Category: The Verbs

“The fear of human opinion disables;

trusting in God protects you from that.”

Proverbs 29:25 The Message(MSG)

Have you ever been afraid to step out and do something for God, because you were so afraid of what others may think of you? Have you ever let that fear disable you to the point that you don’t step out and do what you feel the Lord is asking you to do? I have. There have been so many times in my life that I have not done what I felt like the Lord was asking me to do, because I was so afraid of what someone might think of me. There have also been times in my life that I have been afraid of doing something because of what someone might NOT think of me, but that’s a whole other topic for another devotion!

Maybe you are like me, and after reading this verse it gets you thinking about how man’s opinion can so easily disable us. As I reflected on this verse before I began writing this devotion, I was struck by a simple question in my own life. How many blessings has the enemy robbed from me, because I didn’t do what I was asked to do by God due to being disabled by my fear of man’s opinion?

I am reminded of the story of Nehemiah. The news had traveled to him that the recently liberated Jews who had gone back to Jerusalem were not doing very well at all. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and the gates had been burned. The Bible says that Nehemiah sat down and wept, mourned, fasted and prayed for days. He then decided he had to do something. The story goes that the king asked Nehemiah, who was the king’s cup-bearer, why he was so long faced. He went on to ask him if he was depressed or sick. Nehemiah explained the situation about his homeland and the king asked what he wanted. Nehemiah then asks if he can go to Judah and rebuild it. The king asks how long will it take to do that and what was the expected date of his return. The king approves the trip and Nehemiah goes on to ask for letters for the governors across the Euphrates to authorize his travel, and letters to help secure the timber he would need to rebuild the Temple fortress, the wall and the house where he would be staying. The king obliged.

Now, there were two men who become very upset about this turn of events. Their names were Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. We later read in the book of Nehemiah how these two men tried to distract and demean Nehemiah and the work he was doing. I love Nehemiah’s response in Nehemiah 2:20.

“I shot back, “The God-of-Heaven will make sure we succeed. We’re his servants and we’re going to work, rebuilding. You can keep your nose out of it. You got no say in this – Jerusalem’s none of your business!”

Nehemiah 2:20 The Message (MSG)

I would have loved to see the surprise on their faces at this confident, bold, almost arrogant reply! You see, Nehemiah could have been disabled by the fear of their opinions, but instead, he knew that God was backing him up! He was trusting in God, so his mind and his heart were protected by that trust! He could have let fear totally disable him when it came to telling the king what he wanted to do, but he didn’t. Again, he was bold and confident in his replies and in his requests.

Have you ever heard that saying, “Don’t tell your dreams to just anyone”? It is so true! Not everyone will understand what God has called YOU to do! They will not understand your passion level; nor will they understand your Godly dreams and desires that God placed in YOU! If He’s asked you to do something, or if He’s made you passionate about something, then be prepared for the naysayers, the critics and the doubters. But oh, how I love Nehemiah! He just keeps rebuilding the wall and he prays a prayer that can be found in Nehemiah 4:4-5. Can I just stop right here and challenge you to read those verses in The Message Bible? Thank you!

But I love how Nehemiah’s authority, the king, not only said yes to his request, but he also did what he could do to help Nehemiah complete the task! Everyone has someone who they are submitted to. If you don’t, you should. No one is above being accountable! The respect in this relationship is admirable, and most definitely God made a way for Nehemiah in every aspect!

Nehemiah did not let man’s opinion disable, detract or demean his work and neither should you! Tell the devil to back off, and take that leap of faith and do what God has called you to do!  In the words of an old gospel spiritual, “Keep on keepin’ on!” You can do this! How about instead of disabling fear, why don’t you DISABLE fear?!

(Think about disabling a bomb. You must know which wires to cut! You can’t cut the wrong one or you will be saying, “Houston, we have a major problem!” The same is true in our spiritual life! We have to know which voice to turn off in our head! You can’t listen to the enemy’s voice and expect to have peace! You can’t listen to the enemy’s voice and expect that you will want to forgive that person! You can’t listen to the enemy’s voice and expect that he will give you Godly advice and divine direction! You can’t listen to the enemy’s voice and expect that you will walk out in faith and do what God has called you to do! Cut the wire on that voice! Disable that fear! Disable that pain, hurt, worry, doubt and anger! How about instead of fear disabling you, why don’t you disable fear! Take that devil!)

Written By:Melissa McKinnies

http://melissamckinnies.com/blog/

 ^5–6 The believer replied, “Every promise of God proves true;
he protects everyone who runs to him for help.
So don’t second-guess him;
he might take you to task and show up your lies.”

Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary language (Pr 30:5–6). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

One of my favorite memories of my dad preaching was from a sermon out of Proverbs 23 verse 23. It simply states to “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” The memory from that sermon is simply my father urging the people to never let go of truth. That point in the sermon has never left me. I wondered, how does one go about purchasing the truth? Isn’t it free? We are also told that there is a price for what Jesus did for us that is far above anything that we could ever repay. So how does one go about buying the truth?

The definition of the word buy can mean to get by sacrifice or great effort or to accept the truth of. So often we think of the most commonly used definition when we think of a word. You cannot buy this Truth, because it isn’t for sale. There are many things in Gods word, and about God, that you are going to have to attain by putting some effort into it. We live in a world that confines communication to an emoji, 140 characters or a meme. We take this as gospel ��! Yet, we do not believe this as Gospel:  “First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see.” (Genesis 1:1)  The one is easy to believe, the other takes faith and the exercise of it. We trust the person that sent us the emoji, because we are in a relationship with them. We communicate regularly, so we know what makes them smile and we know what makes them angry. How? Because we know them, and know them well. In order for the doubt and the second guessing to disappear  between you and God, you are going to have to develop that same kind of relationship. It takes effort and sacrifice to develop a strong, mutually beneficial relationship in the natural. It would then stand to reason that it takes the same things to develop a spiritual relationship!

