A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1
A gentle tongue is a tree of life
Proverbs 15:4
Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
Proverbs 16:24
A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.
Proverbs 29:11
"We so easily say whatever comes into our heads, spewing out everything we think or feel. According to God's Word spouting off whatever one thinks or feels is a characteristic of a fool." ~Nancy Leigh DeMoss
When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
Proverbs 10:19
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Squeezed by Circumstances
from: The Quiet Place Daily Devotion Readings by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
So we do not lose heart...For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 2 Corinthians 4:16-17
I remember talking years ago with a young mother who had a two-year-old child and one-year-old twins, and who said to me with a sigh, "I was never an impatient person -- until I had these twins!"
She believed what most of us have believed at one time or another: the reason why we're the way we are is because someone or something has made us that way. If our circumstances were different --- our upbringing, our environment, the people around us --- we would be different. More patient, more loving, more content, easier to live with.
But if our circumstances make us what we are, then we are all victims. And that's just what the enemy wants us to believe. Because if we are victims, then we are not responsible; we can't help the way we are. God says, however, that we are responsible, not for the failures of others but for our own responses and our own lives.
Truth is, our circumstances do not make us what we are; they merely reveal what we are. They "squeeze" us, forcing what's on the inside to come out. As I gently shared with that exasperated mother, "The fact is, you actually were an impatient person before having twins. You just didn't realize how impatient you were, until God brought a set circumstances into your life to show you what you were really like --- so He could change you into someone who looks a whole lot more like Him!"
We've been deceived into thinking we would be happier if we had a different set of circumstances. But we can trust our wise, loving, sovereign God to work out His plan for our lives by using those very circumstances to show us our need and to make us desperate for His grace.
What have you been blaming on the people, problems, and uncertainties around you? Ask God how He wants to use your circumstances to show you your heart and to bring you to a place of greater dependence on Him.
Yup, I needed this one AGAIN!
So we do not lose heart...For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 2 Corinthians 4:16-17
I remember talking years ago with a young mother who had a two-year-old child and one-year-old twins, and who said to me with a sigh, "I was never an impatient person -- until I had these twins!"
She believed what most of us have believed at one time or another: the reason why we're the way we are is because someone or something has made us that way. If our circumstances were different --- our upbringing, our environment, the people around us --- we would be different. More patient, more loving, more content, easier to live with.
But if our circumstances make us what we are, then we are all victims. And that's just what the enemy wants us to believe. Because if we are victims, then we are not responsible; we can't help the way we are. God says, however, that we are responsible, not for the failures of others but for our own responses and our own lives.
Truth is, our circumstances do not make us what we are; they merely reveal what we are. They "squeeze" us, forcing what's on the inside to come out. As I gently shared with that exasperated mother, "The fact is, you actually were an impatient person before having twins. You just didn't realize how impatient you were, until God brought a set circumstances into your life to show you what you were really like --- so He could change you into someone who looks a whole lot more like Him!"
We've been deceived into thinking we would be happier if we had a different set of circumstances. But we can trust our wise, loving, sovereign God to work out His plan for our lives by using those very circumstances to show us our need and to make us desperate for His grace.
What have you been blaming on the people, problems, and uncertainties around you? Ask God how He wants to use your circumstances to show you your heart and to bring you to a place of greater dependence on Him.
Yup, I needed this one AGAIN!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
There is a Remedy
The first time I heard this song was about a month ago during choir practice. The words have been ministering to me ever since.
For the world that's lost in darkness
For the saint who's gone astray
For the sinner, blind but searching
For the child in need of faith
For the homeless and forsaken
For the hungry and the cold
For the prisoner and the captive
For the young and for the old
There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ
For the bitter, for the lonely
For the weary and afraid
For the burdened and frustrated
The discouraged and dismayed
For the mocked and persecuted
For the battered, for the wronged
For the scarred and for the wounded
For the weak and for the strong
There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ
For every tribe and every nation
For every color, every race
For every tongue and every language
For every time and every place
There's an answer to the questions
There is love for all the hate
There's a healer for the dying
He's the Way the the Truth Light,
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick-soul.
There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ
For the saint who's gone astray
For the sinner, blind but searching
For the child in need of faith
For the homeless and forsaken
For the hungry and the cold
For the prisoner and the captive
For the young and for the old
There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ
For the bitter, for the lonely
For the weary and afraid
For the burdened and frustrated
The discouraged and dismayed
For the mocked and persecuted
For the battered, for the wronged
For the scarred and for the wounded
For the weak and for the strong
There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ
For every tribe and every nation
For every color, every race
For every tongue and every language
For every time and every place
There's an answer to the questions
There is love for all the hate
There's a healer for the dying
He's the Way the the Truth Light,
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick-soul.
