WHAT'S YOUR THEME?

Do you ever listen to yourself? What do you find yourself talking about usually?

The weather? Financial worries? Your family? Problems at work? How your garden is growing? Your latest love interest? The recent woodworking project you just completed? God?

Is your conversation varied and healthy or do you seem to be stuck on a certain theme that runs through your words?

Are your words encouraging and life giving? Or are they bitter? Are they complaining? Are your words thankful? What is the theme that runs through your words?

We know that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks . . . .
Can we say with the Psalmist: My heart overflows with a goodly theme . . . . Psalm 45:1?

What is your theme? What is the theme your heart is speaking?

May I encourage you today . . . this week . . . this month to listen to yourself - the actual words, the tone, the intent and see what is in your heart.

Maybe it is time to go to the Father to have him do some housecleaning. A cleansed heart will result in a mouth that praises Him and which pleases Him.

Heavenly Father, please help me hear what my theme is. If it is not pleasing to You, please cleanse my heart of all sin and nonsense so that my theme can be a good theme, pleasing to Your ears. In Jesus' name. Amen.

WORRY, CONCERN, ANXIETY

Around and around we go. There is so much to worry about, isn’t there? We worry about our health, our kids (young or grown), our finances, our leaky roof, our vehicle, our job, our parents, the bank down the street, the national economy . . . the world . . . .

Yes, there is enough to worry about until we reach old age which, if we keep worrying, will come earlier than we want - so we worry about that, too.

So, what’s the solution? Does God want us to live in a constant state of anxiety and near panic? NO, He does not! Let’s listen to what He wants us to know as we live our lives here in this crazy world:

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you . . . . Jesus says in John 14:27

Then, if I have His peace left to me, why do I worry about so many things?

Jesus goes on to say: Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. . . .

Oh, if I’m not to LET my heart be troubled, that must mean I am to DO something when I feel worry even begin to creep in.

What am I, specifically and practically, to do?

Casting all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about (is fond of) you. I Peter 5:7

That’s something that I can picture doing. If I cast all my garbage curbside - it is gone. If I go to the cross and leave my worries, burdens, anxieties, concerns…. there, then they are gone! In fact, when scripture tells us to cast our cares on HIM, that’s an even better solution than just taking them curbside. When cast upon God, He means to carry them away - far away from us because then He will take care of every one of them. Just watch!

Now what? Return to the house after setting the garbage curbside (or laying them at the foot of the cross) to worry about the same old - same old - or even new issues? NO - we are to continuously do what:

Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer, supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6 & 7

Heavenly Father, please show me the practical steps I need to take to keep my heart and mind in Christ Jesus - and at peace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

THE POTTER - GOD!

God is still busily creating. Not only is He busy creating each new person who is born, He is busy creating YOU even now. He is continuing to create who He wants you to be.

Yes, He once upon a time created who you are genetically, including what you look like, but He also wants to continue the process on your inner person.

He wants us to be conformed into the image of Jesus:

Yet, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay and Thou art our potter; we are all the works of Thy hand. Isaiah 64:8
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After God has created the outer person, how does He create the inner person? Good question. Have you ever watched a potter at his wheel? He takes a wet, formless glob and ‘throws’ it on his wheel. He begins to turn that wheel around, envisioning what it will become. Once completed, the piece stands - whole and complete but not quite finished.

Now comes the fire. Some pieces are fired again and again, emerging more beautiful with each firing than could be imagined.

Behold, I will refine them and test them. Jeremiah 9:7

Have you noticed that we are going through the fires of life, daily? Little things happens to make it so. Big and bigger things sometimes happen, too. But the Master Potter knows exactly what it will take to make us into who He envisioned from the beginning of time. Are you willing?

Heavenly Father, I surrender myself into Your Potter’s hands. I submit to the firings I need to be beautiful in Your sight, like Jesus. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

THE EXCHANGED LIFE

Do you like your life and what it includes right now? Do you like who you have become at this point in your life?

Think about it.

There is Someone who is willing to exchange your life for His, if you so choose. No matter how good or bad your life seems right now, would it be a relief to pour it all out - every bit of it - to the God who created you and knows you better than you know yourself?

Then - since that leaves you empty of yourself, wouldn’t it be wise to ask God to fill you up with Himself - all of His holiness, loving attributes, kindness - all that He is, now becoming a part of you?

Wouldn’t we be better off to live an exchanged life - daily? God has so much more envisioned for us than we can even imagine. But it is only by living an exchanged life that we can even touch upon it and capture His vision of His life within and lived out through us.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Heavenly Father, I come to you to exchange this life for Your life. I empty myself of the life I have now and surrender it to You. Please fill me with Your life to overflowing. In Jesus’ name. Amen.