Proverbs 16:18-19
18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. (KJV)

Webster says that pride is:

1. The quality or state of being proud: as a : inordinate self-esteem : conceit
2. Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment : disdain

Education, experience, knowledge, a special license, money, etc. does not give someone the right to have pride at the level that Proverbs and Webster speak of.  If you find it disgusting or disdain to interact with people that are not trained as you are, like to talk down about their efforts, or not on the same status in life as you, then you've got a big problem. You may not see destruction right now but at some point you will.  God hates pride!

I want to have a humble spirit and for everyone that I am around to feel that we are on the same level. What we know doesn't make us any better than the homeless on the street, a prisoner who has broken the law or the uneducated person that is trying to follow God's calling.  We are all the same in God's eyes.

Lord help me to have a humble spirit in Your sight and others.

Proverbs 29:23 says: A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

I want to make it a goal in my life to treat all people as people not because of what they have or don't have.

I received this in an e-mail a while back and wanted to share it this month. 

Nail in The Fence

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. ” A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

I like the way Paul said it Ephesians 5:31-32, Stop begin mean, bad-tempered and angry.  Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives.  Instead, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ. TLB

There is nothing like having God’s pure love in our hearts. Proverbs 14:29 He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.KJV

Until next time…

One Sunday morning I was in prayer before service.  I had a CD playing like I usually do during my prayer time.  Falling in Love With Jesus began to play and I began to reminisce of the times I was reassured by God that I was in His arms.  God took me on a journey back to through my life and starting all the way back to the story I heard my Dad tell many times… I was around 2 years of age and was outside playing.  I began to scream at the top of my lungs like I was being attacked.  My Dad ran to the door to see what was going on. I was running down the sidewalk back towards my house and behind me was a huge dog that was taller than me.  He was trotting along behind me as I ran toward my Dad.  The dog wasn’t trying to hurt me. He just wanted to play with me.  When my dad picked me up, all the fear I had melted away.  I looked my dad and said, “See the big dog Daddy?”. The fear was gone because I was safe in Daddy’s arms. You see at such a young age I was learning that when I stay in Daddy’s arms I am safe.  I began to relate this to God and how thankful I was to know this little story because I knew that if my human Dad could keep me safe, my heavenly Daddy would keep me safe. 

As I thought about this story I began to think of the times God has specifically shown me how safe I am in Him. I then remembered as a young teenager of my Dad being out of work in the early 1980’s. My mother was working but it wasn’t enough to pay all the bills.  My mother always tried to pay the bills so that we had a place to stay with heat and water before anything else.  This resulted in us not having much to eat in the house at that time.  One day we had a family that came to visit us unexpectedly. They lived out of state and were passing through on their way to vacation.  They visited us for a few minutes and left.  About 5-10 minutes later, there was a knock at the door and the wife was at the door.  This family did not know of our financial needs and that we were without food.  She said they felt like God wanted them to give us part of their vacation money. When I heard this my young heart was overwhelmed with emotion.  I ran to the back door so no one would notice as the tears began to flow.  You see at that moment I knew my family and I were safe in “Daddy’s arms” and at that moment I knew those arms as my provider.

I began to think about the time when I had an accident several years ago.  I was on my way to a staff meeting at the church I was attending. Someone turned left in front of 3 lanes of traffic. I was in the far right lane and I was the one who hit the car. I hit the car so hard it turned the car completely around into another lane and caused my SUV to veer to the right and go over a guard rail onto another road.  No one was hurt very badly which I thank God for.  I didn’t realize how much God was with me until a few weeks later.  I heard on the news that Firestone was recalling all of the tires that were put on Ford Explorers because they were causing the SUVs to flip or turn over causing severe accidents with injuries and even death.  You see it would have been very easy for that SUV to turn over or flip the way I went over the guard and better yet no traffic was on the road that I ended on.  The song was now saying, “In His arms, I feel so protected, In His arms never disconnected… Tears began to flow once again as I remember that at that moment I knew my daddy’s arms as my protector.  

