The Bible teaches that they who desire to dwell in the presence of God, to experience His blessings, are those who will live righteously and who will not backbite or badmouth their neighbor. “LORD,who may abide in Your tabernacle a Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; He who
does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend” (Psa. 15:1-3). Furthermore, God promises a long, blessed life to those who keep their tongue from evil. “Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit” (Psalm 34:12-13).
Old And Blind…
In John 8 Jesus forgave an adulterous woman that was being brought to judgment by others. Her sin brought others to such anger that they wanted to stone her and they brought her to Jesus trying to trap Him due to their own lack of understanding and recognition of the Truth within Him. The interesting part about this message is after Jesus told the crowd to let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone that they began to walk away but it was the order in which they walked where we learn another lesson.
The Word says that they began to slip away one by one beginning with the oldest. As I read this and prayed the Lord pointed out the order in which the accusers were in and then He recalled the lesson of new wine in an old wine skin. For Jesus was new wine and the old refused to receive the new and in this oreder in which they left this means that the old were the ones so adoment to stone and trap Jesus but failed to succeed after He spoke the Truth.
How often is that we look upon someone elses sin without looking upon our own? The Lord tells us that we receive mercy as we give mercy and He also tells us that we are accountable for causing others to stumble. As the old ones in this lesson that were misleading the young there is another lesson within that lesson….
James A. Harrison
http://balancedlifeministry.org
http://specialdeliverybook.com
Test Of Faith…
Have you ever heard someone describe faith as sitting in a chair without any doubt of it holding you up? Many people use this example in teaching faith. It is a good analogy but lets take it a little deeper in the well of the Lord. If we look upon that chair while knowing it will hold up our weight then what happens when more pressures or weight is added to the seat? What happens if we do not know how to balance the weights through proper distribution and the weight becomes too heavy in particular spot?
If we were to look at our lives as a chair we would find that unless we are sitting on the rock of Jesus that our seats will fold under the pressures of this world. The question that we all should be asking is who or what is holding us up? For if we are relying on money or people then what are we going to do when neither of them are around?
Here is an awesome song by Kutless titled What Faith Can Do and I pray that it encourages your faith to carry on….amen
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
James A. Harrison
Seeds Of Sin…
Throughout the Word of God we learn of heartaches and hardships that develop in our lives simply due to not addressing the roots of sin. The longer we allow sin to grow it not only affects our life but it also has a negative affect on others. Many people overlook how their sin impacts someone elses’ life due to caring more about themselves instead of properly loving thy neighbor.
It is very easy to allow Satan to spiritually consume us and the Lord taught us this message with Cain from the beginning of time. For in Genesis 4 the Lord said to Cain,“Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
When we allow a seed of sin to enter our lives without addressing it immediately then we are allowing that seed to grow roots that will continue to grow out of control. This is why God’s Word tells us in Ephesians 4,”Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” It is my prayer that we don’t allow a seed of sin or lack of faith to rob someone else of their joy…amen
Take A Look At Yourself…
If you were to take a picture of yourself and it displayed your every hearts desire along with the thoughts that are repeated in your mind would it be a picture that you wouldn’t mind being seen or would it be a picture that would be considered to be unclean? It is very easy in our human nature to recognize the faults in others but what good is this if we can’t see our own?
Too many times we try to help someone else when we are the very ones that need the help ourselves. Why do we do this you may ask? We do this to cover up our own hurts or sins in order to give us a sense of something good to cover up something that is bad. You can relate this to a digitally enhanced picture because the picture that was taken is no longer real but turned into a fake.
If there is something within your picture that needs to be addressed don’t try to delete it or cover it up! Learn to be open and honest through your communication in order to properly receive the healing that needs to take place. For when we learn to put our trust in the Lord and expose ourselves for who we really are is when the Lord will show us the Way…
James A. Harrison
Voice Your Opinion!