The Lies Others Are Told

I seem to come across a lot of devotions and even books on the subject of lies.
Specifically the lies Satan whispers ..about our self worth..our value.
"You aren't good enough" "No one can ever love someone like you." etc
But as I was reading the other day I kept thinking about the other lies...the lies of the self righteous...
I believe Satan whispers in those ears as well.
"I know I read the bible more than they do. Obviously"
"I don't ______ (you fill in the blank with what ever vice you notice in others), and they do.  And mine is the more righteous behavior."
"Look at the choices they make.  How can they be a believer?"
"I don't do that ...I have made the better choices."
"I am the better Christian (person) ...look at the better choices I have made."

I can't help but feel the minute the thought  " I am the better Christian because..." enters our minds....we are NOT!
📖  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3

If we let Satan whisper that we have the ability and power to judge another by the choices and actions we see....we are truly calling that judgement down on ourselves.  The other lie with that is we believe that we can stand up under that judgement.

📖 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matthew 7:1-2

 But God sees the heart and judges righteously.  

Our heart is already haughty, and prideful...because we have thought less of another.

So can we...and our thoughts and actions ..stand before Him?!

 📖 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Little children seem to judge less...they will grab hold of the rumpled, shabby man's hand, or giggle with the woman who lives a questionable life because they see beyond the outside.  They don't judge them.by their choices...they see the kindness and love beyond.

📖 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

📖 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”   He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:1-5

Little children don't seem to have the same self righteous pride as the more "knowledgeable", "intelligent", "educated" adults. What a prideful statement!

Pride is something we are to put away.  Satan prays on the prideful... easily.
He can whisper and we listen.  I feel, it is easier to draw the prideful in.
When Satan whispers to the wretched..." You are unlovable.....undesirable" we can show them God's love for them...we can counter his arguments with proof of Christ's love in action.
BUT how do you take a self righteous individual and convince them to be humble?  I believe it is a much harder task...and Satan knows this...and that is why it is such a rampant problem in the Christian faith...
There is statement that I have heard said, "Christians devour their own."  What a sad commentary, but maybe a bit of truth.  We can have compassion on the lost souls, but we tend to judge our brothers and sisters in Christ far more harshly.
I believe that is EXACTLY what the following passage is referring to.

📖 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?  But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble."

 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.   Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:1-12

We are selfish, self righteous by nature, and satan will appeal to that every time...IF we let him.
We must humble our hearts before God, and draw close to Him. Remove all that gets in the way of that and the devil will not have a foot hold....he will not have a way in...he will FLEE!!
It should cause us great sorrow to see the prideful, wretched state we get ourselves into and only humility before the Lord will lift us up and out of that pit of judgmental self righteousness.

 📖 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7

📖 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 1 Peter 3:8

As we see over and over, we must love with a humble heart!  First our Lord and then each other! Only then can God be glorified!

All we need to do is follow Christ's example.

📖 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.  

And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name   

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.     Philippians 2:5-11

My prayer is that each of us can hear satan's whispers of self righteousness but that we follow Christ's example of humility and make satan RUN!

Lord Bless (A Reminder)

LORD BLESS

       

                                   Lord Bless

Lord Bless the memories

of those who have given their lives in service to our country

Lord Bless the soldier

at their post, where ever that may be

Lord Bless the families

who are left behind to continue on with their  lives

Lord bless the ones

who carry the scars as a reminder of their sacrifice

Lord Bless those

who have been and are prisoners to an enemy

Lord Bless the children

who hold a picture of the man they call their Daddy

Lord bless the wives

who sleep alone,

Lord Bless the parents

who wait at home

Lord Bless them,

the men and women

who have dedicated their lives

to protecting what we know as our country,

our freedom, our home;

the United States of America

Tracey J. Thompson

©5/27/06

Photos by RachelRamsdellPhotography

"Lord Bless those who have given their lives"......I wanted something a bit more concrete to pray for...so I looked up some statistics starting with the Civil War... (Decoration Day was instituted in 1868 by the Grand Army of the Republic to decorate the graves of Union soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. Eventually the two competing decoration holidays, Union and Confederate, merged into one and included the honoring of all Americans who had died while in military service.  The term Memorial Day was first used in 1882, but was not declared the official name until 1967. At this point Memorial Day was May 30th...until the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968 was passed and Memorial Day was moved to the last Monday of May, which took effect at the federal level in 1971)

NOW that the history lesson is over!  On with my thoughts

American military lives lost;

Civil War: 750,000

World War I: 116,516

World War II: 405,399

Korean War: 54,246

Vietnam: 58,204

Afghanistan War: 2,356

Iraq War: 4,497

The list of conflicts and wars is much larger, but I looked at the ones we are most familiar with.

