Love of Truth Breeds Hatred of Falsehoods

The Truth Will Not Stay Buried

(1 Corinthians 15: 3-8; 22,23)

I hate every false way.  Love of truth breeds hatred of falsehoods. The godly man was not indifferent to anything; what he did not love he hated.  David was not a waverer, he knew what he felt, and he expressed it. The psalmist's detestation was as unreserved as his affection.  He did not always have a good word for any practice that could not stand the light of truth.  He was determined to avoid every form of error and sin.  May the Holy Spirit so rule in our hearts that our affections toward the precepts of the Word will be the same as David's.  Commentary taken from the Treasury of David - by Charles Spurgeon

My thoughts on this passage...

Today, we see books to do with "A loving God would not send anyone to hell."   They state God is love, and a loving God cannot send anyone to hell because that would go against who He is by nature.  They ignore what Jesus says about hell in the Bible. 

The Bible does say God is love.  Love permeates His whole being.  It is the essence of who He is.  God is also holy, just, righteous, and many other good things.  The thing is, God isn't part holy, part just, part righteous and so on, covered by a blanket of love.  He is completely holy, completely just, completely righteous, and completely love. He is not part anything, but wholly everything good. 

This is why because of His holiness, He cannot look upon sin; because of His justice, sin must be punished; because of His love, Jesus paid the penalty for our sin, died in our place, and imputed His perfect righteous life to all those who would put their faith in His shed blood, and His substitutionary act on our behalf.  

According to Scripture He died, was buried, rose on the third day, and was witnessed by over 500 people, plus the disciples. When he ascended back to heaven 40 days later in a flesh and bone body (Luke 24:39), He promised to return.  In the meantime, He would send the Holy Spirit to be with all those who belonged to Him and He would be their Helper. (The resurrection: 1 Corinthians.15:3-8; 20-23; Luke 24:13-45; the first four chapters of Acts)

According to Jesus, (according to Scripture) there is a hell, and all those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will have their part in it, along with Satan and his apostate angels.  Being in denial of it does not make it untrue.  It will not save you.  There will be no sin in heaven.  The only way into heaven is by humbly recognizing we are a sinner in need of a Savior, repenting (to turn from known sin),  and putting our faith in Christ Jesus and His substitutionary atonement on the cross, believing that He died and rose again from the dead. He will one day return, not as Savior, but as Judge against all those who have rejected Him.  Revelation 19:11-16;  Rev.20:11-15; Rev.21:6-8).

If He is not your Savior and Lord yet, please sincerely and humbly seek Him.  He says that if you will seek Him with all your heart and mind you will find Him.  He is able to forgive all your sins, regenerate your heart to love Him, and give the Holy Spirit to bring God's Word to life for you so you can grow spiritually, progressively taking on His character and love..

We all know others, family, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances, that may still be believing the lies of Satan and have not yet recognized they are sinners in need of a Savior.  We must not give up praying for them to come to a saving faith in Christ Jesus.  Let’s ask God to work in their hearts and lives to draw them to His Son, whatever it takes.  We want them regenerated and in heaven with us.

When we know Jesus, we naturally want others to know Him too.  Our part is to pray for others, live our lives intentionally being aware that God is able to bring anyone across our path that needs an encouraging word, a listening ear, a prayer, or help with something.  Through some of these God incidences God may be preparing hearts to want to know Him, or he may be healing hearts that need a special word.  If we are to be a vessel for the Master’s use, we need to be prepared and pre-prayed before we leave home and… be alert during the day for whatever God may bring across our path. Ask God to give you His Word for anyone He brings across your path and if they are a seeker, let them ask a question to open up discussion. This actually happened once with me and a Hindu lady. I prayed God would have her ask a question about Him, and she did.  I was amazed (I guess I should not have been, but I was).

Have you experienced God-incidences in your life?  You probably have.  If we are really busy, we may not have recognized it at the time. Other times we have no doubt about it.  Start looking for them.  Stay alert and be prepared.

Are you prepared to meet different type challenges during your day?  One of them could be a God-incident.

Hebrews 13:3  says, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Most importantly, do you know the correct Biblical doctrines about God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)? Do you have knowledge of the attributes and character of God?  Do you know the full gospel message, in case someone should ask you, or know the Bible references?  If you are not certain, don’t guess.  Use a Bible to look them up or go to an online Biblios.com or Bible Gateway to look up information.  If you just guess, you could possibly give out doctrinal error.  You don’t want to do that, so humbly tell them you will look it up for them and get back to them shortly.

