Thursday, October 10, 2013
Who You Are!
Women how amazing we are and yet how much we put ourselves down. The scale we stand on tells us we are not good enough. Magazines and TV tell us we are not good enough. When we stand and look in the mirror what is the lie we tell ourselves?
I read some of the comments on YouTube about this video and most women are really touched and set free by this video but then there are a few guys on there that say it has to much 'You Are' in it and not enough 'He Is' and that it is an evil message. But I do not feel this. I think it points to the Creator in every way. God made us strong and capable and awesome. He created us to fulfill His good purpose. He created us to nurture and love. We were created with large hearts to open up to others and meet their needs. Don't let the enemy tell you are not good enough to make a difference and to serve your God.
I watched the movie One Night with the King which is the story of Esther. Hadassah the Jewish girl who was taken from her home with other virgins in the kingdom. She hides her identity as per her uncle's instruction and take on the name Esther.
One by one, after a year of beauty preparations, they come before the King and present themselves to him. When it is Esther's turn comes the Bible says Esther 2:17 17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Vashti was the Queen but when summoned by the King to come to a banquet she refuses and so the King sent her away and decided to find for himself a new Queen.
Esther wins favour with the King, not with her outward adornment but with her inward adornment. God loves you and has found grace and favour in you and has set a royal crown on your head and you are His daughter.
If you read through Esther you will read how she hears of a plot by a man named Haman to kill all the Jews. This greatly upsets Esther and her people plead for her to reach the King and ask Him to spare them. In order for Esther to do this she has to go before the King unsummoned. To do this was death to anyone who the King does not hold out His golden scepter to.
Esther had to step out and do an amazing and courageous thing to save her people. To do what God has called her to do. He put Esther in that time and place for such a purpose.
We have all been put where we are now for a purpose. We are all called to do something great for God. I believe that we are all equipped for more than to just live and die. We are called to rise up and gather up our skirts and run in to what God has for us.
You are good enough and capable. You are so much more than you tell yourself. Do not let words of society or your thoughts that pull you down tell you any different.
In Christ I am so much more. I love what God sees in me. I love that He sees all my faults and all my wrong and all the really stupid things I say and do and He lifts me up out of the dust and decay and sets my feet on the Rock. He doesn't just put me on the sand He puts me on a sturdy Rock that will not shift with the changing winds or move with the crashing of the waves.
Ladies do not sell yourself short with the lies that you have to what men can do in order to be something in this world. We were not created to be men. God created men first and saw that it was not good that they be alone and that they would need someone to complete them. We were created to COMPLETE not COMPETE. This is not a competition. We are all unique and special and are created for the very purpose of serving God and glorifying Him with the gifts He has given us.
Men, you are awesome. Look at you. You were created to lead your family. You were created to stir up nations for Christ. Take up the mantle of authority and lead. You can do it because it is what you were created for. You were created for outer strength and gumption. You were created with the ability to seek out purpose and walk in it. You are the back bone of our nations. The protective structure for our hearts.
Women, you are awesome. Look at you. Look at the uniqueness of your body and of your soul. You nurture within you the smallest of all humanity. You birth the new. You are discerning. You are the only one that has your husband's heart. You cry, laugh and smile with ease and beauty and grace. So special are you to God. You are doing an amazing job. Don't strive to be who you are not. No river flows uphill and against it's natural course. If it does it only causes destruction. When humans try and change the course of a river the river will always try and get back to it's natural course. You were meant to flow with ease, grace and beauty.
So go be who God created you to be and don't listen to lies telling you anything different. Shoulders back, stand up straight and take that step into all that God has called you to be.
Until next week, have an awesome weekend and be blessed.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Passion, Perseverance, Price and the Prize
What are you passionate about? What lights up your eyes when you talk about it. What gets you really fired up? Are the desires and passions of your heart active in your life or are they just a dream for one day when you are old enough, rich enough, worthy enough, ready enough or just enough?
I rode an 8km bike ride yesterday for the opening of one of the sections of the rail trail. All the way to the start I was thinking if I should go and what business I had riding 8km. I was not fit enough. I am pretty new to riding a bike. What if I crash or look silly.
Well I registered and received my little brochure with a number on it and got ready to ride 8km. It started to rain and it was really windy. I was getting wet, I was cold and I was uncomfortable but I was determined to start and see it through to ride for my family.
Well the ribbon was cut and there was no turning back. My husband and my girls had headed back to the car and would be waiting for me at the finish and I thought riding 8km was the same as walking 4km and I have done that pushing a stroller with 2 kids in.
I prayed for good weather and that the sun would come out and dry me and that the wind would calm down.
I found a gap and off I pedaled. I couldn't tell how far I had gone after 20 mins so could not gauge how long I had left. 30 minutes passed and I had no clue even if I was half way. It rained on and off and there was a rather discouraging head wind and at one time a wind that blew from the side. I pushed up two hills and free wheeled where I could. By this time my seat was feeling decidedly painful and numb in parts all at the same time and I just couldn't find a nice spot to get comfortable on on my narrow saddle. My legs were burning and with every head wind I had to pedal harder. There were so many people passing me I was sure I was stone last. I saw the train chugging passed and was thinking that possibly I had about 1km to go to the finish. By now 40 mins had passed and I was wondering if I should stop for some water and raisins but figured that it should all be over soon and I should just press on. There weren't that many hills left and it seemed to be all downhill from there on.
I clicked up a gear and that made pedaling less of an effort. After 50 minutes I could hear music and I started to smile I was almost there at the finish. I had done it. My very first 8km ride and I had done it on my own despite the weather and not being very fit. I came over the last little rise and saw my 4 daughters and my husband waiting for me. I couldn't stop grinning.
We went off to have a little bit of lunch before the prize giving. All those who had participated were given a brochure that had a unique number on it and if your number was called then you won the prize. There were two big prizes. One for a night away in one of the local Bed and Breakfasts that also included a 5 course meal and wine. The other was a mountain bike. As the numbers for the vouchers were being called I half hope that my number would be called but also that it would not until the two big prizes were to be drawn. I stood and waited and glanced around the stage to see what the bike looked like and the only thing I could see was this little turquoise and blue ladies bike with this sweet little pannier on the back similar to one I had seen earlier in the day and though wow what a neat idea and wondered about getting one for myself. I really hoped a woman would win it. It would be so wasted on a guy. My number didn't get called for any of the vouchers, phew, aww.
Finally the Night away prize was drawn and it wasn't my number but my nephew's!
Drum roll.... who would win the bike? Would my number get drawn?
154... come again? The microphones cut out and no one could hear the number being called again. But I heard it again 154 and I went up and showed them my number and I had won this wonderful bike. I was so excited! I shook that hand of the man that had donated the bike. It was amazing. My number out of over 400 others.
I had had a really down day the day before. It was my 10th Wedding Anniversary and we didn't have anything planned and I wasn't feeling to good and my father-in-law was in hospital with a serious health problem so I was unsure whether to cancel our picnic the next day and not going riding either but instead drive an hour and a half to the hospital.
But one of my husband's brothers was with his Mom and the other went to visit his Dad and we decided that there wasn't very much we could do at the hospital and that we should support my husband's brother with the opening of the last leg of what has been a long project for him with the rail trail.
You see when God puts something in our hearts, be it a desire or a passion, we can let negative thoughts from the enemy discourage us. We can allow fear to creep in and dampen our passion. This reminds me of a documentary I flicked through to on TV about a team of guys who were climbing up a high mountain. One guy said, 'We climb up at night in the dark because if we went up in the day we would see how far it is and how high up it is and we would become discouraged and give up'
When we make that step into doing what we are passionate about we will be met with situations that will call for perseverance. The way is going to be tough and it may even be dark but maybe God has made the way unclear so that you don't back out when you see the bigger picture.
