Be careful what you pray for...

"I've been praying that the Lord would not abandon our country to our evil minds. That He would bring a revival of Himself to this country. May He start with you and I."

That was the ending sentence I finished my last post with.

This morning I was working on a Bible Study I'm doing with some absolutely inspiring women of God at my church, and Luke 6 was part of the study on building a solid foundation. It is part of a large teaching of Jesus, beginning with the beatttitudes and ending with the parable of the man who builds a house on a strong foundation. So, we studied the whole of the chapter to learn about what Jesus says we should focus on to be building this strong foundation. Make's perfect sense, it's the same sermon.

It has been a long time since I really felt God call me out so directly through Scripture.

Luke 6:43-45 says, "A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. A tree is identified by the kind of fruit it produces. Figs never grow on thornbushes or grapes on bramble bushes. A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say."

Confession: Yesterday I was extremely and unnecessarily rude to someone on the phone who was part of a larger problem impeding my ability to do my work. I knew it wasn't her fault that paperwork kept getting lost, but still treated her as if it were. I hung up the phone and felt immediately guilty, so I looked her up and apologized. She accepted.

I still felt guilty about it.

"Whatever is in your heart determines what you say."

God wasn't in my heart. My own sin was. My evil mind had taken over.

I prayed that the Lord wouldn't abandon us to our evil minds...

Thank you, sweet, merciful and forgiving Lord, for answering my prayer. For reminding me, for teaching me, for disciplining me.

This needs to be one passage I put to memory.