Today is election day in the United States. Our treasured democratic process allows us citizens to participate in the process of choosing our leaders. We like having the freedom to make choices, and thanks to our peaceful transition of power, the choices made by the majority go into effect whether or not thousands of people have disagreed with who the winners should be. There is so much dissension in our country, though, that we seem to be at a place where the world is looking in and saying, “What has gotten into you?”

This idea of having choices reminded me of my childhood. Sometimes, I made choices that weren’t approved of by my parents. Whenever I would do something wrong as a result of a stupid mistake as a kid, I remember my mother saying to me, “Sharon, what got into you?” In other words, Momma was saying that she really couldn’t believe it was her daughter acting this way or trying to pull off this stunt. I knew I had a punishment coming too because disobedience was a sign of acting out of character which simply was not tolerated.

Unfortunately for him, Lucifer didn’t have a mom like mine to pull him back into line. The prophet Isaiah details his stupid mistake:

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit” Isaiah 14:12-15 (NKJ).

Five times, Lucifer said, “I will.” What got into him to make him think he was really able to place his throne above God’s and be like God? I’ll tell you what got into Lucifer: sin. Ezekiel 28:15 plainly states of him, “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you” (NKJ).

Yes, it’s sad to say, but the same thing that got into Lucifer got into all of us. Lucifer had no where to go but down. That’s the fate we also deserve. Every time we’re disobedient, we are pointing our puny finger at God, telling Him to get off of the throne because we are now going to take that seat of control in our own lives. We want to be God. Once we get to this place, there’s no where to go but down. Ouch.

Mercifully, Jesus has done something about that rebellious streak in us. We now need to surrender to what the blood of Jesus has done: washed away all our sin, even our sin of demanding our right to ourselves. Let’s step down from our own throne and bow before God’s.

__________________________________

©2018 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Links you won’t want to miss: 

• Watch Sharon in two shows on The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network: 
  • Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott, and
  • A View from the Upper Room

from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv  and on HSBN’s You Tube channel.

(Stream current show or view past episodes anytime!)

• Join the movement! Closer Walk 2018(c) https://closerwalk2018.wordpress.com
• 366 Glimpses of God: Getting to Know the God Who Knows You.
• Start every day of your new year with one of these thoughtful devotional readings that will focus your attention on our amazing heavenly Father.

http://www.hsbn.tv/_store.html#!/366-Glimpses-of-God-Getting-to-Know-the-God-Who-Knows-You/p/77442498/category=15564996

• Pick up copies of Sharon’s books for yourself and as gifts for your family members and friends!

• Why I Get Into Trouble: Order through Sharon’s website: www.LifeThatMatters.net

• Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Boomerangs Videolink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

• Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

Sharon’s other books still available:

For several weeks each summer, I have the happy experience of spending several weeks in New Orleans with my youngest son Mark, his beautiful wife Tabatha, and my adorable grandchildren Dallas and Jordyn. My love for Mark and Tabatha has not diminished in the least, but as Nana to those babies, I am laser focused on them and just can’t get enough. Since one of my main heart’s desires is that my grandchildren actual know me, not just know about me, while I’m with them, I spend as much time as possible hugging and cuddling. They love to hug and cuddle too, so we’re a perfect trio. We all just love to be close. We touch. We hold hands, cradle each other’s faces, squeeze each other around the neck, kiss each other’s cheeks, and pat each other on the back. In a real sense, we “grope” each other in all the appropriate Nana/grandbaby ways.

Imagine my surprise when I read Paul’s use of the word “grope” in the Bible. While at Athens, Paul encountered a bunch of so-called philosophers who “spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21 NKJ). The town was filled with idols, even one with the inscription “To the Unknown God” (Acts 17:23). As Paul explained that “God, who made the world… and has made from one blood every nation of men” was this unknown God, he went on to say that God did it so that men “might grope for Him and find Him” (Acts 17:26-27). The Greek word “pselaphao” means “to handle, touch, feel; mentally to seek after tokens of a person or thing.”

