Proverbs 10:19  “Don’t talk too much, for it fosters sin.  Be sensible and turn off the flow!”  NLT

Words are powerful.  The right word spoken in the right way, at the right time can brighten someone’s day, put wind in their sails, and bring them to a place of encouragement and hope.  The wrong word spoken in the wrong way, at the wrong time can blow someone’s day, deflate them, and move them to a place of despair and difficulty.

I like this verse and I like the New Living Translation version, that communicates the thought so practically.  Watch what you say, don’t say more than you need to, watch out for gossip (my interpretation), and don’t let what you say to someone be in anyway sinful.  Use words that build up, encourage, edify, and help, rather than hurt and hinder relationship.  The verse so clearly communicates what needs to be done.  Be sensible.  Think before you speak.  Is what I am going to say, True, Helpful, Important, Necessary, and Kind?  If it’s not, then maybe I just need to turn off the flow and rather than “yack” with someone about something or someone else, maybe I should just bring whatever it is before the Lord.  Chances are…  He’s got the best perspective anyway, knows what I’m thinking, and can help me with whatever it is I’m dealing with.

Lord, I can be prone to let my tongue “wag.”  Help me Lord to keep my words in check, watch what I say, speak with wisdom and discerment and talk about things that are glorifying to you, rather than things that will lead me down roads of sinfulness.  Jesus please give me the ability to be sensible and may that sensibility come from your Holy Spirit.

This month we have had over 1000 hits on the Disciplines of Grace website, for that we are thankful. We have noticed, though, that not many people are leaving thoughts or comments. We have included the comments area for asking questions and to encourage discussion. Remember, you don’t need to write anything lengthy or profound. I am going to ask you to do us a favor… take a moment to respond to the site (on this post) and tell us how journaling is going for you? Let us know if it is making a difference in your walk with Jesus and how. Your willingness to share will encourage us all. Thanks,
Brett

Mark 9:29 (NIV) He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” (and fasting KJV)

Peter, James and John had the chance to go up a high mountain with Jesus where they were all alone, and Peter said,”it is good for us to be here…” (Mark 9:5)  I enjoy those mountain top experiences where I am tucked away in fellowship with the Lord and other believers. I know that times like that fulfill some of my cravings for heaven. However, it is not heaven until it is heaven… I realize further on in Mark, that Jesus brought the disciples down off of the mountain into the crowd. I know that Jesus wants me to be ready to be used by Him, and that my time on earth is to bring Jesus to the crowd… not to keep Him all to myself on the mountaintop. I can see in this passage that Jesus was seeking fellowship with His Father. The other disciples were not able to perform a miracle while Jesus was on the mountain.(Mark 9:18) I realize that we can not be ready in the valley if we do not seek fellowship with Jesus on the mountaintop.

Lord, Thank You for the mountain top experiences. I pray that I will be a woman after your own heart, to seek the Father… and that I will be ready down off the mountain to serve you. Thank You Lord for these glimpses of heaven and fellowship. 

Please share with me (us) a way that Jesus meets you while you are seeking Him, or a time that Jesus went with you into the crowd…Does it make a difference in your service with Him if you are prayed up? Where in your life is the rubber meeting the road? It is a blessing to hear how the Lord is working.

It appears that life is filled with “Dos and Don’ts.” The Book of Leviticus certainly demonstrates that in chapter 19. As I counted them, I noticed there were many more “don’ts” than there were “dos.” Isn’t that a very negative way to live life? Then when I read to chapter 20, it got worse. Some of the “don’ts” were about things I’d rather not even think about let alone do and the punishments for those sins listed were as drastic as they get!

How can I avoid the “don’ts” and stay on the path of the “dos?” Certainly God doesn’t expect me to spend all my waking hours just avoiding sin, does He? That would be a very negative and depressing way to go through life.

But then as I read Leviticus 19 again, I saw the answer. One of the “dos” is so powerful it sweeps away the danger of all the “don’ts.” It’s found in 19:1-2: The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.’”

That’s the secret for living a life pleasing to God. “Be holy!” The motivation for being holy is that God is holy. Note that it says, “The LORD your God.” Because of my relationship with God in Christ, I now can be holy (set apart from sin and for Him) and can live a life of “dos.” Where do I start? Look at Leviticus 20:7-8, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” I “consecrate” myself (set myself apart for God’s purposes) and allow Him to make me more holy.

Life isn’t about the “don’ts.” It’s about the “dos.” I am able to do what God wants because day by day, I’m becoming more like Him – I’m becoming holy!

You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. Leviticus 20:26

Lord, thank You for being a Holy God. And thank You for being willing to share this holiness with me as You enable me to be more holy through the power of Your Holy Spirit for I desire to “do” what will please You.

Lev. 17:11 (NASB) - For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.

Lev. 17:11 tells me that blood is important. Blood is powerful. Blood is indispensable. Blood is life! It reminds me of verses like Heb. 9:22 - “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Or Heb. 10:4, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Or Matt. 26:27-28, where Jesus shares the first Communion with His disciples shortly before His death on the cross: “Then he (Jesus) took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” And it leaves me wondering if I truly understand how important, how powerful, and how indispensable His blood really is?

Thank you Father for sending Jesus to die for me. Thank you that because of His death, my sins are forgiven. Thank you that His blood is my life…forever!

Mark 6:30-33 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. NIV

This passage where the apostles report back to Jesus about “all they had done” is the follow up to the “short-term mission” He had sent the twelve on earlier in the chapter (verses 7-13). This then reflects the apostle’s return from their mission. Of course, as often happens, the business of everyday activities interferes with times of sharing and celebrating together. Jesus, recognizing this dilemma, calls the apostles to find a quiet place to rest and reflect on what they had accomplished.

