Mercy is kindness, love & forgiveness

 

Mercy is kindness, love & forgiveness

Wholeness is expressed in Micah 6:8

Micah 6:8: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

There is our fine line of decision-making. We are to love & forgive, that is who Jesus is, and we are to represent Him. We have to love the fact that Christ’s love and forgiveness for us on the cross is our motive in our decision-making and we are do justice. What does it mean to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly?

They are both reverent toward God and respectful of others. This means they are willing to listen, are open to criticism and desire more to help people succeed than to punish them when they fail.Do justice to somebody or something… to deal with somebody or something fairly to communicate the true qualities, especially the facts, of somebody or something.

The word love is a two edged sword. There is love, there is tough love, and when a person yields to love either way the result is the same.

We must move from the attitude of "have to" and embrace "want to" if we are going to fulfill change in our lives.

Ignorance is NOT bliss!

What you do not know is robbing your future.

God help us to be all you made us to be in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen!

 

Learning from Pigeons

Thursday, November 18, 2010
 Learning from Pigeons

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."¹

You may have read about an experiment where "pigeons were put in cages with one green and one red button. In one cage, if the birds pecked the green button they got food every time. In the other, the green button yielded food erratically and the pigeons had to persist to get enough food. In both cases, pecking the red button did nothing. Both sets of birds thrived, learning what they had to do to survive and ignoring the red button that yielded no food. But when the birds that were used to getting a reward every time were put in the cage that fed them only occasionally, they failed to adapt; they hit their heads against the cage and pecked wildly at everything in sight."²

Birds and animals can be very smart and quickly learn to pursue activities that produce positive results while avoiding activities that don't. Pity we humans aren't always as smart. Too many of us invest our lives in empty, meaningless or even harmful activities and relationships, and have a way of continually hitting red buttons that always result in getting negative responses.

Others, who, like the pigeons that were used to getting rewarded all the time when put in the cage where they were rewarded only occasionally, couldn't cope, so people who, when growing up, were overprotected, spoiled, or had parents that did far too much for them, have a difficult time adjusting to adult life and accepting personal responsibility. Also as adults, when we, other organizations, and/or the government do for others what they CAN and NEED to do for themselves, we keep them over-dependent and irresponsible.

As adults we need to eliminate (overcome) our own red buttons that trigger our unresolved issues from the past, and not purposely hit others' red buttons that never result in obtaining what we need or want.

Furthermore, we need to learn through experience and hard work to accept personal responsibility for every area of our life. True, we were not responsible for our upbringing and early training, but as adults we are totally responsible for our recovery, our actions, our well-being, for who and what we become, and for every area of our life. To expect otherwise is self-defeating and ultimately self-destructive.

Most important of all is that we need to remind ourselves that we are not only responsible for ourselves and what we do, but we are also responsible before God and one day will be required to give an account of our life to him.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for the gift of life and for all the blessings you have given so freely to me. Help me to see issues in my life that I need to resolve and overcome, to avoid unnecessarily hitting others' red buttons, and help me to accept personal responsibility for every area of my life so that when I stand before you, I will hear your welcoming words, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name. Amen."

1. Hebrews 4:13 (NIV).
2. Michael Josephson in Character Counts. www.charactercounts.org

 

 

 

Anyway

 

Anyway

=======

People are often unreasonable,

Illogical and self-centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,

People may accuse

You of selfish motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,

You will win some false friends

And some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,

People may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,

Someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,

They may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,

People will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,

And it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you have anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,

It is between you and God;

It never was between you and them anyway.

~Keith M. Kent~

Slow Dance

 

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round, or listened to rain slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight, or gazed at the sun fading into the night?

You better slow down, don't dance so fast, time is short, the music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly, when you ask "How are you?" do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed, with the next hundred chores running through your head?

You better slow down, don't dance so fast, time is short, the music won't last.

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow, and in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a friendship die, 'cause you never had time to call and say hi?

You better slow down, don't dance so fast, time is short, the music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere, you miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day, it's like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life isn't a race, so take it slower, hear the music before your song is over.

By David L. Weatherford, www.davidlweatherford.com/slowdance.html

The Hard Things - Me and My not so honest TRUTHFULLNESS!! My most vulnerable post yet....

Satan loves to destroy, which involves a re-scrambling of destroy. He attempts to de-story us, to rob us of our story of victory. ~ Mary Demuth


I read this, this morning on Mary Demuth's facebook page. It hit me like a ton of bricks....

I do not want to be one who the enemy de-stories....so I write

The Hard things

Who really wants to say the HARD THINGS?

Have you ever found that it is easy to say the HARD things when you are angry???

Sure...when you are in the midst of the grip of anger, you can say anything....RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRR!

