On Eating and Exercise

Nutritious food and proper exercise go hand-in-hand when it comes to our having a healthy body. We are not doing all we can if we neglect either. If we eat good food but never exercise, we will be fat and prone to all kinds of diseases and problems that overweight brings on. If we exercise all the time yet don’t eat nutritious food, we’ll lack the energy necessary to get the things done which we should and we still open ourselves to diseases and problems that a poor diet brings on. The balance of the right food and the right exercise leads to health.

As it is with the body, so it is with the spirit. Some of us diligently spend our weeks in “spiritual” activity (reading the Bible, praying, attending church service on Sunday, and mid-week Bible study and prayer meeting), “eating” the Word, but not exercising it in our daily walk. On the flip side, some of us know a few Scriptures and “exercise” them as a cure-all for everything, never being eager to go deeper in God and learn more.

We will only reach Christian maturity if we feed our spiritual senses from the deep wells of God, and then exercise or put to use in our daily lives what we have learned. Hebrews 5:14 says, “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (NKJ). Only as we diligently digest God’s word will we be in a position to discern the difference between what pleases God and what provokes Him.

And we don’t get there by sucking the bottle of “Christianity Lite,” by being unbalanced with our intake and choice of spiritual food, or by being lax in our exercise of obedience to God’s word. Spiritual good health happens “by reason of use.” We get the Word, and then as we use it – apply it – to our everyday lives, we mature and are able to discern between good and evil.

So what’s our word for today?

• Eat right – no matter what God’s word is saying, take it in.
• Exercise – make it your determination to discern good from evil and make the right living choices that will honor God.

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 REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com.

It Does Take All That

It Does Take All That

Have you ever met someone who is driven? People who are driven are focused, know their purpose, and have clear goals. The difference between them and others is that they actually put feet to those goals. They see the potential of the fulfillment of their purpose and they go for it. They obtain business licenses, get educated, set up checking accounts, seek investors, read up on the subject; in short, they invest their lives in their vision. When we meet up with people like this, we’re apt to be a little overwhelmed and we tend to squint our eyes, purse our lips, and mutter under our breath, “It doesn’t take all that.”

As believers, we need to take a lesson from those folks. We can be no less driven than a successful business person when it comes to the purposes God reveals in us. God expects a lot out of us: we’re to be loving, kind, holy, good spouses a la Ephesians 5:18-33, and diligent personnel at working out our salvation (see Philippians 2:12-13) just to name a few of our duties. It is utterly impossible for us to live this Christian life in a slipshod manner.

If we are really serious about our faith walk, Proverbs 28:14a is a word for us today. It says, “Happy is the man who is always reverent…” (NKJ). The Hebrew word for always used here is “tamiyd” and it means “constantly, regularly, perpetually, and as continual employment.” The word “reverent” means “to be startled as by a sudden alarm and to stand in awe.”

 You see, we live as blessed believers when we perpetually and consistently defer to how God wants things done, having a reverential fear of messing up. We live as happy believers as we focus without fail on God’s mind and heart, ever endeavoring to operate in accord with Him. We seek and find our God-ordained purpose, then we put feet to fulfilling the vision. We give it all we have. We are driven – always reverent.

Jesus is our perfect example of how to live a life dedicated to one’s God-ordained purpose. He knew what God sent Him to do and that’s what He did. He held to it consistently, regularly, perpetually. His purpose was His continual employment. We can do no less.

And yes, it does take all that.

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REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. 

 

Responsibility to Each Other

God tells Ezekiel that he’s responsible to warn people about their sin.

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul” Ezekiel 3:17-19 (NKJ).

You may say, “Well that’s all well and good, but that admonition from God was given to a prophet or a preacher. It’s not my place to tell someone else what they are doing wrong.” Oh, but it is. Galatians 6:1-2 says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (NIV).

