Goodbye to 2009, and hello to 2010!

January 1, 2010

Another year has come and gone—another year older and hopefully wiser. Every year at this time I take a few days and reflect on the past year, both good and bad, and make resolutions for the New Year. I am sure you have done the same thing and have probably set some goals to help you accomplish these resolutions or habits that you hope to develop...or break.

One of the tools I use is a list of questions by Donald Whitney, author of "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. " It is a simple and easy way to evaluate the year and think about the direction of my life. This list came from Donald Whitney’s website www.spiritualdisciplines.org/ He also has many other helpful tools you can use in.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in 10 years? In eternity?

The value of these questions is not in their depth or completeness but in their ability to help you pin point an area of growth in you. So as the New Year starts, let’s evaluate our lives, make plans and goals and run the race to win the prize...T

Commander of Victories

September 4, 2009

We live in a evil world. As Christians we know that. But often we are surprised when evil becomes obvious in our lives. We see it in other peoples lives. We see it on the news and newspapers. We often don't see it in our lives. That is why I appreciate the little book - 31 Days of Power by Ruth Myers.

She reminds me of several things - 1. Our whole life as Christians is part of the battle between God and satan. 2. Our primary goal of our warfare is not to defeat satan but to further God's purposes in this world. It is in pursuing this goal, we must resist satan and bring the power of Christ against him. satan's goal is to frustrate our Father's purpose so when we have victories in furthering God's kingdom we have frustrated satan.

In any kind of spiritual battle, our main task is to PRAY and to SHARE the good news. We often get so focused on satan and his evil strategies we forget our on goals and strategies.

The truth is, we serve the Commander of ALL Victories. We serve the God of Hope. Our enemy is already defeated. I don't know the battles you are fighting today. Maybe it is finances, a job loss, health, addictions, marriage, or children. But whatever it is - brothers and sisters, do not throw the towel in YET! Put your armor on, take you stand in the hope of the Lord!...

Obstacles To Intimacy with God

May 25, 2009

Catherine Martin says in her book A Heart that Dances “You and I are invited to engage in an amazing adventure: the adventure of knowing God. God says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 NIV). He invites you to engage in something with Him that is much deeper than surface acquaintance. The word "know" implies familiarity, depth, and the kind of intimacy usually reserved for marriage. Intimacy is a relationship that goes deep and is marked by friendship and emotional closeness. It is private and personal. There is love, warmth, and intense joy in intimacy”.

Do you have intimacy with God like that? If you don’t, why?

Is it fear?

Fear is a powerful emotion that will often block intimacy. Are you afraid to let Christ in to ALL parts of your heart? Do you NOT trust Him? Our life’s as Christians is based on a deepening trust in God. It is trust, ever how little it may be, that first allows us to take that initial step to God. It is trust that guides us to deeper and deeper levels of intimacy, obedience and transformation. Trust is so very important to our spiritual journey.

Trust can be blocked if we carry with us negative attitudes toward God from early childhood. If we are afraid of God or see Him in a negative way trust goes out the window. Where there is fear, there is not trust therefore no intimacy. I would direct you back to Psalm 46:10. KNOW GOD. How much time have you spend knowing God and all the different ways he comes through in the Bible? How well do you know his attributes? How well do you know his character, his nature, his personality? Maybe, just maybe your view of God is not quite right. It’s hard to have intimacy with someone you don’t really know…..

T

Just Trust

May 7, 2009

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust--there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. Lamentations 3:19-32 (NIV)

Have you ever read the book of Jeremiah and Lamentations? I did – last summer. Jeremiah taught me a lot that summer. Jeremiah taught me to really pay attention to my heart and understand the heart attitude I approached God with.

“Should you not fear me?" declares the Lord. "Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say to themselves, 'Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.' Jeremiah 5:22-24 (NIV)

Jeremiah taught me how to read spiritual maps and take the right path.

“This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.' Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

Jeremiah taught me about boasting.

This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)

But the lesson that impacted me the most was his endurance lesson.

"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5 (NIV)

If you have ever read Jeremiah, you know life was extremely difficult for Jeremiah despite his love for and obedience to God. You have to ask, “How did he endure?” When he called to God for relief, God’s reply in effect was, “If you think this is bad, how are you going to cope when it gets really tough?” WOW! That is a tough answer. Getting an answer like that makes it easy to quit. Jeremiah didn’t quit – he preserved and endured. Do you ever feel like quitting? Jeremiah didn’t quit because he trusted. He had faith in God. His faith gave him hope. Even when he felt like quitting he still trusted. God honored that. God loved that. How do I know? Because….

