Words

This week, I’ve been thinking about the power of words. God used words to create the world, the oceans, the land, the moon, the sun, animals, fish, humans, everything. God could’ve used any method He wanted to create things. He could’ve blinked His eyes like Jeannie on I Dream of Jeannie, He could’ve twitched His nose like Samantha on Bewitched, moved His finger, or just used a thought. But, He didn’t use any of those methods, He used words.

In the Bible, we learn that words are very powerful. They are used by fathers to bless their children, they are used for curses, they are used for healing, for raising the dead, casting out demons and more. Words cannot be taken back, once they are spoken. In Genesis 27 we see Isaac being tricked by his son Jacob. Jacob was not the oldest son and therefore was not to receive the blessing of the oldest. But, Jacob and his mother Rebekah got the clothes of the oldest son, Esau and put them on Jacob and used some skins from animals to put on his hands and his neck so that Isaac would be fooled into thinking Jacob was Esau, because Esau was a hairy man. Therefore Jacob got the blessing instead of Esau, and Isaac could not take it back, it was too late, the words had been spoken.

We must be careful as we go through our days to not use words lightly. I’ve found that it is a cycle of events so to speak, our thoughts determine our words and our words determine our attitudes and behaviors and our attitudes and behaviors determine our life. In Proverbs the Bible says many things about our mouth and words. Some of my favorites are: “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from troubles” Proverbs 21:23; “There are those who speak rashly, like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Proverbs 12:18; “He who guards his mouth keeps his life, but he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.” Proverbs 13:3; “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” Proverbs 18:21, “For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. And if anyone does not offend in speech he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature” James 3:2. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

My prayer is that you really think before you speak, try just one day to not to say anything inappropriate or negative and see what happens!

Words

With a single word, God created earth and sky,
Out of dust, He created you and I.
Jesus used words that were spoken,
To heal the blind, deaf, lame and broken.

Being God’s likeness in the world today,
We must choose carefully the words we say.
Whether speaking to a friend or foe,
Words are more powerful than we know.

With words we plant many seeds,
Some turn to fruit, others to weeds.
Words can be used to curse or bless,
To tell lies or to confess.

Words can cut deep within,
Words can lead us into sin.
We think they’re simple, light and breezy,
When actually it’s not that easy.

They’re powerful weapons that we use,
Listen carefully and you will hear clues.
To what’s really going on inside,
Those things that we’re trying to hide.

For out of the mouth, the heart does speak,
We will find what we truly seek.
Remember as you go your way,
To be careful of the words you say.

For they help to shape your life,
They lead us into peace or strife.

Reduce Me to Love

It’s been on my heart lately to really work on my love walk. To be Jesus in the skin in this world. I allow my pride and impatience to get in the way many times. I’m always in such a hurry, I don’t really need to rush anywhere, I just want to be efficient. I have that type of personality. I’m a person who can be thinking about one thing, talking on the phone about another, and writing something completely different. I am efficient. This leads to impatience and I know that impatience is a manifestation of pride.

Pride shows itself in my life these ways: (1) impatience, like I already pointed out; (2) being critical or judgmental, someone is not doing something as well as I think they should, or as well as I think I could; (3) being late frequently, I’m important, they will wait for me before they start; (4) arrogance, being insensitive to other people

I’m sure that pride shows up in many other ways, conceit, bragging, haughtiness, etc. But, pride in my life is mostly this list of four. I don’t really mean to be cold or insensitive, I just come off that way because of my impatience and that drive that’s in me to be perfect and efficient.

I’m reminded of Mark 8:22-25 “And they came to Bethsaida. And (people) brought to Him a blind man and begged Him to touch him. And He caught the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands upon him, He asked him, Do you see anything? And he looked up and said, I see people, but (they look) like trees, walking. Then He put His hands on his eyes again; and the man looked intently (that is, fixed his eyes on definite objects), and he was restored and saw everything distinctly (even what was at a distance).

