What Kind of Book Are You Writing?

What Kind of Book Are You Writing?

A Girlfriends in God devotional 
by Mary Southerland

Today's Truth "I will be careful how I act and will not sin by what I say. I will be careful what I say around wicked people. I became very angry inside, and as I thought about it, my anger burned. So, I spoke" (Psalm 39:1, 3 NCV).


Friend To Friend 
A young lady named Sally relates an experience she had in a Seminary class taught by Dr. Smith, a teacher who was well known for his elaborate object lessons. One particular day, Sally walked into the classroom and instantly knew they were going to have a lot of fun. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table was a large stack of darts. Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of a person they disliked or someone who had made them angry and he would allow them to throw darts at the person's picture.

Sally's girlfriend drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend drew a picture of his little brother who was a constant irritation. Sally drew a picture of a former friend who had betrayed her. As Sally remembered the pain and hurt of that broken friendship, she put a great deal of detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. When her picture was completed, Sally sat back and gazed at her work, pleased with the overall effect she had achieved.

The class lined up and began throwing darts. Laughter and shouts of success rang out as each dart found its target. Some of the students threw the darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally was looking forward to her turn but was disappointed when Dr. Smith called time and asked the students to return to their seats.

As Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any darts at her target, Dr. Smith began removing the target from the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus. A complete hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covering His face.

Dr. Smith quietly said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40, KJV). No other words were necessary. The tear-filled eyes of each student focused only on the picture of Christ. 

Words are like seeds. What we plant will grow. The words we speak are powerful and will either build up or destroy. Words can diffuse anger and turn tragedy into triumph. The right word, spoken at the right time and in the right way can bring peace in the midst of confusion. God gives us "spiritual radar" so we can assess a situation and speak the right word for that circumstance, but how often do we speak before we check the radar?

• A judge utters a few words and a guilty man is taken to death row.
• A friend speaks a word of encouragement and a desperate heart finds hope.
• A mother lashes out with angry words and the light in her child's eyes is gone.
• A wife offers a word of forgiveness and a marriage is saved.
• A gossip makes a phone call and a reputation is destroyed.
• A teenager says "no" and changes the course of her life.

It has been estimated that most people speak enough words in one week to fill a large book of 500 pages which, in the average lifetime, would amount to somewhere around 3000 volumes or 1,500,000 pages. What kind of book are you writing today with your words? 

Let's Pray Father, I need Your help. I want the words I speak to encourage and build up the people in my life. Forgive me for the hurtful words I have spoken. Teach me how to speak the right words in each situation and how to think before I speak. And Lord, help me keep my mouth shut when I need to!
In Jesus' name, Amen.

Now It's Your Turn Read Colossians 4:6 (NLT) "Let your conversation be gracious and effective so that you will have the right answer for everyone."

What guidelines does this verse give us for the words we speak?

What one change do you need to make today in order to tame your tongue?

Daily Battles of the Mind

Daily Battles of the Mind

by Joice Meyer

Did you know that we are in a war every day? We see the casualties everywhere—people falling from disease, divorce and tragedy. Looking around at all the suffering, we may think the battles in hospitals and divorce courts are being lost. But in reality, we’re losing the advanced and more important conflict—the battle in our minds.

Each day our minds are bombarded with a constant stream of nagging thoughts, suspicions, doubts and fears. While any one of these can cause defeat and devastation, we are often plagued by more than one…filling our daily lives with mental combat against an array of aggressors.

Since we fail to identify the battlefield, we also fail to correctly identify our foe. We tend to believe people, money, religion or “the system” are our problems. In an attempt to defend ourselves, we build strongholds in our mind. Strongholds are areas of thinking not based on truth but lies. Instead of protecting us, they actually imprison us. Unless we renew our mind, we risk continuing to believe those lies and making important decisions based on deception.