There is a remedy
For every sin-sick soul
There is a cure for all
All the pain and hurt and wrong
There is a solution
For all the problems deep inside
There is a remedy
And His name is Jesus Christ
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Christ Is Able to Save
I love the message of this song!
Come ye sinners poor and needy
Come ye wounded weak and worn
There's a harbor for the broken
Where the hopeless are reborn
Come ye lost afraid forgotten
Let your wandering souls find rest
At your hearts door He is knocking
For you His precious blood was she'd
He is able He is able
Christ is able still to save
Come ye sinners poor and needy
Sing to Him our song of praise
Come ye ransomed and forgiven
Come ye rescued from the grave
Rise and worship Christ our Savior
For the glory of His Name
In the stillness of the morning
In the quiet of the dawn
Praise will rise as darkness scatters
And the song goes on and on
Come ye sinners poor and needy
Come ye wounded weak and worn
There's a harbor for the broken
Where the hopeless are reborn
Come ye lost afraid forgotten
Let your wandering souls find rest
At your hearts door He is knocking
For you His precious blood was she'd
He is able He is able
Christ is able still to save
Come ye sinners poor and needy
Sing to Him our song of praise
Come ye ransomed and forgiven
Come ye rescued from the grave
Rise and worship Christ our Savior
For the glory of His Name
In the stillness of the morning
In the quiet of the dawn
Praise will rise as darkness scatters
And the song goes on and on
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
How Great Thow Art
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds The hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow'r thru-out the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin;
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamtion
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Words by Stuart K Hine
Consider all the worlds The hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow'r thru-out the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin;
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamtion
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Words by Stuart K Hine
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Praises
I want to be intentional in giving thanks and praising God every day.
I want to notice God in every part of my day and praise him for it.
Here are a few of the things I am praising God for tonight....
...for the beauty in nature,
...for contentment,
...for the stillness & quietness of the night,
...for time with God of the universe.
What are you praising God for today?
I want to notice God in every part of my day and praise him for it.
Here are a few of the things I am praising God for tonight....
...for contentment,
...for the stillness & quietness of the night,
...for time with God of the universe.
What are you praising God for today?
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
A Thousand Things
Notes from: The Quiet Place Daily Devotion Readings by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven...
Proverbs 11:7
"In every situation and circumstance of your life, God is always doing a thousand different things that you cannot see and you do not know." ~ John Piper
"Regardless of what crisis or complexity may be threatening to engulf your life, God is at work. You many not see it, buy you need to know it's true. And He's not just doing one or two or a few things in that situation. He is doing a thousand or more things.
Although at time He may allow us to see some of His purposes, the vast majority of what He is doing is behind the scenes, providentially obscured from our finite view.
You can be sure that He knows what He is doing. He is God and He is working - purposefully, skillfully, lovingly. And one day when you look back on your journey from heaven's perspective, you will see His hand in all those inexplicable circumstances, and you will say with wonder and worship: 'You have done all things well!' Count on it!" ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss
As I read the above scripture and devotion God ministered to me and reminded me that He is in control. He is working in all things more than I can ever imagine and His ways are higher than mine.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55: 8-9
Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven...
Proverbs 11:7
"In every situation and circumstance of your life, God is always doing a thousand different things that you cannot see and you do not know." ~ John Piper
"Regardless of what crisis or complexity may be threatening to engulf your life, God is at work. You many not see it, buy you need to know it's true. And He's not just doing one or two or a few things in that situation. He is doing a thousand or more things.
Although at time He may allow us to see some of His purposes, the vast majority of what He is doing is behind the scenes, providentially obscured from our finite view.
You can be sure that He knows what He is doing. He is God and He is working - purposefully, skillfully, lovingly. And one day when you look back on your journey from heaven's perspective, you will see His hand in all those inexplicable circumstances, and you will say with wonder and worship: 'You have done all things well!' Count on it!" ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss
As I read the above scripture and devotion God ministered to me and reminded me that He is in control. He is working in all things more than I can ever imagine and His ways are higher than mine.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55: 8-9
Monday, January 7, 2013
Words
A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1
A gentle tongue is a tree of life
Proverbs 15:4
Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
Proverbs 16:24
I've been meditating on these verses of scripture since last night, and asking God to help me have a gentle tongue, soft answers, and gracious & encouraging words to those around me.
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1
A gentle tongue is a tree of life
Proverbs 15:4
Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
Proverbs 16:24
I've been meditating on these verses of scripture since last night, and asking God to help me have a gentle tongue, soft answers, and gracious & encouraging words to those around me.
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