THE FALLEN

News Commentators are saying that Mel Gibson’s career is over because he was caught on tape making a lot of derogatory comments to his girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. The media is really bashing Gibson and seemingly having a field day with Gibson’s fall from public favor.


You may remember that in addition to being a gifted actor, Gibson also directed, and partially funded the film The Passion of the Christ which rocked both the secular and Christian worlds for the cause of Christ.

Non-Christians who went to see The Passion of the Christ were said to have made life changing decisions after seeing it. Many Christians felt validated that an actor with Gibson’s influence would ‘lay it all on the line’ for Christ and produce such a Hollywood caliber film to the glory of God.

Gibson made us proud – proud to be Christians; Proud to have Christ’s message proclaimed for all to see.

And now he’s fallen in disgrace.

Those who stood by him may feel ashamed – yet another high profile Christian bites the dust. But many believers and  non-believers alike seem to be jumping at the chance to say ‘see I told you so! He’s not the real deal. He never was and never will be…’

My heart aches for Mel Gibson this morning and for all the other men and women who have done magnificent works for the kingdom of God only to have lost out in the end. Two scriptures come to mind which I don’t have the time to expound on at the moment:

“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (I Corinthians 9:26-27)

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1)

Obeying the scripture, even when our opinion may be otherwise, is also part of living every day with Jesus.

Agree or disagree with this post? Tell me why...

You

Good Morning My Sweet Readers! I have been thinking of you alot and praying for you. :-)

Sometimes, I go to my Statcounter link to see what geographical areas those who visit my blog are coming from. I get excited and praise God when I discover that some of you are from Switzerland and Ghana and other far off places. Oh how wonderful our Lord Jesus is to knit us together across the oceans!

I also spend time each morning praying for you! Sometimes it's a generic, 'God bless those who read my blog and impart your truth to them today.' But sometimes it's much more specific - especially if you've left a comment or been a return visitor. Then I thank God profusely for your choosing to visit my blog and I ask God for many wonderful things for you, or I intercede for a need of yours that He might lay on my heart.

That is the most wonderful part about living every day with Jesus. When we are truly keyed into the body of Christ, albiet in our local church or across the internet waves, He moves on us in prayer - and often with 'groanings which cannot be uttered' which then skip across the continents to meet the specific needs of each individual prayed for.

So today, as I'm drinking the last drop of my morning coffee and getting ready to rush out the door for work (I rush often don't I? LOL) I am thanking God immensely that part of living every day with Jesus is enjoying the support and fellowship of wonderful people just like yourself!

I honestly and truly would like to get to know you better. Won't you leave a comment and extend a virtual hand of friendship to me????

Have a blessed and strengthened day. And may you too feel the joy of living every day with Jesus!

Deceptions

My back yard faces a beautifully groomed, park like cemetery. Because the headstones lay flat, and there are lots of trees, and little benches strategically placed, most people who come to sit by our pool, or to swim never realize that morbidity lies just beyond the fence.


Instead, they comment on the serene view and the fantastic get-away we have right in our own backyard.

But this morning, as I was cutting back the vines that grow on the fence between our yard and the cemetery, it occurred to me how incredibly deceptive it all is. The sun was cascading gently over the green, lush leaves of the cemetery trees. The birds were chirping. And there’s even a tulip patch with bright red and yellow blooms that was planted no doubt to comfort those who come to visit their loved one’s graves.

Everything about the cemeteries surface speaks of life and energy. But it’s just a facade. The truth is there are hundreds of putrid, decaying, worm eaten bodies just below the surface.

The stark reality of it all is quite sobering, isn’t it?

Yet a similar deception goes on in a hundred different ways in our lives.

Consider the drug dealer who uses a beautiful woman to lure a young man to take his first hit. Or the casinos who offer glitz, glamour and a chance to escape life’s pressures to working men and woman to spend their paychecks. And pornography, which is poised like a cobra waiting to strike with one click of the mouse. These are just a few examples of seemingly beauty on the outside when all the while there is deterioration on the inside.

God help us to see the truth clearly and never be deceived. Sin comes in so many pretty packages, and seeks to trip us up. Help us Lord Jesus to recognize the lures for what they are. Empower us to refuse its temptation. Give us spiritual eyes to see below the surface. In Jesus name, Amen.

Choose

I used to think that joy was a feeling that came and went at its choosing. After all, which of us can control our feelings? The psychologist tells us there are no right or wrong feelings. Whatever we feel, is okay, they say. It’s what we choose to do with those feelings that make the difference.


For example, I can be angry because the guy next to me cut me off in traffic. The feeling of anger I cannot control (according the experts) but how I react I can control. In other words, I can choose to smile at my fellow driver even though he almost ran me off the road, or I can launch into flailing my arms and shouting obscenities. The choice is mine, they say.

