"An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue." (Prov. 17:4)
Wow. When I read a verse like that I get the distinct impression that God is as displeased with people listening to gossip, backbiting, tales and discouraging words as He is with those who are doing the talking. We sometimes think we are innocent if we are not the one spreading the story. But we are just as guilty for listening.
If I am only to speak words of praise to God, witness to the world, and encouragement to believers, then God must expect me to only listen to the same. When we participate in listening, we are joining in league with satan as he seeks to divide the body of Christ. Today, determine to repent of all the times you have listened to discouraging and degrading words about others. Determine that you are going to stop it. When someone calls, or writes, or stops you along the way to say things that are inappropriate, challenge them to stop and get it right with others.
Jesus said in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that a kingdom divided against itself will not stand. How can we impact a lost and dying world unless our words are filled with kindness and grace? Today, ask yourself if you are a participant by listening. Let God change this about His people. Amen.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Is God Enough?
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9)
Paul declares the sufficiency of God in his life when he notes that three times he prayed that God would remove the thorn in his flesh, and God chose not to answer what he had asked. Paul declares that he would boast in his wekaness because God would get the glory.
These are not sentimental words. He says, "For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." What do you say? Does everything have to go your way for you to praise the Lord, or can you rejoice in the difficult circumstances that come your way?
Consider Job. When life fell apart, he said, "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Consider Jacob. It is the night before he anticipates a reunion with his brother Esau, and he was afraid. But in the difficulty of hard circumstances closing in on him, he was able to lay hold of God in a way that he never had before. Over and over in the Bible, we discover that it is in the difficulties of life that people discover God's sufficiency.
Is God enough in your life today? Can you give thanks for the difficulties that come, honestly? Are you content to know Him better? Can you say, no matter what, "Blessed be the name of the Lord?"
Paul declares the sufficiency of God in his life when he notes that three times he prayed that God would remove the thorn in his flesh, and God chose not to answer what he had asked. Paul declares that he would boast in his wekaness because God would get the glory.
These are not sentimental words. He says, "For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." What do you say? Does everything have to go your way for you to praise the Lord, or can you rejoice in the difficult circumstances that come your way?
Consider Job. When life fell apart, he said, "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Consider Jacob. It is the night before he anticipates a reunion with his brother Esau, and he was afraid. But in the difficulty of hard circumstances closing in on him, he was able to lay hold of God in a way that he never had before. Over and over in the Bible, we discover that it is in the difficulties of life that people discover God's sufficiency.
Is God enough in your life today? Can you give thanks for the difficulties that come, honestly? Are you content to know Him better? Can you say, no matter what, "Blessed be the name of the Lord?"
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