"Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."    
                                                                               Proverbs 27:17

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend time with a few fellow believers. This was outside of the church building. It was on our own time. We came together to discuss a portion of scripture as we are used to doing monthly in our bible study.  We had a blessed time of it. 

Socializing and fellowship are two different things. True fellowship always involves spiritual things being shared. It brings the Lord front and center in our midst, and He speaks through the individuals who are present. The results are blessed indeed because each person can walk away encouraged with a word from the Lord.

Who have you been spiritually keeping company with?  Are the bulk of the conversations all about shop talk, where you're planning your next trip, or what your kids have accomplished? While those things bear some importance, they do nothing for one's spiritual life. It's important to bring more to the table when we're with other Christians.

We have the responsibility to make generous deposits in each other's spiritual bank. In order to do this effectively, we have to daily sit at the feet of the Lord (reading His Word) while allowing Him to minister and speak to us and we to Him via prayer. This will allow us to walk in the Spirit. When another believer comes across our path it affords us an opportunity to share some aspect of the Lord as the conversation permits. This type of encounter can be so sweet, so vital and so uplifting.

Let us be mindful of who we're keeping company with. Not every Christian is spiritually fit to make spiritual deposits. If all we're doing is socializing every time we come in company with fellow Christians, we're missing out on the benefit and blessing of 'fellowship'.  It also means that our spiritual bank accounts are without funds.

"Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our maker!"
Psalm 95:6)
"But then I recall all you have done, O LORD; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago."
Psalm 77:11-12

We are used to being so busy running here and there that we forget what it is to make time for reflection. Taking the time to reflect and remember important things. 

There are always things to do, places to go and people to see, but we must make time in our busy schedules to stop and reflect on the goodness and graciousness of God.  It's something that should be done weekly, yes weekly because we soon forget to count our blessings by naming them one by one.

How often do you go down memory lane recalling the many times the Lord God has answered your prayers, delivered you and opened doors that led to your success? What about all of the times He sent unexpected blessings; did you stop to thank Him for that?  

If we stop to consider where we would be had the Lord not saved us by His grace, we'd see the long list of things that require praise and thanksgiving.

God desires that we be a thankful people. A people who are grateful and appreciative for everything He has done for us. We may even forget things like:

​>Waking up each day clothed and in our right minds
>Having our six senses functional
>Being fortunate in having a roof over our heads with food to eat each day
>24/7 protection
>Access to God through prayer and the reading of His Word

There are tons of things to give thanks for on the daily, but something deeper takes place within us when we start from the beginning of our lives tracing the hand of God throughout every turn in the road to where we are today. This is important to do lest we forget how far we've come by His grace.

As we near the end of another year that sped by quicker than the last one, may we stop long enough to ponder what great things God has done for us. May we think deeply on each event and praise God for all He's done in our lives.

Pruning forks are used for pruning vines and branches. Vines and branches, from what I was made to understand, need to be cut back in order for the tree to produce more fruit and much fruit.

God uses this process with His children. He insists that they grow spiritually and mature with every trial and triumph. Yes, I mentioned 'Triumph' because it's in those times of blessing and joy that are hearts grow fonder and closer to God or should. This too adds to our growth.

It's in times of trial and sorrow that are the hardest for us, at least for me anyway. Sometimes the Lord hurts us in order to heal us, He allows painful circumstances so that we may come full circle with whatever the issue is in our lives. The very thing that we prayed to not happen, sometimes is the very thing God allows. He is pruning us at this time. He feels that we need that situation for chastening purposes. It isn't necessarily that we did anything wrong or even sinned. He uses His chastening hand to perfect us spiritually, making us to be more like Him.

John 15:2 says, "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." It's an ongoing process for the believers who are obedient and faithfully following Him. I know this doesn't sound inviting, but you and I will only measure up to what God wants us to be when we allow Him to prune us.

May the Lord God help us to gain a right perspective on trials and may we come to agree with His process of maturing us and making us more like Christ. May we produce fruit, more fruit and much fruit for His glory. Amen!

When Life Is Unfair, what do we do? 

To my recollection, life has never not been unfair. Trials, and tribulations come to all. Troubles come to the weak and to the strong. Life's events do not discriminate.

There are tons of Bible passages that speak to problems and disappointments in life. We can recount the stories of Bible characters who certainly had their share of life being unfair.

