5.22.14

Proverbs 15:28  The heart of the Godly thinks carefully before speaking, the mouth of the wicked overflows with evil words. 

My Thoughts

This one is hard, it says in James 3: 8-10 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 

We like to read this and think evil as Charles Manson evil...but evil is as simple as they out it in the Disney Movie Bambi... "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin at all." How often do we say something  as we are thinking, "I really shouldn't say this!" Then we just keep talking. The minute we do that we cross over into evil. It is a hard truth but one that if we learn it can save us so much grief and others in our lives so much pain. Sometimes it's those little hurts that can be the hardest to let go of.  And when we speak before we think we can never pull those words back in. They are out there forever. 

God's word not only tells u not to speak evil, it tells us what we should speak in Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  So this should be our check list for what we say... Is this wholesome, is it helpful, will it build up my family or my friend or even people that are not in my favorite list, will it benefit the person I am talking to? 

Oh what a quiet world we would live in if we all just strived to be an Ephesians 4:29 person! My world, my mouth...it can be a bit quit-er. I thin I will put this verse in an index card and carry it with me! 

11.20.13

James 3:17 But the wisdom for above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.

My Thoughts

This is one of those verses that we need to put into our memory...thinking of it every day as a way to measure our words and our actions against what is good and noble. It is a good checklist to discern if it is the Holy Spirit speaking to us or if it is Satan trying to disguise himself in something that looks like wisdom.

We couls ask ourselves, "Am I choosing peace?" "Are my thoughts/actions gentle?" "Am I demanding my own way or am I yielding?" "Is this decision merciful?" "Am I choosing to do good?" "Am I being sincere?"

11.19.13

James 2:17 So you see, faith by itself isn't enough.  Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

My Thoughts

This verse use to really throw me!!  We learn when we read God's word that our works don't save us. And here we learn that if we don't produce good deeds our faith is useless. Talk about confusion!!  In James chapter 2 James talks about how our faith  should change us... he warns us not to be fooled by what we believe... What he is telling us that if what we believe is not making us better people than what we believe is wrong.  So we need to re-examine and re-learn what we think we know about God.  We can try to be good enough to get into Heaven...but that is not true faith... and we can say we know God but still act worldly...that is not knowing God... that is more hoping we know God enough.  Truly knowing God makes us want to do better, to be better, to please God.  If we don't see these things in our lives it is a warning and we need to heed that warning.  How horrible it would be to think you knew you had faith to find out at your death that you didn't.  Here James gives us a way to know...but to know we must be honest with ourselves!  Sometimes being honest with ourselves is the hardest honest to be....but it will produce much good once we get over the sting! 

11.26.12

1 Peter 5:10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.  So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

 

My Thoughts

First God does not send suffering down on us... we live in this world and  Satin has reign over this world. But God has reign over us when we are His children.  God has reign over Satin.  God's word just believed and spoken has reign over Satin himself.   God just gives us the choice whether we want to love Him or not.  So here we are living in this world where some people make the choice not to love God. And things happen...sometimes we are caught in the crossfire of those happenings.  

 

The wonderful thing is that God loves to show off His love for us...and when we stand strong in Him through hard times, when we love God and depend on God in the mist of our suffering.. God get to show off to all the people that saw us stand strong in Him by restoring us... supporting us... strengthening us and placing us on a firm foundation.

 

James, Jesus' earthly brother... a man who knew Jesus from the day he was born tells in in Chapter 1:2-4 when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. Here James tells us that each time we suffer and trust God through the suffering we grow stronger and stronger and strong.  Each time we suffer and endure it is like building up the cement under our feet.  We just keep getting a little closer to heaven. 

 

It is much like that donkey that fell in the well.. the farmer had no way to get him out so he decided to bury him.  The farmer kept pouring buckets of dirt down on the donkey... the donkey would shake off that dirt and stomp around... over and over the farmer would pour the dirt on the donkey....and the donkey would shake off the dirt and stomp it down... eventually the dirt that was suppose to bury the donkey rose him to the top of the well and the donkey was free. 

