We have discussed in previous post how hope precedes our faith. Today we are going to talk about what faith should precede. Is faith an ends to a mean in itself? Is it enough to have faith? Is faith the goal that God has for us. Is it God's plan that the height of our Spiritual existence would be faith itself? People are so bold and anxious to talk about their beliefs. There have been wars fought over differences of belief. From the day that Martin Luther signed his 95 thesis document and pinned it to the door of the Castle Catholic church on October 31, 1517 there have been fragments of beliefs and doctrines and denomination each with their own view points on faith.
Should our faith be the end of our Spiritual journey? Our faith is very important. We are told in the book of Timothy to;
Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
It is important to know what you believe as the basis and the thesis of your faith, but relationship with God does not end with what you believe. It is very important what we believe because our faith springs up out of our doctrine. But, is learning our belief, our doctrine, our faith the end of the spiritual journey? Does something come after faith?
In the Bible, faith was always followed by action. When we do not follow our faith we actions, our faith is not a living faith, but it is a dead faith. We see many people today that have faith, but it is a dead faith! When we do not have action following our faith, our faith is dead.
James 2: 14-26 What
does it profit, my brethren, though a man says he has faith, and has not works?
can faith save him? If a
brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And
one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled; yet you give
them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it
profit? Even
so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone.
Yea,
a man may say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith without your
works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You
believe that there is one God; you do well: the demons also believe, and
tremble. But
will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was
not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son
upon the altar?
See
how faith worked with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And
the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed
unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. You
see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she
had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For
as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
also.
Hebrews chapter 11 names some of the old testament heroes, and the actions that they did by faith. By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice; by faith Enoch was translated; by faith Noah built a boat; by faith Abraham left his home to find the promised land; by faith Sara gave birth to a child in her old age. The Scripture goes on to mention the faith of Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Moses and many others. All of them were distinguished because their faith lead them to obedience and action. They had a living faith, and because of that living faith, they pleased God.
When we know what we believe, but do not follow that belief with obedience and action, it is not a living faith. It is a dead faith that does not produce miracles and is not pleasing to God.
Everywhere I go, I see religious people that are ready to expound on their faith and defend it well. When we magnify each jot of the law and wear it like a chain around ourselves and others, we have come under the bondage of death and the law. What we believe is important, but, what we do, and how we live is more important than quarreling over what we believe. All the Scriptures point to Jesus, and Jesus is summed up in one word...love. The Pharisees of Jesus' day wanted to argue over the finer points of the law, but, Jesus came to teach us how to live! Jesus said;
Luke 10:7 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as
yourself.
Does action follow your faith? If Godly actions follows your faith then you are a person that walks in acts of love and acts of kindness towards God and your fellow man. When we get so hung up over what we believe that we argue finer points of the law, we have made our faith our stumbling stone. Faith was meant to be a stepping stone to point us to Jesus, who would teach us to love God and love our neighbor. Our faith was never meant to be religious dogma that we wear like a weight around our necks. Our faith was meant to point us to God, it was not meant to be used as a measuring tool to condemn our fellow man. Faith leads us to love, and love never fails.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
God does put his kid's in TIME OUT
Most people want to be blessed by God. How do we obtain God's blessing? Once we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are God's children. God is our father, and he wants us to address him as father. The disciples asked Jesus to model a prayer for them and he opened the prayer by addressing God as 'Our Father, who art in Heaven...' God asked us to think of him as a father because he wanted us to see our relationship with him like a father and child.
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Romans 8:17
So, as his children, how do we obtain his blessing? Just think of a father and a child. If a child gets angry and fusses and complains and carries on, how many of us as parents blesses our children for this kind of behavior? Most do not bless their children for this kind of behavior, most of us discipline our children and withhold blessings when they behave like this.
IF a child throws a fit because they did not get what they wanted, and questions our every decision and accuses us of being evil parents or being mean and harsh, unloving, uncaring...most of us do not reward this kind of behavior. This kind of behavior is more likely to get a spanking or a time out.
Have you ever felt like your life was in a time out? Have you ever felt like you pray and pray and pray, and nothing happens, nothing changes, you are just stuck in one spot. Look at the words coming out of your mouth when you are not praying. Look at the attitude of your heart. Look at what you say to others and to yourself. Sometimes the way we rant and rave and accuse and slander and carry on about our situation, we look just like a child that is mad and throwing a fit because we did not get our way. And God puts us in a time out, a rut, nothing much to do but sit in the same ole corners all the time, doing the same ole things.
If we want God to bless us, we are going to have to be a blessing to him! How do we do this? Think as a parent how your child blesses you. We feel blessed when our child does what we ask without slandering us or giving us a fuss about it. We feel blessed when our child says, "I love you" not only to our face, but to say "I love my mom or dad", to others when we are not there as well. Just imagine how many good things you would want to do for a child that started bragging on you all over town? Just imagine how much you would bless your child if they climbed up in your lap, and said, "you are the best." When was the last time you darkened the church door, to go to your Father's house? When was the last time you bragged on God to others? When was the last time you told someone else how good God was to you? When was the last time you spent time with your Father, just because you loved him?
If our kids behaved like this we would say, "Ok, what do you want?" And a lot of the time we would get them what they asked for, just for their effort...we know how to bless our parents to turn their favor towards us, but, we fail to understand that man was made in the image of God.
God is more likely to bless us, when we have been a blessing to him. As the psalmist said
"Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name."
In this world, it pays to bless the LORD, not just with your mouth, but in the inner recesses of your heart. It is simple, a Father is more likely to bless a child that has blessed him, it is just that simple!
In Psalms 34 we see King David saying,
"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
Now, someone may think, well, he must have been having a good day when he said this. Well, actually he was not having a good day, but a bad day. This was a Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. He had to pretend he was a mad man before the KING, or he would have lost his life. That is not a good day...Imagine having to pretend you were a mad man before the president of the USA, in order to save your life. Yep, not a good day, yet, he praises the LORD on this terrible day. Why? Because he understood that if he wanted his Father God to bless him, he was going to have to be a blessing to his Father.
We get a hang nail, and fuss and rant and rave and throw a fit. We get a flat tire and rail, and rage and complain and fuss...then we go to God and ask for a blessing...But, where we end up is in time out...a life in a rut that seems to never go anywhere, in time out. We end up in a time out because we deserved it, we needed it, we have a bad attitude that should not be rewarded!
Psalm 96 O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.
Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; show forth his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all people.
The next time you think you had a bad day and you have earned a right to rant, and fuss, and cuss, and fume...just remember God is listening to you every minute of the day, he doesn't just hear our prayers, but he is attentive to us every minute of the day. Don't ask God for a blessing, when you KNOW you really need be in a time out! Bless God with your mouth, your attitude and your actions no matter what your situations, and you will find that in a little while, God will get you out of 'time out' and He will bless your life over and over again!
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Romans 8:17
So, as his children, how do we obtain his blessing? Just think of a father and a child. If a child gets angry and fusses and complains and carries on, how many of us as parents blesses our children for this kind of behavior? Most do not bless their children for this kind of behavior, most of us discipline our children and withhold blessings when they behave like this.
IF a child throws a fit because they did not get what they wanted, and questions our every decision and accuses us of being evil parents or being mean and harsh, unloving, uncaring...most of us do not reward this kind of behavior. This kind of behavior is more likely to get a spanking or a time out.
Have you ever felt like your life was in a time out? Have you ever felt like you pray and pray and pray, and nothing happens, nothing changes, you are just stuck in one spot. Look at the words coming out of your mouth when you are not praying. Look at the attitude of your heart. Look at what you say to others and to yourself. Sometimes the way we rant and rave and accuse and slander and carry on about our situation, we look just like a child that is mad and throwing a fit because we did not get our way. And God puts us in a time out, a rut, nothing much to do but sit in the same ole corners all the time, doing the same ole things.
If we want God to bless us, we are going to have to be a blessing to him! How do we do this? Think as a parent how your child blesses you. We feel blessed when our child does what we ask without slandering us or giving us a fuss about it. We feel blessed when our child says, "I love you" not only to our face, but to say "I love my mom or dad", to others when we are not there as well. Just imagine how many good things you would want to do for a child that started bragging on you all over town? Just imagine how much you would bless your child if they climbed up in your lap, and said, "you are the best." When was the last time you darkened the church door, to go to your Father's house? When was the last time you bragged on God to others? When was the last time you told someone else how good God was to you? When was the last time you spent time with your Father, just because you loved him?
If our kids behaved like this we would say, "Ok, what do you want?" And a lot of the time we would get them what they asked for, just for their effort...we know how to bless our parents to turn their favor towards us, but, we fail to understand that man was made in the image of God.
God is more likely to bless us, when we have been a blessing to him. As the psalmist said
"Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name."
In this world, it pays to bless the LORD, not just with your mouth, but in the inner recesses of your heart. It is simple, a Father is more likely to bless a child that has blessed him, it is just that simple!
In Psalms 34 we see King David saying,
"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
Now, someone may think, well, he must have been having a good day when he said this. Well, actually he was not having a good day, but a bad day. This was a Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. He had to pretend he was a mad man before the KING, or he would have lost his life. That is not a good day...Imagine having to pretend you were a mad man before the president of the USA, in order to save your life. Yep, not a good day, yet, he praises the LORD on this terrible day. Why? Because he understood that if he wanted his Father God to bless him, he was going to have to be a blessing to his Father.
We get a hang nail, and fuss and rant and rave and throw a fit. We get a flat tire and rail, and rage and complain and fuss...then we go to God and ask for a blessing...But, where we end up is in time out...a life in a rut that seems to never go anywhere, in time out. We end up in a time out because we deserved it, we needed it, we have a bad attitude that should not be rewarded!
Psalm 96 O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.
Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; show forth his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all people.
The next time you think you had a bad day and you have earned a right to rant, and fuss, and cuss, and fume...just remember God is listening to you every minute of the day, he doesn't just hear our prayers, but he is attentive to us every minute of the day. Don't ask God for a blessing, when you KNOW you really need be in a time out! Bless God with your mouth, your attitude and your actions no matter what your situations, and you will find that in a little while, God will get you out of 'time out' and He will bless your life over and over again!
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Just another toxic relationship!
There are few things worse in this life than a toxic relationship. Have you ever felt like a Samson? Have you ever felt like your life would have been right on track with a lot less drama and stress if it weren't for your mate! Why was Samson in a nightmare of a relationship? First he disobeyed God. The Israelites were not to marry anyone who wasn't an Israelite. This was God's commands to them for marriage. As Christians we are also told not to be unequally yoked. Second, he married her because of his need. He had a weakness of beautiful woman, and because of this need he ended up with a Delilah. When you read the story of Sampson and Delilah, you see what happens when a person with a need goes outside of God's will to get the need met. They end up with someone even needier than they are...and it destroys everything!
Proverbs 18:22
Whosoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the LORD
If every relationship that you enter into seems to fail at some point along the way it is time to stop blaming the whole world and realize it is time for a change. I know someone is thinking, "But, it really isn't my fault, it really was all the other people that I was in relationship with." The one doing the hurting and the wrong, may have been the other people and not you, but still you are the one that keeps picking these kinds of relationships, you still bare some responsibility after all. If we keep picking the same 'type' of people, we will keep getting the same hurtful results! We go places we shouldn't go, and do things we should not do and end up getting into a relationship with immature and needy people, when we should have waited upon God to bring us the right relationship in the first place.
I have seen this over and over again. People who are in a relationship with someone because they have a need. If we have a need to be loved and cherished, we may fall for the first person that smiles at us. If we have a need to feel wanted, we may fall for the first person that is need of our assistance. If we have a need to dominate, we may fall for the first person that is submissive. If we have a need to have our ego brushed, we may fall for the first person that makes us look good...relationships based on need are dangerous! Often we begin searching early in life for that special someone that can fill that need whatever it may be! Sampson ended up with a Delilah because he had a need. In return he ended up with someone even more needy than he was...Delilah
Someone else will never fulfill your needs. If you find someone that tries, it is just a matter of time before they get all used up by the constant demands of your needs and move on. How many people are caught in that trap today? How many are caught in the trap of trying everyday to fulfill the needs in the life of their spouse, and knowing that if they don't all hell is going to break loose. It is good to be there for one another, but daily pressing to meet the needs of a needy individual can get old fast! When a relationship consist of silence, insults, quarrels, threats and dread it has gone toxic! I have counselled many people who go from toxic relationship to toxic relationship. You cannot change the whole world, you can only change yourself, so, it is obvious where the change needs to be!