Let me give you an example of how strongholds of wrong thinking can destroy a marriage. Mary and her husband, John, are not enjoying a happy marriage. There is strife between them all the time. They are angry, bitter and resentful. Now their two children are starting to show signs of being affected by all the dissension at home. One of the kids is even developing stomach problems brought on by stress from the conflict.

Mary's problem is that she doesn't know how to let John be the head of their family. She is bossy—she wants to make all the decisions, handle the finances, and discipline the children. She wants to work so she will have her "own" money. She’s independent, loud and demanding. Mary knows her attitude is wrong and wants to change. She's been in counseling and is constantly asking people to pray for God to help her. But she hasn't seen any improvement. Why? Mary has trouble controlling her actions because she has trouble controlling her thoughts. She has a hard time knowing what thoughts to control because of the strongholds in her mind—strongholds that were built very early in her life.

As a child, Mary had an extremely domineering father. For years she suffered helplessly as her father mistreated her and her mother. He was disrespectful in all his ways except toward Mary's brother who could do no wrong. It seemed as if he was favored just because he was a boy. By the time she was sixteen, the strongholds in Mary's mind were firmly established. The stronghold of lies went like this: "Men really think they're something. They are all alike, and you can't trust any of them. They will hurt you and take advantage of you." As a result, Mary's mind was made up: "When I get away from home, nobody is ever going to push me around again!"

Before Mary can ever have victory in her life and peace in her marriage, she will have to tear down the strongholds that are ruling her thinking. Do you see yourself in Mary's life? Many of us have given in to deception at one time or another. How can these strongholds be torn down? We must be willing to receive the light of Truth in our minds. Our search for Truth begins in God's Word, which says that the Truth will set us free (see John 8:32). This means we can be free from bondage, sin and strongholds in our minds. But just searching for Truth won't set us free. We must be courageous enough to also believe the Truth. 

Even when the Truth illuminates what’s inside of us, it's sometimes hard to accept. It’s a painful process to face our deceptions and deal with them. It's so easy to allow our past and how we were raised to negatively affect us for the rest of our lives. Our past may explain why we're suffering, but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage. You may have some major strongholds in your life that need to be torn down. Let me encourage you by saying, “God is on your side.” There is a war going on, and your mind is the battlefield. But the good news is that God is fighting on your side! 

Identity Crisis: Who Am I?

Identity Crisis: Who Am I?

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Jason Hess

Have you ever compared yourself to others?

Perhaps you look at your peers and wonder what happened? We’re the same age, how can this be? How have they accomplished that while I’m still struggling to get a start?

Perhaps you have said the same thing when looking at those younger than you. All the while you’re wondering did they get a lucky break or is it something else.

Ever look in the mirror and ask “Who am I?”

Finding who you are is the path to breaking away from the clutches of comparison.

I don’t know who you are. But, let me tell you who you are not. You’re not me. The success you achieve is uniquely your success. Sure I can celebrate it but it’s yours.

If I may confess, throughout my Christian walk, especially as a minister and even more so while in full-time ministry, I found myself comparing my circumstances to others. Wondering how that guy could be my age and yet lead a thriving busting at the seams ministry while I was struggling to breathe hope into a handful.

Thinking like that totally destroys any sense of… impact. All it does is bear fruit of dis-satisfaction, jealousy and sometimes regret.

Even if you’re not in ministry and can’t relate with that you can most certainly replace the specifics and make it apply to your circumstance.

I worked for a pest management company named Zap (fictious name); they started over a decade ago. Shortly after they opened their doors another company called Splat (fictious name) sprouted up. Now years later Splat has blown Zap away. Splat is led by a guy nearly half the age of Zap’s owner. They have multiple employees, two offices and a recognizable image; needless to say they are successful. It would be easy for Zap to just roll over and die a miserable death. But they don’t, they push on… realizing that not everyone can be reached by Splat; despite how big they are. Zap has its problems no doubt about it; but, they don’t let the success of Splat kill them.

