Category Archives: Comfort

A Mother Defined

by Saint In Training
Original Imaged by: Yogendra Joshi

Original Imaged by: Yogendra Joshi

Mother – as defined by my mother’s words and actions:

A Mother is the first to introduce you to God and encourages you to build your relationship with him continually.

She stands over you as you say your nightly prayers and corrects your words when you get them wrong (always with a gentle smile).

She teaches you to read from the children’s bible and tells you stories from it for bedtime pleasure, enduring your constant questions with forbearance and grace.

She hopes for the day you will grow and mature but dreads it too for she knows the pitfalls and trials that awaits you.

A Mother is someone who tells you you’re loved and means it. She firmly believes and will have you to believe that you are special and beautiful and oh so smart!

She hurts when you hurt. She cries with you, wipes your tears and then admonishes you to pull yourself together, to get up and go on.

She prays for you in the midnight hour after a full day of work and tending to your needs before she tends to her own.

She will stand between you and all harm even risking her life if she has to and she will do it without hesitation.

She sacrifices her time for your time, her money for your needs and her strength to strengthen you.

She laughs at your silly jokes. Pats your shoulder just because and smiles in delight when you come into her presence.

She forgives readily even when your childish behavior causes her pain. She doesn’t hold it against you.

She rebukes you when you’re wrong. Teaches you right from early on and leads by example whilst never taking the place of God.

She encourages your natural and spiritual growth. She never doubts your abilities and believes you can do anything (all things through Christ Jesus)!

She stays up late taking care of you when you’re sick. Her mind rests on you and your well-being when you grow up and leave the nest.

You are always on a Mother’s heart just as you’re always in the heart of the Father.

She reminds you of your blessings when you complain and wags her finger at you when you don’t give thanks.

As a Mother grows older she learns that it’s okay to lean on your shoulders too (but not without making sure she’s not ‘too much of a bother’).

God has been very good to me in giving me to you and He rewards me daily with your presence. You are my best friend (after God of course ;-) ) and I cannot imagine being in a world that does not have you in it. Your life is a gift to me – this tiny post is mine to you.

A true Mother loves God first and passes on that love to her children – thus they will rise up and call her blessed. I am blessed to have a true Mother and I take this day to say – Happy Mother’s Day Mom. I love you so very much.

Walk in Forgiveness – Not Guilt!

by Saved 2 the Utmost aka Mom
Original Image by: Brett Jordan

Original Image by: Brett Jordan

It is a sad fact that many Christians are struggling with guilt from past sins in their lives which has already been forgiven. The truth is that they have not yet learned to absolve themselves. The question is how do we view sin? How we see sin will either free us through the wonderful forgiving power of God or bound us by the power of guilt sent by the Accuser, Satan.

I am sure if King David was alive he could give a seminar on the bitter root of guilt, the blessings of repentance and the power of God’s forgiveness as well as the power of self-forgiveness.

We know David sinned:  he took another man’s wife; impregnated her and had her husband murdered to cover up his sins. It seems when David decided to sin he went all out! But the wonderful thing about God is that in Him hope remains.

When God sent Nathan to David to uncover his sins (2 Samuel 12) David cried out to God for forgiveness and a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within him – God did just that. He forgave his servant freely. David could have reacted in many ways, he could have carried a weight of guilt and shame; after all he killed a good man! BUT, he elected to trust in the God he knew to be bigger than anything, even his sin. He received God’s free forgiveness and forgave himself. Glory to God! David got his joy back, a clean heart, a right spirit and most of all his relationship with God was restored! David came out with a testimony! Hallelujah! Look what God can do if we only let Him.

Precious hearts when we become our own judge and jury, we condemn ourselves to a prison built of guilt, shame and unhappiness. This is not God’s will for His children. He wants us to have joy in our souls; peace in our minds and praise for Him in our hearts, testifying to the world of His love and compassion. Wasn’t it Jesus who asked the Father to forgive His murderers?

