What would it take to make you STOP lying?

What would it take to get your attention to realize that lying is destroying your life?  A bad accident, losing a relationship, divorce, or jail - would that finally get your attention?

Before I started truly walking with the Lord, it was not uncommon for me to tell a "little" lie/white lie every once in a while.  I'm sure my reasoning was that I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings or I was afraid of the confrontation the truth my cause.  Lying was the "quick fix" and hiding behind a lie would keep me from looking bad.

It wasn't until after I had my first child that I found myself REALLY talking to God a lot about my fears of being a new mom.  I was a scared mom who wanted to raise her son the "right way."  I knew that I didn't want my baby to grow up like me (separated from God - even though I attended church regularly).  I constantly prayed and asked God how I could be a good mommy to a child.  Slowly, He  put Godly people in my path who had a personal relationship with Him.  These people over time spoke His message to me - read the word,  pray, and confess/repent from sins.

Soooo, I started praying and reading the bible.  The one scripture that stopped me cold in my tracks was Psalm 66:8 "If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened."  Stop!!  Hold everything!  If I (Karla - mom of a precious baby), do not confess my sins and REPENT (stop sinning and make every effort to quit sinning) then God is going to turn a deaf ear to me?  That hit me like a ton of bricks!  I remember thinking that I would not allow the sin in my heart to remain.  If I allowed it to continue, then God would not listen to my prayers for Nicholas.  I wasn't about to forfeit prayers for my child because I couldn't get myself together.

God used Nicholas to get my attention.  The more I read His word, the more convicted I was of the sin in my life.  I knew at the time that I was not a Godly example or a role model for my son, and I desperately wanted that to change.  I didn't want someone else modeling how to live a Godly life to my son when I was perfectly capable of doing it myself with God's help.  I knew I couldn't teach anything out of the bible before I practiced it for myself.

Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."

This was another scripture that got my attention.  I didn't want my sins to build a wall between me and the Lord.

Proverbs 12:22 (MSG) "God can't stomach liars; he loves the company of those who keep their word."

Proverbs 2:8 (MSG)  "He keeps his eye on all who live honestly and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones."

Proverbs 6:16-19 (MSG) God hates 6 things - 2 of the 6 deals with lying

Lying separates, destroys, and creates walls - your salvation depends on truth and trusting in God.

Do you hold back giving approval or encouraging words?

Sharing my mistakes with people can be difficult and embarrassing at times;  however, I've learned that when God calls me to share and I walk in obedience, His grace and mercy wash over me.  My prayer is that as I share certain things that I've learned on my walk with Christ that others will be drawn closer to Him and that they will realize just how alive and active He is in our lives.  God gets ALL the GLORY and credit.

At the beginning of 2012, God started convicting me that I was holding back compliments and encouraging words to people who I thought did not "deserve" them.  I was not even aware that this was a problem.  For the most part, I don't have a problem telling someone that he/she looks nice or highlighting a person's accomplishments.  BUT, God started showing me that I hold back in giving encouraging words if I "think" someone might not "deserve" it.

Hmmm - Well how do I determine who deserves a compliment and who does not?  That was the question I started asking myself and God. I started taking note of the times I shied away from giving a compliment vs. the times I wanted to encourage freely.  I would hold back on the people who seemed more critical, demanding, distant, or people who I "feared" would hurt me.  I was zipped up tight when it came to dishing out a word of encouragement to these types of people.  Isn't that horrible???  I was playing God and judging people.  God started showing me that a lot of my perceptions about people were wrong or miscued.

As God sweetly started revealing the funk in my heart, I was disgusted with what I saw and learned about myself.  I asked Him to help me change my way of thinking and to help me see everyone around me the way "HE" sees them.  This took time.  I started becoming more aware of my own thoughts, and when they surfaced, I would pray for His help.  Slowly over time, I started encouraging those people who I "thought" didn't deserve compliments.  As I died to my own thoughts and began to walk in obedience, God's peace started rising up inside of me in this area of my life.

Throughout this period, I was reading scripture on how thoughts and words effect who we are, BUT it wasn't until God took me to Proverbs 27:5 that I truly "got it."  Proverbs 27:5 (MSG): " A spoken reprimand is better than approval that's never expressed." Wow!!!  I read and reread this scripture a hundred times.  God says that the pain we feel from a verbal lashing is BETTER than the pain of not hearing a compliment, encouragement, or approval from someone.  After reading this scripture, my immediate thought was "but we don't know when approval is NOT expressed."  God corrected me and said "yes" there are times when you and I know that approval is being denied.  My heart sank as I thought of how I had denied a kind word/approval based on my own stupidity.

I'm sharing this because God is asking me to write about it.  I'm not sure who will read this that needs it, but if you are playing God and judging people based on your own thoughts, stop!!  Start  praying for God to help you see others like He sees them.  Let words of encouragement flow out of your mouth and let God's peace feel your hardened heart.

Do I have this down pat?  Of course not!  But, I am more aware of what God wants me to say and do vs. my selfish thoughts.