Spiritual Dyslexia

 

Matthew 16:24-26 Amplified Bible (AMP)

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].
²⁵ For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].
²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]?
 

Mark 8:34-37 Amplified Bible (AMP)

³⁴ And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and [joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].
³⁵ For whoever wants to save his [higher, spiritual, eternal] life, will lose it [the lower, natural, temporal life which is lived only on earth]; and whoever gives up his life [which is lived only on earth] for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it [his higher, spiritual life in the eternal kingdom of God].
³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life [in the eternal kingdom of God]?
³⁷ For what can a man give as an exchange (a compensation, a ransom, in return) for his [blessed] life [in the eternal kingdom of God]?

 

As the children's story so eloquently points out..."I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." How? Because EVERYONE I came across was grumpy!! I couldn't escape it! I can only take so much before I explode...so in order to keep my Christian witness, I went for a walk to let off some steam. As I was talking to the Lord, asking him why everyone seemed so contentious, my mind wandered to a cartoon a friend posted on Facebook earlier that day titled “Dyslexic CPR”. The Lord interrupted my thoughts and impressed upon me that the reason for all this contention, indifference and lack of faithfulness that His people have been exhibiting is that we are suffering from “Spiritual Dyslexia”. 

  For those of you who may not know what dyslexia is, here is a definition: “Difficulty in reading when experienced by persons with normal vision and normal or above-normal intelligence. A common example of dyslexia is reading words with the letters in reverse order, as in fyl  for fly .”

So, Spiritual Dyslexia can be defined as: “Difficulty in living a Spirit-led life experienced in a born-again believer. A common example is ignoring godly conviction in order to gain worldly pleasure or self-satisfaction.”

As I was preparing this Bible Study I ran across something Bro Tim Vik, the Wisconsin District Youth Ministry President,  said: “If your relationship with God isn’t moving from ‘self’ centered to ‘God’ centered…you may not have a relationship with God.” God’s purpose for His people to remain on this earth is so we can bring others to salvation. If that wasn’t His purpose for us we would be raptured as soon as we were born-again! Just look at the example Jesus Himself set for us while He was on earth. He used every waking moment to minister to others. I’m sure there were times He wanted to give into His flesh and stay “home”, away from people who always wanted something from Him, yet He never gave in to self.

I titled this “Spiritual Dyslexia” because, just as natural dyslexics do, we get things turned around. To prove this to ourselves, prioritize these three things SELF, JESUS, OTHERS. Did you list “Jesus” or “God” as the first priority?

To further examine our priorities, let’s take the time to answer some questions honestly:

1.      You wake up Sunday morning with a splitting headache. Do you stay home or go to church? 

2.      There’s a family reunion 3 hours away on a Sunday. You’d have to skip church in order to make the reunion, and you just missed church last week because the kids were sick. Do you go to the reunion?

3.      You need a job and have an interview for the dream job. During the interview you realize the hours interfere with almost every church service. Do you take the job?

4.      There’s a movie you’ve been waiting to see. The opening scene comes on and you start to feel uneasy with the images on the screen. Do you ignore the uneasiness and continue to watch it?

 The point to these questions is to ask ourselves if we make decisions based on what we want to do or based on what Jesus would want us to do. If we continually make decisions based on what WE want, what really is our first priority?  We tell ourselves, and others, that Jesus is #1 in our lives, but often our choices show otherwise.  

How many of us have heard someone say, “Just because I’m a Christian doesn’t mean I’m a doormat”? It’s usually said after some verbal tirade. I agree that Jesus would not have His children be “doormats” and there are times we need to take a stand, but if we are painfully honest with ourselves, the reason we blasted someone with our words was just to blow off some steam and make us feel better. Yet, the Bible teaches us that “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” Proverbs  25:11  and that “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.” Proverbs 19:11.

How many of us have seen, or experienced, the slow fade of someone letting go of holiness standards? Oftentimes it is justified with “Well, that is just the standard for public leadership and I don’t have a position in the church so…” Holiness is NOT about holding a position in the church, it’s about your status as a child of God! When you chose to compromise on holiness, it’s actually about doing/wearing/seeing what you want without thought to what God wants.  But doesn’t the Bible say ^“ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17. “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2.

