Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor
mirror, but then we will see everything with
perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial
and incomplete, but then I will know everything
completely, just as God knows me now.
1 Corinthians 13:12
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Power of a Woman's Words ~ Rebecca's Corner, Intouch.org
What you say can make all the difference
by Sharon Jaynes
Listen. Do you hear them? Open your front door and step out into the world. They swarm around and surround us on every side. Small ones with tremendous impact. Large ones looming and misunderstood. Swirling. Churning. Spinning. Burning. Listen—do you hear them? One of the mightiest forces in all creation: words.
When God created the world and everything in it, He did so with words. He said, “Let there be,” and there was. Amazingly, when God created man in His own image, He also gave us the powerful tool of language. With a simple word, we can create a smile on a discouraged child’s face or lighten the heart of a husband weighed down with burdens. Our words can fan into flame the dying embers of a friend’s smoldering dreams, cheer brothers and sisters in Christ to run the race with endurance, and bring Jesus’ message of hope and healing to a wounded world. Words are one of the most powerful forces in the universe. And remarkably, God has entrusted them to you and me.
How will we use this priceless gift? The Bible tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), and we don’t have to go any farther than our front door to see the difference our words can make.
Words Can Make or Break a Man
Just as we have the capacity to encourage or dishearten a child, we have the power to build up or tear down a husband. A close friend of mine witnessed both the destructive and constructive power of her words.
Don and Jona were a striking couple with everything going for them. By the time they celebrated their first wedding anniversary, they had promising careers and a new home and were well on their way to the American Dream. But over the next three years, Don started a new business, and with a dwindling bank account, they faced a second mortgage. Jona sank into a depression and began using her words as weapons to punish Don for their failing finances. “You’re so stupid,” she’d say. “What’s wrong with you? You can’t do anything right.” Word by word, Jona destroyed her marriage and her man. Because he was a Christian, she thought he would never leave. But she was wrong—one day, Don walked out. The following year, the divorce was final.
“Shortly after Don left, I woke up to God’s still small voice,” Jona explained. “He seemed to say, ‘Is this what you wanted? Did you want a divorce? Do you want to be alone?’ ‘Oh God,’ I cried, ‘What have I done?’”
While Don and Jona were officially divorced, God began to work on Jona’s heart. She saw what her words had done, and with God’s help, she began to change. She vowed never to use her words to show disrespect again. From here on, she determined to use her words not to hurt, but to heal.
Jona’s heart longed to be reunited with Don, but her ultimate goal was to become the woman God wanted her to be. As she immersed herself in Bible study and prayer, she began to see Don through God’s eyes—and to use her words for building up rather than tearing down. At first Don was skeptical, but eventually he fell in love with Jona all over again. They were remarried on a beautiful August day. Don later told me, “I don’t think any single thing diminishes a man’s resolve more than the loss of respect. Don’t dwell on his weaknesses; dwell on the positives. We men are in the fight for our lives. We are at war mentally. We’re out there trying to conquer the world. A man needs to know that home is a safe place instead of feeling as if he’s leaving one battle for another.”
In a survey, I asked hundreds of men what they longed for in the woman of their dreams. One man responded, “I’ve been shut up, shut down, shot down, ridiculed, disregarded, overlooked, overbooked, and overwhelmed . . . I know I was made for a reason. I know that in God’s eyes, I count. So I simply want someone who believes in me.”
Where will your man turn for encouraging words? Where will he go to find that someone who is cheering for him and believes in him? I hope it’s home.
The Power and Potential of Change
Aren’t you glad that God is all about transformation? So be encouraged, my friend—if you are willing to use your words as an instrument of beauty, God is more than able to supply the power to make it happen. All that’s required is prayer and practice.
Sift your words through the filter of Philippians 4:8 (NIV). Ask yourself,” Is what I am about to say true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy? Will the words I’m about to speak build up or tear down, encourage or discourage, empower or devour, heal or hurt?”
One day, I had been praying about my words to my then-11-year-old son. I had taken him to an amusement park and was feeling quite the martyr for doing so. As we were about to careen down the track on a rickety roller coaster, I leaned forward to remind him of what a great mom he had—just in case he’d forgotten. I started to say, “You are so lucky to have a mom like me to bring you to a place like this.” But before the words escaped my lips, the Holy Spirit stopped me and asked, Is that what you want to say? Will he feel lucky?
So I changed my words and said to my precious son, “Steven, I am so lucky to have a son like you that I can bring to a place like this.” A smile spread across his dimpled cheeks. As the roller coaster tore into the wind, tears came to my eyes as I thanked God for His power to change me and enable me to speak words of life.
Listen. Do you hear them? Small ones with tremendous impact. Large ones looming and misunderstood. Swirling. Churning. Spinning. Burning. Listen—do you hear them? One of the mightiest forces in all creation: words.
by Sharon Jaynes
Listen. Do you hear them? Open your front door and step out into the world. They swarm around and surround us on every side. Small ones with tremendous impact. Large ones looming and misunderstood. Swirling. Churning. Spinning. Burning. Listen—do you hear them? One of the mightiest forces in all creation: words.