So many times we let our perceived deficiencies hold us back from becoming ourselves. There’s no greater person on the planet than the one who recognizes who they are and leverages that truth for the good of those around them. The eternal ripple caused by Jesus is tied to his own realization of who he was and leveraging that truth.

Now, I realize that sometimes there are genuine deficiencies that do indeed hold us back from becoming all that we can be. However, they can be corrected, adjusted or modified bringing us into a place where we are indeed aligned.

Find WHO YOU ARE.

You don’t have to be a Mark Zuckerburg, Barack Obama or Steve Jobs to make a difference.

All you have to be is YOURSELF.

Over the years I’ve come to better grips with my place in this world, my place in the Kingdom. I’ve realized that I have my own path to walk in HIS-story. And while my path, just as yours does, crosses many other paths ultimately there is only one me. Never again will there be another me. Never again will there be another you. So may you see your importance, your worth to yourself and to those around you.

The process of evolving your thinking can be a difficult task as you are confronted with things you may not wish to admit about yourself but its key in finding the real you, the one behind the mask – behind the hurt – behind the curtain.

As I said above – There’s no greater person on the planetthan the one who recognizes who they are and leverages that truth for the good of those around them.

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions. Part 2: Why We Feel What We Feel

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions.
Part 2:  Why We Feel What We Feel

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries

Introduction: You’re reading Part 2 in a blog mini-series on Emotional Intelligence. Read Part 1: Emotions: God’s Idea. I’ve developed this series from material in my book Soul Physicians.

Defining Emotions: Our God-Given Capacity to Experience and Respond
What are emotions? Emotions are our God-given capacity to experience our world and to subjectively respond to those experiences. This capacity includes the ability to internally react and experience a full-range of both positive (pleasant) and negative (painful) inner feelings. 

The very root of the word emotion is motere, the Latin verb “to move,” plus the prefix “e” meaning “to move away.” This suggests that a tendency to act is implicit in every emotion. All emotions are, in essence, inclinations to react, the instant plans for handling life that God has instilled in us. God designed our emotions to put us in motion. They represent a quick response that motivates action—emotions signal the mind to go into high gear.

Emotions play a crucial editorial role that force us to do a double-check, to look outward and inward. Emotions are our “psychological sentinel” that connect us to our inner and outer world.

Once connected, then we react to our external and internal world. What we desire (relationally), think (rationally), and choose (volitionally) (our inner world) determines our emotional reaction to our external situation (our outer world).

What we believe (Romans 12:1-2) (rational direction) about what quenches our thirst for relationship (Psalm 42:1-2) (relational motivation) provides the direction we choose to pursue (Joshua 24:15) (volitional interaction) and determines our experiential response (emotional reaction) to our world.
    
A Formula for Understanding Our Emotional Responses
Consider a basic formula for understanding emotions: E.S. + I.P. = E.R. Our External Situation plus our Internal Perception leads to our Emotional Response. Picture our emotions like this:     

• Negative Situation (ES) +Biblical Belief (IP) = Legitimate Painful Emotion (ER) (Sorrow, Sadness, etc.) 
• Negative Situation (ES) + Unbiblical Belief (IP) = Illegitimate Painful Emotion (ER) (Hatred, Despair, etc.) 
• Positive Situation (ES) + Biblical Belief (IP) = Legitimate Positive Emotion (ER) (Joy, Peace, etc.) 
• Positive Situation (ES) + Unbiblical Belief (IP) = Illegitimate Positive Emotion (ER) (Pride, Self-Sufficiency, etc.) 

Your boss says to you, “You blew it.” Your emotions react to this external event and to your internal images and ideas. What if you believe, “I must have my boss’s approval”? Then you will respond with illegitimate negative emotions such as anger, depression, hopelessness, or hatred.

If, on the other hand, you believe that “I would like my boss’s approval, but I know that I am accepted by God,” then you will respond with legitimate painful emotions such as sorrow, disappointment, or remorse (if you were truly in the wrong).

