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African proverb
If one of my followers sins against you, go and point out what was wrong. But do it in private, just between the two of you. If that person listens, you have won back a follower.
But if that one refuses to listen, take along one or two others. The Scriptures teach that every complaint must be proven true by two or more witnesses.
If the follower refuses to listen to them, report the matter to the church. Anyone who refuses to listen to the church must be treated like an unbeliever or a tax collector.
Matthew 18:15-17
I have been determined for the past few years to sort things out properly. If I had a problem with another person, I would try not to gossip about it to others, but instead simply approach the person and discuss the way I felt ’sinned against’.
Don’t hold grudges. On the other hand, it’s wrong not to correct someone who needs correcting.
Leviticus 19:17
However, recently I have met with a dilemma. What do you do when someone seems blind to how their actions affect another person?
If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet. Proverbs 29:9
Fools think they know what is best, but a sensible person listens to advice. Proverbs 12:15
All who refuse correction will be poor and disgraced; all who accept correction will be praised. Proverbs 13:18
A sensible person accepts correction, but you can’t beat sense into a fool. Proverbs 17:10
Fools have no desire to learn; they would much rather give their own opinion. Proverbs 18:2
Regardless of how often they are approached and the problem explained, it seems to always be attributed to a communication breakdown, or “everyone else”. No change results from any of the confrontations. What then?
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words. Proverbs 23:9
It would seem that the solution is simply to ignore them. To no longer correct them. To leave them to their own stupidity.
I have had such a situation in recent times. Spending time on speaking wisdom to a person who sees themselves as a “good” Christian – yet who has time and time again done unwise things, that have hurt other people. But to just ignore the person seemed… well, mostly it seemed as if I wasn’t following my own counsel of confronting the person and trying to “gain a brother”.
However, there is another way to look at it.
Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. Proverbs 19:11
“it is his glory” – literally, it is an ornament to him, he is adorned in honour and glory, who chooses to overlook an offense.
To “overlook” means to ignore, to shut one’s eyes to, to pardon. No grudge is kept, the offense is completely forgiven and pardoned.
Another meaning of “overlook” is to view from above, and in a very real way, pardoning or forgiving an offense where there is no remorse or repentance, or even knowledge or understanding of the offense by the offender, can only happen when the forgiver is in a ‘high’ place – a place of confidence and strength. And confidence and strength comes to those who place their trust in the Lord.
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:6, 10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10
We need not build walls in our hearts to protect ourselves, for the Lord IS our strong tower – we need only to humble ourselves to him, acknowledge that it is Him alone we live for, and that the opinions and hurts of others are irrelevant.
He gives us grace to overlook – and with grace, He also gives peace.
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July 10th, 2009
Ecc 8:6 Life is hard, but there is a time and a place for everything,
Life is hard. It goes through ups and downs, “swings and roundabouts”, but it is essentially hard.
But there is hard, and there is really hard. I find responsibility hard, but I find making choices that other people don’t like *really* hard. I find raising children hard, and I find balancing the egos and hurts and preconceptions of parents and siblings *really* hard.
I find pastoring my flock hard; I find pastoring those who would be leaders *really* hard. 
I find leading without complaint hard. I find following without complaint *really* hard.
Thank God, I don’t have to be more than I am.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2Co 12:9-10
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June 13th, 2009
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples.
(John 15:4-8)
But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
(Gal 5:22-23)
My whole life I have felt that I do not exhibit the fruit of the spirit in a way that glorifies God. I am impatient, direct, lacking in self control. And because I talk a lot, I betray my faults to others.
I have despaired at my failure – no matter what I do, I cannot display these fruit – with Paul I cry
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
(Rom 7:18-19)
And while I know that
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Rom 8:1-2)
it doesn’t make me feel better, knowing that, as we saw above “In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”
It is only in the last year or so that the reality of the earlier part of that passage from John was revealed to me… that the fruit are produced by abiding, not by trying.
As so profoundly stated by Jedi Master Yoda in the Star Wars movies,
“Do or do not, there is no try.”
“Abide” – it is not a word we use now. The Greek word is
men’-o
A primary verb; to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy): – abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry (for), X thine own.
Continue in me? Dwell in me? Endure in me? The concept is still obscured by old language. Allan Barnes comments
Abide in me – Remain united to me by a living faith. Live a life of dependence on me, and obey my doctrines, imitate my example, and constantly exercise faith in me.
And I in you – That is, if you remain attached to me, I will remain with you, and will teach, guide, and comfort you.
It is a little clearer, but it wasn’t until I read a comment in a Christian book recently (and I would reference it if I could remember which one) that made the observation that we don’t have goals for the growth of our kids – we just know that if we feed them right, make sure they get sufficient exercise and sun, they will grow.
Likewise, if we are reading the bible, spending time in prayer and meditation, obeying the principals we know to be God’s, then growth of the fruit will happen. We don’t need to spend energy making the fruit grow – we need to spend energy providing a healthy spiritual environment and life, and the fruit will naturally grow.
