Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi – written in 2015

A light house does not blow fog horns but it only shines.  

When I read the above I thought of our walk as Christians.  Does our life reflect the light  of Jesus.  St Mark 4:21: and he said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick?  A candle beams its flickering light so we may find our way in the dark as does the Lighthouse.  As Christians we should let our light shine & walk in the light of Christ.  We need not blow fog horns but just shine & let the Holy Spirit beam through us.  Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord……i grew up in a very legalistic religion & if we did have a little light, it was totally blown out with dos & don’ts & lots of fear. 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God….10: herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us & sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4 is filled with scriptures of love.  The pendulum swings both ways but should be in balance.  I guess my desire is not to be a fog horn but a flickering light for our Lord.

‘If you need to laugh, God longs to bring you unfathomable joy—“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them’ The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad” (Psalm 126:1-3) Craig Denison 2/21/19. First 15.

My husband came in this morning and said “I want to read to you something I read in my mediation this morning”? It was about a lady who was stressed out about her life and how one day she went outside and fell into a hammock in their back yard. As she laid their she started noticing the birds, the trees, and the life that surrounded her. She forgot about her lists and all the activity of the ‘dos’. She was enjoying the quietness of being with herself and God. Nature reveals to us God’s beauty, glory, power, wisdom, presence, creativity, and, most of all, his loving care. This is why we’re drawn to spend time in the beauty of nature and to enjoy animals. To take a walk on a beautiful day, play with your dog in the grass, or hold your cat are reliable ways for many people to connect with God’s loving presence. I need this in my life, and I wonder why I keep allowing my ‘dos’ to take priority in life, but I do. “Stop and smell the roses” has been one of my sayings – I need to do that.

“Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble.” 

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” Matthew 7:24

If you are driven by fear, choose to be courageous. If you are filled with hate and prejudice, choose to be loving and kind.  (Norman Vincent Peale)

Chesed (חסד, also Romanized ẖesed) is a Hebrew word commonly translated as “loving-kindness,” “kindness” or “love.”

My deceased husband, Standish, used hesed many times.  He loved to say to me when I was “out-of-sorts” “hesed Coppi hesed …loving kindness is the way to be not angry”.  I think there are many passages in the Bible that reinforce his statement.  Example:  “Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26–27). To refuse to surrender our anger is to welcome the devil to wreak havoc in our hearts and relationships. It allows him to take new ground, and to extend his stay in any given situation”. (Marshall Segal)

I read the following this morning and it sums up the word kindness to me:

“Integrity’s everything – No matter how educated, talented, rich, or cool you believe you are,  how you treat people ultimately tells all”.  

“Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble” – let the wind and rain wash away the ‘uglies’ in your life and let forgiveness, love, and kindness be your solid rock on which you stand.

Proverbs 15:4 says, “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”

Matthew 15:11″It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 

James 3:2. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.”

Here’s the point: Satan will seldom tempt us to do something we know is as deadly as a rattlesnake’s bite. But he will tempt us every day to choose sins we think we can commit without consequences.

We can confess our sins after we commit them and claim his forgiving grace (1 John 1:9; Psalm 51:7). However, the damage done to others and the world by our sins remains.  (Dr James Denison)

Dr Denison was talking about how Satan gets to us.  He does not come as a rattlesnake because we would recognize him but comes as a cream puff that is tasty and yummy but the sugar content in a cream puff is very harmful to our health.  A whisperer causes quarreling and grief.  I don’t know if you have come under the effect of gossip that was not truthful; I have several times in my life. It hurts and there is not much you can do but stay the course, because if you try to defend yourself it only makes matters worse.  What works for me is reading scriptures of “waiting on the Lord”.  He will fight our battle for us if we stay calm and wait.  It’s not easy but it does work.  Psalm 27:14. “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”.

“Evangelist Gypsy Smith once said, “There are five Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian, and some people will never read the first four.” In other words, the message is seen before it is heard. 

Mahatma Gandhi – as a young man, he practiced law in South Africa and faced much discrimination.  What he saw of racism in those days drove him away from the Christian faith, because he mistakenly judged a profession of a faith as being the substance of that faith.  The truth is, you don’t judge a belief by its abuse.  So fortunately, he later qualified the difference:  “I like their Christ; I don’t like their Christian.”  (Ravi Zacharias in Just Thinking)

Of all people in the world, the Christian should lead the way in loving people of all nations because we all are ultimately created in God’s image.  (Ravi Zacharias)

(All of the above quotes, I gleaned from reading Just Thinking by Ravi Zacharias)

I heard many times through my life, “You are the hands, feet, mouth, eyes, etc of Jesus and you are the only Bible someone may read”.  Gee, I thought that is a big responsibility and I certainly am not capable of that task.  Then I read 1 John 4:12 NLT

“No one has seen God.  But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”   It’s His love in this vessel that does the work.  I just need to be available for him to use me to express himself through me.  God is love.

Mary believed

Luke 1:45. Elizabeth to Mary – “you are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said” – 

“How” is my first response when I hear God’s still small voice saying “you won’t have to” in answer to a prayer I have been praying diligently about.  Zechariah uttered how when the angel Gabriel came to him with the Good News that Elizabeth was going to become pregnant with John the Baptist. How will God ever do that – impossible – but hopeful, yes indeed.  I look back at all the how’s in my life that our Lord marvelously moved in my life – circumstances that I thought impossible. God doesn’t need our reasonings on “how” but “yes, Lord I will believe & trust you”…..”you are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said”……….and He did!

