#201 - The Enemy Uses People too!

Good morning! It is good to be back! Two mornings in a row... I've woke up in my own bed and smelled the aroma of coffee made by my sweet husband! :) Love it! Still working on the Proverbs 31:15 concept... waking up while it is still night... and before my household. Well, regardless... lets get into the Word.

Proverbs 6:12, 14-15 - A worthless person, a wicked man, is he who goes about with a perverse (contrary, wayward) mouth. Willful and contrary in his heart, he devises trouble, vexation, and evil continually; he lets loose discord and sows it. Therefore upon him shall the crushing weight of calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken, and that without remedy.

Proverbs 31:18a - She tastes and sees that her gain from work [with and for God] is good... 

Wow. I looked at this "worthless & wicked" person, how they SOW discord. One thing that I found was interesting was the word "contrary." The dictionary defines "contrary" how I thought it would as: opposite in nature or character. As humans, we were made in the image of God. Our hearts were made to want to love and serve Him. In this case, we see a person whose heart has been turned to do something COMPLETELY opposite of what it was designed to do. This wicked person has a heart that is not doing what it was called and designed to do, but it is being a servant of the enemy. Our nature, being made in God's image, is naturally bent to want to believe in a Savior, believe in what is good & honorable, serve & worship our Creator. Our spirits are drawn to want to fill the void in our heart that was designed to house the Holy Spirit. The wicked person is doing completely the opposite. In speech and action, he/she is devising evil. The words the proceed from his/her mouth are evil and come from the evil one. This person is SOWING discord. Discord is defined as: strife, dispute, war. Synonyms for discord are: conflict, struggle, controversy, argument, contention, quarreling. 

As we read further, we see the results of sowing discord. We see the results that this wicked person reaps. Sowing & reaping is a law, and for the wicked person the unfortunate series of events is what they reap. Many places in the Bible use the word "suddenly." I often enjoy reading the "suddenly's" of the Bible as many places it shows how "suddenly" things change in the favor of the man or woman of God. "Suddenly" blessings flow. "Suddenly" things change in their favor! SUDDENLY. I look forward to the positive "suddenly's" in my life to see the Lord change things, or add blessings to my life. In the case of this wicked person in Proverbs 6, the "suddenly" it is talking about is not a good "suddenly." A "crushing weight of calamity" comes upon this wicked person. It happens suddenly. As if not expected. The dictionary defines calamity as: a great misfortune or disaster, grievous affliction, adversity, misery, serious injury. The idea of "calamity" by itself is bad enough, but Proverbs 6 describes it as WORSE than just calamity, it describes it as CRUSHING WEIGHT of calamity. It is not just bad, but it goes from bad to worse.

I read through Proverbs 31 and just marveled at the life of the Proverbs 31 woman. Her life is far from calamity. Her focus and every effort is in partnership with God. Her work with and for God is good. She  is a vessel and tool for God, and because of it she is blessed. Proverbs 31:18 even says that she is able to TASTE and see the fruit of her labor. She is able to experience the blessings that come from her obedience. She is able to REAP the fruits of what she has sown. She has sown good, and she reaps blessings. We read everything about her life and it is as if her life is filled with blessing. She goes from blessing to blessing. Her diligence paves the way for God to be magnified and the "good" that she sows, she reaps in countless blessings.

Are there vial people in your life? Are you unsure how someone could be so mean, or say something so unkind, or act in a way so unbecoming? In some cases, all we can do is to pray for these people. Like the wicked person in Proverbs 6, that person needs to come into the saving knowledge of our Savior. The wicked are used as tools of the enemy to destroy the righteous. It is our job to recognize it and then pray for them. Don't take it personally. The enemy will attack in ANY way he can, and sometimes he uses people! Gird yourself up with FAITH and through prayer, PRAY these people into the Kingdom!

#190 - Bit by Bit

Good morning! It's cool on the porch this morning. Overcast, but the birds are still chirping. I couldn't help but think this morning that next year at this time we will have an addition. Trinity will be 9 months old! Amazing to think. Last year this time, that was Tyler Junior. Each season just brings adjustments, but equal blessings. God is good. Well, let's get started... are you ready?

Proverbs 6:6-8 - Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise!-- ⁷Which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler, ⁸Provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the harvest.

Proverbs 31:16 - She considers a [new] field before she buys or accepts it [expanding prudently and not courting neglect of her present duties by assuming other duties]; with her savings [of time and strength] she plants fruitful vines in her vineyard.

There are lots of types of people out there. Starters, finishers, the detail people who are great at perfecting things - putting on the polished touches, but all are important. Have you ever started a project, but for two weeks later the project to lay on your kitchen table only partially completed? Half done. Cluttered, but you plan to come back to it. In the mean time, it is what it is, an unfinished but started project. What about this.... you are working to complete something good, but then something new catches your eye. Ooooohh! This new idea seems great, exciting, fun. So, you jump ship, leave the first project, maybe even the second project to work on this new thing, this new idea. Now you sit with not one, not two, but three projects, started, but unfinished. Maybe all equally good, maybe even all "God" ideas, but there they all sit, unfinished.

