Refreshing

Times are tough, yes, tough! Do not be afraid! My Lord is very great. He will meet all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.

"I am your shield, your very great reward. " --Gen. 15:1

Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. --Ps. 104:1

He will refresh you with living water. Do not become weary of doing good:

You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. --Ps. 68:9

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. --Prov. 11:25

He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, but will give you always a way out:

An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble. --Prov. 12:13

The Lord knows how to rescue godly men. --2 Pet. 2:9b He will rescue you, when the time is right, and He will refresh you Himself!

The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing. --Zeph. 3:17

So let your mind be at peace; be transformed as He renews your mind:

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. --Rom. 8:6

Though others may forsake you, shun you, or hate you, He is with you, and He is fashioning you, even now, to be His own perfect companion in glory:

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. --Rom. 8

These temporary trials are for your ultimate good and His glory:

"These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." --1 Pet. 1:7
May He be revealed in you!

Submit to Him: "May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it." (1 Thess. 5:23, 24)

Gossip vs. Prayer Requests

What is gossip? When is something gossip, and when is it an innocent prayer concern?

Here's an interesting excerpt I found on Annieshomepage.com:

Gossip and sharing prayer requests:

Please remember that as a Christian it is important to be discerning. When someone shares a prayer request with you they may NOT want you to share it with others. If you want to share it then PLEASE do not give their name. Say "a friend" is dealing with something. This is considered an unspoken prayer request. This way it still keeps their anonymity and trust but more people can be praying for them. My friend Leah has a good page that explains the difference between "gossip" and just "sharing a prayer concern" about a friend. Here is an example of one of the questions on her "gossip" page: "Can I share something I know about someone as a prayer request? You may share something as a prayer request only if you have permission from the person the request is about. If she does not wish for you to share it with anyone, do not do it. If you do, you are gossiping."

On the Evergreen Church website is this similar statement:

"Guidelines for Prayer Ministries: Be sensitive to privacy and confidentiality issues; do not mask gossip as a prayer request. As a general rule only pray for individuals who have requested prayer."

From another church website:

"Because prayer time is so vital, group members need some basic guidelines for sharing, handling and praying for prayer requests. Without commitment from each person to honor these simple suggestions, prayer time can become dominated by one person, an opportunity to gossip, or a never-ending story time."

And another:

"Another common practice is sharing gossip under the rubric of a “prayer request.” In truth, the one who shares gossip under the guise of a prayer request has little to no interest in prayer."

And still another, this time from an online prayer website:

"Submissions [prayer requests] may be edited or rejected if, in the list administrator's judgement, they cross the line into gossip, particularly for third party or anonymous submissions. "

We must not carelessly dismiss the potential for sin to creep into our "prayer requests." If our motives are "pure," then our prayer requests will do no harm to our brother/sister in Christ. They will not promote unrest, and they will not lead to actions and attitudes that tear apart the body of Christ.

Here's a class on the Unruly Tongue. TOTAL cost (for everyone who participates) is just $10.00. That's a small investment for something of such eternal significance! Check out the description:

Do You Have An Unruly Tongue?

by Julia Bettencourt

This resource contains 4 life situations where you are faced with what you would do if certain Sisters encountered you with gossip. Sister Roast, Sister Wag Her Tongue, Sister Stir Up Trouble, and Sister Gossip Through A Prayer Request all want you to listen to them. What would you do? There are also 18 questions concerning our speech and ends with an evaluation of how we use our tongue and mouth. A great topic for anytime or to go along with the Apples of Gold Theme.These questions are designed especially for Christian women to survey and evaluate certain areas of their lives to bring them to a closer relationship with the Lord. Great resource at a reasonable cost for church ladies groups and events.

Cost $10.00 for Master Copy to download.With purchase of the Master Copy, you are given permission to print as many copies as needed for your function.Downloads are through PDF files. You will need Acrobat Reader.

Gossip is not friendly, and when masqueraded as a prayer request, it is insidious and evil.

Nobody's Friend

My name is Gossip.

I have no respect for justice.

I maim without killing.

I break hearts and ruin lives.

I am cunning and malicious and gather strength with age.

The more I am quoted, the more I am believed.

My victims are helpless.

They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name or face.