We need to embrace the convictions we feel, examine them to see if they are from God and give up that thing we want for ourselves in order to bring glory to God! In an interview, MichelleDuggar talks about why she chose to wear modest clothing. She said after she became  a born-again Christian she felt the Lord telling her not to wear certain things. Her husband had asked her, “What about when we go biking, hiking, or swimming?” Michelle’s reply was “I don’t know all the answers or details, but I just want to honor Jesus.” That’s just it. Sometimes we don’t understand why God does or doesn’t want us to do certain things so instead of examining the uneasiness we feel, we just push it aside and do what we want to do for ourselves.  There are times we won’t intellectually understand why God is giving us a conviction on something, after all His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), but if we honestly live a life controlled by Christ we will obey Him without completely understanding why. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to NOT quench the uneasy feeling we get when watching a movie, clothes shopping or contemplating that make-over. That uneasiness is God’s Spirit speaking to us and calling us into a deeper relationship with Him. Be assured that whatever you give up for the glory of God will be replaced with a deeper, more fulfilled life in Christ.

A healthy spiritual life is putting Jesus first in everything, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us, or how many self-sacrifices we have to make. When we chose to ignore that uneasiness and continue to follow our own desires we start to lose spiritual equilibrium (a state or feeling of mental balance) and Spiritual Dyslexia sets in. Spiritual Dyslexia can be fatal to our eternal souls as we see in the opening scriptures.

Just as there are warning signs with dyslexia there are also Spiritual Dyslexia warning signs: Discontent (always wanting more things/money), easily angered, lack of prayer/fasting, vanity/pride...just to name a few. Good news, however, like physical dyslexia, Spiritual Dyslexia can be overcome!

In his book “The Gift of Dyslexia”, Ronald Davis (an over-comer of dyslexia himself), shares the steps he takes when teaching people to overcome this learning disability. We’re going to take some of his ideas to help us overcome Spiritual Dyslexia.



 

1.      Orientation corrects perception (Find your “mind’s eye”). Our spiritual orientation gets out of whack when we continually squelch Holy Ghost conviction. If your spiritual orientation is off then you will have a problem discerning God’s leading in your life. To get back on the right track we have to find our spiritual “mind’s eye”. In Mr. Davis’ book he describes the “mind’s eye” as the epicenter of perception…or the one place where we see, feel, hear everything around us. If this “mind’s eye” is out of focus, then our whole life is disoriented. A good Biblical example of this is when Peter walked on water:
Matthew 14:26-31, Amplified
²⁶ And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.
²⁷ But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I Am! Stop being afraid!
²⁸ And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.
²⁹ He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus.
³⁰ But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from death]!
³¹ Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?


If Peter had kept his spiritual “mind’s eye” on Jesus he wouldn’t have started to sink into the water. Likewise, if we will keep our spiritual “mind’s eye” on Jesus we will not sink into a life of sin. How do we find our spiritual “mind’s eye” once we’ve become disoriented? Prayer, Bible reading, fasting, praise, and if need be, counsel from your Pastor. Once you find your spiritual epicenter again it is important to maintain it daily!



2.      Basic Symbol Mastery Mr. Davis teaches his students to relearn the alphabet once they’ve found their mind’s epicenter, and so we should also go back through spiritual basics.  I’ve found that it is always refreshing to go back over the basic plan of salvation, we get so caught up in all the “rules” of living for God, we often forget about the sacrifice He made for us and from where He brought us out (1 Peter 2:10 ^“ Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God’s people…”).

Reviewing doctrine is powerful in getting us back into the groove once we’ve strayed spiritually. Paul tells Timothy,  “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” 1 Timothy 4:16 KJV. Even if you think you know everything there is to know about the plan of salvation, go back through it!
 

3. Symbol Mastery for Words Once a student relearns his alphabet, Mr. Davis urges his students to use their new mastery of letters and symbols to form words and begin reading. During the reading process it will be revealed to the student what words trigger the disorientation that lapses them back into a dyslexic episode.

The Bible tells us that the Word is capable of discerning the thoughts and intent of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). The next step in regaining our spiritual ground is continuing in the Word of God and allowing that Word to speak to us about those deep-seeded issues we are leery of getting rid of…those same issues that tend to trigger the sin problem in our lives (Hebrews 12:1).

Here’s an excerpt from The Gift of Dyslexia…see if you can pick up on the spiritual application:

“The task of correction isn’t really complete until the person’s compulsive solutions no longer operate. As long as the person continues to use the old solutions, he might as well keep the old problem, because nothing will permanently change. So in order for dyslexia to be corrected, the old, compulsive solutions simply have to go…

The old solutions are no longer stimulated, so they don’t automatically happen. As the person experiences life, he or she will discover things that work better than the old solutions did. As soon as the person experiences a better way of doing things, the old solutions are replaced…

Experiencing the loss of an old solution is all the proof a person needs in order to know with certainty that his dyslexia is being corrected, and that the change is permanent.”

