tend to categorize it in to punishable by death, worst, horrible, bad, not as bad, and so on and so forth. We look at things like sexual immorality, homosexuality, murder, incest, rape, drug addiction, and alcoholism and categorize them. We often forget about anger and malice and gossip, gluttony, greed, lying, speeding, and lusting (in what we consider small ways). We do not realize that our sin has a long lasting effect on future generations. When Eve took a bite out of the tree of knowledge of good and evil sin was generated from there until now and will continue until Christ returns. That sin flowed through them into further generations. But we are going to skip a huge chunk of that history and move to Ishmael and Isaac, for a particular reason.
Abraham and Sarah (formerly Abram and Sarai) were promised a son to be their heir. Abraham had also been promised descendants that were more numerous than the stars in the sky. When things did not happen within his timing, and even within Sarah's biological timing, they took matters into their own hands. Sarah suggested her servant Hagar to Abraham to bear them a child. Abraham, as several men might, took the opportunity and had sexual relations with Hagar. She bore him a son whom they called Ishmael. Later, Sarah bore a son and named him Isaac. When Abraham died Isaac received the inheritance, Ishmael did receive a blessing but not the one he thought he was entitled to. Because he was not the son God had promised Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac's sibling rivalry spun out of control. We now see it as Israel fighting against the Arab countries. (Talk about long lasting sibling rivalry)! Abraham sinned not only against his wife and his family and the poor servant girl, but he sinned against God. Not just any god but the Almighty God.
Our sin does not only effect us but it effects our children, our children's children, and our children's children's children...i think you get it. It goes so much deeper and spreads so much further than we could ever imagine! Our sin is disgusting to God! In Ezekiel 21 God tells Ezekiel to pass on a message to those sinning against Him (no doubt it was His baby, His son...Israel). He told Ezekiel to tell them "say to the land of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against you and will draw My sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore My sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn My sword from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.'" 21:3-5. He was telling the Israelites that because of their sin He was going to not just punish them but cut off righteous and wicked. He was serious, He still is. Sin is no joke, not just because it may make people feel bad or it may make us feel bad. It is us slapping God in the face and saying "Your Son coming to die means nothing!" I do not want my life to show that. I want to live a life honoring and pleasing to God. My petty lies or lack of self-control are not at all worth sinning against the God who created heaven and earth. The bitterness and anger that builds up is not worth pushing others away from knowing just how great our God is. My sin is not worth effecting further generations. If one sin of faithlessness from Abraham can turn into one sin of sexual immorality. Then that sin "bears fruit" quite literally in the form of a child that eventually has led to a war over who gets to own the land which costs so many lives. Is our sin worth it? What are we doing each day in our personal walk with Christ to fight and kill sin so that we may become more like Him? Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Although we may be sinful and our sin is punishable by death, we have hope in our Father. God has given us hope to repent from our sins and run to Him with open arms begging for forgiveness. Our sin truly passes down from generation to generation. That is one thing I do not want my children, grandchildren, and so on to inherit.
God bless!
Abraham and Sarah (formerly Abram and Sarai) were promised a son to be their heir. Abraham had also been promised descendants that were more numerous than the stars in the sky. When things did not happen within his timing, and even within Sarah's biological timing, they took matters into their own hands. Sarah suggested her servant Hagar to Abraham to bear them a child. Abraham, as several men might, took the opportunity and had sexual relations with Hagar. She bore him a son whom they called Ishmael. Later, Sarah bore a son and named him Isaac. When Abraham died Isaac received the inheritance, Ishmael did receive a blessing but not the one he thought he was entitled to. Because he was not the son God had promised Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac's sibling rivalry spun out of control. We now see it as Israel fighting against the Arab countries. (Talk about long lasting sibling rivalry)! Abraham sinned not only against his wife and his family and the poor servant girl, but he sinned against God. Not just any god but the Almighty God.