The Lord then lead me to a time about 4 years ago, I was having physical problems.  Many tests were done before they realized I had a fibroid tumor that was causing my problems.  It wasn’t a simple tumor that could be removed and everything would be ok.  The only reassurance I had was that they could go in and take off what was protruding and hope that it was be a long time before it came back.  The ultimate treatment would be a hysterectomy.  Of course I was devastated that I may have to go through such a major surgery. I was too young, I felt, to go through this.  My procedure was schedule on a Monday morning.  The Sunday before, my husband had preached a healing message.  He told all of us there that day to raise our hands and he would pray one prayer over all of us. I was on the platform and knew that God could still heal me of this problem. I felt such a strong presence come into the sanctuary.  I knew God had touched me but how much I didn’t know.  My husband took me to the hospital the next morning and I had the procedure done. The surgeon came out to let my husband know that she was finished. She said everything was fine. My husband questioned her about the fibroid tumor. She said there was no fibroid tumor. He replied "Yes, Tammy said there was a fibroid tumor". She once again assured him there was no fibroid tumor.  In his mind he thought maybe he misunderstood what was wrong with me or maybe I had the medical terms mixed up. They brought him to the recovery room where I was and when I started waking up, my husband leaned over, kissed me and said, “The doctor said there was no fibroid tumor”.  I remember at that moment even though I was really groggy how the tears began to pour out of my eyes.  My husband knew then that there was no mistake.  You see at that moment, once again, my Daddy’s arms were ones of a healer.

I am so thankful that God showed me at that moment one Sunday morning just how much of a “Daddy” He had been to me at some of the most difficult times in my life.  Today I honor the one true God who is the center of my life. He has stuck closer to me than anyone has or ever will. Happy Father’s Day, Jesus!

Do you ever stop, pause a minute, and see how close or how far away from the Word of God you are compared to when you began your journey with God?  Have you considered just how separated you are from the “things” of this world?  Can people tell there is a difference between you and other people? How aware are you of the things that was called “sin” years ago but today doesn't seem so bad? I have been thinking about this for several weeks now. I have been analyzing my heart to see how much have I renewed my mind in God’s Word versus how much bargaining I have done. Am I searching for an excuse biblically to allow myself to enjoy more of this world?  Am I really sincere about doing what God commands in His Word or am I like the child that constantly ask his parents, “Why can't I do this?” over and over and over until the parents give in?  You know I think sometimes we do the same thing to God because we want so much to blend with everyone around us instead of standing firm on how important separation is to God.

I believe Lot was living in a world that was very similar to the world that we live in today.  The city was filled with sin and the filth of the city was around him everywhere.  He was trying his best to remain faithful to God. However, the things he heard and saw that surrounded him every day weighed heavily on him so much so that that he was extremely upset! 2 Peter 2:7-8 says, And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deed. He lived right in the middle of one of most corrupt cities and stayed righteous before God!  I believe that God rescued Lot and his family because he stood firm on what he believed. He did not allow the influences around him to distort his spirit.

Let's take a look at Samuel.  He was such a little innocent child when he was brought to Eli to serve in the temple.  The Bible says in 1 Samuel 2:17 that the sin of the young men were great before the Lord and detested the offering of the Lord.  It goes on to say that it worsened so that even Eli's sons were laying with the women of the temple.   Samuel was living among the same corruptible trash that any young man lives with today but still lived right before God and was not influenced.  You know it's great when we as parents can teach our children to abstain from what the world does and they listen.  But it's even greater when they get it in their heart and know they are not just obeying their parents but living a holy and separated life according to God's Word.  And Samuel obviously had it deep in his heart because even the bad examples he had to follow in the temple could not sway him from living an upright and holy life before God.

I have to ask myself over and over again questions that contradict God and His Word to make sure that I have nothing in my heart that would keep me from being pure.  Matthew 5:8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And I want to see God with all my heart. Do you? I would like to challenge you with some questions and see if you can truly measure where you are in your relationship with God:

1. Do you flinch or feel disgusted when you hear someone curse?
2. Do you watch entertainment with cursing in it and it doesn’t bother you?
3. Would you rather watch American Idol than watch a Christian musical DVD or preaching DVD?
4. Does it bother you when someone tells a dirty joke or do you laugh along with everyone else?
5. Does it bother you to watch something on TV that violates the 10 commandments?
6. Does it bother you that your children play games that violate the 10 commandments, the kind that has killing and stealing in it? 
7. Does it bother you to sit with a group of people in a bar or restaurant that is drinking even though you’re not?
8. Does it bother you to be around someone that is inappropriately dressed in a setting such as at the beach or do you join them?
9. Does it bother you when someone tells a lie and you know it?
10. Does it bother you when someone begins to gossip about someone else?  Do you allow them to continue or do you stop them?

