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The Escape is Obedience!
The Excuse!
She is walking through the parking lot excited about a new prospect she has ahead of her. Leola Lurned squeezes her coat tighter as much a result of the cold as out of an uneasiness about attending church for the first time in ten years. This is her mother’s church, her grandmother’s church, and her family church. It is a traditional religious institution or so she thought. In the time she attended before she doesn’t remember ever walking out of a sermon with anything that would make her a better Christian. She was a ‘knob shaker’ extraordinaire during the time she graced the building with her presence, but it is different today. Today, she is expecting something different, something life changing and she will not be disappointed!
Growing up Leola never saw religion in her house even though Sunday best was a requirement. She came from a ‘knob shaking’ family! She wondered no more about where she got her ideas and habits about God. The door to the church was easy to open and enter though what was to come would be harder. The hall was filled with familiar but unknown faces, some smiling, some frowning, some talking and some listening. The noise was an indicator she was on time. Leola wandered the halls from memory to the sanctuary to find a seat. True to her word of last week she had been reading the Scriptures daily without understanding. He lack of understanding gave her reason to look for a legitimate escape from that daunting task. She found a seat in the back row praying under her breath it doesn’t belong to a bitter old man who has a need to sit in the same seat every week. Sitting down Leola drags her brain for just one iota of information she understood from Scripture this week.
How many times did we have to drive before we understood how to do it well? How many times did we cook a meal before we understood spices? How long have we worked at our job before we understood it enough to be competent? Obedience to a manual or a recipe was the key to understanding each of those topics. How do we think we can understand Scripture if we don’t obey Them? In our walk with God whether we are baby Christians or seasoned Christians we look for excused to avoid putting time into knowing Elohim. I remember when the Father first called me I actually had no idea I was supposed to read the Bible. No one told me ‘to know God is to know Scripture’ and if they did my ears were not hearing. It wasn’t until I learned of the familial relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist was a zeal for His Words put into my heart.
Up until that point the only obedience I could be accused of is confessing my sins to each other (James 5:16). I had no understanding of Scripture or His commandments and no understanding how to escape my sin either. I was fooling myself in thinking shaking the doorknob once a week was going to give me the skills I needed to improve my life. My lack of understanding was no longer valid after that and neither is yours. We do not have an excuse for a lack of understanding of the Scripture because it is outright disobedience to the Lord. We think if we read the Word over and over we will eventually understand it but according to the Word Itself our understanding comes from the obedience of the Words we are reading. One day we will stand before Jesus and NO excuse will be valid. Ignorance is not bliss in God’s economy because the escape is obedience. We must make it a priority to understand His Words through the obedience of the Words. We have the escape now let us take it!
The Escape!
Leola is pulled from her thought when the Pastor begins to speak into the microphone perfectly placed on the pulpit to his tall stature. He begins with a prayer so soft at first she can barely comprehend the words then the sound rises above her pounding heart to her ears. He is speaking directly to her and it makes her uncomfortable. He asks God to bless us with complete understanding of the Words God has given Him to speak on this day. Would God so touch us that we would feel it down to our core? Would He give us the power to obey Him thereby getting understanding of the Scriptures. How did the Pastor know? How did he know Leola’s silent struggle to sustain her resolve to read Scripture? How did he know she was looking for an excuse to quit?
Leola stared wide eyed at the Pastor! There was a sensation in her she had never felt before. Before she could get over the last shock, he threw out another one. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. (Psalm 111:10) His bold knowledge of her struggle continued to make her feel awkward. He knew she was looking for excuses and Leola’s cheeks beamed bright red with embarrassment at the prospect of him knowing such a deep secret. She wanted to leave but her sudden fear of gossip kept her planted in that seat. She continued to listen with great distress believing he would soon publicly call her out. When she thought she was going to explode she heard the Pastors words, “God knows you so deeply, even you will be amazed at His understanding of your struggles!” He glanced at her with such love in his eyes she knew that new sensation was Jesus! Her resolve returned out of love for the Man! She knew she needed to continue in her promise to read the Scriptures every day excited to allow the Spirit to talk to her about obedience. She understood one thing this Sunday morning, her excuses are not escapes; obedience is the escape!
Our own understanding of the Scriptures will not come until we obey the Scriptures and we cannot obey the Scriptures if we never read them. Therefore in all of your getting in life, get understanding!
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A Pill isn’t a Miracle it’s a Pill!
The Pill
Leola Lurned is comfortably lounging on her have-to-have-it sofa gazing out the window into nothing but feeling fully aware nothing is where she is right now and nobody is who she is. A squirrel catches her eye jumping from branch to branch with an agility and freedom one only can wish for. A perfectly timed commotion is exploding on Television beckoning her attention. Loud chaotic music with a flashy background announces a dangerously handsome man onto the screen. He is lovingly unfolding a miracle happening in the lives of millions of women, he summons Leola to want it. A ‘miracle’ contained in a little white pill, taken three times a day, will give her energy like never before. She will climb to the mountain top and back down again without even breaking a sweat. Momentarily encouraged by this she looks down at the well-rounded stomach she has been developing for months and says, “Now that WOULD really be a miracle from God!” She places her order without another thought. Leola needs that pill to change her life!
