7.31.13

Romans 14:1 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don't argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.

 

My Thoughts

I believe that this scripture is so very important.  God honors us when we do our best to honor Him.  We grow in that!!  For most of us it is not a all at once thing...but something that develops as we learn to hear the Holy Spirit.  We never need to chase away someone who loves God but does not see things exactly the way we do. If it is something important to God and that person loves God and is growing in God they will eventually find their way to where they are suppose to be.  God honors where they are at, so should we!! 

I have had people in my past make me feel like I was not "loving God right." At a time in my life there were several in a row... passing people, people that I didn't really see often. Their words had a huge impact on my life that lasted for maybe five years.  They made me feel like it was impossible to love God and for God to love me back, so instead of doing better I quit trying all together.  It was a time when I was tinkering on the edge...and they pushed me in the wrong direction. If they had just loved me and accepted me they would have had the opportunity to lead by example. 

Then I was lucky enough to be put in a group of people that saw that I wanted to love God. These people didn't condemn me..the just took me in and loved me with all their hearts.  And when I made progress they celebrated my progress... in this environment I have grown by leaps and bounds.  I have learned that any step I make toward God matters.  I have learned to hear the Holy Spirit and I do better ever day.  I have so far to go... but I have come so very far because I was accepted. My life has been amazing because someone reached out their hand and taught me that Jesus meets me where I am. That choosing to honor God was what mattered, learning to honor God was a process. These very people have even learned from me.  God is so good!! 

I never, ever want to be that person that says, "You are not loving God right!" I want to be that person that says, "God love you right where you are!! Take my hand and lets learn together!!"

7:30.13

Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's law.

 

My Thoughts

Think about this!!  This does not say love does no wrong to people that have not wronged you. This does not say love does no wrong to others unless you are having a bad day, this does not say love does no wrong to others unless they are driving like an idiot.  This verse says love does no wrong to others. There is no "unless they" added to the end of the sentence.  It does add that if we love each other we will fulfill the requirements of God's law. 

We have to learn to act in love no matter how we fill.  In fact in Luke 6:32 it says "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them." We we truly walk in love we love those that are hardest to love, in spite of what our feelings tell us. 

If I think about it, when I need love from others the most, is when I am being my most unlovable.  Imagine the reaction we would get if we just wrapped our arms around someone that was being unkind to us?  It just might be the thing they need the most and don't have the words to express. 

If love fulfills the requirements of God's law, then what does doing wrong to others do? 

7.29.13

Romans 12:3b-5 Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring  yourselves by the faith God has given us.  Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body.  We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to eachother.

 

My Thoughts

I love this! Just love it... these verses free me to be myself!!  To be the person God made me to be.  These verses teach me ( you must read all of Romans 12:1-21) that what I can do matters! Just like my thumbs are important to my body and my heart is important to my body.  My fingernails protect my fingers.  It all matters!!  So I matter to the body of Christ.  My hugs, I love to hug just in case  you don't know that about me!!  Those hugs matters.  I love arts and crafts... those things matter when I get to give them to others!!  I am not great at teaching...on and I can not, and you don not want me to sing!!  Addressing an envelope freezes me somehow...but I can make a card pretty...and give it to someone that doesn't freezes at addressing that envelope.  God made me, God made each of us who we are, with the talents we have.... we are called to love others and we can love others with the talents God gave us!!  Another thing I am good at is managing money... putting it in words that make it seem possible, not overwhelming.  My friend Tammy is good at teaching, she puts her all into a lesson.  Lisa is good at organizing and motivating and Mrs. Kay can pray like nobody I have ever known.  But I am the hugger of the group...and that matters!!  We all matter!!  Each and every one of us matter!!  What is it that you do?  What are you good at?  No matter how small it seems to you, it is huge to someone else!!  Use it for God!!

7.27.13

Romans 10:15 How can anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of the messengers who bring good news!"

 

My Thoughts

I love this verse... it is telling us that if somebody tells us about God, it is not an accident!  God sent them!  God is saying, "Do you hear this person, I sent them to tell you that I love you.  I have picked you out to be my very own!"  If you are reading this today and wonder why, it is because God wanted you to hear Him.  Because God wanted you to know that He loves you.  It is because God picked you out to hear it.  Make no mistake God chose you to be His, God chose you to love special. 

