Category Archives: Dying to Self

My Reality Check Bounced

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“My reality check bounced,” lamented one frustrated soul. Who amongst us has not experienced that sentiment on occasion? I remember too well the first time my bank of faith was severely overdrawn: I stood angry, throwing a tantrum,  a new-born believer accusing God, as though that were really possible, invisible fists waving, tears streaming.

You promised thus and such, I reminded Him. Yet every time I take a few steps toward you, I complained further, you kick the ladder out from underneath me.

Dear reader, if you know me personally, or read my blogs regularly, you might think this sounds nothing like me, and you would be correct. But this event happened many years ago when I was still wearing spiritual diapers, immature, not realizing that it was time to take baby steps into those trials that would serve to increase my faith and build character.

If only I had internalized Psalm 9:10 before my world fell apart, Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you, I may have behaved less like a spoiled child and fought the good fight. In those early days, however, I didn’t know how to hang on to my faith in a Job-like situation and so I grumbled and wailed.

Have you ever been there, friend? Are you there now? Perhaps you are presently going through a battle and feel, as I did those many years ago, that God has deserted you in your time of need. If so may I say, in love, that your reality check has bounced. GOD has said He will never leave us nor forsake us. And we know that He will cause all things, even our trials and sufferings, to work for our good. (Romans 8:28).

And you can take that to the bank!

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid (of them): for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee (Deuteronomy 31:6).

The Lord replied, “My precious child, precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering
when you saw only one set of footprints…
It was then that I carried you.

Footprints in the Sand — Leona Lewis (click here to listen)

Perfect Heathen

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“Listen, that boy is a perfect heathen,” she said. Actually, I wasn’t really listening as much as overhearing, but I couldn’t help but marvel at the obvious paradox. A heathen is, by definition, a person that does not acknowledge the God of the Bible, let alone live by His instruction. The Bible speaks of the heathen one-hundred-fifty times, and never in a good light. In fact, God calls the ways of the Heathen filthy and abominable. He commands us time and again not to participate in the “shame of the heathen” nor learn their ways.

If someone were aspiring to be “perfect” at something, heathenism would certainly not be a good choice. True, the word heathen seems pretty benign in American culture. How about the word pagan? That word tends to evoke lots of horrible images –images of everything from polytheism to the heinous, unspeakable sins that the pagans commit– yet the words heathen and pagan are pretty much synonymous.

Conversely, striving for “perfection” is a worthwhile and desirable pursuit. King David said, “I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way (Psalms 101:1,2a). The Hebrew word for perfect is taw-meem, which means that David’s heart was undefiled, full of integrity and truth. The Bible uses the word, perfect -with all its derivatives- almost one-hundred-fifty times as well. However, that which is “perfect” is always pleasing to God.

Perhaps you believe, dear reader, that you can never be perfect. Truthfully, if you are striving for perfection according to the heathen’s definition, you probably won’t ever attain it. But if you acknowledge the God of the Bible, and have a heart like King David’s, you most assuredly can. After all, perfection and righteousness are pretty much synonymous; and the Holy Bible has given us ample instruction as to how to live righteously before the LORD.

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Co 7:1).

Having said that, I pray you all have a perfectly glorious day!

A Little Pick-Me-Up

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As my son and I walked through the parking lot, he stooped to pick up a coin. “Cool; it’s a dime,” he said. “If it had been a penny I wouldn’t have bothered, but a dime – now that’s a different story.”

I guess he doesn’t know that a 1943-D bronze cent was recently sold for $1.7 million, or realize that certain other pennies have been sold for as much as $200,000 in recent years. Then again, I have no room to talk. There have been lots of times that I was too tired, lazy or busy to bother picking up a stray penny.

Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t take the same attitude when he decides to pick someone up after they have fallen? If people were coins, Jesus would consider every dull old penny every bit as valuable as a shiny new gold piece. And, He would search for every lost coin. Consider the parable of the woman who lost a silver coin, then searched diligently to find it.

Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin. In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:8-10 NIV).

I believe there is also rejoicing in heaven every time someone stops to help pick someone up who is lost or fallen because that is a reflection of Jesus’ heart. I pray that I never cease to recognize the value in every human life, and that I always avail myself to be the LORD’s arms extended.

After all, everyone could use a little pick-me-up now and then!

Finish the Race

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“I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).

Yesterday my husband tackled one of those organizing tasks that I have been putting off for longer than I care to admit. Although appreciative, I must admit that my gratitude was slightly hampered by a touch of guilt for not having done the job myself. Normally I try to keep up with such things, but life does have a way of getting away from me sometimes, so that all the “insignificant” stuff gets put-off until who knows when.

The truth is, in the long run, some things really aren’t all that important. I’m sure the Apostle Paul felt the same way quite often, as his primary focus was on the task given to him –and to all of us– to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

Time is short; let’s all keep running the race and sharing God’s grace with new fervor. True, we might have to examine our lives and do a little organizing or re-prioritizing, but there is no better time than right now to do so. And remember, if we are going to run an endurace race, we need to be thouroghly prepared; no one can do this for us. May I encourage you, dear reader, if you don’t already do so, to begin daily Bible readings this year! Did you know that you can read through the whole Bible in one year by reading less than four chapters per day? I can’t think of a better way to start a new year!

The Biggest Little Word

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What is the biggest word in the Bible?

The answer may surprise you. The biggest word in the Bible is “IF.” You may ask how I could come to that conclusion? Simple, it is because this tiny word carries enough power in it to move mountains. Even so, this word is probably one of the most overlooked and neglected words in the entire Bible.

For example, notice the first word of II Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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.

