6.15.11

Proverbs 17:7 Eloquent words are not fitting for a fool; even less are lies fitting for a king.

My Thoughts

We have all see somebody try to sound big by using "eloquent" words.  We have watched them being laughed at ... talked about.... when a fool uses eloquent words no one believes what they say....their foolishness stands our like a sore thumb.  It says here in Proverbs that lies are even less fitting for a King.... a King is a person in power... somebody that rules over...in today's world we don't have kings...but we do have  persons in charge like bosses, managers...company owners... mayors, governors, the president... once they lie they become as effective as a fool using eloquent words... most of us have witnessed a boss who loses power or influence over his employees because he gets caught in a lie...because he talks bigger than he is. It is not a pretty thing to see... or be a part of. The thing is we all loose creditability when we lie... we all loose creditability when we try to appear bigger than we are. We accomplish more when we are honest with others and with ourselves. No matter what our lot in life is we get more respect by being who we are and being honest.  We look foolish when we try to appear more important than we actually are..... and we look foolish when we are in an important position and respect that position of power so little that we lie to get what we want or to impress.  The fact is when we are honest with others and ourselves...when we don't try to be somebody that we are not....when we don't talk too big... or treat people like they are so small they won't know the difference we are more effective in all that we do.

6.14.11

Acts 9:31 The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee,, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.

My Thoughts

Remember fear of the Lord is defined as wonder and awe. The church had wonder and awe for God...and loved God.  Because they loved God they were able to know when the Holy Spirit was encouraging them...guiding them to do what was right... guiding them to love one God and to love one another. Because the church loved God and had wonder and awe for God it became stronger.  How simple is that!.. We can become stronger as individuals, as a church, as a family, and a city, as a state, as a country by loving God because we are in awe of Him...because we see Him with great wonder.

The more I know about God the more I am in awe... the more I wonder at all He has done in the world...the more I am aware of what He does for me.  The more I call on God the more he does for me.  The closer I get to God the more I am able to know when the Holy Spirit is guiding me and the stronger I become as a person.  I use to get anxiety all the time... I didn't like new things... I didn't like putting myself in new and different situations.... the tiniest bit of disapproval from a complete stranger gave me anxiety.  (Thank goodness I felt safe within my family) I could ware myself out trying to please people... the more I couldn't the more I retreated inside the safe walls of my home and in the safe presence of my family.  I knew God.... I loved God, because we are suppose to love God.  Then I really got to know God...as I read my Bible I understood more and more about God's great love for me... and I learned to please God instead of trying to please people...if I please God, God will take care of my relationships with people...and how can you go wrong by doing what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.  I have become so much stronger... I rarely have anxiety any more.  I have had a few setback along the way...but when I get my eye on God...when I spend time with God...when I talk to God and take time to listen to God talk to me...I become stronger and stronger and stronger. It is not just a feeling I have inside me...people that know me have seen the difference in me. I am living proof that when you fear the Lord you become stronger.  I have experienced the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.  I pray that God continues to grow me into what He would have me be.  I feel so blessed to be a child of God.  I still have a long way to go... but if God grows me as much in the future as he has in the last couple of years...I can't what to see what I can be!

6.13.11

Acts 9:15 But the Lord said, "Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings.

My Thoughts

This was a man who killed many, many, many Christians for loving Jesus. This is also the man who later became know as Paul and started churches, and lead so many people to Jesus.  In fact his words still lead people to Jesus today.  We should never choose who we think deserves the word of God.  No one would have ever thought that Saul deserved the word of God but Saul became a great witness for Jesus.  Saul became a most effective witness........ Saul reached people that others would have never been able to reach. Jesus didn't decide that Saul was too "bad" to use.... Jesus took this person that put all his energy into being "bad" and turned all that energy into being good.  Our lives can never be so bad that Jesus can't use us for good!  We can never have done anything so bad that God can't forgive us and turn our lives in a something wonderfully useful for Him. We should never give  up on others....and we should never give up on ourselves. God never gives up on us!

6.12.11

Psalms 130:3-4 Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who,O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.

