IOW: Favorite Quote... Favorite Post... Just Join In!

Hey there! If you have been reading IOW (Tuesday's In Other Words) which I semi-regularly participate in, then I invite you to join us for some insight, some fun and some sharing over the next couple of weeks. Loni is giving the Hostesses a break through the Christmas Holidays and we will resume regular posts again after the first of the year. So, in the absence she has invited us to join her in sharing favorite quotes, posts or even to write new posts for previously shared quotes. Whatever you fancy, join us at IOW and get in on the fun. After you post your own quotes, insights and favorites - visit Loni at Writing Canvas and link up for the fun!

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Please be in prayer for Loni and her daughter. They are at the hospital and her daughter is very ill. They need peace, provision, comfort, mercy, favor and much grace in the hours and days ahead. You are blessings to me and I love you more than I every express it.

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So... On with the post! My favorite quote was shared by Amy on October 14th. To see more on the post from this day visit my post and click the link for Amy's blog at the bottom. READ ON:

“A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself,

but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.”

by A.W.Tozer

I am growing to LOVE A. W. Tozer and his concise, rich writings and teachings on the Christian journey. This reminds me of a song that Big Daddy Weave sings called Pharisee. I guess maybe this hit a cord in me because I am dealing with laying down judgmental attitudes that I developed over the years. Not judgments against others so much... God really has shown me that people in glass houses should NEVER. THROW. STONES. Because, of course, you never know when you might get it back.

I wrote a devotion for my curriculum about Embracing Grace that often times I will hear Christian leadership be critical of others and in so doing they are really sinning themselves by passing judgment on the circumstance of another. It doesn't prompt me to boycott their program, it prompts me to pray for their heart. To ask God why they are doing what they do, and how it is that people devoted to His Word could get so tied up in "doing" the law they miss the grace of God that is at its heart. The point I made in the devotion is that God set at work in the law His grace, not just by offering His Son in final atonement... But also in the fact that the observance of the law exemplified the grace of God at work in our own lives. Think of it - the first four commandments are the mark of devotion and love for God and the last six express His heart for mankind. Grace at work in the Law. We don't live under separate covenants - it is all one covenant with two parts. We don't live under grace and exclude the law anymore than we are to live under the law and exclude grace. They are not mutually exclusive, but were always purposed together to express the heart of God toward His people.

Now... I guess at this point I should say this - the reason for keeping the law is to keep ourselves lined up with God both in priniciple and deed.

Micah 6 tells us we are to "DO" justice and "LOVE" mercy. I think this pretty much sums it up for me. Doing justice means I do what is right, but loving mercy means that I extend grace to others.

Does this mean that I condone sin? NO! But, it doesn't mean I can willy nilly go around policing the lives of others based on my understanding of the Word of God. If someone has not given me permission to speak into their life, am I truly honoring God by beating them down with His Word?

Truth. I must carefully weigh the value. Case in point. My brothers and I were raised by honorable, Christian parents. I do not wish to dishonor them in any way. They were no more flawed or perfect than anyone else's parents both having backgrounds steeped in good moral values and skewed perceptions of the church and its role in the Christian walk. I spent much of my life passing judgment on their parenting by rebelling against it while my brother a year younger towed the line, did as much as he could to please them and seldom took up offenses on behalf of either of my parents.

After I began attending church in my late 20s I discovered that I had been pious, self-righteous and indignant toward my mother whom I blamed for nearly every trouble I had. I had to forgive her, accept her limitations and surrender her to God in prayer in order to find peace. Laying down any wound I felt was her responsibility and living with her in Paul's words, "As far as it depends on me, live at peace with all men."

Only more recently have I let go of the heavy wounds that I held against my father. Not because he was less deserving, but because those wounds did not add the strain to our relationship that the mother wounds had left in my relationship with my mom.