 

When we believe in God, in Jesus.. we are like that farmer and that donkey... Satin may throw suffering and hard times on us to bury us so deep we can't call out...but when we use God's word, when we call out to God and depend on Him.. God puts Satin under our feet growing that cement stronger and higher and taller... and one day Satin will look and see that we have reached the glory of heaven.  While all along the way God keeps restoring us, and supporting us and making us stronger. 

 

In the mist of our suffering and struggles, even when it seems so hard... we can smile and say, "Devil, you are not getting me this time!!  My God is greater, my God is stronger and my God is higher!  In the end I will be restored.. with only a little suffering I will be stronger! God's victory is going to shine!"   What a wonderful promise!! 

 

 

11.22.12

1 Peter 1:6-7 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even thought you have to endure many trials for a little while.  These trials will show that your faith is genuine.  It is being tested as fire test and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

 

My Thoughts

I use to think, "Why would God test you? That seems mean!" Then one day God dropped that answer right in my heart in a way that I could understand it!!  First we live in this world...there will be trials all the time. The devil is always after us..if he can't tempt us to sin, he will send things on us that are hard. The devil will do anything to weaken our faith.  Anything... He will not stop he wants to draw us away from God.  What he wants to do is take one of God's prized possessions (us) away from God. 

 

When God test us it is to prepare us for things we might face in the future... it is to show us where our faith is weak so that we can grow it by depending on Him. So that we can see that He is there for us in every situation.  Here is how God showed me ... my mom was a teacher so I could understand this. A teacher knows before he/she passes out a test which students are going to make A's and which students will fail. The poor students feel like they are being "tested." The good students take a test and learn from it. All those students that make A's if they miss questions they are the ones who get out their text book, or ask the teacher what the right answer is.  They use the test to learn what they don't know and they learn from it. 

 

God knows all... He knows our actions before we take them!!  He knows, even more than the teacher knows, how we are going to react to His test.  He gives us these test where WE will know where our faith is weak. When we know that we can look back and say to ourselves, "Why didn't I depend on God from the start of this situation?" or "God what can I do next time so that I will not fall in that trap?' or "God I really messed up, what do I need to know and understand so that I won't make this wrong choice again."  God does all this because He loves us so much and He wants us to be prepared to depend on Him, to make Biblical choices when the devil attacks.  God does this out of so much love for us...so that we will be ready!!  He is not testing us so to play games with us.. He is showing us where we need to grow. 

 

We are all going to face hard times... we live in this world.  We may be the generations that are going to face the end of time and if we are we need to be really prepared! God wants to make sure that we are prepared to depend on Him when hard times come. 

 

Recently in another country two young missionaries were put to death for believing in God.  They were strong enough to love God out loud until the very end.  And when their lives were over they didn't face the fiery pits of hell...God was waiting at the gate for them to shower them with wonderful things... to show them how much He loved them and how proud He was of them for being able to stand strong.  They lived in this world, so they faced things of this world. Just like we will.  God prepared them for all they would face to be strong enough to keep believing in Him so they could live forever in Heaven.  I wonder what test they learned from along the way? 

 

Several months back I watched a You Tube video where the man that wrote 23 Minutes in Hell spoke.  He spoke with graphic detail about what hell was like. He believe that God sent Him there in a vision because we needed to know that there is a hell.  It was an real eye opener for me.  It made me realize that anything that God allowed to happen to me that made me call out to Him is out of pure love for me.. for my life.

 

God is love, love at it's purest form. All love comes straight from God. He would never harm us! Everything that He does for us he does out of the purest of love.  James said in Chapter 1 of the Book of James ² Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.   Wow... when we are fully developed will will be perfect and complete needing nothing... God loves us to much that He wants to grow us to the point where we need nothing... where we depend on Him to supply all our needs... and when we do.. He will supply all our needs and our joy will be complete!!

 

Can you imagine complete Joy??!!!  Wow!!  Think of those moments in your live where your Joy was overflowing... complete joy will be so much bigger than that!!  That is what God wants for us!!

 

 

11.6.12

Proverbs 27:4 Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.

 

My Thoughts

I am reminded of James 4:2 where it says,  "You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it."

 

I have read James several times...trying to get it deep into me.... where it becomes a part of me.  Verse 4:2 I read over quickly I wasn't killing anybody or waging ware...I was not picking fights.  Then one day I read it and thought about how when we want what others have... or even the things we see on TV.  When we are jealous that somebody might have something we don't have we kill our joy!  We kill our peace! We kill our ability to even stop and think of others!  Anger we can see, wrath usually passes quickly...but jealousy slithers around and catches us off guard.

