Thank You for the Wringer, Lord

by Susan Sampson

Lord, where do I begin?  Thank you for loving me perfectly, knowing completely the state of my heart.  Thank you, Jesus, for clothing me with your garments of salvation and covering me with your robe of righteousness (Is. 61).  Thank you, Father, for declaring me righteous and holy because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Thank you that instead of the wrath I deserve for my idolatry, you have freely bestowed mercy upon me out of your great love and now you look on me in Christ.  “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

Thank you for the wringer, Lord.  I confess my complaining spirit.  I don’t like the wringer.  But you know best.  My son doesn’t like his allergy shots, but the doctor knows best.  You know the idols my heart continues to cling to.  Fear of man, desiring the approval and acceptance of man—wanting others to think I’m good—selfishness, desiring perfection.  Thank you for the grace you have given me enabling me to see these sins.  Without the wringer, I would not even notice all that I cling to that is not Christ.  Thank you Lord for using the wringer to show me my sin as you see it.  It was Job who said after all the suffering that you allowed, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). 

Thank you for the wringer, Lord.  Please use the wringer to cut off everything my heart remains attached to!  I see that I need heart surgery.  Your word commands us to “circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn” (Deut. 10:16).  Thank you, Father, that as we walk forward by faith working out our salvation with fear and trembling, you will accomplish this work in us.  Lord, I thank you for your promise in Deuteronomy 30:6 that says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

So how badly do we want the Lord to change our hearts?  Enough to go through the wringer?  How badly do we want to be holy as God is holy? How badly do we want to love our husbands?  The title of our current study is Falling in Love Again with Your Husband.  Our goal is to love the Lord with all our heart and then our husbands!  I can’t love my husband if I’m busy loving my idols.  Thank you, Lord, for the wringer.

This week I believe the Lord showed me how I still think worry & fear are just parts of who I am, just part of my personality.  This is a lie I’m believing.  Fear and worry are sins.  R.C. Sproul called sin “cosmic treason” in his book “The Holiness of God.”  My fear and worry nailed Christ to the cross.  Praise be to God Most High for His glorious gift of the gospel!  “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).  

My dear sisters, let us return to the Lord.  Let us believe the glorious truth of the gospel and confess our sin, confess our idolatry and turn in repentance and faith to the Lord, our Redeemer!  May the Lord have mercy on us because He is merciful and give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to obey the truth of His word.

THIS WEEK – Let us STOP & truly LISTEN to what the Lord is saying to us through our husbands and may God’s grace move us to respond in humble adoration and obedience.  Praise God for our husbands!!

Listen to God’s promise to us –

“I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; 6 his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. 7 They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon” (Hosea 14:4-7).

Praise be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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The Devastation of Worry

by Angie Thomas

Worry.  It is one of the most insidious sins.  It seems natural, mature.  Children don’t usually worry much, but we blame it on their naivety and innocence.  We think, “When they grow up and understand life, they will have much to worry about.” Really, we are the ones that are naive.  Mariam-Webster defines worry as “to choke or strangle, to torment.” Wow, not exactly the innocent personality trait we want to frame it as.  We have to look at this sin seriously and ask God to get to the root of it so we can dig it out of our hearts.  The challenge is that it is seeded and twisted with so many other sins: pride, fear, jealousy, coveting, idolatry.  It is often a manifestation of these other sins.
If you think back to your childhood, when did you begin to worry? For me, as I began to gain independence and make decisions for myself, I began to worry.  Was I making the “right” decision, what decision should I make, how will it affect my life?  That is also when I began to worship the idol of our culture: self.  I wanted my life to go a certain way. After all, even the church often tells us, “You can be anything! Pursue your dreams!”  Yet Jesus’ words to His disciples is so different, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24-25). We worry because we fear being out of control, of things not playing out the way we want.  If we trusted the Father and believed—even when we have trials and our life doesn’t end up the way we want—that our life will still be the most satisfying life we could live, we wouldn’t worry.  We have to plead for God’s grace to give us childlike faith and belief in His goodness and love for us and take our hands off of our lives.