Want to share any God-incidents?  Please do so in the comments section. It would be nice to hear other's on this.  :)

~Annie~

Direct My Footsteps According to Your Word: Let no sin rule over me



Direct my footsteps according to Your Word: Let no sin rule over me.

(Psalm 119:133).

 

 

When we surrender a particular thing to God we can be certain He will test us on it.  At least He does me.  I always thought of myself as an honest person but then started examining myself to see if that was as true as I thought it was.  To my surprise, when I thought back, I realized I have told a little lie on occasion, mostly when someone asked me something that I wished they hadn’t. For example, because I have osteoporosis, my son told me I need to stop moving furniture around. I like to rearrange rooms to see if I can find a new way to arrange things that I hadn’t thought of yet.  My son says this is a disease with me. I told him I will try not to.  Weeks later, he will ask me if I have moved the furniture again?  Although I  did, I don’t admit it, instead I would say, What do you think I have moved? Even though it isn’t an outright lie, it is still not being totally honest.  My reasoning was that I didn’t want him to get upset because I changed things around again. I know this isn’t the only little lie I have told, but they are usually for what seems a good reason at the time.  “It is these little foxes that destroy the fruit in the vineyard.”  Therefore, I have surrendered these “little foxes” to the Lord and am relying on Him to convict me if I should slip into this again. 

 

Integrity includes those gray areas we might not think about when doing something.  You know, things we’ve always done because everyone else does them, and we just hadn’t given much, if any, thought to them. Well, God didn’t waste any time in revealing to me how easy it is to lie without realizing it in the moment.  I am so grateful He was gentle with me as the Holy Spirit convicted me. It was just another proof to me, He is willing to help me in this area, and any other area as I surrender them and allow Him to work in me.

The Test: My son bought me a Costco membership card.  I noticed on the application it said that it could be shared with a spouse, or other family member.  The catch was that the other family member had to be sharing the same address.  Now my son lives in another city but visits every now and then, and when he does, it is usually on a weekend.  He often stays over night before driving home.  Occasionally, he will stay for a few days or more, but this is usually when his sister is visiting from out of country.  I wanted to put him on my Costco card because when he is down he takes me out shopping and, after all, he just bought the card for me.  So this is what I said to the clerk:

"My son lives out of town, but often stays at my apartment on weekends and takes me out shopping because I do not have a car.”  This is true except for the part “often” stays on weekends.  It is more like once a month and he usually only stays over for the one night. The clerk said it should be alright as long as he can have a couple of pieces of mail sent to him at my address. That seemed good. I didn’t see anything wrong with it as everyone does it.

Test one: I had a hard time sleeping that night as my mind was going over the details of that transaction.  I remembered committing to God integrity in everything, including the little things that we don’t usually think about.  Then I realized I failed God’s test!  I, by trying to get around the family member having to stay at the same address rule, caused the clerk to go against her integrity by suggesting a way to accommodate me.  I caused her to sin.  This was all my idea, so I was also causing my son to sin by suggesting he get a couple pieces of mail sent to him at my address.  Wow!  It is true that when we sin, we never sin alone.  Our sin always involves others. 

I called my son the next day to tell him that I was wrong in what I did, and how I had surrendered that area to God… then God tested me on it, and I failed that test.  He understood and told me he doesn’t need a Costco card anyway. I felt some relief, but thought maybe I should go back to the clerk and let her know I was wrong.  I was telling another person about this and how I felt it was a test and I had flunked it but wanted to make amends.  Not more than five minutes later this other person, who helps me out a lot, asked if she could get a few things on my Costco card and she would give me the cash for them before we got to the till.  I said, “Sure!”  Then less than a minute later, it hit me, I have been tested again and flunked... for the second time!  I answered without thinking.  I need to get James 1:19 engraved on my mind. “Be quick to listen, slow to speak…

I confessed my failure again and knew what I needed to do.  I couldn’t go back to the same clerk as she was not there when I went back a couple days later, and I was not even sure if I would recognize her as there are different ones there at different times.   I could, however, keep my integrity by giving a gift membership to the loving person who is always helping me when my son is not here.  I had wanted to give her a gift but didn’t know what to get her.  Now, I knew what to get, and was very happy to be able to give her something that would be both useful and beneficial to her.  This also solved the problem of her putting her items in my cart even though she was paying for them, but didn’t have a card to get the deals. Like me, she didn’t think anything of putting a few items in my cart and giving me the cash to pay for them before we got to the till. The difference now, is that I committed everything to do with integrity to God so that those little foxes do not destroy the fruit in my vineyard, but more importantly, I want to honor Him in all my ways.

