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I So Messed Up
My mother’s voice came to me as I dashed about the house attempting to complete my “to do” list.
Friends were coming to stay with us for the weekend, and all of a sudden, I saw every scuff mark and nail hole on the walls. “Use toothpaste to fill in the holes,” I remembered Mama telling me. However, after plugging a few holes with Colgate, I remembered that the walls at 3412-58th Street in Lubbock, Texas were white. My toothpaste filler jumped out at me like bright stars. Now, I had another item on my to do list. Find our house paint and cover the white toothpaste. Since we’d recently done some updates to our kitchen, I knew where the paint was and began to tackle the white spots. A little dab here. A little dab there. But, and this is a huge “but,” the paint wasn’t the same color. Instead of looking at white dabs of Colgate, I was looking a dark blotches of the wrong color of paint. Hurriedly, I tried to blend it; smearing a bit of paint from one Colgate hole to the other. It wasn’t looking so good from where I stood, so I decided to step back. It was worse than when I was close up. I now had a speckled, spotted wall.
There was only one thing to do. Paint the wall; except I had done it to two walls. “Paint the room….that’s all I can do at this point,” I heavily sighed – with emphasis on “heavily.” At this point, I wasn’t feeling so chipper about how my day was going. My “fill the nail holes” on the To Do List that I thought I’d quickly check off; had now grown. “Paint the room” became number 17. And, that opened a whole other list of “to do’s…” tape off the ceiling, the baseboards, move the furniture, take down pictures, remove the drapes.
Panic started to set in when I realized I could smear a ton of the wrong color of paint all over the two walls and tell our guests that I’m testing colors before I paint my study. So far, this seemed to be the best solution. Or, I could just tell the truth.
Have You Ever So Messed Up
When writing “The Plan A MOM in a Plan B World,” guilt was one of the 18 “land mines” in our minds that I addressed. As a matter of fact, it was Chapter 2, “Languishing in Guilt or Rejoicing in Grace.” Why is guilt such a parenting trap? First, because we’re all going to make mistakes. And not only mistakes, we’re going to sin. Some of our sins will be intentional. We know not to do something and we do it anyway. However, other times, we unintentionally sin. We didn’t mean to fill tan walls with white toothpaste; or we did, but didn’t think it through. We hoped we could get by with a shortcut. We hoped no one would notice. We thought we could cover up what we’d done, but we couldn’t.
Have You Accepted Grace
I thought about not telling Keith what I did. But, it’s an unavoidable conversation. Maybe since I’m writing about it in the paper, he’ll laugh. I’m really dreaming now. And, God doesn’t laugh when we go off the beaten path of righteousness. But He is a God of grace. He is forgiving. Hiding, avoiding, attempting to cover our wrongs only digs us in deeper – whether we’re talking about parenting or painting. What’s the best solution? Be honest with God and our kids. Tell God we’re sorry for parenting sins we committed; or sins we did that negatively affected our children. Then, open our hearts to receive His grace.
I’m about to call Keith and send him a picture of what I did. I’m so thankful he’s a husband of grace!
“I acknowledged my sin to You; and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’; and You forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 32:5
Heavenly Father, You set the example for us of extending grace. Thank you for Your mercy. Teach us to walk in Your ways and to repent when we fail.
Praise to the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL
“Surely the coastlands will wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them,
For the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.”
Have you been to Israel? My family went several years ago. It was the trip of a lifetime. But a future trip of a lifetime awaits us. Isaiah prophesies a day when people from all over the world will bring their wealth to Jerusalem to worship the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL. The glory of Israel will not be shared with others. It will not be tainted. It will rest on Christ – the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL.
Christ, I praise You, the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL.
Sit in God’s Presence. Silently Wait.
I woke up and couldn’t sleep. A million thoughts ran through my mind.
Then, as I lay there and turned my thoughts heavenward, Jesus’s voice spoke in the darkness, “Peace I leave with you. Peace I give to you, not as the world gives, give I unto you.”
