Day 22: October 22nd, 2009 - - Proverbs 29:6

“POINTS TO PONDER” – Day 22
Written by M. Hall
Please feel free to agree or disagree with points made, and feel free to comment if so desired. If you would like, you could write your own thoughts on the verse of the day, and include that in your own comments below. Thank you and may you be blessed!! =)

Evil people are trapped by their own sin, but good people can sing and be happy. Proverbs 29:6 NCV

Did you know that your sin can trap you? But, there is a way out -- only God can set you free. I am glad to be considered a good person, for I can sing and be happy all day long. We just spoke in our last devotional about praising in all circumstances, and especially in challenges. WOW! What a day I had today… challenges galore with the precious little preschoolers. I needed to keep my cool, remain calm and peaceful and also joyful. That was a struggle and a half, having screaming, jumping, running, spitting Preschoolers inside on a rainy day. But as I said, I appreciate challenges. I was thinking to how my day would be without those challenging children, and I would really miss them. Deep down they are very precious and sweet children, who just have a rough time every now and then. Some of them have to get up really early and be dropped off at daycare early, and they are there all day long, and that in itself can be trying on a little body. So I always empathize with them, which poses to be a problem sometimes, and ignoring the behaviour doesn’t always work. But we managed to get through the day, as challenges help me increase faith, which helps me increase perseverance and patience! YAY GOD! A few of the mom’s even commented how I could remain so patient. It’s all God! =) Praise Jesus! But getting back to the Scripture above, I am a good person, and therefore I can sing and be happy in crazy circumstances.


Paul and Silas were put into prison, and while they were chained they sang praises to God. God sent an angel to unlock the cell doors, but not one of the men escaped. The guard came back very worried that he would be killed if the men escaped, and Paul reassured him that they all were there. Then Paul and Silas went to the guard’s home, and all his family was saved. WOW! The power of our praise, it can change the atmosphere! It has been said on many occasions that worship changes the atmosphere and attitude of those around. We should be able to notice other Christians just by their attitude and when they walk into a room the atmosphere changes. It should be the same with us and our Christian walk.


Getting back to the dreaded first part of the verse, ‘Evil people are trapped by their own sin’, I am reminded of a drama that our youth group drama team performed years ago called ‘The Chair’. The silent drama starts with an empty chair on the stage, and there is a sign on the chair that says ‘Do Not Touch!’ Several people walk by the chair and notice it, and then walk back one at a time to the chair. The first guy touches the chair, and smacks it with his hands, not getting stuck, then he chuckles and does it again, and he gets stuck. He starts to walk away, but the chair comes with him. Someone else comes by, and the guy is struggling to get his hand off the chair. They offer him assistance, and get stuck to the chair as well. A cute girl walks by and the two look masculine and manly pretending there is nothing wrong, but continue still to try and get free from the chair. The girl offers to help, but they don’t want any help. The girl walks on. Another person comes by and sees them struggling, offers help, sees the sign, touches the chair and gets stuck to the chair. Yet another person comes along, sees the chair, and the sign, and the others smiling and such, and then walks over to touch the chair, and the others silently act out ‘No don’t sit down’ by shaking their heads and they try to get them not to touch the chair. They end up sitting on the chair. The drama stage now has a bunch of people pretending to be stuck to the chair. A person with a Bible comes along and sees the chair of people. They are struggling, and so they look in their Bible, and show the people a verse, and act out leading them in prayer. The people on the chair pray one by one, some of the last ones still doubting. They roll their eyes; shake their heads, etc… while one by one the ones who pray are released from the chair. Finally, the last person (who was the first person) gets unstuck, and they all do a happy dance, and the ‘Christian’ kicks the chair over, and stuck on the bottom of the chair is the word ‘SIN’. Then the Christian reads the scripture found in James 1:14-15, “but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” It’s really powerful! It was one of my favourite ones to dramatize. I usually played the ‘Christian girl’. We cannot let ourselves get dragged away and enticed. For as we see it all leads to death and I choose life. As we have said before, and I’m sure you have heard many times, it all comes down to our choice. God gave us the power to choose. We have our own free will, and its that selfish fleshly mind-set that takes over and allows us to become enticed, and allows sin to conceive, which gives birth to death. Which is redundant in itself, but makes a lot of sense. Choose life with me today! Freedom = Life!


We can truly sing, ‘I Am Free’…



I <3 the NEWSBOYS!
Prayer: Lord, we thank You once again for all You do for us. Forgive us once again for the sins we have committed in thought, word and deed, intentionally and unintentionally, so that we may boldly enter Your throne-room. Thank You for giving us a way out from our sin, so that we are no longer trapped by it. Thank You for the freedom we can have through Your Spirit. Thank you for creating us to be good people. We praise You and we honour You, we sing and worship You for who You are, and what You’ve done. We will try to strive for complete joy in every circumstance, knowing that You walk beside us, and even carry us along the way. Thank You Lord that when we do look back and see one set of footprints, that you don’t let our hearts get discouraged, but that You encourage us, by reminding us that You carry us through those times of trouble. I ask for wisdom and discernment, to assist us when temptation comes our way. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, in the name of JESUS, AMEN!

Be blessed and keep the smile on your face, the twinkle in your eye, and the love of Jesus in your hearts! <3 Shine and worship our Father in the darkness around you! Declare your FREEDOM in CHRIST!

