Kath's Korner

¹³Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. ¹⁴May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:13-14

“The Hebrew people came to take a great pride in circumcision; in fact, it became a badge of their spiritual and national superiority. This practice fostered a spirit of exclusivism instead of a missionary zeal to reach to reach out to other nations as God intended.”[1]

This am, while studying this passage from Galatians, the Lord began to convict my heart. Even though i am a follower of Jesus, member of a group of fellow followers, tithe regularly, teach and train young people in the Word of God, help to lead a small group of followers of Jesus, counsel other followers and write training manuals of the Word for families, i have not love if my title of “Christian” has become a means of exclusivism.

My husband and i live in a neighborhood where we are surrounded by families of all dynamics – single parent families, nuclear families, stepfamilies, interracial families. I’m not sure, but there might even be multi-generational families.

The Lord has brought us through many trials and sufferings including single parenting, step parenting, adoptive parenting and multi-generational parenting. From 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 we see that God comforts us in our trials and sufferings so that we can comfort others.

So, in a practical sense, what does that mean? We are to use the healing that God has brought to our hearts to heal others in their trials and sufferings. It means that we are not called to be comfortable in our own little world of “me and God” and “I’m so glad I am saved and not like the heathen that surround me”. It means that if God calls us to go next door with a plate of cookies or fresh produce from our gardens and tell them we have sinned against them by avoiding them, that we do it. It means that if God calls us to go to the store and encourage the sales clerk that has been rude to us, then we do it. In fact, it means that if God has called us to speak His Word of healing to a dying person in a closed country and to the person who is killing him even if it means our death, then we do it.

Let’s look at why we love with such intensity:

¹³ See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹⁴ Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—

¹⁵ so will he sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 52:13-53:12

This is the picture of Jesus, the God-man dying for us on the cross. He became the final sacrifice so that we could be freed from our sins. He became the final sacrifice so that we could be free to love others and give them the healing that He gave us. He became the final sacrifice so that we could turn from our cozy comfortable lives and go to the nations – our neighbors, our communities, and our world.

So, what do we, the church, do, what do i do with the attitude we have copped from being followers of Jesus? The attitude of “me and God” and “I’m so glad i am saved and not like the heathen that surround me”? What do we do to turn from this sin against our fellow man? We go to our Dad with broken contrite hearts, confess our sin ands ask His forgiveness and He will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Father, we cry out to You to forgive us this terrible sin against You and the people You have called us to go to. We know that we are sinners and that You brought Your Son to die for us that we could be saved and have a relationship with you. But we have used this for our own vain glory. We have lived in our safe little worlds without giving You out to the nations that surround us. God, hear our hearts, forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness so that we can be used by You to reach the nations.

Our words have the power to heal or destroy. Our words reveal the battle of thoughts in our minds. Our words expose our hearts. Our words can determine our eternity.

Let’s look at a couple of passages in God’s Word;

• Reckless words pierce like a sword,
  but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18




• Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
  sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

• The tongue has the power of life and death,
  and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

• With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. James 3:9,10

From these passages we see that our words have the power to give life or give death.

I’ve been crying out to God the last couple of months to help me take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5b). The enemy has been working overtime lately trying to keep me focused on hurts and offenses from the past, and situations in the family and the people to whom my husband and I minister. This past Sunday morning was the most torturous morning I’ve experienced thus far. Satan was hurling every negative thought at me, sins, hurts, pains, etc, etc. I felt as if I were falling into a black hole, felt physically sick and mentally numb. I asked my husband to pray for me and, as he did, the Lord brought to mind to read Psalm 27. When I finally submitted to His urgings, I opened the Bible to Psalm 27, began to read, and the blackness left immediately.

Later that day at church after the teaching, the Lord urged me to share the experience, and so I did. A person I did not know came up to me, said they needed prayer and poured out their heart. I prayed for them and encouraged them to become a part of one of our small groups. I wondered later if I had not experienced the struggle earlier that day and had not given it to God what would have happened to that person.