The key to our emotional reaction is our belief or perception about the meaning behind the event. Thus, events determine whether our emotions are pleasant or painful, while longings, beliefs, and goals determine whether our emotional reaction is holy or sinful.

Obviously, our emotions are useful, beneficial, and very good (Genesis 1:31). Just as obvious, our emotions often are hurtful, harmful, and very bad. We are to be angry, but not sinfully so (Ephesians 4:26). Anger can be good (Mark 3:5); it can be evil.

So it is with all emotions and moods. Designed for mood order (Creation), we experience mood disorders (Fall), and can experience reordered moods (Redemption).

The Rest of the Story
This is not your father’s view of emotions! No—we’ve been sold a lie that says emotions are all bad. Yet, designed by God, God says emotions are very good. In fact, our moods can be very good. That’s also not what we’ve been taught. When we think “mood,” we think, “He’s so moody!” “She’s in such a mood!” We need God’s view of moods. We’ll find it in Part 3: Good News about Good Moods.

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions. Part 1: Emotions: God’s Idea

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions.
Part 1:  Emotions: God’s Idea

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries


Introduction: You’re reading Part 1 in a blog mini-series on Emotional Intelligence. I’ve developed this series from material in my book Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.

Emotions: God’s Idea

In many Christian circles, emotions are viewed as the “black sheep” of the image bearing family. In other words, we accept that God created us with a soul to relate, with a mind to think, and with a will to choose. But somehow we act as if emotions were not God’s idea. 

We often see emotions more as a cursing than a blessing. “More harm than good.” “Suppress them.” “Ignore them.” “Don’t have them.” If emotions are so distressing, then why did God create us with feelings? 

Somehow we’ve forgotten that when God paused to ponder His image bearers, he pointed out that they, emotions included, were “very good.” 

Feelings were God’s idea. Not only did He give them to us; He experiences them Himself. God is an emotional being. Read that again. Don’t dodge it. God is an emotional being. God the Father gets angry. God the Son weeps. God the Spirit grieves. The Trinity emotes. 

If we are to live godly lives—Christ-like lives—then we need God’s perspective on emotions. We need a biblical theology on emotionality. Consider the present blog mini-series to be our Emotional Primer 101—the ABCs of Emotions.

Emotions: Windows to the Soul
It’s so typical that it has become trite, “How do you feel about that?” We even mock it, “I feel your pain.” We are awash in an emotionally shallow society. Do we throw the baby out with the bath water? Or do we realize Satan’s counterfeit and choose Christ’s real deal, the genuine article?

The real deal is imago Dei emotionality. The real deal is coram Deo emotionality. Like our Creator, we are emotional beings who experience deeply (imago Dei emotionality) and all of our feelings are in-relationship-to-God feelings (coram Deo emotionality).

Emotions are windows to the soul. All emotions, positive or painful, open doors to the nature of reality. Emotions link our inner and outer world. But we want to escape the reality of both. The Scriptures teach that the suppression of feelings is a refusal to face the sorrow of life and our hunger for heaven. It is not a mark of maturity. Our refusal to embrace our feelings is an attempt to deal with a God who does not relieve our pain.

Our emotions reveal our deepest questions about God. They vocalize the inner working of our souls. Listen to and ponder your emotions in order to discern what your heart is doing with God and others. They are a voice that can tell us how we are dealing with a fallen, hurtful world. Emotions force open the stuck window of our soul, compelling us to face how we are facing life.

Emotions: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Emotions are God-given. They are not satanic. Adam had them before the Fall. God has them. Christ has them. In and of themselves, they are not sinful. They are beneficial, and yes, even beautiful.

The Psalmist understood this. In the classic passage describing God’s utmost care in creating us, Psalm 139, emotionality is the one aspect of our inner personality specifically referenced. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13, emphasis added).

