Girlfriends Getaway

Don’t Let Your Unforgiving Heart Keep You from Showing Kindness   

To forgive or not.  Have you ever thought about why we should forgive others?  Forgiving another person can sometimes be hard or even next to impossible.  When you forgive someone it doesn’t mean that you have to reconcile with the person who has harmed you.  To forgive means letting go of resentment and giving up any claim to be compensated for the hurt or loss that you’ve suffered.  It is releasing the other person from any blame leaving the situation in God’s hands and moving on.

Did you know that if you don’t forgive others then your own forgiveness is in jeopardy?  Matthew 6:14-15 tells us what will happen if we choose not to forgive others.

Matthew 6:14-15 14For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Unforgiveness harbors so much negativity that it causes harm to our bodies.  The physical body is engulfed with extreme anger, resentment, and bitterness.  You become physically ill with stress related symptoms and problems.  You begin to feel depressed and anxious all the time.

Unforgiveness also shows that you don’t truly love Jesus.  What do you mean?  I do love Jesus.  Really?  Not if you cannot and are not willing to forgive others.  Being bitter and unforgiving is not loving others like Christ loves us.  It prevents God from forgiving your sins.

Forgiveness is for our own benefit.  We experience it in the direct proportion to our willingness to forgive.  If we don’t have a forgiving spirit, we should not be wearing the name of Jesus.  You see, those who are true Christians follow the teachings and example of Jesus.  They are compassionate, kind, and forgiving.

Instead of letting your unforgiving heart enslave you, clothe yourself in kindness.  

Colossians 3:12 12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Use God’s Word to help you identify Christian attributes that will help you build kindness and develop a forgiving heart like Christ.

In a few sentences explain why you should not hold onto an unforgiving heart.

What does it mean to clothe yourself in kindness? 

What are some Christian attributes that can help you build kindness?  Need a HINT, check out one or more of the following scriptures.

2 Corinthians 6:3 – 6                                                                               

Ephesians 4:30 – 32                                                                                                        

2 Peter 1:5 – 10                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Explain how one simple little act of kindness can change the world around you.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16                                                  

An Extraordinary Walk

My daughter did not walk until she was about 14 months old. People kept telling me to stop carrying her everywhere. Truth was, I didn’t. I could put her on a blanket in a room, and she was perfectly content to stay there. At the nursery one day, I watched her through the window because she was my little peek into heaven, and I saw her point to a toy and grunt, and another baby went and brought it to her. Kid you not! The babies in her room would bring her toys!

She did eventually decided to learn to walk. I wish I could describe her walk to you but it defies description. When she was little, her right arm would swing widely back and forth as her chubby little legs toddled to the next location. As she grew, her walk was still very distinctive and her running!? Oh my word. The way she ran cracked me up. My sister says it looks like she is always running up hill even when she isn’t.

My daughter is very vertically challenged. She’s fun size. She’s short, but we can still spot her in a moving crowd because how distinctive her walk is.

Do you know anyone like this?

There is nothing ordinary about her walk. There’s also nothing ordinary about her.

A friend I graduated high school with has a teenage daughter who is a model. She goes to Asia, Europe and New York for jobs. She has a model walk. Have you ever seen a model walk the catwalk? It’s very unique. Personally, I could NOT do it.

This weekend there’s a group of women at the Girlfriend Getaway. If you didn’t get to make this one, I am so sorry. I pray you will make it a priority for the next one, but I’m going to be teaching on having an extraordinary walk.

You would think those who have two working legs and two working feet would all walk the same, and yet we don’t. Some walk on their heels. Some walk on the inside of their feet or outside of their feet. Some drag a foot due to injury or disability. Some have unique walks, and some have model walks. The same applies to our spiritual walk. Whatever you walk through in your spiritual life, shapes your spiritual walk.

There are three things that shape a Christian’s walk, and they are all connected.

1.     LOVE – 1 Peter 1:22, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.”

Obedience is conduct, how you behave. If your faith doesn’t produce obedience, then you don’t have true faith. Obeying the truth through the Spirit means the obedience produces change. Obeying leads to purification of your soul, so if you aren’t obeying God, what does that say about the condition of your heart?

Fruit of the Spirit is LOVE. There are some people you can only love if you are filled with the Spirit because they are hard to love, and yet we are called to love fervently with a pure heart.

I love 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.” The love we can have and give to others only covers the sin. Only Jesus, the Father and the Spirit has loved greater so as to actually remove the sin.

In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us because if we love those who love us, isn’t that what the unrighteous do? So if you love only as they love, are you doing anything extraordinary?

How you love tells others if your walk with God is extraordinary.

2.     Forgive – Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.

God doesn’t ask us if we want to forgive. We are told to forgive. It is a command because God forgave us in Christ.

You must choose to forgive.

Forgiveness doesn’t excuse the person who committed the wrong.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean reconciliation or restoration.

Forgiveness means trusting God to deal with the one who did the hurtful thing (Exodus 34:6-7).

Forgiveness doesn’t have to lead to foolishness by repeatedly submitting yourself in the same relationship over and over again to be hurt.

Forgiveness is ongoing. The deeper the wound the more frequently you have to forgive the offense.

Forgiveness is not easy, but there is freedom in forgiveness.

Failing to forgive means you are living in sin.

Failing to obey God and trust God with your pain will lead to living a life of victimization instead of a life of victory, resentment instead of restoration in God, depression instead of deep growth, and bitterness instead of betterment.

Is your walk ordinary or extraordinary?

3. BLESS – How do you know when you have forgiven someone? When you can bless them and mean it. Luke 6:27-28, Romans 12:20-21 and Proverbs 25:21-22.

Blessing them may mean you pray for their salvation and healing. Blessing them means you don’t rejoice when something bad happens to them. Blessing them may mean meeting a need.

When people look at your life, see the struggles and hurt you have walked through, do they identify your walk as ordinary, or do they see an extraordinary walk full of love, forgiveness and blessing others?

Whose Approval Do You Want?

I was driving home from school last week, and I got to the corner of Mansfield and Bert Kouns where Brookshires is. I needed to turn right, but the light was red. I couldn’t see the traffic coming from the left because an 18-wheeler was in the way, so I choose to wait until my light turned green. The person in the truck behind me was not pleased with my decision and honked at me until the light turned green. When the person first started honking, I began to stress, and I thought about just going ahead and turning. But then I kinda heard the Jesus speak to me. He said something along the lines of, “Focus only on pleasing me, listen only to my voice. Don’t become distracted by others. If you just listen to me, you won’t be stressed or pressured into dangerous situations.”  

Whenever we start to get caught up in pleasing others, we turn into a chicken with their head cut off. We have no real purpose for anything we do. We’re just trying to appease as many people as we can. Eventually, we’ll get too overwhelmed and break. When we put our focus back on God and focusing on pleasing him, the weight on our shoulders to be enough and to make everyone happy leaves. We can finally be at peace. Galatians 1:10 says “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”  

And when you’re only goal is to please God, then you realize that his timing is so much better than ours. You are in the place you are in for a reason. It may not be a happy, fun place to be in, but if you try to move before God tells you to, you’re back outside of God’s will. As hard and as bad as some situations can be, they’re never permanent. And God is using that experience to glorify Him and bring honor to His name.

 It may be hard to believe right now, but that phrase “Hindsight is 20/20,” is so true. Once you are out of that moment, you can see God moving in your life. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.” - Ecclesiastes 3:1-3. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 continues to talk about the times for different things. And even in the valleys of life you can have peace if you just trust in God’s timing.