Is it possible that there is so much turmoil in our land because we are asking God to heal our land but neglect the “if” part –to humble ourselves, and pray, and  seek God’s face, and  turn from our wicked ways?

God is not a man that He should lie, so obviously, we as a nation are neglecting the prerequisites that God set forth for the healing of our land.

Another example may be found in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. Here, we are instructed:

And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth.

Scripture then goes on to promise abundant blessing and prosperity to those who obey all of God’s commandments. I hear much about the blessings, but  seldom do I hear anyone mention the prerequisite “IF.”

The Bible says that God uses the foolish thing of this earth to confound the wise. I guess he uses the smallest things too. Remember, dear reader, the word “if” has enough power in it to move mountains, when we obey the words that “if” preceeds.

Bumps and Spills

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He was a tall man, so I couldn’t see the contents of the cup he was holding.  I assumed it was coffee, but I was wrong.  You see, as quickly as his bouncy sidekick bumped into him, orange juice sloshed all over his expensive white dress shirt. No one would have ever known what was in his cup if he hadn’t been bumped.

That made me think; human beings are all “vessels” (Romans 9:21). However, we do not all contain the same thing.  Sometimes, the best way to know  for sure what is inside a person, is to see what spills out when he or she is bumped.

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matthew 12:34,35).

Dear reader, has someone bumped you lately? And if so, what spilled out? As for me I, like King David, pray:

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14).

Which Direction?

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Many years ago, a friend of mine was interpreting a church service when the whole deaf section busted-out laughing. That certainly got  the congregation’s attention, given the fact that the pastor’s sermon was a very serious one. He was preaching about consecrating oneself to the Lord steadfastly for a season.

“For the next few weeks,” the pastor told his congregants, “I plan to arrive early to pray.” What’s funny about that, you ask? The interpreter didn’t sign “early” to pray. He relayed to the whole deaf section that the pastor was planning to show up at the church “naked” to pray.

Being a sign language interpreter myself, I can assure you that this is a very easy mistake to make. You see the two words are quite similar. The only difference  between the two is in the direction the prominent hand is traveling. For one, the dominant hand slides across the other, and for the second sign, the prominent hand slides downward towards the fingertips.

The moral of today’s humorous, but true, story is simply this: Which direction are you going?

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death  (Proverbs 14:12).

The flip side to the above Scripture is this:

The Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless (Psalm 84:11).

Today would be a great day for each of us to examine our hearts and lives. After all, dear reader, direction is most assuredly important!

God’s “To Do” List

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Today I plan to start a new “to do” list. First order of business, find and compile all the other “to do” lists I have lying around, so that I can marvel at how many things I never seem to complete, and hopefully tackle some of them. Of course, the really important things get done, but I have a ton of worthwhile projects that, for one reason or another, got lost in the shuffle, never to be picked up again.

Aren’t you glad that God is not like that? I know I am. Can you just imagine Him starting something wonderful in your life, but stopping somewhere in the middle because He needed to go intervene in some crisis? Worse yet, imagine Him never completing the work?

That won’t happen, of course. Scripture says that He [the Holy Spirit] which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). God is working in the lives of every person on this planet, whether they acknowledge  Him or not; and He will never stop until His glorious return.

I guess you could say that we are all on God’s “to do” list since He is never finished with any of us. We should ask ourselves, then, is God at the top of our list? Last night I was challenged by a preacher who admonished his listeners to develop a personal spiritual growth program and pursue it vigorously. He wasn’t insinuating that his audience was neglecting the things of God, only that we should all strive to give even more of our time and effort to the Lord and His word. If we would do that, he encouraged, we would certainly grow spiritually.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but that sounds like an excellent idea. If God loves me enough to keep me on His daily “to do” list, I think it only right that He is at the very top of mine! On second thought, forget all the old lists, if those projects haven’t been finished by now, they probably aren’t that important after all. Yes, I still plan to start a new list, but the very first item on the list will be: Start a spiritual growth program, beginning with …

In fact, I’m going to go do that now so I’ll catch you all later.
God bless.

How Dumb Are We?

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A pastor once instructed his congregation to come forward so he could “pray for their tongue’s foot-by-foot  —honestly. Ouch! I didn’t know any of those folks but I’m sure they would’ve needed some help to hold their tongues.

Come to think of it, I think most of us could use some help in that area; I know I could. Let’s be honest. Sometimes it is hard to keep silent when more and more people are lacking intelligence or good judgment  —which is one definition for the word dumb— and we are the ones to suffer for it.

However, God’s word instructs us that it is often wise to be dumb  —dumb as in not speaking. Proverbs 21:3 says: He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. So, the question for today is, how dumb are we? I don’t know about you, but I pray that someday I can be the kind of person who always curbs my tongue.

There is reward in that. Those who refrain their tongue from evil, Scripture instructs, will love life and see good days (I Peter 3:10). It really would be dumb of us to let our tongues go loose until the pastor has to pray for it foot-by-foot. Let us instead, obey Scripture and bridle our tongues. Now that would be smart!

Dying to Self

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My dear friends Yomi and Marie Opeola-Messiri live in his native Nigeria and work tirelessly to preach the gospel and minister to the needs of the people. I was reading through their newsletter this evening and I found the following to be well-worth sharing:

Dying to Self

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger arise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence;

That is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;

That is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;

That is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;

That is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;

That is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart;

That is dying to self.

~~Thank you Yomi for sharing.

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Galatians 6:14

[This is not my original work and is copied with permission from Yomi Opeola-Messiri, B. I. F. A. M…bibles for Africa Missions -author unknown]