Day 8: Drawing Closer to God (Life Rhythms)

The sermon today was about life rhythms and how God sent Jesus to us, how God and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us and how God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit send us out to others. The passage about Jonah going through Ninevah telling everyone that God said Ninevah would be destroyed in 40 days. The interesting part is that they believe him and declare a fast and put on sackcloth to show their sorrow. They ended up stopping their evil ways. Jesus sends us out like sheep amongst the wolves and we don't know what their response will be but we can be certain that the Holy Spirit is working on their hearts before we even get to them to sow the seeds. Whether they receive it well or out right reject us, the point is we did what God asks us to do and we have to remember that he takes care of the rest in his own time.

Jonah 3:1 the the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time. "Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you."

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 342

Self-control over what comes out of your mouth is SUPER challenging for me. It is most especially difficult when in a stressful situation. The other day I actually prepared myself for the frustrations that would occur at work by focused praying and yet I found myself later that day in a surprise I need this now situation. So, I scrambled to get together a couple of spreadsheets that could be used for a test import meeting that was starting as I spoke. Really?! You couldn’t have thought of this in the morning so I could have some time to prepare them. So, off I went rushing to get these spreadsheets done and sent when in comes what we like to call the “pit bull” co-manager because she is on top of things to get them done. My frustration was coming out of my mouth but I explained that I just got the call that this was needed which she didn’t realize so she leaves me be for about another minute and comes back. I tell her I am working it and have almost got it ready and then in SO my temperament way I said, “I can’t magically pull these out of my butt”. Well, she thought it was funny, which is what I intended for it to be to get her to back off. Unfortunately, she goes into the other manager’s office where the meeting is going to take place and tells those that are in there. They all were laughing about it but the co-worker on speaker phone in our Texas office was offended by it. So, I got a talking to about my language. Ugh. I felt so wounded and defeated and honestly was feeling like God didn’t help me. So, I was cranky and depressed for the rest of the day. The good news is I got over it and had to realize that with my forgiveness from God I had to forgive myself. I ended up reading from The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John Maxwell and was just awed by how God works. He gave me some wisdom on this whole self-control over my mouth thing and gave me what to do. Here is an expert on the Law of Consistency chapter:

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. That means developing great habits. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments, and that bridge must be crossed every day. Over time that daily crossing becomes a habit. And ultimately, people do not decide their future; they decide their habits and their habits decide their future. As author and speaker Brian Tracy says, “From the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to sleep at night, your habits largely control the words you say, the things you do, and the ways you react and respond.”

So, I thought to myself how can I make my responses to people become loving, gentle and kind even in the midst of impatience, frustration and stress? I already had memorized this scripture but realized it was something I had to use constantly for every action, words I say and responses and reactions I make. Scripture is the sword of the spirit. It can overcome my weakness in my self-control over my mouth but it will take patience and persistence. Growth doesn’t happen instantaneously which is where my down on God attitude came from the other day. God is patiently persisting in working on and refining me. So, I thank him for this wisdom and will work on using his word as my daily defense against the weakness within me to turn it into a strength that glorifies God.

Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits-Day ??? Maybe 340?

Definition of Patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset; the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune or pain, without complaint, loss of temper or irritation or the like.

As I sat praying this morning in the quiet of my basement, I gave thanks and praise to God, prayed for specific things for my husband and children and ended by praying for myself and being patient, kind, gentle and loving within the circumstances I find myself today. I small light bulb lite up in my head and I thought I can’t be these things without the Lord so I adjusted my prayer to ask for help to put on the filter of Jesus that would guide my responses to any challenging situations. I have always had a reactionary response especially to things that frustrate or make me angry but with the Lord’s help I can choose to take the filter of Jesus and use Him and his perfection to guide my responses. Stop, pray and breathe before responding. Stop, pray and breathe. Stop, pray and breathe. Stop, pray and breathe.

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 330

The scripture the sermon was on was Matthew 21: 28-30. It is a short parable Jesus tells about a father and two sons. The father asks the first son to go work in the vineyard today and the boys first response is defiant but later he ends up going and working in the vineyard. The second son is asked the same thing and his initial response is obedient willingness but he ends up not going to the vineyard. What did I learn from the sermon and this parable? My initial thoughts on these verses were that it was about obedience but the preacher of the day, Dr Earl Palmer was given some insight from God that he shared. He didn’t focus on the obedience but rather on what motivates obedience. Our relationship with God should be one of love, respect and total trust but as Dr Palmer pointed out Jesus is very well aware of our humanness. Both of the sons had flaws that motivated their thoughts and actions. We aren’t capable of responding as I considered as the “third” son who says he will go to the vineyard and does. I can’t do it alone. Dr Palmer brought up the idea of “lag” time. This is the time in between God’s call and our response. Instead of jumping the gun and saying I will or I can’t or I won’t, I need to give my heart and soul time in prayer and meditation. Let the Holy Spirit work on my heart and give me what I need to say “I will” and mean it. How can I make prayer a consistent part of my life? I am thinking my two big goals for the coming year will be prepare and prayer so I will be praying and taking notes on how to prepare for my growth in preparing and praying.

Isaiah 30:15 This is what the Sovereign Lord , the Holy One of Israel says: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 157

The other day at work I had to listen to a phone conversation that got very heated. The Assistant Manager was trying to get information on the new program that I have to use to import. I ended up with an error message and got the word on what to do to avoid that and than came to a screen that I was at a loss on what to do. The training I had with our manager never went this far in the process because of a program issue. The conversation was mostly done in a foreign language but there were a few English words in there and the tone, frustration and anger made it obvious that she wasn’t getting the info she needed but an apparently rude and disrespectful brick wall. This person apparently has a reputation for acting this way. There have always been some thing I will not tolerate and one of those is disrespect. My immediate thought was I had better avoid having to ever talk with this person because I may loose it. But later after letting it sit in my mind for a while, I started to think of how would have Jesus responded to such a person. Gentleness and compassion were the words that came forward. He would treat any person regardless of the rudeness or disrespect as a valuable person who is loved by God. It will definitely take the power of the Holy Spirit within me to do what Jesus would do in this kind of situation.

Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.