I love to read meditations of different authors, the ones I am enjoying this moment in time is about prayer.  Following is what I gleaned today:

The prayer of Release:  God, hear me & answer me.  You know I am troubled by thoughts & feelings of ____________, (fill in with what is bothering you).  You also know why, and you know how deep the hurt goes, and how long I have lived with it.  But I don’t want to live with ___________(fill in) it any longer;  With your help, I release my ________(fill in) into your hands, I surrender my _________(fill in); I let go of my ____________(fill in); help me to keep letting go & release these toxic emotions as often as they try to return.

I clean up good!  But there is hurt & pain within me.  And, whenever these toxic emotions surface, I pray the prayer of release.

Also, praying the Psalms.  Following are several I pray:

Ps 5:2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me for my bones are shaking with terror.

Ps 27:13-14 – I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living; wait for the Lord; be strong, & let your heart take courage.

Ps 107:19-20 – then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, & he saved them from their distress; he sent out his word & healed them.

Ps 147:3 – he heals the broken-hearted, & binds up their wounds

Ps 30:2 – O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, & you have healed me.

Quote from J Hudson Taylor:  “When we work, we work.  When we pray, God works”.

Pray the prayer of release if you have something that keeps creeping up inside you & destroys your joy & peace.  Jesus said in John10:10 – I have come to give you life & give it to you more abundantly.   One can’t have an abundant life with toxic emotions!

Let me look beyond limitations of time & space.  Father, to the vastness of life in you.

Belum (pronounced B’lum) “not yet” there in Indonesia, the word “no” is avoided whenever possible….too abrupt, too final & unyielding.  Belum leaves room for dreams.  Asked in a job interview, “Do you have a college degree”?  A 50-year old man who left school at nine will answer, “Belum”.  And, during a doctor’s exam, if an 80-year old woman is asked, “Do you have any children”?  She’ll smile & reply B’lum.   (Elizabeth Sherill).

I like to answer my own questions the same way.  Have I learned to play brilliant bridge & excellent golf.  Have I run a marathon, etc – B’lum to them all!  But, if asked “have you accepted Christ as your Savior – I do not say B’lum “not yet”  but  “yes, indeed”….no not yet for me. Life is short – eternity is forever!

Roma Downey:  ” When I was on “Touched by an Angel” we used to say that coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.

“The voice I look for speaks through my heart.  It’s less of a head voice – all my fears & doubts come through my head but it comes to my heart.  A deeper knowing”.

John 10:27:  my sheep hear my voice & I know them & they follow me

1 Kings 19:11-13:  it may be a whisper, but you can hear it.

Heb 4:7:  today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts

Habakkuk 2:1:  I will watch & see what He will say to me

Be still & know that I am God…Ps 46:10:  I have a hard time being still to listen to the voice of God because I have so much “racket” going on in my head.  God does not scream to get our attention, he usually whispers!  He speaks to us in many ways: the Bible, creation, people, impressions, etc.  I have found the best time for me is early in the mornings when all is quite & still. I will get up & fix myself a cup of coffee, crawl back in bed, pray & start reading the Bible, but before I start my reading, I pray that God will still my thoughts, & open my heart to receive whatever He wants me to receive from His word.  That works for me but each of us has our own way approaching God.  I also ask for God’s wisdom & guidance throughout my day.  It’s an effort for me sometimes to get up early but if I don’t, I find I miss that time spent in His presence.

Proverbs 14:12. There is a way that seems right to a man but it’s end is the way to death.

Jer 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare & not for evil, to give you a future & a hope.

Proverbs 16:20 commit to the Lord whatever you do, & your plans will succeed. 

Choice – not chance – determines humans destiny.  Every choice you make has an end result.   Zig Ziglar

When I read quote by Zig Ziglar, I said to myself “very true” indeed.  I wish I could take back some of the choices I have made in life.  True, our Lord can take my wrong choice, help me as I untangle the cobweb of the choice & teach me a lesson from it.  But, I first had to come to the end of myself & surrender all to Him before the cobweb could be mended.  The right decision would be to ask for his guidance & direction before jumping into the spider web.  I guess I am afraid of what He may say,”aye” or “nay”.  Because, I want it my way – “aye”!  God did not make us robots but gave us a free will to make choices.  I have learned even through some of the wrong decisions I have made, the Lord my God took the lemon & make lemonade.  But not before, I went through the “ugly” of the choice.

Charles Spurgeon warned:

“Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.”

When I read this, I can hear my mother saying, “Coppi, you cannot run away from your difficulties because you have to take yourself with you.”  So often in my life, I thought if I could be somewhere else, a different environment, far away from where I was, I would not hurt or have to face the pain I was enduring.  My mother’s wisdom was correct, I can’t run away from me.  1 Peter 5:7:  let Him have all your worries & cares for He is always thinking about you & watching everything that concerns you…….Ps 55/2 Give your burdens to the Lord & He will take care of you.  Not easy for me as I find I have the habit of picking up “the sack of potatoes” & dragging them around with me again.  Take them, leave them & trust Him to carry you through whatever your concerns are….it might not be tomorrow or the next day, or the day after, but He will do it. In His time.