Judge Not!

Possibly, one of the most misused and misunderstood terms in the Christian language is the one that says, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Many times, it is used by someone who has been confronted about a wrong doing. It is followed up by something like, "Until you are sinless, don't point out what I'm doing wrong." What does the Bible say about it? Well, let me make it very clear, I'm not a Bible scholar, but I have asked God for wisdom in this area and I will share with you what He has shared with me.

As Christians, we have a responsibility to share the Truth with the non-believing, (Romans 10 tells us they can't call on Someone they haven't heard of and they'll never hear if no one tells them. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.) We also have a responsibility to encourage and edify fellow believers. (Eph. 4:15 talks about speaking the truth in love, and Galatians 6 talks about restoring someone who has been overtaken in a fault or who strays from the Truth.) No where in Scripture does it say that a person must be perfect and sinless to do these two things. It would certainly be wise to examine our own life to be sure there isn't a glaring fault that would discredit our efforts, but when God hand picked His apostles, they were far from perfect and He still uses imperfect people today. Praise the Lord for that!!!

Now where do we step over the line into judging?

Let's think about the job of a judge. A judge has a couple of responsibilities: To use the law to decide if a person is guilty and to assign punishment and see that it is carried out if that person is found to be guilty. John, chapter 8 gives an account of a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. The Pharisees and Scribes believed themselves to be the most spiritual and they immediately brought the woman to Jesus. Not for healing, not for restoration, but because they wanted to be sure that she was punished for her sin. They even made a suggestion as to what punishment should be issued. What was Jesus' reaction? Verse seven says that He stood up and said, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her." According to Scripture, you do have to perfect to convict and decide punishment for someone in a spiritual sense. These jobs belong only to a holy God.

They could have went to her lovingly but they didn't. They could have pointed her to Jesus for forgiveness, which was the whole reason Jesus was on the earth. But they didn't. Their spirit was all wrong. Most likely, they forgot that they too fell short of the glory of God. If they happened to remember that they had sin, they probably compared it to hers and decided that their sin was somehow less offensive to God.

We can, however, and should, proclaim the Truth to all that God leads in our path. Why? Because the truth will set them free!! The key is what spirit you do it in. The only effective way is in love. I Cor. 13 tells us that the good things we do must be done in love, or it has no profit or effectiveness.

It isn't time for Christians to back down. We should be bold in sharing God's Word. In order to so, we must first know what His Word says. Satan and even unbelievers use Scripture, and if we don't know it, we will be tossed to and fro. Ephesians 4:14-15 says we need to quit being immature Christians, tossed to and fro and blown away by every wind of doctrine and by the trickery of men and cunning craftiness. They are trying to deceive us. Instead, we need to speak the truth in love and grow up into Him in all things. (paraphrased...please read for yourself) Boldness comes from confidence. Confidence comes from knowing the facts. If I focus on myself, I can't be bold because I hear Satan reminding me of all the reasons I am not worthy to speak God's Word. But, if I focus on what I know to be true about God, I can proclaim truth with all confidence!!

"Time to Clean House"

"God, I ask you to bless both of them and help them. Lead them to do what is right. In Jesus' name, Amen." That was the prayer prayed by a friend of mine about her husband and the woman he left her for after 25 years of marriage. Her testimony goes on to explain how, as soon as she was done praying that prayer, God let her know that it wasn't what He was looking for. "I don't know what you want from me, God! You say in your Word that we are to bless them that curse us and pray for them that despitefully use us. Well, that's what I'm doing and now you are telling me you won't accept my prayer? What do you want?" God's response was simple. "I want what's in there...I want what's in your heart."
"Okay! Here it is!", she responded and she began to pour out her heart to God. She told Him about the anger and how she wanted to die. She told Him she was afraid and alone. She told Him it wasn't suppose to be this way and she wanted to hurt the woman who tore her children's daddy away from their family. Everything was laid out on the tear stained floor of her bedroom. Her very heart was lying there, bare and exposed. And guess what. The healing began!
God took those pieces of her broken heart and began to mend and heal it. He let her know that it wasn't okay what happened to her...His dear precious child. He let her know that He saw every single tear she cried and was holding them in the palm of His hand. He let her know that He would never leave her nor forsake her.
God is not looking for prayers of fancy words. We don't need to place our pain in pretty packages before we present them to God. Certainly, we should come reverently to the throne of a Holy God, but we should also come boldly to find help in time of need! (Hebrews 4:16)
It's time to clean house. Go in the closets of your heart and empty them out at the feet of your Father. Doing anything less, is squandering the gift God gave us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Because of what He did for us on The Cross, we CAN come straight to God to find grace, mercy and help!! We don't need a priest or anyone else.
Oh, we are all tempted to call up someone, whose voice we can hear audibly, to share our troubles with. And sometimes that is okay...it just shouldn't be our first, and certainly not our only, reaction in the face of hardship. It may seem impractical to talk to Someone we can't see...it requires faith. It was hard for me at first. It went against what I believed prayer was about. It was SO hard for me to understand that God wanted to have that kind of relationship with ME! I could never express to God that I had angry feelings about something. But, He certainly knows it's there whether I tell Him or not. He wants me to give it to Him so He can change it and heal it! WOW! No one was more surprised than me! I was so excited about this new way to communicate with my Heavenly Father, that I dug out stuff that has been weighing me down for years. I got real honest with myself and real honest with God. The healing was refreshing, peaceful, wonderful, awesome, and amazing! I hope you'll try it for yourself.
Psalm 62:8 "Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us. Selah." (Meditate on this)

If You Don't Run...You Can't Win!

