I think that we all need feedback from others. I know that I do! It is hard to open ourselves up to others and then have to wonder what they are thinking. We wonder if they agreed with our perspective, if we did a good job or not, if there are things that we need to do differently or better, etc..
Without feedback, we are simply left to wonder. I am kind of feeling this way about my blogging. I know that there are people reading my blogs, but I have gotten very little feedback from those readers. I want to invite you to share your comments/thoughts with me. The Bible says that "iron sharpens iron" and I believe that I can grow through receiving your thoughts and comments.
Yes, there are times that we are going to need to "lovingly agree to disagree" on issues, but even those times can be times of growth as well, so don't be afraid to share your honest thoughts with me. I want to grow in my understanding of and faith in God and in life matters in general. I invite you to help sharpen me through your feedback. I would ask that we all be respectful of one another because the Bible also says that the "tongue is like a double edged sword" and can cut very deeply if not used in love.
Thank you for reading this blog and thank you in advance for your willingness to share your thoughts with me. God Bless!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Speak Up God, I Can't Hear You!
Have you ever had a genuine need, not a want but a real need, that only God could deal with? You prayed and prayed, but God remained silent and you began to doubt God's ability or even willingness to provide for that need. Did you ask God why He was being silent?
I had such a situation recently. I had a HUGE (from my perspective) need and I longed to receive a quick answer from God so that I would feel better and be able to give Him the glory for the way He provided. Unfortunately God was silent for quite awhile. During my waiting time, I looked for signs that God was still there and still loved me because I was feeling very alone and wondering if anybody loved me.
My special love gifts from God are gold finches. I looked out at my finch feeder in my back yard many times each day and there was not one of those beautiful little finches that would be a sign of God's love for me. I needed that reassurance that He still loved me. I began to ask God where He was and why he was being silent for so long.
The answer came to me this past weekend. God was being quiet because He needed me to recognize an area in my life that I needed to grow in. It was a difficult revelation to me in an area that I had thought that I was doing pretty good in overall. With brilliant clarity, God showed me that I needed to address some unhealthy attitudes that had crept into my heart. I was shocked at what I saw and confessed it right away and promised the Lord that I was going to start working on them immediately.
When I started watching for these negative attitudes, I realized that they were manifesting themselves in a lot of areas. Again, I was shocked at how ingrained they had become in my life. After that revelation and my commitment and work to start changing those unhealthy/displeasing attitudes, guess what I saw in my back yard. . . .gold finches! I am also seeing God showing up in amazing ways and meeting those HUGE needs that have been unmet for far longer than I would have liked.
I was wanting my own comfort rather than God's perfect timing of His provision. This was pretty selfish of me and that is exactly the issue God needed me to recognize and get control over, selfishness! I am actively and intentionally working on my selfishness and it is hard work, but very important!
I am NOT saying that God's silence is always in response to sin in our lives, otherwise He would always be silent because we are all sinful creatures and our very nature is sinful. I am also NOT saying that God was withholding His love for me because I did not see the gold finches. What I am saying is that in my case, He wanted and needed to reveal my sin to me and His silence helped me to be able to recognize it. I am now thankful for God's silence, and even more thankful for the restoration of our relationship. I LOVE to hear God's voice and long to see Him moving in my life every day!
I had such a situation recently. I had a HUGE (from my perspective) need and I longed to receive a quick answer from God so that I would feel better and be able to give Him the glory for the way He provided. Unfortunately God was silent for quite awhile. During my waiting time, I looked for signs that God was still there and still loved me because I was feeling very alone and wondering if anybody loved me.
My special love gifts from God are gold finches. I looked out at my finch feeder in my back yard many times each day and there was not one of those beautiful little finches that would be a sign of God's love for me. I needed that reassurance that He still loved me. I began to ask God where He was and why he was being silent for so long.
The answer came to me this past weekend. God was being quiet because He needed me to recognize an area in my life that I needed to grow in. It was a difficult revelation to me in an area that I had thought that I was doing pretty good in overall. With brilliant clarity, God showed me that I needed to address some unhealthy attitudes that had crept into my heart. I was shocked at what I saw and confessed it right away and promised the Lord that I was going to start working on them immediately.
When I started watching for these negative attitudes, I realized that they were manifesting themselves in a lot of areas. Again, I was shocked at how ingrained they had become in my life. After that revelation and my commitment and work to start changing those unhealthy/displeasing attitudes, guess what I saw in my back yard. . . .gold finches! I am also seeing God showing up in amazing ways and meeting those HUGE needs that have been unmet for far longer than I would have liked.
I was wanting my own comfort rather than God's perfect timing of His provision. This was pretty selfish of me and that is exactly the issue God needed me to recognize and get control over, selfishness! I am actively and intentionally working on my selfishness and it is hard work, but very important!
I am NOT saying that God's silence is always in response to sin in our lives, otherwise He would always be silent because we are all sinful creatures and our very nature is sinful. I am also NOT saying that God was withholding His love for me because I did not see the gold finches. What I am saying is that in my case, He wanted and needed to reveal my sin to me and His silence helped me to be able to recognize it. I am now thankful for God's silence, and even more thankful for the restoration of our relationship. I LOVE to hear God's voice and long to see Him moving in my life every day!