As fellow believers, as those regenerated by God (“you who are spiritual”), we are responsible to each other to keep each other in line. Our brothers or sisters in Christ can get “caught in a sin.” The Greek word for sin used here is “paraptoma” which means a side-slip, lapse, or deviation. As soon as we notice something awry could be happening in the life of another believer we know, it is our duty – just as it was Ezekiel’s – to restore that person. That restoration means we repair, adjust, or mend the problem, and it’s impossible to do those things without getting up close.

Notice too our required attitude when we face our friend. We are to “restore him gently.” We can’t rush up on our brothers or sisters, poking our fingers in their faces, and telling them they are doomed to hell if they don’t change their ways. No, God says, “Carry each other’s burdens.” We are to feel the load of the sin and empathize to such an extent that we refuse to give up until the weight is off of our brother, because only then will the weight be off of us.

The consequence of saying nothing is dreadful: our fallen brothers or sisters will die in their sins and we will be held responsible because we didn’t work at warning them. Neither option is acceptable. Gather the strength necessary from the Holy Spirit, and take on the responsibility laid before you to gently restore that other believer and save his/her soul from terrible destruction. You’d want someone to do the same for you.

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REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com.

Praying to our Triune God

Whenever we try to explain anything about God, all we have to use is earthly examples and the limits of language. An infinite God can hardly be adequately explained by the finite, but that’s all we have to work with and the best we can do. So when I was recently asked a question about prayer and the Trinity, I found myself in this infinite-God-finite-language dilemma. The question was: to whom are we praying: God the Father, God the Son Jesus, or God the Holy Spirit?

First of all, we needed to establish a clear understanding of the Trinity. How is God one yet three? The best explanation I have ever heard was from Dr. Fred Campbell. Think of the sun in the sky.

• The sun has mass; it is a thing that exists. The mass represents God the Father. God told Moses, “I AM WHO I AM… Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” Exodus 3:14 (NKJ).
• The sun gives off light. The light represents God the Son, Jesus Christ. Light shows us the way to God. Jesus Himself says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6 (NKJ). And again He says, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” John 8:12 (NKJ)
• The sun radiates heat. Ever heard of solar energy? Heat represents the Holy Spirit who is our power. John 6:63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life…” and Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”

With that understood, now we can answer the question. When we pray, we are praying to the Godhead. If we must have a breakdown, we pray to God the Father, through (in) the name of Jesus Christ, and by the leading of the Holy Spirit. God is Creator of all and over all and it’s before Him we will stand. Jesus is our passage to God (“no man comes to the Father except through me”). The Holy Spirit empowers us and directs our hearts and minds as we submit to God in prayer. The Holy Spirit “will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13), and “helps in our weaknesses. for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” Romans 8:26 (NKJ). However, in the same way in which we cannot separate the mass of the sun from its light and its heat, we cannot separate God the Father from the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The bottom line is: God’s got it covered when we pray. Frankly, I really don’t think God is so concerned with semantics. I don’t think He minds if we call Him Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit – just as long as we call.

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REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

 ©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. 

 

Wait

We hate to wait. In our technological age, we expect everything to happen in an instant. We are used to fast food, drive-throughs, instant, pre-mixed, pre-packaged, and fresh frozen. If it takes a whole minute for our computer to upload a file, we’re calling our service provider to “fix this thing.” Being put on hold because there were some callers before us makes us furious, and heaven forbid we have to stand in line someplace.

No wonder we take this same attitude into our spirituality and into our dealings with God. We want God to move on our behalf and in the way we want at the snap of our fingers. But no matter how engrossed we are with our technological culture, God is not bound by it. He’s never hurried, especially when it comes to His aim at developing us into the kind of people He wants us to be. He’s very deliberate and detailed and has no intention to rush the process. Just like the proper and complete development of a baby takes nine months in the protection of its mother’s womb, so our proper and complete development takes the time God has ordained for it to take and we’ll be severely handicapped if we issue forth any sooner than we should.