When God created the world and everything in it, He did so with words. He said, “Let there be,” and there was. Amazingly, when God created man in His own image, He also gave us the powerful tool of language. With a simple word, we can create a smile on a discouraged child’s face or lighten the heart of a husband weighed down with burdens. Our words can fan into flame the dying embers of a friend’s smoldering dreams, cheer brothers and sisters in Christ to run the race with endurance, and bring Jesus’ message of hope and healing to a wounded world. Words are one of the most powerful forces in the universe. And remarkably, God has entrusted them to you and me.
How will we use this priceless gift? The Bible tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), and we don’t have to go any farther than our front door to see the difference our words can make.
Words Can Make or Break a Man
Just as we have the capacity to encourage or dishearten a child, we have the power to build up or tear down a husband. A close friend of mine witnessed both the destructive and constructive power of her words.
Don and Jona were a striking couple with everything going for them. By the time they celebrated their first wedding anniversary, they had promising careers and a new home and were well on their way to the American Dream. But over the next three years, Don started a new business, and with a dwindling bank account, they faced a second mortgage. Jona sank into a depression and began using her words as weapons to punish Don for their failing finances. “You’re so stupid,” she’d say. “What’s wrong with you? You can’t do anything right.” Word by word, Jona destroyed her marriage and her man. Because he was a Christian, she thought he would never leave. But she was wrong—one day, Don walked out. The following year, the divorce was final.
“Shortly after Don left, I woke up to God’s still small voice,” Jona explained. “He seemed to say, ‘Is this what you wanted? Did you want a divorce? Do you want to be alone?’ ‘Oh God,’ I cried, ‘What have I done?’”
While Don and Jona were officially divorced, God began to work on Jona’s heart. She saw what her words had done, and with God’s help, she began to change. She vowed never to use her words to show disrespect again. From here on, she determined to use her words not to hurt, but to heal.
Jona’s heart longed to be reunited with Don, but her ultimate goal was to become the woman God wanted her to be. As she immersed herself in Bible study and prayer, she began to see Don through God’s eyes—and to use her words for building up rather than tearing down. At first Don was skeptical, but eventually he fell in love with Jona all over again. They were remarried on a beautiful August day. Don later told me, “I don’t think any single thing diminishes a man’s resolve more than the loss of respect. Don’t dwell on his weaknesses; dwell on the positives. We men are in the fight for our lives. We are at war mentally. We’re out there trying to conquer the world. A man needs to know that home is a safe place instead of feeling as if he’s leaving one battle for another.”
In a survey, I asked hundreds of men what they longed for in the woman of their dreams. One man responded, “I’ve been shut up, shut down, shot down, ridiculed, disregarded, overlooked, overbooked, and overwhelmed . . . I know I was made for a reason. I know that in God’s eyes, I count. So I simply want someone who believes in me.”
Where will your man turn for encouraging words? Where will he go to find that someone who is cheering for him and believes in him? I hope it’s home.
The Power and Potential of Change
Aren’t you glad that God is all about transformation? So be encouraged, my friend—if you are willing to use your words as an instrument of beauty, God is more than able to supply the power to make it happen. All that’s required is prayer and practice.
Sift your words through the filter of Philippians 4:8 (NIV). Ask yourself,” Is what I am about to say true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy? Will the words I’m about to speak build up or tear down, encourage or discourage, empower or devour, heal or hurt?”
One day, I had been praying about my words to my then-11-year-old son. I had taken him to an amusement park and was feeling quite the martyr for doing so. As we were about to careen down the track on a rickety roller coaster, I leaned forward to remind him of what a great mom he had—just in case he’d forgotten. I started to say, “You are so lucky to have a mom like me to bring you to a place like this.” But before the words escaped my lips, the Holy Spirit stopped me and asked, Is that what you want to say? Will he feel lucky?
So I changed my words and said to my precious son, “Steven, I am so lucky to have a son like you that I can bring to a place like this.” A smile spread across his dimpled cheeks. As the roller coaster tore into the wind, tears came to my eyes as I thanked God for His power to change me and enable me to speak words of life.
Listen. Do you hear them? Small ones with tremendous impact. Large ones looming and misunderstood. Swirling. Churning. Spinning. Burning. Listen—do you hear them? One of the mightiest forces in all creation: words.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"
1 Corinthians 3:16
One would think that being like God’s Son must require a lot of effort. But the truth is, we are not called to work at it. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer and then lives the life of Christ through him or her. Christians have the responsibility to be submissive to His guidance. That means we respond to every circumstance and event with this question: “How can You use this to make me more like Jesus?”
Both trials and triumphs are engineered to fulfill God’s great purpose: crafting a life that reflects His love and glory to the world.
~InTouch.org
1 Corinthians 3:16
One would think that being like God’s Son must require a lot of effort. But the truth is, we are not called to work at it. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer and then lives the life of Christ through him or her. Christians have the responsibility to be submissive to His guidance. That means we respond to every circumstance and event with this question: “How can You use this to make me more like Jesus?”
Both trials and triumphs are engineered to fulfill God’s great purpose: crafting a life that reflects His love and glory to the world.
~InTouch.org
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Judges 21:25
"No people ever rise higher than their idea of God... We deplore the breakdown of moral standards, but what do we expect when we have focused our worship services on ourselves and our own often trivial needs rather than on God?" ~James Montgomery Boice
Judges 21:25
"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."
Judges 21:25
"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."
Romans 3:23-25
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
Romans 3:23-25
Romans 3:23-25
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)