I have been studying 1 Peter this week. As I recap, 1 Peter 2 is on my heart: So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Put away, cast off those destructive attitudes. How do we do this?
1) Recognize them, take them captive: 2 Corinthians 10:5
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ
2) We fill our heart with Jesus.
• Proverbs 4:4 he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.
• Proverbs 4:21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.
• Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
One that we were working on last week: Psalm 34:8
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Sometimes you need to look at life and see what nutrients are lacking. In the case of your emotional life, you can’t just fill life with busyness, sometimes you need to look at your dreams, your bucket list, pick one and make it happen.
Unfortunately, as soon as we take positive steps for our emotional health, Satan will use someone to put us back in our unhealthy place. When this happens, our heart reverts to those harmful patterns and thoughts. We must take time to refill our hearts or we run on empty – we are no longer springs of living water, but those dredges of rainwater which have been in that muddy ditch for far too long.
The lesson in this:. Dreams are not bad, but not everyone is on your side when it comes to healthy action and healing your heart. Be careful who you share your dreams with. It is better to do what you know you need to do and not share those needs than to find yourself in a position where you must give up healthy actions to please others.
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It is the little projects that entangle us.
The big projects we divide into bite-size pieces and through the strength of the Holy Spirit, we accomplish them step by step.
But we try to hang on to the little projects, and before you know it, our feet are tangled and we find ourselves asking God to untangle us – AGAIN!
Studying Micah this week for class. As I look through these prophesies, I wonder –
In a dark land, where God was silent because of false prophets and evil leaders, Micah still walked in the light and he still HEARD God.
This verse is tickling my head – Jhn 12:35
So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
During the 4th watch, where the darkness is at its greatest, we must be able to walk in the darkness and yet still see, still discern obstacles and dangers.
So though we are called to walk in the light, even in the darkness, we have the light within us and are still able to hear and discern God’s path.
Also – just because God wasn’t speaking through the prophets, does not mean He wasn’t working. He was working BIG and still speaking through the faithful. Unfortunately, not all who call themselves prophets are amongst the faithful.
The things I wonder when working on projects… (is that the same as projecting?)
What color are God’s eyes?
2023 Closing thoughts – opening the door on 2024
Have you ever read Proverbs and thought, “Wow! King Solomon’s mind was all over the place writing this?!” 2023 will be in the rearview mirror in just a few moments. As I meditate on 2023 and contemplate 2024, My mind is bouncing like the wise King’s. There are a few things God has been saying that I need to spend some quality time digesting. Somewhere in this, is our 2024 verse – seeking God’s focus for 2024. As the saying goes, “Walk a mile in my shoes? Try living a few minutes in my head!”
Pro 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Being at the age of osteoporosis, this verse makes me wonder how many of our ailments are exacerbated, even caused by a crushed spirit, by fear, by bitterness, etc.
Christmas Eve service I was listening to the music and reflecting on what a mess we are and yet Jesus came not to condemn, chastise, or criticize, but rather to redeem us. A few minutes later the pastor spoke about how Jesus came down to our mess…
Fruit of the Spirit: Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
We have this fruit in the gift of the Holy Spirit Jesus gave us. But, we have to choose to nurture, grow, and actually eat this fruit, not just take a picture of it and let it rot on the counter. Choose joy, choose to love, choose peace (Shalom – COMPLETE peace), choose patience, choose kindness, choose goodness, choose faithfulness, choose gentleness, choose self-control. They don’t just happen – we have to choose them and apply them to our hearts. Why our heart? Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
As pointed out in church this morning – there is a difference between a New Year’s resolution and a life challenge. As I see it, a resolution is what we are going to do, whereas a challenge looks like embracing the strength of the Holy Spirit to do through us what we do not have the fortitude to do on our own, not just for a few days, weeks or months, but throughout our life. We fail that challenge, we try again.
In math, we often look for the common denominator. This works well in life also. One of the common denominators of sin, anger, bitterness, envy, and family discord is rejecting truth in order to embrace a comfortable lie.
We are told to speak the truth in love. As we know the world does not love the truth, nor does it love us when we speak it. If we want to be loved by the world, we need to speak lies – if you don’t believe me, look at our most popular politicians: how many of them are truth-sayers? How many of our celebs are truth-sayers? How many of our truth-sayers are loved?
1 Samuel 8:7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
Another verse playing games with my head: 1 Corinthians 9: 24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Run with purpose vs. beating the air? That would require focusing on purpose – WHICH purpose? We are to spread the gospel, we are to encourage one another, we are to speak the truth, we are to be light in the darkness, we are to be merciful, to love – that’s a whole lot of purpose, and a whole lot of ways to accomplish each, not all of which is accomplished in a single day. Sometimes we’re trying to live tomorrow’s purpose or yesterday’s purpose today. Ok God, what’s my purpose for today and how would you like me to go about my purpose?
One of the projects I’m working on involves the name of God: Jehovah Nissi, God is my banner. In relation to purpose, if everything we do is within God’s will, under His banner, sometimes He will send us to the battle on the left, and sometimes He will send us right. He will often right what’s left, but He has never, nor will ever left what’s right.
There are several challenges facing me (and thereby us) this year. What this means is that I don’t have the headspace available to become bogged down in fruitless conversations. “I’m sorry, I have absolutely no way to fix that and I have no head space available for rent to someone else’s problems they don’t want to address.” In other words, “Not my monkey, not my circus.” Go tell the ringmaster – My brain is already overwhelmed.
My focus needs to be on my purpose and my calling or I will fail on so many levels. While failure isn’t the end of the world, and so often Jesus uses my failures to His glory, spiritual failure: for my soul to fail to be faithful to His purpose is not a path I choose to entertain.
2 Thessalonians 2: 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.Top of Form
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What’s your story, your testimony? We each have a story and a purpose that Jesus has written in our hearts. Our story is our own, it is not what watching others live life, it is what Jesus is doing in your life. Let Jesus write your story, then live it!
