Be on guard against alcohol

Romans 12:2 (NLT)
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Matthew Henry states, “Conversion and sanctification are the renewing of the mind, a change not of the substance, but of the qualities of the soul. It is the same with making a new heart and a new spirit-new dispositions and inclinations, new sympathies and antipathies; the understanding enlightened, the conscience softened, the thoughts rectified; the will bowed to the will of God, and the affections made spiritual and heavenly: so that the man is not what he was-old things are passed away, all things are become new; he acts from new principles, by new rules, with new designs.”

 

Proverbs 4:23 tells us “23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” I grew up in a dysfunctional home. My mother divorced when I was 1 year old because my dad was an abusive alcoholic. My mom avoided my dad and only I saw him twice in my life. At the age of 10 he requested to give me a Christmas present. I believe he had some measure of good in him, but alcohol had taken away most of what was good. My mom agreed to meet him for my sake, which she later regretted. After about 10 minutes we were leaving because he was drunk, had started to curse and was becoming aggressive. From that point on I didn’t know where my father was until I was 47.  On that occasion it was my father’s funeral. It’s strange looking in a coffin at your father and not knowing or recognizing him.

Unfortunately my father did not guard his heart against the alcohol that had set him on a path of self-destruction. He was offered help several times, but unless a person is willing to change, to be transformed, they will go back to the old habits they are familiar with. My father remained an active alcoholic until his death.

If you find yourself on a path to self-destruction turn your life over to our Lord Jesus. Allow Him to transform you into a new person and change how you think about your destructive choices. Allow His will to work in your life, which will perfect you and make your life pleasing. But you must be willing to allow Jesus to take control of your life and make the changes needed.

A member of the Salvation Army was present at the funeral and they did offer some comfort in saying my father knew Jesus. They said he had worked in the shelter and at times did remain sober, but the alcohol had done its damage. He couldn’t resist the temptation to go back to the bottle that destroyed him.

There is someone who needs to hear this today. Alcohol can ruin your life, the life of your loved ones, and can lead you down a part of destruction. Allow Jesus to help you and allow those He brings into your life to help you. Don’t be like my father wandering the streets at times not knowing where he was because he was too drunk and delusional to know.

May God bless you, keep you safe, and transform you into new life you are meant to have.

Gossips are not safe people

Proverbs 11:13

13 A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

This proverb is about two different people, those speaking spitefully of a person behind their back versus those who can be trusted to keep something confidential.  The first are tale-bearers that carry all the stories they can pick up, true or false, from house to house, to make mischief and sow discord, reveal secrets which they have been entrusted with, and so breaks the moral laws, and forfeits all the privileges, of friendship and conversation. The second is a close, trusted and respected person with whom confidences can be placed and they are kept safe and secure. You are assured what you have said will be held in the highest confidence unless what is known needs to be revealed for a greater good.

 

 

Mildred Fister has a rule in her beauty parlor, “NO GOSSIP”. "Sometimes people don't have anybody to talk to," she said. "So they confide in me. They tell me things about themselves. They know I'll never repeat what they say." If you have to choose a friend do you want one you can trust or one that will reveal your most private details?

 

Proverbs 15:2 says: ‘The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.’ Choose friends that know how to direct knowledge. They are safe people you can trust.

 

Keep away from those who gush out every detail about everything they know. They lack safety and can compromise details of your life.

Love makes up for offenses

Proverbs 10:12 (NLT)
12 Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.

Hatred works for the devil in that it stirs up strife and creates malice towards one another. The end results are heated sparks fanned into flames of ill will that create quarrels and ill spoken words. Love, however, is the peacemaker. The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4:8 tells us that love covers a multitude of sins therefore making up for all offences. Love, instead of proclaiming and aggravating the offence conceals and extenuates it as far as it is capable of being concealed and extenuated. Love brings healing and peace and cools the flames of hatred.

 

 

One day I was burning some leaves in my backyard. A neighbor down the street had their windows open and the smoke was drifting their way. Frustrated the neighbor walked over to my yard and started to fuss at me for smoking up their home. Here was a person I hardly knew standing in my yard yelling at me. I didn’t know I had done anything wrong, nor had I intended to. Then I thought about how they felt. I’m sure it was frustrating trying to enjoy the nice outdoor air, but instead smoke was filling their home. So I quickly apologized. I said I would immediately put out the fire and clean up another day. My gentle words changed the attitude of the neighbor. They said they had already closed their windows and not to worry. I told them I would try to look around for open windows next time. They went away peacefully and the issue was resolved.

Often quarrels can be prevented by trying to understand the point of the other person.  When we react out of love for the offended person we can calm an argument instead of stirring one up. Our worst tendency is to want to repay strife for strife, quarrels for quarrels and hatred for hatred.

God has a good purpose

Daniel 6:25-27 (NLT)
25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly! 26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed,    his dominion will never end. 27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Daniel was favored by many, including the King. King Darius sought to promote Daniel above the other administrators, but the others laid a trap for Daniel. They knew Daniel always prayed to God three times a day. So the administrators made a resolution that anyone who prayed to anyone except the king should be thrown into the lion’s den. They got the King to make the proclamation and then they told the King that Daniel had violated the proclamation. The King word was law and Daniel was punished according to law. The above verses are the result of Daniel’s obedience to God.