A few years back, my brother went through Christian counseling where he apparently was encouraged to confess any bitterness he harbored against others, especially in his family. He did so with my mother and me. It seemed that neither mother nor I anticipated, expected nor understood what he was trying to accomplish because the offenses he confessed did little more than insight hurt feelings and more offenses because we did not know what the point of the confession was. I totally missed he was asking for forgiveness and felt very judged and I am guessing my mother felt the same. Not... To dishonor my brother - he was only working through his own brand of misery and difficulties... It just turned into a big mess. One I would gather he did not intend to create.

The truth is, we all live in this human condition and have skewed motives and value systems based on a fallen existence. However, when rightly submitted to God - we have the power to forgive, to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and extend kindness and grace to others even when we ourselves feel they do nto deserve it. Why?

Because Jesus Himself did the very same thing on our behalf more than 2,000 years ago and to not do so would be denying His sacrifice, His love and His grace at work in our own lives.

Do Justice and Love Mercy... Perhaps I talked all around it this morning and missed the point of my own post. Or perhaps somewhere in this jumbled mess of thoughts and feelings is a message about God's heart that I have been learning and walking through the last 10 years. Either way I pray you are blessed and able to gleen from the mumblings of this humble servant. Be Blessed.

AMY at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 is hosting this morning. Please stop on by and check out what others are saying "In OTHER Words." And, thanks Amy for a great quote!

I'm Drinking from a Saucer....

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I went into a great search the other night looking for the song whose chorus begins with that line.

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Why?
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'Cause someone gave me a gift and a word of exhortation related to that song once and I had never heard it. I've told many people the story of the teacup, but I had not heard the song. I'll share the song with you at the end of this post, but for now I want to talk to you about the OVERFLOW of Grace that I learned about from this little gift.

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"... You anoint my head with oil;

my [brimming] cup runs over."
Psalms 23:5b (AMP)

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In the Amplified version of Psalm 23:5, it says my [brimming] cup runs over. That word translated "runs over" in the Hebrew is rewāyāh. The Complete Words Study Old Testament Dictionary defines rewāyāh as a feminine noun referring to abundance; a state of overflowing. It refers to an overabundance of something. It is used figuratively of the cup of life and blessing from the Lord (Ps. 23:5). It refers to the richness, safety, and blessing of God's deliverance from enemies (Ps. 66:12).

From Vine's there is a Hebrew word translated "to fill" which also indicates this state of overflow: "Mālēʾ (also mālâ) can also mean "to fill up" in an exhaustive sense: "…And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Exod. 40:34). In this sense an appetite can be "filled up," "satiated," or "satisfied." Male is sometimes used in the sense "coming to an end" or "to be filled up," to the full extent of what is expected.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary gives us this for Psalm 23:5:

23:5. In this verse the scene changes to a banquet hall where a gracious host provides lavish hospitality. Under this imagery the psalmist rejoiced in the Lord’s provision. What was comforting to David was that this was in the presence of his enemies. Despite impending danger, the Lord spread out a table for him, that is, God provided for him.

The image of anointing the head with oil, which was refreshing and soothing, harmonizes with the concept of a gracious host welcoming someone into his home. In view of the table and the oil David knew that his lot in life (his cup) was abundant blessing from the Lord. (emphasis added)

In the Greek, this word found in Vine's dictionary gives me insight into this idea of superabundance.

Strong's Number: Original Word: περισσεία, perisseia
Usage Notes: is translated "overflowing" in Jas. 1:21, RV. See ABUNDANCE, A, No. 2. (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words)

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ~ James 1:21 (NKJV)

**In this instance it is indicative of the overflow - exceedingly great nature - of wickedness and man's amoral condition rendering him in need of salvation.

Strong's Number: Original Word: ὑπερπερισσεύω, hyperperisseuō
Usage Notes: "to abound more exceedingly," Rom. 5:20, is used in the Middle Voice in 2 Cor. 7:4, RV, "I overflow (with joy)," AV, "I am exceeding (joyful)." See ABUNDANCE, B, No. 2. (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words)

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ~ Romans 5:20 (NKJV)

** Now I want you to see this. In this passage of Scripture - the word translated abound or abounded three times is two different Greek words. The highlighted word abounded, "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more," is the Greek Strong's 5248, hyperperisseuō. But the other two words rendered "abound, abounded" are Greek Strong's 4121, pleonazō: defined in Strong's as "from (pleion); to do, make or be more, i.e. increase (transitive or intransitive); by extension to superabound :- abound, abundant, make to increase, have over."

