Our lies will always find us out.  (19:5)

Lies for a time seem good.  (20:17)

Lives built on lies will crumble.  (21:6)

Lies are the root of all pain.  (25:18)

The Lord hates lying lips. (6:17)

What is so wonderful is that the opposite of lying is freeing and life giving.  Lies destroy but truth will set you free.  Oh it may be painful at first but in the end truth is the best course of action..in the small things of life – “You have a bit of spinach between you two front teeth and each time you say the ‘th’ sound it flaps just a bit” as well as in the big things of life – “You need to end your engagement because your fiancee is in debt up to his ears and is not anywhere near ready for marriage.”

In my life, I was blessed to have people speak truth to me that uncovered the lies I was believing.  Those truths were painful to take at times but because of the love for me of the truth speaker it made it just a bit more palatable.  And in the end, those wonderful truths brought freedom and life.

Why don’t you take some time today and examine your life to see if there are any lies that you are believing?  Or why not ask a trusted friend if he or she thinks there are lies you are acting on in your life?  Of you are really gutsy, why not ask God?  It may be painful at first but in the long run it will set you free!

for Part 1)

Oh, I had very little faith that it could really make a difference – I had no life changing experience or revelation that called me to pick it up.  I was just so desperate that I was willing to try anything.  My years of church attendance had taught me that living the Christian life is not complicated – an aerospace degree was not necessary to figure this out.  Three simple actions that needed to be taken on a regular basis:  #1 pray, #2 read the Bible and #3 fellowship with other believers.  That was it.  Doing these three things with your whole heart for an extended period of time is the definition of a Christian walk.  But really, could something so simple take the mess of my life and turn it into anything good?  Since I had nothing else to lose I might as well try it and being an all or nothing kind of girl I went all out.

It is interesting now to look back at those early years – 1992, 1993 – and read my journal entries.  Every time – and I mean 100% of the time – God revealed something to me in His Word.  It was not necessarily some profound theological concept but it was a slow realization that this book – this Bible – was something special.  Here is an entry from November 24, 1992:

II Peter 2:  v. 9 The Lord can and does do what is right and what He wants to do.  He has the power to do all things.  v. 19 No matter what, all people are slaves to that which masters them – it could be God, money, sex, people, satan, etc. but they are all slaves.

Or February 13, 1993:  Luke 10:  v. 37 Jesus Christ had mercy on him – not giving others what they deserve – the homeless person may have brought his troubles on himself but we cannot throw him in the “ditch.”  We must give mercy unto him.  v. 18-19 Jesus saw satan fall from heaven like a lightening bolt; He has been with the Father since the very beginning.  Thank you, Jesus!

Despite the fact that I had been to church hundreds of times and was even on the cradle roll at First Baptist Church, St. Petersburg, Florida, I was clueless to actually were the books of the Bible were located.  I was so thankful for the Table of Contents in my Bible and used it without shame and regularly.  Since I am a bit challenged, phonetically, the first few times I had to turn to Psalms was a bit of a struggle because I kept looking for the book of Salms.  What a relief when I looked on the person Bible next to me and I realized the “p” was silent!

It was at a Metro Bible study that I learned a truth that today still rocks my world.  II Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”  What this verse is saying is that the Bible is able to answer these four questions:

What is right? (useful for teaching)

What is wrong?  (useful for rebuking)

How to get right?  (useful for correcting)

How to stay right?  (useful for training in righteousness)

If we add in verse 17, “So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,” the Bible even shows me what I am equipped to do – every good work!!

I don’t know where you are – is your life a wreck or are you just coasting along nicely.  Either way, the Bible is a book that is able to guide you in all areas of your life.  Will you just take a risk and try it out for yourself?

Or maybe the Bible is a big part of your daily life, would you please share with me some of the cool things you have learned or experienced as a result of being in the Word?

You see I grew up in church.  For many years, when the doors were open we were there – Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and every night of the annual spring revival.  Dad served a term as chairman of the deacons.  My parents taught a Sunday school class.  The church used our swimming pool as the baptism until one was built at the church.  We participated in marathon gospel hymn sings and I even broke my arm one Wednesday night while doing a cartwheel in the church’s courtyard.  But going to church and doing all the activities does not translate into a transformed life if the Bible is not a part of one’s day-to-day life.  The Bible had been a small part of my life but I never cognitively came to the understanding that the Bible – God’s thoughts, written by man, inspired by the Holy Spirit, condensed into 66 books – could have such a huge impact on my life.

