 A Tortoise was very sad because he wanted to see the world but it would take an eternity with his little short legs. He shared his sadness with a pair of Ducks. “We can help you see the world,” said the Ducks. “Take hold of this stick with your teeth and we will carry you far up in the air where you can see the whole countryside. But keep quiet or you will be sorry.” The Tortoise was so excited and happy to finally get to see the world. He bit down on the stick firmly and each of the Ducks took an end and up they flew toward the clouds. The Tortoise, with big eyes, was astonished and awed by what he saw. Suddenly a Crow flew by and cawed, “”This must surely be the King of Tortoises!” The Tortoise forgot the instructions not to speak and exclaimed, “Why certainly…” All of a sudden the little Tortoise fell from the sky into a small lake below. He was doing well but lost focus.
There is an old saying, that silence is golden. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Words well spoken are silver, but silence is golden...” In essence, learning to read the room and mood is important. Sometimes, it is best to be silent or not respond, because not everything needs a response. Silence can bring calm into a situation. That powerful pause that we use before we respond allows us to recognize that it’s not about us in that moment. It is not to deny or suppress how we feel, but recognize the power of silence that can change the direction of the conversation. “I think it is well, too, when a poor sin-burdened soul is silent before God, and unable to make any bold speeches. It would have been well if Peter had been silent when he said, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” (Matthew 26:33, ESV). It is good that a man is a good speaker, but it is better to know when to speak and when not to.” Charles Spurgeon Silence is Restraint! GiGi❤️
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 Jesus emphasizes the importance of “forgiving those who trespass against us” by mentioning it twice. Once in Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.”
He mentions it again in the Parable of the Merciless Servant, in Matthew 18:21-35. When Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?” He answers, “Up to seventy-seven times.” Nothing illustrates hard-hearted unforgiveness like the man who was forgiven of a debt to the king of ten thousand bags of gold. When the king learned that he was unable to pay, he ordered the man, along with his family to be sold as payment for his debt. The servant begged the king for his patience. The king reconsiders and cancels the whole debt. Yet, later that same man grabs a fellow servant who owes him one hundred silver coins and demands repayment. His fellow servant begs him for patience as the man had begged the king. The man was unrelenting and refused. He has his fellow servant imprisoned until he repays him all that he owes. Forgiveness is not an emotional response; it is intentional. Forgiveness is accepting what happened, processing the hurt, pain, anger and disappointment with self-compassion, and releasing the “righteous anger in response to the injustice,” to God. It’s an act of compassion, compassion toward ourselves and toward the offender, just as the king showed compassion toward the servant. Forgive those who have hurt us as we have been forgiven. GiGi❤️  You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)
Perfection is defined as being free from flaws or defects. Although, each individual will have their own definition of what constitutes a flaw or defect. Therefore, perfection is subjective and can be viewed through a “social, moral, cultural, personal standards, and world-view” lense. Thus, perfect peace may mean something different for each Christian, but what we may all agree on is that despite things not being ok, we are at peace. It is a peace that passes all understanding. Charles Spurgeon spoke it beautifully: “But when the cares of this world come rushin in, helter-skelter - not only one thing but twenty other things, all claiming to be done at once - then is the anxious soul apt to be disquieted. We are first wearied and then worried. To be perfectly at peace amid the hurry-burly of invading cares is a very blessed condition of soul - and the only way to reach it is described in the next line of the human, To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.” Regardless of how we define peace, we know we have peace when our thoughts and actions align with the Word of God. Stop Worrying - Rest! GiGi❤️  “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13)
Even the Christian can become overwhelmed with their thoughts and make them their reality. Facts are defined as objective information that can be supported with evidence. Facts don’t change but emotions do. On the other hand, emotions are a subjective response to stimuli and are a contrast to facts. For instance, several people can experience the same thing at the same time and everyone can have a different emotional response. Yet, that won’t change the facts of what actually occurred. In actuality, our leading scripture means to “get yourself together,” gather your thoughts, calm your emotions, and stay present. In a spiritual context, it can be explained as follows: “Somehow or other, you appear to have fallen to pieces, there is no cohesion about you, and you are sure that you are not in a right condition. Well, then, our text is the very message you need; and it means, first, concentrate all your powers and faculties to the service of God, and the worship of God [and remove the hindrances that have overwhelmed your thoughts]. “Gird up the loins of your mind.” Charles Spurgeon In addition to prayer, here are some everyday practices that can help you “gird up the loins of your mind.”