My Thoughts I love the story of King David.... we are told over and over how much God loved King David.... in  the book of I Kings God tells King Solomon that if he loves Him as much as his father, David did God would make Solomon great. The beauty of the story of David is that David messed up... David sinned .... sometimes David made awful mistakes....but David always loved God... David always feared God.  Fear of the Lord is defined as wonder and awe. David always had wonder and awe for the Lord.  David always went to God and ask forgiveness and God granted that forgiveness.  David seek-ed God in all that he did.....God loved David, God didn't keep a record of David's sins. David never, ever forgot who God was.... David never forgot to take his sins to God, David never forgot to have fear of the Lord. David always, always loved God. God always forgave David and always loved David.

God loves us as much as He loved King David.  When we ask forgiveness of our sins God does not keep a record of those sins. As people we tend to keep records of sins. God throws those sins into the Sea of Forgetfulness.  If people would completely forget what we do to each other we would be in awe of their forgiveness. We would be amazed at their precious hearts of love. God does forgive and forget our sins....he blesses us with total forgiveness and forgetfulness.  For that alone we need to have wonder and awe for God.  What greater gift could we have than total, complete forgiveness. That kind of love is so perfectly pure. I picture it like this.  When a baby is born, we love it with the purest feeling of love we have ever felt...that love in our hearts is bigger than we could ever imagine it could be. That baby is perfect and our love for that baby is perfect because there is nothing, not one thing that has tarnished that love.  God love for us is even greater than that... and it is always, always that amazing once we ask for forgiveness because God is able to fully forgive and forget all or our sins. Oh what a wonderful feeling it is going to be when we get to be in the presence of God and feel that loved! And even tho we are not in the presence of God hear on earth, God still love us that much. We should never be afraid to go to God for anything, for everything. David wasn't.

6.11.11

Acts 7:59-60 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He fell to his knees, shouting,, "Lord don't charge them with this sin!" And with that he died.

My Thoughts

Has there every been somebody that you just didn't think you could forgive?  They say something about you...they wrong you in some way that is really hurtful. Sometimes we just have trouble forgiving. But Jesus tells us to forgive, to pray for our enemies.  Stephen was telling the truth, telling all that God had done.  The people didn't want to hear it and were stoning him.  All Stephen had done was spoken a truth that the people didn't want to hear the truth. These people were killing Stephen in a brutal way... Yet Stephen did as Jesus asked... he forgave these people and ask God to forgive them.  They were taking Stephen's life... not hurting his feeling, not attacking his character, the weren't forgetting a lunch date or trying for the same job...... they were taking his life and Stephen was able to forgive them. Forgiveness is huge, God commands that we forgive others.... we want others to forgive us. We want God to forgive us.  We need to expect from ourselves what we expect from others. If we don't practice forgiveness in the small things would we be able to do what Stephen did and give forgiveness in the mist of death?  No matter what somebody has done to us we need to be forgiving. We would want others to do the same for us. 

6.10.11

Proverbs 16:32 Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self control than to conquer a city.

My Thoughts

We so value people of power... so many Americans dream of powerful positions... we see success as moving up the ladder to a more powerful position...then another more powerful position.  We want people to see us as successful.  We may not conquer cities in our time on this earth, but we try and conquer our little corner of the world by having bigger and better toys than the next guy.  We want to have it all even if the stress of having it all makes us impatient and unkind. Our ultimate goal is power and possessions. Our ultimate goal needs to be pleasing God.... and it pleases God when we are patient, when we have self control, when we love one another. If we do what God ask, the rest will follow..... I imagine that Mother Teresa was the most patient person... she didn't worry about being powerful.... yet when she spoke the world listened...now that is true power...that power was granted to her because of her patients and her self-control...because of her great love for humanity.  Because she went about pleasing God.  Great things happen when we do what God ask...and one of the things God ask of us is to be patient...to have self control... would patients and self-control be something others would list about us if ask?...

6.9.11

Psalms 127:1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.

My Thoughts

There is a story in Joshua where God has Joshua  narrow down his army so small that the people would know without a doubt the victory was God's victory. God wants us aware that we need him because we do need Him. We need God to be the best we can be, to be the strongest we can be, to be the wisest we can be. We need to know for our own safety, for our own good, for our own growth how much we need God.  As a nation we need to be aware that we grew strong and powerful because we loved God. As individual people we need to be aware of how important it is to have God in our lives.  As families we need to understand that we need God.  God wants us to be aware that we need Him so that we will depend on Him because he loves us and want to help us be all that we can be. Lets not waste all our effort of living by trying to do life without God!