Two Opposites. One Truth...Every Morning

"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." ~Lamentations 3:22-23

I woke up crazy early this morning, and, while lying in bed, hoping to fall back asleep (fail), was thinking about some things I read yesterday, that, while opposite in their approach, both shared a similar message very well....

It was out of this World...........
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
There must've been a mistake.
'And why's everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

"What hope has hatred ever harnessed? What argument has ever been aided by anger? What problems have ever been resolved by revenge? You might be trying to consciously or unconsciously punish a brother or sister by not forgiving them. But who are you really punishing? Who carries that judgement with him wherever he goes? Your brother and sister are not what you perceive they did to you. They are not some frozen moment in time that like a brick, you choose to carry into the present. They are God's children on a journey..." ~James B. Cisneros

"To err is human, to forgive divine." ~William Shakespeare

If God's mercies are new every morning, how can we offer our brother or sister any less? If the thought of worshiping before God's throne in Heaven next to any certain person makes you cringe, that means there's a good chance you might not be there anyway. Is holding on to that judgmentalism or unforgiveness really worth missing Heaven over? From here on out I encourage you: Look at others through God's eyes...You might be pleasantly surprised what you see.

No Bullies Allowed!

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood..."~Ephesians 6:12

When I first began this blog it wasn't just on a whim, but it was for a reason....

I had recently received a very specific word, or rather command, from God, and the devil had immediately went to work trying to convince me otherwise. In essence, God said, "Walk through this door."; Satan said, "There is no door, turn around and walk away." And immediately my mind went into a whirlwind. But,in the midst of that whirlwind, I realized something: the devil has an agenda and God has an agenda, and I had a choice as to whom I was going to let win that war in my mind and whose agenda I was going to choose to follow. One voice said, "Give up, you'll never be able to do what God's told you to do and disobedience is a sin, omission is as bad as commission, so you might as well just throw in the towel now. But God...well, God's voice told me something very different. It said, "My ways are above your ways; my thoughts are above your thoughts.", "I will never leave you nor forsake you.", "I lie not."

So, I picked myself up off the ground and made a firm decision, not only was I going to do whatever God asked of me, and put complete trust in Him to make a way, but I was going to make the devil reeeeaally sorry for ever messing with me at all. I wasn't really sure where to start out in this endeavor, but I felt in this process that God was going to show and teach me a lot, and that it would be wasteful to keep the classroom all to myself. Thus, as a good friend of mine coined the phrase a few years back, creating this blog was my way of affectionately saying, "In Your Face Devil!!!" And every time I write something glorifying God that's exactly the attitude I write with. It's not my desire to waste my own, nor anyone else's, precious time with something not inspired by God, therefore I don't write on a regular schedule, but rather as I feel led. Sometimes this is often, other times rarely.

Since beginning it there have been a lot of wonderful things happen. I have received letters from people who have read just the right thing at just the right time and in turn it has helped them through personal situations they were dealing with in their own lives. I also personally have been ministered to, due to people who were formerly strangers contacting me, sharing just the right words at just the right time that I needed to hear. There have been family friends I hadn't seen since childhood, as well as others who formerly were strangers, who have followed it, and whom God lead to sponsor me as an AIMer. While I have purposely been very vague in sharing the wonderful things that have came from this small decision, due to wanting to honor others' privacy, many of these stories, in detail, are awe inspiring and God's fingerprints are all over them.

I have shared all that to say this....Has the devil been bullying you lately? Well, fight back! Through prayer. Through doing your own special thing to say, "In Your Face Devil!" This special thing could be anything that will bring God glory...from helping mentor a person in need of one, to volunteering to help with a ministry at church, to feeding the homeless, to visiting the elderly, to moving forward in doing something God's already told you to do,....to blogging.

John 12:32 says, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Ask yourself, "What can I do to exalt God?", "What can I do to encourage His children?", "What can I do to please Him?", "What can I do to stand up and speak out and tell the devil 'No Bullying Allowed!!!'?"

As for me, I will continue to blog...I will continue to obey God and walk in His perfect will...and I will continue to proclaim, "In Your Face Devil!"