Category: Whispers (Page 7 of 161)

Life would not be as exciting if we only listened to our own thoughts and saw things only from our own narrow perspective. When we are with others we see the importance of all parts of the body. We may be only the eye, but we also need the ear, the mouth and other parts of the body, as Paul said in I Cor. 12. It’s good to be in groups that are not exactly like us, for we see how the Holy Spirit can teach us through them and add to our life with the Lord. There are many streams that come together and Al and I have loved receiving from many various ones. Some we wouldn’t necessarily like to take in as a steady diet, but we are blessed and appreciate a fresh outflow of the Spirit. When we were at a pastor’s retreat, during worship many knelt by the pew with hands raised in worship and my heart was touched.  When we travel to see our kids, we do love to attend their churches, which are all different from one another and add richness to our lives.

Whether we go to a sacramental church, or a charismatic church, a contemplative church, Catholic church, Evangelical church, etc. we can experience the richness of God’s love. It’s good to be open so we don’t experience imbalance or become prideful that ours is the only expression. Let us all pursue our life with the Lord and cooperate with how the Holy Spirit wants to lead us.

When we feel our peace disrupted, we can ask ourselves, “What am I hanging onto that is not yet dead in me?” If we don’t care what others say about us because we belong to Jesus, then we can forgive what is said against us and receive comfort from the Lord. Or maybe we are troubled because of something we have done that was unkind. We need to be quick to apologize and ask forgiveness. We need to pursue peace and ask the Lord to show us if there are hidden things within us that have robbed us of our peace with Him and need to go to the cross.

Often bad things happen outside of our control and our first response should be to run to Jesus. Share with Him and instead of getting upset, let us pray and let go of negative thoughts. If we think about ourselves all the time, we will be filled with self-pity every time things don’t go our way. That is not a happy way to live, but it is our choice. Do we want to feel sorry for ourselves or do we want to have an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness. A thankful heart is a peace-filled heart.

Challenge for today: Pursue peace and give up anything in your life that is robbing you of His peace.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

I read what Ines Velasquez-McBryde had to say about the questions Jesus asked. Jesus was prone to ask many questions of his disciples and others, such as, “Who do people say that I am?” While teaching he said to the crowd, “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye and do not notice the log in your own eye?” The interesting thing is that throughout the gospels Jesus asked 309 questions and was asked only 183 questions in return, but he directly answered only three of them. He often answered questions with another question, and sometimes the answers were really found in the questions themselves.

Of course, the Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t ask honest questions because they were out to trick Jesus. Just note how Jesus handled their question so wisely when asked if it was right to pay taxes to Ceaser by the Herodians and Pharisees. He responded by asking to see a denarius and then quizzed them of whose likeness and inscription was on it. When they said Caesar’s, Jesus told them, “Render to Caesar’s the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17) They marveled for He did not get tripped up, for He read their motive.

Jesus invites us to ask Him our questions. We all have them, and why not go to Him who is all-wise and all-knowing. We may also sense Him asking us questions: maybe if our motive is right, or if we believe something is from His hand rather than a coincidence.

We can seek the Lord and affirm our trust in Him: “Lord, I need you and believe you have got this! I am going to trust you and watch how you bring this all together.” Then instead of getting anxious and anticipating the worst, we think on how good God is and remember Psalm 107:1, “O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.” It is a time to believe what we say to others: God is good, He is love, and have positive expectations, rather than dread. We are to be people of hope who look to the Lord as our source and to know we are not in charge, He is! When we come to really believe He is a good God, we can rest in the knowledge that He has wonderful plan for our lives and can be trusted. Jeremian 29:11 (Message) says, “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

Only the Lord can meet our needs, and although God works through others, they can never be responsible or capable of making us happy for they have their own weaknesses. Only the Lord is our source for every one of us is selfish, He alone is all good. So let us expect the best from the One who loves us perfectly and enjoy each day He gives us.

I am not the same person Al married years ago. even though we celebrated our 60^th wedding anniversary. Hopefully we all are not the same as we were even a year ago, for when we are open to the Lord, we are always changing. He never forces His will on us, so our response is so important if we want to grow. A good motto to keep before us is: “More of Him and less of me!” Paul says in Galatians 2, “I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not ‘mine,’ but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

God wants to transform each one of us and the Holy Spirit works the changes in us if we are open. He helps us to change our actions, our responses and gives us peace. It is important that we feed on the Word so he can change even our thinking.  Change begins in our thoughts and we have peace when our minds are stayed on Him. The Holy Spirit is only too glad to remind us when our thoughts are not godly, guiding us to reject them and instead to think God’s thoughts. Let us ask Him to take our wandering minds and fill them with thoughts from Him.