That is a HUGE amount of casualties....add in the families and people that are also affected by this...not to mention those wounded.

LORD BLESS.....

We, as those who live in the country that these people fought for and defended, must remember in prayer all those affected, and for those who continue to serve knowing what the out come could be.

Whether we agree with any of these wars and conflicts....we can still commit to pray.

 Pray for Peace.  I thought it fitting for Memorial Day...we pray for peace....because with peace  comes the end of conflict and with that the end of war.  We pray for the peace that Christ brings.  I also pray for peace for those amid the conflict, that Christ can give them inner peace as they live and battle in not so peaceful nations.

On Memorial Day we remember. There are pictures posted on social media of men and women in uniform who have served our country, cemeteries are decorated with wreaths and flowers and flags, parades with those in service now, and those who have been, wind the streets of many towns across the country.  Remembering names and stories and even statistics is our way of preserving the past, of making sure generations do not forget the sacrifice and loss that was done, in essence for them, and for those generations to come.

There are many instances in the bible  (more than 300 times in the Old Testament) where God commanded a memorial be built so they would not forget what He had done for them. Or people built and altar to honor and memorialize what God had done.   Noah built an altar in gratitude and honor that God saved him and his family and the animals from destruction.
Abraham
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. Genesis 12:7
Isaac
Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.  Genesis 26:25
Jacob
Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, andbuild an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau. Genesis 35:1
Moses
Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.   Exodus 17:15
...and this list goes on.

Every day, as a Christian, should be a memorial day, should it not? We come before the Lord humbly, on our knees, grateful for what He has done for us...the sacrifice and the loss suffered for us.  Our lives should be that memorial....how we live and the choices we make should honor the One who allows us to live with His presence here and the assurance of eternity when we leave this earth. 

LORD BLESS......

I am ending today's with a short video that my daughter Marah put together for the National Day of prayer in 2016,  but I believe it is fitting for today as well.

 Pray for Peace

(Adapted from Coffee Time With A Dear Friend; Lord Bless May 29,2017)

Mirror Mirror

I decided to expand a bit on a section in part of my blog "Lessons in the Beastly and the Beautiful" that I posted weeks ago.
The part about the magic mirror.....As we would ALL love a magic mirror, that could show us things or tell us what we wanted to hear.
I stated that our "Mirror" can show us who we are, show us who we can be.
I have one you know! (And so do you!)
A mirror that can be honest with me, IF I allow it to be.
That mirror is scripture ...
When we read it we see the reflection of God's  character.  We see Christ's reflection ...and as we look...how does our reflection match up to His?
📖  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. James 1:22-25
We have to look closely, and then do something about what we have "seen".  As the verse says...we must do what the word requires us to do and we will be blessed for it.
We will see in His reflection the things we may need to change, remove or work on.
We may look into that mirror and see mud and yuck that needs to be washed away. We might see wounds that need tending...so they don't fester, and iritate and leave a huge scar.

📖 That, however, is not the way of life you learned  when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;  to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,  and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:20-32

It is ALL right there in this verse.
Look into that "Mirror" and line your reflection up as closely with that of Christ;
Follow His instruction,
Put away old bad habits
Live righteously as a new being
Be truthful
Don't let anger fester and cause you to sin
Be productive...serve others around you
Be mindful of what comes out of your mouth
Wash away any "grubby" attitudes
Love and forgive...as the "Reflection" looking back at you has done!
Christ is the perfect reflection of God the Father....so we too should be that same reflection of Christ.

And I know sometimes it is hard to see what His plan is...what He has in-store when things in life are difficult and dark.
Just like the mirror when you get out of the hot shower...it is all foggy...can't see a thing.  If you try to use the mirror as is...you are trusting that your reflection is back there.

📖   For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:11-12
God is still there working....and we may not understand some things this side of heaven, but when we get there...it will be as if a huge hand has wiped the fog away!  It will all be crystal clear when we see Him face to face!
We will know ALL we need to know! We will be complete!
Amen and Amen!
I pray today I look into that good and perfect "Mirror" and my reflection is His!
And I pray that for you as well!