Friends Forever?

Matthew 6:15
But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

I have a new roommate and this is a picture of our cats actually getting along for a short period of time. Occasionally there are sweet moments between the two of them, but the moments are very brief.

Sadly, it is my cat who has to be the "Alpha Cat" and she gets all bent out of shape over the very presence and existence of this new critter that is intruding on her territory. I entered the house last week and my cat was on top of the coffee table growling, hissing and her tail was twitching up a storm. Then I look at the couch and see the roommates cat laying on his back, spread eagle and snoring like a baby without a care in the world.

This scene made me think and ponder on forgiveness and how when I am not willing to forgive someone it usually makes me just like my cat...mean, cranky, annoyed, angry, and growling. Sometimes I even bite and scratch. The funny thing is the offender, the person that I am not willing to forgive is usually just like the roommate's cat, clueless and unaware that they have even offended me.

The moral of the story...Get over it!

He is our help and shield

Honestly, I am a little critical when it comes to movies. I usually will save myself the expense of going to a theater and wait until it comes out on video so that I can turn it off if it is too unbearable to watch. Tonight I watched a movie called "The Secret Lives of Bees". I am not saying that this movie was unbearable, because overall it was an okay movie and it had all the components that make a decent movie, but for me what is always missing in these movies is the truth, Jesus. 

The movie grieved my heart, and maybe God's also, because the faith expressed in the movie was faith in a god that brought a wooden statue of a "black" mother Mary, whom, tradition stated, was sent to give love, strength, hope and courage to the slaves. Throughout the movie, the characters are bowing down in front of this statue to pray, they are gathering together to worship before her, and they are reaching out to touch her heart so that they may be filled with her love.  

One of the characters was a bit of an emotional wreck, and it was said that she carried the "weight of the world" on her shoulders. She built a stone wall and placed these weights on little pieces of papers and wedged them between the cracks in the rocks like they do at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Israel. (If you haven't seen the movie and you want to see this movie read the rest of this later, because I am going to give something away.) Well, this character ends up killing herself and leaves a note on the wall for her sisters that she will be with her deceased family members and that she will be in a better place than she was before.

The questions and thoughts that this scene left in my mind were, "Where is she going now that she is dead? There was no mention or explanation of eternity, heaven or hell, nothing. What god was she following that would send a wooden statue that can't walk, talk, eat or even breathe for that matter to give love? I thought that her statue was pretty weak and could not handle taking the "weight of the world" upon her wooden shoulders, but the Bible says that Jesus took it and will take all of that weight off our backs if we go to Him and call on His name. Oh yeah, and where was all the love that this statue was supposed to fill these people with? After all was said and done, the character killed herself, but the Bible says that God's love is unfailing.

This statue, or any statue, can never do what the God of the Bible, the one that the Psalmist speaks of in Psalm 33 can and will do for us when we put our faith in Him. I know this personally, because He saved me from an attempted suicide and I could not deny the fact that He answered a direct cry for help from me to Him.

Psalm 33:12-22

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth- he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Amen

His Provision

The reason that I started this blog, with the encouragement of a friend, was because I had become so discouraged that I lost faith in God and His power. Believe me, it was not a pretty place to be and I never want to go there again. God is good, all of the time!

For some time I have been seeking the Lord in a few areas of my life, and quite frankly, It has been discouraging to me when I constantly hear wait..wait for the Lord...strength will rise as I wait upon the Lord. The other day I was humbled once again by the Lord. I was fasting and praying and I heard Him say to read John 6 and so I did. It is the story where Jesus feeds the 5000 by turning 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into enough for 5000 people plus 12 baskets full of leftovers.  Wow!

So my thoughts and impressions were that Jesus saw the multitude of people coming and He already had a plan, He knew that He was able to provide their need to be fed, all 5000 of them. Already knowing this Jesus asked His disciple Philip where they could get food to feed the multitude of people, but I think that Philip answered incorrectly when he said that  “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”

It seems to me that Philip could only see the problem and solution through his human, earthly understanding and it gives me comfort to think that Philip was a disciple of Jesus, walking side by side with the Lord in His ministry, and he did not consider or turn to Jesus and ask how He, the Savior was going to provide the money or the bread to feed the people.  Jesus did not condemn or criticize Philip for his lack of understanding but instead He displayed His patience, His power, His ability to provide, His generosity, and His abundance.