 

Then the next part, "How beautiful are the feet of the messengers who bring the good news!" I love that to know that God notices me when I tell others about Him. Nothing we do for God is done in vain.  God sees and God will bless those actions.  This just makes me happy!

7.26.13

Proverbs 20:3 Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling.

 

My Thoughts

When we fight we say so much that we can't take back.  Even when we are careful with our words... how we speak them last forever sometimes.  So often we risk so much for the need to be right just for a moment.   I heard a speaker say once that we should always ask ourselves, "Will this matter in five years?"  I think that is wise advice.  All too often arguments start out of total selfishness, how often would we stop our words if we asked ourselves, "Would I want him/her to say this to me?" 

God calls us to act in love... love is not selfish.  Fights are usually started when we are being our most selfish and least loving.  How is avoiding a fight a mark of honor?  God honors us when we make the right choice, for the right reason.  How often have we given up God's honor just so we could be right for a moment in time? 

7.25.13

2 Chronicles 16:9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

 

My Thoughts

God sees us when we love Him.  God searches for us when we love Him.  God does not leave any stone unturned, any cave unexplored to find us when we love Him. I love this!!  We don't have to find God, God finds us.  If we just seek after God, God will be there, anywhere we are!!  That just makes my heart feel peaceful. It makes me happy, happy, happy!! 

7.24.13

Romans 8:38-39 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.  Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.  No, power in the sky above or the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

My Thoughts

All we have to do is sincerely seek God and sincerely call out to Him!!  That just makes my heart happy!! 

7.23.13

Psalm 18:25-26 To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.  The the pure you show yourself pure, but the the wicked you show yourself hostile.

 

My Thoughts

This passage really struck me today.  I thought of a few people in my life that I have known that were just close to perfect in their walk with God.  They are kind, God is kind to them, they are generous, God is generous to them, They are patient, they talk about God being patient with them.  The list goes on and on in their lives how God's favor shines down on them.

 

Then there have been a couple of people that I have known that were downright hostile toward the world, toward the people around them and toward God. I am talking these people didn't not believe in God, the instead hated God, treated God like He was their enemy.  They also treat the world the same way... like everything is against them.  They are the kind of people that everybody avoids.  The have gone past that step of living outside the protection of God all the way to showing themselves hostile to God... and nothing in their lives works out.  It is sad to watch... and impossible to be around. 

 

I have, from my life experience, come to believe that I am working toward either loving God... or I am working toward loving the world and separating myself from God.  If I don't work toward either I tend to slip toward the bad, not the good.  Because Satan is alway seeking to take us from God we must always be seeking God.  As we seek God we become more and more like the people I have know that fell so under God's favor that you could never imagine them doing anything wrong.  I do know that I am far from that...but I get closer every day that I seek after God's face.  Trying harder doesn't work, trying to please the world, to please people doesn't work. That tends to create bitterness in our hearts because we can never do enough.  But seeking after God and trying to please Him, that works every time.  God grows us when we seek after him.  We don't have to change...we just have to seek, then God does the changing of us...and when God changes us it is effortless. 

 

 

7.22.13

2 Chronicles 7:14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

 

My Thoughts

So often we miss the start of this verse, the important part really, the part that sets the promise into motion.  Those words are, "If MY people who are called by my name will...."  We can have our nation restored, we can have our land restored, we can have our lives restored.  It is not up to the people that do not know God yet... it is up to the people that do know God.  We can't go about living our lives saying we know God, or making God our Sunday mission.  We have to go about our lives taking to to know God, taking time each day to be with God... then we need to "be Christians" every day, in all that we do.  If we are seeking God... and if we are doing what God ask, we Christians, then God will hear  us from heaven and forgive our sins.... and God will restore our land, our country. 

 

We can't go about playing the blame game.  We, no I must check my life, my actions and make sure that I am humbling myself. I must pray and see God, I must quit doing evil.  Each of is us an "I." We all have the power to make a difference!!  We simply have to seek God. 

7.20.13

2 Chronicles 1:11-12 God said to Solomon, "Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people-- I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested.  But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future.

My Thoughts

When I read this I thought of Matthew 6:33 which says,  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. When we seek God, when we seek God's wisdom, when we love others... God takes care of the rest!! 

