The Good Friday Storm

It is Good Friday, when we commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion. My dog and I spent about two hours sitting in the basement because of tremendous storm threats. (My basement is not a place with carpet and furniture. It is a raw basement!) Therefore, I have storms on my mind. I was thinking about the huge storm which occurred after Jesus said, “It is finished!” (Aramaic: “Completely complete!”)

Jesus was crucified outside the city gates, so the temple was not anywhere near Him when the veil covering the most holy place ripped from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51) This miracle occurred when He gave up His Spirit and died. The veil was not a little, flimsy thing! According to Josephus, a trusted historian of those times, the veil was several feet thick! When that veil was split in half, it opened the way for us to go directly to God—not because of the blood of sacrificial animals, but because of the blood of Christ! (Hebrews 10:19-20)

I mentioned in my last blog, that Caiaphas tore his robes when Jesus said He was God. Remember, that the high priest was forbidden to tear his robe by the Levitical Law. (Leviticus 21:10.) Therefore, Caiaphas disqualified himself as Jesus became our High Priest! What I failed to bring out is a very important fact! Jesus’ tunic “happened to be” woven without a seam! Many hundreds of years before, Moses had received instructions from God for the high priest. His tunic was to be woven in one piece! This was so it would not be torn. (Exodus 28:32) The soldiers were allowed to divvy up the belongings of those crucified. They thought about tearing Jesus’ tunic, but decided instead to cast lots for it and keep it in one piece! (John 19:23-24)

The Old Covenant high priest’s role was to go to God once a year, representing the people—taking a sacrifice and praying for them. Jesus’ sacrifice to God was Himself! And He always lives to make intercession for us! (Hebrews 7:25)

The high priest’s role was also to represent God to the people—ascertaining the will of God for them. Jesus Christ perfectly shows us what God the Father is like. (Read the gospels…read Jesus’ words, which in many Bibles, are written in red.) Then look at what Hebrews 1:3 tells us; “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature! 

We have an amazing, forever High Priest!

Our Forever High Priest

Most of us understand that Easter is more than baby chicks, new life, Easter eggs brought by a big Bunny, or family and friends gathering to eat a sumptuous meal! And many of us enjoy at least some of these things on this special Day, while we most importantly celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

I used to think I had to follow the Law to be a good Christian. But, of course, I never could be that good! How happy I was to find out that I didn’t have to…that God never expected me to be able to perfectly keep the Ten Commandments or any other law in scripture. He says that the law was a shadow of good things to come. So Jesus came! He lived his life on earth as a man, depending on the Father for everything, and never sinning, even though He was 100% God and 100% Man! (He was born of the Holy Spirit—God, and His earthly mother was Mary—mankind.)

The Old Testament priests had to sacrifice animals for blood to cover the sin of the people until the Messiah came. This had to be done over and over, but when Jesus, the Messiah, offered Himself as our sacrifice, it was once and for all, done!  (See Hebrews 10) Do we realize that His shed blood made us perfect in God’s sight if we have accepted Him as our Lord? It’s still hard for me to grasp that all my sins are forgiven, past, present, and future—but it is true. There is no more punishment for our sin. Consequences? Yes, but not punishment! Jesus took the punishment for my and your sins. Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Jesus is the only reason we can come to a heavenly Father who cannot look at sin because God is Absolute Holiness! And because of what our Lord did for us—we can! So! We don’t need an earthly High Priest any more. Jesus is our High Priest forever!

Here are some facts from scripture which I find interesting:                                                       The High Priest (in the Old Covenant) was to go through a thick veil, into the Holy of Holies, to offer a sacrifice only once a year. This was on the Day of Atonement. He really prepared himself, and no one else could go in, as this was where the presence of God dwelt. All around the hem of his robe was sewn a golden bell, then a pomegranate, a bell, then a pomegranate. As long as the bells tinkled, the priest was still alive! But just in case he had sin he had committed in ignorance, they tied a cord to his ankle with the other end outside the veil, so they could drag his dead body out in case his sin met up with the powerful holiness of God! (Scary!)

