Mind Your Mouth! (1)

"'Of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks...' " Luke 6:45 NKJV

'Oh, it was just a bunch of meaningless words. No big deal!' Wrong! Our words are a big deal and they do mean a lot! 'A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.' (Luke 6:45 NKJV) One of the biggest lessons I have learned as a pastor is to do my best with my words. Your words have either negative or positive impact. (1) Consider some negatives. They can wound people to the core. 'There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword...' (Proverbs12:18 NAS) They can break down a person's spirit, stripping them of the courage for living. '...Perverseness in it [the tongue] breaks the spirit...' (Proverbs 15:4 NKJV) Carelessly spoken words between people can destroy relationships. 'The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbour...' (Proverbs 11:9 NKJV) Emotional, and possibly even physical death, can result from words. 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue...' (Proverbs 18:21 NKJV) (2) Consider some positives. Your words can spark life into a relationship. 'A soothing tongue is a tree of life...' (Proverbs 15:4 NAS) The right words can help heal wounded relationships. 'Pleasant words are...sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.' (Proverbs 16:24 NIV) Well-chosen words can help us to understand each other. '...Sweetness of the lips increases learning...' (Proverbs 16:21 NKJV) Words spoken at the right times can bring us closer together. 'The right word spoken at the right time is as beautiful as gold apples in a silver bowl.' (Proverbs 25:11 NCV) What you say matters, so mind your mouth! Watch your words and impact people for the kingdom...the right words always lead to life...I know...

Pour Out Your Heart to God!

"'...I pour out my complaint before Him...' " Psalm 142:2 NIV

Learn to pray the Psalms. They run the gamut of human emotion from thanksgiving, to anger, to fear, to loneliness, to grief. The Psalmist doesn't miss a beat when it comes to life. Not life as we wish it was, but life as it is: 'I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble.' He vents his pain to God, he allows himself to 'feel it'. That takes courage, especially when you just want to put on a brave face. John Ortberg wrote: 'I regret feeling the pain of failure so keenly that I backed away from owning it and learning from it. I could not heal and move on. I wanted to bury it so deeply that no one would ever guess it was there - not even me.' Sound familiar? The Bible doesn't discourage the grieving process, it just warns us not to get stuck in it. '...Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning...' (Psalm 30:5 NIV) To reach your morning of rejoicing you must go through your night of weeping. FB Meyer wrote: 'There are some who chide tears as unmanly, unsubmissive, unchristian. They comfort us with a chill, bidding us to put on a rigid and tearless countenance... We may well ask if a man who cannot weep can really love? Sorrow is just love bereaved; its most natural expression is tears... Jesus wept. ...The Ephesian converts wept on the neck of the Apostle Paul whose face they were never to see again.' So go ahead and pour out your heart to God. It's a vital step to becoming whole. Thats God's plan for us. So go on a try it. See what God can do. Then share the joy with everyone. I bet this Sunday you won't be able to contain what God has done inside of you...Wholeness!

Thoughts for Today

Pour Out Your Heart to God!

Thoughts for Today

Trust God! Trust God! Trust God! "'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living...' " Psalm 142:5 NKJV

Hard times energise some people, yet paralyse others. I was thinking this morning about David. Everything he touched turned to gold: Samuel anointed him to be king; he defeated Goliath; Saul chose him as a musician and warrior; the army loved him and wrote songs about him. Then his life fell apart. He lost his job and his marriage failed; Samuel his old mentor died; his best friend Jonathan couldn't help him and Saul's soldiers hounded him until he had to hide in a cave. At some point we all do time in the cave! It's where you end up when all your earthy supports are gone. It's where you learn important things about yourself that you can't learn anywhere else. It's where God does some of His best work in moulding you into the likeness of Christ. It's where your worst inadequacies confirm that you're out of your depth and where God sends His power to flow through your weakness. Take some time to think on this it, When David prayed, 'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living,' he'd no way of knowing there was a crown in his future, or that he wasn't going to die in hiding. For all he knew, this cave he was in right now might be as good as it gets. When you're in a situation you can't fix, can't change and can't escape, trust God! Trust God! Trust God! As long as your sense of security is tied solely to your success, it'll always be fragile. But when you know that God is with you even at your lowest point, you can handle the cave and come out stronger! Sunday in service you were challenged to ask God for a inner healing or you stood in someones place. Why ask unless you you are willing to say "I trust God, I trust God, I trust God!"

Thoughts for the Day

18 The wicked shall be a ransom for the (uncompromisingly) righteous, and the treacherous for the upright (because the wicked fall themselves into the traps and pits they have dug for the good).

