Affliction vs Incomparable Glory.....

Memory verse this week:

"Therefore we do not give up; even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory." 2 Corinthians 4:16-17

I chose this verse because I was having such a hard time at work. A lot of people were yelling at me and it wasn't my boss, it was the clients we serve! I wanted to remind myself that it's all temporary and doesn't matter in the eternal.

Some afflictions don't seem so light. They can weigh heavily on our hearts, but no need to let them weigh on our souls too. This morning's devotional was about Jesus encouraging a lame man with telling him his sins are forgiven before He healed him physically. God is concerned with what we're going through on earth. He does heal; He does change circumstances, protects in impossible situations, and shows us answers to our daily conundrums. But more importantly, He deals with our souls, our sins. These are going to effect us for all eternity. How cruel He would be to only fix our afflictions on earth and leave us dead in our sins that separate us from Him, peace, and joy! And He continues to deal with our sins day in and day out---always by being there with His arms open wide with the forgiveness we so desperately need. That's the renewing day by day.

Some afflictions God doesn't remove. Why? Certainly not to toy with us, but to grow us. God not only wants us forgiven, but he wants us to be blessed. These afflictions, if dealt with through God's methods, bring us an eternal weight of glory. I looked up weight. It means like an abundance of glory. We're producing treasures in heaven when we lean on Him, forgive through Him, love the unlovely with His love, and so on. Persecuted Christians in other countries will tell you to not pray that their persecution ceases, but that they will stand up under them and be worthy of the name Christian. Their afflictions are not light!! But they know what matters. The way we handle our afflictions makes the difference. And again God is gracious. Verse after verse assures us that God is with us in the storm, when we pass through the fires, and when our burden is too heavy for us to carry.

What a phenomenal God we have! His wisdom is beyond us. His power is beyond everything. His love is unmeasurable! And He is so generous with all He gives us and does for us.

Be encouraged. Don't let your afflictions weigh you down, discouraging you. Keep your eyes on the unseen. Know that God is with you and as you carry on through your situation, you are building for yourself a lasting treasure of abundant glory that is with you through all eternity!

Laughter is good medicine....

Wednesday was my birthday, but today my younger daughter gave me a birthday party with a few of my favorite people. It was a lot of fun! I haven't had a party in many years! What was fun was the fellowship of lovely ladies having fun sharing experiences and memories. I have some witty friends, too! Christian fellowship is encouraged in the Bible. Gathering for worship is prime, but gathering for fun is thoroughly theraputic. There's healing in laughter shared and getting to know each other. Not only are we not islands, but we thrive off each other when we share healthy fun. I'm very greatful for my daughter--she knew just what I needed.

Self-forgiveness and God's forgiveness...

The subject of forgiving oneself has come up lately, and I realize I have been able to do that. I'm curious as to why, but I've noticed that the Bible doesn't address forgiving oneself directly either. But I think the most influential realization that helped me forgive myself, is that God does address us to forgive others. In this case, myself is another. After all, forgiving others is a command and is as important for ourselves as it is for the other person. It frees us both from bondage. I realized I needed to obey God to forgive myself. Also, He forgave me. One day it hit me, am I superior to God that I can override His forgiveness? Am I greater than Him that I know better than He does? Who am I to think that I should not forgive myself when God found it right to forgive me? 1 John 1:9 says that "If you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If I don't forgive myself, I am holding on to my sin, and I'm not accepting His forgiveness or cleansing either. It reminds me of when God was talking to Job. "Where were you when..." Where am I and who am I that I would say God didn't do enough to pay for my sin in total? He gave His only Son for me. Jesus endured increadible humiliation and excruciating pain, separating Himself from God to pay for my sin. Do I dare ask Him to do more? I love Gary McSpadden's song "It Was Enough" about just that. It was enough. I didn't want to be more guilty of not forgiving myself! I think that's partof the cleansing of all unrighteousness. He takes the guilt too, so we don't have to keep it. I also think holding on to the guilt and not forgiving myself was giving Satan a victory. He loves for us to not own our forgiveness. He loves for us to carry our burdens long after Christ took them. He loves it when we don't totally surrender to His forgiveness. It's almost pride for me to hang on to unforgiveness of myself as much as to another. It is pride. No one wants to say what we did is okay, and forgiveness isn't saying it's okay. It is saying that the sin was paid for. It's humbling that I caused Jesus to die and suffer by this. It can even be humiliating and I think that's why it took me so long to give it up. But in showing me the truth in all this, God broke me. He took my sin. He took away my guilt. He gave me new life and wholeness. If He didn't, then He isn't God, but He is! I have to hold on to God's truth that He is who He says He is and He does what He says He can do. I'm determined not to give Satan any more victory over me than he's already had in my life. Sometimes that's a constant battle because he likes to recall to my mind every sin, but I will not give in to it. Sometimes I actually scream NO! to rid the thought, but hey, whatever works to keep from believing the lies! I like what Kay Arthur says to do--"Philippians 4:8 it." Is it true, honorable...etc. "Is it true" usually clears it up right there. If God is who He says He is, and He is, then I am who He says I am---a new creature and fully forgiven. How can I not forgive myself? Also I think to forgive myself also pleases God because it's part of His will for me. Too often I'm not in God's will, but I like to be in my God's will and please my Abba Father. So anything good and pleasing I've learned to do, I want to hang on to! God's mercies are new every morning. I'll cling to all of them!