In life (especially high school), it is so easy get caught up in pleasing others. We’re still trying to figure life out, and there’s so many things and people calling for our attention. If we can learn now that God’s plans are so much better than ours, we’ll be a bit wiser than most teens.

Are You Balanced?

I have a life-long tendency of being uncoordinated and having a poor sense of balance. I’m a klutz. I even had an MRI of my neck done once because the physical therapist thought I may have something wrong with my spine in the neck area because I had frequent falls. As it turns out, nothing was significantly wrong with my neck. His explanation, “You’re clumsy.” My clumsiness and balance issues were causing me to fall down and get unnecessary pains, scrapes and bruises.

Many of us go through life unbalanced getting hurt, and we cannot seem to quite figure out why we feel so “off” or just tired and defeated so often. The key is balance. We are created as a spiritual, physical, and emotional being. If any of these areas is not getting adequate care and attention, we will be unbalanced just as a car with a flat tire. We may include feeling overwhelmed and may even include the feeling that other women have their life more “together” than we do but we cannot quite seem to figure it out.

Our primary concern must be our spiritual health. If we are spiritually anemic, we will find ourselves continually searching for something to meet the need. Nothing can fill the God-shaped hole in your soul. You can search, but you will come up empty. John 6:35 says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (HSB)  Psalms 107:9 is reassuring as it tells us, “For He has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.” (HSB) If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, you can begin right now!

Just come with the hot mess you have going on. Acknowledge you are a sinner and ask for His forgiveness. Acknowledge Jesus came to earth as a baby, died on the cross and rose from the dead for your sins, and then accept the gift of forgiveness! It is that simple! If you have questions, message the Girlfriend Ministry page. We would love to help you!

For those of you who are already saved, when was the last time you had a consistent quiet time with your Father and just worshipped Him and listened to that still, small voice speak to you? How can we defend against the arrows of the enemy that fly at us when we have not even stopped to put on the full armor of God? This must be top priority in our lives. He is waiting to hear from you!

How is your physical health? Touchy subject, isn’t it? I’m speaking to all of us on this one. We do not talk about this much in Christian settings, do we?  What does our overall health look like? Are you a good steward of the temple of God? “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor 16:19-20 ESV) Do you eat a healthy, balanced diet and drink plenty of water instead of sugary drinks?  Do you exercise regularly?  Do you get regular check-ups with your doctor(s) and follow medical recommendations?  1 Corinthians 10:31 instructs us, “So, whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  We are to take good care of our physical health so that we will bring glory to God. (For the record, I just had a big spoonful of peanut butter and Nutella right before writing this blog – great timing, huh?!).

Emotional health tends to be a big topic for women. All too often, we carry around the weight of our families, our job, our finances, and who knows what else on our shoulders. We juggle it all and tote it around. When others check in on us, we respond, “I’m fine!” All it takes is one more thing to be added to the load on the wrong day, and it tips the scales and we fall apart.

Sisters, we were not designed to carry this load. God tells us in 1 Peter 5:7 that He wants us to put our load on Him because He cares for us.  Some of us carry emotional burdens from the past or from an unhealthy relationship. Give it to Him. Seek Godly guidance and professional counseling. Each of us is so important to Him and loved by Him that He gave His Son for us and is just waiting for us to rely on Him.

Sisters, I encourage you to begin today working towards being balanced taking good care of all three areas of your being. You will feel less hurt and banged up and will be surprised how much more effective you are in every area of your life. Let us work toward balance in order to bring honor and praise to the Lord in every area of our life!

Gotta Testify. I'm in a fiery ordeal.

1 Peter 4:12-13, Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the suffering of the Messiah, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory.

This was the verse that was read at church, and I thought to myself, “Hmm, it’s as if God knew I would be here tonight and needed to see this verse.” I couldn’t wait to get home to meditate on it.

Since 2018 started, my daughter started a new school because of bullies at her high school. She has made the transition beautifully.

In 2018, my husband found things out regarding his business partner which were devastating to say the least, and now he’s trying to obtain the necessary documentation, so he can dissolve their companies.

This week on social media my son said some things that concerned his friends. Thankfully, he has some good friends who told their parents who called us.

And Thursday of this week, I found out I’ll be losing my job, as they move my job into a huge building in Dallas.

So, when I read, “Don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes,” I can honestly say I’m in the fiery ordeal. 2018 apparently is the year of transition for my family, but before the transition is completed first comes testing and trials to prepare us for the new place, new location God has waiting for us.

The next observation in this verse is we are to rejoice with great joy…not regular joy, but GREAT joy at the revelation of His glory! Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” I have said joy is one word in the Bible that has sound attached to it. Joy is singing. Joy is shouting. Joy is NOT silent.

So, how am I going to get through these fiery ordeals to rejoicing with GREAT joy at the revelations of His glory?

First, I think worship. Worshiping the God who is in control yesterday, today and tomorrow. Worshiping the God who was not caught off-guard nor was surprised by the turn of events in my life. Worshiping the God who was and is and is to come, laying every single burden I have down at His feet, and crawling up in my Abba’s lap and waiting on Him to do His thing.

Second, I’m going to be grateful. I am grateful our daughter told us at the end of 2017 how those girls were relentless in their bullying. I am grateful she came to us with the information regarding Caddo Virtual Academy where the principal is a growing Christian. (You know one when you see one.) I am grateful I have been given the opportunity to restore what those girls were stripping away from my daughter.

I am grateful my husband is seeing his partner for his true identity. God is answering my prayers to surround my husband with growing, godly men as friends and mentors, but first he had to remove the ungodly. So I am grateful for God working in only the way He knew to do.

I am grateful for kids who stand up for my son when he felt overwhelmed by choices he had made. I am grateful for parents who called concerned about my son’s welfare. I am thankful for a counselor who worked us in the next day. I am thankful my son is in a much better place because he can now talk to us openly about what he was struggling with, about what he had been packing down for so long.

I am grateful for a career of 24 plus years with a company that provided benefits and income which supported my family. I am thankful for a job where I was able to learn and acquire many marketable skills which may help me get another job. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with some really wonderful people. I just pray I’ve done enough to point them to God.

Isaiah 43:2, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.” In each of the scenarios presented in this verse we see that we pass through the waters and through the rivers and through the fire. He doesn’t intend on my living in this fiery ordeal for the rest of my life. We will pass through, and so will you if and when you go through a fiery ordeal.

The refining fire is not left unattended. The dross of our lives that the fire reveals is removed, purifying us. And then I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. In Daniels 3:27 says, “When the satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s advisers gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: not a hair of their head was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.” While there was no physical evidence they had been through their fiery ordeal, their growth in faith provided evidence of what the fire can do. Don’t you know they had a story to tell about the fourth man in the furnace with them!? Don’t you know they told people what the fourth man said and did? Don’t you know they testified how Jesus passed them through the fire to testify again to what an awesome God they served?

So when all is said and done, and God has moved us through the fiery ordeal, I will have great joy because I will be able to see where I was before 2018’s refining fire and see how much God has grown and mature not only my faith but the faith of my husband and children.

We aren’t anywhere close to being through this fiery ordeal, but I have hope. I have faith, and I know who holds my future, and I know who holds yours.

