LET MY WORDS BE FEW

Read 1 Samuel 1-3 this morning.
I was greatly encouraged
1.  That Hannah dedicated her son to the Lord to live in His house forever as God’s servant and she made this decision before he was even conceived.  She “lent him to the Lord” for as long as he should live.  It was a sacrifice pleasing to the LORD.
2.  That Samuel was raised in the House of the Lord by Eli, who was Aaron’s grandson, and yet, was not brought up to truly know the Lord! 1 Sam 3:7.  A person can be in the house of the Lord daily and under the care of God’s priest and still not know God.  Eli’s two sons were themselves blasphemous men who did not know God even though they served in the House of the Lord.  Being in God’s house and serving Him does not equal knowing God!
3.  It takes a revelation and a calling from God to truly know Him.  God is the one who raises us, and our children up, to know Him.  It is God who calls our name and anoints us to follow Him.  God told Eli: “I will raise up for Myself, a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in MY heart and in My mind, and I will build him a sure house and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.”
4. 1 Sam 3:19 “and Samuel grew and the LORD was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground”.  For when the LORD spoke to Samuel in Shiloh, “Samuel, Samuel!”, Samuel’s response was, “Speak, for Thy servant hears”! (1 Sam 3:10).

My application: I, who have the privilege of the Holy Spirit within me (The temple of the LORD), should be as Samuel, ever alert to the voice of the LORD who is speaking.  I am His servant and also His friend, if I do all he commands me to do. Every morning, every evening and during the night watches, LORD train my ears to be attentive to your voice.  Make me keenly aware of your instructions.  Cause me to run to obey You and may the fear of man not hinder me from carrying out Your will. LORD, thank you for the great privilege of carrying Your Presence within me.  May I be a priest who keeps your fire burning without going out.  May I be a Wise Virgin whose lamp is constantly full of oil - at all times - and my intercession never cease.  I pray that the doors to Your temple are free of participating with any “prostitutes” (1 Sam 2:22) and any vile thing that would love to lead me astray from my First Love and corrupt your name I bear.  By Your grace, I take every thought captive to do Your will.  May my thoughts be Your thoughts and my will be Your will in Jesus name.

I have been thinking a lot about choices, lately.  Everyday, I have the opportunity to make many, if not hundreds, of choices.  Every choice has a consequence- good or bad.  Most choices are subconsciously made, and take no extra thought or prayer.  But now that I've become aware of choices, I see them literally almost every minute.  They begin with the alarm clock - do I snooze or stop the alarm? Do I read a devotional or FB first? Do I wear the dress or the jeans? Do I answer that phone call now or call them back tomorrow? Do I attend the luncheon or take a walk instead? Those may seem insignificant, but what if they are life-changing for someone instead?   How do my choices of action or inaction change the course of my life or another's life? And does God care?  Suddenly, I think he does care.  If Galatians 2:20 is TRUE, then my choices DO matter.  My attitudes matter. Whether I engage or don't engage matters.  Everything matters.
And every choice that doesn't reflect God's love, is not an option for this child of His.  I pray God continues to make me aware of the things that truly matter to His heart and that I have the courage and the strength to choose wisely instead of selfishly today.

HOW TO MAKE WISE CHOICES

SCRIPTURAL TEST 2 Timothy 3:16
Has God already spoken about it in His Word?
SECRECY TEST Proverbs 11:3
Would it bother me if everyone knew about my choice?
SURVEY TEST 1 Timothy 4:12
What if everyone followed my example?
SPIRITUAL TEST Galatians 1:10
Am I being people-pressured or spirit-led?
STUMBLING TEST Romans 14:21
Could this choice cause another to stumble?
SERENITY TEST Philippians 4:6-7
Have I prayed and received peace about this decision?
SANCTIFICATION TEST 2 Corinthians 3:18
Will this keep me from growing in the character of Christ?
SUPREME TEST 1 Corinthians 10:31
Does this choice glorify God?
Walk as children of light... and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord
Ephesians 5:8, 10

Do you recall the location where Jesus was crucified?  It was called "Golgotha", which meant: "Place of the Skull".  If we are to be fully effective, in any area of our lives, the first field of conflict, where we must do battle, is the territory of the mind.  For the battlefield of the uncrucified thought-life is the precursor to vile and unwanted behaviors.  Do you know the areas where you are most vulnerable to sin?  To humble ourselves, is to refuse to defend the flesh, and acknowledge the rebellion as against God alone, and choose to abandon that pathway of destruction.  Sin habits rob us of power and joy and peace and they become strongholds and playgrounds for the enemy to do his best work in us. Secret sins are the perfect building materials for strongholds in the "house" of the mind.  The enemy of our soul is counting on us to build a nest, in our mind, of corrupt thinking, opinions, attitudes and judgments that are in agreement with the plots, plans and schemes of the Adversary, impregnating us to birth sin, unforgiveness and bitterness.  Death to all our hopes and dreams for a good future is the end result of a corrupt mind.  To live a full and victorious life, we must crucify the flesh, in the place of the skull.  We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds!

