Inside the Storm

I cannot believe it has been 20 days since I posted a new entry for this blog! I must say that I have been so busy I feel I've been in a whirl wind. Since posting I have spoken at two ladies retreats (Minneapolis, MN and Dawsonville, GA) and a Wednesday night service at a church (Riverdale, GA). Besides that I have been a long-term substitute teacher HS band director as well as continued house duties for the family and kept the Legacy Equipping Center going. Phew! Praise God a new band director has been hired, so I can get my life back!

During that time, God gave me a revelation about storms. I had never thought this before, but I felt that God was saying that He wants us in a storm. What?! Actually what I mean is that He wants us to be moved in the middle of the storm where there is peace in the storm's eye. What He doesn't want is the storm inside us!

Jesus said that in this world we WILL have tribulations but to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. He also said that He has a peace to give us that the world cannot offer. Basically, what He is saying in those two statements is that we will have storms in life, but we can move into the center of the storm and have peace while the winds are hurling around us. We can also allow Him to speak to the storms inside us and say, "Peace, Be Still!" This kind of security only comes through Christ. I know you can have that in Christ, because I do! Experiencial truth! You can have it, too! Thank God, there is enough to go around to all the multitudes of people who will accept it! I pray you will experience His peace in the midst of your storms today!

Self-control - Two Different Ways

As I was waking this morning, the thought came to mind that there are two totally different kinds of self-control. Of course the good kind is part of the fruit of the Spirit found in Galations 5:22-23.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Self-control in this context is not so much me controlling myself as it is me allowing the Holy Spirit to have control of myself. Notice where it is in the order of the fruit of the Spirit. If the other characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit are in order (love, joy, peace, etc.), then it will be so much easier for self-control to happen.

This kind of self-control only comes through the spirit. The other kind of self-control comes through the soul. What's the difference? Man has three parts. The spirit is that core of us that communes with our Creator. The soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions. Our bodies are what we are walking around in. When sin entered the equation with Adam and Eve, their spirits died. Since then, all of us are born in sin. So all of us have a void where our spirits should be until we are "born again" by having that spirit come alive within us when we accept Christ's sacrifice that actually reconciles us to God again. How awesome that Christ's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, actually comes in to make residence within us!

Before that happens, self-control happens in the soul--our mind, will and emotions. This is when it is more me controlling myself, my way, and has tendency to end up in seeking control and manipulation over others as well. What I see happening in this is that the will sinks down, and the mind and emotions rise to the top. When this happens, the person makes decisions with their will based on their thoughts and how they feel. The outcome can be disastrous! That's probably another blog post if we were to get into what influences thoughts which influence feelings. Let's just say without being transformed by the renewing of the mind (as Romans 12 says), self-control ends up being much more bondage than freedom.

If we look back up to the scripture listing the fruit of the Spirit, we notice that it starts with a "but." That is a conjunction. We have to see what precedes it to get the full comparison of these two types of "self-control." Let's look at Galatians 5:19-21:

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and 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."

Wow! That's what self-control without the Spirit leads to, and that is bondage. Read over those two scripture passages again (Gal. 5:22-23 and Gal. 5:19-21). Which would you rather have? Which would you rather those with which you have close relationships to have?

How do we do it? How do we get the freedom of self-control that brings peace and joy and not live in the bondage of control and manipulation? We have to look at the verses that precede and that follow the verses we've already read. First, let's look at the preceding verses of Galatians 5:16-18.

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law."

Now let's look at the verses that follow all this by reading Galatians 5:24-25.

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

I pray that reading this post will help to spark a desire deep within the readers to want the kind of self-control that is from Galatians 5:22-23 and not the kind in Galatians 5:19-21. It's an awesome journey that leads to abundant life! One in which you can relax and take deep breaths of relief instead of hiperventalating trying to control your world!

One more thought...remember we are three parts? Spirit, soul and body? Well, our bodies benefit or suffer depending on which self-control you allow yourself to have. There are many reasons for sickness. I venture to say, though, that a big portion of our sickness is due to messed up thoughts, emotions, and wrong decisions. Remember? That's the soulish self-control. Sometimes we pray for people to be well, but we forget to pray for them to let go of the selfish kind of self-control so that they can be well! I pray that for you today! (and me!)