We sometimes want to get even right away for all the bad things people do to us. But if you are reading this blog today there is a story in the Bible about how God takes care of His people in the book of Esther. The story goes like this:

There was a woman named Esther, who was made Queen to King Ahasuerus, who lived in a palace in Shushan. He was king of the Persian empire. Esther was a Jew; however, her nationality had not yet been revealed to the King. There was a plot, by a wicked man named Haman (who was one of the King's princes), to destroy the Jews because one of them, Mordecai, who was Esther's uncle, refused to bow down to Haman. His refusal to bow, was based on his commitment to only bow to the true God, Jehovah. Mordecai's behavior incensed Haman and he convinced the King that the Jews were a threat to his kingdom. He bribed the King by offering to give a large sum of silver into the King's treasury, if he would sign an edict to destroy the Jews. TheKking agreed to destroy the Jews, not knowing that Esther was a Jew. Since the King made Haman overseer of this project, Haman thought he would succeed in destroying Mordecai, so he built a gallows to hang him on.

But, as the Lord would have it, the King could not sleep one night, and he began reading a book of memorable deeds. As he read, he remembered that Mordecai had been responsible for saving his life at one time, and discovered that this noble man had not been rewarded for his brave deed. So the King called Haman in and asked him what he thought should be done for a man that he wanted to honor. Now Haman, in his own pride, thought that the King surely spoke of him. He responded that the man should be given royal apparel, a crown on his head, and given the king's horse to ride before the people in the city. To Haman's chagrin, the King then told him to do this for Mordecai, for he was the noble man. Haman went away stunned and grieving, as he had to obey the King's command.

Later, the king was having a dinner with Queen Esther, and he summoned Haman to attend. At the dinner, Queen Esther made petition to the King to reverse the wicked plot that Haman had devised to destroy her people. She did this at the risk of her life, as no one was allowed to go uninvited before the King with a petition. Because of prayer and fasting, Esther not only found favor in the sight of the King, but he was also angry when he realized the evil in Haman's plot. The King, in his wrath, arose and went into the palace garden. Meanwhile, Haman became afraid and tried to plead for his life by approaching Queen Esther. He fell down on her couch pleading with her. At that same moment that the King returned to the room. The King thought he was trying to assault the Queen, so he ordered him taken way and hanged on the very gallows that Haman had built to hang Mordecai. So trust in God when things look bad and people seem to be beating you down in life...Everything in Gods timing...Just remember how much he loves you and will take care of you...

Thoughts for Today

Naaman (1)

" '...He was...a mighty man...but a leper...' " 2 Kings 5:1 NKJV

In examining the story of Naaman the leper, we begin by looking at his condition. 'Naaman, commander of the army of...Syria, was a great...man...but a leper.' (2 Kings 5:1 NKJV ) In spite of his past victories and present honors, he had a hidden problem that wouldn't stay hidden long. Left un-dealt with, it would eventually destroy him. Can you relate? Today the odds may be in your favor. You've graduated from the best university, you've a good family and you've built a church or a business, or climbed to the top in your career. Yet before you can qualify for greater blessing God will force you to deal with a condition that's hidden beneath your armor. Outstanding people in every occupation, particularly spiritual ones, go through it. It's what sets them apart. It's what ushers them across the bridge from mediocre to exceptional. Without obstacles we'll always be ordinary! We're not talking about petty little problems. We're talking about issues so overwhelming you can't sleep; gut-wrenching things that cause your heart to skip a beat and make you fear 'this is the one that's going to take me out!' It's the thing you pray about in secret. It's what you don't want people to see. So, like Naaman, you wear your 'brass' then go home and agonise over your condition. Understand this: God teaches some of His greatest lessons in the valleys of life. That's where you learn to lie prostrate before Him, weeping and broken. It's where you pray: 'God, don't let this thing destroy me. Deal with it through the power of Your Spirit.' And here's the good news: that kind of prayer brings deliverance. So don't let the one thing get you down. God wants to talk and hear from you. Just as we said Sunday: let God make such a impression upon your spirit that you have no other option but to listen to Him! You are loved...

Thoughts for Today

In Harness with Jesus

"'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me...' " Matthew 11:29 NKJV

Some of us find it easy to trust God for health, yet we stay awake all night worrying about finances. Or we trust Him for finances, but not to direct our steps. Jesus says, 'Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me.' You say, 'Learn what?' Learn that if you want to lighten your load, don't take on more - take on a partner. Get in harness with the Lord and take your lead from Him. Working with God will restore your strength, not deplete it! As I was preparing for this blog today I thought back to when I was a young youth pastor: 'On my way to a conference in the Seattle area I was driving uphill along a major interstate, when I overtook a freight train going the same direction at a slower speed. The train was being pushed uphill by two locomotives that sounded as if they were straining at full power. I'm a flatlander from the mid west. 'Is this how trains move in mountains I thought?' I wondered. I gradually came alongside the front of the over 1 mile-long string of cars. There I found five more locomotives pulling the train. Seven engines in all! Where I come from, I rarely see more than two or three. That train was a lesson for me. I had been under serious strain for some time. I was feeling tired and was wondering whether I could persevere under the pressure. How like God, I thought. When I am pushing a load uphill with all the strength I have and feel like my energy level is depleted, He wants me to know that He is in the lead, pulling with power far greater than mine.' If you are in that place today...why don't you hook up with Jesus and see what difference he can make by your side. You are loved!