-
Awareness Makes us Abound Part 2
Being aware of our actions is something even the world preaches. How much more does God preach it? Open the first page of the Bible, is it there? Yes it is. God wants us to be aware of how this world came into being. He is making us aware of His actions. He is not shy in telling us the actions of those He created either. He tells us how some folks disobeyed Him and some obeyed Him. Our awareness of these facts gives us hope for our own behaviour. There is no way to improve any of our life skills until we are aware of the actions we are taking to create our own issues. God has this knowledge and we have this knowledge.
I always begin each Life Skills Session with awareness training. We can only begin our abundant life with awareness. We need to know what we are doing that is robbing us of abundance first then we need to modify the lies into truth to pursue the abundant life. It makes sense but how often do we try to skip the awareness phase and move right into the doing phase. If we do not know where we are going when we go how can we get to this unknown place. This is why so many people, including Christians, are going in circles all of their life. Let us stop, learn what we are doing wrong and go in the right direction. This is the way to go from foolishly spinning in circles to the straight path of knowledge.
Abound in Knowledge
If we incline our ear to wisdom and apply our heart to understanding we will find the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2). The straight path to knowledge is wisdom and understanding. There is only one place to learn – the Lord. Reading the Word of God is the only way to acquire the knowledge we need to dispel the lies that make us into fools. We first learn of our sin then made aware of the lies causing us to go down the path of sin. The devil fears God because His truth sets us free from those lies. The last thing he wants us to do is abound in knowledge so he feeds us lies so close to the truth that we believe them. When we read God Word He will feed us truths so thoroughly we will begin to learn of the lies. This can only happen if we are reading His Word and gaining the knowledge of Him. The devil wishes for us to be enslaved but God wished for us to be enriched in everything by Him (I Corinthians 1:5). Being enriched in the Lord makes us abound in knowledge all day long.
“Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.” (Proverbs 20:15) How rare is it to speak to someone who knows what the deep lies are that cause them to sin. Jesus said when you are His disciple you shall know the truth and IT shall set you free (John 8:32). This alone should send you searching for the truth in His Words. The freedom of knowing why we act foolishly helps us to put the lies off and strive to prevent sin from happening again in the future. If we feel foolish behaviour bubbling up we can push it back down with the Truth. Knowing and using the Word of God is how we will be able to push those lies back down (Matthew 4:1-11). This knowledge first comes from a fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7) and knowing the devil has come to destroy everything God has created including you (John 10:10). Jesus has come to give life more abundantly and He does this with His Word. Do not let yourself be destroyed from lack of knowledge. He will be with you as you learn. He will neither leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). Speaking the Truth will make us abound in knowledge all day long.
You know where to go to get this knowledge and you know speaking the truth makes us abound in knowledge the only place left to go is to set our heart on seeking it. This is not easy but worth every minute we go seeking. We need to decide if we want to be the rare jewel that speaks knowledge in our world. If our answer is “yes” we need to set our heart to go after it at all costs. Is living a life free from anguish worth it? Is living a life free from sin worth it? Is the current pain for the future joy worth it? I say, “YES!” Jesus says, “YES!” “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.” (Proverbs 15:14) Your ears have heard His Word now we must have a discerning heart that acquires knowledge with ears that seek to hear it. This is harder than it looks today because there are fewer “rare jewels” than there used to be. Check the statistics on church going Canadians today compared to yesteryear. There are more false churches and more false prophets today (Matthew 24:11) we need to weed through for the one who actually teaches the truth. It is easier to weed through people is we do not rely on them for the knowledge we need. No one knows you better than the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11). Don’t look to people for the truth but to God’s Word. It is the only place we can trust to find the whole truth. Always seek the truth from the Word of God and you will abound in knowledge all the day long.