Time to Laugh!

I'm branching out and joining this Blog Hop group. I'm new to all this, but from what I understand, this will link to many other blogs. This time we are supposed to list something funny. Everyone is invited to post comments that will make us laugh!

Here's my funny story for the day. When my oldest daughter, Amy, was 2, she was quite the talker indeed! She overheard me talk about a series I was teaching about the 7 Last Words of Christ. One day, out of the blue, she asked, "Mommy, when Jesus was dying on the cross, why did He say, 'My God! My God! For Pete's Sake!' "

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links...

Courage to Speak Up

Today's post is written by a friend who came to our writer's group at the Equipping Center last night. The assignment was to write a devotional with a scripture, application, prayer, thought for the day and prayer focus. I thought it was great! Here it is:

Read Ezekiel 3:17-21

“When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” Ez. 3:18

How many times a day do you see someone who is very clearly doing wrong? Either hurting someone, stealing, vandalizing, lying – all these things seem to be more prevalent every day.

Now the tough question – how many times do you speak up and tell that person what they are doing is not right? Whether we hold back out of fear (especially of a stranger) or hold back because we love the person (and don’t want to hurt their feelings or make them not like us), we are still doing the perpetrator a grave disservice, possibly to the cost of his own life.

Lately I have begun to make people angry because I just can’t sit around and watch this happen anymore. I can’t enable someone to continue on in their sin by not saying “I see you, don’t you think God sees you, too???” At best, I am called blunt. At worst… well, I can’t write that word here. I just know that I don’t want anyone’s blood required at my hand. I have enough of my own transgressions to be held responsible for.

Prayer - “Dear God, give us all the courage to speak up in the situations that you lead us into. Gives us the wisdom of not only what to say, but how to say it and to only speak your will. Give us the integrity to speak only out of love and never out of judgment. Amen”

Thought for the Day - Think back to a time when you felt like you needed to speak up, but you didn’t. Maybe that was the Holy Spirit giving you a nudge. It’s called conviction.

Prayer Focus - Pray for the ones who do speak up and are persecuted for their courage.

Are You Riding On Coattails?

From a very young age I have experienced God to be real in my life. I have the privilege of the Christian faith being passed down to me from both my father and mother's side of the family. Even so, I had to make a choice myself to accept God into my life. Those who just go through life on the coattails of their parents' faith (or anyone else's faith for that matter) without making it personally their own, end up falling away when the storms of life blow. The winds of opposition are so strong in this world that no one can keep a grip on someone else's faith to see them through. On the other hand, if that faith is ignited within their own heart, it doesn't matter where that storm may take them, they are firm and get right back up!

Legacy Ministries August, 2009 Newsletter

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What is the Opposite of Love?

Any thoughts on that question? Most would probably say "hate." I'm here to say I disagree. "Hate" is not the opposite of "love"...it is a by-product of the opposite of "love." I think the opposite of "love" is "self-absorption."

This might be contrary to the world's view of "love." To many, "self-absorption" is a synonym of the word instead of an antonym. Think about it. One might say, "I love ice cream." "I love to party." "I love sex." They "love" all those things because of what they bring to themselves. That type of "love" quickly leads to obesity, addictions, sexually transmitted diseases, depression (when they can't get what they "love"), and anxiety (when they do what they can to try to get what they "love.") Ultimately it could also lead to hate when one sees others with what he "loves," but he does not see them doing anything to help him get it. How futile! What ends up being a journey to get all the gusto for self (because after all, we only live once!), ends up leading to self-destruction.

True love brings freedom from that downward cycle of destruction. John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." That's exactly what Jesus Christ did for us. He is our example. "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren." (1 John 3:16) If we truly love others, we will put aside our desires and do what we can to give the other person what pleases them. Then, because we love them, we take pleasure in seeing them fulfilled. If they truly love us, they will do the same for us. Then our "self" ends up getting fulfilled in an unselfish way...with fulfillment and life instead of destruction.

I challenge you today to find ways to forget about yourself and show a random act of kindness for someone else. Think about your actions this week. See if you are acting out of "self-absorption" or unselfish, true love.