God knows I usually learn better the hard way because I am very impulsive and don’t always think through what I am going to say before I blurt out something.  I am grateful that He showed me and was gentle in doing it.  I feel rewarded because I was able to do something for someone who does much for me, and am again reminded that God is interested in helping us keep our commitments to Him.

 

So when you have surrendered some area of your life that you are ready to have renewed for your character refinement to be more Christ-like, remember this:  You will be tested on it.  If you flunk like I did, you will be tested again in another way.  Why, because He works with us when we invite Him to, by surrendering any specific area.  It is exciting knowing God was at work bringing these challenges to test me, except He doesn’t give you a 60 second warning that we are about to be tested.  The tests are needed because they are what strengthen us in both our perseverance and our faith.

 

What have I learned through this test?

1.       When we sin, we never sin alone

2.       Our sin can cause others to sin by unintentionally involving them in it.

3.       Our sin can hurt other people or cause them to stumble

4.       God wants to help us deal with our sin and has provided all we need to do so.

5.       I need to listen carefully, slow down, and pause before speaking

     

I know God brought these things to me in order to test me so that “I” would know what’s in my heart, and would discover joy follows disappointment when we want to please God and make things right…and at the same time have opportunity to bless another.

What are some of your “little foxes” that might ruin the fruit in your vineyard?

Hebrews 12:1-3 tells us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, so we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…

It is these little foxes that destroy the fruit in the vineyard, our sin, that entangles us in the ways of the world. We need to remind ourselves that we are representatives of Christ to reveal to the world what He is like, just as He revealed to the world what His Father is like.

I have another little fox to throw out of the vineyard but I will not be doing it alone. The Master of the vineyard will be working along side of me at my invitation.

 ~Annie~

All Good Things Come From God...even tests, trials, and afflictions







Psalm 119: 67,68

67.  Before I was afflicted I went astray.  Often, our trials act as a thorn hedge to keep us in good pasture, and our prosperity is a gap through which we go astray.  The spiritual, who prize growth in grace, will bless God that those dangerous days are over, for they know that if the weather is stormy, it is also healthier.  It is well when the mind is open and candid.  Perhaps David would never have known and confessed his straying if he had not smarted under the rod.  Let us join in his humble acknowledgments, for doubtless we have imitated him in straying.  We must remember we can never rise to one world without the other world descending.

But now I keep Your Word.  When there is no spiritual life, affliction works no spiritual benefit.  But where the heart is sound, trouble awakens conscience, wandering is confessed, and the soul becomes obedient to the command. Before his trouble David wandered.  But afterward, he kept within the hedge of the Word and found good pasture for his soul.  The trial tethered him to the proper place; it kept him, and then he kept God's Word.  Sweet are the uses of adversity, which puts a bridle on transgression and furnishes a spur for holiness.  –above quotes taken from Charles Spurgeon in Treasury of David

68. You are good, and what You do is good; teach me Your decrees.

My thoughts on Psalm 119:67,68

Everyone will have tests and trials, at least at some point in their life. These tests and trials can be short term, very long term, or a mixture of both.  I believe God has them special ordered for each of us according to our needs, and/or the needs of others we are connected to in some way.  We do not see these needs as we don't really know the depths of our own heart as well as we might think.  God searches our heart and knows exactly what we need to build into us the character and love of His Son, Christ Jesus.

When our focus is on the things of the world and what it offers, it is taken off Christ.  We depend on worldly things to entertain us, make us happy and to fill our time.  We desire to have more money so we can buy more things.  But is this what God wants for us? He wants us to have some recreation and rest on a regular basis, but does He want us to be filling our heart with movies or videos that pollute our minds with instant sex, violence, and occultic themes, and even worse, irreverent language that dishonors the name of Christ Jesus, who saved us. Would He not rather have us watch wholesome movies, and even more importantly, to fill our heart with His Word so that we will be prepared for every situation as the Holy Spirit takes what we have stored up in our heart, and brings it to our remembrance at any particular time of need?

In 2 Corinthians1:5-11 Paul tells the Corinthians that the sufferings they endured were so that they would not rely on themselves, but on God.  He also told them that through Christ, our comfort would overflow to others experiencing the same things.  In this way, God uses our sufferings for His good, our good, and the good of others. You might ask, how does God use our sufferings for our own good?