I’ve been seeing people that look like trees lately, I find myself looking right past them or through them. I am not focused on definite objects, I am focused on what task I am doing at the time. I see many people daily in my job, and I’m not being sensitive to them as people. I’m not being Jesus in the skin and I’m not walking in love, I am just doing my task.

The following poem is my prayer.

Reduce Me To Love

Lord reduce me to love,
The love that’s from above.
Let there be nothing left inside of me,
Except Your love, for others to see.

I pray Your love shines so bright,
That others are attracted to the light.
That we may all have love for each other,
And not hide continually under cover.

Reduce, refine, workout the changes,
To be made until we are blameless.
A church without blemish or spot
Is what Your blood has bought.

You paid by dying on the tree,
Long ago at Calvary.
For believers, You promise to return,
For that day we all yearn.

Until then, Reduce Me to Love…

Beauty for Ashes

God will give us beauty for ashes, joy for mourning and praise for
heaviness.

My job as a Housing Inspector II gives me many hours in my car. In
fact, most of my day is spent driving from inspection to inspection
in my district. This gives me lots of time for prayer, worship and
listening to teaching tapes, which I do over and over and over!

Today, I was out in my car driving around, listening to my favorite
Christian Contemporary radio station; K-LOVE and I heard a song that
I haven’t heard for a long time, “Beauty for Ashes” by Crystal
Lewis. I love this song, and I love the Bible verses that inspired
it.

The following is from Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed
Me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the openings
of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort
all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness. That they may be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.
(Vs. 1-3)

And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former
desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the
desolations of many generations… (Vs. 4)

Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of
confusion they shall rejoice in their portion, therefore in their
land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.
(Vs. 7)

These promises are so rich to me. God WILL rebuild all of the ruins
in our lives, He WILL give us double honor instead of our former
shame, everlasting joy WILL be ours. He WILL give us beauty for
ashes, joy for mourning and praise instead of heaviness. We WILL be
solid righteous people that He may be glorified! This is so
inspiring to me!

I started thinking about these promises and realized that in order
for us to fully experience the joy, praise, honor, and beauty; we
need to give to the Lord our shame, ashes, mourning and heaviness.
We cannot experience all that the Lord has for us and still carry
around with us all of our junk! We need to give it up, make it
ashes, and die to it! We need to take it all and lay it down at the
foot of the cross, and LEAVE IT there. Give it to Jesus, that’s the
reason that He died–for all that stuff, for our shame, our
heaviness, our mourning, all of it!

Here is a poem that the Holy Spirit inspired in me to write. It
speaks of some things that I needed to make into ashes and give to
Jesus. I pray that you be blessed by it.

BEAUTY FOR ASHES

Have you ever felt you’re crossed off someone’s list?
Just tossed aside – never to be missed.
And you thought you were so close,
A relationship that was unlike most.

One day you see them at a restaurant,
With old friends and what you really want,
Is to be accepted by them again,
And return to being a close friend.

The cold reality of it all sets in,
You realize it’s just somewhere you’ve been.
They’re moving forward – not looking back,
You’re part of the past, that’s a fact.

You shared your life, you feel betrayed,
You pray that feeling will somehow fade.
You turn to God; you want to know,
How to forgive and let this go.

You fear having close friends again,
You don’t want to let new one’s in.
The friends you have are precious and few,
You know (pray–hope) that they are really true.

Giving God our ashes brings beauty in return,
It’s a Kingdom principle we must learn.
Only when we lay our ashes down,
Does God provide beauty all around.

Out of Touch

After all those years of living numb,
I sometimes think that I am dumb.
I’m not sure of the feelings I feel,
Or if they are really real.

For years I didn’t feel at all,
I would just hide behind my wall.
If a feeling would happen to come,
I would stall it, until I was numb.

Then, it would simply go away,
But, away it would not stay.
It would haunt me with it’s return,
At that point; denial I did learn.

Now, I have to consciously try
To feel, or they slip on by.
Decisions are hard for me to make,
I’m afraid to pick a road to take.

I question is it really God I hear,
Or the voice in my head, I hold dear.
So often, I have been wrong,
Following the voice that is so strong.