Were you able to answer these questions honestly? Just how vexed does your spirit become when these things happen? If some of the questions do not bother you, then you probably need to search your heart and began to spiritually detoxify your soul.  You are probably spiritually desensitized by the things of this world.  You see, we can’t partake of the things of this world and stay pure to God.  We can’t watch trash and not expect trash to come out at some point. What I mean by “come out” could be in my conversation or in my thoughts.   Luke 6:5 says, A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

When we become so full of worldly toxins, we are not affected by “worldly things” as God intended for us to be.  I heard someone say recently, “Trash in, Trash Out”.  How true that is.  For pureness and filth cannot mix without the pureness becoming filth.  You say, sure I can live in this world and hang out with people that do things that I don’t do and it won’t hurt me.  James 3: 10-11 says, Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.  Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?  At some point your pureness will become tainted with the filth of this world or you will let go of the people and entertainment around you that are vexing your spirit. 

How do we detoxify our heart’s? Here’s a start.  Philippians 4:8 says: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. I believe this scripture alone will judge most of what we do on a daily basis.  We must renew our minds through the God’s Word if we expect to become pure and holy before God.  Romans 12:1-2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.  I believe a majority of us know what is displeasing to God and that we are not in the perfect will of God when we partake of this world through our conversation and entertainment. My desire more than anything is like David when he cried out in Psalm 51:10, Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me! Be blessed until next time….. 

You know as I mentioned in the previous blog, this year’s focus for me is about having more of God’s love as described in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13.  As I was cleaning house one morning, the Lord brought this scripture to my mind while I was meditating on His love. Of course I had to stop the vacuum cleaner and write this blog while it was on my heart. I pray that it will challenge someone today to take a step closer to one of the purest forms of God’s love.

2 Corinthians 2:5-11
5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
KJV

Paul was talking about someone that had caused trouble in the church and had offended some people.   Here is a great example of love in verse 7, we are not to only forgive but comfort him.  And if we choose to ignore the situation, he might become so bitter that he won’t be able to recover from this horrible offence he has committed. Wow! That's hard when we've been hurt by that person. Then Paul goes on to say in verse 8  that we need to confirm our love to that person. In other words go tell that person you love them!

When we are hurt by someone it's so easy to feel justified in the way we act and/or treat that person. But you see God's love doesn't do that. We must personally show love AND COMFORT to those that hurt us. How do we do that?  I personally think Paul was saying it’s more than just praying for them and saying hi when you come to church.  It’s having them over for dinner, bake them a cake, invite them out to eat with you after church, send an encouraging card in the mail.  You say it’s not that easy!  Absolutely, it’s not easy because our flesh wants to make that person suffer just a little bit longer. Sometimes, the hurt is so deep that we want to punish them forever.  But to truly forgive someone, we are giving up our resentment toward them and the desire to punish them.

We all have times in our life that we need forgiveness. Jesus said in Matthew 6:14, For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  If you want God to forgive you then you MUST truly forgive the one that has offended you.  Do you want to show a pure form of God’s love in your life? I do and that’s my desire this year.  Have I challenged you yet? I hope so. 

Lord my prayer today is that Your love will overtake me and erase any offenses, hurts, anger, bitterness, wrath or any negative emotion that I have in my heart for another. I want Your pure love in my heart towards others.  Until next time….

January 2011 is here and rapidly fading into history!  This month is the month that is focused on most for changing habits, becoming more fit, getting rid of addictions and habits, becoming debt-free, etc…  Of course all of these I have mentioned are resolutions to help the flesh. What if we added the spiritual man to our resolutions? I believe we would be able to conquer more of them, don't you? 1 Timothy 4:8 says, Bodily exercise is all right, but spiritual exercise is much more important and is a tonic for all you do.  So exercise yourself spiritually and practice being a better Christian, because that will help you not only now in this life, but in the next life too. TLB Spiritual exercise? This seems a little strange to some of us.  The definition of exercise is nothing more than repetitive exertion to something in order to gain knowledge and skill in that area.  After reading this definition I would have to say my personal interpretation of spiritual exercise is having daily time with God and his Word in some form of prayer and study.