If God's purpose is to form the character and love of Christ Jesus in us, we should take another look at the character and love of Christ in action.  What did Jesus teach us about relationship with the Father? The following are just a few things...

Jesus arose before daybreak every morning to go to a solitary place to commune with His Father.  Before He started His day He wanted to be prepared and pre-prayed.  He always listened to His Father, and did what the Father wanted Him to do.  He watched to see where the Father was working and He joined Him.  He was also setting an example for us to follow.  He did nothing on His own initiative. He gave all glory to the Father.  How often are we listening to the Father?  How often do we do things on our own initiative?  How often are we watching to see where God is working around us?  How are we doing about starting our day with prayer regarding the day before us? 

The tests and trials are the tools God uses to build the character and love and all else needed, such as a forgiving spirit,  the fruits of the Spirit, see also 2 Peter 1: 3-11.  This is the part that benefits us, and thereby benefits others and pleases God.  This is what God uses to bring good changes in us and draws others closer to desiring after Him.

All good things come from above.  Tests and trials may be painful, but our Sovereign God knows how to bring good out from any trial.  We often don't see it until later, but it is always there in the works.  It works much better if we rely on Him rather than ourselves.  Like a good parent He knows what is best for our eternal good.

Teach me Your statutes.  David prays, " Lord be good and do good to me, that I may both be good and do good through Your teaching. 

 

 

The Mercy of God in Salvation

The Mercy of God in Salvation

Psalm 119 -41

My personal thoughts on this particular passage...

41. Your salvation. This is the sum and crown of all mercies; deliverance from all evil, both now and forever more. This is the first mention of salvation in this Psalm, and it is joined with mercy. "For by grace you have been saved (Eph 2:8). What a mass of mercies is heaped together in the one salvation of our Lord Jesus! It includes the mercies that spared us before our conversion. Then there is calling mercy, the regenerating mercy, and the pardoning mercy. Nor can we exclude from complete salvation the many mercies that are needed to conduct the believer safe to glory. (quote  by Charles Spurgeon).

When I look back on my life, in retrospect, I see many of God's mercies toward me, even before I knew Him.  There was more than one instance in my life where I should have died, but by God's intervention and mercy, I didn't.  Even in many other circumstances I have experienced God's mercies, although I may not always have recognized them, at that time, as coming from Him.  As we know, God often uses other people to carry some of these mercies to us.  Whatever sources or tools God chooses to use, we need to remember who put it into the hearts of the people, at that specific time of need, to be there for another.  The original source of kindness and mercy is always from God.

The greatest mercy is that God has been watching over us, preserving us, as well as preparing us by bringing particular people, and circumstances into our lives.  Why?  He loves us as a Father and always had a plan to adopt us as His children.  First, though, because He is holy and cannot tolerate sin in His presence, our Triune God planned a way of freeing us of our sin debt and providing us with His Son's perfect righteousness.  He did this  so  that we could be reconciled and have a personal intimate relationship with the Father through Christ Jesus, enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

God is patient with us and will reveal Himself bit by bit to us, over many years, and often through many tears. He knows exactly what circumstances we need, and how long it will take for us to recognize we are sinners in need of a Savior.  We cannot save ourselves through any number of good works, and we can never be good enough by our own efforts. We must recognize and believe His Word is true and there is only one Savior under heaven who can save, and that is Jesus Christ, (Acts 4:12)  God's  only Son.  Romans 10:17  says  "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ." 

For myself, before my heart was regenerated I knew a little about Jesus and  went to church for awhile, but I did not have a strong desire to live for Him only.  I didn’t even know what that meant.  I was still living for worldly pleasures.  In 1970  I experienced a lot of very bad occultic bloody flashbacks, some of which involved "a" Jesus. That  did a number on me. Later, it was through working out and healing from my past,  I was driven to  studying the Bible to untangle much twisted Scripture and to find out the truth who Jesus really was and what He was really like.  I put a lot of effort and time in learning doctrines of the Bible and as much as I could about Jesus, Himself.  It was years later while riding in a car on the way home from church that a light bulb went on. It just flashed in my mind, that Jesus was God.  I don’t know why I never noticed that while searching, or even how I could have missed it.  I was delivered that night through the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ and was freed to worship Him.  My life has changed from that time and I know it.  The reason I was studying the Bible was to find out what Jesus was really like and what the Bible said about Him, and wanting to know what the main doctrines about Him where. I found the true, genuine Jesus in my search.  Later, I was excited to find out that from Genesis to Revelation is actually mainly about Jesus.  From the time of my deliverance I have gained an insatiable appetite for God’s Word and the desire to share it with others.    I hope everyone will be able to experience this.  Many or most of you probably already understand this joy and delight in God’s Word, which is really a treasure chest of diamonds and precious jewels.