So we can read this Romans 5:20 to say: "Moreover the law entered that the offense might increase, to be made or done more, to superabound or have over (it's way). But where sin increased, was made to be or done more, superabounded or had it's way, grace [increased, was made to be or done more, superabounded or had its way] exceedingly more." (Bold lettering indicates translation taken from definitions provided, emphasis added is mine).

I just have to sit here a minute and take that in!

And if I got back to the Bible Knowledge Commentary to reconcile what I have just stated:

5:20-21. A remaining question in this discussion is, Where does the Mosaic Law fit into all this and why? Paul explained, The Law was added so that the trespass (paraptōma, cf. vv. 15-19) might increase (“abound”). The word “added” should be rendered “came in beside,” for it translates the verb pareisēlthen. Two similar verbs, eisēlthen and diēlthen, were used in verse 12. Galatians 2:4 is the only other place in the New Testament that uses the Greek verb for “came in beside.”

Is the statement in Romans 5:20a a purpose or a result clause? The coming of the Mosaic Law (clearly meant here in light of vv. 13-14) did result in the abounding of “the trespass” (the consequence of any law), but (also in the light of vv. 13-14 and 4:15) the Mosaic Law came in “so that” (purpose) abounding sin might be recognized as abounding trespass.

The result was that where sin increased (lit., “abounded”; cf. 5:20) grace increased all the more (“overflowed superlatively”; cf. “overflow” in v. 15). What a contrast! No matter how great human sin becomes, God’s grace overflows beyond it and abundantly exceeds it. No wonder Paul wrote that God’s grace “is sufficient” (2 Cor. 12:9). God’s goal (hina, so, introduces a purpose clause) is that His grace might reign through righteousness (the righteousness of Christ provided for people) to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Once again Paul spoke of reigning in connection with life. In verse 17 those who received God’s gift “reign in life” through Christ. Here God’s grace is personified as reigning and bringing eternal life.

By the time the Apostle Paul had reached this point he had not only described how God’s provided righteousness is revealed in justification but he also was anticipating how it is to be revealed through regeneration and sanctification.

DID YOU GET THAT? The Law came not just as a set of rules to live by, but to exemplify the overflow of sinfulness in the HUMAN condition. Thus, making us realize our need for God's OVERFLOWING, SUPERABUNDANT and EXCEEDINGLY MORE Grace! Whereever sin has increased or is increasing in the World, God's Grace always increases more!

OH MY THAT IS A REVELATION to build our lives on.

I'm overwhelmed. I mean... Really. I need to get on my knees and type this from the floor because it is so what I have been living out of for the last two or three years, but unable to fully explain until just now.

You see, God's grace is all we need. We don't have to work and earn it. His Word tells us so much about this - David realized that God was all He needed, not just the provider but the Provision Himself. Just as I wrote in the study of the Hebrew name Jehovah Jireh. Living every day totally dependent on God and the power and guidance of His Holy Spirit we have all we need to do all He requires of us through Christ who paid it all. Not some, not on time, but all was paid by grace and receive it by faith.

Living in superabundance is so beautifully expressed in the song from which the title of this post comes... I've included it at the end of this post.

Where sin abounds in my life, grace has the opportunity to abound even more. That is why Jesus said of the woman who anointed His feet with oil that those who have been forgiven much love much - because we give back out of the overflow of the grace that we have received.

"I'm drinkin' from a saucer, 'cause my cup has overflowed." ~ From "Drinking from a Saucer" written by Jimmy Dean

Much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, may God's blessings truly abound in your life this Holiday Season as you sip from your saucer and may your cup always run over.

Patriotism, Hymns and Faith

Just a reminder that the Spirit of the Founding Father's Vision for this country does live on in our nation today. This video is incredible. Please share it with anyone who will appreciate it, and even a few who won't! Our God is marching on!

