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.”

Excuses

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

– 1 John 1:6-10

These last few months have found me in the midst of change. I finally moved into my new house. I moved my children into a little cottage together at college. I have been on a weight loss/health improvement journey.

I think that the weight loss/health journey is proving to be the most challenging thing. My house is great. I love it. My kids are happy and safe – I love it. My scale – not so much.

It seems that every step I take forward pushes me back two steps. I get frustrated. I feel defeated.

Yet, these are all just excuses. Every morning that I get up and see the scale move in the wrong direction, I sit down, beat myself up, and ponder what in the world did I eat yesterday that caused it.

As I was pondering these things this morning, God revealed something to my heart. I don’t need to try and figure out what went wrong yesterday. I need to determine why I keep finding myself here in the first place. What is the root of the problem?

You want to know what mine is – excuses. I can find every excuse in the book to justify why I’m doing what I’m doing. “Oh, it’s the weekend. Sugar doesn’t effect me on the weekend.” “Oh, Momma is visiting. I’ll worry about that next week.” “I’m having that sugar in my coffee in the morning because I like it. I’m good the rest of the day (knowing that I’m not).” If you haven’t figured it out, sugar is the bane to my existence.

But my excuses go way beyond sugar. Take this blog for instance. I have neglected it for way too long. Take my Bible study as another example. I haven’t been in the Word like I know I should be. And the list could go on and on.

Why do we make excuses for our behaviors? Why do I spend my precious time trying to determine a reason for me to indulge myself in something that I know is not good for me?

I tell you what, if I could answer and solve that one….well, I wouldn’t need this blog.

The simple answer is sin.

I’m sure that if we are all honest with ourself, we would all be in the same boat – sailing under the flag of hypocrisy.

But that is the reason, the Holy Spirit inspired John to pen 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I have heard one of my brothers in Christ say this so many times that I don’t even have to look it up. He drilled it into my head. And rightfully so. How would I make it through the day without it? How would I know that God is ready to forgive me if I turn and walk away from the “sins that so easily beset me”? “So easily”. A tiny little group of letters that describe my heart so very often.

As I was walking this morning listening to my Christian running list, I heard Jamie Grace sing “Good morning”. It reminded me that I have awakened to a brand new day that has a clean slate that is ready for God to write on. My sins of yesterday haunt me, but the hope of today brings me joy.

So, good bye yesterday. Good bye sugar. Good bye excuses. Today is new day and, by golly, I’m gonna claim 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.

“Walk Worthy”

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭2:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬ – “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”
It has been a while, yes, I know. Things have been a bit crazy at my house. I’m trying to get accustomed to reading through the Bible in a year. Some days have really long chapters that don’t leave me much time to write. I’ll get it figured out though. Just might take a while. 

Let me tell you about some challenges that my family has faced in our walk lately.

Saturday, my daughter had a cheer competition. The team did very, very well – they weren’t perfect or spot on, but very good. Their routine had a high level of difficulty and they executed it fairly well. They received 3rd place with this presentation. Now, that is good, right? Third out of 5 is not too bad. The problem is that the team that won had a much less difficult routine than our girls. And the team that got second didn’t even have a cheer in their routine for a cheerleading competition. Now, walking “worthy of God” in this situation was tough. My daughter felt cheated. She felt betrayed by the judges who were seemingly not looking for the team to challenge themselves. She cried a lot. And at the end of the night, my husband and I declared them champions regardless of what the judges said. But she still kept crying. Then comes the talk. “It’s okay to be sad. You have tonight to be sad. But when tomorrow comes and you wake up, the time has come to move on. You can’t dwell on this and let the devil has his heyday.” And you know what? The next morning my daughter woke up puffy eyed and ready to face the day with a whole new attitude. I am stilll trying to walk “worthy of God” in this situation. It is hard to watch your children go through this kind of thing and lead them in the path of righteousness.

 Yesterday, we sent my son off on his first missions trip – to Haiti. Now, I am super excited for him. I am not worried about him at all. I am so very excited to see what God is going to do in his life. This challenge in our walk comes from not being with him on this journey. We can’t really communicate with him, except via his friend with an international plan. But I don’t need to talk to him everyday to know that God loves and cares for him more than I ever could. I know that God sees him. God knows my heart. He hears my prayers on his behalf. 

So, as you can see, things have been a bit hairy around my house – I’m sure that it is the same way around yours. But that doesn’t give us an excuse to do anything other than “walk worthy”. It is a call to do so through the tough times in life as well as through the less challenging times of life. It is a call to live with God. It is a call to walk with God. Today, as you face your Wednesday and all the fun it holds, “walk worthy” and walk with God. It makes the journey to Heaven that much sweeter.