After we have come to a saving faith in Christ Jesus we shall see mercy after mercy, for they are new every morning (Lam.3:22,23).  We have a new living hope and that is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col.1:27).  God's Word becomes a delight as we feed on it daily and drink of His Holy Spirit.  As we are progressively being transformed through the renewing of our mind (attitudes), dying to sin in our lives, and surrendering each day to Him we will witness His mercies each time we mess up.  His mercy will not let us go. He will bring into our life whatever is necessary for our continued sanctification.  Yes, we were sanctified, but we continue to grow in sanctification as we persevere in our faith. I believe it is all part of working out in our life what Christ has already given us. It is God who works in us to will and act according to His good purpose  (Philippians 2:12,13). We will still have tests and trials to go through before we go home, but we never need to go through them alone, or in our own strength.  He walks us through them.  He has become our Anchor, and our faith will be unmovable as we keep our eyes and heart fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who went before us, enduring the cross…for the joy set before Him.

 

 

Annie~

Christ-Likeness and The Word of God

 

  Christ-Likeness

 

The caterpillar of a moth, we are told, becomes like the color of the leaf upon which it feeds. The color in this way indicates the character of the food it eats.  If we would be like Christ we must feed on Him.  Our moral character will always manifest the color of our mental food.  Christ lived upon the Word of God His Father, and so maintained a life like Him.  If we would be His disciples we must come after Him in this matter.  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3)  (Psalm 119:11; Psalm 119: 105.) 

Quote taken from- Handfuls on Purpose – Smith and Lee

I will bow down toward Your holy temple and will praise Your name for Your love and Your faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word (Psalm 138:2).

Just as in the desert God provided manna for the people to feed on each day, in these last days He has provided the Word of God (Jesus) made flesh, for us to feed on.  Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God  (Mt.4:4; Lk.4:4; Deut.8:3).

As we feed on and digest His word, we will become spiritually nourished by it.  We are told in Psalm 119:11, to hide His word in our hearts so that we might not sin against Him.  When Satan tested Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus quoted the word of God to him in answer to each test.  (You may have noticed that Satan, true to his nature, will twist, add to, or omit parts of Scripture. If you compare Matthew 4:4 to Psalm 91:11, you will notice that when Satan quoted this particular Scripture, he omitted "in all your ways").

God wants us to store up His word in our hearts so that we are always prepared for temptations, tests, and trials.  He also wants us to be able to use His word for encouraging, correcting, rebuking, training in righteousness, and for discernment of what is correct teaching, and what is not.  Most importantly, He wants us to know Him better, and that comes through knowing the word of God, and practicing living it out more and more in our life under the Spirit's guidance and enablement.  It is through His word that we come to faith, and through His word that we grow spiritually.  However, we must never separate the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  The Holy Spirit opens our understanding of the word of God and takes the word of God which we have digested, and brings it to our mind at the appropriate time as we need it - in any circumstance.  He also empowers us through it as we submit to being vessels prepared for His use.

 Peter tells us to grow in grace and knowledge of God our Father  and our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1). We have everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him - so that we can escape the corruption in this world through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and prayerful communion with our Father.  We are to be diligent in adding to our faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. To grow in grace and knowledge and to be putting off known sinful ways and putting on Christ-like character.  As we let the fruit of the Spirit grow in us and practice living it out in our lives, we will progressively take on more and more of the character and love of Christ Jesus. 

Some Christians try to live by the Spirit alone, while neglecting the Bible. This can be dangerous, because if you don’t know what the Bible teaches and are not rooted in biblical doctrines, you may inadvertently spread false teaching, or be carried away by it because you lack discernment.  We are accountable to God for every careless word we speak. We must be very careful with His Word. We should not get our Bible knowledge from others,who may also have gotten it second hand from someone else. but we should be like the Berean's and check out if what we are being taught lines up with God's Word. See Acts 17:11.  Many people just take a verse out of context as a proof Scripture.  This can also be dangerous, as they get a wrong understanding because they have not checked out the context surrounding it, or looked up other biblical references to it to find out how it is used in other contexts as well.