It is an honor for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. Proverbs 20:3
Here is an example of needy situations. One spouse wants to party all the time, and the other one has to pay all the bills. One spouse wants to dominate every thing and the other spouse gets no say at all. One spouse wants to play all the time and the other has to do all the work load. One spouse wants to criticize all the time, but the other doesn't get to return the favor without the first spouse getting mad... (need I say more, I think we all get the idea of what needy people are)
If you have a needy spouse that puts constant pressure on you to fulfill those needs whatever they may be, how do you get them to change and become less needy? The best way to get people around you to change is to change yourself. Why would your mate need to change if you are always meeting their need? Now I know someone is saying, "If I don't continue to fulfill the neediness of my spouse, it is going to be world war III! Just remember that without WWII, Hitler would have taken over. Has someone taken over your life? Sometimes refusing to meet the unreasonable needs of a selfish person is a necessary fight. You don't even give them a chance to change until you stop enabling them to continue their behavior! The more we enable people to abuse us by meeting the demands of their neediness, the more we tear them down, it is not building them up at all.
Every wise woman builds her house: but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. Proverbs 14:1
Why would a woman tear down her own home? Most would not do so on purpose. We do so unknowingly when we enable the people we love to live selfishly and abusively expecting us to make up the slack. Why do some girls always fall for the guy that 'drinks or drugs' all the money away? For some, it is because they have a need to redeem someone else, we feel sorry for them, we want to redeem someone, to salvage a life. Why do some girls always fall for the dominate type guy? For some it is because they have a need for safety, they want someone to bring them self, and things under control. Why do some guys fall for a girl that is always sleeping with their best friend? For some it is because they have a need for easy, loose woman. Why do so me guys always fall for a woman that spends all the money on clothes, and then spends some more? For some it was because they had a need to be with someone that made them look good.
Take whatever need you have that got you into a bad relationship in the first place, and ask God to fulfill that need and to change your heart. IF you don't take care of your own need, you are going to constantly pick relationships that fulfill that need, and you get one Delilah after another! Then, get up the courage to stop fulfilling the selfish and unreasonable needs of your partner and help them realize that they have a problem...fulfilling needs just makes people more needy...If we really want to help those around us, we will expect them to be responsible and reasonable.
Don't forget that Sampson ended up with a Delilah because he had a need. In return he ended up with someone even more needy than he was...Delilah...Don't let your needs ruin your life. It is time for a change, and let the first one to change always be ME!
Proverbs 18:22
Whosoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the LORD
If every relationship that you enter into seems to fail at some point along the way it is time to stop blaming the whole world and realize it is time for a change. I know someone is thinking, "But, it really isn't my fault, it really was all the other people that I was in relationship with." The one doing the hurting and the wrong, may have been the other people and not you, but still you are the one that keeps picking these kinds of relationships, you still bare some responsibility after all. If we keep picking the same 'type' of people, we will keep getting the same hurtful results! We go places we shouldn't go, and do things we should not do and end up getting into a relationship with immature and needy people, when we should have waited upon God to bring us the right relationship in the first place.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways
acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6I have seen this over and over again. People who are in a relationship with someone because they have a need. If we have a need to be loved and cherished, we may fall for the first person that smiles at us. If we have a need to feel wanted, we may fall for the first person that is need of our assistance. If we have a need to dominate, we may fall for the first person that is submissive. If we have a need to have our ego brushed, we may fall for the first person that makes us look good...relationships based on need are dangerous! Often we begin searching early in life for that special someone that can fill that need whatever it may be! Sampson ended up with a Delilah because he had a need. In return he ended up with someone even more needy than he was...Delilah
Someone else will never fulfill your needs. If you find someone that tries, it is just a matter of time before they get all used up by the constant demands of your needs and move on. How many people are caught in that trap today? How many are caught in the trap of trying everyday to fulfill the needs in the life of their spouse, and knowing that if they don't all hell is going to break loose. It is good to be there for one another, but daily pressing to meet the needs of a needy individual can get old fast! When a relationship consist of silence, insults, quarrels, threats and dread it has gone toxic! I have counselled many people who go from toxic relationship to toxic relationship. You cannot change the whole world, you can only change yourself, so, it is obvious where the change needs to be!
It is an honor for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. Proverbs 20:3
Here is an example of needy situations. One spouse wants to party all the time, and the other one has to pay all the bills. One spouse wants to dominate every thing and the other spouse gets no say at all. One spouse wants to play all the time and the other has to do all the work load. One spouse wants to criticize all the time, but the other doesn't get to return the favor without the first spouse getting mad... (need I say more, I think we all get the idea of what needy people are)
If you have a needy spouse that puts constant pressure on you to fulfill those needs whatever they may be, how do you get them to change and become less needy? The best way to get people around you to change is to change yourself. Why would your mate need to change if you are always meeting their need? Now I know someone is saying, "If I don't continue to fulfill the neediness of my spouse, it is going to be world war III! Just remember that without WWII, Hitler would have taken over. Has someone taken over your life? Sometimes refusing to meet the unreasonable needs of a selfish person is a necessary fight. You don't even give them a chance to change until you stop enabling them to continue their behavior! The more we enable people to abuse us by meeting the demands of their neediness, the more we tear them down, it is not building them up at all.
Every wise woman builds her house: but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. Proverbs 14:1
Why would a woman tear down her own home? Most would not do so on purpose. We do so unknowingly when we enable the people we love to live selfishly and abusively expecting us to make up the slack. Why do some girls always fall for the guy that 'drinks or drugs' all the money away? For some, it is because they have a need to redeem someone else, we feel sorry for them, we want to redeem someone, to salvage a life. Why do some girls always fall for the dominate type guy? For some it is because they have a need for safety, they want someone to bring them self, and things under control. Why do some guys fall for a girl that is always sleeping with their best friend? For some it is because they have a need for easy, loose woman. Why do so me guys always fall for a woman that spends all the money on clothes, and then spends some more? For some it was because they had a need to be with someone that made them look good.
Take whatever need you have that got you into a bad relationship in the first place, and ask God to fulfill that need and to change your heart. IF you don't take care of your own need, you are going to constantly pick relationships that fulfill that need, and you get one Delilah after another! Then, get up the courage to stop fulfilling the selfish and unreasonable needs of your partner and help them realize that they have a problem...fulfilling needs just makes people more needy...If we really want to help those around us, we will expect them to be responsible and reasonable.
Don't forget that Sampson ended up with a Delilah because he had a need. In return he ended up with someone even more needy than he was...Delilah...Don't let your needs ruin your life. It is time for a change, and let the first one to change always be ME!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
She may be blind, but at least she has arms!
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may
abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
He is a God of hope! Not only is he a God of hope, but he wants us to abound in HOPE. What does it mean to abound?
To abound means to occur or exist in great quantities, to be rich or well supplied, to be filled with...God can give you joy and peace in believing. People who practice of life of believing are not dark minded people. They are people that dream, and go after those dreams. They are people who face adversity and trials with perseverance because of their faith in God.
Look at the story of Joseph. He was favored by his father. He received a beautiful coat from his Father, a gift that none of his brothers received. He had dreams from God of blessings and the promise that he would rule over his household. What happened to Joseph? This world cannot tolerate anyone that is favored or blessed. Jealousy, anger, dark-minded individuals tried to steal his hope. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. Accused falsely by his employer's wife and sentenced to prison. Let in a jail cell and forgotten. Could there be anymore hopeless situation than what he was in, yet, he did not complain or give up. He maintained his hope in God.
When bad things happen to us we often ask why God allowed it. God certainly allowed a lot of bad things to happen to Joseph. If you look at the bad things as a means to an end, then you will be hopeless and angry, or possibly bitter. But, when you keep your eyes on the promise. God had given Joseph a dream, a promise, that he would one day be in a position of honor and respect. He was not seeing that come true, but, instead of giving way to despair he held on to the promise.
Joseph could not make the promise of God, nor the will of God come to pass. He was dependant upon God to make everything right in his life. When bad things happen, try to focus on where you are going, instead of where you are at.
I remember the day I gave birth to my daughter Angela that is multiple handicapped. I had a natural birth, no meds, no shots for the pain, and she was almost 9lbs! There was some concern with the pregnancy, so, I was watching in the mirrors as she was coming down the birth canal. The way that she positioned, it looked as if there were only holes in her body, and no arms there. Even my husband saw the same thing and thought...'she has no arms!' This was way back in the day and there had been no ultra sound done before birth, I didn't know the sex of the baby until she was born. Then as I kept pushing, suddenly both of her arms popped out and were extended to the right and the left. I realized then that she had been pushing against the wall with her might, and it had made gaps where her arms were, that looked like holes in her body, but there were no holes, she had arms! All I could do was thank GOD that my baby had arms. The doctors alerted me right away that she was not squinting at the lights, and her eyes were just rolling around, the possibility of blindness. I understood that, but, at that moment, I was so happy she had arms! At least she wouldn't be blind and armless as well. The point is no matter where you are at, it could be worse. See the hope and blessing in what you have.
What did Joseph have when he was falsely accused and thrown in prison to be forgotten? He still had a promise, a promise from God. Yes, it was only GODS WORD...but that was more than enough!
He is a God of hope! Not only is he a God of hope, but he wants us to abound in HOPE. What does it mean to abound?
To abound means to occur or exist in great quantities, to be rich or well supplied, to be filled with...God can give you joy and peace in believing. People who practice of life of believing are not dark minded people. They are people that dream, and go after those dreams. They are people who face adversity and trials with perseverance because of their faith in God.
Look at the story of Joseph. He was favored by his father. He received a beautiful coat from his Father, a gift that none of his brothers received. He had dreams from God of blessings and the promise that he would rule over his household. What happened to Joseph? This world cannot tolerate anyone that is favored or blessed. Jealousy, anger, dark-minded individuals tried to steal his hope. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. Accused falsely by his employer's wife and sentenced to prison. Let in a jail cell and forgotten. Could there be anymore hopeless situation than what he was in, yet, he did not complain or give up. He maintained his hope in God.
When bad things happen to us we often ask why God allowed it. God certainly allowed a lot of bad things to happen to Joseph. If you look at the bad things as a means to an end, then you will be hopeless and angry, or possibly bitter. But, when you keep your eyes on the promise. God had given Joseph a dream, a promise, that he would one day be in a position of honor and respect. He was not seeing that come true, but, instead of giving way to despair he held on to the promise.
Joseph could not make the promise of God, nor the will of God come to pass. He was dependant upon God to make everything right in his life. When bad things happen, try to focus on where you are going, instead of where you are at.
I remember the day I gave birth to my daughter Angela that is multiple handicapped. I had a natural birth, no meds, no shots for the pain, and she was almost 9lbs! There was some concern with the pregnancy, so, I was watching in the mirrors as she was coming down the birth canal. The way that she positioned, it looked as if there were only holes in her body, and no arms there. Even my husband saw the same thing and thought...'she has no arms!' This was way back in the day and there had been no ultra sound done before birth, I didn't know the sex of the baby until she was born. Then as I kept pushing, suddenly both of her arms popped out and were extended to the right and the left. I realized then that she had been pushing against the wall with her might, and it had made gaps where her arms were, that looked like holes in her body, but there were no holes, she had arms! All I could do was thank GOD that my baby had arms. The doctors alerted me right away that she was not squinting at the lights, and her eyes were just rolling around, the possibility of blindness. I understood that, but, at that moment, I was so happy she had arms! At least she wouldn't be blind and armless as well. The point is no matter where you are at, it could be worse. See the hope and blessing in what you have.
What did Joseph have when he was falsely accused and thrown in prison to be forgotten? He still had a promise, a promise from God. Yes, it was only GODS WORD...but that was more than enough!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Getting rid of low self esteem
Why do we lose hope so quickly? Often it is because we base our hope on our circumstances. When our circumstances are good we gain more hope. That is a natural thing to do. But, what if our circumstances are poor? Should our hope go up and down with our circumstance? If your hope goes up and down with your circumstances, you have never learned to put your hope in God. When the your trust in fully in good, bad situations will not move you, your heart is fixed on you hope in God.
Psalm 112: 5-7
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
Humanist would have us believe that we are all just the product of our circumstances. God says we are so much more than that. God says we are the product of what we believe. Changing your circumstances is a powerful tool, but changing outward things does not address our inner needs. First we have a sin need, which can only be met by the blood of Christ. Second we have a self need, which is brought under control by applying what we believe to our lives. Jesus said, 'according to your faith so it will be unto you.' If your faith is weak, you will be weak. If your faith is strong, you will be strong. If your faith is scattered, you will be scattered. If your faith is solid, you will be solid. Jesus likened a man who acted upon his Word like a man who built his house upon a rock. The wind and the waves and the storms beat upon it, but the house still stood. We keep looking for an outside fix, to fix our inner needs, when really, only a change of heart will bring about the things we need for a true change in our lives.
