HOW TO BE PERFECT?

I know that title got most of your attention.  10 steps to being perfect. Yeah right! It is a joke people.

There are NO Steps for you to be perfect. It is not happening.  Truthfully no one is perfect but Jesus.  As I was sitting in marriage class yesterday I zoned in on those words. I have heard it before, I knew that it was true, but at that moment that was all I could hear.  Maybe I needed to be reminded of that.  Matthew 5:48 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  
Of course I had to do some homework on the definition. I normally don't write when I look up Greek translations, but then I realized we study everything else we definitely need to get in the habit of studying God's word.   I started thinking what does this word mean in the Greek, clearly God is not trying to tell us that we are perfect.  I knew that was not the case.  According to Strong's Concordance, "perfect" in the Greek is teleios  (tel'-i-os) meaning complete in all its parts, full grown, of full age, completeness of Christian character.  
Now I am no theologian or anything, but from this definition I gather we need to become more spiritually mature.  

Babies don't stay babies, they do grow up.  You can't eat baby food forever. Chew on that!

People will FAIL you.  People will HURT you.  Only you can control how you will respond. I have learned so much about offering people grace. Give people some leeway.  I never really understood how to do that, but then I am reminded of all the times God forgives me and gives me grace I don't deserve. We always wan God to give us grace.  There is nothing we can do to earn it either.  How dare I not do the same for someone else?
I am reminded of Matthew 6: 15   15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

These are some of  the cliches I've heard that will not help us to forgive and show grace to others.  

• I forgive and don't forget- this takes time but you can't continue to bring the offense up
• You  hurt me once, but you won't hurt me twice-No we are not a doormat, but if we are genuinely being relational we will get hurt, or offended at times. 
• I can't forgive that one

I have to seriously check myself when I want to justify why I shouldn't forgive.  Sometimes I ask questions like " Why does this keep happening?" "You just don't understand God" That last question makes me laugh now.  Yeah I am sure we have it so much harder than Jesus did.  I mean have any of you been nailed to a cross lately? I am just saying. It really does put things in a different perspective. 

There is no justification.  Jesus forgives me for everything, even things people don't even know about. OUCH!! 

I'm Ready To Fight!

I know you really thought I was about to fight someone LOL! NOT literally that is. 

If you have siblings I am sure you have had a "play fight" a time or two. Maybe you do not have siblings, but cousins or a best friend will do as well.  Generally kids start play fighting very early, often finding it quite hilarious.  We all know when you play fight you don't fight hard because you are not trying to hurt the other person. Just simply having fun.  I don't want to sound super spiritual, but we really should believe that we are fighting an enemy who is coming for blood. This is not some character with red horns just trying to scare you. I can't stress this enough.  I told my husband we are trying to fight the enemy with fly swatters instead of swords! Come prepared to fight.  You  have to be dressed in your gear to fight. I challenge you

Now I bring this up because lately I am hearing the word prayer thrown around like we say "sorry" with no meaning.  OUCH!  I know God has plans for my family, and that Satan would rather kill, steal, and destroy them.  Therefore, I will fight for my husband, children, parents, friends, and even acquaintances. My prayer life in the last year has changed drastically! I often wonder how hard we pray when we say "I am praying for you?" Just imagine if we prayed for others like we pray for ourselves.   We really should stop being so passive about prayer.  As Pastor Dusty always says, let's stop saying "The least I can do is pray for you, when actually the best thing you can do is pray." 

I remember in the beginning days of my marriage I was terrible.  Always yelling, screaming to get my way. Very selfish, that is another topic for another day.   Needless to say that didn't work.  We all have passion and drive when it is something that we want. Pastor Dan says it so well  "I AM NOT GETTING WHAT I WANT!" All conflict stems around this common theme.  I am grateful that when my husband and I reach conflict that we cannot handle, we both know that we have to pray. This was NOT always the case. PRAYER IS EVERYTHING! 

1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray Continually

Continually derived from Continual is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as happening again and again within short periods of time.  In my mind this means I really should be praying whenever possible.  No one is saying be weird about it by trying to pray at every second of the day because that is not possible. However, be genuine with your prayers. When you say you will pray for someone, PRAY FOR SOMEONE.  Surround yourself with a great support system.  Do you have someone you can call and ask to pray with you? 

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.

1. Pick a Time to pray everyday, this creates discipline
2. Pray about everything and not just some things
3. Believe/Pray with your heart 
4. Be Honest with God
5. Get a Support System/Accountability Partner

Pray for me, I am praying for you.  Pray hard as though your life is dependent upon it. 

When I say I am praying for you know I am giving my best.