God is Always Trying to Protect Us

THE WORD:  “Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me.  That is why I did not let you touch her.’” – Genesis 20:6

MY TRUTH:  Sometimes we are ignorant to what we do and the sins we are about to commit.  In this passage, King Abimelech has taken Abraham’s wife Sarah to have relations with her because Abraham and Sarah have told him that she is Abraham’s sister not wife.  However, God tells King Abimelech in a dream the truth about Sarah; she is in fact Abraham’s wife not sister.  God kept King Abimelech and Sarah from sinning and protected Abraham from his lie. There are two key lessons we can learn from this passage: 

#1 – In your ignorance, God will prevent you from doing wrong.  He will give you an outlet or awareness to your potential sin and will convict your spirit in some way just as He convicted King Abimelech through a dream (v. 3).  He is not a deceiver but a protector and lover, and He wants to protect us from harm.  We just have to listen for and heed His fatherly advice.  And when we obey, we will be restored (v. 17-18).

#2 – God protects His children even in our mess.  A mother always has their child’s back and defends them even when they are sometimes wrong.   God does the same thing.  Look at Abraham, thinking he is doing something beneficial when he lies about who his wife really is (v. 10-13).  But God protects him even in his lie.  What a merciful and forgiving God!  God ensures Abraham and his wife aren’t sinned against.  We aren’t going to always get it right, but we can be assured that God is still present helping us through; helping us clean up the mess we have created.

Spirit vs. Flesh

THE WORD:  ¹⁶So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  ¹⁷For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.  ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  ¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious:  sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. – Galatians 5:16-26

MY TRUTH:  There is so much to say about this passage!  We are never going to get rid of our flesh.  It will always be present fighting against the Spirit.  However this conflict is good!  Praise God for it, for this is how we are able to recognize right from wrong.  Without this conflict we wouldn’t know which way to go.  God has given us free will so we have to make a choice whether we will obey the Spirit or succumb to our flesh.  God has given us this guide to know when we are operating in the flesh versus the Spirit so we have no excuse.  We just have to make ourselves aware of this reality every moment of the day so we won’t get caught up in acts of the flesh.  Now this can be pretty difficult given that sometimes there are more fleshly things in the earth to keep us distracted than spiritual things.  That is why it is important for us to always be tuned in to God and know the difference between fleshly acts and Spiritual ones which is why I am so glad God provided us with this passage of scripture; it’s plain and simple!  The flesh will always be present but thank God that if we have accepted the Lord as our Savior we also have the Spirit dwelling in us to keep us on point.  Therefore since our renewed selves live by the Spirit let us do spiritual things! (v. 25)

Side bar:  The other day I was totally operating in the flesh….smh.  I had let my flesh win.  Many of the acts of the flesh are pretty obvious and easy to be aware of (i.e. sexual immorality, hatred, drunkenness) but some can sort of ride under the radar and are not the “big sins” we always hear about.  So I now realize that the other day I was partaking in the fleshly act of discord and fits of rage in my household.  I was being a drama queen over who knows what and discord and rage was all up in the atmosphere.  It was hard for me to turn this around which surprised me and made me aware that I myself Mykia can do NOTHING without God.  I thought I was further along in my walk and could shut stuff like this down immediately but I realized that no matter where I am in my walk I have to realize nothing is by my own doing but through God’s help.  We may think having a little fit and causing discord is small but it is not of God and He is not pleased when we do these things.  Again we will never be perfect and will ALWAYS struggle with acts of the flesh but thank God that the Spirit is there to calm us down and to convict us.  In hindsight, when I started to feel rage rising up in me I should have paused, prayed, and activated love and self-control but I failed.  However, through my failure I learned this valuable lesson about what to do next time and realized how I need to work on building some of the fruit of the Spirit and that I can do nothing on my own but only with God.  So I guess really there was no failure but a gaining of wisdom.   