She waits weeks expectantly for the miracle pills to arrive. She dreams about the mountain she will climb and how wonderful it will be to have the freedom she so desires. Finally, the miracles arrives. She is giddy at the prospect of beginning so she downs the first one as soon as the foil’s off the bottle. Days go by, following every direction to the letter, without improvement. She quotes in her mind the words of all the pill popping guru’s “It takes 30 days for them to work!” Those days are followed by weeks and then months with simply no change. She becomes withdrawn and anxious. Her resentment of being deceived again is leading her into a deeper depression than ever before. Her darkened bedroom is her comfort right now.
Have we become so complacent about miracles we would honestly believe a life changing miracle from God would come in pill form? The ‘Miracle Pill’ is designed by the devil to make you think it has the power to heal but in fact it is a placebo! There is NO shortcut to a mind well healed only the painful, long narrow road. We want to believe the miracle pill can take us down this road in a chauffeur driven Cadillac but it is the miracle of Scripture taking us down this road in a rusty old Pinto, low in gas and leaking oil (2 Timothy 3:16).
The ‘miracle pill’ is a pseudonym for “the easy way out!” Our life skills are NEVER developed easily yet we keep expecting they will. Life itself is not easy, let alone the skills to live a righteous life. We will have weight problems, muscle problems, people problems, illness, anxiety and a multitude of other issues. Life causes mind altering catastrophes resulting in mind altering consequences resulting in a mind altering experience. Pills cannot take this fact away. Our life skills will not improve until we do the work to improve them. There is no miracle pill just the power of Scripture!
Wide is the road leading to destruction but narrow is the road leading to life! (Matthew 7:13-14) If you consider all the books in the world today how many of them will lead you to a miraculous healing like the Scriptures contained in the Holy Bible! We can read all the self-help books and listen to all the guru’s but we will still not find healing as thorough as the healing from God through His Words. We can talk all day about the benefits of reading Scripture, but until you take the time to read them, the benefits will escape you. Stop asking humans questions and start asking God the questions! Stop guessing what God wants from you and start desiring the truth from God. The narrow road is narrow because it takes guts to walk it, day in and day out, but the reward is freedom. Isn’t freedom what we are truly looking for? Freedom from food, freedom from drugs, freedom from pain, freedom from emotional pain, freedom from anxiety or depression. Are we not willing to work for freedom? If you were kidnapped and locked in a small room would you not do everything you can to get free? You would think about it constantly and act on those thoughts every chance you had. Well, my lovely, you have been kidnapped by the devil and locked in that room, but you have given up trying to get out! You shake the door knob once a week without escape. You return to your comfortable seat in the corner with your knees curled up to your chest for another week brooding about the darkness until you can shake the doorknob again next week!
The Escape
In Leola’s deepest depressed state she hears a voice as clear as day, “Put your trust in Me!” Her mind went straight to the Bible on the table in her living room. She slowly extracts herself from her comfortable bed with legs weak from inactivity to reach for Him! Sermons have taught her how important Scripture is to a Christian but she had no evidence of it working in her life. Her Bible has become a piece of furniture to dust. Her walk with God had been relegated to a weekly sermon having little effect on her. She sat on her have-to-have-it sofa and let gravity open the Bible. Gravity reading the Bible has been her typical ten minutes of Bible reading in the past, why change now. Psalm 119 opened and she began reading the power given to people by the Words of God. The miracle of Scripture appeared to her on that very page. More than murdering the man with the pills she wanted to be free from the devils oppressive words to her. She wanted out of the locked room and she knew it was going to take more than a pill. Her hard won realization ‘a pill is not a miracle it’s a pill’ began her journey toward freedom. Shaking the doorknob once a week was not going to be enough, she needs to shake it every day no matter how hard it gets because freedom is at the end of the long narrow road! Her vow to herself to shake the knob every day for the rest of her life ultimately led her to encounter the miracle of those Words every single one of those days!
The miracles from God, to assure our freedom, cannot be found in a pill. Man makes pills, God makes miracles using His Words!
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The Hope of Change
Do you still make mistakes you thought you’d be done with by now? Are you still getting angry at the dumbest things when you feel you shouldn’t? Do you think things are so far gone there is no hope of change? I love Paul’s writings because he understands our dilemma here on Earth so much more than we ourselves do. One of the biggest problems I see today is emotional overload followed by inappropriate actions. We get offended so easily and react so violently. As a woman I have ‘been there and done that’ so many times it is embarrassing to even think about but there is hope for me to change and for you too. In Ephesians 4 Paul brings to our attention three valid truths to believe there is a hope of impending change.
- We all have the same Spirit. (4:1-6)
- The Saints are gifted by God (4:7-16)
- A new you is created by God (4:17-32)
Same Spirit
I know on the outset this doesn’t look like it could give me hope but it will. As I look around at other Christians who can control their emotions and never seem to lack holiness I know they are that way because the Holy Spirit drew them to His way. In the whole of the Scriptures we see the Spirit at work drawing people into holiness. We watch as people have uncontrolled emotions and the havoc they reign over people while others have controlled emotions and God uses them tremendously.