The price is your comfort. It is not going to be comfortable. It is going to be difficult. Sometimes you will not find a nice soft warm place to rest and you will need to gather up all your strength and lean on and trust God to get you through.
At the end there will be a prize. The prize is Jesus and eternity with Him. The prize is achieving a goal. Taking a risk with your talents and seeing the fruit there of. Take a number and get in line and start the race. If you don't start you will never feel the joy of the finish.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I rode an 8km bike ride yesterday for the opening of one of the sections of the rail trail. All the way to the start I was thinking if I should go and what business I had riding 8km. I was not fit enough. I am pretty new to riding a bike. What if I crash or look silly.
Well I registered and received my little brochure with a number on it and got ready to ride 8km. It started to rain and it was really windy. I was getting wet, I was cold and I was uncomfortable but I was determined to start and see it through to ride for my family.
Well the ribbon was cut and there was no turning back. My husband and my girls had headed back to the car and would be waiting for me at the finish and I thought riding 8km was the same as walking 4km and I have done that pushing a stroller with 2 kids in.
I prayed for good weather and that the sun would come out and dry me and that the wind would calm down.
I found a gap and off I pedaled. I couldn't tell how far I had gone after 20 mins so could not gauge how long I had left. 30 minutes passed and I had no clue even if I was half way. It rained on and off and there was a rather discouraging head wind and at one time a wind that blew from the side. I pushed up two hills and free wheeled where I could. By this time my seat was feeling decidedly painful and numb in parts all at the same time and I just couldn't find a nice spot to get comfortable on on my narrow saddle. My legs were burning and with every head wind I had to pedal harder. There were so many people passing me I was sure I was stone last. I saw the train chugging passed and was thinking that possibly I had about 1km to go to the finish. By now 40 mins had passed and I was wondering if I should stop for some water and raisins but figured that it should all be over soon and I should just press on. There weren't that many hills left and it seemed to be all downhill from there on.
I clicked up a gear and that made pedaling less of an effort. After 50 minutes I could hear music and I started to smile I was almost there at the finish. I had done it. My very first 8km ride and I had done it on my own despite the weather and not being very fit. I came over the last little rise and saw my 4 daughters and my husband waiting for me. I couldn't stop grinning.
We went off to have a little bit of lunch before the prize giving. All those who had participated were given a brochure that had a unique number on it and if your number was called then you won the prize. There were two big prizes. One for a night away in one of the local Bed and Breakfasts that also included a 5 course meal and wine. The other was a mountain bike. As the numbers for the vouchers were being called I half hope that my number would be called but also that it would not until the two big prizes were to be drawn. I stood and waited and glanced around the stage to see what the bike looked like and the only thing I could see was this little turquoise and blue ladies bike with this sweet little pannier on the back similar to one I had seen earlier in the day and though wow what a neat idea and wondered about getting one for myself. I really hoped a woman would win it. It would be so wasted on a guy. My number didn't get called for any of the vouchers, phew, aww.
Finally the Night away prize was drawn and it wasn't my number but my nephew's!
Drum roll.... who would win the bike? Would my number get drawn?
154... come again? The microphones cut out and no one could hear the number being called again. But I heard it again 154 and I went up and showed them my number and I had won this wonderful bike. I was so excited! I shook that hand of the man that had donated the bike. It was amazing. My number out of over 400 others.
I had had a really down day the day before. It was my 10th Wedding Anniversary and we didn't have anything planned and I wasn't feeling to good and my father-in-law was in hospital with a serious health problem so I was unsure whether to cancel our picnic the next day and not going riding either but instead drive an hour and a half to the hospital.
But one of my husband's brothers was with his Mom and the other went to visit his Dad and we decided that there wasn't very much we could do at the hospital and that we should support my husband's brother with the opening of the last leg of what has been a long project for him with the rail trail.
You see when God puts something in our hearts, be it a desire or a passion, we can let negative thoughts from the enemy discourage us. We can allow fear to creep in and dampen our passion. This reminds me of a documentary I flicked through to on TV about a team of guys who were climbing up a high mountain. One guy said, 'We climb up at night in the dark because if we went up in the day we would see how far it is and how high up it is and we would become discouraged and give up'
When we make that step into doing what we are passionate about we will be met with situations that will call for perseverance. The way is going to be tough and it may even be dark but maybe God has made the way unclear so that you don't back out when you see the bigger picture.
The price is your comfort. It is not going to be comfortable. It is going to be difficult. Sometimes you will not find a nice soft warm place to rest and you will need to gather up all your strength and lean on and trust God to get you through.
At the end there will be a prize. The prize is Jesus and eternity with Him. The prize is achieving a goal. Taking a risk with your talents and seeing the fruit there of. Take a number and get in line and start the race. If you don't start you will never feel the joy of the finish.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
All I Long For
All I Long For
My soul will sing
My heart will cry out
My mouth will praise You
O Lord
You keep me safe
In the shelter of Your wings
Your voice
Is as soft as a whisper
And as loud as the raging seas
You take me by the hand
You guide me safely through
the dark times
And Your light shines upon the straight paths
Again my soul will sing
If only to know You
My heart will cry out
If only to hear Your voice
My mouth will praise You
For I desire to see your face
With everything within me
My very soul, my hearts cry.
My mouth full of praise
I need You
I really need You
I desire to do Your will
My heart longs for You
My every being
My whole existence
Depends on You
You are all I have got
All I need
And ultimately...
All I long for.
Poem by: Tamryn de Laborde
This is a poem I wrote over 10 years ago. I meant it for lyrics to a song but upon reading it yesterday I felt that it may just stay a poem.
There are so many times in life where we become discouraged in our lives. Be it crime, the world getting out of control, endless demands, stresses, housework and the list goes on. We feel that it is all meaningless and futile and why should we bother. We should just quit while we are ahead or just let the world carry on in the state it is in. If we let it this internal dialogue can really squeeze the last drops of joy out of even the most righteous.
Psalm 43 puts it so nicely.
1Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
The enemy gets us down. He loves it when we wallow in self-doubt and pity. When we become discouraged with the task at hand and when we feel we should quit.
What are we to do in times where it seems as if we are in a dark hole with lions surrounding us and no where to go? What will happen if we never get out again?
I am so claustrophobic. See I even know how to spell it correctly.
I went on an outing with my family to the Karangahake Gorge. At the time it was darling hubby, myself and 3 of our kids. Two of the girls walked and I had the third (then a baby) in the front pack. And off we went to look at the remains of what was a really busy gold mine way back. The scenery was lovely. We had our torches ready and we went through some areas that were dark but I could still see the end of the tunnel we were in and that was ok. As long as I knew there was an exit and I could see the light I knew I would be fine. Then we came to the entrance of tunnel that had no windows and no end. Ugh. There was just no way I was going in there. My head started to ache at the thought of entering it and I started to feel queasy. My husband and my two daughters went in and loved it.
This is how things can be in our lives as we walk on this journey. God calls us to go into areas that aren't clearly lit. Places that are dark but the important thing to remember is that we do not go alone. God is never too far away that we cannot reach out to Him and call on Him in times of trouble.