For example, let's say someone is plagued with low self esteem. Let's say this person sees themselves as a loser. The humanist might say enroll them in College, change the outward circumstance to fix the inner need. But what happens if you go through 4 years of College and get your degree, and are better prepared, and yet, in your heart, nothing has changed, you still are plagued with feelings of inferiority, feelings that you are a loser. Even Christians who have given their lives to Jesus can feel this way. We have to not only deal with sin, we also have to deal with self.
How do we deal with self? We must go from a self conscienceness, to a God conscienceness. Look at David when he fought with Goliath. When he was considering if he could win the contest, did he self analyze? He did not look at himself to consider if he was capable of taking out the giant. He said, "My God will deliver him into my hands." When Saul questioned his talents, he did not brag on himself, instead he said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” He looked to what the Lord had done through him. He could have said, 'I am young, I have not trained as a soldier, I am small, I only have a sling as a weapon, I am just an errand boy' All of those things were true about him. Good thing he was God conscience, instead of self conscience!
We look at ourselves too much. This is why we think that there are impossibilities in life. When we develop a God conscious mindset, we will realize that there is no such thing as impossibilities. With man, there are limitations, but with God, all things are possible.
Psalm 112: 5-7
A
good man shows favor, and lends: he will guide his affairs with
discretion.
Surely he shall not be moved forever: the righteous shall be in
everlasting remembrance.He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
Humanist would have us believe that we are all just the product of our circumstances. God says we are so much more than that. God says we are the product of what we believe. Changing your circumstances is a powerful tool, but changing outward things does not address our inner needs. First we have a sin need, which can only be met by the blood of Christ. Second we have a self need, which is brought under control by applying what we believe to our lives. Jesus said, 'according to your faith so it will be unto you.' If your faith is weak, you will be weak. If your faith is strong, you will be strong. If your faith is scattered, you will be scattered. If your faith is solid, you will be solid. Jesus likened a man who acted upon his Word like a man who built his house upon a rock. The wind and the waves and the storms beat upon it, but the house still stood. We keep looking for an outside fix, to fix our inner needs, when really, only a change of heart will bring about the things we need for a true change in our lives.
For example, let's say someone is plagued with low self esteem. Let's say this person sees themselves as a loser. The humanist might say enroll them in College, change the outward circumstance to fix the inner need. But what happens if you go through 4 years of College and get your degree, and are better prepared, and yet, in your heart, nothing has changed, you still are plagued with feelings of inferiority, feelings that you are a loser. Even Christians who have given their lives to Jesus can feel this way. We have to not only deal with sin, we also have to deal with self.
How do we deal with self? We must go from a self conscienceness, to a God conscienceness. Look at David when he fought with Goliath. When he was considering if he could win the contest, did he self analyze? He did not look at himself to consider if he was capable of taking out the giant. He said, "My God will deliver him into my hands." When Saul questioned his talents, he did not brag on himself, instead he said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” He looked to what the Lord had done through him. He could have said, 'I am young, I have not trained as a soldier, I am small, I only have a sling as a weapon, I am just an errand boy' All of those things were true about him. Good thing he was God conscience, instead of self conscience!
We look at ourselves too much. This is why we think that there are impossibilities in life. When we develop a God conscious mindset, we will realize that there is no such thing as impossibilities. With man, there are limitations, but with God, all things are possible.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
The Keys to Finding HOPE!
Hope - According to Wikipedia, hope means to trust - expect - anticipate. What does it mean to put your hope in God? God's Word is God revealed. To put your hope in God means to put your hope in God's Word. The Bible says that God is not a man that he should lie. If God's Word is true, then we can put our hope in his Word. There are many keys to finding hope, but, we will talk about three very important ones: trust, expectations, and anticipations.
We have such a hard time trusting anyone in our culture. One thing Capitalism has done for us as a nation is made deception- scams profitable. The old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it is" resonates in the minds and hearts of most Americans. We have truly become a nation of skeptics, because there are so many half-truths and scams going on in the economic sector of our society. Profit is king in the USA. People will take advantage to get profit. This has had some negative effects upon us as a culture. Trust does not come easily to most Americans.
To hope, means to trust. We are born full of hope. There is nothing more precious than a wide eyed child that is full of hope, and trust. Jesus said that unless you become as a child you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. To truly have hope in God, we have to trust God. Hope isn't despair and depression, and giving up. Hope is believing, and praying and trusting. It is having the heart of a child when you truly can believe that 'all things work together for good'
Expectation. We have become a nation of negative expectation. We expect the worse from our government. We expect the worst from our churches. We expect the worst from our teachers, our congressmen, our fellow workers. As sad as it may seem, we also have gotten to the place as a nation in which we expect the worse from our family, and one another as well. Negative expectation kills hope. When you expect a child to fail, they will fail. When you expect a person to perform badly, they will perform badly. When you expect a spouse to cheat, they will cheat. How often is the performance of the people around us simply a product of our expectation of them.
I have worked with a lot with young people, especially troubled youth. What I have found is that when I convey to them that I believe the best of them, think good thoughts towards them, and expect that they will do well...this is often enough to make most of them want to live up to those standards. By their estimation, they cannot remember the last time someone believed in them, and had good thoughts towards them.
How often do we disappoint God with our expectations. When we lower our expectations, we are saying that God will have no impact. Can I expect the best of our government? Yes, because my God is more than able to handle the USA government, and He is the one that appoints leaders, he has it all under his dominion. Can I expect the best of our school teachers? Yes, because God has his hand upon our children, and God is the one that sends his angels to watch over them and to cause them to prosper. No matter what you are facing today, don't lose expectation that something good is bound to happen. To lose that expectation is to lose that child like heart that believes in the goodness of God!
And finally anticipation, what is it to anticipate something. I know a man that recently spent 17 years in prison, and was just released about four months ago. This person has spent his entire adult life in prison, so you can just imagine the shock of trying to integrate into a society that has changed over the past 17 years, and trying to learn how to cope in this current economy. He applied for SSI, and kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. He went to the mail box everyday, because of anticipation. It didn't come, and didn't come and didn't come. Did he stop anticipating? absolutely not. Eventually his family ran out of money and he was homeless. So, we let him sleep a few days at the church, until a government organization found him a hotel to stay in for a while. Did these oppositions keep him from anticipating his check. No. He speaks of how he will pay this one back, and that one back after he gets his check. He kept anticipating because he was certain, sure, trusting that the check, though it tarried, would eventually arrive. He finally got news that the check would arrive within the next 7 to 10 days.
This is how we should be with God's promises. Isn't his Word even more sure than a promise of a government check. Shouldn't we always be anticipating everyday that today may just be they day of my breakthrough! Shouldn't we push back every disappointment and delay and rest on a sure hope that God will not fail us?
Have you been putting your trust in God's Word? Have you had that eager expectation that goodness and mercy is following you? Have you anticipated the day that God's promise comes to fulfillment in your life? If you are falling short, don't forget, God isn't the only one believing in you, I believe in you too. You can do all things through Christ that strengthens you!
As the psalmist said Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. Psalm 56:3
We have such a hard time trusting anyone in our culture. One thing Capitalism has done for us as a nation is made deception- scams profitable. The old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it is" resonates in the minds and hearts of most Americans. We have truly become a nation of skeptics, because there are so many half-truths and scams going on in the economic sector of our society. Profit is king in the USA. People will take advantage to get profit. This has had some negative effects upon us as a culture. Trust does not come easily to most Americans.
To hope, means to trust. We are born full of hope. There is nothing more precious than a wide eyed child that is full of hope, and trust. Jesus said that unless you become as a child you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. To truly have hope in God, we have to trust God. Hope isn't despair and depression, and giving up. Hope is believing, and praying and trusting. It is having the heart of a child when you truly can believe that 'all things work together for good'
Expectation. We have become a nation of negative expectation. We expect the worse from our government. We expect the worst from our churches. We expect the worst from our teachers, our congressmen, our fellow workers. As sad as it may seem, we also have gotten to the place as a nation in which we expect the worse from our family, and one another as well. Negative expectation kills hope. When you expect a child to fail, they will fail. When you expect a person to perform badly, they will perform badly. When you expect a spouse to cheat, they will cheat. How often is the performance of the people around us simply a product of our expectation of them.
I have worked with a lot with young people, especially troubled youth. What I have found is that when I convey to them that I believe the best of them, think good thoughts towards them, and expect that they will do well...this is often enough to make most of them want to live up to those standards. By their estimation, they cannot remember the last time someone believed in them, and had good thoughts towards them.
How often do we disappoint God with our expectations. When we lower our expectations, we are saying that God will have no impact. Can I expect the best of our government? Yes, because my God is more than able to handle the USA government, and He is the one that appoints leaders, he has it all under his dominion. Can I expect the best of our school teachers? Yes, because God has his hand upon our children, and God is the one that sends his angels to watch over them and to cause them to prosper. No matter what you are facing today, don't lose expectation that something good is bound to happen. To lose that expectation is to lose that child like heart that believes in the goodness of God!
And finally anticipation, what is it to anticipate something. I know a man that recently spent 17 years in prison, and was just released about four months ago. This person has spent his entire adult life in prison, so you can just imagine the shock of trying to integrate into a society that has changed over the past 17 years, and trying to learn how to cope in this current economy. He applied for SSI, and kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. He went to the mail box everyday, because of anticipation. It didn't come, and didn't come and didn't come. Did he stop anticipating? absolutely not. Eventually his family ran out of money and he was homeless. So, we let him sleep a few days at the church, until a government organization found him a hotel to stay in for a while. Did these oppositions keep him from anticipating his check. No. He speaks of how he will pay this one back, and that one back after he gets his check. He kept anticipating because he was certain, sure, trusting that the check, though it tarried, would eventually arrive. He finally got news that the check would arrive within the next 7 to 10 days.
This is how we should be with God's promises. Isn't his Word even more sure than a promise of a government check. Shouldn't we always be anticipating everyday that today may just be they day of my breakthrough! Shouldn't we push back every disappointment and delay and rest on a sure hope that God will not fail us?
Have you been putting your trust in God's Word? Have you had that eager expectation that goodness and mercy is following you? Have you anticipated the day that God's promise comes to fulfillment in your life? If you are falling short, don't forget, God isn't the only one believing in you, I believe in you too. You can do all things through Christ that strengthens you!
As the psalmist said Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. Psalm 56:3
Monday, October 8, 2012
The unseen HOPE!
Romans 8
24 For
we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees,
why does he yet hope for?
25 But
if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
When someone wants to argue that hope does not precede faith, it is usually a religious spirit that has blinded them to the truth. A religious spirit does not want to do a work of faith, they want to do works of duty. They are duty oriented instead of faith oriented. A good example is when Jesus said to the Pharisees:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Matt 23:23
People with a religious spirit want to dot every i, and cross every t, and they will break the commandments of God to persecute anyone that does not do the same. They will overlook mercy, justice, and faith to talk against those who fail to dot every i and cross every t. They consider themselves better than these law breakers who forgot to dot their i's and cross their t's. They strain out the gnats, but swallow a camel in the process! These people are educated like the pharisees, prideful like the pharisees, and want to haggle over every minor jot of the Word of God. We need to let go of the haggling over words, and learn to love people again! They claim to know the deeper things of God like the Pharisees, they have a problem with unlearned men, thinking somehow that their schooling has qualified them to quarrel the finer points of the law. Who am I describing? I am describing the Pharisees of both Jesus' day, and the Pharisee's of today!
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Matt 23:23
People with a religious spirit want to dot every i, and cross every t, and they will break the commandments of God to persecute anyone that does not do the same. They will overlook mercy, justice, and faith to talk against those who fail to dot every i and cross every t. They consider themselves better than these law breakers who forgot to dot their i's and cross their t's. They strain out the gnats, but swallow a camel in the process! These people are educated like the pharisees, prideful like the pharisees, and want to haggle over every minor jot of the Word of God. We need to let go of the haggling over words, and learn to love people again! They claim to know the deeper things of God like the Pharisees, they have a problem with unlearned men, thinking somehow that their schooling has qualified them to quarrel the finer points of the law. Who am I describing? I am describing the Pharisees of both Jesus' day, and the Pharisee's of today!