1. CHRIST IS HEAD OF THE CHURCH.  Nothing has changed.  God is still your Leader, follow Him.  Either you have followed a man, or you have followed Christ.  Choose this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house, we will follow the Lord Jesus. 
2. ACCEPT THE FACT THAT ANYONE CAN REJECT CHRIST AND THEN, MOVE ON  Just because a person carries a title of minister, pastor, teacher, etc,  doesn't mean they will remain faithful or committed.  Stop asking "Why?" Or "How could this happen?", and accept it. Denying the facts only delays your healing.  Anyone can choose to walk away at anytime.  No one is exempt.  Acceptance paves the way for forgiveness. 
3. FORGIVENESS BRINGS LIFE TO YOU.  You will have a tendency to want to hate or be angry.  All this does is put you in a position to painfully and vainly follow the one who betrayed you.  Through forgiveness, you release them to God for His righteous judgment and let go of your rights to be right.  Their sin, although causing many innocent ones pain, is still sin against God and God alone (Psalm 51).  God will not be mocked and as a man sows, so he will reap.  Vengeance is the Lord's, so lay down yours.  Those who have been forgiven much, love much.  
4. LOVE ANYWAY.  Remember Christ, He is your example.  There is nothing you have experienced that Jesus didn't experience.  There is no pain that He cannot sympathize with.  On the day He died for every sin, He saw this day would come into your life, and He paid the highest price.  You may be surprised, but He is not.  Jesus, as your example, was betrayed with a kiss by the closest of friends, for a few pieces of silver.  He was mocked, beaten, laughed at and publicly exposed.   But no matter what it physically and emotionally cost Him personally, he loved them anyway.  He laid down his life willingly.  No one took his life from him.  It was a gift.  Undeserved and trampled underfoot, but nevertheless, a gift of God's grace.  You will never be able to scrape together what it will take to forgive and love the one who betrayed you.  That love is heavenly minded and can only come from the Spirit within you.  When you release them into God's hands, you let yourself go free.  Forgiveness doesn't mean they get a "get out of jail free card"; it does means you do.  Unforgiveness and bitterness is the worst kind of prison.  As you forgive others so God forgives you.  Love covers a multitude of sin.  Love never fails.  
5. DON'T LOOK BACK; YOU AREN'T GOING THAT WAY.  Regret is not your friend.  Stop rehearsing the past and move forward.  God knows the plans he has for you: plans to bless and prosper you; plans to give you a future and a hope.  No one can thwart God's plans for your future.  He is an expert at making all things work together for your good because you love Him and you walk according to His ways.  He will withhold no good thing from those who love him and walk uprightly.  You will see the salvation of the Lord because His banner over you is love.  There is nothing too hard for the Lord.  Grieving may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.  There is a time to grieve and there is a time to put away grieving.  The joy of the Lord is your strength.  Have a confident expectation of something good to come.  God is not a man that He would lie.  He will never leave you or forsake you.  With men, this is impossible but with God, all things are possible.  Man will fail you.  Man will leave you.  Man will forsake you.  But God will remain faithful.  His love endures.  Your story is still being written.   God holds the pen.  Trust Christ. 

What's on my mind? I'm on a personal quest.  Here's somethings I'm learning.
1.  We tend to treat our homes better, the cars we drive, better and other people better than we treat our body GOD designed for His glory.  Our body is the only vehicle through which we can experience life and life experiences and is the only vehicle we will ever have to express what's in our soul and spirit.
2.  Science places a value of about 85 Billion Dollars on a human body. God says our bodies are the temple for His Holy Spirit to indwell.  I call that priceless.
3. There are some common beliefs/lies within many of us that says,
1. "Taking care of myself means I am selfish".
2. "If I spend time taking care of me, that will somehow take away from those I love, or cause them pain".
3.  "If I take care of everyone else first, there will still be left over energy to care for myself".
4. "My physical value to God is inferior to others value to God".

The Truth is:
1.  I am not selfish for taking care of me.  The most important thing I can to for God is to love and take care of myself. A healthy mind and body gives me more strength to minister to others.
2.  Spending time wisely taking care of myself is not going to diminish another person's well-being or take away from them in any way.  It will not cause them unnecessary pain.
3. If I take care of everyone else's needs first, there will never be any energy left over to care for me.
4. My physical value to God is just as priceless as everyone else's in my world.  God does not birth "step-children".

