Friday Matters

Everyday Kenya

My friend Bert shared this story of a mission trip he did with Robert who was stationed in Kenya. Robert had brought a huge offering from a Swiss church for people in the northern area who were suffering from drought. Our Kenyan host was to deliver the money to the people but had other things on his mind and was not diligent in helping Robert get the money to the people. The funds were stolen. A man of grace, Robert called us to pray for the thief, asking God to forgive him and draw him to Jesus.

Later, Robert was asked why God allowed the offering to be stolen. He paused and said, "Sometimes we suffer so that others will learn.” This was a lesson for the Kenyan brethren, who’d been very casual with the great treasure entrusted to them by God. When the Swiss church heard what happened, they took another collection and doubled the offering. This time, the Kenyan congregation was very diligent in handling the funds. Perhaps a hard learned lesson but one that shows God is able to use all things for the good…everyday.

Thursday Matters

Everyday Pride

Pride is a difficult problem for us to deal with because it hides. Obadiah 1:3 says Pride deceives us and causes us to think we don’t have it. The only way I can have the patience with someone who’s difficult or who hurt me is when I’m able to ask God to let me see the person as He sees them. That’s humbling. I know pride is the poison behind many broken relationships.

The signs of pride include an unwillingness to admit fault or a reluctance to take responsibility for one’s actions. Yeah, I know you’re probably thinking of someone who needs to hear this, but that person maybe you! Pride wants to do all the talking and none of the listening. And pride doesn’t want to make peace because it’s so stubborn and doesn’t want to be instructed. It only wants to instruct others. Remember we are all of equal value in God’s eyes so let’s not esteem ourselves above the value of another but really LOVE one another…. everyday.

Wednesday Matters

Everyday Who are THEY

I mean honestly, when I began to really grasp what Jesus was offering me with complete forgiveness and no condemnation I could stop pretending and performing as we so often do as Christians. I need Him desperately. It is not the “they” who are poor, sinful and lost. It’s awareness that we ourselves are the primary target.

Unless we acknowledge that we are the sinners, the sick ones and the lost sheep for whom Jesus came, we do not belong to the “blessed” who know that they are poor and inherit the Kingdom. Let’s stop trying to appear righteous before God and others. It’s a dangerous zone when we get our assurance from wealth or our status. “I’m good. I have all I want.” We must realize that we’re wretchedly and pitiably poor and we’re blind and naked too. Isaiah 64 often comes to me when I think, “I’m doing really well here.” “We’re all unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. It’s His blood shed for us which cleans and covers us…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Kid Training

“I absolutely get what you’re saying,” shared one mom to another about raising a strong-willed child. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way they should go. When they’re old they’ll not depart from it.”

It’s not a verse that needs interpretation, said Beth, “but our oldest daughter determined to do everything the hard way no matter how we trained and directed her. Why didn’t this verse apply to our family? All scripture is breathed by God. He cannot lie. Are we parents who’ve failed in raising a follower of Jesus which is what we thought? Of course, we didn’t do everything right, but our daughter chose to go her own way. It’s not that she departed from the way she was trained; she just never arrived there in the first place, said Beth. God’s way is perfect, but we all have freewill and choices. We haven’t given up on her, and God certainly hasn’t given up on our daughter either. He knows the way. We hold on in hope and faith that someday our daughter will walk toward Him but no matter what, we love her and He loves her…everyday.

Monday Matters

Everyday Camping

I came; I camped I conquered. I am not what you call “outdoorsy.” I am “indoorsy.” But in the way past, when my four boys and Dan and I were young, we camped. What this means is for two days and nights in a tent, with no outlets, and an outhouse bathroom and our camp stove. We slept, ate, hiked, had great conversations and played under the waterfalls at a State Park. AND we HAD FUN! Who knew? I thought I was better suited for “Camp Hotel with all the amenities” and I actually am BUT then I made a decision about my attitude.

On this particular camping adventure, in the early 2000’s, I went camping with a bladder infection BUT it quickly cleared up because of the antibiotic I was taking BUT the best medicine for my overall camping experience was my heart that God changed which Proverbs 17:22 talks about in that a cheerful heart is good medicine. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it and we surrender to God for His grace and peace; we have a great adventure…everyday.