A note about the graphics below:  For easy reference on acts of the flesh versus fruit of the spirit I have created the visual below using what is presented in the New International Version of the bible.  In parenthesis I have placed synonyms for these words as they are presented in the following translations of the bible:  Common English Bible, Good News Bible, Amplified Bible.  A star (*) beside a word or phrase indicates my own interpretation of the word based on synonyms that I have looked up via a thesaurus or my own opinion based on my biblical interpretation.  Please help keep me honest and if you have an alternative or disagree please please post and let me know.  I love learning from and hearing the opinions of others.  In general, feel free to place other synonyms for any of the words that will help us better recognize these things in our daily lives.  Also I encourage you to write out some actions that describe the acts of the flesh and fruit of the spirit.  I started doing this and was going to include these actions in the visual, however after thinking I thought it would be best for you to do this yourself to represent how God is convicting you in these different areas.  I did not want to put actions in your mouth that you may not agree with or that God hasn’t convicted you with, which would’ve come off as judgmental.  So I encourage you to do this yourself and to add to it as God reveals His truths to you.

Signs from Above

THE WORD:  “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” – Genesis 9:13

MY TRUTH:  In this passage God provides us with a sign, a reminder to let us know that He will never destroy the earth again by flood.  This sign wasn’t for God, for He is all knowing and He never forgets His promises.  This sign was for us.  God knows that our flesh sometimes limits us.  Someone may say something to us but we often need “proof” or some type of “signature/contract” for us to truly believe.  Now God didn’t have to provide us with this sign.  He could’ve said, “Look, I said it so you should believe it.”  He was God after all; His word sovereign.  However He was kind enough to give us this sign knowing our limitations so that we would always know that He is with us and will keep His promises.  There may be signs of God’s promises to us evident in our lives today.  He may provide us with symbols or people that remind us of His promises.  Let us search or simply be still enough to realize in our fear, confusion, and daily struggles what signs God gives us of His promises.  And if He doesn’t give us a sign, let us have the faith to just believe.

How's Your Heart?

THE WORD:
"You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right with God . . . For I see you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." (Acts 8:21-23)

" . . . the message (the Word) they heard was of no value to them because those who heard it did not combine it with faith." (Hebrews 4:2)

"Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them.  This is his command: to believe in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us." (1 Jn. 4:24-23)

"Rid yourself of all anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips . . . clothe yourselves (instead), with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. . . over all these, put on love . . . and be thankful." (Col 3:8, 12)

MY TRUTH:
I want so badly to be used by God, to be filled with His Spirit, and this Word revealed to me why I haven't been able to experience the fullness of His Glory. . .

I recently pondered a question in my bible study group: Can we be so spiritually minded that we are no earthly good?  I guess depending on your definition of "spiritually minded", your answer to that question may be yes or no.  I do, however, believe that we can be so religious that we are no spiritually good. As in the story of Paul, God had a very special assignment for him, declaring "this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name" (Acts 9:15), but He couldn't use him because his heart wasn't right.  How many of us are chosen by God to carry out a task that only we can fulfill, but God's plans are on hold because we're defective from a hardened heart? 

Before his conversion, Saul was a religious man, a rule-enforcer, rigid and suffered from a hard heart.  According to Hebrews 3:7-18, our hearts our hardened through sin, disobedience and unbelief.  Our hearts can be hardened from many of life's experiences: pain, hurt, disappointment, and failure to name a few.  Whether from our own sin or disobedience, or that of others, it's easy for us to harbor those experiences and allow them to callous our heart, tainting our interactions with God and other people.  Then, we try to work our way into heaven, by practicing good deeds on the outside, all the while our insides are rotting away.

Unfortunately for Paul and the rest of us rule-followers and law abiders, it doesn't work like that.  We can not purchase or earn the power of God (which is the Holy Spirit) through our own righteous acts.  It's not just good enough for us to know the Word, and walk around with a halo floating above our high buns.  Our spirit has to be right, because God looks at our heart.  Like Acts 8:21 states, we "[can't]share in His ministry [if] our heart is not right with God."  Before God could use Saul,  He had to soften his heart(Acts 5-9).  He accomplished this through first humbling him (he blinded Saul so that he could not see).  Then Saul had to respond with obedience (He went into the city that God commanded him to), and sanctification - that is, he separated himself unto God - by fasting for three days.

