I subscribe to a wonderful newsletter edited by a self described former rabbinic student, who is still very active in his orthodox Jewish faith. I say that only because it has bearing on today’s entry. It takes financial resources to keep newsletters like his operational. He rarely asks for money, but this is a season for both Christians (Christmas) and Jews (Chanukah) to think about giving financially.
He received the following email from one reader. “Why would I donate to something with the name ‘Jewish’ in it?” Now here is the damning part, “You are not of my faith. I’m a Christian and Jesus is my savior.”
I about threw up all over on my screen! What a great Jesus story presented to someone who more than likely has a right to have a hard time with the name Jesus. I wrote an apology to the editor. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.
He writes, “A number of readers wrote in the last few days. They wanted to assure me that the letter I quoted from a rather obnoxious individual describing himself as a Christian didn’t in any way reflect them personally or normative Christianity. As a member of a religious minority I, for one, am particularly sensitive about not judging groups based on individuals. But even more than that, over the last 17 years I’ve learned much about Christians. Among the most crucial: There are those who identify as Christians and then there are those who live as Christians. And there’s a huge difference.”
People are watching your life! I encourage you to talk and walk your walk with Jesus. How? Live each day with your biblical filter in the “on” position to screen out all the voices vying for your attention in order to listen to and follow Jesus in your daily life. There is tremendous power in a changed life. Please, let the Spirit change your life. You won’t be the only one to benefit from it.
Set Free Now“W”w

The Bible clearly instructs us to walk with other believers. We are to be transparent with each other, right? I thought you might get a kick out of another possible one another.
“A joyful heart (brought on by laughter) is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). Hopefully this picture was a spoonful of medicine for you this fine Friday!
Set Free Noww“W”

It’s time to exercise. Count how many times you use the word “I” and “me” or any combination of these pronouns and time yourself while doing it to see how fast it takes you to get to 100.
When you’ve reached 100, filter the time it took you through Jesus’ statement that we are to listen to Him and follow Him (Jn. 10:27): how much time do you spend thinking about and listening to yourself rather thinking about and listening to Jesus?
2 Corinthians 10:5 states we are to “demolish arguments and every pretension (the “I” problem) that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” We are to tear down anything and everything that stands up to Christ, including ourselves. This exercise will help you to be honest with yourself. You, like me, probably think about yourself way too often, which if you are honest with yourself, is your major problem.
After exercising use the FREEdom process to start counting to Jesus faster than you do yourself as He is the solution to all our challenges.
Set “FREE” Nowww

I can remember vividly the very day when I fell in love with my then girl friend, Jan, who is now my wonderful bride of 27+ years. We were by the refrigerator in the house I was sharing with three other guys. I looked into her eyes and was hooked. To this day, I still feel tremendous joy looking into her loving and accepting eyes.
Now all those who are married will totally get what I’m about to say. There are times when you or your spouse does or says something that hurts. The last thing you want to do is to look into their eyes. What you want to do is to turn your back and either walk out of the room or roll over on your side of the bed. It’s a terrible feeling to be together and separate at the same time!
The moment we put our faith in what Jesus did for us, we became secure children of God. At that point, Jesus will never turn His back on us! His face will always be toward us. His eyes full of love and acceptance are always looking at us.
The question is, “Why would we let those loving eyes stare at the back of our head?” His love is unconditional (see Monday’s post), which means no matter how much we hurt or disappoint Him, we can look into His loving eyes. If only we would keep facing Him!
Don’t let your screw ups give you a double dip of pain – pain from messing up and pain from turning your back on the One whose hands are only reaching out to give you a hand up. You don’t have to put your head down! Get up and look straight into those loving and accepting eyes again. Let Him exchange your feeling of shame with significance and disgust with love.
When you fail, you choose what Jesus will see – your back or your face. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true: Jesus wants to look into your eyes and heal you. Let Him.
Jesus, our High Priest, is praying this for you and for me: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).
“S”et Free N“O”www

As healthy believers we don’t feel, but rather think our way into action as faith based decisions often go against the way we feel at any given moment. I like taking my drugs of choice as they make me feel good; yet this immediate high eventually becomes disastrous. Jesus asks us then to listen to and follow Him, which in some cases will not make sense let alone feel right.
One author put it this way, “Feelings are functional only when they are under intellectual control. When the opposite is the case, when feelings rule thought processes, irrational thinking and behavior are the inevitable outcome.” He showed through research that “for more than forty years, parents and schools have put more emphasis on children’s feelings (i.e., making them feel good about themselves) rather than on their thoughts. This is why so many of them have such difficulty thinking straight: choosing responsibility over irresponsibility, delaying gratification, holding back the wild horses of their impulses.”
It’s okay to feel, but they must be processed through the Truth. Jesus didn’t feel like going to the cross in Gethsemane; yet, He went anyway as He filtered His feelings through what His Father told Him. Aren’t you glad His emotions were under the control of His thoughts?
S“E”t Free Nowww