The question is raised...

"The spirit can endure a sick body,
but who can bear a crushed spirit?"
Proverbs 18:14


Not many, I suppose.

We eat our own. We would probably be more effective if we stopped doing that.

I was taking some time tonight to listen to Susie Larson's "Live the Promise" Faith Radio show online. It has become one of my favorite ways to relax at the end of an exhausting day lately. I can just pop the laptop open and turn her on while I sort laundry or do the dishes or whatever else I am doing. She is so rich with wisdom. I just can't get enough lately. Her show today was done with author Lisa Bevere, who wrote a book called, "Lioness Arising". I have not read the book myself, but it sounds like a really incredible call to women to step it up and boldly make a difference for the Lord. Here are just a few things that Lisa said that I thought were interesting. She likened Christians to Lionesses, and gave a few descriptions of ways that we SHOULD be like the lionesses. Here they are:

THINGS WE CAN LEARN FROM THE LIONESSES

• Each of us has a skill that we are supposed to hone to a magnificent perfection to the benefit of the whole group.
• When we work together as a STRATEGIC team we can (AND WILL) take down the enemy.
• We have an enemy.
• We need to be dangerous to the enemy.
• Right now we are really just dangerous to each other. (OUCH, huh?) Read the next line for more into this one.
• We're doing a lot of his (the enemy's) works for him by judging, gossip, and slander, and just not being who we were created to be.
• God created us to be beautifully dangerous...to be wildly compassionate and strategic.
• We need to greet and groom each other. What does not look good on Lisa does not look good on Susie. We need to help each other get to the spots that we cannot see on ourselves. We need to build each other up, training one another.
  
• Your truest beauty is not judged by what you see in the mirror but by what is reflected back at you in the lives you impact. (OH, I LOVED THAT LINE!! PLEASE, LORD, LET THAT BE SO)
  

So, that was shortened and bullet-pointed because it was taken from their longer interview. Some things were left out that were said between each point so it makes sense to me, but if it does not make complete sense to you I apologize. You can go here to listen to the interview in its entirety.

I just love how Lisa hit that point about us doing the enemy's work, rather than teaming up to fight the enemy off. I'm visual, so that works for me. I hope that helps someone else too. For any guys that come to this site I have also heard it said this way:

ALISHA'S FOOTBALL VERSION FOR THE MEN FOLK:
It would be as if we were gearing up for a football game. We get our pads and helmets on, get all ready for the game. We get out on the field, and so does the opposing team...both teams ready for a win! But, our team's focus is not actually on the win once the game gets going because each player, in turn, get distracted with lots of other things--feuds between one another--and we decide to deal with those instead. Meanwhile, the other team stays clearly focused on winning...and winning only. They are running their plays strategically and solidly, laughing at the ease at which they were winning.

GO! FIGHT! WIN!
WE have GOT to come together! IT'S WAR...but not between me and you. There are bigger fish to fry, and we are a LOT stronger when we work together strategically each of us bringing what we have to the table.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Okay, so awesome song time? SURE! Why not.



PRAYER
Lord, break our hearts for what breaks yours. We come to you for comfort, but we also realize that you call us to pass that comfort on when we are filled up. Let us be a community that loves like you love and rallies together to live out your purposes here on this earth. Amen.

How building your vocabulary allows others to see the beauty they possess

A little bit ago I wrote about how building your vocabulary can increase your beauty.

Today I would like to take that thought one step further.
There is a word for when we develop a habit of bringing out the beauty in those around us and building them up, through the words we choose to speak about them. The Bible calls this edification.

Romans 14:19 says, "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification." NIV

How do you choose to talk about the people in your life? Chances are good that if you are consistently beating yourself up for the ways you do not measure up then you will naturally do the same for anyone around you. Give yourself grace, and then offer it to those around you.

Colossians 3:13 says, "Make allowance for each others faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." (New Living Translation)

I was listening to Author and Speaker, Kendra Smiley, on Faith Talk Radio today. In her interview she blatantly said, "We're all annoying! You have to allow other people to have 3 glaring faults...Someone is making accommodations for you, so you need give them the same grace. "

She referred to Ephesians 4:2, which says, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

Paul says it this way, in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."


A word to Teens...
Are you in need of a good friend? Be a friend. ;) Seriously. Try it. It works.