To track me down is impossible.

The harder you try, the more elusive I become.

I am nobody's friend.

Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.

I topple governments and wreck marriages.

I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights, heartaches and indignation.

I make innocent people cry in their pillows.

Even my name hisses.

I am called Gossip.

I make headlines and headaches.

author unknown

May God's Word on this subject speak to our hearts:

Proverbs 16:28 A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

Proverbs 18:8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.

Proverbs 26:20 Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.

Romans 1:29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

2 Corinthians 12:20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

Let's make sure that we are not party to (whether speaking or listening to) gossip. Let's make sure that no decisions that we make, actions we take, or words we say come as a result of gossip. Gossip tears down! It is the opposite of the Scriptural exhortation to build up our brothers and sisters (Eph. 4:29). Where we have been a party to gossip, we need to repent, confess, and submit ourselves to Christ. Nothing that is borne of sin is holy, and any actions, decisions, or words that are borne of sinful behavior (such as gossip) will NOT be blessed by God. 1 Sam. 15 (starting with verse 29) bears out this truth.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

Pray!

Heart Transplant!

Will you pray with me about this urgent need? The donor organ is ready, and timing is of the essence!

This blog is all about the heart of Jesus.

What a heart that is!

His heart said "No," to sin and to His Very Self
in order to say "Yes!" to the Father
and "Yes!" to us.

"For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me
and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No,"
but in Him it has always been "Yes." --2 Cor. 1:19

I want a heart like that.

He must want me to have a heart like that, too, because He says:
"Be transformed!" (Rom. 12:2a)
and again He says that:
We, who are His heart, His hands, and His feet,
"are being transformed into his likeness
with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

His heart loves :

A broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. --Psalm 51:17b

A cheerful giver. --2 Cor. 9:7b

The church. --Eph. 5:25b

His heart wouldn't let Him stay in heaven or let us perish
without a fight to the death, HIS death:

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. --Eph. 5:25b

He came to give us a HEART TRANSPLANT.

May our hearts, the hearts He died to give to us, love whatever He loves: a broken heart, a cheerful giver, the church, each other. HIM.

Now for the flip side (you know there's always gotta be a flip side). :)
What on earth are we going to do with our hate? I don't know about you, but I've got some! Most of the time it's misdirected (work in progress, you know). But I guess if I want to be like Him, I'm going to have to funnel that hate in my heart into hating what He hates:

Proverbs 6:16-19

16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,

19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

Praise God, all of these things will pass away! But until they do, He hates them. May we take each one of these things seriously, dead seriously, for they are death to those who live this way. Paul underscores this truth as he warns against the acts of the sinful nature: "I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal. 5:21b)

We, church, are His hands and feet. We must not have "feet that are quick to rush into evil." What a disgrace to the body of Christ! We must never have "a heart that devises wicked schemes," or "haughty eyes," or hands that work to the harm of those He loves ("hands that shed innocent blood.") We must keep our tongue from lies, and may He never count among us "a man who stirs up dissension among brothers," for all of this is detestable to Him. How we must grieve Him when we, who are called by His Name, live out what He hates!

Love came, and "love covers over a multitude of sins." (1 Pet. 4:8b). Love will even cover those things our Lord hates:

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

That's some amazing grace, from an amazing heart. The heart of Jesus!

Be Amazed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2RmXBvmwUc

Pray... the Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and all those crushed in spirit. (Ps. 34:18) Pray!

FREE HUGS

Watch the video to see the non-Christians love each other:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKILQPBcVTI

Are we gonna let the world outdo us, when we are His hands and feet?
Let's roll, church!

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?
--Jesus Christ

Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:16a
Live in harmony with one another.

Romans 13:8
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

Romans 15:7
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Romans 16:16
Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.

1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Galatians 5:13b
Serve one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 5:21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Peter 1:22
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1 John 3:11
This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:23
And this is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 John 4:7
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:11
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

His Love Endures Forever. Let's see some love like that!

"I Didn't Do Anything"

You have probably guessed from today's title that my (precious) kids have been at each other again. This morning, it started (or at least, I began to hear it) upon my exit from the shower. So, in the spirit of Barney Fife, I flung open the door and set out to "nip it in the bud," whatever it was. Of course, innocent faces and indignant voices instantly proclaimed, "I didn't do anything!!"

