A girl’s best friend

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We all know the saying, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”, right?  My birthstone is a diamond and I do enjoy wearing them.  Beautiful, aren’t they?  I love the way diamonds glisten in the sun.  But are they really a girl’s best friend?

I’d like to say that while I do like my diamonds and think they are very beautiful, they don’t compare to the love Jesus showed me on the cross, the love Jesus shows me daily when I walk in and through each challenge life throws my way; even when I mess up He loves me still.

Yep, I’d say that Jesus is a girl’s best friend!

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”~ John 15:13

“I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” ~ John 10:11

“I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep and am known by My own.  As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” ~ John 10:14-15b

Thank you Jesus for being my good shepherd, for laying down your life for me, and for being my best friend!

He Goes Before Us, He Goes With Us, He Goes After Us

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Have you ever felt alone in a situation, wondering if God cares about your struggles? Have you ever felt like just when everything was going good in life, everything went wrong? That was the case with Job, a man considered blameless, upright, and one who feared God.

Job had great possessions, servants, sons and daughters. He was considered the greatest of all men of the East, so much so that God said to the devil, “For there is no one like him on the earth.”

Listen to this account from Job 1:6-12, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7The LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” 8The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” 9Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10“Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11“But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” 12Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.”

Many of us know the story of the loss and afflictions Job endured at the hand of Satan, but he continued to praise God anyway. At the end of the story in Job 42, we read these words, “Then Job answered the LORD and said, 2“I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

If we could only be more like Job, knowing and believing that God can do all things and that His plans for us are good. We read in Jeremiah 29:11 the following promise from God, 11‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’” Notice we have a responsibility in this, to search for Him with all our heart, and when we do this He promises to be found by us and to bless us.

I’d like you to consider the ways that God goes before us, with us and after us. Proverbs 16:9 says that in our hearts we plan our course but the Lord determines our steps. God’s got our back. He goes before us to pave the way, to open doors, to put things before us that will bless our lives, and then He goes with us as we step out in faith and walk through those doors. Even when doors close and things don’t pan out to all that we had hoped for, God is still with us and will still make something good of the situation. Remember His promise in Romans 8:28 which says, “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Here again He lays out our responsibility along with His promise to us. We are responsible to love Him, and He promises to make all things in our lives work together for our good. He calls us according to these promises.

I’d like you to think about another thing I believe God does for us and that is that He goes after us. I don’t mean that he follows us and then makes good things of our mess, although He certainly can and does do this. What I want you to think about are times in your life when you strayed from God, times when you perhaps walked in direct disobedience to His word. Did you turn back to Him? Do you believe he was “going after you” to draw you back? I know from personal experience a time when I was walking just that way and I know that my Lord loved me too much to leave me there in that sin. He lured me with His love for me, He called me back into His presence and into a right relationship with Him again. Even in this, though, I had responsibility. I had to recognize and repent of my disobedience and rebellion and ask Him to forgive me, and that was all it took to get right with Him again.

Thank you Father that you do go before us, you go with us, and you go after us. Thank you for loving us even when we are most unlovable. Walk with us this day and help us to never stray from you again. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Acquire Wisdom! Acquire Understanding!

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Proverbs 4

~~Reading this Psalm this morning I was struck by the fact that God gives us specific instructions concerning our responsibilities to seek out His wisdom, wisdom He freely gives us but only when we seek it.  With our free will, one of the gifts God gave us, we must desire, seek and pursue wisdom, and He will gladly lavish it upon us.  Glory!!~~

1

Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father,

And give attention that you may gain understanding,

~~We are responsible to listen and give attention. He will help us understand.~~

2

For I give you sound teaching;

Do not abandon my instruction.

~~God gives sound teaching (we cannot go wrong with this teaching)~~

~~We are responsible to heed and follow this instruction.~~

3

When I was a son to my father,

Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

4

Then he taught me and said to me,

“Let your heart hold fast my words;

Keep my commandments and live;

~~We are responsible to hold fast to God’s words and keep His commandments (be obedient to what He tells us to do and do it), and He will give us a full and abundant life!~~

5

Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!

Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

~~We are responsible to seek wisdom and understanding and not ever turn away from God’s word.~~

6

“Do not forsake her, and she will guard you;

Love her, and she will watch over you.

