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!

A friend of mine is a wealth manager – he manages or stewards his clients’ monies and does it based on their preferences.  If my friend were to say to one of his clients, “I know you wanted to invest that money in Coca-Cola but I decided to spend it on my son’s college tuition.  I hope you don’t mind – you have plenty,” he would be fired and I am sure that some ethics committee somewhere would be calling.

The management of one’s estate goes beyond just finances but includes hiring and firing staff, building and remodeling facilities, land usage, etc.  This is true for believers as well.  Often we think of just our tithe or financial gifts when discussing stewardship.  But it goes so much further than that to include our time, talent as well as touch (or sphere of influence.)  As believers, we have an obligation to the Owner of the estate to manage His affairs well.

The Barnabas Group, where I am blessed to be the managing partner, is all about helping people be good stewards of the estate that they have been given.  Our mission is to leverage the time, talent, touch and treasure of marketplace and other Kingdom leaders to help ministries transform lives worldwide.  We are all about connecting leaders and changing lives.

We have an abundance mentality and desire to see the release of generosity in our communities with the utilization of everyone’s unique gift of time, talent, touch and treasure to God’s service.  We do this through quarterly breakfasts in which three to four pre-vetted ministries are able to present their organization as well as their needs to our membership.  When their mission connects with someone’s passion, then we have been successful.

How are you doing on your stewardship?  Does The Barnabas Group sound like something you would be interested in being a part of?  I would love to have you at our next breakfast.

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.

We were blessed to have a wonderful in-country leader, Emillio (see photo above.) He did an amazing job!  As we were driving through the mountains of Honduras on the way to Saba, our home away from home for the next six days, Emillio spoke a line that I will never forget.  “I am not going to let that get to my flesh.”  What was so impactful about this line was that it began with the thought process. I have been on enough trips to respond with flexibility when challenges happen, at least on the outside, but have been know to pick up an offense or respond, in my mind, judgmentally.

I remember distinctly one-time things were not going correctly (at least as I saw it) and I started to grumble and complain in my mind while I still had a fake smile on my face.  (To be honest, I don’t think I was fooling anyone but myself.) Immediately, Emillio’s line came to my mind and I repeated it to myself and my “pasted-on” smile became a true grin as I chose the better way.

What has been so cool since returning to Houston is that that line works here as well!  I can make the decision as to whether or not I will let something get to my flesh.  When I choose to be flexible, I have won the victory and the enemy and my flesh have been defeated!  As always, I go on a mission trip to help others but I ALWAYS get impacted and transformed.

Recently, a dear friend of mine shared a word with me that has given me a great comfort for me these last few weeks.  ”Obedience is more important than understanding.”  As I have been walking this path these last few months, I have often asked the Lord, “Why?” and He has not answered.  He has simply said take the next step.  He truly is only revealing to me my next step and it is long after the sound of the previous foot fall fades that I hear, turn to the right or turn to the left – walk this way.

Praise the Lord that He has taught me to live a very frugal lifestyle and to live debt free.  Because of that, I have the ability to take the time after my last day at LifeHouse to wait, pray, study, rest, etc. so that He may reveal to me the next step.  I don’t know what the future holds but I do KNOW these things:

1.  He holds the future.
2.  He loves me BIG.
3.  This path is for my good and His glory for if there was a better path for me to walk He would have taken me down that path rather than this path.
4.  He who began a great work in me will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
5.  The plans He has for me are to prosper me and not to harm me; to give me hope and a future.
6.  The plan is much bigger than I can imagine and there is excitement in that.

As the Lord brings my name to your mind, please pray for me as I walk through this new season in my life.

Lie:  If you hear of a need, you are called to fill it.

As the two women walked into evening worship, one looked frazzled and exhausted – definitely not the countenance one would expect on the Sabbath.  “Jessica, are you ok? Why the downcast face?”  “Oh, Karen, 3 year old choir this afternoon was crazy.   My ears are ringing from the decibel level of the kids’ singing and my knees hurt from sitting in the baby-bear chairs.”  “Jessica, you barely liked your kids when they were three – why in the world are you doing preschool choir?”  “Well, Karen, if I don’t do it, no one will.”

