Showing Honor - By @Lori_Kennedy

Photo property of Shelley Hendrix

Showing Honor
By Lori Kennedy 

“Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
Exodus 20:12 (NIV) 

The Ten Commandments are listed in Exodus chapter 20.  The first four are between us and God, and the last six are between us and others.  Honoring your mother and father is commandment number five, and it’s the only commandment with a promise.  It promises us a long life in the land the Lord our God is giving us should we keep this commandment.  

I don’t know about you, but I have struggled in this area.  It’s hard to say whether my struggles have been a result of my own broken lens, from which I view and respond to the world through, or wrong responses that have been placed upon me by my parents and their broken views of themselves and the world.  I have not understood what “honor” might look like and have not been sure how to respond if I feel, for example, that an unrealistic expectation has been placed upon me.  I have always felt that, no matter what I do, it is not good enough for my mother and that, no matter how I respond or react, I will not make her happy.  So, how then, do I honor her?  Is she really placing expectations on me, or am I perceiving expectations that don’t really exist? 

One day I got into an argument with my son before school.  We got very angry with each other, and he left the house for school with us both still very angry with each other.  I took my anger to God, and God showed me a precious nugget of His truth that day.  First, He convicted me that my over-reaction to my son’s anger was a perceived rejection by him and why I lashed out so intensely.  My prayers then turned to conviction of the broken lens through which I view the world.  This lens says I’m not good enough and I’m not worthy.  God has told me in His Word that this is a lie.  In fact, He states over and over and over again that I’m just a slow learner. 

While I was aching over my sinful reaction to my child based on my unmet expectation of his response to me, I recognized the grief I was causing him and cried out to God that my flaws and sins not bleed through to my son.  I want my child to know that he is loved and that he has great value to the Kingdom and in this world – despite me.  I prayed that my stuff would not mess up my precious child.  In that moment in time, God revealed an amazing truth to me, and I understood the word “honor” in a new way, as it referred to my mother and the real or perceived expectations in which I felt I never met.  He showed me that the best way to honor my mother was to be true to the calling that God Himself has set before me and become the woman that He has called me to be!  I realized in that instant that, if my parents were healthy and whole (which no-one is completely), then that’s exactly what they would want for me.  In this moment of my failure, God showed me that, when we have true love and honor for others, our desire is for them to do the will of the Father, even when it might not seem best for us personally.   

That simple but profound lesson has taken me leaps and bounds further in both my relationship and learning how to truly honor my mother as well as understanding my own flaws in my communications with my children as I continue to be molded by the Potter walking through this journey we call life.

 

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Hummingbird by @Lori_Kennedy ~ #Trapped ?

Hummingbird 

By

Lori Kennedy  

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) 

One day I walked into my garage to get something out of the freezer and I noticed my boys had left the garage door up when they had left for school.  I also noticed a hummingbird in the garage hitting the top of the ceiling.  I was wondering why it was doing this when the huge open door was right there within its view.  I came back inside and Googled, “hummingbird stuck in garage”.  It’s amazing all the information that became immediately available to me.  Unfortunately, all the ideas were things I couldn’t pull off for various reasons.  For example, the hummingbird would land on the ground where you could reach him to rescue him if there wasn’t any light, but my garage has windows.  However, I did learn that it would only take about an hour for a hummingbird to exhaust himself and starve to death when trapped this way. 

This scenario brought to mind a couple of lessons I want to share with you.  First, I am sometimes trapped by my to-do list.  I feel as though my day has been successful if I complete many things on this list.  As a matter of fact, I have become so trapped by this list at times that I have missed God in the process.  You see, everything in the Bible is about relationship, and although it’s important to continue moving forward in your tasks so that you can complete the things He’s called you to, you don’t want to be so driven that you put what He has planned for you that day behind your task list and potentially miss the blessing that He has prepared just for you.  You see, the hummingbird was so anxious to release himself from the trap he had found himself in, that he was exhausting himself, even to the point of death, in order to get released.  In fact, he was in such frenzy that he didn’t realize the very means to escape was looming directly in front of him.   

The second way to become desperately trapped like the hummingbird in this example is in your self-centered and sin-filled life.  God has placed Himself right in your path and is calling out the way of escape as immense as the light shining into the garage from the open garage door that sunshine filled day, but you miss it as you wear yourself out frantically trying to survive and depend upon your own strength to find a means of escape from that which binds you.   

This story has a happy ending.  Once the bird finally landed in sheer exhaustion, I was able to capture and free him to live as he was meant to live in freedom and abundance and not desperately seeking to remain alive for just a few more moments.  As we continue through this hectic and busy life being ever molded by the Potter, remember to slow down enough to look for Him in your daily life and be willing to find your strength in Him as well.

 

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Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love.  He will rejoice over you with singing."

By Your Side Tenth Avenue North from pinkangel1011 on GodTube.

Go, Satan, go! ~ A Post By @Lori_Kennedy

Go, Satan, go!

ByLori Kennedy 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:4 (NIV) 

Please pull out your bible and read Matthew 4:1-11.  It is about when Satan tempted Jesus at the end of His forty-day fast.  There are some interesting facts that I would like to share with you about this event and how it applies to our lives today. 

• A person has not shown true obedience if they haven’t had an opportunity to disobey.  If you have never been tempted, then you have overcome nothing.
• Remember that we are all tempted (even Jesus) and that temptation itself is not sin.  We sin when we give in to the temptation.
• We will be tempted where we are vulnerable.  Jesus was tempted with:
• Physical needs – Food when hungry
• Emotional needs – Security when feeling abandoned
• Psychological needs – Significance, power, achievement, as we all struggle with pride
• Temptation may be perfectly normal desires, twisted for personal gain instead of God’s glory.  Eating is good and right and normal, but not when you are fasting per God’s request.
• Memorizing scripture is a great way to stay strong.  It is the tool that Jesus used to abolish Satan from His presence.
• Notice that Satan also used scripture (verse 6).  Knowing scripture is a very different thing than obeying, believing, living, and realizing scripture.
• Talking TO Satan is very different than talking WITH Satan.  Eve talked with Satan in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus, who is a model for our lives, talked to Satan to give him a command to leave His presence and based his command on scripture.
• Satan, however, twisted scripture in his attempt to make Jesus fall prey to sin.  There are many out there that will try to take a verse out of context for their personal gain.  Taking scripture out of context is dangerous.  We, as believers, must read and study the WHOLE WORD of GOD so that we can recognize those that don’t give a complete and true message.  We cannot allow ourselves to be swayed by the world.
• Finally, remember that God calls us to be IN the world but not OF the world.  Make sure that you don’t misunderstand what God is calling you to do versus what the world or Satan is requesting of you.  God’s “greater” plan for you and your life will always focus on eternal significance and may or may not fit into the model of success as understood by the world.  Always be prepared to re-align your viewpoint to include the backdrop of the cross.

Jesus spoke directly to Satan to get him to leave His presence, so that He was able to carry out the task the Father had given to Him.  He did much of this with scripture.  As we try to model our lives after Jesus, please make the time and effort to memorize scripture and be willing to be bold enough to tell Satan to directly “leave your presence” so you may live your life in the glory and grace of the Father.  This model of a victorious life is one where you are continuing to be molded by the Potter on a daily and ongoing basis.

Photo by Lori Kennedy

Lori Kennedy

ALPHA OMEGA MINISTRIES

www.lorikennedy.com

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Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love.  He will rejoice over you with singing."