Friday, May 14, 2010
A Question to make you say, "Hummmm"
Have you ever had questions that came to your mind that made you say, "hummmmm"? I had one such question recently. The question was this . . . . "Are there things that make God sad that are not sin?"
Recently I have been pondering this question and went to ask a pastor friend of mine for his thoughts. He shared (from my perspective) a very profound thought. He said he believes that "there are lots of things that make God sad that are on the way to sin." Decisions that may not be sin yet but lead the way to sin make God sad.
For example, when we start spending more time on other things than we do spending time being connected to God makes Him sad. Even putting ministry ahead of time with God makes Him sad. We can get so busy and focused on ministering to others in God's name and lose our own personal connectedness with God. This would make God sad.
The challenge then seems to be to make decisions based on how they will impact my relationship with God and further God's kingdom. I challenge each of us to prayerfully consider if our actions, choices, and decisions might make God sad and work to turn things around before they lead to sin.
Recently I have been pondering this question and went to ask a pastor friend of mine for his thoughts. He shared (from my perspective) a very profound thought. He said he believes that "there are lots of things that make God sad that are on the way to sin." Decisions that may not be sin yet but lead the way to sin make God sad.
For example, when we start spending more time on other things than we do spending time being connected to God makes Him sad. Even putting ministry ahead of time with God makes Him sad. We can get so busy and focused on ministering to others in God's name and lose our own personal connectedness with God. This would make God sad.
On the other side of the spectrum, if I am spending so much time deepening my own relationship with God that I neglect to minister to others, this too makes God sad. We can become so "Heavenly minded that we are no earthly good." There needs to be a balance of being attentive to deepening my own personal relationship and being an ambassador for Christ through ministry to or in relationship with others.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Who's My Neighbor?
One of my biggest pet peeves is to be honked at or gestured at by other drivers on the road. Recently, while I was driving through the Walmart parking lot, I was honked at and shaken a fist at by two different people. Now I am NOT that bad of a driver and am very cautious especially driving through parking areas. So what was the deal??
It seems that people are becoming very impatient and not using good manners and being kind to on another. This has gotten me to thinking about the Bible commanding us to love our neighbor, and how we go about doing that.
First of all, who is our neighbor? In Luke 10:30-37, Jesus addresses this question through His parable of the Good Samaritan. We see through Jesus' teachings that being a "neighbor" had nothing to do with living in close proximity, having commonality in nationality, gender, vocation or any other factor. Very simply, our neighbors are those people we are in contact with, whether in our home, in our community, in our work place, on the city streets or on country roads, etc.
The next question is, how do we love our neighbor? Once again, we go to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. God's word tells us that love is patient, kind, does not envy, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. We are to live out our love through demonstrating these types of behaviors or using good "manners".
So, long story short, we as believers are to love our neighbors (anyone we come in contact with in any circumstances) by being patient, kind, etc. As we walk through our day today, I also encourage you to put great effort into loving your neighbor, even when they pull out in front of you on the road (use your breaks), but in front of you in the grocery line, honk their horn at you or shake their fist at you or respond to you in other harsh or rude ways.
It is very apparent from scripture that God does expect us as believers to use good manners and ti love our neighbors. We should not expect nonbelievers to live out this directive to love their neighbors, but we should expect all believers to love their neighbors in this way for this is what we are commanded by our Lord Jesus to do. We please and honor God when we faithfully demonstrate love to our our neighbors in this lost world.
It seems that people are becoming very impatient and not using good manners and being kind to on another. This has gotten me to thinking about the Bible commanding us to love our neighbor, and how we go about doing that.
First of all, who is our neighbor? In Luke 10:30-37, Jesus addresses this question through His parable of the Good Samaritan. We see through Jesus' teachings that being a "neighbor" had nothing to do with living in close proximity, having commonality in nationality, gender, vocation or any other factor. Very simply, our neighbors are those people we are in contact with, whether in our home, in our community, in our work place, on the city streets or on country roads, etc.
The next question is, how do we love our neighbor? Once again, we go to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. God's word tells us that love is patient, kind, does not envy, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. We are to live out our love through demonstrating these types of behaviors or using good "manners".
So, long story short, we as believers are to love our neighbors (anyone we come in contact with in any circumstances) by being patient, kind, etc. As we walk through our day today, I also encourage you to put great effort into loving your neighbor, even when they pull out in front of you on the road (use your breaks), but in front of you in the grocery line, honk their horn at you or shake their fist at you or respond to you in other harsh or rude ways.
It is very apparent from scripture that God does expect us as believers to use good manners and ti love our neighbors. We should not expect nonbelievers to live out this directive to love their neighbors, but we should expect all believers to love their neighbors in this way for this is what we are commanded by our Lord Jesus to do. We please and honor God when we faithfully demonstrate love to our our neighbors in this lost world.
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