Posted in Christian Service, Life Inspiration

Pressing and Posting

Written by talk2shari Published April 15, 2015 Discussion Leave a Comment

Philippians 3:14

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Another day, another diet, another goal… life seems to always be filled with a purpose driven passion that can turn on a dime to another failure and leaves me wishing every day were Sunday. It’s such a day of encouragement for me, I love listening to preaching and singing and serving the Lord, but even it can turn into frustration when I get my eyes off Christ and onto people. I have somewhat become un-enchanted with social media over the past few weeks, I’m sure I’ll be back at it soon but felt the need to take a hiatus for a few days to “detox” from many of the posts I was reading. Political and personal rants have become the norm, and what used to be common sense flew out the window. Freedom of speech should sometimes be best used by the freedom of not saying what you could.

Several months ago, I either read or heard a statement that was a game changer for me regarding what comes out of our mouth. Satan and his band of troublemakers are not all knowing, only God has the ability to be the discerner of our every thought. But Satan doesn’t have to be a mind reader he only has to be a listener, or a reader, because we’ve laid out the stick for him to stir with plain and clear when we air our frustrations in our status posts. Perhaps it’s the era I was brought up in or more than likely the family, but we just didn’t make our troubles public, and yet today people not only make them public but wear them as trophies and care not that their friends and family know how very messed up their lives are. I guess this is a rant of my own of sorts… but it’s written to encourage my fellow servants of Christ to press on, not down.

Negative posts do not encourage positive living. You can quote me on that, that’s good stuff! The seeds that we plant in our life is what we harvest… I know that’s a no brainer, but it must not be, because there’s plenty of people sewing garbage and wondering why their life stinks.

Here’s just a few that I’ve noticed on social media on a pretty regular basis:

Satan may or may not have known that “so and so” got on your last nerve, but following that Facebook update he did. And now he has another avenue clearly marked in your life to making you miserable.
Nobody knew what a terrible mess your life was in until you went on that rant about it and now every time you walk on the street you feel as if you’re being judged, or so Satan says.
You posted your opinion on a matter that few agreed on and now you feel attacked because someone aired the opposite opinion on your status, welcome to America.
Let’s attack our family and make it a public spectacle and then wonder why nobody enjoys a family reunion, except Satan… he has a hayday!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! That’s why I needed a few days to regroup. Not only do those post affect the person who posted negatively but everyone who reads it. By the same token a positive post creates a positive atmosphere. So here’s my challenge for you today. Ten positive posts and if you care to you can use this blog as one! And zero negative… not even bad news. Press on Pilgrim, it’s a happy day!!!!

Posted in Church attendance, Eternity, Heaven, Life Inspiration, salvation

Breaking up is hard to do

Written by talk2shari Published April 12, 2015April 12, 2015 Discussion Leave a Comment

How quickly people fall away from the Lord and call it a “new direction” or perhaps they just don’t call it anything. They just ignore the fact that they are out of fellowship with God and pretend that they’re decisions will have no ramification in eternity. If I began to make a list of the friends and family who have fallen out on God I would soon run out of lines on a sheet of paper or perhaps I could write a book about each one and what a difference they made in my life at a crucial time in my spiritual growth, it would be easy to write because it would be truth and my days with them seem like yesterday and yet also another lifetime away. How exactly does one go from standing and testifying about what the Lord has done to walking out on God? And how does it not scare the pants off of them because at one point they knew what God had saved them from. They had a burden for the lost in their family, they cried out at the altar of grace for God to save their children and their family and then one day that just didn’t matter. It makes me nauseous and ever conscience that I could be there tomorrow.

Matthew 24:42-43

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

There is a bluegrass song about Matthew 24 that I used to sing with friends and it was always a reminder of the need to be ready; a favorite sung at revivals and funerals. Revivals and Funerals – the opposite ends of the spectrum. One speaks of new life and the other of death, and yet if the death is that of a saint of God their eternal life just began. Both of those services draw us into the realization that changes could possibly need to be made. Nobody likes the separation that comes with death, but it serves to remind us that it comes to all lest Jesus returns before it and we need to make preparation; not only for us but for those we influence. It’s funny how Jesus is welcome at Weddings but not in the marriage, He’s given the glory for the blessing of a child but then those same children are not raised to know Him. His Name is spoken often in the message of a funeral but how often was His name spoken by the one who died? Someone’s family member is sick or injured and prayer requests abound but few or hollow praises are heard when the heartache is done and all is well.

