Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.
Pearl S. Buck
I am so thankful my son and I share a faith! When we went to Longwood Gardens the other day we took some time to read the Scripture in the park.
Tag Archives: spiritual growth
Correct Or Right
6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:6-12 NIV
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15 NIV
I consider myself a student of life. Lately God has been asking me about the roots of my desire to learn and know things. Honestly there is a part of me that studies things because I like to be right about things…rather, I should say, I like to be correct about things. As God has shown me it is possible to be correct and not be right.
In God’s eyes, at least, right and correct are not necessarily mutually inclusive. For instance I may see clearly and correctly a person’s character as deficient but if I treat that person with scorn or impatience because of it I am not right. I may correctly discern my child needs a rebuke but if I rebuke my child without love, out of a spirit of irritation, I am not right. I may receive a revelation from God’s Word for my church that is doctrinally accurate and therefore correct but if I deliver it without considering who it will effect and how, if I just prepare it as a neat bit of knowledge without a desire to exhort the people to greater grace, well then I am not right no matter how accurate or correct I might be.
We Christians have to accept that we live in a kingdom where how we say things (our attitude) is just as important as what we say. This isn’t about being all nicey-nice but it is about being cognizant of the emotions behind what we say. It is about making sure that those emotions are as in line with our God as our knowledge is. Being correct just isn’t enough anymore. I want to be right before God!
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Heaven Pt. 149: It Doesn’t Matter
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those whose hearts are pure.
2 But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.
3 For I envied the proud
when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
4 They seem to live such painless lives;
their bodies are so healthy and strong.
5 They don’t have troubles like other people;
they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else….
Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?
Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
14 I get nothing but trouble all day long;
every morning brings me pain….
I realized that my heart was bitter,
and I was all torn up inside.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant—
I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart;
he is mine forever. Psam 73:1-5, 13,14,21-26
I remember a time in my life when things were not going according to plan (at least not mine). Ministry had dried up. I was looking at being out of work. I was spiritually tired and it seemed everything I had worked so hard for was surely nothing more than a pipe dream. Every step I took seemed to be met with another closed-door.
I remember shaking my fist at Heaven one day and crying out, “You call this a plan? I can do better than this.”
For a number of weeks I tried. I stopped praying. I went my own way. I laid my own plans and doors seemed to open at least a little; But as I considered each I recognized that while these doors might be open they led nowhere. I came to the conclusion David came to thousands of years before me:
“I was so foolish and ignorant—
I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.”
I discovered without God nothing else matters, because without Him everything is empty and void. Not all the treasure in the world can satisfy or fill that emptiness. BUT…
With God nothing else matters, because my heart is filled and as long as I have Him I can be content.
It comes to this, in life nothing else matters but God. My circumstances are going to change good to bad..bad to good. That is true whether I have God in My life or not. It doesn’t matter. But it doesn’t matter for different reasons. Without God all the good in the world doesn’t matter because it cannot make or keep me truly happy. With God all the bad in the world doesn’t matter because as long as I am focused on Him I am made and kept truly happy.
Isaiah 26:3 says, You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
What matters is our focus. If we focus on what’s going on around us rather than God our feet are going to slip. If we focus in on God we will stand firm as though we were wearing the best set of cleats the world or Heaven have to offer. Our health may fail. Our fortunes may wither away. Our friends may become enemies but if we can somehow keep our eyes on the Great I Am He will be our strength. We will stand firm!
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Caddo’s Seven Word Sunday 6-1-14
SOMETIMES WINNING LOOKS A LOT LIKE FAILURE!
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The Waters Of Life
Cee’s Fun Foto challenge this week is “WATER”.
Check it out at
http://ceenphotography.com/2014/05/27/cees-fun-foto-challenge-water/
Here is my take on the subject
“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
“The next time you think you’re perfect, try walking on water.”
― Ziad K. Abdelnour
I chuckled when I read that last quote. It wasn’t perfection that allowed Jesus to walk on the water; It was faith and obedience. Both of those things always make a way to get the impossible done.