Your Choice to Escape
Being aware of our actions and the ramifications of them is how we can become aware of our thought process too. Sometimes admitting to the general lies leads us to begin seeing the deeper lies that made us who we are today. The general sins are the sins everyone already sees, it is the deep sins we need to get too. When we start recognizing them we can either ignore them to continue in the foolishness or we can pay attention to them to become knowledgeable. We have the choice. How can we choose anything else but God? If we call ourselves a Christian the choice should be easy. There is a lot of pain involved in gaining this knowledge but we have one thing on the world when it comes to dealing with it – Jesus! We can call on Him to give us the knowledge we need to endure it. We might be tempted to walk away because of the anguish but God will always provide an escape before we sin (1 Corinthians 10:13). The escape will be based on whether you chose to abound in foolishness or abound in knowledge. Choose to abound in knowledge and God will tell you the escape.
-
The Time is Right!
The Wrong Time!
Leola sits in the front window dreaming about being on a ranch, in the Southern United States, riding horses and working the ranch. She has had this dream since she was a child but it has never come to pass. She thinks she was too lazy to go after it or too uninvolved in her own life to actual make it come true maybe simply side tracked. She was born in the wrong time, in the wrong city to the wrong parents. She just feels like her whole life is just wrong. Her vacations reflect country life with streams of rushing clean water and her mind is always going to country living. She dreams of redecorating her house to look like a country cabin. Her dreams of the Life Skills Center are all inside a country house with a wrap around porch for the women to have alone time and swing their cares away. The laziness and the work of it all draws her attention. She sees someone riding a horse and she is off daydreaming about doing it herself yet she has only ridden a horse twice. She loves to watch movies about ranches and horses. Oh, how she wishes she were born down South one hundred years ago.
When Leola was reading romance novels she would always choose the westerns. Her dream was not only to be born during that time but also to be married to a rancher. They would struggle together to make it work and it would flourish. “How childish,” she thought, “to have this dream still!” Sam, her husband, is aware of this dream because they discussed what they thought they would be when they grew up. She loves to watch the westerns from the fifties and sixties with Sam. He wasn’t shocked about her dream because his dreams were just as wild. Leola knows most people dream of a life when they are children but don’t see it come to fruition as an adult. Some are just too extravagant, some to wild and some are just plain impossible. Sam and Leola dreamed the impossible for the time they lived in and the people they were. One of the things they had in common is a love of the country so they vacation in the country. She has the best of both worlds where they live and she is happy but she still pines every now and then for what could have been. Or could it have been? God will show her she is useful in this era!
God’s timing is so frustrating for most of us. He takes people from us to soon, He moves us to other pastures to late, His plan looks like it makes no sense some times, He doesn’t bring us what we need when we think we need it and He makes us live in a time we feel uncomfortable living in. We feel useless because we are doing nothing we deem important. If we could just be in this time what we had to do would be important. It would be time consuming and we wouldn’t have to dream about being productive because we would be. We are waiting on a God we don’t expect the expected from. We have experienced the unexpected and we don’t like it. Solomon tells us He has made everything beautiful in its time even if we feel out of place and awkward we are in our time. As long as we remain in the dream of other times we will not see the beauty in our time. God will put a dream of eternity in our heart that will satisfy us but still we will question because we cannot know the work that God does from beginning to end.
The Right Time!
Still staring out the window God begins to point out the beauty in her world today, right now! All the things she loves today were not even a glimmer in the eyes of the inventors one hundred years ago. God had created her for this time because He wanted her to follow His plan for this moment in history. She is not living in the past nor is she living in the future she is living today and today is where God wants her. It is frightening to give up the dream she has had for so many years. It gave her comfort but it also caused her sorrow for what she didn’t have. There is nothing now. No dream of a ranch, no dream of horses, no dream of a house on rolling hills with a view of a running stream. Her feeling of being useless is overwhelming her. What is to work for? No future images to look forward too. Leola will spend a good six months with no future dream and no goals to go with it. God waited for her to be completely stripped of that time then He went to work. God brought her to Revelation where she discovered the dream she should have. The New Earth and the New Jerusalem are her dream now. She wonders about it and has great joy thinking about it. The God she so longs to be with will be there. Jesus has put a great dream in her head and it will be hers in the right time!