Yes I’m going there this morning.

I’m frustrated and this is my only place to vent without going toe to toe with someone I love, or perhaps I should. Maybe it would knock some sense into them. Being the Jesus Chick doesn’t always get you a fan club, sometimes people would like to club you. They tolerate my saying grace over dinner just so it doesn’t lead into dinner conversations that lead into guilt. Oh, glory to God, now I’ve begun to meddle. I just need to get this off my chest and throw it out there in hopes that somebody will read it and determine to get themselves ready.

What spurred this thought this morning and broke my heart was the closing words in verse 43 “and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.”

So let me ask you… if Jesus comes back today will your house be broken? If the decision to claim Christ as Savior, Lord of your life has not been made by you or members of your family then your house will be broken. That’s where the rubber meets the road. Children don’t just magically get saved one day, seeds need to have been sown, life doesn’t always get better, sometimes it’s the worse that leaves you longing for the better of Heaven. This morning was not just a reality check for you, but for me. I need to do more, say more. Nobody will care if I talk about Jesus when we’re all in Heaven, but they’ll certainly care in Hell if I didn’t.

Continue on weary soldier…

Posted in Christian Service, Evangelism, Life Inspiration

Stop! in the name of Love

Written by talk2shari Published February 26, 2015February 26, 2015 Discussion Leave a Comment

Last night I taught our teens from the Francis Chan study on Crazy Love and managed to heap huge conviction upon myself. I hate that! But it’s necessary in your walk with Christ to look at life through the eyes of God, not the eyes of self. I measure up pretty good next to me… as a matter of fact we’re dead even. But line me up next the disciples, or Who we should be lining ourselves up to (Christ Himself) and I’m not so hot. I fall far short of who I should be. I don’t fall in to the completely lukewarm category but I have tendencies that no doubt make God’s stomach queasy.

Going through the motions:

Isaiah 29:13 says “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:”

Does that not describe the church of modern day to a tee? Everybody’s a Christian (just ask them) but their lives certainly don’t back it up. SMO’s. “Sunday morning only folk.” If you’re one of them, I’m about to get on your last nerve. If we feasted on food like we feast on the word of God you could count our ribs. It’s truth. How on earth do we expect to survive in perilous times, when the only thing that’s going to get you through is the promises of God? And we don’t’ have them. I’m so proud of my group of teens at our church. Wednesday night we’re packed out! But the truth is, we could do better. That’s why I’ve been doing this Crazy Love series with them. I don’t want lukewarm Christians in my class, I want crazy kids who are sold out for Jesus Christ and they don’t care who knows it. I want them to look at their friends and understand if they don’t tell them about Christ, there’s a good chance no one else will either; and the end result is their friend will go to Hell.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 7:2 “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.” A funeral is better than a party? Yes, because a funeral brings the reality that our lives are like a vapor.

James 4:14

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

If we lived what we say we believe we’d be telling someone about Christ. As a gospel singer I’ve sang at a great multitude of funerals. They’ve not all been for saved people. As a matter of fact the very first funeral I sang for was for a lost soul. His family asked me to sing “Hello in Heaven,” because it was too late for the one whose funeral was being held, but it was not too late for the rest of their friends and family. That was a real eye opener for me as a young convert. I’ve been blessed to be among a congregation of people who try to live for Christ. We all fail. Daily. But we’re trying.

I encourage you to live for Jesus today and tell someone about His saving grace before it’s too late. Live the crazy love that we’re taught the disciples lived. God likely will not ask you to give up everything you own and serve Christ, but are you willing to use what He’s given you to serve Him? What friend or family are you willing to let go to Hell? You’ve likely said none… but what are you doing to stop it?

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Posted in Life Inspiration

A God Like that!

Written by talk2shari Published February 22, 2015February 22, 2015 Discussion Leave a Comment

It never ever ceases to amaze me how God speaks to us through the Bible. It’s like sitting across the table from the Lord in the morning having a conversation over coffee. This morning there was a time of refecection and laughter. I’m frustrated with myself that I don’t dig deeper and know more. I prayed to hear from Him, I needed to hear from Him, no more or less than any other day, but I need to know what He’d have me to know for the day, and that lead me to Genesis 1. Thirty one verses… just like the longest month. All about days and nights and the fact that God is and always has been.