Ephesians 1:20 says when Jesus was raised from the dead, God SEATED Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. (Many other scriptures say this.)   But Hebrews 10 says the Old Covenant priests STOOD, offering the same sacrifices time after time. Verse 12 says, “But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN at the right hand of God.” I’ve heard it said that the Levitical priest always stood, because that represented the fact that his work was never finished. But Jesus sat because the work was finished. That is what He said right before He died on the cross, “It is finished!” He had finished the work of taking a holy Father’s wrath against sin upon Himself for us!

A final, interesting fact: In Leviticus 21:10, the law says that the high priest was not to uncover his head nor tear his clothes. (One would tear their clothes as a sign of grief, shock, or repentance.) When the Jews brought Jesus before Caiaphas, the high priest, (for an illegal trial) Caiaphas asked Jesus to say whether he was the Christ, the Son of God. Caiaphas interpreted what He said as blasphemy, and was so enraged, so upset, that he tore his robes in the heat of the moment, saying, “He has blasphemed!” Now they could ask for His death. It is interesting to me that maybe 1400 years after the Levitical law was written, Caiaphas tears his clothes, and therefore, disqualifies himself to be high priest right before Jesus Himself became our once and forever High Priest!

“…not one word has failed of all His good promise…” I Kings 8:56

 

Struggle vs Surrender!

Have you ever felt left out? or like a misfit? all alone? neglected? rejected? or unappreciated? Have you ever felt like you were enveloped in a lonely, dark cloud, even though you were surrounded by people? I have, and it takes its toll—spirit, soul and body! One time, was after we moved to Graham, N.C. Six weeks earlier, my husband had been sent there to be branch manager of the small Duke Power office. He was working extremely hard, as this was his first assignment after a long training period. Being a very outgoing person, it seemed to me he knew most of the people in Graham by the time I and our three and four year olds arrived! Then, in a short month, in the middle of Christmas season, our baby son was born! We were both thrilled with this child! What did not thrill me, however, was that I didn’t know any of the new friends my husband had, that I had no clothes which fit for all these Christmas functions we should attend, and that we knew no  babysitters for these little ones, except our parents who lived 25 miles away. For a company banquet we had to attend, Roy’s parents graciously came up to babysit. I was thrilled on one hand, to get out of the house! But several hours before the event, I was depressed and very tired. I just wanted to go to bed. Yes, this was probably postpartum depression, but I had no clue about all that! All I knew was what the first two sentences of this blog describe! 

Happily, by spring I could get outside, and we were connected to some wonderful church friends and neighbors, and (although we couldn’t afford to go out much) we had a great babysitter near our house! Looking back, I can see how the Lord was calling us both, and that meant total surrender to Him. We were afraid of that! Personally, I was afraid of God Himself, at the time. I was scared of what He would tell me to do, and I knew I couldn’t do it!  I had tried to be obedient, good, and pure. I had tried to pray every day. I had tried to be a good wife and mother. But I could never accomplish that! If only I had surrendered everything to Him, I would have found out that I am not SUPPOSED to be able to do it! He wants to do it for me. He expects me to be weak, so He can be my Savior every minute of every day! The Lord was drawing us, but we didn’t give in until later, when (in separate years in South Carolina) we surrendered totally to the Lord, out of desperation with ourselves! And the outcome I experienced? Joy! Peace! and Amazing Love! 

When we moved to Fountain Inn, S. C., I loved how you could be anywhere within five minutes.The kids walked or rode bikes to school, and they had the run of this safe, little town! By then, Roy was Manager of two offices in two adjoining towns. He now knew everyone in two towns!  Our kids were happy in school. They were all very involved in sports, especially baseball.

The Pastor at the Baptist Church was an amazing man of God! He was the one I went to when I finally got so miserable with myself. I was willing to surrender, although I was still afraid of God (lI saw him as a Policeman in the sky!) Well! After he prayed with me, my life totally changed! Everything looked different, felt different! I had felt loved most of my life, but this love was electric! Although I have been through some tough times since, this has never left…only grown! Full surrender, in spite of some doubts and fears, was my life-changing key! I decided that God is who He says He is! It is so easy…there is no work involved! It is like jumping off a high diving board! Once you get past the fear of jumping, you can’t go back! With our loving and kind God, you never want to go back!

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Life Has Tangles!