Women and men are not different in this area we just struggle with different emotions. Each of us lose control and act out differently. The same Spirit is in each of us showing us all how to have true righteousness and holiness (V24). So, when you look around feeling forlorn about your lack of change you will see differently. See the hope residing in the people who have been changed and develop your own hope of change.
The Gifts of God
Sometimes we think these gifts of God are for those running a church but they are not! Read V11-13 again to see the truth. These are the gifts God supplied to us for you personally! They are specific to the Saints because they are used for equipping us and edifying us until the day we are capable of doing our ministry on our own with Jesus. I can testify this day will come because I am at a time in my walk with Jesus I need no one to teach me about Scripture except Jesus. When Paul became a minister to the Gentiles he was not taught by humans but Jesus Himself (Galatians 1:12). I do not rely on others to teach me but I still rely on my brethren to edify me. I use my gifts to edify and you should use yours for the same. When I edify someone, using what God has given me, I too feel edified especially if you grow from it. If you have indeed heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus (v21), He will bring people gifted as apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers into your life, when you need them most, to equip you and edify you to develop a hope of change.
Created by God
Put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (V24). The new you Paul is talking about was also created by God according to His plan. How marvelous is that? This has the most hope attached to it because when He starts a good work He always completes it (Philippians 1:6). I know for sure my wavering emotions seemingly out of control sometimes will be brought into submission by the new me following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is a truth everyone should know. We struggle with our emotions on a daily basis with no end in sight but I am at the end of some of my emotional outbursts so I can see the future end to the rest knowing this. The new me is completely different than the old me! She still has some issues with the old me popping up in specific areas but she knows in time those issues will be dealt with. We become who God has created us to be by putting off, concerning our former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt (v22). This new me created according to God certainly gives us hope of change.
Growth is Change
This whole chapter speaks of growth. Growth is change regardless of whether we grow in corruption or grow in righteousness. Paul says in Ephesians 4 to put on the new man because that new man is endowed with the Holy Spirit who is our change agent. Since there is one in the same Spirit in us he is asking us to check our former conduct at the proverbial door. God is fully capable of removing our emotions but what’s the sense of living if you have no emotions. What’s expected of us is to learn control so the main purpose of our emotions is to edify the body then we will bring hope of change to them as well.
I know facing the facts of our uncontrolled emotions is frustrating and maddening. Every time we lose control we degrade ourselves even more and the skills we thought we had we diminish. We look at change as unsuccessful and slow. But I can assure you, if you keep at it, one day you will wake up and be faced with great change that even you didn’t notice. The Holy Spirit is so thorough at His work we won’t even notice the small changes until they all add up to the big change. As long as we have the Holy Spirit living in us we can be assured of the hope that comes from change.
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‘Fear Not’ What is Happening
Do you believe it? Do you know, for certain, the Lord is with you? We can see there is a lot of very weird stuff going on today and it is all leading to one thing – the return of our Lord Jesus. He is in control of the world as we know it today as well as yesterday and tomorrow. If we know this why are so many of us still fearful? We say in our mind, He is in charge, but in our heart we still fear what is too come. We need to get on the side of God and be joyful that He is coming but how? We need to know and meditate on His Words of truth.
There are two very powerful mediations for us. We can go into the Old Testament Psalms to see how the songs tell us to meditate on Him, His Word, His work, His precepts, His statutes and His majesty. Reading these verses is not enough; you need to know Him to be able to know His truth for the future. What if you’re a new Christian (welcome to the family) or a seasoned Christian that doesn’t spend time in the Scriptures (to your shame)? We can go to the New Testament for all the Words God gave Paul to speak to us but I want to get back to the Old Testament again to make my point because the New Testament quotes this book more than any other. Isaiah is a prophet of God who prophesied to the people while they were in conflict with the countries around them including each other (Israel and Judah). Fear consistently gripped the people just as it has gripped Christians today. We are in conflict today, not with the people around us, but with principalities so we need to prepare ourselves by meditating on the Words of God with the intent of taking action. Isaiah 41:8-10 gives us two strong precepts to meditate on in our time of fear: we are chosen and He is with us!
Fear Not, For You are Chosen!
You are here at this moment in time because you have been chosen to be here, even if you do not know why! Our ignorance of the truth doesn’t make the truth any less the truth! Based on this fact the fear we have about ‘the times’ is unfounded. Do we think the Father doesn’t know the times? Do we think He has put us in someone else’s time slot? You, like everyone else alive today who has fear, have been chosen for this time (Ephesians 2:10). Whether we believe it or not, we must take the stance that God has not made an error in placing us here today. We have been chosen by God for this time for His reasons. We need to replace the lie we are a mistake with the truth.
The Truth: You have been taken from the ends of the Earth, and called from its farthest regions by God. He is saying to you, “You are my servant! I have chosen you and have not cast you away.” No matter what you think. Now go about doing good while seeking out that reason rather than questioning your existence!
Fear Not, For He is With You!
We look around us and think we have to be the only one, everyone else is going crazy. I am sure Isaiah thought the same thing about the conflicted children of Israel. People think the craziest stuff and you are the only one who believes what the Words of God speak. Unfortunately, we begin to question the truth God has taught us. People are trying to convince us things not Biblical and preach things not supported by the Scriptures. If we spend more time questioning what we believe than we are on the right track for it is not about what others believe. They will stand before Jesus to give account for their own life while we will give account for ours. Our great God is with us and will teach us but we need to believe this. There are more of us, we just need to have faith that Jesus will reveal them to us when we need them most. We need to replace the lie we are alone with the truth.