If you are going through the water, the rivers, or the fire and want or need prayer, would you please send us a message? We would be honored to pray for you, and if you know someone going through a difficult time and think they could use this, please feel free to share and encourage them.

Relationship Goals

In your relationships, do you have a role? Are you the funny one, serious one? Are you the one who leads or one who follows? Sometimes I feel more like a herder than leader. Are you laid-back and easy-going or are you wound a little tight? Are you the chatty one or the listening one? You know what I’m talking about. We all have roles we play in relationships. The roles we play are based on personality, strengths, weaknesses, Spiritual gifts, talents and age of those in the relationship.

You have a role in your relationship with the Holy Spirit. It takes 2 to have a relationship. Relationships take work and communication and time. Last Saturday on the Girlfriend Ministry Facebook page, I posted 14 things the Spirit does in our relationship with Him, and that was not even an exhaustive list.

Now, let’s look at your role in the relationship. What are you supposed to do to maintain the relationship?

1.       Walk in the Spirit – Romans 7:6, Galatians 5:16-25, Ephesians 5:8-11

We are to put away the old self. Die to the old self and exhibit supernatural fruit of the Spirit.

What you feed will flourish. What you starve will languish. Are you feeding your spiritual relationship, or are you feeding your fleshly desires?

2.       Walk carefully, wisely, redeeming the time and be filled with the Spirit – Ephesians 5:15-18

Girlfriends, we have a limited amount of time on this planet. Are you making the most of it for the kingdom of God?

Being filled with the spirit in this verse indicates two things – 1) It’s imperative – it says, “be filled.” It doesn’t say “fill up when you need it or if you want to.” 2) It’s passive tense – You can’t do this yourself. The Spirit has to fill you. You can’t conjure it up. You can’t fabricate having the Spirit.

The verse also says to “be filled.” We are not to get a cup of it here and there. We aren’t supposed to fill in and around the junk we carry day in and day out. We need to die to self, be empty and void and allow the Spirit to fill you completely directing your path as to what belongs in your life.

3.       Live a grateful life – Ephesians 5:19-20

The words that come out of your mouth, are they full of gratitude or whining, griping and complaining?

The words that come out of your mouth, do they reflect that you’ve spent time worshiping God or do your words reflect self-concern, self-centeredness?

4.       Stay in the Word and listen – Ephesians 6:17

The only way you can feed your spitiual side is by being in the Word – Galatians 6:8.

5.       Do NOT quench the Spirit – 1 Thessalonians 5:19

This is the only one I found that said something we were NOT to do in our relationship with the Spirit.

Quench means to hinder the operations of the Holy Spirit when we refuse to submit and obey the Spirit’s prompting by allowing sin to remain in our lives without true repentance. You can’t be a light if you don’t repent, obey and submit to the authority of the Spirit.

            6.  Pray and worship in the Spirit – Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 3:3, John 4:24

Every single prayer of the Spirit is answered because the Spirit has communed with God the Father and searched the deep things of God and then reveals to us.

When we worship it isn’t for show. When we worship in the Spirit, the Spirit moves through us. The Spirit gives us freedom from sin, releases us to worship in freedom and in fullness of joy. Is that how you worship?

How is your relationship with the Spirit? Are you doing your part? Are you living a Spirit-filled life? It will make all the difference in the world if you do.

Keep Your Conversations Weird -- You Don't Even Have a Bucket

“Sir, you don’t even have a bucket.”

In my family, “normal” is a setting on a washer or dryer. When my sister and I were growing up, we thought we were normal or had a normal family. It wasn’t until we would spend the night with friends that we realized that our family was NOT normal.

To this day we have some weird, off-the-wall conversations, and if you happen to walk into the middle of one, well…bless your heart.

So when I saw how Jesus started this conversation in the Bible and the confusion on the part of this woman, I thought to myself, “This is great.” For me the best part about this conversation is Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman, and He chooses to reveal to her what true worship is and will be. He chose a woman who was an outcast because she was a Samaritan considered by the Jews to be a half-breed, and an outcast because she had been married multiple times and was living with a man at the time of the conversation. And yet, this Jewish man spoke to her. It was unheard of, but so was the type of worship He revealed to her.

In John 4 Jesus asks this outcast for water. Her response was, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”

His response, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink, you would ask Him and He would give you living water.”

To which she responds, Sir, you don’t even have a bucket.  In my head, I heard almost a comical tone. Um, sir, you don’t even have a bucket.” Like pointing out the obvious was necessary.

Is there someone you want to reach for the Lord? Is there someone you are praying for to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Take a page from Jesus’ playbook.

1.     Be filled with the Spirit. Jesus was completely human, but He was empowered by the Holy Spirit and was completely God.

This isn’t something you can do on your own.

2.     If the Spirit leads you to a place, then be present.

3.     Get rid of distractions. The disciples had gone to the city to buy food. Had the disciples been there, they would have attempted to interrupt or intercede.

4.     Jesus asks the woman for something she can provide. He asks for her help. This is what starts the conversation.

5.     Jesus gives her all of His attention.

6.     He answers her honestly.

7.     He asks questions which makes her think and want to know more.

8.     When the conversation turns to religious things, worship issues, He doesn’t back away from telling her the truth about her life and how it’s wrong, but He does so in love.

9.     He points and tells her the right way to worship and come before God.

10.                         It’s a conversation that turns into a relationship. It’s a relationship that turns into a revival, and isn’t that what we all want for someone who is lost?

Look for opportunities to have weird conversations. Look for ways to introduce Jesus to others in those conversations, and watch what the Spirit can do.

Are You a Basket Case or a Beacon?

Basket Case or Beacon

Matthew 5:15 says, “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.”

So, are you a basket case or a beacon in your home?

Just because a lamp or candle is put under a basket, does that mean the lamp went away? NO! Sometimes as Christians we put our light under a basket. Sometimes we weave the basket around ourselves for any number of reasons. Sometimes we weave a basket around us because we are living in unrepented sin. Sometimes we weave the basket one round at a time because we are trying to protect ourselves. Regardless of the reason, our lamp is being hidden under a basket.

God did not create you, did not send the Holy Spirit to you to be hidden. In this verse the light is to be put on the lampstand and give light to all who are in the house. Who comes into your home? Who needs to see light? Who will not appreciate the fact that you are shining God’s light? Because let’s be honest, not everyone wants the light of Christ. The light exposes things that were once hidden in the dark. There’s usually a reason why someone hides something. They don’t want it to be seen.

The reason we should shine the light is so God will be glorified…not us.

I recently read a book written by Francis Chan titled The Forgotten God. It’s a wonderful book about the Holy Spirit. In John 14:16-18 Jesus tells the disciples that the Father will be giving them a Helper, the Spirit of truth. Their current Helper was Jesus Christ who was living with them, but the Father was going to send a different Helper, the Holy Spirit, who would live in them. In the book The Forgotten Book, Francis Chan poses a question I would like to pose to you. The question is this:

If you could choose to have the Spirit in you or Jesus beside you,

which One would you choose?

Jesus says there is another Helper that is like Him, God. “Another” in this instance mean another one of the same, not another but different. The Helper was another of the same as Jesus. The Spirit is God. Jesus says it is better that the Holy Spirit comes. Why do you think that is?

Personally, there have been times when Jesus would be physically present with me. I wanted to hear His audible voice with clear directions of how to proceed with my life. I would have chosen Jesus hands down.

