Public Appearances


Me and my Blessings! 

RISE AND SHINE FOR JESUS!
By Pam Iannello (my late mother)


"Public Appearances"

Would you consider yourself to be a spiritually disciplined person? Do you get up early to read your Bible and pray? Do you read a set number of chapters every day? Do you faithfully tithe and even offer extra financial support for church needs or various ministries? Do you have certain convictions that you strongly adhere to, such as long hair, long dresses, no birth control etc.? How much of your personal relationship with Christ is kept private and how much is made public?

Matthew 6:16-18 (KJV)
Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. [17] But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; [18] That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Basically, fasting is the laying aside of food for a period of time when the believer is seeking to know God in a deeper experience. It is to be done as an act before God in the privacy of one’s own pursuit of God, drawing near to Him in prayer. Fasting is the perfect example of spiritual discipline. To refrain from food for an extended period of time takes a lot of effort and self-control. But no matter how good our spiritual disciplines may be it is not right to overact the part!

Are your spiritual disciplines devoted to God alone, or have you been trying to make a name for yourself with them? Jesus said that a hypocrite uses his spiritual disciplines to gain attention; his motives are not pure; they are polluted with self-righteousness. Things that are truly holy are not going to glorify self above God.

Are you the kind that thinks you have to look like you’re severely deprived in order to be considered holy? Are you overdoing it a bit, dear lady? Do you deliberately sport a dismal countenance and disfigure your face in the presence of other people so they might think you are a spiritual giant of sorts? For instance, everyone else might be in a high spirited mood while enjoying a cheery time of fellowship and there you sit, overly sober minded for the setting, refusing to crack a smile because you are so “close to God”. Listen, if reading ten chapters of your Bible every morning is going to turn you into a social stick in the mud you better cut back! God never intended us to employ our private relationship with Him to poison our public behavior. The truth is designed to counteract hypocrisy, not cultivate it!

It is tempting to want to show others that you are fasting; our pride loves to flaunt the things which we have chosen not to participate in to the end that we might be viewed as serious about God. Some Christian women have come to the place in their walk with the Lord where they refrain from wearing pants. And hopefully that is a decision that they have arrived at privately by way of the Word and Spirit of God rather than for the public advancement of self. Is there a chance you could be sporting a few of your convictions in a pious fashion? Some Christian women have chosen to abstain from using birth control in an attempt to become known as being closer to God for having a large family. I’ve even seen some wives dramatize their abhorrence of sin in the company of their husbands so that they might prove that their spouse is ungodly and they are not! Are you guilty of disfiguring your face with downcast expressions (grief, pain, displeasure) so that others will pick up on your saintly struggles and credit you for them? Ladies, there are all sorts of ways that we try to appear as if we were “suffering for Jesus”. Unfortunately, many of our outward exhibitions are nothing more than a result of “hamming it up” as the Pharisees did and aren’t even remotely related to our personal relationship with God at all!

A lot of believers think it is hard to live the life of a sincere Christian but I would have to say that I think it would be harder to live the life of a hypocrite! What a difficult part they have to act; how draining to be preoccupied with the form of godliness while not really owning it! Pretending humility is twice as hard as acquiring it. What mood do you assume as you strive to draw nearer to the Lord? What are the reasons for what you do as a Christian? Are you giving more thought to the penetrating eye of God or man’s view of your person? Do you desire the name of holiness or the condition of holiness?

God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2006 Pamela A. Iannello


"A Trumpet Lesson" - Handle Conflict Properly Series, Part 1


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Senses Secured

Image
RISE AND SHINE FOR JESUS! By Pam Iannello (my late mother) "Senses Secured" Proverbs 7:1-5 (KJV) My son, keep my words , and lay up my commandments with thee. [2] Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye . [3] Bind them upon thy fingers , write them upon the table of thine heart . [4] Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman : [5] That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words . As I studied this portion of scripture I was heavily struck with the importance of having our senses saturated with the Word of God. You see, sexual sin often begins with unguarded eyes, hands, and hearts… And knowing that the rest of this chapter vividly deals with the unhealthy situation that occurred between a simple young man and a strange woman, it is no wonder that the Lord opens the story with strong scriptural advice! Truly, it is a perfect text to teach young ...
Read more

One Day At A Time

Image
I wanted to send you this poem today, and I remember it sitting on my mother's desk for many years before she died. She was always encouraged by this poem and I hope you will be encouraged with its truths along with me... "One Day at a Time" One day at a time, with its failures and fears, With its hurts and mistakes, with its weakness and tears, With its portion of pain and its burden of care; One day at a time we must meet and must bear. One day at a time to be patient and strong, To be calm under trial and sweet under wrong; Then its toiling shall pass and its sorrow shall cease; It shall darken and die, and the night shall bring peace. One day at a time - but the day is so long, And the heart is not brave, and soul is not strong, O Thou pitiful Christ, be Thou near all the way; Give courage and patience and strength  for the day. Swift cometh His answer, so clear and so sweet; "Yea, I will be with thee, thy troubles to m...
Read more

Haynes Family Prayer Letter - October 2018

Image
October 2018 Dear Supporting Churches and Friends, Got some good news to report in from this past month.  First, I will tell you about a great project which Justine is doing  for two orphanages in Rome. A while back, somebody gifted Justine about 100 skeins of yarn (that’s one of those yarn thingies for all you guys out there).  Justine was praying about using the yarn to make something on a large scale for a group of people, but also using it to get the Gospel of our Lord Jesus to that specific group .  One of Justine’s heroes is Dorcas because she made garments for the poor as her ministry, which ultimately brought Glory to God when Peter raised her from the dead in Acts 9.  Justine got in touch with an orphanage in Rome which currently has 80 kids living there. Justine explained everything to the director and they were THRILLED about handmade scarves and gave us the “green light” to send everything.  T...
Read more