Are you “Bright”?

Philipians 2:12-18
These past couple of days have been dreary, the sun has been out, but for the most part it has been cloudy.

Sometimes our lives are dreary and cloudy. When problems arise, things don’t go our way or we just don’t feel like being the nicest person we aren’t very “bright”. Jesus tells us we are to be a light for those around us. In verse 15 it says “let your lives shine brightly before them. We are to be a witness regardless of how we feel! We lost that right when we became Christ followers! I know it’s hard to do sometimes but with Jesus’ help we can do it!

Lord, help me to shine so brightly for you, people will need sunglasses even on dreary and cloudy days.

Keep your attitude in check

Philippians 2:1-11
When we are going through our daily routines, how is our attitude? When we look at how Jesus acted when he walked on earth, he was very humble. He put others before himself, he cared more about others than he cared about himself.

When we walk through a “door” in our lives we need to make sure we are looking at what is best for others before we look at what is best for us. So many times we are selfish because we care more about ourselves than caring about the people around us.

What an awesome witness we could be if we put others before ourselves.
Help me to check my attitude before I leave my bedroom every morning so I won’t be so selfish. Lord help me see the needs of others so I might be a better witness for you.

This prayer might seem impossible but with Gods help we can do anything.

Living for Christ

Philippians 1:12-24

It’s hard being a Christian these days, but who said it would be easy! We need to remember we are only here for a short time. We need to make every opportunity an opportunity to share the good news of Christ.

Lord help us to be on fire for you, living as Paul lived, unashamed to live a life that meant risking his life to share your word!!!

Joy

In  Philippians 1:1-11, Paul talks about the joy he has, in vs4 he says when he is praying for the people in Philippi he is doing it with a heart full of joy. Paul always had joy, he always praised and worshipped God no matter what circumstance he was in. He was even worshipping God when he was in jail!

We need to have joy in our lives regardless of the situation we are in. People should be able to see the joy of Jesus overflowing in our lives when they see us.

This week, pray that God will help us to show the joy of Christ to the people we come in contact with.

Can Anyone Relate?

I thought I would share what God is trying to get me to fix and maybe you can relate to what he is trying to teach me.

Do you ever find yourself feeling like you are being watched like a hawk? I have felt like that here lately. I feel like people are keeping count of the things I do wrong and then telling me the score, but they fail to add the “good ” points in. They are always keeping up with the “bad” points.

I can honestly say before I met Ashleigh I had a smart mouth and didn’t care who I was smart to. Since I met Ashleigh I believe God has changed me from the person I used to be with the help of Ashleigh. With that being said, I am human and the past does creep up from time to time. In James 3, he talks about the words we say can never be taken back, they are like a fire that has burned out but the damage has already been done. I don’t know if you struggle with the problem of taming your tongue but I can say my tongue runs “wild” sometimes. I often think, after I have said something, I wonder how I have impacted the person I was short with or rude to. The funny thing is that Satan will use people to throw up the fact that I’m a Christian and they will say “I can’t believe you talk to them that way”. Like I have said before if I can’t say anything nice I don’t need to say anything at all!!! Well, I know I am going to mess up, but the question is how will I respond to the person who throws it up in my face?

Anyone have this same problem? How has God helped you through your problem?

Say What?

I can remember hearing these words growing up, “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all”. Now I hear myself saying the same thing when my kids are fighting with each other.

I know everyone can relate to this subject, if you can’t leave your number in the comments, because I want to talk to you!!! Why is it we  feel the need to talk about people? Do we talk about folks because we are mad with them or do we talk about them because we are trying to make ourselves feel better? (any ideas?)  I started reading in James today and again the pain on my feet tells me that “someone” is trying to tell me something.:) In  James 1:26 he tells us, If we claim to be religious but we don’t control our tongue we are just fooling ourselves. It never fails, we can be in church and hear ” did you hear what so and so did”? You know God doesn’t want us bashing our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I know we get frustrated with people, ( I get frustrated with people all the time with the job I do) but God still loves those people we are talking about. Have you ever been talking about someone and the person you’re telling just stops talking and doesn’t respond to your comments? How does that make you feel? You start wondering, uh oh, did I offend them, or man, I sure hope they don’t go back and tell so and so what I just said.

