My sister-in-law sent us notes she had taken at a conference led my Linda DeMoss. The conference focused on the subject of contentment and the notes are worth sharing with you. I pray you will benefit from these thoughts.
Characteristics of DIS-contentment:
Discontentment is a heart condition that is not satisfied but craves for more. This can be a craving for sinful things or good things. Usually temporal not eternally-centered in its focus. Comparison to others often involved. Doubts the goodness, love, promises, power, presence of God. Forgets past provision, rejects present provision, doubts future provision of God. Fails to see and accept the purposes of God upon our lives. Goes hand in hand with rebellion.
How it Comes Out
See it most in our thinking about: possessions, where we live, family and other relationships, health and other unchangeable characteristics/circumstances of us/our lives.
The Choice to Make:
Too often our mindset is this: We have what we don’t want. We want what we don’t have. We think that getting what we think is missing from our present situation will change us/fulfill us. But, if we are not content with where we are now, getting what we think we need won’t fix it. The problem - and solution - is deeper. It’s in our view and attitude towards God and in whether we really think God is “for real” in having HIS specific purposes for everything in our lives. And that He is always 100% successful in achieving what He wants in all the circumstances in our life - no mistakes, no errors. When we truly believe this, everything done God’s way all of a sudden becomes all that we want. It is very important and very exciting when we really believe that His good, perfect, loving hand is in it all down to the finest details. How we respond to each and everything comes down to responding to Him, not just to whatever temporal situation we’re in. “Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities.....” That’s where contentment lies: in understanding where the real battle is fought and won. Therefore circumstances are the skirmishes in the battle the Lord has us in. We need His direction in the battle He chooses for us and then we get on with the skirmishes, realizing that every situation, every person, every even small job or choice becomes primarily orders from His hand. It is not change of circumstances that brings true contentment. It is change of view of what’s really going on, what’s really important in our circumstances. What great things God is doing even in what appears to the world to be small, seemingly meaningless, inconsequential events of our lives. But the world doesn’t get what it’s really all about. True significance, true purpose is seen only by the Holy Spirit-opened eyes of a child of God.
The Fork in the Road
Unfilled longings/desires are a spiritual fork in the road: will we complain or will we look to God for however He chooses to fill our desires by giving us our hearts desire, something different, or simply sufficient grace to endure with no change? Will we be so serious about Him as to give up our lives to His purposes in this way?
God knows His plan... God fulfills His plan... He provides for our needs but knows our deepest need is for Him to reveal Himself to us, to know Him and for us to glorify Him with our lives as He sees fit, as He always intended. This he WILL do in the lives of His children. Our discontent comes from not wanting this but other things more. Discontent is unnecessary, as hind-sight from heaven will clearly confirm. But more than that, discontentment is sin especially grievous for Christians. We knew better of God and we still chose to complain against Him.
This doesn’t sound good enough?
Pray for God to change your heart to delight more in Him and His ways. Remember that God does not love in abstract, but personally. By His very own choice, for His own delight, to fulfill His plans he loves blemished, wrinkled lives that look more like something that belongs in the laundry pile. His love nurtures, cherishes, sacrifices for sinful people who could never be punished as much as we deserve. He makes us His bride.
When someone asks, “How are you?” The most appropriate answer is ALWAYS: “Better than I deserve.”
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Are You Happy?
I would like to share with you excerpts from a book given to me when I was coming out of a very hard time and could not get my feet under me concerning being happy. The title is very simple , “Learning to be Happy” by Jeremiah Burroughs. It is an abridged version of” The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” published in 1648. That was a long time ago. We really all struggle with the same things from century to century!
Here is the explanation in its own words. This book is about happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, but the special kind of happiness that comes from being a Christian. We use various words such as happiness, joy, or contentment. What all these words describe is the deep inner satisfaction that Christians feel about what God has done for them. This inner satisfaction enables them to remain happy, and not to start complaining about God, even when things seem to be against them.