For most of my Christian walk I believed this theory, and struggled often to rid myself of the tumultuous, unholy feelings that would arise within me: anger, rebellion, jealously etc. I’d pray often and hard, only to get bumped along life’s road and feel a twinge of the above mentioned feelings. Then I’d sink into despair assuming I was not the Christian woman I professed to be because these ungodly, unholy feelings obviously still abided within me. I’d pray until the negative feelings abated and go about my merry way until the next time.

But recently, I’ve realized that joy or acceptance or forgiveness seems to be much more about choosing and decisions than feelings. Let me explain:

I have a problem for quite sometime with “X”, a young woman who has damaged my whole family structure. Each time her name is mentioned, my insides twist and wrench in pain because of the confusion and division she’s caused. I’ve been praying about my negative feelings towards her and my struggle to forgive her without much relief from the hurt. I guess I kept waiting for God to miraculously lift my anger and resentment. But I’ve finally figured out it doesn’t work that way. At least for me it doesn’t.

So I decided to let go of my frustration with “X”. To forget about it, to treat her as I would any other person I’m trying to minister to. It was an intellectual decision. I know what is right. I know what the word of God says, so I simply chose to obey the word and trust that perhaps one day my feelings will follow.

There is a quote from the movie “First Night” with a very handsome older actor who’s name escapes me at the moment, Richard Gere(sp?) and an attractive younger woman. The younger woman is married to the king (the older actor) but has become increasingly more attracted to Richard Gere. When the king finds out about it, his wife acknowledges her feelings for Richard Gere, but says “It is my will that sets my course, not my feelings. And my will chooses you.”

That quote resonates with me, although it may not be the best analogy since I think she eventually does go with Gere – (if anyone knows please help me straighten out my facts).

But my point is our choosing does indeed set the course for our feelings. Perhaps that is why the scripture says “Choose you this day whom you will serve…” note, it does not say See how if you feel and see if you want to serve the Lord.

So on this Friday morning, as I’m trying to hurriedly finish because I have to go to work, I think it’s important to acknowledge that part of living every day with Jesus is living in the valley of decision where our feelings and responses are concerned. May you choose well today my friend.

Skittles

I teach a weekly women's Bible study. Last night, when we met I gave them a bag of Skittles and asked them to count out 24 of them.

Then I told them that each Skittle represented one hour of their day. Next, I instructed them to group their Skittle according to how they spend their day.

It was interesting, fun and quite revealing.

Most of the women had extra hours they could not account for.  Yet out of a group of eight, not one of them alloted even one Skittle to time spent in prayer, Bible reading, or devotion to God. Naturally, I pointed this out and then told them the following story:

When my husband, Buddy was about 12 years old, he had a job delivering newspapers. He had to get up at 4am to do his newspaper route before school. When payday came, he gave most of his earnings to his parents who were struggling to make ends meet. But Buddy kept back a small amount for himself and one week he chose to buy his little brother David some M&M's. David was thrilled and ripped the package open right away and started munching. Buddy asked David for one of the M &M's and little David's response was "No! These are mine!"

My students got the point of the story immediately.

Just as Buddy had given David the whole package and only asked for a small portion back, if we're not careful, we do the same thing with God. He gives us the gift of 24 hours of life each day, and often we refuse to give God even an hour of the 24.

Part of living every day with Jesus is recognizing our responsibility in maintaining the relationship.

Let's do our best to share our time with God, afterall, it all belongs to Him anyway!

In Christ Alone

Sometimes, living every day with Jesus means to maintain your focus on Him alone.

Life's circumstances and pressures often come at us like so many waves in a storm.

 We may feel like the Tidy Bowl Man trying to navigate the immenseness of it all.

But, rest assured my fellow believer, even when were drenching wet and utterly depleted from bailing water, Christ is with us.

"And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full...And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? ...And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." (Mark 4:37-39)

Doing The Hard Things

"See that you do not use the trick of prayer to cover up what you know you ought to do." -Oswald Chambers

Oh, how well Mr. Chambers understood how we can sometimes use prayer to ease our conscious, when really we need to just get over the grudge we are holding, or get up off the couch and serve our neighbor in love.

I struggle with this myself sometimes.

 It seems it's easier to boo-hoo to God about feeling overwhelmed because the house needs cleaning and the grocery shopping hasn't been attended to yet, than it is to just press on and do what needs to be done.

My prayer today is:

Compassionate and understanding Lord Jesus, make me willing to do the hard things that arise in my life. And empower me to them with joy and thankfulness. In Your holy and powerful name. Amen