The Paths of Righteousness

May 10, 2014 at 9:45am

I hope what I am about to say burrows its way deep into your heart….

There are many good philosophers and self-help gurus–well-educated men and women who have a wealth of messages to cause us to view the world and ourselves in a more esoteric way. The messages they teach cause us to look at our environment, communities, the person next door and ourselves in a way that draw utters of ‘amens’ from our mouths because the words are so soothing, so gentle…so right, right? They may even be filled with words we are accustomed to hearing from our childhood with church-attending parents or grandparents, but are not seeing much of in our places of worship today, such as love, peace, kindness, patience, mercy–good moral qualities, all.

Every society that has ever been established from the beginning of time has had traces of humankind with deep convictions and good moral judgment and qualities. When those people are gone from the earth, I shutter to think what the world will be like. Eloquent speakers take the best of the best of all disciplines and doctrines, faiths and philosophies and string them together like pearls for a necklace, building a foundation of one feel-good message atop the other, and salted with the words we’ve been taught to strive for all our lives.

The problem is that not everyone is right. Regardless of what you’ve been told, truth is not based upon your particular and diverse set of circumstances. Not every message leads you to the right path. Sadder still is that not every person will achieve a gold medal — or silver or bronze, for that matter. However, the LORD Himself has strung His own pearls together on the Thread of Life. He is asking you to this day to choose whom you will serve. If you choose Him, you are instructed by wedding vows on how to relate to Him: “Forsaking all others, keeping only unto Him, as long as you shall live”.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20,  “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” KNJV

Joshua 24:14-15, “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” NKJV

Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” NLT

Matthew 7:13-16a: “Go in through the narrow gate; for the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road broad, and many travel it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

“Beware of the false prophets! They come to you wearing sheep’s clothing, but underneath they are hungry wolves! You will recognize them by their fruit….”

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” NKJV

2 Corinthians 11:4 “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” ESV

Galatians 1:8 “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” NASB

Acts 17:11 “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, AND searched the Scriptures daily to FIND OUT whether these things were so.” NKJV

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in Him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. CJB

John 10:11-30, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, since he isn’t a shepherd and the sheep aren’t his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf drags them off and scatters them. 13 The hired worker behaves like this because that’s all he is, a hired worker; so it doesn’t matter to him what happens to the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me — 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father — and I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep. 16 Also I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

17 “This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life — in order to take it up again! 18 No one takes it away from me; on the contrary, I lay it down of my own free will. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. This is what my Father commanded me to do.”

19 Again there was a split among the Judeans because of what he said. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon!” and “He’s meshugga! Why do you listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the deeds of a man who is demonized — how can a demon open blind people’s eyes?”

22 Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, 23 and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. 24 So the Judeans surrounded him and said to him, “How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us publicly!” 25 Yeshua answered them, “I have already told you, and you don’t trust me. The works I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, 26 but the reason you don’t trust is that you are not included among my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me, 28 and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands. 29 My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father’s hands. 30 I and the Father are one.” CJB

John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'” ESV

Matthew 25:31-46, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, accompanied by all the angels, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. 33 The ‘sheep’ he will place at his right hand and the ‘goats’ at his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you made me your guest, 36 I needed clothes and you provided them, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the people who have done what God wants will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and make you our guest, or needing clothes and provide them? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 The King will say to them, ‘Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!’

41 “Then he will also speak to those on his left, saying, ‘Get away from me, you who are cursed! Go off into the fire prepared for the Adversary and his angels! 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 a stranger and you did not welcome me, needing clothes and you did not give them to me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, needing clothes, sick or in prison, and not take care of you?’ 45 And he will answer them, ‘Yes! I tell you that whenever you refused to do it for the least important of these people, you refused to do it for me!’ 46 They will go off to eternal punishment, but those who have done what God wants will go to eternal life.” CJB

Palm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.” NKJV

A Little Story

November 27, 2012 at 10:35pm

I want to acknowledge that I am a blessed woman. There are too many ways in which I am blessed to list, but the second largest blessing in my life is my husband, Steve. Our road has not been without conflict from within and attacks from without, but he has never given up on this new walk, on us, on me or on himself and that is the epitome of true courage and raw strength of the man.