 

We so often go about our lives seeking the things we think we need... the things we think our kids need... only to find out we have run out of time, energy and or money and not accomplished most of what we set out to accomplish when if we had just taken time to seek God everything else would have fallen into place. 

 

Recently I had a situation in my life where I was working so hard, the harder I worked the more life backfired. Then I realized that I was trying to find the answers myself, by myself.  The minute I turned to God for the whole answer, not just for Him to fix each mess as I made it, He gave me the answer. You know what?  It was simple...all that I had been doing was working against the problem... and God's answer was easy.. and it worked.  We must make time, take time, seek after God!!  Then all else falls right into place because God sends down his angels to put things in order for us!!  

 

Romans 5:20 God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were.  But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful grace became more abundant.  So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

My Thoughts

You could read this first line and think, "That is mean, why would God want to show us that? What was the point?" But the point that God needed to show us how much we needed Him because HE loves us so much.  God waits to be invited into our lives...and if we don't see that we need Him then we don't invite Him in!!  God pretty much said, "Look I have made a way for all that you have done to be forgiven, so that you can live with me forever!!"  If our reply is, "I have not done anything wrong!!"  then we miss out on so much that God has to offer us, so much that God wants to give us. 

To me this is such a perfect example in the Bible of how God does not want us to feel guilt, God is not condemning us...but calling us to Him and saying, "Yes you are sinners, but that is ok! I love you so much and I have made a way for you no matter what you have done wrong! All you have to so is believe that I sent Jesus and depend on me to forgive you and help you do better!!" 

The reason good deeds are mentioned after Jesus came to save us from our sins is that when we love God, God helps us do better!  So true love for God produces a change in us.  If we don't see that change we must step back and examine our motives for loving God.  Are we "loving" God because we love Him, or are we loving God just to stay out of hell?  or because it is popular?  When we fall in love with people... whether it is the love or our life, or our children or grandchildren when they come into this world, we want to do things that please them!!  Our love is evident in the fact that we try to make them happy.  If we truly love God our lives will change, because our love for God makes us want to please him, just like our love for others makes us want to please them. 

We can not be fooled by what we think is love is,  our words and by what love really is,  our actions.  That is the greatest lie that we can tell ourselves!! It is the lie that creeps in and endangers us... it takes over and kills us.  That lie is more dangerous than being such a sinner that everybody around us knows just how bad we are.  At least the later knows that they need to get right with God. 

God loves us so much, all He really ask of us is that we love Him back...then His love will take over and do the rest.

7.17.13

Romans 4:4-5 When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.  But when people are counted as righteous, not because if their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

 

My Thoughts

I love this!!  I have read it before and just almost been sick to my tummy because it just confused me!!  It made sense in my head but maybe not in my heart.  What I have learned over these last four years of reading my Bible daily (I do miss a day here and there...but I so try not to) is this..  I could not have faith in God when I didn't know what God told me.  I tried to have faith... I wanted to have faith... I thought I had faith... but how could I have faith when I didn't know but a blip of what God promises me?  Each day as I read my Bible I learn more... and my faith grows more... then I am able to learn ever more.... and my faith grows even more.  

 

As I read my Bible I learn God's promises... and as when they really drop down in my heart I am able to act on my faith in God.  I don't try to be good so God will love me, instead I know, because of my faith, that if I do what God says, God will do what He promises me.  So the more I do what God tells me to do, the better my life gets. 

 

I am learning that what I need to do is learn God... as I learn God I see Him in the things around me... I see Him working in my life... then I get to go about learning to do better and being right with God even though I mess up.  What a wonderful gift God gives us!! 

7.16.13

Proverbs 19:14 Fathers can give their sons and inheritance of houses and wealth, but only the Lord can give an understanding wife.

