Food for thought

Submit to my Lord and rest in Him

Why do so many 'whys' stay in our subconscious and go unanswered?  They may cross our mind at some point, but we complain, dismiss them and keep right on going. What we don't see is where we are going.  "Will (we) go round in circles?" to quote the late Billy Preston and very few of us break free to "fly high like a bird up in the sky."  Here's a thought; what if we make a list, not a 'to do' list but instead a 'what not to do' list.  It would be a start to realizing just how caught up we are in living in the spirit of busyness!  It's a challenge, I know, but like spring cleaning it will feel so good to let unnecessary things go. If we make a list of the zillion and one things we believe have to get done, we will be amazed how long the list becomes.  Most of our why questions will have answers, answers we already knew but chose to ignore.  What I'm getting at is that we are responsible for being so busy and miserable.  We refuse to simply let go and let God.  We would rather believe a lie, stay overworked and stressed, than spend time in the word of God getting to know His truth.  How sad that is, and yet for the most part that's what so many of us do each and every day.  Another idea would be to take our 'to do' list and make two lists out of it.  One list would be an upkeep list and if it is taking every minute of our day maybe it's time to eliminate some things.  God will direct our paths but we are stiff- necked and stubborn for the most part.  The second 'to do' list is things you enjoy. For most this list will be much shorter (and how sad is that?).  As I make my lists I realize this is not the life Christ died to give.  "I have come so you may have life and have it more abundantly." 1John 1:10.  Trials will always be a part of life, but in what spirit we handle them is a choice we have to make.  When we make choices with our day have we given any thought to God?  Am I willing to lay down my burdens and put on a yoke that is easy?  Seems like a no-brainer but for this super-competitive world in which we live, we for the most part go round in circles.  Isaiah 40:31 "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."  Isaiah 41:10 "Do not fear for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  May we all spring clean our 'to do' list with the truth of God's word. If we do, and consider all else rubbish, we will indeed realize what it is to fly high like a bird up in the sky. 

Heavenly Father let our focus remain on You in every situation so we may take Your yoke in exchange for the crushing weight of this worldly one, being forever Yours in Christ Jesus. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

"Who art Thou Lord?" Acts 26:15

Have you ever set out with joy to help someone just to find negativity or disappointment in others' response to your good deed?  Oswald Chambers said we wear ourselves out in how WE determine to serve the Lord.  Could it be that our good deeds are filled with our own motives or shortcomings?  Are we willing to go there, be analyzed, so the Holy Spirit can reveal any unclean thing that is in us?  "No good deed goes unpunished."  A curse, one would think, without spiritual vision.  So let's put on our spiritual eyes and get ready to see our own shortcomings.  Disheartening as it may seem, we cannot grow without spiritual self- examination.  This may seem clear as mud because the truth is we do not want to see our faults, we want to complain and be vindicated. It is a personal journey, one God has to teach each one of us, but do we have the courage to let God examine our hearts?  No use in hiding, God knows where we are on this road to sanctification.  "You can run but you can not hide."  Movies and t.v. shows all have examples of good deeds being punished and we all have opinions of them. Some are pretty black and white, those are the easy ones but what about all the shades of gray in between?  It is here the mud thickens.  Just look at the presidential race and for the lack of paper, time, and God's mercy on my soul I will not dive into particulars on that one.  We all have our reasons for liking or disliking what candidates stand for and want to do, but the truth is, there are pros and cons to all of them and after whomever is elected one thing is for sure, we will hear mostly cons about them for the next four years. 

The question is: are we willing to quit complaining and being upset about the way things go in ours or others' lives, whatever the case may be, and pray and seek God's truth in the matter? Seeking God's truth isn't going to change our thinking to another's point of view or vise versa, but it will help open our eyes to God's truth.  If we are willing to seek, we will find, but so often we are so focused on the injustice we feel that we never see what God has for us to learn. When we are willing to be examined by God, we all will most likely see faults in ourselves which we have pushed into our subconscious in order not to deal with them.  The injustice we often feel put on us by others always has two sides, the person who wronged us and our reaction to it.  It is our demand to be justified that must be rooted out. It is always ugly and we may even have supporters but do we realize we are dragging them down with us in our complaining of the offense? Elisabeth Eliott said  "The Throne before the phone." and we would be wise to heed that advice.  If we indeed want to live a humble life, following after Christ in His image, there simply is no other way.