Luke 23:34 (NIV)

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Even as they taunted Him as he bled to death for them on the cross, Jesus interceded for their forgiveness! His murderers didn’t ask for forgiveness, He asked for them. What more will He forgive us our sins when we ask?

Let’s look at it this way, because God has commanded us in His word that we must forgive others their transgressions against us doesn’t it make sense that we must forgive ourselves? Forgiveness is Forgiveness. Dear hearts it’s time to pluck up the bitter roots of guilt, self-condemnation and shame, throw them out of our lives and leave them where God has cast them – that place we’ve come to know as the sea of forgetfulness.

Micah 7:19 (NIV)

You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:19 that we should be rooted and grounded in love – not guilt. We must keep in remembrance that once God has filled us with his Holy Spirit he has washed, purged and cleansed us from every (not some) sin that we ever committed. It doesn’t matter how foul, vulgar, degrading, shameful or unspeakable we think they were God has no more remembrance of them. They do not exist to Him – they never happened. That’s how complete God’s mercy is! God wants us to see our past sins and misdeeds the same way – nonexistent. Let them go! Exchange that guilty conscience for the mercy you’ve been given. Walk into it right now! Believe what God says in His word, “I remember your sins no more.” All that remains for you to do is to say, “Thank you Jesus!”

Stop second-guessing God. We will never comprehend the immensity of God’s love for His children. It’s too deep, deeper than the sea. It goes far beyond human imagination or expression. All I can say is that there’s no one on earth who can love us like God. We can’t even love ourselves as much as He does. If we did forgiveness would be easy to accept and we’d live a guilt-free life.

I have two beautiful daughters whom I love more than anything in this life. Still, God’s love for them surpasses my own. Glory to God! That’s some kind of Love! Who can really explain it? When we can’t trust the love of the people who are in our lives for whatever reason, or someone has caused us to mistrust them, we can always trust in God’s love for us. It’s the greatest love of all. Haven’t you heard and seen it for yourselves? He loves us with an in-spite-of love, an everlasting love: it’s unfailing and always proves itself faithful even when we are faithless.

Dear hearts I know firsthand what bitter roots can do to you when they’re allowed to grow-up like vines in the heart. I was shrouded by the spirit of guilt for years and was unnecessarily tormented by my thoughts concerning myself. God had pardoned my sins but I kept myself in bondage. Bitter roots are poisonous if they’re not plucked up and thrown away. They will slowly kill you spiritually, sapping you of the abundant life God has promised. Learning to leave our past behind us and never picking it up again is the key to self-forgiveness.

Once we’re born again of the Spirit we become the inheritors of God’s characteristics; His Spiritual DNA is infused in us. We are molded and shaped by the Master’s hands and we slowly take on His image. In fact it takes a life time. No matter the time it takes to see His work complete God molds us thoroughly. God will perfect that which He has started and He started a good work in us!

Little becomes much in the hands of God. The impossibilities of man are the certainties of God.

Matthew 19:26 (NIV)

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

It was impossible for me to change the negative thought-pattern I‘d held all of my life. It took God to do that but I had to have a willing mind. Unless we’re willing to let the Lord change us and be patient with ourselves we will remain the same. Remember taking on His image takes a lifetime!

We have a God of great compassion, mercy and love. It’s been over 2000 years and He is still proving himself faithful. What more can He do to prove His love for us? What more can we ask of Him?

Lamentations 3:21-23 (NIV)

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

I pray that those of you who feel like I once did will make a conscious decision to walk into your forgiveness:  embrace it and receive it as the treasure that it is!

