The words we choose: Part 1

In studying God's word and the many different translations, it got me thinking about our language today and the words we choose to use. I bring this up, as we live by the old rhyme of " sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me." If this is true, why do we hang on to the hurtful names we were called in our childhood? If this is true, why is there so much emphasis put on our use of words in God's word, the Holy Bible?

Proverbs 15:2,4,7,28
² The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly,
But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.⁴ A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,

But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

⁷ The lips of the wise disperse knowledge,
But the heart of the fool does not do so.

²⁸ The heart of the righteous studies how to answer,
But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.

Proverbs 18:21

²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

I want to give a fore warning, this first installment will have some words that should offend, but I know no other way to show them than to write them out. Here they are, sh*t, f*ck, b*tch, p*ss, *ss, and one I will not even type, but it is used so often, it is some peoples go to adjective and uses our Lord's name to describe their discontent.

I know George Carlin used these words in a comedy routine in the 70s, but there is nothing funny about where we are today. Why with all the words we have, not only in the English language, but all languages do we find the need to use these words? Do they make us feel more powerful, do we find them funny, do they make us feel smarter by being so eloquent with such language? I don't have the answers to these questions, merely questions myself.

In the coming weeks we are going to look at even more words and what they do and don't do for us, but this week listen to the conversations around you and see just how often these words are used, and what you think and feel as you hear them.

Two biblical exapmles of prayer!

Over the last few weeks we have gone over two of the most prayed prayers in the bible. Last week we looked at the Lord's Prayer, this week we will look at what I believe Jesus is instructing us to do within this prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13
9 Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. We should come to God with praise and reverence for His name is high above any name to be named since the beginning of creation.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We should pray for God's plans for our lives to come to pass, and His will to done for us here on earth, just as it will be for us in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. God supplies our needs, we should not get wrapped up in seeking riches, but just knowing that God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory, not according to our bank accounts.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. This is one that is hard for everyone. We want our debts and trespasses forgiven but it is extremely hard to forgive someone that has wronged us. Jesus is telling us the key to our lives being full is letting go of the things that are holding us back, I believe un-forgiveness is one of the biggest problems in our world and church today.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. I have always had a hard time with this passage as I don't believe God tempts us but that the devil is the one tempting us with the worldly things that rule so many lives today. I do believe that God sent the Holy Spirit to come live in our hearts and that through His strength and guidance we can overcome anything that satan can throw at us.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

God has a plan for our lives, not just the here and now part, but every part of our lives. I believe He laid things out in the simple prayers that we looked at over the past few weeks so even the most stubborn and simple among us could see His love and grace in our lives.

This week as you pray get it down to the simplest level and as your pray this prayer, let God speak to you through His words. 

Two biblical examples of prayer!

Over the next few weeks we are going to look at two examples of
prayer in both the Old and New Testament.

The first one, unfortunately
most people will recognize from eulogies, as it is mostly used at funerals, but
when we break down this prayer from David we see that it was in reality a vision
of the promised Messiah.

Psalms 23
The Lord
is my shepherd;
I shall not
want.
He makes me to lie
down in green pastures;
He leads me beside
the still waters.
He
restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths
of righteousness
For His name’s
sake.

Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your
rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a
table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You
anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs
over.
Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me
All the days of
my life;
And I will dwell in the house of
the Lord
Forever.

The first line, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want, is
giving reference to Jesus being the one who protects, provides, and guides us as
the shepherds of David's time did. I do find it interesting that this Psalms was
written about a thousand years before Jesus' birth, but is unmistakable in who
it is describing as the Lord.

As we read on we find the Lord leading His
sheep like a shepherd of the day would care for his flock. He makes me to lie
down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. This paints a
beautiful picture of how God cares for us and every one of our needs are
met.
 
He restores my soul; He leads me in
the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Our souls are restored and our
paths are clear of any unrightousness leaving us free to focus on worship
and praise of our Lord.
 
Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil; For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Our
Lord, like the shepherd has His shield over us as we journey through the valleys
of our world. It is so comforting to know God is there in everything we
do.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the
days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

These lines show me that this is
about our salvation and us living the abundant life now, and it not just being
about our journey into heaven.

Tonight when you pray think about
these words and meditate on them and feel the peace that David felt as he looked
out at a thousand stars spread throughout the sky by our
creator.

Finding the zeal of a new believer!

This week we will continue with the teachings from "the parable of the sower" as spoken by Jesus in Matthew 13. Over the last few weeks we covered the seed that fell on stony ground, the seed that fell among the weeds, and now this week we will start with the first of the examples, the seed that fell by the wayside and was eaten by the birds.