Joseph, in Genesis 37, had some horrific crimes stacked against him. He was the victim of a kidnapping by his brothers (held against his will by being thrown into a pit), and then trafficked to some Ishmaelites.  If that wasn't bad enough, he was accused of sexual misconduct by his boss's wife who sexually harassed him regularly, imagine that. Joseph was thrown into prison and when he helped others, he, himself was forgotten. His story has a sweet end because God's providential face was in it all. There was a purpose in all God allowed. Joseph's obedience to God as a young man, opened him up to these horrific trials. There is a price to pay for obedience to God, but it's never without a tremendous blessing. Joseph became Governor of Egypt and saved many including his own family during seven years of a fierce famine.

David was hunted down by King Saul for many years because he was a young man of courage and character. Saul failed to have the guts as king to stand up against Goliath. It took a 17-year-old boy to verbally challenge this Philistine giant. David had had previous, powerful experiences that proved to him that he was never to be afraid of anyone or anything. Saul, on the other hand, ran and hid with his men behind a rock in fear of Goliath. Everyone's attention is now turned to this young teenage boy who took out a giant with a sling shot and a few smooth stones. Saul can't deal with the attention David is getting and seeks every opportunity to kill him (1 Samuel 19). He put David through hell. We read in the Psalms, from chapters 51 to 72, some of the heart felt agony David went through at the hands of his enemies. Having someone hunt you down for years threatening to kill you is traumatic, yet God allowed it because David was to be Israel's second king. God was through with Saul and his disobedient heart.

Lastly, we have a woman by the name of Hannah who couldn't have children. She was the second wife of Elkanah in 1 Samuel 1. His first wife, Peninnah, had several children, and she made it her business to attack Hannah every chance she got. She made Hannah's life miserable. This went on for quite some time. Hannah's husband said the wrong thing by ranking himself to be more fulfilling than having a baby. It got to the point, one day, where it all came crashing in on Hannah. She couldn't take it any longer. She stopped eating due to depression and she went into the temple to cry out to God and to add insult to injury, the priest misunderstood the situation and accused her of drinking. Oh, my goodness! The priest, I tell you, the priest! He should have had more spiritual perception to know that this was a burdened heart. He was spiritually dull and lacking. Long story short, God answers her prayer, and she becomes pregnant with a son who would become a judge and a prophet in Israel. God gave her Samuel. What a sweet end to a bitter and unfair experience.

Life is and will continue to be unfair, but when God is in the mix, you can expect great things to happen. What God allows, He allows on purpose for purposes of His own so hang in there and keep trusting and believing. God has a blessed end to it all!

Fellowship - A shared common interest.

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."
1 Thessalonians 5:11

"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."
Proverbs 27:17

As Christians we should jump for the opportunity to fellowship with each other. We should look forward to those occasions when we get together to talk and share spiritual things. This occurs in simple conversations of any topic and somewhere in the exchange one or more persons brings up the Lord in relation and in context to what is being spoken about. These can be the sweetest of times with believers because we are sharing a common interest which is the Lord God.

Gone are the days when we use to flank the homes of believers just because. I can remember stopping by the homes of fellow Christians and having a snack. During those times important things would be shared with me as a younger believer. The opportunity for learning was had and oh the gems of wisdom and encouragement I received then, and those words has continued to carry me today.

We can clearly see the need for such gatherings. We need to go back to opening our homes for such interaction to occur. We need to value it at all costs. Life and its concerns, over the years, have kept us running from one thing to another week after week, month after month, and year after year. We've had little time between family, the job, school and church activities. We pass one another and have short segments of chit chat of sorts, but often nothing valuable is shared. 

I am seeing that we may be forced to go back to meeting in one another's home to conduct church services. We could easily lose our church buildings where for decades we have met freely without fear. Something is coming that will challenge each and every Christian where this is concerned.

Let us seriously consider gathering together informally in our homes. You don't need a reason except for the encouragement and strengthening of fellow believers. Let us make the time in our schedules for such an opportunity. It can be done once a month and for those who are retired, it can be a commitment to a weekly Bible study. Home Bible studies are the best. So much can be shared and learned, and it also fosters closeness.

May the Lord help us to value what He values and to appreciate the body of Christ.

