Never the Same

I will never be the same again, I can never return, I've closed the door. I'll walk the path, I'll run the race, and I will never be the same again. - Geoff Bullock

This morning in my quiet time I was in the book of Ezekiel.  To give you the Apryll's paraphrase of what had happened up to the point I am going to tell you about in Ezekiel... Israel messed up. Big time.  To say God was a little bit peeved is an understatement.  So, in order to teach Israel a lesson show Israel He is God, they went through a season of punishment. (ps Yes, God is a God of love and redemption, but if you have lost your healthy fear of God..I recommend reading the OT, it'll be good for you.) Now it was time to redeem Israel, again so they would know He is God. So in Ezekiel chapter 46 God is giving Ezekiel a vision of the new Holy Temple and instructions for the Feasts. Verse 9 jumped off the page at me:

"When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate show go out by the north gate: no one shall return by the way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead." ESV

What a beautiful picture!  I mean, yes it's logical, there are are hundreds of people flowing through the temple, and establishing traffic order, just makes sense...but I love the fact the He doesn't want people turning around and  going back to the place they just came from.  He doesn't want us making a U-turn back into our mess, He wants us to move forward, leaving worship changed, renewed, with a resolve to not go back to the mess He just redeemed us from.  The verse made me think of the song performed by Hillsong United song "I Will Never Be". I've sang this song hundreds of times in church...so many times there are Sunday's I'm singing it wondering if I really mean it.  If I will really leave that place of communing with God a different person than I was when I entered.  I need to stop making U-turns back into the comfort of old habits and sins; I need to go out straight ahead, changed, redeemed.  What about you?



Blessings!

Things that bring me joy:
* The peace and quiet that comes with morning
* A chance to live a new day
* A God who allows do-overs

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Undo What I've Become

The Spirit is Love expressed towards man as redeeming love, and the Spirit is Truth, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Redemption is inconceivable without truth and holiness. - Roland Allen

Undo - Rush of Fools

I've been here before

Now here I am again

Standing at the door

Praying You'll let me back in

To label me a prodigal would be

Only scratching the surface

Of who I've been known to be

Turn me around, pick up up

Undo what I've become

Bring me back to the place

Of forgiveness and grace

I need You, I need Your help

I can't do this myself

You are the only One

Who can undo what I've become

I focused on the score

But I could never win

Trying to ignore

A life of hiding my sin

To label me 

A hypocrite would be

Only scratching the surface

Of who I've been known to be

Turn me around, pick me up

Undo what I've become

Bring me back to the place

Of forgiveness and grace

I need You, I need Your help

I can't do this myself

You are the only one

Who can undo what I've become

Make every step lead me back to you

The sovereign way that You

Turn me around, pick me up

Undo what I've become

Bring me back to the place

Of forgiveness and grace

I need You, I need Your help

I can't do this myself

You are the only one

Who can undo what I've become

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Sucked into Negativity

So I was sitting in the normal spot that I retreat to for my morning quiet times.  Quietly writing away and happily sipping my coffee when I look up and across from me is the recliner my husband usually sits in.  Instantly that takes me back to a conversation from last night when I was sitting here on the couch, and he was sitting in the chair.  The annoyance I felt at that time...which I hadn't thought of since...came flooding back to me. I started getting annoyed.  Then it hit me how easily I can get sucked into negativity.  My poor husband is in bed peacefully sleeping, and in my head I'm planning my retort on a conversation we had 12 hours ago and he has completely forgotten. I stopped myself right away and thought "I need to be thankful for my husband."

I've also been extremely negative about work.  There are so many changes happening right now, and I'm ashamed to admit I have been trapped in negative thinking. Like "this is never going to work", "these changes are going to make things horrible", "the person who thought of these obviously don't know our job"...etc etc.  Instead, I should be focusing on the positive (like I actually HAVE a job) and be thankful.

Sometimes I feel like such an Israelite. Read through the Old Testament and you'll see if anyone had the spiritual gift of complaining, it was them.  I wonder if it is human nature sometimes to seek out the negative, and just wallow around in it.  I wonder what a difference it would make if we stopped complaining, stopped being negative, and instead chose to be thankful.

I stumbled upon these verses:

Philippians 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning

uh huh, ALL things. It doesn't say "try not to grumble"...nope, it says Don't.Do.It.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

James 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brother, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

Convicted yet? I sure am.  I am thankful for my husband.  He is a good man who spoils me rotten.  We have our disagreements, but I can't expect perfection from an imperfect man...anymore than he can expect it from me.  I need to be thankful for my job, that it's changing and it's not going anywhere.

Romans 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, or order to bring praise to God.
1Thessalonians 5:11 Encourage one another and build each other up.
Hebrews 3:13 Encourage one another daily.

I know I need to stop myself when I start being negative, and speak the positive into the situation/conversation.  Do you?


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Jesus in Every Book of the Bible

This is awesome!