Well, at least no personal impact on my day-to-day living.  The Bible does impact us at a corporate level because so many of the laws of the United States were founded on the commands of the Bible.  Who doesn’t want to live in a society were stealing, killing and even lying are not punished by the governing authorities?  But to think that this book that was written 1,000s of years ago, could help me live my life today was a foreign concept.

For me to study the Word, memorize the Word, apply the Word, to believe the Word, to take the Word as being the final authority on life in my own personal life, no way.  It is just another book, right?  Like Aesop’s Fables or the Koran or the Old Farmer’s Almanac – a book with stories, guidelines for living and some sage wisdom.

I remember many Sunday mornings searching for my Bible before church and then remembering that it was right where I left it last Sunday – the back seat of my car.  And there it was – a little sun bleached and full of the previous weeks bulletins because I never picked it from one Sunday to another.  It just sat there…waiting…not being used…available but ignored as I went about making decisions based on man’s wisdom and my own experiences.  Until this decision making lead to a wreck of my life and finally, as I came to the end of myself, I reached out to it.

See next week’s blog for the rest of the story.

Forgiveness is the willingness to relinquish the pursuit of justice in response to who’s wrong you.  A willingness to free them of the debt that they owe you.  Our motivation to do this is because God forgave us.  Because of the shed blood of Jesus, God’s justice was satisfied and He has forgiven us of the debt that we owed to Him.

Even with this great motivation, forgiveness is still one of the most challenging character traits to walk out.  What makes it so difficult is our inability to forget the offense.  I wish that when I forgave someone the memory of that offense could be wiped from my mind but that is just not the case.  When this happens, I often want to seek justice for things that have already been forgiven and shed the blood of war in peacetime as David said to Solomon in I Kings 2:5.

David’s army commander, Joab, lost a brother in war at the hands of the enemy.  After the war was over and the peace treaty was signed, Joab went and killed the man who had killed his brother.  He sought justice for a wartime offense after peace had been established.

Unfortunately, I can do the exact same thing.  Now, it might not be that I go and murder someone but often times I have extended forgiveness to someone, they have responded appropriately and we are fully reconciled.  Then, one day, week, decade later the memory comes back and I seek justice, again.  I want another, “I’m sorry.”  I am seeking forgiveness in peacetime for something that was already covered.

When the memory comes back, instead of going to the forgiven offender, I need to go to God and ask for Him to heal me in that area and to walk out the forgiveness that was freely given to me.

Forgiveness is one of the hardest acts God calls us to do.  As the wickedness in the world increases, the level of offenses increases as well thus making forgiveness even harder.  To truly walk in forgiveness for these offenses takes much prayer, ministering and even counsel to move beyond the offense.

Many times I focus more on the 2^nd half of this verse, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you,” and the overwhelmingness of that concept almost paralyzes me.  “How can I forgive that offense?”  “It hurts so much”  “They will just do it again”  “It will not change anything” are some of the mantras I start rehearsing in my mind and I often do nothing to move past the offense.

However, if instead of focusing on the second half of the verse, I focus on bearing with others, walking in forgiveness becomes easier.  Not because in any way it lessens the offense but because it causes my heart to begin to softer towards others and to the things of God.  (Please note that this bearing with others may or may not apply to the offender.)

I like to think of bearing with others in the terms of extending grace to them.  Yes, they just did something that could cause me to be offended but I am going to think the best of them and just extend grace.  Yes, what just happened grieved me but I am not going to seek justice in this matter but release them of the debt I believe they owe me and trust God to deal with them.   Christ Jesus on the day He was crucified bore the burdens of our sins and our offenses on His physical body.  Through His Spirit, we can bear with those around us and move toward forgiveness and beyond the offense.

When you are offended, are you quick to seek justice for that offense or are you quick to bear with them and extend grace?  Through out the day today bear with others and intentionally extend grace to all who are around you.

Some tax day fun: RT @WhiteHouse See Obama and Biden’s tax returns http://bit.ly/ci7qTb

And this is what I learned…the President and the First Lady filed a joint tax return and their adjusted gross income was $5,505,409 and reported donating $329,100 to 40 different charities, which is just short of 6% of their income.  Meanwhile, the Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden did not do quite as well, both in income and charitable giving.  Their adjusted gross income was $333,182 and they contributed $4,820, which is 1.5% of their income.

As I have pondered this over the past month I have gone from amazement to anger to apathy until I heard some stats my pastor shared in his sermon this past Sunday.  At Houston’s First Baptist Church (HFBC), 50% of our members gave zero to the church in 2009.  Thirty percent of the members gave less than a $1,000.  It is that 80/20 rule all over again – over 80% of the budget was carried by 20% of the people.  Now, I am sad.