Psalm 43 gives a clue as to how we can get out of these holes of depression and how we can soldier on in the hard times. He is praying to God and speaking to his soul saying God send me your light and your truth. Light shows us what is around us and truth uncovers lies and falsehoods. Our thoughts take us down a road. It blinds us and binds us in untruth. So focus on the fact that if you can see a way out then there is light and no darkness can hide in the light. When lies come and tell you that you are not good enough and not worthy enough and send you down a road of despair and discouragement remember that Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life. He does not come to discourage you He comes to help you. So if He is truth then where are the lies coming from? Do not entertain them.
Next he says that when the light and truth come may they lead him and bring him to God, to the very feet of God where he finds his joy and where he will praise God and make music to Him. He then speaks to his soul having realised the truth about his despair, Why are you cast down, why are you so discouraged, sad and restless. Come on! Hope in God! Praise Him, He will help you.
At a ladies group last night we were asked what keeps us believing in God. I really feel that the poem I wrote sums it up. God has always been with me. He has always been there for me and has never let me fail. I am still here today because of Him. He directs my paths. He encourages me and loves me. And in return the relationship I have with Him is such that I cannot remember a time without Him in the past nor can I imagine a life without Him in my future. I feel that should God not exist I would cease to aswell. I may just unravel because He is what keeps this frail world together. He is the one who knit me together and saw my little body form in the dark hidden places that no man has seen or will ever fully understand.
Father God is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Though my body may grow old and weak He will always be the strength I need to go on. If all things passed away and it was only me left, He will still be there. He is all I will ever need and all I will ever long for in this way.
God showed me something yesterday morning as I was returning from my walk. I had just come up a small hill and looking down the valley onto where my house was and I felt Him say, Stop and Look. I stopped and took a deep breath and looked out over the houses around my house, further up the hill and all around. I thought about all those people in the houses and how they live around me and have their own lives and go about their day. That is their space. The place where they live and breath. In their homes is warmth and family, happiness and sadness. They sleep and then rise maybe with a coffee to get them awake in the morning just like I do.
Then I imagined what this scene would be like in Heaven. If I took what I saw and placed it in Heaven. Would those houses be empty?
My relationship with Christ is so real to me and so precious and I just cannot imagine a life without Him. Yet there are so many who do live without Him and it saddens me because I want to so badly for everyone to have what I have. I can only pray that when I do meet people that do not know Him that I will be an ambassador of Heaven. That is my true home. I live here but I am not from here and I would like everyone to be going to the same home I will someday. Where my Saviour lives. Because a world without The Creator is just too awful to imagine.
Encouragement for today: If you know Christ and are going through some troubled times, Praise and seek His face and call to Him. He is never too far away from His children Psalm 55
If you do not yet know Christ, you may not understand this blog post or it has spoken to you in a way that you can not fully understand. Can I encourage you to ask God to reveal Himself to you. He will hear you and see you trying to find your way to Him. I pray that he will send light and truth to you so that you may see the path you are on and see Him more clearly. That you will find where He lives and that you will make His home yours. Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus says “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."
My soul will sing
My heart will cry out
My mouth will praise You
O Lord
You keep me safe
In the shelter of Your wings
Your voice
Is as soft as a whisper
And as loud as the raging seas
You take me by the hand
You guide me safely through
the dark times
And Your light shines upon the straight paths
Again my soul will sing
If only to know You
My heart will cry out
If only to hear Your voice
My mouth will praise You
For I desire to see your face
With everything within me
My very soul, my hearts cry.
My mouth full of praise
I need You
I really need You
I desire to do Your will
My heart longs for You
My every being
My whole existence
Depends on You
You are all I have got
All I need
And ultimately...
All I long for.
Poem by: Tamryn de Laborde
This is a poem I wrote over 10 years ago. I meant it for lyrics to a song but upon reading it yesterday I felt that it may just stay a poem.
There are so many times in life where we become discouraged in our lives. Be it crime, the world getting out of control, endless demands, stresses, housework and the list goes on. We feel that it is all meaningless and futile and why should we bother. We should just quit while we are ahead or just let the world carry on in the state it is in. If we let it this internal dialogue can really squeeze the last drops of joy out of even the most righteous.
Psalm 43 puts it so nicely.
1Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
The enemy gets us down. He loves it when we wallow in self-doubt and pity. When we become discouraged with the task at hand and when we feel we should quit.
What are we to do in times where it seems as if we are in a dark hole with lions surrounding us and no where to go? What will happen if we never get out again?
I am so claustrophobic. See I even know how to spell it correctly.
I went on an outing with my family to the Karangahake Gorge. At the time it was darling hubby, myself and 3 of our kids. Two of the girls walked and I had the third (then a baby) in the front pack. And off we went to look at the remains of what was a really busy gold mine way back. The scenery was lovely. We had our torches ready and we went through some areas that were dark but I could still see the end of the tunnel we were in and that was ok. As long as I knew there was an exit and I could see the light I knew I would be fine. Then we came to the entrance of tunnel that had no windows and no end. Ugh. There was just no way I was going in there. My head started to ache at the thought of entering it and I started to feel queasy. My husband and my two daughters went in and loved it.
This is how things can be in our lives as we walk on this journey. God calls us to go into areas that aren't clearly lit. Places that are dark but the important thing to remember is that we do not go alone. God is never too far away that we cannot reach out to Him and call on Him in times of trouble.
Psalm 43 gives a clue as to how we can get out of these holes of depression and how we can soldier on in the hard times. He is praying to God and speaking to his soul saying God send me your light and your truth. Light shows us what is around us and truth uncovers lies and falsehoods. Our thoughts take us down a road. It blinds us and binds us in untruth. So focus on the fact that if you can see a way out then there is light and no darkness can hide in the light. When lies come and tell you that you are not good enough and not worthy enough and send you down a road of despair and discouragement remember that Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life. He does not come to discourage you He comes to help you. So if He is truth then where are the lies coming from? Do not entertain them.
Next he says that when the light and truth come may they lead him and bring him to God, to the very feet of God where he finds his joy and where he will praise God and make music to Him. He then speaks to his soul having realised the truth about his despair, Why are you cast down, why are you so discouraged, sad and restless. Come on! Hope in God! Praise Him, He will help you.
At a ladies group last night we were asked what keeps us believing in God. I really feel that the poem I wrote sums it up. God has always been with me. He has always been there for me and has never let me fail. I am still here today because of Him. He directs my paths. He encourages me and loves me. And in return the relationship I have with Him is such that I cannot remember a time without Him in the past nor can I imagine a life without Him in my future. I feel that should God not exist I would cease to aswell. I may just unravel because He is what keeps this frail world together. He is the one who knit me together and saw my little body form in the dark hidden places that no man has seen or will ever fully understand.
Father God is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Though my body may grow old and weak He will always be the strength I need to go on. If all things passed away and it was only me left, He will still be there. He is all I will ever need and all I will ever long for in this way.
God showed me something yesterday morning as I was returning from my walk. I had just come up a small hill and looking down the valley onto where my house was and I felt Him say, Stop and Look. I stopped and took a deep breath and looked out over the houses around my house, further up the hill and all around. I thought about all those people in the houses and how they live around me and have their own lives and go about their day. That is their space. The place where they live and breath. In their homes is warmth and family, happiness and sadness. They sleep and then rise maybe with a coffee to get them awake in the morning just like I do.
Then I imagined what this scene would be like in Heaven. If I took what I saw and placed it in Heaven. Would those houses be empty?