I am sure that you know blessings do not come without responsibilities attached, and on their heels comes a thief. The other day I was talking with my Mom and told her that I had not had a migraine or felt bad in about three weeks. I went on about how good it felt to wake up in the morning and not hurt and what a blessing that was. The next morning I awoke feeling fine, but I barely made it through my work day. By the time I pulled into our driveway I could hardly get out of my car and I was that way for three days. That ol’ thief came to rob me of my blessing, but I had three weeks of feeling great that he couldn’t undo. The next best thing he could do was rob me of joy, cause me to get on the pity-pot, or sneak doubt into my mind of who/Whose I am. I tend to fall for these tactics and I honestly don’t understand why. They are old and worn out, yet I get caught in the same play nearly every time. The responsibility of the blessing of health is to not squander it by sitting around doing nothing and not allowing the enemy to destroy my faith.

I am not a prayer warrior. I sometimes think I want to be, but the truth is I am more comfortable and seem to do better hanging out around the fringes of the lives I intersect with than I am in the middle of them. I hope that doesn’t offend anyone, but I’d be lying if I claimed to be anything different. I observe from arm’s length and if I can do something to help, I’ll be happy to and do it with all my heart. But I want to get in, get it done, and get out. Prayer warriors are amazing! They are disciplined and routined, fervent and effective and although that doesn’t describe me, this is not to say that I don’t pray. I pray for those the LORD lays on my heart when He puts them there, for those I know are sick or in need, or for salvation of those I know who need it, and for specifics as they arise. But the truth is, my prayer life needs work and I need to learn diligence where it is concerned.

Back in May, I envisioned Steve and I selling everything we own and living a very simple life. I know people who would argue that our life is fairly simple as it is and there are those who would strongly disagree! But what I saw was us willingly selling all the stuff we have accumulated in 8 1/2 years of marriage, rather than it being taken from us. I should state here that Steve and I are not always on the same page! You see, I am sure that God gave me a little inside information and that was all I needed to get started. I was completely ready and quite willing to sell it all and live in the RV. Yes well, Steve, on the other hand was not about all that! I didn’t stop to pray about it or anything because I had (and have) faith in the vision I believe He showed me. So, I simply began to make preparations in my mind and around the house of what all we would be selling and what I could decorate the RV with, while Steve was busy explaining that it takes time to sell things and that to sell some things would not be prudent. Well, of course, Steve is right and there are some things that do take time to sell and things that shouldn’t be sold — for now, at lease. But we are on the same page that it is time to scale down and get rid of all the excess and to use those proceeds for a higher purpose.

During this time, I prayed for God to help us work our way out of debt. I told Him that I didn’t want to owe anyone anything and that what we chose to keep I didn’t want anyone to be able to take from us because we couldn’t meet our responsibilities or because we were neglectful. I specifically asked to be debt-free. Good grief, Charlie Brown! Father works very quickly when our requests further His plans for us and when we begin to cooperate with Him. But blessings rarely come wrapped in familiar paper. Sometimes they are even disguised as problems to be despised!

I didn’t realize what all I was asking for when I asked Abba to help us become debt-free. If I had realized, I may not have asked because it has opened a can of worms. But if I hadn’t asked, we may not be as far along as we are now (and there is quite a way to go). I just keep thinking that God must have something much more important for us to spend our time, effort and money on because, once He got our attention and we lined ourselves up with His plan, He is moving things along at near break-neck speed. He is also providing all that we need along the way, even though the thief is doing all he can to eat up the provisions as quickly as they are given. It is frustrating really, but at the same time, fascinating  when I step back and see how God is moving all the pieces into place to bring  things together for our good and for His glory.

I realize that as I am writing this and praising God for all that He is doing in our lives that the enemy is going to do all that he can to rob me of my joy, or try to cause me to focus on any problems, cause me to feel sorry for myself when things don’t go according to my plans, or sneak doubt into my mind about God’s plans for my family.

So, how many blessings are disguised as problems in your family? I encourage you all to praise through any and all issues….