It is true that we are five days into the New Year!  I hope you are on track to fulfilling your resolutions!  I would love for you to purchase my new book.  It is entitled:  A Christian Selfie.  Here is the ISBN number that you must have to order it at any book store:

978-1-4984-5916-7     I challenge you to take your own “selfie!”  You can find joy in the new year.  You can take steps to overcome selfishness!

We all need to reflect and make a change in our lives so that we might live a better and happier new year!  If you would like to know more about my book, please call 270-358-9594.  May you be blessed this year!

Proverbs 22:6-7 “Train up a child in the way he should go,  And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Recently, Franklin Graham came to Kentucky to preach the gospel on the Capitol steps.  He also gave a challenge to all those attending that we needed to raise our children to serve the Lord. ” Our country has forsaken Christian principles because we have not raised our children to a life of service to God.  Too many of us as parents have failed our children because we “wanted to give them  a better life.”  Instead, we spoiled them and did not instill in them a work ethic or spiritual values.  There are many reasons cited as to the reason of this downfall, but the main reason is apathy.  Unfortunately, too many parents of the 60’s and 70’s gave their children a “don’t care” attitude. To put it bluntly–God was put in second and third place rather than first in their lives.

When did we begin to isolate ourselves from caring for our neighbors and friends?  When did we become so busy with taking our children to their sports events, we forsook taking them to church?  When did we let others take away our religious freedoms?  There is not a definitive answer.  Little by little, over a span of time, we have allowed our values to become eroded into a self-seeking attitude.  It wasn’t that we didn’t care.  I believe we were too busy with living life selfishly.  You might reply, “But there is not a selfish bone in my body!”  I have been told by one of my friends that I am the most selfless person they know.  However, when I took a look at my “Christian Selfie,” I realized just how selfish I truly was.

In James 3:16 the Bible is very clear, “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”  No wonder our world has become so confused!  Our self-seeking nature leaves out Godly principles.  We justify just about anything in our quest to make things better for our children.  We did not step up and demand sports games and practices not occur on Sundays.  We wanted our kids to “start” on their sports teams so we went to practices scheduled at times we should be taking our children to youth group at church.  I was guilty several times!  No wonder our children became so confused!

How can we stop our insanity?  James 4:7 tells us, “Therefore submit to God.”  We must be willing to submit our failures to Him.  In James 4:8, we are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us.  This is where it gets down and dirty.  We are often too caught up in what we want.  We are selfish! We find it easier to live in darkness than in light.   I had a friend tell me her husband said that he didn’t need to change…he liked himself just the way he was.  Maybe you feel the same way.  Not only must we submit ourselves, we must draw near to God.  We must not be satisfied with the way we are.  This is the second way we can stop our selfishness.  James 4:8  also tells us to draw near to God and He will draw near to us.  We can conclude from scriptures that a little humility cures worldliness.  Verse eight of James 4 also challenges us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts.  To do this we must pray and repent from our worldliness.  We literally need to cry out to God to forgive our selfish ways.  Then, we need to read His word daily and humble ourselves so we can be lifted up!  Verse ten gives our lifting up as a promise.  We will be lifted up for His service.  We must be patient and persevere in our service.  From the time seed is planted till it is harvested takes several months.  This is also true in meeting the needs of our children for His service.  The KEY is to train.  Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”  What a great promise! You may think, “my kids are grown–it is too late.”  It is never too late for Jesus to change lives.  He loves you so much, He gave His life for you.  Start today–submit to Him!  Resist the devil!  Then, draw near to God by cleansing yourself from sin and let Jesus purify your heart.  Humble yourself for service and you will be lifted up!  May God bless you as you seek His face to overcome your selfish ways.

Matthew 7:7-8  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Your heavenly Father wants you to know Him!  He wants you to knock so that He can come into your heart and life and give you the desires of your heart according to His will.  When was the last time you talked to God?  Do you talk to Him at least once a day?  He is waiting.

