Fix It So You Can Flourish: Transformed By Renewing Your Mind

    Our passage to read and think on throughout this week, as the Lord wills, is Romans 12:1-2:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (NKJV)

    Following in Jesus' footsteps (1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:6) we learn to humbly submit to God, sacrifice our wants and desires (Matthew 16:24), and obey His instructions and commands so that we can be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:13-16) and be pure just as He is pure (1 John 3:3). We will determine to make good choices in our attitudes, our words, and our actions so that others will know that we belong to God!

    When I was younger my Dad explained Romans 12:2 like this: Pour Jello into a mould, after it sets, you turn it out and you have a lump of Jello that looks exactly like the mould. The Jello conformed to the mould it was in! We conform to the world when we let it shape us, which will leave us looking just like the world!

    God wants us to be transformed (undergo a change in character). How do we do this? "...by the renewing of your mind." Fill up your heart and mind with God's word motivates us to try harder each day to make good choices in our speech, our attitudes, our actions. Read and think on Ephesians 4:17-32 as it echoes these thoughts. 

    If we put in the self-sacrificing effort, God will provide the transforming renewal!

    Determining to do things God's way will take faith and trust on our part, but it's well-worth our every effort because we will soon prove to ourselves - and to others - that His will is "good and acceptable and perfect."

    Only when we transform ourselves by doing what God has told us to do can shine as a light in the world (Matthew 5:14-16). Only when we are different from the world can we show the world that there is a different way!

    Let's be the living sacrifices that God wants us to be, so that we can prove that His way is the best way!

From wherever you are right now - BEGIN!

Fix It So You Can Flourish: Swift To Hear, Slow To Speak, Slow to Wrath

    Continuing in our new 'Fix It So You Can Flourish' series, let's consider James 1:19-20:

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, 

slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not 

produce the righteousness of God.” (NKJV)

Swift to Hear 

    We need to teach ourselves to hear. Hearing and really listening involves quietness on our part. Rearrange the letters in SILENT and get the word LISTEN. We hear best when we remain silent with our voice and in our mind. How often have you missed what someone is saying because you’ve been too busy thinking how you’re going to respond and/or refute?

“He who answers a matter before he hears it, 

it is folly and shame to him.” 

(Proverbs 18:13 NKJV)

    We can cause hurt if we speak before or without hearing. We can give rash or harmful advice when we let our emotions have free rein. When we keep our mind calm and our ears open, we can hear what people are really saying. When we calmly listen, we can take time to consider the matter, we can employ wisdom in our response.

“He who has knowledge spares his words, 

and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.” 

(Proverbs 17:27 NKJV)

Slow to Speak

    We all know the harm that can come from speaking before or without thinking. God wants us to be slow to speak; He wants us to be wise.

“In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, 

but he who restrains his lips is wise.” 

(Proverbs 10:19 NKJV)

    When we pause and consider a matter before answering we give ourselves opportunity to discern right from wrong, and we can better determine the right thing to say or do.

Slow to Wrath

    Why does God command this? Read again James 1:20 “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” When we are wrathful and quick to anger, the possibility of saying or doing something wrong/sinful is very likely.

“He who is slow to wrath has great understanding,

But he who is impulsive exalts folly.” 

(Proverbs 14:29 NKJV)

    When we are slow to wrath we can prove to the world “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). When we are slow to wrath, we can keep our emotions in check, we can keep our words in check, and we can keep our actions in check. When we are slow to wrath we become a safe haven instead of a raging storm.

    All of these, swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, take self-control. Only when we control ourselves in obedience to this command can we produce the righteousness of God and bear the fruit of the Spirit:

“...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 

longsuffering, kindness, goodness, 

faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

Against such there is no law.” 

(Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV)

    Let us have a heart to say, 'If God said it, I believe it, and I will do it.'  As Christians, we are God's children, God wants us to to be pure just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3). Let us honestly examine ourselves and determine that we will do what God has commanded us so that we can flourish in our faith and service!

You can do it! So can I!!

Fix It So You Can Flourish: Owing Love

    Good Morning!! Over the next several weeks, as the Lord wills, I am going to share a Bible verse for us to think on and apply through our week. I call this series: 'Fix It So You Can Flourish' God is worthy of our every effort to align ourselves with His will and way! Thinking on His Word and applying it to our daily walk will help our faith to flourish! Let's begin! 