So, why does Jesus say the Holy Spirit is what we need? In order for us to operate in our spiritual gifts and to have the fruit of the Spirit to the supernatural limits, the Holy Spirit HAS to be IN us. When the Spirit leads me to act in my giftedness delivering messages, encouraging, discerning, and prophesying, it is truly amazing what He does. I can only do that if He is in me, moving me, guiding me to act and do and say according to His will.

I want you to think about the disciples for a minute. When Jesus was with them, they made mistakes. They were clueless some of the time. Francis Chan wrote, “Do you want to see a life that was able to experience both Jesus in life and the Spirit in his body? Look at the life of Peter. When he was Jesus, he was clumsy. He put his foot in his mouth. He was impetuous. But empowered by the Spirit, WOW! He preached sermons that drew thousands and many were saved. With the Spirit, he healed and cast out spirits. With the Spirit, he escaped prison.”

When we get done with this Bible study, I will be doing a comparative study because I want to see in detail how the Spirit affected Peter’s life, how his life changed when Jesus entered it and how his life changed when the Spirit entered it.

But to be light, you have to know the Light. It’s a relationship. Relationships take time to develop. How much time are spending in your quiet time and Bible study each week? How often are your praying? Do you talk to the Spirit at all? Are you listening for the Spirit?

The Spirit IS God. 1Kings 19:11-12, we read God’s voice wasn’t in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in the soft whisper. Isaiah 30:21 tells us whether we turn right or left, our ears will hear a voice behind us telling us, “This is the way, walk in it.” The question is are you listening?

Choose Your Friends Wisely -- Next Gen

Friends

 I’ve always loved having a big group of friends and an even closer circle of best friends. However, in middle school I had two friends, my cousin and another girl who changed schools in 7th grade. So, I didn’t have a lot of friends. I was also unpopular, and by that I mean I wasn’t a big deal around school. I wasn’t “cool,” and people weren’t flocking to me. I don’t know why, but this bothered me in middle school.  

I decided to go to a public high school, and while there were never “popular” groups, there were groups of kids who people knew. Girls who people respected and were a little scared of. And I desperately wanted to be one of those girls, so I became one. I got extremely close with three girls. Two of which claimed they were Christians, one of which was not and was not open to hear about my Christianity. I called these girls my best friends for almost 3 years.  

We often got in arguments and gossiped about each other. I eventually decided I couldn’t be friends with them anymore at the beginning of junior year. I told the girl I was closest with first, and then the rest of my so called “friends” found out. They instantly became my enemies.  

They spread rumors and made going to school terrible. I eventually transferred schools because these girls were in almost all of my classes and I hated going to school every day.

 I learned a few things that I think all teens and adults should know about friends. I unfortunately had to learn the hard way, but I hope that you won’t have to.  

The first and most important thing I learned was to listen to your mother! Or your dad, or grandparents, or a good Christian friend. I thankfully had another best friend at the time who is a growing Christian who I knew I could trust. Any time I would tell my mom or her about how upset I was with these girls they both would tell me maybe I shouldn’t be friends with them. They told me for a year, and I didn’t listen to them. There’s even a Bible verse about this. Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” I thought I was right; therefore, making me a fool.  

However, if you find yourself in a situation similar to mine, remember that God still loves you and that you are not too far from redemption. I toyed around with the idea of leaving these girls for a whole six months before I finally worked up enough courage to do it. And you might think, “Okay so this is where your life got back on track, and you returned to God’s umbrella of protection.” Ha, no. I was not done being foolish. I did not run to God, I ran to everything except God -- Netflix, Youtube, sad songs, books, other friends. I think I was afraid of God telling me what I already knew. I had turned from Him, and even though I didn’t do anything to cause the bullying, I did put myself in that situation.  

When I did finally get my act together, I started to have my quiet time again and this verse stood out. “When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd.” -Matthew 9:36. “Weary and worn out,” that hits hard, I thought to myself. “Like sheep without a shepherd.” I was a sheep without a shepherd, and God feels compassion for me.

The context around this verse is that Jesus was preaching to towns and saw how literally and spiritually sick these people were. Instead of condemning them, Jesus felt compassion for them.  Whenever you’re a child of God, He will feel compassion for the problems you have. Even if you get yourself into them. However, this does not mean He will not punish you. God is a good father, and as our father He has to make sure we get our life back together.  

The last thing is that it’s better to be lonely and be under God’s umbrella of protection, than to be in the company of evil. You may have friends, feel included and loved, but that’s only temporary if you don’t have the friends God wants you to have. Because you’ll wind up with more regret and feeling more lonely than you did when you chose to make bad friends. And this is so much easier said than done and trust me being lonely sucks, but I promise you it is worth it in the end. If I had been patient and waited for the right friends instead of taking things into my own hands I probably wouldn’t be where I am now. If only I had listened to this verse found in Romans 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Waiting can save you from a world of hurt.

 I’ve learned a lot more from this experience in my life, but I thought I would share some of the things I look for in friends now. I look for friends who I know are growing Christians. How do you know this? Look at their lifestyle. How they talk to others who are not their equal, like a younger sibling, or an underclassman at school. This will show a lot about their heart as it says in Luke 6:45, “A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.” Basically what’s in your heart will come out in your words.

If you find yourself a growing Christian, everything else lines up because this person will have God at the center of their heart. They’ll look out for you and tell you when you need to step back in line with God. They will not lead you astray or to temptations, but will help and encourage you to do what’s right. They will love you for who you are and not ask you to be someone you’re not. Christian friends are some of the most important people in your life.

“Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.” - Proverbs 22:24-25.

So go get yourself some godly girlfriends. They are priceless.

Be the Light to Your Family -- Week 1 -- God don't need you to be the light

This series is called “Be the Light to Your Family.”

Your family can be the one you share your blood and gene pool with. Some of have gene pools too shallow to swim in like mine, so family includes adoption. Some of our adoptions are formal and go through the court systems. Some of our adoptions are not formal, but we choose to add people to our family through marriage and just because someone needs to be adopted. Family can be a work family. Teachers have other teachers as their family, but they also have those precious souls sitting in desks who are part of their work family. My work family is scattered in south Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Then there’s a church family, and each church is different because they meet a need in being different. So there are many kinds of “families.”

And I’m here to tell you, God don’t need you to be the light to your family. Now some of you may think, well that’s a short lesson, but we aren’t over. Let me explain.

When we study a word in the Bible, one of the first things I do is to look for the first place it is mentioned in the Bible. The word light is first mentioned in Genesis 1. Read verses 1 and 2 and see if you observe what I did.

Who is mentioned verse 2? The Spirit of God. This is important so remember this.

What is the Spirit doing? Where is he? Hovering OVER. This is important so remember.

What is the first thing God ever says? Let there be light.  Light has to be extremely important. AND it’s singular – LIGHT, not LIGHTS

What happened as a result of God speaking? There was light.

God saw the light was _______. Good.

Did God have to create darkness?

Was the darkness good?

And yet God identified the darkness and gave it a name – Night.

Did God create anything to make or sustain the light in these verses for the first day?

How was there light then?

When did God create the sun, moon and stars?

            Genesis 1:14-19

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

“and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,

and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Vs 14 – Let there be LIGHTS. Lights are plural, so we know that God is creating things to emit light we will see and identify, and God gives His reasoning behind creating these lights because as we saw in verse 1 there was light without these things, right?

