Keep a Zip on ya lip!

Ever shot your mouth off and then been very sorry? I have - it seems to me that I just maybe the King of sticking my foot in it - will I ever learn??

You know, God in His great and mighty wisdom gives us a few very plainly worded and choice pieces of advice on how to stay out of trouble, be humble and keep it "zipped" when dealing with all sorts of problems.

It is so easy for us to say what is on our minds, whether it be gossip or confrontation with another. So easy yet can be so evil. We can offend with a word - we can ruin a reputation with a sentence.

When Paul wrote to the Romans he pretty much summed up the very heart of God when he said "Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another." (Romans 14:19)

We should make it our priority to build others up - not to tear them down - to encourage others not to put them down and to build confidence in others not make ourselves look good at their expense.

Now on saying that, the very last thing I want to do is to 'preach' at anyone concerning this because to put it plainly, I am the very WORST at taking this on board myself.

Forgiveness is probably one of the biggest hurdles we will ever face in this regard. Confrontation, anger, taking/giving offence and unforgiveness - all hard stuff to cope with and all very much out of line with how God wants us to live our lives.

Makes me wonder how many of us would want God to forgive us in the same way that we forgive others - not many I would imagine, and yet this is how God will forgive us.

Luke 6:37 states "Forgive and you will be forgiven" and again Jesus says "And forgive us our debts in the same way as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12).

Couldn't get any plainer! - God will only forgive us if we are truly from our heart have forgiven others. The way we forgive is the way we will be forgiven.

We can live our lives in Christian fellowship, we can be baptised and say and mean the 'sinner's prayer', yet if in our hearts we haven't or can't forgive then Heaven will not be opened to us. God will say "depart from me - I never knew you" and why? Because we have refused to forgive and therefore cannot be forgiven. Strong words but true.

Forgiveness is usually denied to other people who have hurt us or who have been hurt by us but it is important to note that forgiveness can be withheld from us by ourselves. Yes, we can get to the stage where we cannot forgive ourselves. God has forgiven us; we can then forgive ourselves. Pretty Schmick eh?

All of us need to deal with the unforgiving spirit living in us now while we are here - it will be too late to deal with it once we are facing eternity.

Pride is another little sneak that can stop us from offering or asking forgiveness. Especially when the person we are so-called asking forgiveness of is someone who has hurt us yet they see it in reverse! They see it as us hurting them, yet the reality is that it is us who have been wounded by them.

God knows our hearts, He knows and understands our pride but also knows just how much Jesus paid for our salvation. On the cross Jesus cried out to God to forgive his mockers and not to hold it against them and guess what? God expects us to try to reconcile with everyone, even those who we feel are unjustly 'blaming' us for the problem in the first place.

I recall a person whom I feel unjustly blamed me for a lot of things that happened in our past - this person lashed out at me - I was told I was rude, selfish, egotistic, narrow-minded, mean and more. My first reaction was to try and defend myself, pointing out that it was him not me that caused the problems in the first place - I was the victim not him!

Would that have helped? Not at all - when we 'defend' ourselves it only makes the unforgiving spirit even more unforgiving - offence overwhelms both sides - we need to put a plug in it and try to listen to their arguments coolly and as calmly as possible. Reconciliation must take top priority.

We may have done nothing wrong but when it boils down and we get to the nitty gritty it is far more important for us to do as God says and 'humble' ourselves and reconcile if possible than to go out of our way and make things even worse just to prove ourselves correct.

So where does that leave us? Firstly I feel we need to 'button up'. Proverbs 12:23 states
"Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity" - and believe me calamity will strike - so we need to keep our tongues well under control.

Finally we need to be motivated by the love of God - His type of love never fails us. In Romans 12:18 Paul writes "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone". We need to do everything we can to be reconciled with each other and if that means humbling ourselves and forgetting our pride, so be it.

God go with you as you forgive and become a "Peacemaker" in the name of Jesus.

Nightmare on Straight Street.

Ananias was a great old guy - dedicated to Jesus and I imagine, living a pretty isolated life. After all every Christian in Damascus wore a target on their back and was open to persecution.

But first lest flip back to where the story begins..

Saul, later Paul, had just witnessed and condoned the murder of Stephen - the Godly new-elected 'deacon' of the first church - Stephen a man filled with the Holy Spirit was stoned to death for 'offending' the Pharisees and church elders because He preached Jesus, crucified and risen again for the salvation of the world.

Good old Saul liked the fact that here was yet another of those new fangled  "Christians" finally out of the way and a good job too.

That obviously spurred Saul on because in the next scene here he is with new vigour chasing down Christians, throwing them into prisons, torturing and murdering them - nice guy.

On the way to Damascus a miracle occurred and Saul was miraculously transformed by the sovereignty of God who halted his plans in one fell swoop.

Here we find Saul, the Chief opponent to Christianity being transformed into it's primary proponent! - In the process Saul was rendered blind, not only by the blinding light that accompanied his conversion but by the awesome power of God.

Lead by his friends to Straight Street, here he remained for three days, blind and not eating or drinking - I guess in a state of shock! - God had literally taken him and shaken him out of his so-called piety and told him exactly what was going to happen.