A word to Wives...
Wives, do you want to see good things in your man? Start acknowledging the good that is already in him, and find ways to address the less-than-pleasant characteristics in a way that does not belittle him or tear him down. Always be on the hunt for the good in him, and be deliberate in lavishing it on him if you are not already in the habit of doing so. Build up the vocabulary you choose to use to describe your husband.

Instead of saying, "lazy, careless, shy, stupid, annoying" or "only cares about football and beer" choose to use words like, "hard-working, bread winner, handsome, charming, funny, reserved" and "took time to eat lunch with the family today". :) Take some time to come up with words that express the good he is doing on your behalf and on behalf of his family, and the potential that lies within him. Remind him of some of the things he has done in the past that were great, just for fun. Boost his ego on a day when you can tell he could use a little ego boosting. If you are really struggling to come up with anything, read some Father's Day and Anniversary cards for ideas. There is bound to be one that fits your man. ;)

If this is still hard for you to do, start praying for him every day until you have eyes to see him more and more the way God sees him. God is crazy about him, and has created him just the way he is for specific purposes. Help him to see that, through the way you speak about him, and encourage him to seek God's purposes in His life. If there are issues in his life that need addressing, pray for him and seek God's leading in dealing with those issues, but never present them in a public forum, without his consent. Respect your man. Tackle the issues you have with him in your own home, between the two of you, or with a counselor or good friend(s) you can trust.

How to be a friend who can be trusted.

Are you someone others can trust?

How can you tell if you are or not?


Here are just a couple of questions to get you thinking...


How do people come to you?

Reluctant, or open? 


How do people leave after talking to you?

Worried or Encouraged?


What is your goal when asking questions?

To help the person you are talking to or to help yourself? 


What is the first thing you do after someone opens up to you?

Blast it out on your social media of choice or take it to the Lord in prayer?

(ahem...careful with this one)


What do you do with the information you are given?

Draw conclusions about that person based on the little knowledge you have or do you trust that there is more to the circumstance than you know anything about and give it over to the Lord?

A handful of habits of a trustworthy person: 

1. Listen with your eyes and your ears.

2. Care about what your friend is trying to communicate to you.

3. Encourage your friend if he/she is seeking it.

4. Build a reputation of being someone who can be trusted to acknowledge the wishes of those you are talking to, while caring enough about them to tell the truth in love, when necessary. Don't gossip.

5. Be a person of integrity in your everyday life. When you set out to do things, do them correctly and with good moral discernment. People will see that they can trust with you with little things and will be more likely to trust you with big things. This principle applies with God as well. Prove yourself faithful and trustworthy with the little things and one day you will be rewarded with the big things. Read the following verse.

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."
Luke 16:10

In an effort to be concise, here are a few other verses that shoot straight to the heart of this issue...

"A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth." Ecclesiastes 7:1

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Exodus 20:16

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant." 1 Corinthians 13:4

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved."
- George MacDonald

May the words of my mouth give grace to those who hear them.

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

How we are empowered when our hope, will, and strength is in the Lord.

Twice a month , a group of amazing women all gather at my church in the foyer. Last week I had the opportunity to listen to some of their hearts. The conversation started with how to deal with a child who is being bullied verbally at school, and ended with the power of speaking blessings over our children. There were all kinds of great ideas sandwiched in between there. Here's just a glimpse of where my mind went on that Thursday morning...

DAMAGING WORDS

Have you ever had someone say something cruel to you, call you something negative or demeaning, or blurt out an insult that just crushed your spirit?? Most of us can think of an instance when an insult carried a lot of weight on how we saw ourselves...more than it should have. When this happens, we need to be intentional about healing that hurt. We need to ask the Lord, "Is this thought from you"? If it isn't then it needs to be corrected, immediately, before too much damage takes root in our hearts and minds. Pray and ask God to show you what HIS truth is about who you are. If the thought does not jive with the fact that God loves you, it is an incorrect thought. Replace it with what God wants to say to you.

HEALING WORDS BRING NEW IDENTITY IN CHRIST

God gave new names to people in the Bible to establish a new identity that called them to a higher standard and a special purpose in this world.

• ABRAHAM AND SARAH'S identity changed...(Genesis 17:15).