I like the principle reflected here. Some have called it the discipline of solitude. It is the practice of finding time away from the pressures of life in order to refresh and restore our energies. It also allows us to have time together with God, uninterrupted by the endless demands of life. It is in those times that we find the Spirit speaking to our hearts, bringing peace, joy and insight to our spirits. I am encouraged to be purposeful in finding times of solitude, alone with God so that I might have fellowship with Him and He may be clearly heard without competing demands making it hard to discern His voice. Some find this solitude in nature walks, or on beaches. Others find it in their homes or on drives in their car. Since God is everywhere location is not as important as attitude.

Father, I praise you for your availability no matter where I am. May I intentionally seek to find time alone with you so that we can have a relationship that reflects the oneness you desire.

Mark 6:47-48 “During the night, the disciples were in their boat out in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves.” (NLT)

Two things grabbed my attention in this passage. One, the storm overcame the disciples when they were in the “middle” of the Sea of Galilee. The situation couldn’t have been worse. They were as far from shore as they could be and they were in the deepest part of the sea. There was no obvious way to paddle. It seemed as though the sea was going to swallow them up. Doesn’t it feel this way for all of us when an overwhelming trial hits. Perhaps this is why we often say, “I’m in the middle of an impossible situation.” We can’t see a way of escape.

The second thing that stood out is that Jesus never lost sight of them. I’m sure that they had lost sight of him, but he had not lost sight of them. Though he was on land and they were on the sea he had a keen awareness of where they were and what they were going through. Jesus always stands ready to step in at just the right time when I am feeling helpless and hopeless. Perhaps he plans it this way. It’s the place where he can truly show me his great power and love.

Help me Lord to remember this lesson from the Sea of Galilee. Help me to remember that you are the one who walks on water to come to me when I am in the middle of a hopeless situation.

Record:Psalm 39:4-5 ”Show me , O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before You. Each man’s life is but a breath.”

Reflect: I did something recently that I haven’t done for awhile… I measured my handbreadth. From the tip of my pinkie to the end of my thumb, my handbreadth spans a massive eight and a half inches. (That’s just generally good information to have if I find myself in a measuring emergency and need a handy substitute for a ruler.) This was not just a good exercise for meeting some incidental home-improvement needs, it was also a good stretch for my thinking as it relates to the span of my life.

In the past three months, there have been several people in our lives who have gone home to be with the Lord, including the wife of a dear friend two days ago. When you walk with people through the valley of the shadow of death, you can’t help but wonder about the number of your own days. The 39th Psalm paints the picture of our lives with pretty transparent colors on the canvas of time. We’re a breath. We’re a phantom that goes to and fro. Even the longest of lives is a fleeting mist.

My perspective about the length of my life could become skewed were it not for the painful reminders of the loss of those care about. I can easily coast into the assumption that I’ll live on into my nineties. (I’ve already surpassed my father who died of cancer at the age of thirty-six.) My perception of how much I have can get a bit inverted. When it comes to STUFF, why is it easy for me to think I have so little when I really have so much? When it comes to TIME, why is it easy for me to think that I have so much when I really have so little? All the time we have is but a dash. A dash that will pass in a flash.

Respond: Lord, according to Your Word, the span of my life is only about eight and a half inches long. Just a dash on the contiuum of eternity. As I reflect on how long I live, may it transform how I live. Help me to count my days and help me to make my days count, by living in light of the things that you have deemed valuable and worthwhile. Help me to care about what You care about and pursue those things which have not temporal, but eternal value.

I am a missionary to South Eugene. I have no other job. I wear different hats but it all falls under that one title. I read today’s verse out of Proverbs. It says, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it”. I usually fly through my reading and think about parts of it as the day goes on but this time I am stuck. I read it four or five more times with the same result. . .nothing. WHAT DOES IT MEAN!! AHHHHHHG!! I think I will take a look at the previous few verses of the chapter and a few after to catch the theme of Solomon.
God says that there is eternal value in the way we use what we have. Our hands, lips, tongues, heart and mind all can glorify God or get us real trouble. In verse 22, Solomon tells me that God has given me wealth. It does not say anything specific about money. That wealth could be physical strength, knowledge, wisdom, power or money. God has given me more than I need because wealth means “an abundance of”.
Most missionaries live at the bottom of the financial world. I live each month wondering if I am going to go into debt. Funny thing is, it always works out. In fact, I usually have money to spare. Forget the money, if I had one of those mouse wheels right now I would make some electricity for someone. What does it mean? It means that my extra, my wealth, whatever it is, can wipe out another persons need. What if my extra was what an unsaved person needed to see the love of Christ? Huh.
PRAYER: You gave me the tools, let me build something for you to say thank you.

Leviticus 11:45  “I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God.  You must therefore be holy because I am holy.

God gives me a goal to shoot for.  If I were an Israelite I would follow all the rituals, offerings and sacrifices required and do everything within my power to maintain God’s standards and fulfill his requirements.

Thankfully, today I am a follower of Christ and I don’t rely on ritual or religious requirements.  I’m not trying to shoot for the goal of holiness in my own power.  I am relying on my relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is his power, his holiness, his sacrifice for my sin that changes me. 

Thank you Jesus for being the perfect sacrifice for sin.  Thank you for living a holy life and paying for my sin on the cross.  Help me Lord to live for you not in my own power or by my own ability, but help me to rely on you daily, with the desire to live a holy life that honors and glorifies you.