Calling all Sky City Girls…

As you know, Sky City has officially launched as a new gathering place for women in Christ.  You have been spreading the word, and the stats reflect hundreds of unique visitors have come to Sky City.  It is now time to meet up! 

The first Sky City evening will take place Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 8 PM at Octane Coffee Bar & Lounge in Midtown.  [1009-B Marietta Street NW, Atlanta, www.octanecoffee.com]  We will gather over coffee and debrief our thoughts on May’s discussion of The Eve Diet: The Value of an Apple & a Woman.  We will also discuss future direction for our community, and your feedback is invited.  Please join us next Wednesday night in the City. 

Look around your world.  Do you see heavy faces, dark places?  People in your life are struggling.  Everywhere it seems there is a family difficulty, relationship drama, career crossroad or financial burden.  There are people you love who don’t believe they are loved.  There are people in your life who have no faith in their life right now.  There are people in your path that have lost their way. 

What if you had the supernatural power to infuse life into the weary eyes, listless hearts, empty lives?  What if there was a way you could impart life to them right where they are?  

This week for the next stop on our “Eve Diet”, we consider another apple reference in Scripture.  “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11)  A word well-given is as valuable and beautiful as golden apples on a silver platter.  This word is a breath of fresh air, a moment of rest to someone. 

God’s Word has much to say about the words that drip from our mouths.  He wants us to catch a vision for the powerful force that is our tongue. 

“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” (Proverbs 16:24)  Do you know someone who needs healing?  Pleasant words touch and heal.

Do you know someone who needs help, who has needs?  (This is every one of us.  The point precisely.)  Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”   This verse shows us the power of words that are:

Focused: (”according to their needs”) Powerful words are words that are directed carefully, to the source of another’s individual need.  We get to know and care about someone, pay attention to their lives, and then we are ready to focus our words on their exact need.  This alone is powerful, because we all want to feel that someone else cares about the specifics of our lives. 

Uplifting: (”helpful for building others up”) They are to be words that lift up, encourage, motivate and cheer on.  Words that are literally helpful.  Words that contribute value to the circumstance and speak faith into it, rather than ambivalence or doubt.  Words that remind us that God is in control, He cares for us, He has a plan and wants us to trust Him.  Etc.

Life-giving: (”that it may benefit those who listen”) Thirdly, focused and uplifting words will benefit that person.  Heal, inspire, and renew them!  Change and spiritual momentum will come to the person because of your words.  Do you believe this?  This is the power of a woman’s words!  This is a golden opportunity for us to influence and affect lives.  And not just that one person to whom we speak, but life-giving words affect all “those who listen”.  Others in the vicinity of our conversations and lives will be affected by listening to our words.

The words of a woman can carry such weight!  They literally bring life to dark places.  May we make powerful use of our words today. 

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21)

Ponder This:  

• How do we misuse our tongues for death rather than life?
• Who in your path is hurting? 
• Ask Him to put words of life on your tongue today.

Savor this:

“The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.  He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”  Isaiah 50:4

Enjoy this:
Here’s a fun song for the week.  Download and enjoiy.
These Words (I Love You, I Love You) by Natasha Bedingfield

Eve had no idea when she chomped into that juicy piece of fruit (we’ll call it an apple) that the fate of the world would be altered forever.  She had been warned, but she didn’t fully grasp the potential that was embedded in her bite.  She unlocked, through an apple of all things, Pandora’s box, spilling its ills and tragedies into our world.  An apple??  A little “one-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away”?  Who could have imagined.

For the month of May, we will use several ‘apple’ references in Scripture as touch points for our journey.  We’ll examine our value as women, and we will ask the question, “What is my value?  What am I worth?”  This question must be answered, and it must be driven deep into our minds and hearts if we are to shine at full capacity as women of light.

Because it is so beautiful, let us begin with the love-line in Zechariah 2:8: ”Whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.”  This passage is referring directly to Israel, and yet it is for us to consider as well.  Ponder the thought that God calls his people, God calls you the apple of his eye.  You are His special and prized and protected and favored one.  We are collectively and individually the apple of his eye.  Beautiful.

I point to this as we start out because it is crucial.  I’d love it if you began to think of yourself in this way, if you began to go through your day mindful, not that a guy was noticing or not noticing your value, but that God Himself has His eye and heart on you.  Your value is determined by Him.

Since diamonds are a girl’s best friend, let me speak our language for a second.  Imagine you have a diamond.  You inherited it from a greatgrandmother, and now you want to know how much it is worth.  Where do you go?  Who do you ask?  The logical answer is a jeweler or an appraiser.  He would be the one to tell you the accurate value of your treasure.  Well, what if you are ready to know your value as a woman?  To whom should you go?  Naturally, the One who created you, your Creator, is the one to tell you your true value.  He is your Appraiser.

How many of us go all around the world asking anyone but the Creator to tell us our value?  We go to friends, to men, to our parents, to bosses, magazines, you name it, to tell us if we stack up and how much we are worth.  My friends, there is only one person who can rightly estimate your value!  He is the only One who can speak on the matter, and His appraisal is firm.

Ultimately, a diamond is worth what someone will pay for it.  The same is true for you.

When we ask God to appraise us, to show us our value, He says, “You are very valuable.  Your life is costly and expensive.  In fact, it cost me dearly.  It cost me the life of my Son, Jesus Christ.”  You cost the life of Jesus.  Your ‘pricetag’ for buying your life from sin and death was unspeakably high:  You cost the life of Jesus.  You are indeed worth that which the Appraiser has paid for you.  You are equal in value to the life of Jesus.  You are worth as much as the precious blood of Jesus, poured out for you.

“For you know it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (I Peter 1:18-19)

How valuable are you??  Take a second look this week at the cross.  You are worth more than you can imagine. 

Points to Ponder/Discuss: [Post your thoughts.]

• Where am I looking to discover my value?  Who, other than God, do I ask to define me?
• Do I believe that I am equal in value to Christ?  Is this true based on Scripture?
• Why do we as women need to know and recognize our value?

Soundtrack:  [Try to download this song this week to meditate on your value. See BurnLounge link under ”City Block” for downloading.]

Incorruptible by Watermark