Friday Matters

Everyday Unfailing Love

When we love someone so much it’s sometimes difficult not to shout, “STOP you’re headed the wrong direction.” I see danger ahead. But no matter if we need to SHOUT or remain SILENT, we must walk in love. The truth of 1 Corinthians 13:1 is pretty clear, humanly speaking or even speaking as an angel we must have love or we’re simply a noisy clanging cymbal.

Sometimes it’s difficult to speak up because it’s uncomfortable or we know we won’t be received well. That’s happened to me and I’ve thought; “maybe I’m crazy for saying anything?” But the truth is you might be crazy but you’re dealing with crazy.” Nevertheless, when a word is spoken and not received, be it an apology, advice or our tears, there’s the time we must remain silent and wait and pray. We want to save a life but not drown a heart. There’s a fierce battle to fight in prayer that our loved one may know nothing about. But God knows. He cares. Love never fails…everyday.

Thursday Matters

Everyday Purposeful Suffering

How about the truth of Romans 5:3 saying you should exult and glory in tribulation. The Greek word for tribulation means “difficult suffering!” I know…right? But it’s important to understand that suffering isn’t always a consequence for sin. Suffering is allowed by God for you to develop perseverance. I don't really want to suffer. But listen, if we can endure trials and especially long and weary trials, this is proof that God is in us because this is His character of preserving in trails and suffering. Therefore, being able to endure a trial with grace and stamina is one of the great assurances that we are His! This assurance fortifies our hope and makes it so that we can boldly profess the Holy Spirit that lives in us. Often before God brings you a new opportunity in ministry you will go through a deep valley or trial.

But no matter what He brings you though He is loving, strengthening and preparing you for a purpose. Look to Him and You will see this truth…everyday.

Wednesday Matters

Everyday Kind Forgiveness

We may say to someone; “I forgive you” but if we treat them unkindly or even ignore them have, we really forgiven them? If that’s the case, then moving forward in sincere forgiveness is to have a counselor hear both hearts by directing the conversation with necessary questions so the meeting doesn’t become one of personal attacks. Seek to forgive as God forgives you and as 1 Corinthians 16:14 directs; “Let all that you do be done in love.” Love is kind and sometimes that’s the hardest part of love especially when someone has stolen from us; taken from our childhood, taken our spouse or robbed our personal property. There are always consequences to sin, and He will bring us justice as He promises. And of course, in some cases, there may be no reconciliation because bad behavior continues.

Forgiveness doesn’t release the one who hurt you. It releases you. Lamenting and grieving what was lost is healing too and most helpful when we know Jesus hears our cries and cares about every detail. His strength of love by His grace will see you through…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday My Way

When I don’t get my way, I can get irritable and especially when I’ve carefully planned and thought how my way is best. As silly as it sounds, I sometimes don’t want to ask God what way He thinks because if His plan is different than mine, I don’t want to hear it. So, what I do now is express my fear, doubts and strong will for what I want but then say, “I want Your will” and I put my trust in His grace to lead and guide me. He cares about what we think. He knows our desires.

In Ephesians 4:15 Paul encourages us, “Grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head.” It should be our goal as believers to be one with God. When we are “born again,” we grow and mature spiritually in our minds, emotions and will. And then when this happens our desires become His desires. And being in sync with God gives a peaceful spirit not an irritable one even if our plans fall through…everyday.

Monday Matters

Everyday Teenage Discussion

If you’re a parent of a teenager, you know this; they know everything…just ask them. I remember years ago my 17-year-old son and I were in a heated discussion, and I was sure he’d be persuaded to take my advice because I had so many good stories and illustrations as to why I was right. I was just about ready to launch into another one when he stopped me; "Mom enough with the stories. Give me some scriptures on what God has to say." Oh, my, exactly, so I grabbed my Bible and found verses on what God had to say about what we were discussing. After reading I asked; "Does that help?" “Yes, Mom it does. Now I just have to process it.” I thought, “Yea, me too,”

How can we hear God when we don’t really know Him? To know Him is to know His Word, the Bible. Proverbs 3:7; Do not be wise in your own eyes,” which is what I was doing with my brilliant analogies. Wisdom come from the Word because God is the Word…everyday.