Presentation and sacrifice

The NET translation is the one I used to memorize Romans 12:1 & 2. It reads: "Therefore, I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice--alive, holy and pleasing to God--which is your reasonable service. Do not conform to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may test and approve what is the will of God--what is good, well-pleasing, and perfect."

What does it mean to be a sacrifice? It means I'll be giving up something, often precious. This is dying to self and what I want. In my case it can be sleep, food, or TV. I don't need to give them up completely because I need rest and nourishment, but it means to give up the "just five more minutes" the lazy self wants or the sugary choices in food instead of the healthy choices of fruit or veggies for a snack. It's not really denying myself anything, it's just denying the old man because he wants what's self-pleasing. Choosing healthy and discipline is really giving myself goodness. Choosing goodness helps my body to be truly alive and therefore a living sacrifice.

A holy sacrifice is where the TV comes in, or I should say, goes out. TV can be useful and can be entertaining in good ways, but it can also be unwholesome and worse. It can also simply be a time-waster for me and an escape when I want to do nothing. Laziness isn't holy. Choosing to not watch TV is only half of the story. To be holy, I need to fill my mind with holy thoughts or spend my time doing useful things. Holy thoughts come from scripture reading and studying or even reading stories of past saints who have faithfully served the Lord and persevered. Scripture memory helps keep the thoughts handy when needed for edification, encouragement, wisdom, and the like, when needed for myself or others. Useful things to do in my life would be daily chores that my fibromyalgia and arthritis like to keep me from. I can easily use them as excuses, but as I persevere and push a little, God aids me to carry on. There comes a time I must stop, but I can go a little farther than I sometimes want to. It's that extra mile that is the wise use of time. There are also things I can do during those times my body has to stop. I can still write or email words of encouragement to friends or offer prayers on their behalf.

As I fill my time with things like these and make healthy choices, I am using my body in ways that I believe God finds pleasing. The less I yield to my body's desires and yield more to the Spirit, I can rest assured that my sacrifice is alive, holy and pleasing. After all it is my reasonable service.

Reasonable service? Doesn't that mean that's the least I can do? It's reasonable. Not outstanding, not above the call, but is the call. Sounds exhausting if I think of myself doing it. It is a sacrifice to keep going, but by God's mercy, we don't have to do it alone. He not only calls us but equips us, but that's a whole 'nother verse!

New tapes....

I'm not sure if I should say new tapes or new CD's. In the current world do we play tapes in our heads or CD's since tapes are almost obsolete? Whichever it is, I'm learning to replace the old messages with new, true messages' hence, the renewing of my mind (Rom. 12:2). One way is to memorize scripture. I chose Joel 2:26. I found it very fitting for my situation. It reads "You shall have plenty to eat and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. Then my people will not be put to shame." I quoted it for my husband and he said "Great, when does that prophesy come true?" I don't know. I took it to address some of my own issues. One, I don't need to be obsessed with food. I will be satisfied with whatever I have as long as I eat healthy. Two, God has indeed dealt wondrously with me. I am one of His people and I no long have to be ashamed of my past because it's forgiven. Walking in His way, I'll not need to be ashamed again either. I think it's a great promise of comfort to me. I like it.

Here we are....

It's been a terribly long time since I've written and I apologize. Since I last wrote, my son has been trying to get into the Army until just the other day we finally got the final word. It's a resounding no after two waivers and doctor reports. He has a heart murmur that is of no consequence to any cardiologist except the Army. Oh well. He's very disappointed, but he's not beat. He may go for the police and he may go into ministry, which in my opinion both are similar! For now he's trying to enroll in Criswell College, a local Bible college, because either way he needs college. He also wants to move out and live with friends. He'll have to work an awful lot to do that to make his bills and still have time for school. He knows, he knows, I'm told. Somehow him doing all that is more of a concern to me than the Army was! I myself have been involved in a Celebrate Recovery program. If you don't know, it's a twelve step program that is based on scripture. It's basically steps to help you in your sanctification by dealing with pesky sins, hangups, and hurts. I love it. It's been very helpful. It's helped me pinpoint problems I knew I had, but didn't know specifically what to do with them or what caused them. The Bible tells us to make a reasonable assessment of ourselves not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. The program has helped me make that assessment. I have gotten myself in better perspective in both not thinking too highly, but not too lowly either. It's so freeing! I would wish it for everyone. CR is a most useful tool for a Christian. Besides improving my relationship with Christ Jesus, it has brought me some dear friendships. One in particular. We were surprised at our similarities despite our differences. We start together in a save place and each is devoted to keeping each other safe by the shared need. Many have come having been betrayed too often. So a second reward is the friends of the high caliber one makes. My little group is about halfway through the steps. The hardest part was the inventory of my life where I shared with a select few all my hurts I've endured and sins I committed. But in the complete Serenity Prayer it talks about hardships being a pathway to peace. Once I gave the inventory, I did feel peace. The amends that I thought I could never make, I'm ready and happy to make. The Bible says to confess one's sins to another and that's what the inventory giving is based on. God is so wise! Some of us need that. My weariness is gone. I do sing a new song. I'm not fixed, unfortunately, but I know over time I'm becoming. I'm better. I catch myself now more often before the offense and stop rather than after I sin. It's growth and growth does take time. And it's so good to be free to grow! God is great to have brought me to this place.