But can we evade this process of being humbled by God in order for Him to use us?  How can we humble ourselves first, before He has to do it for us?  This is where I believe the principles of Faith, Love and Fruits of the Spirit will cleanse our hearts so that we "may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God," (Eph 3:19b) and maybe help us avoid an encounter with God where we are forcibly brought to our knees.

God willing, my next couple of posts will be on a journey that will examine how we can exhibit these three principles in our daily lives to grow deeper in relationship with God.

How Bad Do You Want It?

Reflection from Joyce Meyers' book, Knowing God Intimately

THE WORD:
"You will seek and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jer. 29:13)

"No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, and in the age to come eternal life." (Mk 10:29)

MY TRUTH:
How many times have we said, "God, if you would only make it plain!"?  The truth is, God is as close as you want Him to be.  I want to know that I know that I know God.  As a matter of fact, I want to experience what the Apostle Paul prayed for us, that we might "surpass knowledge, [and] be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Eph 3:18)  See, knowledge is just to have information about something - we all have access to that through the Word - but to be filled with God, that's something different.  But how do we get there?

Well, according to Jeremiah 29:13, it's a guarantee that we will find God when we seek him with all our heart.  God told us, "draw near to me, and I will draw near to you." How often do we draw near to God?  During the time of the Israelites, God demonstrated the different levels of intimacy we can experience with God (Ex 19 & 24).  God loves us all, but isn't close to us all.

• Level 1 - The majority of the Israelites had to wait at the bottom of the mountain, and observe God's glory from afar.  God told Moses, "let the people hear me, when I speak to you." I don't want to receive my Word through someone else!  Then He said, "let them be ready for the third day." They can only experience God at certain times - I need God with me at all times.
• Level 2 - There were a few elders that could come a little up the mountain and "they saw God, and they ate and drank."
• Level 3 - Reserved for Moses and his aide, Joshua.  Joshua was special because he was an aide - he dedicated his life to serve another man, and through this, serve God.  He was a helper, a man of faith and spent his time in prayer.
• Level 4 - The deepest level of intimacy was experienced only by Moses, who had sacrified his previous life as a wealthy heir to the throne of Egypt, and ultimately claim identity with an enslaved people.  He spent 40 days and 40 nights spending time with God.  In this level, God speaks directly to Moses.

Our intimacy with God grows with increased obedience and sacrifice.  When I was preparing for my wedding, I wanted to get in shape.  I made it a priority - I planned my meals in advance, bought healthier foods that cost more, and prioritized going to the gym twice a day.  It took discipline and sacrifice.  Jesus told us to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Mt. 6:33) 

He wants us to make seeking Him a priority, but how do we prioritize God?  You can tell someone's priorities through their TIME and MONEY - if we evaluated our investments today, what would they reveal about our priorities?  Do we plan out our alone time with Him and make it sacred, or do we put prayer and reading His Word on the backburner, and then it never gets done?  Are we like Joshua, being an aide to others in our lives, or do we revolve all of our prayers and daily tasks around ourselves?  Would we sacrifice our money, identity, and future like Moses, or do we only obey God when it's convenient for us?

Taking our relationship with God to the next level means that we are going to have to get serious about our commitment.  He is looking for believers who are seeking him diligently with all of their heart, through sacrifice and obedience.

The Key to Resisting Temptation

THE WORD:  The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written:  ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’(Deut. 8:3)” 

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down [from the highest point of the temple]……Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’(Deut. 6:16)” 

“All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written:  ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’(Deut. 6:13)”  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

– Matthew 4:1-11

MY TRUTH:  We learn something very important from these scriptures….how to fend off temptation, and we simply do this with the WORD!  Wow who knew it was that simple!  Each time the devil came to Jesus he quoted scripture to resist temptation.  He immediately answered with the word.  This is what we must do….immediately answer our fleshly temptations and desires with the word.  That is why it is so important for us to read our bible so that we will have the right verse to respond to the devil with when he tempts us.  Key thing is WHEN!  If the devil tempted Jesus he will surely tempt us so we should not be surprised when the enemy comes against us.  The word very clearly states that the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10) so we must be prepared.  Let’s be proactive instead of reactive.  This is a work in progress for me, but I encourage you to write down and/or memorize 5-10 scriptures that you can have readily available to respond to temptation with.  If you respond to your temptations with these scriptures and believe in your heart (that’s the key….you have to believe and have a little faith and be sincere about it or it won’t work) you will be able to resist any sinful temptation that comes your way.  Be encouraged and vigilant.  We must not be surprised when the devil attacks us; we have to be prepared, and the key to preparation is the WORD of God…the bible.