~~If we keep focused on the wisdom God gives us, that wisdom will guard us always.~~

~~If we love wisdom and love God, His wisdom will watch over us always.~~

7

“The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;

And with all your acquiring, get understanding.

~~The first wise thing we learn is that we need to seek wisdom, and by doing so we will understand what He is teaching us.~~

8

“Prize her, and she will exalt you;

She will honor you if you embrace her.

~~When we prize wisdom above all other things, that wisdom will place us in high esteem with God, but we must seek and embrace it always.~~

9

“She will place on your head a garland of grace;

She will present you with a crown of beauty.”

~~Through wisdom we find grace and beauty.~~

10

Hear, my son, and accept my sayings

And the years of your life will be many.

~~Walking in God’s wisdom will give us long life!~~

11

I have directed you in the way of wisdom;

I have led you in upright paths.

~~God is the source of our wisdom and the one who directs our steps in life.~~

12

When you walk, your steps will not be impeded;

And if you run, you will not stumble.

~~God will make our life productive and prosperous.~~

13

Take hold of instruction; do not let go.

Guard her, for she is your life.

~~We are responsible to hold God’s instruction high in our life and never let go.~~

14

Do not enter the path of the wicked

And do not proceed in the way of evil men.

~~We are responsible to refrain from following wicked ways and evil men.~~

15

Avoid it, do not pass by it;

Turn away from it and pass on.

16

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil;

And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.

17

For they eat the bread of wickedness

And drink the wine of violence.

18

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,

That shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

~~Our days will increase with calm and brightness.~~

19

The way of the wicked is like darkness;

They do not know over what they stumble.

20

My son, give attention to my words;

Incline your ear to my sayings.

~~We are responsible to listen to God by reading His word and pay attention to what He says.~~

21

Do not let them depart from your sight;

Keep them in the midst of your heart.

~~We are responsible to keep His words always in our heart, thinking about them all day long.~~

22

For they are life to those who find them

And health to all their body.

~~His words will give us life and health in our bodies.~~

23

Watch over your heart with all diligence,

For from it flow the springs of life.

~~We are responsible to guard our hearts.~~

24

Put away from you a deceitful mouth

And put devious speech far from you.

~~We are responsible to control our speech.~~

25

Let your eyes look directly ahead

And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.

~~We are responsible to keep looking to Him and not looking back at past mistakes or looking to the world for answers.~~

26

Watch the path of your feet

And all your ways will be established.

~~We are responsible to be careful where we go and what we do.~~

27

Do not turn to the right nor to the left;

Turn your foot from evil.

~~We are responsible to follow the straight and narrow path of life and to stay away from evil things.~~

 

 ~~We serve a loving, gracious God, but we must never forget our responsibilities to serve Him with our whole heart, seek Him always, and obey the things He tells us to do.  We cannot live our life however we want and still expect Him to bless us and let us spend eternity in Heaven unless we do our part, and that starts with surrendering our life to Jesus as Lord!  Make sure you are right with Him today, and seek always to serve Him and follow His instructions for your life.  Seek wisdom and you will find it!  He is faithful.~~

 

 

A Gentle Answer Turns Away Wrath

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The words stung like a knife. “How about if we all treat her to dinner to thank her for all the lovely ornaments she is letting us give out?” All the ornaments SHE is letting us give out? Are you kidding me? I contributed quite a few of those ornaments, and so did other coworkers. Why is SHE getting all the credit?

Reactions, perceptions, offenses, responses…What a difference words can make.

It was Christmastime and my coworkers and I were getting ready to go caroling at our local hospital. Along with singing the carols, we gave out ornaments to the patients to wish them a Merry Christmas and hopefully bring some cheer. Who wants to be in the hospital at Christmas, especially in a cancer ward???

It was a noble endeavor for us and we felt good about it, but then there were those ornaments. Someone had the idea for each of us to bring in ornaments from home that we no longer wanted and use them to give to the patients, as long as they were nice of course. We had tried making ornaments the year prior and they didn’t seem to hold up very well so we were looking for nicer ones but didn’t want to spend a lot of money to purchase them. It seemed like a good idea…. until SHE got credit for ALL of them!!