How did His voice “come to me?” Was it audible? No. Did I turn on a light and read John 14:27 in my Bible? No. His words were imprinted on my mind in 1982 when I received a letter from MD Anderson that I had stage 1 ovarian cancer. His words gave me peace during the following weeks while Keith and I visited oncologists and awaited further diagnosis. Praise God, another opinion stated it wasn’t cancer. But during those weeks, Jesus’s voice was real to me. His promised peace was “out of this world,” as He stated. His voice of peace returned to me as I meditated on Him and His words.
Today’s tip on how to better discern God’s voice is, “Sit in God’s Presence. Silently Wait.”
Sit in God’s Presence
If we’re like most people, when our spirits are disturbed and our minds running rampant, we’re focused on a problem, a person for whom we’re concerned, a relationship, job stress, a sick child, or a million other issues. But by redirecting our minds to God, we open ourselves to His peace and guidance.
Psalm 4:3 comforts us, “Know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him.”
Psalm 4:4 instructs us, “Tremble and do not sin; meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.”
Jesus sat in God’s presence. Mark 1:35 records that “in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”
The next time worry darkens your emotions like an unexpected storm, take control of your thoughts. Turn them heavenward. Intentionally sit in God’s presence.
Silently Wait
Have you ever stood at the kitchen faucet and placed your glass under it? Was your glass filled at once or did you have to wait for it to become filled with water?
Ephesians 5:18 instructs us to “be filled with the Spirit.” However, Christians often ignore God’s instruction. We’re stressed out, empty, strained, and drained. When we fail to sit in God’s presence and SILENTLY WAIT to be “filled” with His Spirit, stress and worry take a toll on us.
Notice the importance of the word “wait” in Acts 1:4. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to WAIT for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard from Me.”
For what did Jesus tell the disciples to wait? For the Holy Spirit.
Do we wait for the filling of the Holy Spirit every day? Or, do we hurriedly read a few verses or a devotion; then rush out the door or check our email? Filling our glass with water and filling our spirit with the Holy Spirit isn’t done in a split second. We hold our glass to the faucet and WAIT for our glass to be filled with water. We hold our spirit to the Lord and WAIT for our spirit to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
One meaningful way I’ve learned to hold my spirit to the Lord is by holding my an empty page of my prayer journal before Him. The empty lines and spaces are like the empty glass. The Bible verses I read and the impressions He places on my heart fill the empty lines and spaces, reflecting what He’s placing in my soul. I hope you’ll join me on the National Day of Prayer for Hill Country Ministries’ Prayer Journaling Coffee.
Jesus knew the stress and strain of this world. His voice comes to us and offers us peace that is out of this world. Will we sit in His presence? Will we be filled with His Spirit?
Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of Your Spirit and of Your peace which is not of this world. In Jesus’s name, amen.
Praise to GOD, WHO HEARS
“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, ‘I have HEARD YOUR PRAYER, I have seen your tears;‘”
“I have heard your prayer.” Was this a statement that God made only to one person in all of time? Hardly. God hears. May I repeat that? God HEARS our prayers. Perhaps we need to HEAR that God HEARS us. Because KNOWING He HEARS us changes everything. It means we’re not doing life alone. It means we’re not doing illness alone. It means we’re not doing family alone. It means we’re not stranded in our circumstance with no one to hear our pleas for help, guidance, and deliverance. “God, do you hear me?” we may cry. “Thus says the LORD, ‘I have heard your prayer.'” God told Hezekiah that He would add 15 years to his life, but Hezekiah had to walk each day of those 15 years in faith. So, we too, in faith, take one day at a time – believing – God hears my prayers.
Lord God, You HEAR MY PRAYERS! I praise and trust You!