 

My Thoughts

I love this!!  I can look at my life and so see how much more understanding I am, the more that I know God.  I have a recent example... the doctor put me on steroids for a Lupus flair this past week.  They were making me feel much like the space shuttle about to take off...and poor Robby (my sweet, sweet husband) would just talk to me and it would make me crazy.  I am talking normal conversation that I usually enjoy was making me want to scream, "shut up!!!"  In the past I would have not screamed shut up...but I would have gotten very frustrated...and maybe cried and let myself get to the point where something like him not putting his plate in the sink would have made me have a melt down that he did not deserve...and that I would have apologized for later on.  But this time I didn't ...I was in tune to the Holy Spirit inside of me saying, "Jeannie, this is just your medicine, Robby is doing nothing wrong.  In fact you like how much he talks to you."  I listened...and took deep breaths... I did what the Bible tells me to do, not what my emotions were telling me to do.  I even later in the day said, "If I get impatient with you, please forgive me...my steroids are making me crazy and I have already wanted to be impatient several times today."  He looked at me with such a loving face and said, "Thank you for not being impatient with me...and if you want you can put tally marks on a piece of paper for each time you feel that way...and tonight I will say thank you as man times as you have tally  marks." 

See what God's grace can do!!  It can calm the storms of life.  It can keep us from being hurtful. It can keep us kind.  When we act in loving ways despite our feeling cause by the things in the world, medicine, work pressure, life pressure. When we act like God's word tells us to act... not only do we become more loving...we become more loved by the people around us!!  That is amazing!! 

The other day I didn't go off...I didn't say hurtful things and cause Robby to speak things he would not have normally said.  We didn't create a situation that we might hold against each other for hours or days... or maybe years.  Because of God's grace...because I know God more and more...I was able to be loving in spite of steroids... Robby was able to be loving because I was lovable... and God was able to smile down on us and strengthen us and grow us. 

God made me understanding that day. Only God could do that.  This verse made me realize just how much of a God thing that day was...and now I know...now I want to send up thanks and praise!  What a mighty, awesome God we have that would love us so much!! 

7.15.13

Romans 2:29 No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.  And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God's Spirit.  And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

 

My Thoughts

I today thought..in that it finally dropped in my heart kind of way... When we asks Jesus to be our Savior... to live in our hearts...we are adopted into the Jewish family.  A true Jew, one that is "circumcised" is who who has had a change of heart, a true change of heart.  If this verse were written in a modern language based on how we live in this country today it might looks something like this...

No a true Christian is one whose heart is right with God.  A true change of heart is not sporting a Jesus tag on our car and being at Church every Sunday...and saying I am a member of that "Big Church on the Hill." A true Christian has a heart that is changed by God... by the Holy Spirit, because they are aware of the Holy Spirit, tuned in, hearing and listing and acting on what the Spirit prompts them to do, based on God's word.  A true Christian does not say "Will these actions make this person like me, make this person happy with me, make me popular?" a true Christian says, "Will these actions make God happy with me? No matter what the world says is popular and right and true, but what God tells me is the right thing to do?"

When I was "saved," before I was really "saved" I was trying to go through the motions of being a Christian, and would fail miserable.   I kept trying to "be good" so I wouldn't go to hell, no really so I would go to heaven.  I was kind to people because I wanted them to like me not because God had changed my heart into being kind to people because I loved God and because God's love flowing through me made me be kind to people because God's love for me, makes me want to love others. 

I believe God gave me a kind spirit at my birth, through a truly changed heart I am learning to use that kindness to do what God would have me do, not so I can get people to like me.  My kindness needs to make God proud of me, not people.  

I have so far to go!!  There are so many ways that I fail...but I am moving in the right direction because I am learning to let the Spirit that God put inside me, lead me.  Some of my old habits are dieing hard...but they are dieing slowly but surely because I am allowing God to change me...when I mess up I ask forgiveness not so I won't go to hell, but because I have disappointed God...then I move forward, not getting stuck in messing up, because I know my God is a loving, gracious, forgiving God that just wants me to understand true love.  And I feel hopeful that I can do better because God's word tells me that God is working in me to grow me and change me until the day Jesus comes!!  Philippians 1:6.

As Christians we must live our lives in a way that when we do mess up people know our hearts and they know that we are trying to do our best.  As true Christian we forgive others...and others will forgive us.  We can't just ware Christianity on our cars, and on our clothes and our feet walking through the doors on Sunday morning.  True Christianity comes when our hearts are changed in such a way that you can see the change in us by our actions of love, not our actions of perception. 

1 Chronicles 16:24 Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.  Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.