It is so tiring to walk into a church service full of hope, and then leave feeling worse than you walked in, because there is a Pharisee in the pulpit that only knows how to preach the law, void of any of the grace, love and mercies of the Spirit. The pulpits of America are full of these ministers, that are quick to dismiss and discredit anyone who would dare to preach faith, hope, love or mercy! Jesus said this about them:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like unto whitewashed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Matthew 23:27
But how can we recognize these modern day hypocrites? They have the same attributes of the Pharisee in Jesus day, they attack people by name. They are fault finders, that are not satisfied with just preaching the Word, like I have done in this blog, and letting the Words fall wherever they lay. These fault finders go after people personally, by name, persecuting, and trying to destroy with personal attacks, just like they did to Jesus. Looking at people around them, trying to find something to trip them up, or to catch them at fault in either doctrine, deed or word, so that they can personally accuse them before other men. They have not the love nor the spirit of God, but have a religious spirit like the Pharisee. On the outside they look like the model Christian, they follow all the 'thou shalt nots' in the Bible to the T. They are threatened by anyone that carries the true anointing of God, and will attack it immediately, considering the real anointing, beneath them, they are too educated and dignified to partake of the real anointing of God. They certainly don't want mankind to be full of hope, because hope doesn't require education and endless haggling over the law to partake of. The truth is one man full of hope (Jesus) can do more than 100 educated men that want to spend their days haggling over every little letter of the law of God.
Does hope precede faith? As stated in the verse above, hope that is seen, is not hope at all. If we wait until we see evidence of God, and then that gives us hope, that is not hope at all, because we had proof evidence before the hope came. Hope is what sustains us, when we have no proof, no evidence. Once we are healed, it is no big DEAL that we are hopeful after that because the trial is over, the evidence of our healing is sound. Once we are saved if we are hopeful after that, it is no great thing, because everyone gets hope after they get saved. If we have a financial difficulty, and God gives us the finances to cover it, who doesn't have hope after they have seen the answer arise. That is NO BIG DEAL. But, when we are like Abraham, and against ALL HOPE, yet, in HOPE we believe, now we have reason to be commended before God! If you have a trial in your life, don't let depression steal your hope and don't let some Pharisee get you down either. Rise up and put your hope in God! Let that hope give you energy, excitement and perseverance! As the psalmist said:
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like unto whitewashed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Matthew 23:27
But how can we recognize these modern day hypocrites? They have the same attributes of the Pharisee in Jesus day, they attack people by name. They are fault finders, that are not satisfied with just preaching the Word, like I have done in this blog, and letting the Words fall wherever they lay. These fault finders go after people personally, by name, persecuting, and trying to destroy with personal attacks, just like they did to Jesus. Looking at people around them, trying to find something to trip them up, or to catch them at fault in either doctrine, deed or word, so that they can personally accuse them before other men. They have not the love nor the spirit of God, but have a religious spirit like the Pharisee. On the outside they look like the model Christian, they follow all the 'thou shalt nots' in the Bible to the T. They are threatened by anyone that carries the true anointing of God, and will attack it immediately, considering the real anointing, beneath them, they are too educated and dignified to partake of the real anointing of God. They certainly don't want mankind to be full of hope, because hope doesn't require education and endless haggling over the law to partake of. The truth is one man full of hope (Jesus) can do more than 100 educated men that want to spend their days haggling over every little letter of the law of God.
Does hope precede faith? As stated in the verse above, hope that is seen, is not hope at all. If we wait until we see evidence of God, and then that gives us hope, that is not hope at all, because we had proof evidence before the hope came. Hope is what sustains us, when we have no proof, no evidence. Once we are healed, it is no big DEAL that we are hopeful after that because the trial is over, the evidence of our healing is sound. Once we are saved if we are hopeful after that, it is no great thing, because everyone gets hope after they get saved. If we have a financial difficulty, and God gives us the finances to cover it, who doesn't have hope after they have seen the answer arise. That is NO BIG DEAL. But, when we are like Abraham, and against ALL HOPE, yet, in HOPE we believe, now we have reason to be commended before God! If you have a trial in your life, don't let depression steal your hope and don't let some Pharisee get you down either. Rise up and put your hope in God! Let that hope give you energy, excitement and perseverance! As the psalmist said:
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Faith that is not lacking
There are many people that live way below the faith level that they have in God. Is faith merely what you believe? In the American churches we have often replaced true faith, with doctrine. We have come to define faith as merely something that we believe when we pray. When you look at the Bible, most men and woman of the Bible had their faith push them way beyond praying. Look at Nehemiah for example. He had hope to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Sure, this hope lead him to prayer, but, it lead him beyond prayer as well. The hope he had within him lead him to stand up and take action. To ask the king for his blessing, for supplies, for permission to begin the work. Once the hope within him lead him to action his faith became sight! His faith to rebuild the walls, was the substance of what he had hoped for. You may think that sounds simplistic, easy, just a natural order of events, but believe me it is not easy or natural at ALL.
For instance, there are churches all over America with broken down walls. The kind of oppression and hopelessness that you will find within a church that hasn't been productive, and is not growing is a heavy weight. What can turn these churches around? Hope. Hope that eventually leads them to an action of faith. Remember what Jesus said about the mustard seed. He said that faith the size of a mustard seed could move the mountains in our lives. But, during the parable, the seed was planted and grew to be a large tree. This is the same with our faith. Mountain moving faith starts out as a small step forward, that leads to another step, that leads to another step...and with each step, hope increases and faith grows as well. Mustard seed faith in itself, won't move the mountains, but a mustard seed of faith planted in our hearts, that grows into a large tree will move the mountains.
It is so important to understand where you are at, before you begin moving forward into action. Going into a small church, where the people are defeated and have very little hope, and suddenly announcing a plan to win the entire city is going to be met with dismal response. Why? Because you are asking them to step out on faith, when they have little to no hope. I have seen instances where the better place to start is getting the body to value it's contribution, and the community to value it's contribution. One thing is for sure, if the members of the body and the community don't value the contribution of the church...attempts to reach the city will be in vain. I have seen pastors walk into a church with glorious plans to reach the lost, and it did not give me much hope...why? Because the church was a mess, and many things were being left undone. For instance, If you can't clean up the church and the parking lot, how will you ever reach the city. We look for huge advances and huge step forwards, when sometimes just getting up and doing what has been left undone is the first step that we should be take. What happens when we move forward, one small step at a time? Hope builds, which leads to actions of faith, which leads to a greater hope, and even greater actions of faith! There is no life that is so far gone and unproductive that God cannot change it around and give them future and a hope. The same is true for churches as well. Even a church that has been dormant and unproductive for decades, since it's inception is not without hope and without God. God is a catalyst for change, he can turn anything around. It will take faith, hope and love, and it will take more love than anything else!
Those things that you are overlooking in your life are the very things that God will use. Those talents you dismissed. That desire to do a work for God that you put on the back shelf because you thought you lacked what it took to get the job done. The same in our church. Those people that we wrote off as trouble makers and problems are the very ones that God is going to use to turn your church around! Why is it that we despise what we have, and are always looking for God to bring us something better? I see people sit on their duff, instead of getting up and taking the necessary steps to move forward in life, expecting that prayer alone is going to get them where they need to be. Noah did not save the world by prayer alone. Abraham did not find his new place to dwell by prayer alone. Joshua did not conquer Jericho by prayer alone. Moses did not deliver the children of Israel by prayer alone. Joseph did not deliver all of Egypt and the surrounding area by prayer alone! David did not defeat the giant by prayer alone! Instead of praying about what we DON'T have, we should get up and use whatever we do have. God used a rod in Moses hand. How special is a rod? They are a dime a dozen. Maybe what is in your hand is nothing special. Maybe you are like David and all the poor and the trouble makers is what you have to work with. God can take a trouble maker and make a mighty man of valor out of him! What do we do instead of latching on to hope and getting up and doing the best we can with what we have? What we do is sit back, and lay down in our circumstances, and complain, and make excuses for our lack of effort. God is not the God of excuses. I don't see one Bible story where a complainer, who had a lot of excuses did anything for God! If God can save the nation through a bunch of lepers, imagine what he could do with you!
2 Kings 7: 3-4
3Now there were four men with leprosyd at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”
These lepers were sitting there, dieing from hunger. What happened? Hope sprang up in their hearts. They thought why sit here until we die! We all know the end of the story. God had caused the enemy army that was laying siege to the city to get afraid overnight and they all abandoned the camp, which was loaded with food. When the lepers went out to the camp, they found all this food, and the enemy army gone. They ate until they were full! Their hope of the enemy having compassion on beggars and feeding them lead them to an action. They got up and went out to the enemies camp. Once they got to the camp and found it empty and ate all they wanted their faith lead them to an even greater hope! Suddenly then began thinking, "Hey, maybe we can feed the whole city!" They did go back to the city, and all the people came and ate, God saved the city through four lepers! See how their hope and faith grew. First they thought lets save ourselves. That worked, and then they got the idea they could save the whole city.
Maybe you are looking at your life and you feel wasted like the lepers. Like your life has nothing of value to offer. Maybe you are looking at your church and thinking the same thing. I remember going into one church, all we had that claimed to be workers were two ladies, and one of them didn't work! Today we look back on that and laugh saying, "Remember when we only had two workers, except one of them didn't work." Try filling out a church report with that. Get to the statistics area. Salvation's 0, Baptisms 0, additional comments: Well, we do have two workers, but one of them don't work. Wow. That is not a lot to work with, but, God can take what you have if you will work where you are at. We want to work at higher levels, and ignore the level we are currently on. God saved an entire city through four lepers, just imagine the possibilities of what God could do with you!
For instance, there are churches all over America with broken down walls. The kind of oppression and hopelessness that you will find within a church that hasn't been productive, and is not growing is a heavy weight. What can turn these churches around? Hope. Hope that eventually leads them to an action of faith. Remember what Jesus said about the mustard seed. He said that faith the size of a mustard seed could move the mountains in our lives. But, during the parable, the seed was planted and grew to be a large tree. This is the same with our faith. Mountain moving faith starts out as a small step forward, that leads to another step, that leads to another step...and with each step, hope increases and faith grows as well. Mustard seed faith in itself, won't move the mountains, but a mustard seed of faith planted in our hearts, that grows into a large tree will move the mountains.
It is so important to understand where you are at, before you begin moving forward into action. Going into a small church, where the people are defeated and have very little hope, and suddenly announcing a plan to win the entire city is going to be met with dismal response. Why? Because you are asking them to step out on faith, when they have little to no hope. I have seen instances where the better place to start is getting the body to value it's contribution, and the community to value it's contribution. One thing is for sure, if the members of the body and the community don't value the contribution of the church...attempts to reach the city will be in vain. I have seen pastors walk into a church with glorious plans to reach the lost, and it did not give me much hope...why? Because the church was a mess, and many things were being left undone. For instance, If you can't clean up the church and the parking lot, how will you ever reach the city. We look for huge advances and huge step forwards, when sometimes just getting up and doing what has been left undone is the first step that we should be take. What happens when we move forward, one small step at a time? Hope builds, which leads to actions of faith, which leads to a greater hope, and even greater actions of faith! There is no life that is so far gone and unproductive that God cannot change it around and give them future and a hope. The same is true for churches as well. Even a church that has been dormant and unproductive for decades, since it's inception is not without hope and without God. God is a catalyst for change, he can turn anything around. It will take faith, hope and love, and it will take more love than anything else!
Those things that you are overlooking in your life are the very things that God will use. Those talents you dismissed. That desire to do a work for God that you put on the back shelf because you thought you lacked what it took to get the job done. The same in our church. Those people that we wrote off as trouble makers and problems are the very ones that God is going to use to turn your church around! Why is it that we despise what we have, and are always looking for God to bring us something better? I see people sit on their duff, instead of getting up and taking the necessary steps to move forward in life, expecting that prayer alone is going to get them where they need to be. Noah did not save the world by prayer alone. Abraham did not find his new place to dwell by prayer alone. Joshua did not conquer Jericho by prayer alone. Moses did not deliver the children of Israel by prayer alone. Joseph did not deliver all of Egypt and the surrounding area by prayer alone! David did not defeat the giant by prayer alone! Instead of praying about what we DON'T have, we should get up and use whatever we do have. God used a rod in Moses hand. How special is a rod? They are a dime a dozen. Maybe what is in your hand is nothing special. Maybe you are like David and all the poor and the trouble makers is what you have to work with. God can take a trouble maker and make a mighty man of valor out of him! What do we do instead of latching on to hope and getting up and doing the best we can with what we have? What we do is sit back, and lay down in our circumstances, and complain, and make excuses for our lack of effort. God is not the God of excuses. I don't see one Bible story where a complainer, who had a lot of excuses did anything for God! If God can save the nation through a bunch of lepers, imagine what he could do with you!