What is the purpose for these created lights? They were for signs and seasons and for days and years. The purpose of the sun, moon and stars is NOT to give off light. God doesn’t need them to give off light.

CHANGING LANES FOR A MOMENT, but I promise it’ll all make sense…

The first time we see the word star mentioned in the New Testament is Matthew 2:1-2

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,

saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

I don’t know if you read the blogs during Christmas, but I talked about the star. The star did NOT show up in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. Scripture shows the star showed up in the East. The angels arrived for the shepherds. The star showed up for the magi in the East.

It was a special kind of star. It moved when they followed, and they followed it to Bethlehem. It is estimated Jesus was around 2 when the magi arrived.

If they were following a star, when did they have to travel? Night. Night was the only time they could travel. They were traveling in the dark after the light.

Now magi loved studying the stars, but because we live in a sinful, fallen world, they used the stars, moon and sun for things that did not glorify God like fortune telling and astrology.

Who created the magi?

Who created the magi with a love, desire for studying the moon, stars and sun?

The star was for the Gentiles. It was the first time Gentiles were told of Christ’s birth.

Now, let’s go back to Genesis 1:14-19. From the beginning of time, God knew He was going to create the magi with a desire for learning, a love of the stars, moon and sun, and God knew He was going to reach them through a star. Did anyone tell them about the Light of the World being born? No. God did through a star.

So, does God need us to be the light for our families? No. I’m pretty sure He can find multiple ways of reaching them.

GOD DON’T NEED YOU TO SPEAK FOR HIM EITHER:

You might say, well He needs us to speak to them and tell them about Jesus’ love.

            Anyone ever hear the story of Balak and Balaam?

Numbers 22 – 24. It is one of the funniest stories in the Bible. If you’ve never read and studied it, you really should. And when you read the story, put yourself as an observer or one of Balaam’s men who would have walked behind him. Hilarious!

In this story the angel of the Lord speaks through a donkey. This donkey speaks more truthfully and eloquently than most preachers and teacher because he only spoke what the angel of the Lord gave him to speak. Otherwise, he could not have spoken at all.

So why are we studying how to be the light to our families? Because Jesus said, “You are the light…” Matthew 5:14. So what does that even really mean? I’m so glad you asked. I invite you to come to Bible study next Thursday at 6:30 pm. Please send us a message if you are interested, and we will provide you with the address. I’m so excited. I hope you come.

I hate to say it, but the fasting ain't over til...

In the late Middle English sometime between 1150 and 1500 AD, a word was coined. That word was breakfast. Prior to breakfast the term used was morning meal. It was made by joining two words – break and fast. In essence, it was the meal that broke the fast from the meal of the prior day. Some call that meal dinner. Some call it supper.

Breaking from a long-term fast like 21 days should be done gently. If you were doing a full fledge Daniel’s fast, do NOT go and get yourself a Whopper with cheese, a Sweep-the-Kitchen Johnny’s Pizza or a Caniac. Your stomach will not appreciate it. Slowly add back the things you want to add into your diet. Leave out the bad stuff you just shed. Why add something bad back to your body if you’ve just been detoxed from it? It’s better for you to leave it out.

Now some of you may not have lasted the 21 days. You do what God has called you to do. If He leads you to 14 days, then do 14 days. If he leads you to go 7 more days, then be obedient and do 7 more days. The fast is over when God says it’s over.

Fasting is something we as Christians should do regularly. Maybe not the 21 day Daniel’s fast, but some sort of fast. Maybe you fast 3 hours a week, and during that time you pray, meditate, worship and read Scripture. Maybe you fast one day a week. It’s a discipline and a lifestyle, a relationship enhancer.

Why did you fast? Did you fast because your friends were doing it? Did you fast because it’s what you do every January? Did you fast to lose weight? What was the purpose of your fast? 

Did your fast make you physically weak? Did you find yourself craving “real food?” Did you find yourself being energized at some point? Did you see God’s hand move? Did God answer any prayers whether the way you wanted or not? Who did you pray for while you were on your fast? Did they see results of your fasting and praying for them?

What did you get out of fasting? Is it something you would do again?

These are all important questions, and if you journal, take time to answer them. Document what happened during your fast. The Hebrews used to stack stones in places where God provided or did something miraculous, and they would tell their children and grandchildren the story every time they passed the stones as a reminder. Journaling is a way to stack your stones. Lest you forget.

It’s my sincerest prayer that your walk with your Lord, Savior and the Spirit was renewed, strengthened, and enriched, and I hope it becomes part of your walk with Christ. Feel free to share what you learned during your fast in the comments below. Thank you.

Well, I Didn't See That Comin'

WELL, I DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING

My son loves to wrestle with me. Sometimes we arm wrestle. Sometimes I’m putting him in a headlock. He knows he’s going to get beat, and yet he starts it up on a regular basis all in good fun. I tell him no matter how big he gets (he’s fortunate to be 13 now) that I will always be able to take him down, and once I’m through with him, his daddy gets a turn. Invariably during our roughhousing I’ll do something my son isn’t expecting in order to “dominate,” and he will say, “Well, I didn’t see that coming.”

My prayer life is a lot like that. I pray with a burdened heart for God to heal this person, fix this person, resolve a situation, or something along those lines, and when He starts to heal that person, fix this person, resolve that situation, He does it in such an unorthodox way that I say, “Well, I didn’t see that coming.”

Sometimes healing that person means giving them a perfect body without pain in heaven. Sometimes fixing a person means He deals with me, my flaws and weaknesses, and my attitude which can be hefty at times. Sometimes fixing a situation means exposing sin and lies to break a situation down to what is true, so He can restore a relationship, a Christian or bring someone to Christ.

In the past few years, I’ve prayed some pretty big, bold, complicated prayers regarding burdens in my life, and two times God has answered in ways I would never have imagined. Why would He allow a marriage to be shattered in order to restore fellowship within the marriage and with Him? Could it be He was dealing with a couple of hard-headed folks which may or may not have had hard hearts? Why would He remove a livelihood? Maybe to remove those who were not encouraging spiritually and was otherwise dragging you into the gutter.

Before you get angry at God for not answering your prayers the way you wanted, better ask yourself some questions:

1.     What was the end result for which you were praying?

2.     Did you in any way try to handle this problem, person or situation yourself? How did that turn out?

3.     Why did you turn it over to God if you weren’t going to trust His hand, His method, His will?

4.     Do you know as much as God?

5.     Is there a possibility there are things going on that you are not privy to or facts you aren’t aware of? I mean, are you all-knowing like God? Because if you are, you should be rich, the most financially stable person on the face of the earth.

6.     God asked Job who he was to question Him. I ask you the same thing. Who are you to question God? Who am I to question God’s dealings, motives or plan? We are simply to obey.

So when things start going sideways in the situation or with the person for whom you are praying, let me make a few recommendations based on my experience.

1.     Get a grip on your lip. Stop talking. People talk because they think they have so many important things to say. You can’t possibly see God’s hand moving and working if you are too busy running your mouth.

2.     Open your eyes, your mind, and your heart. When things go sideways and it’s not of your sinful doing, it means God is up to something, and you should pay attention.

3.     Take notes. Journal. Journal. Journal. The Israelites would stack stones to remember what God had done in certain places, so they could tell their children and their children’s children. Journaling is your way of stacking stones.

4.     Wait. DO NOT MEDDLE. God does NOT need your help…at all.

5.     Move and speak only as the Holy Spirit leads.

6.     Be grateful. Find things to be grateful for along the way. Praise God during the wait. 1 Thessalonians 5:18, In everything give thanks.

