by Hannah Hanzel | Jun 7, 2017
You just wrapped up lunch with your girlfriends. Your lipstick’s worn off from chatting and your mascara’s going to need reapplication from laughing so hard you cried. That’s when you realize that something else is worn out – your spirit. No amount of cosmetics will cover up how bruised and hurt your spirit is.
All throughout the meal you patted it on the head, consoling it by justifying your gossip. Then it quickly turned to hatefully ignoring the conviction it provided as you laughed with friends at the cost of an absent one. Before you know it, you’ve gone too far and altogether abandoned any feeling of guilt for your hateful discussion.
It’s not until you’re back in your car that you realize what you said and did. You’re deep in the gully of gossip. It’s gunk and mud are cloaked over your spirit. I know exactly how this feels.
My name is Hannah, and I’m a habitual gossiper. This is our gossip support group. It’s filled with different kinds of gossipers. Some are intent on hurting others, and some are small-white-lying gossipers. Whatever degree of gossiping you’re wrapped up in, these five points will help bring you into a place of recovery:
- Button Up. As my mama used to say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.” If you are in the middle of a conversation where people are being talked about negatively, it’s best to just say nothing. Even if you have the juiciest bit of addition to their gripings, hold it in. Proverbs 17:28 says that even fools are thought to be wise if they hold their tongues. Run out of the room if need be!
- Look Up. Ask God how to wisely articulate words and escape this temptation. He’s right there with you in that conversation. He’s hearing every word said. Luke 22 shows Christ advising his disciples to pray they will not be tempted. Pray against gossip and ask God to speak through you. Will you choose to look up to Him and speak in an honorable way?
- Look In. Your friends are verbally tearing this person apart. Your natural reaction is to join in. What your friends dislike, you should dislike, right? But just for a moment, ask yourself what you really think about this person. Do you even know their struggles? Their reasoning? Their home life? Ephesians 4:29 says our speech must build others up according to their needs. Look in, dear sisters, and you might actually find you are called to serve this person.
- Keep In. Galatians 5 states in several verses how we must keep in step with the Spirit. Your Spirit of God and your spirit of flesh are in constant war with each other. Which will you keep in step with when it comes to your conversations?
- Keep Up. “As nail file sharpens nail file, so one gal sharpens another” Proverbs 27:17 (TLPHV- The Loosely Paraphrased Hannah Version). Who are you spending the most time with? Are they Christ followers, striving to honor God in their speech? If they are, you’ll fight to keep up. Make godly friends who make you want to keep up with them in their walk with God.
There you have it! Five ways to escaping the gossip gully! You may come out dirty, bruised or alone, but rest assured, the view is much better outside of the gully and on the Rock.
by Hannah Hanzel | May 4, 2017
I know what you were looking at on your phone last night. In fact, according to a recent study, you’re probably one of the 40 million Americans who viewed pornography yesterday alone.
No, I’m not throwing a Bible at you, nor is my intention to heap guilt on you. I’m reaching out in humility to communicate, not only to those who had a pornography addiction, but also to those who do not.
There are three different kinds of people who view porn on a regular basis. If I may be so bold as to outline these three people in this blog, I approach you with humility, love and conviction. I have named these three people, and I would like to introduce them to you now.
First, I would like you to meet Kyle. Kyle is not a follower of Christ, and he looks at porn. He views it because that’s what society has said can make him happy or bring him satisfaction. He is the unsaved embodiment of Eccl. 3:11 as he has a longing in his heart for something more but fails to see it.
Kyle may have first viewed porn as young as 8 years old. Porn is slowly eating away at his self-confidence. He seeks wholeness and finds only a dry well of lust in the desert of pornography.
Second, you must meet my friend Lindsay. Lindsay is a follower of Christ and looks at porn. Lindsay is an interesting case, but rare, she is not. She represents one of the more than 13 million women in the United States who have viewed or is currently viewing porn.
She was raised in church and is a born-again believer. Her senior year of college she fell into the trap of porn and abided in that trap for several months.
After much conviction and battling, the Lord freed her from her porn addiction, never to return. He released the very chains she’d clasped on herself. Lindsay represents both men and women who were once slaves to pornography, or currently are but feel conviction to change.
Lastly, you will meet the most difficult of porn addicts. His name is Jim. Jim is a born-again believer in Christ and looks at porn too. He has been toying with porn for quite some time.
The difference between Jim and Lindsay is that Jim lacks conviction. While Lindsay eventually faced her addiction and changed, Jim sees no wrong in his actions. Jim is the most disturbing of the porn viewers, primarily because he is dangerously straddling the line between God’s glory and God’s wrath.
Of the last two, Jim and Lindsay, they could be anyone you see at church. They could be your Sunday School teacher, a deacon or even your pastor.
I’ve shown you three people. Now what? How does this help you as a porn viewer? How does this help you as a friend of a porn addict? Let me address all of you by addressing the problem.