 

If  you stop and think about it jealousy is the cause of so much... anger and wrath are more often the result of something...but jealousy is the cause of so much.  Jealousy can cause anger and wrath... jealousy is like a thief.  Think about it jealousy can actually rob us of all of the fruits of the spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. Jealousy takes away all of these!! Every one!! 

 

We should never, ever, ever let our wants rob us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control.  When we feel our wants taking away any of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives it needs to remind us that we have crossed over into jealousy, then we need to remember that jealousy is even worse than anger or wrath and stop it in it's tracks.

 

 

11.4.12

Proverbs 27:1 Don't brag about tomorrow, since you don't know what the day will bring.

 

My Thoughts

In James 4:13-16 it says that boasting about tomorrow and all that we are going to do is evil.  We are also told that in Matthew 6:34 not to worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough troubles of it's own.  Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has plans for us, plans for our future plans to prosper us, good plans not evil plans. Plans for a future and plans that will give us hope.

 

We don't know what tomorrow brings for us... but God does!  He loves us! He wants us to live in this day, today and take it all in. When we worry and plan for tomorrow we miss so much that today has for us!  We need to live wisely like there will be a tomorrow but beyond that we are to do our best today! We are to love God like there will not be a tomorrow! 

 

One Wednesday night at Church we were talking about not sinning and the question was asked if we could go without sinning. In John 3:11 Jesus tells the woman at the well to "Go forth and sin no more." He doesn't tell her to go forth and try not to sin, He tells her to sin no more. He would not tell her to do something that is impossible.  I thought about this for a long time and I thought "For one day I could not sin...but not for a lifetime."  How much better could we be at not sinning, at all, if we lived one day at a time?  If we didn't think about tomorrow and left it in God's hands?

 

So often when I feel overwhelmed it is when I am thinking way to far ahead. Those thoughts of I will never get this done by this time or that time.  Oh, how am I going to accomplish all of that? In 24 hours there is only so much that I can do.  If I plan just for today I won't get bogged down with worry and I can do so much more!  If tomorrow comes to mind I need to ask myself only this question, "Is there anything that I can do today that will make that easier?" If the answer is no I need to focus on just today... if the answer is yes then I need to focus on just what I can do today.  As hard as a bad day can sometimes be we can get through one day at a time.  Just think how much easier it would be to get through if we don't put all of our tomorrows on our shoulders.. if we just leave those tomorrows in God's hands. 

 

God is always telling us how to make our lives easier, better.  Living in today seems to be pretty important. Living in today will make every day of our lives better. God has only our best interest in his heart. He says today is important all by itself.  We don't know what tomorrow brings for us. God does know what tomorrow brings for us ... we are so much more protected when we leave it all in His hands!

 

I so needed this reminder!

 

10.24.12

2 Timothy 2:25-26 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will changes those people's hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then the will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. 

 

My Thoughts

This is the line that really struck my heart, "For they have been held captive by him (the devil) to do whatever he want."   It made me think of Matthew 5:44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  People are never our enemies, the devil is our enemy.  He will use any means that he thinks will work to get out mind and our actions off of God and what God desires for our lives.

 

It always saddens me when something awful happens... somebody shoots up a crowded place or somebody kills a child and I hear people say, "They will burn in hell for that!" I hear Christians say this. When what happened to these people is that the devil held these people captive. Somehow the devil was able to get such a hold on these people that he caused them to do terrible things!! God's word tells us in several places, James chapter 4 comes to mind, that a sin is a sin..that if we want forgiveness we have to be forgiving of others.  We surly don't need to damn them to hell. We need to send up prayers that their lives are changed. We need to be sad for them that Satin got such a hold on their lives that they got lost enough to do terrible acts. When we all react with unkindness the devil has killed many, many birds and only used one stone. Not only has he cause one human to do a terrible thing...he has cause thousands of us to react with hate or indifference.  If we reacted by getting on our knees and praying for the victims and the killer, a victims of Satin himself, Satin would loose interest in cause such devastation. 

