Don't Get Snared

Don't Get Snared

Today's Scripture:

You are snared by the words of your mouth…
Proverbs 6:2, NKJV.

Today's Word:

During the 1990’s, Jose Lima was the star pitcher for the Houston Astros. One season, he won 20 games and was considered one of the best pitchers in the league. When the Astros moved from the Astrodome to their new ballpark downtown, the fence in left field was much closer than the fence in the Astrodome. It favored the hitters and made it more difficult on the pitchers. The first time Jose Lima went to the new ballpark, he stood on the mound, looked at the fence, and the first words out of his mouth were, “I’ll never be able to pitch in here. The fence is way too close.” Sure enough, he went from being a 20-game winner to a 16-game loser. It was one of the biggest negative turnarounds in the history of the Astros. What happened? He prophesied his future.

Today, don’t get snared by the words of your mouth. When negative thoughts come, don’t speak them out; instead, speak life. Speak hope. Speak blessing. Speak what you seek! Speak the Word of God so you can move forward in the victory He has prepared for you!

Prayer for Today:

Father, today I submit my thoughts, my words, and every area of my life to You. Help me, by Your Spirit, to speak life according to Your Word. Help me to stay aligned with You on the path of blessing in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Just Be You

by Rick Warren

“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11:24-25 NIV)

Be yourself. Don't try to be somebody else. God made you for a purpose; he made you for a plan. There's nobody who can be you except you.

Moses had to deal with this at the very beginning of his life. In Egypt the baby Jewish boys were condemned to die, so his mother put him in a little boat in the Nile River. It happened that the daughter of Pharaoh was taking a bath, and she took this little boy back into the palace to raise him as her own son.

Moses had an identity crisis. He was born Jewish, but he was raised Egyptian. He had to ask himself at some point in his life, "Who am I?” This was quite an important choice because it would determine the rest of his life. He was in line to be Pharaoh. If he said, "I'm an Egyptian" and faked his heritage, he would live a life of ease. He would have an outstanding career. He would have fame and fortune.

If he said he was born Jewish he would be humiliated, kicked out of the palace, and sent to live with a bunch of slaves for the rest of his life.

Yet Moses saw his people being badly mistreated as slaves, and he could not be silent. He was a man of character and integrity. He could not quell his conscious. So he made a decision that cost him the next 80 years of his life.

Hebrews 11:24 says, "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter” (NIV). The word “refused” in the Greek literally means to reject, deny, to totally disown. Moses cut himself off from a promising career as an Egyptian, and he refused to live a lie. Instead, he wanted to do what God had made him to do.

There's something liberating about just being yourself. The quickest way to an ulcer is to try to be somebody you're not. If you want to live an effective life, just relax and be yourself.

Talk About It

• What differences do you notice — physically, emotionally, and in the way you treat others — when you are not trying to be anyone but yourself?
   
• What circumstances in your life need to change that pressure you to be someone you are not?
• PS
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU_rTX23V7Q