Scripture tells us we are to be eternity minded to see Jesus. If we continue to allow our mind to wander into our time and our space alone He can not be found. He is our future as Christians. He is in the right time with the Father and speaking to us through the Holy Spirit. In the Fathers time He will bring us into the future to a beauty we cannot even fathom but He did give us clues in Revelation about what the New Jerusalem will look like. I want to be there, do you? The time is eternity, the time is right!
Meditation Verses: Ecclesiastes 3:11; Revelation 21; 22
-
The Answer to Every Question!
The Question
A question was asked at church this Sunday morning Leola knew right away the answer of or did she! If you could ask Jesus one question what would it be? That was the question? The only question allowed? Her question would be to ask why He waited until her forties to put this dream into her heart. And why can we only ask one question because surely the answer to that question would result in another one? This question bothered her for several days. Is life for him or anyone else about just one question? What if we ask the wrong question? Will it change our destiny? Why are we asking the question we are asking? Is one question better than another or do they all lead to one big answer? Leola thought and thought about what that question should be just in case the first question was the wrong question. She had to decide THE question. If she could come up with the perfect question would the answer be sufficient to answer all of her questions. Is there such a question?
She has been helping women with their life skills for twelve years and knows there is a plethora of questions to be answered but the answer is different for every single woman. You can ask ten questions of one woman to lead them into the answer they are looking for yet it might take one hundred to lead another. Each question depends on our direction and the level of truth we can handle. When Leola designs workshops the questions she asks never have one answer for that exact reason. The questions she asked are design to make women think about what answer they want. Some are even designed to make them think about what they don’t want because they may need to start there to make change. Some questions are designed to draw them directly to Jesus for the answer. How can she help women grow if she didn’t allow multiple answers from just one question? The problem is that question always leads to another one consequently we cannot stop at one question? What is stopping us from asking four thousand questions? Only Jesus knows!
Jesus asked a lot of questions of us in His ministry. He never stopped asking questions. Questions define what direction we are headed in. They help us focus on what is important. John tells us Thomas asked a powerful question after Jesus told us He is leaving to go to the Father. He asked in John 14 verse 5, “how can we know the way?” How indeed can we know the way? Would that question answer all of our questions? According to Jesus, yes. All the questions we ask lead us straight to the Father if we think about them. We think they may be self-serving but each time we allow the answer to come from Jesus it will lead us to the Father. The whole of Chapter 14 has Jesus telling us He is the answer to every question. How do I do this? Do what I tell you and it will happen! How can I do this? Take strength in Me and do can it! Where will I get what I need? Trust Me and you will have it!
The Answer
As Leola ponders all the questions people ask her in her classes plus all the questions she has asked over the years, she comes to the conclusion one question is not enough to fully get any answer. Some questions are relevant, irrelevant, nosey, inappropriate and appropriate but all are worth an answer that leads to another question. Jesus asked a lot of questions of us to help us discern what it is we want. We can ask people questions but we are still asking the questions that help us discern what we want. Our problem is who we are asking answers of. Who should answer our questions? Who can answer our questions? In her experience, only Jesus has been able to answer her questions with the truth she is looking for. No one can tell her where she is going because only Jesus knows that. No one can tell her what direction to go because only Jesus knows that. No one can tell her how to serve His women because only Jesus knows the way to do that. The relevant questions that need answers need to be asked of Jesus because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We cannot get to the Father who has all the answers if we do not ask the questions of Jesus (John 14:6). What He tells us is what the Father tells Him based solely on the plan the Father has for us (John 14:24). How wonderful is this to know? Knowing this tells Leola exactly where to go for answers and exactly what to do. The only answer she can rely on is Jesus. He is the answer to every question she has and He is the answer for every woman she serves. Jesus is the answer!
Jesus is the answer because the question leads to the way He wants us to go. Every question we ask relies on what the Father has planned for us. Should I go here or there? Should I do this or that? Here, there, this or that are all part of the grand plan of the Father. You might go here while I go there so you can do this and I can do that then we come together to do thus! Our whole life is planned out by the Father but we have to walk in it using Jesus as our answer to every question about direction. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him and that is the answer to every question.
