April 2018 ⋆ Covenant Life Church of God

What’s On Your Agenda?

We all have our own thoughts about our lives. We have plans, purposes and even some pursuits we would like to follow. We have likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams and some of us have great big visions of what we want to accomplish in our lives before we die.

Some people just live out their lives with a “what will be, will be” attitude. They are also the ones who usually end up disappointed with what life brings as life is not an upward positive flow, but rather a downward flow until death. We have to be somewhere in the middle of pushing all the time and doing nothing all the time in life.

The root of all our lives is our hidden agenda; who are we in the secret place of our hearts? Are we set on a path that we are pushing to fulfill at all cost? Are we floating through life letting what passes us by be our choices, grabbing little pieces that are easy to reach? Maybe we are somewhere in the middle, allowing life to help us make choices sometimes, and grabbing with great zeal some ideas that we pursue. Who we are inside, will determine our future.

Others are involved

One thing we sometimes forget is that all our decisions are affected by those around us. Other people keep interfering with our dreams. They won’t let us become beach bums and still have money to eat. A man with small children can’t buy that two-seater sports car. A woman with ambition is looked upon as a brassy fishwife. While I realize these are sarcastic statements about life, you get the picture that life is not a one-person show. We are intimately involved with all the people in our lives. They may be encouragers or they may rain on our lovely dream. It is the inside person that will either fight for the future or give up on life. Sometimes we must live with compromise, which is not always a bad thing, just different from what we thought it would be.

Don’t forget Jesus!

As a Christian, we really need to add one other person to our agenda visions, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have surrendered our lives to Him. We have entrusted our eternity to His keeping, yet we tend to want to keep our agenda to ourselves. We still want to do things according to our will and desires. This one issue is a battle of wills. Will we surrender all? Will, we chose to trust Jesus to lead us forward? Will we be content allowing Him to choose some adventures ahead for us? Mmmm, well, it takes a lot of courage and fearlessness to take that leap of faith and jump into the future not being in charge of all our own lives. Yes, the daily decisions are still ours; we have to daily choose to include Him in our life choices. Have you ever had the courage to ask Him what is on His agenda? Are you willing to adjust your own plans to fit into His? What an adventure it can be to rest and trust in God’s great love for us. He sees the world from a different point of view. His dreams are so much bigger than ours could ever be! Let’s choose to follow after what He sees ahead and change our agenda to fit His.

The Bible has some great things to say about this:

Proverbs 16:7

When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Proverbs 16:9

A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

Proverbs 18:4

The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

Proverbs 18:20

A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.

Proverbs 19:21

There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.

Proverbs 29:26

Many seek the ruler’s favor; but every man’s judgment cometh from the Lord.

Proverbs 6:12-15

12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.

Put Away…

Put Away….

Proverbs 4:24

Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Ephesians 4:25

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Ephesians 4:31

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Putting away the ways of our flesh is a choice.

The Lord instructs us to “put away” certain habits from our lives. The very fact that He makes it an instruction means we have control over these actions. It is our choice to keep or put away these habits.

The list of items in the above Scriptures have consequences that the Lord knows will cause us grief and He wants us to get them out of our lives. (Merriam-Webster definitions)

Froward mouth: Moving or facing away from something or someone. Also, difficult to deal with, perverse.

Perverse Lips: Turn away from what is right or good, corrupt, improper, incorrect. Also, obstinate in opposing what is right, reasonable or accepted, wrongheaded.

Childish Things: Marked by or suggestive of immaturity and lack of poise. Lacking complexity, simple. Deteriorated with age especially in mind, senile.

Lying: Marked by or containing untrue statements, dishonest, mendacious.

Bitterness: Marked by intensity or severity, accompanied by severe pain or suffering. Being relentlessly determined, exhibiting intense animosity. Harshly reproachful, marked by cynicism and rancor, intensely unpleasant. Caused by or expressive of severe pain, grief or regret.

Wrath: Strong vengeful anger or indignation. Retributory punishment for an offense of a crime: divine chastisement.

Anger: A strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism, rage.

Clamour: [clamor]: Noisy shouting, a loud continuous noise, insistent public expression, protesting.

When we look at the definitions for these “put away” life habits, it is clear to see they are not a positive influence for our lives. This is why the Lord wants us to choose to put them away from us. It almost looks like a forceful action. We need to hate these types of actions in our lives. A picture of bees clamoring around us comes to mind. We would flee as quickly as possible from them.

Let us choose to look for any of these actions in our lives and choose to put them away. The Lord has much better life choices for us to enjoy.

Good Water or Bad. What Is Flowing From Our Well?

Good or Bad…what is flowing from our well?

What kind of words are coming out of our mouths? Are we being kind or filled with sour bitterness? These verses from the Bible in James, are so clear. We choose what we say. We can pour out all of our inner anguish or choose to bless others. We can scream bitter angry words or forgive and ask the Lord to heal our hearts. We can put others down to make ourselves feel better or we can lift up others without needing praise from others.

Choices all given to us from the Lord God, our creator, who gives us the ability to choose our thoughts, words and deeds. There are consequences from each choice we make, both good and bad. One sign of a mature person is the ability to accept others without judgment. Not an easy task, but each time we choose to bless rather than curse, heal rather than harm, we are growing in the Lord’s grace. The rewards are a peaceful heart that has no condemnation and a growing group of people we love and are loved by.

James 3:2-12

²We all make many mistakes. A person who never said anything wrong would be perfect. Someone like that would be able to control their whole body too. ³We put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us. With these bits we can control their whole body. ⁴It is the same with ships. A ship is very big, and it is pushed by strong winds. But a very small rudder controls that big ship. And the one who controls the rudder decides where the ship will go. It goes where he wants it to go. ⁵It is the same with our tongue. It is a small part of the body, but it can boast about doing great things.

A big forest fire can be started with only a little flame. ⁶The tongue is like a fire. It is a world of evil among the parts of our body. It spreads its evil through our whole body and starts a fire that influences all of life. It gets this fire from hell.

⁷Humans have control over every kind of wild animal, bird, reptile, and fish, and they have controlled all these things. ⁸But no one can control the tongue. It is wild and evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹We use our tongues to praise our Lord and Father, but then we curse people who were created in God’s likeness. ¹⁰These praises and curses come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, this should not happen. ¹¹Do good water and bad water flow from the same spring? Of course not.¹²My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree make olives? Or can a grapevine make figs? No, and a well full of salty water cannot give good water.

Our words and thoughts are revealed to the Lord

Psalm 19:14 (ERV)

¹⁴May my words and thoughts please you.
Lord, you are my Rock—the one who rescues me.

Psalm 139:1-7 (ERV)

1 Lord, you have tested me,
    so you know all about me.
²You know when I sit down and when I get up.
    You know my thoughts from far away.
³You know where I go and where I lie down.
    You know everything I do.
⁴Lord, you know what I want to say,
    even before the words leave my mouth.
⁵You are all around me—in front of me and behind me.
    I feel your hand on my shoulder.
⁶I am amazed at what you know;
    it is too much for me to understand.
⁷Your Spirit is everywhere I go.
    I cannot escape your presence.