Tag: Help

A Woman’s Right to Choose

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Happy International Women’s Day!

One of the mantra’s women live by is there right to choose. It is a God given right and no one can take it from her. She can choose what she does with her body, she can choose how she treats her husband and children, she can choose how she spends her money. It’s her choice. No one can tell her what to do. Yes, this is true, as a woman, you have a choice and this choice was given to you by God Himself. He is not afraid of your choices, for He is the one that gave you the power to choose. He put two trees in the garden and said pick one, it is your choice (Genesis 3). Eve made her decision, she chose the tree of good and evil wanting to be like God rather than choosing the tree of life and trusting God. It was her choice and she chose. No one is trying to take away your ability to choose, they can’t because God gave you the right of choice. But what if they were not trying to take away your ability to choose but were trying to reveal to you the consequences of your choice?

Every human being gets to make their own choices, but with choice comes responsibility and with responsibility comes the need for wisdom because not every choice will produce the results that is says it will on the label. You can choose to have sex outside of marriage, but there are consequences; you can choose to neglect your children, but there are consequences; you can choose to pursue money, but there are consequences. The choices are endless, but the pain we face is not because we made the right choice, but because we or someone else made the wrong choice. Whenever we choose our selfish desires, the results will always produce pain, not immediately usually, but eventually.

Pain that is the result of our choices or someone else’s choices leave women with yet another choice. Women have the right to choose to be angry or break the alabaster jar. Whatever we choose will have consequences, but I will tell you upfront I have chosen both and one produces life and the other produces death. Paul said, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and tender-hearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.…” (Ephesians 4:30-32). When I struggled with being angry, I did not recognize it in myself, my husband said to me one day, honey, you are very angry. I exploded, what do you mean I am angry, I am not angry. But his words pierced my heart and I sought the Lord and this is what He told me, get rid of anger. I said, Lord, how do I get rid of anger, He said, just tell it to go. So, I exercised my authority and told anger to get out. I know it sounds simple, but the kingdom is not complicated.

Once anger was gone, I had another choice to make, was I going to go back to anger or grab an alabaster jar. In Matthew 26:6-7 we meet a woman who, “While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.” The alabaster jar was broke open and poured out upon Jesus, the smell would have filled the room. I know it was a literal bottle of perfume, but I believe metaphorically it was this woman’s broken heart being poured out on the Lord. You see, anger is a cover up for pain, so people don’t get close enough to you again and hurt you. I know, remember I was angry, but what the Lord showed me is that I was really hurting and didn’t want anyone to know.

When we choose to pour out our heart to the Lord, it is like sweet perfume that fills the throne room. The Bible says, David was a man after God’s own heart and if you read the Psalm’s I believe it is because he was brutally honest with God about his pain. Ladies, we have a right to choose, we can choose to be angry or we can choose to pour out our alabaster jar of perfume. One is going to keep people away from us and one is going to draw the presence of God to us so we can be healed. Your pain becomes perfume in the throne room of God when you pour it out on Jesus, rather than lashing it out on others. You have a right to choose, God says, in Deuteronomy 30:15, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction”. It’s a woman’s right to choose, what choice will you make, anger or alabaster? I choose life and prosperity, I hope you do as well. Happy International Women’s Day!

Out of Order

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On Periscope @lisagreat
 
On the bathroom door at our church, there is a sign on one of the stalls that says, OUT OF ORDER, in big bold letters. This sign is meant to let people know that this stall is inoperable at this time. It is not that it will never work again, or that it is damaged beyond repair, but to inform those who come in the bathroom, that this one stall is out of order. No one is mad at the stall, saying, I will never use that stall again, or that somehow this church has issues because there is one stall that is out of order. Common sense tells the reader, this stall is unable to function according to design at this time, but will be back in operation as soon as it is fixed.
 
This sign caught my attention on Sunday after church, because, the Lord has been speaking to me about order and how many people are living lives that are out of order. What He has been showing me is that when we are out of order, we are ineffective, we are not producing based on design and even though we hope no one notices, others often see that we are out of order even before we do. So, what I am sensing is we need to admit to ourselves, the Lord and others that we are out of order.
 
1 John 1:8-10 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.…” Then James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.” Finally, 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 says, “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
 
Because people are living lives that are out of order, our nation is out of order and the nations are out of order for people make up nations. So, if we want to see a change in our nations, we need to start with something changing in us. I am hearing a lot of people talk about the problems in our nations, there is a lot of blaming going on as to why things are the way they are right now, but I believe we need to take a look at our life and realize we are out of order, that is our family is out of order, our city is out of order, our money is out of order, our health is out of order, our nation is out of order. The issue is not global, national or even local before it is individual. We have a corporate problem, yes, but it is because we have individual problems that come together and reveal a national problem.
 
So, what do we do, I believe as believers in Jesus Christ we need a chiropractic adjustment from the Chief Cornerstone. We are out of plumb line (Amos 7) individually, so the first order of business is for me, is for you to return to the Lord. We must repent of our lifestyle that has compromised the word of God; we must repent of living self-centered lives; we must repent of our disobedience; because disobedience to the word of God what got us out of order and obedience to the word of God is what will bring us back into order.
Many men and women who are in pulpits and have platforms today are crying out for fresh voices to arise, not because we need more preachers, but because we need new preachers, ones who can bring the old truths of the gospel in a fresh way. We must go back to the foundation of faith in order to get back into order. This may mean, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to do a spiritual detox of choices of movies, music, and spending habits; we may need the Lord to convict us of the way we treat other people with our words and attitudes, especially those that live with us; we may need Jesus Himself, the lover of our souls to create in us a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in us (Psalm 51).
 
Ladies and gentlemen, you can try to act like it’s not true, but the reality is, we are out of order and God is bringing a reformation of truth to put us back in order. He wants us to produce fruit of righteousness, live in safety and peace again, and experience the presence and power of God in our lives, our families, our churches and our nation again. We may be out of order right now, but it is temporary, for the Great Physician is on the way to heal our lives, if we will surrender, not resist His way of putting us back in order.