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Praise to the Lord, QUIET IN HIS LOVE
“The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be QUIET IN HIS LOVE, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”
Terror. Pain. Suffering. Disappointments. “Where is God?” people often ask. Does He not care? Today we live in what is referred to as a “fallen” world. We have fallen away from God. We have fallen from living by His commandments. We have a “fallen” nature that if left alone falls further and further into sin. But, God is still with us. He is the ultimate victorious warrior. He is joyous over us when we turn to Him for salvation, and we will see His joy one day when we are in His presence. He is QUIET IN HIS LOVE. Rather than hearing trumpets and cymbals announcing God’s love, we know it in our hearts. We sense God’s presence and love. Wherever you are, know that God is QUIET IN HIS LOVE for you, and He is with you every minute.
Lord, I praise You that You are with me and QUIET IN YOUR LOVE for me.
*Be encouraged HERE. Record God’s names and titles in Prayers of My Heart prayer journal.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Have you followed the Presidential campaign trail of, “He said…” “She said…”
“Liar.” “No, he lied.” “No, she lied.” Sometimes it’s hard to know the truth. We hear one thing, then another. But, does it have to be that way when we’re listening to God? Do we have to be confused about His voice? Is He still speaking or is He silent?
Instead of scratching our head and wondering, we can open our Bibles and find the answers. We learn that God has spoken and is still speaking.
God Speaks
God Speaks to Us through Creation. Psalm 19, Rom 1:20
God Speaks to Us through the Prophets. Hebrews 1:1-2, Is 45:19
God Speaks to Us through teachers. Acts 10:34
God Speaks to Us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Matthew 17:5
God Speaks to Us through the Holy Spirit. John 13:33
In my prior column, we addressed the first key to discerning God’s voice: LEARN His Voice by studying the Bible. Scripture is God breathed, inspired. It’s the breath of heaven put on paper. Consume it. As He breathed it out, breathe it in.
“But in everyday decisions, how can I know it’s God guiding me and not just my thoughts?” we may ask.
KEY 2 in Discerning God’s Voice: INQUIRE If it’s God Speaking
We have examples in Scripture of people asking God for confirmation if it is Him speaking; His voice guiding them. Following are a few people with inquiring minds, who checked the “voice” they were hearing.
Abraham’s Servant
In Genesis 24, Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son, Isaac. The servant felt the full weight of responsibility in finding the “right” wife for Isaac. This was no small assignment. Genesis 24:12-14 records the servant’s prayer. “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; now may it be that the girl to who, I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’ – may she be the one whom have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”
Note – the servant is asking God to lead him to select the right bride and asking Him to confirm it so He will know for sure it’s God’s choice. You probably know the rest of the story. If you don’t, you can read it in Genesis 24:15ff. It’s a beautiful account of God answering a servant’s prayer. Does God care who we marry? Yes! Does God care about our commitments? Yes! Does God guide people today? Yes!
Notice the servant’s response to God “leading” him to the right bride. Genesis 24:26, “Then the man bowed low and worshipped the Lord.” Do you think there was celebrating and dancing in his heart? Yes.
Point: God Cares
He cares who we marry, what job we take and commitments we make. He is a loving God who has equipped us with spiritual ears to listen and eyes to watch for His leading.
Gideon, Peter, Ananias, Philip, the examples abound of men and women like us who discerned and followed God’s voice. We can LEARN His voice by studying the Scriptures. We can INQUIRE for confirmation.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You created us to commune with us. Open our ears to Your Word and leading. In Jesus’s name, amen.
“I never journaled before, but now, it has changed the way I pray. I feel closer to Him.” Prayer Journal Participant
Praise to GOD who Has ESTABLISHED EQUITY
“The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity;”
Can you imagine if God ruled by ever-changing emotions and laws? What if on a whim, He decided to not be forgiving? Or, to forgive one person, but not another? What if God’s standard of holiness changed year by year? But, praise HIM, that is not who our God is. He loves justice. He has ESTABLISHED EQUITY, and He rules with equity. That is why the psalmist says, “Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He.” (Psalm 99:3) That is why we praise our great and awesome God!
GOD of EQUITY, I praise You!
Praise to God Who DWELLS ON HIGH
“The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.”