Friday Matters

Everyday Ezekiel

The book of Ezekiel is weird. Not only does it talk about four living beings with faces, wings, and wheels covered with eyes, but God tells Ezekiel to eat a scroll. That’s weird and then Ezekiel is asked to lay on his left side for 390 days to bear the sins of Israel. Kinda Weird.

Nevertheless, throughout the book Ezekiel obeys God. But what really struck me in Chapter Three book was God asking Ezekiel to take His words into his own heart first before delivering them to the people of Israel. God says, “Let all My words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.”

In John 1:1 we are reminded that God is the Word Himself. God’s Word brings freedom and if we want to be obedient and share this freedom with others than how crucial it is that we feed on God’s Word ourselves…everyday.

Thursday Matters

Everyday Religious

I hate hypocrisy and I also think it would be fair to say, “I hate religion.” We recognize religious people who go to church but aren’t really interested in “being the church” or we see that they behave a certain way inside the church but outside the church building we see their hypocrisy. Religious people are quick to point out; “You’re not doing it right. You should and should not be doing ‘THIS.’” These are people who busy themselves with “being right” rather than “doing right” and they can’t confess their own sins because they’re too busy confessing yours!

Throughout the Bible Jesus shows His anger MOST when He’s dealing with the RELIGIOUS! If we’re honest, all of us have had a Pharisee attitude and completely ignored Matthew 7:5, “Remove the plank out of your own eye first so you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” PRAY God’s mercy and grace over others and yourself and let Him guide you in dealing with the issues you have and you’ll have greater grace to give to others …everyday.

Wednesday Matters

Everyday Gossip

We judge others by how they make us feel and we judge ourselves by our intentions. Although my heart’s intent was right my action was sin by crossing the line into gossip. I shared information with some trusted friends because I was concerned and wanted prayer. My mistake was sharing unnecessary details. So, I confessed my sin to God and to every person who had been directly affected by my wrongdoing,

Was my heart intent good? Yes. But did I hurt people in the process? Yes. My responsibility then was to apologize for the hurt I caused without adding “but” or “if” after my confession. It’s simply this; “I’m sorry for hurting you by sharing with things with others that I shouldn’t have.” Period. Oh, I wanted to add; “BUT you gossiped about me and I never intended to hurt you. BUT is that what Jesus does? Let’s follow Matthew 7:12; “In everything, do to others what you’d have them do to you” …everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday The Tongue

“No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” In the Book of James, James pulls no punches. That muscle in our mouth can kill or heal, spark wars or absolve a world.

Speaker and Author Chad Bird shared this; “From beginning to end, the Bible speaks about the power of speech, for good or for ill. With speech, the Lord God worded the world into being. And with speech, the serpent wooed the world into evil. When God commanded, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor,” he made explicit what we all know: that human society, relationships, justice, and one’s own soul are destroyed by lies.

Sometimes you know that a lying tongue would be the easy way out, but being honest always opens a door to healing. God forgives you for the times you’ve been dishonest so receive His forgiveness, don’t reject what He has for you. God will change and heal your heart and as it’s mending it will also affect what comes about of your mouth …everyday.

Monday Matters

Everyday Jesus is God

Okay so you’re talking to a person who says they know and love Jesus. Great. But the more you talk the more you realize that you’re kinda saying the same thing but you’re not. I love to talk about Jesus. Jesus saves. As Christians we are not only follow His teachings but follow Him for He alone is God.

Pastor and theologian Warren Wiersbe said. “False teachers deny the inspiration of the Bible, the sinfulness of man, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross, salvation by faith alone, and even the reality of eternal judgment. They deny the deity of Jesus Christ, for they know that if they do away with His deity, they can ignore the entire body of Christian truth.