"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all."
1 Thessalonians 5:14

As Christians it is expected that we gain knowledge and understanding of the Word of God, the Bible. We need to know what pleases God, how we're to live and how we should worship Him. 

Is there such a thing as too much knowledge? Can knowledge keep us, as believers, from living out the truth of God's Word? Yes, I say Yes, too much knowledge can leave us empty in other places. Too much knowledge can be a hindrance to living out what we know in a godly way.

I've been blessed and fortunate enough to start out my Christian life among believers who were quite knowledgeable when it came to the Bible. I learned many things, even the deeper things of scripture. For that I'll forever be grateful because it kept me from a watered-down Christianity, and it kept me from following wrong doctrine. But I've also seen how some who bore this knowledge seemed to be more in-love with it, (the knowledge) than the Lord's people. I saw the insensitivity towards others and the pride that put others beneath them. I've observed how others were looked upon and how they were treated. 

From time to time, many years later, I still see this type of behavior whenever I rub shoulders with the Lord's people. I'm not referring to one particular church or gathering. I see it on the whole in places I've fellowshipped. This is unfortunate. Failure to live out what we say we know is a handicap, in my opinion. It's just information that we've stored up and pull out when we want to challenge someone or prove a point.

Knowledge without understanding with the love of God can be injurious. This type of thing turns people off. One can tell when they are loved by a fellow believer. It comes across lovingly with compassion with empathy. Even if that believer has sinned and have fell from grace, when spoken to by another Christian who exhibits humility and love, he or she will be open to hear the correction, or the rebuke which can lead to restoration. Knowledge alone cannot accomplish reaching a person's heart. 

The Bible tells us that "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" (1 Corinthians 8:1). Knowledge in itself inflates one's ego. It yields arrogance and pride. 

If we say that we have knowledge of the Word of God, we should also have the love of God to accompany what we know. Here's a couple of basic examples. When we've heard that a fellow believer is grieving due to a loss, we ought to reach out to them with the love of God, whether it is shown by sending a card, a phone call, or visiting them in their home. If it is a material loss, it may require giving to help them. In this they can see for a truth that the things you've previously preached, or shared operates in truth by your deeds. In situations where a believer is going through trials and you get wind of it, again, depending on your previous relationship with them, you can reach out to them to encourage them, to support them, or to hold out that umbrella over them as the rain falls hard upon them. Don't just tell them you're praying for them. Yes, they need your prayers, but if you are in a position to do more than that, do it. It is hypocritical to say we are knowledgeable of God's Word and ignore fellow believers in their hour of need. This in itself is sin.

God is not interested in the amount of knowledge we possess. He is interested in how we are living out what we know. There's an adage that says, "I don't care how much you know; I only want to know how much you care."

We are not responsible for the negative things that have happened to us in this life. More than likely, you and I were born into situations that we had nothing to do with. We were the innocent babies and children at the mercy of our parent's decisions and actions.

Many have had unfortunate circumstances in their childhood that shaped their personalities and altered their thinking. Their view on life has been skewed. As they grew into young adulthood, the view through the lens of a problematic upbringing has changed the path their lives would have taken had it not been for the dysfunction.

When an individual, who has come from a dysfunctional family situation becomes a Christian, that in itself is a miracle. God performs miracles like this every day. He is to be praised. Salvation is needed for all no matter what you were born into. But when you come from bad stock, or a bad family environment, the challenges you now face can be difficult. There is so much to unlearn and there is so much to heal from.

God can heal you emotionally, but you must do the work necessary for that to take place. I will use myself as the example. I came from a dysfunctional family situation that left scars upon my heart and life that were horrific. When I surrendered my life to God, I thought that would be the end of my sorrows. It was only the beginning. There was a lot of healing that needed to take place in order to get free of the chains that had wrapped itself around my heart and life.

There are conscious decisions that have to be made in order for change to take place. I had to admit to myself that I had been injured emotionally, physically and mentally. I had to admit that I had pain that was interfering with my ability to function healthily as a believer. I had to admit that I needed help to unpack my baggage. Those are not easy things to admit to oneself. Often people justify their deficits. When you get to the point where you look yourself in the face and face what's in the mirror, you are now ready for God to step in and bring healing.