Do you ever feel that just as you get one tangled situation straightened out, another one comes right behind it? Today I was thinking back to a specific time when my life was full of tangles. Two ladies were angry with me, I had lost money on an unwise investment (which my husband had hesitantly agreed to) I had overcommitted myself in multiple directions, and Roy and I were POAs for four people at one time (with two of the loved ones having Alzheimer’s!) Believe me, on some days we were facing countless twists, turns and knots…all tying us up at once! On this particular day, I remember getting to the point of feeling that any solution—ever—was impossible. It was too complicated. True, some of it was my own fault. Some, I had no idea what had happened, and some was caused by life in general. I felt hopeless, helpless, and depressed.

The only thing I could do was to cry out to God in desperation. As I did, in my mind’s eye, I saw a big, tangled skein of yarn. It was a huge mess…twisted, knotted, and impossible to straighten out! “Yes, I thought, that is exactly how I feel, and exactly how things are!” I totally identified with that picture. With everything in me, I threw that MESS to God, saying, “I cannot handle this! Please, Lord, take it and rescue me!” Suddenly, I saw another amazing picture…all that yarn had totally relaxed and limply fallen to the floor, with every knot untied! All I had to do was to pick it up and roll it into a neat ball. 

God has used that situation to bless me many times since then. Life has troubles!  At first I may “see” the tangled mess, but then I remember Who cares, Who can, and Who will straighten it out. Eventually, I see the knots simply fall apart in His hands. The more we try to handle our problems, the more tangled up our lives become. Our Father wants us to relinquish them to Him, giving up our pride and control which says, “I can do this myself! I will just try harder!” Of course, this puts tremendous stress on us as well as on the tangled situations! 

The Christmas season, when we celebrate the Prince of Peace coming to dwell among us, can be one of the most turbulent times of stress for many. Perhaps you are dealing with difficult relationships, extra duties, additional responsibilities, consequences of wrong choices (yours or others’), pride, hurts, mental anguish, weakness, sin, lack, disappointments, or weariness…causing many tangles and many knots! Purposely give to the LORD each person, feeling, need, sin, and situation. Don’t try to carry it yourself. Remember John 15:5 (b) where Jesus Himself says, “…Apart from Me you can do nothing.” 

Even though all the bad situations may not be instantly resolved, God’s love, peace, and grace will carry us through as we watch Him work things out in His own timing. In I Peter 5:7 God says…”Casting all your anxiety on Him because He CARES for you.” (That is, you MATTER to Him!) Yes! You DO!

“God is at work in the mess. That’s the message of the Bible.”  -Matt Chandler

Running With Scissors!

When I was young, my Mother always cut my hair. Often, between haircuts she would trim my bangs. I have memories of her running after me, scissors in hand, to trim this or that piece of hair which was uneven. “Wait a minute, wait a minute, Jan-elle,” she would say, as she proceeded to whack at the unruly piece of hair. It took a span of time for her to become satisfied with the end result. One reason was that my hair was curly. Probably the main reason was that I was a fidgety child!

In a way, this reminds me of times when God gives me a new insight into scripture. I am amazed and excited as I apply this new dimension to areas of the word of God which I have not only read, but studied, and even memorized. (Three subjects in which this has occurred are in the areas of healing, grace, and confession.) To keep to the subject of hair…It sort of causes my soul to feel beautifully coiffed! 🙂 As I apply this new insight into what scripture says concerning these subjects, it adjusts and “cleans up” my understanding of what God is like and what His word is actually meaning to say to me. And I think, “Oh! I have come to a deeper knowledge of God and scripture in this area!” I settle in to enjoy my new insight. But later, He presents to me an interpretation which sheds more light on that knowledge! It might happen by way of a sermon, a book, a related scripture, or something a friend mentions. Whereas I may be willing to settle for the “status quo,” He is excited to take me deeper! It will be this way our whole lives. We will never fathom the depths of our many-faceted God. If we will wait on Him and listen, and cooperate, He is pleased to “snip off” our immature or wrong thinking. He doesn’t change, but His Spirit will work to change us! It will bring us joy and satisfaction because it is truth, and it is exciting! Although we will never be finished or complete in our learning-and-faith-walk on earth, we will find ourselves both satisfied and yet longing for more!

For the fourth (or fifth?) time, I am reading Andrew Murray’s Waiting on God. This little book with three-page chapters helps me slow down and actually practice waiting on and listening to God. (I am still a fidgety person!) After reading each chapter I spend time listening to the Lord about the scripture Murray is presenting. The latest chapter I read was about waiting for God’s counsel, from Psalm106:13. The author speaks of the danger in leaning on our own awareness that; we have our Bibles, we have experienced God’s leading before, we have a sound doctrine, and we honestly want to do God’s will…so we trust in these instead of waiting to see what God has to say! How many blessings have I missed by not waiting on God?