In other words, the more you read the Word of God and apply it to your life, the less likely you will be to resort to your old ways of dealing with life issues and the more likely you will be to live a life of victory through Jesus!


Reiterating the 3 steps to overcome Spiritual Dyslexia:

1)      Find your spiritual mind’s eye through Bible reading, prayer, fasting, praise and counsel.

2)      Master the basics of salvation by re-studying Apostolic Doctrine.

3)      Master the Word of God by applying it to every aspect of your life and allowing it to discern your desires from God’s desires for you.


John says it well in his Epistle:

1 John 2:1-8, 12-17 & 24-29 The Message

“I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s.
^2-3 Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments.
^4-6 If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.
^7-8 My dear friends, I’m not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you’ve known it from day one. It’s always been implicit in the Message you’ve heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing!
^12-13 I remind you, my dear children: Your sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name. You veterans were in on the ground floor, and know the One who started all this; you newcomers have won a big victory over the Evil One.
^13-14 And a second reminder, dear children: You know the Father from personal experience. You veterans know the One who started it all; and you newcomers—such vitality and strength! God’s word is so steady in you. Your fellowship with God enables you to gain a victory over the Evil One.
^15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
^24-25 Stay with what you heard from the beginning, the original message. Let it sink into your life. If what you heard from the beginning lives deeply in you, you will live deeply in both Son and Father. This is exactly what Christ promised: eternal life, real life!
^26-27 I’ve written to warn you about those who are trying to deceive you. But they’re no match for what is embedded deeply within you—Christ’s anointing, no less! You don’t need any of their so-called teaching. Christ’s anointing teaches you the truth on everything you need to know about yourself and him, uncontaminated by a single lie. Live deeply in what you were taught.
²⁸ And now, children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we’ll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when he arrives.
²⁹ Once you’re convinced that he is right and righteous, you’ll recognize that all who practice righteousness are God’s true children.”

 

  
 

 

 

 

 

 

I was Never Meant to Fight on My Own

"The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know... This is the way our Savior God wants us to live. He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one..." 1 Timothy 2:1-4 The Message

Prayer is very dear to my heart; to think that God, the creator of this vast universe, desires to talk to me personally...how could prayer be any more special than that? So it makes me extremely sad when people make excuses for why they chose not to come to a prayer meeting. Granted, some have genuine reasons for missing a time or two, but when they consistantly chose to not come at the hour of prayer my heart breaks. I've been asking God to take away this sadness and discouragement I feel because, after all, I told God "It is every persons choice and it doesn't affect my walk with You." But God gave me an "ah-ha" moment at Ladies Prayer one night.

This particular prayer night I just couldn't shake the deep disappointment I felt. I wept and wept and asked God why I was so much more upset this time than I have been in the past. He said "You need your sisters." That was my "ah-ha" moment, realizing I really wasn't as strong as I always prided myself in being. There were a lot of emotionally taxing things going on in my life, and though I was daily encouraging myself in the Lord, that night I needed to hear the prayers of others going up and creating an atmosphere of faith.

When we come together for prayer and hear the prayers and praises of our brothers and sisters in Christ rising to the heavens, breaking spiritual boundaries, it affects our spirit and brings strength to the weak and wounded. When we come together and unify our spirits for one purpose hell is shaken, chains are loosed and prisoners set free. I am sure we all have a time of personal prayer, but we NEED to take the time to come together with our sisters and brothers, as a group, and pray. Corporate prayer brings a new level of God's Spirit into the church atmosephere. I've walked into homes and immediately knew prayer was made there...we need that same atmosephere in our church buildings. The only way to create a dwelling place for God's shekinah glory is if God's people gather together for the sole purpose of seeking His presence. The Holy Ghost came down in an upper room where 120 met for prayer. Jesus told them to go there and wait, those who decided to stay home and pray missed out...what if all 120 decided meeting in one place for prayer wasn't important?

Group prayer is not only important for creating a holy atmosphere in the very place you are meeting, but I would venture to say it is VITAL to the spiritual health of God's people. Like I mentioned, hearing the prayers and praises of others infuses faith into your spirit. Let me use a medical example: you're dying and need a blood tranfusion. No matter how hard you try, you cannot tranfuse blood to yourself from yourself. We need a donor to give us blood from their healthy body to restore life to ours. What happens when poor personal choices, life circumstances and emotional pain start sapping the faith out of our spirit? Hard as we may try to revitalize our own spirit sometimes it just can't be done...we need donor faith, and donor faith is received by being surrounded by our brothers and sisters in a time of prayer.