Activating Abundance

From Tosh Young.....

THE WORD: "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (Jn 10:10)

 "When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break." (Lk 5:6)

MY TRUTH: Sometimes I get frustrated when I come across things in the Word, that don't seem like they actually work or happen.  For instance, Jesus said that he came so that we would have life abundantly.  NIV translation says "to the full".  But what is abundance?  Abundance is like Simon in Lk 5:1-11, when he had more fish than his net could even hold.  Abundance is defined as: oversufficient quantity; overflowing fullness; affluence, wealth.

So if Jesus came for me to have life Abundantly, why am I operating in deficit or lack in so many areas?  I need my family to be saved, my husband to be delivered, my child to be protected, my nation to be healed, my students to be covered.  Not to mention the financial part - while I may not be broke, I'm definitely not living in wealth or overflowing.

But God is not a man that He should lie, and God is Word, so His Word must be TRUTH.  So I found a passage, Luke 5:1-11 where Jesus shows us how to Activate Abundance.  Simon and his fisherman friends had been going out fishing for a while, to no avail.  What have you been trying to Catch, but keep coming up empty? 

This is the truth God revealed to me, to fill our empty net:

1. Be in close Relationship with God (v. 3) - Simon had direct access to Jesus because they were in the same boat.  Are you close enough to God to hear Him when He speaks to you?  Is Jesus even invited in your boat, or are you too busy trying to catch the fish by yourself?
2. Catch His Teaching (v. 4) - Jesus was speaking to throngs of people on the shore, while they were swaying in a boat in the middle of a lake.  There had to have been a lot of commotion - and just so subtly, after He was done speaking to the crowd, Jesus turned and delivered an order to Simon to cast the net into the water.  We have to be sensitive to hearing God speak to us, even in the midst of the commotion of our daily lives.
3. Obey (v. 5) - As soon as Simon Heard the Word, he immediately replied in faith "But because you say so, I will let down the nets."  Despite the fact that Simon had been trying for days without catching fish, he trusted in God.  We are called to believe in our heart (faith) things that we may not yet see, profess and proclaim, and act in obedience.

Lord, help me to draw near to you, to be conscious of your presence, your rebuking, and redirection, and give me the strength, discipline and courage to obey your instruction without delay. 

Day by Day

From Tosh Young....

THE WORD: "Blessed is the man . . . whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers." (Ps. 1:2-3)

MY TRUTH: Recently, I've been preparing for a staff training before school starts.  Each summer I always begin training with some self-reflection and sharing of our personal strengths, weaknesses, hopes, desires, values, etc in the hopes that we can build strong team culture.  In my preparation this year, I've had my staff take a Strengths Finder Test, and in doing that, came across my Strengths Profile from a couple years ago.  My very first strengths is "Achiever", which basically means that I'm the epitome of a Type A personality, and that I make everything from work to washing dishes a goal that I have to accomplish.  I believe that similar to me, many women "suffer" from this over-achiever mentality.  We just have so much to do within a given day - be leaders at work, raise kids, keep the house clean for our families, that we push ourselves HARD to accomplish at least one thing everyday.

The truth that God has revealed to me is that in His world, slow and steady wins the race.  The author of this psalm compares the "blessed" man to a tree.  Now, I'm not a geologist but I do know that trees live a LONG life, and they grow, slowly . . . inch by inch, day by day.  In order to yield our fruit in due season, we have to make it through some time.  For me, I realized, I get overwhelmed and shut down in my study and personal time with God because I want to Achieve it all.  You know that Fight or Flight complex? Well, I have Flight.  There are so many themes that I want to study, but I can never get started because I feel like I have to dedicate my whole day to Accomplish all that I want to learn. 