There are things that become engrained in us from childhood, that the longer we live with the negative behavior, the harder it will be to overcome them. I started following Christ in my early 20's and that is when I started to lay that heavy burden down. I began dealing with the pain of my childhood. The more I read the scriptures and learned about other dysfunctional families in the Bible, I knew there was hope for me.

Prayer is a powerful tool, so use it! I began to spend more and more time talking with God and pouring my heart out to Him. I asked the hard questions and sought Him for the answers. The more I opened up those secret places to the Lord, the more comfort and help I received from Him. It took time, as all relationships do, but in time, slowly but surely, God touched me in those places that needed healing and closed up those wounds. I had to also make some hard decisions concerning my family. I had to choose separation for the sake of myself. We can heal, but if we continue to go around an infectious environment, we will re-wound ourselves and create new pain.

God wants us to be healthy and whole. We have to be willing to do the work on ourselves and trust God's Word in the process. Some Christians hide behind all sorts of things and lie to themselves and to others as they live out one life publicly, while suffering in silence privately. I've known some who have been so wounded and scarred by their upbringing that they used other things to compensate for their childhood losses. This led them into sinful lifestyles by choice. The truth of it was that all their lives they were looking for acceptance and love. Why did they not find it with Christ? They failed to do the work and what would be required of them for complete healing. Instead, they kept their scars a secret and nursed their pain year after year in behavior patterns that were ungodly.

I want you, my dear reader, to be mindful of one thing; Jesus knows your sorrows and your pain. He is well aware of your past and your childhood. He knows what you were born into. He saw what happened to you. He wants to heal you and use you and your story for His honor and glory. Please don't hide behind church activity, ministry, your talent or your gifting thinking that you will be alright. You want to get FREE of the past hurt and pain. Open up to God fully and seek His healing by praying constantly and sitting at His feet. Let Him enter into those dark spaces of your heart, those secret places, those hurtful experiences and all its pain. May God grant you the peace you need and the healing so you can be a healthy Christian.

Verses:
"Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." {Matt. 11:28}

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. {Prov. 17:22

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  {Jeremiah 29:11}

When we think of the two words, 'Use Me', we tend to lean toward service involving church, don't we? There's another perspective on those words, and yet it still is service.

God most definitely wants to use you and I to serve not only Him, but to serve others. Most of the time we are all for it. Let's take a look at what I mean by this. 

We jump at the opportunity to do something for the Lord God especially when it is something right up our alley. If we are skilled in a thing and do it well, we look for opportunity to exercise it. But what happens if you become ill? Are you still able to serve God? 

A person who took ill and had to be hospitalized cannot attend church. They are laid aside perhaps in the hospital or at home. The tendency is to think that they are not serving a purpose and therefore not useful to God during this time. Not true! There are many persons who come across the path of a sick believer from nurses, doctors, hospital aids who bring them food to social workers and surgeons. That adds up to quite a few people who regularly tend to the sick.

God is in complete control over the things His children experience. He can use us anywhere at any time and in whatever condition we may find ourselves in. That sick saint who has been out of church can continue to serve God's purposes right there in their hospital bed. How is that possible, you may ask? Well, they belong to God, and they have a testimony. They can now share Him with all who come across their path while on a sick bed. God can use their spirit and attitude to get the attention of those who are nursing them back to health and provide opportunity for a much-needed conversation to be had. God can use their words to have an impact on others in that sick room. All who handle and deal with this sick saint, have an opportunity to get a glimpse of God. That's powerful. Perhaps that is part and parcel as to why God allowed their illness because of the people who would cross their path.

When we take a look at that perspective on service, it doesn't rank up there with how we see opportunity to serve the Lord. As a matter of fact, we want to shy away from any situation that places us in the hospital or functioning at a deficit. 

Sometimes God calls some of us away from 'Church' to serve in a different capacity for a certain length of time. He has purposes unknown to us. He gets to choose. We are simply in His hands. He desires that we get a glimpse into what He's trying to do with us at that point in time.

So, the next time you are not well and have to stay home from church, think of how you could take advantage of that opportunity for God. It could be as simple as using that time to pray for others who aren't well and who need healing. Perhaps there are those who could use a phone call from you and receive much needed encouragement. You can send a card or small gift to lift the heart of someone who is going through an affliction. There's no excuse since Amazon makes it possible and easy without having to leave your home.

This is just one perspective on serving God that I want you to consider.