My relationship with Christ is so real to me and so precious and I just cannot imagine a life without Him. Yet there are so many who do live without Him and it saddens me because I want to so badly for everyone to have what I have. I can only pray that when I do meet people that do not know Him that I will be an ambassador of Heaven. That is my true home. I live here but I am not from here and I would like everyone to be going to the same home I will someday. Where my Saviour lives. Because a world without The Creator is just too awful to imagine.
Encouragement for today: If you know Christ and are going through some troubled times, Praise and seek His face and call to Him. He is never too far away from His children Psalm 55
If you do not yet know Christ, you may not understand this blog post or it has spoken to you in a way that you can not fully understand. Can I encourage you to ask God to reveal Himself to you. He will hear you and see you trying to find your way to Him. I pray that he will send light and truth to you so that you may see the path you are on and see Him more clearly. That you will find where He lives and that you will make His home yours. Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus says “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."
Monday, September 2, 2013
Reflections
This week my eldest daughter turns 7. I cannot believe that it has been over 7 years since I saw the 2 lines on 3 different tests which I didn't trust until the scan at 14 weeks when I saw my little wriggly baby doing summersaults on the ultrasound screen. Motherhood. Such an amazing event and yet so under valued in society today.
In a little more than 3 weeks time my husband and I will be married for 10 years. I was a month short of my 20th birthday when I got married and my husband was 23. Marriage this young is frowned upon because those who do are deemed immature and doomed to fail. To have found someone to love so early on in my life has been such a blessing. I married my best friend. We have grown into mature adulthood together and have shared in some really difficult times together and had some really great and wonderful adventures together.
Not everything we have done has been looked on with approval but we had firm belief that we were being obedient to God and the plan He had for and still has for us.
We dated for a short while as teenagers. I was 16 and he, 19, only just out of school. I broke it off as I didn't feel the timing was right. It was a hard decision one that was very hard on him and one that I was really confused about in my own heart. His comment to me was that if God wanted us together He would bring us back together.
We didn't speak much for 2 years but had mutual friends. In that time we dated other people. In 2002 he was hi-jacked by gunpoint, lost his job (not his fault) and his girlfriend at the time broke up with him. Hearing from others who knew him around this time, they all commented on how he was sure all this would be restored to him. I had finished school at the end of 2001 and was enjoying a gap year and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
Then one day in July 2002 I was sitting thinking to myself that his birthday was soon and I was wondering why we never kept a friendship over those 2 years. (I know I broke up with him so really silly question)I sent him a txt for his birthday on the Friday and by the Monday I had a reply. We chatted like old friends and got a lot of things out in the air and cleared things up. He invited me to the youth group he attended and was a youth leader at. It was at a friend's house so when I walked up the stairs and saw him there I could honestly say my heart skipped a beat and I kicked myself in the butt for having broken up with him. Reflecting back though I realise God's plan for us was there it was just not the right timing. We were different people. We had grown a fair bit and weren't looking for any relationships. As it is I had to wait a whole month for him to realise he felt the same hahaha. I prayed and prayed that if it was God's will for us to be together that he would come to me and initiate a relationship. I was also willing that if this was not God's plan for either of us that any feelings I would have would fade and I would just go on with my life.
It was so amazing the hand God had on us. We decided to become friends first as we had both dated before and been hurt and felt that the next time we dated it would be for the purpose of getting married. On my 19th Birthday he asked my Dad if he could court me and on the 12th December he asked my dad for my hand in marriage. On Friday 13th December 2002 he asked me to marry him. And I said yes!
We were married 9 months later on a beautiful September afternoon.
We had rented a cute little cottage and stayed in it for a year before buying a 3 bedroom house. New Years Eve 2005 I felt really ill and suspected I was pregnant. There is just something about your first child that is just so new and exciting. I did not know what to expect but I couldn't wait to fulfill the desire God had put on my heart to be both a wife and mother.
5 months into my pregnancy we made the decision to move to New Zealand. It was a very hard decision to make and yet when we thought about our baby and the life we wanted our children to have it was very simple. I kept coming back to how God told Abraham to gather up his stuff and go to a land that He would show him. That is what it felt like for us.
The week after our beautiful daughter was born our house went onto the market and just after her first Christmas when she was 3 months old the house was sold and we made preparations to stay with family until all the paperwork was organised for us to go to our new home in New Zealand. When she was 7 months old we said goodbye to the only place we had known as home and boarded a plane to a country we never thought we would ever go to.
We have lived in 3 other rentals since then and have just bought our own home again 7 years after selling our first home. We have 4 daughters and most of our family live within a few minutes from us. In our lives we have served in 5 churches and learned much through these experiences.
10 years seems like a long time for people as young as us but we have had so much happen and I thank God for every experience we have had, good and bad, that has helped us grow in Him and our relationship with each other becoming stronger. Between these lines are struggles and victories, sad times and happy times, new things and old things, life and death, despair and hope, joy, increased faith and abounding love.
What makes a good marriage? Devotion, foundation, and seeking God's best and not what we perceive to be best for us. Being humble enough to admit when we are wrong and not to hold a grudge but be the first to apologise and make up. Prayer, steadfast Love that goes beyond how you feel.
So here is to the next 10 to 50+years of marriage to my best friend. With God for us who can stand against us :)
Now before I end up writing a book I must go off to bed. More next week when I have more thoughts written down.
xx
In a little more than 3 weeks time my husband and I will be married for 10 years. I was a month short of my 20th birthday when I got married and my husband was 23. Marriage this young is frowned upon because those who do are deemed immature and doomed to fail. To have found someone to love so early on in my life has been such a blessing. I married my best friend. We have grown into mature adulthood together and have shared in some really difficult times together and had some really great and wonderful adventures together.
Not everything we have done has been looked on with approval but we had firm belief that we were being obedient to God and the plan He had for and still has for us.
We dated for a short while as teenagers. I was 16 and he, 19, only just out of school. I broke it off as I didn't feel the timing was right. It was a hard decision one that was very hard on him and one that I was really confused about in my own heart. His comment to me was that if God wanted us together He would bring us back together.
We didn't speak much for 2 years but had mutual friends. In that time we dated other people. In 2002 he was hi-jacked by gunpoint, lost his job (not his fault) and his girlfriend at the time broke up with him. Hearing from others who knew him around this time, they all commented on how he was sure all this would be restored to him. I had finished school at the end of 2001 and was enjoying a gap year and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
Then one day in July 2002 I was sitting thinking to myself that his birthday was soon and I was wondering why we never kept a friendship over those 2 years. (I know I broke up with him so really silly question)I sent him a txt for his birthday on the Friday and by the Monday I had a reply. We chatted like old friends and got a lot of things out in the air and cleared things up. He invited me to the youth group he attended and was a youth leader at. It was at a friend's house so when I walked up the stairs and saw him there I could honestly say my heart skipped a beat and I kicked myself in the butt for having broken up with him. Reflecting back though I realise God's plan for us was there it was just not the right timing. We were different people. We had grown a fair bit and weren't looking for any relationships. As it is I had to wait a whole month for him to realise he felt the same hahaha. I prayed and prayed that if it was God's will for us to be together that he would come to me and initiate a relationship. I was also willing that if this was not God's plan for either of us that any feelings I would have would fade and I would just go on with my life.
It was so amazing the hand God had on us. We decided to become friends first as we had both dated before and been hurt and felt that the next time we dated it would be for the purpose of getting married. On my 19th Birthday he asked my Dad if he could court me and on the 12th December he asked my dad for my hand in marriage. On Friday 13th December 2002 he asked me to marry him. And I said yes!
We were married 9 months later on a beautiful September afternoon.