Meditation Chapter for this week: John 14
-
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
-
Who am I?
The Question!
Leola is still pondering what she learned from the play last week about rising out of her sin. She knows she can change but she is not at all sure what to change first. Obedience is coming little by little and not easily. She begins her reading in Matthew 16 this morning sitting on her ‘have-to-have-it’ couch with the sun shining directly on her. Leola admires the sun and looks down at the Word. The first Words that jump out at her is the wicked and adulteress generation seeks a sign (v4). She raises her head to look out the window and ponders this in her own life. Is she seeking a sign from Jesus for her own use? She doesn’t know the answer to this question! Is her faith contingent on miracles or signs rather than who Jesus is? Is this who she is, a Pharisee? Maybe, but she doesn’t know the answer to this question either!
Reading on she comes across a ‘Jesus question’ she cannot skip over, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (v13) She doesn’t know because she never asks! She wants to know who Jesus is but can it be done? If she knows who He is what significance will the answer have in her life? Leola has never much liked herself because she has always been told she is unlikeable. She never thought much about who she is because her life won’t make much of an impact anyway! Perhaps, she thinks, the real measuring stick IS Jesus and compared to Him she is nothing. Jesus is now pointing this out to her but only putting a small longing in her heart she cannot define. Forty-five years of thinking she is nothing has impacted Leola’s life so much so Jesus will have to do a mighty work to change it around! Leola depended on what others said to define who she is and she didn’t like who they told her she was. She never once thought it could be any other way. What others defined her as must be the truth, right, because they can see her better than she can see herself? As a result she only ever asked the question, “Who do people say I am?” but never, until now, will she ask, “Who am I?” and expect to learn the answer!
Many of us go through an identity crisis with or without Jesus. The spectacular advantage of following Jesus is His way of teaching us ‘who we are’ with Him in our life compared to who we were without Him. He created both of us and He knows how to bridge the gap. The difference can be staggering in some cases yet minor in others. If this is true than how do we respond to this revelation? We must be trained by Elohim to put less emphasis on who others say we are and more on who He says we are. He has gifted us differently than anyone else therefore we are created to walk in those gifts for His purpose. I cannot tell you enough about how different we are from others therefore we cannot compare ourselves to anyone we can only compare ourselves to Jesus. Who we are is who He says we are! To discern who we are we must ask, “Who do we say He is?” The answer to that question forms who we are!
Over the years Jesus has changed me so significantly I think it is noticeable yet many people have missed it. I wonder why? The face I wear in public to show everyone ‘life is great’ but behind it the cracks are numerous. My family sees the changes because they are close to me but the only person who sees every change is Elohim. He knows me better than anyone else, He sees me! Him and I are the only ones who know the extent of the transformation in me and we are the only ones who know who I am. Never will I allow another to define who I am. Others define who we are based on their history not ours. They see us through the vision of their own life and what they want from us! The whole answer cannot come from any other person, it can only come from Jesus!
The Whole Answer
Still sitting in the window, the sun making her red hair appear gold, Leola closes her eyes to ask Jesus the most significant question of her life, “Do You see me?” She waits but there is no answer! The answer to this question, many years later, will significantly change her life but for now there is another teaching for her! She lowers her head to read on. But who do you say that I am? (v15) A good question she is not sure she can answer! Again she looks out the window to ponder this question. Who is Jesus and how important is knowing who He is? The questions Jesus asks His disciples make them first think and then answer, if they can. They always elicit the truth from their soul but this time the answer came from the Spirit because they couldn’t possibly know the answer without Him. Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (v16) When the Spirit revealed who Jesus is to Peter and he confesses it with his mouth Jesus, in turn, tells Peter who he was. Leola knows Peter does become the rock but not without rolling of a cliff a time or two first (Read Acts). She prays, “Lord, You are the Son of the Living God! Please tell me who I am?” Leola’s own voice said within her, “Find Me and you will find you, for in Me is you!” After ten years of studying Scripture to find out who Jesus is Leola can testify, indeed she is finally discovering the new Leola Elohim has created just for her! Bridging the gap has been a process she could only do with guidance of the Holy Spirit. Instead of looking at herself through the eyes of people she now sees herself through the eyes of the Father. The significance of having this information for Leola leads her to actually like herself! A first in her life!
