Wise Counsel

Proverbs 17:27-28 (NIV)

The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint,
and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.

Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
and discerning if they hold their tongues.

The older I get, and the closer I get to the Lord, I realize that my "2 cents" is really not worth much. I used to think my "2 cents" was worth $2,000! I also got upset if others did not "get it" when I gave it. That in turn caused me to go "off at the mouth" even more than I did when I gave my opinion. Discernment? I thought I knew it all, but come to find out, I was just blinded by my perspective. With that came judgment and criticism.

One day I heard a sermon that talked about the difference between giving your opinion and giving wise counsel. I do not remember who the preacher was, but the message sure had a huge impact on me. I really don't remember details about the message, except that one major difference between giving your opinion and offering wise counsel is that you don't give it unless you are asked. People really do not want to know other people's opinion. They are usually stuck in their own opinion! At the point at which they ask for your opinion, that's when they care and will receive it better.

Another difference I have found between giving your opinion and giving wise counsel is that much prayer goes into the latter before it is delivered: prayer that asks God to give you a perspective check in your own heart as to why you hold that view and what motives go along with it; prayer that asks God to show the other person's perspective and anything about his heart; and most importantly, prayer that seeks God's perspective and discernment. Even if you do not know about the situation before you are asked to give your opinion, you can pray on the spot if you are supposed to give it and what you are supposed to say.

When this happens, what you have to say will be worth so much more than $.02 or even $2,000, because it will be God's words and love coming through you! You will not care about the credit, because you know where the wisdom came from. I say often to those who come to me for counsel, "I cannot heal squat! I can only take you to the only ONE who can!"

Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Equipped for Joy Women's Conference video excerpt

This is a video clip of my daughter, Amy Melton, speaking for the Saturday morning devotion time at our recent women's conference. I must say, she has a great future as an anointed orator!

A Whole New Heart for a Whole New Year!

The 3rd Annual Legacy Ministries "Equipped with JOY!" Women's Conference has come and gone, but not without making a major impact in the lives of so many...including my own! Like one attendee said, "All I can say is 'WOW!". The hundreds of volunteer hours (literally...if not thousands!) were WELL worth it! In the words of one of the songs at the conference, "Lord, I'm amazed by You!"

My passion is to see people set free and equipped to fulfill God's call on their lives to intimacy with Him and service for Him. As I told the ladies in the closing session, my rendition of the verse that says "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart" is "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you Himself!" How awesome to experience how wide, how deep, how high His love for us really is! That is the only desire that truly satisfies the deepest longing of our hearts--our love tanks! After that, our other desires will line up to match the desires He has for us to share that love to the hurting all around us. Then we will start to see those God-given desires fulfilled before our very eyes!

That has proven to be the case in my life this past weekend. God is a rewarder of those who deligently seek Him. He rewarded me by letting me see ladies soaking in the message Friday night about allowing Him to do heart surgery on us to heal those wounds that tie us to depression, anxiety, unforgiveness, etc. Then on Saturday it thrilled my heart to see the women writing diligently the dreams God has placed in their hearts to now go out and share that with others.

Thank you to all the volunteers who had anything to do with putting this conference together...the Table Topic facilitators, Breakout session teachers, registration, program, corporate sponsors, intercessors...the list goes on and on. What a team! What a privilege to be able to partner with Almighty God in His work to heal, restore and send out people to do His service! I know all on the team will agree with me that He gets all the glory! There is no way any of us could heal anyone, yet He chooses to use us as vessels to pour out His love to others. "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36)

Ladies, mark your calendar now for the 4th Annual "Equipped with JOY!" conference to be held on January 20-21, 2012! The theme will be "Making a Difference". Let me know if you want to go ahead and register!

A Fresh Start

As I sit to write this post on the first day of 2011, I think about how God’s mercies are new every morning. If that is the case, then they are new this morning. Since this is the first day of the year, that means that they are new for the start of this year. It does not matter how your year went in 2010, you have a clean slate for 2011!

Let’s take a look at the verse from which we get that truth (Lamentations 3:21-26 NKJV):
“This I recall to my mind,
      Therefore I have hope.
      Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
      Because His compassions fail not.
      They are new every morning;
      Great is Your faithfulness.
      “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
      “Therefore I hope in Him!”
       The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
       To the soul who seeks Him.
       It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
      For the salvation of the LORD.”

Some of you may have gone through many trials in 2010. The way you look at your heartaches of last year will have much to do with whether or not you get out of the pit of despair the enemy wants you to stay in for this year.

What do I mean? If you look at 2010 with a “Woe is me” attitude, chances are you will expect nothing better in 2011, and you will probably stay in despair. On the other hand, if you do what Lamentations says and recall to your mind the many times God has brought you through, you will be well on your way to experiencing joy as you see God rescue you again and again!

Think of it like this. When you drive a car, you need to keep focused on where you are going, not where you came from. The rear view mirror is very small compared to the windshield on which it is attached. If you always look at the rear view mirror to see behind you, you will soon crash. However, if you glance at the rear view mirror when you need to, it could save you from a crash.

That is the way it is with our past. If we keep dwelling on the past, it could keep us from moving forward with the great future God has for us. On the other hand, if we allow God to show us glimpses of our past and show us His perspective, it can help us to be launched into His call on our lives. We will soon recognize that He was faithful to bring us through it all, and His faithfulness will see us through in the future.

Painting Pictures of Egypt

The following is written by a good friend, Jennifer Hanson, who posted this note on her facebook page. I loved it so much, I asked her if I could re-post it here. Enjoy! (On a side note, Jennifer has received an assignment to go to Cambodia as a Missionary Associate. She is waiting to go until all the funds are raised. Please help me pray for her funds to be raised. If God stirs in your heart to give, please email me at tammy@legacyministries.info.)