This morning’s verse is an excellent reminder to us to just chill – just wait on God. Lamentations 3:25-26 says, “The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. (NKJ)

The word “good” used here carries with it the idea that the goodness of the Lord brings to us all that is beautiful, bountiful, and cheerful; all that is pleasant, and sweet. Good that comes from God involves favor, welfare, and prosperity. God provides this “good” to those who wait for Him. This waiting has to do with being twisted together expectantly and patiently. I get the picture of being cuddled up with the Lord, looking with wide-eyed wonder at all the presents under the tree on Christmas Eve. We know there’s something great inside each box, but we have to wait until the morning to enjoy the gifts.

Don’t miss the fact, though, that the “good” we are waiting for comes to “the soul who seeks Him.” We only find the good that God intends for us to have as we frequently pursue Him, diligently inquire of Him, regularly search for Him, steadfastly follow Him, and humbly worship Him. Bottom line – in order to see the salvation of the Lord, we have to wait.

Be encouraged today in your waiting room remembering that “the Lord is good to those who wait for Him.” And as obvious and simple as it may sound, it’s good to have the Lord be good to you.

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REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

 ©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com.

What to Do About a Lie

There’s nothing you can do about a lie but let it try to stand beside the truth. The truth will always overshadow a lie and eventually crush it. When someone decides to believe a lie about you, there’s nothing you can do about that either except allow that person to believe what he wants to believe. If that person is someone close to you whom you care deeply about, until he decides to allow the truth to overshadow the lie in his heart, your relationship will be strained.

So what do you do in the meantime? Humbly examine yourself to be sure there is no basis for the accusation, then fix your eyes and heart on continuing to do what is right. Paul told Titus that those who believe in God “should be careful to maintain good works” Titus 3:8 (NKJ). He also told Timothy, “…good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden” 1 Timothy 5:25 (NIV). Peter said, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” 1 Peter 2:12 (NIV).

It’s natural to feel like you want to fight back, like you want to justify yourself. But since you didn’t do anything to start the trouble, you won’t be able to do anything to stop it. If you are a child of God, God will handle what you cannot, and lies have no chance against His truth which lives in you.

Keep your heart tuned to God and even if it’s through tears, follow the tough admonition laid out in Romans 12:17-21:

• Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (NIV)

REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com.

God Guards Our Hearts

I couldn’t hear God as I read my Bible this morning because there’s turmoil in my life. I tried and tried to concentrate on what I was reading, but kept finding my mind drifting to my troubles. I begged God for a word from Him. Thankfully, He spoke, but not from the passages I was reading. He brought to my mind a familiar passage, perfectly fitted for my present situation.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (NKJ).

I know these verses by heart. At first, it seemed not too comforting for God to be telling me, “Just stop trippin’.” How am I supposed to stop being upset when upsetting stuff is going on? The God pulled my attention to the last phrase. That’s it. I need my heart and my mind guarded. Confusion and troubles are designed by our great enemy to turn our minds and hearts from God. When we are troubled, our thoughts dwell on ourselves and not on God. We wonder what we should do; we justify our feelings and our actions; and we worry about how things are going to turn out. I wasn’t trying to operate this way; in fact, I have been in constant communication with God, but I still found my mind overwhelmed and my heart breaking and in pain.

I’ve figured out that it comes down to whether or not I really trust God’s word. I know I do, so no matter what I’m feeling, I must put my foot down on the fact that God’s Word is true – the spiritual is in control of the physical – and that’s that. God’s Word says that God’s peace will station a guard around my feelings (my heart) and my thoughts (my mind). I didn’t get what I needed from the particular passage I wanted to read in my morning Bible-reading routine, but God’s Word still had a word for me – a word for where I was on my journey with Him. He then graciously led me to other words of encouragement from his heart to mine.

• Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:5 (KJV)
• But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Psalm 37:11 (NKJ)
• Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; he shall never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22 (NKJ)
• Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. Psalm 119:165 (NKJ)
• I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path. Psalm 142:2-3 (NKJ)
• But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good… Romans 2:10 (NKJ)
• rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; Romans 12:12 (NKJ)
• Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NKJ)

Sometimes, we just have to be determined to believe God’s word even when everything around us – and even everything within us – shouts the opposite. Take refuge in the truth of the fact that you are God’s child. Know that God loves and cares for you, guards your heart and mind with peace, and has no intention of allowing you or your testimony to be destroyed.  

REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. 

 

 

Danger of the Setting Sun

When we think of the sunset, most of the time our thoughts turn to beautiful colors of orange, red, and yellow. Perhaps you picture the sun setting over water, where you get twice the joy as the reflection mirrors God’s handiwork. But the Bible warns us of a danger of the setting sun. Ephesians 4:26-27 says, “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (NKJ). I recently came to understand the full implications of how and why what should be this marvelous spectacle known as sunset, turns into a dangerous event when we allow it to happen while we harbor anger. Matthew Henry’s Commentary explains:

 One great and common sin in anger is to suffer it to burn into wrath, and then to let it rest… If you have been provoked and have had your spirits greatly discomposed, and if you have bitterly resented any affront that has been offered, before night calm and quiet your spirits, be reconciled to the offender, and let all be well again: Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. If it burn into wrath and bitterness of spirit, O see to it that you suppress it speedily. Though anger in itself is not sinful, yet there is the upmost danger of its becoming so if it be not carefully watched and speedily suppressed. And therefore, though anger may come into the bosom of a wise man, it rests only in the bosom of fools. Neither give place to the devil, v. 27. Those who persevere in sinful anger and in wrath let the devil into their hearts, and suffer him to gain upon them, till he bring them to malice, mischievous machinations, etc. (End commentary comments)

Seeds germinate in the dark. Our minds ruminate toward the negative and dastardly when anger is the ground on which we go to sleep. As we sleep, bitterness and wrath that we did not let go of in the light takes root in the dark soil of our anger. We awaken in the morning with a slight headache, not well-rested because of anger’s and bitterness’s work through the night. The next day shines on the problem and illuminates it until we are thinking even more divisive and hateful thoughts.

Each night we allow the sun to set on anger, the roots of bitterness grow deeper and stronger. They begin to attach themselves to memories once good. Now we twist those recollections into unrecognizable nightmares. Every word we hear sounds dissident rather than melodic as we contort each phrase to mean something against us. Each look is misinterpreted; each sign assigned our own imprecise meaning. We become the reason there is no laughter in our midst, no joy in our surroundings. All this because our pride won’t allow us to get things right, no matter what that takes.

We are not talking here to advocate that a battered wife remain in harm’s way, or an unrepentant, cheating spouse be allowed to continue to enjoy life with us as he/she remains in an adulterous relationship, or anything like that. There is a place for righteous indignation when a person’s actions offend God. We are speaking here about offenses against us, especially when the supposed offender is an approachable brother or sister in Christ. Satan would like nothing more than to wreak havoc by causing family separation, distance between friends, and church break-ups, and we allow him to do so when we let the sun go down on our anger.

How would we be disobeying God by letting the anger go? Would we be in sin to forgive and forget like God does? Are we better than God in that we can hold things against others when He doesn’t? Would we displease God by refusing to hold consequences over the heads of those we claim mistreated us? Do we even care if God is pleased with how we act toward one another? How would it hurt us to humble ourselves?

The warning and the meaning are clear: Do not let the sun go down on your anger because when you do so, you give Satan a foothold into your life. We invite him in to do what he does best: steal, kill, and destroy.

REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com.

