Another 10 second rule

Another 10 second rule.

I went to the bank today and as always they give me my money in an envelope, but this time put the money on my dash board instead of in my wallet like I always do. I went to Kohl's to buy a couple of shirts. When I was leaving I noticed the hair cut place so I decided to get my hair cut because that makes my wife happy. So I go in and get it cut. Somehow we got on the subject about being yelled at. She said she does not like it (I thought who does?) Anyway, I asked to her if she had asked the Lord why that bothers her so much. She just looked at me like I was crazy. I did not press it. So we got finished and I paid and I went to my truck. I was sitting there and I saw the envelope with the money in it so I decided to put the money in my wallet. I do that and start to back up and I hear "go back and give her $50.00" I just set there in the middle of the parking lot just kinda dazed at what I heard. I didn't want to. I knew the 10 second rule. So I pulled back into my parking spot and went back in and got her. I explained the story about going to the bank and then I just looked at her and pulled out the $50.00 and handed it to her. It messed her up and just looked at me and said "she couldn't take it". I said "yes you can" So she received the blessing and then asked me why I would do that. I looked at her and said "the Lord told me to give you this money" She came over and gave me a hug and said "she was going to cry" I said "it is okay to cry." I then said "have a nice day and left" I don't know why He had me give her the money and it doesn't really mater. What matters is I obeyed. My devotion this morning took me to 1 Kings 19 but it took all the way to 1 Kings 22:14 It really stuck out to me this morning but didn't have a clue about what to write about until this afternoon.

1 Kings 22:14 But Micaiah replied, "As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what the Lord tells me to say."NLT Which means do what your Father in Heaven says do and say what your Father Heaven says.

John 12.49
For I do not speak of myself, but from the Father who sent me and commanded me what I should say and what I should speak.

1 Peter 4:11
If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles [words] of God; if any man ministers, let him do it with the ability that God gives,³ so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The big question for you today is this……. Did the Lord speak to you and tell you to do something and you paused and talked yourself out of it or did you do it? Believe me I don't this all the time.

This is the link to the other post about the 10 second rule http://www.thevisionseeker.blogspot.com/2011/10/proverbs-2121_5839.html

The Help

I watched a movie last night called "The Help" The movie was set in Mississippi during early 60's When the President was assassinated. It was all about how the white man treated the black man. It was very painful to watch. In the end the main character went up to her accuser and said "You are godless women, (she was a christian) ………….. (long pause) Aren't you tired? …… Aren't you tired? What she meant was …….. aren't you tired of being a racist, a liar, a hypocrite? Hateful all of the time, bitter? A plethora of things I am not and don't want to be. The movie broke my heart. Mainly because there are still people out there today that act the same way. This morning when I open my devotion it took me to the passage below in the Message. I think if I really searched my heart I would find some of that ugly stuff in there.

So here is the big question for today. How are you at loving the unlovable?

Matthew 5:43-47
"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. The Message

Katherine Anne Porter writes, "Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked."

Love is not a natural response that gushes out of us unbidden. But hate is always ready to naturally spring forth, like the "Old Faithful" geyser at Yellowstone National Park. Christian love, on the other hand, must be chased after, aspired to, and practiced.

The popular culture completely misunderstands this principle. One of the cruelest and most self-condemning remarks I've ever heard is the one men often use when they leave their wives for another woman: "The truth is, I've never loved you." This is meant to be an attack on the wife—saying in effect, "The truth is, I've never found you lovable." But put it in a Christian context, it's a confession of the man's utter failure to be a Christian. If he hasn't loved his wife, it is not his wife's fault, but his. Jesus calls us to love even the unlovable—even our enemies!—so a man who says "I've never loved you" is a man who is saying essentially this: "I've never acted like a Christian."

—Gary Thomas in Sacred Marriage: Gift Edition