“Owe no one anything except to love one another,

for He who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

(Romans 13:8 NKJV)

    We owe it to our family, our friends, our neighbours, and our enemies to love them. We owe it to them. Think about that for a moment. It is the only thing we are to owe anyone!

    When we show love through our actions (1 John 3:18) we show God to others. People who may not otherwise know God can see Him through us when we truly love Him and them!

    When we love, we “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). Others will see the difference when they compare you and your actions with those in the world! We will prove ourselves to be disciples of Jesus (John 13:34-35) and we can have confidence that we are abiding in God (1 John 4:12-16)!  

    Let’s do it God’s way!! He has instructed us over and over again to love as He has loved us!! Let’s put it into action!! We owe it to Him to be obedient to this command and we owe it to others to show them God's light and love (Matthew 5:14-16)! 

You can do it! So can I!!

“Beloved, if God so loved us, 

we also ought to love one another.”

(1 John 4:11 NKJV)

Wives Who Magnify and Glorify God

    Glorifying God is a wonderful way to live each day!

    Today, let's focus again on how we, as women, can declare God's greatness to ourselves and to the people we daily interact with. Specifically, we will look at the role of wives.

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:22 NKJV)

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." (Colossians 3:18 NKJV)

"...be submissive to your own husbands..." (1 Peter 3:1 NKJV)

    Today, "submission" and being submissive is considered an ugly thing. It is frowned upon by women of the world as archaic and oppressive. Submission equates slavery, or so the world wants you to think, but God says that it is what a wife is to do, so what now?

A Bible dictionary defines "submit" (as found in Ephesians 5:22) in this way:

1. to arrange under, to subordinate
2. to subject, put in subjection
3. to subject one's self, obey
4. to submit to one's control
5. to yield to one's admonition or advice
6. to obey, be subject

    A Greek military term meaning "to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader." In non-military use, it was "a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden."

    After reading this definition, I feel some of the ugliness of the word is removed, don't you? If you truly see your husband as the leader and you, as his wife, arrange yourself and your children under his command, you are showing a spirit of cooperation instead of contention. You are helping him to 'carry the burden,' by doing what you are responsible for and allowing him to do what he is responsible for. When you do it God's way and submit (obey, yield, etc.) to your husband's leadership you become part of the solution, not part of the problem.

    Some may be quick to say, " Yes, that's all well in good in an ideal world, but you don't know my husband!"

    All too often, women don't see their husband as a capable leader and so they begin to fill in the gaps and little by little 'pull at the reins' (taking over more and more), creating a sense of "constant dripping" (Proverbs 19:13, 27:15) until finally their husband relinquishes all control and leadership in the family and in the home. Losing confidence in themselves they become more and more the man their wives have believed them to be: weak, unable to lead, unable to make quality decisions, unattached to the needs of the family. The wives in these cases do not even acknowledge their own involvement in this downward spiral, they just resent their husbands more and more for doing less and less. It's an unfortunate and unlawful decline that is all too easy to get pulled into!

    When we do it God's way and submit to our husbands - truly submit - seeing our own husband as the leader God wants him to be, even if he is not that leader now, he will be. When you do your part and submit to his leadership, he will become the leader he needs to be. Please read 1 Peter 3:1-2.

    We need to stop thinking we know better. We need to start doing it God's way! We need to stop making fun of our husbands, belittling him and/or his decisions/ideas to our friends. We need to stop criticizing his every word of advice and every decision he makes. We need to give him control - hand back the reins. Believe him to be the leader God wants him to be. 

    Not every man is a born leader, but a good and loving wife will encourage him to become just that! When he knows that you fully trust him as your leader he will put more time, thought, and energy into the family he leads! He will do his best to do the best for you and the family. If he makes a mistake, don't belittle him, instead stand beside him and help him see it through. Don't give up on him. Encourage him to try again. Tell him how much you believe in him and his ability to successfully lead your family! Tell him this often!! Pray for him. And again I say, pray for him! Support him by doing what you are responsible for (house, children, etc.) and leave his responsibilities to him.