Some Christians may be in the Bible much, but neglect the Spirit of God.  This can lead to legalism, and possibly becoming judgmental of others.  We must be respectful, graceful, and loving in all we do and say.

We must always keep these three together, prayer, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit, as they always work together.  Let us not separate them.

Do you separate the Holy Spirit from the Word of God or do you keep them together always, along with prayer to our Father?

The Word of God is the mind of Christ. See Rev.19:11-13.  The entire Bible, both O.T. and N.T. testifies of Christ. (Luke 24:25-27)  The Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance what we have digested of God’s Word.  This is so important because we don’t usually have a Bible in our hand at times of temptation, and often not when in many difficult circumstances, especially unexpected ones. But if we have His word stored up in our heart or at least digested, if not remembered, the Holy Spirit will be able to bring it to our mind when we most need to hear it.  Is this not a good enough reason for being daily in the Word digesting a passage a day, at least? I say a passage rather than just a verse, as a verse alone could be taken out of context.  We need to read the Scripture in context with surrounding Scripture.

James says, "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1). This makes me nervous... but also much more careful, and prayerful regarding what I write.  I know I will be judged more strictly if I get it wrong.  Therefore, I appreciate input from anyone out there who has any questions on anything I have written, to please comment and let me know, and I will certainly have it checked out.  It is important to have a teachable spirit, because only God is infallible. I am not a theologian or a seminary student, just a senior who loves to study God's Word and share with others.  My prayer is that everyone become a good Berean! In these days especially, and the days ahead, you will need to be.(Acts 17:11)


Meaning of digest here... 
 
Chew one's cud -

Fig. to think deeply; to be deeply involved in private thought. (Alludes to the cow's habit of bringing food back from the first stomach into the mouth to chew it, called chewing the cud.)

 

Ask all kinds of questions while reading and ask also, how does this relate to me or my circumstances? How does it relate to my spiritual growth? What have I learned from this passage? Why was this message given? What was the reason for this particular message? Why should I know this and how do I apply this to my life?

~Annie~

What Has Love and Attitudes Got To Do With It?

The Love Chapter

1Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.

 

Love is patient - When am I not?  In what type of situations do I have less patients?  When am I most patient?      
                                                       

Love does not envy - Do I envy at times?   If so, what or who, do I likely envy?                                         

Love does not boast - Do I boast at times?  If so, in what ways?                                         

Love is not proud -  Do I have a prideful attitude rather than a humble one?  In what ways?                                            

Love is not rude - Have I been carelessly, unintentionally, or unknowingly rude at times? In what ways?

Love is not self-seeking - In what ways am I more self-seeking? 

Love is not easily angered - What type of things, attitudes/behaviors, or situations easily anger you?  How do you deal with this? How quickly do you deal with it? Do you hold on to it for a period of time because you feel justified in it? How long before you cry out to God and fill Him in on your feelings, surrender the situation and feelings to Him, and listen to what He will impress on your heart?

Love keeps no record of wrongs - Do I bring up past history (things forgiven) when in a heated discussion? Do I attack the issue at hand, or the persons character? Am I able to still keep a forgiving spirit even though I may not feel it strongly until things have settled. How would Jesus want me to handle this? Is Jesus pleased with the way I am handling it?

Love does not delight in evil -  Do I delight in anything that I know will not please God?

Love rejoices with the truth - The truth always leaves one with a clear conscience and pleases Jesus.

Love always protects - In what ways does a parent protect their children? How does God similarly protect us?  In what ways does a parent discipline children?  How are God's ways similar when He disciplines us?  Why do you discipline and protect your children? Why does God discipline or protect His children?
 

Love always trusts -  We should always trust God, but especially with those we don't know well, even if we have casually known them for many years, use wisdom, and trust in increments as you learn to know them better.  People are fallible, God is infallible. 

Love always hopes - The only hope that is anchored and sure, is in Christ Jesus and His Word.

Love always perseveres - God provides tests and trials for His children to build their Christ-like character and to strengthen their faith as they look to Him, and rely on Him to bring them through. He also uses them to reveal to us what is really deep in our hearts so that we can surrender those things to Him. No matter how great the test or trial we must continue trusting and relying on God. Even though we don't have the answers we want and cannot understand the why's, when we know God's character and love, we know we can trust He knows what is best from an eternal perspective, and He will work all things out for good from His perfect perspective. He is the only One who knows the end from the beginning and all the details in between, and how to bring things together at the proper times.