The Truth: He is with you and He is YOUR God. He will strengthen you and help you. He will uphold you with His righteous right hand. Now go about doing good while God alone teaches you the truth!
Fear Not, For You Can be Prepared!
Settle in your heart not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things and give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all even if they don’t acknowledge it.
Seek out God first of all and then seek out people who challenge your current knowledge with more truth. Be sure to read every verse I have quoted or linked in this post so you know for sure that even I am in the truth. Seek out the truth for yourself and do not believe peoples truths over Biblical truths. Test every spirit knowing God will teach you what truth is. AND above all walk in the joy of the Lord so others will see your good works and give glory to God (1 Peter 2).
Hard times are coming for those who believe the true God and want to walk in HIS ways alone. Know the times that you will not be thrown to and fro by every freaky doctrine out there. The best defense against fear is truth. Use the truth that you know to learn more truth until all of your fear of the unknown is gone. Each time you are debilitated by fear and use the Words of God to quell it you will come out the other side stronger and able to fight the next attack of fear. Soon enough you will ‘fear not’ for you will know for certain the Lord is with
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If God is in CHARGE, why do we Worry? Life should be filled with Wonder!
How often have we gone on for days about a particular topic to ultimately give up the worry because we have come to the conclusion that we have no control? We even allow the unpleasant thing to invade the other areas in our life we thought were just fine. Even the unsaved do that? One of the advantages we have over the world is we have our Jesus to turn too. Think about when we couldn’t do that. What did you do? Did you worry for hours? Did you cry about how unfair life is? Have you said, “Why me?” So tell me, why not you? Why not me! As I write this I am in the middle of an emotional crisis myself. The same one that has plagued me for 40 years. Same old, same old!
How can I be so ignorant of the power of God? How can we read the powerful Words of God and walked away from them with such ambiguity over who is actually in charge? What a hypocrite I am! I know in my heart most of the time that our God is in charge, but then when something comes along to overwhelms me with disappointment, I conveniently forget there is a plan and, unfortunately for me, even my broken heart is part of the plan. Even with this information in mind we need to learn to come around from worry about our issue to the wonders of God’s power quicker. James 1:2-4 has two truths for us that will help us get to wonder quicker: stop fighting the test and expect perfection.
EVERY TRIAL IS A TEST!
If you have a trial right now you are in a test because every trial is a test. Let us not delude ourselves thinking there is no rhyme or reason behind what is happening. If you can show me one place in the Scriptures that God has lost control I will admit that He is not in control. He has put trials in our lives that we would become more faithful. Have you seen a child who wanted something? They do everything within their power to get what they want including violence. We are not children but adults, mature in our thinking. Believing that Jesus is who He says He is makes us faithful but what about during trials? What about when you aren’t getting your way? What about when we are disappointed? How is our faith then? If we know that Jesus got us through the last trial or the last ten trials before what makes us think He will not do it this time. When we believe He will do what He said He will do we gain patience to wait for the other side of the trial. The patience we gain from our continued faith is how we will get through each and every test we are put through. If we bury, deep in your soul, every trial is a test of our faith that we NEED to pass one day we will get to this premise almost instantly and go from worry to wonder much quicker.
THE MIRACLE OF PERFECTION
Each test of our faith that we pass produces patience which in turn perfects us and completes us making us lack for nothing for the good works we were predestined to do. As I write this sentence I cringe over my immaturity and milk drinking ways. Perfection does not happen overnight but I want it too. To tell you the truth I am tired of waiting. That tiredness has brought me to this place of disappointment. Things I enjoy or expected have been taken away again leaving me disappointed again. This is not the first time this happened it is probably the one hundredth time it has happened. I am blinded by the loss and cannot see the miracle but I have seen miracles in my past that have left me in awe therefore I have to look past the disappointment to the miracle of perfection so I can allow this trial to create more patience in me that I will become perfect again. This is not an easy task since I feel like everyone around me is advancing and seeing progress while I feel like I am standing still or even going backwards. Every time I go through a trial I feel like it is a miracle that I come out the other side at the very least the same person I went in as. I know it is a miracle when I come out the other side and haven’t given up. Right now I feel like there is no other side because it has been a long 15 years but I know the patience miracle is coming because it always does. Then perfection is right around the corner.
Don’t give up and I promise I won’t either
Lord, help us to see the wonder of your miracles! The miracle of perfection is coming if we don’t give up. The promise of good is coming if we don’t give up (Romans 8:28). There are many stories in the Scriptures of Elohim fulfilling His promises to people. I know sometimes that just doesn’t help because we want to stay disappointed but we will never see miracles in our disappointment. During the good times I prepared myself by knowing the Word of God and practicing the promises in the Scriptures. I don’t have anything I thought I would have but I still have Elohim who gives and takes according to His manifold grace. There is no power within me to change what is happening but there is power within me to accept it and move on. As I look around me I see the miracle of advancement in others’ lives that I love so I will ask for another miracle to get me through this test while waiting patiently for it’s perfect work to be completed so I lack nothing! Pray with me, and for me, while we welcome the test to our faith and expect the miracle of patience to perfect us!
