It All Begins With a Whisper...

How many of us are familiar with this "But Why God?!" look?! LOL!


My Pastor mentioned something in this past Sunday’s sermon that has stayed with me… He talked about how all sin starts with a whisper in your ear and a thought and then a decision you make based upon that thought. So the sin is actually birthed with the decision that you decide to make, prior to any actions that occur based upon that decision.

Since he preached this, I have been trying to weigh my thoughts carefully before making any decisions.  This is really hard for me, as I am an emotional person, which I suppose is both a good AND bad thing, it is important to bring our thoughts under submission, carefully analyze them before making any decisions.

A whisper into your ear

A thought
The birth of a decision

As someone who hasn’t made “wise” decisions during her 5 year prodigal time, I see this as a perfect tester to decisions I now make, (notice I didn’t say it makes it “easier”) it just helps me try to measure what decisions I make, why I make them and whether it is in line what God would have me do.  I’m not saying that this is something that I am “successful” at 100% of the time, but I figure if I bring every thought under submission to Christ, it will save me a lot of pain in the future!  When you have become an “ex-prodigal” you have sensitivity and a humbleness set inside of you that makes you keener and more aware of where your decisions might lead you.  Hopefully my prodigal experience has made me wiser because I sure as HECK don’t wanna journey down THAT emotional pathway again, I got my emotional butt kicked badly and I have NO desire to make bad choices that result in further pain or anguish.  (Chalk that up under the “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” line of thinking)... There are consequences that we have to experience that comes along with any decision we make and even if you get out of a prodigal situation (based on poor decisions) the consequences of those actions follow you. There is no turning back the page, although God makes it so that through Him you can go forward, and each new day of life is a fresh new page to write upon.  YOU are the one who chooses what you will write and what you write is based upon the decisions that you choose to make.

 

There have been times when I have felt led to share with someone what my prodigal experience had been and even though I am an ex-prodigal, it has been something that has not been easy for me to do. Each prodigal type situation differs from person to person. Mine was not a crime or drug or alcoholic or addiction related situation - but there are those prodigals who have experienced that as their mistaken pathway.  ANY type of prodigal, sinful situation is hard to share with someone else. It's humbling, if God leads you to share your experience with someone, it is probably to help them know that they are not alone (and  to let someone know others who have experienced the same).  It is scary to feel as though someone will judge you for what you've been through or the "bad" decisions you have made and it makes it hard to open up to people, but the thing is - EVERYONE whether or not they will admit it makes bad decisions at one point or another and there is NO degree of sin.  ALL sin is the same.  If you have made Jesus your personal Lord and Savior the Bible tells us that He throws your sins as far as the East is to the West!  He throws them in the sea of forgetfulness! (Read Micah Chapter 7 verse 19).  No one has the right to judge you, they should be MORE concerned about themselves and what they need to get right in their own lives, and we should be more concerned with what God thinks and not what others do.

What is being whispered into your ear?  Is it coming from the flesh?  Is it coming from the evil one? Bringing every thought under submission is not an easy thing to do.  I don’t know about you, but I am probably one of the least patient individuals you would ever meet!  My thoughts are ALL over the place, bringing every thought that I have under Christ’s submission is an exhausting thing, kind of like being an older parent with a young toddler who is asking 100 questions a minute and then adding the question “but why?!!” to each of those 100 questions! (LOL~ that’s me!) We are human and every decision we make won’t always be perfect – some of the decisions we make lead us right into the next lesson God allows us to experience in order to grow, but there are consequences to each decision we make on every thought we have, if we recognize that we need to stop, think and measure each thought and categorize it for what it truly is – a temptation, a course of action that will make a certain effect on our lives if we weigh it as to what God would have us do, it either becomes something we totally toss out or something we decide to go upon.  Oh how I wish I could just push my thoughts over to God and say, “Here, I’ve made you Lord of my life, my Savior, YOU do the thinking for me from now on and I will just sit back in my easy chair with my hands behind my head, whistling a tune and leave ALL the thinking to YOU.” To which God has said to me, “Sorry Kelly Girl, it doesn’t WORK that way.  I have given YOU this life to live. So live it, in ME making wise decisions, I've given you a guidebook in the form of the Bible... Try reading it, you won't gain understanding by osmosis.”  That’s when I stomp my feet and give him my best childish not-happy-with-what-my-Father-has-said-to-me frowns.

But the thing I’ve truly learned from the pain I experienced as a Prodigal – is that I love Him more.  I know what it is like to be outside of His will (and believe me when i say it is not a place you want to be).  I desire to please Him, hopefully more than I desire to please myself.  I want to live a life that gives Him glory, honor and praise.  I KNOW what it feels like to fall into a pit I can’t get out of and struggle and struggle and struggle climbing out of it and how it was only by Him rescuing me, forgiving me, guiding me, loving me, putting up with me, cleaning me off and setting me on solid ground that I am standing outside of that deep pit (mine was called the pit of heartbreak, maybe yours is/was different).  And I’m SO thankful I’m out of it – yet if I turn around I can see it from where I am and I have absolutely NO desire to venture right back down into that pit (or any other for that matter).  Now don't think I am always successful in making "wise decisions" because I'm not... I think I have probably had more childlike toddler temper tantrums before my Father than ANY child should have (or any parent wants to experience).  But they have been fruitless because God's no means NO.  There is no finagaling around it, and there is usually a reason for that NO that we don't see because our minds are not God's mind.  However, I'm quite sure there are many of us who have disobeyed that "no" at times, gotten our fingers burned bad and then been like - ooookkkkaaaaaaay now I see WHY you said no.  After the fact... Thank God for a Father who sighs, shakes His head at us in exasperation and then leans down to kiss our self-inflicted, caused by disobedience boo-boo with His forgiveness, grace and love. Even when we make unwise decisions, you have a Father who stands not too far off in the distance willing to direct you back towards the way you should go.

What thoughts are running through your mind… Remember there is a pathway to each decision.  You get to choose because you have free will.  What will you choose?  I find myself having to declare – I CHOOSE YOU LORD.  Even when I’m fussing and having a temper tantrum because things have not turned out the way I want them to.  I constantly have to remind myself that I only know “part” of the story.  God knows it all.  He knows my story in its fullness.  It makes me love Him more because in spite of myself – He still LOVES emotional, impatient, rollercoaster moods – ME and that goes for YOU as well.

I believe that no matter what your situation, God can turn your life around – but HE is the only one that can do it.  It’s not something we have the strength to do on our own.  The difference is when HE turns your life around – He turns it around for GOOD.  There is no denying that it was God who did it.  You just know that you know that you know that it is not something you can take the credit for.  It’s ALL Him.

What decisions are you making based upon those thoughts based upon those whispers into your ears?  God knows your heart.  He knows the desires that you have, He is the Creator of the whole universe, His thoughts are so much greater than ours. He is able to do and give and be all that you need and so much more… As I’m thinking about the desires of my heart and the prayer requests I’ve prayed I realize how tiny they are and the truth of the matter is I need to have MORE faith, faith that God hears me.  Faith that God will meet those needs in my life in such a more significant way than ever… A whisper… that becomes a thought… That becomes a decision that leads down a pathway… The choice is yours.