The sad thing is, when we talk about people we aren’t only hurting ourselves, we are also hurting the person we are telling. What happens when we hear something negative about someone? We (not all the time) usually start thinking negative thoughts about that person when we see them. When our speech is motivated by Satan it is full of, unspiritual thoughts and ideas, bitter jealousy and it’s plain evil. On the flip side when our speech is motivated by God it is full of sincerity, goodness and consideration for others. 

Like I said earlier, ”If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”.  So the next time somebody is talking about someone, let’s do just that, say nothing at all. 

Thanks

We all want to be recognized when “we” think we have done something important. I think we can relate! 

Well in Proverbs 25: 6-7it says, 6 Don’t demand an audience…..7 It is better to wait for an invitation than to be sent to the end of the line, publicly disgraced. Also in Luke 14:7-14, Jesus talks about seeking humility.

In the church we need to be careful not to be caught up with what everybody else thinks about what we are doing in the church. We need to be caught up with what God is thinking. So many times we get pooched lipped because we don’t get praised or thanked by the pastor or the staff for the things we do in the church. Well, might I ask, who are we working for? The pastors or God? Yes, it’s nice to hear “good job” or “thanks for what you do”, but when you think about it, we aren’t there for their  approval. We are there for Gods approval.

We need to have a humble spirit when we work in a ministry in the church. Why? Because if we work in a ministry where we are seen alot, the people we are ministering to will see right through us, then what have we done? We have hurt ourselves and we have hurt the people we are trying to minister to. And if we are ministering to kids….. we really  need to be humble, because kids are very observant and smart, they can read us like a book.

So the next time we feel down in the dumps and think no one cares about what we are doing, just remember who we are working for!! That’s right, God.

He will thank us when the time is right.

Live Like We’re Dying

My next door neighbor’s mother passed away in the early hours of Saturday April 19th. The funeral was on Monday afternoon in Macon, where Ashleigh and I sat and listened to four individuals get up and talk about how wonderful this Christian woman was. They talked about how she would always help others before helping herself. Her pastor talked about how she would always tell people when she was leaving, “Pray for me, as I will be praying for you”. I tell this story because we should be living our lives as if it was the last day we have on earth. We should go about our day as if it was the last time we are going to see or even talk to the people we care about.

I’m still reading in Job, and I also read the chapter in Proverbs that corresponds with the calendar day. In Proverbs 22:1 it says, Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than having silver or gold. Let’s not try to impress our friends or other people with earthly possessions, because they will soon fade away. Let’s live a life of someone with a good reputation. I hope that when I’m dead a gone people will remember me like they remembered my neighbor’s mother. We should strive to leave a reputation that will bring glory to God when we are gone. Like I said before, we should live as if it were our last day on earth. Just sit and think about only having 24 hours before you were to die. How would you spend that 24 hours? Let’s start living like we are dying!!   Because, like it or not, we are.

Double Standards

Proverbs 20:10 The Lord despises double standards of every kind.

Ouch! Get off my foot God. Boy, I can learn alot from this passage. I often tell my son not to hate or dislike someone who has done something to him or some how just rubs him the wrong way. I’m sure everybody has someone in there life that rubs you the wrong way. Well, the Lord talks about double standards two times in this chapter. Once in verse 10 and again in verse 23… The Lord despises double standards; he is not pleased with dishonest scales. I think the Lord wants me to live out what I tell my son. I don’t need to tell him not to shun people, yet I shun the person who rubs me the wrong way. I think we need to be careful when we are telling our friends, family and children one thing, but we act or live another. How are the standards in your life?

Priorities

It’s hard being a Christ Follower these days, don’t you agree? With  all of the things we are involved in and with all of our friends pulling us in different directions. How about our job, it requires our time and attention also. Well, I can speak from first hand experience we don’t need to let “things” get in the way of our time with God. He is the only thing that is important. Think about it, your friends can leave you, your job may not need you and the things or activities you are involved in might go away. Let’s not forget the biggest “thing” in our lives is God. He won’t leave you or say he doesn’t need you. Let’s keep our priorities in order, with God being the “first” on the list.