I have been thinking for quite some time now on my resolutions for this year.  I want and desire to see my "spiritual man" change and grow. So, I decided instead of focusing on "me", the flesh, I am going to focus on my "spiritual man" this year.  There are a lot of resolutions out there for the spiritual man; pray more, read the Bible more, go to church more often etc… However, I want to be a little more detailed in my New Year’s Resolution and that is to focus this year on having more of God’s love as described in 1 Corinthians 13.  Verses 1-3 in The Living Bible says: If I had the gift of being able to speak in other languages without learning them, and could speak in every language there is in all of heaven and earth, but didn’t love others, I would only be making noise.  If I had the gift of prophecy and knew all about what is going to happen in the future, knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would it do?  Even if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, I would still be worth nothing at all without love.  If I gave everything I have to the poor people, and if I were burned alive for preaching the Gospel but didn’t love others, it would be of no value whatever. 

Do we really know what the true meaning of love is in our society today?  I really don’t think so because love in this day is described most of the time as a feeling that makes us warm and happy; a “one-sided feeling that makes us feel good”.  But you see love is more than that.  Love is not only about receiving but it’s about giving.  I think Paul describes it best in great detail what love is and what love is not in the next 4 verses of chapter 13 in The Living Bible Translation. Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong.  It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out.  If you love someone you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost.  You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him. 

Love is selfLESS not selfISH.  Love doesn’t think of oneself all the time but love thinks of others constantly. My prayer and focus this year is to exercise love even more in my marriage, my family, my church family and every one that I meet on a daily basis.  I invite you to join me this year in making God’s love the first and foremost priority of your life. Until next time….

Back to the pruning the spirit of our past…   The first traits I want to write about are anger and bitterness that we have toward others.  These are results from unforgiveness either toward yourself or someone else.  Back to the trees…  It’s really important to remove dead leaves, limbs, etc from a tree because they continually draw from the healthy part of the tree.  This drains the tree of the nutrients needed for the rest of the healthy tree.  Eventually more limbs begin to die.  Over a course of many years, the tree could completely die if not taken care of.  That’s what happens to us in our lives. 

Have you ever been involved with someone that is always negative about everything and everyone around them?  I have.  When we don’t let go of the anger and bitterness within us, it begins to take over and destroy our whole life.  You begin to try to hide that anger, hurt, or bitterness through abuse of ourselves and others, addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling and others forms of addiction that keeps our minds temporarily focused off our past.  OUR PAST- something we can’t change!  Change doesn’t happen in our past. Change only happens in our future.  The key to changing our response to our past is FORGIVENESS of ourselves and others.
 
Forgiveness to most of us that have been hurt and abused in some form, find it almost impossible to forgive.  We continue to blame that person or persons over and over again for making us what we are today.  But you see forgiveness towards ourselves and others is not a choice if you want be saved.  The Word says in Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  Think it about it.  That’s a pretty strong statement! We won’t be forgiven if we don’t forgive.  You see, unforgiveness affects you and everyone else that you are involved with.  The anger, bitterness, abuse to others and yourself all come from unforgiveness in your life.  Look at what Hebrews 12:14-15 says, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.  Those ugly traits that you have taken on will defile others as the Word of God says.  We want to think we are hiding them from others but we are not.  Our actions toward others is a result of what is in our heart. Those that have been abused will abuse either themselves or others in their lives.   The Living Bibles says it this way in Hebrews 12:14-15, Try to stay out of all quarrels, and seek to live a clean and holy life, for one who is not holy will not see the Lord.  Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to find God's best blessings. Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you, for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives. 

