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The One thing every Crisis Reveals
Are you in a perpetual crisis or maybe you are not in enough crises?
From breaking a fingernail to facing death, you want to be seen as having a sound mind in a crisis.
Our Biblical Ground Work: 1 Samuel 25
There was a man from Maon who had a rich business. His name was Nabal (meaning: fool) and he was married to Abigail (meaning: my father’s joy) who was of good understanding/intelligent/wise/street smart/of sound mind, she just so happened to be beautiful as well. Nabal was hard and evil with his dealings.
David and his men were living in the area so became a wall around them. Nabal benefited from that wall of protection. David sent some men to ask for food supplies, for a feast, from Nabal. He revealed how hard and evil he is to the men who came from the future king. David is about to do David (man of war 1 Chronicles 28:3) when Abigail steps in.
Abigail, after being told about the incident, jumped right into action to make sure her family business would not be destroyed by David. She filled bushels full of food and strapped them to her donkeys. She herself rode a donkey and met up with David. Knowing it would take her some time to prepare, and knowing that David would not take any time to seek revenge, she sent her servant ahead of her to tell David she was coming. She went as quickly as she could and staying out of sight of her husband as well.
She confronts David with the most courageous speech in 1 Samuel 25:24-31. As a result of her intelligent actions her house was saved but she still had to tell her husband what she did. She waited for him to be sober then she told him what she had done. When she was finished talking, the Lord struck Nabal with a seizure, which paralyzed him and then killed him 10 days later.
David sent his servants to retrieve Abigail as his wife. Her reply was, “Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” As his wife she would be taken captive by the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30). She spend many years with David in hiding and travelled all over the middle east to avoid Saul. She gave birth to David’s second eldest son named Chileab or Daniel (meaning: God is my judge) (1 Chronicles 3:1). As we read about David’s sons causing him grief, we never hear of this one being involved in any of it. I wonder why?
Our Biblical Life Lesson: A Crisis Reveals Character
Life is filled with the minor events that change our lives to the larger events that shape our existence and our direction in life. Each of these are defining moments. They are born out of some kind of crisis, from some event that some one has lost control over.
COVID-19 is a great example of a life event out of control. A pandemic is something no one can control except our Lord. He is controlling it at this moment and will keep controlling it until He is ready to put it to an end.
Abigail, as David’s wife, has seen many things happen from the threat of death to being held hostage by the Amalekites, famine to pandemics, peace and war, running from Saul to running from Absalom. In which of these do you think she lost her head? None I suppose, what about you?
Meet with us in The Bible Gals as we discuss the nature of crisis and how it is meant to reveal our character.
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Naomi, A Mother of Integrity
Have you ever been in an environment where integrity is the last thing on the administrators mind? It’s a hard place to thrive.
Have you even been in an environment where integrity is the first thing on the administrators mine? It’s a place where you can thrive.
Naomi created such a place. She was the mother of integrity. She created an environment where her daughter-in-law’s united with her to maintain a stable and cohesive home in which to live. Let’s read the story.
Our Biblical Ground Work: Ruth
Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, moved the family to Moab because there was famine in the land of Israel. He died and so did both of Naomi’s sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Her sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. It is at this point, the story really begins for us. Naomi hears that there is provision in Israel again, so she packs up her clothes to leave Moab for Israel.
Her daughter-in-law’s follow her but she becomes realistic with them. She tells them she cannot provide husbands for them and sends them back to their own families. Ruth is determined to stay with Naomi, so they head back to Israel where they are greeted by the women of the Bethlehem. Naomi no longer wants to be called pleasant, she wants them to think she is bitter.
Naomi and Ruth live together with meagre supplements. Ruth gets permission from Naomi to glean in a field for supplies. She ends up gleaning in Boaz’s field and he notices her. As we all know, towns can talk, so he was already aware of who she was but had not met her until this day. He gives her favour and she goes home with much more than Naomi expected. She wants to know whose field Ruth gleaned in. She knows Boaz and his family ties to her dead husband.
