Mixed Messages

What message are you sending out with the words you speak? Do the words you speak tell others you are a Christian, and that you extend grace and mercy because you have received grace and mercy? Or, do the words you speak make others think you are filled with an evil spirit...one that is quick to anger and uses her words to hurt others?

Sometimes we send mixed messages with the words we speak. Proverbs 11:22 says "A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig's snout." Now, that's a picture for you. There's nothing about a gold ring in a pig's snout that is appealing to me, and I will guess that you will agree to that. But as women, that's what we look like when we don't act with discretion. We should have discretion not only with our actions but with our words.

James 3 in the Bible talks about how hard it is to control our tongues, and how evil our tongues can be when they are not under control. But it's not our control that we need to place our tongues under. It's the control of the Holy Spirit that our tongues should be placed under. God has given us the gift of His Spirit living inside of us if we have accepted Christ as our Savior. We just need to listen to that Spirit before we speak. Romans 8:8 says "..those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God." In Galatians 5, it says those living by the Spirit will show "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control".

The last thing I want people to see when they look at me is a pig with a gold ring in it's nose. As a matter of fact, when others look at me I want them to see Jesus. I think I'm going to start thinking more about the words I use.

If you want to hear more on what the Bible says about words, check out James 3:2-9, Proverbs 12:5-8, Proverbs 12: 13-22, and 1 Peter 3:10-11. Ask God to point out how you can improve your words.

Thank you Lord for the gift of YOUR WORD. I love reading the Bible. I know you give me the rules to live by to help me. I know speaking kind words will bring more blessings to me than speaking evil words. Help me to reflect You in my speech. Forgive me when I've failed you and help me to listen to your Holy Spirit. ~ Amen

The Words of a Friend

Proverbs 18:21 "The tongue has the power of life and death.."

My friend, Jennifer, called me. She didn't really say anything important. She didn't really have anything to tell me. She just called me to say hello and to check on me. She knows I've been sick. Her call was good medicine for me. I needed to hear from a friend, and God prompted her to call me. I'm so glad she listened to Him.

You see, I've been sick for about 5 weeks now. I'm getting better, but it's been a tough road. I guess I'm getting all my sick days in the first of the year so the rest of 2011 will be free from illness! At least that's what I'm claiming. While I've been sick, Satan has been attacking me. He's been feeding me bad thoughts. He been telling me how dim my future looks. Now, you know that's not God. God's Word says He has GREAT plans for us....plans not to harm us, but for hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) So, I know it was the enemy trying to steal my joy. He's been doing a good job of robbing that joy, and might be succeeding if it weren't for my friends and family. They've been God's voice to me.

Have you ever had friends encourage you? Maybe someone has sent you a text at just the right moment. Maybe someone has called you just to pray with you. Maybe you've gotten an email that said, "How are you and how can I help you?".

Or, have you ever encouraged someone through your words? Who can you show the love of Jesus to during their hard times?

Jesus, thank you for Jennifer, Judy, Martha, Mom, Mimi, Dean, Amy, Michelle, Betty, Julie, Manthie, Wyn, Scotty, Leanna, Nate and all of the others that have prayed for me and encouraged me this week. I am so thankful for my family, both my biological family and my family in Christ. I hear your voice through them and I'm listening!

Christmas Was Predicted

Happy Birthday Jesus! We put up our decorations the first week of December. We got our cards in the mail the second week of December. We celebrated with parties at the school the third week of December. And this week, we celebrated with our neighbors. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I love the celebrations, the decorations, the cards from our precious friends and family, and the thought of God sending His Son as a gift to me. I sure needed the gift of Jesus. We ALL need the gift of Jesus!

There's a lot of talk of Jesus this time of the year. You can even hear it in the stores. No one is scared of talking about Jesus at Christmastime. It's great. But you know where I LOVE to hear words about Jesus??? Well, in the OLD TESTAMENT!!!

Do you know that in Micah 5 in the Old Testament it talks about a ruler coming out of Bethlehem "whose origins are from the distant past"? Do know that in Isaiah 7 it tells us of that a "virgin" will give birth to a child and He will be called "Emmanuel", which means God with us? Do you know that in Isaiah 9 it talks about a child being born that will be called "Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"? There's many more words about Jesus in the Old Testament. So, do you know why these words are my favorite? Well, because they were written HUNDREDS of years BEFORE the birth of Jesus!!! Amazing! Years and years before Jesus walked the face of this earth, God told us He was coming. Christmas was predicted!

Now my Words are nothing like the Old Testament. They are nothing fancy at all, and sometimes I don't even use the right grammar and spelling. But let me say this once again, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS! I'm so glad you came to save us. We needed saving!"

Merry Christmas to you and yours! I hope you stop to say "Happy Birthday" to the King of Kings!

Thanks, Jesus!

Luke 17:17 "Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?"

We have so many reasons to be thankful. This week I've been posting on Facebook why I'm thankful. I've also seen a lot of my friends posting reasons they are thankful. It's been great seeing all the reasons....religious freedom, a Savior, family, friends, cornbread dressing, our country. We do indeed have a lot to be thankful about!

This morning I thought I would write a blog about Thanksgiving. In my thoughts I was wondering what verse in the Bible to use as my focus because there are so many that reference giving thanks to God. Psalm 100, or one of the many other Psalms, or Ezra 3:11, or maybe a New Testament reference to thanksgiving like "give thanks in all circumstances". So many verses to pick from!