My truth is that I can be satisfied with being a tree - growing a little, day by day and that "some is better than none".  And soon enough, I will be a 100-ft tree, planted by strong roots, and yielding fruit in all aspects of my life.  God, remind me that the race is not to the swift.  Help me to overcome by urge to bite off more than I can chew.  Teach me discipline, to meditate on your word, day and night, one day at a time.

- Tosh Young

A reflection from a Ron Carpenter message "High Character Christians"

The post below is from Tosh, one of the contributors to this blog.  Read her truth about what God has to say about our character.

My first post:

A reflection from a Ron Carpenter message "High Character Christians".

THE WORD: "You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." (Leviticus 20:26) "Those who live according to the sinful nature cannot please God." (Romans 8:8)  "Those who live accoriding to the (flesh) have their mindset on what the flesh desires; but those who live according to the Spirit have their mind set on what the Spirit desires." (Romans 8:5)

MY TRUTH: Character, as defined by Merriam Webster is "one of the attributes that distinguish an individual".  According to Pastor Ron, character is "committing to a set of standards", specifically ones that do not change.  One of the most important character traits that God calls us to exhibit is HOLINESS, root word meaning WHOLENESS.  God is WHOLE because he is ONE.  He is fully integrated - whatever God SPEAKS, Jesus COMPLETES through the POWER of the Holy Spirit.   In other words, He says what He thinks, and does what He says.  In the very least, God is a "man of His word . . . after all, "in the beginning, the Word was God and the Word was with God". 

As we are created in God's image we also are comprised of three parts - soul, body and spirit.  If I'm going to be whole, one and therefore, holy, as my Father in heaven has called me to be, then I need to get my mind, body and spirit in alignment with each other.  And if I am to please God, then that alignment should begin with what the Spirit desires, which also means crucifying my flesh.  Holy Spirit, guide me . . . show me what you desire, and reveal to me actions, behaviors, habits that I need to crucify of the flesh.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

• What is my current character?
• What do I want my character to be?
• What does God call our character to be?
• If God is holy, meaning he is fully integrated - what has God said that He has to now do in your life?

Share if you would like!

Love,

Tosh

Giving

THE WORD:  “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.  Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.  At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.  The goal is equality, as it is written: ‘The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.’” – 2 Corinthians 8:12-15

MY TRUTH:  Give according to your means (what you have) and desire (what you want to do freely).  God does not want us to struggle in our desire to give (i.e. give begrudgingly or thinking twice about it) or struggle as a result of giving (i.e. give away all that we have so that we are poor and homeless.....unless God has clearly told you to do this).  He wants us to give freely and according to what we have so that as a result we will contribute to the equality of each other's needs being met.  So when you have abundance give abundantly so that if the time comes when your abundance is low another will have the means to supply unto you.  If everyone were to do their own part and give, everyone would have what they need.  No one would or should be in want.  But in order to do this we must be connected to God and pray for his spirit to overtake our giving so that we may not be limited by our stingy flesh.

About The WORD My TRUTH

As I was studying the TRUTH (about how God wants us to live) through the WORD (the bible) I started a word document to keep my notes on what I thought were the truths the word was saying to me.  After reflecting and thinking, I thought that yes these notes were good for my own spiritual growth but how wonderful it would be to share my insights and have the insights of others shared with me.  I also wondered, after listening to a devotional by Francis Chan how I could be contributing to the great commission (Matthew 28:19) of bringing others to Christ.  What could I do in this digital world to somehow bring someone under the loving and protecting arms of God? Thus this blog!

I invite you to read, reflect, and comment on the content you see posted here.  All that I ask is that you be respectful of the truths of others and comment/post in love even if you may disagree.  Other opinions are welcomed and encouraged because God has revealed different truths to us all, but just remember LOVE and UNDERSTANDING.  I hope this forum can provide insight and ongoing richness to our lives as we try to live as our best selves during our time here on earth.  Here's to The WORD and your TRUTH!