7.     Trust. You trusted God enough to take it to Him; trust Him enough to leave it there. Trust that He has gone before you and is already preparing the way (Isaiah 42:16).

I could go on with this list, but these are the top 7 things to do when things appear to go sideways when you pray.

Pray Big. Pray Bold. Trust Greater. And Watch God do His thing. Then TESTIFY.

When the storms hit...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the saying, “Into each life some rain must fall,” but sometimes when it rains, it pours. You step outside and your umbrella is caught by the wind turning it inside out, and instead of protecting your head, it now contains enough water to end a drought. You step in a puddle only to find your rain boots have a hole, and if that isn’t bad enough, while you are walking in a parking lot, someone drives by splashing you with water, mud and debris.

Have you ever felt this way about the things going on in your life?

I’m kind of there right now personally. I always expect things to happen like this during the fast. Satan just doesn’t realize when he does a full court press, I lean into my Abba even harder and hold on.

My verse today on my Bible Gateway app is Philippians 2:14-16, Do EVERYTHING (I capitalized for emphasis) without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.

When the hard times hit, we are to do EVERYTHING without grumbling and arguing. If that doesn’t walk on your toes, make sure you still have toes. Grumbling and arguing and complaining makes us no different than the world. Who is listening to you talk that smack?

James 3:9-10, With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters these things should not be this way. You can’t run someone down and then turn around and bless and worship that person’s Creator. PLEASE! Get a grip on your lips.

When we grumble, gripe and complain about what is going on then what are you saying about God? Are you saying God isn’t big enough? God isn’t enough? God can’t fix? God can’t cure? God can’t heal? God can’t mend? When we grumble, gripe and complain it is very evident we have focused our attention on the problem and not the Problem Solver. We are focused on the challenge ahead of us instead of the Challenge Overcomer.

Get your head up, girlfriend. Straighten your crown. You are a daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It’s time you acted like it.

James 1:2-8, Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete lacking nothing. Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God – who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly – and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.

Chew on the first five words of that verse, CONSIDER IT A GREAT JOY!  Does joy grumble, gripe and complain? Joy has a sound, and that ain’t it. If you think I’m kidding, study the word joy. Joy does not mean you don’t have problems. Joy does not mean that you don’t have pain and hurt. What joy means is in any situation we find ourselves in, we know who holds our future. He is the one who determines our footsteps, not man.

In the faith chapter in Hebrews, Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Hebrews 13:6. Are you allowing to God to be your Helper, or are you doing what you think is right and hoping for the best?

If you think this truth-speaking blog walked on your toes, you haven’t seen mine. Let’s cut out the grumbling, griping and complaining. Let’s start praying for those who are providing the challenge or difficulty instead of cursing them. Let’s pray for the situation we find ourselves in, and let’s look for the things for which we can be thankful.

Let’s do some singing in the rain. Shall we?

My Word - Be Careful

Have you heard anyone say, “My word for the year is…”?

I’d like to explain about the word of the year because you really need to be careful if you are going to participate.

When I started fasting for 21 days in January every year, I noticed when I would read my Bible, meditate on Scripture, hear my pastor preach, pray and worship there would be a common thread unlike any other time during the year. I analyze data as part of my job, and when I start seeing a trend in data, I stop and investigate. This theme was no exception. My investigation skills from my job kicked in, and I began studying whatever God was showing me.

I would take this theme and research it. I spent time during the fast digging into the Scripture regarding this thought or theme, and each time it could be summed up with one word. God would reveal this word outside of His word. One time I was on a trip in another state, and this word was on a sign. One year without telling anyone what the Lord was speaking to my heart, different individuals came up and talked to me about the word He had laid on my heart.

Choosing a word should not be of your doing. If it is a word you have selected because of your desire or because it sounds good, then you will be disappointed because it won’t mean anything in your relationship with God. It’s like looking for signs of God leading you, and you’re taking everything as a sign from God. That will lead you all kind of weird places and not where He was leading at all. You cannot force the Spirit to do your will. The fast is to learn God’s will and conform to it.

One year, He gave me two words, hope and revive. Never before has He done that. For two years in a row, He gave my mom the same word. We teased her saying she must not have learned what He had wanted to teach her, so she had to repeat. Of course that’s not true because words can have multiple meanings.

I will also tell you that you may not like the word He gives you. Words like persevere, patience, be still, and courage are difficult words to live. What are you going to do with that? You asked Him to speak to you. You asked Him for a word, and when He gives you a word you can’t just ignore it because you don’t like it and want a different one. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

Expect the word He provides to stretch you, grow you and take you outside your comfort zone because it’s only outside our comfort zone that we grow. It’s not always pretty, but the results are amazing.

By claiming a word, you are telling people you have spent time with God. You are telling people to hold you accountable. This year, I’ll only be telling my accountability partner the word God provides, if He provides one.

That’s the other thing. What if God chooses not to provide a word for you? Does that mean you don’t have a strong relationship with Him? Absolutely not. It just means He has something different in store for you. God does not have to provide a word just because you ask for it. This isn’t a gimmick. You can’t conjure the Holy Spirit into giving you a word, so you fit in. If you receive a word, it’s between you and God and an accountability partner. It’s personal. It’s intimate, and if the Spirit chooses not to give you a word then seek Him, find out what He wants you to learn. He will show you. He’s good like that.

I hope this clears up any misconceptions about “My word for the year is…”. It’s not something to go at all willy-nilly. It’s serious. It requires a lot of time with your Father, you Savior and the Spirit. I hope you will invest in your relationship with Him. You won’t be sorry. I promise.

Perks and Rewards Program

Almost every store has a reward system. Grocery stores reward return customers with coupons, lower prices, or matches lowest price items sold elsewhere. Clothes stores offer 10% off if you apply for their credit card. Does any of this sound familiar? Perks and rewards. Amazon has Amazon Prime. Barnes and Noble has a program you buy into to get lower price on books. Sam’s Club card owners pay a fee to buy things cheaper in bulk. We’re always looking for the perk or reward for doing something or for buying something.

Well, good news! There are perks and rewards to fasting! After the post yesterday with the WARNING, I thought you might want to hear a little more about the perks and rewards.

From my own personal testimony of fasting, I can tell you I have received the reward of clarity. God gives me clarity on decisions that need to be made. He gives me clarity on my purpose and where I should be focusing my time. He gives me clarity in regards to relationships I’m in.

I have also seen the reward of watching God’s hand move to answer long-time prayers. Was it in the way I imagined? Rarely does He answer my prayers the way I think He will. I only see my circumstances. He sees the bigger picture. Isaiah 55:8-9 lets us know His way and thoughts are much higher than ours. Sometimes the way He chooses to answer my prayers can be painful, but looking back, I can see the pain was necessary. He was grooming me. He was cutting off the dead stuff so new growth could occur, and that can be quite painful at times. Not gonna lie. But it is definitely worth it on the other side.

He has put me in positions where all I can do is rely on Him thereby growing my faith. Faith growth is a reward to fasting. He will put me outside my comfort zone like no one else. Will I trust Him? Will I walk by faith and not by sight trying to control the situation myself? Will I follow Him even when it doesn’t make sense?

