"Hearing Jesus Speak" Conference Notes (Part 3)

Nancy Guthrie's last session--Hearing Jesus Speak About...The Offense that Doesn't Deserve to Be Forgiven--spoke to me the most last Saturday. I studied all the scriptures she mentioned and heard a lot of what she taught previously, but the way she delivered the message deepened my understanding and the Holy Spirit softened my heart. I am sure every woman there would say their favorite session was a different one because of our various trials and tribulations. This session was the hardest for me to swallow, and yet, it was the best, in my opinion, because it's what I needed to hear.

She divided the session into five parts:

1) Hear Jesus say: "Your role model for forgiving is my own generous forgiveness."

Guthrie reminded us that Jesus forgives others before praying in Mark 11:25. Jesus understands what it means to be hurt by others, and if we forget that fact, we need to remember what He said on the cross, "Father, forgive them!" None of us has been hurt by others like Jesus. Our hurts don't compare in the least, so if we're looking for someone to sympathize with us, he can. He knows our pain.

2) Hear Jesus say: "Your refusal to forgive reveals that you don't see how much you've been forgiven."

Guthrie reminded us that the debt we owe to Him is huge and impossible to pay. Until we realize how enormous it is, we will hold others' sins against us over their heads. See the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18.

3) Hear Jesus say: "Your responsibility is to humbly examine your own heart."

Guthrie showed us the connection between our willingness to forgive others and His willingness to forgive us at the end of the parable. She exhorted us because this parable cannot be watered down. If we truly are His disciples, we will live and breathe in a sacrificial state of forgiveness towards others. She gave the resounding reminder that God will use our own measuring cup for others to forgive us.

4) Hear Jesus say: "Your resource for forgiving is my Holy Spirit inside you."

In this part, Guthrie encouraged us that we have every tool we need to forgive living in us. She implored us to remember that a mustard seed of forgiveness in our hearts gives us the strength to forgive, not more faith. Ultimately, forgiveness is a miracle of God.

5) Hear Jesus say: "Your resistance to forgiving is washed away by your tears of repentance."

Guthrie encouraged us even more by reminding us that Jesus is there every part of the way. She said that we can walk around saying we have issues or baggage, but if we are honest with ourselves, we will realize those things are just unforgiveness in our hearts. Those things will be washed away by tears of honest repentance. She said we need to choose to stop rehearsing conversations with our offender(s) in our heads and let it go. Real forgiveness says, "You hurt me deeply, but I am not going to make you pay. I am not going to continue a campaign of ill will." Forgiveness means paying the debt of hurt for them because Jesus pays for ours.

She gave a few reminders regarding what forgiveness does not mean:
1. You don't leave.
2. You don't press charges.
3. You ignore ongoing unrepentant sin.
4. You don't confront.
5. You have to extend the same level of trust and openness.

What I learned: I must be less consumed by others' offenses even when I have a right to be angry. In addition, I must be honest with myself about my own failures. I need to see the growing log in my eye compared to the speck in others' eyes. If I don't, I could become an angry and bitter woman--something I don't want to be. Unforgiveness traps; forgiveness frees. There is no sin against me so great that I cannot forgive.

"Hearing Jesus Speak" Conference Notes (Part 2)

During Session 2--Hearing Jesus Speak to...the Promise that Appears to Be Broken, Nancy Guthrie began with the resounding reminder: "When we read something in the Bible that doesn't appear to be true, it is not the Bible that is the problem. It is our thinking. It is our faulty understanding." This opened the door for her to share of her struggles with trusting God's promises through the loss of two children, both during infancy. She related how she began a search to see how God's promises are true even when they don't seem that way. In Mark 1, Jesus heals a leper. The leper realizes that Jesus could choose not to heal him by saying "if you are willing." Jesus replies, "I am willing." Guthrie reminded us that Jesus' healing ministry existed primarily to show us His ability to heal our sin disease. The leper was a living representation of sin. Lepers were considered unclean in Jewish culture, and they were the ultimate outcasts. So were we before we met Christ. Guthrie reminded us not to just focus on the here and now, no matter what we are facing. She admits that this discourages and disappoints us often. God doesn't act the way we want Him to, yet we are wrong in failing to realize God's promises are eternal, not temporal. The leper eventually died from something else as we will, too. She implored us to hear Jesus promise, "I will protect your soul for eternity."