Naomi councils Ruth on the rules of asking Boaz to redeem her family name, and she does exactly what Naomi tells her to do. She comes back with more grains and tells Naomi the whole story. Naomi reassures Ruth that Boaz will not stop working on this very day until this matter is solved. Naomi also does not stop working until her family is taken care of by the best people under God.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: Creating an environment of integrity gives your villagers a place of refuge.
As the city on the hill (Matthew 5:14-16) we are surrounded by people (villagers) who look to us for direction about how the Lord works in Christian lives. We are creating an environment that reflects the Lord Jesus Christ and His direction for us. This environment needs to be a safe place for them.
Creating an environment of integrity gives your villagers a safe place they might not have in their own city. They see cohesion among your villagers that is absent with theirs. They feel honoured by everyone and that makes them long to come back. They know you are who you say you are, because you do what you said you’d do. Your villagers love you because of it.
Do you want to know how to be like Naomi?
I invite you to go deeper with me with The Bible Gals this week as we learn the Biblical Power Tools for creating an environment of integrity.
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A Brilliant Idea to make Your Promises more Honourable
I raised my kids without making promises to them because I didn’t trust myself to honour them. I knew that there would be times when I would not follow through, for one reason or another, on that promise. The lack of follow through would then be what I was known for rather than all of my other good characteristics.
This idea was not wise because I did not even honour the promises I made to myself. My excuse was that I didn’t know if I would be able to follow through but it was more because I didn’t want to be “expected” to honour them. I learned through this that no one has to say, “I promise,” for people to take it as a promise. When you tell someone you will do something for them, they take that as a promise and expect you to honour it. By the way, so does the Lord, as you will discover with Jephthah and his daughter.
Our Biblical 📖 Ground Work Judges 11:1-12:7
Jephthah was a great warrior who was driven out by his family because he was a product of his father Gilead’s sexual sin. He hung out with lawless men and went about raiding. His great warrior status was remembered by the Israelite elders when the Ammonites wanted to go to war over the land.
They made Jephthah their commander and went to war with the Ammonites. They were successful because the Lord gave them over to them. For Jephthah this victory was going to cost. And He will pay the price out of honour to the Lord. For his daughter though the cost was dearer but she too would honour the Lord by paying the price.
Jephthah made a vow to the Lord that if He would give the Ammonites into his hands, and Jephthah comes back in peace, whatever comes out of his house first, he would give to the Lord as a burnt sacrifice (a tribute to honour God for what He has done). This a vow that would cost him his daughter and both of them would honour it with tremendous hurt. One because he doubted and the other because she wanted to honour it.
Our Biblical 📖 Life Lesson
You can learn how to honour your promises by learning how to make better promises.
The result of me never making promises to people is that I never learned how to take responsibility for following through on my promises. Jephthah’s daughter obviously learned how to do that from her parents. Honour is a great thing to have but honour hurts sometimes. We are avoiding the hurt by never making any promises or we can learn how to make promises that lead us into God vision for us.
Jephthah’s daughter fully understands your dilemma. She was put in an impossible situation by someone else’s vow. Then she answered that vow with a vow of her own. She promised she would return after two months of morning her virginity with her friends. She could have stayed in the mountains, never to be seen again, but she came back to honour God and her father. But mostly she honoured herself and is remembered still today.
Her father did not have to make that vow. As Jephthah was on his way to war the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him and He knew it. You cannot have something like that happen and not feel it. BUT he is still human and doubted his ability to take on the Ammonites. He bargained with the Lord because of his doubt and lost.
If you want a promise that you can honour, make if from a positive mindset, not a negative one. The difference between Jephthah and his daughter was the mindset. He vowed because he didn’t believe and she vowed because she was grateful to the Lord. Which one of them, do you think is easier to follow through with? If you learn how to make your promises from a positive state of mind, your follow through will cause you to be honoured by those around you.