A few weeks ago a question popped into my head. I've been pondering it a lot in the weeks since, and then, last night, to my surprise, my mother asked me the very same question. I took this as a sign to write a few words about it ;-)

Why did the children of Israel still turn to idols again and again after they had witnessed so many miracles from God?

An entire sea was parted for them so they could walk across on dry land and at exactly the right time covered their enemies. They received food straight from heaven that was not like any food found on this earth. It could only be gathered one day at a time or it disappeared. Then there were all those plagues that completely bypassed them, but attacked the Egyptians. They had a protection of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They saw people die from touching the ark of the covenant, people healed of leprosy, and the glory of the Lord on Moses' face when he would return from speaking to God.

But they still turned away. They still lusted after false idols. Why?

It's because the miracles aren't what it's really about. The miracles are meant to point to Him. When we lose sight of Him amongst His workings, then we start to become dissatisfied. We chase after other things to quench our thirst and satiate our hunger. How many times have I seen things that could only be explained by His power, and then I still doubt and worry the next time around? Miracles make us say "Wow! God is good!" in the moment, and they can serve to boost our faith... but it's so easy to forget in the days after.

In John 6, it talks about Jesus feeding the 5,000. In the verses after that story, the people kept trying to find Him, and force Him to be their king. Jesus knew this, and He was avoiding them. He even walked on the water to slip by them! They eventually found Him though, and He called them out. He told them that they weren't looking for Him because they saw God's power and compassion in miraculously feeding all of them. They were only looking for Him because they got some bread and ate their fill. Cool trick! They completely missed the point of the miracle. He told them that the true bread was Him. He said that His body that would be pierced for them contained the Bread of Life that would never stop satisfying. They didn't like this statement so much. They wanted more miracles. They wanted a king who would work some powerful, vengeful, magic and slaughter their enemies. Even some of Jesus' disciples (other than the 12) left Him after they heard this little sermon.

I believe that miracles happen all the time. I've seen too many things that can't be explained by anything else but a powerful God. I was born after 10 years of my parents hearing that they would never be able to have kids. My sister was born five years later. I've had people hand me large sums of money to go on missions trips hours before the fund raising deadline. My friend was recently in a car accident where he should have died, but he doesn't have a scratch on him. Just yesterday I met a perfect tiny little baby boy who belongs to a couple in low income housing, struggling to just get by. He was supposed to be born with a dangerous cist on his head. My sister prayed for him while he was still in the womb and he was born perfect. I've had God speak to me in dreams, I've had prayers answered exactly the way I prayed them, and I've had people pray over me and give me guidance from God about things and situations that they could have never known about on their own. I've been on missions trips where the presence of God fell so heavy I could hardly walk and when people gave their testimonies it was as though you could cut the anointing in the room with a knife. I've seen marriages restored, people healed, and even little things like money showing up when I'm at my very last dollar.

I have to remind myself though, that these things only point to the greater thing...the ability to have a relationship with the Great, Good, Loving, Compassionate, Merciful, All-Powerful, God who does them in His perfect wisdom. THAT is one miracle worth basing your faith on. That is the root of the Tree of Life. If I'm not connected to those roots, then I could still see all of those things I mentioned above, and then in the days after be blown away by the wind.

Have a Thankful Christmas!

I am sorry that I have not even blogged since Thanksgiving! As I sit here and think about that, it is giving me something to blog about! The calendar says that Thanksgiving is over and the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparation has begun. That's the problem! We cannot be like the calendar...Thanksgiving CANNOT be over; it has to go on into Christmas.

Too many people have a hard time receiving. How would you like it if you gave your child a gift at Christmas and the child started saying you didn't have to do it; or that he didn't like it, and he wanted something different? How would you feel if he started comparing what you gave him with what you gave his siblings? You would really feel crazy if he started telling you that he did not deserve the gift! Here's a better one--what if he went on and enjoyed the gift without even acknowledging it or saying a word to you?

That is what many of us do to God! He blesses us with so many gifts all year long. How often do we stop and tell Him "Thank You!"? Can you stop right now and think of something you haven't thanked God for and thank Him? And the comparison game? SO many "saints" are playing that one! We need to stop comparing what others have and allow God to use us in our unique, special gifts He has given us. He's the Master Creator! He knows what is best!

The problem doesn't stop with not thanking God. Many times God uses other people to bless us and we forget to thank them. Recently God put it on my heart to bless someone who is going through a hard financial trial. I did this a couple of times. To my recollection, I never received a "Thank You". Now, I really don't need it, but I believe the recipients of the gifts needed to give a "thank you" for their sake. That might be the key that actually helps them out of their pit. Phillipians 4:6-7 says, "Don't worry about anything, but in everything, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace that passes understanding will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus." (I added the italics for emphasis of the point.) It makes me wonder how many people I am doing that to. So now my challenge is to pray and ask God who you need to send a thank you note to! That's what I am going to do!

One time Jesus healed 10 men who were suffering with leprosy. (Luke 17) You would think that they would thank Jesus over and over, but only 1 came back to thank the Lord. Jesus acknowledged that only one of the 9 thanked Him. He then went on to tell that one that his faith had made him whole. The Greek word for "whole" is "sozo" which means healed spirit, soul and body. That means that not only was the man physically healed, he was also healed in his spirit and soul! His healing would last for eternity, while the others' only got the temporary physical healing. Wow!

This Christmas, have yourself a thankful little Christmas, and your heart will be light! :)

3 year old Jonathan conducting to the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Sy...

OK, I'm deviating a bit from my normal sermon type exhortations. I just LOVE this video. God has truly gifted this kid! He is truly feeling the music. Incredible! Enjoy!