"The Throne before the phone." Elizabeth Elliott.

Heavenly Father draw us closer to You so we will desire only Your will for our lives.  Examine our hearts, Lord, make us aware of any unclean thing in us so it may be rooted out for Your glory alone.  In your Son Jesus' name I pray. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Saul, Saul why persecutest thou Me?  Acts 26:14

It is fine to discuss what a sanctified life looks like.  It's fine to write about it, but then what? Then we try to live it and we go out stumbling along the way.  It's true that for every offense we face where we demand justification or about which we complain, we have in fact wounded the spirit of Christ.  In the Bible it says that teachers of the word are held to a higher accountability and I believe that applies to all disciples of Jesus Christ.  "Go everywhere into the world and preach the gospel and if necessary use words."  This was attributed to St. Francis who healed the wounded hearts of many, often by his presence alone. I often have said to my children, we cannot control others' behavior, all we can do is be keenly aware of our own and do our best. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." The one who exasperates you, who trips you up when all was going well.  I mean we try yet sometimes we feel we will explode if we do not vent! Isn't that what our spouse is for? (just kidding) no wonder there are so many divorces. Ah yes, we are products of the fall, are we not, but for believers in Christ we are born again! Do we even start to grasp the incredible meaning of this?  It is not something we just say. It is an actual birth taking place. We are given a new heart but it takes time to learn to trust and depend on that heart.  We want to, then someone who may or may not have a new heart, has a selfish moment and bam! the double edged sword of a tongue escapes and stabs us right in the heart. Our new heart does not die, it is eternal, but it does get wounded.  When this happens what do we do? ... we react. I believe these are the fires, my friend.  We are baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  In this life I believe we will always walk through fires and they will flare up when we least expect them.  To be sanctified into the image of Christ we must be so one with Him that we can stand in the furnace and not burn or even smell like smoke.  In other words, when others stumble we can be there to catch them instead of reacting in defense and pushing them down futher, for when we react this way it hurts the very spirit of God.  We have the eyes as believers to see this spiritually, so let's not faint away from looking in that mirror. Joy in persecution, hardships, and difficulties, we are equipped to face the fires if we practice the presence of God.  Let's do it together and the blessing and joy will be too great to describe.

Heavenly Father Help us to forgive ourselves, because hurting You is a weight so crushing it's impossible to stand.  Thank You that You are with us always, and for Your grace and mercy of letting us be baptized by the fires so we can be refined into Your image.  When the fires rage as they will ; let our peace remain in You alone for Your glory for ever and ever amen.

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Food for thought

Spiritual Vision

Is it better here or is it better here?, to quote my eye doctor and friend Brad.

"Take no thought for your life." Matthew 6:25   Our life is a gift and yet we are to "Take no thought for (our) life"?  Are we not supposed to use our common sense and feed, clothe, and shelter (take care) of these earthly tents in which we dwell?  I mean really we have to put some effort out here.  TAKE NO THOUGHT!   You see how common sense and reasoning can take over and argue at this vary point.  Oswald Chambers said "We are never free from the recurring tides of this encroachment. The encroachment that distracts us from the presence of God, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of things."  We must look at each day and see what hoops we are jumping through to please ourselves and others. We must be willing to examine where the tide has come in and swept us out to sea to be tossed on the waves of our own and others' desires.  We as believers have the strength to stand against the tide but we rarely use it. Christ died on the the cross for us so we might have that strength.  "Take no thought..." Strong words and we must stop reading them with our worldly minds and read them in the way they were written to be read - with the spiritual mind. Our life is a gift, a gift to us and others, but it will be choked out if we do not give it freely back to God foremost and always.  The only way I can even hope to do that is by practicing the presence of God consciously until it becomes unconscious.  When pressures mount, as they most surely will, we will instantly be swept out to sea if we do not have a spiritual perspective and an open communication with our Father. Satan wants us to be so busy we don't even realize we are not examining our own lives before God. The tide hits us and we are swept out without any knowlege it was coming.  The more we practice the presence of God will not stop the tidal waves from coming, no in fact they will most likely intensify . But when storms like sea billows roll, it will be well with our soul.