Love never fails -  We may experience different types of failure in life, but God's love never fails. There is nothing or anyone who can take His love from us.  It is unconditional.  He wants us to practice unconditional love for others. This doesn't mean we condone wrongdoing, only that we will not stop caring for the person even though we may hate their behavior. We are to pray for those who wrong or hurt us, that God will work in their hearts to desire after Him.

 

At different times in our lives, and under different circumstances, and experiences, we will be tested in different areas of our life.  We know that God doesn’t need to test us, or allow us to be tested so that He will know how we will handle each situation.  God allows it so that we can see ourselves, as we really are, in our inner being.   He knows that we cannot see our faults as clearly as another can see them, just as we are able to see faults in others that they probably aren’t aware of.  Often we are not aware of some behaviors or attitudes until someone, usually a loved one, enlighten us.  This can be painful, but we can use the knowledge to ask God to help us change this attitude.   I say attitude, not behavior, because the behavior stems from the attitude.  This will take time, and lots of practice, probably with some slips, before you own the new attitude.
 

I have had some bad experiences over the past few years that were planned out by another to cause me a lot of stress, but it caused more anger than anything.   I found out I had been lied to and deceived when I was most vulnerable, at the time my husband died and I was deep in grief and my mind in a fog.  I had been trusting the manager of my building to be giving me correct information and believing she was telling me the truth.  She had been purposely giving me wrong information and withholding information I needed.I found out eleven months later that I had been set up to lose my rent subsidy and not being able to pay market rent, I would have been evicted. I had no choice but to report the situation to Housing as the manager of my building had another person who worked in the applications department helping her. Therefore, I did not lose my subsidy.  I thought I had forgiven the people involved and had even been praying for their salvation.  Because the harassment has been ongoing in intervals, I have found myself feeling angry again.  In between episodes, I would be rehashing why I was feeling angry and what would God want me to do?   I could have made it a legal matter, and still could, but is that what God wants?  I do not know.  Since I don’t know, I will keep praying for them, but also for myself concerning my attitudes. 

I have been examining my heart and realized that I have been too focused on them and the pain they have been causing, instead of focusing more on God and leaving them in His hands.   I need to let go of the record of wrongs and start seeing them as if they were my sisters and brothers that I love.  I need to see them through the eyes and heart of Christ Jesus.  I need to realize I cannot change their attitudes but I can have mine renewed.  Only God can change a heart.  I need to pray that way for them.   I want to keep my focus on Jesus by being rooted in His Word and reliant on His Spirit to direct and enable me to honor Christ Jesus in my attitudes, words, and behavior.  I need to keep uppermost in my mind that I represent Christ Jesus to all I meet, just as every Christian does.  How would my attitude compare to Jesus' attitude?

As life would have it, even when we think we have things under control and we are doing alright in our own minds, in rolls another test or trial to keep us in the transformation stage as we both grow in faith… and have another attitude or two renewed.

We could really dig into each of these attitudes above and get a lot out of them as we discover they pop up in our lives when we least expect them.  It is when we discover them in ourselves that we seriously need God’s help to root them out and replace them with a new Christ like attitude.  If the old attitude is just removed, and not replaced, it will slip back pretty fast.
 

Do you think there are a couple or even a few attitudes you would like to turn over to God and replace them with a Christ like one?  

Which ones do you find popping up the most in your life at this time?

What is the trigger most of the time?   Which people or situations in your life seem to trigger unwanted attitudes?  Why?   

Sometimes we may think we have dealt with anger or another negative emotion when it is still lurking in the deepness of our soul.  We may need to take it to God on more than one occasion to deal with it.   Psalms 62 tells us to pour out our hearts to God… when we are in a deep emotional state, whether anger, confusion, or grief, or other emotion, and are totally honest with God about our feelings, the good, the bad, and the ugly, He hears us.    Pause and listen and you will find His thoughts coming into mind (His thoughts will always agree with His Word and will never contradict any biblical principles). and you will know what He wants you to do in order to heal, and in order to forgive others so that you will be able  to begin letting go of the anger.  When the anger resurfaces, take it back to Him, reminding Him that you have chosen to forgive so you need Him to help you feel it.  It has been at these pouring out times that I have felt closest to God. 
 

Do others feel like they are always in one struggle or another in the attitude department?  Do you feel like even when you are practicing a new attitude that things happen that will challenge you on it?  Well, I guess God just wants us to practice using the new attitude,  and the only way that is going to happen is if it is tested enough times until it gets deeply rooted in. ;)

I hope I will hear from some of you, even if you want to remain anonymous, that's ok.  I would like to hear how others are dealing with attitudes, and maybe they can encourage others with the way they  handle their particular situations. 

