Bless Your Heart

People really know how to go running their mouths, talking about things they have no business discussing, offering advice to others as if they were experts on the subject matter and never stop to consider the horrid self righteousness that permeates through each and every word they utter from their lips. They always set themselves up with classic phrases such as "bless your heart" or "I say this with all the love in my Christian heart." You reek of foul, fake foolishness. If you really had love, then you would go to the source and ask questions, not condemn or even condone. You would seek to understand, not judge. You watch someone and then you judge as if you had the eyes of God to see in their hearts!

Just as an iceberg has most of itself hidden under deep waters, each person's life has itself hidden in shrouds of the past. You may not understand the why or the how of someone's actions but you can bet they have a thousand miles of worn out shoes that tell one amazing story. If you knew every detail, you'd eat every foul word or thought that had manifested itself inside your tiny box of previous understanding. Knowing that should be enough to prevent future rash judgments, but yet, we always assume the worst about a person until they come forward with the whole story, and even then we tend to doubt them. Don't. It's not your business to know every intimate detail. You don't have to understand someone's actions or words. God knows. And that should be sufficient for you.

So the next time you think you have the urge to offer some supposed "wise words", ask yourself, "Do I really know the situation? Will my words help or wound the heart?" If you're not sure, then go with the latter. Too many "well-meaning" people drive others away with "good" intentions. Shut up, listen and give a hug instead.

Yada Yada Yada

God gave us two ears and one mouth because we should listen more than we talk. Or so the saying goes. Many people flap their jaws so much you might think that they had two mouths and one ear! Whether they can't stand the silence, or whether they just like the sound of their own voice, they think others will listen to them more. Or maybe they think that others will perceive them as intelligent or important. It is not the quantity of words that count. In fact, rambling on and on will ensure that everyone stops listening to you! In fact, the two most memorable speeches by the greatest of men were also the shortest! I bet most of you can quote Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" and Winston Churchill when he spoke to a group of students and told them to "Never, ever, ever give in." Their brevity and word choice made them memorable.

Is it possible for us to over-talk like that when we pray to God? Our first reaction might be to say, "No way!" And while it is true that God hears every word you utter, whether it is with your mouth or your heart, maybe we do need to slow down and zip up our lips for a moment. The first thought that came to my mind was when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. Open your Bible to Matthew 6:5-15. Read through it carefully. Now, take a closer look at verse 7. "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." There it is: do not keep on babbling. Verse 8 explains why. God knows what we need before we ask Him.

God wants us to come to Him and speak to Him and tell Him all about our troubles. He wants to hear from us, but He also wants us to listen to Him. For however long you speak to God in prayer, you should be listening for twice that. Psalm 46:10 "He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Just be still. Perhaps God has words He wants to speak to you. Do you let Him speak to you? Open your Bible and find out what He wants you to know.

God's All Ears

Ever feel the need to just vent to someone? Ever feel better after you call up a good friend and just let it all out? People spend a great deal of time talking to each other and even themselves! We talk with friends, family and even therapists. Talking is good for us. It helps us work out our problems, come up with solutions and gives others an opportunity to share and carry our burdens with us. Do we give that opportunity to God as well?

We have 24/7, instantaneous access to the Creator of the entire universe and He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us and Jesus went willingly. He has our best interests at heart and cares about us more than we can possibly begin to imagine, and do we go to Him? Do we spend as much time talking to Him as we do our therapists, friends and family? He is the one in control and He is the one that has the power to immeasurably more than we can imagine. Ephesians 3:20. Do we go to Him?

The Bible instructs us to go to God in prayer for everything. Look at Ephesians 6:18. "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." It says on "all occasions" and "all kinds of prayers and requests". Are you happy? Pray! Are you sad? Pray! Do you have a request? Pray! Look at Philippians 4:6. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." It says to go to God in "every situation." Maybe you're going through a life-changing ordeal or maybe you just need to figure out what to feed your kids for supper; pray about it! God cares about the little things too. Do not put limits on God's power by refusing to present even your smallest requests. There is nothing too big or too small for Him to notice.