2 Kings 7: 3-4
3Now there were four men with leprosyd at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”
These lepers were sitting there, dieing from hunger. What happened? Hope sprang up in their hearts. They thought why sit here until we die! We all know the end of the story. God had caused the enemy army that was laying siege to the city to get afraid overnight and they all abandoned the camp, which was loaded with food. When the lepers went out to the camp, they found all this food, and the enemy army gone. They ate until they were full! Their hope of the enemy having compassion on beggars and feeding them lead them to an action. They got up and went out to the enemies camp. Once they got to the camp and found it empty and ate all they wanted their faith lead them to an even greater hope! Suddenly then began thinking, "Hey, maybe we can feed the whole city!" They did go back to the city, and all the people came and ate, God saved the city through four lepers! See how their hope and faith grew. First they thought lets save ourselves. That worked, and then they got the idea they could save the whole city.
Maybe you are looking at your life and you feel wasted like the lepers. Like your life has nothing of value to offer. Maybe you are looking at your church and thinking the same thing. I remember going into one church, all we had that claimed to be workers were two ladies, and one of them didn't work! Today we look back on that and laugh saying, "Remember when we only had two workers, except one of them didn't work." Try filling out a church report with that. Get to the statistics area. Salvation's 0, Baptisms 0, additional comments: Well, we do have two workers, but one of them don't work. Wow. That is not a lot to work with, but, God can take what you have if you will work where you are at. We want to work at higher levels, and ignore the level we are currently on. God saved an entire city through four lepers, just imagine the possibilities of what God could do with you!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Hope that Endures for all time
Yesterday we talked about hope preceding faith. Why is this so important? It is important because their are people today that need a miracle, and they are so focused on getting more faith, but do they really have a lack of faith at all? Jesus said if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed you could move mountains. The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds. It doesn't take a huge amount of faith to see great things, just a tiny seed that is planted in your heart and allowed to grow there. We have been taught in some Christian circles today that it takes a lot of faith to see the miracle working power of God. This is not what Jesus taught. Jesus compared a small bit of faith to a seed, that when planted in the heart grows into a huge tree. We put a stumbling block in people's path when we tell them that it takes huge faith to move mountains. Often faith is not where people are lacking, it is hope where they lack. You may think, if they had faith, they would have hope. Not necessarily, because it is our hope, that leads to faith, and that in return gives us greater hope, that leads us to greater faith... Is hope really that important?
In I Corinthians 13, we see that in the end there will be three things that remain, faith, hope, and love, with the greatest being love. We have heard a lot of teaching of faith, and a lot of teaching on love, but seldom does anyone teach on hope. How does hope precede faith? As we talked about yesterday, let's use the preaching of the Gospel as an example. Many people are without hope and without God in this world. When we preach the hope of the gospel, and share out testimony of God's power to change and impact lives, hope begins to rise within their hearts. Where did the hope come from? It came from us, we shared our hope with them, and hope came alive within their hearts too. Is hope enough to bring us to salvation. Hope is not enough all by itself. If someone hears my testimony, and then begins to have hope that their own life could be changed, they must act upon that hope. If someone is encouraged by my testimony, but walks away without putting their faith in that HOPE (which is Christ Jesus), they will walk away without having tasted salvation. When we share hope, and someone gains hope through what we have shared, and then they act upon that hope by confessing Christ, and believing in their heart, they will be saved. But what if hope never rises in their hearts? What if they do not hear the testimony of a changed life through Christ. Without hope, faith is unlikely to manifest. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance of what we have hoped for...the Bible says, "how can they believe if they have not heard.
This is why the enemy tries so hard to steal you hope, and to stop you from sharing your testimony. Your testimony spoken in faith gives hope to the hearer. Hope is such a powerful force that it is one of the three things that God said would remain. Guess what? Religion is going to cease. Prophecy is going to cease. Church buildings are going to cease. Titles of distinction are going to cease. Three things will remain: Faith, Hope and Love. If you don't have these three things, everything you have worked for will be lost, it will cease to exist one day. These three things should be the building blocks of your life. Religion shouldn't be our building block. Denomination shouldn't be our building block. Possessions shouldn't be our building block. Even our relationships should be built upon faith, hope and love. God is love, and faith and hope is how we connect with HIM!
Our hope is what causes us to endure to the end. The end of what? The end of out test, our journey on this earth. Our actions should be prompted by faith. What causes most people action? They act because of duty, not faith. They give out of duty, not because of faith. They pray out of duty, not because of faith. This is a religious bondage where duty replaces faith. Religious people will rationalize that duty is their faith. This is how the Pharisee in Jesus' day saw it as well. Jesus said, "unless your faith surpasses the Pharisee you will not see the kingdom of God."
Our labor should be prompted by love. When our labor of love becomes our attempt to show off, we have replaced our responsibility to love with our pride. As an example. It is our labor of love, to go to work, to provide for our family. Our work in life should be prompted by faith and motivated by love. Many people find themselves prompted by duty and motivated by pride...they work to get nicer things, to boast. Our work must be motivated by our love for others, not by our pride that wants to get ahead of others.
And our endurance should be secured by the hope that we have in us. Hope that we are making a difference for our family by being a good provider. In our society many have replaced hope with debt. What is debt? Debt is a type of condemnation. We must pay back a debt. There are people today that trudge along in their spiritual life, living out of a sense of duty, laboring because of pride. More concerned about what others will think if they don't labor making their labor in God a debt. And continuing on because of a sense of condemnation, trying to pay back a debt of guilt pleasing people around us instead of pleasing God. No wonder people are so depressed!
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. 1:3
There is a better way. Works that are brought on because of faith, not duty. Labor that is prompted by love, not pride, and a hope that causes us to endure, replacing the condemnation of spiritual debt, that motivates so many to continue on. When everything else is gone, these three things will remain: faith, hope and love. We should each make these three things the building block of our lives.
In I Corinthians 13, we see that in the end there will be three things that remain, faith, hope, and love, with the greatest being love. We have heard a lot of teaching of faith, and a lot of teaching on love, but seldom does anyone teach on hope. How does hope precede faith? As we talked about yesterday, let's use the preaching of the Gospel as an example. Many people are without hope and without God in this world. When we preach the hope of the gospel, and share out testimony of God's power to change and impact lives, hope begins to rise within their hearts. Where did the hope come from? It came from us, we shared our hope with them, and hope came alive within their hearts too. Is hope enough to bring us to salvation. Hope is not enough all by itself. If someone hears my testimony, and then begins to have hope that their own life could be changed, they must act upon that hope. If someone is encouraged by my testimony, but walks away without putting their faith in that HOPE (which is Christ Jesus), they will walk away without having tasted salvation. When we share hope, and someone gains hope through what we have shared, and then they act upon that hope by confessing Christ, and believing in their heart, they will be saved. But what if hope never rises in their hearts? What if they do not hear the testimony of a changed life through Christ. Without hope, faith is unlikely to manifest. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance of what we have hoped for...the Bible says, "how can they believe if they have not heard.
This is why the enemy tries so hard to steal you hope, and to stop you from sharing your testimony. Your testimony spoken in faith gives hope to the hearer. Hope is such a powerful force that it is one of the three things that God said would remain. Guess what? Religion is going to cease. Prophecy is going to cease. Church buildings are going to cease. Titles of distinction are going to cease. Three things will remain: Faith, Hope and Love. If you don't have these three things, everything you have worked for will be lost, it will cease to exist one day. These three things should be the building blocks of your life. Religion shouldn't be our building block. Denomination shouldn't be our building block. Possessions shouldn't be our building block. Even our relationships should be built upon faith, hope and love. God is love, and faith and hope is how we connect with HIM!
Our hope is what causes us to endure to the end. The end of what? The end of out test, our journey on this earth. Our actions should be prompted by faith. What causes most people action? They act because of duty, not faith. They give out of duty, not because of faith. They pray out of duty, not because of faith. This is a religious bondage where duty replaces faith. Religious people will rationalize that duty is their faith. This is how the Pharisee in Jesus' day saw it as well. Jesus said, "unless your faith surpasses the Pharisee you will not see the kingdom of God."
Our labor should be prompted by love. When our labor of love becomes our attempt to show off, we have replaced our responsibility to love with our pride. As an example. It is our labor of love, to go to work, to provide for our family. Our work in life should be prompted by faith and motivated by love. Many people find themselves prompted by duty and motivated by pride...they work to get nicer things, to boast. Our work must be motivated by our love for others, not by our pride that wants to get ahead of others.
And our endurance should be secured by the hope that we have in us. Hope that we are making a difference for our family by being a good provider. In our society many have replaced hope with debt. What is debt? Debt is a type of condemnation. We must pay back a debt. There are people today that trudge along in their spiritual life, living out of a sense of duty, laboring because of pride. More concerned about what others will think if they don't labor making their labor in God a debt. And continuing on because of a sense of condemnation, trying to pay back a debt of guilt pleasing people around us instead of pleasing God. No wonder people are so depressed!
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. 1:3
There is a better way. Works that are brought on because of faith, not duty. Labor that is prompted by love, not pride, and a hope that causes us to endure, replacing the condemnation of spiritual debt, that motivates so many to continue on. When everything else is gone, these three things will remain: faith, hope and love. We should each make these three things the building block of our lives.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Hope precedes Faith
Hope precedes faith. Anyone with a religious spirit is just really MAD that I just wrote that statement! People who are serving religion are some of the most discouraging, negative, depressing people out there. They find the BAD in everything! Is it possible to be a born again Christian, yet, still be serving religion. Yes, it is very possible!
Does hope really precede faith? Someone may argue, faith comes first, and then because of faith, you gain hope. Well, that does happen, because we go from faith to faith, but, hope does precede faith. The Bible says that the message that we preach is that of hope in Jesus Christ for eternal life.
Titus 1:1-3
Does hope really precede faith? Someone may argue, faith comes first, and then because of faith, you gain hope. Well, that does happen, because we go from faith to faith, but, hope does precede faith. The Bible says that the message that we preach is that of hope in Jesus Christ for eternal life.
Titus 1:1-3
1Paul,
a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of
God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after
godliness;
2In
hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages
began;
3But
has in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto
me according to the commandment of God our Savior;
When we preach the Gospel which is the Good News of the hope that we have through Jesus Christ, it causes the hearer to have hope in God, hope in salvation, hope in deliverance, hope in eternal life. We express our hope, and it becomes their hope. Once this hope has been birthed in their heart faith comes to life only as they confess with their mouth and believe in their hearts. The Bible says, how can they be saved if they have not heard! Hope springs up in the heart of the listener when we preach Christ Jesus! If you are not preaching the hope of the gospel, don't expect many conversions! People are hopeless in this world, lost, and trying to get by the best that they can. The Bible says for us to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in us.
Once hope has sprang up within our hearts, and we add the action of faith by confessing Christ with our mouth, and believing with our hearts we are saved! We had hope first, and that hope lead us to faith! How did we get that hope, we got it when someone preached the GOSPEL! The preaching of the gospel brings hope to mankind! Once salvation grips our souls through the faith that sprung up from that hope, then even more hope floods our hearts...and this hope leads to an even greater faith, faith that will be expressed through our ACTIONS...as the Bible declares, we go from glory to glory!
It is like a never ending cycle. Hope leads to faith, and then the faith gives us even more hope, which leads to greater faith, and that leads to an even greater hope... Be a hope giver to others! We are called to hold out the HOPE of the Gospel!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Four things that destroy
Is life hard? Is living for Jesus hard? Is succeeding hard? Is finding happiness hard? These questions are like a lot of other questions in life. Everyone has an opinion, but, an opinion is the result of your own life view. What we see today in politics, in the church, and in personal lives is people have opinions, but, they lack having convictions. An opinion is swayed by emotions, and changing tides. Conviction on the other hand is a moral standard, principles by which you live by. The constitution that we live by in America is more than just an opinion, it is the conviction of men that sat down and drafted it. Changing the constitution can be done, but, it is not done easily. We lack men, woman, boys and girls of conviction today. Our society today has become people lacking conviction that just does whatever they feel like doing at any given time or moment of the day.
Along with conviction is your word. A man's word used to be his bond. We are living in a generation that is careless with their words. If we knew that everything that we spoke was going to be requied of us, we would have a lot less talking heads in America. We are a generation of promise breakers, and we spout words off like they are nothing.
God's Word, the Bible is my conviction. I will speak it, live it, teach it to others, and guide my daily actions by it, even if it is not the most comfortable thing to do. God's Word is wisdom, and when we live by his Word, we find that our lives begin to conform to blessings, and peace within.
What has our generation done? What are a few of the philosophies that are destroying us?
