Tue, Apr 19th - 8:43AM

I thank God that He has given us the courage for self examination, it certainly increases humility and helps us to avoid being a  hypocrite. Beloveds, we know that self examination has nothing to do with narcissistic self absorption, or "self discovery". In fact the scriptures states that: Pro. 18:2  A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

When we examine outselves with self as the center, we abandon sound principles of conduct, and dishonor God. Without any condemnation we can stand before God, and allow the Holy Spirit to help us see and amend our blind spots so that we can see clearly to help a brother or a sister to do what God wants. I freely admit that when I followed God's instruction-No! Command, to first get the beam (Mt. 7:3) out of my own eye so that I could help my brother with the mote that was in his, I was unhappy and saddened at what was revealed about myself.

 This was short-lived; as I accepted and repented of my own past behaviors of a similar nature, and the love of God which is never diminished flooded my heart. Suddenly anger about him left and instead of being angry with my brother, I felt compassion. Now, instead of just seeing his offence, I saw his many virtues, and support that he has given me over the years as my very good friend-like family in word and deed.

I called my brother to thank him for his consistent friendship and encouragement of many years, and praised God for his many virtues. I frankly let him know how grateful I was to God, for putting him in my life, to provide a godly example of faithfulness on many levels. Then without much ado, I simply encouraged him that ALL of us have to be careful to give everyone an opportunity to offer up their prayers to show them that we All valued one another, as having something worth hearing. That was that. The next prayer meeting he monitored and checked himself, the offending behavior was gone, he was now conscious of the need to give others a chance to participate in the prayer meeting. 

Brethren, I am so glad that God checked me, and kept my big mouth shut and kept me from running in anger to "correct" my brother. God has given us a clear path to know how we must conduct ourselves with one another. My brother and I are closer than ever-thanks be to God. Only what we do for God will last. One final thought one day I noticed a young infant, hitting itself in the face, and was surprised-not realizing it was his own hand doing it. Of course as infants develop they come to realize that their hands are a part of their own body that they can control. I think in the same way -even as adults- we have to spiritually develop to understand we cause some of our own problems, that we can amend when we recognize their origins are out of self, which  God expects us to mature and correct.

Lets keep on growing brothers and sisters, lets keep on doing what God wants, not what we want, out of love for Him. Now the God of peace enpower you and me to live the life of Christ, until He returns.

love

serola

Fri, Apr 8th - 9:46AM

At a recent prayer meeting, a brother instead of praying began a long rambling tirade about how bad things were-the church had too much emphasis on making money; nobody wants to hear the gospel, and on and on. He was completely blind that he was taking much of our limited time with his personal pontifications. One brother firmly but gently reminded him, that our focus was to be on prayer. He took up so much time that others did not get much input. Even after the prayer service, he cornered others to tell them of how he thought they should live, while spewing out various criticisms of anyone and any thing he could think of.

I read an interesting article on communication that said when we want to do all the talking, and little or no listening, we communicate that the other person has nothing worth saying, and also that the person has little value to us. This is so true. No obviously, holy brothers and sisters, this cannot be allowed to go on, as it is hurtful to the brethren, and out of order before the Lord. It would be easy for me to wait for the next meeting and just jump on the brother when he acts out again, but God expects us to operate on a higher level. We only have ONE standard-the Holy Bible correctly interpreted and lived out before God and men.

I have begun to look at the beam in my own eye, some want to correct others without examining their own behavior. I want to do what God wants, and self examination does not come easily; but with the help of the Holy Spirit, I repented of the times that I talked too much and listened too little; and was made to see how damaging and hurtful I was to my hearers. I am continuing in prayer that God will help us to  look at our own blind spots, and turn from them to do things God's way.

 I will continue to pray for all of us that our Lord will help us to live consciously that our behavior good or bad, impacts the lives of others, and to pray that our Lord will continually strengthen us to live according to His word, and not our own selfish desires, that His Name will be glorified.

Our words have power, and must be used with wisdom and care to build up and not tear down, even in correcting, admonishing and disciplining one another, for Lord Jesus' sake. The scriptures has everything we need for this life, and we must trust God and take Him at His word for our lives to have true meaning. Beloveds, lets keep on growing in the Lord, Lets seek to know and live the life He has given us according to His everlasting, unchanging  and eternal standard. I thank God mightily for all the brothers and sisters He has planted in my life, and has given us the opportunity to show forth the love and care that God has given us for one another.

love

serola