What I had been doing was concentrating on the branches – “watering the branch and hoping an orange will grow” as my husband so aptly put it. Instead, my focus should have been on the graft into the rootstock – make sure the cut from my old roots was clean and sharp, dipped in grafting hormone of baptismal waters, get support with fellowship and accountability as my grafting tape, staying still in the graft, not picking myself up and trying a new location, reading the Word to be fed with the right nutrients, pray and meditate to expel the toxins. I know the rootstock is healthy and obtains all the nutrients it needs, and I know it will pass those nutrients to me. And just grow – naturally.
Thank God He gives me time
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October 23rd, 2008
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Marianne Williamson.
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October 21st, 2008
Many years ago, when in Europe searching for my purpose in life, it became apparent that God was not leading me to stay … which meant coming back to Australia… which I didn’t want to do  . I didn’t know what I was supposed to do here, had no idea where He was leading
Isa 58:1-14
(1) Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a ram’s horn, and show My people their rebellion, and the house of Jacob their sins.
(2) Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and one who did not forget the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in drawing near to God.
(3) They say, Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and crush all your laborers.
(4) Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice to be heard on high.
(5) Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah?
(6) Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke?
(7) Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When will you see the naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh?
(8) Then shall your light break out as the dawn, and your health shall spring out quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Jehovah shall gather you.
(9) Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity;
(10) and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.
(11) And Jehovah shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
(12) And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
(13) If you turn your foot because of the Sabbath, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Jehovah, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
(14) then you shall delight yourself in Jehovah; and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed yourself with the inheritance of Jacob your father. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.
For those who don’t know, Australians often refer to our vast, dry continent as “The Sunburnt Land” or “Sunburnt Country”. Among other sources, it is used in a song written by Geoff Bullock.
 Australian Outback GREAT SOUTHLAND
Chorus:
This is the Great South-land
of the Holy Spirit.
A land of red dust plains
and summer rains,
To this sunburnt land we will see a flood,
And to this Great South-land
His Spirit comes.
So at that time, reading from the NIV, all I saw was v11:
“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
 Desert Stream Verse 11 was a promise to me, that even though I had NO idea what I would do in Australia, God was still with me and would sustain me.
Isaiah 58 continues to be revealed to me – but I will add more another time
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October 16th, 2008
 I love lighthouses.
I don’t know if it is their location (i.e. near the sea, which I adore) that attracts me, or the infinite variety of shape and type; maybe it is the historical architecture that draws me, or perhaps their stories (lighthouses always seem to have stories). Maybe it is just that they are so pretty at night… I have always loved night.
I grew up on the coast, and there were several lighthouses that could be seen from our lounge room window on a clear night.
I recently saw someone say of lighthouses
“they communicate to my heart and soul…I’ve been won over by them because to me, they speak of strength, consistency, loyalty, humility and direction. Lighthouses need not blow horns to call attention to themselves, they just stand in all their splendor and simply SHINE!” (emphasis mine).
So often we refer to Christians as needing to be a Lighthouse, or Jesus as a Lighthouse. I like the thought that a lighthouse needs not “call attention to themselves… simply shine”. Nevertheless, it is interesting that the illustration is unknown in the bible (I guess you would need a mighty big candle to have an effective lighthouse back then )*
Still, there are some great scriptures that have similar meanings.
Psalm 18:28 For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness. (CEV)
Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (KJV)
Proverbs 6:23 The Law of the Lord is a lamp, and its teachings shine brightly. Correction and self-control will lead you through life. (CEV)
Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: (KJV)
Proverbs 13:9 The lamp of a good person keeps on shining; the lamp of an evil person soon goes out. (CEV)
Proverbs 20:27 Our inner thoughts are a lamp from the LORD, and they search our hearts. (CEV)
Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until its righteousness goes out as brightness, and her salvation as a burning lamp. (MKJ)
Matthew 5:15 and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house. (CEV)
Luke 8:16 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl or under a bed. A lamp is always put on a lampstand, so that people who come into a house will see the light. (CEV)
Luke 11:33-36 No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a clay pot. A lamp is put on a lampstand, so that everyone who comes into the house can see the light. Your eyes are the lamp for your body. When your eyes are good, you have all the light you need. But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. So be sure that your light isn’t darkness. If you have light, and nothing is dark, then light will be everywhere, as when a lamp shines brightly on you. (CEV)
2Peter 1:19 All of this makes us even more certain that what the prophets said is true. So you should pay close attention to their message, as you would to a lamp shining in some dark place. You must keep on paying attention until daylight comes and the morning star rises in your hearts. (CEV)
 Kiluea Lighthouse So…
- The Lord God is a light
- The word of God is a light
- The commandment of God is a light
- The law of God is a light
- The lamp of a good person keeps shining
- Our inner thoughts are a lamp from the Lord
- Righteousness is a light, and salvation is a lamp
- A lamp is for sharing
- A lamp is to be used, not hidden from others, and not covered over
- The “internal eye” (or self-awareness) causes us to see clearly – if we do not have good self-awareness, we can see nothing
- The lamp communicates a message that is needed until Jesus comes again, when all the world will be in light, and even more in the hearts of believers
Pretty cool!
 *Seems I underestimated the architectural abilities and desires of the ancient world… The first known lighthouse was at Alexandria.
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