Outburst 2.....

.… Get ready here it comes. Unrestrained expression of emotion.

I am so blessed to have such solid support and encouragement from SO many people!!!

I left a business today with absolutely no concern about ANYthing, because I have people there who have my back.

I had about a dozen clients who had appointments today who were so willing and eager to change their schedules to accommodate this necessary day off.

I have sales reps who do the leg work for me when I can’t.

It never crossed my mind to wonder if everything was ok. I know they are all capable and dependable. And I know they would turn flips if I asked them to. (…but I don’t !) Some are family by blood, all are family. And they are part of the reason I love my job.

　

　

Today, I ….
drove a brand new vehicle…..

A vehicle with OnStar turn by turn directions to a place I’d never been to before in Dallas …..

I drove straight thru with no missed turns or questions about where the place was located…

to a hospital, that was organized, timely, and informative…..

where we were cared for by a staff of people who were real and treated us like people, not objects…

where within an hour, my husband’s hand was operated on repairing some damaged tendons and ligaments…

We had the benefit of all the current technology to feel connected to all those who love and care for us…

Cell phones and social networks do away with the miles that separated us, we never felt alone or isolated..

Prayer warriors have been on the battlefield all day, praying over us…

Offers from dozens of people to come along with us, or help here at home in any way…

Call after call to Kerry from people who are concerned and want to hear from him that all is well…

Text messages, one after another….some light-hearted, jesting, boosting our spirits and bringing smiles and even a few LOLs (Laugh Out Loud s)

Comments on social networks from friends who have moved away long ago, but are still really connected to us….

God, thank You for the blessings You have shown me thru this trial. You are so good…

Outburst...

…. an unrestrained expression of emotion

I had one yesterday. Unrestrained. THAT is the problem. It’s not the emotion. It’s not the expression OF the emotion. It’s the unrestrained part that causes the problem.

I was reminded this morning that even Moses had one. I daresay I’d have had one waaaay before he did. Forty years is a long time to keep a restraint on emotions. He’d been dealing with this mass of people for a long time, the griping, the quarreling, the blatant disobedience…..the doubting God, the fear of their unknown future.

Moses had been obedient to God. He had followed His instructions, seen God’s miraculous Hand at work in delivering this people…a people designated to be free…a people designated to be the bloodline that would bring freedom to me.

And you if you choose….

I feel for Moses. In a moment of frustration and probably pride, he had an outburst of unrestrained emotion.

　

"Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff….. (Numbers 20:10-11)

Not such a bad thing really. Except it was NOT what God had instructed him to do. And….it might have been a bit of grandstanding on Moses’ part.

I regret my outburst. But I won’t wallow in the guilt. I’ve spoken to God about it, and He says ‘…learn from it and let’s move on…’

At least He didn’t invite me up on a mountain to never come down !!

(…which, by the way, I think was more kindness on God’s part than punishment…..Moses didn’t have to continue to deal with those people anymore. He got to retire ! )

Captive....

 ..taken by force by an enemy…

“…..we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

My thoughts are not always my friend. Often, they assault me. Wrong thinking is an enemy to my spiritual health.

I don’t like some of my thoughts.. But try as I might, I can’t rid myself of them completely.

I can’t will myself to NOT think. My humanity shows itself. At times, it is not pretty. And the devil grabs every opportunity to promote wrong thinking.

Again, I am reminded of the phrases from my brother Paul.

Take captive your thoughts…

Obedient to Christ….

Fight…

Wage war…

Weapons…

Divine power…

　

Obedient…..I do want to be obedient. How thankful I am for His help in doing just that.

So I take up my weapons, the ones He has provided.

I wage war with His divine power.

And I stand. And fight.

Not with another human being, but with sin.

I again ask my Father to give me courage and strength.

I ask for discernment.

I ask that He reveal both my enemy’s lies and His Own truth…that I not be deceived.

I ask that He redirect my thoughts and bring them in line with His will and purpose.

I ask Him to remind me BEFORE I sin, that only His approval is important.

And I repent with Godly sorrow for disobedience already committed, knowing He puts my sin as far as the east is from the west.

"Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” (2 Cor. 10:17-18)

I want to be approved by Him above all else. Nothing else really matters in the eternal scope of things…..

Retaliate...

Webster says it is to return like for like.

We all know the golden rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. (Mt. 7:12)

Often, we choose to understand it as ‘Whatever others do to me, that’s what I can do to them’.

We want to justify our own desire to retaliate.