The Way We’ve Always Done It

My husband says one thing that keeps churches from moving ahead is when people get stuck in tradition. The eight little words that start quarrels and stop progression are, “This is the way we’ve always done it.” The status quo continues to roll along, even when it’s obvious to everyone around that things are not working,

The remnant of the children of Israel had this same mindset in Jeremiah chapter 44. Things were good for a while, but fortune had flipped when king after king had been corrupt, and enemy after enemy had plundered their land. They themselves had turned their backs on God’s direction and had begun worshipping idols. Jeremiah gave them the word of the Lord saying that God had reached the end of His rope, but if they wanted to preserve their lives, they would need to stop their sin, stay put (don’t go to Egypt), and surrender to the invading army who would show them some mercy.

The people answered, “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you! But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done… For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. But since we stopped… we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” Jeremiah 44:16-18 (NKJ)

Jeremiah responded, “The LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed… Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.” Jeremiah 44:22-23 (NKJ)

The we’ve-always-done-it-this-way crowd sincerely does not see that they have misjudged the outcome of their own actions. They think things were good in the past because of the way they operated, when in fact the past was good in spite of the way they operated. Their original viewpoint was skewed to begin with. When God no longer tolerates the dysfunction and things go bad, they still refuse to see their own wrong.

We can look at church and at the remnant of the children of Israel and cluck our tongues at how ridiculous it is to keep doing what doesn’t work. However, move outside of the church and into our own lives, and we just may find ourselves doing the very same thing. The-way-we’ve-always-done-it mentality slips into our lives to the detriment of our relationships. We insist upon operating the same way we’ve always operated, figuring it has worked before so it must have been right; when in actuality it worked because God was gracious, hoping we’d grow up. We judge people from an already skewed and flawed point of view so that anything they say and do is taken by us out of context and twisted by our own minds so we can justify not having to deal with them.

God intends for us to live at peace with each other. In fact, we’re commanded to love one another, forgive, and reconcile, or God will not accept our prayers and offerings. We cannot love one another from a distance. We must be determined to obey God at all costs: at the cost of our old way of thinking, at the cost of our old way of judging people, at the cost of the way we’ve always done things.

REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com.

Stir Up the Gift

Stirring things up causes agitation. Even when you think good things are being done or mentioned, those good words or actions can cause agitation if they touch in another person a sore spot that was lying just beneath the surface. Paul realized this when he told Timothy, the young preacher, to “…stir up the gift of God which is in you…” 2 Timothy 1:6 (NKJ). Immediately following that verse comes one we don’t often associate with the verse just mentioned. In regard to stirring up his gift, Paul goes on to tell Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJ).

Paul knew that when Timothy stepped into ministry and started stirring up the gift God had given him, all hell was going to break loose, The forces of Satan would not be happy and they’d launch an all-out attack. Because of this, Paul warns Timothy against being fearful. Paul encourages Timothy with the knowledge that God had given him a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a spirit of a sound mind. The power (dunamis) is the same abundance and miracle-working strength that Jesus demonstrated in Mark chapter 5 when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Him robe. The love (agape) is the same all-encompassing, you-can’t-make-me-stop, in-spite-of love that God exhibits toward us. The sound mind (sophronismos) is the same discipline and self-control Jesus exhibited as He walked the earth and dealt wisely with every person and situation that came His way.

When you start stirring up the gift God has given you, all hell will literally break loose. The forces of Satan will not be happy when you decide to step out in ministry and a full-fledged firefight will be waged against you. The enemy will try anything and everything to throw you off course. Your spouse will be contentious, your children will have issues, your job will throw you a curve ball, your health will be attacked, your friends will misunderstand – he’ll try everything. But remember: God has given you the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. You have the power to stand against the wiles of the devil, the love to extend even when others are acting ugly, and the sound mind to balance yourself and respond in a self-controlled manner.

Do not be afraid. Stir up the gift.

REMINDER: Remember to study your Bible regularly. At any time of the day or night, log on to www.WebTV4Women.com. Click the Bible Study channel, and then Sharon’s show, A Heart for the Word. Increase your knowledge of the Word in just 6 minutes a day.

©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including the copyright line. For all devotions, comments, and questions, log onto Sharon’s blog at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com.