 

My Thoughts

These were words in a song David sung as he danced into town with a parade that was carrying the Ark of the covenant.  These words just jumped off the page when I read them!! I remember hearing my grandparents reading from the newspaper happy stories that happened in town.  Now to put a happy story, a story about a life together starting, it cost money.  To celebrate somebody's long life at the time of their death you pay for each and every word...so at a time of great expense people can't afford celebrate a life in a way that really tells the story of their loved one.  Nightly news tells stories over and over again of murder...the same murder of another murder is not grewsum enough to top the one they are talking about at the time... then they spend about a minute throwing in a good story. 

 

It is no wonder that people are doing horrible things to be famous!!  The only way to make the news is to be bad!!  What if the news was filled with all the good that God puts in the world... people would strive to be noticed by the good that they do!! 

 

When we spend time listening to all the evil in the world...we spend time meditating on what Satan has caused, what Satan has put into motion.  And those things should never be celebrated.  We need to listen to the words of wise, wise David and publish God's glorious deeds among the nations, we need to be telling everybody of the good in this world.  We need to be celebrating, meditating on what God makes happen.  Then not only would we not get so bogged down and depressed by the evil around us...there would actually be less evil.  The focus would be on God and all of His goodness...and the good would beget good!!

 

I would love to see what changes there would be in our nations if the news would spend 2 minutes on the bad we need to know about...and 28 minutes on the good things that are happening!!  How many more heros would we find...would we create...how many fame seeking killers would we stop?? 

 

As individuals we can do this... we can make the statements about others that come from our mouths be good...only good!!  I challenge you to do this with me...spend today speaking only good...and see what happens... then try again tomorrow... take it one day at a time...but try to be the verbal publisher of good... of God's good!!

7.12.13

1 Chronicles 13:13-14 So david did not move the Ark into the City of David.  Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath.  The are of God remained there in Obed-edom's house for three months, and the Lord blessed the household of Obed-edom and everything in it. 

 

My Thoughts

The Ark held the ten commandments.  And Obed-edom knew the importance of them...of the covenant between God and His people.  When I read this I thought in each of our houses today here in America you can probably find a Bible... the covenant between us and God.  If we love that Bible and read it... cherish what is in it... God will also bless our household and everything in it!  What if Obed-edom had put the ark in a dark corner and let it collect dust, what if he didn't try to understand it's importance?  I don't think his household would have been blessed do you?  

 

I can tell you from my own experience when I took my Bible off the shelf...blew off the dust and started reading and understanding God and His love for me, my household became blessed!!  After today I will forever see this scripture differently!!

 

7.11.13

1 Chronicles 12:17-18 David went out to meet them and said, "If you have come in peace to help me, we are friends. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies when I am innocent, then may the God or our ancestors see it and punish you."

 

Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the leader of the Thirty, and he said, "We are yours, David! We are on your side, son of Jesse. Peace and prosperity be with you, and success to all who help you, for your God is the one who helps you." So David let them join him, and he made the officers over his troops.

 

My Thoughts

I couldn't help but think how important Amasai's answer was... those words had to have no betrayal in them at all...not the smallest trace.  These were relatives of Saul who had defected to fight against Saul with David. They could have been there to betray David.  Their words had to be convincing and God knew that...so He sent down the Holy Spirit to give Amasai the words that would comfort David.  They were the right words for Amasai and the right words for David.  God was on David's side... no doubt he sent Amasai to fight for David...and when He did...God also made sure that Amasai had the right words.

When I read this I thought  of the times in my life that I have had the right words for someone, and wondered where they came from...they came from the Holy Spirit which God sent to me to protect me or help me build up...the were the right words for me...and the right words for the person I said them to.  God was in control every time.  It is important to look back and recognize when God has been in control of our words... Because that helps us to move forward and know that when God sends us somewhere He will provide us with the words we need to say...and the words the other person needs to hear.  We don't have to wonder if we can do it...we have to have the faith that the Holy Spirit is with us and will help us even with our words!! 

7.10.13

Proverbs 18:23 The poor plead for mercy; the rich answer with insults.

 

My Thoughts

I thought there are so many ways to be poor besides money. We can be poor in spirit, the Bible talks about that one. Or we can be poor in education. We can be poor in knowledge that we get from a formal education or from a life education. We can be poor in health or poor in our image of ourselves. We can be poor in friendships. Some people are poor in nutrition. We can be poor in our ability to dream and we can be poor in choices because of our surroundings. The list of way to be poor are probably endless. We can be rich in our knowledge of science while we are poor in our knowledge of God.