“…In Your light we see light.” Psalm 36:9(b)

Wield God’s Sword!

Remember how it feels when you suffer rejection? Your feelings are hurt, and you also hurt in the pit of your stomach! Well, I got my feelings hurt! I knew it was not intentional, so I tried to talk myself out of my emerging pity party. After moping around for a while, I suddenly realized what I needed to do! It was to use the very scripture I had  been struggling with, to use in my next blog. The reason for the struggle was that this scripture was no longer “alive” to me as it had been at one time. I thought and prayed and wrote and prayed, but I couldn’t get excited about it. However, now I am excited! I am presently praising God for the whole event as it enabled me to feel the pain many feel from being mistreated or misunderstood, or perhaps merely from not being treated gently. This is exactly when we need to run to God and to the wisdom of His word. It is our manual for life! In a series about Storms, my Pastor recently admonished us to “fight for your faith.” Then he emphasized, “Dig deep!” I sat there nodding, knowing this is what I have had to do many times. But this time, I forgot about fighting and digging. I simply wanted to enjoy my hurt feelings!

Everyone has strategies for dealing with the game of life! Some are good and some are hurtful. Instead of skimming over this, I am inviting you to “dig deep” by using these scriptures (or others) to find victory in troubled times through the word of God. I discovered and adopted this “game of life” in a time when I needed to survive!

Romans 14:17 tells us that “…the kingdom of God is not eating or drinking (survival matters) but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” MY GAME; I promise myself that when my “feeling of right-standing with God” is first disturbed, or my peace is dwindling or my joy is going, going, or gone, I must go to Romans 7:24-25a, and say it out loud, no matter how bad I feel, or how mad I am! (v.24) “Wretched man (woman) that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?” (It feels like death!) But! If I say verse 24, I MUST go on to verse 25(a)…“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord…”     Sometimes I have been so hurt or angry that I have yelled these verses like a cuss word! But my promise is to keep saying both verses over and over until I really mean it…and as a result, God’s tangible and supernatural peace washes over me! Then, I say it one more time, all wrapped up in God’s love, peace, and victory…sincerely thanking God through Jesus Christ my Lord! The Lord wants us to be real with Him. He knows our hearts. He is not “thin-skinned” or insecure! He sent His word to help us, deliver us, heal us! (Psalm 107:20) His word is a sharp sword which will separate our soulish-thinking and spirit and help us see clearly! And no matter what our circumstances are, His peace is glorious!

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit…” (Hebrews 4:12a)

God’s Word Crushes Fear!

“Is not my word like fire?”declares the Lord,”and like a hammer which shatters a rock?” (Jeremiah 23:29)

We can experience the word of God being that powerful in our fight against fear! I was a “helicopter Mom” when my kids were young. I had no idea it was fear which drove me to be so careful…care which morphed into control! I had been experiencing different nudges about specifically giving my children to God, but I ignored the thoughts. Anyway, I knew they were God’s!

One day, I read in the newspaper about a lady who was in a dime store with her young child (maybe 2?) The little girl was standing right next to her mother when a man dashed up, grabbed the child, and ran off with her! This horrible story devastated me! I began thinking, “I cannot be with my grammar school kids every moment! And even if I were with them, I would be helpless in a similar situation.” So, one morning, I got before the Lord and explicitly gave each of my three children to Him. I was afraid to do it! When I think back now, I wonder why I was so frightened? I am sure that it was because I didn’t know the love and kindness of the Lord then, as I do now. Yes, bad things happened to my children in their lives, but I was not “in control.” I could trust God, because I had put my trust in Him (even imperfectly!) I still remember the peace that came over me after that great exchange!

When our “hands” are gripping something or someone, it causes tension and stress. God knows (and doctors know) that stress will cause a breakdown of cells, which can lead to illness in many areas. Fear causes tremendous stress when it rears its ugly head over and over! This is why God desires us to surrender it to Him. He is absolutely trustworthy and powerful! So we relinquish it (or them) to Him and leave it there. I have a vivid picture in my mind of a great big slab of rock, which is an altar right in front of God.