Matthew 13:3,4 and 18,19
³ And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
¹⁸ “Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

How many of you when you first heard of the salvation of Jesus Christ met with ridicule or harsh words about your new found belief? A lot of us did as people are reluctant to believe what they don't understand and the human tendency is to attack what you can't explain. It does make it hard to stay strong in your faith when you have people come against you in what you believe, but we must stay strong in what we believe, and also encourage those that have decided to make Jesus the focus of their lives.

In the world today it is easy to quit or stop your beliefs when everyone is against you, but no one ever said being a born again Christian would be easy. In fact once we become born again our spiritual world gets easier as we have an advocate in the Holy Spirit, but our worldly life doesn't always follow our spiritual walk. Living a spiritual life in an earthly world is difficult as evident in Jesus parables about the spreading of the Word.

This week take the time to read through Matthew 13 and the parables of the sower and see which of the parables line up with your born again experience, and lets focus on becoming the last of these parables, reaping thirty, sixty, and one hundred fold.

 

Finding the zeal of a new beliver!

Last week we looked at the ways that as a new believer the world around you can choke or distract you and steal you away from what is important, God's will and plan for your life. This week we are going back to the parable of the sower to look at another way the zeal of a new believer gets stolen away.

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

The sower sowed seed and it fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil. You see this is the new believer, who in most cases tries going it alone. He may be a person that was never taught about God growing up, so his family may not be supportive of his new found faith. When they first hear the Word of Christ they go at it with both barrels but the heat of their un-supportive friends and family get the best of them and their faith wilts from the heat and pressure.

As Christians we need the fellowship and support of other believers to help us stay strong when the trials come our way. It is good for us to both encourage, and be encouraged as we grow in our relationship with God.

This week if you are in stony ground reach out to someone for support, and if you are grounded be that support.

Finding the zeal of a new believer!

Matthew 13:1-9

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

 

Do you remember when you were first introduced to Christ?

Do you remember that unquenchable thirst for God's word, or endlessly seeking God's presence in your life?

See if any of this sounds familiar, you start out reading your Bible everyday, you set aside time to pray in the morning and at night before you go to sleep, you attend church on Sunday morning, Wednesday evening, and some times on Sunday evening.

Some will read this and may have continued with their commitment of study and prayer, yet others will look closer at their lives and ask have I been seeking God as much as He is seeking me.

I bring up this subject, as all of us no matter who is reading have gone through this exact scenario. We start out our Christian walk focused on God and His grace and time constraints and the distractions of the world take us away from what God has planned for us. Pardon the following analogy but I can think of no better way to compare.

Remember in Toy Story when Andy got Buzz Lightyear for his birthday and all of the other toys were giving Woody a hard time about being pushed aside. I feel in our Christian walk with what the world throws at us, we do the same thing with God.
We have this loving God who has nothing but the best planned for us, then something else comes in and steals our time and attention. It is not God who suffers from this distraction, although I feel it pains Him to see His children running from His great plans, but we do as we lose our focus on what is important, our relationship with God.

The question is how do we find the zeal for God that we had as new believers in Christ and not become the seed that was spread among the thorns?

Are you unaffiliated?

Over the weekend I watched "Oh Brother where art thou?" for the umpteenth time. I love watching the show as it has a diverse group of characters and is very entertaining. This time though I noticed something I hadn't noticed before after the baptism scene they pick up Tommy the man that was at the crossroads, the mythical place where it is said the devil will trade fame and fortune for your immortal soul. Delmer and Pete were the ones that had just been baptized, Tommy had sold his soul to the devil as to quote the character in the movie, "I wasn't usin it" and Everett made the comment that he was the only one unaffiliated.

I hadn't put much thought to the movie or the comments before but this time it hit me how so many people in the world today are either like Tommy and have made wrong choices or like Everett and unaffiliated.

What does it mean to be unaffiliated, if we go by the dictionary definition it means not associated with another or others as a subordinate, subsidiary, or member; independent.

For years I was UNAFFILIATED, lost, and ended up at the same crossroads as the character Tommy, not tempted by the same things as Tommy but tempted none the less. It doesn't have to be fame and fortune it could be that car you always wanted, or the new house or basically anything that you could covet. Satan will always be there to tempt us, someone that was bold enough to think he could tempt God himself finds no trouble in sending things our way.

What I have found since becoming a child of God though is not just that I am affiliated but I have an advocate that is always there to help me in my times of trouble or when temptation comes my way. I truly feel for people like Tommy and Everett, for ones like Tommy as they don't  see the value of their soul, and for ones like Everett who think being independent and UNAFFILIATED make them more of a man.

Mark 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. ³ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
⁵ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’

and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

⁸ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
¹¹ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.