This is what the Lord says: "Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the Lord. [6] They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, on the salty flats where no one lives. "But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit. Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NLT)

Just trust.

T

Fasting Results

April 15, 2009


Well, I fasted through Good Friday with Johnny. One of the main reasons I fasted was to prepare for Easter - get more in touch with the sacrifice Jesus made for me. At the end of my fast (which I stopped on Friday instead of Tuesday the 14th) I was somewhat disappointed. I am not sure at what or why but a vague sense of disappointment had settled on me. I even talked with Johnny about my fast being a “failure”.

But I have to tell you, God is mysterious in all His ways and didn’t look at my efforts as failure. Then Sunday came – He Arose! Ahh, Sunday was sweet indeed. Sunday worship was adoring and light-filled. I was giddy at being in the presence of my Lord. I enjoyed Him! I always enjoy worship but this was different. My soul was tasting the wine of heaven.

You see, my expectation of fasting was the experience would happen during the fasting. In this case – not true. Fasting does bring about one-on–one with God but during this time in my life it happened during worship – when I tuned my heart toward Him after a week of preparing for Him.

T

Fasting for Easter

April 6, 2009

I struggle with fasting, even though I greatly believe in its power to bring me closer to the Lord. Denying myself of food is difficult for me – to do so will be a sacrifice, a test to see how dependent on God I really am. But nevertheless, both Johnny and I have decided to fast as a couple to prepare our hearts for Easter. In some small way we will try to get in touch with the sacrifice Jesus made for us. After all, Jesus gave up everything –even his life-for us. Johnny and I will give up dinner for a week. To be specific, after we eat breakfast and lunch we will not eat again till breakfast the next day – only juice and water. He will fast through Good Friday and I will go through 4/14.

When I am fasting food, it is an opportunity for me to lay down an appetite-an appetite for something core to my survival –food. In doing this, it brings me face to face with the hunger at the core of my being – my Lord - which I also need for my survival. Fasting makes me see how often I try to use things of this world to satisfy my need for something not of this world – a Savior.

During my fast, every time I am hungry, I need to feast on Jesus. I need to find my nourishment on the Word of God. I need to get back in touch with what truly nourishes the soul – the Bread of Life and drink the Living Water. Stay tuned……

T

So what's the big deal about a little gossip?

March 26, 2009

A friend recently said to me, "Toni, I resolve to not gossip and walk away when I hear it, then a girlfriend comes up and starts talking and the next thing you know we are gossiping! UGH!! How do I stop???"

My friend was experiencing frustration in a area that if we are honest we will admit we all have felt. King Solomon (the wisest man on earth) said "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts" (Proverbs 18:8). Gossip is deliciously addicting. Gossip is dangerously deadly. Gossip and slander can ruin reputations, families, break up marriages, separate friends, destroy communities and, yes, even divide churches. Gossip is expressly forbidden. Then why do so many of us do it?

We often gossip to feel good about ourselves. We get an ego boost from others' sins and mistakes. To gossip makes us feel superior to the person we are talking about. (Pride) We also gossip to draw people into our own hurt and anger. We want others to side with us so we must tell our side of the story. Then our friends repeat the story to their friends and on and on it goes. Even if you say the truth, it does not justify unnecessarily passing on hurtful information about someone.

We have to remember words carry great power. God created the world through His words. He said, "Let there be light" and there was light. We listen and communicate words every day that either lift us up or bring us down. Powerful, positive words can offer great healing, while negative words contain great destructive power.

Whenever we talk negatively about people or listen to someone else talk negatively about others, we unleash that harmful power. So how do we use this power of words with others? Do our words lift and inspire, or do they destroy? Are they words of truth? Do we disclose truth in a hurtful way?

I happen to like the THINK formula. It is very simple to use before speaking of any person or subject that is controversial.

T--Is it True?
H--Is it Helpful?
I--Is it Inspiring?
N--Is it Necessary?
K--Is it Kind?

If what we are about to say does not pass these tests, we should keep our mouths shut. Period.

T