Something to Ponder:
How much more time will I let evaporate before I recognize that this life, in this body, is the only one I will ever be given, on this earth, for God's ultimate glory?
My days are ultimately numbered, and the greatest gift I can give to God and my family is to live each moment, consciously making valuable deposits into my physical, spiritual and mental well-being.  Today is the day that counts.  Tomorrow is never promised.
Commitment:
Begin to "tithe" 10% of each waking day into my own well-being.

What's on my mind? I'm on a personal quest.  Here's somethings I'm learning.
1.  We tend to treat our homes better, the cars we drive, better and other people better than we treat our body GOD designed for His glory.  Our body is the only vehicle through which we can experience life and life experiences and is the only vehicle we will ever have to express what's in our soul and spirit.
2.  Science places a value of about 85 Billion Dollars on a human body. God says our bodies are the temple for His Holy Spirit to indwell.  I call that priceless.
3. There are some common beliefs/lies within many of us that says,
1. "Taking care of myself means I am selfish".
2. "If I spend time taking care of me, that will somehow take away from those I love, or cause them pain".
3.  "If I take care of everyone else first, there will still be left over energy to care for myself".
4. "My physical value to God is inferior to others value to God".

The Truth is:
1.  I am not selfish for taking care of me.  The most important thing I can to for God is to love and take care of myself. A healthy mind and body gives me more strength to minister to others.
2.  Spending time wisely taking care of myself is not going to diminish another person's well-being or take away from them in any way.  It will not cause them unnecessary pain.
3. If I take care of everyone else's needs first, there will never be any energy left over to care for me.
4. My physical value to God is just as priceless as everyone else's in my world.  God does not birth "step-children".

When the usher noticed a man stretched across three seats in the movie theater, he walked over and whispered "Sorry sir, but you are allowed only one seat." The man moaned but didn't budge. "Sir," the usher said more loudly, "if you don't move, I'll have to call the manager." The man moaned again but stayed where he was. The usher left and returned with the manager, who, after several attempts at dislodging the fellow, called the police. The cop looked at the reclining man and said, "All right, what's your name, joker?" "Joe", he mumbled. "And where are you from, Joe?" Joe responds painfully, "The balcony!"
Things aren't always as they appear. Have you ever been misjudged by appearances? I have.  You can be doing everything right and honorably and someone will walk onto the scene in the middle or end of your "This is My Life episode" and view it from their incomplete perspective.  Sometimes I feel like my 6 Word Memoir would be called, "A Cross-Stitched Life Viewed From The Underside".  Don't you sometimes feel the same way? Like all the public can see is all the knots and mistakes, but rarely the tapestry God is stitching together for good?   Probably my favorite love quote is from 1st Corinthians: "Love always believes the best". Today, you and I will have several opportunities to judge a scene and the actors in it.   Just remember, we don't know the whole story.  We only know a part.  And the part we know is just a short clip from the entire movie.
I'm praying over you right now that you will keep a discerning spirit about you and use wisdom as you speak into and about others lives; think the best, not the worst, about every person today.  You never know - you may be able to rescue someone who has just "fallen from the balcony".
Love Never Fails, Leeanna Trosclair Porter

Forgiveness does not mean you can have hope that one day all the past will be gone or that the terrible thing done to you will never have happened.  That's Hollywood, not reality.  It happened.  That's a fact that cannot be undone no matter how much time passes you by.  Bitterness and unforgiveness don't have the power to change your past painful experiences for the better.  Forgiveness is realizing that God alone earned the right to blot out sin and change your future.  Lay down your right to be right.  What good purpose does that serve you or anyone you love? Instead of saying, "I can't forgive him", say the truth instead: "I choose to be bitter. I choose to remain unforgiven for my own sin".  Why would I choose to do that?  Because I believe the lie that holding unforgiveness somehow only hurts my offender and not me.  I am self deceived.   Put out of your life all these things: bad feelings about other people, anger, temper, loud talk, bad talk which hurts other people, and bad feelings which hurt other people. You must be kind to each other. Think of the other person. Forgive other people just as God forgave you because of Christ’s death on the cross. Your heavenly Father will forgive you if you forgive those who sin against you; but if you refuse to forgive them, he will not forgive you. Unforgiveness won't determine their future with Christ but it will determine yours.  JESUS said our Father will forgive us "just as" we have forgiven others.  The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even when we have rebelled against him.  He is faithful and just to forgive us when we sin.  Confess your sin of unforgiveness and he will forgive you and remember your sin no more.
(Eph 4:31-32; Matt 6:13-15)
I'm praying for you right now and I hear God singing over you His songs of deliverance.
❤️Love Never FAILS, Leeanna Trosclair Porter