We had rented a cute little cottage and stayed in it for a year before buying a 3 bedroom house. New Years Eve 2005 I felt really ill and suspected I was pregnant. There is just something about your first child that is just so new and exciting. I did not know what to expect but I couldn't wait to fulfill the desire God had put on my heart to be both a wife and mother.
5 months into my pregnancy we made the decision to move to New Zealand. It was a very hard decision to make and yet when we thought about our baby and the life we wanted our children to have it was very simple. I kept coming back to how God told Abraham to gather up his stuff and go to a land that He would show him. That is what it felt like for us.
The week after our beautiful daughter was born our house went onto the market and just after her first Christmas when she was 3 months old the house was sold and we made preparations to stay with family until all the paperwork was organised for us to go to our new home in New Zealand. When she was 7 months old we said goodbye to the only place we had known as home and boarded a plane to a country we never thought we would ever go to.
We have lived in 3 other rentals since then and have just bought our own home again 7 years after selling our first home. We have 4 daughters and most of our family live within a few minutes from us. In our lives we have served in 5 churches and learned much through these experiences.
10 years seems like a long time for people as young as us but we have had so much happen and I thank God for every experience we have had, good and bad, that has helped us grow in Him and our relationship with each other becoming stronger. Between these lines are struggles and victories, sad times and happy times, new things and old things, life and death, despair and hope, joy, increased faith and abounding love.
What makes a good marriage? Devotion, foundation, and seeking God's best and not what we perceive to be best for us. Being humble enough to admit when we are wrong and not to hold a grudge but be the first to apologise and make up. Prayer, steadfast Love that goes beyond how you feel.
So here is to the next 10 to 50+years of marriage to my best friend. With God for us who can stand against us :)
Now before I end up writing a book I must go off to bed. More next week when I have more thoughts written down.
xx
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Our Circle of Influence and the new Season
I am in the centre of a circle. The dots near me are the people I see often: family, church members, and close friends. As we move out to the edges these are the people we don't see very often: Aquaintances and people who cross our path and who we speak to once and maybe never see again. On the outside of the circle are people we pass in the street, observe from afar and the people we are yet to meet.
This is our Circle of Influence.
Think back to 10 years ago. Is the circle of influence the same as it is now or different? Do you still speak to these people? Will you ever see them again?
My circle of influence is almost completely changed even in the last 3 years. People come and go in our lives and we move countries or towns and make new friends and are in different situations. Young adults leave school and go to University.
The point I am trying to make is, what influence have you made on these people. Will someone who has never heard of Jesus come into your circle today and go out tomorrow never having heard the good news or even having at least one seed sown into their lives? What if this person'ts only encounter with a Christian circle of influence was yours and you said and did nothing?
Was the prompting of the Holy Spirit there or did you drown Him out with your rationalisations?
Sometimes it is just so much easier to get up every day and neglect the time we have with God because if we pray He may answer. If we open our ears we will be able to hear His still small voice telling us to go and talk to or give to someone.
Matthew 25v16-29
Jesus talks about the 3 men and the talents they were given. Are we going to take what God is asking us to do and use it and be profitable or are we going to hide it and not trust that God will be with is in this and has given us everything we need to do these thinks.
I went to a women's conference earlier this month called EquipHer and an awesome woman of God, Esther Elliot, gave an illustration of someone crossing the road and tripping and falling and dropping what they were holding. Some of us will see what is happening and choose to turn and walk away or point and laugh.
But if that was someone close to you like your mother or sister there wouldn't be even a thought 'should I help?' There would not be any thinking about whether it is God telling me to go help them or feeling uncomfortable. In this way we should be with everyone quick to act and slow to rationalise and compromise and think our way out.
When we walk in truth and faith and we follow Jesus our minds are renewed and we think differently. We think in the Spirit and not in the flesh. It becomes easier to give and forgive. God's voice and his will becomes clear and we live our lives differently.
I was thinking this morning how I have survived most of winter. In a week it will be it will be another season. Spring! Winter I find to be a really trying time. I do feel sometimes that I would really much rather be a bear and hibernate through Winter. Everything smells either damp or stale, condensation drips from the windows every morning and keeping warm is expensive.
There is always somebody in my house with a cold or runny nose.
All in all Winter is is just not my favourite time of the year and I do feel a little blue and depressed as the weeks go by. Everyday is a decision to get up and go for my walk, despite the rain and cold. I would much rather stay in bed where it is warm, alternating between sleeping and reading.
But I know if I all this season's dreariness and trials to get me down my happiness and the atmosphere in my home will suffer.
And such it is with the seasons in our Christian walk. Despite what is happening or not happening we have decisions to make. Changes to make so we can adapt and become stronger so that when the next season God is leading us into comes we will be fully prepared and ready to be on fire for the desires God has spoken into our lives.
We need to hold onto the hope that the next season is just around the corner and that it is even better than the one we are in.
Sometimes our Winter is long and it seems like we are going to be in the waiting room forever. I feel I am coming out of a Winter in my own life. I turn 30 this year and I have been keeping busy and learning things over the last 22 years since I became a Christian and I feel it has been a time of equipping and preparation for the next season. I have been waiting my turn to bud and bloom. Seeds have been sown and fertilised, watered with the storms and the warmed by the beating down of the heat of the sun on the soil.
It has been important to have these seeds planted correctly and on good soil, watered and given light. God cannot do work through me if these seeds are scattered on hard and unyielding ground.
I am really looking forward to the next season and what God has in store for my life. It is scary though because I know it is going to take me saying yes to things that I will feel unequipped for and I will need to step out of my comfort zone. There are going to be people who come into my circle and I am going to have to decided to rise up and listen and obey God's voice when He calls me to encourage, give, impart and bless others.
I know I have a lot to learn still and I know that for the rest of my life on this earth there will always be something I will need to repent of, change and learn from. But how great is our God that will never leave us or forsake is and who loves us and wants the very best for us!
So I challenge you. Open your ears, heart and minds to the Lord and what He is asking you to do for your neighbour or the person who crosses your path today. You may find that is just as much for your own good as it is for the good of the other person.
Blessings for this week
xx Tamryn
This is our Circle of Influence.
Think back to 10 years ago. Is the circle of influence the same as it is now or different? Do you still speak to these people? Will you ever see them again?
My circle of influence is almost completely changed even in the last 3 years. People come and go in our lives and we move countries or towns and make new friends and are in different situations. Young adults leave school and go to University.
The point I am trying to make is, what influence have you made on these people. Will someone who has never heard of Jesus come into your circle today and go out tomorrow never having heard the good news or even having at least one seed sown into their lives? What if this person'ts only encounter with a Christian circle of influence was yours and you said and did nothing?
Was the prompting of the Holy Spirit there or did you drown Him out with your rationalisations?
Sometimes it is just so much easier to get up every day and neglect the time we have with God because if we pray He may answer. If we open our ears we will be able to hear His still small voice telling us to go and talk to or give to someone.
Matthew 25v16-29
Jesus talks about the 3 men and the talents they were given. Are we going to take what God is asking us to do and use it and be profitable or are we going to hide it and not trust that God will be with is in this and has given us everything we need to do these thinks.
I went to a women's conference earlier this month called EquipHer and an awesome woman of God, Esther Elliot, gave an illustration of someone crossing the road and tripping and falling and dropping what they were holding. Some of us will see what is happening and choose to turn and walk away or point and laugh.
But if that was someone close to you like your mother or sister there wouldn't be even a thought 'should I help?' There would not be any thinking about whether it is God telling me to go help them or feeling uncomfortable. In this way we should be with everyone quick to act and slow to rationalise and compromise and think our way out.