But my favorite of all is how close it brings me to my Abba. I love sensing the Spirit’s presence. I enjoy intimacy that can only be found during fasting, praying and praising. This happens because the time I would normally spend on Facebook, Pinterest or watching TV is spent fellowshipping with my Savior.

So what is the perk? I do tend to lose a little weight, but God knows that the intention of my heart is not to lose weight but to draw closer to Him.

There you have it. My testimony of the perk and rewards of fasting, praying, praising and meditating. What will be your rewards? Only God knows, but there are so many benefits to this time in your walk with Him, and He is so generous with His blessings.

One last thing. You might only see the perk and rewards after the fast is over. It may not happen for a week or two or more after the fast, so keep watching for the Spirit to move and to answer prayers. Keep watching.

WARNING!

In the United States, there are warning labels everywhere. There are labels on prescriptions, food, toys, clothes, cars, houseware. You name it. If it is a manufactured good, there’s a warning. The warnings associated with prescriptions are crazy. You take medication for high blood pressure, and there’s a warning about all the possible side effects. Have you ever listened to the advertisements for over-the-counter prescriptions and pharmaceutical drugs? The warnings are more dyer than the reason you are taking it in the first place. This drug may cause diarrhea, leaky bowels, incontinence, incessant crying, cramping, nose hair growth. It’s just crazy. Any why on earth do we have to warn people not to put their hair dryer in the bathtub with them? You know if they are putting a warning on it that some person tried it at some point. I bet their hair ended up looking like Don King or Phyllis Diller. Bless their hearts.

There are some warning that are helpful like Dangerous Road Ahead, Road Closed Ahead or Bridge Out. I am rather grateful for those warnings. We really should heed those kind of warnings speaking from personal experience on that whole Dangerous Road Ahead thing. Fortunately I wasn’t the one driving and making the decisions because I was a kid. We were assured it would be a short-cut. HA! Not even close. So those warnings are good ones. Just saying.

For those of you who are participating in the fast whether you are doing the Daniel’s Fast or you are fasting social media, TV, caffeine, coffee, etc., I should have given you a warning. I should have told you to expect spiritual warfare and to arm up every day putting on the whole armor of God. If you don’t know what the armor of God is read Ephesians 6:10-20. You see, Satan knows that fasting draws us even closer to God. We are probably the closest to God when we are praising, praying and fasting, and Satan does NOT like that.

Satan will go through all manner of attacks to try to get you to veer off your fast. Maybe it’s your fleshly weakness. Maybe he attacks your family. Maybe he attacks the health. Consider Job. Consider Jesus. Satan will go to extreme lengths to get believers to deny Christ or at the very least become passive, useless Christians.

If you haven’t found what you are to be reading and studying during the fast, I highly recommend studying the armor of God and when Jesus was tempted in Matthew 4:1-11. The armor of God teaches us the different elements of how God prepares us for spiritual warfare. Be sure to read all the way to verse 20 because there are valuable instructions there. Then reading how Jesus withstood being tempted while he was fasting will give you ammunition to use along with your armor. I’ll give you a little secret. Jesus quotes Scripture, but you need to dig and see how it all applies.

So while fasting grows us and matures us in our faith and draws us closer to God, you can count on the enemy to attack. Continue steady on with your fast. Pray fervently without ceasing. Meditate on Scripture, and watch God work it all out because we know who the ultimate victor is. God.

Is the warning dyer? Yes. Is the warning worse than the results of the fasting? Not in a million years. Keep your shields up, girlfriends. Keep your shields up.

Resolution Reruns

            Remember the days before we had the technology to record our favorite TV shows, watch them on Netflix, or even buy the DVD?  Our family had our favorite shows such as The Dukes of Hazard, Star Search, and The Cosby Show that we looked forward to watching. We all knew what day and time our shows came on, and we worked everything else for that evening around that show time. When the new episodes came out in the fall, we were especially excited.  About January, we had seen all of the new episodes, so we watched the reruns. Reruns were good, but they did not illicit the excitement that they did when they were new.

            That seems to be the way many of us are with New Year’s resolutions: this is the year we are going to get to our target weight, get organized, better our financial situation, have regular personal devotion times, quit smoking, etc.  While these are goals worthy of our time and effort, many of us find ourselves repeating the same resolutions from year to year, and we feel defeated when we do not reach these goals. I encourage all of us to focus on all three aspects of ourselves this year: spiritual, emotional/mental, and physical and set a goal for each aspect.  How do we do this without having our resolve break before the end of January much less last throughout the year? Here are a few tips that I believe would be helpful as well as Biblical truths to encourage us throughout our journey.

•  First, no plan will succeed without the Father’s help. We are weak in our humanness.  We try so hard to making lasting changes, but sometimes even our best efforts fall flat. There are many factors that play into success, but the primary one is the daily strength that we draw from the Lord. Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  Seek His will and commit your way to Him (Psalm 37:5).  This is the basis for any plan a Christian makes. Any other way means that we are trying to accomplish a task in our own strength which is not only futile but exhausting.
• Second, make your goal attainable and measurable. “I want to get healthier” is a wonderful goal, but how exactly will you measure it? How will you know when you are as healthy as you had hoped to be this year?  Examples of attainable, measurable goals include: losing 10 pounds in the next 3 months, walking 1 mile a day at least 3 days a week, getting a good head-to-toe physical check-up. These are attainable and measurable.  When you achieve a goal, set another one. Always be working toward another goal. Losing 50 pounds this year is a valid goal if that is something that you and your doctor agree will improve your health, but it can feel overwhelming. Instead, break it into smaller chunks.
• Third, be excited about it and share your goals and success with others. The more you talk about your goals and get the support of loved ones, the more they can help support and encourage you. Let them know the challenges you may face along the way and weaknesses you have concerning the goal and ask for their prayer and encouragement. For example, if you have a goal of having a personal devotion time daily, share with a friend or family member what you are learning in your devotion time or seek out an accountability partner. Post your goals and success on the fridge or your bathroom mirror and celebrate your successes.
•  Lastly, remember that falling down does not mean failure. Failure is falling and not getting back up.  Anyone who sets a goal will fall down at some point(s). One of my favorite assurances in the Bible is that God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).  So when you mess up and have that piece of pie (and the second piece), or you lose your temper (again), or when you skip that devotion time in one day (or week), remember that you have the chance to make the right choice starting in this moment: you can make better food choices at the next snack or meal time, you can hold your tongue the next time you are tempted to spout off, and you can choose to pray right now and open your Bible to receive God’s truths and worship Him.

            It may be helpful to join a support group that will help you achieve your goals or seek professional counseling to help you work through personal challenges that may be barriers to your reaching your goals.  Get involved with the Girlfriend Ministry or a small group at your church to help disciple you into a deeper relationship with Christ. Whatever it is you resolve to do, recognize that you will fall off the wagon at some point (actually multiple points), but get back up with Christ’s help and get back on the wagon and keep going and give Him the glory when you reach those goals!

Star over Bethlehem When Jesus Was Born? I'm not so sure.

The first time I ever flew was when I was in high school when my dad won a trip through his company to Breckenridge, Colorado. While we were there, daddy decided we would take a day trip to Pike’s Peak. This was before the day and age of GPS, so we used an old-fashioned map. Daddy had looked at the map and decided to take this one road because it would be a “short cut.” When we turned off the main road to take the “short cut,” the road had a sign that read,

“Travel at Your Own Risk.”

Did we take the road less traveled? Why yes we did!

