From the inside out

Today's creation:

Chocolate chip cookies for Papa

Today I:
Made Chocolate chip cookies (real ones)
Visited with a friend who came over
Made a creamy, cheesy vegetable soup that tasted oh so delish
Said farewell to our beta (he passed away in the evening) arg...
Finished reading a 400 page novel I had picked up from the library yesterday.

The book I read was about the power of our words. What if every private conversation you had was posted on the internet for everyone to read? It was a thought-provoking read- which is a good thing. Makes you wonder ... do my words have the power to affect invisible kingdoms, or am I just blowing hot air? If I took the Bible seriously, maybe I'd pray more about what is going on around me instead of
fortifying the problem by repeating it to others... Maybe the power of life and death really are in the tongue.


It also makes me think about the thoughts I allow to run free course sometimes. I read in Proverbs that just as water reflects a man's face, so does the heart reflect the man. Am I perfect? A quick scan of my thoughts resounds with an outright NO! My thoughts are filled with sinful tendencies - scorning others, ungracious, vanity... you could only imagine the rest.

I'm glad to be confronted about these things, because I think I've become oblivious to the fact that these thoughts grieve the Spirit of God. It's so easy to become smug or even proud of myself for not giving voice to the things that cross my mind, but I can't get off the hook that easy -  God desires truth from the inside out, not from the outside in. It's works versus a genuine transformation that comes by being filled with God's Spirit and by choosing to obey God instead of our own desires.
Reminds me of this song...

I just read a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon about grieving the Holy Spirit - well worth the read.
Made me cry. No, really. It did.

I need to go to bed.