Dear Christian, How Faithful Are You?

"Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."

1 Corinthians 4:2

Dear Christian,

You know whether or not this letter is addressed to you.  Christians are those of us who wear the name of Christ, are called disciples, are known as students of the word, are saved, have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 

How faithful are you?  Faithful to what, you may be thinking. Great question.  Today's focus is -- how faithful are you in prayer?  Are you a person of prayer? Test your "selfie".  On a scale of 1-10, 10 high, rate yourself on the question -- how faithful are you in prayer?  (____) Be honest, be very honest.  If God were rating your faithfulness in prayer on that same scale, what would His rating be?

Prayer is talking to God.  Prayer is having a conversation with God -- i.e., talking to God and then listening to Him.  What kinds of things do you say to God?  Prayer may be praise, worship, thanksgiving, fellowship, petitions, making known to God the desires of your heart, reminding God of His promises to you, interceding on behalf of others, and more.  Prayer also involves listening to God, taking the time to be quiet and still so as to hear from Him.  Pray all the time, pray continually, pray on every occasion, pray without ceasing, pray in every season.  Pray using the Word of God.  Pray using God's Word on purpose.

How faithful are you in prayer?  Now is the time to become more faithful in prayer.  Go ahead, get started.  Watch God "do exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or imagine according to His power at work in you" (see Ephesians 3:20).

What Are You Saying?

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, ..."     Proverbs 18:21

 What are you saying?  Do your words bring life or death?  Are your words true or false?  Are they the truth or a lie?  Are your statements factual or truthful?  Did you know that the mind cannot distinguish between your figurative and your literal language?

 Could you be telling yourself sick? I need this like I need a hole in the head. You will be the death of me.  You make me sick.  That just breaks my heart.  I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.  I can't bear it anymore.  I am pretty upset.  That was terribly nice.  I'm sorry, I feel so bad.  I feel terrible about that (an apology).  There's a knot in my stomach.  I'm a glutton for punishment.  My feet are killing me.  What you don't know won't hurt you.

 Could it be that it's not what happens that makes you sick, it's what you tell yourself about what happens that dis-eases you. That was a pain in the neck ... gives me a headache ... breaks my heart ... drives me crazy ... will give me a heart attack ... will be the death of me ... sets my teeth on edge ... makes my skin crawl ... is a bitter pill to swallow ... weighs on me ... is nerve wracking.

Are death and life really in the power of the tongue?  What are you saying?  Are your words different from God’s Words? Begin to speak more of God's Word, the truth. Replace your unhealthy thoughts and statements with healthy ones. 

Man's Ways vs God's Ways

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." 

Proverbs 14:12

My pastor often says "kill you so you won't kill you."  Think about it.  Are you willing to die to self? To your ungodly ways? To your unholy thoughts?  To the desires of your heart?  To worldly wisdom?  Do you really want to pay the price and suffer the consequences of following your ways instead of God's ways?

What is she talking about, you may be thinking.  I recently asked a group of women who participate in an early morning bible study "what are some of our ways that are contrary to God's ways"?  Their responses follow -- same sex marriage, not seeking God in all things, more than one wife -- bigotry,  people pleasers, handling anger, not turning the other cheek, living together but not married, parents killing their own children, not tithing, tithing on the net and not the gross, fornication, what we eat, children not respecting parents, parents not respecting children, spouses not respecting spouses, not putting God first ... making spontaneous moves, parents not speaking the things of God over their children, speaking negatively not positively, parents not living their lives before Christ, poverty, starving babies, adultery, idolatry, having other gods, being unequally yoked, double mindedness,  abortion.  Add your ways to the list.

Remember God's message to us that His ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts, that His ways and thoughts are higher than are ours (see Isaiah 55:8-9).  Though our ways seem right, they will only lead to death.  Stop killing yourself!  Change from your ways to God's ways!

My Brother's Keeper

I was recently reading an article by the executive director of the Birmingham Jewish Federation in which he wrote "all Jews are responsible for one another, we are taught."  Ummh, I thought how interesting.  My mind quickly took me to the age old question that Cain asked the LORD.  The LORD asked Cain where was his brother Abel.  Cain answered the LORD's question with a question -- "am I my brother's keeper?"

Am I my brother's keeper?  My response is probably not unlike your response.  Who is my brother?  How I answer the first question is dependent upon my response to the second question.  Ummh ... my third question -- so what does keeper mean?  The Hebrew word means to watch, guard, observe. The sense of the root of the word means to exercise great care over.  Ummh, more questions ... am I responsible for my brother ... how responsible ... to what degree am I really responsible for my brother?

Am I my brother's keeper?  Why can't the answer be simple and easy?  Why do I have to be concerned about those outside my house, my family, my circle?  Why do my brothers sometimes have to be so far away, so different from me, so coarse and crude and unkind and unkempt and unworthy and undeserving?  I must look to the Word, to Jesus' teachings, for my answers. Could my brother be a complete stranger like the one the Samaritan helped (see Luke 10:30-37)?  Am I expected to do all of that for a complete stranger?  Is Jesus serious when He says "whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me" (see Matthew 25:45)?  In verse 40, Jesus gives the reverse: "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

What say you?  Are you your brother's keeper?