Yes, you can overcome unforgiveness! It takes only one day at a time by renewing your mind in the Word.  Every time you have a past memory come to you that causes you negative feelings, give it to God.  Tell Him I forgive that person and what they have done to me.  Get specific if that is what comes to your mind. As you are doing this you are renewing your mind and releasing yourself from those negative emotions that is stealing your life from you and keeping you from being saved.   I remember my pastor’s wife telling me a few years ago, Tammy, you can make to heaven physically handicapped; without  hands, feet, legs or arms.  But you can’t make it to heaven emotionally  or spiritually handicapped; unforgiveness, hatred, bitterness, anger and all the other negative attitudes buried in our hearts.  Ephesians 4:31-32 says, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. To be continued…

We have a new home that was finished in December.  A couple of months ago we had a patio poured and some evergreen trees planted on either side for privacy.  Our spring has been really windy and rainy.  The trees that we planted cannot be planted very deep because they will die.  The strong winds and rain came often and would blow several of the trees over and my husband would have to plant them over and over again.  This of course traumatized the trees.  They had brown limbs all over some of them.  Well if you know what type of tree I’m talking about the brown limbs are very prominent against the dark green.  I got really tired of looking at those dead limbs all over the trees. So… I got the hand pruners and began to clip all of the dead limbs off!  I got really clipper happy.  I was really proud of the accomplishment I made in making those trees look green all over.  Sunday afternoon my husband and I were sitting on the patio enjoying the birds, flowers and the cool breeze.  He questioned me on why the trees looked weird.  I didn’t notice it when I had finished pruning them.  So I said, “What’s wrong with them?”.  He said they were shaped funny.  Well…. I noticed it when he pointed it out that the trees... the trees were really misshapen.  They had huge caves in the sides of them!   I told him don’t worry, I fertilized them and the trees will regain shape in no time and will be very nice and green with new growth instead of dead brown limbs.

I begin to think about this scenario as we were sitting there and about how it is with our relationship with other people and God.  Sometimes we go through trials that causes trauma in our life.  It’s the ugly traits in our lives that makes us unattractive to people whether it be abuse, addictions, rejection, etc.  These trials can cause “ugly limbs” to grow on our lives called, anger, bitterness, violence, malice, filthy conversation or any other negative attitude toward others.   You know we can live that way and negatively affect people by those unsightly limbs or we can prune them with God’s Word and His Spirit.  John 6:63 says….the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.  God gave us His Word so that we would have instructions on how to remove those dead ugly traits.    Is it easy to cut those ugly limbs off?  Absolutely it is!  Does it hurt sometimes?  Sure it does!  We can remove those traits that have become a part of us by renewing our mind in the Word.  It doesn’t happen overnight but through consistent dedication and commitment to prayer and reading the Word.    More to come…. Be Blessed!

Over the last few weeks as I look in the mirror each morning, I have noticed some unwanted changes in myself.  My first thoughts every morning are, I am looking old!  My mind begans to race thinking what can I do to change the course of nature that is attacking my face!  Brown spots, dark circles under the eyes, wrinkles, hair growing in places it shouldn't be! Ok ladies, you know what I mean.   Who wants to look in the mirror each morning to face the inevitable?  You know we want the mirror to show a young beautiful face that never changes!  We go to the store to buy products that only try to slow down the aging process, cover up spots or get rid of those unwanted hairs!  Some of us spend a lot of money, time and effort into changing what the mirror throws at us every time we look in it.  Sometimes I laugh thinking about how much work we put in the process of changing what we don’t like when it comes to our physical image. 

You know the mirror is like the Word of God.  Every time we open it, it reflects our spiritual image.  It reflects things in our hearts that we don’t want to deal with.  John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.  If the Word is God then that means God is holding that spiritual mirror up and saying, “Ok Tammy, there is something there that needs to be removed because it doesn’t reflect what I am”.  James 1:22-25 says but be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.  The Living Bible says it this way, And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So don't fool yourselves.  For if a person just listens and doesn't obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror; as soon as he walks away, he can't see himself anymore or remember what he looks like. But if anyone keeps looking steadily into God's law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does.  2 Corinthians 3:18 says but we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him. 