Some of the chapter titles in this book are: Christian Happiness, The Great Secret, The School of Happiness, Happiness is good for you, Complaining is Bad for You, Time to Stop Complaining. They each explore what God wants for us and how we should try to behave while we are here. For instance, lesson three in the school of happiness is this:
“Everything is meaningless”says the Preacher. “What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2,3) Those who are unhappy with the things this world provides are not, as they tend to think, unhappy because they do not have enough, but because the things of this world simply cannot bring happiness. Mankind was made to know and enjoy God. The great theologian Augustine wrote “Yea made us for yourself, and out hearts are restless until they rest in you.” “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2) Nothing is worth having without God.
Lesson five: Christians are travelers. They are just passing through this world, just camping in their bodies. They are preparing for an eternity in heaven when God will give them perfect resurrection bodies. So it is foolish to get too unhappy about the state of our bodies. The people we read about in Hebrews 11 “admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth..... they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (verses 13,16). Christians must learn to think like this. Travelers who are away from home accept some inconveniences, such as poor food, or difficult traveling conditions. Christians have an eternal home, and the inconvenience of their stay on earth should not worry them unduly.
Happy Christians are those who make best use of the spiritual gifts God gives them, such as faith, humility, love, patience, wisdom, and hope. God wants to see these things develop in his people, because the lives of happy Christians are often a helpful influence on non-christians. For example, people who suffer without complaining are unusual: Christians who do so give a good testimony which gives glory to God.
The opposite of happiness is a bitter, complaining spirit that sees the worst side of everything. Complaining is both sinful and unhelpful. A complaining spirit is like a bad wound that has gone septic. The infected flesh cannot be treated: it must be cut away or the infection will spread through the whole body. A tendency to complain, if it is not checked, will spread through the whole of our lives and blight everything.
Chapter 8 is called no excuses. It gets to the heart of the excuses we use to rationalize our complaining and unhappy spirits. It is well worth your time to read!
So, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:1)
Here is the explanation in its own words. This book is about happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, but the special kind of happiness that comes from being a Christian. We use various words such as happiness, joy, or contentment. What all these words describe is the deep inner satisfaction that Christians feel about what God has done for them. This inner satisfaction enables them to remain happy, and not to start complaining about God, even when things seem to be against them.
Some of the chapter titles in this book are: Christian Happiness, The Great Secret, The School of Happiness, Happiness is good for you, Complaining is Bad for You, Time to Stop Complaining. They each explore what God wants for us and how we should try to behave while we are here. For instance, lesson three in the school of happiness is this:
“Everything is meaningless”says the Preacher. “What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2,3) Those who are unhappy with the things this world provides are not, as they tend to think, unhappy because they do not have enough, but because the things of this world simply cannot bring happiness. Mankind was made to know and enjoy God. The great theologian Augustine wrote “Yea made us for yourself, and out hearts are restless until they rest in you.” “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2) Nothing is worth having without God.
Lesson five: Christians are travelers. They are just passing through this world, just camping in their bodies. They are preparing for an eternity in heaven when God will give them perfect resurrection bodies. So it is foolish to get too unhappy about the state of our bodies. The people we read about in Hebrews 11 “admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth..... they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (verses 13,16). Christians must learn to think like this. Travelers who are away from home accept some inconveniences, such as poor food, or difficult traveling conditions. Christians have an eternal home, and the inconvenience of their stay on earth should not worry them unduly.
Happy Christians are those who make best use of the spiritual gifts God gives them, such as faith, humility, love, patience, wisdom, and hope. God wants to see these things develop in his people, because the lives of happy Christians are often a helpful influence on non-christians. For example, people who suffer without complaining are unusual: Christians who do so give a good testimony which gives glory to God.
The opposite of happiness is a bitter, complaining spirit that sees the worst side of everything. Complaining is both sinful and unhelpful. A complaining spirit is like a bad wound that has gone septic. The infected flesh cannot be treated: it must be cut away or the infection will spread through the whole body. A tendency to complain, if it is not checked, will spread through the whole of our lives and blight everything.
Chapter 8 is called no excuses. It gets to the heart of the excuses we use to rationalize our complaining and unhappy spirits. It is well worth your time to read!
So, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:1)
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Anyone Listening
I was thinking about this blog today and remembered a piece I had written along time ago. It seemed worthy of repeating so I am sharing it with you in this blog. I hope it is edifying and helpful to anyone who is reading this.