What I learned: When God doesn't heal my physical, emotional, or spiritual ailments (or someone else's for that matter) after I pray earnestly for healing, it doesn't mean His promises are broken. Jesus talks about suffering for His sake again and again. I should not be surprised when I suffer; I should rejoice that He has promised to heal me completely from my sin disease in the life to come.

"Hearing Jesus Speak" Conference Notes

This past weekend, I was blessed to attend a Nancy Guthrie women's conference at a nearby church. My hand hurt from taking notes by the end of the last session, but it was worth the pain. My heart hurt even more from the conviction I felt. God used this conference to peel back layer after layer of pride that I had been denying. Here are some highlights from Session 1:

1. Hearing Jesus Speak to...the Pain that Can't Be Prayed Away

Mrs. Guthrie reminded us that many times God says no to our "reasonable, repeated, and righteous" prayers. She claims that God's no's are always purposeful and proved this claim with scripture. When Jesus prayed in Matthew 26:36-39, we see that God said no to His own Son's request for a different way than the cross, but ultimately, Jesus submits to God's will--the thing Jesus loves more than His own request. Mrs. Guthrie reminded us that Jesus shows us the joy of surrender here. She also used Paul's thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7) to show how God often says no to us. Paul doesn't ask why God says no. He realizes the thorn will remain to keep him humble. Paul sees that Satan is using the thorn to try to destroy him; he also sees God's hand in it is to keep Paul turned toward God. Ultimately, God's no's in these scenarios are for the greater good of both Jesus and Paul, and even us. 

What I learned: It's not wrong to ask God to remove difficulties from my life, but if He continues to say no, then I must change my prayers to ask for more grace and power to endure the seemingly unending trials. His grace will be sufficient for all circumstances no matter how impossible they may feel.

I will post on Session 2--Hearing Jesus Speak to...the Promise that Appears to Be Broken and Session 3--Hearing Jesus Speak About...the Offense that Doesn't Deserve to be Forgiven later this week. Stay tuned...

Easter's A-Coming

"All hail Redeemer hailFor He has died for meHis praise and glory shall not failThroughout eternity"

These words, often sang, pierce me in my soul and remind me I am to join in the unfailing praise and glory due to Him all the time, but especially at Easter time.

As Palm Sunday approaches, then Good Friday, and then Resurrection Sunday, we should remember what He has done for us. We should fall on our faces at the cross. Being a disciple of this great and mighty God isn't a joke or a once a year thing. It's an every day taking up our crosses and following Him thing.

Remember: God's people don't sell out, so let's be thankful of the price he paid for us every day and celebrate it over the coming week. Meditation on the price He paid long ago will make the cost we pay daily to live for Him pale in comparison.

Tom Cruise Doesn't Compare

"John 15:13 says that Jesus, on the cross, demonstrated the greatest love ever known--laying down his life for his friends--but for every movie made about that kind of sacrificial act of love, thousands more extol romantic love. The fact is, our culture idolizes romantic love and looks teary-eyed at the meeting of "soul mates," and it yawns at Christ's work on the cross. May God save us from this idolatry! As wonderful as romantic love may be, it should never compete in my heart with Jesus' work of redemption where my deepest needs were fully met. Any other love--including every kind every portrayed by Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts--is a far lesser love; it's an inferior love, the value of which assumes meaning only because of Jesus' preeminent love."

Gary Thomas, Devotions for a Sacred Marriage

Seven Times Seventy

I've blogged about forgiveness before, but I don't think I could ever say enough about it. I've learned so much regarding God's forgiveness and how to forgive others since Christ forgave me. Here are some truths to consider in our own lives:

1) Our recognition of our own sin debt to God helps us understand others' sin debt to us. When we realize how much God has forgiven us, we quickly forgive others' trespasses against us.

2) Hurting people hurt people. When someone wrongs you, rather than focus on the wrong, focus on what's motivating that wrong. I've learned to sympathize with offenders in my life because I finally realized that many people's choices are driven by pain. These people act out to cover up hidden hurts.

