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“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”
Matthew 12:34b-35
When I was little, I was fascinated by treasure and treasure maps. I loved reading books about buried fortunes (Nancy Drew and The Quest of the Missing Map was a favorite). How exciting to follow a parchment map to the foot of a tree, and with spade in hand unearth a treasure.
Buried. Beautiful. Valuable.
Treasure is a key word in Mathew 6:35. In the original Greek it transliterates as thesauros, which means a place to collect things and the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up. Interestingly, thesaurus also means a casket. Think for a moment.
A container for good, precious things or a casket for dead, lifeless things.
In my living room I have a cedar chest, a place where I collect precious things. It holds treasures of the past. Corsages … diplomas … love letters … a wedding bouquet … baby booties … scribbly pictures … handmade Mother’s Day cards … funny little birthday presents from funny little sons.
Why do I store mementos in my cedar chest? So I can remember; so I can relive again and yet again the beautiful memories my keepsakes invoke. As I hold a treasure in my hands, it continues to move and change me, to mold my soul.
The heart is like a cedar chest—a place to collect things. We decide what to fill it with. Good things. Lovely things. Beautiful things. But, we can choose to fill the heart with bitter things, reliving them over and over, wounding ourselves afresh with every remembrance, shredding our heart and shattering our soul. Bitter memories will also continue to change and mold us.
What shall we store in the heart? At times we choose bitterness. Why?
I prayed for insight and an answer came clearly to my mind. We treasure bitterness because we feel something is owed to us, something feels unfinished.
But, when Jesus said, “It is finished,” bitterness died on the cross. It was never meant to be stored in the heart to taint and poison. Give bitter memories to Jesus and trust Him to use them for good. Then, fill your heart with His life-giving Word. Hide it deep in the soil of your heart. His Word becomes buried treasure.
Precious. Beautiful. Valuable.
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” Matthew 12:35
The choice is yours.
By Mary Kane
copyright 2016
all rights reserved
Before we start our study time today, please take a minute and go before our Lord in prayer.
.
“You are a stubborn, opinionated woman!”“Oh, yeah? Well, you are a hard-working, caring man and I appreciate you.”
Dear Father,Thank You that because You bless us, You call us to bless others. Help us to stop basing our treatment of others on how they treat us but on how You treat us. We can bless others because we have already been blessed by You. Help us to stop and think before we speak. There is no room for insults in the mouth of a Christ follower. May the words we speak be the words You would speak.In Jesus Name,Amen
Princes also sit and speak against me, but your servant meditates on your statutes.
Psalm 119:23
My mind used to be a battlefield, a theater of war used expertly by the enemy to oppress, control and render me useless for the cause of Christ. Darts of the enemy used to fly unchecked, inflicting damage on my heart and soul. Jagged wounds hemorrhaged confidence and peace as I struggled to stop the flow. I was a victim of my thoughts — at the mercy of whatever drifted into my mind. One nasty comment from a coworker or supervisor and I would embark on a three-day pity-party, complete with sleepless nights and a churning stomach.
I didn’t want to think about the harsh words echoing around the corners of my mind — I seemed to have no choice. They’d flash in HD, vivid and brutal, as I relived the hurt with each replay. I needed to learn to control my thoughts and take them captive for Christ and shut off the broken record. I needed to learn Christ had set me free.
I needed to listen to what He says.
We have several choices. We can think about:
Satan will always lie and friends will usually only tell us what we want to hear. We can’t trust what the world says or our own words either. Our only trustworthy source is God. If we listen to any other source we’ll miss God’s will and disobey Him in order to “eliminate” fallout from critics. Peace no longer depends on Christ, but on the absence of conflict.
So how do we silence the broken record?
Simple — yet, oh so challenging.
Turn off the lies.
Stop cooperating with the enemy.
Start agreeing with God.
Listen to what He says.
The Battle Plan:
Today, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of your self talk. The moment a negative thought pops into your head, replace it.
Be a doer of the Word. Listen to what He says.
copyright 2016
all rights reserved
Princes also sit and speak against me, but your servant meditates on your statutes.
Psalm 119:23
I have struggled with the fear of man for a long time. For many years it got the better of me and cost me plenty: lost sleep, decreased fruitfulness, and lack of peace. Fear of man has caused me to blindly stumble by sight instead of walking by faith with my Savior.
The fear of man is a horrible way to live—peace depends on the acceptance and affirmation of others. And those who don’t affirm and accept us, own us. Like puppets on a string, we jump and dance, striving to gain approval. Our mind, heart, soul and energy are focused on keeping them happy, and they will never be happy. The only One who can be trusted to own us is Jesus.
If we follow God, men will not be happy with us, and in some cases, Christians will not approve either. The key to freedom, however, is embedded in the verse above. Instead of meditating on what men say, we purposely and intentionally shift our focus to what God says. Focusing on God’s Word frees us from the fear of man, and when we fear God, He blesses us.
From the verse above, we see we have a choice; we can either meditate on the lies and slander of men OR the truth and grace of God’s Word. Man’s word or God’s Word? Man’s word kills, steals and destroys, but God’s Word creates, builds and empowers. Even when He rebukes us, He’s busy developing greater character, faith and fruit in our heart.
In Hebrew the word meditate transliterates as siyach, which means “to put forth, mediate, muse, commune, speak, complain, ponder, sing.” It also means, “to talk to oneself.” In addition, siyach means “to produce, to bring forth, to germinate, to put forth shoots and buds.” Do you see the progression? Whatever we choose to focus on will produce fruit.
The Words of Man
We cooperate with the enemy as he works to destroy us.
The Word of God
We cooperate with God as He works to transform us into the image of Christ, and further His Kingdom on earth.
If you are like me, you sometimes have trouble eliminating the lies echoing through your mind. How do we silence the broken record of the lies?
Repeat steps 1-5 as often as needed. There are days when I carry my Bible verse cards with me every where I go. The enemy can be that relentless. But God has given us the victory, if we will only hold our ground and walk by faith.
Life is sweet. Fear God.
36 “Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; 37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”
Luke 2:36-38
There are over 120 miracles recorded in the Bible. Memorable deeds, acts of bravery and great faith which are recorded for all eternity in God’s word: Moses parting of the Red Sea, Peter walking on water, David slaying Goliath. Saints brought down walls, survived fiery furnaces, raised the dead and healed the sick.
Anna the prophetess. Remember her miraculous deed for the Lord? I didn’t either at first. What did Anna do?
She fasted and she prayed.
For over eighty years, she lived in the temple and served God. Eighty years of fasting, praying and serving? That’s a miracle.
I imagine as Anna was constantly in the temple, she saw many people come with their sins and their sacrifices. Perhaps some with tears and anguish mingled on their faces. It would not be unlikely to assume Anna watched and prayed for these people as they worshiped.
I also think Anna spent much of her time praying for her nation and for the coming Savior. Because she was constantly in the presence of God, her heart was tender to His sudden appearing with His mother and father, Mary and Joseph.
The heroes of old listed above were blessed because they saw the hand of God in their circumstances. Anna, after a lifetime of service, was blessed to see the face of God in her Savior Jesus.
Serve others by serving Him. Merry Christmas.
Please enjoy the Christmas music below.
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