Talents/gifts

Greetings, friends.

It has been a hot minute since we last spoke. Sorry about that. No excuses.

I was at church on Sunday when one of the dear ladies that follow this blog asked me if she had missed an email notification of a post. She thought that maybe they had been going to the spam folder. Unfortunately, I had to tell her that no, they had not gone to spam. They had not been happening.

I could write you a sonnet with excuse after excuse on why I have been silent for so long. The short answer is sin. That pesky little human disease we all suffer from.

Lately, it seems that God has been poking at that sin through devotions I listen to while driving and through the sermons I hear on Sunday morning. One verse has been haunting me –

James 4:17 – “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

You know, we have all been given talents and/or gifts. God expects us to use them daily and diligently and to not do so is sin. Knowing this begs the question – what talents/gifts have you put on the back burner lately?

God has been so very good to me and blessed me until I’m drinking from the saucer because my cup has overflowed. Why is it that I take the very gifts that He has given to me and hide them away?

Romans 12:1 – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Reasonable service – It is the least that we can do. When I read this verse, I am reminded that hiding away that which God has given me the ability to do is like taking away from Him the least that I can give. He doesn’t need me to do something for Him in order for His plan to unfold. But by me using what He has given me, it makes my life richer through blessings and it makes the lives of those in whom this blog touches richer. It’s a win-win!

So bear with me and keep me in check. I appreciate those loving reminders to get back on track!

Proverbs 27:9 – “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: So doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.”

Saddle up!

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” – James 1:22-25 

Saddle up, friends. It’s going to be another bumpy ride today.

I’ve been doing a new study lately. I have taken on the word fasting. Boy, oh boy, is that word filled up! When I get through the study and digest it, so to speak, I’ll let you know what God has laid on my heart. But for now, these verses came across my line of sight.

It’s a standard group of verses, right? We have all probably heard sermon upon sermon centered around these verses. But have you ever stopped to consider what they truly mean? In doing so, I became convicted. I mean, “oh my, what am I doing” kind of convicted.

We all have mirrors in our home, right? I know I spend a considerable amount of time on any given day looking to see if what I am seeing lines up with what I have in my mind for myself to look like. My hair is one that gives me a lot of grief. Anyone who knows me knows that I can be a bit of a Medusa sometimes and other times, I am so put together… it is astounding. But mostly – Medusa. I can leave my bathroom mirror with one hairstyle and by the time I reach the end of the stairs, I have a whole new look. It’s truly a talent. Same goes with makeup. Me and eyeliner don’t always get along.

But enough of that. The point is I spend a considerable amount of time working on what I want the world to see about me. I have to remember that I can’t rub my eyes when I have makeup on. I have to remember that I can’t twirl my hair when I have spent so much time straightening it. I have to remember.

I have to apply what I know.

And when I rub my eye after putting on makeup, there are raccoon consequences. And sometimes, you just gotta go with the raccoon because sometimes you just have to accept the consequences of forgetting.

So, I know that you did not start reading the blog for makeup tutorials and tricks of the trade. No. You want spiritual food.

Okay, here it is – you are responsible to remember and apply what you know.

Profound, right? Yes and no.

This is not earth shattering news. You know this if you look hard enough at yourself. The thing is, do you apply it? Do you really take all that you have learned in Bible study, in reading the Word on your own, in going through those daily devotions, in praying – do you apply that stuff?

If you have heard it, if you have studied it, if you have ingested it in any way, shape or form – you are responsible to make it so in your life. You see, If Jesus said it and you know that Jesus said it, you are expected to do it. Romans 12:1 – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Yep, you read that right – “reasonable service”. It is the rational or logical thing to do.

Reasonable or rational or logical can be a tough concept to grasp sometimes. This world is anything but reasonable, rational or logical. Yet, Paul reminds the church in Rome that because God does not give us what we deserve, we should be willing and ready to be a living sacrifice. That means, when we read, when we study, when we learn, we need to apply. It’s the logical thing to do.

My mind goes to Mr. Spock from Star Trek when I read the word “logical”. He was one that based everything and every decision on logic. Most people didn’t agree with his logic which caused lots of problems. Don’t we see that in the world today? Most people don’t agree with the logic of a follower of Christ. It goes against the grain. It rubs the wrong way. Things can get dicey when we strictly adhere to the “logic” of Truth.

To sum this all up, we have a “reasonable” responsibility to remember and apply what we have learned from God’s Word. It is not always going to be easy. It is not always going to be popular. It is not always going to go the way we want it to go. However, it is what is expected. God expects His children to want to be more and more like Him. We can’t do that if we forget what we have learned.

That’s why Luke reminds us in Luke 9:23 – “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” This is a daily thing that we have to do. Truly, you could even say this is a moment by moment thing that we have to do. We have to chose to follow God each and every day and each and every moment.

Don’t forget what you saw in the mirror this morning….

Rest a while

“And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” Mark 6:31

This last weekend, my husband and I took some time away to go to Colorado to see the aspen trees. My, oh my, were they amazing! We hiked for 9 miles one day. My knees and hips were killing me during the last 3 miles of a 2000 foot descent.

Now, those of you that know me, know that I love to talk. I can be very chatty at times. And this weekend, on this mountain, I was the chattiest of all time. I was asking random questions, trying to start random conversations by unique observations….and nothing was working. My husband was silent. Oh, he would respond if necessary. But the conversation never caught on.

I remarked later that he was very pensive on our hike. He was quiet despite my attempts to spearhead a conversation. He told me that sometimes he just likes to be quiet. Sometimes he just likes to hear the silent. He is so busy with his job that the quiet of the forest was a welcome venue. I hadn’t thought about that. I was so excited to be alone with him without his phone dinging with a new email every 30 seconds that quiet was beyond my realm of reality. I was too focused on myself to be able to think about what he needed from this trip.

Now, the next day after this incredibly long hike, we needed rest. In fact, our rest actually lasted 2 days. And it was lovely. Oh, we went and did things and saw more beautiful sights, but we did so without purpose and allowed ourself to stop and rest along the way. It was very nice.

I learned some things this during this weekend away.

1) Don’t hike downhill 3 miles with a 2000 foot elevation change. It is killer on the hips and knees.

2) It is okay to be quiet sometimes. It’s actually part of a communication technique – to be silent. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” James 1:19 I am not normally slow to speak, aka quiet. I am working on that.

3) It is okay to rest. Being a mom and the first born of my family, I am not good at resting. I have too much to do. Too many things need my attention. But here in Mark, Jesus reminds me that in the midst of my chaos, I need to come away and rest. I think that the reason I have so much trouble with resting is that it gives me time to think. And when I have time to think, I realize the mess that I often make in my life. I realize that my relationship with Jesus isn’t what it ought to be. Resting, despite what it appears to insinuate, requires action and choice. It requires that you make the choice to purposefully lay aside all the stuff you think needs to be done and focus on you for a while. And that focus often brings into view more choices and decisions that require you change your mind and refocus your view. All being done while physically doing nothing.

So, I want to encourage you today to take a few minutes to rest and be quiet. Listen to what Jesus is saying to your heart. Let Him show you where things are not quite lining up and where you are doing a good job. Grab yourself a lovely warm drink (mine would be coffee – decaf in the afternoon, I am getting old…) and just be.

Oh, and don’t descent 2000 feet in 3 miles on foot if you can help it!

Letting God…

‭‭James‬ ‭1:1-8‬ ‭KJV – “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

I know, I know. So many verses. But as we were reading this the other day in worship service, all I could see were the “let”s. And I have been thinking about what it means to “let” since then.

I looked up the meaning of the word in the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary (gotta love that website!). It said this – “Followed by the third person, it implies permission or a command addressed to an inferior.” It can also mean “to permit or allow”. Either way, each definition points to basically the same thing – permission to do something.

We are in revival this week at my church. We have been encouraged and challenged so much in the last two days, that I have not wanted to stop listening. I wanted to “let” the preacher go on preaching until he ran out of words!

We are being challenged to be salty. (That’s a whole other blog post.) But the question I want to pose today is this – Are we letting God do what He needs to do to make us into the person He wants us to be? Are we letting God challenge us enough to grow His kingdom? Are we letting God show us our sin in our life? Are we letting God lead us away from the things and situations that impair our growth?

You see, here is the deal – we can pray all day long for God to change us and mold us into who He wants us to be, but sometimes, we are the thing standing in the way of that change. We aren’t willing to “let” God do what He wants to do. I know I have this problem in my own life. Right now I have a book on my countertop that I say that I want to read. But if I’m honest, I’m afraid to read it because I’m afraid of the changes God might convict me to make in my life. I’m afraid to “LET” God change me. There, I said it. I have been asking God to show me my sin and my life and right here, right now, He just did. I’m afraid to “LET” God.