 

We need to be totally aware that bad things come from Satin.. not people. We need to get on our knees and ask God to help us all to stand against Satin.  We need to pray for our enemies ... we need to pray for those people so lost that the only voice they hear is Satin's voice.  Our prayers for the people that we see as enemies can have a huge impact on our lives... Our prays can change the world.  We just have to learn to pray like Jesus teaches us to pray.  It is easy to pray for the people we loves and those prayers are good and wonderful prayers... just think how strong our prayers will become when we begin to pray for the unlovable. We need to be a part of loosening the chains of Satin... no people who add another link to the chain. 

10.18.12

James 5:13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray.  Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.

 

My Thoughts

It is so easy to turn to God when we are going through something hard.  People who don't pray on a regular basis often pray to God in times of trouble.  But how often do we hear people going about singing praises? I don't do it near enough!!  All that we have comes straight from God.  We need to keep that knowledge foremost in our thoughts so that we remember, always remember to praise Him!!

10.17.12

Proverbs 25:18 Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.

 

My Thoughts

Not everybody gets this...I have worked with people that saw themselves as good even though they didn't mind taking a chance on destroying peoples lives with lies it is so sad.

 

While studying the book of James I learned another truth...that can cut you to the bone if you are trying to be good...but sometimes let your mouth get the best of you.  James 4:11 says this "Don't speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters.  If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law , not to judge whether it applies to you.  Beth Moore went on to explain "speaking evil" or "criticizing" in the original text "didn't leave us room to excuse ourselves because what we said is simple truth.  To James, (Jesus' brother) if it was said critically or against another person, it was a sin."

 

This says to me that we just can not, must not go around talking about people!!  My mother and I discussed this at length once. We asked each other "How do you talk about your problems without talking about people." We finally came down to this example: While telling my mom about a bad day at work..about how I was hurt by someone... I could do that IF I left the person's name out. Because IF I left their name out, when she came in the store she then would not have a preconceived feeling about someone based on my bad day. Then she would still be able to be kind to everyone there.  Beth Moore said that we needed to talk about the "thing" not the person.  If I talk about my bad day without mentioning the name of the person I would be talking about the event... as soon as I add a name I am talking about a person. 

 

In James 2:10 we learn that a person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws.  So when we read Psalms 25:18 we don't need to feel all puffed because we are not telling lies on people if we are still talking about people, even if it is the truth. Either way we are being hurtful, either way we are sinning.  Lies and criticizing can both damage a person.  They both change how someone sees another person. 

 

When a person's name comes out of our mouths it should only be preceded or followed by a kindness. If we must talk about a bad situation that involves another person then we must also learn leave out all names. If we could and would learn to do this we would never be guilty of changing the life of another person in a bad way with our words...and our lives would change in amazing ways for the good.

10.13.12

James 2:2-4 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

 

My Thoughts

Yesterday I worked on memorizing verses 1-9 of James.  I am not good at memorization so I had to go over and over and over...... and over these words.  The more I said them, the more I thought about them. 

 

I kept thinking about what endurance meant in these verses.  I came to the conclusion that it meant my ability to keep my faith in God. To put my life and all my decisions in His hands.

 

So it could read... When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For when bad things are happening you have an opportunity to fully depend on God, to believe in Him, to trust Him, to listen to Him and to act on what He tells you to do.  For when you are able to do that, when your dependence is totally in God, you are perfect and complete and need nothing.

 

What I have to learn to do is to give God my everything..my good times and my troubles. My thoughts, my words, my actions. When I do that I will be totally under the protection of God and I won't need a thing. 

10.10.12

James 4:1-3 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

 

My Thoughts

We are studying the book of James in our Beth Moore Bible Study.  I am loving this book...I am trying to truly learn it and understand it to the fullest. As I thought about these verses today, I thought of them in a different way than Beth Moore did. At first I thought I am not at war with anyone, I don't scheme and kill to get anything.  But today I thought about this verse a little different.