Day 12: October 12th, 2009 - - Deuteronomy 32:46-47

“POINTS TO PONDER” Written by M. HallPlease feel free to agree or disagree with points made, and feel free to comment if so desired. If you would like, you could write your own thoughts on the verse of the day, and include that in your own comments below. Thank you and may you be blessed!! =)
“He said to them, ‘Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.’"Deuteronomy 32:46-47 NIV

Idle words - - - we are all guilty of using idle words. We will be judged for each idle word that we use. God’s Word is not full of idle words, as it says in the Scripture. God’s Words are life, and give life. If we are to follow Christ’s example, our words need to be filled with life too. In a previous devotion, we discussed using words of life. But this is an important issue that God wants us to seriously pursue and understand. This Scripture in Deuteronomy says, ‘Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you… so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.’ Children here, does not just mean children as we know it. It refers to the next generation, which in some cases is the children, yes, but also the next generation of believers. New believers, and others ‘behind’ us, need to recognize the truths found in the Word of God. They need to start declaring the promises found in the Word, and they need to start declaring words of life. We do too!

Jesus said, ‘I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE’ and He meant it. He is the way to get to God, the only truth in this world, and He gave us eternal life. We need to speak words of life, success & positive thinking, not words of death, failure and negativity. God is so amazing that He has shown us time and again that we need to take Him at His Word.

A funny yet, God moment, happened this weekend for me and my family. This Thanksgiving we sat down to play a family game, Phase 10 (the new version, Phase 10 Twist). My Dad was tired of runs of 7 and runs of 8, and he was now on runs of 9, and he was complaining about having to get another run. I told him that we have to be positive, and speak words of life (as I am trying to practice since one of my last devotionals). My husband told him, “hey, maybe you can get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and then you can say, ‘In your face Mark’.” Well, we only have 10 cards, so we said we couldn’t get 12, just 10. So I proceeded to shuffle, and deal 10 cards to each player (or so I thought). The game began again - - my Dad was to the left of me, so he got to start the round. He picked up a card, and then proceeded to lay down, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, & 12 and then he discarded and went out to end the round We all stopped and laughed, but then thanked the Lord for his example of speaking Words of Life. We even took a picture of his cards and a video of him saying ‘In your face Mark’. I still say that I didn’t deal him 12 cards, but we all know that God can work in mysterious ways. We are all trying to speak words of life now, and know that God will prove faithful if we are obedient and faithful as well.

The Bible says in another scripture, “From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:20 & 21 NIV) We need to control our tongue. Again, from the Scripture, God’s Word of truth states, “My brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all make many mistakes. If people never said anything wrong, they would be perfect and able to control their entire selves, too. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can control their whole bodies. Also a ship is very big, and it is pushed by strong winds. But a very small rudder controls that big ship, making it go wherever the pilot wants. It is the same with the tongue. It is a small part of the body, but it brags about great things. A big forest fire can be started with only a little flame. And the tongue is like a fire. It is a whole world of evil among the parts of our bodies. The tongue spreads its evil through the whole body. The tongue is set on fire by hell, and it starts a fire that influences all of life. People can tame every kind of wild animal, bird, reptile, and fish, and they have tamed them, but no one can tame the tongue. It is wild and evil and full of deadly poison. We use our tongues to praise our Lord and Father, but then we curse people, whom God made like himself. Praises and curses come from the same mouth! My brothers and sisters, this should not happen. Do good and bad water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree make olives, or can a grapevine make figs? No! And a well full of salty water cannot give good water." James 3:1-12 NCV Another scripture says, ‘Out of the heart the mouth speaks’, (Luke 6:44-45) – “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” The old saying, GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) comes into play here. What you put into your mind, goes into your heart, and eventually comes back out your mouth. EEEEK!

The tongue is a deadly weapon. The Bible again says in Jeremiah, “Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.” (Jerm 9:8) WOW! Makes you think before you speak doesn’t it? We all (including myself) need to do a lot more of that. Thinking before we speak, and we also need to be real. There is a saying that goes around, “I may have to love you, but I don’t have to like you”. It makes me think of the last part of this verse, when it is used negatively. People can pretend to be your friend, and to talk nicely to you, but then go and deceive you behind your back, trying to trick you into talking bad about other people, which they go in turn and tell what you've said, looking like the 'good guy'. I know a lot of this goes on in the world today, and it needs to stop. I know that I have gotten caught in many a trap, but no more. Jesus has the victory, I have Jesus, so therefore I have the victory! Say that twice aloud so that you engrave it in your mind and your heart! What power there is in positive thinking... but what power there is in our Lord and Saviour & His Holy Spirit!

Walk in the freedom, and the victory that you have received. Praise you Lord!

PRAYER: Father God, we pray to You now in the name of Jesus to help us with our tongues. You have given them to us, to speak words of positivity, life and encouragement. Help us by the power of Your Spirit to change our minds, hearts, and our tongues consciously and sub-consciously to thoughts of You and Your Words and truth. Thank you Lord for setting us free. Thank you Lord that we have the victory through Your Son, and we no longer have to conform to this world, but that we can be transformed by Your power and Your power alone. Guide us in the steps we should take, and the words we should say. Let us speak Your words of truth to the hurting people of this world. Let us be Your ambassadors, and speak the Words of the King. In Jesus’ Name I pray, AMEN!