So why do I doubt Jesus' provision over my life? I think that it is because I lack an understanding of who He really is and what He can really do. I, like Philip, tend to see the vastness of the problem and forget that I have the solution standing right by my side, and it is not me. So I am encouraged to be reminded by Jesus that He is the bread of life, and that He already has a plan for the areas of my life that I may have been discouraged or struggling in. I am blessed to know on a deeper level that Jesus is more than able to provide and that does give me strength to continue seeking His face and waiting for His perfect timing in all things.

 

Cry Out To Jesus

Last night I watched a movie called "The diary of a mad black woman". There was a scene where the husband comes home with his mistress to tell his wife of eighteen years that her things are packed up in a u-haul and that she needed to get out of his house because the mistress was moving in. 

The wife was stunned and refused to leave, there was a scuffle, somehow she ended up on the floor kicking and screaming and the husband dragged her across the floor and threw her out of the house, locking the door behind her. She knocked and cried out her husbands name, but he did not open the door or respond to her cry. The door remained closed and locked.

What a heart wrenching scene, to think that somebody could be that cruel, but the truth is that it happens everyday. People walk out on each other emotionally, physically, spiritually, all of the time. I am not just talking about marriages but families and friendships as well. The thing that was impressed upon my heart the most was the fact that God will never drag us out of His house and lock the door on us. And if you do feel like you are on the outside of God's house then may I encourage you with these scriptures?

Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Luke 11:10

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

All of Your commandments are faithful

Psalm 119: 92-94

Unless Your law had been my delight,

I would then have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have given me life.
I am Yours, save me; For I have sought Your precepts.

This morning I was reminded of the importance of God's law in my life. I reflected that before I began to study His word I was living a lifestyle that did not look anything like the life spoken of in the word and it was killing me both physically, emotionally and spiritually. As I began to study the word, I began to see that I was a "law breaker" and that I needed to be saved because as hard as I tried, I could not save myself. 

Sometimes I wonder if I am reflecting His image currently, but when I look back I do see that He has changed my heart, my thoughts and my lifestyle quite radically. I still get a little confused about the issue of legalism vs grace and wonder if I might sometimes use grace as an excuse to continue in a sinful behavior, but I do know that the Lord is not through teaching me and I am trying to stay humble enough to listen and obey when He speaks.

Yesterday I was reminded to ask the Lord who He is and what He has to say to me today and this is what He said to me when I took the time to ask.

• His merciful kindness can be for my comfort
• His tender mercies bring me life
• His statutes are my songs
• His judgments are righteous
• He teaches good judgment and knowledge
• He is good and does good
• He teaches His statutes
• The law of His mouth is better than thousands of coins of silver and gold
• His hands made and fashioned me
• He gives understanding that I may learn His commandments
• He is my salvation
• His word brings me hope
• His commandments are faithful

Repentance

Hosea 6:1-3

A Call to Repentance

1 Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. 3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. 

I was just thinking about how I have the tendency to place so much importance on people and situations. I usually misinterpret the authority that I think they have and I often forget who truly is affecting the course of events. Yes, God is in control of all things and I have to believe this fact every day so that I don't get tossed about by my emotions and feelings.

It amazes me how quickly that I can forget that God is in control and not me. I confess that it is a daily battle for me to submit to His authority, to trust Him and to obey Him, but as my heart repents and returns to Him I clearly see His desire to heal me and to renew a right relationship between us. 

What good is knowledge if it is not of the Lord? May it be our goal to pursue the knowledge of the Lord daily and to thank Him constantly for what He has done for us. 

Joy

1 John 1: 4-10

 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

This morning I was reflecting on a time when I was so deceived by the ways of this world that I could not even comprehend the simple truth, that I was a sinner. I remember always justifying my behavior with one excuse after another, and blaming someone or something else always made me feel better about myself because it took the responsibility off of me for my own actions and behaviors.

Occasionally I will still fall backward into this type of sinful behavior, and the result is that I lose my joy. So how do I recapture the fullness of joy that my sinful attitude steals from me? 

Usually confession is a good place for me to start. There is freedom when I acknowledge that only the blood of Jesus can forgive, cleanse and purify me of all unrighteousness, because in my own strength I constantly fail to live up to God's moral standards. So I thank God that He is in control and that I don't have to be.  I also thank God for opening my eyes and allowing His word to have meaning in my life. Thank You Jesus for saving me from the darkness.

Psalm 119: 164,165

Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.
Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.