The Lord has blessed some thoughts to my mind from a message I heard Sunday, and I thought it might be good to share them -- along with some other thoughts God has given me recently.
Life is a complicated thing. Sometimes the road is easier than others, but sometimes it feels like nothing goes our way and everyone is against us. As saints, we have a promise that God is with us even in the most difficult times. Deuteronomy 31:8 says "And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed." We can't allow the enemy to steal that promise.
Yet, despite knowing that, there are times in our life that FEEL as if we are alone. There are places where we feel insufficient in ourselves to deal with problems that come our way. God intends for us to grow in Him and be better prepared for those times. He's promised that He is with us, and won't leave us, but we have a part to do as well. We can't limit ourselves from the strength and power God has for us as weapons to ward off those attacks of the enemy, so we have to learn how to obtain and maintain them.
II Kings 13:14-19 contains the story of Joash, who approached Elisha as he was coming to the end of his life. This was a wise choice by the king... Elisha was a faithful man of God who had a part in many incredible things of the Lord. Elisha began to instruct Joash of some things. Verse 18 reads: "And he (Elisha) said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed." Joash relied on his own thinking here to smite the ground as many times as he thought was necessary. Certainly, he decided that was sufficient, and enough of what God and Elisha required of him. But verse 19 is evidence that was not the case. "And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice." I don't claim to have all the answers for God's anger here. But, I know this much: Joash limited himself. He already knew that these things with the bow and arrow were dealing with conquering the Syrian's and the Lord's deliverance. Elisha's command to strike the ground with the arrow was emblematic of implementing the promise of deliverance. Striking it only thrice and then staying is perhaps indicative of Joash's lack of zeal for those things. He didn't get more.
How easy is it to shortchange ourselves from what God is willing to give us? Joash severely limited himself (and the kingdom). Circumstances come in which we could get more growth, more strength, and more maturity. God doesn't want us to be a stagnant people. He doesn't want us stuck in a rut of complacency. Being relaxed without moving forward is a dangerous game. Life isn't intended to stay the same; positive growth is an imperative part of Christian living. More from God is only gained by giving more to Him of our life. Joash lacked zeal, and we have to prove to God that we are commited and giving all we have to get the blessings God intends for us when we are given opportunity. In everything we do, we ought to seek for more of God.
Ephesians 3:20 reads: "Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." God is able to give us more. If we are diligent in asking and pleading for it, He is definitely there to give, and capable of giving us, more. It can be a greater measure of victory. A greater measure of patience. A greater measure of humility. A greater measure of anything. In fact, His power is WITHOUT measure. It is limitless. The only limits placed on God's power and grace are positioned there by us. By our unwillingness to simply obey and work for more. God will do just as much for us as we will let Him do in us. Keep beating the ground. That moves God on His throne and allows us to get more from Him. More is available. Seek after it.
This is a personal desire of mine. I know there are plenty of areas where I am lacking. I know that asking for more means change, but the change is positive. I want to be changed a little each day. Every test and trial can have a positive or negative impact on our spiritual walk, but that also means each one is a chance to learn and grow more. I am determined to try my best to get the victory and learn the proper lesson in every trial. If God can move a mountain with faith like a grain of mustard seed, I wonder what He could do with me. I know he can move me to higher ground and to a steadier, safer walk with Him. That is what I long for.
I know God is able to help me in this. Colossians 1:12 reads "Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." I can be strengthened with ALL might, according to God's power. That is a wonderful and precious promise. I can have the power unto all patience, longsuffering with joyfulness -- essentially all the areas I need to move up in. The MORE that I need is supplied by God. I'm very thankful for God's special attention to me and His faithfulness to teach and perfect my heart.
Keep encouraged!
Monday, October 16, 2017
Thursday, October 5, 2017
A Habitable Place
I was inspired with this thought over the summer, but never made the time to sit down and write about it. I hope this will be an encouragement and challenge for all of us, and that it hits home to you as it did for me.
For the past few summers, I've been mowing lawns to earn some money. I mow for some of my neighbors, and even since we have moved to our new house, I still mow for some neighbors in our old neighborhood. One day, I was mowing in that neighborhood and one of my old neighbors approached me, asking if I'd be willing to mow their lawn. Their parents had been in Mexico and wouldn't be back for awhile, and no one had mowed the backyard. I agreed to do it and went over the next day. When I got there, I realized why they asked me to come mow. It looked as if it hadn't been touched in a couple of weeks (and around here, that's plenty of time for an unattended yard to turn wild).
It was a mess. Terribly overgrown, the grass was waist high in some places and knotted together in a tangled conglomeration of green. "How did it get like this?" I wondered to myself. It was neglected. The people who normally would have taken care of it were absent, and the yard was left to its own. Without the proper care, it turned into an almost irreversible mess. Recognizing the task ahead of me, I begrudgingly began working on the lawn, knowing it would take far longer than I had expected.
