To Be Still and Know

This post won't be quite like my others but I believe it's a very important topic we as Christians need to be thinking about and in prayer over.  Our nation is getting further and further away from the Lord and the principles of the Bible.  Our nation is not what I would consider a truly Christian nation anymore.  (Many people claiming to be "Christian" are not.   "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord! will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter."  Matthew 7:21 but that is not what this blog post is about so I digress.)  Just in the past decade I have seen the world reject Jesus and the Word of God more and more.  It's even infiltrating the churches today, where church leaders are turning away from teaching God's Word in order to "get with the times".  This makes me extra thankful for the church we attend.  The Word of God is thoroughly taught verse by verse week afte

"It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth."  Matthew 15:11 As I sat down today to write this blog post I searched for verses on the "mouth", "talk" and "speech".  Wow! There are so many!  God definitely cares about the things we say, and sadly we are very careless with our words.  It is wise to think before we speak but usually we find ourselves speaking first and thinking later.  How many hurt feelings, offended hearts and broken relationships could be avoided if we would simply think before we speak.  We must  first bring our thought life to the Lord and ask Him to help us not let it run wild.  To be able to think before we speak we must first know how we should be thinking!  We need to practice making our thought life one that is peaceful and loving and righteous before the Lord.  Our minds need to be a place where we would welcome Jesus and not be ashamed to have hi

"Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. " Proverbs 31:30 Today I want us to take time to be still and understand God's standard of beauty.  To not just read the words of the verses but let them sink in and apply them to ourselves that we might see ourselves through God's eyes and not the eyes of society.  Society tells us we have to be a certain size and look a certain way outwardly to be beautiful.  The billions of dollars that have been made in the diet supplement/diet program/fashion industries is really quite shameful when you think about it.  All that money we spend on vanity, on an outward beauty that will not last and does nothing for the inward qualities of our lives, that could have been spent on things much more valuable...feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, overseas missions, etc.  It is one thing to live a healthy life by eating a balanced diet and getting exercise, which we all should b

"Oh that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees!  Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands."  Psalm 119:5-6 There are times when I meet someone for the first time and almost immediately I know they have Christ living in them and we are siblings in the Lord!  There is just something about a person who has not only accepted Christ as their Savior but has also given over the controls of their lives to Him that shines through in their personality.  They don't even have to say anything about the Lord for me to feel this connection but most times after conversing with a person like this it doesn't take too long before the topic of the Lord comes up because He is just so much apart of their daily lives it has become fluid and natural for them to discuss Him in conversations.   "He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.  Instead, they will live for Christ who died and was ra

"Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are.  Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.  Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body.  We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.  In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.  So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.  If your gift is serving others, serve them well.  If you are a teacher, teach well.  If you gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.  If it is giving, give generously.  If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.  And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.  Don't just pretend to love others.  Really love them.  Hate what is wrong.  Ho

"Because of the Lords great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  Lamentations 3:22-23 The sermon at my church yesterday was on Jesus' compassion.  It spurred me on to look up verses concerning compassion and led to this blog post.  The above verse from Lamentations is not very long but it is filled with awesome truth and assurance!  Let's break it down into 4 parts: "Because of the Lords great love we are not consumed"  - What is it that you are being consumed by?  Is it worry?  Fear?  Anxiety?  Frustration?  Anger?  This passage tells us that anything that is weighing us down does not have to consume us.  Why?  Because of the love God has for us, He will not allow it to consume us if we will turn to him and give it over to him.   "for his compassions never fail."- How reassuring is that promise?  Compassion is defined in the dictionary as "a feeling of deep sy

"...for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!"  Matthew 6:8b Recently I found myself spiraling into an old familiar worried mind set over financial needs. Most of my adult life I have fallen into a pit of ugly dark worry and depression whenever uncertain financial times arise.  God's always been faithful to meet every single need we have ever had yet I would still find myself in that internal frenzied worried place every time a new financial need arose.  It wasn't so much that I forgot about the past provisions from the Lord, it was more so I was worried that maybe this time He wouldn't meet the need, for a variety of made up reasons. Yet every time He would meet them in His way, in His time. Over the past few months the Lord has been growing me in big ways, simply by spending time being still and listening for His voice through His Word and through a prayer life overhaul!  My prayer life has been ignited and I can sense the Lord pre