 

The memory verse this month for my IMPACT girls is Galatians 5:22-23  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! I had this verse on my mind as I read today's verses in James.  And I thought,"Every time I have a desire in me that kills any of the fruits of the spirit evil is winning out!" If I am jealous of what others have I kill one of more of those fruits... when I desire what somebody else has I can often loose my peace and/or patience.  If we want somebody else's place in traffic we can kill our gentleness and self-control.  Sometimes there is a war going on inside me for the desires of this world over God's desires for my life.  I need to constantly check my desires with the fruits of the Spirit within me... If I have a desire that is killing my love, my joy, my peace, my patience, my kindness, my goodness, my faithfulness, my gentleness or my self-control I need to re-examine my motives.  My utmost desire should be to do what pleases God...then God will take care of the other desires of my heart that truly matter. 

9.26.12

James 12:13-17 ¹³ Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” ¹⁴ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. ¹⁵ What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.

¹⁷ Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

My Thoughts

This part really stuck in my head  "What you ought to say is, 'If the Lords wants us to, we will live and do this or that.'" I thought, "How many things would I choose not to do if I start my plans with 'If the Lords wants me to I will _____." This would make us really aware of our plans and if they will please God.  It would make us more acute listeners of the Holy Spirit, I think.  We would be more likely to hear the Holy Spirit say "You should not do that!" or "You need to do this." It would make me more aware of needing to ask God what He wants me to do that day.  I need this phrase to drop down into my spirit for sure!! 

9.24.12

James 1:19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry.

My Thoughts

I found it rather interesting that "quick to listen and slow to speak" was in the same sentence as "slow to get angry." I think we all half listen a big part of the time these days.  We have cell phones that go off... text messages that interrupt.  TV's on in more than one room.  Facebook to entice us and make us think people in the computer are listening better than people in the room. I think that maybe the draw to Facebook is that we can finish a complete thought without being interrupted. 

We even have TV in most of the places that we go out to eat at these days.  When I was growing up, part of the pleasure of eating out was that somebody was sitting face to face with you giving you their undivided attention.  Now their attention is completely divided among all the distractions! 

Robby and I were eating out just Saturday at Red Lobster (no TV). We got seated just after a large group of people. The waiter was apologizing because the food was taking a while.  I smiled and said "It's fine, we like each other!" He laughed and said "Oh, I can tell, you are talking to each other instead of testing!" We all laughed.  So often thought, even with us enjoying each other's company and companionship we are half hearing each other.  So often these days we are not even watching TV together, we are in the same room... with the TV on... him on is computer and me on mine. And we do like each other!!

 

I spend a lot of time at home all by myself these days... I really need to use my words... I am really bad to jump in on Robby's conversation before he gets to the end.... I am hardly ever angry at Robby...maybe once or twice a  year do I get what I would call angry at Robby, and then it is often "my mood" that causes it.  But I am doing something apparently as bad as being angry I am not being slow to speak and quick to listen. 

 

The more I know God the more I see these instructions as bits of gold that will make my life better... so much better... if I use these wonderful nuggets of information several things will happen.  God will smile down on me, I will make God happy, I will improve my relationships with the people around me, my peace and joy will increase... my anxiety will go away...I will love others more...and they will love me more.

 

God is not pointing His finger in our face and saying you MUST do THIS!  God is holding our face in His gentle, strong hands and saying "My child, I love you so much!!  I want to make your life better and better and better!! Here is one thing (then another and another and another) that will bring you joy and peace and happiness. Just try it!" Aren't we special that God would tell us how to make our lives better.  We are special to God.

James 1:5-8 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

 

My Thoughts

This verse got me to thinking about when I was a people pleas-er to a fault.  God could not help me... I was not depending on Him... I was depending on myself to please people and depending on them to validate my worth as a person by liking me. I lived in constant anxiety... constant!!  To the point where I begin to stay at home more and more and more.  After all if I was not around people I couldn't displease them could I!!! Staying home didn't help I needed people's approval!! I didn't have my trust in God, I had put my trust in people.  Even though I wanted to please God my loyalty was  was divided.  I was being tossed by the wind. I felt completely unstable!  I was unstable.  I was a mess. 