  There is always an attitude to work on and sometimes it may be one we were previously working on. The important thing is that we recognize wrong attitudes and desire to replace them with godly ones.  The only way to do that is to surrender that area to God and practice another godly attitude in its place.  This is how the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and transforms our heart attitudes so that we will progressively become more and more Christ-like in both character, love, and be living out what God has already put in, through Christ Jesus.  He supplies the power through His Word and the Holy Spirit.  That way, we are doing it because of the right motive and out of love for Christ. He puts the desire to honor Him in all we do and say, so it is a joy to work this out in our lives. We must remember we are not under the law; we are under grace, and He has given us more than enough to do everything we need to do with joy for His honor.

~Annie`

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Ps.90:12).

Meditations, Reflections, Insights

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Ps.90:12).

The length of our days is seventy years - or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. (Ps.90:10)

Have you noticed that during the phase of a lifetime our experience of time starts of very slow and continues in slow mode for at least one or two decades.  Remember when you were a kid how it seemed an eternity between one Christmas to the next, from one birthday to the next, or waiting until the end of June when School got out each year?  We wanted to grow up fast, maybe like an older brother or sister.  Those were the days before we were loaded with other cares and responsibilities of life.

During those earlier years, hopefully, we were progressively prepared in many of the age appropriate ways for entering into the adult world in the future... where we would be responsible not only for ourselves, but for, and to others as well.  In fact, others would be relying on us to fulfill our part.  The parents' job is to train up their child so that they will be prepared one day to graduate into the adult life and responsibilities, and do so successfully.  Unfortunately, many parents fail in this area, although not purposely. Many parents didn't have an example to follow because their parents didn't have parents who knew how to train up their children to be prepared for the adult world and its responsibilities.  I fell into this category myself, both as a child and as a young parent. 

Beginning around the third decade time begins moving faster and each decade following seems to pick up more speed than the decade before.  Before we know it, our children have grown and they now have children.  Where did life go?  What did I achieve?  It is better to learn late, than not at all. But I can't help wondering if we had learned how to adapt to life and its many changes and unexpected circumstances in healthier ways earlier in life, how much difference would that have made?  I believe it would have made a significant difference in many ways.  We cannot teach or model what we have not learned, so we model our dysfunctional ways in front of our children without realizing how much we are harming their outlook on life as they too pick up on negative attitudes, hopelessness, and other negative behaviors.  We want them to learn better ways than we have learned, because we love them, but we don't know how to model a better way.

Somewhere along the line, hopefully, we do learn how to be better parents and grandparents. It is usually after a point of recognition of how we are not the parent we want to be, and don't know how to be, that we begin seeking how to go about making changes in our own lives.  It has to begin with us because our lives affect others, especially our children, and spouses, not to mention, everyone we meet.  As we change progressively, we will find others seem to be changing their attitudes toward us as well. 

  

I'm sure I am not the only person who has wished they could start over with the knowledge they now have.  How many things about our past self we would change if we could.  Our lives would be so different, and maybe our children's lives would have been different too.  We know we cannot go back, only forward.  As long as we are still breathing we can grow and change, and model  healthier, life inspiring attitudes that build up, not tear down, that encourage, not discourage, that focus on love for Christ, and others, rather than only on ourselves. We can change our future by changing our attitudes toward life's circumstances, and toward others.  I thank God that He left us His Word, the Bible, for us to learn of Him, and through His Holy Spirit be able to have our attitudes transformed to become more like His.  We will not get it perfect in our lifetime, but we know we are His children who are ever learning, and are to practice modeling our new attitudes, love, and behavior so the world will recognize us as belonging to Christ.  It is only because of Christ Jesus' personal deep love and concern for us, that He shed His blood to give us a new life, in Him. It cost Him everything; it only costs us heart submission to Him, which will enable Him to change us through His Spirit and His Word.

 A scripture God laid on my heart many years ago was this:  Romans 12:1-2

1)Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy (Christ dying for our sins so we could have a new spirit-empowered life through Him), offer your bodies as "living" sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

2)Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.

What are your thoughts on this?

Maybe you had parents who knew how to train up their children to become responsible caring adults who love God and others, and have Christ like attitudes.  Maybe you didn't.  Either way, I would love to hear your responses or maybe how you came to recognize a need to change.

~Annie~

Preview