But, as I trimmed away and made several slow laps with a lawn mower struggling to churn through the masses of green weeds, I realized there was a spiritual lesson to be learned from this physical predicament. This place wasn't habitable for a family. Parents wouldn't want their children running around in such an overgrown place with bugs waiting to bite, and it certainly wouldn't be comfortable for a BBQ. It was simply a mess. Neither is a soul filled with the nastiness of sin and the webs of jealousy, anger, or other unclean things a habitable place for the Holy One to dwell.
It reminded me of the parable of the sower. Seeds fell among thorns and were choked out by the thorns and unable to grow (Luke 8:7). Imagine trying to find a flower in the midst of an overgrown, weed-filled yard. They would be choked out by the thorns. This is a literal example, but consider the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), which happen to be very necessary for a Christian life. A life cannot simultaneously foster the growth of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. while giving place for the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). The fruits of the spirit will be choked out, just as the beauty of the lawn was hidden by the mess of overgrown weeds. The Bible likens the choked seeds to someone who goes along life's way and gets caught up with cares, riches, and pleasures of this life, and becomes unfruitful (Matthew 13:22, Luke 8:14). Instead of focusing the time and cultivation necessary in facilitating growth in the good things, time is wasted elsewhere. The fruits of the spirit, much like the literal fruits of the earth, is neglected and not brought to perfection.
Galatians 6:8 reads: "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption,; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." The concept seems fairly simple, and in basic terms means that doing wrong will be rewarded with bad, and doing right will be rewarded with good. This can be applied to the neglect I mentioned earlier. Sowing neglect will FROM the neglect produce disappointment. But, being careful to keep up with particular things ensures that the result will be positive. Making time to learn the things in our life that God is teaching us, instead of putting them on the backburner, makes our efforts pleasing to God. The neighbors in this scenario were not sowing carefulness, but instead were sowing neglect. Fortunately (for them), I was there to reap the brunt of the disappointment (and tall grass) for them. ;)
However, being proactive in the things of God has its benefits, for sure. Ecclesiastes 3:13 reads: "And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God." Taking care of things in our lives and making sure they are presentable for God allows us to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Much like a well-maintained yard where you can enjoy a good cookout, a maintained life is going to be much more pleasant than one with unattended problems popping up at every turn. This is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges, at least personally, in the Christian experience. God is faithful to teach us things and give us the tools to work past difficulties in our lives, but we have to maintain. Mowing the yard once each spring doesn't keep it looking nice and habitable for an evening cookout. It takes regular maintenance and hard work to keep up. Once God has given us a lesson or brought us through a trial, we still have to maintain what we have learned and make sure we don't let any sprouts of bitterness, anger, or any other evil fruit pop up in our life. Cut them off. Cast them away. Maintain. You'll be the beneficiary of a clean heart, just as the family who lives there is the primary beneficiary of a well-kept yard.
God also gives us each one different gifts. To some, it is singing. To some, exhortation. To some, helps. They are widely varying, but all essential components of who God intends for us to be. I Timothy 4:14 warns us to not neglect the gift in us. Don't let things of the world choke it out. Don't let the beauty be marred by neglecting to practice the gift or use it. Exercise it, and be an example of the believers in your life. Some neighborhoods have strict lawn codes, requiring that grass be a certain height and no taller. We don't want our life to look so drastically different from Christ's (who is our ultimate example) that people can't tell who we are representing. We especially don't want to cause God, figuratively, to admonish us that the grass in our yard is too long.
Romans 1:16 says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth..." We don't want to be ashamed of such a wonderful gift. We don't want our yard to look so bad that we are too embarrassed to invite people over to see it. But, much more importantly, we don't want to be ashamed unto God for the condition of our souls. A common scripture, 1 Corinthians 3:16, says "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" God dwells in us. We want our lives to be acceptable to Him. We don't want to be embarrassed about how our life looks, and we certainly don't want to give place to works of the flesh and evil fruit in our life. If Jesus were coming to visit, we'd be sure every tall weed was trimmed, the grass was properly maintained, and that there was plenty of food for a cookout.
We want our souls, and our lives, to be a habitable place for the Holy One to dwell. Clean, trimmed, maintained, and pleasant. God is our ultimate judge, and we want to be worthy of the blessings He's waiting to give. Don't let your zeal for the Lord become overgrown. Cultivate and grow the desire to serve Him. We inhabit what we make for ourselves in our lives. It needs to be good enough for us and also pleasing for company. God is going to be there. Make it pleasing to Him.
Keep encouraged!
For the past few summers, I've been mowing lawns to earn some money. I mow for some of my neighbors, and even since we have moved to our new house, I still mow for some neighbors in our old neighborhood. One day, I was mowing in that neighborhood and one of my old neighbors approached me, asking if I'd be willing to mow their lawn. Their parents had been in Mexico and wouldn't be back for awhile, and no one had mowed the backyard. I agreed to do it and went over the next day. When I got there, I realized why they asked me to come mow. It looked as if it hadn't been touched in a couple of weeks (and around here, that's plenty of time for an unattended yard to turn wild).