 

Then John-Robert (my son) gave me my One Year Bible...and I began to read it every day. How can you not when  you son gives you a One Year Bible all laid out day by day.  As I read it..those words began to change me.  I started becoming a God pleas-er not a people pleas-er. I still love to please people, it makes me happy...but not at the expense of doing something that would not please God.  My anxiety is pretty much gone...at least in this area of my life.  I don't feel the weight of the world anymore... I feel joy!!  I am amazed by life!!!  I know that I have value because God loves me!!  God made me.. He is not surprised by me... He forgives me when I mess up... God loves ME! So if a person doesn't like me that is okay because my value is measured by God. God thinks I am wonderfully made!!

 

I do still have anxiety sometimes... this passage tells me that when I feel that anxiety I need to ask myself, "Where is my loyalty divided? Who or what am I depending on besides God?"

 

I can look back at a recent time when I was worried about one of my children...I wanted to "fix it" for them. They are both adults now... very capable of making their own decisions. My anxiety came because I wanted to fix their problem. And when I look back the anxiety left when I turned them over to God. When I gave what I say as a problem to God and not to me and God. 

 

I need this passage to drop down into my soul...deep and rooted... If it take me writing it over and over and over again.  I need to always be aware that my anxiety is a "caution sign" that I have not given something to God completely. 

 

God is growing me every day... and I love the changes taking place in my spirit, in my mind, in my world. I feel so very blessed!! 

9.14.12

James 5:9 Don't grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or  ou will be judged. For look--the Judge is standing at the door!

 

My Thoughts

First, God is always there watching, always!!  Second, have you ever noticed that when there is lots of talking going on ... if it is not planning for something it is usually grumbling.  We are a world of complainers.  We even grumble about people grumbling.  I have really noticed it on Facebook the last few weeks.. people are grumbling about the upcoming election...then people are grumbling about people grumbling about the upcoming election.

 

In the work place people are either busy working and planning... or they are grouped together grumbling.  We go about all the time grumbling.  We grumble if we have too many places to be...and we grumble if we have no place to go.  Grumble, grumble, grumble... I can't believe that there were not 8 dwarfs in Snow White.  There should have been Grumbley too. 

 

God is always there, standing at the door... you know the one our back is facing... listening to our grumbles.  He has given us so very much,  yet when we open our mouths He hears our grumbling.  If we can be spouting thankfulness and praises, if we can't remember to notice the joy that God has given us then the least we could do is keep our mouths shut and quit grumbling about life...and especially about each other. 

 

We grumble about the people in this world we love the most... what if.. what would happen... to us, to our relationship with those people and with God... if when we opened out mouths it was to speak out loud what a blessing the people around us are??  Just imagine how different our reaction to them calling, or walking through the door would be if all day we has spent being thankful for all that they bring to our lives. 

 

If we can't speak thankfulness and praises... at least God, as he stands at the door listening to us, should hear silence, not grumblings. I am going to work on that one!!  In James chapter 3 it talks about our tongue being so hard to control.. it says that if we could control our tongue that we could for sure control the rest of what we do.  What if we made a commitment to start by controlling the grumblings of our  mouth. Will you make that effort with me today???

James 4:7-8 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

My Thoughts

Look here it tells us that if we resist the devil he will flee from us!!  How much easier life is when the devil is not whispering in our brain all the time!!  When we draw close to God, God will come close to us.  That is why when we don't know what to say, if we just praise God and thank Him, He will come close to us and take care of us!! The great thing is we can resist the devil by drawing close to God!!  We just have to preform one action and accomplish two things!!!

So often I get in a place in my life where I just don't know what to pray...where I can't find the words... where the verses that I have learned just won't come to  mind...I have learned in those times to praise God and to thank Him for all He has done for me...then I feel His presence. In fact it is those times that I often feel His presence the most. 

1.19.12

1 Peter 5:8 Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [[a]in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. (Amplified Bible)

My Thoughts

Joyce Meyer words it like this, in "The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word," "I will live a balanced life because God's word states that if we are not well balanced we open the door for Satin to come in and devour us."