Fortunately, this particular conflict got resolved rather easily. It wasn't difficult to discern that each of the two had been insisting on getting his/her way regardless of the other's feelings or pleas. What had started out as a simple disagreement over the ideal volume for the radio quickly escalated into something more. More personal, and... well, just more. And all in the space a few minutes (possibly seconds?)

I can't help but be reminded here of the classic, "Lord of the Flies," by William Golding. Absent competent discipline, life on the utopian island soon became a confused swirl of distrust, fear, naked power plays, intense hatred, and even murder. The penultimate paragraph ends with the words: "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." According to Golding: "The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature... in the end... adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the island." Can it be that the reason why both children and adults are so struck by this story is because it so accurately reflects the thoughts and attitudes of our very own hearts?

The bible says it best:
Psalm 14:3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Back to those famous last words of my kids, "I didn't do anything." Sometimes I find it helpful to do a word-for-word analysis of statements like that to get to the truth at its clearest (this is also fun to do with bible verses, by the way). It goes something like this:

1. I didn't do anything. (The blame game. It wasn't me; it was _____. "The woman you put here with me- she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." or "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So you see, it wasn't really my fault).
2. I didn't do anything. (The false innocence bit. "I don't know what you're talking about. Am I my brother's keeper?")
3. I didn't do anything. (The "no active role" claim. Think Abraham and Pharaoh, Gen. 12).
4. I didn't do anything. (Just plain delusion. "Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"? - Prov. 20:9)

Obviously, nothing about the statement, "I didn't do anything," can be true, ultimately. It's an offensive statement, one that we discourage our children from using, yet nevertheless, we probably hear it daily! What's up with that?

It's tough as a parent to root out self-love, impure motives, and wrongful ambitions, i.e., to expose and then deal with sinful attitudes in the hearts of our children. Most of the time, we're convicted in the process; was it by our examples that this behavior was learned? So, dealing with the behavior itself doesn't cut the mustard; if the heart is wrong, the behavior will eventually revert to reflect it:

Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

This isn't an easy concept to teach to children, because they think in such concrete terms. They're not that interested in the abstract, the philosophical, or the theoretical. But they are watching our examples. And they can see us putting principles into action (or not). They do see our fruit, and they do perceive our attitudes.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

That much can be visible to them. (Ouch!) Again, this parenting thing can be very convicting! :)

Speaking of convicting, it's always interesting to keep in mind that all of the books from Romans to Revelation were written to or about sinning Christians who needed to repent! Here is one such passage related to today's title, bearing both a wondrous promise and a stern warning:

1 John 1

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

God places a high priority on confession! Not only that, but our confessions mean so much to other people. They remind them that we're all human, that we're in this together, that they are not alone in their struggles, and that we acknowledge the sorrow that our sin causes to others. Even so, I could refuse to apologize/confess to my children when I'm wrong, but this is truly pointless: they already instinctively know when I've done wrong, so my failure to own up to my sin is more aggrandized when I don't confess than when I do. Worse, the unconfessed sin becomes an obstacle to trust and intimacy between me and my children. But the worst of all is the effect that unconfessed sin has on my own heart (and possibly theirs?), and upon my relationship with God. Unconfessed sin hardens my heart, gives satan an opportunity (a foothold), and besmirches the Name above every name. Not an example I want to give to or see in or from my children!

So what to do when faced with the "I Didn't Do Anything" attitude? Sometimes punishment only seems to contribute to the resolve of the offending party. That's not what we want. But then, there is such a thing as discipline without what most think of as "punishment." It's amazing to me how a stubborn child, one who will not admit his wrongdoing when given many chances, will "suddenly" recall with fantastic clarity exactly what they did wrong once they are removed from the "party" for a while. In the solitude of their beds, deprived of the fellowship and comfort of family and friends, and denied access to gizmos and other distractions from the workings of the conscience, the reality of their sin convicts them and finds its expression on their tongues. A few carefully posed questions generally prove to test the sincerity of their confessions.

Now you may ask, how often does this happen at our house? Not as often as it should, granted! but more often lately than it has in the past, and there's going to be a regular housecleaning from now on. Starting with me!