Our sin does not only effect us but it effects our children, our children's children, and our children's children's children...i think you get it. It goes so much deeper and spreads so much further than we could ever imagine! Our sin is disgusting to God! In Ezekiel 21 God tells Ezekiel to pass on a message to those sinning against Him (no doubt it was His baby, His son...Israel). He told Ezekiel to tell them "say to the land of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against you and will draw My sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore My sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn My sword from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.'" 21:3-5. He was telling the Israelites that because of their sin He was going to not just punish them but cut off righteous and wicked. He was serious, He still is. Sin is no joke, not just because it may make people feel bad or it may make us feel bad. It is us slapping God in the face and saying "Your Son coming to die means nothing!" I do not want my life to show that. I want to live a life honoring and pleasing to God. My petty lies or lack of self-control are not at all worth sinning against the God who created heaven and earth. The bitterness and anger that builds up is not worth pushing others away from knowing just how great our God is. My sin is not worth effecting further generations. If one sin of faithlessness from Abraham can turn into one sin of sexual immorality. Then that sin "bears fruit" quite literally in the form of a child that eventually has led to a war over who gets to own the land which costs so many lives. Is our sin worth it? What are we doing each day in our personal walk with Christ to fight and kill sin so that we may become more like Him? Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Although we may be sinful and our sin is punishable by death, we have hope in our Father. God has given us hope to repent from our sins and run to Him with open arms begging for forgiveness. Our sin truly passes down from generation to generation. That is one thing I do not want my children, grandchildren, and so on to inherit.
God bless!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
How Great is Our God?
There is nothing like knowing how big our Father is. Last night as I was coming back from running a few errands I noticed a quarter of the moon and a single star above it. Tonight when I was coming back from a friends’ apartment I again noticed the moon and a single star to the right of it. As I was driving I was thinking about how amazing God really is, it made me giddy and excited. Knowing that He has placed every star in its place and given every star a name. So if He can do something so miraculous as make a star. Not just the “twinkle twinkle” kind but the big blazing unimaginable group of stars that perfectly form a constellation. Our God is so much bigger than we chose to see. We so rarely chose to see that God created the very things before our eyes. He has created the simple things we see everyday like flowers and grass and trees and clouds. We take advantage of the fact that He has given each and everyone of those things a purpose. He has created the sea life in the depths of the seas that we still have no idea exists. Everything has been created for a purpose whether we acknowledge or even have knowledge of what that purpose is. So the great thing is that we can gather from the above blurb is that He must have a purpose for each and everyone of us. We may have no idea what He plans on using us for, but we know that if we are His He has a plan. “He has planned and who can frustrate it” (not quite sure of the reference on this one but you can google it and find it. –Jeremiah 29:11 is good too).
So if He has a plan for us and we are not sure what that is, what are we to do? This is something that I ask myself quite often. I am not sure where He wants me so I stay put doing the same thing until I am led by Him to do something further. Jeremiah 29:13 says “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” So I began to seek Him in different areas of my life. Everyone of them included leaving where I am now. I sought Him on culinary school, missions in one country, then in another, then for extended missions, and so on and so forth. Everytime a door was shut. But then I had to realize that His plans are not my plans and His thoughts are not my thoughts. In knowing we have a plan from the Almighty God of heaven and of earth our purpose in life has been set out for us in scripture as a guideline until He gives us further instruction. The instruction He has placed in His word should be the framework for what we think His leading is for our lives. If what we think is a leading from God is not scripturally accurate then we can discredit the leading. It is black and white, there are no blurred lines here. So in His intricately planned lives for each of us we should stop a bit more and not only smell the roses but thank God for the simple fact that He created them. We should thank Him for the very things we take for granted each day: sun light, moon light, stars, grass, flowers, His word, and the list goes on and on for days (oh and you can thank Him for each day He has given you because you never know how many more you will have).
Our passion for Him should not be hidden because we fear what others might think but we should openly confess Him and show others our belief in Him. This is not to show them that we are superior in any way, but so that they might know Him as well. Isaiah 59:1 says “The Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save and His ear not so dull that it cannot hear.” He can save anyone, anywhere, any way. He is God. He has allowed us the opportunity to confess or deny Him. He has made us in such a way that we are completely and totally different from every other living thing in this world. Remember the stars and the way they are placed. Remember He has placed you in a specific place at a specific time for a specific reason. Why should you not be thankful to Him for all He has done? How dare we live our lives as selfishly as we do! We should be on our knees every chance we get thanking Him and praising Him and laying glory down at His feet in worship as if it were the most expensive thing to be obtained. The Israelites, throughout the entire Old Testament , would live a rollercoaster lifestyle. They would be mindful of God and worship Him and then they would forget who their God was and make idols out of the blessings God would give them. We are so much like the Old Testament Israelites and have no idea at all. The God of the universe has created all things great and small. Are you going to chose to recognize those things and give Him thankful praises to glorify His name higher than the heavens?
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