When we walk in truth and faith and we follow Jesus our minds are renewed and we think differently. We think in the Spirit and not in the flesh. It becomes easier to give and forgive. God's voice and his will becomes clear and we live our lives differently.
I was thinking this morning how I have survived most of winter. In a week it will be it will be another season. Spring! Winter I find to be a really trying time. I do feel sometimes that I would really much rather be a bear and hibernate through Winter. Everything smells either damp or stale, condensation drips from the windows every morning and keeping warm is expensive.
There is always somebody in my house with a cold or runny nose.
All in all Winter is is just not my favourite time of the year and I do feel a little blue and depressed as the weeks go by. Everyday is a decision to get up and go for my walk, despite the rain and cold. I would much rather stay in bed where it is warm, alternating between sleeping and reading.
But I know if I all this season's dreariness and trials to get me down my happiness and the atmosphere in my home will suffer.
And such it is with the seasons in our Christian walk. Despite what is happening or not happening we have decisions to make. Changes to make so we can adapt and become stronger so that when the next season God is leading us into comes we will be fully prepared and ready to be on fire for the desires God has spoken into our lives.
We need to hold onto the hope that the next season is just around the corner and that it is even better than the one we are in.
Sometimes our Winter is long and it seems like we are going to be in the waiting room forever. I feel I am coming out of a Winter in my own life. I turn 30 this year and I have been keeping busy and learning things over the last 22 years since I became a Christian and I feel it has been a time of equipping and preparation for the next season. I have been waiting my turn to bud and bloom. Seeds have been sown and fertilised, watered with the storms and the warmed by the beating down of the heat of the sun on the soil.
It has been important to have these seeds planted correctly and on good soil, watered and given light. God cannot do work through me if these seeds are scattered on hard and unyielding ground.
I am really looking forward to the next season and what God has in store for my life. It is scary though because I know it is going to take me saying yes to things that I will feel unequipped for and I will need to step out of my comfort zone. There are going to be people who come into my circle and I am going to have to decided to rise up and listen and obey God's voice when He calls me to encourage, give, impart and bless others.
I know I have a lot to learn still and I know that for the rest of my life on this earth there will always be something I will need to repent of, change and learn from. But how great is our God that will never leave us or forsake is and who loves us and wants the very best for us!
So I challenge you. Open your ears, heart and minds to the Lord and what He is asking you to do for your neighbour or the person who crosses your path today. You may find that is just as much for your own good as it is for the good of the other person.
Blessings for this week
xx Tamryn
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Lessons from the little ones
I have four gorgeous little girls. And just for the record yes I am mad, madly in love, and yes I do have my hands full and I am so grateful to the Lord for these full hands.
My eldest Jenny-Bean is 6. She just jumps all over the show. Hardly ever still and talks non-stop. I feel sometimes I should supply everyone with super glue with the way she talks their ears off. She is a very quiet and gentle soul.
My second eldest Becky-Boo is 4 soon. She is Barbie one minute and a Princess the next or both. She loves dresses and pretty things and already has a good dress sense. Very smart and giggles when we growl her, which makes it terribly difficult to keep a straight face.
My Third daughter, Patty-Pie will be 2 two days after little Becky's birthday. She is our delightfully plump and happy little lioness. She has tight blonde curls and the broadest smile. She loves to laugh and is very assertive and knows exactly what she wants. She loves cows and moos at them very loudly when we are in the car driving anywhere. We live in New Zealand so you must know that there are about a million cows in an hours drive.
My Fourth and last precious daughter Sandy-Beth is 5 months old. Unlike the others she has brown hair. She is very squeaky. I have never ever known a baby to make a hawk sound when she cries or is upset and now that she is a bit older she squeaks when she is happy too.
I have been going through a little bit of a writers block of sorts. There is just so much God is speaking to me about and I would like to blog about it all but I feel I could come across preachy and it could all be pretty jumbled and confused. I have been feeling a need to start writing in my blog more often A) to help others and B) to help myself understand things about God and His relationship with us.
I have learnt a lot the last few years being a mother. I don't pretend to know it all and I am fully aware that everyone's parenting styles are different and that every child is different. I think this is why God puts us in families. But to not ask for help or try to be better can become very easy. I had the attitude of this is my kid and I know them better than you so I will fine on my own thanks, don't tell me what to do.
I to some extent still feel this way but am open to seeking advice when I am at the end of my rope.
I hope to help you out a bit and show you how to cope when things are tough and how not to act like I do when things are tough. I have introduced you to my girls because they have taught me much about life and about God and what He says about us.
I do not have it all together and I will not pretend to be perfect and I may even crack a lame joke or two.
A bit about me. I am 28, a mother of 4 girls and wife to 1 Techy geek husband (he will be ok with me calling him that lol). I love to sing and dance (in my kitchen). I love scrapbooking, knitting, sewing, painting, crafts.... you get the idea. I love telling jokes to people and making puns and try to be funny with some degree of success. Most of all I love my God. I have gone through difficult times and things that I could not have done if it was not for His constant hand over my life. He is my all and everything and every time I come through a dark tunnel in my life I am greatly aware of His presence and work in my life since the day I was born.
I became a Christian in my room with my head bowed at the age of 8 or 9. I have always known my God and have always wanted to see His face and have more of His presence in my life.
I was born in South Africa and shortly after the birth of my first daughter, when I was married for 3 and a half years, we sold our house and packed up all we had and moved to New Zealand where we have spent the last 5 and a half years of our lives enjoying every moment of this adventure.
Now that you know a bit about me and my family I will attempt to write more often about my experiences and the thinks I have learnt and the things I am learning from God and my girls.
Kia Kaha
(Be Strong)
xx Tamryn :)
My eldest Jenny-Bean is 6. She just jumps all over the show. Hardly ever still and talks non-stop. I feel sometimes I should supply everyone with super glue with the way she talks their ears off. She is a very quiet and gentle soul.
My second eldest Becky-Boo is 4 soon. She is Barbie one minute and a Princess the next or both. She loves dresses and pretty things and already has a good dress sense. Very smart and giggles when we growl her, which makes it terribly difficult to keep a straight face.
My Third daughter, Patty-Pie will be 2 two days after little Becky's birthday. She is our delightfully plump and happy little lioness. She has tight blonde curls and the broadest smile. She loves to laugh and is very assertive and knows exactly what she wants. She loves cows and moos at them very loudly when we are in the car driving anywhere. We live in New Zealand so you must know that there are about a million cows in an hours drive.
My Fourth and last precious daughter Sandy-Beth is 5 months old. Unlike the others she has brown hair. She is very squeaky. I have never ever known a baby to make a hawk sound when she cries or is upset and now that she is a bit older she squeaks when she is happy too.
I have been going through a little bit of a writers block of sorts. There is just so much God is speaking to me about and I would like to blog about it all but I feel I could come across preachy and it could all be pretty jumbled and confused. I have been feeling a need to start writing in my blog more often A) to help others and B) to help myself understand things about God and His relationship with us.
I have learnt a lot the last few years being a mother. I don't pretend to know it all and I am fully aware that everyone's parenting styles are different and that every child is different. I think this is why God puts us in families. But to not ask for help or try to be better can become very easy. I had the attitude of this is my kid and I know them better than you so I will fine on my own thanks, don't tell me what to do.
I to some extent still feel this way but am open to seeking advice when I am at the end of my rope.