Join us in The Bible Gals as we continue this discussion with The 3 Ways to Follow through on Every Promise Study and 🎥 LIVE.
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New Nanosecond, New Me
Have you heard the saying, new year new you? My son, Alex, said it the other day while referring to one of his friends. As I was reading the Bible this morning, in Hebrews, my mind was going nuts about the new information I was understanding. I am also reading another book called The Subtle Art of not giving a [bleep] by Mark Manson. This book is also adding new understanding to my repertoire. I will never get tired of knowing something new. I will never get tired of caring for the new me.
The most fascinating thing about “new” is that it replaces”old”. Don’t miss this. It REPLACES the old. Old is boring and [don’t mind my lack of diction] OLD. It is stale and unproductive. No matter what you believe, it is not right, it is wrong. I know you are thinking, “Hey, I like the old! It’s comfortable. It’s sustainable. It works for me. It’s EASY.” Well, despite you’re comfort level in the old, every nanosecond you are becoming new. Every nanosecond the world is becoming new and you are staying old.
Since I became a Christian, the Lord has been changing me. Sometimes, to be nakedly honest, I hated it. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord in February of 2003. In 2019, it will be 16 years of change, more change, and even more change. It has been filled with sorrow, pain and trials giving birth to this new me. Using the world’s standards, I see this new me as a failure. I have done nothing significant. I spend a significant amount of time changing my mind. From the outside [since no one can see my mind, except Jesus] it looks, to me and to you, as if I have done nothing and as a result gone nowhere. I fight the battle of the “failed life” every day. I spend a lot of time thinking about who I am NOT.
2019 will be my naked “who I am” year. I am throwing off the old black outfit. Don’t get me wrong, I have been nakedly honest all my life, but only about my negative experiences. I do not mind getting naked about my failures, but my successes are a whole new outfit. I care about my failures because they lead me straight into my success, but they are old, moth eaten and not a flattering colour for me. Every nanosecond I am made new by Jesus. Every nanosecond His mercy covers me. He created me to be clothed in white, but I am continually dressing myself in black. I am going to be a success, throwing off the black this year, and clothing myself every nanosecond in white.
I will remember the black pile of clothing on the floor behind me but will look upon the white I wear. I want you to see the white also, knowing that it came from stripping off the black, thread by thread. I break Jesus’ heart every time I sew black threads through my white garments. How am I going to combat this habitual sewing of blackness? I think I will end the day with a “Note to Self” answering the question, “What have you been successful doing today?” Since I hate not knowing the answer to any question, I will be sure to provide myself with an answer.
Happy New Year everyone. What were you successful doing today?
Kathleen is a Christian who has been improving her life skills since her life with Jesus began. In her own revolutionary style, she is using this knowledge to teach and to write novels that teach.
Happy is she, preparing for 2019. She is beginning the Hope Devoted Women’s Ministry this year to serve the women of Essex county with what she has learned from Jesus about living the abundant life through improving her own life skills. Her first book in the “Crown for Life” series entitled The White Picket Fence, Crown for Life Pursues Biblical Boundaries has been published and she is writing her second book The Path to Somewheresville, Crown for Life Pursues Biblical Planning in LaSalle, Ontario, Canada.
Kathleen has raised four children and is now spending time loving on her grandchildren. Each day she learns something new about Jesus and her relationships with her family and friends. She has a full life and is proud to be called a child of God.
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3 Ways to Discern Your Destination
You have read in my blog I am a proponent of knowing what God has for you in the future. That is what your future destination will be with Him. I challenge you to find one character in the Bible that didn’t know what God wanted them to do in the future. When God calls you, He equips you with this knowledge, whether you understand what He has told your or believe it, makes no difference to the plan. God will have his way. You can come kicking and screaming or you can come willingly filled with joy. Your attitude is your choice, not the plan. There are three ways you can discern (or remember) God’s plan for you.
Way One: Life is Difficult
You might have had difficulties in your life along with everyone else but that doesn’t stop the plan, nor does it excuse you from the plan. The difficulties, in our life, are how we remember our plan. They are directly related to your growth toward the “said” plan. What do you have the most difficulty doing but feel you’ve had the most success? For me it was getting my whole life in order. I already knew I would teach God’s Word all across Canada but through this process I learned what I would teach. I had to create my own tools for improvements, using the Bible, now I teach them. For what project have you created your own tools to accomplish and had great success? You will use them in your plan.
Way Two: Trouble that Makes us Cry
Of all the difficulties in the world which one makes you bang your hand on the table and yell, “Somebody has to do something about that!” Well, guess what, it’s you. You will do something about that trouble. I am not teaching life skills for the sake of teaching life skills. I am teaching them because I despise women being trafficked for sex. The side benefit is that all women have access to my workshops and books to improve their lives as well. At first, we will think God’s plan is for us, but it isn’t, it is for whomever you are called to serve. It is to be of service in the trouble that makes us cry. You will use this passion to rid the world of this trouble in your plan.
Way Three: Mirror Character
The Bible has an inordinate amount of characters listed. Have you ever pondered why? It is so you can see yourself in them. Which characters are you identifying with right now? When you read the Bible, you will find your mirror character in the phase of learning you are in right now. Right now, I am learning what to focus on for my ministry. Joseph is in the forefront of my mind. He had trouble that he didn’t make for himself, yet he knew God was still with him. Joseph still obeyed God in his sorrow, and eventually his teenage dreams came into fruition. Sorrow is no reason to stop working your plan. Joseph is my mirror character right now, who is yours? You will use the information you garner from your mirror character to obey God in all seasons of your life on your way to your future destination.
Your Challenge
I know how difficult it is to first believe but it gets easier as you grow. Your challenge is to continue to grow in the direction of your future destination. Many people before you have done just that; Mother Theresa, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale, Corrie ten Boom, and many more. Today, you can watch Kay Author, Beth Moore, Pricilla Shirer and many more also grow into the direction of their destination. This is the challenge for all of us but you will never grow in the direction of your destination unless you know what that is.
God told Gideon he was a might warrior then proceeded to teach him how. Paul was told he would suffer for Jesus then Jesus show him how. Peter was told he would fish for men then God showed Him how. Can you see what knowing your destination looks like? God will tell you your destination then he will show you how. That is the way God does destination and this is how we are supposed to do life.
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Come into the Deep with Me!
The Call
The term ‘In the deep with God’ came up in a conversation this week and Leola had some questions for God about that. What is the deep with You and how does one get into the deep? How do I know when I am in the deep? Do You tell me I am deep? Is it a feeling? Leola ponders these questions as she reads Psalm 91. If the deep means the secret place, is she there? Is deep the same for everyone? Can I ask people what deep means and get the same answer each time? Are You so predictable? Can I find the answer to these questions in Your Word? Leola ponders this Psalm against the term ‘deep’ and the ‘secret place’ talked about in this Psalm. She knows about having a secret place with God because she has one, on her ‘have-to-have-it couch’ staring out the window, but the distraction are becoming too much for her to stay in that secret place for too long. She needs alone time with Him to stay in the secret place long enough to hear God speak. Her call to the deep. At first she went out onto the back patio but when winter came it was to cold so she sat on her bed which turns out to be most uncomfortable. She knew God was calling her into ‘the deep’ (whatever that was) and she had to go alone. Her house is teaming with people so what can she do?
The chaos in the house is definitely holding Leola back from going deep with Jesus. There is nowhere to sit and read her Bible except the living room or her bed. She needs her own space. Her older kids had moved out but there was too much stuff in the house for her to have her own personal space. Leola had some organizing and purging to do. When a space was available Sam and Leola went shopping for what she now calls her ‘Jesus chair’. She converted one of the bedrooms into a ‘deep room’ she could go to be alone. She bought shelves for her many books and a carpet for her cold toes. She positioned the chair to look out the window because staring out the window is her secret place with Jesus and continues even to this day. If you see Leola staring out a window you know she is pondering something deep with God in their secret place.
The secret place from Psalm 91 and ‘the deep’ are two different things. Preachers talk about going deep with Jesus but what exactly do they mean? They get it from 1 Corinthians 2:10 which says the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. The Spirit who lives deep within us holding the deep things of God in His hand for us to take. The secret place referred to in Psalm 91 is the place you go to be alone with Jesus where you can hear Him speak. If you do not have a secret place you will not hear the call to the deep. As a new Christian I thought it was a physical place (and it was for me for a while) but as I matured I learned it is anywhere I am that I can hear God speak to me. The secret place is nowhere in particular and everywhere with God. The deep things of God can only be revealed in that secret place. This was confusing to me until I had my secret place modified into my secret alone place. I needed to be alone with Jesus to be able to ponder the deep place or even the deep things of God. It would still be years before all of it would come together for me. My secret place with Jesus can happen anytime He speaks to me no matter where I am and the deep is where I go when I study who He is.
The Deep
Leola was called into the deep with Jesus. She had to learn what that meant for her. It is in this quest for the deep with Jesus she learned of her own individuality. She learned what her purpose was for being in this world at this time. She learned Jesus actually saw her and she wasn’t invisible to Him. She learned her emotional pain was real and needed healing. Her wounds were deep and the healing needed to be deep. Surface fixes were not working but she didn’t know she was so shallow until she went deep. Up to this point she was wading in the Waters of God listening to people explain His Word. His deep calls for her to stop getting her information from people to hearing it from Him alone. She would have to learn to ponder His Word with Him and wait for the answer. As difficult as it was to do she learned how to do it and how fulfilling it was to know what He was teaching. What she was learning in the secret place had to remain a secret until she went deep with God for a full understanding. She would even talk out loud to Him as if He was standing right on the other side of the window. She cannot get over knowing Jesus deeply enough to ask any question and get an almost instant answer. If an answer doesn’t come quickly there is more to learn so she waits patiently to learn the answer. In her secret place where deepness is she learned she is not the only one called to the deep, all Christians are called to the deep but not all will go. Leola went and never looked back.
Jesus went to be alone with the Father (called to the deep) and He took the disciples to be alone with Him too (He called them to the deep). He pulled Saul away for three years to teach Him the deep things of God. The deep things of God cannot be found in a sermon or glancing through the Bible. They are found in your secret place deep inside you and God. This, unfortunately, is also where your deepest pain resides but also where the deepest knowledge of God resides. I understand not wanting to go there but if you choose not to go deep you are also choosing not to have a deep relationship with Jesus. When He calls you into the deep it is going to be painful but life altering. It is going to unnerve you but it is where the new creation of you resides. It is where the Spiritual Gifts you have get their power to reveal Jesus to those you serve. It is where your life as a Christian soldier marches onward. Deep death takes place and a deep life emerges for and with Jesus. He is calling you to die a deep death so you can live a deep life. I promise you, the pain is nothing compared to the joy! Will you go deep with me?
Meditation Verse for this week: Psalm 91; Psalm 42; 1 Corinthians 2:10; Luke 5:4
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Believe Him!
Hearing Him!
God has been speaking to Leola as she reads His Word and teaching her things she ought to know (Isaiah 43:19). To her surprise, God is not teaching her friends the same things. She was naïve in believing God teaches everyone the same truths. As she sits on her ‘have-to-have-it’ couch, staring out the window, she ponders what God is teaching her and why her friends do not agree. Why do they disagree? The Words are right there in black and white or are they grey? Is she hearing wrong? Is it the truth? She is not sure just yet! She talked to her friend about what little she knows but her friend vehemently disagrees with her. Leola is not sure what to think and she is hurt beyond measure! Her friend has been a Christian longer than her so she is confused about what to believe. Is God saying something different to her? She is afraid to talk to her about it again because she cannot defend this truth wholly but soon she will be able too.
Leola has discovered the Holy Spirit brings her to Scriptures that seem to be controversial with her friends. Why is He doing this? She is a relatively young Christian compared to her friends. Friends are important to her because she is an extrovert who gets her energy from friendship. No friends, no energy! Elohim was about to turn that concept upside down but first He is going to teach her about the benefits of controversy! Leola continued to fight for her friendships rather than the truths she was being taught BUT Elohim continued to teach her without fail and she believed Him but kept her mouth shut about what she was learning until the day she was challenged and the Spirit set her soul on fire to speak the truth whether her friend would hear it or not!
The Lord equips us to perform His will. He will bring you to truths designed to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up but it will be because He needs you to know it. We are being inundated today by watered down truths spoken to alleviate conviction of sin and make us feel comfortable in our current belief. Disciple of Jesus does not equal comfort! We feel uncomfortable letting God tell us what to do! We feel uncomfortable implementing the truth into our lives when no one around us is. We want to be clones of our Christian friends so we can feel accepted. Jesus says to those who believe, “If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32) The truth shall make us free to believe Him over people. It shall make you free to do what He wants you to do and to be able to stand in what you are doing. It shall make you free to be His disciple not your pastors or your friends. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means you believe Him!
Choosing Him!
Leola was in agony because her friend did not want to have anything to do with her again but she was at peace with it. During, her sometimes heated discussion with her friend, God supplied her with information she didn’t know before to solidify this new truth. She was surprised by her reaction to her friends exit from her life – peace along with grief. Now she was beginning to learn what being a disciple of Jesus Christ meant. The next time she walked into her church building she saw life in there differently. She had lost a friend and wondered how many more she would lose before the Lord took her to be with Him. Leola has walked away from Christians who were using her to forward their own ministry but this was her first loss of a good friend over the truth. Someone she cared about! Someone she admired! This loss threw Leola into another training session with Jesus about peace in the controversy over God’s truth. He taught her the difference between fighting for His truth and her own. Today, Leola knows the difference and accepts it whole heartedly. She is making new friends who enjoy and support her in everything she is doing for the Body of Christ. She believes Him in everything He teaches her!
Abiding in the Words of Jesus is not easy and it can be controversial even inside the Body of Christ. You will lose friends who want to live a comfortable Christian life. You will lose friends you thought had a zeal for the truth. You will be questioned about what you believe. Take heed of what you hear because you DO want to hear more. If you choose your friends over Jesus, what you know will be taken away and you will get your wish to be like them. Jesus wants to reveal the truth to you, should you not know it? Believe the Words of our Saviour!
This week’s meditation verses: Mark 4:24; Luke 8:18; John 8:31-32; Isaiah 43:19
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Excited to Learn? YEAH!
Knowledge is one thing but understanding is a whole new ball game. I love it when I begin to understand something whether related to the Word of God or at my job or even just reading a book that is hard to understand. I ponder stuff all the time and ask why a lot. Jesus is so patient with my questions and my lack of knowledge that it just blows me away when He teaches me something new. I do not deserve to know this much or to understand anything He is teaching me because I am so dim witted sometimes. How many times does He have to teach us something before we learn it? Well, let’s see what the Word has to say about that.
I want to start with Proverbs 6:6 when Solomon calls someone a sluggard. Lazy people cannot learn so he says to them go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise. He wants us not to be lazy and learn fully what we need to learn. Wisdom does not come in one day so the fact that he refers to us becoming wise tells me that he knows we will have to take our time learning and be taught often.
Psalm 106:35 tells us that they mingled with the nations and learned their practices. That is us Christians. We mingle with the world and learn their ways in time and act like them but we need to mingle with God and learn His ways so we can become knowledgeable about the things of God. To do this we will have to take our time learning and be taught often.
The Bible was written for us to learn from and Paul needed to tell us just that in Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. The length of time it takes us to learn is shown here in the term perseverance. Why would we need perseverance if our learning were going to be quick? Again, we will have to take our time learning and be taught often.
Proverbs 1:7 says that the beginning of knowledge comes from fearing the Lord. Fearing the Lord is not based on what you don’t know it is based on what you do know. We cannot gain a fear of the Lord until we know the Lord. He has buried many secrets in His Word that He expects us to uncover. It takes learning to uncover those secrets. Only fools despise wisdom and instruction – be not a fool and fear the Lord. Take time learning and be taught often.
Read books but always come back to the Word! These are just a few verses that tell us about learning. Jesus taught us the whole time He was on the earth so that we would have a mentor; someone to teach us the ways to walk. Jesus said take His yoke upon us and learn from Him for He is gentle and lowly in heart and we will find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:29). Our learning begins and ends with Scripture. We can be taught the Bible from others but the truth can only be found in one place – the Holy Bible. It tells us that we need no other teacher (1 John 2:27) than Jesus and that God will send no one else to tell us the truth (Hebrews 1:1-3) because Jesus has told the truth to us, recorded and distributed it to us that we may learn. When the mystery of the truth is revealed to us it is an exciting thing to comprehend because it has taken us time to learn and we were taught often!
Be persistent this week to spend time in the word with the FULL understanding that it will take time to learn and we will need to be taught many times before we understand. God will reveal His mysteries to us if we persist.
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The Rewards for Study
I don’t know about you, I am an instant gratification person! Well, that might be a little strong but I like to see the reward from my work. I am a hard worker and I can see the reward sometimes but there are times when I work hard and see nothing, if you know what I mean. I don’t see the reward right away and it bothers me! I see that sometimes when I study the Bible! We have been talking about studying the Bible but do we know what we get out of studying the Bible? What is the reward and exactly when will we see this reward? Does each person get the same reward? Let’s see what the Bible says about that….
2 Timothy 2:15 says rightly dividing the Word of Truth, which is studying the Word and knowing it, means we can present ourselves approved to God an unashamed worker. If we diligently study the Word, God will approve us along with the rest of those who study the Word. Each of us will receive the same reward. This is an amazing thing all by itself because everyone will stand before Jesus one day but we will already be approved before we even stand before Him. That is a great thing to know while I live here on this earth but I must continue to study the Word to continue in that approval.
Joshua 1:8 Meditating in the Word, day and night, will surely help us do all that is written in it therefore we will be rewarded with a prosperous way and good success in what we do. If we meditate in the Word and do the Word, God will make our way prosper and give us good success along with the rest of those who do that same. Each of us will receive the same reward. Another great thing to know while here but I need to continue to meditate on His Word and observing to do all that is written in it to continue going in a prosperous way and having good success in that way!
John 8:31-32 A Disciple of Jesus who abides in His Word shall know the truth and that truth shall set him free. The reward for abiding in His Word is freedom. Abiding is more than just doing it is living. If we spend our days abiding in the things of Jesus we shall know the truth, which in turn shall set us free. Each of us will receive the same reward. Oh, freedom is the greatest thing to know but we must abide and continue to abide to know this freedom in the truth.
Proverbs 25:2 God takes glory in concealing a matter so that His kings can search it out to our glory. The reward for searching out a matter is glory from God. We should never be satisfied with our current knowledge but always searching out the matters of God. If we spend our days searching out matters from the Word we will obtain glory from God just like the rest of us kings who do the same. Each of us will receive the same reward. How wonderful it is to know that Jesus will see me as a king and bestow glory on me as long as I continue to search out the matters of God.
We know that all of these rewards are contingent on us continuing in mining for the treasures of God. He wants us to study so that our soul will be overtaken with doing the right thing, the will of God. Our soul will always want to do the ME thing but God wants us to do His thing and that is why we study the Word; to know God and to love Him so much that we do His will out of love.
Please don’t study the Word for your head or for the world, study for your heart and God will reward you mightily with approval, freedom, glory, a prosperous way, good success and so many more. Study the Bible to find other rewards and be further rewarded.
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The Yay’s and the Nay’s have it! Or do they?
In spite of what people may say God has gifted each one of us with gifts to be able to do our jobs. Our jobs consist of how we make our daily income as to not starve to death. We have what the world will call natural talents but we Christians know that these gifts are from God and are for His glory to do His good works. We get excited because we will be able to use them for the good of the Kingdom. When you attempt to activate these gifts inside the Body of Christ we will come across the nay’s and the yay’s in spite of what the Father has told us to do. Should you listen? Yes! Should you obey? Now that is another story all together!
The nay’s are the hardest to ignore. They are persistent and loud. They come from people who love you and people who hate you. They come from those who want to be you and those who just want you to go away! The goal of the nay is to stop you in your tracks – not to redirect you or help you – just to stop you! Stopping you could also mean many different things. It could be because they have a belief system that is built on false precepts and you are challenging those precepts. It could be that you ‘going’ might mean where they are in their eyes isn’t good enough. It could be that they actually have a good misguided heart and don’t want you to be hurt. The problem with each one of these is they are disobedient to the plans of the Father. Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:23 get behind me Satan. You are a stumbling block to Me! Peter was concerned about the things of men rather than of the thing of God. I am convinced there is a lot of people just like that. They set out to be stumbling blocks to people because they are not dealing well with their own stumbling blocks. It may be their thought processes, their beliefs or they just might be full of spite from their own lack of success! None of this is our problem unless they are successful at stopping us! I think we should listen but with our Spirit to discern the truth! I say, get behind me Satan. You are a stumbling block to God and to me. Then I will put the things of God on my mind and keep moving even if I am scared!
The yay sayers may very well be hard to ignore as well! How many times do we need to be patted on the back for a job well done before we become prideful and expect the pat? Sometimes the yay’s are for us to participate in something ‘not’ in the plan of God for us. Quite often this is the case and it keeps us from doing what we are suposed to do. We spend a lot of time doing stuff that doesn’t please God and ironically enough, doesn’t even please us. We clean when we hate cleaning, we take care of kids when we hate it, we lead but are not gifted for it, we preach but are not called to do it. There is just so much we do that doesn’t give glory to God because He has not asked us to go man has and we don’t have the words or the guts to say no. Every now and then we need to do stuff that is not appealing to us but the majority of the time we need to do what God has called us and gifted us to do. God does not gift you to be a door matt He gifts you to empower the Body of Christ. We cannot do that if we are not joyful in our work. Jesus said in Luke 9:24 that if you lose your life you shall live. Losing your life means dropping your own selfish plans and standing behind God’s plan for you even against other Christians who are not willing to lose their lives. All of God’s work is good but not all of it is beneficial to us or the Body of Christ when we are doing it. We need to listen with our Spirit for direction and do what we are told.
The nay’s and the yay’s can be considered but should never be held up before God’s plan for us. He may very well have sent those folks to us to test our faith or to actually get us to stop doing something He never told us to do nor gifted us to do. We need to know our Father so that we can tell the difference between a nay for men or for God and the yay from men or from God. Our lack of knowledge of the Father will always put us in a tricky position discovering what is of God and what is of men. We will be thrown to and fro if we don’t make sure that what we are doing is of God. For us to be successful at doing the will of God we need to put the nayers and the yayers behind us and God in front of us. As long as we are following God we will do exactly what He wants and not worry about what man wants from us.