One of my daughters had her father and I pray about a job change that would mean much more income at a more reputable firm, but a very long way from her present location.  She even had the incentive that her sister and her family would be moving within the year to the same location.  They would be reunited!  Sounded great.  Her father and I agonized over her prayer requests asking God to be in our daughter’s decision and what would be best for her family.  Our daughter prayed as well.  She made the decision to stay at her present job and not relocate.  It wasn’t long before she called us and declared that we would not believe what had happened?  She revealed that the team leader and most of his team had been dissolved at the company she was considering making the move so far away.  She would have entered that company only to find her team dissolved!  Had she not prayed and had her parents pray, she may have made one of the worst mistakes in her career!  Her husband would have had to give up his good paying job to move.  As it happened, God allowed her husband to receive a higher paying job where they lived just days after she turned down the company where she would have had to move.  God worked out the situation through many prayers and asking what was God’s will.  She again is praying for another position, but this time in her place where her husband and family reside.  We know if it is God’s will, it will happen!  But, what happens to those of you who never pray?

Forsaking prayer is costly to a person’s well-being.  They are bombarded with weariness, discouragement, and doubt.  I am reminded of a teacher years ago who took a job at my local middle school and let it be known that they had it all under control.  Two months into the year, it was obvious that she did not have her students under control and was screaming and hollering at them daily.  Several of us tried to tell her she needed to seek help for discipline on-line, through books, and also through prayer.  As far as I know, she did none of these and by October, had walked out of the classroom, never to return!  She left her students, faculty members, and Principal without a goodbye.  She suffered the price of prayerlessness.  I often wondered what happened to her as we never found out where she went.  She definitely was not teaching anywhere.  People pay the price every day for leaving God out of their lives.  They may think things are going their way and are just too busy creating a life to realize they have a void that can only be filled with Jesus.

We can daily give our burdens to the Lord through prayer.  In Psalms 68:19, David cries out, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,”  When we give our burdens to the Lord, there is no need for us to pick them back up!  Prayer should be a priority in our daily lives.  If the Son of God needed prayer time, how much more we need it!  We can live a joy-filled life when we “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16)  May seem hard to do, but it isn’t.  Jesus should be your best friend.  You Facebook your best friends daily and usually several times a day.  Jesus is only a prayer away!  Talk to Him, tell Him your joys and your failures.  Ask Him for help with the little tasks and it makes it easier to accomplish the bigger tasks when you lift up your needs.  That is how to prevent the damage that comes from a prayerless life.  Confess your prayerlessness to the heavenly Father and then make a time to pray to Him daily in quiet time.  But don’t forget, He loves to hear from you anytime!  You can walk around talking to Him and praising Him for a beautiful sunset, or the beauty of the red bud and dogwood trees, or a grandchild who just told you they love you.  Remember, ask, seek, and knock so that your joy may be full and complete and you can truly live 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17.  Jesus will make your burdens light, offer encouragement, and fill your heart with confidence.  May you have a blessed day!

Psalm 68:19 “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, cries David.”

A lady was sharing with me the other day about health issues that were depressing her and making her weary.  Our good health is precious! When our health deteriorates, we seek a doctor or health official who is an expert in the field.  We put our trust in that person making us well.  And, when it does not happen, we often become depressed.  Our burden becomes overwhelming.

There is a way to overcome our burdens.  The Psalmist, David, praised God for daily delivering him from his burdens.  Remember, David had been an adulterer and had even sent his mistress’ husband to the front lines of battle to be killed.  He knew of guilt and depression.  Yet, God forgave him because he prayed to the Lord in everything.  That is the key to overcoming weariness–prayer!

Forsaking prayer can be very costly to your well-being.  When you forsake prayer on a daily basis, you open yourself up to continual weariness, discouragement, and doubt. Such low points in your life can just wear you out. When we are drained spiritually, emotionally, or physically, a person is more susceptible to discouragement. Without spending time in prayer, we enter a vicious cycle where troubles become ever larger as our solutions to the problems fail.  That is the damage of prayerlessness!