 

The thing is so often when we are rich in something it is our of where we started, what our surroundings were as we grew up, our beginnings. In the broad picture of this we can use a country as the start in life. In America each little life has a chance for a good start, even the very poor have government assistance and education is provided by the government. But there are poor, poor places in the world where people are so busy scratching up something to even eat that they can't think far beyond that. We can see pictures of them and wonder as we sit in our houses why they don't do this to help themselves or why they don't do that to help themselves, but the truth is we have no idea how hard it is for them... how impossible it is for them to think beyond their hunger.

 

Someone that has grown up in church, with parents that taught the Bible in their homes... who had parents who knew how to depend on God can so often look at the person in the pew beside them at church and wonder "why" they don't understand God. They can wonder why they don't act in this way or that way. They can send down their judgment from a rich perspective of God without ever taking the time to understand that the person next to them has grown by leaps and bounds compared to where they started and they are doing really good, even though they don't have it all yet..they have grown. They are growing and they have come so far.

 

Then there are the people that are rich in health that quietly send down judgment on the sick with remarks like, "If they would just try they could do more." "They are able to do what they want to." Without ever stopping to realize that sometimes the sick can do only 5 of the 20 things that they can do... 3 of those are things they must do...the other 2 are the only choices they have left over because beyond that they can't move their bodies even if their house was on fire.

 

The thing is ... we are all rich in some things...and we are all poor in other things. We all have the things that come easy to us... and the things that come hard to us. That is why we are called to help each other, to love each other. Imagine how much the world would change if we sent out a helping hand in the things we are rich in....and got a helping hand in the things we are poor in? Instead of feeling all puffed up by our abilities and insulting the people that can't do what we can do or don't have the things that we have? We must learn not to answer with insults on the things we are rich in..we must learn that God made us rich in what ever we are rich in... and He gave us those riches so that we could share them... use them to be a blessing...not use them as a way to be "better than!"

 

What are you rich in today? Is there a way you could use it for good? I challenge you to be bold enough to recognize when you are standing on high ground and throwing out insults. Taking the step in recognizing our haughtiness is our first step and stretching out our hands and helping! But it takes such courage to see ourselves in that light... to say to ourselves "I are acting like a butt!" Then changing enough that others can see what we saw in ourselves.

7.9.13

Proverbs 18:22 The man who finds a wife finds a treasure and he receives favor from the Lord.

 

My Thoughts

When I read this verse I was, for some reason that I don't know, reminded of the three men who were given the talents by their masters.  The two men who used those talents wisely were rewarded...the man who buried his talents had them taken away from him.  The first two men treasured the fact that they were given such a treasure to be responsible for and they took that responsibility serious... they invested their talents and grew them.  The other man just buried his, hid it away. 

 

How many wives would flourish if they were treated like the treasure the Bible says that they are?   To treasure means to keep or regard as precious; value highly. Humans flourish when they are treasured...when someone tells them they are special, when someone thanks them when they work hard, those words of thanks show that the value of their efforts are noticed and that their efforts matter.  Women flourish when men do those little gestures of caring... the ones that are so small they seem a bit unimportant... but men never underestimate the value of the gesture of holding out your hand to help your wife down a couple of stairs, or opening the car door for her. Never forget to tell her she is beautiful when she makes the effort.... when we are treated like queens we tend to treat our husbands like kings.  When we are valued like a treasure, we feel valuable enough to conquer the things in life that need to be conquered.  When women are valued they feel like their efforts, their actions matter...so they are better able to make the effort... to move into action. 

 

I love how God made the world with all it's checks and balances.  In this case a woman who is treasured by her husband, treasures him back and is able to treasure their family.  Love begets love...and love is favor straight from God Himself. When we feel loved we are able to love others... we are able to take the focus off of ourselves and put it on others.  When men love their wives and show that love...it is the very best way they can love themselves...because when a woman feels so loved by her husband...she can't help but love him back with all her heart. 

 

 

 

7.8.13

Proverbs 18:21 The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

 

My Thoughts

I was thinking of how often the time we spend talking is to present our case about something, anything. So often we talk to we can be heard, just heard.  So we will talk about anything or anybody just so that our voices will be heard. 