But, now I find, I don’t know,
Which way that I should go.
I ask myself how I feel,
And I make it into a big deal.

I reason and look from every angle,
Until I’m confused and it’s all mangled.
When I’ve made it into a big mess,
I bring it to God as a request.

I know I should just follow God’s lead
He promises to provide for my every need.
I fear I don’t know God’s voice,
And I will make the wrong choice.

So I do nothing, and just let things go,
God is disappointed in me, I know.
I question everything way too much,
And end up really out of touch.

I get myself so confused,
I really don’t know what to do.
In my life, it is a must,
To learn God’s voice and to trust.

I need to recognize my feelings
So I can go through life dealing,
With things that happen in and around me,
It’s important for me to clearly see.

So today this prayer I pray,
Lead me, guide me, in Your way,
Teach me, show me, Your voice and touch ,
Hold my hand, I need You so much.

River of Living Water

O Lord You are worthy of our praise,
I observe Your creation and I’m amazed.
As dead as things might have seemed,
They are alive and turning green.

Trees are budding, flowers are blooming,
The sun is shining; it’s not so gloomy.
The birds and butterflies are here at last,
The long cold winter is in the past.
All around new life has sprung
A glorious season has begun

This is the way my life can go,
Some times are dormant, other times I grow.
Now is a time my spiritual life seems so dry,
I don’t even have the tears to cry.

I feel as though I’ve found my voice,
I am making a conscious choice,
To the river of living water, I bring my cup,
Knowing Jesus will fill it up.

He promises if I do my part,
And seek Him with all my heart.
I will find Him and there I can abide,
Always, forever, by His side.

Masks

Sometimes I wonder what life’s about
Sometimes I have answers, other times I doubt.
God’s been showing me the masks I wear,
I wonder if underneath, anyone is there.

These masks have been part of me for many seasons,
I have different ones for different reasons.
I discovered them slowly – one at a time,
Found a comfortable fit and made them mine.

I wonder about the mask of pride,
If it really keeps me safe inside.
The mask of confidence – I seem so bold,
My insecurities don’t need to unfold.

The mask of coldness that I wear
Makes me look like I don’t care.
Then there’s the mask of the clown,
I wear that one when I feel down.

Some call these my coping skills
You may call them what you will.
Out of woundedness they were born,
And without them I feel torn.

I don’t know how to act or be,
Without these masks defining me.
They’ve been me such a long time,
It’s hard to tell what’s really mine.

I use them to feel accepted,
But in reality, I’m being rejected.
The acceptance that is shown to me,
Is for the me I pretend to be.

The masks must be put aside,
The real me can no longer hide.
In living falsely, peace isn’t found,
Only in truth does love abound.

We find love and truth when God is near,
Standing in His glorious atmosphere.
Seeking Him through His word, praise and prayer,
Brings the awareness that God is always there.

From glory to glory He’s changing me,
Soon the world will only see,
The me I was created to be,
As Christ gets formed in me.

Weakness Can Be Strong

We’re taught that weakness is not good,
To always be strong like we should.
But there’s a limit to what’s inside,
To how much pain that we can hide.

We go through life, stuffing and denying,
Until it comes easily, without trying.
We turn to liquor, drugs and beer,
To avoid the feelings that we fear.

Life seems good, for a while,
We learn to function and to smile.
But then one day the bottom crashes in,
And we realize this isn’t how to win.

We’ve tried and tried with all our might,
And still the end seems out of sight.
We know that we can’t do it alone,
And we turn to God to lead us home.

After we’ve been clean for some time,
Those old grievances and pain come to mind.
Now is the time that we face them head on,
Learning sometimes, weakness is really being strong.

Created by Design

Many years before I was born,
Jesus knew my shape and form.
With His loving ways, so divine,
He created me by design.

A beautiful, wonderful, piece of art,
Holding a special place in His heart.
Everything that God creates,
Is perfect, He makes no mistakes.

I am a masterpiece, still underway,
God will complete His work in me one day.
Until then, I need to be patient and kind,
Loving the imperfections of mine.