OH, THAT TONGUE!



Does anyone know what this is? This is called a seam ripper. It is my best friend when I sew. Why? Because when I sew a seam or stitch wrong, I simply use the sharp end to remove it. I also use it to open old seams when I am recycling old jeans, skirts, etc, into purses or new skirts. Did you notice the red ball just above the point? This is to prevent you from ripping the fabric around the seam. Sometimes this doesn't help, however, and I have been known to slip and rip the fabric next to the seam. Now I have a hole to fix, too! Just great. This usually happens to me when it's late at night, I'm tired and I have been sewing for a while.

Our tongue can be like this seam ripper. Very sharp and pointed. Words that are formed and fall from it can cut and wound the person that it is aimed at. It's no wonder that the Bible tells us that it is "an unruly evil, full of deadly poison". (James 3:8) This verse always draws a picture to my mind of a snake and how quick it can strike with its often deadly fangs.
As with the seam ripper, our tongue can rip apart and sometimes cause a big hole in someone either spiritually, mentally or both. The mending afterward is often a difficult process. Often, the scars will remain for a lifetime. Please remember, once those words have left our mouth, they cannot be taken back. I always tell my children to taste their words before they spit them out. In other words, they should think before they speak.
My constant prayer for myself is as the Psalmist said, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." (Psalm 141:3) Even King David had problems with his tongue! I have found this verse to be very helpful as I am one who is very prone to speak before thinking!
As hard as we try to do right, we all have times where we will say something that we shouldn't. After all, we are only human. That is why we have Jesus! If this happens, confess it to Him. Then, go to the person that you have offended and try to make things right.
I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day.
Beth :-)


 



30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 20

"O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people."~ Psalms 105:1

Let everyone know how good God has been to you!

 

                                                           A Thanksgiving Prayer

Thank you Father for the blessings you've given this day
Help us to remember, Thou has shown us the way
And give us strength to help those in need
Never letting us forget, Thy merciful deeds
Keep us in Thy tender loving care
Save us, O Lord, when we are in despair!
Give us grace as we walk through life.
Inspire us to seek our brothers amid the strife
Victory in Thee will be our guiding star.
In courage we march not caring how far
Now we ask for the most important thing.
Grant us salvation to escape death's sting.

 

I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

Beth :-)

30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 18

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body: and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."~ Colossians 3:15-16
Good morning, everyone! I hope your weekend was good! The weather was great here, and, as always, I enjoyed time with my husband and boys!
Today, our thankful verses come from Colossians, which was written by the Apostle Paul.
The Apostle tells us that we are to let the peace of God "rule" in our hearts. When we let something rule us, we are giving it complete control. We need to give God complete rule of our hearts and lives. When we let go of self, and let God lead, there will be peace in our hearts. We can not have this peace if we are fighting Him about different aspects of our lives.
How can we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom? By studying His word and hiding it in our hearts.
I have always liked the last part of verse 16. Did you know that when we are singing hymns and spiritual songs, it uplifts our mood and souls? When I was growing up, my mom would always have Christian music playing every morning when she woke us up. Why? She said that the first song that you hear of a morning will be what sticks in your head the rest of the day, which is very true. I have also found that when I am teaching Children's Church and my pupils seem to be somewhat rowdy, I can put on a children's Christian song CD while they are doing crafts, and they quiet right down. They even start singing to themselves.
Is there something in your life that you haven't turned over to God? Have you given Him complete control of your life? I am one who is bad about wanting my way, because I sometimes think it is better. But it isn't. God knows the plans that he has for each of us. We need to trust Him, then be willing to do His will.
I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!
Beth :-)

30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 16

30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 15

"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;"~ 1 Thessalonians 1:2

Good morning, everyone! Today's verse finds the Apostle Paul writing to the converts in the Thessalonian church. He was letting them know how thankful he was for them, and that he was always praying for them.
How about us? Do we pray for and thank God for the people in our lives? It's easy to pray for those that are nice to us and that we get along with well. But....how about that difficult person? Believe me, I know about this all too well. Guess what? I found that when I pray for those that I find difficult, or are giving me a hard time, I start seeing them in a different light. Jesus commands us in Matthew 5:44, "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;". Does the situation miraculously change? Not always. But I change. Also, how you react to this person may have an affect on whether or not they come to know our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Your life may be the only Bible that person is reading. It's a tough assignment, but with God on your side, you can do it!
Everyone comes into our lives for a purpose. Whether good or bad, we need to thank God for them and pray for them. Lift them up-always.
I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day.
Beth :-)

30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 22

"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."~ 2 Corinthians 9:15

 

 



We all love receiving gifts. With Christmas right around the corner, my house is buzzing with certain little boys wondering what they will receive. A gift can brighten an otherwise bad day or make someone feel special.

