If you give a friend a cookie…

If you have given your friend sound advice, do not be surprised to find yourself challenged in that very area! Assuming that your heart was clear of pride (for that alone will bring your fall!), then remember that you are the cause of the devil’s loss in the battle for your friend’s soul.  Therefore he will attack your own soul to seek revenge. Be not afraid; turn to your Lord and He will rescue you as He did your friend. 

Meet my friend, Jesus

Befriend Jesus.  If you truly love Him as your friend, you will want all of your other friends, who you love, to meet Him!  This encounter has nothing to do with converting them or convincing them, but simply the meeting of your two beloved friends.

100% Faithful

You must live in the present with the joy, hope and confidence of a soul whose past was 100% faithful and without blemish.  God has removed your sins from you as far as the east is from the west.  You are no longer associated with your sins in His mind.  You must no longer associate yourself with them, but rather walk tall, confident that you are free.

Fear of being falsely accused

If you fear being falsely accused, know that this is a twisted form of pride. Pray not for courage, but for humility.

Only pride could fear persecution for Christ's sake! And any time that we are persecuted because of Truth, we are persecuted because we are followers of Christ. Truly, what are you that you think yourself above your God? He too suffered persecution, He too was wrongly accused for the sake of Truth.

Correcting a Man

Woman, if you are going to correct a man, you must remember that he resides in his head. He will need you to be direct and forthcoming. Then, do not expect to talk about it. A man will want to use his own logic and reasoning to come to the necessary reordering. He is created to be the leader and to fight for what he believes in-- therefore his initial reaction will be one of surprise, which easily stokes his pride. Answer any questions he may ask, and if he refuses it as a possibility, insist that you are not seeing ghosts... but let him go to think through the issue at hand by himself. If he is a good man he will come back to you after he has wrestled through it with God and let you know the result.

The most important thing is that he knows that you respect him and love him unconditionally. In order for him to desire to wrestle with God, he must know that you believe he has what it takes to see it through and become a man of God.

Correcting a Woman

Men, in order to successfully and kindly correct a woman, you must be fatherly to her. Because she resides in her heart, the woman will have to open her heart and lay out all the contents if she is to take your correction into consideration. In order to do this well, she will need to be under the emotional protection of someone who deeply, unconditionally loves her; otherwise her heart will be trampled while it is laid out, vulnerable as it is to any attack! Thus, you must be as a father to her, unconditionally loving and gently protective of her delicate heart that it not be wounded.

Choose your timing wisely. For her to lay out the contents of her heart, reorder them and replace them inside will take a lot of time and need guidance if she is not to become overwhelmed and overcome. If you are going to correct her, be prepared and able to spend the time to help her carry out the reordering and to be her protection as she does so. If you remember these two things, you will be able to help her to grow into a more beautiful, whole woman.

The older brother

Do not be the older brother, who resents his father's love for his brother, the prodigal son. "Lo these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!" --Luke 15:29-30

When your brother who was dead comes back to life, who was lost is found, rejoice with the Father! He has promised "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." --Luke 15:31 Be content, and make merry that now your brother, too, may be with his Father.