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians encourages this continual act of prayer, as does Colossians. Look at Colossians 1:9. "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, . . ." It says "we have not stopped praying." Colossians 4:2 tells us to "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Devote yourselves. To devote means to concentrate. It also means to set apart; dedicate by a solemn act. 1 Thessalonians 3:10 uses the words "Night and day." "Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith." They prayed earnestly, night and day. How many time do we petition God? How often do we go before Him and present our requests? Do we say it once and then wash our hands just because His will be done? Do our prayers not mean more than that? Every example of prayer in the Bible points out that persistence is key. Luke 18:1-8 tells us about a parable that Jesus told concerning a persistent widow. Verse 1 explains the purpose of the parable. It teaches us that we should pray and not give up. Do not stop praying. Do not give up. God is listening.

"devote." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 25 Apr. 2013. .

The act of prayer is solemn and it is time that we set apart to speak to God, but it is also something that we can do continuously throughout our entire day. Yet, you may feel that you don't always have the right words to say to God. You needn't worry or fear. Romans 8:26 tells us, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans." We don't need words because God already knows what is on our hearts. He already knows what we need before we ask. A cute little story was shared around Facebook regarding a little girl who was saying her bedtime prayers. She bowed her little head and folded her little hands and began to recite her ABC's. When questioned, she replied, "I didn't know what to say, so I gave God all the letters and He could put them in the right order."

So I urge you, take 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to heart. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Can you hear me now?

Back in the "old" days, when people lost an electronic signal they would follow a simplistic ritual to retrieve it. One might wiggle around the 'rabbit ears' that sat on top of the television. If that didn't work, then a swift smack against the side of the machine was sure to restore order. Compact radios were waved around in the air and then you would have to "freeze" when you caught that signal lest you lose it again. Drivers would carefully inch forward while waiting at red lights if the radio signal cut out. Today, we have a man wearing a business suit who meanders all over the country saying, "Can you hear me now?" so the cell phone company can enhance the signal. We keep an eye on how many "bars" we have and we complain to the company when the signal goes haywire.

Do you do that with prayer? How many times do we blame God or complain to Him when we think He hasn't answered our prayers? We accuse Him of not listening, of not hearing us and even of abandoning us. Let's get one thing straight: it isn't God's fault. You lost your signal. Is that possible? Let's turn to Scripture.

1 Peter 3:7 suggests that the prayers of a husband can be hindered. "Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." Two definitions of "hinder" are as follows: 1. to cause delay, interruption, or difficulty in; hamper; impede: The storm hindered our progress. 2. to prevent from doing, acting, or happening; stop: to hinder a man from committing a crime. You can look at those definitions at dictionary.com by clicking here. Basically, if a husband does not treat his wife with respect, his prayers at best will be delayed. God cares about how you treat people. Check out 1 Peter 3:8-12. You can even read part of that in Psalm 34: 12-16. Verse 12 says, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Perhaps there is something in your life that you need to straighten out. Righteousness will strengthen your signal. Get right with God.

You Don't Have to Press Zero

An interesting commercial aired recently that showed a man walking in the surf while dialing a customer service representative. As soon as the ringing ceased and a voice came on, he pressed zero on his phone's keypad. Pressing zero typically gets us to an operator who can then direct our call to the appropriate person. Well, as it turned out, the man didn't need to press zero because a real live person had answered instead of the typical automated answering service. The catch phrase used in the commercial was, "You don't have to press zero. I'm here. How can I help you?" How powerful! I'd rather be a customer for a company that cares enough to have a real person talk to me than one where I have to listen to long drawn out menus as I try to figure out which buttons to press to get me to the right person, only to end up leaving a message to a machine in the end. Getting a live person right away sounds like a little slice of heaven! And it is. When we "call" God, we don't have to navigate our way through the angels before we get to speak to the Almighty. We don't have to press zero. When we call on God, He is right there listening! "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?" Deuteronomy 4:7.