It looks to me as if Paul is recommending that we do with God what I do with my grandchildren: grope. As we “handle” God through reading His word, “touch” God through prayer, and “feel” God in praise, worship, and meditation, we will come to know Him, not just know about Him. And isn’t that our heart’s desire?

________________________

©2018 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Links you won’t want to miss: 

• Watch Sharon in two shows on The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network: 
  • Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott, and
  • A View from the Upper Room

from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv  and on HSBN’s You Tube channel.

(Stream current show or view past episodes anytime!)

• Join the movement! Closer Walk 2018(c) https://closerwalk2018.wordpress.com
• 366 Glimpses of God: Getting to Know the God Who Knows You.
• Start every day of your new year with one of these thoughtful devotional readings that will focus your attention on our amazing heavenly Father.

http://www.hsbn.tv/_store.html#!/366-Glimpses-of-God-Getting-to-Know-the-God-Who-Knows-You/p/77442498/category=15564996

• Pick up copies of Sharon’s books for yourself and as gifts for your family members and friends!

• Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

• Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Boomerangs Videolink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

• Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

Sharon’s other books still available:

I’ll admit it. I like being right. And I’m not by myself. I don’t know anyone who likes being wrong. We like being right so much that we’ll settle for being half right rather than admit the wrong that is our part of the problem, conversation, or situation. I thought about this as I read Proverbs 19:11. It says, “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression” (NKJ). The New Living Translation renders the verse this way, “Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.” You see, I have no problem with the “slow to anger” part of this verse. In that respect, I’m in the right, but the “overlooking wrongs” part is another story. So I’m half right. I want to see wrongs fixed, and when others insist upon “wronging” me, or holding onto grudges, etc., that just gets my goat. I cannot look at them with the same level of respect I once had until the burr under my skin is relieved. And for me, that relief comes through a conversation in which I feel I am totally heard and respected, one from which I can depart knowing my views were seriously taken into consideration.

Although I struggle with one of the two aforementioned concepts, God talks about being slow to anger and overlooking a transgression in the same breath. Our inner ability to control our anger makes us sensible people, and that sensibility and discretion has an outward manifestation, which is the ability to overlook wrongs. We then gain the reputation of respectability. In other words, we lose respect when we do not demonstrate that we have overlooked a wrong. And we hold onto wrongs because we have not let go of our anger about being wronged in the first place.

So upon further inspection, I’m not really half right when I say I’m slow to anger but I find it hard to overlook wrongs. In truth, I may be slow to anger, but once I’m angry, that’s it, baby. I’m holding that person in the vice of my anger until the conversation can be had on my terms to get things right. So my failure to let it go cancels out any gain I may have received for being slow to get angry in the first place.

Letting go means extending forgiveness and restoring relationships. Wouldn’t we rather be all right with God than half right, or even none right, with our spouse, kids, other family members, friends, and co-workers? We’re fooling ourselves if we believe that we can forgive without restoration. God’s forgiveness of us was for the sole purpose of restoring us into a right relationship with Him. And He tells us we are not forgiven and restored to Him unless we forgive and restore others. Matthew 6:15 is clear, “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (NKJ).

With whom do we need to make amends? We’re better together. You be the one to make the first call. That will make you 100% right.

________________________

©2018 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Links you won’t want to miss: 

• Watch Sharon in two shows on The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network: 
  • Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott, and
  • A View from the Upper Room

from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv  and on HSBN’s You Tube channel.

(Stream current show or view past episodes anytime!)

• Join the movement! Closer Walk 2018(c) https://closerwalk2018.wordpress.com
• 366 Glimpses of God: Getting to Know the God Who Knows You.
• Start every day of your new year with one of these thoughtful devotional readings that will focus your attention on our amazing heavenly Father.

http://www.hsbn.tv/_store.html#!/366-Glimpses-of-God-Getting-to-Know-the-God-Who-Knows-You/p/77442498/category=15564996

• Pick up copies of Sharon’s books for yourself and as gifts for your family members and friends!

• Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

• Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Boomerangs Videolink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

• Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

Sharon’s other books still available:

It’s Time to Write that Book!