Just like me…

Romans 12:3 – “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

I’ve been struggling with this concept the last couple of days – What if everyone acted just like me – in regards to family, church, work and community?

It’s what we want, isn’t it? We wish that everyone around us was as smart as we are, made similar choices that we make, and were as dedicated as we are. We see ourself without flaw, without blemish. 

But deep down, we know that’s not true. We know that deep down we get upset when someone does something different that we think that they should. We get frustrated when we have a plan and someone steps in and changes that plan all together. We want to throw a fit and yell at someone when their decision to stay out of things is not the option we would have chosen. We get all flustered when people don’t perform like we know we would in that situation. 

Pride. It’s pride that makes us feel that way. You see, whether it is at work, church or at home, the devil is doing his best to drive a wedge in our heart between us and God. If he can get us to look more at ourself and see only the worst in people and their decisions instead of seeing the beauty of variety, then he can get us to walk further and further from our Savior. 

And it’s so easy to do. It is easy to get frustrated when we don’t understand what is going on. It is easy to get mad when things don’t go the way we think they should. It is easy to want to yell at someone when their choices are wrong in our eyes. 

But here is the thing – we can’t control others; we can only control ourself. We have to trust that God has whatever thing we are dealing with under control. Staying awake all night worrying about it won’t make a difference. Getting mad and yelling at someone will not help the cause of Christ. Not doing your best as a punishment to those who are making what you see as a bad decision will get nothing accomplished. 

Jesus has given us all different gifts and talents. I’m not responsible for my husband using his gifts. That is his can of worms. I need to be focused on whether I’m using my gifts. But I can’t let my focus shift from me doing my best for His glory to me doing my best because I know I’m right. 

It’s hard, but you can’t let people have power over your decision to do things for His glory. Focusing solely upon Jesus will have far different reaches that focusing solely on you and what you do. Pride is an ugly beast that too often rears its head in my life. Pride is what makes you think your way is the best way. Pride is what makes you fail to see your flaws. Pride is what makes us want everyone to act like just like us. 

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. 

No

Matthew 7:11 – “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

It’s the most dreaded word I know – “No.” And what makes it even more unbearable is when there is no explanation. When my kids get told “no”, what is the next word that follows – “why?”  My, oh, my. How many times has that scenario played out in my life!

Sometimes we ask God for things. We ask with the right heart, with the right motive and even with the right attitude. And God still says “no”. The problem is, we don’t always audibly hear Him say “no”. We may not even hear it in our heart. It just feels like God is ignoring us, that He doesn’t care. 

Well, let me reassure you this – if you are a child of God, He NEVER ignores you. You may walk away and do your own thing and chose to ignore Him, but He will never ignore you when you make the choice to repent and turn back to Him. 

You see, some people treat Christ like a genie in a bottle. We rub that “magic lamp” with the bright hopes that we have played the game right to win His favor. People, it doesn’t work that way. You can’t just run to God when you have drama in your life. Relationships are not built on drama alone. 

I think that when I treat Christ like that (and face it, we all do sometimes) He is hurt. It hurts Him for us to mistreat Him. But God is not out to get us when we mistreat Him. He only desires repentance. 

But until we do repent, He may say “no” to some things in our life. And He does this for our good. He wants us back on track and sometimes that means saying “no”. 

I have teenagers. I love them to pieces. But sometimes I have to say “no” and sometimes the only explanation I have is “no”. My kids laugh at and respect what I call my mommy alarms. When those mommy alarms go off, the answer is definitely “no”. Mommy alarms mean that no explanation is needed or will be given because mommy has no idea why I’m saying “no” but the answer is definitely “no”.  

God knows far better than us what we need and when we need it. Sometimes the answer to our request is “no” with no further explanation given. And that’s that. 

We dislike very strongly (hate is such an ugly word) the word “no”. It means we don’t get our way. And we dislike very strongly the fact that we may not get an explanation for the “no”. But here is where trusting comes in – God loves you enough to not give you everything you want and give you only what you need. He did that with Jesus. He does that every moment of every day. 

So the next time “no” comes on your radar, don’t get all bent out of shape. Look at why God might say “no”. See it from different angles and then go with it. Remember this – Father always knows best. 

Accolades

Matthew 6:1-4 – “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”

Most everyone loves attention at some time or another. We like the idea of being recognized from time to time for the hard work that we put into whatever it is we do. We like for others to see us. 

But what are we doing when no one is watching? Do we still try just as hard when we are alone?