But it gets even better than that. Not only is God listening, but praying is the most powerful and even magical tool that we have. James 5:16 tells us that it is powerful when used by the righteous. "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." Jesus urged us to pray and gave many promises. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:22. What an amazing promise! Notice the condition: If you believe. Elijah prayed that it would not rain and it didn't. James 5:17. "Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years." You can read more the story in 1 Kings 17. Put your trust in the Lord, have faith that He will deliver. We need to take advantage of the power of prayer and believe that we will receive. Remember that you are talking to the Almighty. If you don't believe you will receive, then it is like you do not believe in God's awesome power. God can do anything. Anything. So go to Him and don't be afraid.

A Lost Nose

The hour is late and whispers are running wild; do you know where your nose is? Most of us have heard the expression, "Keep your nose in your own beeswax." Basically, it means to mind your own business. So I will ask you again; do you know where your nose is?

It is a lot easier, or so we think, to come up with solutions to everybody else's problems. We offer unwanted albeit well-meaning advice and we are quick to consider ourselves experts in the various fields of advice. The married advise the singles. Women with multiple bouncing babies advise scores of infertile women. The employed advise the unemployed. We think we know better because we think we've been there. But what does the Bible tell us to do with our nose? We read in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 "and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,". There are three things to note here. First, lead a quiet life. Second, mind your own business and third, work with your hands.

First, lead a quiet life. Don't air your dirty laundry for the whole neighborhood to see. Save the drama for your mama. We all have problems and things that happen. Some things are for sharing and others, not so much. In other words, don't gossip about yourself! Take your prayers and petitions to God and lay your heart bare to Him. People can't stick their nose into your business if they don't know it!

Second, mind your own business. Don't get yourself entangled and enmeshed in someone's life or someone's problems when you don't belong there. You need to follow Galatians 6:2 where it tells us to "carry each other's burdens", however, do not confuse that with meddling! Just a few verses down, in verse 10 it says, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." When you carry someone's burdens, you are doing good. You can do good without sticking yourself in the middle of someone else's affairs. You just have to watch yourself and evaluate yourself. Know when to step back.

And third, work with your hands. If you're busy with your own work, you don't have time to go sticking your nose into what everyone else is doing. It's too busy being right where it belongs!

So, if you've lost your nose, I suggest you find something of your own to work on. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:3-5. "“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." We all have enough business of our own to fix, so get to work on your own planks.

Give it to Jesus

Dear Lord,

I've been carrying around a pretty heavy load lately. I have a lot of worries, a lot of happenings and a lot of people that I have to deal with and frankly, I'm not doing a very good job with all of it. I read in Matthew 6:27 that you can't add a single hour to your life by worrying, so I took all my worries and packed them in this pretty gigantic box. There's nothing I can accomplish by holding on to these worries and they are blocking my line of sight that leads to You.

And then I had all these "events" happening and they are more than I can handle. My burdens are great and I am weary. Then I read in Matthew 11:28 that You said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Here I am. I packed all those burdens in that box as well and I've brought it to You. I shall put my trust in You, Lord. I see how you care for the lilies of the field and the small sparrows in the sky. I saw what you said about my worth in Matthew 10:31. You said, "So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." So, I went ahead and packed my fears into that box as well.

There's still a lot of people out there, though, and I sometimes get frustrated and annoyed and lost my patience with them. Then I read what Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:16. "But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life." 2 Peter 3:9 reminds me of God's patience. It says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." I will remember that our goal is to get to heaven.

I will leave my box with you and I will fix my eyes on You. I will run the race and not give up. I choose the narrow way.

As Ever,
Me

I challenge you to pack your own box. Get a box and write down all your worries, fears and anything that takes your eyes off of the cross and put it in the box. Tape it shut. Cut a slit in the top so you can always add more when needed, but you can't take anything back out. Write Jesus on the box because all of it belongs to Him. Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 11:30, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Carry only His yoke.