I say all this to explain how the enemy works – he fills our minds with thoughts that are not ours’ and keeps pressuring until we give in to those thoughts and let the poison spew out of our mouths. Or we cry out to God and take captive our thoughts to become obedient to Jesus. The thoughts we keep work their way down into our hearts so that what we speak is what is in our hearts[1] – the accumulation of past struggles, failures, successes and experience.

If you’re with me up to this point you’re probably wondering about how our words determine our eternity. The Bible says in Matthew 12, verses 35 through 37 – ³⁵The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Pretty sobering words.

Today, brother and sister in Jesus, cry out to God to bring your thoughts captive to Him that He may heal your heart and use your words to heal others!

Matthew 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’

Romans 10:8-10 ⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: ⁹That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Once I have found that in my total brokenness I am still loved, I become free from the compulsion of doing successful things.

Henri Nouwen on brokenness and the love of God

“The measure of a man is not his strength; it is the depth of his nobility. The measure of a person is how he or she treats those who are less gifted, less intelligent, and less able. The measure of a Christian is how willing he or she is to reach down and help those who are less fortunate-to take the strength and advantage they have to help those who have not.”

Frank Peretti

“Any gift you receive from God is not for yourself, but for others. The strong are strong to protect the weak; those with abundance are blessed so that they can help the needy; the smart and wise are gifted to help the befuddled and foolish.”

Frank Peretti

¹²Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rules in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:12-17

Been thinking about relational issues we humans struggle with, especially concerning our families. Why is it so much easier to have healthy relationships with people outside our families?

Paul talks with the church in Colossi here giving them instructions on how to treat each other. He says clothe yourselves with these virtues; compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Let’s talk about clothing for a minute.  It covers your body, makes you feel good about yourself if it’s you favorite color, style, etc. Keeps you warm in cold weather, or cool in hot weather. Also, can prevent frostbite and skin cancer.

However, clothing also shows other people what kind of people we are and where our hearts are at. Are our clothes modest? Exhibitional?  Have sayings that edify or destroy people? Let’s take a minute and inventory our wardrobe. What does our clothing say about us? What does it say about the attitude of our hearts?

Paul said to wear compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Then put on the overcoat of love.  These virtues are seen in the person of Jesus. Read through the gospels and observe how He interacted with people. In Matthew 9, verses 35 through 38 we see His compassion.  Jesus exhibits humility as He forgives the paralyzed man in Mark 2:1-12, then later heals the man to show the people His authority. Continuing on through Luke and John we see many examples of Jesus displaying all these virtues.

So, how do we put on these virtues as Paul commanded? Study God’s Word asking Him to reveal Himself in it. Then, we ask Him to do a work in our hearts that we would have compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And as He puts these in our hearts, we need to ask Him for more sensitivity to His voice so that we can hear Him. Then, whenever we meet with others be they family or acquaintances, we seek Him to put on more of these virtues as we interact And as He changes our hearts, family and others will see our clothing and, as a result, their hearts will want what we have. Then, we can guide them to Him so that He can touch them!  ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The sun parched tiny shrub struggled through yet another weary day,her needles dropping to the ground, her limbs shrinking in the harsh noon sun.

She cries to her Maker,

“My life is ebbing away – why are you so still?

My roots could no longer sustain water if yet the water would fall Even a mere drop of rain should I be so fortunate to catch it, would evaporate before its nutrients did their work.”

“Why are you so still?”

“Why are you so far?”

Around her the hard clay soil baked. Grass that was once green from her shade lay dead at her feet.

“Why are you so still?”

“Why are you so far?”

She bowed her once proud head down one last time to the ground and        waited for the death she knew would soon engulf her. Moaning in despair, the last of the tiny shrub’s needles dropped to the ground joining the brown lifeless grass.