Ashes Remain says it well:

There's gotta be another way out
I've been stuck in a cage with my doubt
I've tried forever getting out on my own
Every time I do this my way
I get caught in the lies of the enemy
I lay my troubles down
I'm ready for you now

Bring me out
Come and find me in the dark now
Everyday by myself I'm breaking down
I don't wanna fight alone anymore
Bring me out
From the prison of my own pride
My God I need a hope I can't deny
In the end I'm realizing
I was never meant to fight on my own

Will You Close the Gap?

 
God's people can get a bit high-minded if they're not careful.Throughout scripture we are taught that high-mindedness is something to be avoided.  God spoke to the Israelites regarding high-mindedness: "In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord." Zephaniah 3:11-12

The Bible warns the New Testament church against this as well: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." 1 Corinthians 10:12  "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Romans 12:3


But what is high-mindedness? High-mindedness can be defined as having open disdain for a person or thing while making claims or pretensions to your own superior importance, or entitlement. The Word of God is rich with examples, but let's just look at a couple: Luke 18:10-12 "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess."

Mark 9:33-34 "And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest."

How can we tell if we are thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought? When we're first saved we feel so unworthy that we continually fall on our faces before God wondering why He ever chose to "save a wretch like me". Then something happens...we're taught to "come boldly before the throne", "be proud to be a King's kid", and so on. None of that is bad, and we should have confidence in our relationship with God, it gives us boldness to declare war on Satan and take back what is rightfully God's. I think, however, that somewhere along the line we forget from where we came. I think we become so comfortable in our relationship with God and His acceptance of us that we lose the awe of His grace in our lives. When we start looking at others and saying within ourselves as the Pharisee in Luke 18 had "Thank God I'm not like them..." it's time to bring ourselves down a notch because if it wasn't for God's grace we could be just like them, or worse.

It breaks my heart when I hear of people pass judgement on someone who has fallen into sin. The Bible clearly tells us"if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" Galatians 6:1 In other words, help the person overcome the sin they've fallen into, don't sit back and wonder how they could do such a thing and think you're better than they are because you will be opening yourself up to fall as well.

Not only should we keep a spirit of meekness so we do not fall into temptations, but also so we are available to minister to those who have fallen into sin. If your heart is hardened against those less spiritual than you, God cannot use you to restore others to a relationship with Him. Let us remember that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" Isaiah 64:6 and stay humble so that when God is looking for someone to be a restorer of the breech we are readily available. I remember a sermon I heard about the "Disciple Spirit". The disciples tried to keep the filthy sinner away from Jesus, didn't want Jesus to be bothered with such riff-raff, but that is the very reason Jesus came to earth! The disciples were busy fighting amongst themselves about who was better...God is no respecter of persons!

Jesus commanded us to love one another (John 13:34) and Paul further teaches us that charity is the most important character for us to have as Christians (1 Corinthians 13). Jesus forgave those who mocked Him, denied Him, crucified Him, yet we chose to stand in judgement of who should and shouldn't be a recipient of God's grace? Why shouldn't those who chose the homosexual lifestyle receive our prayers? They need deliverance from a life of sin, just like many others. Why shouldn't the child of God who fell away receive prayer for restoration? God's grace is longsuffering, they could fall away again and again and still be worthy of our prayers for the salvation of their souls! How dare we withhold prayers for a dying soul! God is searching for a people willing to overlook human faults and reach out to a dying world! “I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. I couldn’t find anyone. Not one. So I’ll empty out my wrath on them, burn them to a crisp with my hot anger, serve them with the consequences of all they’ve done. Decree of God, the Master.” Ezekiel 22:30 & 31 ~ The Message

Will you be that person God is looking for? Will you love the unlovable? Apply the balm of God's love to the broken? God, give us a heart like Yours! Open our eyes to the needs of others! This is not about you and me, this is about a dying world...I must decrease so He can increase!

Elihu: Whose God is Jehovah

This year I thought I'd change up my BREAD reading by using a chronological reading plan and an Amplified Bible. First, it was cool to find out that Job's life exsisted between Noah and Abraham's time. In addition to that, God opened my eyes to something I hadn't really paid attention to in the past. I've read the Book of Job quite a few times but never realized that in Job 42:7 God only rebukes Eliphaz and two of his friends...there were four friends "comforting" Job. Every other time I read Job I came away with two things: 1) Job's friends were jerks, 2) God is a deliverer. This time though, my curiousity was piqued as to why Elihu escaped God's rebuke, so I took the time to reread each friend's discourse. In summary this is what I came up with:

                      Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar were saying God doesn't trust His people, doesn't bother
                      to cheer His angels, doesn't trust His angels and is causing all of Job's calamity.