God has really been dealing with me about balance...then I came across this scripture in Joyce's book... and it really spoke to my heart.  I have spent a couple of weeks thinking about it, on and off. Then today this came up in my reading again... and finally I could see it so clearly!  When there are things we need to do and don't do them...the devil loves to use that to tell us how unworthy we are, how lazy we are... how incapable we are...and soon we believe him...and instead of tackling what we have been putting off we begin to think "I can't"... as soon as that I can't comes in to play the devil has his hold.  As soon as we start believing the "I can't-'s" and the "I am useless-'s" the less productive we become... what the devil has first taken from us is our energy... negative thoughts zap of us our energy faster than a hard days work ever could. When we plan our days with balance...we can nurture our soul, get things done, be creative and spend time with loved ones and friends... all while feeling good about ourselves. When we feel good about ourselves, when we believe what God tells us we are, and not what the devil says about us..the cracks in our armor begin to heal and the devil doesn't have a something to use against us. We then have room for the joy of the Lord...and joy..well that produces energy.

Balance was eluding me... even though I knew I needed balance I just didn't know how to go about getting any.... I am an all in person...or an all out person... so this balance thing is not something I really have ever mastered.  Over the last few weeks... after repeating "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13)"...and then learning that "You have not, because you ask not (James 4:2).... I begin to understand that God wants me to have balance... so if I ask God for balance, something He wants for me, then God will give me answers, and strength to have that balance.

So just this morning several things came to mind just how to plan my day with more balance... not somebody else's plan... a plan for me. That is a God thing!  I am today putting that plan in order... it is basically very simple... it is 30 minutes of each activity... a little work, a little play, some folding of the hands... then a little work a little play, a little folding of the hands. God is so good to give us answers! God made us, he knows us...he knows what we need...  God knows what will work for each of us, based on our personality and our abilities. God has the answers...we just have to ask the questions. The thing is God wants us to have balance, God will always give us what He wants us to have, we just have to let God know that it is a desire of our heart.

1.5.12

James 4:7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

My Thoughts

When we put God above us... when we make God more important than us ...  when we put what we want second to what God ask of us....that is humbling ourselves. When we do this...and stand firm against what the devil tempts us to do ... God makes sure that the devil flees. With God we are always stronger than the devil. That is God's grace working in is!  How awesome is that!!  I love it!

11.20.11

James 4:11-12 Don't speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law, not judge whether it applies to you. God alone who gave the law, is the judge.  He alone has the power to save or to destroy.  So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

My Thoughts

This made me think of how often we judge people when we have learned how to do something... or stopped doing something... We wonder why people don't do, whatever it is we have learned to do.... after all it is easy we are doing it.  Sometimes it is out of our desire for people to experience what we have experienced from doing better. 

We have all met the smoker that doesn't smoke anymore who is the biggest critic of those who won't quit.  He is often the biggest critic because he knows it can be done.  People that manage their money, think everybody could and should manage their money. People that are really good at cleaning their house think it is easy...everybody should be doing it. We all tend to do it I think.  Even in the desire to see others do it better, be bette,r we are actually judging them. Sometimes we do it because we feel better about ourselves if we are doing something, anything, better than somebody else.

I think this is where mercy comes in... showing mercy to people that have not learned what we have learned... I know I sure want mercy from people that do life better than me... I still have so much to learn.  I can't learn it from people who judge me, I can only learn to do it better from people that are willing to help me do better. We learn so much from our families.... but often are limited to the life lessons our own family  learned before us.... I have always loved that saying "Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in their shoes."  My favorite is the Indian version "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasin's." That would be two months...but even two months is not enough to really know where someone else has come from. God tells us not to judge at all.  When we see people in need we are called to have mercy, we are called to help.

We don't really know if a person could or could not do better...we have not lived their lives... only God knows that... God knows where we have come from, where we are going. God knows when they are doing the best they can do. I am coming to understand that we have the knowledge that somebody could do better so that we can do our best step in and help them do better... but, so often, as humans we tend to use that knowledge as a basis of judgment. 

Maya Angelo says "When we know better we do better." I believe for most of us that is true.  Sometimes is seems somebody should "know better" when we are on the outside looking in... but we have no idea how they arrived at the decisions they are making. Sometime people finally know better...they have just gotten themselves in such a state that they don't know where to start to make life better.  Imagine how many of us could do better with a helping hand of mercy. The world would surly be a better place of we would each use our knowledge to reach out and help eachother.

I hope that I am learning from what God is teaching me...that the next time I notice what somebody isn't doing "right" that I reach out to help, to encourage.... I hope that anytime I am tempted to judge I use that as a reminder that I should be doing something to make the world a better place.