Month after month, and still no change. Prayer after prayer, and still no answer. That's it! I see no logic in continuing...I quit!
I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean in a rowboat paddling my heart out...going around and around in circles. I was pretty sure I would never get to the other side at this rate. Paddling harder only sent me in circles faster. I had done all I could do and my decision was made...I would spend my time and energy on something worth while instead of on something that was destined for failure. The problem was...I never asked God what His will was. I just let logic lead the way!
Logic is a funny thing...I learned. It's not the basis that God works on. I'm sure it didn't seem logical to the children of Israel when they were running for their lives from Pharoah and his army, and God led them to the banks of an enormous sea. I'm sure it didn't seem logical to the disciples as they looked at five thousand hungry people, and Jesus told them to bring Him 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. The Bible is full of miracles and not one of them is logical. We forget that God is SO much bigger than logic.
We are faced with a difficult situation and immediately, we begin to beg God to make it easier. But, what if He is setting us up for a miracle? I once heard it said like this, "If a situation is not too big for us, then it is too small to become a miracle". We have to encounter situations that overwhelm us, before we can see how mighty and awesome God is.
Here I was..in the midst of an impossible situation by human standards. I had exhausted all of my options and came up short. So, what did I do? I summed up the situation, told God what He needed to do, and when He didn't do it...I freaked out and prepared to bail out! (Ain't that a hoot? I couldn't work it out, so I told God how He should work it out. )
The Bible puts it like this...we are in a race and we are to persevere. We are to run it to win the prize. When we don't see the finish line...we keep on running. When it seems like there is no hope of winning...we keep on running. Remember the movie Chariots of Fire? I'm like the character, Harold Abrahams... he said, "I run to win. If I can't win, I won't run!" When I see no hope or suffer a set-back, I want to quit...but remember his girlfriend's response? "If you don't run, you can't win."
Yeah, we are to run it to win it...but how does dropping out of the race accomplish that? How ironic, that I would be so afraid to fail, that I would take the only path to failure...quitting.
Let's keep on running...seeing those impossible hurdles as opportunities for miracles...living not by logic but by faith!!!!

The Potter Knows the Clay.

*Song-"The Potter knows the Clay"

Recently, I was involved in two events that both had a "tea party" theme. As I reflected on the teapot, my mind went to several verses in the Bible that refers to us as vessels. Just like the teapot is filled and used to serve others, God desires for each of us to be filled with his Spirit so we can serve others; so he can use us to pour out His love into others.

The Potter is fashioning each of His vessels for an exact purpose. He is forming us and molding us and refining us in the fire of trials. He knows just how much pressure to apply and how many times we have to go around His wheel, before we are ready to be a vessel of honor and beauty. Sometimes, we feel like we will break or burn up in the fire...sometimes we scream out for Him to stop, but He continues His loving work. Sometimes, we look at the progress and we think He's made a mistake or it seems like the pain has lasted too long and He's forgotten about us. But, Isaiah 29:16 says, "Surely you have things turned around; shall the potter be esteemed like the clay; for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing formed say of him that formed it, He had no understanding?" The Potter knows the clay!

Sometimes, the Potter has to break the vessel in order to remake it to fit His plan. Sometimes our vessels get damaged when someone abuses it or mistreats it, and sometimes we make mistakes that cause our vessel to become weak and cracked. The psalmist wrote, "I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel." Psalm 31:12.
Have you felt the pain spoken in that verse? I certainly have...I sat on the shelf, broken and filthy and unusable for several years. But...and this is the good part... II Timothy 2:21 says, "If a man therefore purge (cleanse) himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified (set apart), and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." It doesn't say, "unless you are too filthy or too broken". The Potter specializes in changing worthless into precious, guilty to forgiven, hungry into satisfied, empty into full...He specializes in changing broken into beautiful.
Friend, I don't know where you are at. I don't know if you are going through the fire of financial troubles, or health problems, or the loss of a loved one, or an unexpected tragedy. But I do know that the Potter has planned a beautiful design. You may not be able to see it right now because of the flames and the pain, but you will. You may be empty right now, but He is going to fill you and use you for something beautiful. Trust the Potter...because He knows the clay!
Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of they hand.

"The Big Picture"

***Song from Danielle's Picks~ "Trust His Heart".

I was faced with a big project...I was painting huge pieces for a Christmas float. As I was adding deep shades of red to the gigantic wooden presents, it appeared to me, to be too dramatic. The sharp colors were right in my face. I found myself stepping way back to take in the whole picture at different times because it just didn't feel right. I mean, I knew the rules of shading and highlighting, but since I'd never worked on something this big, I began to question if the same rules would apply to such a big task. "What have I gotten into?", I mumbled to myself while I worked in unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory. "From now on I'm only tackling what I'm comfortable doing...smaller pieces...I need to see the whole picture while I'm working on it." However, after several hours of repeating the process of painting a little and stepping back, I finally realized that I could trust the rules of shading and highlighting on a huge piece...it worked the same no matter how big or small the task.

