Happy Friday, Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day – such an incredible opportunity!!! – begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!
This week I listened to two phenomenal messages! Each had a point – actually several – that were profound to me. This morning, I want to share the messages with you and a quick summary of my takeaway from each.
Now, to save you time, I want to share the links to the messages so you can go listen to them yourself.
The first one is titled Break the Anger Cycle\Been There\Part 7. It originally aired on May 21, 2023, and you can watch it here:
https://www.life.church/media/been-there/break-the-anger-cycle/
If you can’t get to it with the link I shared, please just type in the title in the search bar and it will pop right up. It is a little more than 34 minutes long.
The second one is titled Desperate for Hope\Book Club\Part 2. It originally aired on June 16, 2024, and is 36 minutes and 17 seconds long. You can watch it here:
https://www.life.church/media/book-club-2024/desperate-for-hope/
Both are incredibly powerful, and I can’t encourage you enough to listen to them.
Break the Anger Cycle
The speaker defined anger as “the outward expression of an internal wound or an offense.” My mind immediately goes to Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.” Yes, it is true that anger is an outward expression of an internal wound or an offense, however I would offer it is equally true that everything we say and do is an outward expression of the condition of the heart. Hurt people hurt people and healed people help people are not only quaint expressions, but they are also Biblical.
The speaker, towards the end of his talk, talks about investing in the lawn of his new home. He then transitions to talking about taking care of our hearts like we take care of our lawns.
- Weeds grow.
- We put fertilizer on them or try to kill them with some sort of spray.
- The weeds come back.
- We must pull the weeds out by the roots to make sure they don’t come back.
- Now there are bare patches everywhere.
- We must plant good seeds in the bare patches.
- We water the good seed.
- The good seed gets light.
- Over time, the lawn (heart) is healthy, and everyone can enjoy it.
It is noted that this is hard, dirty work. It is not easy reaching down and pulling out the root, not just masking the issue. It takes time. But, if we do the hard work, over time, what is produced will be something beautiful.
So, Friends, we would be wise to assess the condition of our hearts this morning. Is what our hearts are producing healthy, life-giving? If not, we need to pull some stuff up by the roots! As the speaker noted, “The work you put in today creates the beauty you and the generations that follow you, will enjoy.”
Desperate for Hope
I really hope you listen to this one! Christine Caine is a wonderful, hilarious, incredibly gifted speaker. She is talking about the end times, and she quotes Jesus from Luke 17: 32, “Remember Lot’s wife!” Then she transitioned to Genesis 19. I am adding a few more verses for context – Christine only spoke of verse 26.
“24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Jesus, in speaking of end times, says, “Remember Lot’s wife!” We then go to the end of Sodom and Gomorrah and “Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” She was calcified, stuck there, for eternity.
See, God was trying to deliver Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah. They were given specific instruction by an angel in verse 17 not to look back…” Remember Lot’s wife!”
Right about now you might be thinking, “What does this have to do with us, Kev?” Let me ask you a question; have you ever looked back longingly at the past? Have you ever said, “I wish things would go back to normal?” As Christine noted, the actual translation of “Lot’s wife looked back” is a longing for…wanting to go back. The Lord was trying to deliver Lot and his family from death and destruction, but Lot’s wife wanted to go back. We are not that different, really…
Christine offered up several great points. These are paraphrased however I have no doubt you will get the point.
- Because Lot’s wife looked back, she was forever calcified in a place that she was only meant to pass through.
- When you get stuck in a place, it has implications for the generations that follow you.
- Many of us are living lives stuck in a season that we were only meant to pass through.
- Often, when you are disappointed with God, you go back to the things He rescued you from.
Life is not meant to be lived backwards, Friends. Without a doubt, there are good and bad seasons behind each one of us. There were lessons to learn, strength to be gained, and purposes to be discovered. But those seasons are over. This is the day that the Lord has made, and it is the only one we are capable of living. We would be wise to live it fully without looking back lest we become forever stuck in a place that was not meant for us.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!
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