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Tuesday's In Other Words: Credited as Righteousness

Miriam (Mipa) at Miriam Pauline's Monologue is hosting this week's IOW. If you would like to participate, just copy the quote above and write your own post In "Other"
Words about this week's quote.

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Even the demons believe that God exists and shudder. Belief in the existence of God is not enough to be called by the name of His Son. Belief in the existence of God does not guarantee us the promise of heaven and eternal life with the God in whom we believe. The kind of faith that is credited as righteousness is the faith that declares Jesus as Lord and Savior, the God who redeems that which is lost and restores brokenness and overcame the grave. The One and Only Son of God who came to seek and save that which was lost.

When I read this quote I think of Abraham. Abraham who sent one son off to the desert with his wife's handmaid, Hagar, and entrusted his life to the Lord and His promise for Ishmael. Only to be given an even more difficult task.

I think of how God called him to give up the promise to see if Abraham's faith was in God or in the child God had given him. However, as we read in Genesis 22, Abraham acted faithfully entrusting His son's life to God and believing that if God called him to sacrifice the child of promise, that God would indeed bring Him back from the death and that is exactly what God did.

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My favorite part of the retelling in Genesis 22 is when Isaac asks his father on the way up the mountain, "I see the altar. I see the knife. But, Father, who will provide the lamb?"
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Abraham's Answer: "The Lord will provide the Lamb."
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How Abraham's heart and love for his son must have raged against his willingness to be obedient to the Lord even in death.

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I have never questioned God on the death of my son, Justin. I know there is a better purpose and plan in it all. I have experienced deep comfort and peace in the arms of my Savior over this issue. I had to trust God to be as good as His Word and that He would not let me stumble or fall even in the most devastating circumstances. I could have raged against Him and cried out about the injustice... I could have renounced my faith in Him because life had not worked out the way I had planned and the answers to my prayers for my son were often the situation growing much worse rather than better. Anytime we experienced a moment of reprieve in his life, it would seem it was only the calm before a much more violent storm. Yet, in it all, I never stopped praying, believing, asking or hoping that God would deliver on the words spoken over my son all his life.

And what about Ishmael? What happened to Abraham's other son? Hagar ran from the harshness of her mistress while pregnant with Ishmael, she ran to the desert where she encountered the Lord and received a promise. Had she not believed God for that promise, she could not have returned to the harsh treatment of her mistress and endured for the sake of her child. She returned to her mistress and endured the harshness with the promise that the Lord saw her agony and would take care of Hagar and her unborn child. She went back only to return to the desert once more. Only to watch as her son almost die... And the God who sees, El Roi, He saw Hagar and Ishmael and had mercy on them - just as He did with Isaac and Abraham on the mountain. Sometimes, receiving the promise means believing God while returning to places you had once thought the door would be closed forever.

This Psalm comforts me when I find myself revisited by haunting moments of my past - places and things that have been long done but have not been dealt with between the Lord and I. Things I'd just asoon never revisist. However, God in His mercy would not allow me to be pushed back to those places unless He intended to help me and bless me through them so that those circumstances could never make me fall again.

When I find myself in the grips of self-defeating life patterns, going back again and again to what has wrought havoc and destruction in my life, I am learning to ask God why I keep going back and how this works in His plan for my life. He is ever faithful. He restores my heart, my mind and my soul in those moments and always provides a way out for me. He then cleanses me of it and redeems the memory to show me where He was and what He was doing during those dark and painful times. It is truly for Freedom that Christ has set us Free. Going back does not mean revisiting and reclaiming the shame and destruction of a particular period of my life, going back means believing by faith that if I entrust my past to God and allow Him to redeem it - it will be used to reveal His good and glory in the life of another and in turn bring restoration and healing to me. He is faithful. He never forsakes us. He asks only that we would believe.

"What does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.'" ~ Romans 4:3 (NIV)

God gave Abraham credit for trusting His word. He gave Abraham credit for believing in Him through much adversity - and He will give you credit, too. Not for how you failed Him, but for how you trusted in Him when the times were hard, the memories painful and so difficult to understand. Trust Him completely let Him redeem your past as He delivers you into a glorious future. He truly is making all things new.