I hope to help you out a bit and show you how to cope when things are tough and how not to act like I do when things are tough. I have introduced you to my girls because they have taught me much about life and about God and what He says about us.
I do not have it all together and I will not pretend to be perfect and I may even crack a lame joke or two.
A bit about me. I am 28, a mother of 4 girls and wife to 1 Techy geek husband (he will be ok with me calling him that lol). I love to sing and dance (in my kitchen). I love scrapbooking, knitting, sewing, painting, crafts.... you get the idea. I love telling jokes to people and making puns and try to be funny with some degree of success. Most of all I love my God. I have gone through difficult times and things that I could not have done if it was not for His constant hand over my life. He is my all and everything and every time I come through a dark tunnel in my life I am greatly aware of His presence and work in my life since the day I was born.
I became a Christian in my room with my head bowed at the age of 8 or 9. I have always known my God and have always wanted to see His face and have more of His presence in my life.
I was born in South Africa and shortly after the birth of my first daughter, when I was married for 3 and a half years, we sold our house and packed up all we had and moved to New Zealand where we have spent the last 5 and a half years of our lives enjoying every moment of this adventure.
Now that you know a bit about me and my family I will attempt to write more often about my experiences and the thinks I have learnt and the things I am learning from God and my girls.
Kia Kaha
(Be Strong)
xx Tamryn :)
Monday, August 22, 2011
Who is to Judge?
Something that has been cropping up often is this constant rebuke from Christians and non-Christians not to Judge others.
Let us look at this verse in the Bible and dig deep into what this means and what God has to say on this issue.
I truly believe that we are to get a clue. Read the Bible yes, read it everyday but we are to read it in context and discover who wrote it, to whom it was written to and what the purpose was of the message.
We will also read a few verses before and after a verse that has been quoted to discover the really meat of the issue. When you dig for Gold or go to a stream to sift through stones and debris in the water you dig deep and you look carefully and toss out the dirt and go for Gold. we need to glean the true meaning of scripture in order to catch the heart of God and the meaning of the author. Then we can apply it to our own lives and thus learn from what is being said. Any reading of the Bible not followed by careful study and complete understanding is just opinion.
It is just far to easy to just read the Bible as if you were reading a novel but it should be a seeking and knocking and asking of God. What does this mean? Why is it even in the Bible? How does it apply to that particular time in History and the receiver and author's stance.
So let us read the verse that is most quoted. Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. Most often this verse is quoted without the 'that you may not be judged'
What does this mean then. Are we not to Judge at all? Is pointing out to someone their sin wrong? Is it wrong to to even mention another person's sin? Do we just allow them to carry on in their sin?
This is what we will come up with if we stop at this verse but if we will read on we may read a little more about what Jesus was saying here.
Let us read the whole verse and then we will get into who Jesus was speaking to and what life was like at that time.
Matthew 7:1-6
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
Here we read that we are not to judge others, to look at the huge issue we have with ourselves first before we are to go to our brother or sister and point out their smaller issue. Jesus goes on to call these people Hypocrites for not dealing with themselves first and always pointing the finger and pointing out other's sins and wrong doings but fail to sort out their own sins and wrong doings. It does not mean we are not to point out to others that what they are doing is wrong. We need to speak in truth.
My husband and I don't drink and the reason why we do not drink is because we would like to be an example to others. We have a few friends and family members who drink and some are alcoholics. And although there is nothing wrong with drinking a wine or a beer with mates there is something really wrong with over indulging and getting drunk and making alcohol your god. We both decided that we could really not tell others not to drink if we were doing it ourselves. we had to set and example whereby we can show others that you can have a good time without alcohol. That there are other things to talk about that how many you had to drink.
Swearing too, using foul language and being course. If you do these things and then go to someone else and say, gee you have a filthy mouth and you quote scripture on why it is bad and then you go home and cuss and blaspheme more than the person you just pointed a finger at. That is just plain hypocritical and this is what Jesus warns us against and not once either. He warns us again in the gospels to beware of hypocrisy.
Luke 11:37-12:2
Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and lawyers of the time who were so high and mighty and had holier than though attitudes and expected for everyone to be clean yet were so filthy and horrid inside that they were hypocritical. Hypo-critical. We are to beware we are not criticizing others and poking at their wounds when we are in fact rotten with the very same wound.
Matthew 7:1-5 is telling us not that we should not judge but rather how we should judge. We are not to judge as the Pharisees of that time judged others. We are not to judge by appearance. The Pharisees judged Jesus because He hadn't washed. They didn't even look to see how amazing Jesus is. All they said was 'He didn't even wash, He is so dirty He must be this that and the next thing'
We also read the story about the Good Samaritan. If he had judged the dying, bleeding man as the others had before him that man would've died. But he set aside his feelings. He showed compassion and concern for the dying man.
We are living is a world where people are dying. The do not know God. They are filling their lives up with alcohol, pre-marital sex, adultery, drugs, pornography. Their god is the god of I. How does this make me feel? How does it benefit me? It is my right to do whatever I want. Live it up. Drink so much because it feels 'good' and then get into a car and show no concern for others on the road.
These people will die not knowing the freedom and fulfillment that only God has for those who would come to Him, repent of their sins and just press into Him.
I really hope that my conduct will be judged! I do not want to lead anyone astray by my example. If I am sinning in a way that causes others to fall short of God's glory then I am more wrong than the worst murderer.
For those of us who are Christian. We should be judging what others say about the bible and what it means to them. We must be so careful that we don't believe just everything blindly.
When I was a child I would believe whatever those older than me would say about God and everything else. I would just follow their lead blindly. It was only after I got married when my husband I started talking about what each of us believes did we end up with totally different answers. And I was like 'Hang on is Christianity all about what others say it is or is it about what God says. Do I read my Bible and then go away saying well that was a nice story or do I dig deep to dig out the gold and very meaning.
We end up believing untruths. We end up in bondage over things.
As Christians we must Stand. Stand for something or you will Fall for anything. We need to speak truth but speak it with love, hope and kindness.
If you are reading this and are not a Christian I will not expect you to live a life as a Christian. It is impossible for us to even begin dealing with the power of sin over our lives without Christ. It is wrong for us Christians to expect you to be fully right with God BEFORE you come to Christ. We aren't even fully right with God and when we became Christians God took us in when we were still sinners. We read in Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I am a rotten sinner. But Christ died for me. He loves me that much. Now sin might mean something totally different to everyone. To me I have come to a realisation of what sin is. Sin defiles me, it is not pretty, it is not good, it is not pleasant, it is sad. As a Christian if I willingly sin I am wounding God. The power of sin is death. If it were not for the Grace of my Lord and Saviour I shudder to thing where or what I would be doing right now.
I urge you all my fellow brothers and sisters to strive not for perfection where you are measuring yourself up against others but rather setting a standard based on what God has to say to us so that we may spur others on to greatness. If a fellow Christian is wallowing in their sin be there to help them and pull them out of the mud. If they do not want to get out of the mud it is a very sad thing indeed and it hurts them but it also hurts the Church and those around them.
Love the unbelieving sinner more than they love their sin. Be an example but do not judge them unfairly. They do not know that they are doing wrong and can't possibly fully change without Christ.
To clarify what I am trying to say here please read this link "Can Or Should Christians Judge One Another?"
It may make it clearer. I tend to speak from the heart with a bit of mind thrown in and my husband is like wikipedia and commentaries all on his own. I just cannot retain facts but when God reveals something to my heart I will read what others have to say and take away some fact but mostly the just of what is meant. Big words throw me off and although I do try and understand them it does not come easy to me.