As Christians, we go through many things in the course of our journey here. It's never easy. We have many scriptures that encourage us to endure and to see things from God's perspective. We are told that He loves us and has our best interest at heart, and we believe that until it is tested.

I have come to the realization that there are many things that we will never understand in this life. God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. He can be unorthodox in His ways of handling us and situations involving us. 

Humans can only see what they can see, which isn't much. We try to figure out why something happened the way it happened. We use earthly means to come to conclusions about God and how He deals. I'm here to tell you that often, we are so far off the mark. We will never know why God does what He does in the way that He does it. But what we can know is where we fit into the great scheme of things. 

God uses our situations, trials and challenges for more than we know. His special work involves us, but it's not really all about us. It is so much bigger than we'll ever know. That is why it is so important to endure what He sends your way. The blessing will be yours in the end. 

The enemy has his part to play as well. All the players are at the table, but God orchestrates and directs the movements of all involved. Just think about Job. Look at the whirlwind of troubles, crisis and tragedy that engulfed his entire family. The losses were incredible and the pain phenomenal. He had no idea what God was doing. All He could see were the chain of events around him breaking him and bringing him to his knees. By the time we get to Job chapter 42, we see how his spiritual eyes have been opened and enlightened and the tremendous blessings that followed. In Genesis 41, Joseph's ordeal in prison is over and he is now governor of Egypt and the king's right-hand man, but Joseph had to endure cruelty from the hands of his brethren, lied on for doing the right thing and thrown into prison. Suffering is never easy, but for the believer it is inevitable.

We can see that the trials of these two men, Job and Joseph, were bigger than anything they could have imagined. God had a grand purpose in all He allowed. Lives were impacted by their ability to endure and not curse God. Lives were saved and spared because Joseph endured his circumstances. In Job's Day, all the people who knew him made judgement calls on why he was in the situation he was in. He was looked down upon and scorned by some. His own extended family stayed away from him. Those he once helped in their time of trouble, turned from him in his hour of need. What suffering! When God got through and delivered Job and his wife, the entire community was stunned, some no doubt was made to be ashamed, while others were in shock. They all got to see a bigger plan to it all. In the end God was glorified. God had something to say about the 'Nay Sayers' too!

So, the next time you are in a trial, a crisis, a sudden turn of events that scare the pants off of you, remember, it may involve you, but it is so much bigger than you. Pray for Grace, you'll need it. Pray for the strength to endure. Hold on to God's unchanging hand and watch Him bring you through! Get your blessing!

Although our mode of interaction has changed over the years, what's more important is the content of our conversation.

Technology has afforded us different ways of interacting with one another. Some of us rarely make voice to voice calls. We say we don't have the time. What did we do before cell phones and texting? People were busy then too, but still managed to make voice to voice calls because that's all we had, besides a face-to-face encounter. 

What is the content of our communication these days? When we do speak with one another, are we also speaking of heavenly things, spiritual things or do we merely share our worldly journey like the unbelievers? I am reminded of the passage in Luke 24, after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and there were two disciples on their way to Emmaus. They were discussing the events of the past three days. They were sharing the little faith and knowledge they had at the time with one another. They were sad, but their hearts were engaged with the Lord.

There are a myriad of things to talk about with others, but one of the subjects that should be first and foremost on our hearts is the Lord. If thoughts of Him and His Word are not on our minds, it's because He isn't on our hearts. Yes, it's a heart thing, my friend. It begins in the heart, for when we are sitting in His presence reading and praying, we can't help but speak of Him when we are around others. We can't help but share what great things He is doing in our lives; we can't help but encourage others in their faith journey.

As the two disciples walked together, the Lord drew near to them and took center place in the conversation. While He walked with them, they were stirred in their hearts and asked Him to stay longer with them. Do you have a desire to linger longer in His presence? When you are in His presence, do you want to stay longer or leave quickly? Some of us rush in and out of His presence. We rush through quiet time and run out. We have so many other pressing things to do.

Let us be encouraged to engage more with the Lord by way of spending time privately in His presence as well as sharing conversation about Him. Your relationship with the Lord God is the most important relationship there is. It needs tending to, it needs time, it needs affection from the heart. Let it be said that you and I have been stirred in our hearts as we talk one with the other about the Lord.

Malachi 3:16 says,
"Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name." (NKJV)