I will share from personal experience, being a wretched worrier, that it requires constant and vigilant tending of our thought life.  2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” The devil’s argument is that we cannot trust God completely and that He does not have our best interest in mind.  But that is a lofty opinion that is raised against the truth of God’s word and who He is. His love and affection for us are found throughout the Bible, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off, fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:9b-10).

God’s word tells us in Philippians 4:6 to NOT BE ANXIOUS about ANYTHING.  I didn’t check the Greek but I think anything probably means ANYTHING.  That means we are not to be worried about our finances, our job, our relationships, our plans, our dreams…NOTHING! I can share from personal experience as you try to walk this out in different areas of your life, it will feel foolish.  Not worry about my money? That is irresponsible.  Not worry about my job? That is immature. The list goes on and on.  Notice I am not suggesting you don’t give attention to these things, I am only commending that you follow God’s Word.  Philippians 4:6 continues, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.” Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving is quite different than obsessing or dwelling on our concerns for hours or days.  We must stop the thoughts and go to prayer, taking all of our concerns before Him.

So how can we combat this strangling, choking attribute of worry?  Surrender your life, minute by minute, to the Lord. Believe that He loves you regardless of your circumstances. Lay all your concerns before Him daily; don’t minimize or suppress them. Thank Him despite your lack of control.  Trust that He is Sovereign and always in control and is always good and faithful.  As the worry loses its grip on your heart, there is ABUNDANT LIFE and JOY that well up within you by the power of the Holy Spirit!

I am praying that we can all put to death this nasty sin of worry.  It will be an amazing opportunity to share the Gospel as those around us see the peace of Christ, that surpasses understanding, overflowing from our surrendered hearts!

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In Theory or in Truth?

eMoment by Laurie Aker

Focus Scripture: Luke 11:33-36

33  No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar

or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may

see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body.

When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light,

but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark,

it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

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“Be careful lest the light in you be darkness”

Be careful.

What hope is there if we have the Gospel but don’t live it?

Be careful that you don’t believe something intellectually

when essentially you are blinded by self, sin, and the things of this world.

If someone thinks they walk in the light because they go to church,

have warm feelings, or give to the poor, they are deceived.

Many think they are in the light, but their deeds proclaim

something else, and they will spend eternity in darkness.

Be careful that you not only
think you walk in the light,

but that your deeds bear witness to the Light

in your heart.

Just because we believe something in theory

doesn’t mean we live like it’s truth.

In fact many Christians, unknowingly,

are not living the Gospel.

What is the cure for such a disease?

How can we be sure that our words, our choices,

and our actions reflect our beliefs?

Do we say one thing and do another?

James 1:22

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only,

deceiving yourselves.

What is happening?

What are we doing?

What are we NOT doing?

We sit down and do our quiet time,

read God’s Word,

perhaps even write it out,

and fill in blanks.

But then we don’t ask ourselves,

“Am I living according to this?

Does this reflect what is truly in my heart?”

We don’t really take it to heart.

We fail to come up under God’s Word,

submit to it, confess our sin, and repent and then

look to Him to fill us with truth.

Do you say that you love God,

yet you don’t make time to be with Him each day in His Word?

Do you say that God is your All-in-all,

yet the things of this world are still so important to you?

Do you say that you place all of your trust in God,

but you live in fear, worry, or anxiety in your heart?

Do you say that God is your God,

 yet you know inside that the world still revolves around you?

James 1:23-25

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word

and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural

face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away

and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks

into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no

hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Confess your sins and be forgiven.

Repent, turn toward God and draw near to Him.

Deal seriously with your sin.

Take the light of God’s Word to heart.

Let it shine into the darkness that remains.

Don’t allow sin and darkness to reign.

Overcome the darkness!

Let the grace of God dispel the darkness.

Be filled with Christ and walk in the Light of Life!

Luke 11:36

If then your whole body is full of light,

having no part dark, it will be wholly bright,

as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

Ephesians 5:8

For at one time you were darkness,

but now you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light.

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