Can you see the difference between the two possible outcomes?

1. Ugly downward fall when the wife takes over
2. Beautiful steps forward that occur when a wife follows God's instruction

    Today, stop seeing submission as an ugly thing. Start seeing it as a beautiful instruction from God! Yes, it will take work, but anything worth having is going to take work! Let your husband become the leader that God wants him to be, let him flourish in that role! Submit to your husband and be his help meet, his cheerleader, his wife! Let God be magnified in your homes by exemplifying this instruction! Let people see through your example of obedience that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:1-2)!

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward - arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel - rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands..." (1 Peter 3:3-5 NKJV)

    A wife who, with a gentle and quiet spirit, is submissive to her own husband, is very precious in the sight of God! That is a picture of complete and perfect beauty!!

    Let's try to do our very best to be the best wife we can be to our own husbands, by doing it God's way!!

You can do it! So can I!!

Women Who Magnify God

    What better way to declare God's way as the best way than to know His will and joyfully fulfill it in our lives! When we find instruction, let's have a heart that is open to receiving it and applying it, so we, as women, can declare God's greatness to the world around us!

    As women, we have opportunity to use our talents to help others (Tabitha/Dorcas, Acts 9:36, 39). There is also more specific instruction given to older and young women in Titus 2:3-5:

"The older women likewise*, that they be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things - that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed." (NKJV)

    Every single item in these verses applies to older women. How can you teach something that you, yourself, do not already know and do?

    And if you think you still have some years before these verses for "older women" apply to you, think again! If there is any woman younger than you, with whom you can influence by your example, you too are an 'older woman!' Begin now to understand the beauty and importance of fulfilling God's will in your role as a woman!

~ Note the asterisk (*) I added beside the word 'likewise' in the above passage. When we see the word 'likewise' we need to realize that a commonality is being expressed between two parties. In this case, there is an instruction given to the older men (in verse 2), that the
older women are also to adhere to.

"... the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise..." (Titus 2:2-3a NKJV)

    From this same passage we can understand the instruction to young women: love your husband's, love your children, be discreet, homemakers, good, obedient to your own husbands.

    So, older women are to be examples as well as teachers to the young women - likely one on one as a mother would be with a daughter, but I would love to see this stretch beyond the bonds of only teaching or feeling a realm of influence on our own daughters. Let each one of us embrace the women younger than us as daughters; women we can be examples to, whom we can influence toward godly goals.

    Older women, love and care for the hearts and souls of the young women. Look for opportunity to teach and influence them toward the things listed in Titus 2.

    Young women, look to the older women for guidance and encouragement. Respect them and their accumulated knowledge/experience/wisdom. Allow them to instruct you and teach you.

    The world around us wants us to see these verses in Titus as asphyxiating and constraining us from the 'freedom we deserve' as women. I want you to love God and understand His love for you, enough to see the absolute beauty He has given us to embody as women! We have a most wonderful role to fulfill - a role that takes us a lifetime to accomplish. Each day, let us grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and take the steps necessary to apply what we are instructed to do in Titus 2.

    Why are we to do this? Why are we, as older women, supposed to take care to obey these commands/instructions and be examples and teachers to the young women? Why should young women listen to the older women's teaching and advice - don't they understand that times are different now and their experience is antiquated? Why are we to fulfill these instructions? 

    Read the last part of Titus 2:5 to find the answer: "that the word of God may not be blasphemed." 

    We follow these instructions, we fulfill God's command to us as women, so that when others observe us they see that we're on to something that truly works! They see us loving our husbands - not abusing them to our friends. They see us loving our children - raising them in an environment of nurturing and in the admonition of the Lord. They will observe women who are happy! Happy to help, happy to take care of their homes, happy to work; "doing the will of God from the heart"(Ephesians 6:6)! No one can make fun of God's word when they see it beautifully personified in our actions and behaviours! When they see how well it works and benefits us and those with whom we can have an influence; they will want to know more about Him - another opportunity to shine God's light into the darkness!!

You can do it! So can I!!

    Next week, the Lord willing, we will continue our theme of 'Women Who Magnify God' by examining of the role of a wife.