Well, at least it bothered me, but then maybe other people just weren’t bold enough like me to speak up; but was speaking up really worth the wrath that followed? I think not, now that I’ve suffered the consequences, and those consequences continued on for quite a while, and it even caused us to forego the caroling the following Christmas.

Thinking about Abigail’s response in 1 Samuel 25 when Nabal refused David’s request for food after watching his flocks, the way she immediately went before him in humility, showered him with food and gifts, intervened on behalf of her mean husband, makes me so wish I had responded differently in this situation. Makes me wish I had overlooked the comment the way Abigail overlooked her husband’s selfish responses.

Unfortunately, once the words are spoken from our mouths or put down in print, they are irreversible. The damage is done, and sometimes the effect cannot be undone no matter how hard we try.

We all want to live out a good testimony for the Lord, don’t we? But when we find ourselves taking offense to something someone said and reacting to it, we often tarnish that testimony. That is how I felt about what happened when I reacted about who was getting credit for those ornaments.

Humility. Not always an easy thing to carry out in our life. To be able to overlook an offense, to be able to let something go that really gets under your skin, to be able to truly leave it in God’s hands instead of taking into our own and lashing out…wow, what a struggle it can be!

But God is faithful! Let us always remember Proverbs 15:1, which says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Lord, help me to always use Your gentle answer and never my own harsh words. Help me to remember who I am in Christ and lead me in behavior and speech that reflects Your character, not mine.

Faith of Jesus

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I happened upon Creflo Dollar’s broadcast this evening and know it was a divine appointment made by the Holy Spirit.  He was speaking about the difference between what we had to do when under the law and what Jesus already did under grace.

I bet you have heard the saying, as I have, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.”  Well, as Creflo pointed out, we are saved by grace (Glory halleluia!)  BUT, we are no longer sinners!!  Once we are saved, we are the righteousness of Christ!  The bible says that Jesus Himself is righteous and that “He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has true faith in Jesus.”~Romans 3:26b  When we have true faith in Him, He gives us His righteousness.  Glory halleluia!!

Romans 6:13 instructs us to “not continue offering or yielding your bodily members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but offer and yield yourselves to God as though you have been raised from the dead to life, and your bodily members to God, presenting them as implements of righteousness.”  We are to live as if we were raised from the dead because of what Jesus did on the cross for us.  We are to present ourselves to God as righteousness not as sin because Jesus lives in us and He gives us His righteousness.  Our sin died with Him on the cross.

Galatians 2:20 states that we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but it is Christ who lives in us.  We are still in our body but we now live by the faith of Christ. Sin no longer has power over us and we should no longer think of ourselves as sinners.

We have to exercise faith in order to receive what Christ gave us when He died on the cross, but we don’t rely on ourselves for that faith; that faith comes from Him!  Him living in us gives us the faith we need to receive all that He did for us on the cross.  That, my friend, is exciting revelation!

II Corinthians 5:21 puts it this way: “For our sake He made Christ to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Time to celebrate my friend!  If you have true faith in Jesus and He lives in you, you are no longer a sinner but are the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

Praise His name forever!

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My personalized version of Psalm 44:5-8:

Through you, Lord, I push back my enemies; through Your name I trample my foes. I do not trust in my own resources; they do not bring me victory, but You give me victory over my enemies. You put my adversaries to shame. In God I make my boast all day long, and I will praise His name forever!

And from Psalm 34:1-6:

I will extol the Lord at all times.  His praise will always be on my lips.  My soul will boast in the Lord.  Let the afflicted hear and rejoice.  Glorify the Lord with me.  Let us exalt His name together!

“ . . . And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” Linus concluded.

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And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.

“ . . . And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” Linus concluded.

Will we mourn or rejoice?

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Revelation 1:7, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.”

While reading this scripture today, the Lord gave me insight that I hadn’t really had before.  Sure, I’ve always known that His word says Jesus will return “in the clouds” and “every eye will see Him”, but today I noticed the end of the verse, “and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.”

