Moderation Explaination

Proverbs 25:16 Do you like honey? Don't eat too much, or it will make you sick!
       Here I am exhausted from folding laundry. My husband and I seem to both have an abundant amount of clothing possibly enough to clothe a tribe in Africa of people our size. Since we've been married we've already donated a great deal of clothing to Goodwill. Every Wednesday night I do laundry at my parent's house. Every Saturday morning I attempt to tackle the clean laundry and put it away.

      Today I was thinking of this scripture and realized it can be referenced to a great deal of topics. You've heard the expression "too much of a good thing is "not" a good thing"? Since we've been married we have tried to use this scripture to help us control our diet intake and now I'm coming back to it while I gaze at the pile of "my" clothes on the bed. Anytime I think of this scripture I'm reminded of one time when I was younger and I had too many Skittles and now I don't like eating candy so much. It is true when you have too much of something it is never a good thing.
   
      When Jesus came into the earth he had nothing his parents had very little he never had a huge home with lavish furnishings. Instead He lived very humbly off the mercies of others and God's provision. I admire the fact that Jesus could go anywhere without anything and do what God wanted Him to do.

      For our honeymoon we tent camped at Powder Horn in Old Orchard Beach. There I was with massive amounts of bug spray and still complained about bugs. We brought a whole bucket of clothes with us half of which we didn't even wear. It seemed silly to be burdened with so many things that we thought we needed but in reality were just a hindrance.
 
       Have you ever reached the point where too much of a good thing was "not" a good thing? This week I want to encourage you to downsize. Perhaps it's the amount of food you eat. Perhaps it's the amount of clothes you have. Perhaps it's the amount of time you spend playing games on the computer or video game console. Time to break free from the excess!

Luke 3:11  John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

Humble Pie

2 Chronicles 7:14

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Lately I've been hearing the saying "don't let your eyes grow bigger than your stomach" a lot.  When I think of where my life has been going these last few years I was never really pleased. When things happened which i felt were unfair I blamed people. When in reality I could have gotten myself out of the mess I was in if I just used the brain God gave me instead of trying to insist that everyone solve my problems for me.  Who was I to think that I should be dished out an "easy as pie" life? I know I have  calling to be a teacher. Yes the economy is very unkind right now to that specific calling and yes I was provided with a lousy education for it. However, instead of dwelling on the negatives I need to just push it off and move forward.  Sometimes I need to swallow my pride... and it is not always easy. Sometimes the best way to swallow your pride is to make it into humble pie. We need to understand we are "no one without Christ" and would get "no where" if God didn't have a plan.  Then we need to actually USE the gifts He's given us to get the task done even if it means getting our hands dirty. Bake all that frustration and anger about our circumstances into a nice pie and cook it in the humility until it is ready to swallow. Then move forward.

Today reading the scripture it just released what's been on my mind lately. I'm not humble! I guess I was going with the world that viewed being humble as a sign of weakness. If I admitted that I am the cause of my problems then I am admitting that I am nothing without God's hand in my life.  How can I "just" have God's hand without my own? Didn't God create me so I can do what "I" feel is the best thing "my" way. Somewhere along the road I climbed up onto this high horse and got comfortable. Then after reading this scripture I got a tiny bit confused. This was God talking but for some reason my mind automatically thought to Jesus. I was thinking He never did anything until He knew it was okay with His Father in Heaven. If anyone lived by this scripture it was Him.  Jesus didn't go around and say THIS IS UNFAIR! I should not be hanging from this cross I am called to be the King of Kings! This crown should NOT be made of thorns! This is "not" my calling!  Even when the world's sins came upon Jesus on the cross and all of our burdens... He obeyed His calling.  He was called to be the sacrificial Lamb. He didn't whine, mumble, or blame his teachers or parents.  He did what God wanted.  He fought through it all.

So I'm realizing now it's time for me to stop making excuses and pick up all my slack.  We all have a cross to carry and the world may not be easy but we need to keep on keeping on! When we humble ourselves and realize this then God will bless us beyond what we could ever imagine. It may not ever be in this lifetime... or it may, who knows. All I know is... it is time to take our pride and make some humble pie.

Matthew 23:12 

For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Easy Street

Matthew 7:14

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

      It's a new year! Are we going to still continue down that same path? You know the path "everyone" looks for... the easy way out. Anyone loves an easy road we don't have to worry about any speed bumps or stop signs. We don't have to worry about any caution signs and we never would have to put on our hazard lights. Unfortunately, life is never that easy... even when we belong to God.

