Be Like the Nile!

Many times I find it interesting the drastic steps some believers will take to "sow seed." I have often seen where some people even manipulate others under the guise of helping them get some "seed" in the ground. I am all for the biblical examples of seedtime and harvest, but I am also for the examples of being a good steward with what God has given us! No, we shouldn't be stingy and hoard up the 

blessings, but at the same time we shouldn't give away what we don't have to give. Being a good steward and a good giver are both important aspects of successful christian living and living a life of victory. If your idea of being a good steward means being greedy and never giving out, you'll be like the Dead Sea... the blessings will just die and you won't make room for new blessings to come your way, you'll basically become steril. If your idea of being a good giver is just giving away stuff that you don't have to give (like "faith" checks or "faith" charges to your credit card) you'll dry out like a well in the desert that just gives and gives and never gets replenished. But if we are good stewards and biblical givers we will be like the Nile. In seasons of plenty it fertilizes the ground around it, carrying seed to it, and as it shrinks down in season of dryness, a harvest is reaped from the seed sown! It is always flowing giving of its abundance to the land, creating fertile ground, and reaping a harvest from that.

So anyway, just some thoughts I had today... :)

Good verses to read along these lines:

Luke 19:11-27

Matthew 25:14-30

Titus 1:7-9

Hebrews 13:5

1 Timothy 5:8

Acts 20:35

Luke 12:42-46

Proverbs 11:24

Ephesians 4:28

Luke 14:12-14

Luke 16:10

Deuteronomy 14:22-29

Romans 14:23

Til next Time, 

JRT

Think, Before You Speak or Act!

"The Girl you just called fat? She is overdosing on diet pills. The Girl you just called ugly? She spends hours putting makeup on just hoping people will like her. That man with the ugly scars? He fought for our country. The boy you just laughed at? He's already being abused at home.
This world tears down. This world promotes decay. This world cheats to get ahead. Jesus taught us to be different. To live different. To show compassion. To be salt and light."

We must be careful with how we talk about people, treat people, and the words we use! Every person has emotions and a heart that can feel love or pain. For us to be jerky and walk out of love is NOT being the image of Christ that we are called to be to this world! We are to exhibit God's love to BOTH sinners AND saints, not just the sinners. The Word tells us, "Those who hate other believers are in the dark and live in the dark. They don't know where they're going, because they can't see in the dark." (1 John 2:11 GWT), "Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them." (1 John 3:15 NLT). "Whoever says, "I love God," but hates another believer is a liar. People who don't love other believers, whom they have seen, can't love God, whom they have not seen." (1 John 4:20 GWT).

Universalism is Trying to Cripple the Church!

Universalism is trying to cripple the church and satan is clever, he is using the most pure and amazing thing about the Gospel, God's Love and Grace, to do it! He is cleverly twisting scripture and people's beliefs, to turn the people of God away from truth and straight into error, under the guise of "the move of God"... Without them even realizing it!

What is a TRUE Friend??

The older I get the more I realize how truly expressive the traditional wedding vows are of true friendship. "For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health."
Many who say these vows are doing so with the person they call their best friend, their love, their spouse. It wasn't until recently I realized just how powerful those vows are in relation to friendship.

A marriage is one of the highest forms of covenant between two individuals in our modern society, but not only that, a marriage is a true expression of a true friendship! As I began thinking about wedding vows that I heard in a movie recently and also thinking about "friendships" in my own life... I realized how much we have missed. So often we focus on the negative circumstances in those vows, the "when things get rough and your world is falling apart you can count on me" times. But, there's a flip side to that. It should be just as important to be there in the "I'm on top of the world" times! That's a successful relationship, whether it be marriage or friendship, when you are there and committed in EVERY season of life.

Signs of Immaturity

Signs of Immaturity:

Quick to pass judgement.
Quick to stir up strife(in young people's terminology, drama).
Quick to blow-up and make hasty decisions out of anger and hurt.
Quick to speak out of the emotion of the moment, which often leads to regrets of words that should have been left unsaid.
Quick to harbor anger and resentment for wrongs done to oneself.
Slow, or refusal, to forgive wrongs done to oneself.
Refusal to accept that people change.
Repeating the same mistakes over and over, and never seeking to change or improve.
Throwing fits, this doesn't always have to be a two year old on the floor kicking his legs... Adult fits can be something like "the silent treatment" or refusing to even look in someone's direction because they offended you.
Constantly allowing offense to take place in your life and throwing it off as everyone else's problem.
Using people to advance yourself or agendas.
And finally, allowing yourself to be robbed of valuable relationships and companionships with people, because they're just going to "do you wrong like everyone else."

These are just some behavior and characteristics I have seen in my lifetime among the immature. We should strive to move past such behavior and when we do, we will find such peace!

I can't help but laugh when I think of how in High School, it was as if the world ended because the dream couple broke up, this girl looked at that girl like this, cliques separated people, and so forth and so on. Such behavior still makes me laugh, but really makes me sad in my heart, because there is so much more to life than High School-themed drama! I see adults behaving almost exactly the same as those high schoolers I remember. Bible school students and graduates perpetuating such behavior, rather than fostering an environment of godliness, love, and forgiveness.

Being caught up in such insignificant issues is so selfish, and lacks true perception of what is truly important! Our focus should be on what is found in the Word and reaching people with the truth of the Word of God and God's love for both saints and sinners! We should always be quick to forgive, quick to love, and slow to speak from the arena of emotion. Simply doing those three things will keep peace in our lives and help maintain a pure love walk!

Love to my readers around the world,
JRT