                     Elihu basically said: "How can you speak of God that way? My spirit cannot sit idle
                    and let this go on! God works to bring His people out of the pit. He speaks to His people
                   through dreams and visions, but His people don't listen. He is no respecter of persons
                   and helps the needy and afflicted. Compared to God we are all sinners, yet God takes
                   the time to show us the error of our ways so we can correct them and become
                   righteous."

I'm disappointed in the way the seasoned saints of God described God as a hard God, ready to punish and exact vengence on His people, as if He was a God far removed from feeling compassion for us...which is the total opposite of what His Word says! Maybe their hearts became hardened from the many trials they endured instead of using their trials to become closer to their Creator. It should have been Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar schooling Elihu on the characteristics of God, but Elihu stepped up and schooled all of them!

Three things I came away with:

1) Don't assume a trial is punishment from God. In the book "Sifted", author Wayne Corderio teaches that God uses times of trial to bring us back into dependence on Him instead of ourselves.

2) Don't be so quick to offer answers to those who come to you wondering why they are going through a trial. Truth is, just as Elihu said in Job 37:23 "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out..." We don't know why someone else goes through what they are going through and throwing specutlations out there, as Job's friends had, can cause more harm than good. We just need to be that steady rock of a friend with a shoulder to cry on, a ready ear to listen, and arms to wrap them in comfort...God alone holds the answers and it is God they should seek for answers.

3) Elihu's name means: "Whose God is Jehovah" or "He is my God Himself", depending on which dictionary you read. Elihu couldn't just sit back and let untruths be spouted off about his God. Let it be our desire to be as bold as Elihu when it comes to witnessing about our one-true God! This world needs to know Who God really is!

Loose Lips Sink Ships

Loose Lips Sink Ships

During WW II many men were drafted to serve the country. Those who were new to the military didn’t know how to conduct themselves when it came to safeguarding military information. To help them gain a quick understanding the military sent out a notice with the saying “Loose Lips May Sink Ships”. In this notice the soldiers were told the importance of secrecy in written and oral communication:

“SILENCE MEANS SECURITY -- If violation of protective measures is serious within written communications it is disastrous in conversations. Protect your conversation as you do your letters, and be even more careful. A harmful letter can be nullified by censorship; loose talk is direct delivery to the enemy. If you come home during war your lips must remain sealed and your written hand must be guided by self-imposed censorship. This takes guts. Have you got them or do you want your buddies and your country to pay the price for your showing off. You've faced the battle front; it’s little enough to ask you to face the home front.”

This same mindset needs to be in the church. Satan will use any means available to him to destroy God's church and in so doing cripples us from reaching a dying world. I personally do not want to be a tool in Satan’s arsenal to destroy those around me. My careless talk could hurt my brother or sister in the Lord as well as those who we’ve yet to win. It’s up to us to stop our loose lips from sinking God’s ship. 

It’s a sad, sad thing when God’s people turn on each other. It doesn’t even have to be outright hatred for one another, but if you even sow a tiny seed of dislike for one person in someone else’s heart, that is the beginning of the destruction of a family.

Matthew 12:25 KJV “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:” (The Message: “Jesus confronted their slander. “A judge who gives opposite verdicts on the same person cancels himself out; a family that’s in a constant squabble disintegrates;”)

 

It’s human nature to have conflict with others at some time or another. Clashing with someone’s personality isn’t a sin…talking with others about that conflict is. We think gossip is sharing untruths we’ve heard from someone else regarding another person. However, one definition of gossip is: general talk that is damaging to reputation. It could be a truth you are sharing with a friend or family member, for example: Someone said something about my son and it hurt my feelings, because I’m hurt I call someone else and talk to her about it. This other person had nothing to do with the situation, but because she’s my friend she also feels hurt by what was said. What just happened by my talking to this other person? Did it help or hurt her relationship with the one who hurt me? What do you think this other person is going to do now that she is also feeling hurt? Innocently enough, I just sowed a seed of division amongst my church family. Maybe you don’t like how a sister treats her kids, or her spouse, and you express your opinion to only a few people. This has the same affect…division. If you multiply all the “innocent” pieces of gossip we exchange by the number of people in a congregation; how can God's church stand?