1. I will follow my own heart and let it guide me.
Most of the people that I know today that are in a real mess in life got in that place by following the desires of their own heart. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 Jesus said over and over again. "FOLLOW ME" The psalmist said, I will follow the precepts of God, I will follow the straight path of the principles of God. We must follow in the path of Jesus, and not our own hearts.
2. I will do what makes me happy, and please myself.
Some of the unhappiest people I know are people who lived their lives to make themselves happy. Doing exactly what they wanted when they wanted. God says in Isaiah 65:2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, who walk in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; We need to make God happy and to please the LORD. Moses said to the people: In that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that you may live and multiply: and the LORD your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it.
3. No one is going to tell me what is right for me, I'll decide myself what is right for me.
Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not from me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: If we would look back over the course of our lives it was when we became rebellious towards our parents, toward society, towards our teachers, towards our responsibilities that the troubles and bad attitudes crept into our lives. Is it possible to be 40, 50, 60 years old, and yet still be rebelling against the things that would bring us peace? Yes, some people never learn. I see mothers of young children who say, I will do what's right for me, no one tells me what's right for me, except me. When I hear them say it, I know the young child they are raising is going to adopt the same philosophy. When that young mother has a teenage child that has adopted her same rebellious mindset, she will begin to see how foolish it really is to think this way.
4. When I party, and get drunk and so forth, I'm not hurting anyone but myself.
I am responsible for no one but myself, if you don't like my actions, too bad.
Try telling this to a family that has someone that is abusing drugs or alcohol, or in trouble with the justice system. We deceive ourselves when we think that our actions have no consequence on the people around us. Remember Cain, who killed his brother Abel. He said to God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" When we have the attitude that our actions are ours alone and we do not think we impact others we are living in a fantasy world, causing destruction for everyone around us.
Jesus boiled down life in two commandments:
Matthew 22: 37-40
37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’b 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’c 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The truth is, we put God and others before ourselves. This would solve the problems of marriages, nations, kingdoms. Love God, and love others. It isn't that hard to understand, we just have to lay down our selfishness. Think about how much better this world would be if we would just obey Jesus.
Along with conviction is your word. A man's word used to be his bond. We are living in a generation that is careless with their words. If we knew that everything that we spoke was going to be requied of us, we would have a lot less talking heads in America. We are a generation of promise breakers, and we spout words off like they are nothing.
God's Word, the Bible is my conviction. I will speak it, live it, teach it to others, and guide my daily actions by it, even if it is not the most comfortable thing to do. God's Word is wisdom, and when we live by his Word, we find that our lives begin to conform to blessings, and peace within.
What has our generation done? What are a few of the philosophies that are destroying us?
1. I will follow my own heart and let it guide me.
Most of the people that I know today that are in a real mess in life got in that place by following the desires of their own heart. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 Jesus said over and over again. "FOLLOW ME" The psalmist said, I will follow the precepts of God, I will follow the straight path of the principles of God. We must follow in the path of Jesus, and not our own hearts.
2. I will do what makes me happy, and please myself.
Some of the unhappiest people I know are people who lived their lives to make themselves happy. Doing exactly what they wanted when they wanted. God says in Isaiah 65:2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, who walk in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; We need to make God happy and to please the LORD. Moses said to the people: In that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that you may live and multiply: and the LORD your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it.
3. No one is going to tell me what is right for me, I'll decide myself what is right for me.
Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not from me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: If we would look back over the course of our lives it was when we became rebellious towards our parents, toward society, towards our teachers, towards our responsibilities that the troubles and bad attitudes crept into our lives. Is it possible to be 40, 50, 60 years old, and yet still be rebelling against the things that would bring us peace? Yes, some people never learn. I see mothers of young children who say, I will do what's right for me, no one tells me what's right for me, except me. When I hear them say it, I know the young child they are raising is going to adopt the same philosophy. When that young mother has a teenage child that has adopted her same rebellious mindset, she will begin to see how foolish it really is to think this way.
4. When I party, and get drunk and so forth, I'm not hurting anyone but myself.
I am responsible for no one but myself, if you don't like my actions, too bad.
Try telling this to a family that has someone that is abusing drugs or alcohol, or in trouble with the justice system. We deceive ourselves when we think that our actions have no consequence on the people around us. Remember Cain, who killed his brother Abel. He said to God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" When we have the attitude that our actions are ours alone and we do not think we impact others we are living in a fantasy world, causing destruction for everyone around us.
Jesus boiled down life in two commandments:
Matthew 22: 37-40
37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’b 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’c 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The truth is, we put God and others before ourselves. This would solve the problems of marriages, nations, kingdoms. Love God, and love others. It isn't that hard to understand, we just have to lay down our selfishness. Think about how much better this world would be if we would just obey Jesus.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
When your past is haunting you
All of us have a past, and we have a present, and a future. Some people are stuck in the past, some people can only think about here and now, while others are putting everything off til the future. What do you do when your past is consuming both your present and your future?
In the Bible we see King Saul, who made mistakes, he lied, he disobeyed God, he spent most of his life trying to make up for it. The Bible says that a tormenting spirit came and made him miserable. This is what happens when our past comes knocking on our doorstep, and won't go away. The consequences of our past does us less harm than the guilt that it brings. It is a terrible thing to live in constant fear that the past will repeat itself. Some people fear that they will never get out of it's clutches. One thing is for certain, no one cheats God, whatever you dish out, is coming right back at you.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7
To understand how this works, look at your life like as if it were a garden. First you get the ground ready. Second you plant the seeds. Third you tend to the plants and harvest the fruit. By the time you are in the harvesting period, the ground preparation and the planting were in the PAST. If you did not do a good job cultivating the ground, or if you planted the wrong kind of seed, you are not going to get the harvest that you wanted to get.
Bad 'seeds' (actions) produce bad fruit. Good 'seeds' (actions) produce good fruit.
If you plant 'bad' seeds, are you going to get a 'good' harvest? No, you are going to get a 'bad' harvest. If you do plant bad seeds and get a bad harvest what can you do to get a 'good' harvest the next time? Well, you have to start all over at square one, cultivating the ground. You have to dig up all the bad plants, work the soil, and prepare it for the good seed.
Before you ever get a harvest of good things there is a lot of WORK that has to be done. Those who want to reap a good harvest before they do any work, is not going to see a good harvest. You must work hard preparing yourself, and planting the right seeds for a long time before you see good fruit come back to you. Anyone who is more interested in playing, rather than working is not going to find a prosperous harvest in the end. If you 'play around today' you will find that in the future the consequences of that choice often eliminates you from producing the best harvest that you can produce. Even if your interest is a sports, you have to work hard on your skills to advance. Anyone that plants good seeds for a short time, but then gives up because they do not see results from it as quickly as they would like, will not receive a good harvest. You must do good, and continue to do good, until a good harvest comes back to you.
What do you do if your past comes back to haunt you? You can learn a lesson from your past. Don't make the same mistakes all over again. As long as you keep making the same mistakes over and over again, you will continue to produce the same lousy harvest. Look back to when you were planting your seeds? What kind of seeds did you plant? I have heard people say, "I will do whatever I want to do." That may be true, but, you WILL NOT get to have whatever harvest you want to have...your harvest will be the direct result of your choices good or bad. You are able to chose your actions, but you cannot control the outcome of those actions. It is true that each or our actions are within our own power to command, but the result of those actions (our harvest) is what we are stuck with...there is no changing that.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he comes and rains righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12
In the Bible we see King Saul, who made mistakes, he lied, he disobeyed God, he spent most of his life trying to make up for it. The Bible says that a tormenting spirit came and made him miserable. This is what happens when our past comes knocking on our doorstep, and won't go away. The consequences of our past does us less harm than the guilt that it brings. It is a terrible thing to live in constant fear that the past will repeat itself. Some people fear that they will never get out of it's clutches. One thing is for certain, no one cheats God, whatever you dish out, is coming right back at you.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7
To understand how this works, look at your life like as if it were a garden. First you get the ground ready. Second you plant the seeds. Third you tend to the plants and harvest the fruit. By the time you are in the harvesting period, the ground preparation and the planting were in the PAST. If you did not do a good job cultivating the ground, or if you planted the wrong kind of seed, you are not going to get the harvest that you wanted to get.
Bad 'seeds' (actions) produce bad fruit. Good 'seeds' (actions) produce good fruit.
If you plant 'bad' seeds, are you going to get a 'good' harvest? No, you are going to get a 'bad' harvest. If you do plant bad seeds and get a bad harvest what can you do to get a 'good' harvest the next time? Well, you have to start all over at square one, cultivating the ground. You have to dig up all the bad plants, work the soil, and prepare it for the good seed.
Before you ever get a harvest of good things there is a lot of WORK that has to be done. Those who want to reap a good harvest before they do any work, is not going to see a good harvest. You must work hard preparing yourself, and planting the right seeds for a long time before you see good fruit come back to you. Anyone who is more interested in playing, rather than working is not going to find a prosperous harvest in the end. If you 'play around today' you will find that in the future the consequences of that choice often eliminates you from producing the best harvest that you can produce. Even if your interest is a sports, you have to work hard on your skills to advance. Anyone that plants good seeds for a short time, but then gives up because they do not see results from it as quickly as they would like, will not receive a good harvest. You must do good, and continue to do good, until a good harvest comes back to you.
What do you do if your past comes back to haunt you? You can learn a lesson from your past. Don't make the same mistakes all over again. As long as you keep making the same mistakes over and over again, you will continue to produce the same lousy harvest. Look back to when you were planting your seeds? What kind of seeds did you plant? I have heard people say, "I will do whatever I want to do." That may be true, but, you WILL NOT get to have whatever harvest you want to have...your harvest will be the direct result of your choices good or bad. You are able to chose your actions, but you cannot control the outcome of those actions. It is true that each or our actions are within our own power to command, but the result of those actions (our harvest) is what we are stuck with...there is no changing that.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he comes and rains righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12
Saturday, September 29, 2012
What does the future hold?
We all have a purpose in life. Some people go to College to try to find, prepare and train for that purpose. Others will take a talent or an interest and build upon it to find their life's purpose and destiny. Some people will mentor after their family or friends interest, and find their place in life following in someone else's footsteps.
One of the worst feelings in the world is when you feel like you are missing your destiny. One of the hardest things is to search for your purpose and then really not find it. And harder still is when a spouse or a parent feels like they 'know' your life path, and they try to force you down a path that really isn't what you were called to do. After a while, panic and fears begin to settle in as you wonder along feeling like time and life is slipping by while you still don't have a clear direction for your life.
There are some people that let their dreams lead them, still others let their common sense take over, and some just do whatever their parents or friends want them to do. I have heard many people say over the years, "I just want to do what God wants for my life, I just don't know what that plan is." I have seen people bound and determined to follow their own hearts desires, and most often their heart leads them into nothing but a big mess!
You cannot look at your basic skills, desires or qualifications to find out God's path for your life. Look at Moses. He was sent to speak to Pharaoh, and it was common knowledge that he had a speech impediment. So how do you find God's purpose. How do you find God's will for you life?
No matter what purpose you were created for in this life, God has desires and plans to prosper you, not to harm you.
The thief comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10
But, how do I find this abundant life in Christ Jesus. It is the wisdom of God that will lead us to find our God given destiny and life purpose.
Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off. prov. 24:14
Where is wisdom? How do we find God's wisdom? God has a life path for each of us that leads to his design, purpose and plan for our life. Finding that purpose will being fulfillment and peace to our soul. It is God's Word that shows the path of God for our lives and helps us find our destiny.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. psalm 119:105
How does this Scripture apply? Let's say someone is looking for someone they could marry. What does God's word say?
Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.
We are not to counsel with the ungodly, nor stand in the way for the sinners...so going to a place of sin to find a mate is going to get you OFF of God's path. The path of God is always found as you obey his WORD. This applies to every area of our lives.
If a person is looking for a career, what does the Bible say about finding that path? Throughout the book of proverbs the Bible declares that for guidance we should have many counsellors. If you only listen to your own heart, or a small circle of your friends, you will not find the correct path. Broaden your circle. Listen to your grandma, to your siblings, to your teachers, to your parents, to your coach, to your heart, to your friends, your Pastor or spiritual leader, even listen to those who criticize you. If you keep an open mind and an open heart and do not shut your heart up with a rebellious spirit you will find God's path! Even if you failed to listen in the past, and now you are in one big mess, it is not too late to start listening.
Jeremiah 29:11
'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
One of the worst feelings in the world is when you feel like you are missing your destiny. One of the hardest things is to search for your purpose and then really not find it. And harder still is when a spouse or a parent feels like they 'know' your life path, and they try to force you down a path that really isn't what you were called to do. After a while, panic and fears begin to settle in as you wonder along feeling like time and life is slipping by while you still don't have a clear direction for your life.