It was a mess. Terribly overgrown, the grass was waist high in some places and knotted together in a tangled conglomeration of green. "How did it get like this?" I wondered to myself. It was neglected. The people who normally would have taken care of it were absent, and the yard was left to its own. Without the proper care, it turned into an almost irreversible mess. Recognizing the task ahead of me, I begrudgingly began working on the lawn, knowing it would take far longer than I had expected.
But, as I trimmed away and made several slow laps with a lawn mower struggling to churn through the masses of green weeds, I realized there was a spiritual lesson to be learned from this physical predicament. This place wasn't habitable for a family. Parents wouldn't want their children running around in such an overgrown place with bugs waiting to bite, and it certainly wouldn't be comfortable for a BBQ. It was simply a mess. Neither is a soul filled with the nastiness of sin and the webs of jealousy, anger, or other unclean things a habitable place for the Holy One to dwell.
It reminded me of the parable of the sower. Seeds fell among thorns and were choked out by the thorns and unable to grow (Luke 8:7). Imagine trying to find a flower in the midst of an overgrown, weed-filled yard. They would be choked out by the thorns. This is a literal example, but consider the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), which happen to be very necessary for a Christian life. A life cannot simultaneously foster the growth of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. while giving place for the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). The fruits of the spirit will be choked out, just as the beauty of the lawn was hidden by the mess of overgrown weeds. The Bible likens the choked seeds to someone who goes along life's way and gets caught up with cares, riches, and pleasures of this life, and becomes unfruitful (Matthew 13:22, Luke 8:14). Instead of focusing the time and cultivation necessary in facilitating growth in the good things, time is wasted elsewhere. The fruits of the spirit, much like the literal fruits of the earth, is neglected and not brought to perfection.
Galatians 6:8 reads: "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption,; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." The concept seems fairly simple, and in basic terms means that doing wrong will be rewarded with bad, and doing right will be rewarded with good. This can be applied to the neglect I mentioned earlier. Sowing neglect will FROM the neglect produce disappointment. But, being careful to keep up with particular things ensures that the result will be positive. Making time to learn the things in our life that God is teaching us, instead of putting them on the backburner, makes our efforts pleasing to God. The neighbors in this scenario were not sowing carefulness, but instead were sowing neglect. Fortunately (for them), I was there to reap the brunt of the disappointment (and tall grass) for them. ;)
However, being proactive in the things of God has its benefits, for sure. Ecclesiastes 3:13 reads: "And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God." Taking care of things in our lives and making sure they are presentable for God allows us to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Much like a well-maintained yard where you can enjoy a good cookout, a maintained life is going to be much more pleasant than one with unattended problems popping up at every turn. This is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges, at least personally, in the Christian experience. God is faithful to teach us things and give us the tools to work past difficulties in our lives, but we have to maintain. Mowing the yard once each spring doesn't keep it looking nice and habitable for an evening cookout. It takes regular maintenance and hard work to keep up. Once God has given us a lesson or brought us through a trial, we still have to maintain what we have learned and make sure we don't let any sprouts of bitterness, anger, or any other evil fruit pop up in our life. Cut them off. Cast them away. Maintain. You'll be the beneficiary of a clean heart, just as the family who lives there is the primary beneficiary of a well-kept yard.
God also gives us each one different gifts. To some, it is singing. To some, exhortation. To some, helps. They are widely varying, but all essential components of who God intends for us to be. I Timothy 4:14 warns us to not neglect the gift in us. Don't let things of the world choke it out. Don't let the beauty be marred by neglecting to practice the gift or use it. Exercise it, and be an example of the believers in your life. Some neighborhoods have strict lawn codes, requiring that grass be a certain height and no taller. We don't want our life to look so drastically different from Christ's (who is our ultimate example) that people can't tell who we are representing. We especially don't want to cause God, figuratively, to admonish us that the grass in our yard is too long.
Romans 1:16 says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth..." We don't want to be ashamed of such a wonderful gift. We don't want our yard to look so bad that we are too embarrassed to invite people over to see it. But, much more importantly, we don't want to be ashamed unto God for the condition of our souls. A common scripture, 1 Corinthians 3:16, says "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" God dwells in us. We want our lives to be acceptable to Him. We don't want to be embarrassed about how our life looks, and we certainly don't want to give place to works of the flesh and evil fruit in our life. If Jesus were coming to visit, we'd be sure every tall weed was trimmed, the grass was properly maintained, and that there was plenty of food for a cookout.
We want our souls, and our lives, to be a habitable place for the Holy One to dwell. Clean, trimmed, maintained, and pleasant. God is our ultimate judge, and we want to be worthy of the blessings He's waiting to give. Don't let your zeal for the Lord become overgrown. Cultivate and grow the desire to serve Him. We inhabit what we make for ourselves in our lives. It needs to be good enough for us and also pleasing for company. God is going to be there. Make it pleasing to Him.
Keep encouraged!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)