â Today's Promise: âI the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.â Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV)
Words of Encouragement
As you continue your journey through life and as God works on your restoration, I would like you to keep an eye on your motives. Now that you are pursuing the Lord you are more likely to do good than ever before. And this is a good thing! However, your motives are particularly important, actions such as manipulation, looking good, over righteousness, taking power into your own hands should be extremely far from you.
Endeavour that in everything you do that God gets the glory. He who paid the price for your life deserves to be seen in everything you do. For instance, you are a good worker at your employment because God gets the glory not for a promotion, you are courteous because He gets the glory not because you want to win hearts, you are patient because He gets seen. Furthermore, you are not seeking to look good, to be underhanded in any way.
Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV)
âI the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.â
Iâve been reading a book about demonic activity, this group of Christians in 1960s China had much success casting out demons.  However, one time they failed miserably. When they went back and prayed to the Lord about the defeat, He said that he had not given them power to remove the demon because they had become puffed up like a sort of âlocal justice leagueâ of exorcising demons. They had forgotten that they were there for Godâs glory to be seen and now they had become superstars.
Hebrews 4:11-13 (ESV)
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
They Had to repent of their motives and the next time they went to remove the demon, remembering it was all for Godâs glory they were successful. So, as you are dealing with your wife, your kids and others concerning what is going on - remember it is all for Godâs glory. Be careful with your words, be careful with your motives, the Lord sees your heart.
One time my wife called me because she had no money and she wanted more than the child support I was supposed to pay. I had no money myself because child support was so high, and all the debts were in my name. I felt the urge to say something about poor money management but denied myself. Then I gave out of kindness and concern for her not having groceries. We had always had arguments about the money; However, I did not take this opportunity to show that I was managing what money I was left with. Later she said that providing for her despite being separated had really touched her.
In Acts 4, the church is in a growth phase and everyone is pitching in their resources to help one another. Two in this group were Ananias and his wife, Sapphira; they also had sold a field in order to give the money to the church. Part of the profit from their sale was kept back by them, and Ananias only laid a part of the money at the apostlesâ feet. However, Ananias made a pretence of having given all the proceeds. When this hypocritical show was exposed, Ananias fell down and died (Acts 5:4). When Sapphira showed up, she, too, lied to Peter and to God, saying that they had donated the entire proceeds of the sale of the land to the church. As a result of repeating her Husbandâs lie, she also fell down and died at Peterâs feet.
What was their motive? I can only speculate they wanted to look good perhaps. Had they had clean motives (and no one had forced them to donate all the proceeds of sale) they would have lived. Therefore, ensure that what is driving you is the Holy Spirit. Do not be driven by vengeance, selfishness, vain glory, pride, lust or naked ambition. Let your motives be selfless and pure before Him.
~ Tad RESTORED in Australia
If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to read my testimony and then my wife's encouragement.