Many debates have been made by doctors and psychologists much wiser than I on what provokes a porn addiction and what can prevent it. Maybe we could get rid of our phones or put protective software on our computers. Maybe we could move to the woods and live in a bunker with no Internet. Or perhaps we could even join a counseling group.
While these may work for a time, they are the equivalent to placing a Band-Aid over a broken arm. They are temporary fixes. So what is it? What is the cure for this cancerous addiction that has taken over the church, broken the Christian home, ruined the relationship of countless couples? What is it?
It’s the heart.
Stop where you are. What do you long for in this moment? That’s what you will pursue. It is the same with porn. Whether you are or know a Kyle, Lindsay or Jim the same problem reigns – a heart condition. All three people long for something more and solve it through viewing pornography.
Kyle lacked Christ. He had the ultimate desire to make his life more and grasp that which was presumably out of his reach. Lindsay lacked action. She knew Christ and loved Him but did not love Him enough to put feet to her conviction. Jim lacked conviction. He knew Christ but had strayed so far away that he lacked even the slightest twinge of guilt for his addiction.
Beloved, we face a great heart problem in America today. Whether we struggle with lack of Christ, lack of action, or lack of conviction we are missing the heartbeat of life. God speaks in Ezekiel 36:25-26 to another nation with a heart problem, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
So what is the ultimate solution to pornography? A heart change. It’s not the kind of transplant that the American Heart Association can help with. No, it’s the kind that compels you to dig up the root of self-desire, cut off the limbs of pride, and offer what is left to the Lord. He promises to take it, throw it away, and grant you a new, full heart of flesh. He will cast it “as far as the East is from the West.”
You don’t have to stay up late looking at porn just to wake up feeling worthless. You don’t have to continually look over your shoulder, afraid you’ll get caught. You don’t have to beat your chest in anger that you gave in again.
Make the heart change, Brother and Sister. Make it while it still beats.
by Hannah Hanzel | Mar 21, 2017
“How do I waste my life?” said no one ever to cast a shadow on the earth. Every moment of life, in both the Christian and secular world, is meant for something. Every life, priceless. Every breath, precious.
Many ask, “How might I make every day count?” or ask, “What does a purposeful life look like?” How do we measure a purposeful life? Wealth? Influence? Friends? Family? Followers? Likes? Promotions? Education? Talent? All these are fleeting.
How, then, can I know that, long past my death, my life was worth something to someone? How can I know it wasn’t wasted?
In order to answer these questions, the last being the most critical, I’ve come up with a new question. This one question could change anything from your mood today to even your life going forward. In preparation to revealing this question we must understand what a wasted life looks like, the anatomy of it, if you will.
First, a wasted life consists of a lack of purpose. I’m not talking about those things you thank God for every day; it has to be something deeper. It has to be something you wake up longing for, something you would gladly die for. Psalm 73:26 reveals God as our source of life-giving purpose: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” This is purpose.
Webster’s dictionary defines purpose as “The reason for which something exists”. Why do you exist? What is your purpose? If observing a wasted life, you would find zero purpose, zero passion.
Second, the anatomy of a wasted life would be nothing without secret sin; those hidden hooks in your life. Is it gossip? Addiction? Lying? What is your secret, relentless disobedience to God Almighty? Should you let them become a foothold, your life will surely contain not only wasted time but wasted potential as well.
Ephesians 4 instructs us not to give the Devil such a foothold. Secret sin is the breeding ground for a Christian pitfall in the sense that you yourself will be a pitfall to other believers. Absent confession time equals a wasted life.
Next, the wasted life lacks entirely in servitude and sacrifice. One who bears the weight of living a wasted life lives only for themselves.
Oh what joy, what purpose we feel as we serve others! To lay down your pride, pick up the cross and die for those around you – it’s not always death in the physical sense. On the contrary, it’s often a death to your social status, your bank account, your personal time or even your health. When we find value in life outside of us, we find a purpose worth living for.
Lastly, the wasted life must retain bitterness. True forgiveness is a far off idea to the wasted-lifer. Total absorption of maltreatment is expected. Nothing ever releases from the pain, and nothing ever enters the heart again. Once wrong has been done, the one who lives a wasted life must hold on forever. But to seek forgiveness… this is where we meet at the foot of the cross. There, and only there, do we find wasted lives turned into whole, purposeful life!
What is the illustrious question? Put simply, plainly, and reflectively… Are you wasting your life?
by Hannah Hanzel | Feb 8, 2017
Death is far away, like a distant mountain that need not be climbed until later in life. Someday I’ll die. At my age and place in life, it doesn’t feel like death is a real thing. I’ve experienced the mourning of death, but of course, never death itself.
The Lord has brought me to think about death several times recently. First, I mourned the loss of a dear friend’s little boy. Then I mourned the death of another longtime friend’s dad. Several times I stood with friends and family where death was a close miss.
I don’t say all this to be morbidly introspective but to share my burning questions and thoughts. As I asked the Lord to speak, I found myself asking three specific questions. I challenge you to have a conversation with the Father concerning these following themes.