A storm arose on the sea of Galilee and Jesus and the disciples were in a boat.  Jesus slept peacefully and the distressed disciples woke Him, for they were in fear of perishing.  Jesus calmed the sea and still does for us today if we have ears to hear. "Take no thought for your life." When we walk with God, He can and will show us what it means to "Take no thought for (our lives)" and is it better here or is it better here will be a no brainer question my friend.

Heavenly Father  Constantly draw our focus back to you when we start to drift or find ourselves suddenly swept out to sea; let us joyfully lift our spirit up to you , knowing you have instantly calmed the storm, no matter the calamity that is around us for it is but an illusion.  May we see with spiritual eyes Your Kingdom Come! In Jesus Christ Your Holy Son's name I pray Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

food for thought

  "If God so clothe the grass of the field ... shall He not much more clothe you?" Matthew 6:30

If we are filled with worry about our current state of affairs, then we are not consecrated to God.   Consecration means the continual separation of myself to one particular thing. Corinthians 3:19&20 " For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.  For it is written, "He is the one who catches the wise in CRAFTINESS."  and again, "THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONING OF THE WISE ,THAT THEY ARE USELESS."  OUCH, OUCH OUCH!, if we do not admit we all fall into this catagory when we take our focus off God we are indeed only fooling ourselves. The goal here is to face what and who we are, the wisest of us is but foolishness to God!  We would be wise to remember this the next time we insist it's our way or the highway.  God made us in His image so He might fellowship with us.  As a believer I believe we all desire a true and right relationship with God our Father, and we are so easily discouraged at how we fail.  Thomas Edison (from what little I know) did not get discouraged when his factory burned on Dec 19th 1914 .  As he stood there and watched all his work burn to the ground he simply said " well at least we know what doesn't work."  He took the knowledge that was given him and rebuilt.  This fire could have been enough to crush him beyond repair and all of us will face our own fires and we have a choice to make as well.  Today we live in a time of great uncertainty by the world standards, and we have all heard it is the darkest before the dawn.  For many it is pretty much pitch black or heading that direction and I'm talking about believers. If we do not take the time to renew our minds in the truth of God's word then we will indeed stumble in the darkness.  You see we all need to look continually and consecrate. Oswald Chambers said " Many of us refuse to grow where we are put, consequently we take root nowhere."  I know that has a different sting for me.  I've chased so many rabbits down so many holes and for what?  I'm in a damp, dark tunnel thinking if I just run harder, I'll catch that wascally wabbit !  My ship will come in and it will all be worth it .  If our minds are so intellectual and wise then why,why, why is discouragment constantly shadowing over us?  If you read this blog you probably know what I'm going to reiterate here.  We simply refuse to surrender all.  We are simply not willing to take root and grow where we are put. Oh no, we are better than that, we're holding our for a management position.  Prestige, recognition, we should cringe at the thought.  Sit around when friends and family gather and just listen to the different conversations.   All that knowledge and wisdom in one room, how do we stand it! Then, apart from being rightly related to our Father and His will consider it all else rubbish my friend. " The world's wisdom is but foolishness to God."  The world comes at us from every angle - even well-meaning people .  We must separate ourselves to one particular thing.  Look again and consecrate, look again.

" Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee."  My daughter's favorite hymn, and the greatest gift as a mother I could ever receive, for the lives of my children to belong to God for His Glory alone.   Let the world have its gold and riches. They are but rubbish and cannot compare to the love of God and His will for our lives.

Heavenly Father this world in which we live can look so bleak and impossible and it is indeed a frightful place to be if we are not consecrated in You. Let us be so consecrated that Your holy light shines out through our vessels to a dark and frightened world.  May we go everywhere and preach the gospel and if necessary, use words, your truth and in your timing. In Your Son Jesus' name I pray amen.

love to all in Christ Jesus C:)