Stop What? Start What?

40 Days of Purpose:

Day 4 Question

What is the one thing I need to stop doing today?

What is the one thing I need to start doing today?

I need to stop defending myself and making excuses. This is a habit I started in childhood, and I have continued to practice it in my adulthood. Today I determine not to defend myself and stop making excuses and blaming others for my choices; instead to admit my fault, my guilt, that I only am to blame, and confess it as the sin it is.

I need to start listening, really listening to what my cherished ones are telling me, to listen between the lines to the emotions, pains and wounds that they are suffering, and find my own responsibility in causing the hurts they feel. Only then will I be able to see how God will be able to heal their hearts and minds and emotions, maybe even through me.

O my Father, open my ears and heart to really hear what is on the hearts of those speaking to me, especially those who are dearest to me. Teach me to love them the way You have loved me, and to be a help to them as You heal them.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Changing Others

Proverbs 27:22

Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding him like grain with a pestle, you will not remove his folly from him.

O my Father, I know that I can never change another person. I can only invite and inspire them, to influence them, and even teach them if they are teachable. Please, teach me to apply this wisdom of Yours in my daily life, and not try to change those I care about. Show me how I can inspire them to seek You and how to graciously invite them to Your table.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Tumors?

I Kings 5:6,9

When the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, God afflicted them with tumors, tumors in the groin.

What would affect the human body to grow tumors? Radiation? Electro-magnetism? Why did they affect the Philistines? Why were the Israelites, and especially the Levites, immune to these tumors? This is a very curious phenomenon that is recorded here.

If anyone reading this blog has any ideas, please comment. Thank you.

The Prodigal

Luke 15:11-32

I read again the story of the lost son. My older daughter has shared with me that she felt like that prodigal son's older brother, since I let my younger daughter come back home. In that story, the father represented God, and did nothing wrong; the one in the wrong was the older brother, in not appreciating what he already had, and being jealous and resentful of his little brother. And my older daughter has "never" accepted her sister. But I am not God, and so I recognize that I have not done righteously toward my older daughter. Lord, please show me my fault, how I have wronged my children, and how to make amends to them to heal our relationships.

Even so, come. Lord Jesus!

(Note: This is my journal entry of several years ago. Much has passed "under the bridge" since that time. God is faithful and answered my prayer in ways I did not expect.)

Weighed Down Or Cheered Up?

Proverbs 12:25

An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.

O my Father, Your kind words have consoled me so often! Please teach me to be kind in my attitude and words; help me to allow Your compassion to temper, or replace, my own attitudes, so that my words will be gracious and kind.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Kindness

Proverbs 11:16

A kindhearted woman gains respect . . .

O my Father, You have been so kind to me and mine. Please help me to give Your kindnesses to others. Teach me how to soften my words and attitudes with Your kindnesses and compassion. Help me to be more like You, Father, to grow each day into Your image, continually putting off the "old man" and putting on the "new man," forming new habits and new ways of responding.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Golden Rule

Matthew 7:12

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

O my Father, please help me to always consider others in this way; to continuously treat them in the way I would want to be treated, and to listen to my own words as they would hear them. Grant me Your love and compassion, for my own are so inadequate!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!