 

When all along we would be better heard if we used our voices, our words, our tongue to build others up.  To tell them good things about themselves.  When we are busy talking about ourselves we can sometimes scream and not be heard, but if we are busy building up the person we are talking to we could whisper and not a word would be missed. 

 

If our need is just to be heard, and so often that is our very need, we need to spend those words building up the people we are talking to!  Consequences can be good or they can be bad.  If we spend our time talking about the good... we will reap good consequences.  It is important to remember the best way to build a person up does not include tearing another person down in the process. 

 

Our words can bring life or they can bring death (Proverbs 18:21).  So often we see these words and think of the death of a body.  But our words can bring life to a dream or death to a dream. They can bring life to a soul or death to a soul.  The can bring life to someone's self-image or death to someone's self-image.  Our words can bring to life someone's creativity or they can stomp creativity completely out of a person. Our words can plant hope or our words can dig hope up and lay in in the sun to dry up and die.  We need to go around fertilizing each other's dreams, their hopes, their lives.  We do this by being an encourager, by being a listener, by being interested in other people not just ourselves. 

 

The wonderful thing is this... God sets up life so that if we do the right thing, the things he ask us to do, our lives grow, our hope grows, our dreams grow.  As we grow others we reap the rewards that God sends down on us.  Those are far greater than anything we can bring on ourselves. 

7.6.13

Psalms 4:4-5 Don't sin by letting anger control you.  Think about it overnight and remain silent.  Offer sacrifices in the right spirit, and trust in the Lord.
 

My Thoughts

Psalm 50:14 tells us to make thankfulness our sacrifice.  How many feelings would we spare, how many hurtful words would go unspoken if we went to bed and sent up thank you's to God in the right mind...then thought about what we were angry about.  How often would we not remember?  How often would we see things in a different light?  How often would we fall asleep in the middle of being thankful and forget we were even angry?  What if every time we felt upset we stopped and sent up 100 thank you's to God would we even be able to stay angry?


More often than not what we say in anger is what last so much longer than what we were even angry about.  It is so important to control our anger...to not act or react in anger.  I have never know anyone who did not regret things said in anger.  I know that if I allow myself to calm down and think calmly of a way to present my "case" when I have been angry, I am much better able to make my point...and I can do it with out saying those things we are not suppose to say like, "You always," and "You never." 


Here in verse 4 it doesn't tell us that getting angry is a sin, but it does tell us that letting anger control us is a sin.  We can avoid that sin...and any sin that it might bring on by waiting until morning to speak and being thankful in the process. Maybe anytime we grit out teeth we should use that as a sign to start our thank you list so we can make it to bed without opening our mouths.  Then when we wake up in the morning what comes our of our mouths will be praise.. wonderful peaceful praise!

6.5.13

Proverbs 18:14 The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?

 

My Thoughts

I love this.  It just almost made me jump for joy when I read it.  It really did!!    You see I have Lupus which caused me to also have fibromyalgia, arthritis and pleurisy in my left lung that never completely goes away. These are just the things I deal with almost constantly... I endure a sick body every day.  Even when I feel good, really good, I am still very tired.  I am never not tired.  I am always in a little pain of some kind even on my very best days.  And on my worse days there can be even more symptoms and the exhaustion can be extreme.  It is something that a well person, try as they might can never understand.  It is not their fault they don't understand and I feel so very thankful for them that they don't.  But it can also be a very lonely feeling knowing that people don't understand even when they want to.

 

In the past I also suffered a crushed spirit from feeling all alone in my pain and exhaustion, feeling pretty much defeated.  Then I learned to read my Bible, every day and it changed my world.  Even though I endure this sick body...I feel great joy and happiness.  I know that Jesus walked on this earth and endured great pain before He died for me, so He understands my pain.  Knowing that He really does understand my pain is a tremendous comfort. I wish that I could put it into words how comforting knowing that He knows is.  That comfort gives me strength!  That knowing makes me able to do things in spite of my pain, in spite of being so very tired.  I can endure this sick body with God on my side, and feel great peace, and great joy, and great happiness. 

