Tag: death

Warrior Words

I think about the word of God. He said let there be,
and it was. And now thousands of years later, it still is.

Then I think of
the Psalms. Most were written by David, before and after he was king. His words
still have power today, thousands of years later, to change and touch lives.

When David was
just a boy tending the family sheep and he would sing songs to Father God, I
don’t think he had any inkling that those very songs would be a witness to
people thousands of years into the future.

I’m willing to bet most biblical characters never
thought Father God would be using things they have said and done to help reproach,
teach, inspire and encourage us today.

Who am I to think my words will somehow go unnoticed?
Maybe Father God intends to use my gossip session as a lesson of what not to
do, a few hundred years from now.

Matthew 15:18-19 NLT — But the words you
speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

Think of our words as warriors we send out into the
world. They are unstoppable once uttered. Once they are loose there is no way
to change our minds and call them back. These warriors go out with mission and
purpose and they don’t rest or sleep and they never tire. There are two tribes
of warriors we all have available to us in endless numbers. The white warriors
and the gray warriors. Every single word we give voice to and speak out is
activation of either the white warriors or the grey warriors.

Once uttered the white warriors will go out to spread goodness,
kindness, gentleness, peace, patience, joy, forbearance, self-control, faithfulness
and love. The gray warriors will go out spreading gossip, division, hate,
anger, lies, intent on killing, stealing and destroying.

No matter what, one or the other, white or grey, are
attached to every single word we utter or give voice to. The possibility of empty
words containing no warriors at all doesn’t exist. Even empty words we choose
to say that have no emotion or meaning behind them whatsoever, still contain either
white or grey warriors. So no matter what if we choose to speak we release
warriors. We either utter life giving
words or words that will end up being a curse upon somebody else or even
ourselves.

James 1:26 NLT — If you claim to be
religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your
religion is worthless.

Our words are very, very powerful! Although
we are told this over and over in God’s Word, we still speak so carelessly. We
allow words to slip from our lips, choosing to stay blind to what we create for
our own reality, and blessing or hurt we speak over those around us.

Proverbs 29:20 NLT — There is more hope for
a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking.

The enemy deceives us with the lie, “sticks and stones,
may break my bones, but your words can’t ever hurt me.”

Scripture tells us opposite.

The truth is, sticks and stones, have less chance of breaking
my bones, than your words, that are sure to curse me.

I had a few physical fights with girls I went to school
with when I was young. Thinking back, I cannot remember any physical pain or injuries
I may have obtained from those altercations. I can however, remember all the mean things girls in school
would say about me, as if they were just said yesterday.

Words that have emotion behind them, good or bad, gray
or white, have more power to cause what they’re bent out to cause such as, good
or bad, hurt or help, division or unity, destroy or encourage, hate or love.

Proverbs 21:23 NLT — Watch your tongue and
keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.

When our words come from reaction to something or
someone, we, by reacting, open a door to the enemy. The enemy then takes over
and manages our reality. As long as the enemy can keep us reactive and speaking
emotionally, we cannot elevate spiritually because our words keep us in
bondage.

If however we choose to practice self-control and decidedly
bite our tongue, choosing not to react, we maintain control of our own reality.
We also, as we hold our tongue and remain self controlled, realize we had the
means of spiritual growth, all along. We also start to see the floodgates of
blessings open up, as we choose our words carefully.

Proverbs
18:20-21 KJV — A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth;
and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the
power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

We have to
understand, we don’t get to choose if our words hurt or help others just
because of how we meant them. No matter if we think someone should discern our
meaning or not, wont stop them from feeling the way our words made them feel. We
cant dismiss our responsibility for the effects our words have by saying we
didn’t mean it like that. This includes the words we utter about ourselves. We
say things like, I always lose, I’m just clumsy, I’m not good at that, etc.
Etc. We barely notice we are living the very things we allow ourselves to speak
out. Whether we like it or not our words every single one that comes from our
mouth has power to do either good or harm.