GiGi❤️  So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. -I Kings 19: 19-20
The loneliness of ministry and the isolation of the cave caused Elijah to feel like he was indeed the only one God had left. For this reason, the only thing left for God to now do was to command him to go find some help. Elijah felt alone because he was alone. He felt overwhelmed because he was trying to do everything alone. He had a sense of powerlessness because he was attempting to carry the load alone. So, what he did was found Elisha the son of Shaphat. Finding Elisha solved several problems for Elijah: 1. Elisha gave Elijah someone to share the load. Elisha was another person, but also a younger person. This added strength would not only lighten the prophet's load. It might have also had the effect of extending his life. 2. Elisha gave Elijah someone to show the ropes. God forbid that Elijah would leave the planet without pouring all that was in him into someone else. Thus, Elisha became a willing receptacle to receive all that Elijah was able to show him. 3. Elisha gave Elijah someone on whom to shift the ministry. When Elijah cast his mantle upon Elisha, what he was doing was shifting his ministry to him. That is what actually happened. When Elijah was taken away into heaven, Elisha caught his mantle and picked up where he left off without ever missing a beat. If you are weary and worn out as you read this today, maybe the answer is to go find an Elisha (or Elishette) who you can mentor and who can help you finish and carry on what God has already begun in you. Pastor Benjamin Morris  “The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” (Matthew 6:22-23)
If our conscience is clear before God then we can trust that the light of God will illuminate the dark spaces in our soul. There is nowhere for sin to hide and we are ok with that. There will be no room for us to “shuck and jive” in an effort to convince ourselves and others that darkness is light. For, that is at the heart of things when we are full of darkness; we will try to convince ourselves and others that our wrong is right. “If the conscience, which is the candle of the Lord, which searches the secret parts of the belly, be not light but darkness, then how great the darkness must be! If a man has not enough conscience to know darkness from light and light from darkness, and he puts bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter…If the understanding of man is dark, how dark must be man's soul! If what we use to judge, weigh, and test…is amiss…if it is broken, then how gross, indeed, must be the ignorance of man…Let understanding be enlightened, and the rays will diffuse, and illuminate every faculty of the whole man.” Charles Spurgeon Those of us with a single eye will hold nothing back from God. He will be our light. “Whichever you do, do it with all your heart; but do not try to do both, because you cannot. Oh, if you are Christians, live life with all your might for Christ. Don’t keep back part of the price, like Ananias and Sapphira, but give Jesus your all.” Single Eye Full of Light! GiGi❤️  It is frustrating to love some people. It is not easy and we soon learn that it cannot be forced. Love is voluntary and a willing display of vulnerability, “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21)
The Lord was long-suffering with us, we must be long-suffering toward others. For certain, we have frustrated our Lord and Savior and we are grateful that he never gave up on us. How do we move forward in love? First, let us remember that love thinks the best. “Love is ever read to believe the best of every person.” (1Corinthians 13:7) Joyce Meyers wrote, “When someone hurts our feelings or offends us, we have a choice. We can think, You did this on purpose just to upset me! Or we can choose to believe the best and think: Well, they must be having a difficult day and probably didn’t even realize they were being rude to me. Maybe something difficult is going on in their life. It most likely has nothing to do with me.” Most of us want others to believe the best about us. It begins with us believing the best of others. “The Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, ‘…love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12). He is saying, ‘I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.’” Oswald Chambers Don’t Hate! Love! GiGi❤️  A superpower that we can access is the power of pausing. If we pause before we speak and pause before we act, we can put that emotion in check and make better decisions. It is not necessary to verbalize everything that we think, nor is it necessary to act on every emotion.
One mental health coach suggested that when we pause we can ask ourselves these five questions: Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? A spiritual take on this same concept is to exhibit the fruit of the spirit, self-control by, “taking every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) Just as the 5 questions prompt us to consider the impact of what we are about to say and do, Philippians 4:8 encourages us to do the same, “We are encouraged to Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” As we set out to begin this day, I pray that we will exercise our superpower and push pause when necessary and think on these things. GiGi❤️  “Rise! Let us go!” (Matthew 26:46)
What about the missed opportunities? Let us not despair because there will be others. Though we may be accustomed to beating ourselves up and putting ourselves down for those times we were sleeping when we should have been awake and ready, our Lord and Savior is a forgiving God. Oswald Chambers stated, “The disciples had done a downright unforgivable thing; they had gone to sleep instead of watching with Jesus, but He came with a spiritual initiative against their despair and said – ‘Arise and do the next thing.’ If we are inspired of God, what is the next thing? To trust Him absolutely…Never let the sense of failure corrupt your new action.” We were asleep but now we are awake. Let us move forward. GiGi❤️  Many of us have goals of a spiritual or natural nature.. Whatever they are, let us not procrastinate and send them forth into tomorrow, for tomorrow is not promised. Today is the only one in which we have any power. Jesus used these words when he spoke to Zaccheus: [make haste], [come], [today].
Perhaps Zaccheus talked himself out of climbing up in that tree again and again and came up with all sorts of excuses. But then he just did it. He was short in stature and he was not a young man, but he managed it. Zaccheus was a today thinker and understood that he might not ever get another chance so, “When Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for TODAY I must abide at thy house." (Luke 19:5) Charles Spurgeon wrote, Tomorrow—it is not written in the almanac of time. Tomorrow—it is in Satan's calendar, and nowhere else…Tomorrow—it is a dream. Tomorrow—it is a delusion. The clock says "today;" everything cries "today;" and the Holy Ghost is in union with these things, and proclaims, "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Serving God is TODAY work! GiGi❤️ |
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