Message  James 3:5-6“A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.”

In the medical field, when a body turns on itself it’s called an Autoimmune disease: A disease in which the body attacks its own tissues, leading to the deterioration and in some cases to the destruction of such tissue. This is what gossip does to a church body. Like I mentioned, we may not mean for it to happen, but it is an inevitable outcome of gossip. We must learn to control our tongues!

James 1:26

KJV “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.”

How many of us are turned off by someone who said something foolish? I knew someone who wanted so desperately for her mom to be saved. When we first became friends I was awed by her spirituality and sensitivity to the Spirit. Then one day her mom invited us over to her house for lunch. It was then that I realized why her mom wasn’t interested in coming to our church. My friend’s mom started asking questions about some touchy (and dramatic) situations at church. I couldn’t believe it! My friend wanted her mom saved but bad mouthed God’s people to her mother! Obviously this friend’s mom saw my friend’s religion as vain…and all because my friend couldn’t hold her tongue.

 

We need to be mindful of what comes out of our mouths. We know before we even say anything why we’re saying it. The only reasons to repeat gossip are to 1) get people on your side of a situation; 2) prove to others how knowledgeable you are about someone; 3) prove to someone how much better you are than another. We are by nature a curious people, so we invite useless information about people because we are curious as to what is going on in their lives. I’ve learned long ago, if I’m not directly told by someone about something in their life, I’m better off not knowing! God knows every single detail about each one of us, so if we see something a little off about a brother or sister, we don’t need the details in order to pray for them, and we don’t need the details before we can reach out to them in love. We need to “watch our own bobber” as Pastor Peckham would say. I think we all have enough going on in our own lives to keep us busy, and if we find ourselves with free time we’d be better off using it drawing closer to the Lord than finding and sharing information about one another.

Titus 2:1-5 teaches us what we, as women, should be finding ourselves doing within the family of God. KJV “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

The Message:“Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine…Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior.”

 In other words, we should be busying ourselves with keeping our homes in order, treating elders with respect, seeking to live holy, pure lives so when new ladies come into the church they can see by our examples how a godly woman lives. We all have at least one godly woman we admire; God wants us to become the kind of godly woman someone else can admire…no one admires a gossip.

Here are a few more scriptures on gossip:

            Leviticus 19:16

            Proverbs 11:13
            Proverbs 18:8
            Proverbs 26:20
            Ephesians 4:29-32
             1 Peter 2:1

           

 

 Overcoming Offense 

It’s natural to want to share our pain when someone offends us, and the Bible tells us to share one another’s burdens, but there is a Biblical way of handling an offense that will stop the spread of the autoimmune disease “gossip”, and it isn’t to bury the offense deep in our Spirit, matter of fact, God wants us always to reconcile with our church family(Matthew 5:23-24). Offenses that are not dealt with have a way of rearing their ugly heads at another time. It’s one thing to feel and offense and quickly forgive (Proverbs 10:12; 2 Corinthians 2:10-11), but if the offense is eating at you and making you want to retaliate or share it with another, then it needs to be dealt with biblically.

 
 Matthew 18:15-17 tells us how to handle a situation where a brother or sister has offended us: KJV“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.”

The Message “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.”

 You’re probably thinking “HA!! See! It says I can go to one or two others and tell them about it!” Jesus is not teaching us to go to our best buddies and tell them all about how Sally hurt me so all three of us can go tell her how wrong she was. Jesus is saying, if someone hurt you, go have a private conversation between you and him/her, let them know what was done that caused the offense and give them a chance to make it right. If they say “Too bad, so sad” then you take it to an elder in the church (a board member) because elders are suppose to be unbiased and wise in helping work out the situation. If the person STILL refuses to repent, then the Pastor will take it before the church and explain the situation. Once you take the situation to an elder, you’ve done your part in trying to reconcile with that individual, you need to let go of the hurt, forgive and move on. Sometimes that is the hard part, forgiving and moving on, but God has shown us over and over in scripture the importance of forgiving others…if we don’t forgive, He can’t forgive us.

 

 

In conclusion let me reiterate LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS! Once something leaves our lips it is sure to make its rounds, so let’s keep our conversations pure, holy and loving. We want to win hurting people and we can’t do that when we are hurting each other.

 Psalm 34:12 -14 NIV Reader’s “Do you love life and want to see many good days? Then keep your tongues from speaking evil. Keep your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil, and do good. Look for peace, and go after it.”

 Philippians 4:8 The Message: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.