Proverbs 12:13-14 NLT — The wicked are
trapped by their own words, but the godly escape such trouble. Wise words bring
many benefits, and hard work brings rewards.

James 3:5-10 NLT — In the same way, the
tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a
great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of
wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire,
for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals,
birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and
evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and
sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so
blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers
and sisters, this is not right!

Friends, the words we speak have a power we can’t seem
to truly imagine. None the less whether
we can imagine their power or not, wont
change the power they possess or the consequences, of our carelessness, in
which we speak them.

Until next time, may God bless you and keep you, as you
seek Him with your whole heart.

Only reacting

You know that aged old question, “what came first, the chicken
or the egg?” I wonder instead what came first, the thought or the manifestation?

So often I hear people say things like, “ I said that
because they said this” or “ if they didn’t do that to me I wouldn’t have done
this to them. ‘ We are only reacting to
whatever life seems to throw at us.

I wonder though… if we found out that our reality is not
defined by what gets thrown at us, instead it’s defined by our reaction, would
we change the way we react?

I have often contemplated, the commandments of Father God, maybe
are less command and more protective defense.

Also the Fruit of His Spirit we are to grow within us and
share with the world, what if He is
giving us tools for success not just do as I say, because I said so,… rules to
follow.

Take for instance self-control, if we mastered self-control,
it may stand to reason that we would become a lot less reactive, and way more purposeful in our responses to all life’s situations. Its very likely,
that most, if not all, drama and stress in our lives would disappear.

It also amazes me how easily deceived we are when it’s
pertaining to our own personal character.

We are more than willing to help in the assessment of other
people’s character, sometimes jumping in with our two cents before being
invited into the conversation.

Yet when it’s our own character being assessed, that we may accidentally overhear, rarely do
we listen self- controlled, ready to make adjustments to our own character
based on what we overheard. No… more likely we react defensively pouring out every component surrounding our
personal circumstances that may be unrealized by our assessors thereby making their
assessment of our character unmerited. Meanwhile our emotions having been
stirred are making it difficult if not impossible to remain self-controlled.

Knowing the rather high probability that this is truly the
way we would respond, still never seems to detour our two cents jumping into
either invited or uninvited conversations about others. Somehow we think only
our circumstances deserve to remain un-assessed by those without full disclosure.
It never crosses our minds that we don’t truly know enough to give any value to
our two cents in the first place so maybe we should change our thoughts instead
of devaluing our two cents by putting it out there having no backing.

No matter what life throws at us, it’s our decision and the
implementation of said decision that truly becomes our reality. Whether we are self-controlled or instead react
emotionally determines who is truly in the control seat bringing forth our
reality.

Reacting permits an open door for the enemy to take over the
control of our reality. Our reacting means an almost immediate emotional
response that’s lacking in self-control.

Not only can the enemy at that point take control of our
reality but he tends to keep it by triggering those same emotions over and over
and over again.

1 Peter 5:8 NIV — Be alert and of sober mind. Your
enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour.

Galatians 6:7-8 KJV — Be not deceived; God is not
mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that
soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to
the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Father God is no respecter of person and He will not be
mocked. No He doesn’t play favorites no matter who does or doesn’t go to
church, who prays more, who’s intuitive enough to be right more often than not,
even based upon who is actually right and who’s wrong in accordance with His
Word.

Our job has never been to sit and contemplate who is or is
not acting according to His Word anyway. That is between them and God. The Holy
Spirit has never been fired and is still in charge of conviction.

Because we are weaker alone and isolated, the enemy causes
division among us and with the using of the mandate to be discerning, we are deceived into believing we aren’t
really judging people.

Ephesians 4:29-32 KJV — Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that
it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with
all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

No matter what situation we find ourselves in, and no matter
who we believe needs a small nudge or a big shove, back onto the straight and
narrow, two things remain true and worth our consideration,

1. To react, is
giving the enemy a very high probability of winning control, however temporary,
over our reality, keeping us in bondage.

2. We don’t get to
pick and choose what parts of God are trust worthy enough to have faith in. We
either have complete faith in Him, or we don’t.