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For more info about In "Other Words", check out Loni's blog at Writing Canvas.

Tuesday's In Other Words: Guard Your Heart

Welcome to this week's In Other Words. I'm glad you decided to join us today. Please include your link at the bottom of this post and leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by!

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As I read this quote some months ago I realized how often people say "I just don't have time to read my Bible...I'm so busy that I cannot find the time to have a quiet time." Often we make these excuses but are careful not to miss our favorite television program in the evening. We will make time to go to the movies or spend an extra hour out browsing shops looking for the right outfit... We even spend hours scrapbooking or reading other literature without giving God due consideration in our daily lives.

At the beginning of this year, I had some extreme encounters with God through fasting that helped me to understand that my intimacy with the Lord is not just about a regimented routine of get up, read the Bible, pray about anything and everything and then get on with my day. He showed me that the discipline of intimacy is a privilege and that I should regard it with great care.

I had one occasion to just be quiet before Him. I listened as I went about my daily activities. He didn't want me still - He wanted me to listen. So I did. I spent hours in my prayer closet just between me and God. That time was spent listening, chatting, praying, and even reading my Bible. He showed me my heart in those days. My heart to know His Word through Bible study, to know His power through prayer, and to know Him in my daily life... Yet, He also showed me my unwillingness to allow my heart to be guarded by His Word. I wanted the benefits of intimacy without the cost.

When and where does life in the full come from? It begins as a slow aching need in our hearts that only God can fill. A need to be loved, accepted and affirmed as precious and approved of - and we fill it as our human hearts see fit. In relationships, appearances and material possessions we seek our satisfaction - all of which leave us wanting more. There is something about our hearts knows that life apart from God is empty living. Solomon dedicated the book of Ecclesiastes to this very subject. Everything is meaningless, all of life comes to nothing without the Lord at its center.

A month ago as I began writing curriculum and preparing myself for the class I will be teaching at church this fall I realized that I was not guarding my heart by allowing God to teach me His Word through His love. I was, instead, doing what I know best: Dividing the Word of truth through Word Study and assimilating doctrine on an as needed basis.

I have read just about every book and verse of the Bible in the context of Bible study, but not in the context of intimate relationship with my one and only God. I began to read Chapters of the Bible daily. Something I will not give up again. I mark out notes in the margin as I read and allow the truth to rumble around waking up dark and dusty corners of my heart. His Word is exposing the places I am negligent in my relationships and the places where I am vulnerable to attack.

When I think of all the time I missed spending with the Lord, I realize how it must have grieved God's heart to see me anxious about my daily living. How often I fretted over and tried to fix things that are way beyond my control. He watched me spiral into self-destruction and despair knowing that if I would only surrender my heart to Him fully that I would have all I need to not only endure the crises of my life but to overcome them in power and victory on a daily basis. Surrendering simply for the sake of Knowing Him and Being Known to Him - to be His, completely and fully free. Intimacy.

In both the Old and the New Testament we are admonished to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

What does that look like in your life?

For me it is taking a detour to read the book of Micah when I'm in the throws of discovering and savoring the truth of Isaiah just because the Lord told me to... It is talking it out with Him over the dishes in the evening - even if my family thinks I'm nuts. It is even laying aside my nervous, fretful, "do-it-myself" tendencies in favor of belief and faith in things I cannot even fathom much less see.

Intimacy. It is born out of time spent in the presence and company of someone we love and want to know more about. It is about giving our time, attention and devotion to God in an undivided fashion and allowing our other relationships to flow out of that one defining affection of our lives. Guard your hearts, ladies... It is the key to living life with great purpose in the fullness of relationship and truth!

Be sure to link directly to your post for today's quote and not your blog url. Thanks!

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Visit Loni at Writing Canvas and learn more about the inspiration of Tuesday's In Other Words.

Great Books for Giving and Reading!