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave us.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 4:29 - 5:2
My friend Joy Casey challenged me to memorize scripture along with her that we may hold each other accountable. It worked great as I have only memorized one other line of scripture in the 6 months since then. God’s word comes alive as you memorize it and study a few lines at a time. Both the do’s and do not’s have very practical application . We do not learn scripture to just spout it off when we feel a need to “show off” for someone. It is to be quickly brought up and applied in our daily lives.
How many times a day do you talk to someone or in the presence of someone? You probably can’t even count the occasions. We talk in our homes. We talk at work. We talk at play. If you are around other people you are probably talking. Do you know who is listening?
Shortly after committing these to memory I had coffee with my dear friend, Christie Roberts. We discussed women’s ministry things as well as personal and goofy friend stuff. We had been in a local coffee shop for an hour and a half talking and laughing when a gentleman in the shop came up to us. He introduced himself and said politely, “I couldn’t help but overhear. Are you members of a church around here?”
Quickly my mind began to race. I should be friendly. We should invite him to our church. What in the world have I said in the last hour and a half?
We did introduce ourselves and invite him to attend. He was from out of town but thanked us for the information and went on his way. Oh how we hoped we did not shed bad light on Bethel, on the name of God, or even on ourselves. I don’t think we did but we were not purposeful in thinking of that ahead of time. When you are in a public place like that, do you even consider that others are listening? You probably want to shift blame by accusing them of eavesdropping but what does God say? “ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths...” If no unwholesome talk comes out of your mouth do you have a problem when someone hears? Obviously, there are occasions when the subject is private so you had better meet in private. At all other times you cannot know who is listening. Oh, and guess what? God is always listening!
We can grieve the Holy Spirit by the way we live, which includes our talk. Do we have bad attitudes toward others that comes out in our talk? Do we complain and ignore the many blessings God has given us? Or do we build others up with our words and benefit those who listen?
This is challenging stuff. I cannot live up to this and neither can you without the help of that same Holy Spirit. Maybe we should start our day with prayer for a guard on our tongue before we even speak because out of our mouths come the words that reveal our hearts and our hearts are deceitful above all things. “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12: 34
May the overflow of our hearts be out of our gratefulness to God for all He is and has done for our salvation and the salvation of others.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Practically Perfect in Every Way
I was thinking about household things I do to make life a little easier and decided to share this little tip. Also, a guest asked me why my lettuce and spinach were wrapped in paper towels and a tea towel. Here is the answer. If you want to have a salad or nice lettuce to put on a sandwich a trick to save you time and money is to wash your greens, spin them with a salad spinner or dry well with paper towels, wrap in dry paper towels and a 100% cotton towel, put in a Ziplock bag with the air squeezed out or a tupperware and store in your fridge.
The reason you do this is that the greens will be practically perfect when you need them to make that salad or sandwich in a hurry. It has been my experience that when I do this step on the day I bring home the greens they will be washed and crisp for at least a week and I will be more likely to use them than to let them rot or turn brown. Since they are practically perfect they look good, taste good, and are good for you. Because you can just take them out and go you will be much more likely to eat salad.
This same trick works for celery. Cut off the ends, wash, dry and store wrapped in paper towels or the 100% cotton tea towels like before. This keeps them from turning brown longer also and you have immediate access to things to dip in your ranch dressing or hummus or add to your recipe.
Why do I say 100% cotton tea towel? Cotton will absorb moisture much better than a synthetic. It is as simple as that.
You might ask why I would go to that much effort. As part of our design to be helpers to our husband and family we should find ways to present good nutrition to our families and to save money where we can. Throwing out your vegetables or greens is a waste of money. This is a very simple way that "helping" is practically worked out.
Genesis 2:18, 20 - 24 "The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." "But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken our of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Pray Continually
I've been thinking about what tool allows me to walk each day of this life with some sort of peace and strength. I knew it right away and you may know it already in your life. It is so important and powerful that it is worth talking about here. Prayer is that tool.
Prayer is not just any tool, it is an unimaginable gift from God. Prayer is not repeating a chant that somehow brings us into a peaceful state but conversations with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. You and I have the privilege as sons and daughters of God, brought into relationship with Him by the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ to approach the throne of grace and talk, plead, ask, thank, interact with our Father who art in heaven.