We can keep our focus on the heavenly Father and that in turn builds confidence.  When we spend time in prayer and praising our Lord, we are happy.  That emotional happiness can translate to physical well-being.  When we are immersed in prayer and Bible reading, we will find security in God’s power and presence.  So, to overcome weariness, confess your prayerlessness to God and make the time to regularly spend time with your heavenly Father.  You may not be physically healed from cancer, MS, or some other disease or disorder you may suffer, but your burden or weariness will be made easier and you will become encouraged!  Your heart will fill with the confidence that Jesus will carry you and give you a peace that passes all understanding.

Mark 12:42a  “Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites,”

We are such a rich nation.  Even when we struggle to make our money last till the end of the month, we are rich.  The widow from Mark was commended by Jesus because she gave everything she had to the treasury.  So many Christians clamor about having to give a tenth and try to justify whether they give it on the gross or on the “take home” amount!  Jesus wants to bless you every day.  Jesus wants to give you contentment.

The widow was content in her giving.  She gave her all!  That is New Testament giving.  She didn’t go home and sit down and die.  She depended on Jesus and others to care for her. We need to find that contentment of depending on Jesus and others.  We can be content because with God, there is always enough!  In John 1:16 he writes, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”  The gifts Jesus give us are not just for a few people of His choosing, it is for everyone!  There is always plenty.  We have to claim these Biblical truths and live by them.

There was a time in our families’ lives we had moved to a new city.  My husband was recovering from a stroke.  I was the only one who could bring in money so I opened up a gymnastics business in my hometown.  God blessed.  We had all of our needs met.  But our faith was put to the test when we discovered I was going to have to have a hysterectomy.  We had no insurance!  What would we do?  We prayed and God continued to bless us by allowing the doctor and hospital bill to be paid by an organization called Gold Cross in Alabama.  We praised God for meeting our need as when we got the rest of the bills from that operation, my business had grown to cover the expenses.

God owns everything.  Because His heart is so big, He gives us what we ask for in His will. John 14:14 gives us the promise!  “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”  In my book, A Christian Selfie, I give several stories that relate how Jesus has answered our prayers of need.  I believe he will answer your prayers too!  Do you believe?  Contented people trust God’s abundance!  Are you content?  If not, you first need to read God’s Holy Word.

We are given the promise that God’s Word will not return void.  That means that if you read and pray about your needs, God is faithful to meet those needs.  You may be without insurance and facing an operation.  Step out on faith and God will take care of you!  You may have a job, but you barely have enough money to buy milk at the end of the month.  Step out on faith and God will take care of you!  You need to join a loving church who will lift you up for your needs.  Come to the foot of the cross and ask Jesus to meet your needs.  You may have the need of salvation.  He will meet that if you ask Him.  You may have a physical need.  He will meet that if you ask Him.  You may have an emotional need.  He will meet that if you ask Him.  The key is asking and believing!  Don’t delay, ask today!

John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

The storms of difficulty in our lives can paralyze us and take away our joy.  The past two weeks have been one of persecution and growing in the strength of Jesus to overcome persecution.  What do you do when the storms of life come?  Who do you turn to?

In “A Christian Selfie”, my last chapter deals with rejoicing in the Lord.  I chose to relate a story where David and I had been persecuted to show that no matter the problem, God can give us a rejoicing heart!  You may say, “how?”  There is an amazing truth that God gives us in the Bible.  If we can take hold of it, even during the most trying of situations, we have an anchor that we can cling to in all of life’s storms.  It is this:  Jesus Christ never changes!

In our ever-changing world, we struggle to comprehend that there is anything that doesn’t change.  The average person changes jobs at least five times during their lifetime.  There are statistics that say even more.  We change our relationships, our finances, and we are continually learning how to keep up in our ever-changing world.  However, as alluded to in the above scripture, we will be persecuted if we take a stand for Jesus.  That will not change.  You may have been persecuted for going through a divorce.  You may have been persecuted for your beliefs on a worldly issue.  You may have been persecuted for telling others the truth, yet, they thought it was not the truth.  You may have been persecuted for not hanging with the “old druggie crowd” when you are trying to stay away from that old life.  Whatever, you are being persecuted for, make sure you are allowing Jesus to carry you through this time of persecution.