He spoke life into existence from the beginning. He spoke it and He controled it. When there was darkness He spoke light, and then gave it a time frame for which to shine. He placed the earth on its axis that even the slightest degree could cause cataclysmic disaster and He holds it just so. When the arrogance of the world He created alludes that they are in control… things happen. When my own worlds seems spiraling out of control, He reminds me that it is not. And I am humbled that the God of all creation speaks to me in such a manner.

Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and He continues to move through the Living Water today. Why is it so hard for us to imagine that God can resurrect the dead when He brought to life the earth from nothing, and it would still be nothing if God had not made it to be life. It’s not hard for me to imagine God moving over the face of the waters and in animation far greater than any Disney movie I see lightings and thunderings as from beneath the surface life begins to take form. That’s kind of how it was for me when life began to take form in this dead body of mine.

When I attended church on February 18^th, 1996 (this is the weekend of my 19^th birthday as a new creature in Christ!), it was that day that I felt the Spirit of God stir the Living Water in my soul. I heard Christ knocking on the door of my heart. I knew His voice and when He spoke my soul came to life. I fought that feeling for literally months, not wanting to confess outwardly that inwardly something had happened. I was a church girl… it should have happened years prior! But it did not. I knew in my heart there was a God, but I didn’t understand the concept of Jesus.

If we’re honest it takes very little imagination to believe that there is a Creator. Because the earth bears witness to it. But it takes humility to understand that the same God who created us, would die for us. That makes no sense. Scripture speaks truth when in Romans 5:7-8 it reads “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

In a revival sermon the other night, Preacher Carroll McCauley spoke of the sermon that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost when 3000 got saved, and asked us to imagine the soldier who stuck the spear in Christ’s side coming forward and asking Peter, “Would Jesus save me after what I’ve done.” Yes… would be Peter’s response. The soldier who spit in His face would follow and asked again, “Would He save me?” Yes… would be Peter’s response. The man who drove the nail would come and ask, “Even me?” Yes would be Peter’s response. We can’t imagine a God like that…until we feel Him moving in our souls and hear Him speak… I did it for you too. Oh Glory to God what a thought this Sunday morning! He still moves upon the Water!

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Posted in Life Inspiration

Winter blues? He’s got us covered!

Written by talk2shari Published February 18, 2015February 18, 2015 Discussion Leave a Comment

Have I ever told you how much I detest winter? Probably. But in repeating it I hope God will get the picture and cut it short. That’s how I’d like the winters in life too, please… thank You Jesus. But it’s not how I get them. They’re often longer and harsher than I’d like and by the end I’m just about as low as a snail’s belly. Depression sets in, cabin fever is raging and take a week like this one when even church had to be canceled and I’m struggling. There I said it, but please don’t make me repeat it, because hearing myself say it grinds on my nerves as much as the indoor/outdoor thermometer yelling at me from across the room. That’s why I didn’t fix it when the outdoor side stopped working. Nobody likes a bad news bearer. Still doesn’t take the reality away that baby it’s cold outside!

But have I got some warm news for you this morning!

John 10:22-30

And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.

How long Lord?

I asked it again and again like a broken record. How long do I have to go through this Lord? But in this context the Jews are asking Jesus, “How long until you prove You are who You say You are?” But that’s not how God works, lest it wouldn’t be faith now would it. But my attitudes no different than the Jews when I’m going through the hard times. “How long Lord until You prove who You are by getting me out of this mess? Please Lord tell me, I’m a needin’ to know!” Now that’s not faith is it?

That Long?

Classic Jesus… the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.

It’s as if Jesus slapped me up the side the head and said “We’re here again, because you still don’t get it. I’m in charge of the universe, but unfortunately you’re in charge of your life Shari.” Number one, I know Jesus wouldn’t slap me up the side of the head, but I need it. There’s a reason for the seasons of life, both in meteorological conditions and in spiritual growth. Our bodies long for both the sun and the Son. We need to feel the warmth of His love.