There are some people that let their dreams lead them, still others let their common sense take over, and some just do whatever their parents or friends want them to do. I have heard many people say over the years, "I just want to do what God wants for my life, I just don't know what that plan is." I have seen people bound and determined to follow their own hearts desires, and most often their heart leads them into nothing but a big mess!
You cannot look at your basic skills, desires or qualifications to find out God's path for your life. Look at Moses. He was sent to speak to Pharaoh, and it was common knowledge that he had a speech impediment. So how do you find God's purpose. How do you find God's will for you life?
No matter what purpose you were created for in this life, God has desires and plans to prosper you, not to harm you.
The thief comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10
But, how do I find this abundant life in Christ Jesus. It is the wisdom of God that will lead us to find our God given destiny and life purpose.
Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off. prov. 24:14
Where is wisdom? How do we find God's wisdom? God has a life path for each of us that leads to his design, purpose and plan for our life. Finding that purpose will being fulfillment and peace to our soul. It is God's Word that shows the path of God for our lives and helps us find our destiny.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. psalm 119:105
How does this Scripture apply? Let's say someone is looking for someone they could marry. What does God's word say?
Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.
We are not to counsel with the ungodly, nor stand in the way for the sinners...so going to a place of sin to find a mate is going to get you OFF of God's path. The path of God is always found as you obey his WORD. This applies to every area of our lives.
If a person is looking for a career, what does the Bible say about finding that path? Throughout the book of proverbs the Bible declares that for guidance we should have many counsellors. If you only listen to your own heart, or a small circle of your friends, you will not find the correct path. Broaden your circle. Listen to your grandma, to your siblings, to your teachers, to your parents, to your coach, to your heart, to your friends, your Pastor or spiritual leader, even listen to those who criticize you. If you keep an open mind and an open heart and do not shut your heart up with a rebellious spirit you will find God's path! Even if you failed to listen in the past, and now you are in one big mess, it is not too late to start listening.
Jeremiah 29:11
'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Getting rid of the storms!
When we are facing trials and issues it can be disheartening. Most people like to try to figure out why they are facing the storms of their lives. I have talked to many people that are afraid when they are going through a storm that perhaps they are doing something wrong. The questions of 'what is going on' with this situation and 'why am I going through this' weighs on the hearts and minds of many people.
All of us have studied the story of Jonah, or heard someone teach it to us when we were a child. Most of the time the story of Jonah is either told through the eyes of heaven, or through the eyes of Jonah, but, I want you to stop for just a minute and think about the captain of the boat. Think of the story of Jonah, and imagine for a minute what the captain of that boat must have went through during that journey.
He is starting out this journey to Tarshish just like any other ocean charter he has ever sailed. He has his supplies, his boat, his crew, his cargo, and finally his passengers. Everything seems to be fine. He checks the signs of nature and any incoming reports from people who have been out on the sea. The weather should be fine. He is hoping for an uneventful trip. Then the best luck and fortune that could ever happen to a Captain happened. The PROPHET of the Lord wanted to ride on HIS boat! That would ensure the hand of God on this trip. This is going to be so easy with Jonah aboard, cause God is with him. It would seem like a blessing, but, the captain did not know that Johan was a man running from God!
Here they are in the midst of the ocean, and POW, up comes the worst storm. They are all fighting for their lives! They are throwing all supplies over board. They are fearful that this storm is the mother of all storms, and she is going to take them out. Each man began to call upon his God to save them. BUT WHERE IS THE PROPHET WHEN THEY NEED HIM THE MOST? They finally find him below decks ASLEEP. Can you imagine the thoughts of this captain. Here is this man asleep, when they are all fighting for our lives.
They prayed for deliverance from God, but, God would not help them. The Captain begins questioning the situation. What is going on? Who sinned, who brought this trouble? Why am I in this storm? Is God trying to teach me anything? What are my options? They decided to cast lots to see who's sin had brought this storm upon them. The lot fell to Jonah! Now the captain is shocked! What did you do! Jonah then confesses that he is a man who is running from God. The Captain and these other men did not do anything to bring on this storm, but, because they were in the same boat as JONAH, all of their lives were now in danger! The Captain tried everything he could to save he ship, but, in the end Jonah tells the captain the only way to save them all is to throw him overboard into the sea. The Captain is a good man, he doesn't want to do this. Finally, he prays and ask God not to hold him responsible for Jonah's death...and they throw Jonah into the sea...and immediately the storm stopped!
Whatever storm you are facing right now, it may not be the result of anything you have or haven't done. You may be in a storm right now cause you are in the same boat with someone who has sinned against God, and stirred up trouble. There are certain relationships, certain places of work, certain places of worship, certain homes that if you want to hang on to them, you will always be in the middle of a storm! How long with the storm last? The storm will last as long as whoever is bringing the storm is in the middle of your boat! Sometimes we are like the boat captain. We don't want to have to bring an end to a situation, cause we don't want to feel that we have abandoned anyone at sea, but, there are times you have to clean out your boat and start fresh!
2 Peter talks about people that they are driven by the storm...clouds carried with the tempest.
These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved 2 Peter 17-18
If there are people in you boat that are arrogant, and talk crazy words, and have fleshly 'hang ups' these are the kind of people that are driven by the storms of life. Keep them in your boat, and the storm will eventually destroy your ship!
All of us have studied the story of Jonah, or heard someone teach it to us when we were a child. Most of the time the story of Jonah is either told through the eyes of heaven, or through the eyes of Jonah, but, I want you to stop for just a minute and think about the captain of the boat. Think of the story of Jonah, and imagine for a minute what the captain of that boat must have went through during that journey.
He is starting out this journey to Tarshish just like any other ocean charter he has ever sailed. He has his supplies, his boat, his crew, his cargo, and finally his passengers. Everything seems to be fine. He checks the signs of nature and any incoming reports from people who have been out on the sea. The weather should be fine. He is hoping for an uneventful trip. Then the best luck and fortune that could ever happen to a Captain happened. The PROPHET of the Lord wanted to ride on HIS boat! That would ensure the hand of God on this trip. This is going to be so easy with Jonah aboard, cause God is with him. It would seem like a blessing, but, the captain did not know that Johan was a man running from God!
Here they are in the midst of the ocean, and POW, up comes the worst storm. They are all fighting for their lives! They are throwing all supplies over board. They are fearful that this storm is the mother of all storms, and she is going to take them out. Each man began to call upon his God to save them. BUT WHERE IS THE PROPHET WHEN THEY NEED HIM THE MOST? They finally find him below decks ASLEEP. Can you imagine the thoughts of this captain. Here is this man asleep, when they are all fighting for our lives.
They prayed for deliverance from God, but, God would not help them. The Captain begins questioning the situation. What is going on? Who sinned, who brought this trouble? Why am I in this storm? Is God trying to teach me anything? What are my options? They decided to cast lots to see who's sin had brought this storm upon them. The lot fell to Jonah! Now the captain is shocked! What did you do! Jonah then confesses that he is a man who is running from God. The Captain and these other men did not do anything to bring on this storm, but, because they were in the same boat as JONAH, all of their lives were now in danger! The Captain tried everything he could to save he ship, but, in the end Jonah tells the captain the only way to save them all is to throw him overboard into the sea. The Captain is a good man, he doesn't want to do this. Finally, he prays and ask God not to hold him responsible for Jonah's death...and they throw Jonah into the sea...and immediately the storm stopped!
Whatever storm you are facing right now, it may not be the result of anything you have or haven't done. You may be in a storm right now cause you are in the same boat with someone who has sinned against God, and stirred up trouble. There are certain relationships, certain places of work, certain places of worship, certain homes that if you want to hang on to them, you will always be in the middle of a storm! How long with the storm last? The storm will last as long as whoever is bringing the storm is in the middle of your boat! Sometimes we are like the boat captain. We don't want to have to bring an end to a situation, cause we don't want to feel that we have abandoned anyone at sea, but, there are times you have to clean out your boat and start fresh!
2 Peter talks about people that they are driven by the storm...clouds carried with the tempest.
These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved 2 Peter 17-18
If there are people in you boat that are arrogant, and talk crazy words, and have fleshly 'hang ups' these are the kind of people that are driven by the storms of life. Keep them in your boat, and the storm will eventually destroy your ship!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Finding your peace in the storm
He is our peace in the midst of the storm. Jesus said that in this world we would have troubles. The psalmist said that his troubles had gotten bigger, and put him in distress. Sometimes we look for relief but it seems as if our troubles get worse instead of better.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring me out of my distresses. Psalm 25:17
We see that the troubles were matters of the heart. It is one thing to have bad circumstances, but when your situation causes you to become troubled in heart it begins to have a tremendous impact. A troubled heart is an emotional heart under stress. Just like a vulture that surrounds an animal waiting for it to die, this is how the devil circles around a troubled heart, waiting for it to faint!
Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my soul is troubled; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaves, at home there is as death. Lamentations 1:20
Sometimes we bring our own troubles upon ourselves, sometimes though we have done nothing wrong, trouble seems to surround us. In Lamentations the prophet declares..."I am in distress...and my heart is turned within me." In times of great trouble and stress people often have chest pains, or other symptoms of heart attack. It is overwhelming the impact on the heart that distress can cause us.
Whenever fear, and panic and stress overwhelms us what brings us the comfort and relief that we need? Will narcotics help? Some people go with a temporary relief by using narcotics, but this kind of solution eventually backfires, and in the end will usually cause even more problems and stress for us. Isn't a narcotic just a means of escape? Isn't it just a way to run from problems. There was never a problem solved by running from the situation.
The Bible declares that He (God) is our peace. Peace is a gift from God.
Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. 2 Thessalonians 3:16
We see here that peace is something that God gives, it is not something that we take for ourselves. All the self-help books and techniques in the world will not bring peace, only God gives peace, it is a gift from God. We all understand how important peace is. When we go to a family gathering, we hope that peace is present. If we know before we go that someone will be there who will want to argue with us, or to confront us, we may be uncomfortable with going. Most of us don't like walking into a non-peaceful situation. When the enemy wants to stop you from doing God's will, the first thing he will do is to take your peace. How does he do this? By sending you a lot of trials, problems, lack of cooperation from the people around you. The world sometimes refuses to give you peace.
What if people are determined to always stir the pot, and troubles abound. You can still have peace. Jesus said, "MY PEACE I leave with you."
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
If the world and the things of it, and the people in it are trying to take peace away from you, turn to God and receive his peace. Oh, he will give you peace in the midst of the storm. He is a friend who sticks with you closer than a brother. He will never leave you nor forsake you. If God be for you, than who can be against you!
It is possible to have peace in the midst of our storms, ask God to give you his peace. It is a peace that passes all understanding.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring me out of my distresses. Psalm 25:17
We see that the troubles were matters of the heart. It is one thing to have bad circumstances, but when your situation causes you to become troubled in heart it begins to have a tremendous impact. A troubled heart is an emotional heart under stress. Just like a vulture that surrounds an animal waiting for it to die, this is how the devil circles around a troubled heart, waiting for it to faint!
Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my soul is troubled; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaves, at home there is as death. Lamentations 1:20
Sometimes we bring our own troubles upon ourselves, sometimes though we have done nothing wrong, trouble seems to surround us. In Lamentations the prophet declares..."I am in distress...and my heart is turned within me." In times of great trouble and stress people often have chest pains, or other symptoms of heart attack. It is overwhelming the impact on the heart that distress can cause us.
Whenever fear, and panic and stress overwhelms us what brings us the comfort and relief that we need? Will narcotics help? Some people go with a temporary relief by using narcotics, but this kind of solution eventually backfires, and in the end will usually cause even more problems and stress for us. Isn't a narcotic just a means of escape? Isn't it just a way to run from problems. There was never a problem solved by running from the situation.
The Bible declares that He (God) is our peace. Peace is a gift from God.
Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. 2 Thessalonians 3:16
We see here that peace is something that God gives, it is not something that we take for ourselves. All the self-help books and techniques in the world will not bring peace, only God gives peace, it is a gift from God. We all understand how important peace is. When we go to a family gathering, we hope that peace is present. If we know before we go that someone will be there who will want to argue with us, or to confront us, we may be uncomfortable with going. Most of us don't like walking into a non-peaceful situation. When the enemy wants to stop you from doing God's will, the first thing he will do is to take your peace. How does he do this? By sending you a lot of trials, problems, lack of cooperation from the people around you. The world sometimes refuses to give you peace.
What if people are determined to always stir the pot, and troubles abound. You can still have peace. Jesus said, "MY PEACE I leave with you."