A couple of the scriptures that I use daily are these:
Matthew 6: 5-15 The Lord's prayer and Jesus teaching on prayer.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by petition and prayer with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."
James 5:13 "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise."
Matthew 7: 11 "If you, then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Now here is the important part. These are not magic genie requests that get you whatever you want whenever you want it. The heart behind your prayer has to be complete reliance on the wisdom of God to do what is best in your situation. You must understand His sovereignty in your life and His constant work to conform you to be more like His son, Jesus Christ. Sometimes the answer will be not now or no. God always has a plan for your life and may be bringing you through something hard or refusing you something because it is not His best for you.
I can say this from experience that God's answers to some of my prayers have not made sense to me but I also know that He has taught me reliance on Him not me. He did not choose to save my dad from death at an early age in spite of my complete faith that he would save him in answer to my prayer. I shunned God for over ten years but am now telling you with full assurance that I know what God has planned for my life is better than what I have planned and that He will bring me through all things by these conversations with Him in all circumstances.
All circumstances does not mean just the hard stuff. My goal is to ask Him every morning what is the best use of my day and to guide me in it. I am human so that does not always happen. I ask for wisdom often even in small stuff like what to purchase for a gift or how to answer a question someone has asked. I am always in need of wisdom. I pray for perspective on my daily situations and on world happenings. Anything and everything means just that. God asks us to pray about anything and everything. By reading Psalms you will come to understand that you can even fuss and complain and God will turn your heart back to what really matters, Him and His work in the world.
This is such a big part of a successful walk in this world it would be more than advantageous for you to do a study on all of the scripture regarding prayer. You will have to wrestle with theology and scripture in context. For instance: "Ask for whatever you want in Jesus name and it will be given to you." Really? Whatever I want? I don't think so. So what does that mean?
These are important things for you to know and burn deep into your soul. I encourage you to study and commit to memory at least one of the prayer scriptures.
Prayer is not just any tool, it is an unimaginable gift from God. Prayer is not repeating a chant that somehow brings us into a peaceful state but conversations with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. You and I have the privilege as sons and daughters of God, brought into relationship with Him by the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ to approach the throne of grace and talk, plead, ask, thank, interact with our Father who art in heaven.
A couple of the scriptures that I use daily are these:
Matthew 6: 5-15 The Lord's prayer and Jesus teaching on prayer.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by petition and prayer with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."
James 5:13 "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise."
Matthew 7: 11 "If you, then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Now here is the important part. These are not magic genie requests that get you whatever you want whenever you want it. The heart behind your prayer has to be complete reliance on the wisdom of God to do what is best in your situation. You must understand His sovereignty in your life and His constant work to conform you to be more like His son, Jesus Christ. Sometimes the answer will be not now or no. God always has a plan for your life and may be bringing you through something hard or refusing you something because it is not His best for you.
I can say this from experience that God's answers to some of my prayers have not made sense to me but I also know that He has taught me reliance on Him not me. He did not choose to save my dad from death at an early age in spite of my complete faith that he would save him in answer to my prayer. I shunned God for over ten years but am now telling you with full assurance that I know what God has planned for my life is better than what I have planned and that He will bring me through all things by these conversations with Him in all circumstances.
All circumstances does not mean just the hard stuff. My goal is to ask Him every morning what is the best use of my day and to guide me in it. I am human so that does not always happen. I ask for wisdom often even in small stuff like what to purchase for a gift or how to answer a question someone has asked. I am always in need of wisdom. I pray for perspective on my daily situations and on world happenings. Anything and everything means just that. God asks us to pray about anything and everything. By reading Psalms you will come to understand that you can even fuss and complain and God will turn your heart back to what really matters, Him and His work in the world.
This is such a big part of a successful walk in this world it would be more than advantageous for you to do a study on all of the scripture regarding prayer. You will have to wrestle with theology and scripture in context. For instance: "Ask for whatever you want in Jesus name and it will be given to you." Really? Whatever I want? I don't think so. So what does that mean?
These are important things for you to know and burn deep into your soul. I encourage you to study and commit to memory at least one of the prayer scriptures.
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