But while you wait…

Oh my stars! This hit me like a ton of bricks this morning. Wow! This blog is violent… ADD (attention deficit disorder) kicks in again, now back to the story…

The Jews didn’t understand because they weren’t wearing fleece. Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice.” As a child of God I can make it through the winters of life because I’m a lamb of God. Covered in the fleece of His love that bears witness to me every day that I belong to Him. It may be cold on the outside, I may not be able to change the circumstances of life but He has me covered!

That’s good news today. It stirred my soul and even without the sun, the S-O-N has me toasty warm in His love. What about you? Do you know Him? I sure hope so and I hope this message encouraged you today. If it did, please share it with your friends, cause “Baby it’s cold outside!”

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Posted in Christian Service, Leadership, Life Inspiration

But now… He made us, so He’ll keep us

Written by talk2shari Published January 10, 2015January 10, 2015 Discussion Leave a Comment

1 Samuel 12:10

And they cried unto the Lord, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

Samuel had just done a roll call of sins and doubts of the people of Israel to remind them that although again and again they had failed God, but now and always He had delivered them. At this time they fail God again by asking Samuel to choose a King among them so that they would have a leader as the other nations around them did… as if God wasn’t enough. So God provided a king and another promise to His people; one that we too can cling to today.

12:20-25

And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

If you read this full chapter you’ll see that Samuel had called upon God for a light show just to remind Israel again Who it was that controlled the world; should they forget and get some vain notion that a man actually did. (Hello America!) So, his point was well proven and he goes on to tell them that even though that wasn’t God’s plan, God’s still going to take care of them. It had pleased God to make them, therefore He thought He’d keep them.

That struck a chord in my heart this morning. Oh! I am ever so glad that that promise is alive and well today through the blood of Jesus Christ for an unworthy sinner such as I. Even though I’ve failed Him, I’ve allowed other things in my life to rule and reign over my decision making, God will still send a lightning bolt from Heaven once in a while to remind me that He loves me still. I doubt, I question and I complain and God waits silently for me to shut up and then speaks peace back to my soul.

And as for Samuel the leader, there is a reminder for those of us who lead those who fail (just like us). God forbid that we should sin in failing to pray and teach the good right way. As church leaders it’s so easy to get frustrated when the congregation of the Lord treats the sanctuary more like a library. That’s a place of praise and worship, lest we forget.

In the beginning of chapter 12 Samuel asked the congregation a rhetorical question as to whether or not he had defrauded or oppressed them as a leader. They said no. So he began to give them a list of other leaders who God had used to deliver them, yet were not harkened to either until the children got in trouble; then they were willing to listen. Sure enough this congregation would regret having Saul as king. But now…Samuel must still pray and lead. And that’s what we’re called to do. Pray and lead by example.

I cannot make the congregation of the Lord shout! But I can shout. I cannot make them listen, but I can listen. I cannot make anyone else get excited, but I can cause that excitement to bubble up from within their soul when they feel the Holy Spirit blessing me. And He will… if I stay faithful.

But now… He’ll keep us.

Posted in Christmas, Life Inspiration, Peace, salvation

What Happens When You Hear His Name?

Written by talk2shari Published December 13, 2014December 13, 2014 Discussion Leave a Comment

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

That scripture brings to mind the song “This World is Not my Home,” as I read it this morning, thinking back on recent conversations that I’ve heard. The conversations of both the saved and unsaved alike are filled with anxiety and worry and then turn on a dime to apathy. They discuss end time events as if they’re imminent, yet escapable. My comments and insight are tolerated yet unwanted and I don’t know if I should shake the soup out of my family and friends, or throw my hands up in the air and walk away, yet I know the answer and so I keep talking… mostly to Jesus.

His Name shall be called Wonderful…

Sounds just like Christmas doesn’t it. The word Wonderful evokes sentiments of splendor and smiles but with the Name of Jesus, One in the same, the sentiment is different depending upon the day of the week, the time of day or the geographic location. His name also brings with it conviction, misunderstanding, and anger. But it is Wonderful if you know Him as He desires to be known.

His Name shall be called Counsellor…

But the world would rather seek advice from “educated” people who have been indoctrinated by colleges and universities that say God is an idea not a fact. I know there are good godly professionals out there, but they are few and far between and few that seek them out when they’re in trouble. It’s easier to tune into Dr. Fill me up with garbage than to fall down upon your knees to the Wonderful Counsellor Who only gives good advice.