If it is a person, I put them on that altar, tucking up fingers, toes, hair, etc., so that ALL of them is on there. They are totally given to the God of the Universe! And the sweet peace of God will come. But another attack will usually follow. So I put them on the altar again, and once again, the peace comes. In a real crisis, I have done this all morning long! In an incident I am thinking of, the peace was so real that I became convinced that God had this! And I learned God’s faithfulness was right there with me. The crisis wasn’t yet solved, but He was in charge.

God’s word works! It is for our sake that He wants us to obey it.

Many years ago, several times a week I tutored a child who lived with his Grandparents. His sweet Grandmother said they were too old to help him with his homework. This seven-year-old came to them with a lot of fear. I loved this child and he was in my prayers daily. He confided to me one day that he was afraid every night when he went to bed. His Grandparents had talked to him about Jesus, and he wanted to trust Him, but the fear tortured him. I know God led me to write a verse down on a scrap of paper for him…”Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in God.” (Psalm 56:3) Although he memorized it, he kept that scrap of paper under his pillow every night the whole year. The agonizing fear had to leave, and it did. There was such a difference in his life. He excelled in school as well. I was so proud of him!

God is so good! We do not have to be mature or smart to understand how powerful His word is. We only need to trust and believe that He is there for us, and keep applying the word to our problem!

My Bible teacher used to say, “There are 365 fear nots in the Bible…one for every day of the year!”

Fear Will Attack!

Many years ago, I went to hear an elderly missionary, Miss Bertha Smith, speak.
She had lived in China, where she was a teacher, and part of the leadership in a Christian camp for girls. They constantly lived and worked with the threat of a Communist raid from across the river. The missionaries awoke before dawn one morning, to discover that the Communists had taken over the camp without a fight! For a long period of time, they had infiltrated the missionary camp with Communist women who posed as Christians! The American missionaries refused to leave the girls whom they loved…until they realized that every time they talked to one of the young Christians, the next day that girl was gone. So they were forced to leave.

Miss Smith was 70 when she left China and came back to South Carolina. After that, she actively spoke, ministered, and taught for 29 more years! I have heard that even in her late nineties, Miss Bertha was asked to speak to soldiers at Fort Bragg, N. C. who were getting ready to be deployed into Communist territory.

I was a new Christian, excited to hear this “power-house” lady who was to speak. When I saw her, I was aghast! She was a tiny, very old woman. I remember my proud and immature reaction when she announced that God had told her to speak on fear. I thought, “I’m not a fearful person. What can I learn from this boney little lady?” Well! the first “fear” she talked about was the fear of men’s faces! Her first words exposed me—even to myself! My biggest fear was, “What will people think?” (After decades, I still struggle with that fear, which of course, comes from pride.) So, as you can imagine, I listened very carefully to everything else this tiny, “power-house” lady said!

There is a natural fear which is healthy (Don’t touch that hot burner.) But there is a spirit of fear. This fear is sneaky. It is our enemy. It lies to us, and it wants to rule our lives! Why do I think fear is a spirit? Notice how it attacks us. It usually suddenly hits us in our gut, not our minds (like doubt, shame, or pride.) It doesn’t come as a result of reasoning on our part.

God is Perfect Love. There is no fear in LOVE; but Perfect Love casts out fear, because fear involves torment…” (I John 4:18) “…for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.” (II Timothy 1:7 ESV)

I have been noticing fear attacking the body of Christ more than ever in these days! Maybe the Lord is coming back for His people sooner than we think…and the enemy is pouring out all his pitiful resources against our Mighty God (and us) because he knows his days are numbered! Of course, we do not know how long the Last Days are! “For to the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day!” (2 Peter 3:8) Remember that Jesus Himself said, “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Mark 13:32)

God is LOVE—the opposite of fear! He has set His love on you! We don’t have to fear any attack of the devil. He is defeated by the God who chose you and loves you with His absolute love! He doesn’t have to try to love us; Love is His essence, His character. We will all be attacked by fear, but we can learn to quickly cry out to our Father and run into His open arms!

“Even the silent oppression of the saints is heard by God! But nothing moves a Father like the cry of His children!”  ~Charles Spurgeon

Our Words Are Like Seeds

My daughter is so pleased when she gets her garden planted every year! I don’t necessarily know what seeds she has sown, but I will know…because exactly what she planted will come up! I also know four facts;

1. It won’t come up today.

2. It will come up on an increase.

3. it will come up in another season (Harvest!) and bear much fruit!