June 8-9, 2018

St. Matthew Ecumenical Catholic Church, 1111 W. Town & Country Road, Orange, CA 92868

**OR**

June 29-30, 2018

Brand New Life Christian Center, 1110 W. Taft Ave., Orange, CA 92865

Friday evening: 5pm – 9pm, All day Saturday: 9am – 6pm

No more excuses!

The AuthorizeMe® seminar will answer all your questions and meet all your needs. Get that book out of your head, down onto paper, and into a professional book proposal format ready to present to an acquisition editor of a major publishing house.

Here’s the truth: writing a book is hard work, publishing a book is harder work, and marketing a book is the hardest work of all. But if your heart is telling you to write your book, and especially if God is nudging you to write your story, let AuthorizeMe® ease the struggle as you follow your heart and obey the Lord. AuthorizeMe® comes alongside you as you navigate through the choppy seas of becoming a published author.

Spots are filling so get your registration and tuition payment in right away!

The AuthorizeMe® company must know the numbers to expect at the seminar in advance to be sure to bring enough workbooks, handouts, and supplies.

Click http://www.authorizeme.net/online_reg.htm to fill out the registration form.

When you hit “Submit”, you will be connected to the PayPal payment page where you can send either your $50 down payment or your full $199 tuition payment. If you are not ready to send your payment, but you know you definitely plan to attend, send an email message to AuthorizeMe® CEO Sharon Elliott to have her hold your place.

AuthorizeMe@sbcglobal.net

• Friends, Thank you for all your birthday wishes. Sixty – yes 60 – is starting off strong. Let’s give each other a birthday gift. Your gift to me will be to purchase my new book, 366 Glimpses of God: Getting to Know the God Who Knows You. My gift to you is the journey you’ll take getting to know God better while reading each devotion every day this year.

When Osama Bin Laden was killed, some people in America rejoiced in the streets. After all, this one man had accepted blame for masterminding the 9-11 terrorist attacks within our borders. Acts carried out under his direction left many loved ones with empty arms and hearts when the planes used as missiles hit their marks. Even the plane that missed its target crashed in a field killing all aboard. Wasn’t the celebration of punishment for Bin Laden justified?

Not in God’s sight.

Ezekiel 33:11 states, “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live…’” (NKJ). Bin Laden professed that he devoutly followed a religion that does not believe that Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and there’s no other way to get to God except by the acknowledgement of who Jesus is (See John 14:6). The atrocities sanctioned by Bin Laden were indeed wicked acts, but God had no pleasure in his death. Why? Because He is longsuffering (patient) toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” Second Peter 3:9 (NKJ).

We see Bin Laden’s sin as so much worse than our own. The truth is: none of us deserve salvation. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans3:23 (NKJ). Any sin is enough to preclude us from Heaven. It’s only thanks to God’s amazing grace and mercy that our lives were not cut short before we had a chance to come into the saving knowledge of Christ, trust Him as our Savoir, and be welcomed as part of the family of God.

By all indications, Bin Laden is spending the rest of all eternity in hell’s fires along with everyone else who died without the saving knowledge of Christ. That’s nothing for us to celebrate. God gets no pleasure in an unsaved soul. Let’s busy ourselves today and every day spreading the Gospel so the tragedy of a lost soul won’t happen to anyone with whom we come in contact.

___________________________

©2016 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

________________________________

Mission Trip Update! I think about Africa every day. My new Motherland friends and I stay in contact thanks to Facebook. God is the true international God; Jesus is the international Savior; the Holy Ghost is the international Spirit. Love for our God crosses country checkpoints without needing a passport or a visa.

________________________________

Links you won’t want to miss: 

• Watch Sharon in two shows on The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network: 
  • Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott, and
  • A View from the Upper Room

from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv. 

(Stream current show or view past episodes anytime!)

• Pick up a copies of Sharon’s books for yourself and as gifts for your family members and friends!

• Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

• Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Boomerangs Videolink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

• Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

Sharon’s other books still available: