"Taste Your Words"

"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds."
~Laurell Hamilton


Our words are powerful. The old saying..."sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," couldn't be further from the truth. Despite our ability to forgive and forget, a mouthful of hateful words can emotionally damage a person for years to come.

Proverbs 12:18 says (Amplified) "there are those who speak rashly, like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

This is a reminder of the pain that our tongues can cause. They can be like a multi-bladed Army knife when it comes to the variety of ways that we cut and destroy one another.

Our tone of voice and the way we present things can be disheartening. Attitudes of anger and frustration as well as disappointment, insecurity and jealousy can all contribute to our damaging words. Hurtful words wound and divide friendships and relationships. Is it any wonder that the list of seven things that are an abomination to the Lord includes anyone who "sows discord among brethren?"

We need to choose our words wisely. Taste them before speaking them. If they are words that hurt and divide instead of heal and encourage they need not to be spoken.

Is there anything you've said recently that you feel convicted about? I think we all at some point have been guilty of speaking out unwisely and have had to ask for God's forgiving love and grace to us.

David prayed in Psalms 141:3..."Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips."


~Sister C

"Mold Me Lord"

Jeremiah 18:3-6
“So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the Word of the Lord came to me: ‘Can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand.’”

How willing are you to allow God to make you into His perfect design?

I have always loved this passage of scripture. Especially the part about the pot he was shaping was “marred” in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot. In other words, He didn’t just throw that pot or that lump (you or I) away because of all our imperfections. He simply remolded, reshapes, the same lump into a better vessel!!

Once the pot has been formed to the potter’s satisfaction it can be taken off the wheel and left to dry, before it goes into the kiln for the first firing. Then comes the exciting part; decorating the pot with your chosen design, and at last, the final glaze before it goes into the kiln for a second time before becoming a finished pot.

Discipling can be a little like this process, as Jeremiah noted. As clay in the Master Potter’s hands we need to be refined and have all the impurities removed, which can be a painful process. Then we need to be firmly centered in the Word of God so that we won’t be knocked off balance when the times of trial and difficulties come. It only needs the pot to be a little off-centre when the wheel is turning for there to be a disaster. How many of us get knocked off-centre when troubles come because we are not firmly trusting in God’s eternal word? If we haven’t allowed Him to deal with the impurities, we may not survive the firing process. Sometimes people who come for ministry allow God to go just so far, but are not prepared to trust Him to deal with the really deep issues, believing that they can manage them themselves.

Our Master Potter knows what He is doing when He forms and shapes us. He knows exactly how to deal with the painful issues in our lives if we will trust Him, and He will refine us and turn us into the “pot” He had in His mind when you and I were on His wheel.

Be blessed vessels! 

~Sister C

"Fear of Moving Forward"

Some say the opposite of fear is love, others say it is happiness, assurance, boldness, or confidence. I am one to believe the opposite of fear is faith. There can be different levels of fear. Some are afraid of everything. For some it may be fear of your finances, your home, your family, your job. In multiple ways fear is trying to strike at God's people. It is one of Satan's biggest weapons against us to hinder us moving forward in what God wants us to do. We are told in the last days mens hearts would fail them because of fear.

Actually fear and faith have something in common. That's this...their both to believe that something that hasn't happen is going to happen. Fear is the belief that something hasn't happen "bad" is going to happen. And faith is the belief that something "good" that hasn't happen is going to happen.

So one or other is going to exist in your life.

I have been reading in Hebrews 11 on the "Hero's of Faith." One of my favorites listed there is Gideon. He was the most fearful man in all of Israel (my opinion), scared to death to trust God.

Gideon was told he would defeat the Midianites. He was told to kill the second calf, tear down the altars of Baal, (I would be petrified myself), and to send home anyone who was afraid. And 22,000 men left, which dwindled his army to a mere 10,000. Then, to prove a point, God separated out the remaining men and sent home 9,700 more. Gideon now had an army of 300, and apparently, the only instruction God gave him was to sneak down to the Midianite camp to be strengthened "if" he needed it. That was it; that was all the direction Gideon received. Yet he and his small group of soldiers attacked the eastern tribes who had come against Israel and killed 120,000 men.

My point is this...to many times we expect God to tell us more than He plans to tell us. Always wondering when is He going to give us clearer direction. How God?, could you give me more specifics? Details would be great God! I'll go forward the moment you tell me what to do and how to do it. Sound familiar?

God gives us His vision by placing it in our hearts. Unfortunately, because He doesn't give us every little detail we tend to sit down and wait which leads to us doing nothing. Then while in the "waiting" place we wonder why the prophecy never came to pass. We are waiting on God, and all the while, God is waiting on us.

When you KNOW that God has spoken something into your spirit, leaders and champions such as Gideon go toward the sound of His voice. Not all know how to get there, not even their next step. But they know what has stirred their hearts, the drawing of the Holy Sprit!

Sometimes it is good to wait for God to give us details-but often, He is waiting for us to trust Him and move from "fear to faith."

Ref: Hebrews 11 & Judges 6

God bless
~Sister C

When 1 + 1 doesn't add up.

Ever try and work things out yourself?  Try and make sense of why things are happening or not happening. We try to come up with our own plans and ways. Yet, we seldom consider that in all of these situations the Lord is having His way, He is in control and He is working all things and situations for good to them that love Him and who are called according to His purpose and for His glory (Romans 8:28). I wander how Joseph felt or understood of the road ahead when His brothers where haggling with the slave traders? He went from being a free young man to being a slave. What about the children of Israel when they came to the Red sea? They had no sooner been set free and then...a dead end. Sometimes we feel so far from where we reason we should be in life, thinking to ourselves, 'where is God in all of this?' Anyone ever felt this way? It's okay to be real. It's called life and life itself has a lot of questions. You may feel desperate, alone, stressed, tired or cornered today; you may feel as if all your ambitions and desires have been completely shattered; you may feel hopeless and of very little worth or value; you may be asking, 'God, where are you in these circumstances I am in?' BUT, when we trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding, know this today, the Lord will never let us down and He has a plan for each and every one of us in fulfilling His perfect will and purpose for mankind for all eternity. Don't throw away your confidence in the Lord today, don't stop trusting our almighty God today. Rather, just live for today, not leaning on your own understanding of how things will work out, but trusting in our Father in heaven with all your heart, knowing that, 'He will keep them in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Him: because they trust in Him. Trust in the LORD for ever. My life is one of this examples. Lately I have been through what I call an emotional roller coaster. Wondering in my wilderness seems like for forty days and forty nights. I too found myself asking the why's? Wondering why God did not make something happen when I needed it to. Only to find that He did take care of it later and in such a better way. More than I was even expecting. I can now see the things lining up in order to display His will. It pays to wait. Proverbs 30:4, Isaiah 26:3-4 Trust in Lord forever!