Burden
19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.
20 Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. Psalm 68:19-20
Do you have some heavy burdens to bear? How close have you really looked at your own life lately? When you look at your life, the people around you that are close to you and the people around you that are not so close to you, do sit around and start comparing burdens that you weigh you down? The noun form of burden means that which is carried, the verb form of burden is to load heavily. It sounds like when we have a burden, we do it to ourselves. We take on a burden instead of allowing it to be carried by someone else, or we load it heavily on our own backs. It is a lot easier to let our Father in Heaven carry our burdens for us. I think if we quit loading these heavy burdens on our own back, we could probably enjoy our life a bit more.
Have a great weekend.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Fantastic Friday #285 - Later
Later
24 A person’s steps are directed by the LORD.
How then can anyone understand their own way?
25 It is a trap to dedicate something rashly
and only later to consider one’s vows. Proverbs 20:24-25
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
How many of us sit around and say, "I'll take care of that later." If someone asks you to help them, do you say maybe later and then never do it. If a child asks you for help, do you say that you will help later and then never come back to help that child. Do you think God, when we look for help from Him, says maybe later? I would think his answers are more clear than that, in fact it is usually yes, no or not right now. The thing we need to avoid doing is committing to something and then backing out, or committing to something and saying, well maybe later. We as humans tend to have a very short term memory when there is something that does not serve our interests. Why not serve other's interests now instead of later, and then maybe later you can look back on how you fulfilled your vows.
Have a great weekend.
24 A person’s steps are directed by the LORD.
How then can anyone understand their own way?
25 It is a trap to dedicate something rashly
and only later to consider one’s vows. Proverbs 20:24-25
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
How many of us sit around and say, "I'll take care of that later." If someone asks you to help them, do you say maybe later and then never do it. If a child asks you for help, do you say that you will help later and then never come back to help that child. Do you think God, when we look for help from Him, says maybe later? I would think his answers are more clear than that, in fact it is usually yes, no or not right now. The thing we need to avoid doing is committing to something and then backing out, or committing to something and saying, well maybe later. We as humans tend to have a very short term memory when there is something that does not serve our interests. Why not serve other's interests now instead of later, and then maybe later you can look back on how you fulfilled your vows.
Have a great weekend.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Fantastic Friday #284 - Deceit
Deceit
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Acts 13:6:11
When you are waiting on an answer to a prayer, who and what do you listen to? Do you take the advice of someone who you know won't tell you the truth and give you what you want to hear, or do you simply rely on what you think you want to do? Do you take a poll where the only the choices to the questions are answers that get you what you want, or do you spend your time convincing the people around you that your decision is the right one? If you look at the first four things I have mentioned here, they all have to do with "I" and "me" and what "you" want to have happen. These things can also be led by the deceitful enemy just as Elymas above. The enemy uses this deceit to keep you from waiting on the answer to come. You, I or me cannot answer our own prayers because we are not in control. We all need to wait for the truthful answer by letting the Holy Spirit lead us through the darkness and guide our decisions. We don't need to spend our time convincing ourselves and others we have made the right decision, because if you have to convince yourself it probably isn't the right one.
Have a great weekend.
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Acts 13:6:11
When you are waiting on an answer to a prayer, who and what do you listen to? Do you take the advice of someone who you know won't tell you the truth and give you what you want to hear, or do you simply rely on what you think you want to do? Do you take a poll where the only the choices to the questions are answers that get you what you want, or do you spend your time convincing the people around you that your decision is the right one? If you look at the first four things I have mentioned here, they all have to do with "I" and "me" and what "you" want to have happen. These things can also be led by the deceitful enemy just as Elymas above. The enemy uses this deceit to keep you from waiting on the answer to come. You, I or me cannot answer our own prayers because we are not in control. We all need to wait for the truthful answer by letting the Holy Spirit lead us through the darkness and guide our decisions. We don't need to spend our time convincing ourselves and others we have made the right decision, because if you have to convince yourself it probably isn't the right one.
Have a great weekend.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Fantastic Friday #283- Forget
Forget
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Do you find yourself forgetting things? And when you do remember things, what do you remember? Many times when I speak with people throughout the week, they tend to forget about the good that God has provided us and only remember bad things that have happened throughout the week. Why is it that people's minds focus on the bad before the good? That would be the influence of the enemy to pull us away from the Lord. It is important for us to forget the bad things of the past, remember the good things and focus on the excellent things of the future that our Lord will provide us.
Have a great weekend.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Do you find yourself forgetting things? And when you do remember things, what do you remember? Many times when I speak with people throughout the week, they tend to forget about the good that God has provided us and only remember bad things that have happened throughout the week. Why is it that people's minds focus on the bad before the good? That would be the influence of the enemy to pull us away from the Lord. It is important for us to forget the bad things of the past, remember the good things and focus on the excellent things of the future that our Lord will provide us.
Have a great weekend.
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