There are countless frazzled and exhausted Christians serving in churches who are serving only because they believe the lie that by hearing a need they are the ones who are to fill that need.  Even, the great evangelist D.L. Moody believed this lie for many years.  Every need is not a personal call for you or for me.  Nor is it even for God…  In Genesis 2, God sees that it is not good for man to be alone but instead of filling that need with Himself, God creates Eve to meet that need.

Too often we will start doing Kingdom work and then ask God to bless it.  That is kind of like a private in the army making plans for the day and asking the commanding officer to make available the needed supplies.  Instead, we need to listen for a personal call from the Lord and then respond in obedience with full assurance that God will provide the necessary supplies – emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually.

• Are you exhausted in the “work”?
• Do you dread doing the “work”?
• Are you drained after finishing the “work”?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, I am not saying you have missed the call of God but it would be the first place I would look.  What lies do you hear at church?

That I may proclaim it fully and make it clear [speak boldly and unfold that mystery], as is my duty.

This is Paul’s prayer request to the church at Colossae. God’s chosen evangelist to the Gentiles is asking the saints to pray that he would have boldness! I don’t know about you but this gives me great hope. This says to me (and I am no theologian) that sharing Christ did not come naturally to Paul and he needed prayer to not only do it but to do it well. It was not an easy thing for Paul but hard.

Recently at LifeHouse, we have been able to do the right things even though they have been difficult. There was the call telling a homeless woman that LifeHouse is not a fit for her at this time. Or the time our housedad maintained self control when a resident was yelling and cussing at him. Or the tragedies of watching a resident walk away and choose to live on the streets rather than submit to the guidelines.

Hard things but, oh the fruit that comes from doing it. Paul’s obedience in the hard things is still bearing fruit today. We have seen fruit already from these difficult things, too. Residents making wiser choices. Seeing self control modeled. However, in God’s economy, we don’t always see the fruit the next day. The mark of spiritual maturity is how long one is willing to wait between obedience and blessing. It says in Galatians  that if we do not grow weary in doing good, in the proper season (and this could be a long season), we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

As always, the future will bring more hard things for us to do but we know that much more fruit will come from it. Please pray that we will have the wisdom to do the hard things at the correct time and that we would do them well.  What hard things are you having to obey the Lord in?

These are questions that can keep me up at night… questions that roll around in my head after hearing some of the stories from those in need. One was from the friend of a pregnant 16 year old Spanish only speaking girl who already has a 2 year old and is in a domestic violence situation. Another came from Houston Independent School District administrator concerning a homeless16 year old with her 3 year old and she is pregnant again. Or another call from Star of Hope shelter (who are already busting at the seams) concerning 3 pregnant women aged 20, 21 and 30!!

When I begin questioning, the Lord is so quick to cause me to remember His faithfulness in the past and His equipping for the future. He reminds me of the residents who still call houseparents months and even years after leaving LifeHouse to “just check in.” He reminds me that some of Jesus’ most impactful ministry opportunities were done one on one (see the woman at the well or Nicodemus.) He reminds me that He has given us a vision to reach beyond our current services and provide a greater level of post-partum support.

These are exciting, and to be honest, scary times at LifeHouse but I often hear the words that the Lord spoke to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.” My translation is “do it afraid!” He will never leave us or forsake us. I don’t know what questions roll through your mind at the end of the day but I pray you will be encouraged to remember Him! If you get the chance, let me know what you are doing afraid.

What I continue to hear from Him is, “Just do the next right thing.” One step, one decision, one day at a time. I believe this is not just a word for me but a word for the residents that live at LifeHouse. Just do the next right thing.

Through the teaching of our Houseparents, the advice of our professional counselor and much prayer, the teens and young women of LifeHouse will realize what is the next right step. Proverbs 4:18 says, “…the path of the just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until…the perfect day.” (Amp.) As I take the next right step… as the residents take the next right step, the path becomes clearer and clearer. Of course the opposite is true also. If we do not stay on the path of justice and righteousness, the path becomes darker and darker.

Would you please pray for all of us to remain on the path of Truth? Would you pray that together we can do the next right thing?

May you, too, do the next right thing.