Christianity is Christ, and if He is not who He claims to be, there is no Christian faith.” Christ is our Savior and through Him dying in our place to cover our dept of sin are we free. It’s respecting His holiness and Love to understand why He came and how deeply He loves us…everyday.

Friday Matters

Everyday Loving Help

The fact is, I need God to help me love God. And if I need His help to love Him, a perfect being, I definitely need His help to love other, fault-filled humans. People are difficult and especially people we see on our screens and aren’t able to interact with eye contact or a touch to the shoulder. Lately I’ve been asking for God’s Holy Spirit to move in me to be more of a listener and not commenter, to forgive without conditions and to schedule a date to have coffee with someone rather than post another comment.

It helps to think about heroes of the faith like Corrie ten Boom who personally forgave the Nazi officer at the Concentration Camp she and her sister were held. She said, “The will can operate regardless of the temperature of the heart.” We can choose to forgive even though our anger and hurt make us feel like we can’t. “We can do all things through Christ’s strength.” (Philippians 4:13) Let’s pray, Jesus, People are hard, but may I love You and others the way you love me and others…everyday. Amen.

Thursday Matters

Everyday Refrigerator Peace

Isaiah 26:3 was a magnet on my refrigerator that I looked at everyday when I was raising our four young sons and it says, “Jesus keeps in perfect peace all who trust in Him, all whose thoughts are fixed on Him.” I tried to be purposeful and ask myself; “What am I thinking about?” We choose what we think on. Many times, I’m worrying and thinking, “But what if…?” I know “more is caught than taught” so I wanted the words out of my mouth to be positive even if I needed them to be firm too.

A great responsibility as a parent is helping our kids fix their thoughts on what God says and not on their feelings or circumstances. I saw a poster which read; “It’s easier to build up a child than it is to repair an adult…choose your words wisely.” Of course, there are the times were negative thoughts lead to me speaking negatively but I hope that what was also observed was that God’s grace covered me. He cares, calms and carries us through…. everyday.

Wednesday Matters

Everyday On the Other Side

Our faith and trust in believing God is good when circumstances are not, does not come from the sunny side of the street but in the places where it’s dark and we feel alone and overwhelmed. God will always guide us even though we can’t see Him. Feeling overwhelmed because of finances, or a failed marriage is extremely painful. Perhaps you have a burning pain in your heart because your child is addicted to drugs or maybe it’s an aging parent who can’t remember who you are. You may FEEL consumed by these fiery trials. Your feelings are valid. BUT, the truth is you'll come through. He sees. He knows. He cares.

He speaks a promise from Isaiah 43:2, "When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." And perhaps what you’re going through is not about breaking you but about building up your faith in Him for His love and His purposes will never fail you…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Free from Sin

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin and a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:34-36) I know the truth of who God is and His love and still I fall into temptation and become bound to my feelings, anger, judgement and what other people think. I need God’s grace to do His will everyday because in all sincerity my prayer is, “His kingdom come and may His will be done.”

It helps to let someone else know you’re struggling by talking to them face to face or on the phone. Too much of how we engage with others is behind a keyboard and often a touch or a hug is more helpful than anything. If you are struggling in an area of temptation and sin then bring it to the light. What we hide in the dark has power over us. Jesus came to set us free from sin and when He sets us free, we are free indeed…everyday.

Monday Matters

Everyday Words

It's important to remember that we fight a spiritual battle. In the Bible in Luke 4:1-12, we read that Jesus when addressing the devil, repeatedly said, "It is written..." and then quoted scriptures that directly addressed the enemy's lies and temptations to doubt God. We may start to fight the devil with the Word of God, but when we do not see quick results, many times, we stop speaking or trusting what the Bible says and begin talking about our feelings or our circumstances.

By God’s strength let us be persistent as we wage war against the enemy by speaking the Word. A stonecutter may strike a rock 99 times without even making a crack in the rock. But the hundredth strike he may split the rock in two. Each blow weakened the rock, even though there were no outward signs of it. Persistence is vital to victory in our lives just as it is in the stonecutter's work. Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit may we not relent in speaking the Word against the enemy. We need Your Words and what You say for the victory…everyday.