[Faith-talk] Fwd: Morning Thoughts for Thursday, April 7, 2011

[Amy Ragain]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Stephen Smith <stevesmith1943 at me.com>
> Date: April 7, 2011 7:33:56 AM CDT
> To: Morning Thoughts 1 <stevesmith1943 at me.com>
> Subject: Morning Thoughts for Thursday, April 7, 2011
> 
> Saul's anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, "You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don't I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?
> (1 Samuel 20:30, NIV)
> 
> - From Bible Promises for iPhone
> http://biblepromises.reigndesign.com/
> 
> Good morning my friends, loved ones all!!  Guess you could never guess what has been consuming me for the past few days - Rage, Wrath, Anger.  I have watched, with a broken heart, the damage such expressions of an out-of-control life can heap on another.  This anger I am talking about is not a righteous anger, it is the sinful manifestation of the turmoil going on in our own lives when we allow sin of any kind to fester within our being.  Saul uses language here to denigrate and berate his son Jonathan, even to the point of condemning his own wife, the mother of his son.  How out-of-control can one get???  
> 
> I witnessed similar rage, name-calling, and worse this week, landing one young person in lock-down, splitting the union of another, causing doubt in the relationship of yet a third, all the while creating, in the hearts of the very young, the soil in which the seed of sin and rebelliousness can flourish. How clearly the Lord commands us to "be angry, but sin not"; to "not let the sun set on your anger toward one another".  God knows that the anger we display towards our beloved, our family, those we love and care for, as well as "perfect strangers" is not so much the result of whatever they may have said or done to us, as it is the manifestation of our own out-of-control condition.  By out-of-control, I mean that when we are in this state, the Holy Spirit, living within all believers, is not controlling our mouths, our actions.  Essentially, at those moments, God has turned us over to satan.  We become tools of the devil himself and work his will to destroy holy and beautiful relationships, to trash all trust, to focus only on ourselves - our lusts, our passions, our greed, our pride.
> 
> Take a close look at your own life.  Reflect back to the rage and anger in your own heart that has been allowed to escape through your lips, through your actions.  What good ever became of such sinful behavior?  NONE!!  It was only when your energy was spent, when your heart broke under the weight of past sin, that you dragged yourself to the foot of the cross and begged for God's mercy and grace, that you experienced His Healing Hand, beginning a new work of repentance and restoration in your soul.  New life flows from the forgiveness you show others, as you ask God's forgiveness of your own sin.  This new life, new walk, restoration of relationship with Him first, and others second, is the characteristic of what I call the walk of repentance.  It is the realization that all actions, words and associations we experience are the result of either our walk with Jesus, or our own sinful natures, the tools of satan.
> 
> We each have a choice to make.  Walk in righteousness before God, recognizing that in ourselves, we are out-of-control sinners and that the Spirit of God must be given control of our lives; or that we are the masters of our own destinies, and by sheer will-power, we can put down the anger, rage, wrath - the sin against our neighbor.  The papers are full of the stories of people who tried living without the control of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and the jails and prisons are filled to overflowing with those who lived the out-of-control life.  Let us turn from that path, submit to God, acknowledge the sin in our lives before Him, fall on our knees, forgive others, and seek His mercy!!  Only God can return us to the control of the Holy Spirit and to a life of sanity, joy and love.
> 
> I love You Lord, and I love you, my friends, loved ones, family!  Rejoice and Forgive – Love one another!!
> 
> <3Steve:-))