 

Wisdom -- Yours or His?

Ask God for something, get the answer.  Ask God for something else, get the answer.  Ask God for healing.  Healing manifests.  Have another healing need.  Forget how God previously healed.  Which choice do you make?  Accept the diagnosis, live with the issue, follow the doctor's prescription, ignore God's prescription.  Why? Or, have you asked for a job, a mate, child(ren), friends, houses, land, church home, deliverance, victory, success, prosperity, etc.?  God answers your prayer.  Then you take God's answer for granted, it becomes commonplace, you may even abuse or walk away from His blessing.

Sometimes we do what I have chosen to call "the Solomon."  And you think, what is "the Solomon?" Shortly after Solomon became king of Israel, 1 Kings 3:5-15 records how God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said "ask for whatever you want me to give you."  Solomon asked for an understanding and discerning heart. God was so pleased at his request that he granted his request and added to it riches, honor, long life, all with no equal among kings.  King Solomon was held in awe and great esteem because people from near and far heard and saw that he had wisdom from God.  The Word says that he wrote over 3,000 proverbs more than 500 of which are recorded in the book of Proverbs.  In Proverbs 4:7, Solomon wrote that wisdom is supreme … the principal thing … the most important thing … the first thing, and we should get wisdom. 

Overtime, Solomon set out to study and explore by his wisdom all that was done under heaven.  Why did he choose his wisdom rather than godly wisdom? Many of his findings and conclusions are recorded in the book of Ecclesiastes.  The one who wrote in the Proverbs that wisdom is supreme, that it is the principal thing, wrote in Ecclesiastes that everything, including wisdom, is meaningless.  Why would Solomon ask to be granted godly wisdom, then turn away to explore everything under the sun by using his wisdom?  Are you doing "the Solomon" with your blessings? Are you applying godly wisdom or your human wisdom to the situations, circumstances, and relationships in your life?  Going forward, which will it be for you -- your wisdom or His wisdom?

Outside Your Comfort Zone, part 3

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. Now, you're in your comfort zone.  Why not just keep things as they are?  Let sleeping dogs lie.  Why rock the boat?  Why ask for more? Why do anything differently?

I've been part of a 30 minute teaching and prayer conference call for the past four years known as Rise @ 5.  For the past two years, I've had the wonderful opportunity to teach on this call Monday through Thursday, week after week.  My comfort zone includes getting up between 4:30 - 4:40 every morning, bathroom break, brush my teeth, pray, turn on computer to my bible software wherein are my teaching notes, call the conference line at 4:58, say good morning.  Same routine, day after day, week after week, consistently for more than two years.  Out of nowhere came a Tuesday morning when I dialed the conference line # and got a busy signal.  Hung up, dialed again, got a busy signal, repeated this for several times.  God, what's going on?  I must do something different.  But what? I'm the teacher, got to get on the call. Finally got linked into the call through another person at 5:08.  Next day, same routine, and the same busy signal happened again.  Ooops, I need to go back to the same person who linked me into the call the day before.  She had difficulty, but we finally got on the call at 5:10.  Later than the day before, not good.  Third day comes and I remember that if I do what I've always done, I'll get what I've always gotten.  Followed the same routine except I made the call at 4:51, seven minutes earlier than usual.  Got on and was amazed at the number of callers who were likewise calling in earlier.  It is my understanding that before 5 o'clock, a dozen women were already on the call. 

So what's my take-away from the three day experience?  There is a time when we need to step outside our comfort zone, a time when we have to take a different approach, a time when we have to make a change.  Sometimes, we have to Proverbs 3:5-6 God.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

 

Outside Your Comfort Zone, part 2

The Bible records so many stories of those who stepped outside of their comfort zones -- those places where they were most comfortable, the people with whom they were most comfortable, and the things they were most comfortable doing.

 Moses walked away from being the prince of Egypt during his first 40 years to being a keeper of sheep for a black man in Midian for 40 years, and onto becoming the deliverer and leader of his people during his last 40 years of life.  David stepped outside his comfort zone and went from being a shepherd boy to becoming the greatest king of Israel.  David was the least recognized by his father among his seven brothers.  He became a giant killer, then a renegade warrior  who King Saul chased and tried to kill for many years, onto serve as king of Israel for 40 years.   Ruth left the comfort of her homeland in Moab and her people to follow her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Bethlehem.  There she married Boaz, gave birth to a son named Obed who was the father of Jesse, the father of David.  This Gentile woman was named in the lineage of Jesus.

You too have a story to tell.  Remember an occasion when you stepped well outside your comfort zone ... when you did something you had never done before ... when God moved exceedingly abundantly above anything you could have asked for or even imagined ...  when you were more successful than you ever thought possible ... when you were more than a conqueror ... when the power of God worked mightily through you.  Don't just remember,  tell somebody, bless the Lord with your praise and thanksgiving.  Remember Psalm 34:1 -- "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."  Step outside your comfort zone!!!