Until next time may God-bless you and keep you as you seek
Him with your whole heart.

RIP Daddy

I have been considering my thoughts about this particular blog post to be selfish or self-seeking so I kept stopping myself from writing it. I try very hard to analyze my own motives in an effort to refrain from self-righteous and selfish behavior. Even as I write these words, I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me so I don’t gain from them any pity from my readers who’s big hearts may be drawn to feeling sorry for me. However, I feel led to share my very real thoughts and emotions over the circumstances I now find myself in the midst of. I knew it was coming I watched as it drew closer and closer. I allowed myself to feel hope and I wouldn’t allow myself to dwell on any possibility that could shatter the hope within me, so I had every opportunity to prepare myself for what I knew was going to happen but instead I refuse to face it. Then ready or not the inevitable took its rightful place and here I am in a kind of dream-like state of all-consuming disbelief and in the in-escapable knowing, I think it’s almost like shock yet I am cognitively and rationally still very much here. I know God’s Word says, 1 Thessalonians 4:13 but we do not want you to be uninformed, Brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. I have not lost hope and I’m not angry. I don’t feel like a victim of life’s hardships. Still I ask myself, what’s wrong with you? Everybody goes through this at some point in their lives. And it’s not like it was a shock or surprise, he was 79 years old after all and because of his heart he already lived long past the doctors estimates. I guess even those who are given time to prepare for this, still find they were not prepared or ready when the time finally came. Not long ago I was sitting by his bedside and he said to me, “please don’t be mad or hate me because I don’t want to be here anymore”. I was shocked to hear such words from the man I considered to be strong, proud, honest, rock solid and unbreakable. He couldn’t wait to meet Jesus he said. I smiled at him and said, “Daddy I couldn’t be mad or hate you for that, if I had a choice I would rather be in heaven with Jesus too”. They say it’s rather common for girls to be daddy’s girls. As common as daddy’s girls may be, I wonder if every daddy’s girl feels as though they are the exceptionally rare kind of daddy’s girls? I want to say, “no you don’t understand, I’m not the average daddy’s girl, it’s much, much, more than that, so much more special. There is no statistic for the special bond that daddy and I had. Daddy was my mentor, my safe place, my protector, my wise counsel, my most honest critic, my disciplinary, my preacher, my hero and my friend. He taught me how to defend myself, he always went to battle for me when an authority over me wouldn’t listen. Like the time he told the school principal and school counselor to put boxing gloves on me and the girl who had been harassing me for over a year and then put us in the gym until we work out our differences. Speechless at first, one finally spoke up and said we can’t do that Mr. Anderson! In which my dad replied then don’t call me when my daughter kicks that girl’s butt in self-defense! He told them he would guarantee that his daughter wouldn’t start the fight but she had better finish it and he didn’t want to hear a thing from the school about it. He taught me on the way home that most the fight was in the mind so I needed to intimidate her by staring her down while putting down my books slowly taking off my jacket my watch my rings etc. wait until she came at me and then take her down. He was absolutely right and it just so happened that so many had seen the fight, not one person picked on me the rest of that year. Another time my science teacher wouldn’t let me bring my Bible to class to show there is another view on how we all came into existence. I told him I believe in creation and won’t answer test questions or write essay stating evolution is fact. He said he would have to flunk me. My dad agreed with my viewpoint so once again he went to school. This time I didn’t get to hear what my dad had to say but I was told my Bible is welcome in class and we would also look at creation as a possibility of how we came to exist. I remember growing up bragging about having the coolest dad in the world. Until high school anyway. Once I hit 13 I didn’t think anyone understood me. Boy did I put my parents through some heartaches. A stage in my life I am not proud of. I never thought I knew everything or even more than my parents. I knew my parents were wise and experienced I just didn’t think they understood me at all. They sure tried, oh how I hated disappointing dad. I can still feel the impact my emotions had on changing the naivety of how I saw my dad the day I found out he wasn’t perfect. He was human and could make mistakes too. I think how I felt at that moment is interestingly similar to how I am feeling now. Crushed but not broken, disbelieving yet