4. An enemy will come to steal, kill, and destroy those plants!

We know this is true from nature, but do we believe it also applies to our words? God spoke all of creation into being. In the first chapter of Genesis, over and over it says, “God said.” This is followed by, “And it was so,” and then, “It was good.” We are the only animals who can reason and speak. We are made in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26)

I love this quote from Jerry Daley…”Man created in God’s own image, made it possible for the Son of God to become a man! It was as the Son of Man that Jesus conquered satan, sin, and death.” He was God, but lived His life dependent on His Father while He was on the earth, just as we are to do! His testimony was, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

I mentioned Proverbs 18:21 in my last blog…”Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it (death or life) will eat its fruit.” By planting words, we either agree with God and His word, or we agree with the enemy. The devil has no power over us if we are in Christ, but we can give him the power he is looking for by using words which agree with him! In Matthew 18:19 Jesus stated, “…if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” There is power in two agreeing. We need to agree with Jesus, our High Priest, not the enemy of our souls!

What if we mess up? As no man can tame the tongue (James 1:8), we will! God knew we would, so He provides a way out! We can instantly confess that we do not agree with what we just said, and ask God to forgive us. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) Let’s pray that God will teach us to line up our words with His. He is a patient, loving Father who wants His children protected, just as good earthly parents do!

Look back at the Squash seed images and remember that our words (blessings or curses) produce—just like those seeds! It is hard to change a life-time habit, and we won’t change overnight, but just as a seed produces fruit, so can we use our words to produce life!

Beware! Be Aware of Your Words!

In the 1970’s my husband and I went to Greenville, S. C., to hear a Baptist missionary speak. We were disappointed when she was replaced with a minister we had never heard of…Jack Taylor. In just a few minutes, however, we realized that God had sent us to hear what this man had to say. It was life-changing for us! He began by saying that our words have power to bind and to crush…and that if we could see the invisible chains with which we shackle ourselves and others, we would be shocked! We know that if a child constantly hears adverse words spoken over him, all his life can be influenced negatively. Our society talks much about “verbal abuse.” Roy and I were both sitting there smugly thinking, “We don’t do that!” But by the time we left that meeting, we both realized how many of our habitual words were producing chains over  ourselves, our children, and many others.

As we drove home, we determined that our words would only line up with what the Bible teaches. We had no idea how difficult it would be to change what so easily came out of our mouths! With our three children’s agreement, we made a pact that we would not speak words of unbelief, sickness, failure, or negativity about ourselves or others. And we each agreed we would not be upset when someone corrected us. Within one day, we were all ready to break that agreement!

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it (life or death) will eat its fruit.” Actually, destructive words are called “curses,” but words of life are “blessings.” Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “…I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.” Proverbs 4:20-22 admonishes us, “…give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life to those who find them and health to all their body.” This is such good advice for us, because society bombards us with negative words. Most every day expressions speak sickness, hate, harm, fear, worry and death! Do we even notice it? Here is a sample of what we hear (or say); “That makes me sick.” “It scared me to death!” Mom is going to murder me for being late!” “This job kills me.” “I am sick and tired of your behavior.” “This cake is to die for!” Now if we say, “Life” in place of the death words, people will think you are strange! You will be the first to think you are being strange! Try, “You make me well.” “It scared me to life!” You get the picture! How did all these curses get to be the  “norm” in society? We have an enemy—satan—who has no power over us as God’s children, except what we give him. He wants to influence and control our thoughts, feelings, and mouths, if we let him. Jesus Christ is the only person who ever lived who never had a slip of the tongue, so we can be encouraged. God doesn’t have these verses in His word to try to trap us, or discourage us! His desire is to bless us and to cause us to be a blessing in the earth…and He wants to show us how!

At the end of his talk, Jack Taylor said, “We can learn to break those shackles and chains (and to tear down resulting walls) with kind, positive, loving, and encouraging words!” Admittedly, it will take longer than it did to spew out the negatives, but we have God and His powerful word on our side! As my friend, Michael Cotten, said, “Every time I speak God’s words, they mark my spirit!”

Now, that’s power! Hebrews 4:12