Beyond the field the tiny shrub called home, another like her pushed his roots further into the hard clay soil. He’d seen many seasons like this one and had learned quickly the moisture to sustain his life ran deep within. His Maker had answered his pleas for rain as a young plant with the command , “Go deep, little shrub, go deep. The nutrients you need can be found only in the foundation I’ve made for you. Stretch your roots deep within and you will find My life-giving eternal spring. And as you grow, your shade will protect the soil beneath you. All that I’ve planted in it will find life as you drink. Little shrub, there will be many dry seasons in this life I’ve given you. You will survive and flourish only if your roots run deep.”

Strangely, the tiny dying shrub had been told the same life-giving words as a young plant. Only she never seemed to find the time to stretch her roots and go deeper. Her life in the hard clay soil had always been focused on how delicate her branches were. Fighting to keep her needles spotless from the waste of the birds that tried to perch on her branches, she’d primp and puff herself out so the sun’s rays would reveal her delicate beauty. In the life giving spring seasons she would pour all of her strength into her needles making them hard and cold to further discourage the birds from perching or other predators from munching.

Even though seasons of rain had provided her fragile being with life giving nutrients, it never occurred to her that the One to supply it should be thanked.

Concern for the plants she could have provided shade for never even entered her thoughts.

Now as she struggled one more time for vanity before her death, she cried out,

“Why are you so still?”

“Why are you so far?”

“Do you see the dead grass around you little shrub?” her Maker declared, “Do you see the clay cracks and breaks at your feet?”

“Deep beneath you is life giving water, the eternal spring I commanded you to push your roots into.”

“I created you to provide shade for this lifeless grass surrounding you.

Many other plants could have benefited from that shade. Birds could have fed from the berries your branches should have produced. I put you in this spot in this land to feed and nourish others. You have kept all I’ve given you for you and you alone!”

The tiny shrub tried desperately to raise herself up and straighten her once proud branches to begin her defense.

“You no longer have the energy to even speak to me! Indeed I would have you be silent as I pronounce your eternal doom. Your life has done nothing to benefit My Kingdom. You’ve encouraged no one.

The bit of shade you provided for this lifeless grass gave it its pitiful existence for just a short season.”

“Your vanity has eroded and destroyed, therefore your life is eroding and I shall destroy it.”

And the tiny shrub’s Maker reached down and pulled the plant easily from the soil and plunged her into the eternal fire of doom.

Across the field the older shrub watched as his Maker snuffed out the tiny shrub’s life. The moisture from his roots stole up through a single branch and dropped silently onto the shaded plants beneath him. He pushed his roots deeper into the eternal spring and fluffed his branches out to protect all that lived in his shade.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus

for the sake of you Gentiles-

Ephesians 3:1

The prisoner of Christ Jesus, a captive of Christ Jesus, bound to Christ Jesus. Having no rights of my own but only what my captor Jesus tells me to do. And who is this captor? Is He a man to fear, a man who wants only to kill, steal and destroy my life, and those my life influences?

No, this Jesus Christ I am bound to is the great Master of the universe, the great Creator of all things, the great I Am! He is before all things and through all things and in Him are all things! He has been tempted in the same way as I have been – to turn from the very thing His Father called Him to do! Yet He did not sin but died to provide us freedom from sin! Three days later He came back to life to triumph over death so that we could have life through Him!

This is the Jesus Christ who died that I might live! He is my Lord, He is my Master – He sustains my life! He is so worthy to be bound to forever!

Oh Master, let me walk with thee

through all life’s’ trials, for eternity!

Let me cause thee to reign

through all of  life’s triumphs.

Keep me yielded, yea, captive

to all thine attributes

‘Til I kneel at thy feet

Embraced by thy love

Adoring my Savior

My Master, my Love.

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, ‘ This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received. ‘

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.

The angel then said to me, ”This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.” I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. “This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.”How is it that there is no work going on here? ‘I asked.

