Week One: Day 5

I have to admit that it took me a bit this morning to get into Day 5. However, toward the end I was really understanding what she was saying.

- She began by talking about Jesus' teachings in Luke. We thought about how the people who were listening to Jesus reacted. They were amazed and astonished at his gracious words.
- Authoritative words should never be harsh, and gracious words should never be without power.
- Jesus spoke with grace and truth.
- Christ is grace and truth, and He is our standard. That means your soul talk is to be permeated with grace and truth. If it's not gracious, stop talking to yourself that way. Throw those thoughts out of your thought closet. If it's not truth, stop meditating on it.
- We can't afford to hand that kind of untruth in our closests. It's too easty to retrieve and too hard to relinquish.
- When we call ourselves names, it's like getting a big, thick, black marker and writing that name on your least favorite sweater (imagine it's two sizes too small and wool!), then putting that sweater on and wearing it on the hottest day in July! And we wonder why we have bad days! Remember, you will wardrobe your life with what is in your thought closet.
- John 8:32 says the truth will free us. When you wardrobe yourself with one of the names hanging in your thought closet, you feel imprisoned because it isn't true or gracious!
- Name calling of yourself (AND OTHERS) is neither gracious nor true.
- Here's the kicker: To call yourself an untruthful, harsh name is a sin. It's an insult to God, demeans His workmanship, and devalues His creation.
- Who you are and what you struggle with are not the same thing. When you call yourself a name, it reflects what you struggle with; it is an emotional reaction. It is not a statement of who you are.
- To be like Christ is to be full of grace and truth.
- "Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." - Prov. 3:3
- "For my mouth will utter truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips." - Prov. 8:7
- "A truthful witness gives honest testimony, but a false witness tells lies." - Prov. 12:17