What saddens me, and what saddened Pastor, is that if 80% of the members of HFBC are giving so little financially to God, have they encountered God?  Have they really given their hearts to Him?  Based on what Jesus said I believe the answer to that is no.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Pastor Gregg made it so clear that it is not at all about the money.  God does not need our money, He desires our heart.  You see if we encounter God, we have to respond to God – in worship, in service, in obedience and in giving of our time, talent and treasure.  And what is so amazing is that when we respond to God, we will once again encounter God and the circle continues.

So my question to you today is where is your heart?  Is it going to take a treadmill stress test for the Lord to know if your heart is fully His?  Do you need some CPR?  He challenges us to test Him in this area and says, “…see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”  (Malachi 3:10)  Why don’t you test Him and see if you don’t encounter Him in a profound way?

One of my 2010 goals is to read the Bible through in a year.  My pastor, Gregg Matte, has said that Leviticus is the graveyard for many “read the Bible through in a year” plans.  Well, this is exactly where I am right now in my reading, Leviticus – the book of the Law.  However, this morning, the Word almost jumped off the page at me.  It was one of those rhema moments!!

Nestled between the law on having sex with a slave and to not interpret omens are these three verses:

When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.  And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD. But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:23-25 ESV)

During the first three years of living in the new land, the Israelites had to plant the seed, tend the sow, pull weeds, pray for rain, pray for sunshine and then at the harvest time, I guess, they threw the fruit away.  In the fourth year, same amount of work but now instead of throwing it away it is given to the Lord as a praise offering.  Then finally, the fifth year comes and they are able to reap what they have sown.

How does this apply to me today as I sit in the middle of the 4^th largest city in the US and don’t even have a yard let alone a garden to tend?  Spiritually, there is ground that my forefathers and I have surrendered to the enemy.  As I walk out the statues of God in love for Him, I am gaining back this ground.  I am coming into new lands.  There is great celebration in the victory but for me to have FULL ownership of the land, to no longer be under guardians (see Galatians 4:1-4), there is work to be done.  And this work is hard and long.

I am willing to do the work to gain that full ownership.  Willing to wait a long time between sacrifice and blessings.  I don’t just want to be a squatter on the Promised Land the Lord has granted me but I want full ownership.  The full inheritance!!

How about you?  First, are you even seeking to take back surrendered ground?  To enter into the Promised Land?  Secondly, Have you gained some ground but grown lazy in the labor?  Have a hoe but are just too tired to deal with the weeds?  Finally, are you willing to wait for the fullness of time?  A mark of spiritual maturity is how long you can wait between obedience and reward!

Oh the depths of the riches of God’s Word!!  I don’t understand the law two verses later that says ” do not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard” but I do know that God has a reason for it and in the fullness of time I will know.  However, in the meantime, may I tend my lands well!

While in Canada, I picked up Barbara Henry’s (http://barbarahenry.wordpress.com/) Renewing the Heart for Women: Life Principles from the Beatitudes and it is already rocking my world.  Let me share a bit from Day Four Week One.

Galatians 2:16, 3:2-7 (New American Standard Bible)
…nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified…This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Did you suffer so many things in vain–if indeed it was in vain?  So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?  Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.  Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

These verse show that my works bring about nothing.  My justification and sanctification are works of Christ and the Holy Spirit through me.  (Check it out in The Message as well (http://bit.ly/4yxmDV).  Barbara draws a wonderful picture of what this looks like:

Think of spiritual wealth in terms of a bank account in heaven. Since we are spiritually bankrupt in and of ourselves, Christ made the deposit for our “savings” account (justification), and the Holy Spirit makes all the deposits in our “checking” account (sanctification). By faith we make withdrawals from both accounts. Our good works are the fruit of those withdrawals but can never be considered part of the deposit because we are poor in spirit. We have nothing to deposit.

WOW! This is such a paradigm shift for me.  I thought my good works – especially in relation to my prayer times, Bible reading, Bible studying, etc. – were making deposits into my spiritual bank but in reality I am making withdrawals.  The Spirit of God is rising up in me to go to my prayer spot and seek His face so that I can be empowered to do His good works. I come broke – empty – needy.  To be honest with you, it flies into the face of my pride!!  What do you mean I have NOTHING to offer?  Surely, there is something I can bring to the table.  But, alas, I bring nothing. Nada. Zilch.

However, the great news is that my spiritual bank account will never fall below the limit.  There will never be any insufficient funds fees.  As a daughter of the King, I have a sweet Daddy who ALWAYS keeps my bank balance full and passionately calls me to spend freely.  May I be found making lots of withdrawals throughout the day!

