Gifts of Blessing

It can be exhausting and stressful to try to impress others all the time and as women especially, we are often guilty of trying to maintain this “Martha Stewart image” that doesn’t really exist.  The truth is, that while we are busy trying to appear like we have it all together and making efforts to impress someone, they are most likely doing the exact same thing in an effort to impress you!

Ladies, what if we just gave each other a break?  What if we recognized that none of us have it all together.  We’ve all been given different gifts and strengths and skill sets and what if we used those gifts and skills to bless and care for one another instead of criticizing and trying to outshine one another?
God has poured out His blessings onto us so that we can extend them to others and ultimately so that others will be drawn to Him and His name will be glorified…not so we can hoard them and keep them tucked away for our own personal use or benefit.

“God placed something inside of you to deposit in someone else.”

~Sheri Rose Shepherd

So, as you go about your day today, will you ask God to show you a way that you can bless one of your sisters in Christ?  Maybe it’s as simple as sending a quick note to say that you’re thinking about her…maybe it’s dropping off a home-cooked meal to a busy working mom…maybe it’s taking the time to teach her a skill that she was not blessed to be taught as a young girl.  Whatever it is, God has given you gifts to be shared and you will often walk away from sharing them, being the one who is truly blessed at the end of it.

“God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds,

    giving to the needy in reckless abandon.

His right-living, right-giving ways

    never run out, never wear out.

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.”

~2 Corinthians 9:8-11

~Kris Samovitz

Wisdom From Above

“If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.  But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”

~James 3:13-18(NLT)~

Jealousy and selfish ambition…certainly two things that we don’t readily want to admit to struggling with are they?  Unfortunately, they are part of our sinful nature and something we do have to deal with.

When I looked up the definitions of these words, I stumbled across something interesting.  Check it out:

“Jealousy is that unpleasant emotion you feel when you think someone’s trying to take what’s yours. Jealousy is called the "green-eyed monster" because it can make people obsessed with how they compare to others.  But don't confuse jealousy with envy, which can sometimes be a slightly more positive emotion.  It's no fun to feel envy or jealousy because both make you feel inadequate. Envy is when you want what someone else has, but jealousy is when you're worried someone's trying to take what you have.”  

~(Copyright © 2013 Vocabulary.com)

Keeping that thought in mind, I came to the conclusion that jealousy has less to do with others and everything to do with me and my own insecurities and feelings of inadequacy.  When we feel like we are lacking and we don’t clearly understand who we are in Christ and what God really thinks of us, it’s easy to be jealous of others and threatened by their strengths and successes.  Not only that, but it gives Satan a huge foothold in our lives that He can grab onto and believe me, if this is an area that you struggle with, He will hold onto it for dear life because of the power it has and the havoc he can wreak there.  He will sow seeds of discontent, deception, discouragement, and longing that can tie us up in knots and keep us distracted from the Truth and the abundant and joy-filled life that God intends us to have.

“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.” 

~James 3:17

God’s wisdom gives us an alternative to comparing ourselves to others and what they have.  If we truly understand at a heart level who we are, how deeply and perfectly we are loved, and our identity is found in Him, we can yield to others without feeling threatened or jealous…we can support and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ as they experience successes along the way…and our motives and intentions will remain pure as we seek to serve and follow God’s will for our lives.

My prayer this week is that God will reveal and remove those seeds of insecurity and jealousy in my heart…that He’ll bring to the surface any selfish ambitions that I might be disguising or trying to justify so that I can deal with them.  But I also want to boldly ask Him not just to remove them, but to replace them with His truth and His wisdom…His ways.  He will do that for us…He wants to do that for us!

~Kris Samovitz

A Sanctifying Work

"Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls." ~James 1:17, 18, 21 (NLT)

This is such a beautiful portion of Scripture...the picture of the Father of all lights choosing to give us birth through the implanting of His word in our hearts. Just as He doesn't force us to believe in Him for eternal salvation, He doesn't force us to do what verse 21 says, 

"...humbly accept the living word to do its finishing, sanctifying work in us."

I know, scary word huh?  Being "sanctified" however, has nothing to do with the "holier than thou" portrait that I so quickly conjure up in my head. When we take that humble step of accepting His offer to implant His word in our hearts, it's piercing, fire producing, light encompassing, purifying work that takes place in the darkest crevices of the heart, produces something that cannot be found here on earth. It literally brings heaven to earth with the unmistakable, promised gifts of divine peace, joy, and righteousness.

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."

~Romans 14:17 (NIV)

~ Jeri Heintz

God's Promises are Infallible

“No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

~Romans 8:37,39~

There is One who never forgets.

Could we be more loved? Did you know that perfect love is shown to us by our Father in heaven? His promises are always true and followed through on. He never forgets. He possesses no weakness. His heart is moved by us. It is not based on our worthiness or performance (“...But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8 ESV). 

There are hundreds of promises in scripture that can address all of our insecurities, trials, and situations. Something I have just begun is a notebook where I keep specific verses that the Lord has used as encouragement to my heart. I simply categorize them under subject headings such as “anxiety”, “anger”, “fear”, etc.. This will help me as I encounter difficulty in my day as a ready reference to what God says about these things. It will help steer my mind to look unto Jesus for my help, to see my emotions and life through his eyes!

These are promises we can stand on! My husband, my children, my friends, my family, my neighbors, my coworkers, and so on will never fail to fail me. Sometimes I will feel unloved because someone didn’t come through on their promise or failed me in a myriad of other ways as we so often do as sinful humans.

My earthly supports are fallible. They are as weak as I am. There is no one that can be right and faithful and always act in loving ways towards me – except for Him; the One who knit me together in my mother’s womb.

From the In Touch ministries website, I have linked to a list of the promises of God under topical references. Just click on the subject and it will give you some excellent encouragement from scripture. Sometimes we just need to remember what we have in Him! What security, power, love and tenderness we can live under!

http://www.intouch.org/you/gods-promises

~ Jaime Scharf