Do my ears look like trash cans?

Today I choose to live a day of integrity.
Today I choose to not get offended and to forgive quickly.
Today I choose to be a loving mother and an encouraging wife.
Today I choose to walk forward in my relationship with Christ.
Today I choose to forgive myself the way that Christ has forgiven me.
Today I choose to walk in the joy of the Lord.

Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing..."

What am I listening to? What am I putting my faith in?

Am I listening to my friends and families woes to the point that I am putting faith in their injustices? Am I picking up their offenses or judging others by their words. If my friend comes to me and talks bad about her husband do I not judge him through her eyes and then take her offense as if it is my own?

We need to protect our ears. We are supposed to be full of the joy of the Lord, because the joy of the Lord is our strength. Is our strength being washed out by the trash that other people want to put on us? Out of our own need to be needed and wanted in the lives around us what are we letting other people do to our own faith. I am sorry but if I listen to everything going on around me it's hard to keep the faith that God works all things for good.

Circumstances are just circumstances. I know that I have walked through some devastating places, I have hurt, I have cried a river of tears, I have been angry at God. Circumstances grow us up. However, if we take our circumstances and focus on them, talk solely about them, then they become our sole focus. There is a difference between truth and reality. Reality is where we live, truth is the Word of God and the promises that He made to us. They are true no matter what our reality is. An example would be, "We have no money", but the Word says in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Does that entitle me to live the prosperity message that's so abundant right now, no, but what it does is give me hope for the future. Today may be the worst place I have ever walked, but the Lord says that he has plans for my future. I chose to cling to that promise.

What are we listening to? Yesterday we talked about our own thoughts. Today lets continue to think about what we are listening to from not only ourselves but others. Share your burdens with others, listen to them as they pour their heart out about how they feel, but don't let the trash come into the conversation. If they are coming to us for prayer, for ministry, as a mentor, as a friend to seek God's will that is wonderful, if they are just coming with their defilement to add only that to our lives then that is not okay.

Lord, I love you and I pray that you give me clean ears. That even as I travel through my life that I will be able to know the difference between defilement and someone coming to seek you through me. Lord, today I give you my ears to hear the cries of your children, I pray that you will give me the wisdom to know one from the other. Let me have a willing heart to do your work Lord but let my faith rest in you today and every day for eternity. In Jesus mighty name. Amen.