Then, God reminded me of Luke 17. In Luke 17, verses 11 to 19, it tells of 10 lepers being healed by Jesus. They had all cried out to Jesus when He passed by and Jesus responded, "Go show yourselves to the priests. " Then it states that as they went away their leprosy disappeared.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think I'd be so thankful to be healed of something like leprosy that I'd be yelling "THANK YOU" from the bottom of my lungs. But, if you read through the story it says that only one of them ran back to Jesus to say thank you. One!!! One tenth of those that were healed showed their gratefulness to their Healer! YIKES!!! And was Jesus concerned about that? You better bet He was! He responded, "Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?" And then Jesus said to the man, "Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well."

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be one of the nine that didn't show their gratefulness to God for their healing! I want to proclaim to God my thankfulness, and tell others around me about the healing He's done in my life. I know God is watching, and He wants to hear from me. He wants to hear from you too!

Oh God! Please forgive me for when I've not been grateful! Thank You so much for all the things You healed in me and will heal in me. Thank You so much for all the blessings You've given me! Thank You so much for dieing for me. I'm so lost without you. You are my reason for living and You alone deserve all the glory and honor. Help me to remember that this Thanksgiving Day, and on every day!

I Wouldn't Do That, Or Would I????

You would think I would have learned by now. You would think that I would have no problems with my attitude. I mean, the Lord has taken me through this study on attitudes two times already this year, and now I'm leading a class though it again. I used to think that since I was the leader God was going to use me to teach the other people in the class. Now I clearly realize that God is working on me just as much as He is the others in the class, IF NOT MORE!

So here I find myself studying the attitude of complaining again. Interestingly enough while I was typing this addition to my blog I got a call from my husband. Although I didn't speak it, my mind started complaining. "Why does he call me at this time each day?!?! Doesn't he know that I do Bible study at this time?!! What is wrong with him!?!?!?" And just like that, my complaining attitude shows us. Oh, I didn't have to speak it because God knows my thoughts. God started talking to me at the same time my precious husband was talking. "Didn't you ask me for a godly husband? Doesn't this man love you and aren't you glad he is calling to check in with you? Don't you know a 100 or more women that would love to have a godly husband?"

Yikes. I am a complainer. Lord help me! (And let me pause for a moment from typing this blog and text my husband and apologize!)

Complaining is a sin and God gets tired of us complaining. Numbers 11:1 states "...when He heard them His anger was aroused." I don't know about you, but I don't want to arouse any one's anger, ESPECIALLY GOD'S!!

So, how can I get past this complaining attitude of mine? Well, one thing's for sure, I can't do it on my own. I really need Jesus. I find that if I seek Him, He will guide me. I need to spend more time with Him. I need to think before I speak, and battle my thoughts. I am grateful the Holy Spirit pointed out my complaining and I LISTENED today. I think that's a big key for most of us. it's LISTENING to the Holy Spirit. He's tapping us on our shoulder all the time, but we ignore Him a lot. At least I do.

Lord, please forgive me for being a complainer. Please help me LISTEN to you Lord. I trust you Lord with my life and my attitudes. And please bless my husband today!

Check out Pursuit Take2 on this link to follow along with this study on attitudes:
http://marthafisher.wordpress.com

God Speaks Through Email!

It happened again. God winked at me. I get chills down my spine when it happens. I simply love hearing from the Lord and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that He was speaking directly to me or thinking of me. I mean, who wouldn't love that?!?!?! I am convenienced that He speaks to us all the time, but we are just not good listeners.

Let me back up a little bit and tell you some details. Yesterday I did some typical stuff, including calling a business supply place here in town to have them deliver some new toner to my office. The gentleman I spoke with is the same one I've spoken to in the past, although I've never met him face to face. It's strictly a business relationship and he doesn't know me very well. He placed my order and said he would email me my receipt. He did that and I replied to the email with a simple "thank you".

Then I headed to Bible study. At Bible study I shared with the ladies that I would be having surgery later this month, and that I was a little anxious about it. I know they will pray for me. I know I'm not supposed to be anxious about anything and I should just pray about it, but I struggle in this area sometimes. Plus, I like being in control and going under anesthesia is not being in control!!!!! (-:

After wrapping up Bible study I head to my car and see that I have another email from the office supply guy. When I opened it I just sank in my seat. It might have been an earthy person doing the typing, but it was certainly an email from the Lord and not just from the office supply person. The email read as follows:

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

That's all it said. Nothing from the guy that wrote it. Just that verse. Now, I'm not sure what prompted this guy that I don't really know to send this to me other than the LORD Himself wanted to remind me of His faithfulness! I mean, the office supply guy had no way of knowing what I was anxious about or thinking about personally. Only my God could do something like this.

Has God spoken to you recently? Maybe He's trying to speak to you and you just aren't listening.

Also, has God been prompting you to say something encouraging to someone? Why don't you just let God work through you and send an email to the person He has placed on your mind. Let God write the email for you.


Lord, thank you for speaking to me through Your Word, other people, and through emails. You simply amaze me. Thanks for loving me and thanks for your promise of hope and a future for me.

God Bless America!!

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Written in Congress, July 4, 1776

I love this quote from the Declaration of Independence. It says so much about how we as Americans got our start and what our forefathers wanted for Americans. One thing that stands out to me is the reference to the "Creator". No one can deny that our country was founded by Believers and that freedom of religion was important to them. I love this about my country. We are so blessed to live in the United States of America, even with the trials our economy and government are going through.

This weekend we'll celebrate America's birthday in the traditional American way....barbecue (and it's oh so good in Texas!), fellowship with friends and family, homemade ice cream, flags flying, fireworks (if the weather is ok), and prayers for our country and military. You should join me in praying for our country and military this weekend too! I mean, you have the freedom to pray whenever you want. (-:

God Bless America, land that I love!

Stand beside her, and guide her,

thru the night with a light from above!