Others vision of us can cause untold damage to our soul but who we are can be changed! Not liking ourselves leaves us susceptible to false teachers who prey on our insecurities, the devil who plants lies about who we are and consequently a rebellion against Elohim. Who we are does not depend on our work, our family, our spouse or anything else outside of Jesus. It is extremely important for us to know who He is because within Him is the truth of us! Who do YOU say He is? Do not delay in discovering who Jesus is because He IS the whole answer to the question ‘Who am I?’
This week’s meditation verses: Matthew 16
-
The Real Measuring Stick!
He Has Risen
Leola is very excited about this Sunday’s performance at church. They have been talking about it for months and practicing too. She knew the significance of this weekend but the promise of it was still lost to her. The daily Bible readings have done something to her yet she couldn’t use words to describe it to anyone. She was just living day-to-day trying to measure up to some standard she knew nothing about. She knew she didn’t worship God enough, didn’t tell the truth enough, coveted someone’s stuff, lied, stole, and other sins she can’t control. The Scriptures remind her constantly about her total lack of strength to avoid these sins. Her character needs a lot of work because she tries to not sin but she sins all the more. She is a wretched body of sin!
She sits, not in her own seat, but near the front between two women with children. Leola longed for her children and her husband to come to church with her but she knew her example would not be the cause of them coming. She knew she was lacking in all the things God saw righteous – everything! The lights went out and the sanctuary went silent. One light appear shining on the cross at the back of the platform. There was a man on it with what looked like blood all over him, Jesus! The commentator appeared on stage to announce the play, “He has Risen, We have Risen!” Leola started crying and never stopped during the whole play. Her heart ached to rise from the dead!
Our state of ‘risenness’ is measured, not by what we aren’t doing, but by what we are doing. There are many promises in the Scriptures Elohim will complete but we spend more time concentrating on the negative words in the Scriptures, such as the ten commandments, which leave us open to the devil to move us right into that sin. We know the more we try to concentrate on avoiding sin the more sin springs to life. (Romans 7:7-9) We need to measure the good in us rather than the bad that the good springs to life. The real measuring stick for us is Jesus and the good He did on the cross for us.
We Have Risen
The play ended and Leola went through what looked like a box of tissue beside her on the seat. The whole time she was watching the play she felt alone in the sanctuary. Someone handed her the tissue but she doesn’t know who she just began using it. “Jesus rose from the dead even after He took on everyone’s sin therefore we need to rise out of our sin too! The Scriptures make us aware of sin but we do not have to be sin. When we take on our sin we are making the cross of no affect,” the commentator said.
Leola left the play with a new perspective. She had been spending too much time measuring herself to the sin listed in the Scripture rather than the promises of God to encourage her. She looked inside her Bible to see what she had underlined and found the verses she underlined were the verses about sin especially the sin she deemed herself guilty. She needs a new Bible because she has learned the lesson well. When she purchased the new Bible the first thing she did was go to Romans 4:13-25 to underline and colour in the words. She went to the front of her Bible to add these verses to the front in red. She wants to spend the rest of her life remembering this point – He has risen therefore we have risen! The writers of the Words of God wrote these Words to encourage her not discourage her. They want her to measure herself to the cross, the real measuring stick. This Easter weekend will be the weekend she changes the way she measures herself with her new measuring stick – the CROSS!
When we measure ourselves to sin we will see the devil in us but if we measure ourselves to Jesus we will see Jesus in us. Let us begin this Easter to measure ourselves with a new measuring stick!
This weeks meditation verses: Romans 4:23-24
-
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!
-
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.
-
‘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
-
How far away is improving our life skills from applying the Words of God?