 

When our spirit is crushed, even with the healthiest body, we are void of energy and feel great pain in our loneliness. Pain of loneliness is a much more crushing pain than any other pain I have ever felt. It is a defeating pain.  It is not a pain that makes me know I am alive and surviving, it is a pain that makes us feel like we are dying and nobody can hear us to save us.  If I could draw the pain of loneliness it would be darkness encircling  a naked me. like a womb encircles us...but with no warmth and no ones heartbeat or voice to comfort us. It would show all darkness below with me in a circle of darkness on top being pulled down with such great force that the pulling of that darkness is painful... it would show that darkness piercing the insides of me... a deep lonely pain.

 

The pain I feel from a sick body, because I know Jesus, only affects my body. If I could draw it it would look more like me standing in a robe of white....with arrows piercing my body here and there, then falling away and piercing again...but my head would be looking up, my face would have hope in it...my hand would be outstretched with Jesus reaching down holding it... there would be no looking down at the pain...only me looking up at hope, knowing without doubt, that one day Jesus was going to take my hand tight and pull me up to Him where the arrows could not pierce my body any more.. to a place of total freedom from any pain. With Jesus my soul is not being pulled into a pit of darkness and my soul feels pain so much more than my body ever can.  With Jesus my soul feels great joy...a joy so big it can over-ride the pain in my body and make me able to do what I need to do... able to do the important things...able to love and feel love back. 

 

Before I took time to really, really actually know God, I would have read these words and wanted to scream out..that a sick body crushes your spirit.  Now when I read these words it make me want to raise my hands up in triumph and praise, because the earth may damage my body but nothing but God can have my soul.  God makes my soul happy and a happy soul trumps a sick body and makes me able!!

7.4.13

Please forgive my absence... July 2 I became a first time grandmother to Ripley Michol Patrick...she weighted 7lbs 4 oz and was 21 inches long.  

Acts 23:4-5 Those standing near Paul said to him, "Do you dare insult God's high priest?" "I'm sorry, brothers, I didn't realize he was the high priest," Paul replied, "for the Scriptures say, "You must not speak evil of any of your rulers."

My Thoughts

I went to find the scripture that Paul was talking about...it says in Exodus 22:28 You must not dishonor God or curse any of your rulers.  Look here in exodus is says "any of your rulers." 

I have done it...I have spoken bad of our president.  Today I thought God protects His children when His children choose to live under His protection.... if we want a different president we need to honor God...and God will honor us with a righteous leader.  We can't go about blaming our leader we must respect our leader because The Bible tells us so!!  We must go about correcting what is wrong in our lives and then God will work out the rest. God will protect His children... our nation is not falling apart because of it's leader... or because of the corruption that goes on.. or because of the evil people out there.  Our nations is loosing ground, doing not so good, because God's children are not doing what God ask of us.   If we, God's children will act in a way that honors God.  If we do the things God requires of us, God will honor us with righteous leaders.  The first step is to quit speaking evil of the leader we have and get on our knees. 

7.1.13

Psalm 149:3-4 Praise his name with dancing, accompanied by tambourine and harp.  For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

 

My Thoughts

When we humble ourselves before God, we know and we let God know that we know that He is able... that we are not able.  God is greater than all that we face and when we had our world over to Him that is when we get victory...because God is always victorious.

I often, after being successful at letting go and letting God, wonder at how easy that victory was.  Each time I have those moments of being aware that God made something possible, I think I will remember each day to give it all to Him.  Then I get busy thinking I am in control, and once again I lose my humble.  What makes that so silly is how much easier my life is when I give God the reigns...I just get to sit back enjoy the ride. 

The Old Testament stories talk about horses and chariots...swords and armor... and taking home the spoils in victory. Today my visual of me taking the lead and God taking the lead plays in my head like this.... When I take the lead it is like me getting on a horse, sword in hand, not a very good sword at that...and marching off into war only to find a thousand men with bows and arrows facing me...then I fall to the ground.  When I give God control it looks a bit like this... God on His white horse with flaming swords on is back ready to be shot... with legions of angels... a legion is something like 10,000... and me there in the back on a sturdy donkey ready to take home the spoils of battle.  My only job...keeping my eyes on God, letting Him take the lead.  

Now when I find myself trying to take control of my life..I will simply say to myself, "Jeannie, get off that horse and get on your donkey."