“So, you’re visiting here? Where do you live?” Can you imagine having that conversation with Jesus when He visited earth? Can you imagine His response, “I live in heaven. That’s where I’m from. I’m visiting here. I saw that people were trapped in sin and came to rescue them. I’m going back to heaven soon.” It sounds funny, but that’s exactly what happened. And, Jesus told people He had come down from heaven. Of course, they didn’t believe Him. Do you? Do you believe that Jesus dwells on high, but came to earth to rescue us from sin? If so, then you have a great reason to praise Him!
Lord Jesus, “amazing” is the only word that describes You, who DWELLS ON HIGH! Thank You for coming to earth to save us from our sins. All praise to You, our most merciful Lord!
Click HERE for worship songs and Scriptures. Praise Jesus all day long!
Praise to the DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH
“Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH hath visited us,”
As the sun rises in the east and brings light to the world, so Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied that Jesus would be the rising star giving light to our dark world. However, Jesus gave more than physical light. The Dayspring from On High, from heaven, gives spiritual light. He shines in our hearts and dispels the darkness. He shines on our day and gives light for our path. He shines and through His light we become fruit bearers of His life giving presence.
DAYSPRING from ON HIGH, I praise You for rising in my heart and being the Light of my soul!
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Listen UP! When the Spirit Speaks. Learn God’s Voice
I seem to be going in circles.
Have you ever felt like you were “spinning your wheels” in your business, with your family, ministry, or even personal goals? Perhaps you’ve invested your heart in your marriage or to raise your children or grandchildren; but seem to be getting no where. No doubt, there are seasons when we don’t seem to “hear” from God or know what steps to take. But, other times, God is speaking, and perhaps we’re not as “in tune” to Him as we might be.
In my “Listen UP!” Conference, I share six points based on the acronym L.I.S.T.E.N. to help us better “hear” from God. Today, we’ll focus on the first one: Learn God’s Voice.
L earn God’s Voice
In John 10:27, Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” Did we catch that? Jesus says we can “hear” His voice. We have the option to “follow” Him. In case we think His words were meant only for the disciples in His presence, we need to “hear Him out.” Jesus told His followers that He would send the Holy Spirit as a Helper from God to us. (John 14:16-17) He said the Holy Spirit would speak to us. (John 16:13) We must remember that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and that He created in us in His image. In other words, He created us to be able to commune with Him and He with us. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Lean IN and Learn God’s Voice by Studying His Words
How do we learn God’s voice? We “LEAN IN” to Him. In other words, we study the Bible, His WORD, to know His words. For example, if we read His Words in Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry, but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,” then when the Spirit prompts our heart to work out our differences before we go to bed, we’ll wake with a restored relationship; not an estranged one. Lean in. Read the Bible with an intent to hear and obey God’s voice.
Lean IN in Prayer
Jesus tells us to ask God for our needs. (Matthew 7:7) However, an equally important part of prayer is listening to God. When you pray and study the Bible, have your prayer journal handy so you can record what God impresses on your heart. With Bible in hand, you can confirm, “Is this consistent with God’s voice.” For instance, if the Holy Spirit prompts you to call someone with whom you’ve had a difference of opinion, you may feel it’s no use; they’ve made it clear they don’t want a relationship. However, when you read Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men,” you know the prompting is consistent with God’s Word. You’re not responsible for how the person responds. You’re responsible to follow God’s “voice” prompting you; confirmed by His Word.
Other ways to Lean IN are to gather with other believers for study, prayer, and fellowship. Lean IN by listening to sermons and praise music. Lean IN by asking God to teach you to discern His voice.
Instead of going in circles or going in the wrong direction, we can Listen UP, learn God’s voice, and follow Him.
Father, thank You that You created us triune beings with a spirit to know, hear, and follow Your Spirit. Teach us to discern Your voice. In Jesus’s name, amen.
“I never journaled before, but now, it has changed the way I pray. I feel closer to Him.” Prayer Journal Participant