A lot of people believe that when they give their hearts to Christ that life will be easy from then on out. Christ says to give Him our burdens because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It doesn't say our burdens will disappear. The difference is when we cast our cares upon Jesus He "helps" carry our burdens instead of us carrying them all by ourselves. However, we need to also realize that when we belong to Christ and our identity is through Him we are going to take on a lot of His burdens as well. Jesus never took the easy road... if He did He would have never willingly submitted His body to go through torture and be crucified on the cross for us. It wasn't even "just" the physical agony that Christ went through. When Jesus was alive He lived the life of an outcast maybe even an outlaw according to the pharisees. He was always running from people who wanted to kill him ever since he was a baby. The people who welcomed Him in put themselves in the line of danger as well. Peter was a good example when he was afraid for himself so he denied Christ three times. Thankfully Christ forgave Peter because the bible says "anyone who denies Me will be denied before My Father in Heaven". We don't want to deny who we are in Christ just to take the easy road. Yet people do it all the time.

    When I grew up in the public schools there was one half of a year in middle school where I was harassed because of my faith. Children spit on me and called me the Virgin Mary, why? because I was "saving myself" for my future husband and honoring God. To them that was an open opportunity to harass me. I am sure we all go through things like this where we are harassed through situations because of our faith even if it's just a joke a work. There are even people who "die" for their faith because they will never deny Christ. The thing I'm constantly reminding myself is... yes I will be persecuted but "blessed" are the persecuted we wont get treasures in earth but our treasure is in Heaven. We wont "fit in" or "belong" here but our home is in Heaven and I am okay with that.

     The bible says "what good does it do a man to profit the whole world but loose his soul". There are people who are walking around with one foot in the world and one foot in God and they can "not" serve two masters. The master of the world is "Satan" and I "know" I want "nothing" to do with him. However there are still Christian's who believe it's okay to live a worldly "easy" lifestyle and belong to Christ. You may "think" that that road is easy but the place it ends up will be far more torturous than you can ever imagine. So be careful which path you take the path less traveled but with a promise at the end or the path which is beaten the path of the world that leads to destruction.


Next time you come to the fork in the road remember to read the signs. Do not take easy street this year.  

Luke 9:23 

 Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves

and take up their cross daily and follow Me.

The List

Jeremiah 32:19
19 great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve.

It's three days before Christmas and the children are all wondering what Santa left for them. Will it be a Xbox or a lump of coal? Unfortunately, most of these children will be getting whatever they asked for no matter if they were naughty or nice. Many Christians believe that God plays Santa and gives them things no matter how they live or act. While the wicked do prosper on earth many of us fail to see that our real treasures are stored up in Heaven. God's list is a lot more serious than Santa's.
So what will you be getting for Christmas? Will you be on God's naughty list or God's nice list? Maybe you are hoping for that new big screen HD television that you have been drooling over this last year. Well, although a big screen television is a great thing it is not something your soul or eternity in heaven will benefit from. The bible says "what good does it do a man to gain the whole world and loose his soul". Why are we so caught up with who is getting what? So much we are blinded to see what God has told us to do through His son. Jesus didn't come into the world looking for earthly riches. Jesus would have been top on Santa's nice list but did he get all the things his flesh desired? Jesus told us to look out for the widows and the orphans. Are we doing all that God wants us to do or are we just seeking the rewards the world has to offer "us". Think about it this year would you rather be on Santa's list or God's?

Revelation 20:15
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Walking into Walls

Isaiah 59:9-10
Therefore justice is far from us,
Nor does righteousness overtake us;
We look for light, but there is darkness!
For brightness, but we walk in blackness!
10 We grope for the wall like the blind,
And we grope as if we had no eyes;
We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
We are as dead men in desolate places.

You ever feel left in the dark? Perhaps you've been searching for God to show you which door to go through yet you can't seem to find the handle in this dark world we live in? You aren't alone. I can't either but we have to keep believing that God is there through the darkness. We can not be consumed by the darkness we are living in today or we will just become blind like everyone else and start walking into walls. God will direct our steps when we walk in His light. However, sometimes it may be in the full light of noon that we ignore His voice and go another path. Soon we stumble and wonder what happened. God does want to keep us from stumbling but we must chose Him. We should not be living like dead men in desolate places. It is hard especially with the pressures of society but we can do it. Allow God to move you today. Listen to His word in your life and follow His instructions.
God "will" put walls in our way so we wont be able to move through doors without doing what He wants us to do first. In Isaiah 59 God told the people He would "redeem" them but they had to get out of their sins... the people still chose to walk in darkness. Are we choosing to listen to God today or will we just keep walking into walls?