Play the Tapes to the End
It often looks much greener on the other side of the fence. Don’t allow yourself to look through rose colored glasses. If you’re struggling with the desire to leave your husband, take a long, hard look at what that really looks like. The enemy is the master of lies. Would life really be easier? Are you sure that you really want to be single? What do children of divorced parents really feel? Are you so sure that your marriage is the one thing that is impossible for God?

Can You Stay for Today?
Spending your time looking at the next 5 years or the rest of your life in a difficult marriage can make you run the other way. The Lord tells us not to worry about tomorrow because it has enough worries of its own. He wants us to live in today. Tomorrow is filled with what if’s. These things are not true yet and chances are they will never become reality. As you sit with the Lord and listen to His leading for the day, ask yourself, by the grace of God can you stay and do the right thing for today… Deuteronomy 30:11 says, “Now what I’m commanding today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.” You are not trapped. You can always choose differently tomorrow though I am confident that the Lord will amaze you with His grace as you choose obedience today.

Don’t Let Anything Keep You From Quiet Time with the Lord
There is no way to live as a godly life apart from the Lord. You need to hear how deeply He loves you. You need to express your love for Him. You need His Wisdom. You need His Counselor. You need everything that He’s got and willingly extending to you. He IS your peace. He is your Shield. He is the Truth and the Way. He’s freedom and He’s your Deliverer! Occasional moments grabbed throughout the day will never reveal the God that you need to know. He is your very Life! Large chunks of devoted time early in the morning are your recharging. Take the Lord at His Word. “Those that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:11) “Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice.” (Isaiah 41:10)

If you have little children, get up earlier than them. I know of a woman who had her quiet time in the middle of the night and then went back to bed. Yes, rest is important but the Lord will supply all of your needs, even rest, when we put Him first in all things. Try Him. Let Him prove it to you.

Ensure that you are reading God’s Word and not just about God’s Word. There are many useful tools and resources out there but they need to be supplements to a healthy diet of the Word of God. Ask Him to “Open your eyes to see wondrous things in His law.” He will not disappoint you!

The Lord knows that what He asks of us is not always easy. Sometimes, it may feel like it’s never easy but He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him. I can testify to a God who is WAY bigger than I ever knew – and I’m just seeing the tip of the iceberg! I can testify that I have come to know the Creator God for He created love where there was none left. He truly healed my broken heart and has made beauty where there was only ashes. For that I am eternally grateful!

Become Your Husband’s Cheerleader
I’m confident that somewhere inside every man is a doubt or anxiety of “can I really do this?” Be a good husband, provide for a family, be a good lover. Become his cheerleader. Make a conscious point of looking for things that you can praise him for. I understand that at first, it may take some looking. We are in the habit of seeing the bad. Genuinely thank him for every good thing you see. Tell him that he’s doing a good job of … I have been stunned by how much my husband has appreciated this. These are pleasant words that are sweet to the soul and bring healing to his bones like Proverbs 16:24 talks about.

Allow Yourself to Be Dependent on Your Husband
Depending on how badly you’ve been hurt, this can be very difficult. Even if you’ve never said it consciously, our tendency is to build walls so that we won’t be hurt again. 1 Peter 3:1 tells us to “be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them]…” Chances are you rebel against things that you would consider bad decisions on their part. The enemy tells us not to let ourselves “go down” with that sinking ship. A friend of mine taught me to say, “whatever you think is best, dear.” Rather than argue your side, if, after simply and calmly stating your opinion, you are of differing minds, winsomely say “whatever you think is best.” Be mindful not to be patronizing. Your husband will know the difference.

It is safe for you to submit to your husband even if you are positive that he is making the wrong decision because Jesus is the Lord of lords. You are not responsible for your husband’s decision but you are responsible for your response to him. That same wise friend reminded me that submission only occurs when we disagree. If I’m not of a differing mind, it’s called agreement. Submission is difficult and it goes against everything the world (and our unbelieving friends) tell us but it is richly rewarded by our Heavenly Father. It is even safe for you to submit to an unbelieving husband or one that is not walking with the Lord as long as what he asks of you is not immoral or illegal. That same verse in 1 Peter 3 continues to say “so that even if any (husbands) do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives.” I had to quit preaching and arguing my point and start living out my role as God intended.

We are to live as godly wives in “like manner” to how Jesus conducted Himself. “When He was reviled and insulted, He did not revile or offer insult in return; [when] He was abused and suffered, He made no threats [of vengeance]; but He trusted [Himself and everything] to Him Who judges fairly.” 1 Peter 2:23. Trust yourself to the One Who is faithful!