God changed Abram’s "high father" name to Abraham "father of multitude".
God changed his wife's name from Sarai “my princess,” to Sarah “mother of nations”.

We know, now, from history that it was God's plan that the descendants of Abraham and Sarah would form many nations, including the Jews and Muslims.

• JACOB ISRAEL AND SIMON PETER'S identity changed...(Genesis 32:28)(John 1:42)

God changed Jacob’s "supplanter" name to Israel “having power with God” .
He changed Simon’s "God has heard" name to Peter "rock" .

We find in the Bible that Jesus occasionally called Peter “Simon” after He had changed His name to Peter. This might have been because Simon sometimes acted like his old self instead of the rock God called him to be...something we are all prone to do, I think. The same is true for Jacob. God continued to call him Jacob to remind him of his past and to remind him to depend on God’s strength.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS?

We must continue to remind ourselves day after day, hour after hour, who God says we are in Him. (It's where we find our purpose) Life has a way of tearing us down and building us back up, but who God says we are is what really matters. I'm sure that there were plenty of times when Simon Peter looked at his reflection and thought, "I FEEL like a Simon, but JESUS SAYS I'm a Peter!" We must trust our feelings less, and our God more.

I have been doing a lot of posts on edification (building each other up). We are all on our own spiritual journey, and must offer one another grace as we continue to learn more about who God calls us to be. Grace is freeing and that's empowering, but grace without conviction keeps us stuck where we are. Edification takes it one step further. Edification says, "I see where you are, and you are loved just as you are... but I also see where you could be, and I want to encourage that in you". Grace combined with conviction and edification from Christ gives strong and continual power to every believer. Learn who you are in Christ, develop confidence in what He is able to do in and through you. As you learn to do this, you will become a person who demands respect, without ever having to ask for it.

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH THIS THOUGHT IMMEDIATELY?

What are you saying about, and to, the people around you in their presence and in their absence? Are you speaking empowering words of spiritual healing and restoration?

-Or-

Are you adding salt to an open wound, with damaging words, and constant reminders of how they have failed in your opinion?

Find a piece of God in the people around you and offer words that encourage your brothers and sisters to embrace that part of themselves. Each person is born in the image of Christ, but it has been masked by sin. The damage (and sometimes the scar) of the sin still remains. Even THIS can be used to God's glory! Encourage, build one another up in Christ.

I want to hear from you. Have any of you been offered a compliment that changed who you were, even just for a day? What did that look like for you? How did it empower you?

Post a comment, share your story, and doing so, encourage someone else to speak words of edification to those around them. There is power in Jesus' name...and we can tap into that power when we choose to accept the name Jesus gives to us.

Negative personalities made positive when placed in the hands of our Father.

All negative personality traits have a positive spin when they are placed in the redeeming hands of God. We want to offer edification to others, seeing the best in them. God sees the best in people from the time they are born. He is fully aware of the strengths people possess that have not been tapped into yet. Allow yourself to take a moment to read over some of these negative personality traits I found, and the ways they can made positive under the leading of the Lord...

A person who is thought to be stubborn would also someone who would remind us to be persistent and persevere.

Hebrews 10:36
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

A person who is critical would teach us to practice discernment.

Proverbs 3:21
My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight;

A person who is thought to be bossy has potential to be a great leader.

Proverbs 11:14
For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure.

A person who comes across as arrogant will not be as likely to shrink down when they are called to speak boldly for the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:12
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

A person who is controlling is usually decisive and has the ability to take the lead when a need presents itself.

Exodus 32: 34
Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you...

A person who is timid and fearful will usually exhibit caution, weighing situations and seeking wisdom before taking action.

Hebrews 5:14

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

A person who is blunt can deliver a steady directness, and a stay-the-course truthfulness.

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Any negative trait you see in yourself, or in others, can be turned into a positive trait that can be used for glorifying God. We should practice discernment, continually seeking God's will in our lives. We should be laying down our strengths at His feet, giving Him permission to be at work in our lives, understanding that any good in us was put there to bring God glory. Trust that God is at work in your life. Trust that God is also at work in the lives of those around you. He is in the business of fine-tuning. God is patient with us as we develop our understanding of Him, so we should also be patient with others. Have an awesome day! God sees you right where you are at, He loves you, and wants GREAT things for you!