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
If the world and the things of it, and the people in it are trying to take peace away from you, turn to God and receive his peace. Oh, he will give you peace in the midst of the storm. He is a friend who sticks with you closer than a brother. He will never leave you nor forsake you. If God be for you, than who can be against you!
It is possible to have peace in the midst of our storms, ask God to give you his peace. It is a peace that passes all understanding.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
How to find Hope
In my blog yesterday I wrote about looking and seeing. What we look for is what we see. Seeing is so very important. Each of us need eyes of faith. My husband worked as a mechanic for over 20 years. He loves motors and engines and cars. He can look over in a field and see a rusted out piece of metal that is over 30 to 40 years old, half way falling apart, and he can tell you the make and the model of the vehicle. I see a rusted out piece of junk, but he imagines what this thing would look like restored. He doesn't have to actually go through the process of restoring the car to see it's potential. When he looks at the car, he is able to envision in his mind a fully restored vehicle with a hopped up engine. I'm looking at it too, but all is see is a piece of metal with grass growing up through the engine compartment! When you look at your own life and it's potential what do you see? What other people see of the potential of your life is not nearly as important as what you see of it's potential.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Hope is something that resides in the heart, or at least it should be in each of our hearts. Sometimes our hope can be displaced, and replaced with despair. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for...What is substance? Dictionary.com defines substance this way.
1. that of which a thing consists; physical matter or material: form and substance.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Hope is something that resides in the heart, or at least it should be in each of our hearts. Sometimes our hope can be displaced, and replaced with despair. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for...What is substance? Dictionary.com defines substance this way.
1. that of which a thing consists; physical matter or material: form and substance.
Now take the definitions from dictionary.com and apply them into the Scripture, Faith is that of which a thing consists: physical matter or material: form and substance. God formed the worlds by what? By faith. Faith is the building block of this universe, it had the power to transform God's words into light, matter, energy, materials...faith is the key to everything!
Faith is the substance of what? The things you are hoping for! We start with hope. For the Bible says that we are not without hope and without God in this World. When we put our hope in Jesus, our faith is born! We are to preach this Gospel of peace the HOPE of all mankind! We should be hope builders. When I spark hope into the life of another person I am giving FAITH something to work with within that person. If there is no hope within a person, then faith has nothing to work with, and faith cannot bring the will of God into substance and reality for that individual!
Here are some practical examples. If you are called to work in a certain area, and you begin to lose hope that you will ever make an impact, than faith has no way of manifesting. And without faith, it is impossible to please God. Faith isn't simply what a person believes, it is the manifestation of the things that you have hoped for.
When I was 23 weeks pregnant, my water broke and I was bleeding very bad. I was rushed by ambulance to the UK hospital in Lexington, KY. I was not given much hope. I was told that most of the time delivery occurs within 3 to 4 days after the water breaks, and my baby was around one pound in weight. The doctor explained to me that I had about 25% chance of the baby surviving. That wasn't much hope, cause even if the baby did survive it was likely he would be handicapped. I placed my hope in God. I didn't have much to go on except my hope in God. I did not lose hope, nor get discouraged, I remained fixed on the hope that God would intervene. Seven weeks went by and I still had not delivered. The miracle was that I never did get an infection in my womb. Normally when your water breaks deliver is forced shortly afterwards within a few days because infection sets in. The doctors told me that waiting that long to deliver after my water had broke had likely broken a UK hospital record. The good news is that my baby grew from one pound to 3 and 1/2 pounds during those 40 days! I still remember the day the doctors came into my room and said, "I think this baby is out of the woods. You are 30 weeks gestation now, and if he were born he would likely be a live healthy birth!" Today my baby is 18 years old. I named him Bobby after his daddy. He is active, healthy and works as a minister to the LORD. I am so glad that I held on to hope instead of giving way to anger, depression, fears and bitter thoughts. I was only allowed on my feet for 90 minutes a day for all seven weeks that I spent in the hospital, but, I was able to minister to my room mates, the clean up ladies, the nurses...no matter what the circumstances, God can make a way!
If you are discouraged and downtrodden, think about what happened to your hope. Go back to the place you lost it, and find it again! Go back to that place where you were criticized, and decide to hang on to hope instead of giving way to the criticism. Go back to the place you were rejected, and decide to hang on to hope instead of giving way to rejection. Go back to the place where you failed, and decide to hang on to hope instead of giving way to anger. Go back to that place where you were hurt, and decide to hang on to hope instead of giving way to bitterness. Go back to that place where you sinned, and decided to hang on to hope instead of giving way to excuses. Hang on to your hope! If you lost your hope, find it again. God will take the things you have hoped for and make them reality though the gift of FAITH.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
What you see is what you get
A common saying is "What are you looking at?" Or when a child is performing his first task he will cry, "Look at me! Look at me!" Store owners will put items in a certain place in the store just to catch your eye. We spend a lot of time as humans trying to get others to look where we want them to look. In 2 Chronicles 16:9 the Bible declares: For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show
himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Yes, even God is looking throughout the whole earth.
Why all this importance on being seen? Why try to catch the eye of someone else? In Genesis chapter 3, we see that the original sin was something that Eve first heard with her ears, and then caught with her eyes.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Gen. 3:6
Desire is birthed within our hearts as we look with our eyes. If you look for trouble, you will find it. If you look for faults you will see them. If you look for something praise worthy you will see it. We find exactly what we are looking for. There are people that purposely go out of their way, to look for drugs, and sure enough they found some. Then they wonder why they are always getting in trouble with the law? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out! I knew someone that habitually broke the law. They were always complaining that they were not able to go to the store without the police getting in behind them. I have been driving for nearly 30 years. I seldom have that problem, the police hardly ever get in behind me, because they were not looking for me. They were looking for someone that was breaking the law. And they know where to look. No matter what your position in life, we all spend a lot of time looking!
If you are going to find what you are looking for, you must look in the right places! I used to live on a ridge, there were a lot of woods there. I could search and search those woods for gold if I wanted to. It was my property after all. However, I would be searching the wrong place. You can't find gold where there is no gold. Just because we are looking does not mean we will find what we want. We must look in the right places. Why go to a place of sin, looking for someone that would be a companion. What are you going to find in a place of sin? If you haven't found the things you are looking for in life, you are looking in the wrong places.
God tells us in the Bible what we should be looking for. Don't forget, what you look for is what you will find. We spend so much time looking for worldly things, that we think will satisfy us. If you have been trying to find worldly things and accomplishments, and cannot find peace and satisfaction it is time to look somewhere else.
Psalms 121:1-2
I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from which comes my help.
Why all this importance on being seen? Why try to catch the eye of someone else? In Genesis chapter 3, we see that the original sin was something that Eve first heard with her ears, and then caught with her eyes.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Gen. 3:6
Desire is birthed within our hearts as we look with our eyes. If you look for trouble, you will find it. If you look for faults you will see them. If you look for something praise worthy you will see it. We find exactly what we are looking for. There are people that purposely go out of their way, to look for drugs, and sure enough they found some. Then they wonder why they are always getting in trouble with the law? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out! I knew someone that habitually broke the law. They were always complaining that they were not able to go to the store without the police getting in behind them. I have been driving for nearly 30 years. I seldom have that problem, the police hardly ever get in behind me, because they were not looking for me. They were looking for someone that was breaking the law. And they know where to look. No matter what your position in life, we all spend a lot of time looking!
If you are going to find what you are looking for, you must look in the right places! I used to live on a ridge, there were a lot of woods there. I could search and search those woods for gold if I wanted to. It was my property after all. However, I would be searching the wrong place. You can't find gold where there is no gold. Just because we are looking does not mean we will find what we want. We must look in the right places. Why go to a place of sin, looking for someone that would be a companion. What are you going to find in a place of sin? If you haven't found the things you are looking for in life, you are looking in the wrong places.
God tells us in the Bible what we should be looking for. Don't forget, what you look for is what you will find. We spend so much time looking for worldly things, that we think will satisfy us. If you have been trying to find worldly things and accomplishments, and cannot find peace and satisfaction it is time to look somewhere else.
Psalms 121:1-2
I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from which comes my help.
My
help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
As we lift up our eyes to behold God, this is where our help comes from. As we begin to look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith we find what we need in him. Your eyes open up the doors to the desires of your heart. What does Jesus bring to us when we keep our eyes focused upon him? Peace, health, healing, salvation, joy, love...and a more abundant life. When we look around us to see drugs, we find them. When we look around us to see hurts, we find them. When we look for disappointments, we find them. When we look for discord, we find it. When we look for Jesus, we find Him. He was there all the time.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Insomnia...Insomnia...Insomnia...
Insomnia is a hard condition to live with. It is often mixed with anxiety, stress, fears, panic disorders, it can be a real nightmare. God intended for our rest to be peaceful, and our nights to be filled with peace. Getting caught up in a cycle of insomnia is a difficult thing to live with. It seems that our society does not have much patience with someone suffering from lack of sleep. The psalmist said that his own heart instructs him in the night seasons.
I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. Psalm 16:7
This verse is saying that God gives counsel. We know that this counsel comes for God's Word, the Bible. But then the psalmist adds, and my heart also instructs me in the night season. It is a wonderful thing to lay upon your bed, and your heart is agreeing with the Word of God and your will is in agreement with both. But, it is very stressful when you know in your heart what the Bible teaches, yet, you know that you are not living those things which have been taught. There are many people that do whatever it takes to get away from the voice of their own conscience. Our conscience is just like any other voice of reason out there. If we ignore it, this does not make the consequences of our actions go away. God intended for us to rely on his counsel through the day, and for HIS song to take us through the night.
By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8
There have been many times when I faced difficult circumstances, and long nights in which I asked God to send his angel to help me through. Often a spiritual song will begin in my Spirit, and the song will replay over and over again, and HIS peace will cause me to rest. Sometimes we do not have the strength to fight the battle, nor the will to climb the mountain, but, we can rest in HIS presence, knowing that our faith in HIS provision will see us through! Instead of remembering our difficulties, we can remember the LORD'S promises through the night. I have found that if I pray, and ask God to remind me of HIS word that peace soon comes over me and I am sound asleep. And, if by chance I don't go to sleep, what a wonderful productive way to spend the night, in prayer and meditation. It is better than spending it in misery and aggravation and fears.
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Psalm 63:6
When you are having trouble sleeping. Don't try to make yourself sleep. Don't try to stop the worry. Don't try to calm the panic. Instead get up and read your Bible. Memorize a verse or two as you lay upon your bed. Walk back and forth and get some exercise while you are praying. Sit up in your bed, and ask God to send an angel that will help you sing spiritual songs. Turn your dreadful nights, into spiritual nights and it won't be long until the rest of God envelopes you. Even if you don't find yourself getting tired enough to rest, think of the good that you could accomplish!
I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit inquired: Psalm 77:6
I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. Psalm 16:7
This verse is saying that God gives counsel. We know that this counsel comes for God's Word, the Bible. But then the psalmist adds, and my heart also instructs me in the night season. It is a wonderful thing to lay upon your bed, and your heart is agreeing with the Word of God and your will is in agreement with both. But, it is very stressful when you know in your heart what the Bible teaches, yet, you know that you are not living those things which have been taught. There are many people that do whatever it takes to get away from the voice of their own conscience. Our conscience is just like any other voice of reason out there. If we ignore it, this does not make the consequences of our actions go away. God intended for us to rely on his counsel through the day, and for HIS song to take us through the night.
By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8
There have been many times when I faced difficult circumstances, and long nights in which I asked God to send his angel to help me through. Often a spiritual song will begin in my Spirit, and the song will replay over and over again, and HIS peace will cause me to rest. Sometimes we do not have the strength to fight the battle, nor the will to climb the mountain, but, we can rest in HIS presence, knowing that our faith in HIS provision will see us through! Instead of remembering our difficulties, we can remember the LORD'S promises through the night. I have found that if I pray, and ask God to remind me of HIS word that peace soon comes over me and I am sound asleep. And, if by chance I don't go to sleep, what a wonderful productive way to spend the night, in prayer and meditation. It is better than spending it in misery and aggravation and fears.
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Psalm 63:6
When you are having trouble sleeping. Don't try to make yourself sleep. Don't try to stop the worry. Don't try to calm the panic. Instead get up and read your Bible. Memorize a verse or two as you lay upon your bed. Walk back and forth and get some exercise while you are praying. Sit up in your bed, and ask God to send an angel that will help you sing spiritual songs. Turn your dreadful nights, into spiritual nights and it won't be long until the rest of God envelopes you. Even if you don't find yourself getting tired enough to rest, think of the good that you could accomplish!
I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit inquired: Psalm 77:6
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