“So sad,” the angel sighed. “After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments”

“How does one acknowledge God’s blessings?” I asked.

“Simple,” the angel answered. Just say, ”Thank you, Lord. ”

“What blessings should they acknowledge?”  I asked.

“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.”

“And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.”

“If you woke up this morning with more health than illness …. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. ”

“If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation … You are ahead of 700 million people in the
world.”

“If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed  than, three billion people in the world.”
“If your parents are still alive and still married .. you are very rare.”

“If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm,  you’re unique to all those in doubt and despair…….”

Ok, what now? How can I start?

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

ATTN:  Acknowledge Dept.
“Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful  people with whom to share it. “

Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. Deuteronomy 8:2

¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.  Deuteronomy 8:15-16

This morning’s devotion time with God i was meditating on a couple of the verses used in yesterday’s teaching, Jesus’ Temptations. I recalled in Matthew 4:4 that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  Curious about how many times the phrase “led by the Spirit” occurs in the Bible; i grabbed my concordance and began hunting. In the Old Testament I did not find “led by the Spirit”, but “God led” several times and in Ezekiel, “the man (Jesus) led”.

For this meditation we will focus on God’s leading. Notice in the above passage in Deuteronomy that God leads His people all the way in the desert purposely to test their hearts. He gives them all physical provision for the forty years they live there and instructs them to give Him the credit for all He has done so that “it may go well with them”.

Thinking about how God leads both in the past and at the present in my own life, i talked with God asking Him to help me follow His lead. He spoke to me in my spirit and gave me specific instructions to take my dog Henry for a walk and say hello to at least five people.

Grabbing the keys and dog leash i headed out the door to grab an excitedly waiting Henry and hooked the leash to his collar. We headed down the driveway and stopped at the end of the drive. Remembering my earlier request,  i asked God which way He wanted us to go and sensed we were to head south thinking that we would go up to the main east/west road. Just a couple blocks and three greetings later, we stopped and again asked God which way we should go. This time He spoke to my spirit and said, “Your choice.” So we headed toward the main east/west road and continued for a couple of blocks. Since the intersection to the main east/west road that way is blocked by construction, we had to turn down a side road to continue. Again God spoke to my spirit and said, “Take this road down to the main north/south road. “

Continuing our walk, we greeted several people and made the goal of five. I thought, “Hmm, we could just turn back since we’ve met the goal, but You said all the way down to Main Street”, so we continued walking.  Just a half block before Main Street we walked by an auto parts store where a lady was coming out to her car. She glanced down at Henry and smiled, commenting, “What a beautifully marked dog”.

Straining at the leash to try and touch her, Henry barked excitedly, and I realized from her response that we were about to make a new friend. We walked up to her (i walked, Henry leaped), and Henry jumped up on her as she bent down to scratch his ears and talk with him. Their friendship was instantaneous! She continued to pat him as she told about having to put their dog down recently. We talked a bit about how difficult that is. She thanked me for letting her pet Henry and we left. As I turned the corner on Main Street I realized that God had led us to her to comfort her in the loss of her own dog.  And He had purposely done so to illustrate the lesson He had just shown me earlier!

Beloved, i could have continued in my own path toward the main east/west road and completely bypassed the lady. She would have continued on in her day never finding that bit of comfort from Henry. Henry would never have known the difference. I would never have known the difference. The lady would never have known the difference. But God knew. He knew the lady’s need of comfort. He knew the character of Henry and that the lady needed him right at that moment. He also knew that my heart was bent toward Him and wanted to please Him.  And so, He orchestrated the whole encounter.

Beloved, I speak to both myself and to you as I say, let’s not miss the Lord’s leading in our lives. Let’s spend time with God reading and studying His Word. Let’s spend time talking with Him and listening in our spirits. And when He speaks and gives direction, let’s follow. Because we never know when someone needs a “beautifully marked dog”!