bless you

Last weekend I went to church with Kevin & fam in Cleburne. They were going through presbytery (1Ti 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery) that week where leaders from that church and other churches will come and prophesy over people in the church. They record it so that you can keep the words of encouragement spoken over you.

Anyway, there was a guest teacher that weekend, a guest teacher I happened to have heard about already. His name is Kerry Kirkwood and he pastors a church in Tyler, TX. In our small group every other Monday, I remember that Candiss had talked about a "recent" service at Shady Grove where he had preached this really super awesome message about blessing. By recent I of course mean last June. Anyway, what we talked about was really good and so Erin & I asked Candiss to get us cd copies of the teaching.

Flash forward to this morning - I still hadn't listened to that dang cd! She got it to me like 2 days after I was aware of said teaching's existence and I didn't listen to it for 9 dang months! Geesh! This is a something about myself that is prevalent in other areas of my life and I need to work on that (I'll add it to the list)!

Nevertheless, this morning I was reading in my daily study bible that Annie and I are going through together. (It's supposed to work out where you'll be finished in a year, but....what are "deadlines" anyway... *nervous*) Aaaaanybuns, I was reading in Romans this morning and I got to this verse (which is also where I stopped):

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation." -Rom. 12:14-16

This instantly did two things in me. 1. Struck a chord. 2. Reminded me of that Kerry Kirkwood cd that was still shining brightly on top of my turn table (thanks Keevs!) - though it's luster was a bit diminished by the layer of dust that has been ceaselessly accumulating on it's sweet face.

Let me talk about each of those numbas.

1. Bless those who persecute you. We've all heard this before I'm sure. But to really put it into practice? To truly desire to bless someone who dislikes you or works against you or even loathes you? To pray for their good and for the fulfillment of God's best for them in their lives? That's a difficult thing to do with a sincere heart and without selfish intentions. Especially when you don't particularly like this person and maybe.....maybe it might feel pretty nice to see them NOT succeed and NOT be blessed.

This is sadly true of me in lots of areas. And of course by cursing, it doesn't mean saying "I curse you that you will bear no children and that you will die......SOON....AND HORRIBLY!" I mean, I guess maybe some people think things like that but that's a little creepy. It means even something as simple as calling someone an idiot - even if you don't verbalize it.

(Sidebar: There is a lot more I could write about associating with the lowly, not being haughty in mind or wise in my own estimation, but I think if I want people to actually finish reading this mini novella, I'll save it for another entry. TWICE!)

2. When I was FINALLY listening to the cd in my car this morning, Kerry Kirkwood (who, henceforth will be referred to as KK) was describing cursing as calling someone something less than what God has created them to be. Dang. When he said that my instant thought was, "Oh no." I do that more often than I would like to admit, even if it's only in my mind. The instances and capacities might be too many to mention here.

KK also said that when we curse others, in cursing God's creation, we in turn curse him. As it says: "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" Mat. 25: 40

I think I'm going to start trying to bless some more. If you are in anyway interested in listening to this blessing discourse, you can listen to some of his teachings at the Trinity Fellowship Church website and get your bless on!

.......

*runs away*