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Our Significance in the Body of Christ is Christ’s Job not Ours!
We are significant to Christ at all times because He chose us but how often do we feel as if we are making a significant difference in the Body of Christ? Do we know how significant we are to the Body of Christ right now? Are we pushing our way in to make significance or are we so far removed we believe we make no significant difference? Who has defined significance? Do we understand how significant we are to the workings of the world right now? Not knowing this causes two type of mindsets. The one mindset leads us into the direction of laziness while the other leads us in the direction of uselessness. Getting a balance between these two will improve the life skills we get from finding significance in every day living for Jesus. Jesus has put us on this earth TODAY for His use in His Body. He wants us to overcome our feeling of insignificance by knowing there is something you can do, doing what you deem as useful and knowing you need not know the future to live for today.
There is something I can do!
Our significance comes from what God has designed us to do for Him. It is not enough to know that we are significant we need to work out our understanding or we will lose the knowledge. To sustain the feeling of worth we need to see our worth in what we are doing right now. At this moment I am learning but I am also doing what God has asked me to do on a daily basis. I have been doing the same thing for almost two years now and my patience is being tested but because I am learning I am also maturing. The way I felt about my significance two years ago is completely different from what I feel today. Our attitude that our work means nothing is not the truth but we have to see it to believe it. The Bible tells us faith without works is dead and as I continue in my walk with Jesus I can understand the whole ramifications of that statement. Faith is believing that something will happen even though you cannot see it right now. I am learning right now but that learning will be put to use in the Body of Christ eventually. Doing nothing is not an option for those who follow Jesus therefore a Christian should never be called a sluggard. Whatever you are doing for Jesus right now is something that is adding significance to your life and the Body of Christ. Jesus is always working to make that happen.
I am going to do what I deem useful
The other end of this is doing so much that nothing is useful. Let’s slow our pace for a while to see what we are supposed to do. Sitting down alone with Jesus is not going to hurt your ministry in any way. As a matter of fact, if you are aware whose ministry your ministry actually is, you will understand the more time we spend with Jesus the better off we will be. I know how hard it is to slow down because we begin to feel useless ourselves because we have identified ourselves with the work we are doing rather than identifying ourselves with Jesus. Jesus sends us each day to do works useful for His Kingdom and they may very well be all done in your own home or they could be outside of your home. Both are uncomfortable in their own way but they are being done to prepare us for the next work. I am an extrovert so doing works in my own home by myself is very uncomfortable, and in my head, useless. As I continue to do what Jesus leads me to do I have discovered how important my alone time with Jesus is? That time is useful to the Body of Christ more so now than before. My demeanor has changed, my understanding has broadened and my love for Jesus and His people has transformed into something significant. What I fear most now is when He sends me out will I want to go because I like spending time alone with Him. My house has become my haven. I am over the feeling of uselessness away from the body and I don’t see significant communion beginning any time soon. I am ready to make use of myself outside of my home when He makes a way for it because I have learned to be of use inside my home. Useful is defined by Jesus and my goal is to follow Him being as useful as He wants me to be.
We don’t need future knowledge
We do not need to know what the future holds to do what Jesus wants us to do today to feel significant. Our need to know the future is what allows us to deem ourselves insignificant in the body of Christ. We know the future – Jesus wins but how are we contributing to that? Are we saving souls? Are we teaching? Are we serving? We might say no to all of those because He has us learning right now and we might say yes but too much. You might have heard a preacher tell you that you are supposed to do this and that because we are all supposed to do it but the bigger questions is – is Jesus calling you to do this or that right now? If He isn’t but the preacher said we are then we feel insignificant because we aren’t doing what that man tells us to do. That man’s opinion is not important especially because he does not know us or our life. The Man that is important is Jesus. What He wants us to do is more important than what a preacher wants us to do. Don’t base your significance in the body of Chris on what the preacher or teacher thinks base it on what the Holy One says. Our significance, in the Body and out of it, comes from Him alone.
Ask yourself some questions this week.
- Am I called to what I am doing now or am I doing it to feel significant?
- Am I doing nothing because I feel insignificant or because I am ignorant of what I should do?
- Am I overworking because I think I can find who I am in that work?
Let Jesus define who you are and you will see your significance in the Body of Christ much more clearly. Let Jesus do His job while we do ours!
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Our Mind Sustains Change like a Rock Retains Water!
You’re sitting in your favourite chair staring at the television with your lot coursing through your mind. Not one of the 1500 channels you flip through sooths it. You search out the recline button and press until the chair that used to calm you can recline no more. You would rather just lie down and pass out but your thoughts of imminent disaster won’t allow it. Days have rolled into months, months have disappeared into years and years have swung into decades without any relief. Your Finances are suppressing you, your marriage is oppressing you, your job is stifling you and you need a deep breath of relief but none comes. Breathing is getting more difficult to do because you know you can do something different but you just keep falling back into the same old habits you are responsible for taking your breath away in the first place. You are running out of the courage to live just one more day. Fear not! Jesus has overcome this world for you! He is for you but you must begin to focus on Him and what He can do! Let Him breathe for you as you get the courage to change your mind.
Our mind sustains change like a rock retains water. We have hard habits of saying, doing and acting in a certain way and we get stuck. We fight for what we want but what we want is not good for us! Only Jesus knows what is good for us. We continue to do what is not functional. Only Gods will is functional. There are three ways we can begin to change our mind and find courage right now that will make a difference.
- Bend a knee
- Search the Scriptures
- Act on them
Bend a Knee
If you are reading this blog you are seeking Jesus and a way to improve your life skills. We cannot improve our life skills without Jesus. You are created to do good works for Him and until we admit we have been ruining our life it can never be fixed. Ruin might be a strong word but dead is an even stronger word used in Scripture. Without Jesus your life is dead therefore ruined. On your knees rather than lounging is the place to be. When we lay out dead in our distresses there are no options for us. We continue down the same path as if it is our lot in life. It is NOT! Jesus has a new way for us although bending our knees alone will not change our mindset. The change comes from the understanding of our powerlessness and the Power we call Jesus! He alone has the Power we need to sustain courage. His only requirement is we hear Him. It is difficult to hear what Jesus says sometimes because we are not focused on Him but on what is going on in our own mind. Bending a knee is a powerful statement of faith helping us focus on Jesus rather than ourselves. The power we give up on our knees opens our ears to hear Him giving us instruction to do the right thing (Hebrews 4:12). What is that right thing and how will you know it is right?
Search the Scriptures!
When you have been given instruction you begin searching the Scriptures. We will always know the right thing if it lines up with the Scriptures. We are told to test EVERY spirit. Jesus has Written Himself and who He is on every page in every Word. What is right to do is on those pages and what we need to know is on those pages. Jesus allows us to search the Scriptures to find Him and until we do our search we will not know what is right. I know there are 2000+ pages, 30,102 Scriptures and 770,430 Words in the NKJV but let me ask you, “How much time have you spent on television, Facebook, Twitter or other time wasting shenanigans?” How have they helped you efficiently solve your problems? How was your mindset when you finished? Our mindset toward life changes when we search the Scriptures rather than the internet. Searching for powerful Scriptures alone will not change our mindset but understanding the Words of Jesus are what changes our mindset. For instance, a search on our topic of time revealed Ephesians 5:15-17; Psalm 39:4-5; Psalm 90:12 read together gives us solid instruction of how we should regard what little time we have and how significant every single day is marching toward the Day of Lord. There are good software’s available to compile Scriptures on specific topics therefore we have no excuse for the lack of knowledge of our Saviour and His plan for us. Searching the Scriptures is not enough, we have to act on what we know to do!
Act on it!
There is no possibility of an improved life if we do not participate in the improvement. How often have you said your life is not going well then continued down the same path as yesterday? How frustrating is that? We see other folks living better lives while deliberately ignoring the work they’ve done. We have set our mind on our ingrained excuses rather than doing the work to fix the problems. Our mindset must change from the worldly things to the Spiritual things or we will never have the life Jesus longs to give us. Acting on the Scriptures alone will not change our mindset unless we understand what Jesus wants us to do. We need to take courage and start acting out the Words of God! Start with the simple apparent things such as not lying. We lie to ourselves when we say there is nothing we can do about our situation. There is plenty we can do even if it is just acceptance for now. We are responsible to improve our situation so let’s get going and make the changes needed. The best way to get started is to document, document, and document! Find a good notebook or even a day timer and begin each day with a simple goal. If money is your issue, buy one less coffee. If lying is your issue, tell one less lie. One less means change and before you know it your mind will be changed. Everyone knows how hard it is to do this but the rewards of being an overcomer are beyond earthly measure (Revelation 1, 2, 3). We can take action even though our mind is not ready and our mind will eventually catch up. Try it today and set your mind to doing it for at least 7 days. Don’t give up!
The day will come!
Bending a knee alone will not change our mindset. The change comes from the understanding of our powerlessness and the Power we call Jesus! Searching for powerful Scriptures alone will not change our mindset but understanding the Words of Jesus is what changes us. Acting on the Scriptures alone will not change our mindset unless we understand what Jesus wants us to do. Jesus is not going to change your mind for you but before you know it you will be in the middle of Gods goodness. It is that goodness that bring us to the courage behind change. This may be the only thing we have control over so be diligent about making it happen. The day will come when your continued courage will result in a change of mind because you have stayed it on Jesus.
I have come to you on my knees preaching the Good News of Jesus and Him crucified that you would put your faith in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-5) to gain the courage you need to make the change of mind needed. I have been where you are and I did exactly this to escape myself. If I wrote down all the things Jesus has done for me since I began this process I suppose the world could not contain the books and it won’t be able to contain your books either.
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God is Not Blessing Us, We are Already Blessed!
I was reminded recently how much we are blessed! Our mindset on a daily basis either decides we are blessed or decides we are cursed. How do we know the difference for certain? If you love Jesus you are blessed and if you do not you are cursed! Paul was definitely blessed by God. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees moving up in the ranks very quickly into many leadership positions. He was trained under Gamaliel, a doctor of the Jewish Law. Gamaliel warned the Pharasees not to stop the work of God (Acts 5:34-40). Paul didn’t know then his life was being orchestrated by God to get him in place to write all the letters he wrote to the churches. At the time of Gamaliel, Saul thought he was blessed because he earned it however by the time he sat to write the letter to the Ephesians he believed with all of his soul he had earned none of it! He knew he was already blessed then and now!
Paul was a man of understanding and he used it to teach the churches how they should act inside and outside of the Ekklesia. The one piece of information he wanted all of us to understand is God does not bless us, He HAS already blessed us. He tells the Gentiles in Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Even better to be added to this is Proverbs 11:22 The blessing of the Lord makes one rich and He adds no sorrow with it! Each one of these verses tells us Elohim has blessed us prior to us seeing the blessing and sorrow is not part of the blessing. I have learned two truths in my walk with Jesus, if we live in the blessings daily we will never need a miracle and we must never allow anyone to rob us of the blessings bestowed upon us.
Live in the Blessings
Elohim has spoken a blessing over us in His Words, which existed long before we came into being. I know how hard it is to think of being blessed when all hell is breaking loose in your life, when you lose your job, when you have used up all your savings, when family is sick and needs you taking you away from your current life. I want you to know this – it is all in the way you see, receive and speak the blessings of Elohim. We need to know God to see the blessings He has already given us to see and recognize. Once we recognize Him in everything we see the blessings and hope abounds. Hope abounds because we learn to receive the blessings knowing Elohim abounds on the earth. Knowing that we begin to speak the blessing over others and ourselves while living daily to see, receive and speak them aloud! Living for this we understand everything happening to us and the people around us will result in good rather than sorrow giving us more hope for the future. If you start looking for what you have been blessed with, receive it with joy and speak it over your life it makes it hard for someone to steal it from you.
The Blessings Bestowed Upon Us ARE Ours!
You know you are blessed and they are yours but one day while walking in God’s will for you someone says to you, “Did God really say that?” You walk away questioning your idea of what God has been clearly training you to do. At the very point you begin questioning God is the very point someone was successful in robbing the blessing then you continue to not allow the blessing to be activated in your life. You affectively quench the Holy Spirit in your life because someone asked a question to curse you. To be robbed of any blessing is to disobey God. When God blessed us with every Spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places He gave them to us to do His works on this earth so if you are not doing His works because a person got involved in a God works then you are in sin. I am not saying you should not try to understand I am saying you should never question God because a human questioned you. You know yourself better than any other human being. You know God’s work in your life better than any other and you know what God has trained you to do so just do it. If you have obeyed God in the past and it blessed you than why would you stop because a human cursed you. You see the blessing in your life, you have received it and you have been speaking it in your life, don’t stop just keep obeying God because no one has the right to question what God is doing even you.
If it is God No One Cannot Overthrow It!
We all hear the folks who are always talking about being blessed and I figure they say it because they are trying to talk themselves into it. The issue with that is they are not speaking blessing the are boasting blessings. When we become Christian we automatically are blessed with all Spiritual blessings in the Heavenly places and no sorrow is added to them. Gamaliel recognized God at work and he was a Pharisee why do we have such a hard time as Jesus followers to recognize our blessings already in place? If we see them, receive them and speak them into our lives we will recognize each and every one in place before the world was. They will be our stronghold against the robbers of this day. If it is God you cannot overthrow it so walk in it. This week ask Elohim to open your eyes to the blessings in His Words so you will recognize His works that cannot be overthrown.
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We are Ensnared by the Words of Our Mouth!
Three ways to overcome this!
I wonder if this has ever happened to you? Have you said something then regretted it when you actually had a chance to ponder it? These words weren’t vulgar nor deceptive just unwise words, unthought-out words. Words we will now have to stand by although we really don’t want too. Maybe they were haughty words said to make you look tough and unmoving as a result someone now has the impression you are standoffish. There are many things we can say leaving people with a different impression of than we actually wanted to portray. In this day and age words mean very little but to a Christian they are extremely important. God spoke the world into being before it was!
We will speak our works into being before they ever are. We speak ourselves into being before people know us. The writer of Proverbs tells us we need to guard our heart because out of it springs the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23) and out of our heart come the words to reveal our life too. Fortunately Solomon gives us the way out, the way to be an overcomer of this issue in life. First we should keep God’s Words in the midst of our heart, second put away our deceitful mouth and perverse lips and third ponder the direction our feet are going (Proverbs 4:21-27).
His Word in the Midst of our Heart
The Words of God will never come out of our mouth if they are not in midst of our heart. We will always speak like the world. The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit will speak for us when we are in trouble (Matthew 10:20) but if we don’t know Him He cannot send words of wisdom or words to give life from us. We need to read the Scriptures with the intention of keeping it in our heart so we can speak life and not death (Proverbs 18:21) to those we are speaking too and to ourselves. God is not just worried about the folks around us He is also worried about us. When God’s words are in the midst of our heart we not only say them but we ponder them. We ponder the truth of them and the validity of them. Eventually we believe them and we live them and the issues of our life are now the issues in others lives. When we have God’s words in the midst of our hearts it gets easier to put away deceit and vulgarity.
