Don't Ask For Imput If You Really Don't Want It!

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Have you ever asked someone more knowledgeable than yourself for their input or help, but thought you knew better, so simply ignored their guidance?  If, we are honest with ourselves it no doubt happened first with a parent, a teacher, or a good friend.
The same is true when we ask in prayer for God's help, search the scriptures, but think it doesn't apply to us.

Everyone wants to do things on their own but sometimes to their own foolish demise. God gave us the scriptures that we might grow in His knowledge and wisdom, the end result of which leads to salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ who is the embodiment of God and the embodiment of the Word. The only way to understand is to immerse  yourself in the written word.

A LESSON ON CHRISTIAN LOVE

Romans 12:9 Love must be ⁹ without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 12:10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another. 12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord. 12:12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. 12:14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. ¹⁰ Do not be conceited. ¹¹ 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people. ¹² 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. ¹³ 12:19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, ¹⁴ for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” ¹⁵ says the Lord. 12:20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. ¹⁶ 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. NET http://bible.org

While this scripture gives us a guideline of how to treat others, it also teaches us how not to treat others. The very first words ... Love must be without hypocrisy is really what the rest of it is about. As fallen souls we have a propensity to use this word 'love' to suite our own desires. We want to 'love' with stipulation; we want to 'love' those who live up to our expectations. certainly we don't want to show 'love' to those who have done wrong things to us, and when we do treat them well, quite often we do it with the desire for God to heap burning coals on their heads (a twisting of the actual verse that says to leave it to God).

These verses call us to examine if we are loving with the love of Christ or with some man made perversion of the word 'love'. Do you love without hypocrisy?

GOD IS LISTENING!

My husband, who suffers COPD, announced this morning as he was getting ready for his day and struggling for breath, "I have decided I am going to become a strength trainer."

I began laughing, almost uncontrollably, and said, "Oh yes, and I am going to teach women how to be beautiful without makeup." Now this only makes since if you know that all of my life I have said that I start the day without a face at all and then draw it on. I am very pale and have white eyebrows and white eyelashes. Not what I would call a natural beauty by worldly standards.

That being said, I had already opened my Bible to - I Peter 3 before the conversation started to read a verse I was looking for down toward the bottom of the chapter. My husband walked into the bathroom and I decided it would not be right not to read the entire chapter and this is what the text I began with said:
I Peter 3:1-7
3:1 In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands. Then, ¹ even if some are disobedient to the word, they will be won over without a word by the way you live, ² 3:2 when they see your pure and reverent conduct. ³ 3:3 Let your ⁴ beauty ⁵ not be external – the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry ⁶ or fine clothes – 3:4 but the inner person ⁷ of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit, which is precious in God’s sight. 3:5 For in the same way the holy women who hoped in God long ago adorned themselves by being subject to their husbands, 3:6 like Sarah who obeyed ⁸ Abraham, calling him lord. You become her children ⁹ when you do what is good and have no fear in doing so. ¹⁰ 3:7 Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners ¹¹ and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers. <sup>12 NET http://bible.org

Again I began to giggle and thanked God, not only for the lesson involved, but also for showing me a side of Himself that often catches us off guard - His blessing of a sense of humor. I often pray that when people look at me they see God's love and not me at all and if you think about it, that is exactly what the first 6 verses of this chapter says is real beauty.

With that said, we must always watch and listen for what God is telling us and how He is correcting our thinking and our words. He is listening!


Until He Comes or until I go,
Nikki</sup>

HOW BURNED WOULD YOU BE?

2:8 For by grace you are saved ¹⁹ through faith, ²⁰ and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from ²¹ works, so that no one can boast. <sup>22
NET http://bible.org

This is the scripture used in the movie about the martyrdom of the Christian Jan Hus (John Huss). Hus was burned at the stake for heresy in part for teaching the word of God in everyday language so that it could be understood by the common man.

He was an educated man and served as rector of the University in Prague in the early 1400s. Part of what struck me about the story of Hus is that he thought he could reason with men who also claimed to be Christian, but soon learned that the truth had never been the issue. Certainly not the truth of the Bible or of the forgiveness of Christ.

All that Hus had to do to be released by the council was to denounce the things he had been teaching. Jan felt to do so would be to deny Christ's calling on his life, thereby denying Christ.

They took him out and burned him at the stake on July 6, 1415.

My question today to all of us is this. If you were told that today you were going to be burned at the stake for your beliefs in Christ, but you could save yourself by denouncing them, would you?</sup>

WALKING AWAY - CAN YOU?

Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, ⁹ quarrels, and fights about the law, ¹⁰ because they are useless and empty. 3:10 Reject a divisive person after one or two warnings. 3:11 You know ¹¹ that such a person is twisted by sin ¹² and is conscious of it himself. ¹³ NET http://bible.org

The most interesting part of this short quotation of scripture to me is the part about the divisive person knowing that they are being divisive and is twisted by sin. This is a revelation in that I have often thought that people did not know or understand that they were acting sinfully even after being instructed by the pastor or another close Christian friend. Personally, this makes it easier for me to walk away from that person (reject them), which is something I have always found hard in life. I am glad that God covers all of the bases for us. All we have to do is get into the word.

This is not to say that this person can't be redeemed, but they will have to turn in repentance from their sin and find reconciliation with Christ Jesus before he can be reconciled back to the fellowship of true Christian believers.

THE WAVES ROAR AND CRASH

Psalm 93 ¹

93:1 The Lord reigns! He is robed in majesty,

the Lord is robed, he wears strength around his waist. ²

Indeed, the world is established, it cannot be moved.

93:2 Your throne has been secure from ancient times; you have always been king. ³

93:3 The waves ⁴ roar, O Lord, the waves roar, the waves roar and crash. ⁵

93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, ⁶ and the mighty waves of the sea, the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. ⁷

93:5 The rules you set down ⁸ are completely reliable. ⁹ Holiness ¹⁰ aptly adorns your house, O Lord, forever. ¹¹

NET http://bible.org

Isn't it the most peaceful thing in your life to know that God is sovereign. He is in control and no matter what comes up against you, you can depend on the fact that He set down the rules for all that exists or ever will exist; therefore despite all, His will is all there is. The world can lash out at the shores of all He did but He remains securely on His thrown.
As a Christian plant these words from the scripture in your heart and rejoice as you go through the trials of this world that indeed whatever happens the result is written down forever and is secure in Him. It let's us know that whatever we are going through God is using it.

FAMILY

Ephesians 4:1-6

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ¹ urge you to live ² worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ³ 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, ⁴ with patience, bearing with ⁵ one another in love, 4:3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. NET http://bible.org
It is very easy, if one is not careful, to offend even the closest of friends or family. A misstated word, a disgusted look, an unthinking action, listening or reading with judgment, ignoring, even timing can sometimes separate those that are suppose to love one another. Living worthy of our calling is not something we are even capable of doing alone but only with the guidance of The Holy Spirit of God. (Galations 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.) We forget too frequently that everyone else that has been called into the family have the same feelings, trials and hopes that we have.

This scripture in Ephesians reminds us that we are family and our Father wants us to act like it.