My dear reader, do you know Jesus, or will you be one who mourns at His coming?  You see, once we accept Jesus into our hearts, acknowledging what He did on the cross in payment for our sins, He comes to live inside us by means of His Holy Spirit.  At that point, we are no longer “peoples of the earth” but instead peoples of His spirit.  We will not mourn at His return but will instead rejoice because we will forever be with Him in Heaven for all eternity.

I Corinthians 15:50-54 declares that “…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…”  Peoples of the earth live out life in their flesh and blood.

Let’s break down what John 3:18 says, “Whoever believes in Him (referring to Jesus) is not condemned (this person has eternal life in Heaven with God), but whoever does not believe (the peoples of the earth who reject Him) stands condemned already (this person is condemned because of his own heart and actions) because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.”  (We must acknowledge our need of a Savior, accept that Jesus is that Savior, put our life in His hands and live for Him the rest of our days, not living for the things of the world.)

So, which will it be?  Will you mourn or rejoice at His coming?  He is coming back soon and I hope you will be among those who rejoice at His return!

Stickers on my fruit

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Trying to peel off a sticker from my apple this morning, I got to thinking how much I dislike stickers on my fruit!  Then the Lord spoke to me of how often things in my life can be just like those stickers!

Maybe it’s a habit I am trying to break, and maybe it is one that is relentless and just doesn’t want to be broken.  It can be like one of those stubborn stickers that insists on leaving a piece of itself behind on my fruit, which was the case this morning!

Then there are things in my life that seem easier to give up.  God showed me I should let these go and with His help I am able to do it easily.  They are like the stickers that peel off right away and I get to eat the whole fruit without spoiling the section where the sticker was.

While following Jesus is such an awesome experience, and I have such fun serving Him, there are certainly worldly things that He has asked me to give up, such as gossip, complaining, criticizing, grumbling, murmuring.  For sure, I don’t always do everything right.  Oftentimes I slip back into something God has told me to lay down and stop doing, but He is faithful to forgive me when I ask Him, and the Holy Spirit is gentle to remind me that I am doing something He told me not to do and help me stop doing it.

So when I think about the stickers on my fruit, I think about things in my life I’ve been able to peel away and continue on unaffected.  But then I think about things in my life that are a constant struggle to give up and realize they are more like the sticker I was trying to remove this morning, one that insisted on staying on my piece of fruit!  I had to bite off and throw away that spot on the fruit so that I didn’t eat that part of the sticker.  Sometimes God has to remove things in our life that can be painful in order to perfect what remains.  He wants to make us perfect just like Him, and I am certainly still a work in progress.

Thank you Lord that you remove all the stickers in my life, especially the ones that don’t want to let go of my fruit!!

“For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.”~Ephesians 5:9

The Power of our Words

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Did you know our words have power?   They do!  What we say can fuel a fire or quench the flames.  We can praise someone’s accomplishments and abilities or tear them down with the words we say.  It is important to think before we speak and offer words that uplift and encourage, not tear down or bring shame.

“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.  Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.”~ Proverbs 12:18-19

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death…”  Think about that!  Our tongue (what we say) has the power of life and death!!!

We can sow value in someone’s life with good words, but we can take away value with words that sting, wound and tear down.

Also in Proverbs we learn that “a lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.”  ~ verse 28 of Chapter 26

Using our words to lie is probably one of the worst ways to injure others, and eventually ourselves.  Lies always have a way of coming back around to the one who said them.  Lies never do anyone any good.  The devil is the father of lies and he would love nothing more than to trap us into thinking it is okay to tell a lie.

I Peter 3:10 states, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.”  Deceitfulness is a form of lying.  Being deceitful is not being truthful.

Even if we have said something hurtful or harmful to someone else, we can speak life-giving words to restore the damage that was done.  It may take awhile for the other person to accept an apology or forgive an offense, but if we keep sowing kindness into that person’s life, eventually forgiveness and restoration can come.

James Chapter 3 speaks a lot about our words.  We need to depend on God to help us tame our tongues.  The Holy Spirit will guide us and help us not to say things we shouldn’t.  We must, however, listen to His leading and not be too quick to speak without considering our words.

Quote from my pastor who spoke on this topic this morning, “We lack the power to change our words, but with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment we can perfect our speech.”

Let’s look to God and pray Psalm 141:3, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the the door of my lips.”  He will do it!