Put away our Deceitful Mouth and Perverse Lips
Solomon didn’t just think a deceitful tongue is bad but perverse lips too. The language of the people we are around today is very curse and full of lies. I admit I was similar when I was unsaved and for some time after being saved I continued to speak like the world. I would shoot my mouth off before my brain was loaded inevitably hurting someone and becoming filled with guilt. It is hurtful and shows I care nothing about what people have to hear when I talk to them. I am worried more about grieving the Holy Spirit than I am grieving people or myself because I know His Words. When we know His Words we are held responsible for how we have portrayed them. I have to talk with myself constantly about this particular thing. Guarding our heart against this is much easier when you know what God expects from us. He expects us to put it away especially if we know our feet are headed to do God’s works.
Ponder the Direction of Your Feet
When we know God has a plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and we have been predestined to walk in it (Ephesians 2:10) we can ponder the direction of our feet. When we begin to look at this seriously with wisdom we begin to understand doing the will of God has consequences in the world and we need to be ready to accept them and be overcomers during the process. Elohim will equip us to do His works but we have to be able to pull all the pieces together and go in the direction we find. Pondering the direction we walk is essential to knowing what God really wants from us. When I guard my heart in the direction of my feet I am much more diligent in making the works of God happen.
His plan includes our Heart
The three ways to guard our heart and avoid being ensnared by the words of our mouth will definitely help us to be who God has created us to be. This process is cyclical. We have to do it over and over again to get it right. Put God’s words in your heart, put away deceit and vulgarity, look where you are going, get the Words, put away garbage, watch where you are walking – again – get the Word, put away, watch where you are going. It keeps going like the pink Energizer bunny but each time we are successful at accomplishing results we are given strength we did not have before and are less ensnared by the words of our mouths. We not only will say what we mean we will make our yes’s mean yes and our no’s mean no (Matthew 5:37). This is super freeing! This week free yourself from doing something or saying something unwise by putting god’s words in your ear and putting away the words that kill and the path of your feet will be directed.
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Stand in the Spirit by His Women!
Has the Spirit ever impressed something on you so much you cannot but do it! What about if it is information that is needed to drive you forward in your mission? What if it is something big? What if it makes your heart explode for people? I tell you I cannot but warn woman about what the Spirit is telling me. The Scripture we will discuss together is about perilous times. It is about the state of all mankind but what is important is what is going to happen to women during this perilous time. Let’s read together 2 Timothy 3.
A Warning of Perilous Times for Women
I cannot warn you enough about these perilous times. They are happening now. From verse 1-9 we are told of the kind of people who will fill the churches. Paul lists all the characteristics of mankind in this perilous time and we read it thinking surely these people are heathens, the people who do not know God. Then we read verse 5 and are stunned to find out these people profess to be Christians. They have a form of Godliness but deny it’s power – these heathens are Christians! Are you warned yet? That’s not all! These heathen Christians (HC) are creeping into our homes and leading silly or gullible women away captive. I hate to say this but I am seeing this today! Women are being held captive by HC’s all the time. One of the main characteristics of these silly women is that they learn and learn and learn but can never come to the truth. Why? They are laden down with sin and led away by various lusts. I am sick to death to know the women I know and the ones I don’t know yet will be led away by these HC’s. How do I know this? I’m already seeing it! There is good news though – their folly will be manifested to all unfortunately it will be too late for some because they will have already been deceived and hurt beyond measure. Now that you know this information, I implore you to take steps to make sure none of this happens to our women. Paul (as does God) gives us a way out, an escape, if you are already caught, or a preventative measure so as to never get caught.
Heathen Christians Persecute Christians
Paul uses himself as an example of being delivered by the Lord from persecution (10-13). He tells us we will suffer persecution from our fellow HC’s. These evil men and imposters will get worse and continue deceiving and being deceived. As a result the persecution will get worse for those who love God and want to mature in the things of God. The escape begins in verse 14. Continue learning and be assured of the things you have already learned (and believed) because you have learned them from a reliable source, if indeed you have learned from the Scriptures and Godly teachers. From your immature Christianity until now you have been learning the Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for Salvation through your faith in Jesus the Christ. Paul is saying we aught to be going from milk to meat using the Scriptures as our number one learning source to gain wisdom, and because we have faith in Jesus we know the Scriptures to be true. He again tells us how important Scripture is to those of us who belong in the Kingdom of God. Verse 16-17 are the way out, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. The way through persecution is the Words of God (see Our Weapons for War). The escape from silliness or gullibility is the Words of God (See Who Will Teach Me to be Mature).
Be Spirit Minded for Your own Safety
Can Paul be any clearer? Can I be any clearer? Can God be any clearer? Perilous times are coming for those who love Elohim and the way to be equipped to deal with those times is the knowledge of Scripture. Scripture teaches us skills the human race wants to divest us of. Our skills for life in this world will come from someone, wouldn’t you rather they come from Elohim than man. How will we stand by our faith if we do not know the Man we have our faith in? How will we sing Psalms of worship if we don’t know the God we are worshipping? How will we feel the Spirit in us if we quench Him with our ignorance? Perilous times do not have to be perilous for those who believe! Please women, be proactive, be vigilant, be wise, be Spirit minded for your own safety and those who already are proactive, vigilant, wise and walking in the Spirit pray for those who are not. It is time for women to stand together because this will happen to us and we will have no one to turn to but each other. Knowing this get yourself ready to stand in the Spirit with power alongside His women!