But, what is this "unspeakable" gift that the Bible says we should be so thankful for?  It is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, the gift of God allowing His one and only Son to come to earth in the form of man, die and rise again that we may be with Him in Heaven. When something is described as unspeakable, it is meant that it cannot be expressed in words. I could not imagine offering one of my sons!
For those of us who have accepted this great salvation, I don't think that we really understand the wonderfulness of what we have received. We won't know fully until we reach Heaven. We do, however, know the joy and peace that comes with putting our trust in Jesus. I am often overwhelmed when I think about it. I do indeed find it "unspeakable", and I am thankful for such a wonderful gift that I know I didn't deserve!
I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!
Beth :-)
 



30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 6-14

Good morning, everyone. Wow. I missed a lot of days! I apologize. Life got busy for me between our Ladies Retreat and sick children. I am going to catch up today:
DAY 6: "Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:"~ Psalms 50:14
DAY 7: "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness."~ Psalms 30:4
DAY 8: " Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."~ Daniel 6:10
DAY 9: " But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD."~ Jonah 2:9
DAY 10: " But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."~1 Corinthians 15:57
DAY 11: "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."~ 2 Corinthians 9:15
DAY 12: "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."~ Phillipians 4:6
DAY 13: "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:"~ 1 Timothy 4:4
DAY 14: "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan."~ Luke 17:15-16

Just searching for and writing down these verses gives me a new attititude of thankfulness towards my God! Each has such a powerful message in them. But today, I would like to talk about Luke 17:15-16, which is in the story of Jesus and the ten lepers. Now, this is not a parable, but an actual event that happened. Luke 17:11-12 tells us that Jesus was travelling to Jerusalem. As He passed through Samaria and Galilee, He entered into a village where ten lepers called to Him from afar. The reason that they did not come near to Him was due to the fact that, in those days, once someone was found to have leprosy, they were considered unclean and had to live separately from others.
Jesus heard their cry. Isn't awesome that we have a Saviour Who hears us when we cry unto Him? He told them to show themselves to the priests. They were healed as they were leaving. Such an amazing and wonderful miracle to be healed of leprosy. But guess what? Out of the ten, only one, who was a stranger as well as a Samaritan, came back to thank Him. Only one, and he did it with a loud voice!
We can look at the other nine men and judge them. We wonder how they could not even have turned around to thank Jesus for what He did for them. But wait! How many blessings and wonderous works does He bestow upon us, every day, yet we forget to thank Him? Do we take these for granted? There is always something to be thankful for. How about a special healing? For example, as a pastor's wife, I have seen many who have come home with a diagnosis of cancer. They would have the church pray for them. When they went back to the doctor, the cancer could not be found. Now, sometimes, instead of giving glory to God for the healing, it's easy to fall into the mindset that maybe the doctors "misread" some tests and made a mistake in the diagnosis. We forget to give credit where credit is due.  God healed them!
Today, how about taking time to think about what God has done for us, then thank Him? What blessings are we taking for granted?
I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!
Beth :-)

30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 5

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

The first thing that a lot of people think when they read this verse is, What? How can I give thanks in everything? How can I be thankful for what is going on right now or has happened in my life? I used to think the same thing, until I re-read the verse.
This particular verse does not say "for" everything give thanks (although there are many other verses that do), it says "in" everything give thanks.
It is so very easy to get discouraged, I know. In all of our circumstances, though, God knows what we are going through. Sometimes He allows us to go through life storms and trials because it is to either get our attention if we have "drifted" from Him, it is to make our faith stronger showing us that we need to rely more on Him and less on ourselves, maybe it is to be a witness to some unsaved person or weaker Christian friend who is watching how we handle the situation (our life is the only Bible some people read), etc.
Did you know that gold is not pure until it goes through the refiner's fire (1 Peter 1:7-9). This process separates other elements and impurities from the gold. The Bible compares us to that. He has a reason and a purpose for all that happens in your life. Sometimes, though, we do get desperate, and want to see the other side of the storm that we are going through. Just remember, He is the master of the storm! Remember when Jesus was in the boat with His disciples during a terrible storm? All He had to do was speak, and the winds were calm. He sees the end results that we don't. I had to learn to thank Him for what I was going through. I thanked Him that He knew where I was. I praised Him that He is all-knowing and all-powerful. Guess what? When I started doing that, my attitude changed. Did the trial that I was going through miraculously end? No, but when my heart changed, I saw the situation differently.
Are you going through a life storm or trial right now? Your Lord and Savior knows all about it. Talk to Him. Thank Him for what is happening. You're not alone in this.
I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!
Beth :-)

30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 4

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."~
Colossians 2:6-7.
In verse 6, the Apostle Paul was reminding the Colossians that as born-again believers (meaning that they had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour), they were to "walk ye in Him", meaning that they needed to let Christ be at the head in all that they said or did. They, and we, do not need to be conformed to this world, but transformed by our salvation in Jesus Christ. Everyday, we need to walk in Him, showing the world a difference in our lives. Many Christians still look and act like the world. How can we lead an unsaved person to Christ when they do not see any difference?
Whenever I read "rooted and built up in him", I always think of a tree, with it's roots growing deep in the ground. A tree's roots anchor it to the ground, keeping the tree straight and upright. The roots are also how the tree gathers it's sustenance and water. For a Christian, reading their Bible and following what God says, keeping a healthy prayer life, attending church faithfully and trying to live as Christ-like as they can are just a few ways to make sure that their "roots" are firmly planted. Did you know that the nutrients taken in by the roots are vital for the advancement of the tree's growth and development, as well as repair? The Bible is our life map which gives us just that in our Christian life. This will also keep us "stablished in the faith".
Of course, "abounding therein with thanksgiving"! I am thankful for the salvation that I have received through the death, burial and resurrection of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!
Beth :-)

30 DAYS OF THANKFUL VERSES-DAY 3

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