A few weeks ago, my friend Bev posted about some books she had been reading and gave away a trade copy of John Eldredge's new book. Well, in that line of thinking I wanted to share some recent gems that have fallen into my lap lately. And, not to out - do my friend Bev, but I have two books, signed by an author to give away with this post! So get your typing fingers ready and consider your favorite story about your dad or your kids and lets get going!

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The first book I want to highlight is from a wonderful woman who is authentic, transparent and gifted in prophetic ministry! She speaks to many diverse audiences throughout the world and is a testimony to God's love, His grace and His incredible power to overcome in even the most difficult circumstances. I've heard Mary speak on one occasion and am looking so forward to the class she is teaching at Gateway Church tomorrow (Monday) night.

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All of that said, I want to tell you about her personal testimony, "A Glimpse of Grace." This is Mary's true story told in her own words. It is the gripping tale of Mary's transformation from a self-driven successful business woman who had the world at her feet to a woman who had lost everything and faced the most bitter humiliation a woman could find herself in until she discovered the truth and the grace of God in a lonely prison. She is a woman of grace, of power and of truth who lives to see the Kingdom of God grown and fulfilled, people empowered to do His will and she is a woman of extreme vision and strength. Mary Forsythe is the president of Kingdom Living Ministries and a gifted woman of God who testifies whenever she can to the glory and power of her God to change any life. After all He did it for her! A powerful excerpt from this book: This is a quote from the journal of Mary's friend and fellow inmate in prison, Liz:

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"They say it's so humiliating - that Ashfield. Mary came back looking very weak, but her spirits were good. She was pale; she was puny. She looked very, very bad. But whatever battle she went to fight, she won. I had no idea what she had been through, but she came back with her peace of mind. It was astounding. She was so for more of God so broken - weak in her body, but powerful, so poweful, in spirit.

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"Something happened to her there because she was so different when she came back - more broken. Everything about her was different, dramatically different. It was like she went to the pit of the enemy's camp and took something back. She came back with power. She was confident in God when she left, but she was bold, so bold when she got back."

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If you want to read a story of God's grace in the most desparate of circumstances, of a woman who truly came to the end of herself and found her destiny in the One True God, then read the story of Mary Forsythe in a Glimpse of Grace. You can purchase her book at Kingdom Living Ministries.

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On Saturday, I was blessed to meet and be instructed about the craft of writing fiction by author Martha Rogers. She is a member of our own Beth Moore's First Baptist Church Houston and a friend to her as well. She had several books for sale including her fiction read "Sugar and Grits" a fabulous fiction novel written by four authors about the lives of four women in Calista, Mississippi. I highly recommend this fun fiction read from Barbour books. However, the two devotions she was selling made my "hit" list from the minute she told me about them. They feature short essays by various authors in the Christian arena about the spiritual influence fathers bring to their children's lives, and the things we can learn from the faith of children about God.

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"Whispering in God's Ear" is a compilation of true stories inspiring childlike faith compiled by Wayne Holmes and published by WaterBrook Press. In this sweet devotional, Beth Moore shares a beautiful story about how her two daughters came to Christ as children and were baptized. She shares beautifully her experience as their mother and what it meant to her to be a part of their journey.

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In the second book, "The Embrace of a Father" Martha Rogers writes of the gentle way her father had of influencing her back to Christ as a young adult who had lost her way. She tells eloquently of his love for her and the way he encouraged her without judgment and prayed for her without ceasing, being there for her in ways only a father can. This book is also a compilation assembled by Wayne Holmes and published by Bethany House.

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Now here is the give-away part! Please write your own true stories in the comments to this post about how either your father influenced you spiritually or you have witnessed the faith of a child that inspired you to seek God with a different perspective! The contest ends on Friday, March 14th and the winners will be drawn and announced on Saturday. All of these books are great reads and these last two make great reads or gifts for those you love. There will be two books given away - the books are "Whispering in God's Ear" and "The Embrace of the Father" - both copies are include stories and are signed by Martha Rogers. Leave your story and enjoy these books! Be blessed friends.