A Wonderful Verse

Today I got a beautiful letter from a friend of mine in Alabama. We always swap verses back and forth and the one she sent me this time was so precious that I wanted to share it with my blog readers.

"Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." Psalms 73:25

Our greatest desire should be toward the Lord, for he alone can satisfy our longing heart! I am also so thankful for family and friends who encourage me in the Lord. God is good!

Monday Meditation

Monday morning I looked for a verse on being humble because I realized easy it is to become prideful, and don't want everything I am working towrds to profit me nothing. I knew there was a scripture I liked in James, but since my time was running out and I needed to get ready for work, I went to the Sword Searcher and looked the verse up. "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." I would like to share with my readers what this verse means to me, and hopefully it will encourage you to meditate on the scriptures as well.

But he giveth more grace. He's already given us a lot of grace, but we live in a sinful world and we ourself are sinful by nature. God knew that we would need a lot of grace . . . so he gave us more. He could have gave us some and he still would have been righteous and just, but he saw our need and his heart was turned toward us. (Phil 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.") God is very rich and has plenty to satisfy our needs. How caring and loving this is! Not only this, but he gives it! He doesn't make us work for it, he doesn't say that after we've served him for 3 years then we can have more grace. No, he gives it to us freely.

God resisteth the proud. Do I want God to resist me? You see, now that my eyes have been opened by the scripture I am accountable for this truth. (James 4:17: "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.") My prayer is that every time I sense myself becoming prideful, this scripture will come to my mind reminding me what the consequence of pride is.

But giveth grace unto the humble. And here we see the benefit of being humble. To the humble he gives the undeserved favor of God.

With these thoughts in mind I memorize the scripture and think about it throughout the day. Meditation and memorization. Such a simple act, but it has had a BIG impact on my life.

Things I've learned in the past 2 months

#3. Bitterness will follow you to work

I've known for several years that I don't work at the best place in the world as far as stability and pay goes. However, there are definitely many positive things about my place of employment such as being close to home, working with a Christian woman I've known all my life, and not having to deal with teenagers who only talk of sensual things. But when my life was filled with bitterness I became very discontent with my job. At first I didn't see the connection, I just thought everything was going sour all at once. It wasn't until I was watching the Basic Life Seminar by Bill Gothard that I realized the root of bitterness was distorting my view of reality. I began listening to the gossipers and those who only brought sad tidings. I allowed the devil to come into my thought life and project my job in a negative light. At times our company was like a house divided. Some were for it and some seemed to be against it.  (Mark 3:25)

Once I realized the reason I was not happy at work was due to the bitterness in my heart, I was able to let the gossip roll off my back and disregard all the doom and gloom rumors that were being spread abroad. I was once again able to maintain a positive attitude that this is where God wants me to be and I will be here until God opens another door.

Maybe you don't go to work outside of your home, but you may be experiencing hardship in other areas in your life. Is there something you  use to enjoy doing but now can't find enjoyment in? The problem may not lie in the activity or job, but bitterness from another area in your life. This is just another reason why we should all seek to get rid of bitterness in our lives.

* This concludes the mini series of "Things I've learned in the past 2 months." *

What lie are you Believing?

Have you ever thought much about what a "strong hold" is? The term is found in the Bible so I believe it deserves to be recognised and mediated on. I once heard a preacher say that a strong hold is "something you believe to be true."  Someone else described it as "a faulty thinking pattern based on lies and deception." Lets look at how God put it, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
2 Corinthians 10:4.

This summer my sister and I went to a Christian Singles Conference (I really hate to use that word, but that's what it was) and while we were there we went over several "lies that we believe".  The list included things like,

• I am not accepted for who I am
• I am replaceable
• I am not loved
• I am not smart
• I am a burden
• I am weird/ different
• Everything I do turns out bad
• I don't deserve anything

The whole list consisted of over 60 lies the enemy (Satan) tells us in a very convincing manner. Everyone could find at least one that they believe and many find that almost the whole list expresses their feelings either now or in the past. It is really eye opening to see that something you believe is a lie and is causing you to act or react in a certain way that you don't like. It is even more amazing when you realize you can be free of such lies and find new liberties in which to serve Christ through.

Since the conference I've heard others talk about these same things, but in a more personal context. One man shared how he overcame the temptation to look lustfully upon a woman, and it was through exposing a lie and meditating on a scripture that was contrary to that stronghold. He found freedom through Galatians 5:13, "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love, serve one another." You see, he believed that life was for pleasure, but upon looking at this scripture he realized that life was to serve others, not himself. I think this is pretty amazing! How many other men have you heard say they are no longer tempted to look upon a woman in lust?

So I thought I'd try it out myself. Every time I feel or have a desire to do something that is not righteous I ask myself, "What lie am I believing that is causing this?" Today was the perfect time to apply this question to my life. All day I just had the "muligrubs". I didn't feel like doing anything including reading my Bible and communing with God. I would have honestly been content to lay around and be lazy. I did get a few things accomplished, like folding sheets and cleaning my purse, but it was like pulling teeth to get myself to do those two things! So I asked myself, "What lie am I believing that is causing me to feel like I deserve to have a lazy day and do nothing?" That's when I realized: I thought this was my life. My life to do whatever I want. But the Bible says otherwise in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." That was it! I forgot that I am to do everything to the glory of God and present my body a living sacrifice. Could I say that being lazy glorified God? Could I say that I was sacrificing myself to God by sulking around trying to find every excuse not to do anything productive? You see, I was exalting myself against the knowledge of God, but once I became aware of this strong hold in my life I was then able to have a "readiness to revenge all disobedience" because now I recognise it as not just the "muligrubs" but as disobedience. Now I have the energy to say, "I am not going to let this lie from Satan cause me to live in a way that would displease God," which brings me right back to 2 Corinthians 10:4. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God". We have Christ in us who is able to do all things (Philippians 4:13) and the word of God which is the sword of the spirit (Ephesians 6:17). God has given us all we need to uncover and conquer these strong holds that are hindering our lives from glorifying God. The more we uncover the more liberty we will have to serve God and others in a meaningful, delightful way.

Things I've learned in the past 2 months

#2. Without God, life is overwhelming

I thought it was just the circumstances. I thought I had let people put too much on my plate. I thought things were just getting harder. In reality, the difference was the person carrying the load. I use to let God help me by taking my cares to Him and asking for his strength, but with so much bitterness in my heart I didn't have any desire to call upon God. I knew that if I did so I would first have to humble myself and ask for forgiveness for my bitterness and pride. I didn't want to do that so I thought it better to go on with life by myself. This led me to feel overwhelmed to the point that a few times I didn't think I could take it anymore. I was pressured with decisions to make and no one to help me make them and I doubted every move I made.

Just this week I watched a video by Gary Smalley in which he talked of the same thing. He is a Christian, but there was a time in his life that he let his wealth become his focus and he no longer pursued a relationship with God. It was during this time that his life became so stressful that he had a heart attack and was very sick. When I heard him say this my eyes were opened to the truth that any time we try to go through life without God we are to expect life to get more stressful. One of the verses I am meditating on this week is Philippians 4:6-7. "Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplications, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." This is a privilege we have yet when we fail to go to God with our worries we give up the peace that He has promised to give us. In a sense, we have control over the stress in our lives. It's up to us to learn how to give them over to God.