His Name shall be called Mighty God…

Until Church folk put Him into a box on Sunday morning and perhaps Wednesday night if they can fit Him into their schedule, unless a crisis happens to occur and then He is Mighty God again, or they hope so. They don’t know so because their relationship with Him has been so obscure that they really don’t know Him that well. But He is still the same Mighty God as in Creation! He Who spoke the world into existence… unimaginable in my finite mind yet truth.

His Name shall be called Everlasting Father…

Eternal, forever and ever Amen… the way most believe their own lives to be on earth. Yet our lives are but a blip on the radar in comparison to eternity. We’re in utter despair when we lose someone we love on earth because of all the uncertainty that Satan throws into the mix. We know that scripture tells us that those who know the Lord as Savior are present with Him in death, but Satan plants seeds of doubt. And then there are those that we do not know if they knew the Lord as Savior… what about them? That is why we need to be concerned about those that are alive and well (or not so well) here on earth. For them they are still afforded the chance to know so that we all may have peace should something happen. And we can stand flat footed and call Satan the liar that he is.

His Name shall be called Prince of Peace…

Peace on earth, good will toward men? Somebody didn’t get the memo. Peace isn’t experienced where the Prince isn’t welcome. It’s the one thing that if we were all honest we’d say that we’d give up everything else in our life just to experience it, and it’s there for the asking. Perhaps not as we’d like it. We think peace is the evidence of no sorrow, or concerns in the world. But that’s not it. Peace is a feeling in the soul even in the middle of one of the worst storms in life knowing that the Prince has it under control. That’s my Jesus!

My prayer for you this Christmas is that you experience the Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Prince of Peace and then share Him as the greatest gift ever given to the world.

Posted in Christmas, Life Inspiration

A Christmas Thought Worth thinking…

Written by talk2shari Published December 11, 2014 Discussion Leave a Comment

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

This was the Biblegateway.com verse of the day, and one of my many Christmas favorites. Matthew 1:23 gives us greater definition of that name, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

God with us. One of the countless things that defines Christianity above all others. Nobody else is claiming they have God indwelling in their hearts. Nobody else can have a conversation to the degree that a Christian is privileged to have and yet we take it for granted so often. If there is a thought worth meditating on this Christmas season it is this one. God with us… If there is a gift worth giving this Christmas Season it is the ability to share God with a friend or family member through your testimony and witness so they too may experience “God with them!”

There is so much heartache in the world around us: sickness, depression, and loneliness just to name a few. And although Christians certainly can and do suffer those things, we know that having God with us can make a bitter journey sweet. Having the ability to be ministered to by God Himself in times of trouble is a privilege not afforded to those who do not Him.

Today my Christmas thought is this… “God with us.” I don’t want to take it for granted, so I’m sharing it with you too, in hopes that perhaps today a conversation will start in several hearts and perhaps it will be a gift to God this Christmas that His children’s gratitude will be felt in the throne room of Heaven.

Posted in Christian Service, Leadership, Life Inspiration, Political

The morning after… and the Ignorance of Politics

Written by talk2shari Published November 5, 2014 Discussion Leave a Comment

Politics are Satan’s playground. I’m proud to live in a country where we have the right to vote, I wouldn’t want to live in the dictatorship that many live in persecution under, however, my heart grows weary of the antics of the winners and losers. Satan knows just where to attack and who he can use to tear at the core of Christian faith. He knows if he can discourage us and imprison our thoughts with anger that our focus will be off the gospel of Christ. I write to myself this morning for in the midst of the political nonsense I find myself in need of hearing the encouraging words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 2:11

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

What better tool can he use than the political realm that stirs up the hearts of men and women with passionate pride for their cause and turns brother and against brother, friend against friend? We are so all consumed with the “pride of our cause” and yet the supposed cause, which is our homes, family and freedom is being cast aside so that we can win a battle of politics. Satan wins, and we are ignorant.

Mine will likely not be a popular opinion this morning because people would rather argue and cast fingers of blame than take responsibility for the mess this country is in. I cannot say that my lips did not turn a little upward when the republicans took back over the Senate, but only because they are the more conservative of the lot, not because they are sin free. I’m disgusted with Washington as a whole, every party on the ticket. I’m just as frustrated on a local level because somewhere along the line it became politically correct to blame the voters for not wanting to give hierarchy carte blanche with finances and poor decision with no accountability. I won’t park there lest I be ignorant.