First, when I die, to whom will I pass my ministry? I pray that when I die I have at least one ministry that the Lord can still use. Have I been training someone to take up where I leave off, or have I been hoarding the work? Hoarding the work reflects a prideful heart. 2 Timothy 2:2 says, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” I pray my services and ministry will be easily passed on just as the baton is passed in a race.
Second, when I die, what shall I hear at the pearly gates? Oh Lord, may I hear the everlasting call of the Father, summoning me to His throne. I know in my heart that, without a shadow of a doubt, I will be ushered in to heaven. But I pray I am approached as one who gave my all. Matthew 25:23 reflects the words of the Father to his servant, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things… Come and share your Master’s happiness!” I heard a speaker by the name of Darla Baerg say, in response to Jesus in this verse, “Oh Lord Jesus, it was my pleasure!” What a perfect response to aspire to!
Lastly, when I die, what shall Christ gain from it? Everything done in heaven and on earth is done for the glory of God. I pray my life is a drop in the bucket of God’s ocean of glory, a single stroke in the masterpiece of his honor. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” For the glory of God, even unto death.
I’m not a martyr, and I’m not suicidal. But to be a Believer and not think on death is to deny our ultimate goal, which is beyond death and in the arms of Heaven. I pray as you think upon my offered thoughts, you are encouraged to train up disciples, live life with God’s pleasure at heart and do everything for the glory of Christ.
by Hannah Hanzel | Dec 28, 2016
Nearly everyone I know has a guilty pleasure. Be it hours of Soap Operas, hoards of chocolate or an undying devotion to Cross Fit, quite possibly every Believer has a habit, object or show they just can’t seem to live without. While I wish my guilty pleasure were more of the latter of my examples, mine consists of watching America’s Next Top Model (ANTM).
I’m not quite sure why I’m drawn to this show so much. It could be the creative and challenging tasks they must complete. It could be the amazing stories that come out of each contestant. It could even be that, deep down, I know I missed my calling as a Cover Girl model.
More than likely, however, I believe I’m drawn to the show because of the drama. Every episode, we see a collision of personalities; a showdown between cat-walkin’, eye-linin’, hair-flippin’ “adult” women. Many times it’s the nice girl versus the mean girl – a fight between good and bad, adding more intrigue.
Much like an episode of ANTM, we see the development of two key hypothetical women in the Bible. One is a kind, knowledgeable, compassionate lady; her name is Wisdom. The second woman is prideful, loud and sneaky; her name is Folly. We see them and their battle best described throughout Proverbs.
First, we meet Wisdom. Her story, as Proverbs 8:23 tells us, began even before men were created. God fashioned her before the world, and she dwelt within each creation that the Lord willed. She delighted in creation and day-by-day became more joyful in God’s presence (Prov. 8:30-31). Wisdom seeks knowledge, reaches for the lost and fears the Lord. She’s a lady through and through.
Then, of course, we have Folly. She has been around, ironically, since a little before the fall of man. She won one of many battles as she convinced Eve to take a bite of the forbidden fruit. She’s been after mankind since the beginning and often times succeeded. Her job is much easier than Wisdom’s, as she strives to get man to cave into himself. She’s a very real force of deception.
As these two women race to become the model of humanity, we examine three key tasks that these women have in common. While the tasks are the same, you’ll find their tactics are rather opposite.
1. They both reach out to the simple-minded. First, we see Folly caressing the ego of the simple-minded in Proverbs 9:16-17. “Come,” She says, “let us see what we can do in secret.” She knows the simple-minded and their shortcomings, because at her core, she is no more than them. She thrives off of the simple-minded person’s foolery. Their downfalls are her drug – her unwavering addiction.
Proverbs 9:4 shows Wisdom calling to the simple-minded. She beckons them to learn and to gain knowledge. Her joy is in releasing chains of ignorance and weaving threads of discernment. She even stands at every city entrance in attempt to collect and instruct the unwise (Prov. 8:2-6), while Folly remains stationary as she traps those walking by (Prov. 9:14-15).
2. They both speak openly. Wisdom speaks openly throughout all of scripture. She calls to every patriarch and matriarch at their times of desperation, decision and crossroad.
With Folly, we see the same thing. We can see where Folly ensnared Abraham to sleep with his wife’s maidservant. We can see where Wisdom instructed Rahab to assist the Hebrew spies.
Folly appears to direct Judas as he betrays the Lord. Wisdom so obviously leads Paul to take up writing. They both speak openly and their results are staggering.
3. They both know God. Wisdom was created and grown by God. She seeks Him and knows Him. Wisdom submits to God as she is a mere tool in His hand.
Folly, likewise, knows God but only as an enemy. She knows, in the end, she will not abide in eternity. She, therefore, takes all she can down with her.
It’s easy to see which woman would be ideal for us as believers to choose as our model for life. Proverbs 1:31 tells us that we will “eat the fruit of our ways.” What are your ways today? Do you place Wisdom or Folly as your model?
I encourage you, as the New Year approaches, to examine your ways; examine who you are in your decisions every day. Search scripture for Wisdom’s advice and steer clear of Folly’s traps.