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Remember the Help
I was offered the opportunity to preach the Memorial Day sermon at Cornerstone last weekend. Here is the sermon in its entirety taken from 1 Samuel 7 http://cornerstoneag.net/2014/05/25/rememberthehelp/
7 So the men of Kiriath-jearim came to get the Ark of the Lord. They took it to the hillside home of Abinadab and ordained Eleazar, his son, to be in charge of it. 2 The Ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for a long time—twenty years in all. During that time all Israel mourned because it seemed the Lord had abandoned them.
Samuel Leads Israel to Victory
3 Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really serious about wanting to return to the Lord, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the Lord; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord.
5 Then Samuel told them, “Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord. (It was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel’s judge.) 7 When the Philistine rulers heard that Israel had gathered at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelites were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching. 8 “Don’t stop pleading with the Lord our God to save us from the Philistines!” they begged Samuel. 9 So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with the Lord to help Israel, and the Lord answered him. 10 Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived to attack Israel. But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them. 11 The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to a place below Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way. 12 Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah.[a] He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and didn’t invade Israel again for some time. And throughout Samuel’s lifetime, theLord’s powerful hand was raised against the Philistines. 14 The Israelite villages near Ekron and Gath that the Philistines had captured were restored to Israel, along with the rest of the territory that the Philistines had taken. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites in those days. 15 Samuel continued as Israel’s judge for the rest of his life. 16 Each year he traveled around, setting up his court first at Bethel, then at Gilgal, and then at Mizpah. He judged the people of Israel at each of these places. 17 Then he would return to his home at Ramah, and he would hear cases there, too. And Samuel built an altar to the Lord at Ramah.” 1 Samuel 7:1-17 NLT
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Caddo’s Seven Word Sunday: 5-24-14
Living at the center of the whirlwind…
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Time To Fight!
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:35-39 ESV)
Dear friend, now is not the time to throw in the towel! You may feel like you are running blind but that doesn’t mean you’ve lost; It just means you can’t see how close the finish line is.
I am watching as the enemy of our souls is stirring up much contention within and against the church and her saints; But I know he is only doing it because we are near to a breakthrough. Victory only comes through warfare and miracles only take place when all possible solutions have failed; So if your situation looks like either of those two paradigms look up and your redemption will draw near!
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We Are Not Done Yet!
To all those weary souls out there who think they have no fight left in them Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Ma 11:28-30
Rest can only be found in the arms of Jesus, nowhere else. It’s time to take Jesus up on His invitation. Come away from the world through quiet prayer and solitude and you will be healed.
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Heaven Pt. 148: We Win!
The poor will see and be glad—
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33The Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
34Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
35for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;
36the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there. Psm 69:32-36
When I set out to do a biblical word study concerning Heaven (The Heaven Posts) I really didn’t know how many places the word itself would take me. But we certainly have been round about all sorts of spiritual topics haven’t we?
Today for instance we are talking about disabled ability.
Over the course of thirty something years of Christianity I have come to know myself as a weak man. I know my faults, failures and limitations better than anyone. I count myself among the poor, the needy and the helpless …more now than I did when I first accepted Christ, but I also count myself among the provided for, the able and the helped as well.
In myself I can do nothing. At least so Jesus tells me in John 15. But in Him, with Him, by Him Oh now that’s a different story!
You see “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Phil. 4 .
I am ” made more than a conqueror through Christ!” Rom. 8 .
And so “forgetting what is behind I press onward toward the high calling of Christ!” Phil 3
Christian you are probably standing in a position right now that looks entirely impossible. Truth be told it probably is or it would be if you had to deal with the situation in your own power or strength; BUT YOU DON’T!!! We believers never go anywhere alone. Christ comes with us; So begin acting on that truth and involve Him in your situation. God will save you like He will save Zion! Praise His name because in the end we win!
Lillie-Put 