I find myself realizing how quickly that was becoming me. Tyler and I were riding home from church yesterday, talking. It's always good to talk to him because he provides great perspective for things. Upon completing my book in January, I set it aside for 3-4 months to take a break from it. I knew that the draft was completed, but the book was far from complete. I had something to work from, I had 70,000+ words as a place to start. I remember starting the project, getting specific direction "how" to write a book. That directions were to work on it bit by bit, little by little. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." In my quiet time one morning, the Holy Spirit told me to just write for one hour, four days per week, first thing when I woke up. Even against my "religious" thinking, before my quiet time! The Holy Spirit directed me to write for ONE hour even before I had my quiet time. The funny thing is, guess what? It worked! It's funny how the Holy Spirit know us. He knew that first thing in the morning, I was fresh. First thing in the morning, I wasn't tempted to take a nap, or nodding off.

Well... the last few weeks, as I've been working through the editing process, I thought I would just do things my way. I'm smart, right? I can figure things out on my own, right? So without asking, I determined that I would do my editing in the afternoon during Tyler Juniors nap time. After several weeks, I found myself frustrated. A whole week would go by, and I would not have worked on my book at all. Nothing progressing, nothing moving forward. And even sometimes, like picking up a shiny coin, I would pick up a new thing, a new project.... one more thing to distract me from my goal, completion of my book. SO... on the way home from church yesterday, Tyler mentioned a quote I have heard him say before, it's something like this, "Broken focus is often the enemy to success." He pointed out these several projects I had picked up and gotten distracted with, and he saw it, I was starting to get overwhelmed and frustrated. I was starting to not know how I could get everything done. He reminded me that it would probably be good to FINISH my book and the other projects could follow. I immediately thought about the Proverbs 31 woman. What does she do? She CONSIDERS a field, she doesn't jump in immediately with both feet, she first CONSIDERS it. She expands prudently, not wanting to neglect her current duties, her current projects. Like the Proverbs 6 ant, she progresses little by little, she does bit by bit, until a project is completed and she can take on a new one, she can add to her plate.

What has worked before? How has the Holy Spirit directed you in the past? This morning is one of those "pat yourself on the back mornings" for me. I feel good. I woke up, wrote for an hour. THEN I read my Bible, now I'm writing this devotion. I'm working towards completion of a project that I started. I completed the book bit by bit, from September to December... it only took 4 months to write 70,000 words, doing little by little. Not overnight. Just a little bit at a time on a consistent basis.

What's a project you are working on? I heard a quote yesterday, "Continuity leads to emotional stability." Maybe it's having a regular quiet time.....if you just got consistent, the same time every day, I would almost bet that all around you would be more at peace, more stable, more solid.

What is it that you may need to look at? What is it that you can begin, or begin again to just do bit by bit?  Take advise from the Proverbs 31 woman, take advise from the ant. Is there something you can do & complete just by doing a little bit by bit?

#179 - Hold the THIEF Accountable!

Good morning! It's going to be a blessed day here in SC, what about where you are?? Let's jump right into the Word this morning!

Proverbs 6:30-31 - Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; But if he is found out, he must restore seven times [what he stole]; he must give the whole substance of his house [if necessary--to meet his fine].

The thief! Another verse that immediately jumps to my mind when thinking about the "thief" is John 10:10,  "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." Who is the thief? Most often known as Satan! He is the thief and out to steal whatever he can get his hands on, it it makes us unhappy, he is after it. If it takes our focus off of our calling on our life, he is after it. If it puts us in strife & anger, he is after it. Satan comes to steal, kill & destroy, and IF we let him, that is exactly what he will do. 


I remember several years ago, Tyler's car was broken into. The broke the window, tried to unsuccessfully steal his CD player from the dash, but they did get away with a set of golf clubs & his new iPod. He was obviously upset about it. He's not much of a golfer, so he wasn't too distraught over those, but he had just got his iPod and was really upset about that. Being the "techy" that he is, he had downloaded several books, Success CD's, songs, etc onto the iPod and was using it a lot. Though the iPod was a gift, it was adding a ton of knowledge to him as he was working out, driving, or just out and about. Tyler was constantly putting good stuff in him. 


Several days after the iPod was stolen, he was still really upset. The police hadn't found the thief yet, and we weren't totally holding our breath on that happening. Then... I had an idea. I said to Tyler, "Why don't you just sow the iPod and bless the person who took it." We know how sowing and reaping works, and when you sow you can expect 30, 60, 100 times back what you have sown. BUT, we also knew about Proverbs 6:31. He blessed the PERSON that stole it, but the spirit behind the person that stole it was Satan. Satan is the thief! And we were holding Satan accountable to what the Word said! Satan was going to have to repay 7-fold of what he had stolen because that's what it said in the Word! Satan had to repay SEVEN TIMES the cost of the iPod, as well as the cost of the knowledge Tyler was gaining from what he had downloaded!


The rest of the story? A few weeks had gone by, and we were still thanking God for a successful outcome. We were thanking God for the victory. Wouldn't you know it, Tyler received a phone call. The  company we work with had chosen Tyler among thousands of people to help pilot a program with cell phone applications. In being a part of this program he would receive a free iPhone and free service for 6 months. Now, this was when the iPhone was brand new and very expensive. It was most definitely the hottest thing on the market at the time and not many people had it. That along with the free service for 6 months added up to being a lot. We didn't add up the total value, but believe it was probably close to 7 times what had been stolen from him. 


The Word works when you WORK THE WORD! God's Word is true ALL the time, we just have to first KNOW the Word and then Work the Word through confession and continually meditating on the Word day and night. 


Has the enemy stolen from you? Hold him to repaying! Don't just let him ride off with a "free car" or "free TV" or "business partners" or whatever it is that he has stolen! Satan is accountable to the WORD OF GOD! Expect that YOU will receive a 7-fold return for what he has stolen from you! Stand strong, and watch your victory come!