“Inmost being” is kidneys. In Psalm 73:21 and Proverbs 23:16 the kidneys are the place of sorrow and rejoicing, respectively. In Old Testament thinking, the kidneys prompt or urge to action by aroused emotions. Hans Wolff notes that the Semitic languages used terms for kidneys, reins, stomach, bowels, and womb to describe the feeling states (Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, pp. 62-63).

As we literally experience and feel an emotion in our physical being, so we feel an emotion in our psychological being. That’s why we say things like, “I have butterflies in my stomach.” God created your inmost being, your kidneys, your emotions. Your emotions are fearfully and wonderfully made—by God.

The Rest of the Story
Knowing that God designed us with emotions is the beginning of the story. The rest of the story teaches us what emotions are. Return for Part 2, Why We Feel What We Feel, as we define emotions and develop a basic formula for understanding emotions.

A Model Friendship

A Model Friendship

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Amy Vogel

The English Poet, John Donne, in a line from his Meditations XVII, famously declared “No Man is an Island.”  It seems, however, Americans are learning to live like it.  According to a study in the June 2006 issue of the American Sociological Review, 25% of Americans have no close confidants.

This was not the original design.  Our relationship with The Lord is purposed to be deeply connectional.  And we are called to be in the thick of life with others.  The Apostle John declares, in 1 John 1:3-4, that his reason for declaring Christ is so that others can share in the koinonia – or intimacy – with The Trinity and in the family of faith.  That tight association all around completes our joy and our hope.  Proverbs 27:17 declares that friendship is the vehicle The Lord uses to sharpen and mature us.  Indeed, Jesus called His friends (those who choose to follow Him) closer than blood relatives.

We see 1 Samuel 18:1, 3-4 present a beautiful picture of the kind of friendship we should seek – manifested between the shepherd-turned-hero, David and the crown Prince, Jonathan.  It can be difficult for modern readers not to put sexual connotations on top of these passages.  But culturally speaking, Jonathan’s actions were born not only out of respect for David’s military prowess.  If that was all the feeling he had for David, the bond would have been quite shallow.

Instead, they formed a deep connection.  We would call them extremely close, best or even life-long friends.  What sparked this was Jonathan’s view into David’s heart.  He saw that they were not only of like mind and physical prowess; they both shared a love for The Lord.  There is no greater pleasure, upon meeting someone, to find out that you not only have circumstances in common, but that you both love The Lord Jesus.

So Jonathan chose to serve David as king, over his father, Saul.  It nearly cost him his life, as we see in 1 Samuel 20.  That incident led to the two men parting ways for David’s safety.  David had many years on the run ahead of him and he would never again see his friend alive.  But there is a sweetness at the parting that implies they knew they would see each other again, either in this life or in the eternal.  It is a connection that is proved through David’s treatment of Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth.

Perhaps this was on Jesus’ mind in John 15:13.  In having a close relationship with a fellow believer, you get a picture of what Christ means to love someone enough to give your life for them.  Jesus is the ultimate example; so when He becomes our best friend, He wants us to demonstrate that love to another.

When we let someone in and find a friend in faith; grace and mercy abound.  We can give The Lord no greater glory than to share in the lives of His Children – and end up better for having known them.

Me, Myself and I

An Everyday Christian devotional 

Posted by: Brenda J. Wood (Heartfelt Devotionals)

Romans 6:11--Even so, consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relationship to it broken, but alive to God (living in unbroken fellowship with Him) in Christ Jesus. (AMP) 

ME, MYSELF AND I

Things did not turn out like I thought.
My goal was only mine.
I did not set for Godly plans.
Myself, I thought was fine.

Too much me and I and self
Got stuck inside my head.
There’d be no progress in my life
Till me and self were dead.

And God performed a miracle,
Prepared the me and I,
He left my heart completely His.
For to really live, I die.

 

Prayer:  

Lord, give us eyes to see your goals for us. Help us to remember that our old self is dead and buried and that only you can give us the strength to climb the ladder of success. You know the one, Lord, the one that leads to you. In Christ’s name.  Amen