understanding, unavoidably knowing and still unchanging in my respect and adoration of the man. My mind drifts to the time I had major surgery and spent a week and a half in the hospital. Daddy came every morning as my husband left for work and he would read the Bible to me, walk the halls with me, watch TV with me and nap with me until my husband arrived after work in the evening. He would leave for the night but always return the next day. The entire time I was in the hospital he was by my side. Music was a common love between us and daddy sure love those old church hymns. We sang at church, at the ministry we worked for, and all our big family get-togethers were karaoke parties in reality! It became somewhat of a tradition. Daddy never held back when I asked for his opinion of a new song I was working on. Even when he knew my feelings could be hurt he was honest. He was just as honest when asked about my writings. I always wanted his opinion because I knew he would be truthful not sparing my feelings with sugar-coated confusing answers that never seemed to directly answer whether it was good or needed work. I have come to believe, that as a direct result of who my daddy was as head of the family and as a father to me, I more easily understood what the word of God meant in being adopted into God’s family thus gifted with the right to call God Abba, Father. Romans 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” I can imagine some girls having difficulty seeing Father God as dad if they either never had a dad around or if the didn’t have a gentle, loving dad in their lives. I can’t always say that I felt my dad was gentle and there we’re often battles while growing up. The thing is I can’t seem to remember very many bad times. Daddy gave me the tools to understand and have faith in a loving, merciful, gentle, patient, good and kind Father God just by being everything a dad is supposed to be for me. Over the years I have found myself praising God and thanking him repeatedly for blessing me with my dad. For quite a few years he would tell me that I was the one that would take over the Bible classes and Ministry part of the company we worked for once he was ready to retire. I always told him oh no, no, no I’m not a preacher, I’m not learned enough or skilled enough and I don’t know enough of the Bible. He refused to give up on me and he insisted that I come and sit in on his classes. He mentored me on how to teach, the kind of Heart one needs to effectively minister to people, all the responsibilities that we take on as we minister to people and that we must understand our duty to be accountable to them. I would watch daddy as he ministered to people, as he sat by their hospital beds, as he went out of his way to pick them up, drop them off, to assist them in any way he could, sometimes even staying the night at the facility they were staying at just so they would be comfortable. I don’t know how many times he was woken up in the middle of the night and in moments heading all the way to work because somebody needed something or their heater went out, etc. Daddy I’m going to miss you so much. This life, this world feels empty and I just don’t know how to live it without you. The superhero isn’t supposed to die. They may get battle scars and deep wounds but they heal and always come back. What happens when the superhero dies? When there’s no one there to protect and keep watch? What is going to happen to my world? I want to scream, cry, throw something, sleep, mostly I want to go to heaven too. Knowing daddy is in his Fathers Glory, pain free, sorrow free, resting in the peace and Love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, doesn’t make it so easy that the heartache eases. No not even a little. I am so happy for dad. I’m just selfishly sad for me. I’m in a dark- light existence now and I don’t know, will it last forever? This life is not appealing as everything now seems dull and bland. How do you tell your heart to say goodbye?
Daddy I know your in heaven,
and I know your finally at peace,
wish you could send a little,
peace down here to me,
daddy I feel all alone now,
I find it really hard to breathe,
dark light is all around me,
making it hard to see clearly,
daddy have you seen Jesus,
I bet He made you feel right at home,
I bet its warm there in God’s presence,
here everyday just seems so cold,
even though I miss you daddy,
I would never pray you back,
this fallen world can seem so heavy,
you had your fair share of that,
you ran your race fought the fight,
you sure held on with all your might,
drawing strength from the love that you have inside,
daddy I wish I could hold your hand again,
see your smile and hear you laughing,
oh what I would give to just hug you tight,
you finished your race,
now I have to finish mine,
daddy will you think of me some,
as you walk golden streets in heaven,
could you send some prayers my way,
that might help me make it through the day,
oh daddy what’s it like to sing,
with legion of angels accompanying,
I can almost hear the majesty,
daddy could you sing one for me