3) No one on this earth can hurt us as much as we have hurt God. No matter how badly we think someone has broken our hearts, it doesn't compare to the wrongs we have committed that break God's heart on a daily basis. 

4) God uses offenses to humble us. The next time someone offends, consider it an opportunity to look at your own heart asking God to reveal your own sins. As puffed up people, we think, "How could he/she have done this to me?" When we should think, "God forgive them for sinning against You. They know not what they do." In other words, we aren't as big of a deal as we think. God is the one we all (the offended and the offender) need to seek. Then, and only then, can reconciliation occur between the two parties.

5) Those who are forgiven much love much. When we realize how much God has forgiven us, our love for Him (and others) grows to new heights. In the same manner, our offenders who are forgiven by us usually love us even more because we have loved them as God would. (Did you get all that? It's beautiful, really.)

Please remember that Jesus wasn't trying to hurt us when he said to forgive seven times seventy. He, of course, wants what's best for us, so why do we continue to withhold forgiveness to others? 

He Wants You to Be Happy

Today, I was reminded how God wires men to want their wives to be happy. Sadly, we don't always know what makes us happy, so our husbands, oftentimes, give up trying. 

Won't you tell your man what he does that makes you happy today, even it's the smallest of things? Just start there. Maybe one day, you will be as content with your husband as Anne Bradstreet. Notice how she talks to him in the following poem:

To My Dear and Loving Husband (1678)

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.


Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. 
Then while we live, in love let's so persever, 
That when we live no more we may live ever.

--Anne Bradstreet

May we all love, respect, admire, appreciate, and revere our husbands as she.

Christian Wives: It Should Bother You

That (movie, television show, internet video) was so good. The (language, sex, violence) in it wasn't noticeable. It didn't bother me. I didn't even notice. You should watch it.

Really? It didn't bother you? At all?

Yeah.

Seriously, Christian wife? You aren't bothered that you allowed your family (husband, children, friends, friends' children) to watch it with you. Why aren't you protecting the ones you love? Why aren't you concerned about what enters their minds, their hearts?

Oh, it won't hurt them. They are good people who wouldn't act like that. They are smart people who know better. 

No, they are sinful, just like me. They are sinful, just like you. There is none righteous. No, not one. (Romans 3:10-11) We are all easily influenced to do evil, unfortunately.

No one is righteous? But I'm a good person.

No, you aren't. You seek sin. You seek idols. You seek your own good. I struggle with the same weaknesses. God is the only one who is good. We only manage to do good through His grace in our lives.

Well, that's not true because I've done many good things.

The Bible makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 13 if we don't have the right motive--love--behind our good, we are just a clanging symbol. In other words, our good deeds can be pointless. How many times have you done the right thing so that others would praise you? That's the opposite of good. Please stop making excuses for the programs you watch, the movies you buy, the magazines you receive, and the internet you love. I had to do the same. Instead, protect the ones you love from the rubbish, the ungodly worldviews permeating our minds through these entertainment mediums.

Here's how:
1)  Put filters on all computers, televisions, cell phones, and other electronic devices. In my house, I use K9 filter on everything but the television. There are others that are free as well. Research them. I have child locks on the television channels that show movies and Netflix. I am the only one who has the password to everything.
2) Don't let magazines that would tempt your husband or children lie around for the world to see. That Victoria's Secret catalog might seem harmless to you, but to a teenage boy, it is everything except harmless.
3) Hold your ground if you receive resistance from your family. Your house is yours to protect. You are the home manager, Christian wife.

You probably want to say to me: "Legalist!" I say back to you, "Satan will enter your home through these devices. Protect yourself and your family before he destroys one or all of you!" I was just like you until God made me see the importance of protecting my family from Satan's schemes. I had the same attitude and thought some Christians took these things a little too far. Then, God made me see that I am the one who should make some changes in my home. I take my responsibility to protect the minds in this house, including my own, very seriously. I pray you will, too.

My advice serves as a warning, not a command--a very strong warning. It bothers me that we have lowered our standards regarding purity. It should bother you. I pray more wives start protecting their families and themselves. Please trash your copies of the 50 Shades trilogy while you're at it. Pick up your Bible and read Song of Solomon if you must. Whatever you do, heed the warning before it's too late. I wouldn't want you or your loved ones to learn the hard way.