Dear hearts we must learn to show the same kindness, patience and forgiveness to ourselves as we do to others. After all we are the children of the most High God and we are worth every drop of blood Jesus shed for us. I don’t care what our emotions tell us. Stop listening to them and start listening to what the Holy Spirit has to say unto His children.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12 (NIV)

“Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Isaiah 38:17 KJV

Pain in the Pews

by Saved 2 the Utmost aka Mom
Pain in the Pews

Image by: John McStravick

It has grieved my spirit and saddened my heart to see that there is so much hurt inside the church. What is causing so much pain to those who sit in its pews? Why does this hurt exist amongst the children of God? From pew to pew, from aisle to aisle, sit the wounded and broken at heart. The feeling of rejection and loneliness consume them in the house of the Lord. This ought not to be. I say this because it is true not because I want to judge or criticize.

There is a scripture that cautions us to “know those who labor among [us]”; I caution that we should also know those who are wounded among us. Shouldn’t we, the elect of God, know when our sisters and brothers in Christ are in need?

Why can’t we discern our sister’s and brother’s hurt when they’re sitting right beside us? What is it that blinds us to another’s pain? Are we part of the many whose love has “waxed cold”? These hard questions are wince-worthy but they must be asked. If the love of God abides in us then logic suggests so should His compassion. Our Savior was and is a God of compassion. The life of Christ exemplifies this. He was not concerned about Himself; he was a people person. His thoughts, his actions, his purpose was solely to seek and save the lost!

From the beginning of his earthly ministry to its end, Jesus was never concerned about what people could do for Him, rather he was consumed by, impassioned by, his need to do for others. Jesus Christ discerned the needs of the people and met them accordingly whether they were: spiritual, emotional, psychological or physical. Our heavenly Father met them all and he expects no less from us. Jesus finished his work on earth before ascending to Heaven but he told the disciples ‘greater works than these will you do’ – he tasked them to add thou to it and we, inheritors of the Promise, are tasked to do the same! We were made caretakers over God’s vineyard. We are now his hands when we feed the hungry; his feet when we visit the sick; his ears when we lend a listening ear to a burdened soul; his eyes when we discern their needs; his voice when we speak comfort to the broken hearted and we are his arms when we embrace another with His love!

Do you know, for some the love we show them is the only love they have ever known? Dear hearts how can we minister to the spiritual needs of the lost if we don’t even take the time to introduce ourselves to them or to offer a simple smile in acknowledgement of their presence? How can we exhibit the love of God when we’re too busy talking to someone in our clique or our circle of friends to give a soul in the need the time of day? How can we notice the look of sadness in our brother’s or sister’s eyes if we’re too caught up with our problems and our own concerns? Oh yes, there is pain in the pews.

Just think, you or I may be the one our Lord wants to use to bring healing to a hurting soul but can’t because we’re oblivious to the move of his spirit and oblivious to others around us. This is why no spirit-filled person should allow themselves to become a part of church-cliques or have a respect-of-person mentality. To have this mindset is a sin before God. Jesus did not have respect for one person above another nor should we!

James 2:1-4 (NIV):

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

This scripture applies to the pulpit, the bench warmers and the door greeters, none are exempt. Although God did not call all to preach he has called all of us to minister; to attend to the needs of others. This is our ministerial obligation. This is our duty as the chosen people of God. We are to be saints, taking on the character of our heavenly Father in the form of love, humility and compassion.

Let us examine our hearts today and be honest with ourselves. If we are guilty of having respect of persons or being clique-followers let us make a stand today! Quit the cliques and follow in the ways of the Lord. Thus we can fulfill our God-given ministry and see God work in our lives. He will bless us more than we could have ever thought or dreamed possible.

Petition him concerning the part of the body Jesus wants you to represent in order to bring healing, comfort and deliverance to those who are suffering. Are you acting as his eyes, his hands and feet? It’s not for me to answer these questions for you, I only want to encourage you dear hearts to ask them of yourself and of God. I leave you with this to ponder:

Matthew 25:33-40 (NIV):

 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Be blessed dear hearts, I pray that the pain stops and the love grows and that we all fulfill the calling of the Lord.