The same people who are “so concerned” for our children and nation care not that Hell is on the horizon and Satan laughs all the way to the gates because he has them distracted with politics. A quick glance through Facebook this morning left me weeping on my keyboard at the children and families hurting because of illnesses and brokenness, and yet the next post would be someone cutting to the core family and friends because they disagreed over politics. I so wanted to get on their post and give them a piece of mind… at least what’s left. But then I decided to read more of Paul’s letter…

2 Corinthian 2:7-8

So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

Paul spoke of a man who had been disciplined by the church for sin. He asked the church to love him back into the fellowship of God with forgiveness, not continue to beat and berate him to the point of breaking his spirit. I see Christians too often taking a road so high that no one could possibly achieve it so that they can continue to “look down” at the sinner as though they were not one themselves, especially in politics.

Here’s a news flash: God’s not in your party.

God is Holy and just and will hold accountable every decision of every decision maker. He will not allow His name to be taken in vain and the sanctity of the family mocked. And when I say “taken His name in vain” I don’t speak of cursing. I speak of people who use God to further their agenda.

I don’t want to be ignorant of Satan’s devices. He’ll use me as well as anyone to get someone’s mind off of what matters. Eternity. If your candidate or cause went down, it may or may not be a bad thing. But if a soul goes down into the pits of Hell, and is separated for all eternity from their family and friends. Nothing is worse. Hell is real… but it’s not a playground.

Posted in Leadership, Life Inspiration

Heart Upgrade

Written by talk2shari Published October 19, 2014 Discussion Leave a Comment

1 Samuel 10:9 – And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.

A chapter before, that would make it Chapter 9 if you’re counting, Saul, the first appointed King over Israel had been chasing donkeys. He was a “goodlier” boy, so the Bible says.

“…there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he.” I Samuel 9:2.

And he was good because throughout this chapter we see Saul’s concern for his father’s donkeys that had run off and concern that his lengthy attempt to find them was going to cause his father to worry over him; and it did. But little did Saul know that the donkey adventure was a staged design of God to put him in contact with God’s man Samuel for the revealing of Saul’s call and a heart transplant.

Saul left home with a servant’s heart and returned with the heart of a leader. How does that happen without the proper education? Funny thing about the giver of knowledge… it’s His to give and requires no certification by a state or national agency.

I love the quote:

“God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.”

I don’t know if Saul ever dreamt about being King. His reaction to Samuel’s announcement was one of great humility, “And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?” But something tells me that in the recesses of Saul’s mind was an untapped dream of what was to become reality. When Saul inquired of Samuel the Prophet as to the where abouts of his father’s donkeys, scripture says in verse 1 Samuel 9:19 “…go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart.” So somewhere in Saul’s heart must have been a grander idea about his life besides chasing donkeys.

When God called me into the ministry in 2010 my response was much like Saul’s… Who am I, Lord?” and then He reminded me of all the hopes and dreams I had had as a young girl but never allowed anyone to see. I had suppressed them into the recesses of my own heart so that when God brought them out he had to give me another heart. The old one was still there, but I needed an upgrade. Mine had been clouded with doubt, sin and fear, God couldn’t use that. To be in service to the King there has to be a level of bravery that I had never experienced in my life. Before this when I was put in front of people I’d go to pieces. But that day I had to leave the past behind and move forward with a different heart, a leaders heart.

The thing about being a leader is that you’re in the front! Even today I’m not comfortable with that, so I get why Saul hid “ among the stuff” when Samuel made the news public. (10:22) You know what God’s called you to do, others in tune to God know what God’s called you to do, but the general public know you as the donkey finder, the least of the least.

I believe God’s called a generation of leaders that are still hid among the stuff. God’s given you the heart upgrade, but you’re still unsure of stepping out into what God’s called you to do. I still have a tendency to get lost among the stuff. But the problem with that is if God’s leader isn’t in the lead… who is?

Everyday Satan tells me to go back to finding donkeys. I thought about that this morning and then thought about what a donkey is… it’s a beast of burden. I don’t need to find the donkeys, God carries my load. He’s called me to show the Light of the World to the people, not cart around the burdens of yesterday, or the doubt, sin or fear.