In Romans 12:14, it states, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” (NKJV) The very next verse tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice!  To do this we must first remember that Jesus is sovereign!  He has complete control of our storms if we allow Him to control our storms.  He was in control with the disciples when they were in the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  They called on Him and He calmed the storm.  He will do that for you too!  “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4 NKJV)

Remember that Jesus is Protective!  The same night of that storm, Peter was allowed to sink just enough to recognize his own helplessness so that he would turn to the Lord for rescue.  We are protected when we recognize that we are absolutely helpless without Jesus.  Now that is something to rejoice about!  In our helplessness, we are made strong!  You can withstand the temptation of drugs and alcohol!  You can withstand when those you counted your friends persecute you! Bless those who persecute you!

You might ask, “How can I do this when I hate what they have done to me?”  First, you must ask forgiveness of your hate.  Realize you can hate the sin, yet like Christ, love the sinner.  Second, you must ask Jesus to protect from temptation. We are tempted to dislike anyone who doesn’t agree with us.  There are evangelical professing Christians who persecute the lifestyle of anyone that they look at as contrary to what the Bible may teach.  Jesus tells us to love everyone!  We are not to pass judgment!  We are to pray and give unconditional love for all mankind.  That is why we can rejoice when we are persecuted!

Do you have a relationship with Jesus?  If not, I pray you ask Him into your heart today!  Read 1 John 4:7-10 and let God’s love shine in your life.  Pray these verses become real in your life today!  Verse 11 says it all, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  Count it a joy to be persecuted.  Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice!!

James 3:16  “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”

It is evident in our culture that we have an all time high in selfishness.  In my book, “A Christian Selfie,” I point out that people may cut us off just to get a parking space or use a finger jesture when we are going too slow or stop at a yellow light.  We find chaos in our world because people want what they want on their terms!  I state  in my book that we can overcome selfishness by walking with the Lord.  We can stop and take a “selfie” and resolve to purge ourselves, with God’s help, of selfishness.

How can we stop our selfishness?  After further study, I have concluded that there are three things we can do to gain a spirit of humility.  We can begin by giving back to God what belongs to Him.  We must honor God with our tithe.  He requires one tenth.  He has promised us that our nine-tenths will go further than when we try to live on ten-tenths.  This is so true!  My husband and I were teachers on a modest income, but we tithed all our lives.  We marvel that in our retirement, how God gave us such blessings to live on.  We have excess to give away and share with those less fortunate.  That is such a blessing!  So, I won’t share how we give because God does want us to keep our gifts secret. (Matthew 6:1-4)

Second, we are to acknowledge that whatever we have accomplished, God has done it for us!  (Isaiah 26:12)  God has blessed me beyond measure!  God gave me a voice to share His love.  God gave me a message to share with the world in the book I penned for His glory.  God has given me and my family many miracles of healing and the grace of salvation.  To God be the glory!  I am so inadequate and fail Him when I know I should speak up and invite someone to His church on Sunday.  Don’t we all?  I have a friend who is so good at inviting total strangers to church.  And, you know what, they come!!  She has such a gift.  I only wish I could be so bold.  I will make myself available and God will give me the words just like he did Moses.  Remember, God gave the words to Joshua and Caleb to say for Moses.  Maybe that is why I have been given such a good friend! To God be the glory!

Third, we are to make humility a goal for our daily living.  We are to live as Paul taught us in Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”  We are to become servants as we depend totally on God.  We are to follow the old acronym of JOY: Jesus first, Others second and, You third.  When we practice loving others unconditionally and acting with kindness, we are practicing humility.  If we get upset we didn’t get our way and think only of how we feel, what is convenient for us, or how we can profit from a situation, we are acting out of selfishness.  We are not demonstrating the love of Jesus.  We are in sin.  Therefore, when  humility is our goal, then love, forgiveness, and kindness will grow out of it.  We can live a joy filled life!  To God be the glory!!