 

 In Dennis Rainey's book Stepping Up, he tells the story about the short life of his granddaughter Molly. Born with a brain aneurism, Molly lived only seven days. As difficult as those seven days were, Molly's parents and grandparents held firmly to their trust in God, confident that they will see Molly again in the age to come. Rainey concludes the chapter of Molly's story with this memory: A number of years ago, [my wife] Barbara and I were vacationing in southwest England and stumbled upon the little town of Saint Buryan, a crossroad in the country with a pub, a decaying church, and a graveyard. We stopped and read a few of the gravestones. One that was barely legible commemorated a family that lived in the 1600s. Buried beneath the stone were the mother, who gave birth to a son and died just ten days later at the age of twenty-four; her son, who lived thirteen months; and the father, who died a few days later at age twenty-five. The faded words on that weathered limestone grave marker moved us so deeply that today they are etched on Molly's headstone: We cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see - But all is well that's done by Thee.

I am sure Daniel didn’t fully understand why he was being thrown into the lion’s den, but Daniel did trust God and knew God had a reason. We see the end result the next morning after the lions have not touched Daniel. The King shows fear and reverence for God and proclaims God is the living God. We might not always know what God is doing in our lives. We may lose our jobs. We may lose those precious to us. We may suffer in pain. But know all is well that is done by God for He has a good purpose in mind.

Keep God in our country

Judges 2:2-3 (NLT)
2 The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites, “I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors, and I said I would never break my covenant with you. 2 For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this? 3 So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.”

Throughout the book of Judges you will find that when Israel turns their attention to God, God was there to protect and watch out for their country. When the Israelites turned away from the desires of God, God allowed the enemies of Israel to invade their land, which allowed them to be turned to the temptation of foreign gods.

 

We need to be praying to God for this country. As I have listened to politician’s debates on whether God should be a part of our country--it is worrisome. The United States of American once believed the creator, God, gave individuals of this country rights to form a government with leaders who represented them and their beliefs. They did not want a single church belief to control government, nor did they want government to control church beliefs. They wanted to ensure everyone had a right to believe as they desired. Yet they never intended to remove God from our country. Let’s not make the mistakes of those in the Book of Judges when they put God aside, for they suffered the consequences of their decisions. Let’s keep God in our country. Let’s ensure God is acknowledge and called upon to help us in our times of need. For when the Israelites did such as that God was faithful to be with them.

God understands our needs

Mark 2:5-12 (NLT)
5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” 6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” 8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” 12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”

This is the account of the paralyzed man brought to Jesus by friends. Desperate to see their friend healed they broke through the ceiling and lowered their friend through the hole in front of Jesus. Jesus saw the man was paralyzed, yet instead of immediately healing the man He said, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” Jesus knew the man’s number one need while others saw his physical need.

 

Richard Moore of Derry, Northern Ireland, was just ten years old when blinded by a British soldier who fired a rubber bullet at him at point-blank range. He was on his way home from his local school. For as long as he could remember, Richard wanted to meet the soldier who shot him. Thirty years after the incident, he finally did. After discovering who the soldier was and where he lived, Richard wrote to him to get permission to visit, and then he met with him face-to-face, offering his personal, heartfelt forgiveness. Here’s what Richard later said about the experience: “After that, something peculiar and wonderful happened. Something inside me changed, something paradoxical. I began to realize that the gift of forgiveness I thought I was bestowing on the soldier who shot me was actually a gift from God to me. “It didn’t even matter whether the soldier wanted or needed forgiveness; the gift freed me, leaving me with a sense of serenity and blessedness. “All through my boyhood my mother had wanted the impossible for me – that I would be given back my sight. I even woke up one night to find my dear mother on her knees, next to my bed, pleading with God. When I met the soldier and forgave him, I believe my mother’s prayers were answered. I was given a new vision, and my real wound, the one that needed healing more than my eyes, was healed.” (Richard Moore, interview by Pat Coyle)

We often think we see what is needed in our lives. We look from the exterior without understanding the interior. Yet God understands our needs completely and gives us exactly what we need.

Precious truth

2 Timothy 1:13-14 (NLT)
13 Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. 14 Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

The Apostle Paul tells Timothy to adhere to the doctrine of truth he has learned, which was shaped by his love for Jesus. He is to hold fast and guard what he has been taught allowing the Holy Spirit to work in his life to guide him. Faith and love must go together; it is not enough to believe the sound words, and to give an assent to them, but we must love them, believe their truth and love their goodness.

 

A certain preacher and an atheistic barber were walking through city slums. The barber said, "This is why I can't believe in your God of love. If he was as kind as you say, he wouldn't permit all this poverty, disease, and squalor. He wouldn't allow these poor street people to get addicted. No, I cannot believe in a God who permits these things." The minister was silent until they met a man who was especially unkempt. His hair was hanging down his neck, and he had a half-inch of stubble on his face. The preacher said to his friend: "You can't be a good barber, or you wouldn't permit a man like this to continue living here without a haircut and a shave." Indignant, the barber answered: "Why blame me for that man's condition? He has never come in my shop. If he had, I could've fixed him up and made him look like a gentleman!" The preacher said, "Then don't blame God for allowing people to continue in their evil ways. He invites them to come and be saved."

We must acknowledge that there are reasons and actions God does that are simply beyond our comprehension. When Job questioned God, God came back and answered basically by saying, “Where were you when I made the world, how is it kept together.” And Job had to sit back and awe and admit that he did not understand all that God does or why He does the things He does.

Continue in learning the truth about God from reading His word and by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life. Sometimes we have to remain silent to allow God to speak to us instead of us insisting to speak over Him. Take time and listen to what God has to say to you and guard the precious trust that is  entrusted to you.