Apply that concept to your spiritual life. Do you only acknowledge and follow after God only when people are watching or listening? Or do you choose His way each and every time, no matter what? 

I think we are all guilty, from time to time, of wanting someone to recognize our hard work for the Lord. We may do what is right when no one is looking but then we tell someone about it so that they can praise us for our choice and dedication. Ouch! 

Humility is a tough cookie to swallow sometimes. Pride gets in the way. 

I’m not sure how to end this one. I think we all suffer from the sin of pride. I think humility is something we all could use more of. I know in my own life that I struggle with pride. I like for others to know what I have done. And when I tell them, my humility that I may have had when I was engaged in the activity, goes down the toilet. 

So this week, let’s all pray that our humility will outweigh our pride. Let’s pray that our actions for Christ will not be overcome by our overshadowed by our desire for recognition. Let’s choose to delay our accolades until God recognizes them in eternity. 

Clean up!

Psalm 51:1,2 – “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”

Last night, I took some time and cleaned an area upstairs that hadn’t been touched in a while. I removed THREE garbage bags full of trash – papers, notebooks, pens and broken stuff. Junk. Plain and simple. When I told my kids what I had done, my daughter, bless her heart, said, “Mom, did you throw away everything we own?”

You know, sometimes we let stuff pile up in our life. We let troubles, anxiety and stress take their toll on our heart and then we wonder why we are such a mess. Sometimes it is just easier to stuff things into the recess of our heart and think that we will tackle it another day. 

Sometimes we need to just go through things. We need to clean up, toss out and re-evaluate things. 

That is where prayer comes in. 

When was the last time you took time to ask God to clean out your heart? When was the last time you poured out all your junk and left it for Him to sort through? He is the One that knows the sin in your life. He is the One that can remove it. But He won’t remove it until you ask Him to. And you need Him to point it out to you so that you can ask forgiveness. 

Let’s face it – you cannot clean up on your own. He is the One that MUST do the cleaning. But He won’t clean out or toss out anything you don’t ask Him to. 

It’s Friday. That means Sunday is coming. You have today and tomorrow to ask and get the ball rolling. Sunday is a great day to finish the task. Worship Him with a clean spirit this week. And then share what has changed in your heart with someone. You know how good it feels to get things cleaned up, tell someone else!

Coming home

Luke 15:20 – “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

Once there was this kid who thought he knew it all. His dad had lots of money and the kid knew it. He told his dad he was going to leave. He needed his space. He wanted to go make a name for himself. So, he asked his dad for his portion of the inheritance. It was time for him to go and take his place in the world. He knew best. So, his father did as he requested. With money in his pocket and brains in his head, he set out on his own. And boy did he ever. He ended up in a real mess. He had blown his money on the treasures of this world and found himself at the bottom of the barrel. “How did this happen?”, he asked himself time and again. He had to work, something he had never done in his life. When he left, he left completely- never having contact with his family. All the while, his dad kept an eye on the horizon, hoping that one day his son would return. He had his room prepared. His clothes were laundered and his favorite food was stocked in the pantry. His dad was ready to see his son again. Then one day it happened – his son’s silhouette appeared on the horizon; he would know it anywhere. The father took off in a dead run. Nothing would come between him and his son. When the dad reached him, he threw his arms around him weeping and rejoicing all at the same time. His son had returned. Nothing would spoil this moment. “I’m sorry dad. I messed up. I don’t deserve this welcoming. Let me stay here and earn my keep, please daddy.” But the father would not hear of it. He had a festive dinner and celebration that night. His son had come home. 

Have you ever been away for a while and then come home? Hugs are shared. Greetings and questions abound. And more hugs. Your loved ones just can’t get enough. It’s great, isn’t it? The love you feel at that moment makes all the darkness of being away… go away. 

We, as children of God, sometimes ask God for our blessings and the set out on our own. We step away. We chase a rabbit, so to speak. However you want to say it, we aren’t where we should be – right beside Him. But when we make the choice to walk back to our Father, He comes running. He takes us back with arms wide open and accepts our apology for leaving in the first place. Now, more than likely, there will be consequences but that comes with the territory. Actions and reactions. But nonetheless, when we say we are sorry from the depth of our heart and truly desire to turn 180 degrees from the wrong we have done, it’s gone – totally and completely gone, never to be brought up or held against us again. 

Our Heavenly Father is watching from the windows of Heaven just waiting for your silhouette on the horizon. He is waiting for you to decide that you have had enough of the mess you have made. He is ready to run out to you with arms wide open. 

Go. Go my brother or sister. Go to Him and let Him love on you a while. Heaven knows we all need to run back to Him.