We can offer “lite” truth or be the “light” of truth with our speech. Lite may seem like the right answer in the moment, but people will walk away unsatisfied with the shallowness of what we have said. Offering the true light in what we speak may seem much heavier in the moment, but people will walk away much fuller in truth.
Col 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
How many friends will take you to the mat in love? How many will hold you down until you drown to your selfish thoughts and desires? How many of your friends will call you out in truth? This is the hour we need to know who our friends are.
Friends
How many of us have them?
Friends
Ones we can depend on
Friends
How many of us have them?
Friends
Before we go any further, lets be
Friends
Is a word we use everyday
Most the time we use it in the wrong way
Now you can look the word up, again and again
But the dictionary doesn’t know the meaning of friends *
A movie came out several years ago called, “The Contender”. A woman invited to be raised up for leadership over the country had her name and character assaulted. Men of power levied innuendo and rumors for their own agenda. She was given multiple opportunities to come to her own defense and at one point was even asked to confess to the lies. No matter the pressure, she never once faltered to stand in her integrity. In time the truth came to her defense, speaking for her.
I had forgotten about this movie. It was only when I was looking into the meaning of the word “contend” that I went back to watch it. To contend for our identity, our reputations, it isn’t always a battle of swinging fists. Sometimes it’s a quiet holding on to what you know to be truth.
“Blow mighty breath of God”…I had to eventually get out of my car, but nothing in me wanted to leave this place. I had parked under a tree far away from the crowd. It was enough to roll down the windows letting the breeze pass over me, and really “listen” to more than words…..
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Move upon this place
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Won’t you move, in power and grace?
Streams of mercy falling down
Light of Heaven all around
And it’s falling to the ground
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Move upon this place
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Won’t you move, in power and grace?
Spirit of fire found aflame
Passion for your Holy name
Burning everything
Let Your wind blow
Let Your fire fall
Let Your wind blow, Your wind blow
Let Your fire fall, Your fire fall
Let Your wind blow
Let Your fire fall *
Norma looked at her reflection in the mirror. It had been another long night. Her face was puffy and blotched from crying herself to sleep again. Reaching for her makeup she began to apply the white cream with experience. She knew how to cover the pain. A loud knock upon her dressing room door; the announcer hollered a muffled, “Hurry up blondie the audience is getting restless”.
Norma finished painting on the big red smile to her lips and cheeks. Getting up from the chair, she opened the door. Taking strides toward the stage in her floppy red shoes, she knew it was time to make them laugh. She felt like the great pretender. With a deep breath she spoke a silent prayer, “God, help me find real love and happiness so my smile never has to be painted again.”
“I know about you but what about Me?”….*
Moving closer I can only see the One who matters. My need to exist in my flesh fades into nothing as I am absorbed into His truth.
* Lyric from Opinion by The FixxWater drew me near. I needed it. I wanted it. At the ocean’s edge, salt spray covered me. I had taken off my sunglasses. My vision had become blurred through them. I enjoyed both the sun rising and the sun beginning to lay low. Here I found peace in the rhythm of waves.
The river was much quieter, its flow steady. Still the water drew me closer. I longed for it. Sitting on the bank, I had nothing I could do but absorb. Its flow was constant. My thirst grows….
A child asks questions without inhibition. This is wired into them as a natural response for how they are meant to learn about the world around them. The good parent will understand this need to grow. They nurture the child to ask and seek continuously; assuring the child will come into fullness of understanding.
Other parents become impatient with the child, stifling their curiosity. They begin to hush that child, discouraging the many questions. Eventually they begin fill the child’s mind with their own understanding. Inhibited, the questions of a child finally stop.
He looks at me. Seeing deep into my heart I feel His probing questions. I wait for the answers. I try to be still and not squirm under His penetrating gaze. In my weakness I desire Him to look away. He is relentless to refuse my request. His eyes upon me continue to burn away imperfections. His eyes plant seeds of loyalty in my heart. I long to see who I am in His eyes.
2Ch 16:9a For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
Just a song, but recognize who we are in these words. We are the ones who hold high places. We are those that forge and plow through our creativity. We are the ones who can sow a new mentality. We are given all the tools to succeed but God, in His love and sovereignty, will also leave it up to us to make a choice to draw “closer to the heart”. We hold our destiny in our own hands.
And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality
Closer to the Heart
Closer to the Heart
The Blacksmith and the Artist
Reflect it in their art
Forge their creativity
Closer to the Heart
Yeah, it’s closer to the Heart
Philosophers and Plowmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the Heart
Yeah, it’s closer to the Heart
You can be the Captain and
I will draw the Chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the Heart *
*Lyrics by Rush