I have only been carsick one time, and it was on the “Travel at Your Own Risk” road. It was so winding around the mountain. It was gravel and barely two lanes wide. It was the most treacherous road I have EVER traveled, and I promise you I will never take another road with that sign again.

Had we taken the main highways, we would have been there in three hours, but this short cut lead us to spend the night in a hotel. I don’t even remember seeing Pike’s Peak. I remember the journey in great detail though. Ha! Ha! Ha!

When I read about the wise men, I wonder many things about the journey. Like, who thought it was a good idea to follow a moving star? What did they tell their loved ones? "Honey, I'll be home in a year. I need to see where the star leads." Following the star means all their traveling was at night, so what was their accommodations during the day? How far away was the star from the magi every night when it appeared? Did they take off through fields to follow the star or did they stick to the main roads? Did they take short cuts? I'm really curious.

I don't know about you, but I always assumed the star appeared when Jesus was born. The first time we read about the star is with the wise men in Matthew 2:2. Then Matthew 2:9 says they saw the star in the east, and it led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was.  So the star may not have been in Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. It may have appeared in the east where the magi would see it, become curious, start researching and felt compelled to follow. The star moved so they could follow. How cool is that!?

You know what I love about this story? I love the fact God used a star to communicate to magi – those who studied astrology and black magic. God spoke to them in a way they could appreciate and understand.  He met them where they were. He didn’t expect them Mary and Joseph to take Jesus to them. God drew them to himself.

And do you know when God planned to communicate to them through a star? From the very beginning!!!! Genesis 1:14, "Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years." God knew He would be using the stars to communicate to us on earth. He knew He would use a star to connect the magi (Gentiles) to the Savior of the world. How cool is that?

From the very beginning of Jesus’ life He was reaching the Gentiles. Calling them. Drawing them to himself.

Who are you praying for this Christmas? Who in your life does God need to meet where they are? Who does God need to communicate to and draw them near? If God can use a star to communicate to black magic magi, He can use anyone and anything to reach the lost.

The star on top of your Christmas tree reminds us God once used a star to draw magi to a baby born and laying in wooden feeding trough who would die on a wooden cross for our sins. Point them to the star.

Does Your Family Put the "Func" in Dysfunctional?

Do you dread the holidays because you have to spend time with your family, your spouse’s family, and/or extended family? Do you look for any excuse to get out of those visits?

Have you ever looked at your family and thought, “We put the ‘func’ in dysfunctional”?

I am blessed. I love my sister and parents, and we get along wonderfully. Both sets of grandparents were awesome. I knew all my cousins, and I looked forward to the holidays when we would get to see each other. I know this is not the norm though.

But if you think you’re family get-togethers resemble more like a WWE smack-down, you aren’t alone. As a matter of fact, this is probably more the norm than the Norman Rockwell portrait of the American family in his Freedom from Want print.

How about this for family dysfunction?

A grandmother who was a prostitute.

Another grandmother who dressed as a prostitute to get pregnant by her father-in-law – that’s Jerry Springer material, and I’m not even making this stuff up.

A grandfather who was an adulterer and murderer.

A grandfather who was a polygamist.

A grandfather who was a mischievous conniver, and one grandfather was a drunk.

Now if you consider siblings, let’s just say none of them were initially a fan of the oldest child, and he was illegitimate by today’s standards.

Things in this family really couldn’t be much seedier. It’s a family tree you didn’t want to shake for fear of what would fall out. How does this make you feel about your family? Feel any better?

You may have guessed it by now, but that family was the lineage of Jesus. His lineage was full of dysfunctional people. From Rahab to Tamar, from David, Solomon, Jacob and Noah, Jesus’ family tree was one riddled with sinners, backsliders, and hypocrites. And yet, He came to earth to die for the sinners, backsliders, hypocrites, prostitutes, adulterers, polygamist, connivers and drunks. What a load to bear!

I want to encourage you to find one person in your family who grinds on your ever-lovin’-last nerve and compare that person’s story to someone similar in Jesus’ lineage. I want you to pray for that person before you have to encounter them. Ask God to allow you to see that relative the way He sees them. Pray it over and over and over. Pray it before, during, and after the visit. Withhold judgment, and look for ways to pray for them and even encourage them.

Who knows? You might be the one who irritates them the most.

God is in the healing business. He is in the restoration business. He is in the forgiving business, and we are to be about our Father’s business.

The hardest people to reach for Christ are those who are in our own families sometimes because we share a history and we sit in the seat of judgment because we know their history. If this is you, I’d highly recommend you find out what the Word has to say about your position. It’s not pleasant.

The sin that nailed Jesus to the cross is the same for you as it is for the person who is a thorn in your side. The redemption you have claimed is the same redemption that is available to your family member no matter how many times they have messed up. This doesn’t mean you are to be a doormat. What it does mean is you don’t give up presenting Christ to them, and what better time to be the hands and feet of Jesus than at Christmas?

"Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things the world are the things we can't see." Polar Express

I remember when the movie “Polar Express” first came out. It didn’t look animated. You could see individual hairs on the kids’ heads. The cinematography and visual beauty of this movie was mesmerizing. I remember hearing a quote that struck a chord with me. The conductor tells the boy,

“Seeing is believing,

but sometimes the most real things in the world

 are the things we can’t see.”

It’s those things we cannot see and yet believe which require faith.

Luke 1:45, “She who has believed is blessed because what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled.” This verse is talking about Mary. Mary believed without seeing what was to come. She believed because of what she was told.

Believing when you see something is not faith.

Believing when you see it in front of you is not hope.

Believing when you see something does not develop trust.

She believed based on what she heard, and because of her belief and faith in God to deliver His promise, Mary was blessed.

Believing without seeing leads to God’s blessing.

Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” The message to Mary led her to hope for what God was going to do in her life. Her hope didn’t become reality until Jesus’ birth. Her proof would come 8 months later that her faith in God and His promise would be fulfilled.

What is your “faith” resting on? Is your faith resting on a word God has given you, or is it what you want to happen in your life?

For you to believe, do you have to see God’s hand moving or see the outcome before you will identify it as God’s will for your life?

Many recall Doubting Thomas, the disciple who had to see the nail marks and put his finger where the nails had been (John 20:25), and many look down on Thomas. In truth, there are more Christians like Thomas than there are those with the faith of Mary.

Believing God, trusting God means not seeing what God has placed in your heart as hope, but rather knowing He will deliver and fulfill the hope He put in your heart. Might want to read that again. Dissect it. Figure it out.

Hebrews 6:19, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.”

The angel of the Lord spoke to Mary and placed the hope in her heart for what was to come. It was something that had never happened before and would never happen again. Many would not believe her. Many would reject her and ridicule her for believing in the hope, but she believed anyway.

God has placed a hope in each of our hearts. Many are still searching on how to fill that hope for themselves. People search and search and believe people or things will fill that hope, but it won’t.

The hope God placed in each of our hearts anchors our soul regardless of what may happen in this life.

The God-placed hope in our hearts has a distinct shape. It’s the shape of a manger which morphs to the shape of the cross. It’s only when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior that God fulfills that hope in us.

People are searching for hope in this dark, depraved world. 1 Peter 3:15,…”Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”

Are you ready to give an answer? Will anyone see the hope in you to even ask you why you have hope? Or do you have the hope that isn’t hope at all because you require seeing to believe?

People are looking for hope. This is a great time of year to tell of your hope and faith in Christ and bring light into their lives. Will you?