Isaiah 59:8
8 The way of peace they have not known,
And there is no justice in their ways;
They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Deep Sea Diving

Jeremiah 31:34b “...for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Sometimes when I get very low I picture myself drowning in the ocean. I stare at the surface of the water and it is glistening and I see light but the further I sink the darker it gets and the colder I become. Last Saturday I was listening to Audio Adrenaline "Ocean Floor". It said "your sins are forgotten they're on the bottom of the ocean floor". Just then someone told me about how God casts our sins into the sea of forgiveness with no fishing signs... sometimes we go fishing... other times "other" people will go fishing there.
Have you ever had people shove your mistakes in your face? Have people brought up things that God already forgave you for? One of my biggest issues with people is when they go off with emotions then bring up every offense they've ever had toward me no matter how small it was. I do it too. The other day I was working out with my best friend and we were talking about something with her church then she said some words that brought up how angry I was toward a remember of her church who used to go there (and left). That was "years" ago and I was still letting it get to me... I realized I need to let go of that. One time I had an idea of writing down all my fears and issues on rocks and throwing them in the ocean.
Last week when I was subbing a girl was telling me how this other girl offended her on October 8th. I told that girl it was very unhealthy for her to hold onto that for so long and she has to get over it and forgive the girl because it's destroying her joy. Sometimes the ocean is the best place to cast these things because the ocean is so deep that there are parts that haven't been discovered yet. If we go snorkeling near the surface we feel free and can swim and enjoy ourselves. If we deep sea dive we need to be able to carry the burdens necessary to even just survive in that environment. I don't know about you but I don't want extra burdens.
When I was younger I watched a lot of Nova movies about deep sea diving. The fish that always stuck around the surface were the most beautiful fish the deeper you went into the ocean the more scary the fish looked. I don't know about you but I want to stay near the light and not go into the darkness. Come out of the deep sea and into the light. Do not go near your sins... rise above the surface look toward the sunrise move on and realize God's mercy is new every morning.

2 Timothy 2:22
22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

Righteous Rasberries

Mark 16:17 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues”

It all started at Beacon House Church when I was seven years old. This lady ran up and down the isles rambling on and on in tongues saying my dad was an evil man and needed to repent and come back to the Lord. Even when I was seven years old I knew in me that something was not right. I did not like this lady saying these things and saying they were from God. I did not like what she said about my dad. My dad had issues but God was dealing with those issues and praise Him now those issues are no longer an issue at all. The real problem was this woman was using a spiritual gift to destroy another person. I was seven and this was my first serious glimpse at spiritual warfare... I was confused, baffled, and disturbed all at the same time. I didn't understand the gift of speaking in tongues and I certainly didn't understand people being slain in the Spirit. So I started going to my aunt's baptist church where I was very comfortably involved in youth activities and had no fear of anyone being slain in the Spirit of rambling off in tongues. Instead I was just fed with the word of God so much that I was able to win awards for bible scripture memorization.
At the time my mom and dad really couldn't understand why I would not want to go to their own church but they were still happy I was learning the word of God. My mom worked diligently to help me memorize the scriptures and would quiz me and help me find ways I was able to use to help me to remember them. My dad also quizzed me and sang songs to me to help me try to remember some of them. It wasn't until later in life that I realized not even the baptist church was perfect. Soon I grew weary of the legalism they were instilling on their congregation. I thirst for more than just the word but seeing the word lived through lifestyle and not just meaning that we only could wear skirts and coo-lots. I meant I wanted a DEEEEP understanding of God. I wanted to know what it was like living my "all" for Him.
I searched years to find a church home where I was able to develop that intimacy with God. I wandered through several churches where I had a deep feeling that people were just "fake" like they were acting spiritually within the church and then returning home to their lives and doing things that were completely nonspiritual. They didn't realize how disturbing it was to me to see that when I HUNGERED!for the truth. Even my "now" fiance could tell you that the truth was not being taught the way it should have. However God brought me to an understanding in the midst of those churches that I needed to have a relationship with Him outside of church that would help me discern things. It all happened because of my grandma in North Carolina. My grandma was a fan of Benny Hinn who to me didn't seem like he was "all that". She also liked to read books and had a huge collection of the Left Behind Series and Frank Perretti books. I loved her books I would drool over them anytime I was around them. My grandma knew how much I loved her books so she shipped them to me one day not to long ago. When I opened up the cigarette smoke filled pages of Frank Peretti's "This Present Darkness" my eyes were wide opened... not only because I was reading but my eyes were also opened spiritually. This was the time I understood what spiritual warfare was this was the time where I was ready to do battle with Satan. This was the time I laid in my bed with my tongue sticking out asking for God to allow any gift of the spirit He wanted in my life to be put into my life. And so it was! I went to one of those churches I mentioned before... and although things weren't right I was so it didn't matter... God used me! He used me to pray over people and He showed me things in their lives to pray about. Many people didn't realize that when I was younger I started seeing demons... I didn't realize what I was seeing until I read my grandma's books. I didn't realize how much power God gives us to battle Satan. It is a battlefield out there! God gives us the ability to speak to Him in "code" so that He can help us fight off the enemy. That is what speaking in tongues is really about not casting down people but casting down the work of the enemy in peoples lives. I am 27 now and twenty years have gotten me to this point. When I was seven at that church where I learned God's word I gave my heart to Christ. Since then I've been hungry... it is great to finally be satisfied in the Holy Spirit.

John 6:35,51
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst…. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."