Life gets difficult. Relationships get complicated. People are people…with sin natures. We live in a fallen world, with fallen people. Some of them redeemed, some not. People don’t always do the right thing.

I don’t always do the right thing.

But I am not given freedom to retaliate. If we were, where would it end?

It can end with me. Right here. Right now.

I continue to seek, to listen and to hear, then follow the Holy Spirit that is within. I am assured that He is there…“God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Heb. 13:5, Joshua 1:5)



“ Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”(Rom.8:5)


I resolutely and repeatedly set my mind on Jesus, moment by moment choosing to believe His way and choosing to obey.

Constantly, I am on the battlefield of flesh vs. spirit.

Fruit...

In the course of our discussion Sunday morning, a question was raised about trees and fruit. We were reading the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 6, "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers.” (vs. 43,44)

The whole idea of fruit inspecting bothers me. I don’t relish the idea of anyone inspecting my fruit. Yet I am to bear fruit.

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…..This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”(”(John 15:2,8)

Each tree is recognized by the fruit it bears.

A peach tree will always have peaches on it, if there is any fruit.
Never apples. Never blueberries. Never acorns or pine cones.

But the peaches may or may not be great quality or quantity. There must be a lot of work and attention given to a peach tree in order to pick good peaches off of it.

Pruning, water, fertilizer, correct sun…
Frost can destroy the chance of fruit.
Bugs can ruin any fruit that grows.
Birds and worms can beat you to the taste test.


“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”(John 15:4,5)

Immediately after Jesus talked about the fruit bearing tree, He said this about the heart..
“ The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (vs.45)

I am reminded not to trust my own heart. “ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”(Jeremiah 17:9)

Only God can change a human heart.
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”(Ps. 51:10)

Only God can enable me to bear good fruit.
“…Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.”(Luke 15:4)

Albert Barnes had this to say, “The Saviour gives the proper test of their character. People do not judge of a tree by its leaves, or bark, or flowers, but by the fruit which it bears. The flowers may be beautiful and fragrant, the foliage thick and green; but these are merely ornamental. It is the “fruit” that is of chief service to man; and he forms his opinion of the nature and value of the tree by that fruit. So of pretensions to religion. The profession may be fair; but the “conduct” - the fruit - is to determine the nature of the principles.

Lord, help me to bear good fruit. Prune even though it may be painful, protect from what might destroy or disable fruit bearing, and keep me ever attached to Your lifegiving Vine.

Poor...

In preparing for Sunday morning Bible class, I read again what is often referred to as The Beatitudes. These verses of scripture record teachings of Jesus that seemed to be such a list of contradictions.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”(Matt. 5:3)

How can you be blessed by being in an obvious negative situation?
How can you be happy by being spiritually poor? And what does it look like to be poor in spirit?

It is a common thing to find the Christian way of life in complete contradiction to that of the natural world. Spiritual and natural rarely, if ever, follow the same course.

Eternal kingdom values and temporary worldly values are so very different.

The kingdom of God is nothing like any kingdom of this earthly realm. Wealth and power are important in our world. But what we consider wealth and power are only deceptions. ANY amount of prosperity here fails to measure up to the hope and joy found in utter dependence on God, rather than any outward circumstance.

The way of the world says ‘feel good about who you are, be confident, be assertive…even aggressive”.

Jesus’ way is to embrace the truth about who I am, a spiritual beggar incapable of fixing what is wrong deep within my spirit.

In accepting that truth about myself, I find myself blessed beyond measure, called a daughter of The Most High God, a citizen of His kingdom, and standing as an heiress of the eternal kingdom of heaven.

The more I know the character and love of Jesus, the more I realize the absolute poverty of my own spirit. How merciful He is to extend such grace to this spiritual beggar.

Hallelujah....

The word hallelujah is a command to praise the Lord. The word is derived from the Hebrew words hālal and Yah .

Yah is a pronoun for God, a shortened form of Yahweh, which is often translated "LORD."

hālal is a verb that means to praise, to commend, to boast, to shine. The word most often means praise and is associated with the ministry of the Levites who “…were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD. They were to do the same in the evening.”(1Ch. 23:30)

The Levitical priests were God praising, worship leaders.

You and I are not Levites, but we too are …. “ are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

We should be God praising, Jesus loving, worship leaders.

And, Jesus Himself said, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. “(Mark 16:15) The Message reads: “Go everywhere and announce the Message of God's good news to one and all.”


Hallelujah. Let’s praise God. And let’s speak His praises to any and every single person whom will listen.