Angela’s Thoughts

Have you ever talked with someone, or should I say listened to someone, who takes over a conversation?  You try to say something, but either get cut-off, or they just keep going on and on and on?  It is like all they want to do is be heard, and it doesn’t matter who they are talking too… just that they are talking?

I have a daughter that is 11 going on 12 and she loves to talk.  Amongst the constant talking there are nuggets of information about her life, but sometimes I miss it because she is always talking… and after a while, I tune out the chatter.  It isn’t something I intentionally do, but often find myself asking, “What did she just say?”  And at times she will be so focused on what she wants to say, that when I do get to respond… it is never heard.  It could be that I am asking her to do something, or replying to a question she has… and within minutes she will either have to be told again what to do, or I’m answering the same question that was just asked.  Sometimes, we will see the same thing happen, and she will repeat it about 5 times… to make sure that I knew it happened.  I saw it too!  I knew it happened! I understand that a lot of this is a girl thing… the mind racing from one thing to another so quickly that you feel you need to get it all out.

But… as I was praying this morning, I found myself asking, “Who is leading my conversation with God?  Him or me?  More times than not, I think it is me.  I have so much to say, doesn’t He want to know it all?  I had this happen or that happen (which He already knows) and I need to tell Him how I feel about it (which He already knows).  I have so many requests and I need to remind Him about them all.  When I am finished… Have I allowed Him to say anything?  Did I lead our conversation?

Interestingly enough, as I was looking for scripture references from the concordance in the back of my Bible, I couldn’t find the word “Listen.”  And when I looked for “Hear”, all the references were … guess?!  How God hears our prayers!  Wow.  Such selfish people we are!  But as I was reading Psalms 143, I went passed the referenced scripture where David is saying, “Hear me,” to him saying, “Cause me to hear…”  Isn’t it crazy that my Bible concordance forgot to add the scriptures references about listening and hearing from God?

Psalms 143 says,  ^“1Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. ²And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. ³For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. ⁴Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.  ⁵I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. ⁶I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. ⁷Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.⁸Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. ⁹Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. ¹⁰Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. ¹¹Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. ¹²And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.”

In this Psalm, David did let God know how he was feeling, and he did petition God… but he left room for God to respond when he told God how his soul was thirsty for Him, then said, “Cause me to hear… and cause me to know…”  Both of these statements are seeking God’s advise, and acknowledging that He wanted to hear from His God.  And then, “Lord, teach me… and Quicken me.”  They were all types of requests, but showed us that David wanted to allow God to lead him.

I don’t know about you, but I want God to lead our conversations.  I want to listen when he decides to speak, I want to feel the nudging of His spirit and allow Him to change the direction of my prayers if it is His will.

Take time and think about this… Who is leading your conversation?

This morning as I was praying and then studying, I stopped for a moment to check Facebook.    It has become such a part of me, that I check at the oddest times of the day.

I’m glad I did today.  There was a video posted by a friend… and it got me to thinking.

As I opened my Bible to Proverbs 21, I began to read.  21:2 says, “Every way of man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.”

This is so true.  In today’s society, there is a blur of what is right and wrong, because no one will stand for right (which is laid out for us in the Bible)!  Everyone person has made up their own mind what is right or wrong. We live in a world that is so afraid of encroaching upon someone else’s values that they compromise their own.  There “appear” to be no absolutes.

“But the Lord pondereth the hearts”.  Oh, I want to be in the place where I am following after God, and that I am speaking and living in His absolutes… so that as He searches my heart, He will find a servant, and seeker of truth. Many people claim to be “Christians” or followers of Christ, but any part of the Word of God that is offensive to them, they discard as not being for “them”.   I was taught that we were to take the whole Word of God, not taking away from or adding to it! I want to view right and wrong with God’s eyes, not my own.  I want to be pliable in His hands, and stand firm on His word.

The chapter continues… vs. 15 “It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.”  Amplified version, “When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous (the upright, in right standing with God), but to the evildoers it is dismay, calamity, and ruin.”

As I read these scriptures, I could already see a courtroom.  Justice prevailing.  It is, unfortunately, a common sight to see the “evildoer” feeling the dismay, calamity and ruin over what is Justice, what is right!  So many today, don’t ever feel regret for their wrong doing… it is the system that is wrong… it is the laws that need to be changed.  There has to come a time when we just begin to take responsibility for what we choose to do, what is right and wrong in our sight.  There is such a thing as Absolutes.  Right and Wrong.  We choose what we do.

What will God see in our hearts today?  Right or Wrong?

The other day, while seeking an answer to a question… God led me to a certain passage of scripture.

Being a pastor’s wife, there are so many times that we have to realized the importance of our walk with God.  The importance of leading people the right direction.  Yes, unfortunately there are many interpretations of the Word of God.  Even in many translations, there are scriptures changed, or completely left out.  What right do we have to change the Word of God?  Yes, we need to understand it… in layman terms… but change it?  NO!  But not only do we need to be careful about how we interpret the Word of God, we also need to be very careful in what we say God says.

Recently on Facebook, a friend of mine mentioned that “FACEBOOK USER… thinks it’s funny how some folks think it is very important that they made certain changes in their lives because it was God’s will.  When you say it once there is meaning to it.  When you have to repeat it several times,… one starts to wonder….. was it really God’s will, or yours and you just feel guilty about it?

I was surprised by the responses.  Many people ridiculed this person for mentioning the possibility that whomever they talked of was wrong… that they questioned their motives.  I think it is necessary that we question.  If we didn’t, we would believe blindly, we would follow whatever new fad came and just go with the flow.

Ezekiel 13 warns us of prophesying from our own spirit… having seen nothing.

“AND THE word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts.  Hear ye the word of the LORD;  Thus saith the LORD GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!  O Israel, the prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.  Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.  Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it: albeit I have not spoken?  Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the LORD GOD.  And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD GOD.  Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar:  Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall: and a stormy wind shall rend it.  Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?  Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.  So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.  Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it.  To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the LORD GOD.  Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them.  And say, Thus saith the LORD GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls!  Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?  And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? Wherefore thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.  Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.  Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:  Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am LORD.

It is very important that we be sure what we say is from God before we put the words, “The LORD saith,” or before we proclaim something came from God.  This has caused me to analyze my own words.  I have already been very careful of using the words, “The LORD saith,” because I have never wanted my own words/desires to come after it… I want to make sure that I don’t lead someone else the wrong direction because of what I say… Salvation is so very important, Direction from God is very important, Living a life Holy and acceptable unto God is important… There are many times that I have seen someone say, “I heard this from the LORD…” and it didn’t line up with His Word.  How can that be from God?  It wasn’t.  I can stand firm on that!  He will never do anything against what His Word has already proclaimed.  His Word is Truth.  It stands!

I don’t think it is wrong to question the motive?  Especially when something in your spirit just questions it.  When you know the Word of God, the spirit within you will discern whether something is of GOD or not.  But you have to spend enough time with GOD to be able to discern the difference!

I challenge you to read this passage of scripture … even in other translations (Amplified, NIV, etc…) for better understanding.  Compare it to the King James Version, so that you don’t lose the full meaning but read it!!!  Take it to heart.

We need to make certain that what we profess, what we proclaim… especially when it comes to the Word of God,  aligns with His Word and that we are not allowing self or our own vain visions to cloud truth… What does the LORD saith?