Contemporary Psalms

6-18-13

Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but but I do have I give you..."

Courage and boldness to speak are God-given, but so is gentleness with which they are to be tempered, soaked in love and softened.. I am a vessel of mercy, a temple of the Holy Spirit, not a vessel of wrath. Lord, I am a work i progress!  Wet clay, I hope and pray, in Your hands. I see the need to change, and I humbly ask You to remove these defects of character. Thank You for what You reveal You intend to heal.  Thank You for revealing my erroneous belief that diplomacy is a cop-out, a form of peope-pleasing or a refusal to speak the truth in love. I need to re-define and re-learn gentleness, what it means to be gentle. I need gentleness to balance and soften the gifts of encouragement and edification which You have given me.

Forgive me, ord, for succumbing to cruel gadflies that have driven me harshly to be harsh. I am asking to be transformed and softened by Your compassion and love. It is Your job, not mine, to correct other people. I need to resign from that role and resist the lie that a friend is someone who stabs you in the front.  I have tried to be like Nathan, a true friend to David, a true friend. But my processing of that truth has been faulty at times. Before I speak, I need things to be SOAKED IN LOVE more than I have let them soak. Your Love will neutralize the vehemence I feel toward dishonesty and indirection. Thank You for revealing these unwitting wrong beliefs. I know from past experience that You need to reveal in order to heal. I hear You telling my heart to sing.My heart: SING!

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.