The more we look at the Word and become doers of the Word as John said, the more we will be like Jesus.  I heard a young lady's testimony on the internet not too long ago stating that the devil didn’t attack her in her prayer life but in reading the Word.  You know why? Because the devil knows Word of God is powerful and will change us if we will be doers and not hearers only.   We don’t read the Word more because we don’t like the reflection we see when we read it.  What if we decided to do this to our physical image; never look in the mirror because we don’t like what we see?  Our image would look pretty scary after a while and no one would want to be around us.  That’s what we are doing to our spiritual image when we don’t keep in the Word.  David said in Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.  The more we stay in the Word the more we will renew our minds and transform into the image of Christ reflecting His glory. I challenge you as I challenge myself.  Stay in the Word!

Well…. It’s that time of the year; food, parties, shopping, turkey time, family gatherings and reunions.  It began as a time of celebration of the harvest which started in 1621 with the pilgrims and Indians.   However, when Thanksgiving became a national holiday, it was written into law on October 11, 1782 right after the Revolutionary War as a religious holiday to give thanks unto God for all his goodness and mercy. You can find an actual copy of this proclamation on www.history.com.  The beginning of this proclamation says and I quote, “IT being the indispensable duty of all Nations, not only to offer up their supplications to ALMIGHTY GOD, the giver of all good, for his gracious assistance in a time of distress, but also in a solemn and public manner to give him praise for his goodness in general, and especially for great and signal interpositions of his providence in their behalf”.  The end of the proclamation says this and I quote “…Do hereby recommend to the inhabitants of these States in general, to observe, and request the several States to interpose their authority in appointing and commanding the observation of THURSDAY the twenty-eight day of NOVEMBER next, as a day of solemn THANKSGIVING to GOD for all his mercies: and they do further recommend to all ranks, to testify to their gratitude to GOD for his goodness, by a cheerful obedience of his laws, and by promoting, each in his station, and by his influence, the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foundation of public prosperity and national happiness”. 


When I read this today, tears welled in my eyes to think that we have conformed ourselves to the worldliness of thanksgiving and have forgotten the proclamation given to us by Congress so many years ago. I begin thinking about my families personal celebrations of Thanksgiving.  I can’t think of one time that our focus was on thanking God for his goodness and mercies to us but was just a time of getting together with our families and eating and eating and eating, and playing games sometimes.  But most of the time was spent just spending time with our families.  All of this is great and I do not want to portray that I have ever regretted times I have spent with family and friends.  But doesn’t it seem to you and it does to me that we have left the most important thing out of Thanksgiving and that’s giving thanks to God for all of His blessings? 


I challenge you today to make a concerted effort to put God back into our Thanksgiving as you spend time with your family and friends.  Start a tradition with your family and friends. Here are some ideas I have created and some that I have found online:

1)     Have each person generate a "What I'm Thankful For List." You could go around the table before the 
        big dinner is served so that each person can say aloud what he/she is thankful for or you could have each 
        person write their list down on sheets of paper so that they can be hole-punched and stored in a 3 ring 
        binder. Throw in some photos of everyone at the Thanksgiving celebration and the binder can serve as your 
        Thanksgiving family memories book.
2)     One year volunteer at a local shelter to serve food or at Meals On Wheels to deliver the Thanksgiving Day 
        meal to those less fortunate Americans.   What a lesson of gratitude this would be for everyone including 
        your children.
3)     Have each person write a Thank You Card to God to read to everyone before you gather at the table and 
        eat.  Then as a group, offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the freedoms we have in America, the 
        blessings God has given us a family and the opportunity we have to worship Him freely.  Pray for our troops 
        who are once again fighting for our freedom; this time through terrorism and pray for their safety while 
        overseas. 
4)     After dinner is over, create a craft for the children to remember that this is the day to be grateful for all that 
        God has done for us.
5)     With the economical turmoil that our country is in, now is the perfect time to invite over a family that may not 
        have much or a place to go.  There may be someone laid off that doesn’t have the money for a good 
        thanksgiving or have the money to travel to their extended families this year.  What a testimony that would 
        be to your children!

There are many more ideas that you can create to begin to teach ourselves and our children to be grateful for what God has done for us.  Remember gratitude is an attitude.  It is the art of being grateful.  Please join me to make a change this Thanksgiving by renewing our minds with the attitude of gratefulness.