It is now the cool thing to doubt God. It is also the popular thing to decry that there is no God. How can you believe that there is a God they ask? Well, I decided to dig deep, put some effort into it, believed and then took God at His word. It is not a feeling, as some would think; it was a conscious decision. It is no different then when Melissa tells me she loves me. I could say prove it, but how does one prove that they love? I chose to trust, believe and take her at her word. Over the last seventeen years, that blind trust, that step into uncertainty to trust her with my heart, my love and my future, hasn’t been a wrong decision. It’s been proven over and over again that when she gave me her word, that was truth. Much longer than seventeen years ago, I made a similar decision. It was October 30th, 1985. It was then I read a letter that came in the form of a verbal sermon. When I heard what was written, and I then read it for myself, I chose to believe it and I took God at His word. Over the last thirty two years, that decision to take God at His word, to trust and to accept the truth of what was written, hasn’t been a wrong decision! In the same way that my decision to marry Melissa was a great decision,  the decision to give my life to Christ thirty two years ago, has been an even better one!

It began as a simple choice, to believe and accept. Now that I have bought in, accepted and put some effort into knowing God, I can say, just like the believer in Proverbs 30:5… “Every promise of God proves true;….He protects everyone who runs to Him for help.”  It is hard my friend to argue with a man that has had an experience. I believed and accepted, but now there is experience in this relationship that I have with God. Therefore, I will never doubt God, second guess God; nor will I ever sell out what I have with God. Just because others cannot make the first choice to believe and accept, that doesn’t negate my experience!

“When you run out of wood, the fire goes out; when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.”

Proverbs 26:20 MSG 

Many relationships have been destroyed, by one individual feeling they had to get the last word in. The reality of that notion is often it is the last word. That last word is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. By getting the last word in, you not only end the fight, but you also end the relationship.

One day, Melissa and I were having an intense moment of fellowship. I couldn’t tell you then, and I cannot tell you now, what it was about. That’s the point. We were going along having a wonderful evening, and then a moment broke out. After just a few moments, Melissa just asked the question, “What in the world are even doing?”  “What is this all about?” Neither of us could answer the question. We were just trying to get the last word in; one last dig. When she asked the question, it gave both of us pause. The pause allowed us to pull the wood off the fire. We could have kept going, chucking log after log onto the fire. It would have created an intense inferno, but ultimately it would have burnt down our house, our marriage and our family.

Whether it is in your marital relationship or in another relationship, my question is this, “Is being right, worth the fight?” You can be right, but be completely wrong in how you set out to prove it.  We get so comfortable with the people that we love the most, that we often hurt them the deepest. We just assume that they will always be there, no matter what. By throwing the proverbial log onto the fire, we are showing them that we value the “fight to be right”, more than we value the relationship.

Specifically, in marriage, husbands are to love their wife as Christ loved the church. Remember that Christ loved us and still loves us despite how wrong we were in the past and even in the present. Could it be, that the answer to your relationship is to overlook, move on or simply forgive a mistake? In other words, take the log off the fire. Stop stirring up the coals to reignite something that was over a long time ago.

I would also caution you that if you are in an intense moment of fellowship and a fire starts, keep the old logs out of the new fire. It is unfair to bring an old issue that has been resolved into this fight. Once you start throwing old logs into the fire along with the new ones, you will get a fire that will be hard to contain.

The right thing to do, is to discuss the situation without hurling log and staring fires. Let me leave you with this little verb…

“A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire.”

Proverbs 15:1 MSG

Use your words to put out the fire, not cause one!

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”
Proverbs 27:17 NLT
When reading through the Bible, one cannot help but see that God certainly designed us for community. It’s become a common theme among churches and church communities to state “we are better together”! That’s exactly the goal that God had in mind. In the first book of the Bible God lays that mantra out!
“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.””
Genesis 2:18 NLT
If you read through the story of creation, after each one God examined it and declared that it was good or very good. However, Adam being created and left in a “single” state, was only the thing God improved on. How did He improve upon it? By creating a help mate, Eve. God believed then and still believes now that we are better together.
When two people are in community, whether that be in a marriage, friendship or business partnership, there is always a little bit of a rub. Two thought processes, different backgrounds, and different life experiences cause this rub to happen. Solomon compares this rub to iron sharpening iron. I don’t know if you’ve ever witnessed iron being sharpened, but there is a whole lot of sparks flying when it happens. The process gets hot, is difficult, but entirely necessary if the iron is going to be effective in its purpose.
A knife that is dull is still a knife. It is just not as effective when it’s dull, as it would be if it were sharp. There is certainly a need for you to be sharp. Often, when we are in community and people get in close quarters including working together, doing ministry together, or being in relationship, sparks can sometimes fly. Usually when that happens, instead of there being a sharpening, there is instead a separation. When we go into community with eyes wide open, we can have a greater understanding about the process. There will be some sparks and some rubs, but it’s all a part of the sharpening, and I believe we would stick together versus falling apart.
When iron sharpens iron, it makes the iron more effective. It also makes the iron that is dull and brightens it. When you are sharpened, you become sharper and you shine brighter.
To be better individually, you must be better about community. Allow iron to sharpen iron, so that you can be more effective and shine brighter for Him!