Meanwhile back in Damascus, here was Ananias virtually in hiding and I can imagine' so too was his family - They had obviously heard that Saul and his cohorts were on the march, rounding up Christians and turning them over to the authorities.

So in hiding they stayed - fearful yet trusting God. Then out of the blue a message from God Himself!!

"Get up and go to Straight Street, find a guy named Saul of Tarsus, lay hands on him so that he can receive his sight" GULP...

"Did you say Saul of Tarsus?" I can hear Ananias say - "that same Saul that has been rounding up the Christians? - I have heard of this man - he has done much harm, Lord, he has come here on the authority of the Chief Priests to arrest us!"

He must have been thinking as I hear his heart beating...

"Oh No! this is a nightmare" - "Straight Street - that's obviously where all the Christian persecutors hang out - I will be going straight into the lions den - I may as well stick my head straight in the lions mouth!" - God has got confused or forgotten what this terrorist has done - I can't put myself in this position!"

Poor Ananias, showed a bit of weak faith here - didn't trust God implicitly - A bit like me actually, when I put myself in his position, knowing what he knew, I figure I would have asked the same question, maybe even ignored the command.

But Ananias was told by God "Go! I have chosen this very man to carry my name to the gentiles."

Ananias obeyed, right to very letter - he went to Straight Street, I can just imagine him knocking on the door - so timidly, fearful yet strangely confident knowing that whatever happened, God was with him.

He found Saul, broken and contrite, blind and confused - Ananias did what he was told to do and Saul received his sight, when something like 'scales' fell from his eyes.

Saul immediately went about his mission and spent days with the disciples in Damascus, and I assume Ananias was there as well, but here Ananias's story ends - he fades from the picture.

Ananias's role is small but vitally important to the whole event. A man who questioned God, maybe going as far as to correct God but was obedient in the end.

When you think about it, Ananias's obedience launched the greatest ministry of all times - millions of people have come to know Jesus as their Saviour and Lord.

When I think of Ananias and his act of obedience it sort of puts into perspective all small acts of obedience by God's people - even when those acts seem so contrary to human understanding.

We never see the big picture, we only have to rely on and trust God implicitly as Ananias did. God will never let us down.

So Ananias's "nightmare on Straight Street," brought in a such huge harvest for God and turned his personal 'nightmare' into a dream fulfilled; greater than he ever knew.

Obedience to God no matter what the cost.  We are called to simply trust and obey His word.

The BIG Shake!

I have read lately from 1 John and in Chapter 2 and verse 16 it says (in the expanded version of the Bible)

"These are the ways of (all that is in/associated with) the world: wanting to please our sinful selves (the desire/lust of the flesh), wanting the sinful things we see (the desire/lust of the eyes), and being too proud of what we have (the pride of life/possessions). None of these come from the Father, but all of them come from the world."

Now reading all that - I started to think WOW! that's me - I'm proud, I desire things of the world and I want to please myself - where does that leave me?? I pondered.

I can tell you where it leaves me - open to the BIG shake in our lives - when the waves batter us down and the wind blows our little teepee to the far outreaches.

Pride and wanting to please oneself:  horrible, sneaky, crafty and so evil! -  These need to be rooted out of our lives. If not they can eventually destroy us.

We often come to Jesus on the basis of what he can do for us rather that for who He is.

Many have come to Jesus and gone to church for years and even prayed the sinners prayer yet when they have gone through the "Big Shake" in their lives become resentful of God and have the "I prayed and asked God to do this and he didn't" attitude.

These are folk who are serving Him for what he can give them - Mark 4:16 type people.

God never promised us an easy ride in life all we have to do is to trust Him wholly.

When bad things happen in our lives, we get the BIG shake up and we can't cope - things go haywire and we lose our focus on Jesus and look to the world to fix things.

It's so easy to blame God in these circumstances, we forget what He has already paid for us to be free. We also forget what our future would have held for us had He not saved us. We see through the eyes of the word - not through the eternal eyes of God.

Once we have given our lives totally to Jesus we are not our own - we have been bought with a HUGE price by Him - we are the apple of His eye - the pearl of great price - so in that context we cannot 'blame' Him because we are not ours anyway but His!

When we have that attitude we cannot see our true circumstances and our faith in Jesus is weakened if not dead already.

BUT... when we are truly His, completely and utterly then nothing can come along to give us the BIG shake. Our lives can't be smashed on the rocks of doubt and despair.

Yes we will be often confused and possibly a bit bewildered, especially if we look at our problems, grief and despair through the eyes of the world. Very often God does not answer us in the way we expect - it is then we have to pray - "I trust you Lord even though I don't understand."

Jesus paid a HUGE price for our salvation. We should never fail to acknowledge this and to trust him more and more each day - even in the little things that distract and often infuriate us to the point of frustration.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12 how he had pleaded with the Lord three times for a problem to be removed and the answer he received?

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" What an amazing answer!

God's amazing grace is sufficient for us as it was for Paul - if none of our prayers are ever answered in the way we want, then let us like Paul be content with that awesome promise that "His grace is sufficient" - That is enough - in that we can be content.

Nothing can shake us - nothing can alarm - no frustration, grief or anxiety can take hold and destroy us .
His Grace is sufficient.