Our life skills, in my vision, are more advanced than brushing our teeth. It is caring for our everyday life from the time we wake up until we retire at night. They engulf our every decision for today and the future. They are personal and social, mental and physical, financial and environmental and, of course, moral. I also know that the actions we take are based on what we believe is right whether it is morally right or not. Moral laws are defined in this area as well. If you do not believe in God then your moral compass doesn’t always point to North but if you do then your compass should always point North.
So then, how far away is improving our life skills from applying the Words of God into our lives? Closer than you think. Accepting Jesus as Saviour has put us in a position to improve our life skills the Spiritual way. God is very interested with our everyday life from the time we wake up until we retire. How do we know? How can we tell? There are two topics prevalent in the Scriptures; our mind and our actions. These topics are talked about so much it is hard to miss it even if we aren’t looking.
Our Thinking Process can be Transformed!
How does God approach this topic in His Words? We can see right from the very beginning of man that our mind is a horrible place to be. Sin began with Satan deceiving Eve’s with her thinking (Genesis 3). Her mind was on what she was doing for God then Satan got her thinking about forbidden areas. Then that was all she could think about. Have you ever had food in front of you that you are trying to stay away from but cannot stop thinking about it? The minute your thinking changes from ‘stay away’ to ‘it’s okay’ you’re done. You eat until you are delighted but later the delight fades, a bellyache ensues or a guilt trip invades. We are peculiar creatures. In spite of our peculiarity God still transforms us.
The truth about our thinking process being transformed is found ‘literally’ in the Words of God! We are called and will be raised up on the last days (John 6:44) so we need to set our mind on the Spirit (Romans 8:5-6). This takes our thinking process (our choice) in a whole new direction from inward/worldly to heavenly! The Father endows us with grace that instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts living a righteous life (Titus 2:11-12). The Spirit teaches us what to think about with many different methods designed to transform the way we think. We can do exactly this because we are endowed now with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We are able to do exactly what Elohim is instructing us to think about due to the fact that we do have the mind of Christ. If we choose to take on the mind of Christ our thinking process will be transformed beyond what we ever think possible as a result our actions change.
Our Actions Reflect our Thinking Process!
I think I want a cookie, I get a cookie and eat it! Don’t think that we do anything mindlessly because as we think we do! It is a Biblical principle (Proverbs 27:3). You might say this verse has nothing to with actions! How will we know what a man thinks other than his actions? Only the spirit of the man knows what the man is thinking (1 Corinthians 2:11) therefore since we are not his spirit we are only privy to how he thinks by observing his actions. Since our thinking process is transformed by the instruction of God what must follow is our actions being a reflection of that change. I think I want a cookie, Spirit lead sugar fast, Spirit power upon me, no eating the cookie! It is that simple but that hard. Our Spirit is telling our soul what to do and our soul is telling the body. The body wants that cookie so the soul must repeat itself but if our soul is weak the Spirit will endow us with the power needed to resist the temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13) and a way out is provided. Can you guess what the way out is? You guessed it – Romans 8:5-6. Why would fighting a temptation be about the mind? Because as a man thinks so he is! Paul talks about this in Romans 7:13-25. He delights in the law of God according to his inward man (spirit) but another law is present in his members (body) and it is warring against his mind. Our mind caught in the middle between Spirit and body but can take control of our body. The arm does not punch unless the mind tells it too nor does the foot stomp. As we transform our mind into Spiritual things our body will throw an absolute fit. What do you mean I cannot hit that person? I need to hit him! Did you hear what he said? Yes, I did but the Spirit is telling my soul to restrain you, arm, because it will hurt that person and drive him away from God. Transformation complete in that situation!
As in Water, Face reflects Face!
The topics, the mind and the body, are talked about so much it is hard to miss them in Scripture even if we aren’t looking. As in water face reflects face; so a man’s heart reveals the man (Proverbs 27:19). We are revealed for every human to see by our actions but God searches the heart and tests the mind (Jeremiah 17:10). If we modify our life skills we need to start with the mind knowing that any action we take has started in our mind. The best place to go to learn the right thing to do in every subject is the Scriptures. We will not only get a life lesson but find love too. Search the Scriptures and see for yourself.
