Friday, December 7

Intentional things.......

"MY SON, forget not my law or teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments." Proverbs 3:1 AMP

"We must trust in the Lord with all our hearts, believing he is able and wise to do what is best. Those who know themselves, find their own understandings a broken reed, which, if they lean upon, will fail. Do not design any thing but what is lawful, and beg God to direct thee in every case, though it may seem quite plain." Matthew Henry…..

Okay, that's the lesson for the day. I'm done……

Seriously, how can you get any more direct than that? We know that GOD is not human by human standards, even though Jesus lived as a God-man, He was did not define Himself or His ministry by humanistic standards. We, as a church and as a society, have humanized GOD and deified ourselves. And it shows in how we related to GOD's instruction and teachings. It is not enough to read the Bible and express the "god language" that Christianity is known for, but to live….to model….and to realize true perfection is not a human thing but enabled only by GOD, through the working of the Holy Spirit…….from which all good things come.

We are all broken, battered, bruised, and bleeding. All of us, whether active children of GOD or the ones who are (as yet) blind to the belonging to which they strive……. We tend to forget, though, that we are incapable of healing ourselves through our own understanding and efforts. We cannot lean upon the broken reeds and expect to be propped up. But our natural tendencies are to rely on what we have experience in; right or wrong.

Be deliberate. Intentionally apply yourself in the direction GOD has shown you and acknowledge no distraction to the purpose. In marriage, focus intentionally on your wife. In family, your wife and children as a strand of woven chord, strengthened beyond individual strength. In relationship, that to which GOD has given it to you; be it accountability, love, wisdom, or strength. In all we do, regardless of the title over the door, be intentional in seeking GOD in it. Discern the need, pray to GOD for the wisdom, and then apply GOD to the goal.

And its easy to be intentional about applying God's Word and Laws to our lives, we simply need to control our tongues. How much damage have you done in the daily struggles by being unintentional with your words?

I haven't always been successful myself. With the best intentions, my desire to help has sometimes been destructive because of my unintentional words. That was one of the things I learned in the retreat I attended, that I have to be intentional and that requires controlling my tongue.

One of the most respected men in the Bible, James, talks about followers of Christ being intentional, through seemingly the most simplest thing, controlling our tongue.

James 3:1-6 (AMP) "NOT MANY [of you] should become teachers (self-constituted censors and reprovers of others), my brethren, for you know that we [teachers] will be judged by a higher standard and with greater severity [than other people; thus we assume the greater accountability and the more condemnation]. For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. And if anyone does not offend in speech [never says the wrong things], he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature. If we set bits in the horses' mouths to make them obey us, we can turn their whole bodies about. Likewise, look at the ships: though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the impulse of the helmsman determines. Even so the tongue is a little member, and it can boast of great things. See how much wood or how great a forest a tiny spark can set ablaze! And the tongue is a fire. [The tongue is a] world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of man's nature), being itself ignited by hell (Gehenna)."

Sometimes the simplest of things will alter the destiny of a world…………

I hope I have been clear today......intentionally.