We need to have such a heart for the lost that we look at their souls more than we look at their sin. They need to know that they are sinners but to sit and point at their sin in a way that is not loving of the person is wrong. We do not condone what they are doing but we model something better and need to explain that we are all sinners. To lead someone to Christ without this information is totally misleading. You cannot come to Christ with out acknowledging first that you are a sinner and that Christ died on the cross for your sins and then rose again from the dead. Sin entered the world and God and separated us from Him. He had to make a way for us to come to Him again. That is what make our Salvation such an important part of our lives. It is the very reason why we can have a relationship with God and be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Beware how you judge and who you judge and most of all why you judge. Judge because you are looking out for the lives others but do not judge because you feel you are better than them.
Let us look at this verse in the Bible and dig deep into what this means and what God has to say on this issue.
I truly believe that we are to get a clue. Read the Bible yes, read it everyday but we are to read it in context and discover who wrote it, to whom it was written to and what the purpose was of the message.
We will also read a few verses before and after a verse that has been quoted to discover the really meat of the issue. When you dig for Gold or go to a stream to sift through stones and debris in the water you dig deep and you look carefully and toss out the dirt and go for Gold. we need to glean the true meaning of scripture in order to catch the heart of God and the meaning of the author. Then we can apply it to our own lives and thus learn from what is being said. Any reading of the Bible not followed by careful study and complete understanding is just opinion.
It is just far to easy to just read the Bible as if you were reading a novel but it should be a seeking and knocking and asking of God. What does this mean? Why is it even in the Bible? How does it apply to that particular time in History and the receiver and author's stance.
So let us read the verse that is most quoted. Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. Most often this verse is quoted without the 'that you may not be judged'
What does this mean then. Are we not to Judge at all? Is pointing out to someone their sin wrong? Is it wrong to to even mention another person's sin? Do we just allow them to carry on in their sin?
This is what we will come up with if we stop at this verse but if we will read on we may read a little more about what Jesus was saying here.
Let us read the whole verse and then we will get into who Jesus was speaking to and what life was like at that time.
Matthew 7:1-6
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
Here we read that we are not to judge others, to look at the huge issue we have with ourselves first before we are to go to our brother or sister and point out their smaller issue. Jesus goes on to call these people Hypocrites for not dealing with themselves first and always pointing the finger and pointing out other's sins and wrong doings but fail to sort out their own sins and wrong doings. It does not mean we are not to point out to others that what they are doing is wrong. We need to speak in truth.
My husband and I don't drink and the reason why we do not drink is because we would like to be an example to others. We have a few friends and family members who drink and some are alcoholics. And although there is nothing wrong with drinking a wine or a beer with mates there is something really wrong with over indulging and getting drunk and making alcohol your god. We both decided that we could really not tell others not to drink if we were doing it ourselves. we had to set and example whereby we can show others that you can have a good time without alcohol. That there are other things to talk about that how many you had to drink.
Swearing too, using foul language and being course. If you do these things and then go to someone else and say, gee you have a filthy mouth and you quote scripture on why it is bad and then you go home and cuss and blaspheme more than the person you just pointed a finger at. That is just plain hypocritical and this is what Jesus warns us against and not once either. He warns us again in the gospels to beware of hypocrisy.
Luke 11:37-12:2
Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and lawyers of the time who were so high and mighty and had holier than though attitudes and expected for everyone to be clean yet were so filthy and horrid inside that they were hypocritical. Hypo-critical. We are to beware we are not criticizing others and poking at their wounds when we are in fact rotten with the very same wound.
Matthew 7:1-5 is telling us not that we should not judge but rather how we should judge. We are not to judge as the Pharisees of that time judged others. We are not to judge by appearance. The Pharisees judged Jesus because He hadn't washed. They didn't even look to see how amazing Jesus is. All they said was 'He didn't even wash, He is so dirty He must be this that and the next thing'
We also read the story about the Good Samaritan. If he had judged the dying, bleeding man as the others had before him that man would've died. But he set aside his feelings. He showed compassion and concern for the dying man.
We are living is a world where people are dying. The do not know God. They are filling their lives up with alcohol, pre-marital sex, adultery, drugs, pornography. Their god is the god of I. How does this make me feel? How does it benefit me? It is my right to do whatever I want. Live it up. Drink so much because it feels 'good' and then get into a car and show no concern for others on the road.
These people will die not knowing the freedom and fulfillment that only God has for those who would come to Him, repent of their sins and just press into Him.
I really hope that my conduct will be judged! I do not want to lead anyone astray by my example. If I am sinning in a way that causes others to fall short of God's glory then I am more wrong than the worst murderer.
For those of us who are Christian. We should be judging what others say about the bible and what it means to them. We must be so careful that we don't believe just everything blindly.
When I was a child I would believe whatever those older than me would say about God and everything else. I would just follow their lead blindly. It was only after I got married when my husband I started talking about what each of us believes did we end up with totally different answers. And I was like 'Hang on is Christianity all about what others say it is or is it about what God says. Do I read my Bible and then go away saying well that was a nice story or do I dig deep to dig out the gold and very meaning.
We end up believing untruths. We end up in bondage over things.
As Christians we must Stand. Stand for something or you will Fall for anything. We need to speak truth but speak it with love, hope and kindness.
If you are reading this and are not a Christian I will not expect you to live a life as a Christian. It is impossible for us to even begin dealing with the power of sin over our lives without Christ. It is wrong for us Christians to expect you to be fully right with God BEFORE you come to Christ. We aren't even fully right with God and when we became Christians God took us in when we were still sinners. We read in Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I am a rotten sinner. But Christ died for me. He loves me that much. Now sin might mean something totally different to everyone. To me I have come to a realisation of what sin is. Sin defiles me, it is not pretty, it is not good, it is not pleasant, it is sad. As a Christian if I willingly sin I am wounding God. The power of sin is death. If it were not for the Grace of my Lord and Saviour I shudder to thing where or what I would be doing right now.
I urge you all my fellow brothers and sisters to strive not for perfection where you are measuring yourself up against others but rather setting a standard based on what God has to say to us so that we may spur others on to greatness. If a fellow Christian is wallowing in their sin be there to help them and pull them out of the mud. If they do not want to get out of the mud it is a very sad thing indeed and it hurts them but it also hurts the Church and those around them.
Love the unbelieving sinner more than they love their sin. Be an example but do not judge them unfairly. They do not know that they are doing wrong and can't possibly fully change without Christ.
To clarify what I am trying to say here please read this link "Can Or Should Christians Judge One Another?"
It may make it clearer. I tend to speak from the heart with a bit of mind thrown in and my husband is like wikipedia and commentaries all on his own. I just cannot retain facts but when God reveals something to my heart I will read what others have to say and take away some fact but mostly the just of what is meant. Big words throw me off and although I do try and understand them it does not come easy to me.
We need to have such a heart for the lost that we look at their souls more than we look at their sin. They need to know that they are sinners but to sit and point at their sin in a way that is not loving of the person is wrong. We do not condone what they are doing but we model something better and need to explain that we are all sinners. To lead someone to Christ without this information is totally misleading. You cannot come to Christ with out acknowledging first that you are a sinner and that Christ died on the cross for your sins and then rose again from the dead. Sin entered the world and God and separated us from Him. He had to make a way for us to come to Him again. That is what make our Salvation such an important part of our lives. It is the very reason why we can have a relationship with God and be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Beware how you judge and who you judge and most of all why you judge. Judge because you are looking out for the lives others but do not judge because you feel you are better than them.
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