I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to tell you. This is a burden and an issue that I have just acknowledged and now is the time to step forward. I don’t know what God is going to do with me now, but I am grateful that God has been on me to write this blog post. I’m glad He never backs down. Happy Wednesday.

Chocolate cake

‭‭James‬ ‭4:13-17‬ ‭KJV‬‬ – “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
It is a problem that we all are guilty of participating in at some time or another – choosing not to do what is right when we know better. Yes, I know, it is also known as sin – intentional sin, at that. 

Let me set up the situation.

Let’s say that you know that you have a few pounds you need to lose. It is not drastic, you just know that if you lost them (and never found them again) that you would feel better physically and emotionally. But you are at an event and they are serving chocolate cake – your all time favorite dessert. You know that you should not eat that cake. You know that it will show up on the scale tomorrow morning. You know that it is too late at night and eating that cake will result in a restless night of sleep. You know all these things. You have rationalized it over and over again in your mind. Yet…you still eat it. You really, really, really want that chocolate cake. You know the consequences and yet you do it anyway. Sin has caught you with a fork!

I tell you this to say intentional sin is tough. We can push unintentional sin under the blanket of a forgiveness prayer. But when it comes to the sins we commit knowingly, well, that requires more effort to get rid of. Yes, I know, I’m stepping on your toes, but guess what, mine are paining too!

The problem is that it is these sins that are keeping us from a closer walk with Christ. These sins will build a wall between you and Him that if left unchecked will cause serious problems down the road. That is why it is so incredibly vital that we keep that wall destroyed. It’s like letting weeds grow in a garden. If you don’t stay on top of them and get rid of them when they pop up, before you know it, the garden is overtaken with weeds and you have to spend an enormous amount of time locating what it is that you planted one day, way back when. 

So my challenge to you, and to me, is to keep those intentional sins in check. Or better yet, when you hear that still, small voice saying “don’t do it…don’t do it”, then…don’t do it. God wants you listen to Him. He wants to guide you on the path of righteousness but He won’t make you make the right decision. He wants you to do that on your own. Gotta love free will. 

But it can be done. You can say “no” to that chocolate cake. You can walk away knowing that tonight there will be no consequences because you made the right choice! 

A Long, Hard Look in the Mirror

James 1:22-25 – “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

Happy 2018!

I hope that your Christmas was lovely and your New Years was fun. We had a great time visiting with family and sharing memories together. 

One of the presents that I got this year was a vanity mirror – you know the ones that light up and magnify to show every imperfection on your face. I love it! Now I can really see time marching across my face! No, seriously, I really wanted one. I was practically sitting on my bathroom counter trying to put on eyeliner. This is going to be a great help.

But it made me consider another type of glass – the one mentioned here in James. Oh, this glass shows way more imperfections that my magnifying mirror will show. And these imperfections hurt. The ones I see in my mirror just remind me that I’m not 20 anymore. 

The imperfections I see in myself that are reflected by the Perfect Law of Liberty remind me that I’m not done growing yet. I have faults, failures and shortcomings that need to be addressed. I see opportunities missed and conversations squandered. But I also see successes and accomplishments. I see places where I have been obedient. I see times when Jesus was smiling on me.

Today is the first day of 2018. It is a time for goals and/or resolutions. It is a time for reflection and thinking ahead. Today is the perfect day to sit down and take a good, hard look in the mirror…of God’s Word. It is the perfect day to start a Bible study, begin reading through the Bible, start that journal you have been thinking about, begin that prayer time that has been convicting your heart – whatever the burden God has laid upon your heart to begin doing, do it today!

And when you get up to do the other things that this day is bringing, don’t forget what you saw in the mirror of God’s Word. Let it penetrate and change you. Let it open you up to His will for your life. Let Him have control this year. Live like you believe.

Order

James 4:7 – “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Let me first just say that I’m sorry. I haven’t been faithful to my blog in a really long time. God is the God of second chances and I’m claiming that one!

Now then, about this verse –

This verse was mentioned in our BTC lesson last night at church. (Side note – Man! Was the sermon given last night ever a blessing! We left church at 9 last night!  Not one time did I even want to look at my watch! God had me captivated! The message was thought provoking and heart wrenching. God is so good!)   I wanted to take a closer to look at it today. Think for a moment about the order of this verse. 

First, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” The part about the devil comes second. You see, we think we need to flee from the devil to draw closer to God. We get it backwards. We are supposed to FIRST submit ourself to God. That means, we need to give Him control. We need to be willing to follow after Him and do what He says to do, without complaining. Submitting, to me, means giving over control in regards to decision making. I can get things done. There are days I feel like I get more done before I leave the house than most people do in an entire day. But I don’t like making decisions. I will defer that duty as much as possible. I think part of it is the responsibility aspect of it. Like most people, I want as little responsibility as possible. God is wanting me to turn that over to Him. The key is, however, that I have to be willing to follow when He leads. 

And then there is the second part of this verse – “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  Does this mean that I have some sort of power over the devil? Only when I do the first part first. When I am submitted to God, the devil doesn’t seem so difficult to walk away from. His temptation and taunting doesn’t seem quite so overwhelming when I’m walking with and submitting to God. 

So I want to encourage you today to make the choice to submit to God first. Do it now. Ask Him to be in your day. Allow Him to show you in His word how to draw closer to Him. Listen to Him when you pray and hear Him as you go through your day. And then, when the devil rears his ugly head, it won’t seem so tough to turn away. With God, things are purer, brighter and more desirable, even when it seems tough. Happy Monday. 

Words

James 5:12 – “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”

Why do we feel that we need to use God’s name in vain? Are we trying to verify the intent of our words? Are we trying to confirm our words? Are we trying to sound important? What is it? Why do people think they sound intelligent when using it?

James is reminding us that we need to have honesty and integrity and truthfulness in our words. We shouldn’t have to verify or solidify what we are saying by invoking God’s holy name. No, our words should stand alone. 

But they don’t. Too often we tell that little white lie or stretch the truth just a bit or leave out a few of the details. In other words, we hide the truth and smother our honesty in hopes to make ourself look just a bit better. 

I think we all are guilty of this from time to time. And shame on us for that being the case.

I don’t have any profound advice or words of wisdom. Just this bit of info to offer you -watch your words. They mean something- to everyone, including, and especially, God. 

Matthew 12:36,37 – “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

On my heart

James 5:16 – “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

This verse has been on my heart and in my mind the last couple of days. 

As with any sermon, there are many lessons that speak different things to different people. And although this specific verse may or may not have been used, God brought it to my mind when I was at church in Sunday. 

We NEED to pray for one another. 

I began studying different portions of my Bible at the beginning of the year. After my Bible study, I began an “On my heart” section of each page. I have found that it keeps growing and growing. As I open my heart to those God lays upon it, my list gets longer and longer. I find myself praying for different people randomly throughout the day. God brings them to my heart and I say a word of prayer for them. 

Now, does that make me righteous and holy? Absolutely not. It does show me that I am being available. That’s what God wants. He wants availability and teachability. He wants me to listen closer to Him in all areas of my life – prayer, decisions, actions and words, just to name a few. 

I want to encourage you to start an “On my heart” list. God wants your availability. The best way to get started is by listening. And once you hear, act. That’s part of being available- the willingness to act. Pray for one another. Let’s see what God is going to do today. 

Another temptation

James 1:2-4 – “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Usually when I think of temptation, I think of doing something I know I shouldn’t – like eating that donut as big as your head or watching a show that you know you wouldn’t watch if Jesus was physically sitting on the couch next to you.  But let me ask this question- what if self pity is a temptation? I mean, think about it, haven’t you ever just felt the tug to feel sorry for yourself about something? “Poor little me, I have so much to do and I am so under appreciated.” 

I know I feel that way from time to time. In fact, I was there last night. I had thought my week was set. I had a large function behind me, laundry was on its way to the finish line, lunch was ready for the next day – I was set. Then, I get an email about an unexpected practice this week. Boom! Monkey wrench! Suddenly, I’m rearranging and contemplating and becoming more and more anxious because this monkey wrench felt like the Empire State Building had been dropped into the middle of my week. Now, I’m over exaggerating, but that’s what it felt like. 

I could almost see the devil in the corner rubbing his greedy little hands together saying, “Ooh weee, we got her now!” And for a time he did. So sad. I stewed. I cleaned (that’s what I do when I get frustrated). I felt sorry for myself. I was tired of doing and being everything for everyone. 

And then it happened, God started whispering to my heart. He started reminding me that He had provided my husband to help me figure things out. He had provided friends to be there when one of the kids needed a ride. He had provided Grandpa to help on Tuesday nights. He had provided. 

God was trying to grow my faith and my patience. Patience for not only my situation but also for myself. I am constantly learning that I need to chill out and let God do His thing. He must get so tired of teaching me that lesson but praise His name, He never quits.