God used this experience to teach me. (He does that you know. He will often use the everyday familiar things in our lives to show us something special...something secret between you and Him.)
This is what He said to me that day: "This is your attitude about my promises, Danielle. You believe me and my Word, until a situation comes along that is too big for you and you can't see the whole picture. When are you going to learn to trust what you know to be true about me when things seem too dramatic...when things are in your face? There's no reason for you to step back...just keep going forward with confidence in what you know to be true about my promises. Don't settle for small things because it feels safe...I want to do big things on the canvas of your life. My promises work the same no matter how big or small the situation is."
What a sweet Father I have. He knows I am so tempted to live by my feelings...He knows I am his little, timid sheep. He uses the everyday things to gently remind me that I can trust Him...no matter how big or distorted the picture seems to me.

Friend, what are you facing today? No matter what it is, know that it has not surprised your Heavenly Father. I love what Joshua 3:4-5 says...you have not passed this way before...but get ready because the Lord is fixing to do wonders for you. (paraphrased by me...look it up!)
Psalm 62:8 "Trust in Him at ALL times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is our refuge."
Matthew 19:26 "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible"!!!

Trust Him...He is worthy and He sees the BIG PICTURE!

YOUR Love Story

Once upon a time, there was a prince who was the son of a great king. Never before or since has there been a King as great as his father. Mighty men tremble in his presence, all the banks in the world do not have as much wealth as his, and his army is mightier than any other.
Now, the prince was hopelessly in love with a simple maiden. But there was one question: How could he share his love with her?
He could bring her to his palace and clothe her in royal robes, a crown and beautiful jewels. She wouldn't be able to resist...but would she love him back, or would she secretly dream of her old life?
He could ride down into the valley to greet her mounted on his royal horse, surrounded by his armed escorts and bright banners. But would she love him back... or simply submit to him because he was the prince?
There was only one thing he could do. He would descend and give up the throne. He would give up his wealth and power and he would walk away from his identity. He would wear the clothes of a beggar and simply live among her people, allowing her to choose him as he had chosen her. It would be a costly risk, but she was worth the cost.

You write the end of the story...you are the fair maiden.
The Prince of heaven desires you. He wants nothing from you except your love. He is seeking you but he will not force you to love him back. He is waiting for you to choose him just as he has chosen you.



(I adapted this from a story told by the author Soren Kierregaard...I read it in a book by Dannah Gresh.)

Its A Twister!

***Song from Danielle's Picks~ "Mighty is the Power of the Cross".

The bus was rolling along the Oklahoma interstate as I sat quietly in my seat just behind the driver. (Hey! I'm telling this story and I say I was being quiet.) The wind was gaining strength and making it difficult for the bus driver to maintain control of the bus. As I looked at the horizon from my window, I could see three distinct layers. Layer one was flat land that stretched out for miles around us. Just above that was a thin layer of dark blue sky and directly above that was a black layer that confirmed the forecast for storms coming in. There was talk around the bus about some nearby dangling clouds that could easily spin off a tornado, but there was no rain or lightening. Just a light foggy mist.
Moments later, one of the other passengers sat forward and said, "Is that a funnel cloud or is my eyes playing tricks on me?". All eyes shifted forward immediately as leadership began to assess the situation. The pastor told the bus driver to get us under the overpass.
I was trembling. It was a perfect funnel cloud right in front of us beside the interstate. I knew what we were about to be facing. Within seconds, I had processed every possible worst case scenario and had accepted our plight.
Then I heard the pastor say, "Keep going!".
WHAT?!?!?!? Keep going? You mean as in toward the funnel cloud?
The bus passed under the only safe shelter available to us and proceeded in the direction of the storm. But, the closer we got to the tornado, the clearer it became. Something was in the center of it.
Almost in unison the cry came, "Its the cross!"
The spotlight that illuminated a huge metal cross from the base, cast a shadow in the foggy mist that looked just like a funnel cloud.
As soon as we got the cross in focus, the threat of the storm was gone. What a lesson!
I wish I could tell you that I was brave and had great faith, but I was just like the disciples in the midst of the storm on the sea. In Mark 5:40, Jesus asked them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" That's what happens when we focus on the storm instead of on Him. When they entered the ship in verse 35, Jesus told them that He was going to get them to the other side, but they forgot His words.
Verse 41 says they were in awe of Him when the wind and sea obeyed Him. That is one of the reasons God leads His children into storms. To show us great and wonderful things about Himself.
One of the greatest mistakes I made, was picturing how I would handle problems that didn't even exist. God's grace is distributed at the moment it is needed. Not before and not after. I was trying to handle tomorrow's problems with only today's grace.
All things, including storms, have a purpose to bring us good and Him glory! (Romans 8:28) Believe that! Get that! Because God has not given us the spirit of fear...but of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7