Clear as Water

Proverbs 13:20New Life Version (NLV)

20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the one who walks with fools will be destroyed.

Romans 12:2New Life Version (NLV)

2 Do not act like the sinful people of the world. Let God change your life. First of all, let Him give you a new mind. Then you will know what God wants you to do. And the things you do will be good and pleasing and perfect.

Proverbs 27:17New Life Version (NLV)

17 Iron is made sharp with iron, and one man is made sharp by a friend.

Ecclesiastes 3:12-14New Life Version (NLV)

12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and to do good as long as they live. 13 And I know that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his work. It is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will last forever. There is nothing to add to it, and nothing to take from it. God works so that men will honor Him with fear.

Our minds, hearts, and souls are very similar to a clear glass.  You can fill that glass with pure, clean water and you will see just that, pure, clean water.  If you fill that glass with muddy, stagnant water, you will have a hard time looking through that glass.  The same goes with our minds…If we fill our brains with pure clean entertainment, friends, work that empowers us, and activities, things that are from HIM, we will be filled with life that is pure and from HIM.  If we fill our minds with “junk”, whether it be what we listen too on the radio, watch on TV, or even the people we hang around, we won’t be able to see HIM clearly.  We will loose focus on what HE is wanting us to accomplish.  

This is easier said than done.  Living in a world that is exploding in sin, we can’t avoid it. So what can we do to keep the pure, clean water flowing fluidly through our glass?  We have control over several factors in our lives.  Do what you can to stay pure to HIS word and mission. 

Be Blessed! 

Stretching...It's not just for the gym.

Hebrews 11:6New Life Version (NLV)

6 A man cannot please God unless he has faith. Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is. That one must also know that God gives what is promised to the one who keeps on looking for Him. 

Jeremiah 29:11New Life Version (NLV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for well-being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope.

Our bodies are very much like a rubber band.  The Law of the Rubber Band, states that "Growth Stops When You Lose the Tension Between Where You Are and Where You Could Be.”  

When at the gym, I stretch before and after a workout so that I get the full potential that I can get from a workout.  If there is no stretching, I’m not growing and most likely I will feel pain.  If you feel more pain, then you will be less likely to move.  If you are less likely to move, you will stop challenging yourself.  You will potentially stop growing.  

In life, we have situations that we know, without a doubt, we are being stretched.  We may also be in a season of life where we don’t feel the tension, but feel a slight tug pulling us to learn something new.  Below is a list of ways God may want you to stretch your faith today:  

• God may want you to DO something.

• God may want you to STOP DOING something.

• God may want you to GIVE something.

• God may want you to SAY something.

• God may want you to STOP SAYING something.

• God may want you to SELL something.

• God may want you to BUY something. (presumably for a person or ministry in need)

• God may want you to START something.

• God may want you to END something.

• God may want you to LOVE someone.

(taken from http://www.biblestudytools.com/blogs/chris-russell/10-ways-god-may-want-to-stretch-your-faith-today.html)

So are you taking time to stretch your faith, grow to your highest potential, and being more for others around you?  It is time to get your Spiritual Fitness a good stretch!

Be Blessed!

The Stinch in Life

Lamentations 3The Message (MSG)

22-24 

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,

    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.

They’re created new every morning.

    How great your faithfulness!

I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).

    He’s all I’ve got left.

25-27 

God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,

    to the woman who diligently seeks.

It’s a good thing to quietly hope,

    quietly hope for help from God.

It’s a good thing when you’re young

    to stick it out through the hard times.

28-30 

When life is heavy and hard to take,

    go off by yourself. Enter the silence.

Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:

    Wait for hope to appear.

Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.

    The “worst” is never the worst.

When we are in the midst of something heavy in our lives we can easily be distracted and loose focus.  An analogy that comes to mind is the following: 

Imagine you are coming home from a long day at work. You look forward to walking in your front door, taking off your shoes, and just breathing (for most of us it is very brief, but it happens).  As you walk into your home, you take in a deep breath and immediately realize that something truly stinks, literally STINKS!  You check the garbage, refrigerator, the garbage in the garage, the kids rooms, your dirty clothes hamper…NOTHING!  It is at that time you start to investigate all possibilities.  You rack your brain trying to figure out what is setting off this repulsive smell.  If you are like me, you won’t give up until you find the culprit.  It consumes your mind and activity.  

Now, take that analogy and replace it with an event that has been heavy for you.  God is faithful!  He doesn’t leave you alone to deal with that “stinch”.  He walks with you hand-in-hand.   He will face this head on with you.  You just have to pray, be patient, and be quiet while listening to Him.  Horrible situations will consume you, take you over until you are racking your brain to come up with a solution.  Or they will consume you to the point of where you start to sink into a dark place in life.  God didn’t create us to come up with solutions on our own or to sit alone in darkness.  God is what we have, and God is all we ever have that is guaranteed.  He does not leave our side!  

Be Blessed!

Jesus Glasses

 1 Samuel 16:7New Life Version (NLV)

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at the way he looks on the outside or how tall he is, because I have not chosen him. For the Lord does not look at the things man looks at. A man looks at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Isaiah 6:10New Life Version (NLV)

10 Make the hearts of these people hard. May their ears hear little and their eyes see little. Or they will see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts, and turn again and be healed.”

X-Ray vision is a super power.  I am not one to want to possess this super power.  However, I do wish that I would be reminded that I need to have the super power of being a noticer.  What I mean by that, is just simply stop being so wrapped up in my feelings and pay more attention to others and the hurting world around me.  My eyes distort things around me making it impossible to see what HE sees.  I just wish I could purchase some “Jesus Glasses” that would give me His vision.    

Jesus lived a perfect life, modeling how we should treat one another.  He didn’t look at one person any different than the next.  His love was pure and whole.  He didn’t just see the outside of the person, but what that person carried on the inside.  

Today I passed a sweet friend and noticed that her eyes were heavier than normal.  She didn’t look tired, but she looked worn.  Worn from stress that is eating inside of her.  Just stopping to ask how she was, took a brief second.  However, I feel that she needed more than just a brief moment in my time.  So tomorrow, I am going to make it a point to reach out and make sure that she feels God’s love for her through me.  

Be a noticer.  Be someone who takes the anger, hurt, sad, etc. and helps in a way that He would want us to be.  We are his disciples, doing His work for Him in a dark world.  Be the light that this world needs.  

Be Blessed!