But is it BENEFICIAL being said that way?? Probably not!! Not in HUMAN ANGER anyway.
(maybe if I can do it like Jesus...flip those money changer tables over..huh??)

To say the HARD THINGS when you know its that right thing to do....

To say them when you fear they may not be received well...

NOW that is NOT EASY!!

Sometimes it just seems easier to stuff it....you know?? (*people pleasing)

Act like it really doesn’t bother you....play it off as " yeah whatever!" (*denial)

But the things that really matter to us that we just let slide......just plain HURT! ( and they fester...)

It is one thing to overlook an offense...it is another thing all together to live amongst repeat offenders and there be no repercussions for behavior.

Is it not true that you teach people how to treat you?? also how you treat people will come back to you ..you reap what you sow...slipper slope eh?

Living silently or blindly doesn’t make it easier, it makes it worse over the long run....

All those things that clamor for attention and excuses as to why you shouldn’t say anything...."that's mean"..."its not loving or patient"..."if you are just kind enough, good enough, blah blah blah enough"....

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!!!

How about the TRUTH is ENOUGH to bring real change, understanding and revelation!!??

I choose to say the hard things....in love.

Ephesians 4:13-15 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, BUT, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—

See God wants us to COME TO UNITY ...and we can not do that without talking straight to each other or to ourselves.

He says we should no longer be children...what do children do when they are confronted...they make excuses...say I don’t know....and sometimes when they are busted they get mad and blame you and/or others.

Sound familiar ..grown ups???

He says don’t be duped by trickery and craftiness.... what is that suppose to mean???

It means don’t fall for the phony baloney that tries to derail truth. Don’t get your brain all wrapped up in the JUNK that your mind (and others) will tell you to keep you from speaking the truth!!!!

This verse says : BUT speaking the truth in love. WHY???

So you can GROW UP. (BUT, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—)

I am a big advocate for speaking the truth...being real...I post it here...I post it at Stars Rain...I post it on my Facebook page. I even wrote a book about it called The Struggle to be Myself and the reasons why we fear to be who we are. I barely scratched the surface then...

SPEAKING THE TRUTH -- IT IS MY GREATEST STRUGGLE!!!!!

I am the type who tends to not be completely honest because when I become self conscious I get all wrapped up and preoccupied with my own personality making me uneasy and embarrassed to be me. So I create a me that I think others will like but I just come off as artificial and fake....and unhappy.

I work on it every day...sometimes I fail...sometime I succeed.

I want my LORD to be proud of me...

My childhood brought me some hard knocks when it come to being truthful. For my survival I decided as a kid it was easier to be half-truthful. I don’t want to have those tapes playing in my mind anymore. I don’t want to continue listening to the lies of the enemy tell me I am not worth listening to, no one will believe you if you did tell the truth.

So I am 33 .......and I struggle with telling the truth........ in the HARD THINGS.
(Giving a factual account of things is easy....relating that deep and secret place in my heart that cries out for release is another thing.)

When I start to speak the HARD THINGS if I even slightly perceive that someone is not hearing me I get SO MAD! My anger wells up from a deep sense of worthlessness and pain, and the fear that I am not good enough that I have carried and struggled with since I was a kid....and I lash out in anger.
(I well up with tears just thinking of and acknowledging that heartbroken and verbally beaten down child in me)

TODAY I said NO MORE!!!

TODAY I stood up once again like I did as a kid that day I was broken and I spoke the TRUTH without fear...without anger....without being defeated by the enemy....without defensiveness.

And guess what??

I didn’t get all the whooo hooo's and hip hip hoorays...nor did I "feeeeeeeel" like I was completely heard.

BUT I STOOD ON THE TRUTH!!!

I SPOKE UP....

and that my friends is VICTORY in itself!!

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ( Jesus is the TRUTH )

Speak truth ...Live truth...Be truth ...AMEN!!

( So do not fear, for I am with you: do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ~ Isaiah 41: 10)

I received that verse from Rise and Shine Retreat....I welled up with tears when I got it...I didn’t realize then what that was going to mean to me!! Thank you R&S Retreat! I am sure it has much more for me to unearth.

Above in this post I said the words : is it beneficial...the ladies at Rise and Shine Retreat prayed over all of us that were attending a fruit of the spirit and mine was GOODNESS which is Doing what is Beneficial!!

I am finding that no matter how hard it is...how bad I want to hide....how much I want to run...

To speak truth and live truth and be truthful even in the HARD THINGS ....is living GOODNESS!

Pray for me my struggle is not over....I thank you in advance :0)

One more thing...if it were not for God sending me my own personal angel to walk with me...when I had thought I would never make it through these tough mountains...she has been my own personal trainer in TRUTH...Thank you Tina...you are one in a million GIRL!!!

F & L'er
Starla