Provoke One Another 06/03/2010
"And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24, NRSV). Giving consideration in this way doesn't merely suggest that we brainstorm new ways to encourage people, the deeper meaning is to perceive distinctly, to discern clearly how to provoke one another. You really have to know someone's heart and gifts in order to perceive and discern precisely how to best encourage them in their walk. While that makes it seem that we are quite limited in our ability to inspire, it is really quite the opposite. Our Father knows us each so well that He has numbered each and every hair on our head! Seek His wisdom and direction and He will help you push all the right buttons in order to provoke another to love and good deeds. You might not always know just what those buttons are, but the Lord won't let you miss them when you allow Him to do the pushing. Just keep in mind, sometimes you'll be the one who is encouraged by another to do what is right and good. "You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17, MSG). Let's dig further into Hebrews 10:24, taking a closer look at the word "provoke". Several translations have varying words in its place and this alone sheds some light on the deeper meaning implied. Really reflect on the implication of some of the various translations.
When I looked in the Greek text for the original word used and its meaning, I learned that this is the sole scripture in all of the Bible that used this connotation. The word was "paroxusmos", which translates to "contention", meaning a sharpening of the feeling or action, an incitement, and it was only used in this one verse. Doesn't that just speak volumes about the importance placed on this sharpening of one another? It screams of the value in learning that no man is an island and that we all have self-righteous tendencies when left unchecked by other Christ-biased people. It's easier said than done, understood than executed, and better to give than to receive; but this spurring is a real and necessary part of our Christian lives. We need to seek the Lord's help in embracing and relaying it as such. Oh Father, Thank You for the precious gift of each other! Help us to see how to best encourage and sharpen one another while always looking for Your direction and not our own. God, we just ask that You remind us of that time and again. Please work in our lives so that we can incite one another to Your good work. In Christ's name we pray for the wisdom to witness and provoke in the ways that will best reach out to one another. Please also instill in us the ability and willingness to receive Godly sharpening from the people You place in our lives. Amen. The Good Shepherd 04/23/2010
 'He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls' (1 Peter 2:24-25, NLT). The enemy has a nasty way of twisting matters important to us. Before we've even seen him slithering to and fro in our lives, he's made a mess of things. We've got to stop giving this guy a say. One such matter of import to me is to live honestly. Saying what I believe and living it out loud without filtering the whens and wheres of it all is more to me than all the Cinnamon-Spice-Dunkin'-Donuts-coffee-filled-Mary-Poppins-mugs in the world. I know, I should have warned you to have a seat before spilling them {coffee} beans. Someone should have warned me, too--that desire knocks me on my bottom more often than not. In the past, my pursuit of personal authenticity has led to much heartache. Having a half-working definition of a term I loved blindly, keeping it real really hurt. Anyone I encountered got to have all of me in some way or another. If we were talking, we were friends. If friends, good friends. Good friends well on the way to best. Best friends know each other and want only good for one another. Right? Wrong. The story reads much the same in family and in romantic relationships. If you chose me, I chose you back and we were 100% real with each other. I not only made the mistake of putting all of me out there, I also expected that meant everyone else did the same. Talk about setting myself up for a fall...and another...and another. It took devastation the likes of which I'd never even imagined to shake me from that thinking. And I wouldn't change it for anything. God's power is revealed in our powerless moments. God's power is also revealed when we simply await His arrival after asking Him to show up. I've had quite an attack this week. Which means that Christ has had quite a place to shine! Harsh words spoken in an argument with my husband started it all. I wish I could say those harsh words were all his, but really my own attitude startled me enough to give satan an opening. How could you tear your husband apart verbally while professing to love the Lord in written form? There's no reconciling that wrong. You're living an online faith and not applying it to real life. Hypocrite. The end. The following days were like any other...Bible study, devotional time, homeschooling my little ones, zoo trips and such. Still, there was this double life going on inside of me. You're living a lie and no one is fooled. It's so easy to be with God online, no one really knows you there. You don't have a real life faith in works. Where's your fruit? SonShines, I was ready to run for the hills in shame. I wasn't just believing these lies, I was agreeing with them and denying God's providence and sovereignty. I'd counteract these attacks by acknowledging them as such. Nothing changed. I'd fight them off with words of affirmation. Nothing changed. Finally, I just had to get real with my God. Finally. Shouldn't that be our first stop? I'm such a sheep sometimes...wandering off and waiting for God to find me instead of being still and knowing that my Shepherd is never out of sight if I'd just look around for Him. Thankfully, I'm like a sheep in other ways, and once I prayed for God to show up and handle this attack for me, I saw Him move. And I will follow where He leads, like a good sheep belonging to The Good Shepherd. Just when I had been ready to buy into the devil's accusations, God presented me with opportunities to allow His movement in, on, and through some real life relationships. By using me this week in ways He's been using me all along, our faithful Father showed me that the more I put myself out into the world, the more He will set me apart from it. He'd love to do the same for you.  Are You Lonesome Tonight? 10/01/2009
As women with ever-changing lives, loneliness is bound to come knocking on the doors of our hearts. Often it is the changing part of life that brings about that lonesome feeling. Ruth, Mary, and Esther all shared a loneliness before huge events in their lives. I imagine they experienced the same lull in friendships that we all see from time to time. Accepting the gift of salvation, being promoted at work, having children, graduating, getting married, deciding to homeschool, moving to a new town, choosing not to return to work after starting a family; these are all common times of loneliness. People in our lives pull away or fade away every time a big change enters the scene... Head over to Exemplify Online for more! Word Up Wednesday 06/17/2009
 Today, I'd like to use Word Up Wednesday to form a circle of prayer around a dear friend's breaking heart, healing body, and overwhelming loss.  Miracles in the Mundane 06/15/2009
 Friends. Are. Miracles.  |  
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