God is always doing great things! Even amid the struggle and clamor of daily life, God plants seeds in the seams and cracks and broken places of life and great oaks grow!
Offer grace in the hurt. Offer beauty in the ugly. Offer love in the hate. Offer hope in the despair. These are great things!Have a blessed day!
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Hey! I have great news! I’ve just been asked to speak on a Christian women’s cruise to the Bahamas! I sail January 15th!”
Have you ever been jealous of a brother or sister in Christ? I have too. When I’ve seen all the fabulous things others have accomplished, I have felt less. I used to think God wouldn’t use a person like me; He’d only use super Christians. You know, those people who got saved at three, baptized at four and went on their first mission trip at five. I was too messed up. Too broken. Too unlovely. I believed in Jesus, but I thought I could never change. Wrong.
Do you think you’re too messed up, trapped in your addiction/codependent relationship/shopping habit/food problem/embarrassing sin to ever be transformed? Do you think you will always be stuck right where you are, battling the same old stuff? Then you are suffering from a Spiritual Fixed Mindset.
Spiritual Fixed Mindset: a belief that basic qualities like intelligence, flaws, sin and talent are fixed traits, therefore a person can never change, grow or overcome challenges or sins. This is the way I was born, This is the way I am, are the mantras of people trapped in a spiritual fixed mindset.
They spend their time documenting their failures and sins. They believe talent alone creates success—without effort. They believe there is something wrong with them that can never be fixed. They are stuck. People with a fixed spiritual mindset constantly try to prove their worth. They are very sensitive to criticism, always anxious and prone to self doubt.
14 “… a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ [ …] He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Matthew 25: 14-21, 24-29
He was afraid and he hid his gifts. He did not use them for the benefit of his master or anyone else. The One-Talent Servant was not punished because he tried and failed—but because he did not try. I believe pride was at the bottom of his failure to launch. He didn’t want to look bad in the eyes of the world. He was walking by sight and not by faith.
How about you (and me)? We’ve got gifts. We’ve got talent. We’ve got treasure. We’ve also got calling. Go forth. Make disciples. Whatever your gifts, serving, loving, mercy, cooking, cleaning, fixing, babysitting, acting, blogging, gaming, sewing, doing hair and make-up, fishing, hunting, turning a wrench, there is a need for it in your church/community/housing project/town. Get going!
Tip: You won’t find the will of God apart from the word of God. When I got serious about following Jesus, new giftings and interests seemed to pop up from no where, so did new opportunities.
Let me know your thoughts about Spiritual Fixed Mindset, how you plan to use your gifts and how I can pray for you, by leaving a comment in the comment section below!
God is good!
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I could barely make it to South Bend without taking a three hour tour of Northern Indiana. Then I got a very helpful device … a son with a keen sense of direction. Picture a four year old with a map, in a car seat, directing us down the Ohio Turnpike en-route to Dayton, Ohio (pre-GPS days).
They started in Egypt, and turned a 9 day trip into a 40 year trek. FINALLY they made it to the Promised Land. The thing is, they had their own GPS. You could say it was in the Cloud—the pillar of Cloud. God.
I started in “Egypt,” got delivered, and spent the next 20 years wandering around in the messed up wilderness of ME until God sent a deliverer to lead me out. Actually, I think we can all relate. We are in one of four stages: in Egypt, En route, Wandering, or in the Promised Land.
You could be:
Pending on where your “living” right now you may need to: Say no. Say yes. Move on. Move out. Start something. Stop something. Give it up. Give it back. Pick it up. Put it down. Plant some seeds. Pull some weeds. Leave. Stay. Accept. Reject. Speak up. Speak out. Forgive others. Forgive yourself. Try hard. Try harder. Work. Rest. Lead. Follow. Open His word and your heart. Ask God to show you what to do and obey what He says.
Wherever you are, follow God with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
I’d love to pray for you about where you are in life with God. Please leave me a comment in the comment section below!
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#HislovetrumpshateThere is a hash tag being tossed about. It’s about love. It’s about hate. It’s about how we can conquer evil and pain and hurt and sin with love. We try to defeat a four letter word with another four letter word. Let’s apply the wisdom of the ages to this cultural situation and see if we can come up with truth about love and hate.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not shout profanities in the streets.
Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant, it does not mock the infirmed.
Love does not threaten to blow up things.
It does not print rude slogans on signs.
It does not insist on its own way; or harass those with differing viewpoints.
It is not irritable or resentful; it does not destroy or burn or steal.
It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, forgives all things
Love never ends. As for prophecies, tongues, and knowledge, they will pass away;
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways, like threats and fits.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Whether we bleed red, white, blue or rainbow, we are called to love. This truth applies to all—love our enemies, love our neighbors as ourselves, love as God loves us. Hatred stirs up strife and we got ourselves a nation full of strife.
But love covers a multitude of sins.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
His love.
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One of my students stopped me the other day, excited to share her poem with me. She wrote it during her Bible Quiet Time at school. Her poem spoke to my heart, and I think it will speak to you as well! Leave a comment below and let Rebekah know how much you enjoyed her poem!
When I think of you, my mind stops.
I go Your way, I go to the top.
When You look at me, I smile.
It brightens my way on the top.
When I think of You I stop.
I knock on the door of my Father’s Rock.
He opens it up with a smile
and it makes me smile all the way up on top.
I think of You no matter what.
by Rebekah
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The tongue is a tricky little member of the body. While it can be used for good—words of encouragement, salvation and praise—it can also be used for evil. Insults, sarcasm, and lies are right on the tip of the tongue. Left to its natural self, the tongue cannot be trusted. Thankfully God has provided a way.
“The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of the learned, that I may know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as the learned.” Isaiah 50:4
So we will know how to speak a word of encouragement to those who are tired.
Tired of the circumstances.
Tired of dealing with marriage problems (It wasn’t supposed to be this hard was it?).
Tired of that nagging sin problem.
Tired of getting kicked when down.
Just plain old tired.
We gotta show up to hear from Him so we can speak His words. Every morning. Why every morning? Because everyday we are going to run into people who need the kind of help that only comes from the Creator of the universe. Someone who doesn’t know Jesus is depending on you today for the help they need. Our words don’t change hearts, lives or souls. Only God’s word has that kind of power.
There’s a connections from the ear to the tongue. We meet. He speaks. We hear. We speak.
. We miss out and so do those we do life with.Read this same verse in the NASB:
“The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.”
What would the tongue of a disciple say? Words of faith. Words of truth. Words of love. How does a person listen as a disciple? They seek sound teaching, laying aside lesser things in order to choose better things. They pick out their Master’s voice over the babble of a thousand voices, leaning in to catch every word. What do disciples listen for? Opportunities to share the gospel, commands from their teacher, and occasions to learn.
Have a blessed day!
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